Well what do you know? It’s April, and the sun is shining, plus the weather is sweet. Here comes the sun, little darling, which clearly makes everything all right. The sun has got his (or possibly her, or its) hat on. Hip-hip-hip-hooray indeed!

Oh no wait-

None of that seems to be true for more than five minutes at a go! Instead it’s grey and cold and wet and generally discouraging almost all of the time. And I’m not a fan of such wintery weather.

I suggest we perform a group sun dance, and to get us on our way I’ve prepared a suitable playlist. Here are ten of my favourite songs about summer. Let’s all play them loudly with our windows wide open while we move and grove, in a bid to get the sun to stick around.

And if it doesn’t work, at least you’ll get to have a fun fight with your neighbours!

DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince – ‘Summertime’

I don’t like to make broad sweeping statements, because there’s always exceptions and complications in any situation. But one adage that I am willing to stand by consistently is this: Will Smith is always great. As someone who’s seen all of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, sat through some dreadful movies for him (Wild Wild West and Hancock spring to mind especially) and is always happy when one of his songs come on shuffle, I feel fully equipped to make such proclamations. ‘Summertime’, an extremely laid back song which samples Kool and the Gang’s ‘Summer Madness’, is pretty much the pinnacle of such awesomeness. Quite frankly if listening to it doesn’t make you happy you’re either too young to be allowed to be in charge of your own tastes, or there’s something seriously wrong with you.

Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong – ‘Summertime’

This classic is from George Gershwin’s jazz opera Porgy and Bess, which features other fun gems like the sacrilegious ‘It Ain’t Necessarily So’. ‘Summertime’, which really does sound like an actual folk song, became a jazz standard, and you can’t do much better than Ella and Louis’ version (from their Porgy and Bess album). Still, if you’re looking for variation it’s not exactly hard- The Summertime Connection has over 31,000 recordings in their collection, and lists over 48,000 known public performances (and growing!). And they’ve got links to covers in a plethora of languages, including this lovely chant in Occitan. The song also inspired the Sublime track ‘Doin’ Time’, which sounds like a nice relaxed summery song, even if it is actually all about adultery and feeling trapped. Good times!

The Isley Brothers – ‘Summer Breeze’

While this song was originally recorded by Seals and Crofts, their version sounds tacky and cloying, possibly due to the use of a toy piano on the track, and the Isley Brothers version is at least a billion times more pleasant to listen to. It’s soulful and evocative, and I don’t think it’s possible to not feel blissed out when hearing it. I sincerely don’t think it can be bettered, but there’s plenty of attempts like Jason Mraz’s twee pop-rock take, Type O Negative’s metal cover and Aphrodite’s jungle reworking. But even after listening to every single variant of the song I’m pretty sure you’ll want to go back to listening to The Isley Brothers’ one. Cos it’s the best. Empirically.

Percy Faith – ‘Theme From A Summer Place’

Oz from Buffy the Vampire Slayer once said that the way for a girl to impress him involved a feather boa and this song (and implied that he couldn’t talk about it in more detail in public). I’m pretty sure that he wasn’t joking, and not because I can’t imagine that anyone would be cavalier about anything as serious as feather boas. This song is awesome! And it is actually a theme from the movie A Summer Place (not the main theme, it’s a lurve theme for two of the characters). Percy Faith’s version shot to the top of the charts in 1960, but it’s been covered by others too- some of whom added lyrics, including Cliff Richard! His version is eminently laughable, so enjoy.

Moonpools & Caterpillars – ‘Summertime’

This is simply a fun, thumping intensely summery pop-rock song from ’90s California-based Filipina band Moonpools & Caterpillars. And it was featured on the soundtrack of one of the greatest films of time: The Baby-Sitters Club (come on, it starred a young Rachael Leigh Cooke and Larisa Oleynik, amongst others, have either of them ever been in anything sub-par? If they have I’m choosing to ignore it). The former lead singer of the band, Kimi Ward Encarnacion, has an adorable lifestyle blog, called California Pixie, with lots of brightly coloured pictures and smiles, and their fans still seem exuberant about them. Exactly what you’d expect from a band who managed to make the sound of distilled sunshine!

Don Henley – ‘The Boys of Summer’

This is a single from former Eagles frontman Don Henley’s second solo album, and I can only really describe its sound as…shimmery. If the black and white video (which won several awards, FYI), directed by fancypants French photographer Jean-Baptiste Mondino, didn’t make it clear enough, the song deals with themes of nostalgia and ageing. The Ataris’ pop-punk cover is a more upbeat version that’s plenty of fun (although not a patch on their ode to Claire Danes, ‘My So-Called Life’), and there’s also a truly awful version by DJ Sammy with vocals by some Dutch bint called Loona. You may want to pour bleach into your ears to cleanse them if you accidentally listen to it, but I suggest you resist that urge because that doesn’t sound entirely safe, and listen to some Eagles instead. Here’s ‘Already Gone’, cos it’s great.

