From my keepsakes cabinet seen here and here
Author: Snoskred
Television Tuesday – Old Shows
In among the new shows of late, I have been revisiting some old shows, and also watching some Emmy Contenders Interviews.
NYPD Blue
As time has gone by, I have concluded that NYPD Blue is my favourite show of all time. Once every six months or so, I start a re-watch. I usually start from season 2 episode 5 “Simone Says” which is the first episode Jimmy Smits appears in. I am not a big fan of the David Caruso days.
I am however a huge fan of Alan Sepinwall thanks to his reviews of the show, all of which you can find here. Alan now writes about TV over at Hitfix and you can find his present blog here.
The show is often on in the background while I am doing other things, and I have it in my headset while I do household chores. I know the show so well by now I do not need to see it with my eyes, I can picture all the scenes in my head. I have a lot more to write about this show but I will save it for a separate post.
The West Wing
The Soho channel on Foxtel constantly plays The West Wing, and if I happen to be flicking around and spot it, I will usually tune in if I am not watching anything else. So it could be said I am constantly re-watching the show. It is one of my favourites and it always will be. :)
Breaking Bad
This is another show which regularly plays on Foxtel – on the FX channel – so it can be said I am regularly rewatching this show as well. I was thrilled to see both Bob Odenkirk and Jonathan Banks were nominated for Emmy awards this year for Better Call Saul, the Breaking Bad spinoff show.
Emmy Contenders
There was a series of Emmy Contenders chats done by the LA times, many of which I viewed. The standout chats for me were these chats – Jonathan Banks – Titus Welliver from Bosch – Jamie Dornan – sadly the latter two were not nominated. You can click here to see all the Emmy Contenders chats for 2015.
The Fall
I’d watched season one probably 3-4 times in full previously but I had only watched season two twice and I felt like it was time to revisit the show..
In revisiting season 2, I discovered that my most favourite episodes are episodes 4, 5 and 6 in season two. I love the police procedural stuff they put in, the following of Spector, plus the moment when Stella and Spector finally are face to face, that is an acting masterclass right there.
I will also like to mention that I *love* Stella Gibson as a character. I love everything about her. I love that they gave her a BMW hatchback to drive – it suits her character perfectly. I can see Stella owning that car.
There is going to be a season 3 of The Fall and I can honestly state, if Spector vanishes, they could still continue on and have a truly great show with the characters they have created, in particular the Stella character and the medical examiner Reed Smith played by Archie Punjabi are stand outs.
Fifty Shades Of Grey
Knowing how amazing Jamie Dornan is in The Fall and being a huge fan of his work, I also felt like I had to watch the movie *gulp* Fifty Shades of Grey. This is a movie, not a TV show, but it follows on from The Fall.
The two roles – playing a serial killer in The Fall, and playing Christian Grey are similar in some ways. And in fact, there is a moment in Fifty Shades where they kinda make fun of it – here is a video clip, it only goes for 1:37 and do not fear, there are *zero* sex scenes in this video –
With that said, there are a LOT of sex scenes in the movie, but nowhere near as many sex scenes as there are in the book. Yes, I’ve read all four of the books. For the most part, they are badly written smut, but underneath that is a love story. If I had to choose between reading Twilight and reading Fifty Shades, I’d pick Fifty Shades every time.
I’m not someone willing to criticise things without having experienced them myself, which is why I read the books to begin with. They made a pretty decent movie out of it and I am guessing a lot of that is down to the director who seemingly had a lot of fights with the author over the material. The music in the movie is fantastic, they picked some great songs.
I thought Jamie was brilliant in the movie with one small caveat – I wish they had just let him use his Irish accent, or if they had spent a little more money and time on a voice coach. A little too much of his accent came through. The Irish accent is a really strong one as far as accents go and it is quite a lot of work to remove all traces of it. It is the vowel sounds.
I did not expect to become a fan of Dakota Johnson but she is truly amazing in Fifty Shades of Grey. She really puts herself out there in so many ways. The casting could not be any more perfect re Jennifer Ehle – who played Lizzy in the 1995 Pride and Prejudice miniseries with Colin Firth – playing the mother of Dakota Johnson, too, they look so alike!
