Our younger dog, Watson, reacts to the sound of these sirens by howling in sympathy. Perhaps it’s some deep-seated instinct that he’s inherited from his wolf ancestors? Whatever the reason, he always reacts this way on the first Monday of every month.
I see from Youtube that many other dogs react this way, so perhaps there is some instinctive reaction at work here.
[…] I think that if I were to get a second generation Aibo, Watson would not be best pleased, as shown in this test of a first generation Aibo in a Sony […]
Almost a year after the first release of Windows Phone 7, the first major upgrade (“Mango”) of the phone operating system is being rolled out. Although it is a major upgrade, the official version number is 7.5, rather than 8. I suspect that’s because Microsoft want to reserve that for a future major upgrade – presumably to be rolled out at, or around, the time that Windows 8 hits the market.
WP7.5 apparently addresses most of the shortcomings of the original release. As usual, Peter Bright, over at Ars Technica, gives a very complete review of WP7.5.
His final summing-up:
With Mango, Microsoft has got the smartphone operating system right. It’s fast, it’s fun, it’s easy to use, it does everything you need, and it looks great. It takes the things that made the original release unique and makes them better, and it addresses nearly every criticism made of that version. As a piece of software, it’s a triumph, and it’s more than good enough to take on Android and iOS.
As a complete package, though, questions remain. Much is being demanded of the hardware companies, and much is staked on Nokia’s ability to make hot handsets. If they don’t deliver phones that people want, Windows Phone will continue to struggle. But it won’t be because of the operating system.
I find those last two sentences particularly telling. And in my view, it’s not just down to the hardware companies, it’s also down to Microsoft’s marketing, the phone application Marketplace, and to Microsoft’s infrastructure used in the Marketplace. That infrastructure has, I think, a pretty serious flaw, which I have pointed out before. And that is: it assumes that people stay in one country all their lives.
Microsoft have chosen to use the infrastructure used by their Zune music player as the basis to support the application Marketplace for Windows Phone. The problem being that once you create an account in the Marketplace, and define your country of residence, you cannot change that country, nor even delete your account. I find this last point almost incredible. I can close my Windows Live ID account, but I can’t close my Zune account? Which bright spark thought that one up?
This shortcoming has been in the Zune Marketplace since at least 2007, and people have been complaining about it ever since. When Windows Phone was released in October 2010, and the Zune Marketplace, running as a PC application, was used to access, purchase, and deliver applications to Windows Phones, a whole new group of people were suddenly confronted with the shortcoming and started complaining. There are many threads about it on the support forums, such as this one, which is currently running at 17 pages of pure frustration.
A large package was delivered yesterday morning. It turned out to be a work of art. My dearest friend, Len Curran, had, amongst his many other talents, an eye for Art. Many was the time during his travels abroad that he would struggle back with a sculpture, or a huge painting, and then argue with the airline about excess baggage.
The end result was that his house became ever more stuffed with his art collection. It was made even more acute as he downsized his accommodation space over the course of the years.
When Len died, his closest friend Mo asked me if I wanted anything from the collection as a memento, and I said that, if it were possible, I would like one particular piece. It’s by a Filipino artist, Noel Soler Cuizon, and is a mixed media piece with the title: Someday, I’ll Go Back To Heaven. That’s what arrived yesterday.
Unfortunately, it got a bit shaken up in transit, so I’m going to have to do a bit of restoration work (these photos were taken in Len’s last house), but it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. I’m looking forward to it hanging on the wall, and it will be a constant reminder of Len.
Sad to hear of Len’s death, I remember the 50th birthday party and a few interesting times with Len at both his homes. Your blog brought back a lot of memories.
Please give my love to Mo and tell him I think of them often especially the dinner parties at 15. If he does not remember I used to live with Peter Waddington. Though after splitting up with Peter it did not seem to be the wisest action to keep contact.
Let me introduce myself – I’m Noel Soler Cuizon, the artist who made “Someday I’ll Go back to Heaven” . I accidentaly came across your post (here in Google) as I was checking for some works I haven’t documented in the past. I’m so sorry (albeit a bit too late) for the demise of your dear friend Len Curran who first acquired my work. I met Len briefly at Hiraya Gallery, here in Manila some years back. He struck me as a man with sophistication and a good sense of humor.
Anyway, I’m glad that the work is with you now in the Netherlands. It would be great to touch base with you sometime in the future.
We noticed that the grass in our field was looking a bit scrubby, and the earth was being scraped over. At first, we suspected our dog, Watson, was looking for moles, but the damage was becoming too widespread.
One of our neighbours solved the mystery for us – we have a plague of Cockchafer larvae, known as Engerlingen in Dutch. Apparently, we’re not the only ones around here, it’s becoming a common problem in this area.
There are no pesticides approved to deal with it, so we’ve reverted to the Mediaeval method of dealing with the Cockchafer – killing the adult beetles or their larvae. I reckon that there are about 50 larvae per square meter, and most of the field seems to be affected.
We’ve been stripping off the turf to expose the larvae and collecting them in buckets for killing and disposal. It’s a very tedious job.
Over here on this side of the pond we had pests that look exactly like you pictured. A biological treatment (I think using Bacillus thuringiensis) was effective for us and we have not had the grub problem in years since.
Last weekend was the annual horse festival held around here: the Varsseveld Hippisch Festijn. It’s a three-day event, but as usual, I only had time for going along to view a couple of hours of the cross-country event and the horse and carriage event on Sunday morning.
As is usual with these things, the three-year warranty that I had with the Tablet expired 6 months ago, so getting it repaired, even if it is possible, will not be cheap. It’s probably better to cut my losses by salvaging what I can from the Tablet (e.g. the hard disk) and dumping the rest.
I haven’t got another machine lying around that I can install the Developer Preview on, so I’m just going to have to curb my curiosity. Perhaps I should just wait until Windows 8 Tablets start appearing in the market (end 2012?). However, I must admit that I am sorely tempted by Samsung’s Series 7 Slate PC that is supposedly going to be available next month. But then again, I think that the Financial Controller (a.k.a. Martin) will probably be reluctant to authorise the expenditure…
That is the problem with modern electronics, not economically repairable. I have a laptop that lost its video, I use it now – with the covers off – as a demo in computer classes.
On Windows 8 you may have saved yourself a lot of aggravation. I tried to install it in VMware Player – no go. Got it to work in VirtualBox but it kept hanging up. Finally gave it 3GB memory and two processors, also allowed it to “mellow”, it now seems to work ok. The Metro-style interface is rather overwhelming on a 23-inch monitor. I don’t have a touch screen and the mouse takes some getting used to. The delevoler release does not come with many of the apps that will be part of Windows 8 like Photo Gallery, Messenger, etc. The next release should be more interesting.
I think I’d prefer to try it out in a dual-boot environment, to run it on real hardware. I might give it a go on my main Desktop PC. I’ve got room to re-partition the drive. I realise that this isn’t even a beta release, but I’m curious, and I can’t resist scratching an itch…
[…] to download and install the Developer’s Preview of Windows 8 onto my HP TX2000 Tablet PC, but unfortunately it chose this moment to die. However, I went ahead and installed it on my main PC, as the secondary operating system that can […]
So I was otherwise engaged last weekend when the latest episode of Doctor Who aired. I had travelled to Northern Ireland to say a final goodbye to my dearest friend. That’s another story, and I don’t feel ready to tell it, so instead I’ll turn to the artifice ofThe Girl Who Waited. I caught up with it today.
There’s something about a good story, well told. It can seize the heart and provoke a deep emotional reaction. The Girl Who Waited had that effect on me. Simply superb, developing from the basic setting up of the story, to the working out of the morality of how it affects the three protagonists, in particular the relationship of Rory and Amy, both balanced and unbalanced through time. As before, others can tell the story better than I.
