We all stand together
Well, that was pretty dramatic, eh? Managed to cram the blog into its little pocket of the internet with about 12 minutes of the day to go. My 100percent record is intact. Just. Let’s hope it doesn’t get quite as tense as that again. I don’t want to be in too many more situations where I’m waiting backstage, listening to Gok Wan, about to go on and perform to more people than I’ve met in my life cumulatively to date, and a little part of my brain is going ‘fuck, I wonder if I’m going to get the blog posted in time’.
What am I saying. Of course I want to be in more situations like that. It was awesome. I must say at this point, though, that if you’ve ever seen me live, you will have seen all the jokes before. It wasn’t the sort of gig where you risk new material. Not for me, anyway. Jack Dee spent half of his set just taking the piss out of the other people on the bill (highly successfully). But he’s Jack Dee.
Huge thanks to the people who have posted nice things about the gig here and on Twitter, by the way.
And so back to the more realistic world of blogging. Firstly, the responses to the Can I Help You? initiative (where I play a sort of agony aunt), the Very Late Review (where you review stuff I should have seen, but didn’t), and the Emergency Blogger Appeal (where I appoint deputies) have all been amazing, in both quantity and quality. It is a real source of joy to me how many people are not just reading the blog but participating. And some of the reviews, in particular, are really funny.
It’s all left me with a (pleasant) logistical backlog where, in the best tradition of the 24hour shows, I have set more plates spinning than I can watch at one time, and I will now spend at least the next year of this blog flailing between them. But suffice to say in the next few days your reviews will appear in consensus, I will choose some deputies – from a remarkable number of applicants, by the way – and I will devote one blog to answering the problems. This should all happen by next Monday.
In the meantime, other aspects of the Ten Year Self-Improvement Challenge can now be brought smoothly together, because I’m delighted to announce that, thanks to Linzy, the TYSIC section of the Fans’ Forum is now officially open. Ideally we would get someone like Prince Philip or Richard Madeley to open it, but as it’s online, I guess you can do a Google image search and get whover you want. Anyway, here it is:
http://www.markwatsonfans.com/tysic ( think that’s right. If not, you can easily find it via the forum).
Some people are doing this, but the idea is that you use it as a sort of micro-Twitter to update your Challenge progress, and specifically, you use the cunning function which allows you to publish a short summary of your efforts which comes straight to me. That way I can keep abreast of everyone at once, and report it back to everyone else, and I’m a happy man. It’s great. Sign up now. Or if you are signed up… stay that way. There is now no excuse to shirk on your Challenge.
One more thing. In the terrifying void that opened up when it looked like I didn’t have a blog yesterday, one applicant Emergency Blogger, Miss Anna Lowman, went to the extraordinary lengths of actually writing a blog all ready to go in case I failed. In the end it wasn’t necessary, but I publish it below to give an example of just how determined the TYSIC community is to accomplish our aims. So today is kind of a bumper edition. Thank you Anna, and keep it going everyone. You are making me more optimistic by the day.
Anna’s (Unpublished) Emergency Blog:
You might say I’m writing this blog because I’m taking the call of ‘emergency blogging’ rather too seriously… But I like to think of it in terms of the fact that we’re all in this together and I don’t want Mark’s daily blog challenge to come to an end at this early stage just because he’s off kicking comedy ass at the O2 when I have five minutes to spare. And these five minutes really are taking place on March 30th, I hasten to add. I can’t easily prove that, of course, so you’ll just have to trust me when I say that Richard Hammond’s Invisible Worlds is on the telly and I’m currently a little excited by the fact that I only have two days to go at work this week despite it being Tuesday. God bless, well, God, I guess.
I have done this entirely off by my own back, by the way, and, writing this now without having asked permission, I realise that I’m taking quite an extraordinary liberty, and might yet find that it is entirely unwelcome. Indeed, Mark might have actually been looking forward to being able to say “well, missed a day; no need to keep it up every day now! Sweet freedom!” But, hey, I’m taking a chance, and having attended one 24 Hour Show, I think it is within the long-challenge ethos to take the odd risk. We shall see…
So here I am. Completely stalling, as you might have noticed, because if Mark does decide to post this, I’ll be speaking to rather more people than I normally do, and your comments reveal that you’re all so lovely and ambitious and supportive that writing something rubbish and letting you down is really not something I want to do.
