What a melodramatic title! But its quite literal … here in north-western Hungary, a storm’s been brewing for days. The temperature has been building up and building up, until yesterday it was sweltering: multiple emergency icecreams and immersions in the river were required. Today it’s 15 degrees cooler and there’s a raging wind, which we’re hoping will eventually bring our parched garden a little rain.
In the meantime we’re hunkered down inside, consuming media. I have three recommendations to share with you that we’ve enjoyed over the past couple of days: a film, a YouTube clip and some good old-fashioned telly. As follows:
My film selection: Being Elmo
This documentary, which came out last year, is something rather special. I think that can be attributed to two particular magical elements in its alchemy: the timeless magic of the Sesame Street phenomenon (yes, yes, once again I have to shout it from the rooftops: I’m the Street’s biggest fan), and the particular magic of a human being who simply deserves to be celebrated, he’s so clever and lovely (let me tell you, you thought Elmo was sweet…). The film shamelessly plays on your emotions (I’m thinking particularly of the music in the sad bits), but I didn’t begrudge the tears it wrung out of me … at the particular point that I was physically wracked with sobs I think I would have been affected even if the soundtrack had been something specially commissioned from, like, LMFAO.
My YouTube selection: Flight of the Conchords’ ‘Feel Inside and Stuff Like That’
Bret and Jemaine interview the children
Flight of the Conchords put together this song for New Zealand’s Red Nose Day: Comedy for Cure Kids. This longish video shows the process of the song’s creation: which you need to see before you enjoy the finished, celebrity-filled (in the New Zealand sense of the word) song. While I was watching this I had the epiphany that part of the beauty of Flight of the Conchords’ whimsical funniness is that their characters’ thought processes are similar to the naive, unexpected and often hilarious thought processes of a child. Flight of the Conchords and NZ primary kids = perfect creative match. ‘John, stop blowing all the money on couches!’ Classic.
My TV selection: the Teletubbies
Wait, wait, wait, come back!!! Don’t click away! I know. They are awful; truly awful. Unlike Sesame Street, only one of us in this household appreciates ‘em. And let me reiterate that that person is not me. But I’m including them here coz they saved my butt this morning when we were in a particularly dark place cabin-fever-wise. I turned on BBC Entertainment (one of only two English-speaking channels we get here; the other is CNN) and there they were. The Teletubbies! As nineties as … the Spice Girls, and chupa chups and hair mascara! Maja LOVED the sun with the baby’s face. And there was a sweet little live-action segment featuring worms and slaters (two of our faves) to balance out all the inane dancing around in circles holding hands, every now and then falling down tubbily… It was enough for Maja to yell out ‘Come back, duppy-duppies!!’ at the end of it.
Tinky Winky: how did anyone ever think he wasn’t gay?
So anyhoo, that’s been our entertainment recently … hope we’ve recommended something here that you’ll enjoy too!
Daisy
