I'M OLD! NO, I'M OLD!

Had fun reading this article, drinking Milo and watching a documentary on Spartacus.

Those were the days, let's not bring them up

I ALWAYS thought boomers were boring. The way they went on about peace and love and flowers in your hair. And I always thought the Anzacs were boring, the way they went on about some war that was finished well before I was born, although war is making a comeback. But now I know there's one thing more boring, perhaps the most boring thing of all: punk.

As a former punk, there's nothing more boring that talking about those days: you know, the day I first saw Johnny Rotten on Countdown singing Pretty Vacant; or Razar at the Brisbane Hotel, and the Flowers were there too: they went on to become Icehouse, the band that sang Great Southern Land, which still hasn't grown on me; or the Ramones at Festival Hall; and the night Chris Bailey of the Saints paid for my pissed mates and me to get home from a near-empty gig they did at Zillmere in Brisbane.

See what I mean? I could go on, but I won't. The thing is, the Saints reunion gig, along with the Riptides, the band with the singer who went on to sing that really boring song about lightning over cane fields, has brought all the old punks out of the woodwork.

Yep, bugger the old days. Being 45 is far more fun than being 25, despite the aches. I especially agreed with the bits about going to England and the Wests Tigers exorcising demons - or rather, Demons.

Comments

[Gareth]

And he's a Mets fan. Good judge, obviously.

[tONY]

That doco on Spartacus was good - watta guy!. Better investment of my tax dollars than Bastard Bastards, anyway

[nick]

West Tigers vs Demons - who would win? League - Wests. AFL - probably Wests. And Byron would be kicked out of the crowd for being pissed.

[Bruce]

Tony - you must get access to UK:TV on Saturday nights.

Callan is back on. One heck of a bit of telly. A spy show without explosions or gunfights. I think there was only a single shot in the entire first season.

I didn't like the Spartacus as much as I would have hoped. The epilogue made Crassus seem like a rich nobody who never did anything ever again. Neither his spectacular failures in the east nor his role in the triumvirate were mentioned.

[carneagles]

The Demons certainly looked like they could use the exorcise.

[tONY]

Bruce, I read somewhere (on Wikipedia?) that the BBC had lost most of the first season of Callan, which is why they never released them on DVD - how many episodes have they shown?

[Bruce]

It looks like this is season 3. Saturday night was S03E03 according to this episode guide (http://epguides.com/Callan/guide.shtml)

[Francis Xavier Holden]

tones - I think I saw that Callan is showing on a paytv channel here now

[Nabakov]

If I was the Supreme Being - (day one, 8am, lasers!) I'd order with much thunder, lightening and tax breaks the folks behind "Life On Mars" to create a 21st Callan. Or at least get the original series released on DVD. The 1974 film is out on now on DVD and not too bad. But, but, but it lacks the original theme music and the original Hunter and Lonely. Kinda like listening to Keef and Mick's solo albums. I want the whole ensemble damnit.

Yer right Tony, getting old is fun once you work out how to fulminate with style, passion and a bit of cool table hammering enhanced by obscure culture references.

Disclaimer: Tony is older than me but you'd need the cameras at Flemington to prove it.

[Tony.T]

UK TV shits me. It should be grouse, but it's shouse. They are a massive disappointment, showing wall-to-wall Pommy trash and even Aussie trash which is even trashier, and then they have the hide to sneak something on as good as Callan. Bastards. But at least I now know. Thanks for that, all. Time to set the vidjo tape machine player.

You sort of stole my thunder with your thunder, Nabs. If I wasn't so busy - yes, FX, busy - I would have already done a post on the marvellousness of Life On Mars. A ripping show, well directed, acted, scripted, soundtrack (best use of White Room I've heard on fillum) with bonus Philip Glenister as Hunt (with an H) doing a nice turn somewhere between Chisolm from Minder and Burnside from The Bill. (Reflex: I hate the fuckin' Bill.)

[Tony.T]

Chuck Jack Regan into the Hunt mix, too.

[Bwca]

No no no ... we don't want the first series of CALLAN released on soul-less DVD for viewing on huge plasma screens.
I settled in with great enthusiasm for the first PayTV showing ... and it just wasn't 'the same', or 'as good'.

Pretty ModBoy Patrick Mower of these later Callans was no substitute for the vulpine evil of Anthony Valentine of the first series.

I have the treasured memory of the absolute enjoyment of them:
T.P.McKenna,
Krokodil,
the fabulous design bleakness , of which Callan's miserable room was the peak (or trough),
the swinging lightbulb,
"Don't hurt me Mr.Callan" ...
on a small screen thank you and that will do.
The pitch was of course, 'Nobody can be trusted'.
nobody. nowhere. never.
and the James Mitchell novels are around if you look.

[Tony T.]

I agree with you, B. I watched Callan on the weekend and it wasn't as good as I remember, although it was still a lott better than most of the rubbish on telly today.

Never liked Patrick Mower.

[Bwca]

There is a wikipedia entry for Callan:
"The appeal of the deadly secret service agents have been recyled over the years but the haunted character of David Callan endures in the mind of those who saw him arguing with his superiors and wrestling with his conscience; yet he continually saw off young upstarts of his profession with his inbuilt ability to kill coldly and efficiently."

For those ofus who ARE OLD I'm OLD! ... this internet business has usurped 'a good memory for the important things'.

Anybody can research anything online, and just bulldoze my fond recollections.
Now I am reduced to playing '6 degrees of separation' because googling cannot make connections:

In the Callan movie wiki entry, I note 'Liz' is played by Veronica Lang (no Wiki Australian actress) and I can tell you she is married to Michael Aitken (born UK) who won a SAMMI for his role as 'Piggy' in Frank hardy's 'Power Without Glory' and now writes many of our current favourite UK TV shows.