I watch an awful lot of old TV shows from the 1960s and 70s with the kids. Partly this is because I refuse to fork out for the extortion racket that is Sky TV. The other reason is that a lot of old TV is actually very good family entertainment – even by modern TV production standards. Since we have had the Horror Channel on Freeview we have been able to pick up on quite a few old favourites on the daytime TV schedule (the later evening slots being most definitely not family friendly!) The latest favourite, at least with one member of the household, is the 1970s American TV adaptation of Wonder Woman.
I can remember watching Wonder Woman back in the 1970s when it was first shown on British television (I think it was BBC1). Aside from being escapist family entertainment I can recall that it was one of the few action fantasy series that really appealed to my mother. Watching it now is quite interesting as it is remarkably camp in a way I just wouldn’t have appreciated when it was first shown. Now it looks like what I imagine a U-rated Russ Meyer movie might have looked like. However, it is my daughter who really seems to enjoy it; possibly because rather than the female lead being the damsel in distress, Wonder Woman gets to take charge and duff up Nazis.
I think there is a theme here. We watched several episodes of another old favourite series of mine, The Avengers (as in the classic 1960s British adventure series and not the bollocks modern comic book films). Here it is the character of Emma Peel who appeals to my daughter. Now I suspect that the original casting was designed more in the “Something for the dads” mould (and I can never get over just how pretty Diana Rigg was back then) but the character is very assertive and really knows how to look after herself – even if her martial arts skills look much more teatime telly friendly than Enter The Dragon kung-fu on speed.
I think the link here is that for the most part action and fantasy adventure series are not aimed at the young women in the audience. The female characters tend to be selected either as an adornment to attract the lustful male audience or even worse as a mere MacGuffin to give the butch male lead something to lust after. Often when female characters are introduced as all-action heroines, the roles are badly written with the female lead merely being a muscle-bound action-man in a sports bra.
Occasionally sci-fi and fantasy writers do get it right. I asked my daughter who her favourite Doctor Who girl was and it turned out to be Leela, played by Louise Jameson, who was a primitive woman from a jungle planet but who was very independent spirited and knew how to look after herself (in fact the Doctor spent half his time saving the monsters from her). There are other examples in mainstream cinema: Sigourney Weaver creates a complex and convincing heroine in the character of Ripley from the Alien films – particularly in the director’s cut of the second film, “Aliens”, which adds depth and complexity to the character.
More recently I was very impressed by Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss in the Hunger Games films which again managed to portray a complex heroine rather than shoehorning a male role into a dress. Also, the only good thing about the recent Mad Max film was Charlize Theron’s performance as a women taking control of her destiny and, in other films, Jodie Foster is always worth watching regardless of which side of the camera she is on. I suppose there are many other examples out there but I do wish that makers of film and television action adventures would forget about their demographics and think about providing something positive for the girls.
Monday 29 February 2016
Sunday 21 February 2016
Bye Bye BBC Three
I’ve had to rig up my son’s TV this week so that he can use the iPlayer on it. I’d suggested this to him before as I have been rather concerned at him squinting at his phone and/or tablet watching streaming TV but he has actually gone for it this week as BBC Three is no more – at least it is no longer a terrestrial broadcast channel and is now an online only entity as, apparently, young people no longer watch television. Well my son did and his broadcast channel of preference was BBC Three.
BBC Three was never, exactly, my cup of tea but I do think it has had more of its fair share of good quality original comedy and documentaries and, importantly, I think it does appeal to that nomadic tribe of the population that are too old for children’s television but not old enough to satisfy themselves with arts documentaries and period dramas. The BBC is probably right in determining that the future for television is as an online streamed entity but giving up on the terrestrial broadcast channel like this is akin to the footwear salesman arriving at a village in the developing world and despairing because none of the locals are wearing shoes.
I suspect that part of the problem here is that TV executives don’t actually know what appeals to young people. I can recall when I was at a similar age to my son that programmes were made for the “yoof” TV audience by the likes of Janet Street-Porter (although she was possibly a bit later). I can recall watching these programmes but not particularly enjoying them as they appeared trashy, poorly made and, above all, highly patronising with their assumption that their target audience were half-witted, poorly-educated troglodytes. At its best BBC Three did connect with its audience but if they can’t count the viewers it is assumed that they don’t exist.
