Well, Its that time of year that the big yellow bus starts its daily run, mom is doing cartwheels down the driveway, its Back to school!!! Back to school here in FL feels a bit different than the days in I had growing up in NJ, the leaves don't crunch under your feet, the trees and the grass are still all green, and its still 90 plus degrees outside. No need for light jackets or hoodies yet.Its all shorts for us here.
I have 3 kids in school and one still at home. Now it's a 3 day weekend, what is there to do? Its craft time!!! Out comes the construction paper, and glue it's fall craft time.
2 of my children have adhd & add, and we have to not only keep them on a schedule but also keep them very busy! lol. Crafting is something we do a lot around here,so be on the look out for many more craft ideas! This weeks craft was a fall tree...they enjoyed making the tree colorful, and we are waiting for another month or so to see the real fall leaves turn color here, but that's another day!! Mama Dawn
I’ll start this with a caveat; I’m a massive fan of the Human League. The first time I saw them on Top of the Pops performing The Sound Of The Crowd was as big an epiphany for me as the generation before had had their minds blown seeing David Bowie performing Starman. This prompted the typical generation gap row with my father stating ‘He only has that silly hair to distract you from the awful music’.
He’d never admit it but my dad was wrong. The Human League are one of the best bands the UK has ever produced, although of course they have in effect actually been two of the best bands. The dividing line is the departure of Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware in 1980 to form BEF and Heaven 17 and the arrival of teenage school friends Susan Sulley and Joanne Catherall (known to music snobs who only like the all-male line up as ‘the girls’) who couldn’t really sing, couldn’t really dance yet gave the band perfect audience identification figures – they were fans asked to join the band.
The band have just issued a new Anthology, in 2CD and 3CD/1 DVD configurations called ‘A Very British Synthesizer Band 1977-2016’. That last date is rather ominous, there are no new songs on the set could this be a final stop? Let’s hope not.
The two disc version is a chronological singles collection, from Being Boiled to Sky, with a few choice B-sides thrown in, though oddly The Sound Of The Crowd, the song that started my love affair with the band is only represented in its instrumental version. The deluxe edition adds a disc of unrelased demos and a DVD of promo videos and BBC television appearances. Up to and including the mega-selling ‘Dare’ the Human League were a bloody weird pop group.
Their first two, pre-‘the girls’ albums, are full of creepy, cold songs and finding singles from them must have been a nightmare for their label Virgin. Empire State Human (1979) is a lost hit, big glammy electronic drums, a chorus you’ll hear once and won’t be able to get out of your head yet it failed to trouble the charts until it scraped into the top 75 a year later on re-release.
In 1980 the two musicians left on the eve of a European tour and that left singer Philip Oakey with a ‘band’ consisting of himself and director of visuals Adrian Wright. Philip added local musician Ian Burden on a temporary basis, Adrian started writing and learning keyboards and in a fairy tale masterstroke Philip asked two girls he’d spotted dancing in a Sheffield nightclub to join and add some glamour. The band’s first single of 1981, Boys And Girls (which doesn’t feature the girls, although they were on the single’s picture sleeve) shows the band rather lost without Ware & Marsh, it chugs along without ever really catching fire, the rhythm programming really letting it down.
Enter new song-writers (Ian Burden joining full time followed by former guitarist in the Rezillos Jo Callis) and perhaps more importantly producer Martin Rushent and the Linn Drum computer. Dare and its singles (The Sound Of The Crowd, Love Action (I Believe In Love), Open Your Heart and Don’t You Want Me) were ubiquitous in Britain and 1981 was the Human League’s commercial highpoint. They still sound great today, even the over familiarity of Christmas number 1 Don’t You Want Me.
Unfortunately the only way from there was down and the band from that point on showed an amazing ability to the be in the wrong place at the wrong time and bad luck combined with a knack for shooting themselves in the foot time and time again meant the band’s commercial stock fell, although they still managed two successive #2 hits with Mirror Man and (Keep Feeling) Fascination and a surprise second number 1 in the USA in 1986 with Human from the much maligned by fans album ‘Crash’.