Your Religious Beliefs Are Yours.
I’ve seen some excellent posts over the past couple of weeks since the Supreme Court ruled Yes to same-sex marriage. I have also seen posts where people have talked about their religious beliefs and how these beliefs mean they do not agree with the ruling or the fact that same sex marriage is legal in the USA now.
I’m been ruminating on this some over the past few days and here is my bottom line. We cannot allow the religious beliefs of one (or of many) to = the human law all of us have to abide by and the human rights we should all be entitled to. Because if we do that for any one religion, we might have to do that for all religions.
I don’t know how many Christians want to eventually live under Sharia Law, allowing their daughters to be married off from the age of 9 to *much* older men.. in fact this event has already occurred right here in Australia. Just last Friday a father was sentenced – NSW father found guilty of procuring 12yo daughter as ‘child bride’ is sentenced to six years in jail – and I suspect this is likely occurring quite often here though it will not often be discovered.
So before you want your religious beliefs to become the law of the land..
Take a moment to think – do you want someone elses religious beliefs to become law?
I believe that everyone is entitled to their opinion and to their beliefs, religious or otherwise. I also believe that everyone has some basic rights which we should all be entitled to. Those basic rights should include the right for children to have a childhood and an education and to not be married off to older guys because their parents say so and because that is how things are done within their religion.
I believe that nobody should be allowed to impose their religious beliefs on other people who do not hold those same beliefs, and I want to give a very clear – but quite fake – example to try and illustrate this.
My Fake Example
So, let us imagine that there is a large colony of people living in Antarctica. We will call them the Ticans. These people have their own religion which is not well known outside of their country. It relies on a holy book written thousands of years ago. One of the laws of this religion is that you cannot eat beetroot – not cooked, not raw, not any form of beetroot, nor can you eat food that is prepared in the presence of beetroot or in the same room as beetroot.
So, unfortunately for the Ticans, global warming has made it almost impossible to continue living where they presently live. As the closest continent, Australia extends an invitation to all 200,000 Ticans to become Australian citizens. They offer to house the Ticans in Tasmania as it is closest in climate to Antarctica. Because Tasmania has a population of just over half a million people, this is a significant addition to the population.
When they arrive in Australia, they are horrified to find that Beetroot is on the menu. And not just occasionally, but regularly, in all kinds of locations. Fast food places like Mcdonalds and Subway serve beetroot. Beetroot is even found on hamburgers and in sandwiches. The Ticans are horrified!
Business owners in Tasmania discover that the reason Ticans are not visiting their establishments is because of the beetroot. Some of them choose to become “beetroot free” – as in, they remove beetroot from the menu entirely, to try and seek the business of the Ticans. Now the Tasmanians who love beetroot are outraged. How dare these Tican people change the Tasmanian food culture due to their religious beliefs?
Who is in the right here? Would it be ok for the religious beliefs of the few to change how things are done for the entire population?
Perhaps Not So Fake?
While the example I provide here is fake, unfortunately this kind of situation is also something that has happened in Australia. Some KFC outlets removed Bacon from the menu. Halal certification is a huge thing in our country now, and there is even a movement to boycott Halal products.
So why on earth should the people of Australia have to change their menu to suit any religion? At the time of the 2011 census, only 476,000 Australians (representing 2.2 percent of the population) reported Islam as their religion. That is a tiny percentage of people.
Should anyones religious beliefs about pork over-ride the rights of Australians who do not hold those same beliefs and simply want to have bacon on their burger?
Why would anyone expect that their religious beliefs should always = the law of the land?
My parents have been together for over 40 years now. They are married, which means they have full legal rights. If one of them were to become ill, my other parent would be in the best place to know what their marriage partner wants as far as things like life support, organ donation, etc.
That is the reason why I am happy for same sex couples in the USA – that they now have access to those same rights as my parents do. That once they are married, they will never again be locked out of the health decisions of their long term partner, that they will be able to attend the funerals of their loved ones. Now, we just need to make this happen in Australia, too.
Why should heterosexual couples be the only people entitled to those legal rights? Because a book says so? That book says a lot of things that people have decided are outdated and no longer apply.