Incubus – ‘Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity Love Song)’

This wonderfully chilled but still funky tune is my favourite from Incubus’ second studio album S.C.I.E.N.C.E. (which apparently stands for ‘Sailing Catamarans Is Every Nautical Captain’s Ecstasy’, obviously) and anyone who disagrees may have recently received a head injury, and you probably ought to be concerned about them. Although their later albums tend to have a cleaner, tighter sound I enjoy the messy mish-mash of styles on this album and its predecessor Fungus Amongus (c’mon, what’s not to love about ‘You Will Be A Hot Dancer’?). But if you’re looking for something a teeny bit softer, there’s also this lovely acoustic version of ‘Summer Romance’.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience – ‘Long Hot Summer Night’

 I have a mildly irrational aversion to anything that refers to summer nights because I’m reminded of the caterwauling-heavy number from Grease, y’know, the one that’s called ‘Summer Nights’. (Why is there so much screeching?! The Glee cover is genuinely less aurally offensive.) But, I’m willing to put that aside in order to listen to Electric Ladyland. ‘Long Hot Summer Night’ could almost run the risk of being buried, given that it’s on the double album featuring ‘Crosstown Traffic’, ‘All Along The Watchtower’ and ‘Voodoo Child (Slight Return)’, which have all been released as singles and are some of the best-known and most-beloved Hendrix songs. But this song is fantastic too, and clearly part of the perfect soundtrack to a summer night!

Billy Joel – ‘Summer, Highland Falls’

This ballad, off of Turnstiles, is probably my favourite Billy Joel song (although I am also very partial to ‘Big Shot’, and maintain that it’s the perfect accusatory alarm tone), ‘Piano Man’ and ‘Uptown Girl’ don’t even get a look-in on the grounds that they’re far too schmaltzy. He wrote it while living in Highland Falls, New York (a village, perhaps not wildly different from the one where he was raised, Hicksville- I kid you not- which is also in New York state), and the lyrics have nostalgia written- in large and underlined letters- all over them. You can listen to him doing a solo version of it, and explaining why he wrote it (with references to manic depression) , as well as kvetching entertainingly about the weirdness of Los Angeles, on this Billy Joel Q&A post.

LFO – ‘Summer Girls’

This is still one of the most entertaining songs, not just of weird ’90s pop, but of all time. It was written by LFO (aka Lyte Funky Ones, which I don’t feel was an acceptable name even in the decade that sense forgot) frontman Rick Cronin (with some help). The lyrics are basically an amazing series of non-sequiturs like ‘New Kids On The Block had a bunch of hits, Chinese food makes me sick’ and ‘Call you up, but what’s the use, I like Kevin Bacon but I hate Footloose‘. That’s lyrical genius right there. They also seemed to be doing some solid public relations work for Abercrombie and Fitch at the time, but the video seems like an expose of dreadful ’90s fashion now, compounded by the fact that one of them, I think it’s Brad but I couldn’t swear to it, is blinking rapidly in abject confusion throughout. Eminem mocked it on ‘Marshall Mathers’, but really I can’t see why you’d need to, just let the song stand for itself!

What other songs can we use to try to coax the sun out? Suggest away in the comments!

Happy Easter time! As far as I understand it, this time of year is all about chocolate, bizarre chicken-rabbit hybrids, and rebirth.

There’s various takes on the story of Jesus’s resurrection, including DH Lawrence’s brilliantly titled ‘The Escaped Cock‘ about dealing with post-resurrection ennui, as well as the widespread belief in Zombie Jesus Day.

But there’s plenty of examples of other characters coming back from the dead elsewhere, and to celebrate Easter in pop culture style, here are my ten favourite revivals from the world of television.

Buffy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Buffy heroically sacrificed herself to save her sister and the world, then was mystically brought back to life by her friends who assumed (for no real reason) that she was eternally stuck in a Hell dimension. If you ask me, the idea that she’d end up somewhere other than the Elysian Fields sounds rather unfairly judgemental. Anyway, Buffy had to claw her way out of her coffin in a confused state, and found it hard to readjust to being one of the living, especially as she was (understandably) depressed at having been ripped out of Heaven by her friends. Still, not being dead led to good times for her, such as sex with Spike and a demonic musical. Life’s not all bad!

Dean (Supernatural)

Dean sold his soul to save his brother, which meant that he was given just one year to live before dying bloody and being dragged to Hell. In the appropriately titled ‘Lazarus Rising’ he clawed his way out much like Buffy (I think the lesson here is try not to do anything overly nice for your siblings), and discovered that he had been gripped tight and raised from perdition by an angel. The forces of both Heaven and Hell were hot on the heels of the Winchester boys in the lead-up to the Apocalypse, and the brothers ended up being brought back to life repeatedly. In fact, not being able to (permanently) die took on a horror of its own, as it seemed that Sam and Dean wouldn’t be able to avoid their roles as meatsuits for Michael and Lucifer.

