Mysteries

Tonight I was at dinner with many people from 'my' generation. That is to say, people born somewhere (to be generous) from 1960 to 1970 or so.

Eventually, the objective of dinner was fulfilled, business was complete, and we settled down to yarn and tell stories as old people (haha) do. We resurrected many ghosts, even among those not dead: Mannix, Ironside, Hawaii Five-O, Knight Rider, The Wild Wild West, the inimitable Lynda Carter in Wonder Woman (and the forgotten Joanna Kara Cameron in The Secrets of Isis before that), glimpses of Steven Seagal in his prime...

The thing is that we were all acolytes at the dawn of colour television. We had participated in the nightly rituals of tuning the old black-and-white CRT displays, reducing hiss and static rain, twiddling the antenna, and even having our access blocked by the TV cabinet being locked. And now we are old, and that particular altar is no more.

Teenage Wasteland

For some reason, the lyrics for The Who's CSI:New York theme song seemed especially significant today as I went through many TV themes from the 1970s onwards. That, and the gripping bars of Morton Stevens's theme from Hawaii Five-O.

Here are Baba O'Riley's lyrics:

Out here in the fields
I fight for my meals
I get my back into my living
I don't need to fight
To prove I'm right
I don't need to be forgiven

Don't cry
Don't raise your eye
It's only a teenage wasteland

Sally, take my hand
Travel south crossland
Put out the fire
Don't look past my shoulder
The exodus is here
The happy ones are near
Let's get together
Before we get much older

Teenage wasteland
It's only a teenage wasteland
Teenage wasteland
Oh, oh
Teenage wasteland
They're all wasted!

Whose World? What Cup? (Day 02a)

Argentina-Nigeria was not as dire as Uruguay-France from the previous day. Both teams were somewhat entertaining, although they seemed laboured. The most amusing part was Maradona on the sidelines, who reminded me of Tattoo (played by Herve Villechaise), Mr Roarke's (played by Ricardo Montalban) sidekick, from the 1978 TV series Fantasy Island.

As I type this, the USA-England slugfest continues. It's been easily the most entertaining match so far, although the means by which Clint Dempsey equalised for the US was rather sad, more a failure of goalkeeper Robert Green to get behind the oncoming ball than anything else.

For some, life is a pitch. But for some, that's not quite the way it's pronounced. Heh.

=====

Well, the 1-1 scoreline lasted till the end. A fair result, I think.

Mandoon

Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire has got to be one of the funniest things around right now. It needs to be made into a DVD quick so that you can get all the juicy goodness in ONE package. For at the moment, it is YouTube which is hosting most of it. Probably illegally.

This show is all about a hero. And his kinky girlfriend. And his malfunctioning warlock other friend. And the big oafish Journey to the West kind of servant friend who hits the wrong people with his weapon. And so on. It is otherwise hard to describe, unless you like snorting food.

In other news, not so funny at all, there's been an outbreak of swine flu, this season's version of SARS. I remember writing this huge document on contagious disease protocols in a boarding school setting back in 2003. Somewhere out there, someone probably ought to be dusting it off and looking at it soon.

Serenity III: Firefly

Four years and four months ago, I was made very happy by Joss Whedon's Firefly. Up to this point, I think the only other TV series which made me this happy was The Lone Gunmen. I have enjoyed many other TV series, but these two have always given me the peace of mind that is marked by high good humour and a general (if sometimes slightly cynical) goodwill towards all people.

One of the many elements that makes Firefly so outstanding is the theme song, 'Serenity'. To this day, I think it is a song that speaks from my heart and to my heart about the world in which I have lived.

Serenity

take my love
take my land
take me where i cannot stand
i don't care
i'm still free
you can't take the sky from me

take me out
to the black
tell 'em i ain't coming back
burn the land
and boil the sea
you can't take the sky from me

have no place
i can be
since I found Serenity
but you can't take the sky from me

-joss whedon, 'Serenity' (theme from Firefly)

Serenity indeed.

Islanders

In an odd quirk of fate, I found myself on YouTube last night (and early this morning) in a very retro mood. Although I looked at many clips of TV themes from a bygone era, two in particular stuck with me for no particular reason.

The first one was Dad's Army, with its oddly cheerful lyrics. This show was a 70s hit about the British Home Guard. It's probably worth it (if you're a WW2 buff) to have a quick look at the opening sequence. The lyrics go as follows:

Who do you think you are kidding Mr. Hitler?
If you think we’re on the run...
We are the boys who will stop your little game,
We are the boys who will make you think again.

Cos, who do you think you are kidding Mr. Hitler?
If you think old England’s done.
Mr Brown goes off to town on the 8:21,
But he comes home each evenin’ and he’s ready with his gun.

So watch out Mr. Hitler
You have met your match in us.
If you think you can push us
We're afraid you've missed the bus.

So, who do you think you are kidding Mr. Hitler?
If you think old England’s done.

It's gems like that which make me remember my childhood in England with sometimes unnerving fondness. Quite a different gem (from quite a different bunch of islands), however, came in the person of the imperious Jack Lord and the 12-season hit detective series, Hawaii Five-O. If you have never seen and heard the famous intro sequence, here it is. I remember the later seasons showed a closing sequence of a bunch of canoeists battling through the waves. Stirring stuff.