From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V14 #66 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Monday, March 9 2009 Volume 14 : Number 066 To unsubscribe: e-mail ecto-digest-request@smoe.org and put the word unsubscribe in the message body. Today's Subjects: ----------------- Today's your birthday, friend... [Mike Matthews ] Ashes to Ashes/Brit and US TV [Adam Kimmel ] Re: Ashes to Ashes/Brit and US TV [Ellen Rawson ] Re: here they come... [Ellen Rawson ] The Bird and the Bee, Bell House 6 March [Karen Hester Subject: Today's your birthday, friend... i*i*i*i*i*i i*i*i*i*i*i *************** *****HAPPY********* **************BIRTHDAY********* *************************************************** *************************************************************************** ********************** Tim Steele (no Email address) ********************** *************************************************************************** -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Tim Steele Fri March 08 1963 Pisces Matt Bittner Thu March 12 1964 Pisces kIrI Hargie Fri March 13 1970 Pisces Bob Dreano Thu March 13 1958 Pisces Randall K. Smith Sat March 15 1969 Pisces Jessica Skolnik March 16 Pisces Patrick M. Kingsley Sat March 17 1962 Yin/Yang Alan Sodoma Thu March 18 1965 LuckyLurker Richard Konrad Sat March 18 1944 Pisces Daniel Wed March 18 1959 Wednesday's Child Kim Justice March 18 Pisces Barry Wong Thu March 19 1970 Merlin Graham Dombkins Fri March 19 1965 Pisces Ian Young Wed March 19 1969 Squiggol Jeff Wasilko Wed March 19 1969 Pisces Geoff Carre Sat March 20 1954 Pisces John Stewart Sat March 21 1970 Aries Bob Brown Thu March 22 1951 Ham Valerie Nozick Thu March 25 1971 Aries Tom Proven Sat March 27 1971 Eat at Joe's Jennifer Albert Wed March 30 1966 Aries (w/Cancer rising!:) Warpaint Mon April 01 1991 Brilliant! Michael Pearce Wed April 03 1946 Pegasus Michael E. Bravo Mon April 05 1971 Dandelion Wine Brion McIntosh Sun April 06 1958 Aries Marcel Kshensky Thu April 06 1950 Aries Bill Mazur Mon April 06 1953 Aries Sun/Cancer Rising David Dixon Tue April 07 1970 Aries Heidi Heller Mon April 08 1974 Aries - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Mar 2009 01:57:34 -0800 From: Adam Kimmel Subject: Ashes to Ashes/Brit and US TV I loved Life on Mars, but was really disappointed in Ashes to Ashes, mainly because of Keely Hawes, the time -traveller in this one. I've seen her be good in other stuff, but I thought she was just glib and shallow in this, and I think they were trying to set up a sexual chemistry between her and Gene Hunt. And we all know what a bad idea that is, don't we? It also didn't have the grit of the original, using the 80s setting to be a bit more camp. I think I'll give the second season a miss, but I'd love to see the US version of Life on Mars. I'd also like to see the original pilot they shot, set in LA. Liked Whitechapel: it was fairly formulaic (posh DCI, rough-diamond underlings) but built up a good, gruesome head of steam, even though there was a predictable coda that set up a further series. I had Being Human recommended to me, but only got to see a couple of episodes in. Wasn't totally taken with it, but then couldn't catch up with it. It's a problem with some Brit series: they only last six episodes, are often put on at odd times and now on odd channels ("Wait, was it BBC 1? 2? 3 or 4? More4, E4?") and i've often tried to follow a series only to find, by the time I've sussed out the scheduling, that it's either so far on I'll never catch up (Damages) or it's gone entirely. I have enough trouble recording Mad Men and Dexter, which I think are supreme US tv. sometimes I have to be selective. Otherwise, I'll never get through my box set of West Wing. Adam K. np: epocheclipse, a Hawkwind anthology, which I'm thoroughly enjoying. ____________________________________________________________ Receive Notifications of Incoming Messages Easily monitor multiple email accounts & access them with a click. Visit http://www.inbox.com/notifier and check it out! ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Mar 2009 04:10:10 -0700 (PDT) From: Ellen Rawson Subject: Re: Ashes to Ashes/Brit and US TV - --- On Sun, 3/8/09, Adam Kimmel wrote: I had Being Human recommended to me, > but only got to see a couple of episodes in. Wasn't > totally taken with it, but then couldn't catch up with > it. It's a problem with some Brit series: they only > last six episodes, are often put on at odd times and now on > odd channels I caught the original Being Human pilot last year (only one of the original actors is in the series), so perhaps I was better equipped for the show; with episode one, they did sort of expect you to have seen the pilot. The fact that BBC3 repeats it a lot helps me catch it; we saw the next-to-last episode a few nights after it was aired originally. The last episode of this series (and it's been picked up for a second series) is on tonight -- BBC3, 9pm. ("Wait, was it BBC 1? 2? 3 or 4? More4, > E4?") and i've often tried to follow a series only > to find, by the time I've sussed out the scheduling, > that it's either so far on I'll never catch up > (Damages) or it's gone entirely. I have enough trouble > recording Mad Men and Dexter, which I think are supreme US > tv. sometimes I have to be selective. Otherwise, I'll > never get through my box set of West Wing. That's why I've not watched Damages -- I missed it when it was one originally. The same went for The Wire. One of my colleagues is going to loan me his box set of The Wire series one when he's finished with it. :) Mad Men I watch 'live'. Series two is on at 10pm on BBC4 on Tuesdays, so I'm at home. I watch it and then go to bed when it's finished at 10.45pm. Sometimes I'm grateful that these US shows aired at 10pm are shown on the BBC. Without any ads, the one-hour long US shows are cut to 45 minutes! :) 30 Rock, on the other hand, I'm behind on already. It's aired on 5US at 9pm on Friday. We've been out the past two Fridays and I forgot to set the DVR. It's the second series, and they're showing two at a time, so I've missed four episodes. Oh well. I found out yesterday they're repeated at 5pm on Saturdays, but we're often out then also. I'm starting to add such TV shows to my Lovefilm request list so that I can catch up, when, like 30Rock, I've seen a few episodes but not all. I don't want to buy box sets of shows I might not really want to own -- but do want to view once. Ellen ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Mar 2009 04:19:15 -0700 (PDT) From: Ellen Rawson Subject: Re: here they come... - --- On Sat, 3/7/09, Michael Pearce wrote: > Meanwhile, I have been seeing a couple of pirated shows > from Britain: White Chapel, a dark 3-part miniseries about a > modern-day Jack the Ripper, and Being Human, an alternate > universe where vampires and werewolves and the like are > trying to be mainstream (and doing it without any > TrueBlood). Neither is terribly Ecto, though. As a Being Human fan, I have to say that it's not meant to be an alternative universe. It's our universe -- with vampires, werewolves and don't forget ghosts. Annie would be very unhappy if you forgot her. :) Being Human concerns a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost sharing a house together. Although that concept sounds like the start of a joke (a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost go into a bar together... :), it's a drama. The rest of the world, the unsupernatural types, live on in our ignorant bliss about the supernaturals in our midst, until, like George, the werewolf, he's dragged into it all unwillingly. There's one episode when one of the characters is accused, wrongly, of being a paedophile. If they only knew his real secret... http://www.bbc.co.uk/beinghuman/ Unfortunately, I don't think you can download episodes if you're outside of the UK. Adam made a good point about a major difference between UK and US series. UK shows tend to have a short run -- maybe six or eight episodes, opposed to the longer seasons US shows tend to have. You miss one episode here, you may have missed a lot. And if you're busy, you may miss half the series. Ellen ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Mar 2009 15:19:50 -0400 From: Karen Hester Subject: The Bird and the Bee, Bell House 6 March The Bird and the Bee are from the musical Land of Retro and Twee, with loungey Bacharach, Italian disco and girl-group touches to their electronic pop. It's not a place I visit often, but their melodies are catchy and live show a lot of fun, so I was