The Lockdown List - Part 3: June

You've got the idea now, right?

By June, I was doing a few days of work here and there, but mostly still furloughed.

As the lockdown started to unlock a bit, there was more opportunity to get out and about so... I mostly didn't. Sure, it was nice to be able to do so when I wanted to, but on my own? Yawwwwwwn. I'm not great company for myself.

I did get a few long, solo, walks but being in a valley everything is up and I'm broadly exertion-averse, even though I really enjoy it when I'm out there. It's that initial motivation that's tricky.

But you didn't come here to read about my intrinsic inability to go and do exercise did you? (Even if the prospect of getting a glimpse into the strange inner workings of my mind and understanding how I can enjoy something but not want to do it can simultaneously exist without my mind exploding is tantalizing.)

So sit back, relax, and prepare to be mildly puzzle by what I read, watched and listened to in the month they're mostly calling "June".

Books

Jim Hutton with Tim Wapshott – Mercury and Me (1994): Confession - huge Queen fan. This book, featuring the reminiscences of Freddie's lover, Hutton, from their meeting to Mercury's death, could have been an insightful peek into the life of the rock God. Whilst there are a few interesting pieces, it's broadly a puzzling selection of slightly random stories about their time together, many of which go something like this: "We loved each other dearly - we had a massive fight - I moved out - cats and gardening - there was a lovely expensive present from Freddie (repeat)".

With the story subsequently told from different viewpoints, it's difficult sometimes to grasp if what you're reading is entirely real, although the intimate access Hutton had could simply mean that no-one else had the same experience.

It does appear he was pretty shabbily treated by those around Mercury after the singer's death, but the odd delivery of the story detracts somewhat from the impact. Overall, pretty disappointing.

Box sets

Black Books (C4): Somehow missed this the first time around (in the early 00's) - and I've therefore lacked the comedic joy that it brings until now. Featuring early sitcom roles for the wonderful Tamsin Grieg and Bill Bailey, the story centres on anti-social bookshop owner Bernard Black (Dylan Moran), his put-upon assistant Manny (Bailey) and nearby shop owner and friend Fran (Greig). With writers including Moran and the phenomenal Graham Linehan (whose credits also include Father Ted and The IT Crowd) it's a cracking slice of silliness and flawed characters who all need each other to survive. Recommended.

Upload (Amazon Prime): New, futuristic, bittersweet science-fiction comedy, set in a world where death isn't the end after all - you can simply be uploaded and continue your life in a virtual world and still interact with the living. When Nathan dies in a suspicious car accident, his possessive girlfriend has him uploaded, but now effectively owns him. Interacting with customer service rep Nora, he gradually falls in love with his real-world helper, and they set out to discover why some of his memory is missing and who killed him. I started off liking this for it's comedy value and well thought out jokes. Before I knew it, I was hooked on the developing love story and murder mystery. Great first series - more, please.

Cuckoo - Series 2 (BBC2): It's two year later and Cuckoo is missing (presumed dead) following a climbing accident in the Himalayas. Distraught Rachel (now played by a different actress) is trying to move on with her new, boring, boyfriend Ben until a handsome, but entirely bonkers, young American arrives, called Dale. Is he Cuckoo's son? Even more mayhem ensues as Ken and Laura try and cope with the new arrival, whilst teenage son Dylan is even more rude, out for himself and determined to have sex with neighbour Zoe than before. With party food-poisoning disasters, attempting to represent a client whilst high and trying to get a valuable book back from a dead guy, Series 2 is even more barking than the first. Funny, gross (including a room full of teenagers vomiting everywhere) and featuring great acting from all involved, it really feels like this fantastic sitcom really got going after some changes in personnel.

The IT Crowd - Series 1 (C4): Absolutely, unequivocally, one of the best shows on TV ever. An equal for Father Ted, Dad's Army or any other classic sitcom you can name. I'll willingly fight you to the death if you think otherwise.I must have seen these episodes dozens of times, but they still make me laugh out load every time. Jen, Roy and Moss are three of the best, over-the-top, characters ever written (that Graham Linehan again!) and the IT nerds and their computer-illiterate new manager are joined by an occasional goth colleague, a gung-ho CEO and a host of other strange folks in the surreal and hilarious universe of ineptitude that is Reynholm Industries (we never do find out what they actually do). I honestly do have a friend, who works in IT, who insists on calling this "The it Crowd", without irony. Maybe the show is more true-to-life than I thought...

Green Wing - Series 1 (DVD): Yes, I still own a DVD player. I don't just consume music via old formats, you know. Running to just two series, Green Wing was a Channel 4 sitcom from the mid-noughties, set in the fictional East Hampton Hospital. With frenetic sped-up or slowed-down elements, and suitably off-the-wall (and very catchy) score, the hopeless and hapless staff are played by a stellar cast, all on their way to greater success, including Mark Heap, Tamsin Greig, Stephen Mangan and Julian Rhind-Tutt. To be fair, it could have been set anywhere - the hospital is simply a convenient location for the charmingly daft slow-burn love story between Greig and Rhind-Tutt's characters, with glorious side plots involving the brilliant ensemble cast of mad, dysfunctional, hospital staff from the operating theatre to admin. Personal favourite is Sue White, the deranged HR Manager (played with aplomb by Michelle Gomez) - I have genuinely cried with laughter during her appearances. Watch out for National Institution Olivia Coleman playing the lovely, lonely, chaotic mumsy Harriet. It's not aging well (now feeling a bit too unwelcome-physical-contact-y compared to our current standards) but, like Friends, it's 'past the best-before date' values are outshone by it's innate funniness. Just two seasons exist. Shame. 

The Expanse - Series 2 (Amazon Prime): Properly hooked now! Finally managed to (mostly) figure out who everyone is ans where they fit in, and became even more invested in the survival of our scruffy, flawed, heroes. There's a nasty, neon-blue, extra-terrestrial thing and it's seemingly unstoppable and steadily turning into an extinction-level menace for the human race, in all it's argumentative Earth/Mars/The Belt forms. Strong secondary characters support the main cast this time around, the suspense is great and there are some genuinely startling visual moments, plus Space detective Miller gets killed. Or does he..?. Good news for me - Series 3 & 4 are also available already and Series 5 has been filmed and should be out later this year. Yee-ha! Best sci-fi/space opera/drama show in years.

Music

Continuing the sizable trip down memory lane, June saw me listen to every one of my vinyl album collection. From Karen Alexander (I think I won that one at a Fun Fair!) to Midge Ure, all 50+ 33rpm wonders got a run-out. Featuring large sections of ELO, Queen and Mike Oldfield, it was fabulous to give it it's first airing since 2011. With a few gems I've never subsequently picked up on CD, it was like a pint with an old friend. Lovely.

Coming soon to a blog near you... July!