Once ‘Crash’ had crashed the band were reduced to the vocal trio and new recruits Neil Sutton and Russell Dennett did not yet have the song writing chops of Callis or Burden and so as the 1990s dawned they ended up being dropped by Virgin and their work rate started to take on Kraftwerk-like glacial speed. A mini renaissance saw them return to the UK top 10 with the Tell Me When single and album ‘Octopus’ in the mid ‘90s but then silence descended again until 2001 and the album ‘Secrets’. This was easily their best album since ‘Dare’, possibly even their best ever, yet their bad luck continued as their label went bust and ‘Secrets’ was a totally undeserved flop. An almost decade-long recording silence ensued broken by the lacklustre ‘Credo’ in 2010.
For the hardcore fan, the main interest will be in the deluxe edition’s third CD of demos and early versions. None of the big singles are represented but what is here is absolutely fascinating. The absolute gem is the early version of Liar from ‘Secrets’. This has a completely different lyric and is almost a new song, one that seems very timely in 2016 being a lyrical plea for humane treatment of refugees and immigrants. You can be safe in the knowledge that the Human League would never, ever vote UKIP. Other tracks on this disc also have alternative lyrics to the familiar versions. Oakey (the main lyricist) obviously spent a long time honing his work, not letting a good song go to waste and refining his words to best suit the melodies. The only superfluous tracks here to my ears are an instrumental of Soundtrack To A Generation (the band’s first single to fail to chart in a decade from 1990) and an even more boring demo of the already boring song Louise.
The DVD shows the highs and lows of the band from the iconic visuals of Philip’s infamous lopsided haircut and band being the epitome of cool in 1981. See Philip tackle the malfunctioning mic stand on Swap Shop, see Adrian not bother to try to mime keyboard parts on Top Of The Pops and wonder how anyone let the band out in public looking a right state in 1990.
One area where the band almost always excelled though was with their singles and, annoying appearance of the instrumental Sound Of The Crowd aside the two disc version of this set is the best one stop compilation the band have issued. Obviously I hope this is not the end of the band but if it is this a good way to go out. I have my fingers crossed for more archive releases (Super-deluxe editions of ‘Reproduction’, ‘Travelogue’ or ‘Dare’ would make me VERY happy indeed) and more ideally some new music from this very British synthesizer group.
❉ ‘The Human League Anthology – A Very British Synthesizer Group’ was released on 18 November 2016 by UMC, RRP £12.99
❉ It’s fantasy casting time again, and yes, The Doctor could be a woman or a person of colour – get over it!
Well, we all thought it was coming but that hasn’t lessened the shock of hearing that Peter Capaldi is leaving as Doctor Who. I for one am sad to hear that the Twelfth Doctor won’t be receiving a reboot from Chris ‘Chibbers’ Chibnall but I won’t go in to why as it’s all *stand by for all shameless plug* in my ‘How to Reboot Doctor Who’ article, where I express my feelings on how P-Cap’s Doctor has been wasted under Moffatt and where they could and should have gone with his character.
So, from the point of view of nothing but a dedicated Whooligan (like a Whovian, only a Whooligan will deck you and your mother for calling the Console Room the “Desktop Theme”) here are my ten dream (but also realistic) picks for the thirteenth Doctor!
Number one on my list is in fact my number one pick to play The Doctor, and has been my number one choice since Eccleston announced he was leaving in early 2005.
BAFTA Breakthrough Brit Panthaki has a pedigree of experience in film, television, soap opera, theatre, production and writing… Sound familiar? These are the same traits of experience previous Doctors have been cast for, including Capaldi.
An energetic performer, he’s diverse in his style of acting and although primarily seen in serious roles, has a screen presence and natural boyish charm perfect for the eccentric Gallifreyan.
You will have most likely seen Ray in ‘EastEnders’ as Ronny and ‘28 Days Later’ as Private Bedford opposite Christopher Eccleston.
