Jim did this, so I thought I’d be original and do the same. Sadly, mine aren’t so exciting.
The top 10 terms people searched for to find this blog in 2008 are, in most hits first:
01254 277054
drupal register_globals
01254277054
the loyalty awards club
01792 828105
gary wilmott
philips freevents drivers
philips freevents
01254
fallout 3 addiction
It goes to show just how many people are scam targets - those phone numbers, and the Loyalty Awards Club searches are all scams. It seems I’m also pretty helpful, as the Drupal problem fix I found and posted has solved the issue for hundreds of visitors.
And once again, my blog is synonymous with Gary Wilmott.
It’s a few days late, sure, but I’ve been busy. I spent New Year’s Eve trying to keep the baby quiet so we could get some sleep. We barely even noticed it was night time, let alone new year. All the days just seem to roll into one.
Anyway, things are calming down a bit. As in, we’re actually getting some sleep sometimes now. Hurrah!
Since I was far too young to have seen such filth before, this was the first time I’d ever watched Porky’s. I was under the impression it was sort of like American Pie, only from the 80s.
I was part right. It is like American Pie (in fact, one of the writers of American Pie has signed up to co-write a Porky’s remake, apparently), but like American Pie crossed with Happy Days and Grease. I had no idea it was set in the 50s!
There’s some nudity, but it’s pretty tame these days. I expect in 1982 there were complaints about it, however. The acting is a bit poor, the plot is nonsense, and there’s a shovelled-in-for-no-reason antisemite side story which doesn’t really work in a comedy (someone tell Woody Allen?). The rest of it is actually quite funny. Very funny, in places.
You know, even though I’d not seen this before, the number of take-off and parodies I’d seen in things like The Simpsons and Family Guy made it feel like it was a repeat. Of course, I didn’t really know the plot (and there were a few twists in it anyway), but I started thinking to myself - “this is the bit where…”.
Which I suppose is testament to it’s classic film status, really. There are a few jarring special effects (mainly the usual stuff from films of this age - pre-filmed scenery in driving shots, and so on), but the story stands up well, and it’s even pretty funny. Thornhill, the advertising exec who manages to be mistaken for a spy who doesn’t actually exist, comes out with some great one-liners. His method for getting himself arrested (and therefore out of harm’s way) at an auction was fantastic!
The number of situations and locations more than rivals any Bond film, and the spy-who-isn’t seemingly has a Magic Pocket of Money - something Q never managed. He goes on a whistle-stop tour of the US, pulling out cash for transport and tips, trying to track down the spy he’s supposed to be. Only of course, that can’t happen. He gets tangled up even further between the two factions, and even more so with Eve, who appears to be working for both sides, and for him. It all gets a bit complicated.
Then, when you think it’s all over and there’s a happy ending for all, there’s suddenly half an hour more film!
And with very few minutes of the day left, it seems unlikely it will be today. I’ve been telling everyone the baby will actually arrive exactly on time, but it would appear I am wrong.
Of course, I didn’t say which time zone, so it’s still possible…