List #32: British TV Comedies to Watch on Hulu (for free) --- Part 1 of 3

For many of us, this time of the year isn't about what we want so much as what we don't want. 

We don't want to spend money and we don't want to think too much. 

So here you go.

[Note: Not all shows are recommended equally. I've starred my favorites.]

*1. Black Books (Rec. #68)

5 key words: bookshop, misanthrope, Dylan Moran, wine

Representative quote: "What did you say to Kate? She thinks I'm the renaissance. She'll think I've lied, I had to go along with all this reclusive genius stuff. She'll be really upset when she finds out I'm a reclusive wanker."

2. Coupling

5 key words: dating, rants, bar, giggle loop

Representative quote: "I don't like to label everything in my medicine cabinet. You'd never have any surprises."

3. Fresh Meat

5 key words: university students, shared house, pubs

Representative quote: "I'll probably end up being Prime Minister or something one day. I don't want to be. It's just, that kind of shit just happens to guys like me."

*4. Green Wing (Rec. #110)

5 key words: hospital, surreal, smoo, no patients

Representative quote:
"How was the interview?"
"Not sure... think I might have used the words 'job,' 'stick,' 'up,' and 'arse' all in one sentence. Is that a bad thing?"
"Well I... I think tone of voice is very important."

*5. Jeeves and Wooster

5 key words: Wodehouse, Fry, Laurie, what ho

Representative quote: [dictating a telegraph] "To Aunt Dehlia: Um, I say, look here, this is absolutely impossible. Not to say, out of the question. Spode has already threatened yours truly. Sorry, and all that. Oh, about the cow creamer, I mean. Anyway there it is. Toodle-pip. Your affectionate nephew, Bertie."

6. Man Stroke Woman

5 key words: sketch comedy, thirtysomethings, sublime idiocy

Representative quote:
"So what's been happening?"
"Well, I got married. And you?"
"Um, well it's a bit of a long story, actually. I moved back in with my parents for awhile, and then late last year ... I became the king of Spain."

[Continue with Part 2 here and Part 3 here.]

Friday Flashback: Rec. #61: Christopher and Columbus

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: Twin adolescent girls, recently orphaned and shunned by their remaining relatives, find themselves en route from England to the United States in 1916. One of Elizabeth von Arnim's greatest strengths as a writer is deliberate, insightful, witty character development, and she works her usual magic with Anna-Rose and Anna-Felicitas. They may be twins who finish each other's thoughts, but they're also two distinct, vibrant individuals.

Comparable to: A combo of Angela Thirkell and E.M. Delafield, but fewer characters than Thirkell and more points of view than Delafield. There's also a strong thread of Vita Sackville-West-ishness.

Representative quote: "Uncle Arthur was the husband of Aunt Alice. He didn't like foreigners, and said so. He had never liked them and had always said so."

You might not like it if: You think twins are inherently creepy, and not in a good way.

How to get it: Not only is it Kindle-able, it's free.

Connection to previous Wreckage: Elizabeth von Arnim also wrote The Enchanted April (Rec. #113).

I mentioned Angela Thirkell and Vita Sackville-West in the "Comparable to" section above. Thirkell's Summer Half was Rec. #40 and Cheerfulness Breaks In was Rec. #240. Sackville-West's The Heir was Rec. #276.

[Originally posted 3/1/11.]

Rec. #320: Pretty Little Head

What: Nellie McKay's second album was much-delayed, mainly due to disputes with her label (don't tell Nellie her album is too long, Columbia; don't do it). The result is worth it, though. In the 23 songs on Pretty Little Head, McKay sings about gay marriage, animal testing, Brecht, tenant rights, and the joys of food.

She also duets with both k.d. lang and Cyndi Lauper, plays the cello and synthesizer, sings in French, and even yodels. Yes, yodels.

Representative lyrics:
"Buy me a billionaire
And maybe I'll forget
Maybe I'll accept
Write me a Baudelaire
And tie me uppercut
If you're going up"

Connections to previous Wreckage: McKay's first album, Get Away from Me, was Rec. #206. She was also featured on the David Byrne/Fatboy Slim project Here Lies Love (Rec. #187).

Quote from a Fictional Character #11

"Anyhow, I shall be able to give up going to parties and things. I'll go to parties or have a baby, but I won't do both."

