DanS

Thanks. Not seen it for ages, but the whole film’s indelibly etched in my mind as one of the very few things I ever saw make both my parents *howl* with laughter.

Menon the Thessalian made it perfectly clear chat his dominant ambition was to get rich. He wanted to be a general so that he could earn more pay; he wanted honours so that he could make something extra out of them; his wish to be friends with the most influential people arose from his desi to avoid punishment for his misdeeds. He thought that the shortest cut to the satisfaction of his ambitions was by m of perjury and lying and deceit; consequently he regard sincerity and truthfulness as equivalent to simple-mindednes It was obvious that he felt no affection for anyone, but said he was anyone’s friend, it was pretty clear that he intriguing against him. He never laughed at his enet in conversation he never took any of his own peoples seriously. He had no designs on the property of his enemies, as he considered it difficult to get hold of what belonged to people who were on their guard; but as for his freinds' property,which was unguarded, lie thought he was most remarkable in knowing how easy it was to get his hands on to it. When he saw that a man would break promises and do wrong, he regarded him as well equipped and was frightened of him; but he tried to treat a man who was scrupulous and had regard for truth as though he were a half-wit. In the same way as some people take pride in being god-fearing and truthful and upright, Menon took pride in his ability to deceive, in his fabrications and falsehoods, and in sneering at his friends. He always looked upon a person who had scruples as being only ~ half educated. When he wanted to stand high in anyone’s friendship, he thought that the way to achieve this end was by running down those who already occupied the position he wanted. His scheme for ensuring his soldiers’ obedience to him was to be a partner in their crimes. He considered that, ____ by making a display both of his great powers and his willingness to misuse them, he was entitled to honours and deference.

2,500 years ago, Xenophon described the selfish and cynical mindset perfectly.

If you've met people like this, or watched TV show hosts turned politicians like this, you'll recognize the mindset immediately.

I love how the ancientness of this text proves just how innate these character traits are.

bsky.app/profile/dans...

They really are - and doubly so the handful that show a barely begun TV Centre!

YouTube video by Dan Squier [1995-09-12 est] Bravo UK (Twin Peaks outro, Sapphire & Steel trailer)

Why stop there, when you can watch a post-#TwinPeaks 90s Bravo trailer for it. 🫨

youtu.be/I-f6NSbWRwc?...

YouTube video by Neill Wilkinson The One Show - Goodbye Television Centre

Always loved him too, though never more than for this exchange.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=LpGi...

YouTube video by SpinalTapVEVO Spinal Tap - Stonehenge ft. Elton John (Official Video)

I continue to feel that Nigel’s intro to Stonehenge is the perfect piece of comic prose writing. It never doesn’t make me gurgle with delight.

youtu.be/2WWTzQ-mRFw

Hehe, it’s been years but this is just the sort of idea that risks luring me back into low-budget/fan film-making… 🤭

Y’know I *almost* agree - and both are utterly superb. But without pretty much every department firing on all cylinders, I don’t know if they’d have quite stuck the landing.

If and when you do*, please make sure it’s a full 50fps. Easiest of all the retro telly hurdles to recreate. Somehow almost always overlooked. 🧐

* Oh, and I hope you get to - this is the kind of thing I would quite happily pay to see done well!

If #Babylon5 isn’t *already* on your own personal GOAT candidate list, I beseech - nay, implore you to watch it now and correct that sorry state of affairs.

Right. Now.

ME: Moar two-tone comtrol panl artickls plz. 🤤

I admire both of these films inordinately, but I have to agree. Rather a hamfisted scheduling decision imho.

This debate followed #Threads on first transmission, and seems to me an infinitely better way to help an audience process what they’ve just experienced.

youtu.be/Y0VcT-XWb7M?...

Sadly, that kind of helpful resource got stamped out a couple of decades back…

www.dracos.co.uk/odeon/

With Tom Lehrer's passing, I suppose this is a moment to share the story of the prank he played on the National Security Agency, and how it went undiscovered for nearly 60 years.

YouTube video by Tom Lehrer Tom Lehrer Full Copenhagen Performance

A full Tom Lehrer performance, filmed in Copenhagen. There should be sign up at the side of the stage that says "Genius at Work" www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHPm...

😢

Aw mate, just arrived in Barmouth last night! Glad you had a good time anyway.

Sapphire and Steel have been assigned.

I say Inception, though “End of Part One” also comes to mind… ☺️

This was always one of my favourite things about the original novel. An almost Inception-like relay of shifting perspectives. Feels like MS is daring you to keep track of just how far down she’s gone…

I've verified my age by successfully lip-syncing the opening theme to Ulysses 31.

Oh, the echoes…

It’s not like Randall doesn’t have a great hit rate, consistently over decades now… But this one’s an absolute *doozy*. 🥰

Not *quite* just you. 🤓

Michael Gove takes part in a trust exercise. #michaelgove #traceybreaksthenews #traceyullman #tracyullman #funny #britishcomedy TikTok video by Totally Tracey Ullman

This one’s also f***ing funny.

www.tiktok.com/@traceyullma...

Wow, thanks for sharing. It totally nails the style - and as you say, *almost* too grim. So well done.

Dare accepted. Personally, I loved #TraceyUllmansShow & #TraceyBreaksTheNews a few years back. Wish there’d been a ton more.

She’ll often touch on pretty bleak/contentious themes, but it’s always immaculately performed, and still darned funny imo.

youtu.be/DBuXW8O3PFw?...

Always felt to me as if it had been illicitly smuggled into the schedules, and no-one terribly senior at the Beeb really knew what to do with it…

Would love to have seen it featured on Comedy Connections back in the day - though it would’ve needed a seriously extended running time.