“This is a kindness”. But, of course, it isn’t, and like the older Amy, one wants to rage against it. Arthur Darvill, and above all, Karen Gillan, as both the old and the young Amy, made this one of the best episodes of Doctor Who I’ve ever seen.
I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: I’m very lucky to be able to live in a country that has Civil Marriage for both same-sex and different sex couples. Some countries have only Civil Partnerships for same-sex couples, reserving Civil Marriage for different sex couples only.
Sometimes I feel like Alice – I’m in a looking-glass world where black is portrayed as white, good is bad, or up is down. It’s at times like these when I’m likely to throw a Victor Meldrew fit at the apparent stupidity, cupidity or just plain bare-faced effrontery of those in charge, who have the power to dictate what we will experience in our daily lives.
The kernel of the report was the finding that breaking up the national rail network into separate chunks and putting services out to tender will reduce delays, according to research by network operator ProRail.
Let’s just savour that, shall we? And why would that proposition be true, in any meaning in the real world? Ah, we read, it’s because services will not be so interdependent, reducing the domino effect of delays, ProRail is quoting as saying.
Dear god in heaven, do these people not have two braincells to rub together?
Let’s just take a practical example. I want to travel from Amsterdam to my home – nearest station Varsseveld. That means that I’m using the Dutch National Railways (the NS) from Amsterdam until Arnhem, and then changing over to Syntus for the last hour from Arnhem to Varsseveld.
So excuse me, but surely for me, these services are interdependent – I want to step out at Arnhem and step onto a train bound for Varsseveld with the minimum of delay.
As a matter of fact, at the moment, Syntus (one of the independent rail operators that the Dutch Government is so in love with) offer what can only be described as a truly shitty service. I’ve lost count of the number of times that services have been delayed or cancelled, while the hapless train drivers run around like headless chickens, glued to their mobile phones receiving zero practical information.
On more than one occasion, I, together with my fellow travellers in the outer regions of Hell, have been herded from one platform to another in Zevenaar at the behest of the Syntus staff for what seemed like hours at a time. “The next train for Winterswijk will leave from platform 3”, “no, platform 4”, “no, that’s going back to Arnhem”, “Platform 1”, “no, we’re putting buses on” – so three train’s worth of passengers have to fight for seats on a single bus.
So, ProRail, don’t tell me that delays are not interdependent. Wherever they happen, they will have a domino effect on the individual traveller, if that traveller is where the delays are.
I note, with a roll of my eyes, that the ProRail research report was carried out at the request of the private rail operators. I can’t say I’m totally surprised at the findings then, although it only serves to underline the fact that we are indeed in looking-glass land.
And, oh joy, because of the love affair the Dutch Government have with the idea that more independent operators make for more efficiency, we have the situation to look forward to that if we want to travel from Amsterdam to Varsseveld, we will have not two, but three train operators to deal with: the NS, Breng and Syntus.
It’s at times like this when I earnestly wish to be face to face with the authors of these research reports and the faceless bureaucrats who decide our transport fate and slap them hard around the face with a wet fish.
If you were (or are!) using the original version of Microsoft’s Windows Home Server, you will probably have noticed that the WHS icon in the System tray changed colour to provide notifications at-a-glance:
Green – your home network is healthy
Yellow – your home network is at risk
Red – your Home Server has found a critical problem
Blue – your PC is currently being backed-up to the Home Server
Grey – your Home Server is offline or unreachable
If you’re now running Windows Home Server 2011, then the WHS icon (now the Launchpad icon) no longer shows this range of notifications. Basically, you now have a choice of one colour: green. Green now simply means that the Launchpad is running.
Not surprisingly, some people, reading this document, thought that they had found a bug, and reported it as such over at the Microsoft Connect web site (note: if you aren’t registered at this site, you won’t be able to see the actual bug report).
Microsoft did their “it’s not a bug, it’s a feature” trick and replied that:
we decided in the 2011 release that backups should be seamless and not neccessarily [sic] notify the user of when they are in place
and said that it would not be fixed. This is all very well, but it ignores the wishes of those folks who found that the additional notifications, particularly of backups, are extremely useful. It also points up Microsoft’s rather sloppy approach to the documentation of WHS 2011.
Since Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, have declined to fix what many see as a bug, I’m pleased to report that a third party has stepped forward instead.
Jerry Wade has developed a utility (Home Server Status) for your Desktops and Laptops that indicates when a backup is in progress. Plus, it does a few other nifty things as well.
I installed it and stopped using Microsoft’s Launchpad application, and have never looked back. I can thoroughly recommend it to ex-WHS v1 users who think that WHS 2011 has lost the plot with its bloated Launchpad application. And for those WHS 2011 users who are new to all of this, you could do worse than to check HSS out.
3 responses to “Home Server Status”
Joe Rosenberg
Hi, I have some problems relating to a (lethal) combination of WHS Vail expiration, Raid Array failures, and needing access to a client computer backup that may or may not be there. Do you think you might be able to help?
In one of the discussions about these issues that went on invariousforums, I came across a reference to an application called Bliss. It’s an application that seeks out Album covers online and will download and install them into your music collection automatically.
Since WHS 2011 had blithely overwritten all my carefully-prepared high-resolution Album art with its own low-resolution versions, I thought that I would give Bliss a whirl to see if it could repair the damage wreaked by WHS 2011.
To cut to the bottom line, Bliss does what it says on the tin, and I can recommend it; but there are a few quirks to be aware of if you want to use it to maintain Album art on a WHS 2011 system.
What follows is the detail of what I did and what I found…
While Bliss can be installed and run on WHS 2011, it is not packaged as a true Add-in application for WHS 2011. Add-ins are designed to be downloaded onto your Desktop PC or your Laptop, and installed onto your WHS 2011 from there. Once installed, the Add-in appears in the WHS 2011 Dashboard, where the application can be accessed and controlled. Bliss, on the other hand, is packaged as a traditional application. Once installed and started, it runs in the background and is accessed and controlled via your web browser. This means that it can be installed on your Desktop, your laptop, or the home server. Once running, you can point Bliss at the location of your Music Library, and it will go to work.
To install Bliss on WHS 2011, you need to open up a Remote Desktop Connection to your WHS 2011 system to gain access to the Administrator’s Desktop on the server. From there, you can double-click on the Bliss Setup program, and it will be installed on the server. Since it is installed in a server environment, it is best that it is running as a Windows service. That way, it will automatically start up when the server is booted – you won’t need to manually start it. Full instructions on how to install it as a Windows service are given on the Bliss web site here.
Once Bliss is running (either as a Windows service, or by being started manually), then access to the functions of Bliss is done via a web browser. If Bliss is running on your Desktop, then accessing Bliss is done via the URL: http://localhost:3220. However, if it is running on your WHS 2011, then you’ll need to point your Desktop PC web browser to http://Servername:3220, where Servername is the name of your server. And here comes the first quirk. When I tried that, the web browser failed to find the Bliss web page.
The reason is that installing Bliss on WHS 2011 does not automatically add in a Firewall rule to allow access via the 3220 TCP port. I needed to once again open up a Remote Desktop Connection to my WHS 2011 system to gain access to the Administrator’s Desktop on the server. From there, I used the Windows Firewall Management applet to create a new TCP port rule to allow inbound access to port 3220:
I also made sure that this rule was only valid for my Home (private) network:
Now, to me, all this remote accessing of the Administrator’s Desktop of the WHS 2011 system in order to install the program (preferably as a Windows service) and configure the firewall stretches beyond what I think the average Home User can reasonably be expected to cope with. It is OK for those of us who are comfortable rummaging about under the hood, but not, I think, for your average Home User who really wants to view WHS 2011 as a backup and storage appliance for his or her digital media. The design principle of WHS 2011 should be that such a user can access and control all the necessary functionality of the system via the WHS 2011 Dashboard. The system should be simple to install, run and maintain.