--- Denham Dobie,
on the silver lining of her pregnancy,
Crewe Train, by Rose Macaulay, 1926
(Rec. #84)

Friday Flashback: Rec. #210: The Mermaids Singing

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: Val McDermid's award-winning novel marks the beginning of the partnership between forensic psychologist Dr. Tony Hill and Detective Inspector Carol Jordan that has thus far spawned seven books and a British television series. 

McDermid's prodigious literary talent elevates this above the quotidian police procedural that one might expect, while her complete lack of squeamishness means that descriptions of the book contain phrases like "sadistic, twisted yet intriguingly ingenious" and "graphic, psychologically terrifying."

Comparable to: Frankly, I am shocked (shocked!) that Showtime does not appear to be adapting this into a new series even as we speak (er, type/read). It fits perfectly with the channel's current aesthetic, without any need for the terrible, terrible, terrible Dexter voiceovers. (Sorry, Dexter fans! But those voiceovers are pretty terrible.)

Representative quote: "On the other side of the city, John Brandon stooped over the washbasin and stared glumly into the bathroom mirror. Not even the shaving soap covering his face like a Santa Claus beard could give him an air of benevolence."

You might not like it if: You have a weak stomach, but you read the more graphic parts anyway. I am not ashamed to admit I just skipped over some passages. Torture scenes? What torture scenes?

How to get it: The book is easily available (and Kindle-able). The television adaptation is called Wire in the Blood, which is the title of the second book in the series. Don't get confused and read that first.

(Incidentally, the television show is amazingly well cast --- Robson Green ftw! --- but later seasons do diverge very sharply from the books.)

Connection to previous Wreckage: Read more about Green's work as Tony Hill in List #16: Some Dishy British Male Actors and Where to Find Them. Phwoar.

[Originally posted 11/13/11.]

Rec. #319: The Thin Man (film)

What: Myrna Loy and William Powell set out to prove that the key ingredients for a happy marriage are a sense of humor, family money, a sparky dog, a murder to solve, and lots and lots of booze.

Representative dialogue:
"Say listen, is he working on a case?"
"Yes, he is."
"What case?"
"A case of scotch. Pitch in and help him."

Representative quote: "I don't like crooks, and if I did like crooks, I wouldn't like crooks that were stool pigeons, and if I did like crooks that were stool pigeons, I still wouldn't like you!"

How to get it: This is just the first in a whole series of Thin Man movies. The titles make no sense from here on in, but just go with it.

Connections to previous Wreckage: The source material is the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett (Rec. #234). 

You can also watch Loy and Powell trade flirtatious barbs in the screwball comedy Libeled Lady (Rec. #229).

List #31: Happy Birthday, Margaret Atwood

Painting by Oksana Zhelisko

Who: Margaret Atwood is a Canadian icon --- novelist, literary critic, poet, activist, essayist. She writes cities, she writes nature. She writes short and she writes long. She writes past, she writes present, she writes future. 

The Robber Bride, 1993

(Rec. #105)

The Blind Assassin, 2000

(Rec. #203)

The Penelopiad, 2005

(Rec. #298)

Friday Flashback: Rec. #51: Personal Days

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: Written in the collective "we" (I know, I know, but stay with me), Personal Days is told from the point of view of office workers watching in helpless horror as their company goes through rolling layoffs. In the process, the reader gets an accurate, detailed, sadly humorous picture of day-to-day office life in the big city. 

If this sounds familiar, that's probably because this is pretty much the exact same book as Joshua Ferris's Then We Came to the End. The major difference is that Ed Park made his version eerier, with a twist of suspense at the end. (And that Then We Came to the End got a ton of press and sold a lot more copies.) But, really, the same book. I liked them both, so I'm not complaining.

Representative quote: "We dress like we don't make much money, which is true for at least half of us. The trick is figuring out which half."

You might not like it if: You hated Then We Came to the End.

How to get it: Bookstores, libraries, online. The same goes for the Joshua Ferris version.

[Originally posted 2/19/11.]

Rec. #318: Barmy in Wonderland

What: P.G. Wodehouse takes on the theater world from the perspective of a posh but poor Englishman who is blessed with the Wodehousian name Cyril "Barmy" Fotheringay-Phipps.

