mildconcern.com

Because there is no greater comedy show than A Bit of Fry & Laurie.

M’coll Hugh Laurie and I are cooking up a project together. We will be working again soon. Sorry to be mysterious but more news when I can.

Monday, 14th May 2012 1:16 pm via Tweetbot for iOSReplyRetweetFavorite

@stephenfry

Stephen Fry

Soupy twist

ETA:

M’coll Hugh & I will be working together to voice the new animated feature of Oscar Wilde’s THE CANTERVILLE GHOST: http://t.co/x66DV3Ml

Tuesday, 15th May 2012 10:04 am via Twitter for MacReplyRetweetFavorite

@stephenfry

Stephen Fry

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I’m wading into political territory again so am going to be treading very carefully to avoid highlighting my ignorance about things like “budget”, “tax credits”, or “things that happened yesterday”.

Yesterday George Osborne (Chancellor of the Exchequer and owner of a villainous face) announced the Budget for 2012, a budget so important it starts with a capital letter. Whether this Budget is a good Budget/budget or not is for people with a better grasp on the contents of that red briefcase than me. What caught my attention was the introduction of tax credits for TV production in the UK.

Obviously anything being filmed in the UK is exciting news as there’s always the chance that I will stumble across something being filmed while ambling through London. But more interestingly is the reason Osborne cited for introducing the credit:

“It is the determined policy of this Government to keep Wallace and Gromit exactly where they are.”

Nice to know that our plasticine pals won’t be bailing from Bristol and that the Government is keeping a close eye on the duo. Clearly Osborne backed it up with other reasons, which you can read over at the BBC, but the fact remains clear; the MPs bloody love a bit of Aardman Animation and can’t wait to see what Wallace and Gromit get up to next. Bless.

Can’t wait for the Government to order an enquiry called “Whatever Happened to the Wombles?” or “Is There Room for Bagpuss in the 21st Century?”. Fingers crossed they forcibly bring back A Bit of Fry & Laurie, I miss those crazy kids.

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19th December 1925 – 5th March 2012

“Supercalafajalistickespeealadojus”

At his best:

At his most terrifying:

“Aa make Cupid look stupid.”

*The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Mild Concern

Oh, Geordie Shore, how I have missed thee. He’s back, she’s back, that one who slept with the one that has a head like a pea is back, the one that fancies that other lady but also likes to “pie” club rats is back – it’s just so nice to see our favourite reality stars return to their newly refurbished scatty warehouse by Newcastle’s river Tyne where they live the dream of 24/7 binge drinking, fornication and arguments.

It’s always been a bit of a mystery to me that Big Brother failed its way into cancellation (let’s not acknowledge Channel 5’s renewal of the show) when Geordie Shore is the more appalling show by far and probably shouldn’t have made it past a first series. Though, Geordie Shore is essentially the same as BB – a group of absurd morons get to live together for a period of time where they defile themselves and each other – but with the skank levels turned up a notch. Maybe it is the lack of needy begging that Big Brother forced on its viewers that makes Geordie Shore the ‘better’ show; instead of all the theatrics it just gets on with its outrageous shenanigans without Davina McCall eternally nagging us!

As a refresher here’s the line-up of the best that the North (yes, only two of the cast are actually from Newcastle) has got to offer:

Jay/Pea-head – Jay is the main man. He was the male lead in this fairy-tale show last year as he fought for Vicky’s love and somehow attracted all the other ladies with his disproportionately sized head to his beefcake body. This year he’s taking things slowly and discovering who he really is with new girl, Rebecca.

Vicky – Vicky is the mum. The girl who takes care of her babies when someone messes with them but can be a loose cannon when it comes to her own knickers getting in a twist (metaphorically and literally speaking). Last year she was all about Jay, this year she’s got a boyfriend outside of the house but really can’t keep her eyes off the new boy, Ricci.

Gaz & Charlotte – The Romeo & Juliet of the twenty-first century if there ever was one. These two slept together one and a half times and have constantly bickered, sobbed and screamed like having sex was a lawful commitment of monogamy ever since. We should expect more of the same this year. Although in last week’s episode Charlotte left, there are no doubts that she’ll be back in the arms of the man she hates to love soon. Awwww.

James – James is just hilarious. So far he hasn’t “pied” any “birds” but by gum he’ll keep trying and then shed a few tears about his efforts anyway. This season the girls have speculated that he’s actually gay. Let’s see where that goes.

Holly – Holly left the house last year after being bullied too much for being from Middlesbrough but now she’s 18 and as desperate as ever. She likes to take her top off more times than you can sigh during an episode and this year her main priority is having sex with James since no one else wants her. Keep aiming high, Holly.