Let’s stick with safe ground then, and let you know about my TYSIC. There’s no way we can all keep completely up to date with everyone else’s challenges, so I won’t assume you know what I’m getting up to; instead, I will lower your expectations from the start by telling you that they are deeply unambitious: 1) to read more (as an English graduate, it’s probably a good idea that my weekly word-intake extends beyond the Radio Times) and to experience live sport with my family, rather than consuming it solely from my comfy sofa.
I have to admit that little headway has been made with regards to the second challenge – I blithely reckoned I could call up the Oval and say “four of your best tickets for this summer’s ODI with England’s greatest rival, Australia, if you please” and they’d hand deliver them to me for ten quid a pop. As it turns out, quite a lot of people are really quite keen to go to that test – the price is incredibly high and, in any case, you had to enter a ballot months ago to even be a within a chance of attending. A re-think, then, is in order. I did sign up for Olympics tickets, but I’m hardly going to claim that as any great victory.
I have got the reading bug again, though, and it has quickly become apparent that my protestations that I don’t get much time to read was a total fallacy. There are five minute pockets hidden throughout my average day and at weekends it’s a genuine, happy-making joy to lie in bed reading for half an hour, safe in the knowledge that there’s nothing to get up for.
The first book I read during the TYSIC ten-year period was film critic Mark Kermode’s biography It’s Only A Movie – a real love-letter to “the frenzy on the wall”. His single frame of reference is film; he doesn’t just compare life to it, that’s how he sees it, remembers it. He is self-deprecating to the point of irritation, but his passion for the silver screen – total immersion in it – is undeniable. Nick Hornby’s Juliet, Naked came next, a good if not brilliant novel about life passing you by and fandom, and after an abortive excursion into a book about Europe circa 1000AD (not as gripping as it promised, if you can believe that) I’m now very much enjoying Vic Reeves’s brilliantly named Me:Moir. He had a childhood just as bizarre and incident-filled as you would imagine, and he has no qualms about weaving truth with the odd flight of fancy.
So there you go. Here endeth my unasked-for emergency blog, except to wish you all very well with your own TYSICs, and to self-indulgently share with you a hidden gem which I now look forward to every week: David Farrier and Rhys Darby’s (Murray in Flight of the Conchords) radio show in New Zealand on “animals of disputed existence”, Bigfoot and the like – The Cryptid Factor (http://95bfm.com/default,18,bcasts.sm?cast=195285/default,18,bcasts.sm?cast=195285). Whether you give a monkeys about the subject matters not a jot – it’s big-hearted and very funny. And big-hearted, very funny things are to be cherished, I reckon. Cheers for reading, normal service will now resume…
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Posted by Knox on May 8, 2011
@Marie – yes!! But also from an earlier blog too (can’t remember why now)
Posted by Knox on May 8, 2011
I agree with what a lot of other people have said – a lot of people just don’t have fans like yours.
Awesome job to Anna (i mean, Lowman!) on the blog. I now very much want to read all the books mentioned, esp Mark Kermode, as I went through a period of life where films actually substituted for actual real life experience in terms of quotes and examples.
Just a question though – are people still using the TYSIC bit of the fansite?
Posted by Al Kennedy on April 1, 2010
Well done to Anna and also to Linzy, it’s smashing to see a community coming together like this.
Posted by Corey on April 1, 2010
Well done Anna!. What a saviour you would have been had Mark not been able. TYSIC wise: Today the Day Of Fools I am sending round a spoof training video to all my stuffy chartered accountant colleagues which I made with my partner in foolishness. It’s bad but its meant to be, I’m nervous but thats a good thing I guess!?!?…come 9.15am will I ever be able to show my face at work again?!?! not sure!?!.
Posted by Marie on April 1, 2010
Has anyone else had Paul McCartney’s Frog Song stuck in their head since reading the title of this blog post?
