- Joined
- Aug 3, 2001
- Messages
- 7,240
Put me in the never seen either camp.I'm in the North too, I've never seen it either. It'll be London area I'll warrant.
Put me in the never seen either camp.I'm in the North too, I've never seen it either. It'll be London area I'll warrant.
Probably explicable in context. But.
Not an AdTurd as such, but I was watching Channel Five earlier tonight (Well. sometimes you have to, I don't make a habit of it) and the show was "Britain's Best Christmas Adverts". All the familiar ones, yes, and some obscure gems from the archives like Twink Home Perms from the 1950's. ("look your very best for your man at Christmas") Most of it was familiar and fun. But for about 15 minutes presenter Julian Clary, for it was he, went off on a tangent about something I'd honestly never, ever, seen before and had no idea existed. This series of adverts has apparently been running every Christmas for four years and have been a huge, huge, hit, earning big awards from ad industry luvvies and big prizes for creative excellence. But I just do not remember ever having seen them, and this is not a thing you'd forget - cuddly cute teddy bears called the Bair family flying into Heathrow every year for a family reunion, the ads morphing into a year-upon-year mini soap opera. Full of schmaltz and schlock, as you might expect in December, but basically inoffensive. It was just that... I'd honestly never, ever, in my life, seen them. Ever. Anywhere. As if all this had dropped in fully-formed from a parellel universe somewhere else. You think - how can you miss this? Have I been asleep? not paying attention? Did I see them and my brain has been wiped afterwards?
Then it occured to me - I live in Manchester-ish. Is it the case that these have only ever been screened in London and possibly the wider south-east? If so... how the hell can they then be called Britain's favourite Christmas TV advert, if the largest part of Britain never saw them? Another case, as tvtropes puts it, of "Britain is Only London"?
Or else.... I really have crossed into a parellel universe....
Some things never change.I have an old Observer magazine, late '80s I think, kept for a particular article, which features a reader's letter grumbling about some Observer series of pieces about England actually referring only to London!
Probably explicable in context. But.
Not an AdTurd as such, but I was watching Channel Five earlier tonight (Well. sometimes you have to, I don't make a habit of it) and the show was "Britain's Best Christmas Adverts". All the familiar ones, yes, and some obscure gems from the archives like Twink Home Perms from the 1950's. ("look your very best for your man at Christmas") Most of it was familiar and fun. But for about 15 minutes presenter Julian Clary, for it was he, went off on a tangent about something I'd honestly never, ever, seen before and had no idea existed. This series of adverts has apparently been running every Christmas for four years and have been a huge, huge, hit, earning big awards from ad industry luvvies and big prizes for creative excellence. But I just do not remember ever having seen them, and this is not a thing you'd forget - cuddly cute teddy bears called the Bair family flying into Heathrow every year for a family reunion, the ads morphing into a year-upon-year mini soap opera. Full of schmaltz and schlock, as you might expect in December, but basically inoffensive. It was just that... I'd honestly never, ever, in my life, seen them. Ever. Anywhere. As if all this had dropped in fully-formed from a parellel universe somewhere else. You think - how can you miss this? Have I been asleep? not paying attention? Did I see them and my brain has been wiped afterwards?
Then it occured to me - I live in Manchester-ish. Is it the case that these have only ever been screened in London and possibly the wider south-east? If so... how the hell can they then be called Britain's favourite Christmas TV advert, if the largest part of Britain never saw them? Another case, as tvtropes puts it, of "Britain is Only London"?
Or else.... I really have crossed into a parellel universe....
Very few people. I stopped going because of other people and their annoying habits.Who goes to the cinema these days?
l stopped going because of other people and their annoying habits.
Very few people. I stopped going because of other people and their annoying habits.
Also, going on my own has limited appeal.
I used to do that. Cheaper not to go out to the cinema, with their inflated prices.Going to a cinema on your own is one of life's little pleasures. You don't have to talk to anyone, explain a plot, etc - you can order another glass of wine without being frowned upon, then go out, look what else is on, and then do it all over again.
I used to do that. Cheaper not to go out to the cinema, with their inflated prices.
A Blu-Ray can be cheaper than that.
I used to do that. Cheaper not to go out to the cinema, with their inflated prices.
A Blu-Ray can be cheaper than that.
Yeah but the big screen - sometimes you need to just see something on the big screen.
