TV II: Skins

Vindicated:

Scene: a classroom, discussing William Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Josie (Teacher): 'But there's no wanking in Hamlet'

Student: 'Yes there is.  Loads.  Only they call it soliloquising'.

Reminds me: what I have done with Josie's fanzine?

Off to Wales tomorrow.  On Walden Pond?

12. TV I: Skins

Long time no post. Mea culpa. Either that or the slough of despond.

Sent b2009ks through Typealyzer and je suis:

ESTP - The Doers

The active and playful type. They are especially attuned
to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and
engaging in physical out-door activities. The Doers are happiest with
action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be
very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it
through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for
any period of time.

So, with this ridiculous analysis in mind, I add Skins to the mix.

This is probably the best show on British TV for the last couple of years. Most people hate it, or see it as a sleazy UK-based rip off of the OC or a West Country Hollyoaks. They are wrong. Like Kill Bill being the kind of film characters in Reservoir Dogs watch, Skins is the kind of show that the Inbetweeners or Grange Hill kids watch. It's a couple of steps removed from reality, but more real for all that.

Last night we got a riff on "This Be The Verse" Scene: A table after the divorce is announced. Daughter and her friend: "They Fuck You Up." 'The May Not Mean To." "But they Do". And a lot of Larkin about in the wonderful Sally Phillip's suburban house. Where else do we see suburbia (or Bristol) on the TV in this way? Or a 17th birthday ruined by drugs and the local football team, when all the dippy girl wants is to play twister, wear pajamas, and learn how to make the monkey? Throw in a weird neighbour, some great swearing, a twin's coming out scene, and 'The Final Countdown' and you're ESTP.

And where else captures that weird, heightened sense of possibility and discomfort, c.17-18? This could have been set in Strode College.

Plus the format is good. A series, but each character gets their own episode. One may be speaking and thinking Spanish. One may be in a coma. One may be all about Bill Bailey's dancing dogs. Quirky, but more real than most of what passes for drama. Good music too.

Perhaps best thought of as This Life for the Nu-Rave generation (in the sense of being genuinely new, and about something not seen on TV before, rather than self-satisfied smug 20-something)

Or perhaps I'm just avoiding being middle-aged.

Films II: Le Corbeau

Does anyone know how this ends? DVD decided to skip after all hell breaks out and someone dies in a French town, 'comme ici ou ailleurs' after a load of poison pen letters.

I hate DVDs. Should all be distributed on USB sticks, or stick to betamax.