If that was the intent, Mark, you are an evil man.
Nice job on the blog, Anna!
Posted by Linzy on March 31, 2010
Thanks for all the kind words.
If you want to see other people’s updates, for the time being head to Mark’s profile (http://www.markwatsonfans.com/tysic/profile.php?uid=218) and you’ll see a list of all the TYSIC members under the following section, because everyone follows Mark when they sign up (he’s the new Tom). If you click on their photo, you’ll go to their profile and from there you can choose to follow their progress. I’m gonna do a search to make the whole thing easier though; what’s up now is just bare-bones minimum.
If anyone’s having any difficulties, wants a bit of help or has a feature suggestion, do send an email to tysic[at]markwatsonfans.com and I’ll try to sort you out.
Anna, lovely emergency blogging from you there. I would like to suggest that when candidates are announced for the emergency blogger position that they all have to submit an entry to be judged by the readers of this here blog. This one sets a high standard, I reckon.
Mark, just hi. *waves*
Posted by lex on March 31, 2010
Eyyh. Radio Bosom represent. Or something far less outside my accessible lexicon.
Posted by lisa brunders on March 31, 2010
Two for one today, and both great. Thanks for posting Anna’s blog Mark.
Interesting blog Anna, you’ve made me wonder if I should start reading again.
And unlike amycool I couldn’t work out how to see anyone else’s Tysic’s, I’ll have to give it another try.
Posted by Carl on March 31, 2010
Hey Mark,
Just thought of a problem you may be able to help me with.
I’ve recently started a new job in Southampton but have no where to live. I am staying with my girlfriend’s parents, who wonderfully offered to put me up for 4 weeks. But after that I’m on my own.
I was wondering if you could use your powers to hunt down any TYSICer in the same area who has a room to rent or, like me, is moving there or even has a friend in the city? I know it’s a long shot and I must sound incredibly creepy, but I promise I don’t hurt that many people (joke) and am a tidy house mate.
Anywho, thanks for what ever help anyone can provide.
Night night.
Posted by Anji on March 31, 2010
Sorry for double posting, someone with powers feel free to delete one!! iPhone had a mental moment. ( or I a blonde moment).
Posted by Lynsey on March 31, 2010
Wow, two excellent blog posts in one!
Posted by Maddie on March 31, 2010
Well done Anna on being so prepared – and interesting!
Also, TYSIC section sorted? Yay!
Posted by Tom Beasley on March 31, 2010
Congrats Anna! Well done for showing initiative and it was a genuinely entertaining post.
Posted by Anji on March 31, 2010
I’m going to start with a note to myself, in the hope of making it public, I actually get a kick and stick to it – Anji use the fan site, you bloody signed up and have done nothing since, sort it out.
Nice stepping in Anna. You should get a little emergency Mark badge! I imagine Mark would quite like an emergency him for other things in life too, such as baby rocker and tax type things!! Maybe I should keep quiet! Hehe
anyways nice work x
Posted by Anna Lowman on March 31, 2010
Thank you for your kind comments everyone – as Mark met his deadline I hadn’t imagined it would ever see the light of day but your lovely response means I’m glad it has. Thank you Mark, and thank you, fellow TYSICers.
And a huge congrats to Linzy who’s done one hell of a job on the TYSIC part of the Mark Watson fans site – it’s a thing of beauty!
Posted by Anji on March 31, 2010
I’m going to start with a nite to myself, in the hope of making it public, I actually get a kick and stick to it – Anji use the fan site, you bloody signed up and have done nothing since, sort it out.
Nice stepping in Anna. You should get a little emergency Mark badge! I imagine Mark would quite like an emergency him for other things in life too, such as baby rocker and tax type things!! Maybe I should keep quiet! Hehe
anyways nice work x
Posted by Linsey on March 31, 2010
Anna, your blog was a joy to read, I’ve been wanting to read Nick Hornby’s book for ages and now I’m going to go straight to Amazon on your recommendation! Keep writing, and good luck with your TYSICs, hope to hear more about them soon! x
Posted by Magnificent Josh on March 31, 2010
2 great posts right there. I love the way you have a fan community, that is barely even a thing.