Over to you
When the “holy book” of a religion is interpreted to mean that children can be married from the age of 9 upwards, shouldn’t we be absolutely horrified by that? Shouldn’t we be utterly determined as human beings to make sure that no such “holy book” can determine the laws of our lands?
Sunday Selections Week 29
This week I am posting a couple of photos taken in February 2003 of Yananyi Dreaming. You can read more about the flying art aircraft of Qantas here – Flying Art.
We got to photograph both sides of the plane which is a somewhat rare occurance.
Would you like to join in? The rules are very simple:-
1. post photos of your choice, old or new, under the Sunday Selections title
2. link back to River at Drifting Through Life, somewhere in your post
3. leave River a comment so that she knows you’ve joined in and can come over and see what you’ve posted.
Weekly Wrap Up –
On Friday this week, I received the best SMS ever from my Aunt. I’m going to share it with you, plus my reply.
Hi Sparkles just wanted to let you know scans I had came back showing NO cancer so I’m in remission according to my doctor.
FYI Sparkles is my nickname because I am usually wearing at least one sparkly item. :) My reply went like this –
What a happy moment! Yay. There are no suitable words for this news. I may have to get out the thesaurus.
I’m taking a week off from the weekly wrap up this week. I did not feel very inspired to save links this week. I’ve had yet another cold and I am losing my patience for pretty much everything at this point. :) Though that SMS cheered me up enormously.
My Aunt is coming up to visit in early August, so I’m wondering whether I should put together a celebration package or just put together a gift bag for when she gets here. I am leaning towards the latter because my last package took over a month to arrive. I posted it the same day I posted a package to Sephyroth and he received his within a week, and his package went from Australia to the USA!
Happenings In Snoskredland
Burning: These little candles from Aldi which cost $2.99 each. They smell delicious and provide a lovely warming glow. In general I am burning them for 1-2 hours each day and they last a week or so.
Microwaving: These yummy Aldi puddings for 40 seconds and then serving with ice cream. The sticky date one is probably my current favourite.
Moisturizing: Both feet and hands with this orange scented shea butter body cream that I brought back from Hawaii in 2013. It smells like you just peeled an orange and juiced it, in a good way.
Sleeping: Two kitties have been sleeping in front of the gas heater with this artic blast.
Enjoying: Some dark chocolate. We went to Coles and I said I wanted to be allowed to look at 3 things for as long as I wanted to look at them, because normally The Other Half rushes me in and out of there. All 3 things were in the chocolate area, and we stopped and discussed the various chocolate bars available. The Lindor Dark is an old reliable that we always enjoy.
Wondering: The Willies Cacao blocks are new buys for us, and oddly they are one solid piece of chocolate without any place to break them. It makes me wonder what people do with these – eat them in one sitting? Chop them up with a knife? Melt them down and use them for fondue?
Snacking: I bought the Butterscotch and Vanilla Bean and I tried that first, it was awesome. This is a lovely version of Greek Yoghurt, just slightly sweet and plenty tart. So on the same night I asked to look at 3 things, I took a moment to grab the other versions of this from the shelf. The Boysenberry & Vanilla flavour is super tart, slightly too tart for me.
Opining: I will always buy salted caramel flavours once to try them.. however, if you are going to get me to buy it again, you have to BRING it. On this occasion, they did not bring the salt. The caramel was ok, but the lack of salt means this will not be bought again by me. The butterscotch and vanilla is the winner and I highly recommend it. :)
Standing: And driving, under the tail of the 747 at HARS. The place they have put it, you actually have to drive under the tail. And I got to have that moment I have waited all my lifetime for – to stand under a 747. Incredible!
Washing: We thought we would give the new antibacterial scented liquid hand wash from Aldi a try, and the grapefruit flavour is a huge winner. I love it so much! We’ll keep buying it. The other flavour we tried – Lime Splice – is not very optimal, it is a bit sickly for me.
Peak Perks Travel Scam
Via this scam post I have been informed of a new scam. Here are the emails received by Srihari.
Email One –
——————————————————————
Dear
SEEK determined you as an appropriate candidate for our vacancy and forwarded us your resume.
Attached you can find brief description and job responsibilities for offered position.
