It cannot be left at 35!

Call it an emergency posting, or call it "doing a 2014 round-up like everyone else" - I just couldn't end the year with having thirty-five posts. It's my least-favourite number you see, so here you go...

Okay, bit of a mixed bag, this whole 2014 thing. Started out in the worst way possible, with the death of a friend only a couple of years older than me. Following that was a reduction in my working hours (and obviously, a reduction in the amount of money I get), a slight mental breakdown on what should have been a fun night out, my first ever panic attack (leaving work in an ambulance, something surely everyone does at least once in their lifetime), a bit of confidence-shattering from a certain quarter, and of course, the deaths of four of the most influential famous people that I've known of - a quadruple devastation of Harold Ramis, Rik Mayall, Sue Townsend and Jim Petrie. What a bugger.

Somewhere in the middle of the "good/bad" spectrum, I developed a love/knack for ten-pin bowling. Went plenty of times this year, and thought it'd be my "thing", but then all the enthusiasm for it was completely shattered by the rude staff at the local Megabowl, one day in October. Never mind.

On the other hand, as in, the "good" end of it all, there's been plenty. Two great weekends working for Replay Events, proper "family unit" stuff there. I'd drop anything and everything to work with them full time, but there we go. Had a fun week in that London as well, went to a wedding, saw a few bands (Space for the third time, the Australian Pink Floyd Show, Republica and Half Man Half Biscuit for the first time - all better than anything), had the strange realisation that some people actually like me, and made a good handful of new friends, whilst also keeping up with slightly older friends, using the power of the Internet. It's a small island, maybe we'll all get to meet up someday in 2015? That'd be fun. Not all at once, obviously, I'm aware that some of you don't exactly get along, but it could still be fun.

Erm, quick round-up of cultural artefacts enjoyed this year? The only albums I heard were by those bands I went to see, so we'll give "Album Of The Year" to Half Man Half Biscuit's Urge For Offal, with the runner-up prize going to Space for Attack of the Mutant 50 Ft Kebab. Three films were seen this year, and only one of them I'd happily watch again, so we'll give the prize to Guardians of the Galaxy. The prizes for "Best Book That You Can Buy In Waterstone's Or Similar" go to Where's Dennis? by Wilbur Dawbarn, and Comics Unmasked by Paul Gravett and John Harris Dunning, and the award for "Best Book That You Have To Order Specially From The Internet" goes to TATP: Talk About The Passion by Ben Baker et al. Mostly for the chapters on Viz and Earl Brutus. I enjoy comics too much to pick a favourite, and this year saw (possibly) the most "new" purchases on my behalf since... 2006? Favourites include Up Yours! by Lee Turnock, this year's output by Eyeball Comix, States of Mind by Nigel Maughan et al, and the endlessly interesting stuff put out by The Comix Company. All of this and more will be "looked at" properly in 2015, if all goes to plan.

At the end of it all, I'm still in more or less the same position as I was in at the start of it all, only I now share my flat with an overweight cat called Gus, so there's an improvement at least. Oh, and there's only a couple of hours left of this year - I'm staying in on my own for the tenth year running, it's more enjoyable this way, definitely. Still didn't get time to find an appropriate "thing to enjoy" to go with this post, so instead you can have the "new year themed" comic that was posted here at the START of the year. Again.

It's Zig & Zag's Zogmany Special, from 1995. Written and drawn (mostly) by Kev Sutherland (who's acquaintance was also made this year!):

(More by clicking and so on)

Bowel-shifting

Every year since 1995, or at least whenever I've remembered or been able to, I try and find/purchase Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror, an annual anthology of "spooky" Simpsons comics. This year's was a bitter disappointment (in that it wasn't funny at all), but that's par for the course with The Simpsons these days.

Anyway, in that very first issue eighteen years ago, this page was in it:

That's Matt Groening listing a load of things that spooked him during his developing years. I'm going to have a go at doing that now! Probably the last opportunity I'll have to do something "thematic" for this month, so it's back to the comics after this. But just for now, here's as many things as I can remember that frightened, confused, perturbed or caused mild discomfort to me over the years...

Ray Harryhausen, RIP

We're running out of heroes here...

Xmas is here...

Well, Christmas Eve anyway. And there IS something special about Christmas Eve that makes it stand out more than any other day in the year, even more than "the big day" itself. Bill Murray (who else?) puts it best:

With this being the last post here before Xmas happens, I'd just like to say a MASSIVE thank you to everyone who's been following this thing since it started in July. Anyone who's commented on it or just looked at it, and obviously ANYONE can "do a blog", but... I'm still grateful, really.

So, in keeping with the season - join in!

Sing some songs:

Have some parties:

Be NICE for a change (or nicer than usual, if you're already nice):

Remember who your friends are (and that's ALL the time, not just at this time of year):

And overall, have a smashing Christmas:

Cheers!

When Telly Was Good, Part 2

Friday night is telly night! Well, it USED to be anyway. Nostalgic waxing... The Simpsons, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Top of the Pops, 999, Strange But True, Red Dwarf blah blah blah etc. All good shows, most readily available. What you CAN'T get in DVD box-set form are those dedicated evenings that used to be broadcast occasionally. Lots of different things, most specially produced, with a common theme and shown over the entirity of a Friday night.

Last week we had Weird Night, and this week we've got... Monster Night!

Originally shown back in 1998, around the time of the release of that Godzilla film that no-one liked, it's a fun evening. There's a 40-minute documentary about Godzilla and his mates, a Lee & Herring sketch concerning the world's nine scariest monsters (with Carol Vorderman), and the whole thing's separated by three fat men (Bill Bailey, Phil Jupitus and Chris Moyles) and Jonathan Ross's brother placing bets on a few monster fights.

The whole thing's been uploaded to YouTube by various folk, and I've put it into a handy playlist form below. There's a big chunk at the end missing - namely the two films that were shown on the night. So instead I've stuck in the trailers for those films. A poor substitute, I know, but it's an effort. Enjoy!

When Telly Was Good, Part 1

A long, long time ago, before everyone had YouTube or 700 channels, there was only four channels to choose from for entertainment, education, information or whatever. Also, if you just stuck a camera in front of a celebrity and filmed them planning a wedding or something, that didn't count as a TV show. No, back then, EFFORT had to be made for television stuff. There was still guff, obviously, but a few times a year, whole "theme nights" would be given over to a particular theme.

In December of 1994, BBC2 showed this:

Weird Night, a whole evening's worth of brand new, specially-commissioned programming focusing on strangeness, alternately presented by Roger Corman and a giant talking baby's head. Beginning with a round-up of the year's strange news (narrated by Tom Conti), there was also a series of talking-head bits of people recounting odd incidents that had befell them, a documentary on America's last travelling freak show, an episode of The X-Files, a short film concerning urban legends, a panel discussion within the Ripley's Believe It Or Not! Museum in Blackpool (featuring Bob Rickard of Fortean Times, amongst other people), and then "weird movies" until dawn.

And here's one of the few good things about modern media - YouTube means that we can watch the GOOD TELLY, again! Some kind-hearted soul out there has uploaded Weird Night in its entirity (minus the X-Files episode and the "weird movies"). And through the magic of playlist-embedding, here's Weird Night, all three hours and ten minutes of it.

So go on, cook yourself a big shepherd's pie, grab an extra large mug of tea and a bag of Liquorice Allsorts and settle down for an evening's viewing of GOOD TELLY:

Guide to Economic Survival

I've seen this done on other blogs, so why not on my one too? These are some of the things I've acquired over the last few weeks.