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girlofpreyBeen on a major DVD kick over lately. Mostly due to getting my first new DVDs in months. Which I still sort of haven't paid for yet. But rather than toss them on one side, as is so often my instinct, I actually watched them this time. All of them.
I bought this mostly for the David Tennant, aka DI Peter Carlisle. Who was indeed lovely, but also very often a prat. I found myself inexplicably far more attracted to Ripley Holden...who looks like this:
He does take a lot of showers though.
For those not in the know, the story (set in Blackpool) is about Ripley Holden, arcade amusement owner, casino owner aspirer, family man, and general all-around bastard. He's just opened a new arcade with the hopes of turning it into a casino hotel one day, but he's having problems. His friends/investors are getting nervous, his accountant's too uptight for his plans. His daughter just brought home a man his age. His son doesn't do very much of anything. Oh, and someone left a body in his arcade, and now the police (headed by DI-from-out-of-town, Peter Carlisle) are investigating him for murder. Also, Peter meets Ripley's wife Natalie and they fall in love, though he decides not to tell her about the policeman-investigating-her-husband-bit. Mark one of his prattery. Apparently they're soulmates. I was Underwhelmed.
Ripley doesn't know about that till ages later though, and mostly just watches his plans and family crumble. And crumbles himself a bit. And as the series goes on we learn all about his abusive religious father, the fact that can still quote the Bible at people now, that he tried to commit suicide as a young lad, that he (canonically) once almost became a part-time rent-boy when he was on the streets and desperate, and I LOVED HIM AND COULDN'T STOP. Also the dancing. Oh, the dancing. They dance all the time. It is like a musical. It's great. But Ripley. He wears white suits, and refers to buttoning cufflinks as being 'like trying to shag a mouse'. And sings songs at friends he's falling out with that refer to them as 'romances that will never work out'. Quite a few times. And was canonically almost a rentboy (did I mention that?). And has FABULOUS tension with DI Carlisle. Much better than Carlisle and Natalie have (though I like Natalie). They have body language that I probably really need to screencap. They were both angry young men who have turned into fucked-up older men. And Ripley refers to him many times as a woman/poof/Mary, Queen of Scots, while Carlisle muses over whether 'it's a prick [he's] looking for'. And they dance together. Though Carlisle already has a Gay Cop Lover called Blythe, who is also great. But mostly I love Ripley and think he should have some non-rentboy gay sex, and it is great. Also his son is gay (and BLATANTLY into Carlisle), and when he/we (spoiler, sorry) finds out he doesn't mind. It's great. I love Ripley Holden. In a way that doesn't even require fic.
I have mostly deduced from this that the characters I like best are the ones that Just Can't Win. Cynical, smart bastards who really out to win by underhanded dealings, but something in them isn't so bad, or are good but flawed and hold themselves back, and they Just. Can't. Win. I love them all. Yes.
Also - oddly, Ripley is played by David Morrisey, who was in the recent Fatal Attraction 2 film, sharing many scenes with...(drumroll)...Iain Robertson! Aka Craig from Sea of Souls, as a sleazy journalist. I love it when my fandoms collide :)
Probably a bit of an anti-climax after the last cut, but - just go watch it. It's great. Laugh-out-loud, mind-bendingly-surreal, you-can't-even-imagine-it funny. It is Vince and Howard (Howard being played by Julian Barratt, aka Dan Ashcroft from Nathan Barley). Howard is an uptight, paranoid,gorgeous jazz poet who occasionally gets molested by the Spirit of Jazz. Vince is a glam-rock Mowgli with great hair. They are best friends and though I see it I don't want to slash them at all. In the first series they work in a zoo, and in the second series they do not, and ANYTHING APART FROM THAT IS INDEFINABLE. They search the tundra for sapphires. They summon old-lady demons and dress in old-lady drag to find them. They die and go to Monkey Hell. And they, too, sing and dance all the time. Seriously.
I love Vince. He is lovely. But I LOVE Howard. He is uptight and a bit of a prat, but mostly has beautiful eyes and Can't Win. I want to eat him/wrap him in a blanket and keep him safe. Mostly I want to slash him with pretty much everyone who isn't Vince. Howard/Bainbridge (yet another Bastard I love perhaps more than is right). Howard/Old Gregg. Howard/The Hitcher (I don't know why). Howard/Saboo. I love Saboo too! He is a cameo black shaman, who dresses in crow feathers and is obsessed with 'the crunch'. He is great. And also from The IT Crowd, and Nathan Barley. Though pretty much everyone who was ever in Nathan Barley is in Series 2 at some point. Troll the hairdresser as Banoo, mighty warrior! Nathan himself as 'The King'! I was filled with geeky love. A whole new set of incestuous British comedians. Hurrah
I wish there were more of both, but there isn't. Back to work.
Today I have to:
But when all this is done, in the next week I have to:
On the whole, I prefer the bit with the DVDs.
I bought this mostly for the David Tennant, aka DI Peter Carlisle. Who was indeed lovely, but also very often a prat. I found myself inexplicably far more attracted to Ripley Holden...who looks like this:
He does take a lot of showers though.