In case you are interested, please fill in the application form and send it to sean.talley@peakperkstravel.com:
First name:
Last name:
Age:
Postal code:
Day-time tel.:
Mobile tel.:
Best time to call you:
Are you currently employed or studying:
If yes, please provide your current workday schedule:
Have you ever been convicted of a crime since the age of 18:
If yes, please provide date(s) and details:
(Answering “Yes” to those questions doesn’t constitute an automatic bar to employment)
—————————————————————————-
APPLICANT STATEMENT.
I certify that answers given herein are true and complete to the best of my knowledge.
I authorize investigation of all statements contained in this application for employment as may be
necessary in arriving at an employment decision.
This application for employment shall be considered active for a period of time not to exceed 45 days.
Any applicant wishing to be considered for employment beyond this time period should inquire as to
whether or not applications are being accepted at that time.
I hereby understand and acknowledge that, unless otherwise defined by applicable law, any employment
relationship with this organization is of an “at will” nature, which means that the Employee may resign
at any time and the Employer may discharge Employee at any tune with or without cause. It is further
understood that this “at will” employment relationship may not be change by any written document or
by conduct unless such change is specifically acknowledged in writing by an authorized executive of
this organization.
In the event of employment, I understand that false or misleading information given in my application or
interviews may result in discharge. I understand, also, that I am required to abide by all rules and regulations
of the employer.
I also understand that if I am hired, I will be required to provide proof of identity.
————————————————————
By filling above form, I certify that I have read, fully understand and accept
all terms of the foregoing Applicant Statement.
In some cases, it may take some time to verify your application.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need any further information.
—————-
Sincerely,
Sean Talley
sean.talley@peakperkstravel.com
sean-talley@outlook.com
Peak Perks Travel and Tours, Inc.
http://www.peakperkstravel.com
——————————————————————
Email Two –
——————————————————————
Hello
We have received and reviewed your application.
I am glad to inform you that you meet our requirements and we are ready to hire you for Processing Assistant position.
Now we have to conclude the agreement with you.
Please find “Employment Agreement” in attached files.
Read all sections so you will have a clear understanding of your responsibilities and rights.
If you agree with the terms and conditions and you are ready to proceed, please follow these steps:
(1) Print out the attached Agreement, sign and send it via email or fax to +61363019535
(2) For security and identification purposes, please send us a scanned copy or photo of your ID (driver license, passport or student card etc.).
(3) Print out attached payroll form(Adobe PDF file), fill it out clearly in block letters, sign and send it back via e-mail or fax.
We will be able to start within 2 business days after we receive signed agreement.
We provide training on-the-fly, so our probationary period plan will include:
* 1st-10th day – Payments management, preparing reports, general paperwork, simple bookkeeping
* 11th-20th day – Customer support & typical problems solving course, extended workgroup communications.
* 21st-30th day – Independent work with other team members and customers in constant contact.
* 25th day-… – signing of permanent employment contract.
Sincerely,
Sean Talley
sean.talley@peakperkstravel.com
sean-talley@outlook.com
Peak Perks Travel and Tours, Inc.
http://www.peakperkstravel.com
——————————————————————
Email Three –
——————————————————————
Congratulations with your first order!
Our client has already remitted AU$10209.95 to your bank account at 3-40p.m. Sydney time on 29/05.
Transfer should appear on your account tomorrow morning (30/05).
It will be great if you will be able to handle it before 11:50a.m.
Please deduct your sales commission 5%(AU$511) and cost of transfer,
and remit the remaining amount via Western Union to our accountant and her assistant in Philippines:
AU$4821(incl. WesternUnion fee $28)
first name: Ritchell
last name: Mahinay
Manila, Philippines
AU$4821(incl. WesternUnion fee $28)
first name: Ritchell
last name: Mahinay
Manila, Philippines
Please send it in PHP(Philippines Peso).
Use our office address as receiver address:
Peak Perks Travel and Tours, Inc.
M/F Dumrique Building, 209 A. Bonifacio Avenue,
Tanong, Marikina City, Metro Manila, 2000
Your nearest Western Union locations:
NSW CONVENIENCE STORE
119a Macquarie St.
