Space Man

Good to see my old pal Dr Brian Cox doing well in the TV world. He's doing some gravity thing on Horizon next Tuesday at 9pm. He's a total dude. I never really knew what he was on about half the time...and he was doing layman's stuff.
I'll actually miss it because I'm off to London tomorrow for what is looking like a three day drinking binge. If I don't get mugged or stabbed or otherwise killed I'll be back with interesting stories from the big dark city on Wednesday.

Pat Benatar Vs The Nazis

I really do urge you to watch this...it's possibly the best video I have Ever Seen.

10 Records I Really Like But Shouldn't

1/ Dance The Night Away - The Mavericks.

2/ Ordinary World - Duran Duran.

3/ Automatic High - S Club Juniors.

4/ Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - The Police.

5/ Last Thing On My Mind - Steps.

I actually know a really good story about Steps that illustrates beautifully what utter shitheels they are, but it's too risky to tell it here.

6/ Back For Good - Take That.

7/ Shadows Of The Night - Pat Benatar.

8/ Trash - Suede.

Just Cunts.

9/ You Win Again - The Bee Gees.

10/ Crush - Jennifer Paige.

Now, I've bared my warped, unclean soul...and I challenge the mighty Kek, Lurch, St Anthony & Doppelganger to do the same on your blogs ...10 records that hide at the back of your collections that no grown man should own.

Mandingo - Movie Tie-In Cover

Ah, Susan George, one of our greatest living actresses (yeah, fuck off Dench). I may have to do a special post on her in the near future.

Books On Ebay

Some of the more tasteful titles I'm selling on Ebay this week. Feel free to bid...no one will know it's you....

Airfix Australian Infantry 1/32 Scale

Airfix Foreign Legion HO-OO

Electric Prunes - Get Me To The World On Time

Airfix Tarzan HO-OO Scale Figures

Underwater Fluff #03

Well, very wet anyway.

More Peffer

Sam Peffer's also the man responsible for this gem.

James Bond Pans

Dan brought up the new James Bond stamp collection a few posts back - which weirdly excludes the classic late 50s / early 60s Sam Peffer covers, in my view the best by far.

Cool Illness

Not that I would ever usually advertise Mrs Zero's ailments or seek to gain any sort of amusement from them, but it appears she's suffering from Labyrinthitis. How fucking cool is that?

Octopus 99 Review Of 2007

Well, this'll be brief. Been so far up my own ass all year most things have passed me right by.
I just read back over the year here at Octopus 99 & it's no fucking wonder nobody's tuning in.

Anyway. Reality Nazis Goody & O'Meara. Enjoyed that scenario a lot. Lovely to see people destroy their own careers. Although Danielle Lloyd (who actually really was the worst of the bunch), somehow seemed to get away with it completely. This is because she gets her tits out. Unfortunately for Jade & Jo, nobody wanted to see their tits. Ah, what a wonderful planet we live on. Still, good to see Gervais bringing it all up again on Extras, just in case there was any danger of people forgetting the whole thing. All in all it caused the death of Celebrity BB, which surely must be a good thing and we should all thank these nobodies for their sacrifice.

Good Movies : Die Hard 4.0, The Prestige, 3.10 To Yuma, 300.

Bad Movies : Ghost Rider - Shee-it. Premonition - Wow, somebody actually sat down and wrote this shit. Really, I recommend it just so you can see how truly awful a film can be.
I watched Love Actually for the first time just last week. I know it wasn't made in 2007 but, Fucking Hell, I really think that might've been the worst film I have ever seen. Really. Ever.

Eurovision : Serebro were robbed.

X Factor : Same Difference were robbed. Did anyone else notice how shit Leon was? I mean, you don't expect much from this programme, but Jesus.

Dr Who : Hahahaha.

TV : Dexter. Fucking hard. That Skoda ad. Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip..started so well then lost it completely. No wonder it got axed. CSI. Just always good.

Maddie : So nobody else went missing last year then. Look out for the McCanns on next year's Strictly Come Dancing.

Best Event Of 2007 : The Spice Girls comeback single failing to make the top 10. How fucking marvellous was that? And it was a charity single. Oh, how I laughed. I still get a semi just thinking about it.

Well, that'll be it, then. Happy NY to you both.

Bob & Omar

Just a few words for a couple of righteous friends / ex-work colleagues who recently passed away.

Omar Jama. I started out in TV pretty much the same time as Omar. Most of the time I worked with him he was a sound engineer, though, ambitious chancer that he was, he went on to much greater things. Member of the 1991 Madrid Seven, when we drew straws to trash a hotel room, Omar got the short one & never complained. He will be sorely missed.

Bob Ando. A great director with whom I worked with on & off at Middle Eastern Broadcasting for years. Master of bridging the awkward English/Arabic divide whilst half cut, Bob was a true old-schooler with the confidence to stay on one camera for more than three seconds.
I learned a lot from Bob, he once asked me over talkback: 'Is 30 seconds long enough to get that 40-piece band off stage...and their chairs? Because it was Bob, I said yes.
I worked my very first audience show with Bob, and, as I was fairly petrified, had the good sense to get me drunk beforehand. Just prior to addressing them he whispered 'Don't go to pieces or anything' in my ear. Thanks for that, Bob.

Bob & Omar...RIP.

Merry Christmas From Octopus 99

Top 10 Sword & Stab Films

#01 : The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad (1974).

#02 : Demetrius And The Gladiators (1954).

#03 : 300 (2006).

#04 : The Long Ships (1964).

#05 : Troy (2004).

#06 : The 300 Spartans (1962).

#07 : Conan The Barbarian (1982).

#08 : Jason And The Argonauts (1963).

#09 : Gladiator (2000).

#10 : Up Pompeii (1971).

Crikey, it's harder than you think coming up with ten Sword & Stab films. It would have been 'Sword & Sandals', but I spotted shoes in at least a couple of these timeless epics.

Tell me all the titles and win a Sack Of Christmas Shit.

Airfix 1:72 Astronauts

Oooo Yeah.

The Whizzer

Good to see The Whizzer back in comics.

This Just Don't Need A Title

Eat Mud