Burblings

Tra-le-tra-lay! Here is what on my mind today!

1. Okay, so I’ve been told that The Big Bang Theory is something that I should be watching. Apparantly it speaks to nerds, a claim that I have in the past sneered severely at, as there is no way that a show created by the dude that also created Two and a Half Men speaks to my damn people. But the two times I have wandered past the TV when it has been on lately caused me to first encounter “klingon boggle”, and then “rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock”. Fuck, something that littered with Star Trek references is something I’m going to like, isn’t it? Shiiiiiiiit.

2. Reading all the press burblings from the Harry Potter and Half Blood Prince premiere (how excited are you for this movie? I AM SO GODDAMN EXCITED), all the focus on the three main stars has boiled down into “Dan Radcliffe is a PROPER ACTOR cos of all that naked theatre he did; Emma Watson is pretty and models for Burbury; Rupert Grint has swine flu.” Oh, dear me.

3. I had a dream last night that I was shopping at Marks & Sparks and had a trolley full of little tubs of trifle and copies of The Guardian. Am a little disconcerted at how content I felt after waking from this dream: the many trips to M & S to procure desserty delights and newspaper words while I was England-frolicking clearly left a giant glowing happy puff of a presence on my mind.

4. Also! I have been on the hunt for all the delightful Britishy foods that I became addicted to while away. I have found Oz suppliers for Minstrels and Irn-Bru, but a source of jaffa cakes continues to allude me, alas, for they are my favourite! And I only have three cakes left out of the billions of boxes I smuggled into the country (British people: send me jaffa cakes).

5. It is nearly Melbourne International Film Festival time! *squeeeeee* I went quite mad when tickets were released this morning. I may in fact be spending a solid week in a variety of cinemas. Eh, it’ll be worth it.

6. I am never going to get sick of having cocktails with Jen at 1806. Also I need to get over feeling less than classy for liking bourbon-based cocktails as much as I do.

7. I’m now off to watch Rachel Getting Married. I’m a bit ‘meh’ about the prospect, really, everyone I know has been bothering me the past few months with “Anne Hathaway should have won best actress, blah blah blah”, to which the Kate Winslet fan in me raises an eyebrow and drawls “Oh, really?” Hopefully it’s better than my expectations.

Risen From Zombification!

HAYLEY!? Where the hell have you been?

Jeeze, can’t someone run away to Europe for two months and use it as an excuse not to update her blog ever?

So, yes, I ain’t dead! And yes, SASS will rise once more from idleness into, well, back to hyperactive musings as soon as I get back into the swing of non-holiday life. Keep yourselves a-tuned.

The Best Day Ever! By Hayley, Aged 23 1/2

It is true, I experienced the Best Day Ever (TM) last Sunday. Come under the veil, let me show you the wonders I found.

Admittedly, the action didn’t get going till around six at night, though I had spent the day happy pottering around slowly as one should do on a Sunday, having an extended lunch and buying children’s books and whatnot, building up a congenial feeling of contentment with the day. The real excitement came as I met up with Jen for an evening of nosh, cocktails and comedy.

Having learnt from our previous drinking adventures, we prepared overselves with a fortifying visit to Lord of the Fries to chow down on stomach-lining chips and vegan nuggets. Oh lordy, those vegan nuggets. I don’t know what kind of soy-based product they make those things out of, I only know that they are delicious. Having thus armoured ourselves, we made our way to 1806.

1806 is a swish cocktail bar that I’ve see reviewed all over the place to pretty much universal praise and delight. It’s cockmail menu has won awards and everything (lawks!), and I was enamoured reading their online menu just purely for all the historical stories behind each of the drinks. Sunday night seems to be the time to make a visit, too, as it was nice and quiet as we strolled in, meaning not much of a wait until we were supping delicious concoctions.

I started off with a Pimms Fizz, as I cannot refuse something that involves Pimms (it is an addiction). It came in a glass the length of my forearm, garnished with wedges of lemon and a thick slice of cucumber. It was envigorating and refreshing as only Pimms can be, though I have to cheekily say that I think I prefer my own Pimms punch concoction better (though that may only be because I prepare it in a jug, meaning there’s a lot more of it!). Jen ordered a Peach Sour, which was appropriately named, being tart yet still pleasantly refreshing.

