Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Only time will tell if we stand the test of time.

Going through my old tapes is a good way to pass the time, and a nice inexpensive way to travel back in time. Granted, that kind of depends on my blotting out Sophie Howard or The Pussycat Dolls from my mind (oh, can I say that I've changed my mind about Nicole and Co. now? Ever since Sharon came over for dinner on Sunday and said she didn't like them, I've decided I do...), since neither of them were visible in 1994. But anyway...

Some of the stuff I recorded I would definitely not do now - I cringe every time I hear the time Greater London Radio's movie show (now gone as part of the now BBC Radio London's no-fun policy) read my anorak-y letter out about James Newton Howard... I hate hearing my name on the radio for some reason. Embarrassment? Ego problems? Esteem, self-variety? You tell me. Mind you, I did get a free CD out of it (the True Lies soundtrack). Dani Behr in her days doing TV in the UK before she moved to America and started doing things like Boy Meets Boy (she's back over here now) and Mariella Frostrup when she kept me up well after midnight delivering husky-voiced but in retrospect dumb-ass film reviews (do not trust anyone who says "Stargate is quite simply an excellent film")... they haven't lasted in my affections. If I'd ignored advice and skipped most other types of music, I'd have less tapes and more space. And if I'd been psychic, I could have foreseen before taping all of the last series of Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation off Radio 4 that Mr. Hardy would slag off Cindy Crawford and her then-husband on his show, thereby inspiring me to fast forward through three hours' worth of tape.


But then there's stuff I'll never want to lose - the themes from The Littlest Hobo, The Critic and Roughnecks. Reba McEntire's "Fancy." William Tell (the '50s show). Anything by Allan Sherman. The end titles from Robocop 3 and Starship Troopers. And so on. So you can't take it with you; I'll love it while it's here.

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