Just a day after we had our Strictly 2008 line-up revealed, the BBC has released a (cinema) trailer for the other Saturday night biggy, "Merlin". Strictly Come Dancing starts in earnest on my birthday - 20 September - so let's hope this does too.
Looks a lot more promising than "Robin Hood" which I quickly gave up on. Colin Morgan looks pretty cute despite the haircut and big ears, and so does the actor playing Arthur.
I know I'm not the only blogger to be perplexed by how people find me, but some of yesterday's crop had such bizarre combinations of search terms and landing sites I thought I'd share some of them.
I'm a little disappointed that the next series of "Strictly Come Dancing" is rather low on male totty - the only one I go for is 'veteran' swimmer Mark Foster, last seen at the Beijing Olympics, where he held the Team GB flag in the opening ceremony a mere 20 days ago. Anyway, we've got no less than three ex-Eastenders too and that woman from "The One Show" out to raise her profile. Official preview clip below, taken at the shoot for the opening titles (hence the green screen).
I'm a bit perplexed by my visitor stats of late. I thought it was the Olympics stealing away my readers but now that's over and the slump isn't (the dip around 17 Aug was self-inflicted when I changed the blog template and temporarily switched off the counter).
Up until this month, my stats recorderded around 800-1000ish page loads per day regularly - now it's half that! My returning visitor counts is also down. What happened folks?
It's 15 years ago now, and my fave show of the year debuted here on Sky One this month - Deep Space 9. I remember this kicking off my Sunday nights followed by a pint or two at the World's End pub in Finsbury Park, admiring the Australian barmen.
Sean Maguire is the totty pick. He appeared as Aidan Brosnan in "Eastenders" from January to December 1993, narrowly missing a Christmas Day demise. Sean later went on to star in "Dangerfield" and "Sunburn" here before gaining stateside credits in "The Class" and fronting "Meet the Spartans". Least said about the pop career the better ...
Apache Indian's "Boom Shack-a Lak" ended up as my favourite track of the year, even though he has since suffered the humiliation of a "Never Mind the Buzzcocks" line-up. This week the parent EP was at No6.
Departing the top spot for No2 was Freddie Mercury with a posthumous hit - Living On My Own.
Culture Beat had toppled the Queen frontman with this dance hit - Mr Vain.
4 Non-Blondes featuring songwriter Linda Perry dropped to No9.
Billy Joel enjoyed something of a comeback with "River of Dreams" - this week down to No5.
My tennis-themed post with Gregory Yuri in June has not left my top 10 most popular list so here's another Brazilian beauty, baring this time on the golf course. Enjoy.
Unless you're reading this on a feed you can't help but have notice I've changed the formatting on the site again. Should be stable for a while now as it achieves the compromises I wanted. I had to go outwith Blogger for the template and it was a bit fiddly but I rather like it. It works best on Firefox and Safari - looks a bit odd in Internet Explorer from what I've seen.
Some people have noted that the 'naughty' blog had gone - it hasn't but it will. The link just moved from the topmost part of the page but still remains lower right (now in black). However, I'm putting in far too much effort for, frankly, zero feedback and I'll probably stop updating from the end of this month. All is not lost though as the latest posts from ALL the blogs I subscribe to on Google reader are now in a similar panel, in the near right column. Note that this means I haven't picked the posts that appear specially, so beware what you might see. All these posts now come with a credit for whichever blog they appear in.
Seeing as we're not travelling back far this weekend (a mere SIX years), here's a spot of double-retro by way of the cameo strewn opening to the third Austin Powers film, "Goldmember" which was on release this week in 2002.
The Sugababes dislodged Darius' Colourblind and enjoyed a solitary week at No1 with this, but it was my fave track of the year - Round Round. It was written by no less than 12 people (including the girls themselves)! Just who toppled them from the top will be revealed when I put up the Retro Totty for 2002 ...
Also falling - to 18 - this week in 2002 were Scooter with a cover of The Logical Song (aka Ramp!). I quite liked the novelty of this at the time, before this squeaky/thumping style became annoyingly dominant for the likes of Cascada and Basshunter, destined mainly for ringtone culture.
