You Can't Handle the Truth.

I watched the pilot episode of The X Files tonight, having recently enjoyed the new series when it was shown on Channel 5.

I was surprised by how much detail I remembered, despite having not seen it for a good - nay, fantastic - twenty years. Some of the shots were alarmingly familiar, which I can only put down to the fact I'd probably been quite tense watching it first time around, as a younger, more easily scared Ephgrave. It's funny how these things lurk in your subconscious.

I found it hard to get over just how young Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny looked, particularly as I'd only finished the new series the other week. That's not to say that either actor hasn't aged well; more likely that my perception of age has changed through getting older myself. Anderson looks positively foetus-like, which isn't surprising, as she was only in her early-to-mid twenties, while Duchovny was around the age I am today. This passing time thing's a bugger, which ever way you look at it.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of the first series proper fairs on watching it again. Will it have aged well? We shall see. Whatever the case, there had better be a lot of torch shining, trouser-suit-wearing and ominous looking blokes smoking cigarettes. Let's be honest: I'm only in it for the possibility of seeing in David Duchovny in a thong, or Mr Burns being mistaken for an alien, whilst wandering through the woods. ‎

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Shakerpuppetmaker.

Have Parker from Thunderbirds and Noel Gallagher ever been seen in the same room? The resemblance is uncanny. So much so, I think something’s afoot. If my suspicions are correct, I've stumbled across a secret that will blow the music and puppet industry wide apart. In the mid-60s / mid-90s at least. It doesn’t take long to see the signposts. There’s the similarity between the name of Oasis’ first single, Supersonic, and Supermarianation, Gerry Anderson’s puppetry technique. The Gallagher brothers would often wear Parkas . Live Forever was clearly a reference to Captain Scarlet and Standing on the Shoulder of Giants to the size difference between Noel and his bandmates. The more you think about it, the more brazen it gets. It’s fishier than Area 51, Paul is Dead and JFK's assassination put together. The only glitch to the theory is scale . According to Wikipedia, Anderson’s marionettes were 1’10” and Gallagher is 5’8”. How does he maintain an illusion of avera...

Comedy That's Worth a Letch.

Today, I nipped to Letchworth to meet with illustrator (and one-time - two-time - comedy poet) Mushybees, to discuss an event Mostly Comedy will act as surrogate parents to as part of Letchworth’s Arts Takeover in a couple of weeks. Months ago he got into contact to see if we’d be up for co-organising a comedy stage as part of Letchworth’s weekend of arts-based attractions in July; something I’d provisionally said yes to, before things got hectic in the lead-up to Edinburgh and we didn’t take it any further. Despite not getting down to the nitty-gritty straight away, we managed to pull a line-up together in a back-and-forth of emails yesterday, leading to me getting Glyn’s blessing and us deciding we’d officially go ahead with it (whatever ‘officially’ means in this context). In reality, it’s not complicated: from 12pm until 6pm-ish on the 22 nd July, Glyn, Mushybees and I will host four Edinburgh previews from four acts (including me), before Nor...

"Heh Heh Heh Helection Half Hour."

Thursday morning’s a time I look forward to, as the episode of Hancock’s Half Hour that was broadcast that week becomes available to listen to on iPlayer, and consequently becomes the soundtrack to my bath. Today was no different, with this week’s instalment being the frighteningly appropriate ‘The Election Candidate'. In the episode, Tony is convinced to stand for parliament as a celebrity candidate (*cough* Donald Trump *cough*) and while it’s definitely one of the best - though let’s face it, pretty much all programmes that exist have stood the test of time wonderfully - my favourite moment has to be when Hancock is asked who’ll he’ll vote for, before he’s convinced to through his own hat in the ring. “Neither of them,” he replies. “I shall show my contempt by going down to the polling booth, taking my form, crossing both their names out and writing ‘get knotted’ in”. (Some things never change.) The episode was first broadcas...

mostly david ephgrave

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