For our second and last round, I went with a Manhattan, purely because it came with a marischino cherry and I am an utter sucker for those. Usually I don’t do well with bourbon-based drinks, and although this one was strong as all get out, it left me with a little warm fire that burnt happily away in my belly, very pleasant. But Jen came away with the drink of the night, the Bitter Chocolate Orange Martini. Probably very similar to the opening cocktail we had that time at Cafe Vue, it was a blend of chocolate, gin, Campari and orange and oh goodness it was good. Subtle on the tongue at first, then delivering an absolute kick to the tastebuds. Divine.

Happily treading water in alcohol, and loudly voicing our intention to return to 1806 repeatedly in future, Jen and I made our way down to the Town Hall to join in some Comedy Festival fun. We saw Josie Long in her show All The World’s Wonders (Shown in Detail). I was a bit over-anxious for it to be awesome, because since I’m going to Europe at the end of this month I have zero spare dollars and really could only go to one comedy fest show, rather than going mad like I usually do and seeing as many as possible. BUT, I should not have feared, because it was all a gorgeous and enchanting affair. Anyone as wonderfully infectious and enthusiastic about learning as Josie was (because the show is all about the thrill of learning and discovery, and how we do, and especially collect, the strangest things in order to preserve knowledge) charms me in a second. Because who doesn’t love learning stuff?! (Nerds, represent) And it also features one of the best and most magical instances of audience participation I’ve ever seen, and was lucky enough to be a part of.

So bootle down and see Josie while you can, particularly if you’re sore about missing the blink-and-they-were-gone Daniel Kitson shows, because this show is the perfect balm, with the added bonus of having less bleakness and more jokes about stealing promotional pens (with accompanying mime! Oh yeah!). Also if you are feeling like a comedy tart, try to catch the Bedroom Philosopher and Hannah Gadsby too, because they are both super awesome and I wish I was seeing them. The end.

Hayley…

…may or may not have cried a little bit watching the new Star Trek movie trailer.

…

…

DON’T JUDGE ME!

Wake Up, Young Dragon, Let’s Go Get Compromised

Yesterday I got to see both the Watchmen movie, and also Of Montreal live. So it pretty much meant that I had the best day ever.

I won’t go too much into Watchmen, seeing as it’s only just come out and I don’t want to spoil peeps, but I have to say, even as an absolute comics nut…I kinda liked the movie better than the comic. I know, I know, I’m going to end up being dragged away to be shot against a wall by Alan Moore. I think it’s just because despite the story being AMAZING, the art of the comic never really grabbed me. I have an aversion to the classic ‘Superhero’ style of comic design, you know, overly muscled bodies, all the same sort of body types and expressions, they just seem so flat and harsh, and I find it difficult to read comics rendered in that style even if the story proves compelling (I had the same sort of trouble with some of the Sandman issues – love the story to bits, but some of the art? Blech). So seeing the story instead told with real people and astounding sets and costumes (and oh lordy thank god they updated the majority of the costumes from the comic. Can you imagine if Nite Owl had been running around in that brown hoodie contraption of a costume from the comic? BAHAHA!), I engaged with the story on far more personal level, and felt the characters more. And really, so much of the movie mirrors the comic down to mimicing actual panels that I didn’t feel that the story had been tampered with or truncated in any detrimental fashion. Fanatical fans of the comic may not feel the same, and probably will find plenty of things to irk them, but for me, it was all highly enjoyable.

Onwards to Of Montreal times! I think the experience of seeing Of Montreal live can be best described as equal parts music gig, interactive art installation and demented panto. Everyone were in costumes, and along with the band were a procession of performance artists: a cardinal who turned into a devil; mock battles between various costumed man-creatures (including Dinosaur Superman!) and a white-tuxedoed man with a tiger’s head; a pink-lyra bodysuited man who carried fruit in the, ahem, “package” area, and proceeded to extract said fruit, messily eat it, then throw the remains into the incoherent crowd. 

