TV/DVD: X FILES 2.20 HUMBUG

As I mentioned a while ago, I managed to pick the X Files complete box set for just over £30.00, which is a pretty good bargain. I'm working my through it fairly slowly because there a lots of other DVDs I want to watch, so I've only just finished watching the second season. This one, however, contains what may be my favourite ever episode of the show -Humbug. 

It's very funny.

It's grotesque.

It subverts your expectations.

And all at the same time.

It opens with two kids in an outdoor canvas pool at night. They are frollicking in the water while unknown to them they are being watched by something hideous. The camera cuts between kids and creature which is gradually getting closer. It slides unseen into the water. It erupts with a roar. The kids scream-

"Daddy!"

 

Suffering from a  skin disease, he's been on tour with a carnival as the Alligator Man and now he's home. He tells the kids to get back inside to their mom and when they've gone, he lies back and relaxes.

And that's when the real monster gets him and the credits start.

Mulder and Scully arrive to investigate the strange death and find themselves in a small town with a large population of 'special people', many of whom tour for parts of the year -the kids mom is a bearded lady. Here, they, Mulder in particular, are the odd ones out. The owner (Michael J Anderson of Twin Peaks fame) of the hotel where they check in is a person of unusually small stature. When Mulder casually asks if he's worked shows, he becomes irate and begins a rant about judging people by appearances, condemning Mulder for not even thinking that a person such as himself might have a degree -which he proudly points to behind the desk -in hotel management. He then attacks Mulder's appearance, his suit, his tie, his short, shiny shoes, etc and says that this cliche leads one to no other conclusion that, sneer, Mulder could only be an FBI agent. "But I am an FBI agent," Mulder confesses stunning his antagonist into silence.

This cleverly and wittily makes the point that appearances both are and are not deceptive.

At the funeral of the murdered man, a youngish long-haired and aggressive escapologist erupts from the grave before the coffin can be placed in it, has a rant and makes himself a suspect. Another candidate also makes his appearance. While walking along the river, a grotesque figure erupts from the water with a large fish in his mouth. The jigsaw tattooed man, who is wearing only a loincloth, scrambles onto the river bank and takes a bit of the fish. Seeing Mulder, he runs away.

This turns out to be The Conundrum, a geek (therefore the lowest on the carny totem pole) who eats anything and munches on a bowl of bugs in front of Mulder and Scully. He walks almost like an animal and doesn't speak. He also works with the escapologist.

The local chief of police also used to do tours as the Dog-faced Boy until he started to go bald and had to look for more regular work. We also meet an alcoholic hotel employee (played by the late character actor Vincent Schiavelli) who has a seemingly non-viable twin attached to his stomach like a colostomy bag.

I've delayed mentioning this because as soon as the viewer sees Schiavelli, they/you/me are screaming out, "It's the colostomy bag! That's the monster!" Which, of course, it is. Hide your eyes now because it's an ugly mother.

Told you.

We also get told a little about freak/special people lore. One story told by owner/curator of the dedicated museum to Scully (and shortly before he pulls a neat and witty little trick on her) is about Chang and Eng the original Siamese twins. One night Chang woke up to find his twin had died. He lays there for several hours knowing that his own death was imminent. This prepares us for the death of Schiavelli after his twin has been disposed of (which I'll get to in a moment). "What did he die of?" asks Mulder. "Cirrhosis," answers the sheriff. I did mention he was an alcoholic.

The twin meets his fate when he misguidedly attacks The Conundrum. We don't, thankfully, see any details, but at the end of the encounter The Conundrum is lying back and rubbing his stomach. Incidentally, the detachable twin isn't an intentional killer. Earlier, Schiavelli tells our heroes that his twin hates him so much, he's just looking for somewhere else to live and doesn't realise that eating a hole in someone's stomach won't work.

Next morning and as Mulder and Scully are about to leave, the escapologist and The Conundrum drive up to them. They are on their way to a new show but the geek is clearly out of sorts and the escapologist says he's been like that all morning.