Jeremy (The Vampire Diaries)

It seemed like Jeremy was definitely dead and gone after he was accidentally shot, which wasn’t wildly surprising given how willing the show is to bump off characters. Sometimes they come back as vampires, undaggered originals or ring-wearers, but a fair few have been bumped off permanently (even if some of those have had ghostly stints) like Vicki, Anna, Jenna, Isobel, Bill, Papa Lockwood, John, Mason, Zach, Rose, Bonnie’s Grams, Pearl, Logan, Luka, Jules and Mikael. However, Jeremy proved the value of dating a witch if you’re going to be involved in supernatural shenanigans, his girlfriend Bonnie was able to resurrect him with a spell, and some help from her ancestor Emily. This led to him going all Sixth Sense and being able to see dead ex-girlfriends however, which threw a spanner in the workings of his relationship with Bonnie.

Darla (Angel)

Darla, Angel’s sire, was killed off early in the first season of Buffy, however the flashbacks in which she featured after that really fleshed out her character. In the spin-off series Angel, the evil law firm Wolfram & Hart brought her back, as a terrified human. She was close to death again though (due to syphilis contracted during her time as a New World prostitute, back when she was alive the first time around) which led to her being re-sired by Drusilla, and the two set about tormenting Angel and trying to drag him over to the dark side. She wasn’t able to make him lose his soul, but she did manage to conceive a child with him (quite a feat for two vampires), and the show’s plot pretty much spun out of control from there.

Chuck (Pushing Daisies)

Ned had the power to bring people back from the dead but barely used it because it led to the death of others (at least if they were brought back for more than sixty seconds). He couldn’t help himself from saving his murdered childhood best friend Charlotte Charles aka Chuck though. She was given a second lease of life, but frustratingly had to keep herself hidden (especially from her family) because she couldn’t admit to being reanimated without raising too many questions, and despite her and Ned’s feelings for each other they could never consummate their relationship in any way because a second touch would lead to her dying, forever this time. No one ever said (coming back to) life was supposed to be easy!

Piper (Charmed)

The Charmed girls seem like mightily inefficient witches, all of them dying multiple times all over the place. It hardly ever seemed to stick- except for the last one of Prue’s when the actress who played her, Shannen Doherty, left the series. Piper managed to get herself killed- and brought back to life- a grand total of nine times. Some of her, and her sister’s, deaths were solved by messing with time, but many of  the reanimations were due to Leo, their resident Whitelighter and eventually Piper’s husband.  Her and Leo’s eldest child, Wyatt, also had magical healing abilities and managed to bring his mother back from the dead at one point. Apparently sisterly powers aren’t always enough, so it’s a wise idea to extend your family if you think demons are likely to try to kill you a lot.

Nathan (Misfits)

Nathan took a while to discover his super power, but when it finally revealed itself it turned out to be pretty handy. He was essentially immortal, which meant he could always come back from the dead, as the gang discovered when they went to pay their respects at his grave. He had to actually “die” in order to come back new however, being severely injured just meant he was stuck like that. He sold his power to support his girlfriend Marnie and her newborn baby, but I’m holding out hope that his new scamming powers (and his arrest) mean there’s a chance of him reviving the show by returning for the fourth season, even if the loss of other major cast members, and the introduction of new ones, means that his presence probably wouldn’t completely cure things.

Claire (Heroes)

Claire had a similar power to Nathan, the ability to heal in an accelerated fashion, meaning that she could revive from death too. She was freaked out by this at first, leading to lots of videotaped experiments, but it’s a useful thing to be able to do!  She could not only heal from injuries and come back from death, but she could re-grow missing bits of herself (like a toe) which is awesome, if a tad gross. Her liver wasn’t immune from this accelerated re-growth either, which meant that she couldn’t get drunk. Sad times, especially as with all the shocks she went through she could probably have used the solace of the bottle. Transfusions of her blood (or others’ with the same ability, like Adam) could also spread the healing magic to others, so I guess she could try to make herself feel better with do-gooding instead of boozing.

Ruthie (Carnivàle)

Ben Hawkins had a similar condition to Ned from Pushing Daisies, he could bring people back to life, but only by ending someone else’s. He wanted to save Ruthie, the carnival’s snake charmer whom he’d recently grown close to, when she died as a result of a venomous snake bite. He was initially unable to revive her- until he strangled Lodz (upon learning of his role in Ruthie’s death).  Although Ruthie got to be alive again, and her strongman man son Gabriel wasn’t left all alone, a second lease of life isn’t necessarily all good. Her body was possessed repeatedly by Lodz, who used it to communicate with Lila, who in turn went around screwing up important plans. Plus Ruthie was rather disturbed when she began seeing dead people…

Kenny (South Park)

Kenny might well be the television character who has died the most times (unless you count Itchy and Scratchy…), he’s even got a TV trope named in his honour. During the early seasons of South Park he died in episode after episode, making the time that his demise actually stuck rather striking. He bounced back from that too, eventually, of course. Apparently he’s reborn each time he dies and turns up in his bed again (clearly ageing impressively quickly too). I guess that’s what parents get for going to Cthulu cult meetings! You’ve been warned.

Tell us about other born-again characters in the comments!

It’s time, once again, to delve into the mixed grab bag of what people have been tapping into google in order to end up here over the last fortnight.