For Bliss to fit this paradigm, it would be necessary for it to be available as a true WHS 2011 Add-in. Since it’s not available in this form, if you are going to install it on your WHS 2011 system, you have to know what you’re doing, and feel comfortable about rummaging in the innards of WHS 2011.
Please don’t think that I’m casting aspersions on the developer because Bliss is not a WHS 2011 Add-in. Turning Bliss into a proper WHS 2011 Add-in can be a major development and rewrite project, and frankly, given the less than stellar impact WHS 2011 has had in the market, I doubt that the monetary returns would justify the work for many applications such as Bliss.
Given all the above, then if you are just an ordinary Home User who wants to have a nifty Album art application for your music collection on your WHS 2011 system, then what should you do? My recommendation would be simply to install it on your Desktop PC or Laptop, and use it from there. You can point Bliss to your music library on your WHS 2011 system and everything’s hunky-dory.
That’s bad enough, but even worse is that when this task replaces your high-resolution Album art file with its crappy low-resolution version, it sets the attributes of the file to “Hidden” and “System”. A file with these attributes cannot be updated by Bliss – any attempt to do so will generate an “Access denied” error.
So, I’m afraid that even if you are just an ordinary Home User, you will still need to use a Remote Desktop Connection to your WHS 2011 system to do three things:
Stop and delete that damned scheduled task (then reboot your server).
Go to the root folder of your Music Library and search for all files named Folder.jpg in the root folder and subfolders.
Delete all the Folder.jpg files in your search result.
Then Bliss will be free to do its stuff and supply decent quality Album art where it can.
You know, it’s somewhat ironic that Microsoft has shot itself in the foot here. Far from supplying an operating system that can form the basis of a backup and storage appliance, the shortcomings of WHS 2011 are often working against that goal. Applications such as Bliss are in danger of being subject to collateral damage through no fault of their own.
I’m happy to continue to use Bliss, because, as I said, it does what it says on the tin. I just have to keep an eye on WHS 2011, because it often does not.
Hi Geoff, this is Dan, the developer for bliss. You have a good point about the installer – maybe it should “punch some holes” in the firewall, if allowed by the user. It would be a generally useful step for all versions of the product. I’ll take a look into how easy this is.
@Dan – maybe you could also build in some logic to have a checkbox with ‘Force overwrite of Folder.jpg files set as Hidden and System’, and then… well, nuff said.
So the final half of the sixth series of the regenerated Doctor Who kicked off last night with “Let’s Kill Hitler”. Oh, but I did enjoy every single moment of it. Steven Moffat is such a brilliant and audacious writer, and the excellent actors have a field day with his lines.
Look, I don’t care that there were some probable plot holes – the Doctor should have known about River’s lipstick trick by now – I was still loving every single moment: the introduction of Mel, the growing-up sequences, the use of Hitler as a MacGuffin, the antibodies in the tesselrator channelling the Sirius Cybernetic Corporation of Douglas Adams, the redemption of Mel/River… It was a blast. Knocked the current sorry mess of Torchwood into a cocked hat.
If you are an enthusiast photographer using a digital camera, you may well have set your camera to take photos using its RAW format. It’s what every professional photographer does. The rest of us take the easy way out, and take photos using our cameras, smartphones, or similar image capture devices using the ubiquitous JPEG format.
The advantage of the RAW format is that, like the old film negative, it contains the truest record of the data captured by the camera’s image sensor. That data can be processed to suit what the photographer wants as the final image. In traditional photography, this is equivalent to processing the negative into the final positive print.
The JPEG format, on the other hand, can be thought of as the end result of the image processing that happens in the camera itself using a standard set of parameters. While the image can be further tweaked in computer applications, the flexibility of what can be done, as compared to that when using the RAW format, is severely limited.
Microsoft’s Windows has, over the years, supported the JPEG format out of the box. That means that utilities such as the Windows Explorer will display thumbnails of your JPEG images and tools such as Microsoft’s Windows Live Photo Gallery will be able to process those images further.
However, up until now, support of the RAW format has not been present in Windows itself. If you have images using a RAW format, Windows has probably given you a message telling you that it can’t display the image, and suggesting that you go to your camera manufacturer’s web site to download and install an image codec to plug into the Windows Imaging Component of Windows that will enable the display of your images.
There are also third party software solutions that offer portmanteau RAW codecs for a wide range of cameras and RAW formats (each camera manufacturer defines their own RAW format in a unique way). These third party solutions have been around since the days of Windows XP.
Now, Microsoft have trumpeted that, in order to make it easy for the consumer, they have developed their own portmanteau codec for a range of RAW formats. This can be downloaded and installed into Windows. It enables both Windows Explorer and Windows Live Photo Gallery to display RAW images directly.
While I think it’s a good thing that Microsoft have done this, what left a nasty taste in my mouth, in both the announcement and the accompanying video, was there was no acknowledgement whatsoever of existing third party solutions. Even worse were the statements such as that made by Jason Cahill in the video that the Microsoft codec supports “all the cameras you may have had or may have now”. Er, no, it doesn’t.
Another thing that Microsoft fails to mention is that their new codec does not permit adding metadata, such as author or copyright, to the raw image, something other codecs typically do. I thought I had broken my computer when all of a sudden I could no longer add copyright information. I went back to using Nikon’s codec although it has limitations on a 64-bit system (I use a Nikon camera). I prefer to add certain metadata to the raw image so I don’t forget to do so after conversion and processing.
Ludwig at cafeludwig.com
… so, published 6 months ago, and still no word on supporting RAF (Fuji RAW)… not a problem using CS, but it’d be nice to run a batch convert and have them accessible to WHS…
This is a very difficult post to write. It concerns my oldest and closest friend.
We first met back in the early 1970s when I first moved up to London. I wanted to do some volunteer work, and ended up asking a gay counselling organisation, Centre, if I could be a volunteer. I was interviewed by, amongst others, Dr. Leonard Patrick Curran, a psychologist who was working for the UK’s Home Office in the Prison Service department at the time.
Thus began a friendship that has continued for almost forty years. Alas, it has now been brought to a close because Len has died.
Len Curran was a psychologist and an epidemiologist. He worked for many years in the UK’s Prison Service where he was responsible for the development of policy on HIV/AIDS in prisons, for medical research and ethics. After leaving the Prison Service he worked for international agencies such as the World Health Organisation and the International Red Cross as a consultant on infectious diseases in uniformed services. In this capacity he worked in over 40 countries across the globe. He was also a Trustee on the Board of Red Kite Learning for six years.
He was, perhaps, the most intelligent man I have ever known personally. He could also be, and frequently was, the most frustrating, infuriating, and angst-inducing friend that ever was inflicted upon us mere mortals. Len did not suffer fools gladly.
I liken the experience of knowing Len to that of living on the slopes of a volcano. The intellectual view is amazing, wonderful and far-reaching, the soil of intelligent discussion is rich, deep and fertile. But every now and then there comes an eruption, seemingly out of nowhere, and then you are simply left wondering what you have done to incur the wrath of the gods.
I don’t think I ever measured up to his exacting standards – I suspect very few did. But, all the same, I kept going back for more. He was a powerful drug, that at its best delivered pure enlightenment and joie de vivre.
He supported me through good times and bad times, and he also provided the lash to my back when he thought I was not measuring up.
In the late 1970s, we bought a house together in London’s Maida Vale. A former squat, it was a Victorian terrace house that had seen far better days. I remember the first time he drove me along the street – Bristol Gardens – pointing out the two properties that he thought we should put in a bid for. He was very excited at the prospect of us going into a joint project together, I was just looking at the faded glory, the bricked-up windows and thinking: “Aarghh!”