In the next few years we will see much more TV go online only with the broadcast channels merely a hook to advertise the premium streaming services. From a broadcasters point of view it must be the way to go: either by requiring an up-front subscription or by finally finding a way to force the viewer to watch advertising. They will also know exactly who is watching and will be able to sell this information on to whoever is willing to pay – be it advertisers, product placers or shady men in dark suits.
I suppose what I really miss with all this, and what marked the golden age of television, is that television was once a grand shared experience. The Royle Family slouched around the TV chatting aimlessly may have been an amusing stereotype but once it was a glue that brought both families and nations together. That time, I’m sorry to say, is passing with the generations.
BBC Three was never, exactly, my cup of tea but I do think it has had more of its fair share of good quality original comedy and documentaries and, importantly, I think it does appeal to that nomadic tribe of the population that are too old for children’s television but not old enough to satisfy themselves with arts documentaries and period dramas. The BBC is probably right in determining that the future for television is as an online streamed entity but giving up on the terrestrial broadcast channel like this is akin to the footwear salesman arriving at a village in the developing world and despairing because none of the locals are wearing shoes.
I suspect that part of the problem here is that TV executives don’t actually know what appeals to young people. I can recall when I was at a similar age to my son that programmes were made for the “yoof” TV audience by the likes of Janet Street-Porter (although she was possibly a bit later). I can recall watching these programmes but not particularly enjoying them as they appeared trashy, poorly made and, above all, highly patronising with their assumption that their target audience were half-witted, poorly-educated troglodytes. At its best BBC Three did connect with its audience but if they can’t count the viewers it is assumed that they don’t exist.
In the next few years we will see much more TV go online only with the broadcast channels merely a hook to advertise the premium streaming services. From a broadcasters point of view it must be the way to go: either by requiring an up-front subscription or by finally finding a way to force the viewer to watch advertising. They will also know exactly who is watching and will be able to sell this information on to whoever is willing to pay – be it advertisers, product placers or shady men in dark suits.
I suppose what I really miss with all this, and what marked the golden age of television, is that television was once a grand shared experience. The Royle Family slouched around the TV chatting aimlessly may have been an amusing stereotype but once it was a glue that brought both families and nations together. That time, I’m sorry to say, is passing with the generations.
Saturday 13 February 2016
Hidden Histories
I came across an interesting and potentially very useful facility from the DVLA this week. They have made the MOT history of cars available online. This is useful because it not only allows one to check if a vehicle has a current MOT but it also shows the past history of MOTs including items of failure and advisories (items which have not strictly failed the test but could do with attention) and also the mileage history. Importantly, this is not only for cars that are currently owned but for any vehicle so it is easy to check if those claims of the careful lady owner actually translate to a well maintained and cared for vehicle.
It also allows one to find out what happened to previously owned vehicles. Now, I’m not very good at remembering old number plates – in fact my usual way of finding my own car is to click the remote locking fob and see which vehicle lights up. However I do recall a couple of old number plates. First up was our old Nissan which we parted company with in 2001 with 150,000 miles on the clock and a rather knackered gearbox. I had wondered whether this was scrapped or repaired and it does appear that this was the latter. The MOT histories start in 2006 and the Nissan failed it with a huge list of emissions related issues at 171,000 miles and then passed 3 days later – presumably with a replacement lambda sensor. The last entry was a pass at 174,000 miles a year later so I expect it was finally scrapped sometime after that. Still, it looks like someone managed to get some use out of it for another 7 years and 25,000 miles after we parted company with it.
I did check another one of my old cars to see if anything came of it and was quite surprised to find quite some history. The car passed its first MOT in January 2005 with flying colours. It was then written off days later and, given that the entire front end of the vehicle was compacted and every air-bag, seat belt tensioner and other safety device had deployed the insurance company offered me the cash to buy an identical model from the local dealership rather than repair it. The vehicle would still have had some value, not least a perfectly serviceable Honda engine and gearbox and various items such as doors, seats and the like that a decent scrap dealer would be able to salvage and sell on Ebay. However, it looks like someone actually repaired the vehicle – and possibly not very well at that.