Dropping to no20 was Nelly with a suitably summery observation - Hot in Here - one of the ubiquitous background tracks of the year. Well, the lyrics do lend themselves to certain situations ...
In the album chart, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers remained at No1 with By The Way. The highest new entry was at no9 for Royksopp - Melody AM.
On your tellyboxes, the first revival of Crossroads was in it's last few breaths (before the second, desperately camp, revival in early 2003 really nailed the coffin lid shut). The titles are above for those of us who enjoyed this version the best.
Something else by the same name was about to do very rather well though.
Also of note was that we were between two high watermarks of reality TV. Big Brother 3 had ended the previous month and the housemates were enjoying their limited shelf life. This was the one that was won either by Kate Lawler or Jade Goody, depending on your perspective. But reality TV fans were just about to be tickled by the debut of "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here" - the first zelebs were flown out to Australia this week.
Camper than a row of tents this one - not released as a single, but one of my favourite numbers from the Village People movie, "Can't Stop the Music" which was in cinemas in August 1980. This is a rather overlong edit (I'd start at 2.20 mins) of "The Milkshake Song", featuring 'all-in-white' and kiddie versions of the band. Arlene Phillips choreographed the dance sequences.
Going in the other direction is Kelly Marie's "Feels Like I'm in Love", which rose to No16 this week but eventually topped the chart. I remember those backing dancers, who were always dressed even more ridiculously than Kelly herself. Remarkably, the song was originally earmarked for Elvis Presley, but he died before it could be recorded.
Another Scottish lass, Sheena Easton, rises to no3 with '9 to 5' - which infamously clashed in ethos with the rather more feminist "Modern Girl" which was about to rejoin this track in the same chart. Easton got very lucky with breaks after this, soon singing the next Bond theme then going on to star in "Miami Vice" and work with Prince.
I get the feeling jumpsuits and spandex were in that summer ...
William Higgins did about five of these 'school' themed features a few years back. Like 'Airport Security' they seem to have died a death, but this is my favourite I think.
My totty of the week is Christopher Atkins (19 in this month) as we're between US and UK releases of "The Blue Lagoon". Atkins went on to follow a slightly stereotyped career, posing artistically nude for "Playgirl", filling out speedoes as 'Peeder' in the 1983/84 series of "Dallas" and as a student/male stripper in "A Night in Heaven". I recall he had a heart attack or suchlike on set of that and that's certainly when he started going below the radar. His role as "Ricky Rocket" did win him the dubious honour of a worst actor"Razzie".
Dusty Springfield - I Close My Eyes and Count To Ten. Dusty beginning to drift off that iconic 60s look (platinum bouffant and panda eyeshadow) by this performance, where she's gone for 'Georgian redhead'. In this week she'd climbed to no6. The next month Dusty went Stateside to record "Dusty in Memphis".
And one place higher climbs this rare vocal outing by Herb Alpert - coincedentally covered by Dusty Springfield on her next album - This Guy's In Love With You. The track is on the album "The Beat of the Brass".
I'm more a calendar boys man myself but I did appreciate this pic to publicise the new stage version of the 2003 film. Opens in Chicester next month but hopes to transfer to the west end.
The fairly familiar cast (from left) are Gaynor Faye, Patricia Hodge, Sian Phillips, Lynda Bellingham, Elaine C Smith and Julia Hills. Brigit Forsyth (unpictured) also features.
From today until November with the RSC. This production also stars Patrick Stewart (as Claudius). These are actual pics - it's done mostly in modern dress apparently.
I've always loved the versions by Dionne Warwick and Adam Faith (published as "Message to Michael" and "Message to Martha" respectively) but this is another fine rendition, despite Rufus slightly odd tones.
Another couple of shots I've taken recently. One is a close up of a rhodedendron on the Dalmeny Estate and the other was taken along the River Cart in Glasgow looking towards Pollokshaws East station above.
The latter was taken last Saturday evening when it was glorious weather in the city.
Back when I first moved in to the new flat I posted some snaps of what I see from my window. Those were taken in the early morning in early May. Here's three more I took in late June around 10pm at night when it brightened up after a summer shower.