Speaking of the crowd, I thought I had encountered fanatical crowds before (indeed, had thought I’d seen the most fanatical crowd ever at Death Cab For Cutie a few weeks ago), but this was…this was different. The level of adulation kind of bordered on the scary if you could see what was going on in the front row. There was a group of guys and girls who were dead centre in front of the stage who were completely going out of their gourds – screaming with barely a pause for breath, grabbing onto any member of the band that strayed into the path of their reaching arms and refusing to let go, attempting to steal costumes, throwing presents and flowers onto the stage, dissolving into crying hysterics whenever a band member even slightly acknowledged them – it was actually a bit terrifying, I hadn’t seen anything like it since a My Chemical Romance show a few years ago. And that had been teenage girls going hormone crazy, not people who looked as if they were at least in their early twenties. Madness!

Despite crazy folk, it was a very pleasant crowd to be a part of (definitely one of the loudest and enthusiastic!), and the band seemed to appreciate it greatly. Hopefully the gleeful Aussie reception encourages Of Montreal to come here again. And again! And if you enjoy colourful spectacles accompanied by falsetto-warbled electro-indie songs with pervy lyrics, make sure next time you’re there too.

“Eva, I’m sorry, but you will never have me. To me you’re just some faggy girl, and I need a lover with soul power. And you ain’t got no soul power!”

Cafe Vue Times

HA! I bet you all thought I had carried out my threat of early February and had literally died from rage at Slumdog Millionaire winning all those damn Oscars. Well, it was a close call, but I graciously decided that I should continue living out of spite (I am a generous soul). Quick Oscars hash-up for those who didn’t read all the reports last week: I thought my love of Penelope Cruz had peaked at dizzying levels when she won best supporting actress, but it actually reached truly mountainous proportions at her incredulous raised eyebrow and eye-roll combo directly after the appalling ”The musical is back!” number; Sean Penn robbed the world of the greatest Oscars acceptance speech ever, cos you know that if Mickey Rourke had won he would have dedicated it to his recently deceased dog, and that would have been The Greatest Thing Ever; I want Tina Fey to be my new best friend (”Oh Steve, let’s not bother people with our religion…that we made up…”); Where was Jack Nicholson? He’s always there in the front row of the auditorium, sunglasses on and when panned to by cameras is always laughing and saying something like “Oh yeah!” I have an entire Oscars drinking game based around his presence at this thing and he wasn’t there! Causing me to be very sober throughout the telecast! And also I missed Jon Stewart hosting. No offense, Hugh, but…you’re not Jon Stewart.

Anyway, what? Oh yes, this post is meant to be about food! 

So on Friday night Jen took me out on my belated Christmas present outing to Cafe Vue’s Friday night cocktails. HOLY BEEJEEBUS, YOU MUST ALL DO THIS AT LEAST ONCE IT IS WONDERFULLY DECADENT. The dealio is you get five cocktails accompanied by five courses of nibbles, the nibbles of course coming from the Vue de Monde kitchens next door. And compared to a night out at the de Monde side of Vue, the Cafe stylings are practically frugal on the money front, at $75 or so a head.

Ready to hear what we enjoyed? Brace yourselves, the following is classified as Delicious. 

The theme for the cocktails and courses was Roaring Twenties, and oh I totally encourage you to dress up for it. This is dressing-up food, and my only regret that it was far to hot for me to wear my red felt cloche hat in order to really set the atmosphere.

First cocktail was a Twentieth Century. It was lemony. It was chocolatey. It was lemon and chocolate liqueurs together! It seemed A Little Bit Wrong at first sip, yet melded on the tongue into something delightfully pleasant and simultaneously refreshing and warming. It was served with crab and potato ravioli on the proper menu but, a-ha! I am vegetarian and instead received special veggie concoctions: a tent of mozzarella skin decorated with mini grissini sticks, appearing entirely reminiscent of the Cirque de Soleil big top, hiding a herby ricotta centre and dotted with dehydrated olives and tomato shards. It seemed a shame to demolish it, but my tummy obliged me to do just that.

