Monday, 6 April 2009
Windipops - new kids TV concept from the Socks
At last a new video from the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre (how long has it been?). They're not claiming it's their best. They unveil a new concept for kids TV...
Thursday, 26 March 2009
Sitcom Trials report - 25/3/09
Last night I had the pleasure and privelege of being a judge at the Sitcom Trials, the show that I invented ten years ago, stopped doing three years ago, and Declan Hill & Simon Wright now keep themselves very busy running. It was the first show of this season I've been able to make and I was delighted with what I saw.
They run two shows every Wednesday. A 5pm showcase where industry representatives cast their votes on the 4 sitcoms in competition, then a 7pm re-performance where the public vote. I was in the 5pm session with fellow judges Jaqui Sinclair from RDF's Comedy Unit, George Poles writer from Mock The week & HIGNFY, Steve Keyworth of Eastenders and this afternoon's Radio 4 Play fame, and Carole Smith Radio 4 comedy producer of legend.
We watched 4 sitcoms, all of which are produced and staged to the highest standard. In my day we used to stand, radio-style, with scripts in hands, but these guys are totally off-book and well directed, all for just two performances. And, not to say anything nasty about anyone or anything, two of the scripts were brilliant. And as for the casts, tonight's show had John Le Mesurier's grand-daughter and Lee off of Steps in, how's that for impressive?
The winning scripts were The House on Cedar Street by Julie Bower, a flat share comedy which had a level of exciting new writing that made you want to see anything that writer comes up with, and The Boot Room by John Gradwell which is a consistently funny and well constructed sitcom set in a football club, crossing Hi De Hi with The Damned United to very promising effect.
As is my wont, I doodled on my notes, little cartoons of most of the actors. You can see those here, if I've cracked this uploading lark.
I'd encourage anyone interested in sitcom to come along to these weekly shows, as they race through the tournament towards the final in May. They're at the Leicester Square Theatre every Wednesday.
UPDATE from the future: - October 2012
The next Sitcom Trials show is
The Sitcom Trials Manchester
Fri 21st Oct 2011, 7.45pm
The Lass O Gowrie, 36 Charles Street, Manchester M1 7DB Tel 0161 273 6932
Tickets £3
They run two shows every Wednesday. A 5pm showcase where industry representatives cast their votes on the 4 sitcoms in competition, then a 7pm re-performance where the public vote. I was in the 5pm session with fellow judges Jaqui Sinclair from RDF's Comedy Unit, George Poles writer from Mock The week & HIGNFY, Steve Keyworth of Eastenders and this afternoon's Radio 4 Play fame, and Carole Smith Radio 4 comedy producer of legend.
We watched 4 sitcoms, all of which are produced and staged to the highest standard. In my day we used to stand, radio-style, with scripts in hands, but these guys are totally off-book and well directed, all for just two performances. And, not to say anything nasty about anyone or anything, two of the scripts were brilliant. And as for the casts, tonight's show had John Le Mesurier's grand-daughter and Lee off of Steps in, how's that for impressive?
The winning scripts were The House on Cedar Street by Julie Bower, a flat share comedy which had a level of exciting new writing that made you want to see anything that writer comes up with, and The Boot Room by John Gradwell which is a consistently funny and well constructed sitcom set in a football club, crossing Hi De Hi with The Damned United to very promising effect.
As is my wont, I doodled on my notes, little cartoons of most of the actors. You can see those here, if I've cracked this uploading lark.
I'd encourage anyone interested in sitcom to come along to these weekly shows, as they race through the tournament towards the final in May. They're at the Leicester Square Theatre every Wednesday.
UPDATE from the future: - October 2012
The next Sitcom Trials show is
The Sitcom Trials Manchester
Fri 21st Oct 2011, 7.45pm
The Lass O Gowrie, 36 Charles Street, Manchester M1 7DB Tel 0161 273 6932
Tickets £3
Friday, 20 March 2009
Work in progress from the Socks
Yes! It's the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre's first new video in nearly a month. We've been touring and working on the new Edinburgh show. This is work in progress. Sneak preview. Early peek. Oh, it'll get better...