I thought he was out of his mind. However, such was his persuasive power that we ended up as the successful bidders for one of the two properties: 15 Bristol Gardens. Then came the heartburn of securing the finance – Len’s first option, the Allied Irish Bank (Len was born in Belfast), got cold feet, but finally we managed to persuade Barclays Bank to come through with the mortgages. With the help of an architect friend (Peter W.) and a builder (Peter B.), this disaster of a house was turned into two flats – one for Len (the garden flat) and one for me (the top two floors). I’m afraid that we managed to drive our builder into bankruptcy in the process, but eventually, and through a lot of our own work, we ended up with two flats in the up and coming area of Maida Vale. The house was a bit cantankerous, but it did deliver a lot of pleasure and good times during the 1980s to us both. Here’s Len partaking of breakfast in his garden at the back of the house.
I moved to the Netherlands for my work in late 1983, and eventually started renting out the top flat to a succession of people. This put Len in the position of being the landlord’s representative living downstairs, a role that he certainly didn’t want or ask for. However, after telling me in no uncertain terms that he objected to the role being thrust upon him, he accepted it with good grace and performed it admirably. Finally, in 1995, I sold the flat to Len. I can’t now recall how long he continued to live in Bristol Gardens, but eventually he sold the house and moved to a house in a nearby Mews.
Up until mid-2004, I would often be back in London on business, and very often stayed with Len. That invariably meant very late nights full of wide-ranging conversations washed down by a bottle or two of wine (or, as he would say: a bucket of wine). I recall one occasion, following a visit to the newly-opened Tate Modern, where we sat up all night talking about the art, and life in general. Fortunately, I did not have to go to work the following morning.
Because I was living in the Netherlands in the mid-1980s, Len stepped in to being in direct contact with a friend of mine who was HIV-positive. As a result, he became close friends with Kerry, with whom he shared the same wicked sense of humour. The three of us went on holiday together to the South of Spain in September 1986.
We stayed in the holiday home owned by Kerry’s sister in Murcia. They drove down in Kerry’s car from Calais, having many adventures on the way, while I flew to Malaga, where they picked me up. By the time we arrived at the house, it was dark, so they asked me to go ahead and switch on the porch light while they got the case out of the car. I didn’t suspect a thing, so I went ahead, found the switch and turned it on. Instantly, a swarm of insects and beetles flew straight at me – some of them bright green, and hard, like dried peas. Naturally, I let out a shriek, whereupon Len and Kerry turned to each other and said loudly in unison: “Yep, he’s a queen…”
Kerry and Len could both truthfully say that they had danced with Nureyev. Kerry, because he was a ballet dancer by profession, and Len, because he once met Nureyev at a party and asked him for a dance.
Len lived life to the full; I could never keep up with him. So I contented myself with listening to the many tales that he told. He was a great raconteur, and at many a dinner-party would hold us all spellbound as he wove his tales, which were frequently outrageous and would reduce his listeners to tears of laughter. He moved through all of society’s strata, and brought back stories to share with us. As a result of this oral storytelling, most of his anecdotes only exist in our memories, but here’s one I found in one of his letters:
It reminds me of when I was staying at the Loyal Liver Hotel in Bangkok (Royal River Hotel). Eventually I got so used to this that I used to leap into a taxi and with a straight face say in perfect Thai-English “Loyal Liver Hotel, Sangheee!” Which usually worked, though not always, because not all taxi drivers spoke Tinglish. So the hotels had cards printed with the address in English on one side and in Thai on the other.
One night I had been out visiting the boy-boy and boy-girl bars with the AIDS Task Force and they gave me a card showing their new condom promotion campaign for sex tourists which said: “Welcome to Bangkok. We want you to be safe whilst you are here. Please wear this condom when you are with me and it will make me feel safer and we can have good times together”. English on one side, Thai language on the other.
At the end of the evening, I leapt into a taxi and said “Loyal Liver hotel Sangheee!”, but no response so I took out a card and gave it to the taxi driver, who as Thais do when they haven’t understood, went into a meditative state to work out what you mean. We sat like that for a few minutes until I realised I’d given him the wrong card. I can imagine him later telling his wife in Thai: “Hey Martha, you’ll never guess what happened tonight!”
He also had a reflective side, so that his stories could also be moving and profound. I keep a letter in which he describes the experience of attending the funeral of a friend’s father where he pens loving portraits of the participants that bring them instantly to mind for me.
In September 1996, Len turned 50. Despite living in London, Len decided to mark the occasion by holding the party in Southern Spain at a campsite run by José and Tony, two close friends of his. People came from far and wide and it was a huge success. We ended the party dinner with a singing contest between the Spaniards and the rest of the guests fighting back with a variety of Irish, Scottish, American and German ditties. I think it was a draw, but my memory was extremely hazy by that point in the evening…
Len was born into an Irish Catholic family. Whilst in later life, he was an atheist and no longer a practicing Catholic, he recognised the value of his Catholic education:
During that time I received a very good education, compassion for those poorer and needier than me, a sense of honesty and of public service which I followed all my working life. I never suffered any guilt and I often laugh when I hear my ex-prison service psychologist (English) colleagues pontificate about ‘Catholic’ guilt. The most guilt ridden people I’ve met have been the English… not the French, Spanish, Irish or Italians. It’s true that in Ireland ‘Holy Mother Church’ was very down on sex but without that the whole country would have been at it day and night!!
Late in life, he had the rewards of being the “uncle” to the twin children of his dearest friend, Mo (Mohammed). He doted on Ayman and Ayaa, and they adored him in return.
He often remarked to me on the simple and unalloyed joy that they brought him. They, like his beloved Mo, will miss Len sorely.
In 2009, although he was not in the best of health, he still made the effort to travel to the Netherlands and attend my 60th birthday party. During the weekend we were together we again had the opportunity to talk about life in general and at length. We talked about the choice of music for our own funerals. Typical of Len, as well as the Mozart and Monteverdi, one of the songs he wanted to have at his own memorial service was Marlene Dietrich singing “See What the Boys in the Backroom Will Have”:
See what the boys in the backroom will have
And tell them I’m having the same
Go see what the boys in the backroom will have
And give them the poison they name
And when I die don’t spend my money
On flowers and my picture in a frame
Chorus: Just see what the boys in the backroom will have
And tell them I sighed and tell them I cried
And tell them I died of the same
And when I die don’t buy a casket of silver
With the candles all aflame
Just see what the boys in the backroom will have
And tell them I sighed and tell them I cried
And tell them I died of the same
And when I die don’t pay the preacher
For speaking of my glory and my fame
Just see what the boys in the backroom will have
And tell them I sighed and tell them I cried
And tell them I died of the same
I last saw Len in person in January 2011, when I visited him in the Royal Free Hospital in London over the course of three days. It was the opportunity for him to confirm his choice of music for his memorial service; he gave me my instructions as to what he wanted, and which versions. It was also an opportunity to reminisce on all the times we had together. When the time came to take our leave, we both fully expected that this would be the last we would see of each other. It was bittersweet, but with no regrets. However, Len had one last trick up his sleeve.
Len was moved to a Nursing Home, but he was determined to get back home to his house in Oliphant Street and lead as independent a life as he could to the very end. It seemed an impossible goal back in January, but once Len put his mind to something, he would get there. And get there, he did. In June, he moved back home. I spoke to him a few times via computer video conference, and he was very much improved and on very good form. The difference between then and when I saw him in January was incredible.
It was, perhaps, too good to last. He went back into hospital very recently, and developed heart problems last Sunday. He died a peaceful death yesterday. Mo rang us late last night with the news. Martin says that we should open our best bottle of champagne and drink it to his memory, and today that’s just what we’ll do.
Len, for all the ups and downs we had, it’s been wonderful. We miss you.
Leonard Patrick Curran
16 September 1946 – 10 August 2011
19 responses to “The Volcano Is Now Extinct”
Christopher Connor
A right ‘Royal’ eulogy for a regal and well loved fella.