It first shows up in July 2016 with another 8,000 miles on it and illegally worn front tyres. This is quite some wear as the tyres were practically new at the time it was written off so I would expect some sort of fundamental wheel misalignment must have been going on. It also had mis-aimed headlights and a duff indicator bulb. It seems to have clocked up the miles quite happily until 2009 at 108,000 miles. By the next June this was magically down to 75,000. Then it put on another 5 thousand miles and failed on some remarkably similar items to the 2006 test. 2 days later it passed again but with another 20,000 miles missing (although that could have been a mistype by the garage). I’m assuming that it was put out of its misery sometime after that as that is the last we hear of it.
The great thing about the DVLA facility is that it allows a prospective car buyer to check all this in advance and I think anyone seeing the Honda’s history would have been alerted to a chequered history. However, I do think it would make sense to combine this with histories of serious accidents. The fact that a relatively new and valuable car was written off should have raised major alarm bells with potential buyers. Even taking that into account I think the facility is a great advance and, for once, government data is being used for the benefit of the people – at least the honest ones.
It also allows one to find out what happened to previously owned vehicles. Now, I’m not very good at remembering old number plates – in fact my usual way of finding my own car is to click the remote locking fob and see which vehicle lights up. However I do recall a couple of old number plates. First up was our old Nissan which we parted company with in 2001 with 150,000 miles on the clock and a rather knackered gearbox. I had wondered whether this was scrapped or repaired and it does appear that this was the latter. The MOT histories start in 2006 and the Nissan failed it with a huge list of emissions related issues at 171,000 miles and then passed 3 days later – presumably with a replacement lambda sensor. The last entry was a pass at 174,000 miles a year later so I expect it was finally scrapped sometime after that. Still, it looks like someone managed to get some use out of it for another 7 years and 25,000 miles after we parted company with it.
 |
| Written off? |
It first shows up in July 2016 with another 8,000 miles on it and illegally worn front tyres. This is quite some wear as the tyres were practically new at the time it was written off so I would expect some sort of fundamental wheel misalignment must have been going on. It also had mis-aimed headlights and a duff indicator bulb. It seems to have clocked up the miles quite happily until 2009 at 108,000 miles. By the next June this was magically down to 75,000. Then it put on another 5 thousand miles and failed on some remarkably similar items to the 2006 test. 2 days later it passed again but with another 20,000 miles missing (although that could have been a mistype by the garage). I’m assuming that it was put out of its misery sometime after that as that is the last we hear of it.
The great thing about the DVLA facility is that it allows a prospective car buyer to check all this in advance and I think anyone seeing the Honda’s history would have been alerted to a chequered history. However, I do think it would make sense to combine this with histories of serious accidents. The fact that a relatively new and valuable car was written off should have raised major alarm bells with potential buyers. Even taking that into account I think the facility is a great advance and, for once, government data is being used for the benefit of the people – at least the honest ones.
Sunday 7 February 2016
Mario the Dishwasher
My dishwasher decided to stop working last Sunday. This happened without warning and just after the thing had filled itself with water. I hate it when this happens as I’ve become rather used to having a machine dealing with my mucky plates. The pump appeared to have seized completely so I tried my standard “bloke” remedies: pressing buttons randomly; switching it on and off again; then shaking it vigorously on the basis that the hysterical device needed to get a grip and pull itself together. None of this worked.
Having the patience of a sinner I decided to give it up for dead and headed off down to the local white goods emporium to buy a new one. I’ll not embarrass them by naming them as such but they sound like they should be the family business of Paddington Bear’s miserable bastard neighbour. I had been to the shop a couple of weeks before to buy a new TV for my mother-in-law and had experienced the level of service that I have come to expect from such establishments: when actually wanting to purchase an item it is impossible to get served: only when idly browsing does one become swarmed by spotty faced shop assistants wanting to sell spectacularly overpriced extended warrantee policies.