Not decided yet whether to put these in the main retro blast post or just follow up in the week.
Anyway, first up on the retro totty front is actor Christian Roberts, who was 24 in 1968. I'm cheating slightly as these shots both come from his role as Denham in the previous year's "To Sir With Love" but I first remember lusting after him in the 1968 Bette Davis film "The Anniversary" (which I'd urge everyone to see). In that he looks more mod than rocker and I do believe you get a flash of his tight white y-fronts in it too! (Trailer below)
This is something I've wanted to do here for a while but there hust weren't enough archive resources available - now I think there are. This is especially after I was pointed in the direction of the Chart Stats site which is a monumental effort of catalogueing the UK music charts from the early 1950s to the present day. Where it scores over others is by having the entire chart for each week online, both singles and albums. Bravo to the webmasters there as this will provide the foundations for my new feature. Also indebted to YouTube, Wikipedia and others.
My choices will come from the first 40 years of my life and will flit all over the decades. The only other restriction is that consecutive choices must be at least five years apart. I've a schedule drawn up until the end of the year which I hope to follow. The feature will be dated for the Sunday, but may appear before then, depending on my internet access.
I'm starting, not entirely randomly with this week in 1968. For arguements sake it's the one ending Saturday 10 August. It's made more complicated in this era as the week ending dates on the charts are Thursdays. That's on top of matching them up to the right week of 2008!
Second highest climber (to no4) are Simon & Garfunkel with "Mrs Robinson", from "The Graduate" (as well as the album "Bookends" which itself had just climbed to the runner-up spot in the album chart).
Highest new entry at no27 are The Bee Gees with the death row anthem, "I've got to Get A Message To You"
Meanwhile Tom Jones was at No1 in the album charts as well as climbing to no7 in the singles with the jaunty "Help Yourself"
This was also the week that "X Files" actress Gillian Anderson was born and the second episode of "Dad's Army" was broadcast on BBC1.
Can't really go without a "Doctor Who" mention for the closing Saturday of this week saw a season launch. Though two later seasons began at the tail end of August this was doubly unusual as it made for a very short break between seasons - the previous one had only bowed out on 1st June for a repeat of the previous year's "Evil of the Daleks" 7-parter. In fact season six was being split in two to accomodate the Mexico City Olympics in the autumn and the first ten episodes had been pulled forward. The opening story, "The Dominators" has not got a great reputation among fans, mainly for its inept handling and anti-pacifist message. It's best known for those little fellas to the left - the Quarks - one of two squat monster races brought in to attempt to replace the Daleks (Terry Nation had taken his ball away basically) and failing. They're a nice curiosity but never really menace the viewer as they look even more like condiments.
At five episodes "The Dominators" was indicative of the sprawling nature of the coming season where the average episode count for each story was greater than six - there's only one four parter in it!
Back in the real world Richard Nixon won the US Republican Party's nomination for President and the Clint Eastwood film "Hang 'Em High" was released in this week.
Dusty Springfield - I Close My Eyes and Count To Ten. Dusty beginning to drift off that iconic 60s look (platinum bouffant and panda eyeshadow) by this performance, where she's gone for 'Georgian redhead'. In this week she'd climbed to no6. The next month Dusty went Stateside to record "Dusty in Memphis".
And one place higher climbs this rare vocal outing by Herb Alpert - coincedentally covered by Dusty Springfield on her next album - This Guy's In Love With You. The track is on the album "The Beat of the Brass".
Second highest climber (to no4) are Simon & Garfunkel with "Mrs Robinson", from "The Graduate" (as well as the album "Bookends" which itself had just climbed to the runner-up spot in the album chart).
Richard Harris' epic version of "MacArthur Park" was on the slide at No8 in the singles chart. It came from the film musical, "Camelot"
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Titch enjoy a "Last Night in Soho", also slipping to no9.
Highest new entry at no27 are The Bee Gees with the death row anthem, "I've got to Get A Message To You"
Meanwhile Tom Jones was at No1 in the album charts as well as climbing to no7 in the singles with the jaunty "Help Yourself"
