In Praise Of The Sidekick

Well hello once again my little reader friends,

Everyone alright? Good. What about you lot at the back?

This little piece of madness, as you might have guessed from the title, is about the supporting characters that shine out of the little box in the corner of the room. Or wherever you put your tele these days. And it might not be so much of a box anymore. Might be more a flat screen. And it might not be so little either. Seriously, on my so far one and only trip to the Braehead shopping centre (more on that later) I saw a tv that was roughly the size of my flat. You could lay it down on the ground with the screen facing upwards, switch it on and the international space station could probably see what you were watching. But more on that later.

We're talking sidekicks and supporting characters.

The friend of the hero. The dependable one. The stalwart comrade.

Now I'm going to name a few of my favourites here. You may notice a common theme in that they are all women. So this little thread could also be called 'The Horn Factor' and yes, there may well be a few of you out there who will deem this to be sexist.

Tough.

It's my blog so there.

Anyway, we're talking about (and these are just from the tele):

Willow (Buffy The Vampire Slayer)
Gabrielle (Xena: Warrior Princess)
Amy Pond (Doctor Who)
Annie Cartwright (Life On Mars. The British version)
Maid Marion (to be exact Lucy Griffiths in the BBC version of Robin Hood a few years ago)
Agent Simmons (Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D)
Guinevere (Merlin)

So there you are. The lovely ladies that catch the more discerning eye that looks beyond the hero's shenanigans. Though to be the Amy Pond, Annie and Marion choices don't have much competition given that their respective lead characters are all blokes. Well, time lord in Amy's case. But take the case of Willow. She has to put up with both the far more glamorous Buffy and Cordelia. And I still prefer her to the both of them.

I have no idea what this all means and Freud would probably have a field day psycho-analysing these choices but what the hell. They're my choices and I don't care.

Ta ta for now.

Flash Fiction Friday - Yes its back!

Hello my little reader friends.

Now, are we sitting comfortably. Good then I'll begin.

As you know, my little friends, from time to time I like to entertain you all with a little story that I have wrote using a word supplied from random word generator as the inspiration. Tonight I have had another go.

Stop groaning. You're in this for the long haul so you might as well like it. Besides, I've locked the doors so you can't get out.

As you remember as well, this is the just the first draft as well with no changes being made. Its a fast process designed to get the story on paper.

Anyway, tonight's word was:

Newspaper

And here is the story, entitled 'Read All About it'

Enjoy

------

Read All About It.

 

Sarah sat at the kitchen table, her hand absently rubbing it lightly and tears streaming down her cheeks. No one would believe her. No one should. No one could. She looked at the newspaper sitting next to the now lukewarm teapot and the uneaten toast. Sarah had lost her appetite when she had seen the headlines.

It had started innocently enough a few months earlier. After returning home from the morning school run Sarah had allowed herself ten minutes with that days newspaper which had been delivered. The headline that day, in big black bold lettering, read:

GONE AT LAST!

MP in sex, drugs and blackmail scandal resigns.

Sarah had remembered being puzzled. The MP in question had been the representative for her constituency and, being an active member of the political party, she thought she would have heard something before it was reported in the news. Such a high profile politician would surely have made the television news as well but there had been nothing. Sarah had put the story out of her mind. Until she was watching the early evening news a week later when the story was the main headline. She remembered the look on her husband’s face when she told him she had seen the story a week earlier. He hadn’t believed her so she had dug out the newspaper only to find the headline had changed. It had been there she had insisted. You must have dreamt it he had replied.

That incident had been forgotten until it happened again. Again after the school run she had settled down with the paper and a cup of tea and seen the headline.

DISASTER!

Motorway pile up on Thelwall Viaduct. 30 dead.

Sarah had looked at the page with horror and dread. There had been no accident. Again it would have been on the news. Certainly one of that magnitude. Maybe this time she could do something about it. Warn someone. Prevent this tragedy from occurring. She glanced at the date on the front page and her eyes widened. She had one week until the disaster was to take place. She formulated a plan. The night before she had studied the evening weather forecast. There was to be a lot of fog in the area in the early hours of the morning which wouldn’t clear until around midday. She waited until everyone in the house was asleep until she crept out into the night to make a phone call.

Sarah had recalled how the accident had still taken place. The call had either been too late or dismissed as a hoax. Could she have ever prevented it? If not, why was she being sent these strange messages? Was someone or something just playing with her head? Was someone sending messages from the future trying to alter history for the better? And why just to Sarah?

Sarah wiped the tears from her eyes. There had to be a reason for all of it. This time she couldn’t fail. The laptop sat a few feet away from her. She needed to do some digging and quickly so she reached over, brought the machine closer and switched it on.

Logging on to the internet she glanced again at the day’s paper with its headline:

DOOMSDAY!

Man-made virus unleashed. Death toll: 4 billion.

The smell of the grease paint, the roar of the crowd...

Well hello my little reader friends.

Now lets get serious for a second because I have a confession to make.

*hushed breath from audience*

Now the thing is my little friends, you all know me as a lone wolf, hard as nails, don't cross him, loose cannon type of guy. A mans man. A real tough guy with ice in his veins, gravel in his guts and spit in his eye. Am I right or am I right?

I'm right.

Ok, who sniggered?

Come on, someone sniggered. Right we're not going any further until the person responsible stands up and apologises to the whole class.

*folds arms*

It's your time you're wasting you know.

So it was you was it? See me at the end of class.

Right, so where was I

Well here is the thing. The confession. The revelation that will shake the very universe to its very core.

I like musicals.

Now just let that settle in for a minute. I like musicals. I've been to a few now and will be going to more in the near future. I like them. The whole music, dancing, acting and singing downright fun lot of it.

Its a fairly recent thing started a couple of years ago with 'We Will Rock You' but they are great fun aren't they. I only tell you this now because, yesterday, I went to see 'Happy Days - A New Musical' at the Kings Theatre in Glasgow. And it was rather good. Ok, I'm not sure the bloke playing The Fonz was totally the right choice but you can't have everything. And who doesn't come out of a musical feeling a lot better? They're goddam fun!

Next up is Wicked in a couple of months and I'll be there. Was rather tricky to get a ticket for that one but I managed it. So...

Bring on the Wicked Witch Of The West.

Ta ta for now.