Now it’s time to reply to Geoff’s blog about Len.
When I read Geoff’s Blog, the tears ran over my face. Len was a special friend for Geoff and vice versa. I know that Len would be very proud about what Geoff wrote about him.
Len came into my life when I was introduced as the new lover of Geoff, it happened a hundred years ago… He was not convinced about me and saw me as a handsome guy with not much cells in the brain. It took years to get to know each other, the distance, the language, misunderstandings etc.
I wish my English was better, but I do my best.
In the years to come Len and I came to understand each other with respect and on the 60th birthday of Geoff ( I secretly invited Len for the party in the Netherlands) Len came to stay with us.
That evening/night Len and I spend the night talking, a lot of drinks and cigarettes, from 4 till 9 o ‘clock in the morning. He wanted to know why I loved Geoff and in the end he gave me his blessings. That was a struggle for me to explain my thoughts and feelings to such an intellectual man, but I managed and it affected our friendship in a very warm way.
My love for the man, who was a very dear friend for more than 40 years of my lover.
[…] latest episode of Doctor Who aired. I had travelled to Northern Ireland to say a final goodbye to my dearest friend. That’s another story, and I don’t feel ready to tell it, so instead I’ll turn to the […]
[…] My dearest friend, Len, had, amongst his many other talents, an eye for Art. Many was the time during his travels abroad that he would struggle back with a sculpture, or a huge painting, and then argue with the airline about excess baggage. […]
Dear Geoff I am grieved to learn about the death of Len Curran.I first met him in the mid seventies when he was involved with a counselling service for gay men.We became friends and our relationship continued until I moved to Australia in 1979.It was resumed on my visits to London and we travelled to Spain in 1989 and stayed with Tony and Jose.After another falling out in the early nineties,I never saw him again,I may have met you when I stayed at the grand house in Maida Vale
I would like to contact Lens sister and Tony and Jose in Spain,and would like their e-mail details..if possible
regards
Abed
Many years (almost 20?) ago I had an enormous pleasure to meet and work for a couple of days with Len, over one of his numerous travels abroad. This time to Warsaw. Some time later we met again in his home in Little Venice, visited Holloway and Wormwood Scrubs. Born just a week earlier than my Mother …. Amazing personality. And wonderful recollection. Thank you.
Piotr
[…] of Margi Levy in the Guardian. I knew Margi back in the 1970s. I met her via a mutual friend, Len Curran. She was warm, funny, passionate and intelligent. Len was a great one for having parties, and I […]
[…] on BBC television in the late 1980s. The woman had style and wit. She was also the neighbour of my best friend who was living in a London Mews at the the time. I’m sorry I never had the opportunity to meet […]
[…] doesn’t seem possible that it has been ten years since Len died. He is still much missed. He still occasionally visits me in my dreams. I’ll be back in a […]
I knew Len in the mid 70s. He and I were students together at the Institute of Education in London – we were doing a Masters degree in Reseach Methods in Child Psychology. For a few years we were firm friends until i moved to New Orleans in 1981.
Thanks for publishing your recollections of him. He was a remarkable man – larger than life!
[…] at La Scala. She said that she had never seen Nureyev in person, so I told her the story of when Len & I saw him in the production he did with London Festival Ballet at the London […]
Hi Geoff. Can you give me permission to use your picture of Bristol Gardens on my Instagram http://www.instagram.com/thenandnowlondon ? And do you have a higher-resolution version of it?
After 21 years, Charlie Kindel has left Microsoft to set up a company of his own. As far as I can remember from my days of having contacts with Microsoft, I’ve never met the man, but I know that he’s been a driving force behind some of the best consumer-focused projects within Microsoft.
The pity is that once he moved on to other projects within Microsoft, that focus on the consumer experience seems to have moved with him, and, in my opinion, the products he left behind have become moribund without his hand on the helm, or his support of the project in Microsoft’s executive circles.
I’ll give you two examples. He played a major role in the development of Windows Media Center, and he led the development of the first version of Windows Home Server.
Windows Media Center started out life in the days of the Windows XP operating system as Windows XP Media Center Edition, first available back in 2002. Later, Windows Media Center was included, as standard, in every copy of Windows for the home consumer since the days of Vista. So it’s there in Vista Home Premium and Windows 7 Home Premium. Yet I suspect that the majority of Windows users simply have no idea that it’s there or what it’s capable of. It’s left to a small band of enthusiasts who exploit WMC’s capabilities in their Home Entertainment or Home Theater systems. There have been no major new features added to WMC since 2008, and many enthusiasts fear that Microsoft will drop it altogether with the forthcoming introduction of Windows 8.
It’s been a similar story with Windows Home Server. Kindel led the development of the Q project (that became the first version of Windows Home Server released in 2007) with an absolute focus on the home consumer. He even went so far as to issue a set of guiding principles for the design of the storage system for WHS that were predicated on the needs of the home consumer. After the release of that first version of WHS, Kindel moved on. The WHS team got reorganised, and this year released the second version: Windows Home Server 2011. In the process, they effectively tore up Kindel’s guiding principles, and the result has been a product that while it bears the word “Home” in its title, is far less focused on the home consumer than the first version.
Kindel’s last project at Microsoft has been to lead the development of Windows Phone 7. I sincerely hope that with his departure that project will also not lose its way.
[…] Kindel worked in Microsoft for over twenty years, and knows the company well. What I found particularly telling in today’s post was the observation that there are still organisational silos there: I know some of the people who drove the Xbox360 hardware design and supply chain management. They are now war scarred and seasoned experts. They are the type of people you want working on the next big thing. None of them even knew about Surface until it was announced. Typical Microsoft organizational silos. […]
Today is the 6th August, 2011, and it’s the day of the annual Canal Parade in Amsterdam. I usually travel the 150 km to Amsterdam and join the 400,000+ onlookers to watch it, but this year I’m staying home. However, my thoughts will be there, in particular for my old colleagues from Shell who will be dancing on the Company Pride boat. Good luck, guys and gals – hope the weather gods smile on you today!
Well, I’ve been watching the new series of Torchwood for the last three weeks, and I still can’t make up my mind about it. While it seems to be getting good reviews Stateside, I’m not convinced that all the American money that has been pumped into it has actually improved things. The production values are extremely glossy, and the storyline is intriguing, but it all feels as though everything’s been turned up to such a pitch that something has been lost. Sometimes, less is more.
Take last night, for example. There was a scene between Oswald Danes and Captain Jack, which drew a connection between the motivations of both men who have each brought about the death of a child. Danes gloried in the fact while Jack has an almost unbearable sense of guilt. It was a powerful scene, with good writing and acting, but I wished that they could have got rid of the music that kept thumping away. In trying to build tension, the music actually destroyed the horror and power of the scene for me.
Still, there are some good things in it. There are good ideas in it, starting with the deceptively simple theme of “no one dies” and building out from there. And the writers have clearly had some fun with the exchanges between the characters – last week’s comic relief of the air steward insisting that he wasn’t gay, or last night’s cutting remark from Rex telling Jack to act his age, when of course there’s another level of irony there that Rex is currently unaware of. Serious moments, too, as when Jack desperately wants reassurance from Gwen that their partnership means something, but while she initially gives him that, she is soon distracted by the sight of her husband and baby, and leaves Jack talking into his phone by himself, unaware that the connection has been lost.
I’m not entirely convinced by all the new characters introduced in this series. Most still feel one-dimensional to me. But I do particularly like the character of Jilly Kitzinger, played by Lauren Ambrose. With her flaming red hair, bright red lipstick and red clothes, I wonder who – or what – Kitzinger is. The devil in disguise, probably.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think it’s a patch on Children of Earth. But then, that was an unexpected treasure, given the rather hit and miss results of the earlier series of Torchwood.
I’ve stopped watching Miracle Day. I really can’t be bothered. Mind you, I still think that Lauren Ambrose was mesmerising.