Yes, The Doctor could be a woman, get over it; and what a woman Zawe Ashton would be in that role. Strong, fierce, funny and heart-breaking, and that’s all in one episode of ‘Fresh Meat’ as the brilliantly-written and -casted character of Vod. I’ve often thought about Miss Ashton as The Doctor and could picture her with a young couple of companions a la Amy and Rory.
Richardson has popped up a few times when the idea of a female Doctor has been bashed about the tabloids. With a proven track record as a comedy actress turned multi award-winning star of epic dramas, the actress currently featuring in Netflix’s ‘iBoy’ is more than qualified for the role.
Currently taking a bit of a break from acting following death by drowning in ‘stenders, sci-fi family drama would be a move into new territory for Sam Womack and a move I’d definitely like to see. The character of Roni Mitchell was an interesting one, being one of the strongest women to appear in the soap’s long history as well as being subject to some harrowing and traumatising events.
Her character developed from an Ibiza party-girl to tragic woman with a dark past, pulled-off every step and every episode by Womack… and who else is more tragic and with a haunted past than The Doctor! And, of course, the journey from Walford to the vortex and back has already been made by the likes of Louise Jameson, Tracy-Ann Oberman and Jo Joyner…
I bloody love classically trained actor Rory Kinnear. As with the likes of Gary Oldman, he’s one of those actors who have appeared in some fantastic movies and dramas although you have the feeling he’s never noticed in the streets or bombarded for selfies… No wait, that sounds offensive – but what I mean is he’s such a talented, naturalistic, actor that he comes across as your average guy, making him relatable and empathetic in almost everything he’s done. You know who else was a bit like that before he became a mega-star? Benedict Cumberbatch. The role of Doctor Who could give this Shakespearean actor (and an Olivier-winning one at that!) the mainstream following he deserves.
Another actor with that important attribute of being successful in both comedy and serious television and cinema, Chris O’Dowd has been away from our TV screens for too long, and the energy he would bring to the role would be just what the new era of the show needs.
Now, I do feel that regardless of gender, the new Doctor is going to be a young ‘un, which is a bit of a shame as if they were to bring in a female Doctor, I would like to see a more mature actress take on the role, as I do worry that a show that hasn’t always been good to its female characters in recent years would utterly ruin a young female Doctor, and not in the way I would ‘ruin’ a young female Doctor. Make her take selfies or have a catchphrase of “Fit aliens” or something horrendous like that… But Anna Friel would be a great choice with her Kate-Bush like eccentricity when being comedic – and we all know Bush wrote ‘Kinda’, yes?
*Sigh* Well I had to put at least one of the usual suspects in didn’t I? Currently one of the bookies favourites, but probably too famous and focused on movies to take on the role; Whishaw is without a doubt one of the best actors this country has produced. He would be an incredible Doctor, and rocket the show to some insane heights. Would he stay longer than one series and take a more quiet approach behind the scenes? Probably not, but what a series it would be.
If you were gullible enough to read the other Series 11 article I pathetically plugged at the beginning of this list, you’ll know exactly why I rate this man. Currently my pick to be the next companion, any of you who have seen how this guy dresses and talks in real life will see that this rather eccentric young man is half-way towards the Thirteenth Doctor as it is.
Seriously, since 2005 he’s topped as the bookies favourite and it’s just never happened for the RSC veteran. Every time a Doctor steps down he must think “Oh, here we go again” so for once, let’s give him the damn role! Fact! After the casting of Doc 11 – Matt Smith – was announced, Joseph coyly admitted that there was “some truth” in the rumour that he was in the running.
So there we go, ten potential Doctors in no particular order… Well, other than Ray of course! G’wan, son!
But what do you lot think? Have you already decided who you’d like to see get their hands on those set of TARDIS keys? Is it time for a woman or person of colour to break the cycle of the previous twelve white males? Or is that thought process political correctness gone as mad as Morbius?
I think I’d go with Adrian Lester or Damien Molony for a male Doctor. Both would give us a great Doctor.