Just in case you hadn’t realised: people scour the internet for some odd things. Have some Coasters to ease you into the randomness:

And now to the search terms!

jensen ackles butt

I know there was a shrine to Jensen’s and everything, but I really think you ought to check out Jared’s too:

cobie smulders interview “panties”

Well Maxim’s interview with her is accompanied by several pictures of her frolicking about scantily clad.

molly ringwald sexy

You can see her getting down in dirty (and topless) in Malicious.

world map political black and white

I think you should check out Many Ways to See the World if you’re interested in maps. And even if you’re not, if you watch it you soon will be!

emily sexy – thomas tank engine

To be honest, I don’t see it.

gay marriage animated

This happened.

opium field

Poppies will put you to sleep, be warned!

adam levine/christina aguilera rpf

It’s a thing!

man woman dramatic kiss

Here you go:

keri russell vampire

I don’t think she’s ever played one, but she is going to be an 80s spy.

blake lively – weird but sexy

Apparently this outfit is.

spookie niple

Not that spelling like that deserves Mallrats, but still…

punk boobs cleavage

dean winchester i think i’m adorable gif

Always on topic.

disney princes gay

Just because they barely have personalities doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be able to express their sexuality.

moulin rouge satine dies

OH MY GOD, SPOILER WARNING!

90s teen hair

Wonderfully dreadful.

picture of an ugly poison

I know that ‘hemlock’ is fun to say, but are any poisons particularly good looking?

easter sences for barbie

Ey? Scenes? Senses? Sentences? Whatever.

nph fucking cobie smulders

Judging from the How I Met Your Mother bloopers he likes to mack on everyone, as do all the cast members. Sluts.

fuck you cartoon

alice and wonderland syndrome seeing things too big

Maybe she never went to Wonderland, she was just crazy.

rob lowe’s tablecloth drawing

Stories I Only Tell My Friends, Lowe’s autobiography, has a tale about Andy Warhol and drawing pussies. True story!

howl full of hell ridiculously large cover image.

Ridiculously large is a relative term when you have fabulous eyes like I do.

pop culture world map

US-only, because everyone knows the rest of the world isn’t important.

ice cream and sex

Wasn’t that the whole point of the Angel episode ‘I Will Remember You’?

downward spiral crystal meth

You watch Breaking Bad too?!

shay mitchell religion

This seems to be a niggling question for some, but I say that we all ought to be worshipping at the shrine of Pretty Little Liars.

grandmother mermaid

But how do mermaids reproduce?!

supernatural eat it twilight picture tumblr

cultural representations of cross sex friendships

Few and far between sadly. Though there are some decent portrayals on television, and here are a few more I’ve recently become fond of:

spankings,whippings and high heels

How about some blood, sex and booze instead?

askgf

supernatural fanfiction dean/sam “throwing up”

Oh internet, you have everything!

too hungover

Don’t worry, there are cures for that.

dog soldiers reviewin this era of vampire soap operas (ie- “the vampire diaries”), and emo teen vampires (ie- the twilight saga), it’s nice to see that at least the werewolves still tend to be pretty bad ass. private cooper and his squad are on a training exercise when they come across another squad that’s been brutally slaughtered. the [...]

Charming. If I provide a picture of a nice little werewolf will you stop googling large chunks of text?

which vibrator did charlotte use on sex in the city and resulted in her disappearing for the rest of the episode?

A pink rabbit. Neither a turtle or a hare then, despite the episode title.

jensen ackles painful stomach

Maybe you should offer some assistance…

songs from thoroughly modern mill

They’re all fabulous!

bitch be disney

cougar town sex scenes

Or… they could just kiss without it having to lead anywhere!

womens glee club cheerleader costume sexy glee club cheerleader costume

Calm the fuck down!

cybill -shepherd -sheperd -shephard -shepard

I’m sorry but what other Cybills are there? You’re getting the Shepherd and you’re going to like it:

“all dogs are blue now”

Truuuuuuth.

emoticons explanation

If confused, refer to a cat:

least amount of sexual tension

cartoon penis on real person

Amazeballs.

hayek naked

Why would you possibly want to see this man naked?!

danneel ackles nude scene 2013

I’d have to go back to the future to obtain such images, and that sounds like a lot of hassle. Besides, she’s perfectly nice to look at clothed and in the past too.

cobie smulders l word

I completely forgot this ever happened!

beautiful girls smoking weed

should i cut my hair short like keri russell

Totally, that’s never led to anything bad happening…

berocca nsfw

I don’t think this image is safe for work because it’s clearly not safe for eyes.

finding porn with google

dress like jensen ackles

I can see why you might want to dress like him when he’s a cowboy. Especially when he’s accompanied by cowboy Jared.

cartoon characters quiz pictures which gives nice conclusion

Try this sporcle quiz, you’ll get a nice conclusion if you’ve got a lot of toon trivia.

buddha and alcohol

Nifty!

weed saying

borderline misanthropie

How dare you?! There’s only full on people-hatred around here, nothing wishy-washy about it.

show white bitch

Well if you insist…

She can probably freeze you with her psychotic death glare though, don’t make eye contact!

chuck bass costume

So much ridiculousness to choose from!

naked violinist

Here’s Bond, an Australian string quartet, to fulfil all your nude instrumentalist needs.

girl from firefly sex

Which one?

erotic easter

Check out this post for viewing and reading suggestions, and some reasonably disturbing images.

goofy bicycle

It’s hard to get goofier looking than a penny-farthing:

And on that note I leave you to have a goofy and chocolate-filled Easter Sunday!

