Before Monty Python brought his (in)famous Flying Circus to British TV and film, there was a BBC radio show entitled “I’m Sorry, I’ll Read That Again” (ISIRTA). The show was pure silliness, and starred David Hatch as the hapless announcer, and also featured voices of John Cleese, Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Jo Kendall, and Bill Oddie.

The show was a precursor to Monty Python.  In addition to Cleese, future Pythons Graham Chapman and Eric Idle wrote for the show, although they didn’t appear on it (as if anyone “appears” on radio.)  Some elements of the various sketches made their way onto future Monty Python shows.

One of my favorite episodes included a retelling of Julius Caesar, and included some of the following dialog between Caesar and one of his generals prior to a battle…

Caesar:  Do you have any light artillery?
General:  Yes, sir!
Caesar:  How many batteries?
General:  None, sir!  They work off the mains!
Caesar:  How about bodyguards?
General: I have three foot soldiers.
Caesar:  Have you got anything taller?

Double-entendre was par for the course, as were dreadful puns.  If you’re a fan of Monty Python, you’ll love ISIRTA.  Below is a sample from one of their shows…

I’ve just purchased a two-CD set of MP3 files from the Old Time Radio Show Catalog that has most of the episodes of ISIRTA.  I’ve been listening to these as I drive to and from work, and it’s made the madness of the office a bit more bearable.

Summer blockbuster season is upon us, and is in full swing.  After a dearth of movies, the theaters seem filled with films I want to see.  So much so that I did something unprecedented – three movies in the theater in one week.

Tuesday Night – 2nd viewing of Star Trek

Since I’ve already given my thoughts here, I’ll not linger.  I will say that I enjoyed it just as much the second time as the first.  It’s a fun movie.  

For this viewing I had considered buying my tickets from Fandango.com.  I guess I’m too used to going to weekend matinees, because the $9.50 a pop made me hesitate, and decide to just buy them at the box office.  When I got there I was charged only $13.  Laura and I had BOTH been given the senior discount.  I didn’t complain, but I was really thrilled, either.

Thursday Night – Terminator Salvation

Chip called to see if I wanted to go to a late night showing of Terminator Salvation.  How could I decline?  I only had to be up by 5:30 the next morning.

I had seen all of the previous Terminator movies in the theater, so I figured I might as well finish out the series with this one.  My Twitter review went something like this…

Lots of robots, lots of explosions, incomprehensible plot, Batman, Chekov – what’s not to like?

This seemed to be the weakest of the series.  Christian Bale’s acting was, well, robotic.  And that isn’t a good thing.  Anton Yelchin and Sam Worthington are the two bright spots in the movie.  However, it’s full of plot holes.  These idiotic robots could have killed John Connor any number of times during the movie, but manage to prolong things for the requisite two hours.  However, no one said that the Terminator movies were supposed to make sense.  

If you’re a fan of the series, it’s worth going to see.  Good old Arnold even makes an appearance, albeit as a digitally mapped face.

Saturday Night – Angels and Demons

Both of us had been looking forward to Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons, Laura more so than me.  Interestingly enough, I wound up liking it better than she did.

In the novels, Angels and Demons takes place before the Da Vinci Code.  In the movies the order is reversed, and that actually works.  The Vatican doesn’t entirely trust Robert Langdon because of the the events in the Da Vinci Code, and that increases the dramatic tension in the film.

There is quite a bit of action and intrigue.  Brown’s novel is full of twists, turns, and misdirections.  The acting in the film sold those misdirections convincingly, so much so that I began to wonder if the plot had been changed from the novel.  There was still some violence in the movie that can be off-putting, but it seems to have been toned down a bit from the Da Vinci Code.

I like the movie better than Da Vinci Code.  Even with a fanciful device such as an antimatter bomb, it made more sense to me.  Laura, on the other hand, is reserving judgment until she gets a chance to see it again.  She had just recently listened to the novel on CD, and so was acutely aware of the differences.

