This is the coolest thing in the world. Ever.

http://tinyurl.com/bxrj4

A Cock & Bull Story

Last night I went to a BAFTA preview screening of Michael Winterbottom's (24 Hour Party People) new film, A Cock & Bull Story, based on the 16th Century novel, The Life And Opinions Of Tristram Shandy.

It's a genuinely brave film, and stars Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as themselves, making the film adaptation of The Life And Opinions Of Tristram Shandy. Confused? You will be. It's self-reference overload, and could easily have gone terribly wrong and been a dreadful film. I'm pleased to say that they pulled it off in style. This is a movie to look out for - it's laugh-out-loud funny and brilliantly clever. Coogan and Brydon work fantastically as a double-act, and the rest of the cast is filled with well known comedy figures, from Stephen Fry to Dylan Moran. Oh, and Gillian Anderson off of the X Files.

After the screening we were treated to a Q&A with Steve Coogan and Tony Wilson. Coogan revealed that he's working on a new character comedy series for transmission next year, that he and Rob Brydon are discussing projects for future collaboration, and that there's "20% of truth" in the stories about him and Courtney Love.

Space Cadets: WTF?!

Can someone expain to me what is entertaining about Space Cadets?!
So we're watching a group of people who think they're training to be space tourists. Only they're not really. They're gonna go in a space shuttle, but it's actually a set in an aircraft hanger. Funny joke? Well, it might be, but in order to fool the contestants successfully, there is obsessive attention to detail. It's not like they're being made to do silly tasks, they're having lectures, seminars and training. Whoever thought this would make good TV? There's no entertainment value in it at all! When all is revealed, the contestants will feel disappointed. We already know it's fake, so there are gonna be no surprises for the viewers - oh, except that one of the actors who is in on the gag fell ill and had to leave.
I really don't get it. If someone can explain the appeal, please do.

I'm going to be rich!!

Hey, check out this email I got today:

Dear sir,
 

I am Mr.Edward Sing, Executive Officer (CEO) of Hong Kong Import & Export Co, Ltd.Our company  deal on Raw Materials eg cocoa,rubber,Cassava,non-metallic minerals such as Calcite, Barytes,Manganese Dioxide,Dolomite Mica China Clay,Mangnese Dioxide,Ferrous (Iron) etc and some ancient art works,we export them into Canada,America and Europe.We are searching for representatives who can help us establish a medium of getting to our costumers in Canada/America and Europe Presently,we are been owed up to $90,000 and the company in question has agreed to begin installmental payment.If you are willing to assist, you would be paid 10% of the total sum you collect on behalf of my company in any transaction that is passed through you to our company,All you have to do is send to us your full name,detailed mailing address,tel and fax numbers.Once you have done this,I would instruct the company to send the check to you which you would deposit into your account.When the check clears you would then pay the balance, you will be given the opportunity to negotiate your mode of payment which we will pay for your services as our representative.

North West Comedy Awards

Last Friday night saw the North West Comedy awards here in Manchester. A truly glitzy affair of glamour, comedians and c-grade celebrities. (Apparently Joan Rivers was there, but I didn't see her.) The night was hosted by Bradley Walsh, with highlights including a tribute to the recently departed and under appreciated Hovis Presley. Johnny Vegas was genuinely humbled when accepting the 'Les Dawson award for services to North West Comedy'. I was at the bar with him earlier in the evening, when the ridiculously slow service was beginning to take its toll. He offered to put on a celebrity hissy fit to see if it would help the cause. (It didn't, sadly.)


My final memory of the evening was of sitting opposite a well-known soap star who was possibly even more drunk than me. He was chatting up a young lady, and insisting that she would make an absolutely fantastic actress...

Summer has jumped the shark

I've just got back after a couple of days down in 'that London' doing a DVD authoring course. So if anyone needs a DVD Studio Pro certified 'Apple Pro User', then get in touch!!

What's going on with the weather? Spring was pleasant, then we had a few months of dismal, unpredictable climate, and then since September we've had more consistent sunshine and heat than all of July and August combined! Summer should be rebranded 'Winter 2' in my opinion.

Anyway, unfortunately the second podcast has been delayed - 'cause the material we recorded last week was all distorted and crappy, but we're hoping to get something done before the weekend. That depends on my powerbook adapter arriving though - I stood on the plug a few days ago and completely buggered it! So am waiting on a replacement. The events of the Ducie Bridge comedy night were somewhat memorable, though - so we'll be sure to recap on it faithfully.

Coming Soon: The Ducie Bridge Podcast

Yes folks.. I was expecting to upload it tonight, but errm, it requires some editing: it's the first ever podcast recorded at the Jucy Ducie comedy night in Manchester. Drunk hecklers... stage humiliation... and the firing of guns - don't miss The Ducie Bridge Podcast...