Second course! A mint julep (which is really the only way to enjoy bourbon, otherwise it’s just far too codeifyied in my memory with terrible Year 10 parties, ergh), accompanied with soup served in a champagne glass.  Jen had a mock turtle soup, which I think was made with lamb? I really wasn’t paying attention, I was far too enamoured with my soup, which was a near-clear tomato concoction that was like liquid joy. The presentation was divine: dry ice had been pumped into the glass and entrapped there by a conical biscuit topped with a sculptural piece of pureed tomato.

The next cocktail was called a Bohemian. I don’t remember what was in it apart from maple syrup and bourbon. A LOT of bourbon. It was during the consumption of this beveridge that I became very loud and table-thumpy, and Jen began to dissolve into what would be several fits of giggles. We are not ordinarily that cheap a pair of  drunks, honest. But I do remember ever so clearly what was in the dishes that accompanied these tumblers of pure pancakey bourbon, because it was the best part of the meal for me. A gorgeous mushroom risotto with a generous drizzling of tarragon sauce (TARRAGON! In vegetarian cooking, where it is so very rarely utilised! I fairly swooned, I did). Jen pretty much had to stop me from licking the plate, because apparently this is not the done thing when one is eating fancy. She herself received a pork and bacon floater, a little pie which was served with a test tube of pea soup. I loved the waitress’s advice to poke a hole in the pie and then pour the soup into it, which as she promised resulted in a pie volcano!

Fourth course! Umm…well, let’s blame all the bourbon for my poor memory of this one. The cocktail was a Six-Penny Crank, and I believe it had whisky in it and was very pleasantly soothing after the flavoursome risotto. I wish I did remember what was in it because it’s probably the one I would most like to replicate at home. Served with it was three cheese pieces toothpicked on rye bread with pickles and some kind of relish. This was really the only forgetable dish of the night, then again I don’t particularly like pickles or condiments with my cheese, and I kind of just bolted them down because at this point I was very aware that the food was doing nothing to prevent the alcohol doing its job, and was feebly attempting to stop the inevitable.

Last stop, dessert! A Ramos Gin Fizz was the closing drink, and at first I was all “You’ve mixed cream and egg white with gin? You fiends! That’s a spoiling of good innocent gin that never deserved such a fate!” But I should have been more trusting – it was like a delicious milkshake (I was quite saddened the next day to realise that me and Jen had both been far too gone to start doing ‘I drink your milkshake!’ impressions. An opportunity lost!), topped with a marachino cherry, which really just made my day. Combine that with a chocolate orange mousse and I don’t think you could have found two happier, drink-sodden skillets that night.

So keep cafe vue in mind for a special night out; I doubt you’ll be disappointed. I will warn you though, the food is in small portions and as I mentioned above will not prevent you getting thoroughly sloshed on the strong cocktails, so possibly be prepared to do as me and Jen did afterwards and get yourselves a nice injection of pure potato at Lord of the Fries to soak up your tipsyness (and that last sentence proves succinctly why I don’t eat at these high-end places all the time – class I am not).  

Also, it looks like Michael and Cindy from Where’s the Beef sampled this very menu recently too! You can read their account here: http://herestheveg.blogspot.com/2009/02/february-20-2009-cafe-vue-friday.html

Trailer Talk Three: It Came From Beneath The Sea!

You know the drill by now. Hayley’s seen lots of previews. Here are her opinions. With links to the actual trailers this time so you know what the buggering blazes I’m on about.

The Boat That Rocked

It is a well known fact amongst my friends that I hate Richard Curtis movies with an unadulterated fury, pure and unbridled. I even hate Love Actually, which is apparently tandamount to shovelling puppies into a furnace. And yet, even though my filmic track record with Mr Curtis is deep into minus marks territory, I can be guaranteed to see his films as soon as they come out. Because the trailers always look like so much fun that I can’t help but to be lulled into a false sense of security, with a little voice in my head whispering tantalisingly, “Come on, you’re bound to love this one. Look at that caaaaaaaaaassssst.” And look at that cast indeed – Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, Nick Frost, Rhys Darby – ridiculously talented and funny people. And the subject is illegal pirate radio stations in Britain in the 60’s. Sideburns everywhere! So I shall be trudging into the cinema on opening day, hoping against hope that Curtis has finally made a movie that I won’t want to kill myself during.

