I've been clearing out my loft recently. I found an absolute treasure trove of concert tickets, letters, postcards, cuttings etc from around 1995-1998. One of the things I stumbled across was a sheet of paper written by my classmates from my A-level English Lit class on the last day of term. We all had to pass around a sheet of paper and privately write what we thought of one another...within reason.
Here are my responses from June 1995:
*You have a dry, witty sense of humour that has kept me clutching my belly for many hours in English and also at work - Scott's socks ha ha!
* Rachael (sic) is a quiet member of the group, but extremely nice girl to have in the group - very brainy as well!
*Rachel tells funny stories and is also full of ideas
* A hard worker, always with good ideas - I apologise for being such a lazy git when in your group
*I'll remember your sense of justice and outrage about the way women are treated or portrayed - lovely
*Good luck you indie freak. I like your reddish hair colour, it's cool
* Good luck yes I love the hair colour it is really nice
*You were easily the best looking girl in my Media Studies class and I hope I didn't annoy you too much
*Sorry I bought the same T-shirt as you. I love your hair colour
*Cheers Echobelly your sunny disposition will be sorely missed by me at least. See you on the bus sometime
*I like your hair. You're friendly and lovely. P.s your Elastica t-shirt is cool
*Mia amici! a hip taste in T-shirts and hair colour. A funky Italian failure - cool!
*I love the way you always listen to my moaning and worrying without slapping me and telling me to shut up - thank you!
*Cheesy cheesy pants! I love you Rach, you make me laugh you dirty bugger! Vaseline forever, send me your pants through the post. I love you!
*I must say I love the colour of your hair! Its so bright and vibrant! reflecting how you seem to me. I don't think you've done any really memorable things but I'm sure I'll remember you, all the best
*I've known you for ages and for any comments referring to life in V5 at Richard Aldworth see any previous autograph books! Its been nice sitting next to you, good luck in the future, only a few weeks left at WHSmith's!
So there you have it, a valuable insight into what my peers thought of the 18 year old me. I'd just like to issue a few disclaimers: I have NO idea what my hair colour was everyone was raving about although I suspect it was Wella colour mousse in 'Chilli Pepper' as that was my favourite. My hair was often the sort of colour Florence Welch's is now albeit on a cheaper budget. As for being the 'best looking girl in Media Studies' this wasn't the coup it may seem as there was only three of us!
The person who wrote the comment about me being outraged about portrayal of women was actually my A-level English teacher. R.i.p Joanna Kime. Diagnosed with breast cancer whilst we took our A-levels in 1995 she died in 2001. She gave me the confidence and self belief that I was good enough to do English Literature at University. An excellent teacher and role model.
Embarrassingly I can still be spotted on the bus so nothing new there...
Wednesday 30 June 2010
Sunday 20 June 2010
Seafood Terrorism
In 2003 I found myself suddenly single again following the breakdown of a four year relationship. By way of coping with my new found singledom I decided to embrace a concept that was previously alien to me...that of going out 'on the town' on Friday or Saturday nights with your other single mates 'on the pull'! Usually this was just me and my workfriend, Cara, but sometimes other ladies tagged along too. I was single for about 18 months and in that time some of the things that happened to myself and Cara were often classified under the heading "you couldn't make these things up" and we often joked about how we should write a book about some of experiences.
Well, the book never quite got underway so instead I am going to recount some of the bizarre and amusing incidents on my blog. So here is the first chapter, ladies and gentlemen I present the concept of seafood terrorism...
On one of our many drunken nights out Cara had met a chap called Gary, a few dates had happened but in the end they settled on er, what I shall politely call "an arrangement". This arrangement had been going on for a few months when we bumped into him in town. We wrongly assumed that at the end of the evening the arrangement would, well, 'be arranged'; but for some reason that night it was not to be.
In the morning Cara awoke to find a text from him asking if "your friend REBECCA is single?". Cara being the totally top bird that she is asked me if I was interested. Er, hello? hang on a minute... he's been seeing YOU? why is he asking about ME??? you just don't do that right? right?
Naturally both Cara and I were incensed about this, not least because he didn't even know my name and started to joke about what revenge we could wreak on him. One thing we started joking about was the urban myth about the woman who put prawns in her cheating husband's curtain pole so that they rotted in the summer and caused quite a stench with him being totally vexed at where the aroma was emanating from. Cara and I joked that Gary was too good for king prawns and that we'd have to use crabsticks instead.
Some weeks passed and we found ourselves at a 40th birthday party at a pub which happened to be very near to where Gary lived. A buffet was involved. The buffet featured crabsticks. We had been drinking beer and felt devilish and lo, the plan was hatched. On our next outing to the buffet we secreted 4 or so crabsticks a piece into our handbags wrapped in a napkin.