I agree Geoff, in fact I don’t like it as much as the first one. I wasn’t aware that they had pumped money into it, but it is too much about America and also has far too much influence from them. We make far better dramas etc over here than America does and ‘americanising’ something spoils it in my opinion.
I think it’s awfull now. Theyve ruined it. Where’s the “Above The Law”, Beyond The Government, the Tec.
It’s become like every other lame American. Gun Ho drama. The story lines are too long and to complicated.
Sorry but it’s become rubbish.
It clashes with the new Big Brother…BB wil win in our house as we dont have Sky or cable.
I absolutely agree! I am an American and I prefer British drama (and comedy) over American. I had been a Torchwood fan since Season 1. When they announced they were bringing it to American I had reservations. I am so disappointed, I feel they have ruined Torchwood. I keep trying to find some semblance of the original show and other than having Captain Jack and Gwen, it’s just not there.
The Torchwood I know… Fast paced, sexy tech, good action.
Today’s Torchwood… Tons of sub-plots you don’t care about, Horrible, I’m an angry CIA man acting, Yawn, wake me up when it’s over, storyline.
I think it’s awful – boring, no action, and nothing like the wonderful Torchwood that BBC Wales produced- probably on a 10th of the budget! It’s unnecessarily sexually explicit – and so American – the BBC have sold quality for money! I’m surprised they want their name attached to it.
Well, to be fair, Susie, Torchwood has always been positioned as adult entertainment, rather than for families with young children, so I don’t view it as “unnecessarily” sexually explicit – I view it as to be expected. And to be honest, I thought the “safe sex” message of last week’s episode was a nice touch…
I thought Jack was supposed to be omni-sexual but recently it’s only about the men. I suspect John Barrowman has had that written into his contract ;). I’m enjoying aspects about this series but I agree overall the American gloss distracts and takes away from the proceedings, which is a shame.
The last time I was this much disappointed was when they replaced Sean Connery with Roger Moore. Bond character became almost comical. The same thing is happening to the Torchwood team. Gwen chatting with her husband on a mobile while reconnecting server wiring in what was supposed to be a tense dramatic moment! And what of the constant mobile use? Americans don’t have satellites and voice recognition software to instantly recognize them and than pinpoint their location? And the music is so distracting – I wish it was on a separate track so that it can be turned off. I am not watching the remaining episodes.
There is so much to not like (unfortunately), especially when the all of the past stories and episodes have been so good. I have found myself saying after every episode, “what actually happened?”. I was very amused by the recent comedy series ‘Episodes’, which was a great AmeriBrit production (though I have no idea how it was received in the US), however I can’t help but think that what was offered up as comedic farce in Episodes has come to destroy what was a truly great sci-fi series. For me though the absolute worst thing about it is the background music. It’s cheesy, cliche and very often unnecessary not to mention extremely distracting. I don’t need a lame piece of pacey ‘spy style’ limp rock music to reassure me that it’s a chase scene, that was given away by the huge helicopter following the jeep at considerable speed.
I thought I was the only one who had spotted the parallel of life imitating art, with the premise of “Episodes” and what happened to the integrity of an idea once the American production machine mascerated and homogenised it. Too slow (too many episodes), too many fingers in the pie!
Anyone watching should be able to process more than 1 or 2 minor plot developments an episode.
How come Gwen can get into and out of an ultra-secure hi-tech server room with a complete server on the other side of the Atlantic without getting caught, but can’t get her Dad out a poorly staffed “hospital” camp just down the road in Wales?
Give me answers or I’ll be re-classifying Torchwood as Category 1 (Pass the red peg please).
New story enlivend Torchwood, how could they have carried it on? Original ended but, two members remained. So what if it is in America, the cradle of conspirisy theorys, don,t anyone get it?
Mad, sureal best place in America. I think it’s gripping, I can’t workout what is going to happen next, government experiments, (after all we are all living longer death is further away for all of us). This is an extreme version of what could happen. Hell,I have to work til I’m 65yrs and 9 months, by todays standards I could live till I’m 120yrs old, with all the diseases et al then what? Young people won’t have jobs because the older generation are still in them. Strain on jobs market, in fact no jobs for all Uni Grads as oldys are still working! So you tunneled visioned thinkers look at the wider picture, What if!!! Our world wide economys are stressed, pensions are always in the news, iif my generation lives to 100 yrs old and work till they are 70 yrs old how is the world economy going to work then. Agecide so jobs can be released for 2 generations who themselves will have longevity. Ffood shortages, housing shortages good greif it goes on.
I used to love Torchwood when produced in wales but this seems to be a very drawn-out saga about nothing really. And why on earth did we have to watch Jack and his sexual exploits with another man? What has that got to do with the plot (if there is one). We all know John Barrowman is gay we don’t need to be shown it as well. Im still struggling to work out what;s going on.
OK so Torchwood is different…unnecessary homophobic scenes… Americanised and in danger of becoming nothing but a vehicle for John Barrowman.
I too hope it goes back to the darker earlier format where you had different adventures every week (or two) and a close interesting team of characters.
But the thought of everything happening around Cardiff used to be very silly too.
However, I still find the new series intriguing, the scene of being the living dead inside a squashed car was almost X-Files.
Let’s hope it continues to expand into something more…
Oh one thing I noticed was that the music in episode 4 was very rousing and I thought I’d heard it somewhere before, however, I waited to see if there was mention of where it came from.
The end titles said the score was written by Gold… Yet I found the music on the album Verve 3 Remixed…. The shows music sounded in parts like an orchestrated version of Sarah Vaughans FEVER remixed by Adam Freeland 2005.
The Remix was also used recently in the The Adjustment Bureau.
I agree… the old torchwood before this “Miracle Day” were good plots and interesting. Jack is depicted as falling into one problem after another as though he’s stupid. We have enough USA scfi programs if we want that style. I was looking forward to this but after the plane episode what a load of rubbish. Bring back the old torchwood, stop Americanising and thinking of the big buck!!!!!!!!!!
That’s my wifes opinion too.
She’s got to the point where she’s only watching because she wants the answers.
Maybe the FF through iPlayer/TiVo option mentioned by Asterion is the way to go since it’s 50 minutes of un-sophisticated padding followed by a dash of reveal 😦
As Americans, both Dr Who and Torchwood fans, my husband and I are disgusted by what they have done to this series. We so enjoyed the first to iterations and although we hated the end of “Children of Earth”, we still loved Torchwood. This is yet another sad example of how American producers are too lazy to create (or keep i.e. firefly) a truly unique and riveting syfy drama that has the bones of Torchwood. The constant “reminders” of Americanizms are insulting and degrading, “Agent Rex” is an idiot any weval could have delt with, Gwen’s character is torn and being robbed of her strengths while Captian Jack has been turned into a whimpering fool. Really?! NONE of that works. Oh, and for the record, the CIA has NO agents. That’s the FBI. The CIA has officers. Even the most basic things weren’t researched, but they felt the need to explain, “chips vs crisps”.
Agggh car crash telly at its worst, get to the end already,! Please, cos I don’t think I can take any more. No no no no and I just realised there are six more episodes. I used to love Torchwood, but oh dear I am afraid that I am no longer a fan
Used to love torchwood – especially children of our time (although like the post above – i didn’t like the ending), but has the writer(s) changed because this new serious falls seriously short of the others in my honest opinion, without wanting to sound too harsh, it is probably one of the worst series of anything I have ever watched in my life, very little happens in each episode, it is annoying to watch, casting isn’t great, the plot goes off at a tangent so frequently & I could go on ….. please sort it out if there is another series.
The latest episode of torchwood has left me feeling disgusted, did we need that, i hate to think whats coming, america, leave these series alone, whoever wrote this, i hope i never see any of your work again.
Boring US characters. BBC give us our show back !!!
