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Phil Norman @mrphilnorman.bsky.social · 4h

With a one minute cutaway of them jumping off orange boxes in the Blue Peter Garden.

Phil Norman @mrphilnorman.bsky.social · 4h

If Celebrity The Traitors was made in 1978 it would involve Frank Muir, Roy Kinnear and Angharad Rees in boiler suits sitting round a big beige hexagonal table in TC7, and would be all over in 27 minutes.

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Phil Norman @mrphilnorman.bsky.social · 5h

TBH I really liked the film version. Though I understand Peter Greenaway did make quite a few changes.

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Phil Norman @mrphilnorman.bsky.social · 5h

"Over 1,000,000 sold!" Well done everyone.

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Phil Norman @mrphilnorman.bsky.social · 2d

What was the significance of the nose-holding, incidentally? Was it essential to achieving a sub-Bernard Bresslaw.voice?

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Phil Norman @mrphilnorman.bsky.social · 2d

Smurf n. A Small blue rubber homunculus found in petrol stations, holding its nose while claiming to be from Catford.

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Phil Norman @mrphilnorman.bsky.social · 2d

Time for a glass of Wincarnis to ease my "brain fag".

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Phil Norman @mrphilnorman.bsky.social · 2d

I know they were probably at their UK peak with that Hurdy Gurdy Man cover, but the Butthole Surfers being approved by the Daily Mirror is pure early nineties cultural chaos.

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Phil Norman @mrphilnorman.bsky.social · 2d

Until that last sentence I thought you were implying you were actually in St Paul's.

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Phil Norman @mrphilnorman.bsky.social · 2d

I'm tempted to mischievously bend the rules and ask if royal weddings count as "popular culture". But yes, mugs, tea towels. I didn't see the wedding as I was on holiday, but I did read an edition of Buster where every bloody strip featured it. Gums the shark watching the telly with a hanky, etc.

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Phil Norman @mrphilnorman.bsky.social · 2d

I realise I'm an anomaly in that respect, but I genuinely didn't know anyone really into them in the nineties. My friends did much cooler things, like dragging me to a Menswear concert.

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Phil Norman @mrphilnorman.bsky.social · 2d

True, but "Everyone I know has seen this" is a long way from "most people in the country". I remember being utterly convinced at the time that everyone in the UK had bought Pulp's Different Class. (And if you mean the LP Morning Glory, I'm pretty sure I've never heard *all* of it.)

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Phil Norman @mrphilnorman.bsky.social · 2d

I know that "I've never seen popular thing" is just a bit of fun, but is there any piece of pop culture from the last fifty years that a majority of people in the country have seen? I think even the notorious 1977 Morecambe & Wise Christmas show reached just a shade under half the population.

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Phil Norman @mrphilnorman.bsky.social · 3d

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Phil Norman @mrphilnorman.bsky.social · 3d

I'm not saying East End gentrification has reached grotesque new levels but the local Sunday food fair now features a booze stall titled "the finest wines available to humanity".

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Phil Norman @mrphilnorman.bsky.social · 3d

Listening to Poptones by PiL I gaze out of the window, and the first thing I see is a thirtysomething bloke over the road wearing a PiL t-shirt. Wonder what that would get you down Paddy Power.

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Phil Norman @mrphilnorman.bsky.social · 4d

Some twelve year old lads ran past me in the street earlier chanting "Nimon! Nimon! Nimon!" Now, this is refering to either a West Ham midfielder or a Pokémon, isn't it? I don't want to contemplate the alternative.

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Phil Norman @mrphilnorman.bsky.social · 4d

Storyboard for the Sesame Street "falling chef" number sketch, "Eight Raspberry Pudding Desserts".

Storyboard for the Sesame Street "falling chef" number sketch, "Eight Raspberry Pudding Desserts", cont.

Phil Norman @mrphilnorman.bsky.social · 5d

Sudden unbidden memory of Tiswas doing a My Fair Lady pastiche. John Gorman sang "I've Thrown a Custard in Her Face". You can probably guess the rest.

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Phil Norman @mrphilnorman.bsky.social · 5d

"The great thing about The Simpsons is, at its best, it had *HEART*. Anyway, here's the top 20 Simpsons one-liners."

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Phil Norman @mrphilnorman.bsky.social · 5d

Am I imagining it or didn't we go through a spate of "actually, The Simpsons has got sort of good again, honest" articles a few years back?

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Phil Norman @mrphilnorman.bsky.social · 5d

Friday.

Phil Norman @mrphilnorman.bsky.social · 5d

Ooh, an article claiming The Simpsons isn't very good these days.

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Phil Norman @mrphilnorman.bsky.social · 6d

"Who was Billy Butler's co-host on Radio Merseyside's Hold Your Plums?"
"Er... Mike Woodin?"

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Phil Norman @mrphilnorman.bsky.social · 9d

The best thing about that moan is that The Hack is probably the most egregious example of unnecessary, budget-inflating production gimmickry since Sherlock. It could easily have been made for much less, and lost nothing, if the will to do so was there.

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