the neverending story

the third prime ministerial debate. is it me, or has the whole thing turned into much more of a joke than initially expected?

splash

summer is coming.

the men who stare at goats

me and the troubadour are writing a show for the edinburgh fringe festival this year. here's the website:

there's not really anything on it at the moment, but there are a load of links so you can follow our progress. like on twitter or facebook or something.

and this is what it's all about. we think.

It’s the big meeting and Andrew is lumbered with the key presentation on Corporate Strategy. He’s unsure what that is.
He isn’t too worried though: he’s a PowerPoint wizard, he can make words jump through hoops (as long as he has some Clip-Art of hoops). He’s in complete control.
Except PowerPoint has inconveniently achieved sentience and is planning to kill him and take over the world.

In a death struggle with his homicidal slides, the four bullet points of the Apocalypse and quadspeed forces of evil; now Andrew might be humanity’s last hope of salvation.
Death by PowerPoint? Next slide please.

iron man 2

i'm in this show tonight.

the toughest impro challenge in the world!
12 actors start. they do impro. audience vote some off.
one actor survives 'til the end.
they become - IRON ACTOR!

london impro never got better.
or tougher.

the show will also have these fine performers (obviously they won't win as I AM IRON ACTOR. but they'll at least help me look good):
Chris Mead - The Ministry, The Oodcast, Andrew & The Slides of Chaos
Rhiannon Vivian - Cannonball, Crouching Unicorn, Hidden Goblin
Claire O'Callaghan - Cannonball
Andrew Gentilli - Cannonball
Michael Brunstrom - Curt Hatred's Copper Glove
Wanda Keenan - A whole bunch of stuff, including this
Roderick Millar - Friendly Fire
Paul Rice - Sketchprov
Matt Andrews - Hoopla!
Geoff Marshall - Cameron Girl
Katrina Johnsen - Hoopla!

doors 7.30pm, show 8pm
upstairs at The Black Horse, 6 rathbone place, london, w1t 1hh

see you there for kick-ass good entertainment and laugh-a-moment genius machinery.

date night

you like laughing, right?

it'll be like a rock-badger playing Van Halen records. you wouldn't want to miss it.

The Ministry and Hoopla! unite for the first time ever. hear us roar.

*****starring*****

Nicola "haystacks" Kidner
Jinni "scrumpy jack" Lyons
Edgar "lollypop" Fernando
Chris "drum stick" Mead
Jonathan "kevin" Monkhouse

all expertly and ceremoniously directed by:
Stephen "carrot top" Roe

***** ***** *****
Date:
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Time:
20:00 - 22:00
Location:
Upstairs at The Black Horse, 6 Rathbone Place, London, W1T 1HH

***** ***** *****

Generated by MapGenerator.co.uk

bride wars

highlights of the second televised debate. it was broadcast by sky news, so there will probably an advertisement for something you don't need at the beginning.

the benchwarmers

here's the first parliamentary debate between the 3 leaders of the main parties.
absolutely no surprise to find that it's just petty squabbling between gordon brown and david cameron, both who are far more concerned with trying to undermine each other than actual politics. it's like a playground, with two bullies scrapping to make sure everyone knows which one is the biggest and bestest, ignoring any rules of engagement and weirdly agreeing with each other on most points, despite presenting themselves as opposites.

to one side of the fight, a quiet little chap is there trying to prevent all the onlookers getting laid out by a stray fist.

"the more they attack each other, the more they start to sound the same."

hmm.

unfortunately it was televised by ITV, so it's a pretty vulgar presentation, that probably didn't help with the WWF smackdown atmosphere.

the land before time

i am old now, but not as old as this amazing film made in 1927:

planet of the apes

it's my birthday today. so i thought i'd collate today's releases from some of my favourite online comics (well, you couldn't get more geeky than that):











click on any of them, and you'll be transported by magic to the website.

it's my party (and i'll cry if i want to)

i have been getting all political of late. in my slightly liberal job, where i get to watch BBC News 24 as much as i want (normally i watch children's TV but this politics thingy seems to be holding my attention for now), i have made time to watch as many Party Manifesto press conferences as possible.

my take is this:

Labour Party: pretty dull and uninspiring. made me phase out of my own head.
the cartoons are a partly weird, and mostly patronising. it's pretty hard to get excited about Gordon Brown, as he sucks the atmosphere from a room like a dyson on 3-phase.
also, in my local elections, the labour candidate has been found using House of Commons headed paper to send out political 'propaganda' .. he'll probably go to hell for such a travesty against nature and an unforgivable use of stationary. it wouldn't surprise me if someone died because of this hateful crime. god, he's like a terrorist.

Liberal Democrats: unremarkable and empty, seemed realistically accepting of the fact that they'll never win.
but i did like that Vince Cable chap, he's the first politician i've ever heard that actually sounds like a human being. and he reminds me a bit of ken campbell.

Scottish National Party: talked sense for people in scotland, but left me cold. i am not scottish, that's probably why.

UKIP: appears to be a joke party. like a parody of the BNP, but without the dedication.
their poster campaign seems to have been created by spotty teenagers, dirtily giggling to themselves from behind the bike-sheds.

Plaid Cwmru: sort of inconsequential. but good for them.

The Conservative Party: a lot of amazing sounding promises, that are quickly replaced by the overwhelming feeling of being lied to by a guy who would use the death of his own son as a political crow-bar.
alluded to the fact that they were presenting from a building Doctor Who was filmed in, but as a negative. perhaps because david tennant is a labour supporter.
they spend a lot of time moaning that Labour are running a tory-attacking campaign, but i've yet to see any of it. i have seen a huge amount of petty bemoaning from the tory camp to the labour camp though, which isn't "real adult politics," more, "jealous children in the playground."

heh heh.. "labour camp"

so, not a great outlook so far. i didn't expect anyone to channel Barack Obama, but it doesn't bode well that we have a complete lack of inspirational leaders. i suppose i'll just stick to my choice of unashamedly voting tactically. my borough is one of the 'swing states' and it's an incredibly fine line between a labour and tory win.

i'll boil it down to this:
would i vote for a human rights lawyer who - by all accounts - has noticeably improved the town i live in and rebels against his party when he feels strongly about something,
or a management consultant (urgh) for a huge multinational pharmaceutical company based in america, who strikes me as a smug posh-boy?

oh dear. where's tony benn when you need him?

a bug's life

films are good aren't they? this one looks like a spectacular high-art masterpiece.

go go power rangers

they don't make 'em like they used to. in japan.