I Pity the Fool

Just read this on Media Guardian:


Format of the week: I Pity The Fool, in which the A-Team's Mr T gives advice and a helping hand to people in tricky situations. Really. It goes into production in the US next month.

What connects Madonna and John Shuttleworth?

A splendid evening was had by all last night, as we went to see 'versatile singer/songwriter' John Shuttleworth at the Lowry in Salford Quays. John is in fact a comedy character who is something of a cult figure. He sings ditties such as Shopkeepers in the North are Nice, Betty Turpin, and his very own Eurovision entry, Pigeons in Flight. My favourite of his new tunes has to be Shepherd's Pie: "That shepherd's pie was stunning/ But I'm half way through my pudding/ I can't go back to savory now..."

But to add to our excitement, we spotted a celebrity in the audience! None other than local popster Badly Drawn Boy. Now this isn't the first time we've bumped into Mr Gough - for we also spotted him at one of the Madonna gigs in Manchester last summer. So now I'm assuming that he has similar tastes in popular culture as me and my friends, and I will document any other sightings so that we may build up a profile of what the Drawn one does for fun. I'm going to see Johnny Vegas on Friday, and so will be sure to look out for him there...

Ritchie puts a gun to his head...

You know when you hear bad things about a film, but you kinda want to make your own mind up, then you find yourself thinking 'yup, the critics were spot on'? Well this afternoon I went to see Revolver. Put it this way: the crowd must've been psychic when they started booing at the premiere. The film really is absolute pony. The first third of it was kind of 'okay', but then it just descended into complete and utter nonsense. It takes a big dog to drop a stinker of that magnitude.

But I am a born optimist, so in a desperate attempt to be fair to Mr Ritchie he is definitely a very talented director, and the film's 'look' is pretty cool and stylish. For his next project I believe he just needs two things: a) a script he hasn't written himself, and b) a producer who isn't afraid to say "No!".

Sky News finally gets something right...

6.6.04

Check out this short film, but watch the film before reading the comments:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/filmnetwork/A3753579

Grim up North

Someone sent me this description of Manchester from Lonely Planet. It has to be one of those most colourful blurbs I've ever read on this fair city:

Manchester is looking up. Gone are the Dickensian days of grinding poverty. Gone too the gloom'n'doom of the 1980s indie punk scene and its Joy Division pessimism: over the last 15 years the city has developed a champagne-for-breakfast insouciance and an almost giddy attitude toward fun.

That's ridiculous. I haven't had a champagne breakfast for weeks.

Which mother f*cker ate all the pies?

Northern English industrial towns continue their invasion of popular culture. I've just heard of a somewhat bizarre situation last week, where hip-hop gangsta superstar 50 Cent, fresh from performing a gig at Manchester's MEN Arena decided to go lay down some tracks at a recording studio in Wigan! Now Wigan does have a proud musical heritage, being home to Northern Soul and the Wigan Casino in the 60s, but nowadays it's better known for its pork pies and pier, than world class gangsta rappers. Nevertheless, Fiddy and the G-Unit recorded 6 tracks at Red Cat Studios, and were "really down to earth, very friendly, very funny and loved their sweeties", according to manager Allan Murrell.

No Sex Please, We're British?

According to Media Guardian, the UK now has 5 times as many porn channels as anywhere else in Europe. While British viewers have a choice of 27 blue movie outlets, the Germans have 5, the Spanish 2 and Italians just 1. That's right folks: 27 channels with nothing on!

Incidentally, there are now 416 TV channels beaming into UK homes; that's 170 more than French viewers have and 323 more than German viewers are treated with.

Preston Federline?!

Congratulations must go to Britney Spears-Federline on the birth of her baby boy. But people across the UK are asking: is Britney trying to copy the Beckhams by naming her child after his place of conception? Or does she simply not realise that Preston is an industrial town in the north of England?! Personally, I suspect the latter. But she can be proud that her first born shares a name with the town that housed the first ever KFC on British shores, and where R2D2 now lives. Or maybe she's a cricket fan, for Preston is also home to England's latest hero, Andrew 'Freddy' Flintoff...

More about Preston here.

With Bush accepting responsibility for the slow response to the Katrina disaster, this article published by National Geographic in October 2004 makes chilling reading:

http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0410/feature5/

The Edinburgh Fringe Podcast

Hello!
Welcome to the homepage of the Northern Quarter Podcasts, which will normally be brought to you from the Northern Quarter district of Manchester, UK. However, our first podcast is a special edition, taking us to the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh. Which celebrity apologises to us? Which 80s gameshow host gets nostalgic? How many unicylces can one spot on the Royal Mile? And how does one get two comedy fans to see a high-brow play?

All this and more, in the Ed Fringe Podcast!!!!

Click here to listen!