Blackadder done

I'll start with the end of my Blackadder marathon. While watching the series I was reading "Cunning" the Blackadder programme guide by Chris Howarth and Steve Lyons. It's a fun book to
have around but there were a couple of errors in it. That sort of thing really bothers me. Obviously this publisher needs a fact-checker.

The final series "Blackadder Goes Forth" was excellent. It was as funny as the previous series but with a poignant subtext about the futility of war. Set during the first World War (the War to end all wars) the current Edmund Blackadder doesn't lust after power or money, he just wants to stay alive long enough to see his next birthday. But, thanks to insane generals and gung-ho underlings, Blackadder's cunning plans go astray. The final scene, where they all charge out of the trenches, the screen fades and we are left looking at a field of poppies is a very sad way to end a comedy series. But this series is much more than just comedy wrapped up in twisted history. It shows that human history is just more of the same... there will always be a Blackadder and a Baldrick and we will keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again.

"Blackadder Back and Forth" is a film made for the Millennium Dome and is supposedly the only good thing to come out of it. With huge, theatrical production values it doesn't really look like any of the Blackadder series, but it has the same sensibilities wrapped up in a smaller package. I hope in the near future, Rowan Atkinson, Ben Elton, and Richard Curtis will get together again and make another series. I'm sure there is much more to say on the subject of such a timeless concept.

My weekend

“The Case of the Missing Books” is only somewhat readable. I was looking forward to it as a librarian, but most of the characters are so unlikable that I find myself grimacing through most of it. There is also too much fart humor for me. Very unpleasant.

On DVD I finished the second season of BlackAdder and (keeping it chronological) I also watched the Cavalier Years and the unaired pilot episode. I just started in on season three and I’m laughing as hard as a great big laughing thing that just heard the funniest joke in the world!

I’m very excited about a DVD set I just ordered from Amazon. Four of the eight Peter Lorre Mr. Moto movies are out in a set with the final four coming out later this month. I can’t wait to get them!!!

Also at work I was able to read “In the Shadow of No Towers” by Art Speigelman. This was a moving and wonderful book. I particularly liked the stuff at the end where there are recreations of old comics.