Must say the latest series is a major disappointment. Far too Americanised to be watchable. All the US characters are bland and spew out the most awful predictable dialog. The US characters are also too dumb to be Torchwood! Bring back our Welsh based version! We want it back BBC !!!
Everyone seems to be missing the point that the BBC dropped the series because of poor viewing figures, and no other UK company picked it up, so what you see is what you get, my take on it is an entirely new series with a nod to old legacies, and you know what?, it ain’t half bad!
I think that this series is actually good and we have our new torchwood team here i would like to see rex,ester and doctor warez with jack and gwen back in cardiff in a new hub as a team in another series i would like a few more series and to be honest this series might seem different in lay out but its still torchwood and its delivering in ny opinion. Yet another great series which keeps you discussing for hours after and hopefully they will make a few more series after this.
I know that the Torchwood team are good, very good indeed, but I didn’t know that their talents extended to car maintenance – to explain: in the episode in which the team steal a car, Gwen clearly breaks the back window with a brick or stone, but when they are travelling in the car to the warehouse, there is no breeze blowing through to ruffle anyone’s hair. Therefore, the window has been replaced before they set off.
In the first series I was really enjoying watching Torchwood super-secret team driving in the car with its name engraved on it, so why I shouldn’t laugh watching Gwen on a phone during the break-out into computer centre? Even more, the network cables coming in and out of the server do not make any technical sense at all, but an exact copy of the computer equipment would make the scene dull. The same is with the plot, too much reality and it will break. I like the story so far, it would be interesting to see if all the lines are followed. And more Captain Jack please.
I have every episode of Torchwood on DVD, I’ve watched them all hundreds of times over and I have to say This series is very disappointing. It’s far too ‘American’, Torchwood has always been about Cardiff and surrounding areas. I feel this american input on the show has ruined the great reputation built from all the hard work and efforts put into the first 3 series. Personally I think they should go back to the format of series 1 and 2, with a new case every episode but a continuing story line too. Then again it’s still Torchwood and it’s still worth watching for any fan but I certainly wont be watch this series over as much as the others when it makes DVD… Lets just hope series 5 brings the new team back into more of the Torchwood we have come to love and hopefully becomes less American again, Captain Jack is all the American input we need 😀
This seems to be a possibly excellent episode (or two-parter) stretched micron thin over a ridiculous 10 episodes.
It’s just sooooo slllooooowwwwwww!! Minuscule plot developments are eked out over each relatively uneventful episode. For example, the relatively obvious revelation that the “modules” were furnaces took pretty much all of the last episode.
I realise that the hard of thinking US audience might lap this up (as from the reviews they evidently do). But for we British license-payers who are used to the old (and MUCH better) Torchwood and Dr Who, could the BBC please edit out all the plodding chaff, and put together a more watchable 2-hour version of the series.
I’ve now given up on the series (I just find myself shouting “Move the f*** on!” at the screen) but may watch it in fast forward on iPlayer at some point in the future. If the BBC don’t step up to the task, I’m sure someone will put up an edited mash-up of the series on YouTube.
What a shame… At least we aren’t footing the entire bill for this travesty.
A.
Well I excepted the rather OTT storyline up until they introduced the whole ‘concentration camp’ burning people situation. That is just wrong. Don’t think i’ll be watching anymore episodes, and certainly not if the america’s continue making it. Shame really.
Plot is slow and seems to be going nowhere fast. And the violence seems to just want to shock for no reason. It all seems just a waste of time. There is no tongue in cheek humor in it, I won’t be watching anymore.
I love Torchwood and all that goes with it and this new series was long awaited but I have to say less America and more Britain, we do this so much better. I feel that recently the BBC seem to have lost track of what the licence fee is for (and who pays it) and keep looking State side and dropping homegrown products. Stop meddling with a program that knew its identity and get back on with doing what you do best.
hi guys ive always been a fan of torchwood and also doctor who but there is one question on my mind at minute will they get the doctor in. this is the sort of thing he cant miss.
So yet another American series that has bored me to tears, I am quite intrigued to see what’s causing the miracle, but I’ve got to the point where I just can’t be bothered. It’s just sooooooo sloooooow, we’re learning one fact a week and I’ve got better things to do with higher rewards. RTD should have squashed it into a mini series like Children of Earth and it might have been quite good. But I’m starting to wish he hadn’t bothered at all. I think from now I’ll just read the blogs to find out what happened and do something more constructive with my time on a Thursday evening, then I’ll be spared the music……..Ex Torchwood fan signing out…….
What happened to Science Fiction. This is just another soap opera. 1st episode Establish main plot – no-one dies except Jack, 2nd Ep Establish characters, 3rd Ep Establish each characters Achilles heal, 4th Ep drag plot out – introduce new short term characters and kill a few off, 5th Ep Finalize a few personal issues, 6th Ep use Gwen’s Achilles head to control her (like you didn’t know that was coming) I feel like I’m in ‘Learn to write a Soap 101’. I am so disappointed. There is so little science fiction on tv these days, Torchwood was going to be my highlight of the year (after Doctor Who i.e.) The characters are one dimensional, the plot is too slow to develop and yet more over dramatic moments from Gwen and hubby, There’s no love interest for female viewers. Now that Jack bats for one side only, there’s no reason to watch. Kill off Gwen’s husband and return us to thinking Jack loves Gwen, get rid of the CIA and bring in some out of space characters to join in. Do something or Torchwood will die and I have always enjoyed the Torchwood extension of Dr. Who.
After watching ep.5, I dont think I will be tuning in any more either. I have been a fan of Torchwood since it began, but this isnt Torchwood at all, it’s something else. They could have taken out Jack and Gwen, and given it another name instead of ruining a decent British prgramme.
I am a Canadian fan and I have mixed feelings about Miracle Day. As much as I like Torchwood I feel that they should of stopped after Children of the Earth – the ending felt right to end the series on. Miracle Day just doesn’t fit well with the old Torchwood characters and it is boring with the usual story of government stupidity, big business greed, and revenge for hurting one’s family.
What a load of rubbish this series is. I was so disappointed to find out it was episode 6 of 10. The BBC should be ashamed that they spent UK licence viewers money on a series that is so wooden, lacking a plot and filled with head cringing period where you wonder was it worth wasting 5 minutes of my life watching it
BBC, what were you thinking? The Brit-American cooperation has an obvious bias toward the American! 10 drawn out, shallow episodes are beginning to wear on even the hardiest Torchwood fan, and I include myself in that list. Eve Myles’ character (Gwen Cooper) appears to have undergone an overnight transformation into a teenage American ‘actress’ with exaggerated mannerisms and unnecessary volume; so Amercan-esque. Like an earlier reply, I will continue to watch, but only to get the definitive on why it is a ‘Miracle Day’.
People do things in the privacy of their bedrooms – I get that. But I don’t want to see the details, regardless of the genders of those involved. Not in movies, not on TV.
Torchwood has always been pretty family-friendly, until now. Torchwood has been fun, until now. Torchwood has been one of my favorite shows, until now. Torchwood has not left a bad taste in my mouth — until now.
I like the show overall. And I’d like to watch it with my daughters. Unfortunately, every other episode has a bunch of gay sex in it and I have to pre-screen the show before letting them watch. I have gay friends and have no issues with someones sexual preferences. However, that doesn’t mean I want to watch explicit sex between two guys. Is the studio trying to turn off and alienate the majority of us that are not gay? Can’t they just imply the two characters had a sexual encounter without making us watch the guys humping each other? I’m sure that there is plenty of gay porn around to purchase for those that want to watch it. I’d just like to watch a good sci fi series with my kids without the gay porn.
Ah, the “some of my best friends are gay” defense. I note that you are not objecting to the straight sex scenes that are also in the series. What makes them OK?
