Month: July 2014

Moli meets a Princess…

Moli

Last weekend in a Galaxy far far away, I attended the London Film and Comic Con. I do like a film fair. Stalls selling all manner of tat and film memorabilia that I love to peruse and occasionally buy from. Now, I didn’t buy an early bird ticket but I really wasn’t ready for the hugely long line of film fans waiting to get in or the nearly 3 hour wait until I finally got a ticket for entry.

London Film & Comic Con 2014

When I moved inside Earls Court I was fairly shocked that the big space chosen to host this event was filled with thousands people and at the back was where I needed to go. I had to push my way through, on one of the hottest days of the year and that was truly a horrible experience. Frankly it was far too busy and the organisers were too greedy and not thinking of health and safety. After a fair amount of pushing and shoving I managed to get another ticket to meet one of the star guest, Carrie Fisher from Star Wars. I’ve met loads of Star Wars actors and everyone I know has a Dave Prowse signed photo but I’ve never had the chance to meet one of the big names like Mark Hamill, Harrsion Ford and Carrie Fisher. The ticket number I had was numbered around 800 and currently the line started at 50. So I had a fair wait and was told to come back in 4 hours. I used the time to look around and take some pictures of the people that had spent time and some real effort to dress up.

London Film & Comic Con 2014

London Film & Comic Con 2014

London Film & Comic Con 2014

London Film & Comic Con 2014

London Film & Comic Con 2014

Hulk or Bulk

LFCC

London Film & Comic Con 2014

I returned to the Carrie Fisher line after 3 hours and the numbers were only up to 250 that didn’t bode well for my chances. However I got lucky and begged to be let in which I duly was. The rules for the meeting were fairly strict given how long people had waited. The signing wouldn’t be personalised and you couldn’t take her picture. All this I found fair ridiculous and another example of the greedy nature of the event. It was all about making as much money as possible for the fat promoter with the dyed black hair. However, I didn’t listen to the ‘No photo’ rule and decided to take a picture of her anyway.

Carrie Fisher - London Film & Comic Con 2014

Carrie Fisher Signed Photo

I guess it’s a big business now but the over crowding and rushed experience with the guest made me feel a little underwhelmed and cheated out of the experience I and many other should have had. Anyway, I did meet Carrie Fisher.

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Moli & Monty…

Moli

I never wanted to write a blog… I wanted to be…. A Lumberjack!!! Oh, I’m a lumberjack, and I’m okay, I sleep all night and I work all day…

Monty Python - London

Monty Lumberjack Song

Earlier this month I attended one of the live Monty Python shows at the O2 in London. The last live show was in 1982 at the Hollywood Bowl and the TV series itself ended in 1974 so I was fairly excited to say the least to be able to see my comedy heroes that I grew up watching.

Moli Monty

The show featured every sketch I loved watching with classic footage and animations from the original series. It also featured the songs from the movies with a very camp and show tune version of ‘Every Sperm is Sacred’ with giant penises for extra emphasis. The two sketches I wanted so see, The ‘Dead Parrot Sketch being one of my favorites and ‘The right room for an Argument’ didn’t disappoint. However it was clear that John Cleese seemed to be the most doddery and less able to be as physical. Eric Idle on the other hand seemed to have more energy than them all put together.

Monty Sperm Song

The whole evening felt like a night at the Proms or at a Pantomime. The 20,000 or so audience were singing along to all the songs and joining in with the show.

Monty Python - London

I can understand why some critics found it boring but you don’t go the Proms looking for something new and original. You want to see the classic sketches performed live and given that its been over 30 years since the last time and probably the last time they will all be together again, I couldn’t have had a better time.

Monty Python - London

As the curtain came down and a final song of ‘Always look on the bright side of life’ was performed I felt sad that I’ll never see them all together again but happy that I did.

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Moli goes to Utopia…

Moli

Last year Channel 4 broadcast a dark conspiracy drama called Utopia. It was beautifully shot and graded with striking colours. The characters and story were very original and very violent with a few look away moments. I’m excited that next week see’s the return of Utopia with two episodes over consecutive nights from Monday 14th July.

Utopia Season 2

However, I was lucky enough to attend a screening of these episodes a few weeks ago with some of the cast in attendance and unlike some shows that lose something from season one to season two. These first two episodes of Utopia were nothing less than business as usual but the first episode was set in the 1970’s with period grading and 4:3 aspect ratio that matched the use of stock news footage from the time. It sets up the events that ultimately lead to storyline of Utopia season one without me giving away any spoilers. The second episode then continues season two with some more shocks and surprises.

Utopia - Season 2

The subsequent Q&A afterwards offered a fairly limited insight into the creation of the show by writer Dennis Kelly.

Utopia Season 2 Screening

One of the more famous lines from season one was a question from the character called Arby played by Neil Maskel. The question goes, “Where is Jessica Hyde?”

Now that might not mean very much to those that haven’t seen the show, however I think this is a cool photo. So… Here is Jessica Hyde…

Fiona O'Shaughnessy & Moli (Jessica Hyde, Utopia)

I really recommend that you try and catch the first series. If you don’t Arby might get you…

 

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