Rebecca & Ricci – These two new additions to the show are just wrong. One comes across as a bi-polar call girl and the other makes more rape innuendos than we should be humanely able to take without throwing a shoe at the telly. Sometimes I can’t tell which is which.

Sophie – I’ve saved the best for last because even though Sophie often looks like the bad apple of the bunch she’s actually the nice girl. Sophie is the audience; she just sits around watching everyone else destroy their image indignantly before giving us humorous talking heads, narrating the day’s events with one-liners that could keep a t-shirt company in business for years to come.

I often watch Geordie Shore wearing a monocle and top hat whilst swirling a glass of scotch but to be honest, we could all look better than the people in that house if we sat watching it in our underwear, messily scoffing a McDonald’s. Geordie Shore just confirms that we enjoy watching television/people who make us feel better about ourselves. I don’t even question how much of the show is pre-determined anymore, just so long as it keeps churning out classic trampy goodness. Here’s to an exciting second series!

Geordie Shore airs at 10pm, Tuesdays on MTV – you can catch up with all the essential Geordie news and clips on their website here.

It is Christmas Eve and due to a combination of minor seasonal crises, I am writing this review on my phone while waiting in London (ha! I saw flocks of sheep on my way here) Luton airport. Combined with the likelihood of predictive text making itself known in unpredictable ways, this review stands a good chance of being ducking shiv. It’s all enough to put a dampener on your holiday spirit really but seeing the New York City Ballet’s The Nutcracker, would be more than enough to bring back the festive cheer.

For those who don’t know the story, The Nutcracker follows a young girl, Marie (also known as Clara), whose family are hosting a big Christmas party, the highlight of which is when Herr Drosselmeyer arrives with his amazing clockwork dolls. Marie is given a nutcracker in the shape of a soldier, which her obnoxious little brother Max (or Fritz in the Clara version) breaks. Drosselmeyer bandages it up and puts it in a doll’s bed under the Christmas tree before the guests depart and the children sent to bed. Later, Marie gets up in the night to retrieve her nutcracker and falls asleep with it on the sofa. Then at midnight she wakes up (or possibly has a really mad dream), to find that either she has become tiny or everything else in the room has grown huge; her nutcracker has come to life and is leading Max’s toy soldiers in a battle against mice.

When the nutcracker himself starts a sword fight with the seven-headed mouse king, he looks to be losing when Clara throws her shoe at the monstrosity. The distraction turns the fight in the nutcracker’s favour and he slays the mouse. Victorious, he reveals himself as a prince and whisks Marie off through a snowy forest to the Land of Sweets where the inhabitants, including Candy Cane and Mother Ginger and a bit weirdly, Tea, welcome them and put on a show.

The Nutcracker is the ultimate Christmas ballet and particularly family-friendly as a large proportion of the cast are (terrifyingly talented) children - the dancers playing Marie and the Prince are both 10. It’s a completely innocent fairy tale, no one’s bringing sexy back here (with the possible exception of a rather sultry Coffee). It’s similar to a pantomime in many ways, with men playing women, girls playing boys, and expressions are exaggerated to be seen in the back, which can be a bit weird when you’re treated to close-ups.

This New York City Ballet production of the George Balanchine version is especially beautiful, the set production values are sumptuous and it’s exquisitely staged. The music will also be familiar to most, even without knowing it. I can’t be the only one who thought the mushrooms were one of the best bits of Fantasia.

There are of course drawbacks to watching ballet on film – there has to be a reason why you’d pay the extra money to see it live after all – and during very busy scenes, such as the Christmas party, the camera often directs your focus to different areas to where you want to look. Overall though, my fears were far greater than the actuality and it’s significantly less hassle than flying to New York for the live show.

There are also bonuses to seeing the pre-recorded version. During the interval you would usually be queuing for the toilet or buying expensive mini tubs of ice cream, but this film takes you behind the scenes to see the set and chat to some of the dancers. This genuinely interesting side (at least for DVD extras geeks like us) did have two downsides though. A minor one is that it can take you out of the magic a little, after you’ve just been carried away by an especially dreamy snowflake dance. The major gripe is relentlessly upbeat presenter Kelly Ripa. Not bring well-versed in American soap operas, I initially thought she was someone associated with the ballet company and not used to presenting as she came off a bit hesitant and awkward when she introduced the film. However, it turns out that as well as an actress, Ripa has her own talk show, Live! With Kelly. It wasn’t just the optimism, which I could have excused given how enthusiastic I’ve been feeling about the ballet but how very put-on it was. No one could be so naive as to claim she had always thought that the stage-snow was real.

George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker is absolutely made for Christmas and is screening again nationwide on 27th December and I think you should see it.