In his quest after the girl of his dreams, Barmy encounters critics, actors, producers, and critics. And somehow Barmy ends up owning a play. As you do.

Representative quote: "He rose, accordingly, poising himself for flight, and instantaneously the room became filled with a curious gargling sound, as if some giant were using mouthwash in the vicinity. Between himself and the door the dog Tulip was standing with a wealth of meaning in his eyes."

How to get it: As always, the Overlook edition (as shown above) is a high-quality beauty.

Connections to previous Wreckage:
Cocktail Time (Rec. #24)
Jill the Reckless (Rec. #136)
The Mating Season (Rec. #254)
Much Obliged, Jeeves (Rec. #153)
Psmith, Journalist (Rec. #289)
Uncle Dynamite (Rec. #204)
P.G. Wodehouse as Published by Overlook Press (Gift Idea #7)

Quote from a Fictional Character #10

"You cannot hide in minimalist furniture!"

--- Felix Dawkins,

when Sarah yells at him to hide,

Orphan Black, 2013

I knew I would love this show, and I do love this show, and I just want to stay home and watch this show, but I can't.

Friday Flashback: Rec. #11: A Midwinter's Tale

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: This film is in black-and-white and its original title was In the Bleak Midwinter, but don't let that fool you. I mean, look at this picture! (Jennifer Saunders and Joan Collins, sitting next to a cardboard cutout and looking dubious.) Does that seem bleak? No. No, it does not.

Saunders and Collins are just part of the stellar cast in this wry story of an out-of-work actor who volunteers to stage a production of Hamlet in a small village. Other notables include Richard Briers, Nicholas Farrell, Celia Imrie, Michael Maloney, Julia Sawalha, and John Sessions.

Comparable to: A less folksy Christopher Guest movie, minus the documentary frame.

Representative quote:
"Hamlet isn't just Hamlet. Oh no, no, no. Oh, no. Hamlet is me. Hamlet is Bosnia. Hamlet is this desk. Hamlet is the air. Hamlet is my grandmother. Hamlet is everything you ever thought about sex, about geology . . ."
"Geology?"
"In a very loose sense, of course."

You might not like it if: Black-and-white movies give you a headache.

Connection to previous Wreckage: A Midwinter's Tale was part of List #6: A Few Seasonally Inappropriate Options for the Northern Hemisphere.

[Originally posted 1/10/11.] 

Rec. #317: Fadeaway Girl

What: Fadeaway Girl isn't the first story about amateur sleuth Emma Graham, but it is the first one I read, and I liked it, so here it is.

Emma Graham is a waitress at a summer hotel, a reporter for the local newspaper, and a sometimes-private-investigator. She's also twelve. She nevertheless finds ample scope for her talents with a series of intertwined crimes that stretch back over twenty years --- three murders, an attempted murder, and a kidnapping.

Opening lines: "We were talking about the kidnapped baby."

You might not like it if: You get confused about the plot because you haven't read the earlier Emma Graham books.

How to get it: Fadeaway Girl is the fourth Emma Graham book. Author Martha Grimes first introduced the character in Hotel Paradise.

Connection to previous Wreckage: Fadeaway Girl was on List #22: A Few of the Best Books I Read in 2012.

Quote from a Fictional Character #9

"I have your knife, Mr. Roat."

--- Susy Hendrix,

Wait Until Dark, 1967

(Rec. #26)

Friday Flashback: Rec. #207 (abbrev.): Amphigorey

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: Edward Gorey collection, The Unstrung Harp, The Listing Attic, The Doubtful Guest, The Object-Lesson, The Bug Book, The Fatal Lozenge, The Hapless Child, The Curious Sofa, The Willowdale Handcar, The Gashlycrumb Tinies, The Insect God, The West Wing, The Wuggly Ump, The Sinking Spell, The Remembered Visit

Representative quote: "It was already Thursday, but his lordship's artificial limb could not be found; therefore, having directed the servants to fill the baths, he seized the tongs and set out at once for the edge of the lake, where the Throbblefoot Spectre still loitered in a distraught manner." --- first lines of The Object-Lesson

Also: Ascending Peculiarity (Rec. #80) and Amphigorey Too (Rec. #273)



[Originally posted 11/7/11.]