Look for yourselves! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnQc3lO4JDs (really, if a lot of the movie involves Bill Nighy dancing around like that, I’ll be a happy woman)

Monsters Vs. Aliens

With such an amazing comedic voice cast lined up – Will Arnett, Hugh Laurie, Reese Witherspoon, Rainn Wilson, Seth Rogan, Paul Rudd, STEPHEN MOTHERFUCKING T. COLBERT (as the President, fittingly enough) – this movie better be so goddamn awesome that I end up spontaneously combusting into my popcorn from joy. Using the trailer as a guide, signs are pointing towards an explody outcome. 

I can’t seem to find an internet version of the trailer I’ve seen where the audio is actually in sync with the visuals, but I’m sure you’ll deal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipNYLBnv6Dg

I also like this one ‘cos it has more Stephen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHv0JMo6puo

Coraline

I am guaranteed to eat up any film adaptation of the work of Neil Gaiman, and if you combine Gaiman with stop-motion animation directed by Henry Selick (dude who directed The Nightmare Before Christmas), and bundle it all into trailer as deliciously creepy as this one, it’s like presenting me with a most delicious filmic cake. A cake of AWESOME, shall we say.

Gather the children round and scare the bejeesus out of them here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO3n67BQvh0

Defiance

Lines from the trailer of this quite boss-looking WW2 thriller are repeated across my workplace with quite manic glee, particularly “Everyvun vill vork, there are no exceptions!” and “Ve vill protek you” (the last must be said while clutching someone’s shoulders and staring directly and most seriously into their eyes, thus upping the lols). Maybe it’s just Daniel Craig’s Polish accent that’s gotten everyone overexcited, although frankly it’s quite nice to see a historical film actually do accents and I’ll probably see it based on that little courtesy alone.

Ve vill become varriors! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIO8OI0JP50

The Pink Panther 2

WHY DOES THIS MOVIE EXIST?!?! I mean, jeebus, I’m not even much of a fan of the original Pink Panther movies, but if there’s one thing I rail against more than anything is Hollywood mining it’s past for remakes that should never have been made. And to do it twice! And this one doesn’t even have Kevin Kline in it, so really what’s the damn point? I’m not linking this one out of care and respect for your sensibilities.

Love The Beast

A documentary film about a Hollywood actor and his car. VANITY PIECE, OH LORD, STAY AWAY! I can hear the masses screaming in horror. Wait wait wait! Would it make a difference if I mentioned that the actor in question is Eric Bana, and that the car is a Ford XB Falcon coupe that he modded up over twenty-five years in order to race in some of the most dangerous car racing competitions in the world? That it’s a film about the love a simple car can inspire, especially if it is the centralising aspect of some great friendships? I don’t know if I’ve just been overly conditioned from watching far too many episodes of Top Gear and thusly find stories about men and their cars ultimately inspiring, but I haven’t been so moved by a trailer in ages. A trailer for a car movie! I’m as surprised as you are.

You can watch it here: http://www.lovethebeast.com.au/ (love love love the irony inherent in using Arcade Fire’s “No Cars Go” as part of the soundtrack).

Oscar Noms Time!

Blargh, it has been Too Hot To Blog. It’s been between 30-45C every day for a dang week now. Train tracks have been warping, fruit bats have been dropping out of the trees in the botanic gardens in their thousands, and I’ve been hot and cranky. The internet suffers as a result!

While I was attempting to live inside my fridge’s freezer compartment, I was too far away from the computer to keyboard-bash you all when the Oscar nominations were announced. Never mind, let’s get upset about them now!