I’ll admit it: I’m all about the fiction. I mean, I exist, in reality (as far as I can tell), but I really don’t get what’s so great about real people. I prefer fictional constructs. I would much rather be sharing a packet of crisps down the pub with Daisy from Spaced than I would share breathing space with any of those twats from Made in Chelsea. I’m like Abed from Community. I’d rather be hanging out in the Dreamatorium with Inspector Spacetime.

Maybe this is because I’m a writer, and often my daily tasks include stealing all my favourite personality traits from real people, and applying them to fictional ones. Have you ever had a crush on a character of your own creation before? It’s a little narcissistic, I can tell you.

So imagine my horror when every time I enter the living room, a member of my family is watching something about real people. And you know the problem with real people, (besides the fact that they never travel by phonebox or mysteriously appear alive after jumping off a building), is that they bitch and whine about everything.

 The Apprentice should be renamed ‘I’m a Backstabbing Bitch who Undermines Others for Money, but it’s Okay Because I’m Ambitious’. Not so catchy, but much more truthful. Big Brother (which will be returning far too soon for my liking- seeing as I thought it should be relegated to the toxic waste dump of television, along with everything else on Channel 5) should clearly be called ‘Non-Important People Hate Other Non-Important People for Thinking They’re More Important.’

No-one cares that you have a lower back tattoo and call yourself Bunny. No-one cares that you got three girls names tattooed on your arse and your personal signifier is having stupid hair. No-one cares that you’re Irish and can’t sing. NO-ONE CARES.

Except, here’s the problem- people DO care. Who these people are, I don’t know. I assume they have brain matter dribbling from their ears, and merely require the squawking and screaming these shows afford them in order to interact with the nice television box.

The dancing shows? Fine, okay, at least people are learning stuff. And if it’s on ice there’s a good chance that a moronic ex-Hollyoaks actress will get a blade to the skull or something. It’s dangerous, that flamboyant ‘sport’. But it’s still a popularity contest for semi-famous has-beens. It should be advertised via agencies like this: ‘Is your actor or presenter getting a little older? Not quite getting the offers they used to? Then try Dancing on Ice! For all your comeback needs!’

And then it becomes a popularity contest anyway, so the has-been who’s the least appealing will get voted off first and probably go off to commit suicide. Or realise that acting isn’t all that, really.

What else? Oh yes, some singing show. Is it X Factor? Is it Britain’s Got Talent? Is it The Voice? Is it, quite simply, another marketing scam designed to destroy the music industry? Stop worrying about free downloads and start worrying that we’re going to end up in the post-apocalyptic society as outlined in We Will Rock You. I am tired of listening to this teeny bopper crap. I am tired of watching as average-to-fair singers get made over, given a sob story and made into ‘superstars’. It is all about marketing and manipulating the public, and if you’re not getting sick of the pale white lighting and the use of ‘You Raise Me Up’ whilst some attractive person declares they’re doing it for their dead mum/adoptive father/cancerous uncle/slightly depressed poodle then you’re clearly NOT PAYING ATTENTION. And this is your fault.

Please, please, please could we stop watching this shit? And then they would stop making it. And then we wouldn’t have Blah from Season 4 of The Apprentice appearing on Celebrity Big Brother 90 because she’s trying to launch a singing career with Boring from Britain’s Got Talent series 45, who she met doing Dancing on Ice.

We don’t need more Z-list celebs. Stop propagating bad music, bad television, and bad people who think their inane thoughts on whether or not it’s appropriate to pull down someone’s trousers in public are LIFE-CHANGING.

Fiction tells stories. And they’re good stories. You could watch an array of excellently made fake people do things that real people do on plenty of television shows, but BETTER, with well-conceived dialogue, and a storyline and a POINT TO THINGS.

Please, please, please.

Look- see, Mad Men has come back! There’s a reason not to watch this shite! Really! Also, it’s spring, it’s getting sunny out! Go outside and meet real people. And then come back here when you realise how awful it would be to watch them on television.

March is a month full of celebrations- Holi, Purim, International Women’s Day, St Patrick’s Day, Mothering Sunday, the beginning of British Summer Time, and the chance to laugh at other people’s pain during Lent.

But too much of a good thing can be bad, and partying too hard can lead to dreadful hangovers.

Luckily, as we approach the end of the month when it all might be getting a bit too much, we can avail ourselves of plenty of the advice from pop culture on how to cure such awfulness!

prairie oyster, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip

When Tom was charged with convincing viola prodigy Kim that she didn’t want to give up it all up to become a comedian like him in order to save a business deal, wacky hijinks were bound to ensue. She ended up horribly drunk, with the gang trying to solve the situation ASAP. They decided to apply a classic hangover recipe- the prairie oyster.