Saturday, 28 February 2009
Official Support Socks for Comic Relief
The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are now Official Support Socks supporting Kev F's attempt to break the world joke telling record for Comic Relief:
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Comic Relief joke attempt launches on BBC1
Launching the Comic Relief joke telling attempt, piece on BBC Points West features, for the first time, Kev F & the Socks together:
Wednesday, 18 February 2009
Comic Art Masterclass comics
As I may have mentioned, I do an awful lot of Comic Art Masterclasses around the country, teaching kids how to tell stories in pictures. They produce a comic by the end of the morning (or afternoon) which they take home. It contains a strip by each of them plus a caricature of each of them on the back page. Here are photos of 16 comics produced already this year:
Jub Jubs Go Mad - Birmingham Central Library
The Evil & The Edible - Launceston Primary, Cornwall
Glabeoon Attack Of The Mutated Pigs - Stottesdon Primary, Shropshire
Attack Of The Powerpuff Scotsman - Werneth High, Stockport
Denise The Menise & The Doom Of Jeremy Clarkson - Orchid Vale, Swindon
Sponge Wars Demon Doors - Orchid Vale, Swindon
Barack H Obama's Chicken Phlegm - Gosport Discovery Centre
Attack Of The Random Cats That Go Moo - Werneth High, Stockport
Big Nose Adventures of Doctor Poo - New Milton Library
Super Rabbit in Stotty Goes Mad Bananas - Stottesdon Primary, Shropshire
Koala Bogey Infested Milkshake - Porthcawl Pavilion
Monster Zap & Poo Bum - Porthcawl Pavilion
Attack Of The Hamsters - New Milton Library
Ken What You Should Dae - Ratho Library, Edinburgh
Tramps Reunion - Greenfield Primary
Doodle McDougal & Timmy The Tomato - Sacred Hearts Primary, Edinburgh
Jub Jubs Go Mad - Birmingham Central Library
The Evil & The Edible - Launceston Primary, Cornwall
Glabeoon Attack Of The Mutated Pigs - Stottesdon Primary, Shropshire
Attack Of The Powerpuff Scotsman - Werneth High, Stockport
Denise The Menise & The Doom Of Jeremy Clarkson - Orchid Vale, Swindon
Sponge Wars Demon Doors - Orchid Vale, Swindon
Barack H Obama's Chicken Phlegm - Gosport Discovery Centre
Attack Of The Random Cats That Go Moo - Werneth High, Stockport
Big Nose Adventures of Doctor Poo - New Milton Library
Super Rabbit in Stotty Goes Mad Bananas - Stottesdon Primary, Shropshire
Koala Bogey Infested Milkshake - Porthcawl Pavilion
Monster Zap & Poo Bum - Porthcawl Pavilion
Attack Of The Hamsters - New Milton Library
Ken What You Should Dae - Ratho Library, Edinburgh
Tramps Reunion - Greenfield Primary
Doodle McDougal & Timmy The Tomato - Sacred Hearts Primary, Edinburgh
Monday, 16 February 2009
Idiots and money rant
I just saw some idiot on the news saying we soon won't need money, we'll pay for everything on our mobiles. You'll swipe your phone and that'll pay for things. That's all well and good, I understand the technology, it's not that different from chip & pin cards.
What bugged me was the alleged expert's insistence that this technology was so good it was about to replace cash. About. To replace. Cash.
Now I remember at least ten years ago seeing a similar bloke on a similar TV news show telling me that chip and pin and globalised credit systems were so brilliant that "the only people who would use cash would be criminals."
Idiots idiots idiots. Money transferred from your phone. Has he ever tried getting a signal where we live? And if there's no cash and so everybody has to pay by phone, what happens when the sytems down? What happens when your batteries go? What happens when you're in one of the many locations I work in that get no signal (in the last 10 days that would include schools in Shropshire and Dorset, concrete buildings in South Wales and Birmingham, and my Mum and Dad's house in Leicestershire)?
And what about kids? How are they going to pay their dinner money? What are you going to do when you send them down the road to fetch you 20 Lambert & Butlers and a bottle of lambrini and a scratchcard? And what about shops like my photocopy shop that has a minimum of £5 on credit cards? Won't they be the same with this new technology?
More insidious, should we not be suspicious of people suggesting that the only way we could pay money for anything is through a bank. No more relying on the cash in your own pocket, everything would have to go through a multinational global organisation that would hold the power over your every transaction. Stick your hand in your pocket, pull out a few coins, buy stuff, easy. Get on the phone, wait for a signal, hope your pay-as-you-go hasn't run out, then hope the bank will still allow you to pay the two pennies and haven't skimmed a bit off to pay your credit cards. Or of course the bank hasn't gone tits up owing billions for reason you've never actually understood.
If they ever come within even a square mile of getting rid of cash, I'm moving straight over to a barter system. And the first thing I'm bartering for is a big gun and the addresses of all the idiots in banks who trot out this nonsense every decade.
What bugged me was the alleged expert's insistence that this technology was so good it was about to replace cash. About. To replace. Cash.
Now I remember at least ten years ago seeing a similar bloke on a similar TV news show telling me that chip and pin and globalised credit systems were so brilliant that "the only people who would use cash would be criminals."
Idiots idiots idiots. Money transferred from your phone. Has he ever tried getting a signal where we live? And if there's no cash and so everybody has to pay by phone, what happens when the sytems down? What happens when your batteries go? What happens when you're in one of the many locations I work in that get no signal (in the last 10 days that would include schools in Shropshire and Dorset, concrete buildings in South Wales and Birmingham, and my Mum and Dad's house in Leicestershire)?
And what about kids? How are they going to pay their dinner money? What are you going to do when you send them down the road to fetch you 20 Lambert & Butlers and a bottle of lambrini and a scratchcard? And what about shops like my photocopy shop that has a minimum of £5 on credit cards? Won't they be the same with this new technology?
More insidious, should we not be suspicious of people suggesting that the only way we could pay money for anything is through a bank. No more relying on the cash in your own pocket, everything would have to go through a multinational global organisation that would hold the power over your every transaction. Stick your hand in your pocket, pull out a few coins, buy stuff, easy. Get on the phone, wait for a signal, hope your pay-as-you-go hasn't run out, then hope the bank will still allow you to pay the two pennies and haven't skimmed a bit off to pay your credit cards. Or of course the bank hasn't gone tits up owing billions for reason you've never actually understood.
If they ever come within even a square mile of getting rid of cash, I'm moving straight over to a barter system. And the first thing I'm bartering for is a big gun and the addresses of all the idiots in banks who trot out this nonsense every decade.
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