For those not in the know, the story (set in Blackpool) is about Ripley Holden, arcade amusement owner, casino owner aspirer, family man, and general all-around bastard. He's just opened a new arcade with the hopes of turning it into a casino hotel one day, but he's having problems. His friends/investors are getting nervous, his accountant's too uptight for his plans. His daughter just brought home a man his age. His son doesn't do very much of anything. Oh, and someone left a body in his arcade, and now the police (headed by DI-from-out-of-town, Peter Carlisle) are investigating him for murder. Also, Peter meets Ripley's wife Natalie and they fall in love, though he decides not to tell her about the policeman-investigating-her-husband-bit. Mark one of his prattery. Apparently they're soulmates. I was Underwhelmed.
Ripley doesn't know about that till ages later though, and mostly just watches his plans and family crumble. And crumbles himself a bit. And as the series goes on we learn all about his abusive religious father, the fact that can still quote the Bible at people now, that he tried to commit suicide as a young lad, that he (canonically) once almost became a part-time rent-boy when he was on the streets and desperate, and I LOVED HIM AND COULDN'T STOP. Also the dancing. Oh, the dancing. They dance all the time. It is like a musical. It's great. But Ripley. He wears white suits, and refers to buttoning cufflinks as being 'like trying to shag a mouse'. And sings songs at friends he's falling out with that refer to them as 'romances that will never work out'. Quite a few times. And was canonically almost a rentboy (did I mention that?). And has FABULOUS tension with DI Carlisle. Much better than Carlisle and Natalie have (though I like Natalie). They have body language that I probably really need to screencap. They were both angry young men who have turned into fucked-up older men. And Ripley refers to him many times as a woman/poof/Mary, Queen of Scots, while Carlisle muses over whether 'it's a prick [he's] looking for'. And they dance together. Though Carlisle already has a Gay Cop Lover called Blythe, who is also great. But mostly I love Ripley and think he should have some non-rentboy gay sex, and it is great. Also his son is gay (and BLATANTLY into Carlisle), and when he/we (spoiler, sorry) finds out he doesn't mind. It's great. I love Ripley Holden. In a way that doesn't even require fic.
I have mostly deduced from this that the characters I like best are the ones that Just Can't Win. Cynical, smart bastards who really out to win by underhanded dealings, but something in them isn't so bad, or are good but flawed and hold themselves back, and they Just. Can't. Win. I love them all. Yes.
Also - oddly, Ripley is played by David Morrisey, who was in the recent Fatal Attraction 2 film, sharing many scenes with...(drumroll)...Iain Robertson! Aka Craig from Sea of Souls, as a sleazy journalist. I love it when my fandoms collide :)
Probably a bit of an anti-climax after the last cut, but - just go watch it. It's great. Laugh-out-loud, mind-bendingly-surreal, you-can't-even-imagine-it funny. It is Vince and Howard (Howard being played by Julian Barratt, aka Dan Ashcroft from Nathan Barley). Howard is an uptight, paranoid,
I love Vince. He is lovely. But I LOVE Howard. He is uptight and a bit of a prat, but mostly has beautiful eyes and Can't Win. I want to eat him/wrap him in a blanket and keep him safe. Mostly I want to slash him with pretty much everyone who isn't Vince. Howard/Bainbridge (yet another Bastard I love perhaps more than is right). Howard/Old Gregg. Howard/The Hitcher (I don't know why). Howard/Saboo. I love Saboo too! He is a cameo black shaman, who dresses in crow feathers and is obsessed with 'the crunch'. He is great. And also from The IT Crowd, and Nathan Barley. Though pretty much everyone who was ever in Nathan Barley is in Series 2 at some point. Troll the hairdresser as Banoo, mighty warrior! Nathan himself as 'The King'! I was filled with geeky love. A whole new set of incestuous British comedians. Hurrah
I wish there were more of both, but there isn't. Back to work.
Today I have to:
- Finish Wide Sargasso Sea (which is good)
- Read 2 articles on creolisation/Jane Eyre/orientalism/etc
- Watch Life on Mars
- Sleep. Properly this time.
But when all this is done, in the next week I have to:
- Read Great Expectations. All 500 pages.
- Do the seminar worksheet on Great Expectations
- Read La Morte D'Arthur, and prepare a short presentation on it.
- Write a monologue for a Real Person that I'll probably have to read out in a seminar on Friday.
- Probably read The Great Gatsby for the book club.
- Probably go see a film from Cuban Season at the Broadway
- Probably not sleep at all, no.
On the whole, I prefer the bit with the DVDs.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-20 06:02 am (UTC)David Morrissey is oddly charismatic, for all that he has no attractive features whatsoever, yeah.
And has FABULOUS tension with DI Carlisle.
Hell yeah. I, generally, Don't Do Slash. But _These Boots Are Made For Walking_ screams it, even to me. :-)
XWA
(no subject)
Date: 2006-02-21 04:56 am (UTC):) It's funny - the dance didn't really do it for me. Maybe because I'd heard about it so was expecting it. At the beginning they were just being prattish to each other and I was a bit 'meh' - but then they started standing together in hotel rooms, and on piers, and it was just 'awww, yeah'. I could read some angsty, fucked-up, dancing-round-each-other (heh) fic. But again, not so desperate for it. It's great :)