It’s a disgusting sounding drink involving brandy, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, bitters, pepper, tomato sauce and a raw egg yolk. Unfortunately it doesn’t work well with people who are still drunk, probably because of the brandy, but it’s a worthwhile choice for the morning after the night before.

 sunglasses, Community

Britta drunk dialing Jeff led to Jeff and Abed getting plastered so that Jeff could embarrass himself and thus redress the balance of the group. (Think the Friends episode where Chandler accidentally sees Rachel naked, but drunker.) Britta, Jeff and Abed all deal with their hangovers by wearing sunglasses (a necessary part of hangover style apparently, and appropriate given how ridiculously bright Greendale seems to be) and carrying around oversized containers of liquid. Vast quantities of coffee or juice (and quite possibly gasoline in Abed’s case) can just about solve anything.

throwing up, Supernatural

Dean was an absolute dick to his poor hungover baby brother, advising “a greasy pork sandwich served up in a dirty ashtray”. Bleugh. This seems to be from the Twin Peaks school of hangover cures- disgusting people so much that they throw up. At least that’ll get the alcohol out of your system I suppose! And when you’re done with that, the bacon (without the cigarette ash coating) might be a good idea. Apparently a full English breakfast is great for a hangover, and if Rihanna thinks so then it must be true.

a greasy tuna melt and a milkshake, How I Met Your Mother

As future-narrator-Ted pointed out, everyone has their own special remedy for a hangover, in Lily’s case it’s the greasy tuna melt and milkshake. She seems pretty smart, and so I’d be prepared to try out her ideas. Ted, on the other hand, thinks that gravy is the answer. Given how annoying and stupid he tends to be I wouldn’t generally be prepared to listen to his advice. However, gravy is an important ingredient in chicken fried steak which might be good for hangovers, so perhaps he has a point. For once.

wake-up juice, Back to the Future Part III

The third Back to the Future film is woefully underrated. IT HAS COWBOY HATS IN IT, WHAT MORE COULD YOU POSSIBLY WANT? And when the Doc passed out from drinking (one) whiskey back in the Old West past, he was given some spicy-sounding wake-up juice, which will apparently sober you up much more quickly than just about anything. Marty funneled the concoction into the Doc’s mouth (as well as blocking his nose with a clothes peg) and it worked. Fast. Still, the Doc seemed to miss Tylenol, so it may not be a pain-free option.

Klatchian coffee, Discworld

Klatchian coffee is so strong that imbibing it causes people to become disastrously knurd, which is a state that’s sort of equal and opposite to drunkenness. It essentially allows the (foolish) drinker to see the world as it really is, in all its harrowing glory, with every illusion painfully stripped away. So while Klatchian coffee can, in a way, offset the effects of alcohol, it’s also probably wise to not have any of this caffeinated sludge unless you’ve got enough alcohol in your system to deal with the horrific knurd state you’ll end up in. Vicious cycle, yo.

IV drip, Scrubs

Hooking yourself up to an IV drip of, I don’t know, water and salt and sugar and spice and everything nice etc, not only replenishes what you’ve lost due to your hangover, it saves you from having to work up the energy to do complicated things, like lift a cup to your mouth, or remember how to swallow. And if the laudable medical professionals of Scrubs thought it was a good plan, it must be! I mean you’ve got to trust them, even if they do seem to have crippling drinking problems, they’re doctors!

Jules’s attempt to re-live her twenties (upon realising that she’d missed out on them, what with getting pregnant and then raising her son) got messy fast. Having fun with pancakes and cops is all very well at the time, but then the next day hits. Not only was Jules suddenly burdened by a crippling hangover, she couldn’t even nap and relax, as demands on her time and attention kept cropping up. Her coping strategies were very wet, she tried dunking her head in the pool to cool down, and when she later got thirsty on the way to the mailbox she was happy to drink copiously from the hose pipe. Smart woman, water does help with dehydration after all.

hair of the dog, Withnail and I

One particularly inventive way to avoid a hangover is to simply never stop drinking. You can get over the effects of alcohol by applying more alcohol to the problem!

You can achieve this by emulating Withnail and Marwood:

Warning: may result in death.

ginger beer, Pop Culture Playpen

I am quite certain that we here at PCP know about the ultimate hangover cure. And we’re willing to share! Aren’t we nice? The answer is a wonderfully combination of sugar, carbonation, water and ginger: ginger beer makes everything in life better, trust. For best results it should probably be accompanied by a greasy breakfast And perhaps a nap. Enjoy!

Have you got other suggestions for making a dreaded hangover go away? Tell us your secrets!

Damn it, it’s Monday instead of Sunday again. I got NOTHING done yesterday. I blame the clocks “springing forward”… and the Muppets. Most of my Sunday was spent obsessing over Muppets.

I finally got around to watching The Muppets, which was just… joyful. It was everything good and it had so many of my favourite things!

So, instead of analysing such gems as make your cake look like forest with fairies and little faces are called pixie faces, or answering questions like is jensen ackles a redneck?, this edition of Search Term Sunday is all about the Muppets.

when it seems impossible never ever give up and help family

Pretty much the mission statement of all Muppet movies!

bridging generation gap between parents and children

Want to know how to? Watch these… or the Muppets.

himym doppelgangers

Sorry Lesbian Robin, Stripper Lily, Doctor Barney… Muppet Marshall is my new favourite doppelganger.

very drunk bum

Meet Hobo Joe. He likes Muppets.

modern woman and we can do it women and happy women’s day!