Then The Conundrum looks up, smiles and says, "Probably something I ate." Cue credits.

I really really love this episode which is like no other in the X Files and was brilliantly written by Darin Morgan. It succeeds in making important moral points without ever seeming to preach. It uses humour with great deftness. It constantly subverts your own assumptions and makes you enjoy it. It's an absolute delight from start to finish.

MAGAZINES: CLINT ISSUE 9

This got a mention in yesterday's Daily Mail. Unsurprisingly the tone was mock-shocked and sanctimonious when one of its journalists learned that.. Well, read it for yourself. It's reprinted without permission. Ask me if I give a fuck. I have cut gratuitous references to Frankie Boyle whose only connection was to have appeared in the magazine and is also a comedian who is 'controversial'.

Controversial comedian Jimmy Carr has written a sick magazine comic strip depicting shootings in schools.

The co-host of Channel 4's high-profile 10 'O'Clock Show will horrify the families of school shooting tragedies such as Dunblane and Columbine with his ultra-violent story. 

Beat My Score is set in a world where 'successes' earn points and one crazed Japanese college student is prepared to go further than anyone else in order to claim first place in the sick game.

The manga-style images, by Japanese artist Ryusuke Hamamoto, depict teenagers shooting adults in class in explosions of blood.

The magazine, CLiNT, defends the strip as 'a nihilistic satirical sideswipe at the glamourisation of violence, tackling the difficult and disturbing effects as seen in school shootings around the world.'

 But it also boasts that the graphic story will 'resonate in the brain like a ricochet long after the final shots have been fired.'

Carr, the star of shows such as 8 Out of 10 Cats, is no stranger to controversy.

  

In October 2009 he outraged the families of maimed service personnel when he made a joke on his live tour about the number of amputations that were taking place among injured soldiers.

 

CLiNT magazine, which features Jimmy Carr's shocking comic strip 

In a show at the Manchester Apollo he said: 'Say what you like about these servicemen amputees from Iraq and Afghanistan, but we’re going to have a ******* good paralympic team in 2012.'

Since its inception last September CLiNT magazine has deliberately sought controversial names to write for it.

In the wake of the 'Sachsgate' scandal, Jonathan Ross was asked to write a comic strip for the magazine.

CLiNT is the brainchild of Mark Millar, the man behind the graphic novel and film Kick-Ass, which caused outrage when it hit cinemas last year. One of the characters in Kick Ass is a 12-year-old girl, working as an assassin, who utters a vile sexual obscenity.

Basically the DM's report is a pile of shit. Their lack of accuracy  is displayed in the sentence about Jonathan Ross (controversial? Wossy?). Sachsgate had nothing to do with it. Ross is a long-time comics fan, a fact which is widely known. He didn't write the comic strip Turf (or, more accurately comic) for the magazine which is only reprinting it. It was originally/concurrently published by an Independent comic publisher (i.e. anyone who is not DC, Marvel, Disney or Archie) in the States. Turf is about a battle between vampires, the Mafia, aliens and New Yorkers in 1920's New York.

As for Carr's story (which he didn't actually write -that was done by the artist- just plotted, i.e. the outline), I didn't find it either original or particularly noteworthy. And neither is it the first time that the comics medium has tackled the subject and it won't be the last.

The vile sexual obscenity referred to is cunts. As in, "Is that all you got, you cunts?" The cunts in question being a bunch of hired killers so it doesn't seem unreasonable to me to swear at them.

For those of you who haven't heard about Clint, the facts are as follows. The magazine was created and edited popular comics writer Mark Millar, several of whose comic series have been turned into moderately successful films causing him to be given the sobriquet of 'jammy bastard' by his peers. It reprints previously, or concurrently, published comics, which are owned by the creators, from American independent publishers (see above) because, with few exceptions, Marvel and DC own the copyright on almost everything they publish. Clint, by  appearing on UK news stands, gives an opportunity for British readers to access, at a relatively cheap price, material otherwise only available and more expensively in specialist comic shops. Your humble blogger thinks this is a great idea and long may it continue.