Best Motion Picture of the Year

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Frost/Nixon
• Milk
• The Reader
• Slumdog Millionaire

I really want Frost/Nixon to win this, but it won’t. Slumdog Millionaire will, and I will be forced to kill myself in despair.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

• Richard Jenkins for The Visitor
• Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon
• Sean Penn for Milk
• Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler

Hey, look at that, Richard Jenkins! That’s awesome and really deserving, I didn’t think the Academy would remember him seeing as The Visitor came out at the start of 2008. Course, he won’t win it (Mickey’s got it covered), but it’s nice nonetheless.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

• Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married
• Angelina Jolie for Changeling
• Melissa Leo for Frozen River
• Meryl Streep for Doubt
• Kate Winslet for The Reader

I figure either Meryl or Kate has it easily covered (and oh I hope Kate gets it, the woman’s overdue for an Oscar by about 10 years).

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

• Josh Brolin for Milk
• Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder
• Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt
• Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight
• Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road

It’s Heath’s, no question, and probably a good thing seeing as apart from Hoffman I’m kind of going “What?” at the other noms (Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder? Really? I mean, I love the man, but really?!).

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

• Amy Adams for Doubt
• Penelope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona
• Viola Davis for Doubt
• Taraji P. Henson for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Marisa Tomei for The Wrestler

I am ridiculously biased here because I WANT PENELOPE CRUZ TO WIN THIS SO BAD! She strolled into that movie halfway through and completely dominated the rest of the proceedings, resulting in me actually somewhat enjoying a Woody Allen film (a miracle in and of itself). And she was robbed when she lost the Best Actress Oscar a few years back for Volver, so come on Academy, be awesome. 

Best Achievement in Directing

• Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire
• Stephen Daldry for The Reader
• David Fincher for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Ron Howard for Frost/Nixon
• Gus Van Sant for Milk

Oh Gus, I dearly want you to win, because your work is marvellous and gorgeous. Unfortunately, Danny Boyle is most probably going to make off with it and I will be forced to kill myself AGAIN (I am clear on the difficulties that this situation presents).

Aaaaand I can’t be bothered going through the other categories that nobody cares about.

Flailing At Fail

See, I was on a complete America-high due to the Obamarama inaugeration, all pumped with the new president’s words of a new America, able to hold it’s head high once more on the world stage. I was all ready to love you, America.

And then you do this to me.

This is currently the number one film at the US Box Office: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1114740/

WHY AMERICA, WHHHHYYYYYYYYY?! It’s beaten Gran Torino, for fuck’s sake! And because it’s gone number one in the US, you can bet it’ll be rolled out world-wide. WHAT DID WE DO TO YOU, AMERICA, THAT YOU SUFFER US KEVIN JAMES?

Also on a tangent, while noodling around at IMDB I found this trivia niblet on the Gangs of New York page: 

19th century New York was recreated on the lot of Cinecitta studios in Rome. When George Lucas visited the massive set, he reportedly turned to Martin Scorsese and said that sets like that can be done with computers now.

Oh gee George, and didn’t you notice that all your movies made nearly entirely with computers have sucked giant amounts of arse? This ever so neatly encapsulates why George Lucas is completely made of, nay, is the definition of fail. Marty should have responded with a neat bitch-slap.

Memes Are Like ‘Flu

That TV meme that’s been going around.

1. Name a TV series in which you have seen every episode at least twice. Doctor Who (re-vamped series, not classic, though I’ll get to all those one day!), Mighty Boosh, Black Books, Harvey Birdman.

2. Name a show you can’t miss. Doctor Who! On occasion when I have missed an episode, it causes much wailing and teeth-gnashing and pining for David Tennant.

3. Name an actor that would make you more inclined to watch a show. Kinda out-ed myself there in the last question. *ahem* Mr Tennant is delightful to watch in anything.

4. Name an actor who would make you less likely to watch a show. I can’t watch Season 1 of Torchwood because of Burn Gorman (well, mostly because of him, also because Season 1 is titanically stupid). Thankfully his character had the good sense to cark it in Season 2.

5. Name a show you can, and do, quote from. Oh lord, so many. The most common is The Simpsons (probably the most common for everyone), though I do love a good “That’s what she said” from The Office, and the absolute best line I love any opportunity to repeat comes courtesy of 30 Rock: “Stop eating people’s old French fries, pigeon, have some self-respect! Don’t you know you can fly?”

