One of many things that has improved over the last 15 or so years is the value of kitchen appliances - we got matching Prestige Kettle and Toaster at the weekend (because we could) less than £30 from Robert Dyas whilst their special offer continues (it ends Wednesday).
 |
| A person of Prestige |
Another thing (back to the cold) that's improved is the access to TV programmes at ungodly hours when one is 'suffering' two of the really cracking shows that I've caught up on are
Broadmoor (itv Player) - perhaps it comes as a good news revelation that ITV is still showing important Documentaries in prime time slots, this certainly raises a load of questions about broken people, the cost to society and the unutterable misery of the human condition for some - the two important points I noted (among very many important significant points) were that it is generally not just one issue that brings these people into being a very difficult case and also one of the Doctors saying that it felt like you could say on seeing some of these troubled people at the age of 6 -'I'll be seeing you later' - the second and final episode will air this week- not always easy to watch but I think worth seeing.
Exposed: Magicians, Psychics and Frauds -Storyville (BBC iPlayer).
Storyville doesn't let you down and this was a gem, a story that had it all, including a good man James Randi (crazy name, crazy guy) revealed as human and the debunking of horrible 'religious' charlatans.
I sort of recall the man from the fevered days of Uri Geller (before he was a 'friend' to Wacko Jacko) bending spoons - if you watch one thing on catch-up (UK viewers) make it this one.
Well after watching these two programmes - I was reminded how insightful Grayson Perry had been on both radio (Reith Lectures) and TV 'Who are you?' (Channel Four TV ) so I did a search on Grayson and found that his series of documentaries around class was still available - using the old Kenny Everett catchphrase ' In the best possible taste' it brought to light what was (perhaps) something of a hidden truth (for me) I'm a snob (not easy to say perhaps we all think of others as either Chavs or Snobs but in truth as many of us distance ourselves from the aspirations of our relatives and contemporaries we reveal ourselves to be distancing ourselves from our roots.
Grayson did not deny his own move from the Essex 'Working Class' to the middle class elite of the Art world but he was able to celebrate with others the joys of the working class - those from the programme were astonishingly knowing too - looking forward to seeing parts two and there of this series if the cold persists (or doesn't).
Postscript
Thanks to Jules Evans for his tweet about the artist formerly known as Cheryl Cole who has used an Alan Watts quote about how we should use our lives (What if Money was no object..) on her new album - as far as I'm concerned a really excellent message which she's bringing to a big audience who might not have thought about this - great stuff Cheryl.
No comments:
Post a Comment