Miss Piggy, feminist icon.

girls loses beer bong leads to lesbian and drag king

I became quite confused by this porcine chap while watching The Muppets. Is this Miss Piggy’s brother? Is this Miss Piggy if she became devastated by not being able to smoke Oscar the Grouch?

animals should definitely not wear clothing

The Muppets would probably disagree. Though there are some naked ones.

happy old people

I think those are smiles.

but i need someone different

Walter is as different as they come! Especially when he dresses up like Kermit.

“child prodigy” “boyfriend” “addict”

“Dougie Howser”. “Barney Stinson”. “Neil Patrick Harris”.

manny modern family and pcp manny

Hey Rico Rodriguez, Kermit may not know who you are, but we do!

“it’s a terrible world. why am i here?” “for tea parties!!” “tea parties? is that all there is?”

Sure, this is a line from one of Miss Thropist’s favourite episodes of Supernatural but it’s also a good opportunity to display some tea-partying Muppet babies.

ridiculous eyebrows

He thinks the news is ridiculous.

the frog princess disney

AKA one of the reasons Kermit may be hesitant about settling down with Piggy.

thats what you get bunny for stealing our eggs

I’m not sure what Camilla is giving away, but I don’t think I want any.

i know i shouldn’t ask but what was your mum like

‘Cos I’m assuming she had a thing for Muppet milkmen.

believe vampire 17 century bram stoker confused memory blood impala folk romania real dracula 20 century lost vampire undead and bram stoker confused memory blood impal fock romania real dracula lost 20th century myth lost vampire undead

Eh?

doppelgangers double failed trouble

Don’t mess with the Moopets, they like knives.

in a 1-2 page essay style response, address the representation of any two of the following from the angel episode “smile time”; a) gender; b) sexual orientation / sexuality; c) social class; d) race/ethnicity; e) mass media; f) workplace; g) children

I want to write this essay! Or maybe just watch the episode again…

Happy International Women’s Day! If ever there was a day appropriate for expressing righteous feminist ire, I think that it’s today. As well as ALL THE OTHER ONES.

What I’d particularly like to gripe about right now is the lack of buddy girl movies. There are loads of films about two men, often with opposite personalities, having wacky adventures. In a way they kind of function as the male version of the rom-com.

Now I don’t dislike rom-coms per se, some are even quite good (When Harry Met Sally, No Strings Attached, Four Weddings and a Funeral, 10 Things I Hate About You, Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Bridget Jones’s Diary to name a reasonably inoffensive few) and in general they do exactly what they say on the tin. They’re funny stories about finding love. And that’s fine.

But it peeves me that women get romantic comedies marketed towards them all the time, rather than a female-heavy version of films like Rush Hour, The Odd Couple, Bad Boys, Planes, Trains & Automobiles, The Green Hornet, Wedding Crashers, See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Men in Black, Sherlock Holmes, Lethal Weapon etc etc etc etc ad infinitum.

Some of those buddy films are great, while others are considerably less so, but that’s not the point. My point is that there’s a plethora of films like that featuring male duos, but far fewer about a pair of women.

It’s not too hard to find ones about a group of women (or teenage girls). They can be pleasant viewing, and often have words like ‘sisterhood’ or ‘ladies’ or ‘girls’ in the title. They tend to get designated as chick flicks, regardless of whether they’re mostly about shopping and shoes, or about emotions and issues and Real Life Problems, or are genuinely hilarious comedies, or feature women kicking ass.

You know the kind of thing I’m talking about- Sex and the City, Bridesmaids, Calendar Girls, Now and Then, Steel Magnolias, Pride and Prejudice, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Little Women, The Baby-sitters Club, Sucker Punch, Blue Crush, Whip It, Death Proof, Waiting to Exhale, The First Wives Club, Charlie’s Angels and all that jazz.

Now I love a good bromance at least as much as the next person, but doesn’t it seem strange that we don’t tend to delight in female friendships just as much? Why aren’t we as excited by the joys of “womances“?

Sometimes romantic comedies do a good job of portraying female friendships (or familial relationships), like No Strings Attached, The Truth About Cats & Dogs and Heartbreakers, as can ensemble films (Clueless, Ten Inch Hero, Waitress). And that’s great! But still, in those films it doesn’t feel like the girly twosome dynamic is the main thrust of the film. They’re not quite buddy films, even if they are about friendship in large part.

It’s also certainly possibly to find films about highly emotional and possibly destructive female friendships, whether about a pair or a group dynamic such as Jennifer’s Body, Mean Girls, The Craft, Me Without You, Ghost World and Single White Female. Again, it’s not that I dislike these films, it’s just that it would also be nice to get to watch fun and easy depictions of a couple of women hanging out, being friends and having adventures too.

Actual buddy girl films seem few and far between (check out the pathetically tiny Wikipedia article for ‘female buddy film‘, for corroboration), and while we’re on the subject I’m not quite happy using the word ‘girl’, but there’s a serious linguistic gap!