Parramatta, Nsw 2150
+61-1800501500
DALLAS NEWSAGENCY
Shop 6 Connection Arcade
162 172 Church Street
Parramatta, Nsw 2150
+61-1-800501500
PARRAMATTA CBD NEWSAGENCY
Shop16 272 Church Street
Parramatta, Nsw 2150
+61-1-800501500
Please send me email with Western Union money transfer control number (MTCN).
You may indicate “Peak Perks Travel”, “Peak Travel” or “Travel” as purpose of payment.
Please save all documents regarding all transactions you have made.
IMPORTANT! Don’t use Western Union Online transfer to send money.
Bring cash or use a debit card to send money at a Western Union Agent location.
Please confirm that you have received this email.
If your bank branch isn’t open on Saturday then you can try to find other branch on your bank website.
Sincerely,
Sean Talley
sean.talley@peakperkstravel.com
sean-talley@outlook.com
Peak Perks Travel and Tours, Inc.
http://www.peakperkstravel.com
——————————————————————
Snoskred Says –
If this scam is successful, the scam victim will be out just under $10,000. :( And they may do it more than once before the victim finds out the funds transferred in are stolen or fraudulent.
Banks should hold some responsibility here. They do not make it clear enough to people that these scams can happen, and that fund transfers or cheques can be reversed at a later time if the transaction is found to be fraudulent.
I would advise anyone caught by this scam to make a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman. The scam victim may be able to sort out a deal with the bank where the bank pays some – or all – of the losses.
I would also place a complaint with Seek, and if they had my resume and information, I would remove my details from there if at all possible.
Engrish – Wordless Wednesday
Television Tuesday – New Shows
Lately I have been watching a couple of new shows and some of them are truly excellent viewing, so I thought I would tell you a little about them, in case you are looking for something new to view.
The first series listed below, I did not know anything about until I read the Emmys Performer Ballot. That lists every single human being who has put their name forward for consideration. Plus it lists all the names of the shows they have asked to be considered for. There are a *lot* of names on this list – 348 pages of names! How anyone can possibly narrow it down, I have zero idea. There are multiple performances on here that are Emmy worthy.
If you want a little behind the scenes look at what goes on for the people who vote, check out this post from Ken Levine.
Bosch
Titus Welliver plays Harry Bosch
I am a huge fan of the Hieronymus Bosch & Mickey Haller books by Michael Connolly. So when I saw the name Bosch on the Emmy list, I had to do a little digging to find out if this was related to the books at all – turns out not only is it related, the author is quite involved with the show.
Bosch is an Amazon Prime show. You may have heard of another show Amazon Prime are responsible for – the incredible Transparent.
Anyway, I decided Bosch was a must see. I was expecting good, but what I saw was *amazing*. The cinematography of the opening credits is absolutely stunning and not something I have ever seen before. The look and feel of the show is very high quality. The writing is excellent and the cast is fantastic. Here are the opening credits for Bosch –
And here is the trailer for season one –
I should not be at all surprised at the high quality of this, given Michael Connelly is involved and there are some big names on the cast. Titus Welliver is brilliant as Bosch. I also deeply love Jamie Hector as Jerry Edgar and Lance Reddick as Irvin Irving.
Sometimes when you read books you build a picture of the characters in your mind. Though I could not have drawn you a police identikit of the Harry Bosch residing in my brain, I would now find it difficult to picture any other person than Titus as Harry.
Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman
Previous to seeing The Lincoln Lawyer, I would have given you an Identikit of a slightly better looking Saul Goodman as Mickey Haller.. but then I saw the movie, and now Matthew McConaghey is Mickey in my mind. He was so fantastic in that role.. :) Would I love to see Matthew and Titus working together? You bet! It is probably unlikely to happen, and I am sure at some point we will see someone else playing the role of Mickey Haller given that Bosch has been renewed for a second season.
Good news for Aussies – you can watch Bosch via SBS One starting 29 July at 9:30pm. I’ll remind you a little closer to the start date.
Mr Robot
Rami Malek as Elliot
In the pilot episode of this series, there is a scene that I just want to watch over and over again. It involves the two main characters – played by Rami Malek and Christian Slater – talking while on the Wonder Wheel at Coney Island. This scene must have been a total nightmare for editors and the sound techs, but it is a glorious and beautiful feast for the eyebulbs.