When the party was over we sneaked around to where he lived, calmly opened up his letterbox and lobbed the fishy treats through. Giggling like schoolchildren we then ran as fast as we could away from the scene of the crime.
The funny thing was Cara actually got a call from him that evening!
So there you are, revenge is a dish best served cold. But if it's seafood then perhaps some brown bread and a nice wedge of lemon.
No names have been changed to protect the (not so) innocent.
Well, the book never quite got underway so instead I am going to recount some of the bizarre and amusing incidents on my blog. So here is the first chapter, ladies and gentlemen I present the concept of seafood terrorism...
On one of our many drunken nights out Cara had met a chap called Gary, a few dates had happened but in the end they settled on er, what I shall politely call "an arrangement". This arrangement had been going on for a few months when we bumped into him in town. We wrongly assumed that at the end of the evening the arrangement would, well, 'be arranged'; but for some reason that night it was not to be.
In the morning Cara awoke to find a text from him asking if "your friend REBECCA is single?". Cara being the totally top bird that she is asked me if I was interested. Er, hello? hang on a minute... he's been seeing YOU? why is he asking about ME??? you just don't do that right? right?
Naturally both Cara and I were incensed about this, not least because he didn't even know my name and started to joke about what revenge we could wreak on him. One thing we started joking about was the urban myth about the woman who put prawns in her cheating husband's curtain pole so that they rotted in the summer and caused quite a stench with him being totally vexed at where the aroma was emanating from. Cara and I joked that Gary was too good for king prawns and that we'd have to use crabsticks instead.
Some weeks passed and we found ourselves at a 40th birthday party at a pub which happened to be very near to where Gary lived. A buffet was involved. The buffet featured crabsticks. We had been drinking beer and felt devilish and lo, the plan was hatched. On our next outing to the buffet we secreted 4 or so crabsticks a piece into our handbags wrapped in a napkin.
When the party was over we sneaked around to where he lived, calmly opened up his letterbox and lobbed the fishy treats through. Giggling like schoolchildren we then ran as fast as we could away from the scene of the crime.
The funny thing was Cara actually got a call from him that evening!
So there you are, revenge is a dish best served cold. But if it's seafood then perhaps some brown bread and a nice wedge of lemon.
No names have been changed to protect the (not so) innocent.
Thursday 10 June 2010
My love affair with SATC: is the Honeymoon over?
So, finally, last night I got to see SATC2! you may recall in a previous post that seats had been booked in advance? yes, seats had been booked in advance but when we turned up last week one of said seats was broken! so after wheedling a free cinema voucher out of the staff and still on a cheap Cosmopolitan buzz we had to retire to La Tasca and seek solace in the delights of their strong Sangria. After that, the evening went decidedly un-glam with my friend devouring a Burger King (I had a coffee in a paper cup in there and had to ask to be let into the toilets) and then us hanging around the bus station like people half our age. I pressed my face up against Subway for a bit as that was all that was open. Not exactly downtown Manhattan, can't imagine Carrie et al doing that, but anyway...
Last night's attempt to see the film was more successful. Cocktails were still quaffed but this time, crucially, so was more food so we weren't half cut this time as we arrived at the cinema. This is not going to be a whole film review, per se, as I feel the media has been saturated with that for the past few weeks. This blog merely follows up from it's predecessor on the same subject referencing SATC in my own terms and what it means to me.
The film takes place two years after the last one left off so we get to see what has been going on in our beloved gals' lives. Without being too snidey I feel some surgery; SJP never had those breasts before and Kristin Davis looked a bit startled/manic as if she has overdone the Botox, but anyway... Carrie and Big (or are we calling him John now?) have been married for two years and so are adjusting to life as a newly married couple. This was particularly resonant for me as I have been married almost two years and it is indeed a period of adjustment (not necessarily in a bad way.) My husband and I (to quote dear Queen Lizzie) are still unsure if we will start a family and there is a scene in the film where Carrie has to justify to some nosey old bint at a wedding that it may 'just be us two'. This struck a chord as I find myself having to do this on an almost weekly basis as it is just assumed that babies will follow swiftly after you've said your "I dos". Your fertility seems to be every Tom, Dick and Harry's business and even in 2010 the idea that you may go against the grain and possibly not procreate is met with bemusement, bafflement and embarrassment (usually your own).
The other part which actually made me LOL, to use common parlance, was Big's penchant for watching "The Deadliest Catch" on the newly acquired giant flat screen television in the bedroom. My dear husband is also a fan of this programme, which by and large seems to be the same episode every time I have seen it. Good to know that even fictitious husbands are guilty of this!