Torchwood has always been the adult version of Doctor Who, the watershed in Uk is 9pm, so adults can watch more appropiate programmes, i wouldn’t let my 11 year old watch Torchwood.
Also, Torchwood has always had sex scenes in it, since the beginning.
They just need to bring back the monsters,etc. & who’s looking after the weevils(i think thats what they were called) that prowled the streets of Cardiff? There was a HQ in Scotland & London, until Cybermen took over, so bring it back to Uk, it’s lost it’s charm now & Jack’s just not dashing anymore. 😦
Hahaha.. all the whiney simpleton comments complaining about Torchwood being TOO COMPLEX! (????) Really, some of you are just using the development of this series to express your rampant anti-american sentiments, aren’t you. If you hadn’t been told that the production was being influenced by US production values, or located in America, or had anything to do with America, you’d probably all be fawning unconditionally over it. I doubt any of your denials will convince anyone one bit. Torchwood is excellent entertainment, and I enjoy watching this series.
Strange, I don’t think anyone has complained about this series being too complex… The complaints seem to be mainly about the stretching out of what is basically a simple idea over 10 episodes using one-dimensional characters… That, and the ever-present music soundtrack that tries to increase our emotional reactions and fails miserably. Still, glad that you are enjoying it. Not everyone is.
well..just watched episode 7, it seems the ‘zombie’ period of the story line has passed.
This series is so much different to the previous two series, and maybe thats why a lot of people are not liking it so much as previous, but you have to embrace change….even if it’s for a 10 part series.
I’m not sure all the sexual scenes so far are strictly necessary or indeed add to the storyline, as you dont get this sort of thing in Dr Who do you??
I have to agree with all of the unnecessary sexual scenes. Especially from episode 7. Surely a good script write could have come up with something more Si-Fi for the reason to wanting Jack killed off. But to use a whole episode about his affair with another guy in 1927 just does not wash. Bringing in the Daleks as the conspirators from his distant past would have been better than what we had last night. As for that awful music going on all the way through. When they do turn it off there is an ‘at last no music’ cry from our house.
Torchwood (all of them) Dull dialogue, dull unpersuasive acting and an overt pro Wales pro gay agenda that verges on the defensive and masquerades as existential just because Russell has a default setting for turning the lights down on happy thoughts and believes that this manifestation of sadness makes him and his work product intellectually acceptable – its all drivel (including “Queer as folk”); and the only good “Dr Who” scripts came from elsewhere, especially Moffat. Cheer up Russell and stop trying so hard, mediocre’s OK as long as you’re rich.
The reason Miracle Day is bad, isn’t because the show has become “American” or the gay sex scenes. Neither make a television show or movie bad. The reason Miracle Day is bad, is the storytellling is confused, the direction slow and some of the acting ridiculous. American television produces many excellent quality, entertaining shows. And those who argue that sex doesn’t belong in science fiction never saw an episode of Star Trek. Captain Kirk wasn’t know as a “space slut” for nothing. As a huge Torchwood fan, I am so disappointed that the characters we have come to love are totally lost. Jack and Gwen are a shell of what they were – and it leaves me wondering if the current writers have even seen the previous series. Miracle Day doesn’t look like Torchwood, and it doesn’t sound like Torchwood. The most disappointing thing is the ratings are not good, and I’m afraid this might be the end of the show, with no chance for redemption.
I think you have missed my point. It is not the sex scenes that I am against. It is the fact that they could have come up with a far better scenario for the reason for Miracle day revolving around some SI-Fi aspect of Jacks background. After all Torchwood was built on Si-Fi story-lines. With loads of gadgets. There is not one in the series yet.
I agree that the present series has left a significant amount to be desired.
Saying that it is “adult viewing” is not an acceptable get-out, all television is able to be time-shifted, those of us who work shifts have to do so.
My son who is now 13 (and was an avid viewer since the first episode of series 1) was embarrased beyond words with Jack’s gay sex scene.
Not that I have any issue with sex scenes of any sort, just that they should not be so painfully drawn-out. All this scene needed was the two characters involved holding hands and going into the bedroom closing the door behind them.
Come to think of it, that would suffice for MOST of the “sex” scenes we have foisted upon us.
Take a look at the viewing figures also. This series has lost over a million viewers since it started.
It has the lowest audience to date.
Why? Are the BBC trying to kill it off?
Please see sense, bring it back home, under British control and production, get some decent wholesome, entertaining story lines
Until then, it seems that I shall have to regrettably censor the future episodes to ensure that viewing is of a standard that I will permit my children to watch.
Come on BBC get it back to being a decent home-made series, with jokes and storylines that can be followed without painting the blindingly obvious out. Get rid of the “over-the-top” intrusive “background” music, moderate the language and refer, allude or whatever to sex – but let’s not see naked bodies cavorting around in bed.
‘Saying that it is “adult viewing” is not an acceptable get-out, all television is able to be time-shifted, those of us who work shifts have to do so’.
I’m sorry, but, hello, time-shifting is an irrelevancy – the point is what are the intended audience demographics for the show – not what time you choose personally to view it. And the fact remains that the audience for Torchwood is a different one from that for Teletubbies, and for that matter, from that of Doctor Who or for The Sarah Jane Adventures.
Sorry that your 13 year-old son found the gay sex scenes embarrassing. These things happen. When I think back to when I was 13 years old, I would probably have thought the same. But in my case, the embarrassment would have been because I was watching it with my parents, and they didn’t know, or dare to admit, that I was gay.
And I would have been thinking: “thank god I’m not alone”.
I was enjoying the series until the last one.
The open promotion of homosexuality by “Captain Jack” have ruined it for me and my family.
What was a good and interesting story has been undermined by the writer’s propaganda.
What a shame that you have had to portray this perverse life style choice as being both normal and valid and using it as the main pillar of this episode.
Sigh. All the usual tired homophobic phrases, I see. “Promotion of homosexuality”, “Perverse life style [sic] choice”, “normal and valid”. My sympathies are with your family.
Completely agree with you. Almost everyone I know that loved TW has started to turn it off for two reasons. The unnecessary gratuitous sex scenes, it makes no difference whether Jack was on top of a woman or a bloke. TW is about Si-Fi not gratuitous sex. Someone made reference to Star Trek. Difference was that they were inferences not gratuitous. TW used to be like that with just the odd male – male snog. But that was it. And it was acceptable.
Gwen has never shown her flesh to all and sundry. If she had I would complain about that too. Because there is no need for it. It adds nothing to the storyline. I still maintain that TW has lost its way in that it is no longer a Si-Fi program. Where are all the gadgets? No wonder over 1million people have switched off. Maybe the BeeB will learn from that. Although I doubt it.
Oh The second reason is that awful backing track that means you cannot hear the speech. Well the American voices anyway as they do not know how to open their mouths when they speak. AT least Jack and Gwen can provide decent diction.
As a new fan of the series but not of the Who universe, I was expecting something a bit more than what was given. I heard of Torchwood and heard of awesome things it detailed, but I literally had to watch the beginning of the series to understand why people would have thought that this was as good as Doctor Who. Going back to the originally team, I found that I loved everything about it and found it hard to connect that series with this new one. Hell, there isn’t an alien until episode seven and that was in a flashback. I agree with many of you that this series is just too long as well. What happened to that show?
It’s become something of a tradition here in this part of the Netherlands that when a baby is born, the neighbours (the buurt) will celebrate the fact by erecting a wooden stork, festooned with clotheslines of baby clothes.
This week, our nearest neighbours had the birth of their first baby, a boy. Since we are noaste naobers to them, it fell to us to organise the decorations in celebration of the fact. So, together with the other neighbours, we did. Naturally, we had to have the traditional stork:
But Martin thought that we should also push the envelope a bit. Since José and Herman have referred to their new baby as their “little prince” (kleine prins), we thought we’d take them at their word…
Geoff Coupe's Blog 
Leave a comment