There is an element of Dexter in this show, though nobody is getting murdered (yet anyway!) plus there is quite an element of some former characters Christian Slater has played, in particular I see a lot of call backs to Pump Up The Volume, where his character was a pirate radio DJ.
The main character – Elliot – is played by Rami Malek and he is doing an amazing job with this role. His performance is mesmerizing. When he is on screen it is difficult to take your eyes off him however the cinematography is so incredible I do recommend giving it a try.
The pilot episode was directed by Niels Arden Oplev who also directed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and they have tried to keep a similar look to the show in the following episodes. Some of the scenes are gorgeously framed, especially anything filmed out at Coney Island.
The home of the hackers contains Skee Ball machines and various other amusements. It is a beautiful set.
How much of what we are seeing is real? What is the plan? What happens next? Will Elliot join in with Mr Robot? Or will he decide to become one of the “normal” people, watching Marvel movies and drinking Starbucks? So many questions, how many answers will we get? Nobody knows!
Wherever the show goes, we’re along for the ride – yes, both of us. The Other Half and I are watching this show together which is a pretty amazing feat in itself, we do not often like the same things. There are 10 episodes in the first season, plus it has been picked up for a season 2 as well. Here is a preview of the show.
It is presently airing on the USA Network. I do not have an air date or any info on which TV channel might pick this show up here in Australia. I do expect it will get picked up soonest, given the amount of positive reviews this show is receiving. If and when I hear of an air date, I will let you know, because this show is incredible and worth tuning in for..
In a somewhat bizarre coincidence, Jim McKay, the director of Episode 3 of Mr Robot also directed the pilot episode of Bosch.
Speaking Of The Emmys
The nominations announcement is coming up. It will be held July 16th at 8:30am LA time, which is 1:30am Thursday morning AEST. If you want to see when this is for your timezone, click here. You will be able to view the announcement online via Emmys.com, if you so desire.
Over to You –
Have you been watching anything new? Something I might enjoy? Leave me a comment and let me know about it. :)
Snoskred Faves – Unpopcult
Unpopcult has been one of my most favourite television blogs for a long time now. So as a part of my new blog series – Snoskred Faves – I sent off a few questions to CJ and Jed, and here are the answers.
The Interview –
You are both named after The West Wing characters – Jed, what is it about Jed that made you choose to use that name, more so than Josh or Leo or Toby or any of the other male characters on the show?
JB: A hasty decision. I conceived of and set up Unpopcult in the course of an evening, and as it was always intended to be about (predominantly) American TV I chose a name from my favourite show. If I’d thought about it a bit longer it would have undoubtedly been Josh Lyman, and if I’d known we’d still be going over seven years later it would have been something else entirely. But it’s stuck.
Jed you and I were both big fans of Dexter up until the end of seasons 4 or 5, around there somewhere. Looking back at the show now, is there one particular scene or moment from the show that was your most favourite, that stands out to you?
JB: The death of Doakes at the end of season 2 – I’m not sure the show was ever quite the same afterwards – and the scene in the first episode of season 4 where the Trinity Killer murdered someone in a bathtub.
It is my feeling that CJ Cregg was one of the best television characters of all time, so CJ what was your most favourite CJ scene from The West Wing?
CJ: Thank you for giving me the BEST excuse to spend an afternoon messing about on YouTube trying to decide on my answer :-) I thoroughly enjoyed doing “research” for this question and fell in love with The West Wing all over again as a result, but I finally settled on this scene where CJ destroys a reporter (who completely deserves it) in an air-punchingly awesome fashion – Ker-pow!
CJ, You loved ER – in fact I think that is how I first found your website to begin with. Dr Mark Greene and Dr Carter will forever be locked in a battle for best ER doctor in my mind – which doctor was your favourite – or do you have a similar battle going on in your mind? :)
CJ: I feel guilty about overlooking Pratt, Ray and Susan Lewis, all of whom I loved to bits, but, as soon as I read this question, I knew it had to be a battle between Dr Doug Ross and Dr John Carter. Sigh. I had such a crush on Doug Ross and his bad-boy-turned-good love story with Carol is one of the best ships ever. I will never get over how romantic their reunion (when she just upped and flew to Portland) was and how invested I was in it. But, while Doug was the romantic (if flawed) hero from the start, I feel like I grew up with Dr Carter – we watched him learn and grow and become this beautifully-realised, marvellous, caring character that we wanted good things for, and his return made the series finale one of the most moving things I have ever seen. Actually, I’ve now talked myself round. Dr Carter it is!
