A surprising number of topics, all in one entry...

[rozk]

I will be in deep mourning for my beloved show 'Six Feet Under' which concluded its life last night. It was not my first or only love, but I am impressed by the fact it managed one of the best last episodes of anything ever, with its flashes forward to the weddings and deaths of most of the principal characters, its refusal ever to clarify whether the appearances of the dead were hallucinations, dreams or ghosts (or all of the above on occasion) and its teasing little hints of fragments of story not told ( Maggy is at a doctor's office - does this mean she is pregnant with another of Nate's children? Apparently Claire marries Ted years later after meeting him again at Keith's funeral - what is the story here? One of Keith and David's sons appears to have a male companion at various funerals and weddings...Rico and Vanessa clearly make their peace with the Fishers after setting up their own firm). I loved all of these people and I will miss them.

And, being stupid, I never went to look at the obituaries page on the HBO site.
http://www.hbo.com/sixfeetunder/obituary/episode61.shtml

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I did a discussion of fanfic with Sheenagh Pugh for The Verb, which will air on BBC Radio 3 on Saturday night at 9.30. And will thereafter be on their website www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/theverb

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'The Corpse Bride' is nowhere near as good as 'Nightmare Before Christmas' but is still sweet-natured and Depp-filled. The main problem is that it loses the annoying parents far too soon, and that there is not enough complication in the third act. What few songs there are are particularly splendid - I may have to find a cheap copy of the CD somewhere.

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Everyone is asking what people want to know, or what they think, happened at the end of their fics. Consider me included in this meme, gagged from katemonkey.

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Similarly, a lot of people are using Nov 2nd to memorialize their dead. This strikes me as a good idea. I am not going to state which of these are the most important or say anything particular about them, not on this occasion.

But here are the people I loved or knew or cared about or in at least one case hated that are dead, and should not be.

Pat Caldwell; Roger Baker;George Kant; Steve Francis; Philip Core; Angela Carter; Richard Evans; Big Pearl; Linda Gold; Paule Marie Angele Searle Sr; Stacey Fairfax; Kathy Acker; Ros Stott; Bonnie Falconer; William Jordan; Lorna Sage; Andrew Smart; Liz Young; Andy Popper; Margaret Jordan; Meg Kaveney; Joseph Hugo Kaveney; Judith Beale; Selena Ulrich

They are all missed.

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I have been including reviews and other bits of published journalism. Is this pure ego, or would people like this to continue? I have a profile of George RR Martin (with one egregious error in it) and a review of a book on Anthony Burgess in the current Time Out. I will post them here if someone asks me to...

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And as for Blunkett, gloating is almost a duty. This is a man who wanted to raise the age of heterosexual consent rather than liberalize the law on gay sex, who tried to introduce regulations that would have thrown a lot of trans people out of their jobs and careers, who was always one of the vilest of Blair's toadies. If, having sold out on youthful idealism, he was not very good at being a class traitor, and made a serious mess of his personal life and of his grovelling in the trough of advantage, this is not a source of sympathy, as far as I am concerned.

Yes, he made an impressive career in spite of crippling poverty and disability in youth. The question though is, did he learn from this to respect other people's struggles? And the answer is, he did not. Much of what is worst about the New Labour Government passed across his desk sooner or later. And he was far too fond of thinking something a good idea simply because it would be denounced by people like me.

He managed that difficult project, being a more horrid Home Secretary than Michael Howard.

And he is not dead, just disgraced. That's just, well, peachy.

Comments

[supergee.livejournal.com]

I enjoy your reviews.

[paratti.livejournal.com]

Votes for posting.

[badger.livejournal.com]

[Six Feet Under]: I am impressed by the fact it managed one of the best last episodes of anything ever

Indeed. I was stunned by the sheer unexpectedness and perfection of the last part of the final episode.

As for posting: sure, go ahead. I don't read _Time Out_, so it's not redundant in the least for me.

[10zlaine.livejournal.com]

Roz,

ya just got to post the Martin!

:-)

[fastfwd.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear. And hear, hear. And post--here, here.:)

[fastfwd.livejournal.com]

P.S. A couple of weeks ago, I was in Neal's Yard and saw James Cromwell walking around with a couple of other people.

[yabyumpan.livejournal.com]

I enjoy your reviews (even if I rarely respond) so please continue :o) I'm looking forward to listening to you talk about fanfic on The Verb. It's interesting how this is becoming more public lately. There was a discussion about fanfic on breakfast tv a few months ago. I can't remember which channel or who was on but they talked about everything from Jane Eyre to BtVS, fanzines to on-line. Interesting stuff.

As to Blunkett, I must admit to a smirk when I heard the news. I just hope he doesn't do the phoenix thing like Mandleson. Scumbags the pair of 'em.

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

I saw that piece on breakfast tv. That was also Sheenagh Pugh and the woman who wrote the sequel to something like Gone with the Wind.

Blunkett

[calimac.livejournal.com]

It's interesting that he's managed to fall from grace twice. Like Mandelson.

This is what happens when the toads are permitted a return to power. We all know who's responsible for giving them a second chance.

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Please keep the reviews flowing. It's often the only way I get to read your writing.

NB: your opinion of Blunkett is far more mainstream than you appear to believe ...

[fjm.livejournal.com]

Keep the journalism please. I don't see either the TLS or TIme Out very often.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Yes, please, if a vote from a random interloper counts, keep posting reviews: they are much appreciated.

And yes on Blunkett too: amazingly, he's managed to find a new kind of vileness to add to all his previous, with his "oh, but surely the rules don't apply to me" attitude.

BLUNKETT

[dmsherwood53.livejournal.com]

You say much of what I want to say about the man better than I could say it . Regret the dasmage his passing will do to Blair thoi B. is hardly one of my poster boys.
2nd thots on the last it go go -whateveris the reverse of pear-shaped with the repressive side to Blair's proposals being diched . Likely not.

[smallship1.livejournal.com]

He'll be back. Nothing can shift this lot, not disgrace, not overt criminality, not (I'm starting to suspect) death. We're stuck with them till Mr Tony gets voted out or otherwise leaves the political arena...and then we get the even worse crowd.

Depressed? Moi? Surely not... *does a couple of desultory dance steps to demonstrate sunny and optimistic nature, falls over*

[ex-kharin447.livejournal.com]

Did Blunkett ever have youthful idealism? My impression was that he practiced a particularly nasty brand of authoritarian politics from beginning to end.

Hope you don't mind my friending you; oursin recommended your journal.

[rozk.livejournal.com]

Yes, but at least in the early days it was vaguely socialist authoritarianism, rather than self-serving apolitical crap authoritarianism.

He used to be part of a movement that was about improving things, and then he became a Blair hack which is all about making a lot of noise...

Remembering the dead.

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

November 2 is the feast of All Souls (the follow up to All Saints) so it is the time that the church remembers all her dead.

I'm also friending you if you don't object.

Re: Remembering the dead.

[rozk.livejournal.com]

It is one of those things which I miss from having ceased to be a believer. And so have decided to do it anyway.