Unfortunately the majority of the film is set in the 'New Middle East' in what I can only describe as a 'romp' through badly stereotyped Abu Dhabi. The girls descend on the city on Samantha's PR Junket and arrive proffering baggage a plenty and I'm not just referring to the hundreds of pieces of luggage they arrive toting. It is through this "Carry On (Carrie on?) through the Desert" style sojourn that the film and SATC 'inc' starts to lose the plot Big style (ha ha did you see what I did there?). With the exception of Miranda, the feisty females seem to revert back to the old neuroses that I thought they'd long shaken off a few series ago. I won't go into all the ins and outs of what was wrong with this portion of the film but cliche and stereotypes abound. I expect for some of the non-passport owning American audience this is exactly what they imagine foreign lands to be like - Shame on you writers!
It was entertaining enough if you take it for what it is, I wasn't expecting a huge plot twist or a clever narrative. It wasn't Hitchcock or Kubrick but neither was it trying to be! I won't ever give up on SATC. I loved the original series. The first film was quite good. The second film is ok. I believe there is a 3rd film planned but one can only imagine how further the characters will be assassinated in that...
In summary my friend Paula said "I took quite a lot from the SATC series in relation to my own life and what I wanted from it. I felt quite a connection to the character of Carrie. Although I can't deny that I enjoyed the movie, the cheesiness and cliche has completely shit all over the true meaning".
I couldn't help but wonder...if she was right?
(True fans may also be interested to read this:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/may/23/sex-and-the-city-film-terrible )
Last night's attempt to see the film was more successful. Cocktails were still quaffed but this time, crucially, so was more food so we weren't half cut this time as we arrived at the cinema. This is not going to be a whole film review, per se, as I feel the media has been saturated with that for the past few weeks. This blog merely follows up from it's predecessor on the same subject referencing SATC in my own terms and what it means to me.
The film takes place two years after the last one left off so we get to see what has been going on in our beloved gals' lives. Without being too snidey I feel some surgery; SJP never had those breasts before and Kristin Davis looked a bit startled/manic as if she has overdone the Botox, but anyway... Carrie and Big (or are we calling him John now?) have been married for two years and so are adjusting to life as a newly married couple. This was particularly resonant for me as I have been married almost two years and it is indeed a period of adjustment (not necessarily in a bad way.) My husband and I (to quote dear Queen Lizzie) are still unsure if we will start a family and there is a scene in the film where Carrie has to justify to some nosey old bint at a wedding that it may 'just be us two'. This struck a chord as I find myself having to do this on an almost weekly basis as it is just assumed that babies will follow swiftly after you've said your "I dos". Your fertility seems to be every Tom, Dick and Harry's business and even in 2010 the idea that you may go against the grain and possibly not procreate is met with bemusement, bafflement and embarrassment (usually your own).
The other part which actually made me LOL, to use common parlance, was Big's penchant for watching "The Deadliest Catch" on the newly acquired giant flat screen television in the bedroom. My dear husband is also a fan of this programme, which by and large seems to be the same episode every time I have seen it. Good to know that even fictitious husbands are guilty of this!
Unfortunately the majority of the film is set in the 'New Middle East' in what I can only describe as a 'romp' through badly stereotyped Abu Dhabi. The girls descend on the city on Samantha's PR Junket and arrive proffering baggage a plenty and I'm not just referring to the hundreds of pieces of luggage they arrive toting. It is through this "Carry On (Carrie on?) through the Desert" style sojourn that the film and SATC 'inc' starts to lose the plot Big style (ha ha did you see what I did there?). With the exception of Miranda, the feisty females seem to revert back to the old neuroses that I thought they'd long shaken off a few series ago. I won't go into all the ins and outs of what was wrong with this portion of the film but cliche and stereotypes abound. I expect for some of the non-passport owning American audience this is exactly what they imagine foreign lands to be like - Shame on you writers!
It was entertaining enough if you take it for what it is, I wasn't expecting a huge plot twist or a clever narrative. It wasn't Hitchcock or Kubrick but neither was it trying to be! I won't ever give up on SATC. I loved the original series. The first film was quite good. The second film is ok. I believe there is a 3rd film planned but one can only imagine how further the characters will be assassinated in that...
In summary my friend Paula said "I took quite a lot from the SATC series in relation to my own life and what I wanted from it. I felt quite a connection to the character of Carrie. Although I can't deny that I enjoyed the movie, the cheesiness and cliche has completely shit all over the true meaning".
I couldn't help but wonder...if she was right?
(True fans may also be interested to read this:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/may/23/sex-and-the-city-film-terrible )
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