How do the two of you choose which person is going to get to review which show?
JB: It just kind of… happens? We now review so many shows that there’s never much of a discussion; one of us will be more enthusiastic about a new show, or one of us will have more space in our schedule, and we’ll offer to review it. Occasionally shows swap hands because one of us is under pressure: CJ took The Good Wife from me a couple of years ago, and I took Person of Interest from her.
Have you ever thought about going back and reviewing The West Wing together or maybe your top 5 episodes, as a sort of team effort? The show ended in 2006 so next year it will be 10 years.
JB: It’s unlikely, to be honest: we now watch so much TV, including the stuff that we don’t write about, that we rarely have time to watch anything on more than one occasion. There’s always something else to watch, or another new “unmissable” show on the horizon. One of the perils of the age of FOMO.
How did the name Unpopcult originate?
JB: It’s short for Unpopular Culture, the blog’s original name. The concept was that we would be a place to discuss American TV shows which got – and still get – hardly any viewers in the UK, where we live.
And now, The Snoskred Five –
What did you eat for dinner last night?
CJ: Fish’n’chips.
JB: A sort of cottage pie but with turkey mince.
Do you have a favourite blog post on your blog? If yes, can you give us a link to it?
CJ: Not really, but if I had to pick, maybe this one? Poldark s1 e3
JB: I’m almost never satisfied with any of my blog posts after they’ve gone up. Sometimes after a couple of years I can look back and think that an individual post wasn’t too bad, but I’m too self-critical to have a favourite, I’m afraid. The best posts on our blog at the moment are CJ’s about Stalker.
When you were growing up, what books did you most love?
CJ: “The Chinese Egg” by Catherine Storr about two teenagers who try to help find a kidnapped child was one of my favourite books ever. I was also a huge fan of The Chalet School series when I was at school, before wholly embracing my shipping tendencies and moving on to Georgette Heyer’s Regency romances as a teenager. (I still break into the odd bit of Regency slang every now and again.) Oh, and I loved Anne of Green Gables – I started reading that series after watching the glorious TV adaptation with Megan Follows and the late Jonathan Crombie. Lots of shipping there too!
JB: When I was very young, anything by Enid Blyton. After that, I read pretty much anything I could get my hands on. The first “adult” authors I liked, when I was about 12 or so, were probably Frederick Forsyth and Arthur Hailey. Forsyth’s fallen out of fashion a bit these days, and his politics are unpalatable to me, but at the time of publication The Day Of The Jackal and The Odessa File were top-notch thrillers. And Hailey was hardly a prose stylist, but he wrote lovely great big pageturners.
What is your most favourite movie and why do you love it?
CJ: I agonised over this and couldn’t narrow it down to one, so can I cheat and pick three favourites? In no particular order,
– the most recent adaptation of Hairspray because – *puts serious hat on* – it manages to drive home themes of diversity, respect and self-esteem while being hilarious, sweet and having one of the best soundtracks ever.
– Speed because, although it’s completely ridiculous nonsense, whenever I come across it on TV I have to stop what I’m doing and watch it, I love it so much. It’s the perfect fast, fun action movie and Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock are great together.
– Wadjda, a Saudi Arabian film about a girl who wants to buy a bike, because it’s an absolute joy. Wadjda the character is smart, strong and tenacious, you’re cheering her on throughout all her struggles, and the film itself is so brave, warm, funny, feminist and uplifting – I just adore it.
JB: Vertigo. Essence of cinema.
Tell us about a TV show you love which is not “popular” eg not Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones – a tv show that is not very well known.
CJ: The Almighty Johnsons! It finished a couple of years ago after three seasons, but it’s a hilarious comedy/drama from New Zealand about four brothers who are reincarnated Norse gods. It sounds mad and it is, but it’s also one of my favourite TV shows ever – it’s incredibly bawdy, but also insanely clever, witty and really moving sometimes. It’s not about superpowers, really, it’s about love and family and brotherhood and growing up and it’s glorious. If you’ve not seen it yet, get cracking!
