Dirty Digest #18: June 2024
On hiatus-ish
A short newsletter this month, I’m afraid. I’ve been struggling with a few things recently, and sitting in front of a computer writing BOLLOCKS isn’t going to be the thing to help.
Updates to Dirty Feed probably won’t dry up entirely - I’ve proved before that I find that entirely impossible - but if I write as much over summer as I have for the first half of this year, I will have entirely failed. I kinda need to be less productive for a while. And possibly smell some actual roses, as well as metaphorical ones.
This Month on Dirty Feed
Location, Location, Location - My favourite thing I’ve published recently, all about disguised location sequences in sitcoms. Doubles as an affectionate tribute to Harold Snoad, who sadly died at the start of the month.
Like Two Badly-Parked Morris Minors - Do I like correcting books from 1992? Yes. Do I like using that as an excuse to publish a load of sitcom recording dates? Also yes.
The Dave Nice Video Show, Part Four - What is the most obscure programme used as a source for stock footage in End of an Era? Find out HERE.
Not on Dirty Feed
One last bumper crop of links before the summer reduced service.
3,000,001: A Space Odyssey: Red Dwarf Ambient Mix - Over two hours of music from Red Dwarf, by Absent With Concept (aka International Debris from G&T). Also check out the Deep Space Version for an even more chilled-out feel.
The Space Quest II Master Disk Blunder - Lance Ewing, with some digital archaeology on leaked source code.
The Long-Lost Tarzan Atari Game, Preserved - By Kevin Bunch. It’s not a good newsletter without some link to a piece of digital preservation. Bonus points if it was never even released.
Inside UFO 54-40 - Christopher Wickham reveals THE BEST CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE MOMENT OF ALL TIME.
Duran Duran’s Rio Cover Model Identified 42 Years Later - This one has done the rounds all round the internet and back again, but is very much worth reading if you’ve missed it.
A Child’s Plaything - “Imagine if we could somehow show the people of the eighteenth century a simple child’s toy from today — say, a speaking doll.”
Coupling’s finale at 20 - Andrew Moir interviews Steven Moffat. Again.
Switching the News into IRN - Originally published in 1981. Get the Kleenex out. Either for masturbatory purposes, or to wipe away the tears when you realise that was FORTY THREE BLOODY YEARS AGO.
My trip to the BBC studios at Alexandra Palace - Gemma Arrowsmith wanders around ancient TV studios. Lovely.
All the Adventures: Pythonesque (Part One, Part Two) - By Jason Dyer. If you thought you knew every single Monty Python thing in existence, I think this one might surprise you. (OK, I admit, it’s not an official Python-related thing…)
Digital Litter Picking - I really like this concept, from Terence Eden: doing little pieces of digital good work. (I worry that I’m arrogant enough to only bother doing things that are entirely my own, which isn’t a particularly pleasant thought.)
The Lesser Spotted Sitcom - James Cary writes engagingly on an endangered species. (I used to spend a lot of time moaning about a lack of sitcom. These days, if TV won’t give me what I want, I spend my time in the 1980s instead. If current TV doesn’t require my engagement, it won’t have it.)
And that’s your lot. As I say, updates to Dirty Feed probably won’t dry up entirely, but don’t expect the usual full tilt, full power, red hot, maximum pace as per the last few months.
No idea when the next newsletter will be, so appreciate this BRILLIANT CLIFFHANGER.