My Holiday Viewing

The observant will notice I haven't been posting here much. The reason is that my OK-job took a nose dive and became a horrendous job, which has been taking up a lot of energy. I actually have a conditional offer of another job but it will take up to eight weeks to get the checks done. Meanwhile HR graced us with a visit today and because the woman could see I wasn't OK asked for a chat. The upshot is we mutually agreed I could leave immediately and so I have some weeks off and can watch the huge heap of DVDs I have. Don't get too jealous, will you?

What I have in store (and which I may well blog about) is-

I have already started watching The Day of the Triffids, which I have somehow managed not to see until now. I haven't even seen the film from the sixties. I suspect the reason is that having eye trouble myself it has always been too close to the bone, but since my bones are currently far more likely to fall apart, that is less of a worry. It seems to follow the well-established trope of social collapse following an Event, and since my own interest is far more in the rot which supports so-called civilisation, perhaps that's another reason it never appealed. You will rightly see it compared to Survivors - it has the same feel and look. On first watching it strikes me as one of the Greats.  It raises many a reflection on our world - the example I have just seen is that relationships will move towards polygamy in the new world. I think I will be keeping this. The original Triffid which decorates this post comes from here.

I have two series of Kojak to watch, I have seen Kojak before and do rate it as a show, I just haven't been inspired to blog about it here. Telly Savalas was, of course, a very handsome man, in fact he looked just like me (and shared my attitude to clothes). The only thing is I have seen a picture of him having his head shaved with an electric shaver. Weakling. On the other hand he did a hilarious promotion video for sunny Birmingham.

Next up is Mr Palfrey of Westminster. I have no idea whether I will like it, because I bought it on the chance that it comes from the right time, albeit rather late, 1984. The synopsis on the box gives it an Avengers feel, since it is about an intelligence agent whose work is allocated by his boss, The Co-ordinator. I hope it lives up to my high expectations!

I am afraid I sold my disk of The Owl Service, but have kept wondering whether I gave it enough of a chance, so it's back in the pile.

On my mental list of things to watch has been the 1979 series Quatermass. Now there is a name to conjure with, and frankly I have always thought it would be a good name for a cat. I adore the original series, can go crazy over the Hammer film version, but didn't like the newest version. But then you knew that, didn't you. I see that Nigel Kneale thought this was the weakest version to date. There is something about the milieu of the 1950s, which makes the original ones sparkle, but I will see what the apocalyptic 1970s made of Quatermass.

The oldest series I have in the heap is The Four Just Men. It is ITC so I hope it, er, seems familiar and safe! I suspect that it won't feel quite the same, being older than the series I am familiar with, and also it was scripted by Edgar Wallace. I have seen some of his films and have found them rather uneven, but when they are good they are really good.

Have a great holiday!

Oh go on then, since you insist -