JB: Perhaps The Americans, which is no longer being shown on UK TV, and which doesn’t have a huge following in America. It’s an astonishingly good show, but I know quite a few people – including CJ – who have tried it and just not liked it. I think it’s up there with the very best TV being made at the moment.
Thanks CJ and Jed!
For answering my questions. :) This has been a most awesome interview!
If you enjoy television, you should add Unpopcult to your feed reader. It is thanks to them that I found my favourite show of 2014 – The Missing. Plus it is thanks to them I have watched so many shows I might have missed out on, like The Good Wife which I have grown to love and Mr Selfridge which is just a beautiful show.
I leave lots of comments over at Unpopcult, quite often on older posts as I go through and watch a series for the first time, or when I see an episode which makes me want to type. CJ and Jed probably have no idea but they often push me out of my TeeVee comfort zone and get me watching shows I would never have discovered on my own.
I deeply enjoy reading their thoughts on shows.. :) Love your work, CJ and Jed..
Sunday Selections Week 28
Another grocery shop, another week of gorgeous sunset pics.
I love how these clouds look like they are on fire.
Would you like to join in? The rules are very simple:-
1. post photos of your choice, old or new, under the Sunday Selections title
2. link back to River at Drifting Through Life, somewhere in your post
3. leave River a comment so that she knows you’ve joined in and can come over and see what you’ve posted.
Weekly Wrap Up –
One of the scam posts I did is a gift that keeps on giving.. there have been thousands of views to that post since I first posted it. Some days nobody posts a comment on it, and then some days there are 5-10 new comments on the post. Some days maybe 20-30 people view it, and some days 200-300 people view it, and one day this week over 800 people viewed it..
Here at home, we are all set for concreting to happen, however the weather being so cold they have put the job off because concrete will crack if it gets too cold while it is setting. This means the cars are stuck out the front of the house which is not a comfortable situation for me.
Posts Snoskred Enjoyed –
Six awesome podcasts hosted by women – These look interesting, especially the Leigh Sales and Annabel Crabb one. :)
Duchess in Alexander McQueen & Jane Taylor for Princess Charlotte’s Christening – Again Prince George stole the show.. :) The photo of him on his tippy toes looking into the baby carriage is so gorgeous! For more about the kids, check out What Prince George & Princess Charlotte Wore
Princess Charlotte’s Christening – Another post on this topic. And, More Pics Here.
The official pics were released and these are gorgeous too. :) Princess Charlotte’s Christening Portraits Released.
A Hearty Ragu – I’ll make this with chicken, for the reasons I said in my comment on that post. But it will still be GOOD. :)
3 DOORS OF PERCEPTION: Procrastination, Patience, Decisions – I really liked this post.
Our World Through a Lens: Photography Blogs to Follow Now – some amazing blogs I’d never heard of before here.
It’s 2015 — You’d Think We’d Have Figured Out How To Measure Web Traffic By Now – Amen to that! A fascinating read.. :)
Recipe – Eggs and Spinach Breakfast Tacos This looks super yummy! :)
Here On The Blog –
We started the week with Sunday Selections Week 27, then I put together this guide on How To – Create Free Link Ups Via SimplyLinked. I talked about some teevee shows I have been enjoying on Television Tuesday – SBS On Demand and then on Wednesday I showed you my new coatigan with the help of Carter – Carter Models Again and finally I told you about one of my favourite actors – Men I Love To Watch – Aaron Paul.
Blog Spotlight –
Each week, I will link to a blog I am reading to shine a spotlight on it and tell you what I like about it. This week – whenever I go to Aldi, I am reminded of Imogen from Tia Cherie because some of the hair dye boxes have a model posing similarly to how Imogen often poses in her fashion shots.
I said in a comment there once that I would take a photo and post it, and I finally remembered to get my phone out on our fortnightly shop. Imogen, I love your style, and I love your blog. :)
Coming Up –
This week I will be talking about some of the new shows I have been watching on Television Tuesday. I’ll let the rest of the week come to you as a surprise. ;)