I did manage to get the TV for my mother-in-law thanks to a helpful young gentleman called Jamie who even carried the box to the car for us. Unfortunately (or, as it turned out, actually quite fortunately) Jamie was on his day off last Sunday. I was standing, credit card at the ready, all set to spend several hundred pounds on a new dishwasher and yet seemingly surrounded by a cloak of invisibility. It’s not just this shop, either. I’m sure this is why Comet went bust as it was seemingly impossible to buy anything there either. If I could work out what it is that I do in these shops I’d patent it and sell it to the military because it’s got to be far cheaper than stealth fighter technology. After 20 minutes of standing around like a spare part I gave up, wrote down the model number of my desired dishwasher and went home to buy one online.
Having failed to acquire a new appliance I turned my attention to my other problem: the old one was sitting filled with water and semi-soiled dishes and cutlery. Emptying the dishes was easy enough but I thought that my best bet with the water was to syphon it off. I removed the waste pipe from under the sink and was sprayed by high pressure dishwater. The problem, it turned out, was that a cocktail stick had, at some point, been dropped down the sink and caused a blockage which eventually found its way back up to the dishwasher pump. I cleared this and the pump started to reluctantly pump water through. After flushing this with some water mixed with bleach everything started working again. I was saved the expense of a new appliance!
The lessons from this are firstly that I am far too impatient when it comes to broken down appliances but secondly that I’m actually not too bad with plumbing matters when it comes to it. I’ve actually fixed a few bits over the years whether it is blocked drains, leaking radiators or unflushable toilets. I was trying to think of a great plumbing role model and the only one I could think of was Mario from the Super Mario Brothers games. I‘ve tried playing these but found myself to be completely useless at them. However, my grandfather was also a plumber so maybe this is really what I should be doing? Having said that, I think it is something of a jump from fixing mistreated dishwashers to maintaining nuclear powered submarines on the Clyde. Perhaps I’ll just stick to swearing at computers?
Having the patience of a sinner I decided to give it up for dead and headed off down to the local white goods emporium to buy a new one. I’ll not embarrass them by naming them as such but they sound like they should be the family business of Paddington Bear’s miserable bastard neighbour. I had been to the shop a couple of weeks before to buy a new TV for my mother-in-law and had experienced the level of service that I have come to expect from such establishments: when actually wanting to purchase an item it is impossible to get served: only when idly browsing does one become swarmed by spotty faced shop assistants wanting to sell spectacularly overpriced extended warrantee policies.
I did manage to get the TV for my mother-in-law thanks to a helpful young gentleman called Jamie who even carried the box to the car for us. Unfortunately (or, as it turned out, actually quite fortunately) Jamie was on his day off last Sunday. I was standing, credit card at the ready, all set to spend several hundred pounds on a new dishwasher and yet seemingly surrounded by a cloak of invisibility. It’s not just this shop, either. I’m sure this is why Comet went bust as it was seemingly impossible to buy anything there either. If I could work out what it is that I do in these shops I’d patent it and sell it to the military because it’s got to be far cheaper than stealth fighter technology. After 20 minutes of standing around like a spare part I gave up, wrote down the model number of my desired dishwasher and went home to buy one online.
Having failed to acquire a new appliance I turned my attention to my other problem: the old one was sitting filled with water and semi-soiled dishes and cutlery. Emptying the dishes was easy enough but I thought that my best bet with the water was to syphon it off. I removed the waste pipe from under the sink and was sprayed by high pressure dishwater. The problem, it turned out, was that a cocktail stick had, at some point, been dropped down the sink and caused a blockage which eventually found its way back up to the dishwasher pump. I cleared this and the pump started to reluctantly pump water through. After flushing this with some water mixed with bleach everything started working again. I was saved the expense of a new appliance!
The lessons from this are firstly that I am far too impatient when it comes to broken down appliances but secondly that I’m actually not too bad with plumbing matters when it comes to it. I’ve actually fixed a few bits over the years whether it is blocked drains, leaking radiators or unflushable toilets. I was trying to think of a great plumbing role model and the only one I could think of was Mario from the Super Mario Brothers games. I‘ve tried playing these but found myself to be completely useless at them. However, my grandfather was also a plumber so maybe this is really what I should be doing? Having said that, I think it is something of a jump from fixing mistreated dishwashers to maintaining nuclear powered submarines on the Clyde. Perhaps I’ll just stick to swearing at computers?
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