As soon as cinemas started looking like supermarkets and then mobile phones became affordable, it was game over for anyone hoping to watch an uninterrupted film. I remember reading a news report from America about 20 years ago, some woman decided to answer a phone call during a show, someone else tapped her on the shoulder to ask her/tell her to shut up, tempers flared on both sides so she was able to successfully sue the individual on the grounds of 'assault'.Very few people. I stopped going because of other people and their annoying habits.
Also, going on my own has limited appeal.
I remember going to watch Octopussy .. and KRULL which I think was in 3D ... and you got local shops adverts on the big screen, then you'd get a short film of some sorts, probably a cartoon before the main feature then the curtains close and the lights go up .. the woman with the ice cream tray stood in the middle, you get your ice cream then the lights go down and the curtain opens again and the film starts .. then it stops at a good bit, the curtain closes again, the lights go up again and she's back! .. and you look save your wooden propeller shaped ice cream scoop just in case you might need it one day or you dump it in the ashtray attached to the back of the seat. Then you all talk about the film afterwards on the way out because the internet hasn't been invented yet.I was put off cinema when they closed the box office, forcing you to buy tickets at the concessions stands. The waiting time was increased by people ordering snacks as well as tickets. I never really enjoyed the 3D experience all that much either as the glasses darken and desaturate the picture. Plus the soundtrack has increased by a few decibels in the music and action sequence but dialogue is sometimes muffled and hard to make out. Shame really, I used to love cinema and literally went to see everything. Now I buy blu rays when they’re released, open a bottle of wine and enjoy the movie watching experience at home.
Yes! It was extra special back then, with the fancy curtains opening and closing.I remember going to watch Octopussy .. and KRULL which I think was in 3D ... and you got local shops adverts on the big screen, then you'd get a short film of some sorts, probably a cartoon before the main feature then the curtains close and the lights go up .. the woman with the ice cream tray stood in the middle, you get your ice cream then the lights go down and the curtain opens again and the film starts .. then it stops at a good bit, the curtain closes again, the lights go up again and she's back! .. and you look save your wooden propeller shaped ice cream scoop just in case you might need it one day or you dump it in the ashtray attached to the back of the seat. Then you all talk about the film afterwards on the way out because the internet hasn't been invented yet.
Cigarette smoke everywhere .. teenagers snogging on the back row .. Mothers marching there children out if there was nipples on screen .. fake red velvet seating and gold colour painted plaster of paris stuff on the walls and staff with torches telling off people .Yes! It was extra special back then, with the fancy curtains opening and closing.
An intermission in the middle of the film so they could sell you more ice cream? I’d be taking my custom elsewhere!I remember going to watch Octopussy .. and KRULL which I think was in 3D ... and you got local shops adverts on the big screen, then you'd get a short film of some sorts, probably a cartoon before the main feature then the curtains close and the lights go up .. the woman with the ice cream tray stood in the middle, you get your ice cream then the lights go down and the curtain opens again and the film starts .. then it stops at a good bit, the curtain closes again, the lights go up again and she's back! .. and you look save your wooden propeller shaped ice cream scoop just in case you might need it one day or you dump it in the ashtray attached to the back of the seat. Then you all talk about the film afterwards on the way out because the internet hasn't been invented yet.
Fair enough, they tried selling cocaine first but we kept beating the woman up .. it was the 70's so that was OK though ..An intermission in the middle of the film so they could sell you more ice cream? I’d be taking my custom elsewhere!
I’m in the group of no longer going because it’s not a pleasurable experience, get it on blu Ray when it comes.
Might have been a different song in a different house then. Ask your cousin about it.I've got one for y'all. A 50-plus year false memory that was just resolved today.
When I was a child of 5 or 6, a cousin of mine had a Pink Floyd album called Piper at the Gates of Dawn. I LOVED that thing, and would rush to the record player the minute I got to her house and beg her to play it. My favorite song on the album was called Free Four. I distinctly remember my mother being disturbed by me skipping about the house blissfully chirping "For you are the angel of death
And I am the dead man's son" etc.
Flash forward to this morning . I was talking on the phone to my son, and the conversation turned to music and eventually to Pink Floyd. I told him about the album and song I had loved so as a child, and he said "Ma, that song was on Obscured by clouds and you'd have been like 10 or something'
But when I was 10, neither my cousin nor I would have lived in the same houses where I remember this all happening. It's a weird feeling.
Oo-er, missus!It's a joy to watch the old organ rise up, under the expert fingers of an master!
Sounds like an ideal job for Sven or Samantha.It's a joy to watch the old organ rise up, under the expert fingers of an master!