One last thing to note…when I went to buy tickets this time, I also got the senior discount.  Different theater, twice in one week.  I think this white beard may have to come off.  Or, I could just keep it and continue to enjoy cheaper movies.  I’ll have to think about that.

While at the Open Book the other evening I picked up a copy of John Boyanoski’s More Ghosts of Upstate South Carolina.  I had enjoyed John’s first book immensely because it was one of the first to focus on hauntings of the Upstate area.  Most of the ghost books deal either with the state at large, or focus on the coastal areas.  I had even created a Google Earth KML file that maps out the locations in the first book.

While reading Boyanoski’s earlier book, I had made the comment that there didn’t seem to be many modern ghost stories.  Most of these tales seem to come from a time at least a century ago.  In More Ghosts, Boyanoski has included a few more modern stories.  He has also highlighted many more of the lesser-known haunts in the area.  Some of these are in private residences, so care is taken to protect the home owners’ identities.

Whether because of the popularity of TV shows like Ghost Hunters, or because it’s hard to find these places without some help, the book makes many more references to local paranormal research groups.  There was lots of discussion about orbs, EVP’s, EMF readings, and all the other techno-babble that ghost hunting groups like to use.  Personally, I could do without the techno-babble and paranormal research.  The “scientific” methods these groups aren’t scientific in the least.  Perhaps Boyanoski wanted to inject some air of legitimacy to these stories, but I think they detract from them.  To me, these stories work best as tall tales – something to stretch the imagination and make you wander.  So, perhaps I’m not as interested in “modern” ghost stories after all.

Several weeks ago…

Dear Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me:

I have a Michael Feldman bobble-head doll that I won on Whaddaya Know.  Garrison Keillor read my Valentine’s greeting to my wife on A Prairie Home Companion.  Now I’m looking for the perfect Public Radio trifecta.  I need Karl Cassell’s voice on my home answering machine.  It’s either that, or I have to call the Car Talk guys about our finicky Audi.

Sincerely,
Tom Taylor
Greenville, SC

PS:  You can reach me at one of the following numbers:

XXX-XXX-XXXX – home phone
XXX-XXX-XXXX – office phone
XXX-XXX-XXXX – cell phone
XXX-XXX-XXXX – work cell phone
XXX-XXX-XXXX – wife’s office
XXX-XXX-XXXX – wife’s cell phone
XXX-XXX-XXXX – sister-who-doesn’t-listen-to-the-show-but-might-call-if-I’m-selected’s phone

Today…

Hi!  This is Emily from Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me.  We’d like to get some information from you and see if you’d like to be on our show.

Excitement!

Actually, I’m an alternate for tonight’s taping.  If they can’t get through to one of the designated contestants, they will call me.  However, that told me that I would definitely be on the show within the next three weeks.  Now I have to start listening to NPR news religiously.

Long ago, in a cafe far, far away…

George:  So, what good movies have you seen lately?

Steven:  You know, the Mummy series was really cool!  I loved the way Brenden Frazier…

George:  Yeah!  That was great!

Steven:  I just rented X-Files.  Talk about a convoluted plot.

George:  Who gives a damn about plots.  They’re just glue for the effects, anyway.

Steven:  You had to sit through the whole thing, but at the end it was cool.

George:  I’m still hung up on this Mummy thing.  They made two of those, right?  There was stuff in both of those I liked.

Steven:  Talk about sequels, I just saw National Treasure 2:  Book of Secrets.  Now THAT was a movie where the plot didn’t get in the way of the effects.

George:  You know, we could take all the best bits of these and wrap them up in one movie!

Steven:  Nah!

George:  Yeah!  We could even recycle one of our old movies as a vehicle, and bring on some new talent to appeal to a younger demographic!  I like this idea!

Steven:  I’ve got a bad feeling about this…

..regardless, the latest Indiana Jones was still a lot of fun!

[tags]Indiana Jones, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, movies, sequels, entertainment[/tags]