6. Name a show you like that no one else enjoys. I don’t know if it’s the fact that no one enjoys it, more the fact no one I know has heard of it, but I adore Absolute Power. Cleverest show I’ve come across in years.

7. Name a TV show which you’ve been known to sing the theme song. Even though it has been years since I devoured it in my childhood, I can still frequently be found singing the theme to Sailor Moon. Fighting evil by moonlight, winning love by daylight… I also often hum the themes to The Office and How I Met Your Mother, even though I don’t really watch the latter, because they are both such sweet-sounding  tunes.

8. Name a show you would reccommend everyone to watch. Blackadder, because I truly believe there is not a person who could not find it funny.

9. Name a TV series you own. Complete series? Mighty Boosh, Black Books, Harvey Birdman, Vicar of Dibley, Absolute Power, new Doctor Who.

10. Name an actor who has launched his/her entertainment career in another medium, but has surprised you with his/her acting chops in television. Billie Piper, hands down. Lack-lustre pop star, fantastic actress.

11. What is your favourite episode of your favourite series? I have a lot of favourite series, so hold tight: Doctor Who – “Doomsday” (and that’s with fierce competition from “School Reunion”, “The Family of Blood”, and the trio of “Utopia”/”The Sound of Drums”/”Last of the Time Lords”); Mighty Boosh – “Nanageddon”; The Office – “The Injury” (”Dwight! You forgot your bumper!”); Harvey Birdman – “Blackwatch Plaid”; Skins – season 1 Finale; Blackadder – “Dish and Dishonesty” or ”General Hospital”; 30 Rock – “Tracy Does Conan”; Red Dwarf – “Thanks For the Memory”; Black Books – “The Grapes of Wrath”; The Venture Bros. – “Return to Spider-Skull Island”.

12. Name a show you keep meaning to watch, but you just haven’t gotten around to yet. Green Wing.

13. Ever quit watching a show because it was so bad? Both Grey’s Anatomy and The OC after their first seasons. Lost after the first episode (can’t believe so many people got sucked into that rubbish).

14. Name a show that’s made you cry multiple times. Doctor Who.

15. What do you eat while you watch TV? I am a chronic snack-gobbler while watching TV, and will pretty much munch on anything, accompanied by copious cups of tea.

16. How often do you watch TV? Umm, probably at least two-three hours a day. More on my days off.

17. What’s the last TV show you watched? The Colbert Report.

18. What’s your favourite/preferred genre of TV? Comedy.

19. What was the first TV show you were obsessed with? Red Dwarf.

20. What TV show do you wish you had never watched? Apart from the great Lost “I want the past hour of my life back, you manipulative bastards!” debacle, I can’t really name a show I really regret watching entirely. There’s shows I wish I’d stopped watching at a certain point, before everything turned to suck and ended up slightly tainting the earlier genius (oh Red Dwarf, why did I ever watch past “Gunmen of the Apocalypse”, why?).

21. What’s the weirdest show you enjoyed? Ha, most of the stuff I enjoy could probably be considered weird. Maybe Tom Goes To The Mayor, people either love it or can’t stand it.

22. What TV show scared you the most? “Blink” from the third season of Doctor Who is pretty damn terrifying, even after repeated viewings. 

23. What’s the funniest TV show you’ve ever watched? Lord, that’s pretty hard, considering all the shows I love are either straight-out comedies or have strong comedic elements. Quick, narrow it down! Probably the funniest episode of any show I’ve ever seen is “Speed 3″ from Father Ted: Father Dougal becomes Craggy Island’s new milkman, yet the previous milkman (who had used the milkround to become, ahem, closer to the island’s housewives and was consequentially sacked when Ted made this known to the dairy board) has placed a bomb on the milk float. How the priests respond to it is surreal and fecking inspired:

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=yWuSZVgrF98&feature=related

The funniest moment in a show, where I am reduced to fits of giggles at even the thought of it, is the ‘Sory’ cake scene from the second season of Skins. In a show full of gorgeous pockets of hilarious delight, it takes the, er, cake. And I can’t find it on the Youtube, so you’ll just have to buy yourself the boxset to see the brilliance. Poor you!