Don’t Read This If You Recorded The Last Episode Of ‘Over the Rainbow’ And You Haven’t Watched It Yet

This weekend was all about the tv: first we had the last-ever episode of Ashes to Ashes, a show which never lived up to its predecessor, the joint-first-best programme ever made (as decided by me in my poll of me): Life on Mars (its co-winner being The West Wing) – and I mean the original Brit version, not the Harvey Keitel abomination.  All the more surprising, then, that it was one of the most satisfying conclusions to any tv series I have ever watched.  

Over the Rainbow ended with an okay winner who was the only one of the eleven finalists to hit a bum note when singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow at the end of a show – watch her face when she realises her last note is flat:

I liked Danielle but I’m still sulking because Steph wasn’t in the final.

Britain’s Got Talent threw up this gem:

Thinking about reality tv and the transience of fame – and seeing Stacey Solomon hiding in a corner of Michael Bublé’s Audience With – reminded me of this poem I wrote last year:

Stars In Their Eyes 

After the door shuts,
the footsteps die:
no wife to swap;
no champagne pop;
adulation stops:
you’re a flop. 
Paparazzi don’t pap;
you fall through the gaps in the schedule. 
X-Factor marks the spot,
vacant for the next big thing, brother.
It won’t be you:
don’t bother. 
Fame – long wait;
short sell-by date
(fifteen minutes, tops). 
Don’t open that door.
Walk away; don’t try. 
You’re not a celebrity,
get out of there. 
Notoriety:
the great TV lie.

Talking of Michael  Bublé (as if I ever needed an excuse), here he is being fabulous on ITV last night:

Of course, the big tv event of the weekend was the last-ever episode of Lost being simulcast around the world; it was on at five this morning in the UK.  I watched the very first episode and it lost me at the sunbathing plane crash victim, so if you want an informed opinion, I’ll have to tell you to get lost.

Ladies And Gentlemen, Please Be Upstanding For The National Anthem

I was looking for a You Tube clip of Steph on Over the Rainbow – I’m gutted she’s out; it’s my fault for not voting because I taped it and watched it the next day – when I came across this clip from the SABC, the broadcasting arm of the Rainbow Nation:

I love the South African national anthem; talk about a coalition: two minutes, two tunes, five of the eleven official languages.  It was an inspired piece of thinking from Nelson Mandela.  In case you don’t know the history, I’ve copied this from Wikipedia:

For decades during the apartheid regime it was considered by many to be the unofficial national anthem of South Africa, representing the suffering of the oppressed. In 1994 after the fall of apartheid, the new State President of  South Africa Nelson Mandela declared that both “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika” and the previous national anthem, “Die Stem van Suid Afrika” (“The Voice of South Africa”) would be national anthems. While the inclusion of “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika” rejoiced in the newfound freedom of many South Africans, the fact that “Die Stem” was also kept as an anthem even after the fall of apartheid, signified to all that the new government under Mr Mandela respected all races and cultures and that an all-inclusive new era was dawning upon South Africa. In 1996, a shortened, combined version of the two anthems was released as the new South African National Anthem under the constitution of South Africa.

I like a good national anthem.  My favourites are the South African; the British (naturally): 

 The American:

. 

And the French:

 

I find it amusing that three of my favourites celebrate republicanism and the fourth monarchy.  I guess it’s all down to their rousing tunes, which is the point of a national anthem, after all: they are a rallying cry set to music. 

I had a quick look at the different lyrics.  It was inevitable, I suppose, that the French anthem would ramble on for five minutes, but they are complaining about bad soldiers slitting their throats so we’ll forgive them that.  Their anthem says

…that the impure blood
Should water the furrows of our fields.

The Americans thunder about 

…the rockets’ red glare
The bombs bursting in air. 

Before peace descended on South Africa, Afrikaaners

…always, always say yes:
To live, to die.

And the British?  Why, we

confound their politics
Frustrate their knavish tricks.

That told ’em! 

I guess it’s why we have a constitutional monarchy system that still works; we are far too polite to change it.  Even our radical new political system is just two groups agreeing to disagree on a few points and rub along on the rest.

An interesting fact about Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika: it is also the national anthem of Tanzania and Zambia and was formerly the anthem of Zimbabwe and Namibia.  It was written in 1897 as a Methodist hymn.  The title means God bless Africa.  A nice little irony is that it was the rallying cry of the exiled and Communist-supported ANC.

The reason for the SABC video of the national anthem is to teach the South African population the words in time for the World Cup.  Not everyone speaks five languages, though most South Africans speak at least two and often three.  As the host nation, it would be embarrassing if the people didn’t know the words to their own national anthem; just ask the British: our footballers all speak the same language, but most of them lip synch like a bad dubbing at international fixtures.  Still, we don’t pay them obscene amounts of money to be literate, do we?  Just as well, really.

 

 

 

 

 

Mrs Chestikoff Has Entered The Building

I don’t mind the coughing so much; it’s the loss of bladder control that’s upsetting.  Not to mention the extra washing.  Still, the streaming nose and eyes seem to have abated a little, though I was bad yesterday.  I made sandwiches and it was a case of butter bread – blow nose – wash hands – butter bread – blow nose – wash hands – butter nose – blow hands – wash bread – butter wash – nose bread – hands blow.  It got a little tedious and I was fainting with hunger by the time I’d made them; then I didn’t finish mine because I’ve got no taste at the moment and it was like eating a McDonald’s.  I’ll be glad when I’m back to my normal, healthy self and I can stop boring you with my woes.

The thing about a cold, of course, is that you are not ill enough to lie on the couch and watch tv all day without criticism from your dirty, starving family; so I still had to walk the dog.  He didn’t like delivering leaflets at first; I think he found it a bit dull.  Thankfully, he made his deposit in the street and not in someone’s garden.  I had to juggle it  a bit because I had him on the lead, a bag of leaflets and his bag of poo in one hand, and used my other hand to open and close gates and negotiate stiff  letter boxes.  I made an elaborate showing of picking up the mess so that everyone would know I was a responsible dog-owning Conservative.  It didn’t occur to me until I got home that the solution for a full left hand is not to pop a bag of dog poo into the same bag of leaflets that I was posting through voters’ doors.   Good job I double-knotted it.

I was supposed to be at a family christening this morning but I didn’t want to spoil it by spluttering germs all over the baby.  I could have gone to my own church instead but most of the congregation is elderly and I don’t want to decimate it.  I opted to lie on the couch and watch tv, catching up with last night’s Over The Rainbow.  Although Steph is my favourite, I thought this performance from Jessica was the best one of the night:

I don’t really see her as Dorothy but I could definitely see her as Sally Bowles.  Jessica has also been ill this week but gave a fantastic performance; it left me thinking that if she can put on a show like that, the least I can do is get dressed before three.  I ought to make an effort anyway, because it is Toby’s second birthday.  He will be celebrating with a load of tasty treats, a walk and a bath.  It is also the birthday of one of my favourite sisters-in-law – happy birthday, Ann!  I wonder if she will be celebrating in the same way?