Perfectly Strange
One of my ancestral homes is for sale:

http://www.elderskingston.com/subpage.cgi?pageID=260&pageID2=21&propertyID=4976

I get the shivers looking at these pictures, thinking of all that passed there. My great-great grandfather, the master mariner, built it, and my grandmother's father grew up in it. His wife's mother was born and lived nearby. How many ha'pennies have I got in the kitty...

Rough Trade Agreement
It's come to pass, and as expected the media aspect is very ambiguous. We already have one of the highest proportions of foreign (that is, American) content in the world, and now we'll have to endure even more. If I hear one more Australian say 'gotten' or 'butt', or the vomit-inducing 'panties', I will start blowing things up.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1040873.htm

Monkey encore
At last, and quite curiously, the final series of 'Monkey' will be dubbed into English, using the original actors where possible. No idea who's writing the script - if it's not the same writer as before, the results may be disappointing.

The cast:

David Collings - Original Monkey
Peter Woodthorpe - Original Pigsy
Gareth Armstrong - Original Sandy
Maria Wahlberg - Original Tripitaka
Bert Kwok - Narrator (replaces the deceased Frank Duncan)
Miriam Margoyles - Original Various Voices
Andrew Sachs - Original Yu-Lung
and Peter Marinker - Original Various Voices.

There's more detail at Monkey Heaven:
http://www.monkeyheaven.com/dubbing.html

I wonder who'll do Buddha? Judi Dench would be perfect.

Viktorious
I've got a leetle castle in Shpain,
Von't you kom and stey vis me?
Von't you kom and pley vis me?


I dug out the ancient video tape of 'Viktor und Viktoria" yesterday and had a fine evening with Renate Muller and company. Es musst ein Gesetz kommen, when the biggest ladies' man in London loses his heart to such a pretty boy and elderly society ladies quiver at the sight of Mister Viktoria sitting down to dine. One fine day in springtime, Liebling...

http://filmsociety.wellington.net.nz/ViktorViktoria.html

http://www.deutscher-tonfilm.de/vuv1.html

Tomorrow it will be Jessie Matthews' turn, in 'First A Girl'.

Cricket Karaoke
It's hot enough for a One Day Final, but the cricket is hardly sizzling today. Agarkar of the lovely eyes was unfit to play, and with Australia - the Flying Mullets - spoiling the sport by scoring a distasteful total of 359, there's hardly a reason to watch, though Harsha Bogle makes it worthwhile to listen. All we need is a bawdy pun from Kerry O'Keefe (or Karry O'Kee as Harsha calls him) to liven things up.

Agarkar, Oh, Agarkar!
Blue eyes I loved
By the Shalimar...

Little Fish, Big Fish, Swimming in the water...
Welcome to my blug. There is so much self-indulgent nonsense on the internet, it seems only fitting that I should be part of it.

Your health,

Matchka the Blugger.