h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

What a simply charming and wonderful piece of work. I very nearly blubbed Judi Dench and Dustin Hoffman

And what a nice surprise to see Geoffrey McGivern in a small role

I had decided the whole of Esio Trot was filmed on a studio set, but according to Wikipedia it was filmed at Adelaide Wharf in Haggerston.

Now, Haggerston is a part of London which, until not too many years ago, was the kind of place which the characters in the story would be unlikely to have gone within a country mile of, nor would there be a block of flats like that in Haggerston. I know this because Haggerston is an area I'm very familiar with. It's within a stone's throw of Shoreditch and Hoxton, aka Hipsterville, aka Beard City Arizona (you'll only get that if you're familiar with Reginald Perrin).

Here's the thing. Haggerston is the same area where Mike Leigh's TV play Meantime was set. A very, very different story indeed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RINjMrDGxeM

Heh... I tried checking for Esio Trot on Netflix. Obviously, it didn't find it. The results gave me _Turbo FAST_ (a children's cartoon), _Tron_, _Dumb and Dumber To_, and _Before I Go to Sleep_ (with Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth).

OK... I can understand how a textual search might turn up _Turbo FAST_ and _Tron_. But those other two make no sense whatsoever.

Yeah, I've had a few Netflix search results like that too

Esio Trot was shown at Christmas. I think it was the BBC's big draw on Christmas Day, so it won't be available to stream or get on DVD for a few months yet.

A few months. Remember when films and television weren't allowed to come out on video (that's VHS, not DVD) for something like two years, and films weren't allowed to be shown on TV for 12 months after their release?

On the other hand you could watch the whole thing, and listen to the original Roald Dahl story as an audiobook, on YouTube

I've just done a Netflix search for Interstellar and added it to the Saved portion of my queue (it's not out on DVD yet). Of course, whenever you add a film you get the suggestions popup

1. Inception. Yep, I can understand why someone interested in Interstellar would also consider Inception, and not just because the title of both films begins with 'In'

2. Contact. Ditto, but without the bit about 'In'. And Matthew McConaughey is in both films.

3. The Tree of Life. Well, I don't know too much about this one, but the blurb says that "A confused man tries to understand the true nature of the world by reflecting on his childhood and upbringing in the 1950s Midwest." Okay, there might be a link there between understanding the nature of the world, and "...this futuristic cosmic odyssey".

4. The Debt. I've seen this film. It's very good, but I struggling to find a link with Interstellar, seeing as how it's about Mossad agents and a Nazi war criminal. Perhaps someone is in both films?

5. Texas Killing Fields. Well, Matthew McConaughey is from Texas...

6. The Princess Diaries. Er... no.

7. Get Smart. The remake, not the original TV series. Well, Anne Hathaway is listed in both this one and The Princess Diaries, so perhaps she's in Interstellar too? But I don't watch films just because someone is in another film I've watched unless I like that kind of film.

8. Bride Wars. Oh, this is getting silly now. Anne Hathaway again, by the way. Seeing a pattern now with these last three.

9. Love and Other Drugs. Anne Hathaway. Who'd 'ave thowt it?

10. Rio. Are you kidding Netflix? Oh. Anne Hathaway. Boy, she must have a really, really good agent.

Remember that Xprize style contest Netflix had to improve recommendations by 10%? That was awarded in 2009.


I don't see it.