a happy tourist. They're on Blue Note, which isn't inappropriate. Singer Inara George and the three backing musicians wore short nightdress outfits with plastic collars and shiny ribbons, one in yellow, one in green, one in blue and Inara in white and yellow. There were choreographed back-up dances and hand-claps for the two keyboardists which would have been too cutsey if it wasn't a bit shabbily done, amusing them as much as us. The 'bee', Greg Kurstin, was anonymous behind his deck of keyboards and computer. He has worked with Lily Allen and Sophie Ellis-Bextor and their own sound is similar. Enjoyed songs like 'Again and again', 'Polite dance song' and pop charmer 'Love letter to Japan' (check out the cute video). Inara made lots of unnerving eye contact during 'F*cking boyfriend' ("would you be my f*cking boyfriend?"), and again during 'Birthday' ("I will love you..."), which was less unnerving. A soaring atmospheric slower number (dunno name) touched on early Goldfrapp territory and was lovely. I would have been happier without the covers of Hall and Oates' "I can't go for that" and the Bee Gees' "How deep is your love?" - the arrangements fit well with the rest of the set but the annoying songs stuck in my head. The latter was in the Sex and the City movie apparently; wish bands could get noticed more for their own pop chops than covers or songs with swearwords in the title! Opener Obi Best was fine combination of female vocals, odd guitar noises, keyboard and disco-y computer beats. Some of the audience were big fans. To me their quirkiness sounded like they were new to song-writing and their instruments rather than being the result of careful crafting, but I'm sure some ectophiles would like them. K ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Mar 2009 12:31:30 -0700 From: birdie Subject: Re: The Bird and the Bee, Bell House 6 March hell yeah, i'd be her fu*king boyfriend ;-0 i LoVed the hand-claps and dance steps when I saw them on one of those late night talk shows...the backing vocalists were totally fab.. thanks for the review - glad you got out to see them On Mar 8, 2009, at 12:19 PM, Karen Hester wrote: > The Bird and the Bee are from the musical Land of Retro and Twee, with > loungey Bacharach, Italian disco and girl-group touches to their > electronic pop. It's not a place I visit often, but their melodies > are catchy and live show a lot of fun, so I was a happy tourist. > They're on Blue Note, which isn't inappropriate. > > Singer Inara George and the three backing musicians wore short > nightdress outfits with plastic collars and shiny ribbons, one in > yellow, one in green, one in blue and Inara in white and yellow. > There were choreographed back-up dances and hand-claps for the two > keyboardists which would have been too cutsey if it wasn't a bit > shabbily done, amusing them as much as us. The 'bee', Greg Kurstin, > was anonymous behind his deck of keyboards and computer. He has > worked with Lily Allen and Sophie Ellis-Bextor and their own sound is > similar. > > Enjoyed songs like 'Again and again', 'Polite dance song' and pop > charmer 'Love letter to Japan' (check out the cute video). Inara made > lots of unnerving eye contact during 'F*cking boyfriend' ("would you > be my f*cking boyfriend?"), and again during 'Birthday' ("I will love > you..."), which was less unnerving. A soaring atmospheric slower > number (dunno name) touched on early Goldfrapp territory and was > lovely. > > I would have been happier without the covers of Hall and Oates' "I > can't go for that" and the Bee Gees' "How deep is your love?" - the > arrangements fit well with the rest of the set but the annoying songs > stuck in my head. The latter was in the Sex and the City movie > apparently; wish bands could get noticed more for their own pop chops > than covers or songs with swearwords in the title! > > Opener Obi Best was fine combination of female vocals, odd guitar > noises, keyboard and disco-y computer beats. Some of the audience > were big fans. To me their quirkiness sounded like they were new to > song-writing and their instruments rather than being the result of > careful crafting, but I'm sure some ectophiles would like them. > > K ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V14 #66 **************************