Posted by Rick Procter on March 31, 2010
Great stuff Anna, and nice one MW for posting it. This is obviously a splendid Wednesday. I love Mark Kermode too – saw him live (makes him sound like a rock star) at Bristol’s Watershed, one of my absolute favourite places, and got a signed copy of his book. Probably won’t get around to reading it for ages due to 724 other priorities, but looking forward to it muchly. Must rush home now and do my reviews for the 2 S-Men films. I’m very late, I know, but it’s been a hugely busy time. It’s all according to my TYSIC plan though – getting a new job/promotion was part of it and I’ve just come from my third interview in as many weeks. However, running a cinema blog is another part and these reviews obviously dovetail nicely, so I’m off to get to TYSIC-work. All the best everyone…
Posted by Misha on March 31, 2010
I don’t think many people have fans like yours. (the ones I’ve “met” from the forum are all lovely.)
And a great emergency blog there from Anna! Book wise I’d reccomend Barcelona PLates by Alexie Sayle, quick read and gloriously dark.
Posted by rachel on March 31, 2010
lovely posts, both of you, i don’t think anything i could write would match up to either, in quality or quantity.
and Carl, i agree with you. TYSIC creates many warm fuzzies.
keep it up guys
Posted by Too Many Rach[a]els on March 31, 2010
Don’t forget the eavesdropping thing, some people have heard some hilarious stuff.
I’m loving the TYSIC section, so big thanks to Linzy. And a great emergency blog Anna.
Posted by David Calder on March 31, 2010
Another win for TYSIC. I didn’t realise Vic Reeves had a book out. I’d love to read that as he and Bob are the comedy heroes of my teenage youth (the time of life that’s really yours – the bit after liking stuff from the 60s and 70s BUT before you get all nostalgic and start yearning for the days of your teenage youth). Ooh, that’s quite deep (for me).
Posted by Simone on March 31, 2010
The TYSIC section on the forum is great, nice work Linzy!
Also, fantastic blog Miss Lowman (and Mr Watson, of course).
Posted by Carl on March 31, 2010
Despite the cold weather, I’m feeling incredibly warm and fuzzy. And that is 100% down to this beautiful world created by Mark.
Anna, you are ace.
You all are. I’ve never been in love with this many strangers since my stalking days (I kid). But seriously hearing everyone’s adventures and kind hearted gestures makes my feel proud to be a Watsonian.
Happy Wednesday to all.
Posted by amycool on March 31, 2010
I am very slowly getting to grips with the new TYSIC page. It took me a while to realise that I could read other people’s updates, but now I can, it’s marvellous.
I love the tentative nature of the beginning of Anna’s blog.
Someone reserved Juliet, Naked the other day and I almost said to them “someone I don’t know from the internet has just read that”, but that would have been weird. People get funny when I say I’ve read something.
Well done Mark on submitting this blog before midnight! I can’t wait to watch the comedy gala thing on TV (assuming that’s the gig you were at).
Posted by Hannah on March 31, 2010
Both blogs are great!
Mark – looking forward to the upcoming sub-blog-plot things and I’m getting overly excited about the picnic and MP3 challenge (I’ve not been out of the house since Saturday due to loan/study induced hermitness and it’s beginning to take its toll…)
Anna – that was great
My only problem is that after reading other TYSICers blogs on what they’re been reading for their challenges I’m now compiling an ever growing list of books I really should read. I’ll get round to them eventually I guess…
Posted by Rachael on March 31, 2010
Yay for the TYSIC section, mine has a picture of goats now.
Anna, I enjoyed your blog, you would make a fine emergency Mark.
Posted by Ben on March 31, 2010
Great posts, both!
Mark, I’m super-very-actually looking forward to the next stages in each of the community projects. Anna, great work. Me:Moir is such a great book (and if you like it, look up Somebody Like Me by the legendary Miles Kington) and I’mlisting to the cryptozoology show right now.