If you don’t want to use the generic term ‘man’, the stuffy ‘gentleman’, or infantile ‘boy’, there’s recourse to a whole load of words- ‘guy’, ‘dude’, ‘bloke’, ‘chap’, ‘fellow’ and so on. What’s there for us other than ‘girl’, ‘woman’ and ‘lady’? ‘Chick’? ‘Lass’? ‘Broad’? Until something like ‘chapette’ catches on I’m going to be grumpy.

But whatever one decides to call them, there’s definitely a lack of movies about two ladyfriends. Thelma & Louise is of course the classic example, and while it’s a great film and in parts really exuberantly joyful and delightful, it’s also about rape, murder and desperation. And it doesn’t exactly have the happiest of endings. I wouldn’t exactly say that it’s the girly version of Zoolander or Rush Hour. Know what I’m saying?

Beaches is another one that gets bandied about as a classic female friendship film. And while it is also wonderfully funny in parts, and certainly about the (often tried and tested) friendship between two women, it’s also without a doubt a massive tear-jerker. Again, it’s not a bad film, but it’s not necessarily light entertainment.

The Sweetest Thing kind of gets there. I think of it as a proto-Bridesmaids, in that it’s about a group of women running around being “inappropriate”. It’s kind of a rom-com, and kind of an ensemble piece, but a large part of the story centres on the two main characters, Christina (Cameron Diaz) and Courtney (Christina Applegate), having wacky adventures and falling prey to hilarious misunderstandings. Definitely points for effort, there!

Speaking of Bridesmaids, Walking and Talking (a 1996 film which starred Anne Heche and Catherine Kenner) dealt with the changing dynamic between two best friends due to one’s marriage. It’s definitely funny and women-centric, if still a tad more serious and emo than I’d like.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun (an 80s dance film, starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt) is I suppose a rom-com, but I think the friendship between the two girls is really the main drive of the (suitably fun!) story. In the same way, I’d say that Bring It On is mostly about two girls (who are rather different) becoming friends and succeeding at something. In Bring It On‘s case the two girls are played by Kirsten Dunst and Eliza Dushku, and it’s about cheerleading, but they’re definitely similar kinds of stories.

Women Talking Dirty (Helena Bonham Carter and Gina McKee dealing with loneliness, babies and a shithead of a man) High Heels and Low Lifes (Minnie Driver and Mary McCormack extorting money from criminals), Baby Mama (Tina Fey and Amy Poehler in a comedy about surrogacy), Bend It Like Beckham (Parminder Nagra and Keira Knightley as footballers), Feds (Rebecca De Mornay and Mary Gross as wannabe FBI agents) and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell play mostly broke, but beautiful, performers) are really the only film I can think of that employ the “opposites attract” trope for a comedy film about the friendship between two women.

There’s also Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion of course, which is brilliant- even if it isn’t about opposites attracting. Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino portray two nice but slightly dim best friends who have to face their old schoolmates. I’m also happy to try to make a case for Some Like it Hot being a fabulous film about female friendships, but I’m somewhat hampered by the two main characters being men. Eh.

So it’s not all bad, at least some of these films exist, and Best Buds (Natalie Portman’s stoner comedy) about female BFFs on a road trip should be released in 2014. Plus I do think that television shows generally seem relatively happy to give us the goods, shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Pretty Little Liars, Sex and the City and Cougar Town depict friendship between women/teenage girls pleasantly and realistically after all.

Still, I think that there’s not nearly enough buddy girl films out there! Please recommend any others you can think of in the comments, or just go ahead and make a movie for me!

The proposal for a special day to celebrate the value, struggles and rights of women across the world was made by Luise Zietz and Clara Zetkin in 1910. Inequality of pay, conditions and the status of women at work runs parallel to the sexual exploitation of women, especially through the media.

On an individual level, legal, social and political issues challenge us as women daily in our lives still.

My grandmother, who died in 1972, lived as a supporter of women’s rights. “I remember when people only had aeroplanes as a mad idea in their minds”, she told me one day when I was thinking of dropping History and she was talking me out of it.

“All these thin women these days look as though they’ve agreed to only be half alive,” she told me in the mid-sixties when Twiggy was hugely influential in moulding the thin body as the best shape for women.  In 2012, fashions are still very much created for this thin ideal.

Of course nothing at all is wrong with being a thin woman, but there is an issue when this shape is treated as if it ought to fit all. All our battles for equality with men and a humane world are sabotaged if our body image and femaleness are exploited, packaged and sold back to us as something we are not. Our femaleness is ours to celebrate uniquely for each of us as individual women!

In the 1950’s, various sizes of women ruled. You might be thin but did not have to be and the media reflected this with voluptuous women like Marilyn Monroe and Sophia Loren.

Nowadays shops don’t even seem to stock clothes that would fit those women!

I also worry that my beloved Miss Piggy is not exactly a positive role model these days, now that she has sold out her intrinsic pinkness and gone orange. She might be mega famous now, but as Kermit accepts his place in her shadow I’m sure that he knows she’s a fake!

I also think that the perspective of time can lessen apathy and impatience. Women of the world are not united until each of us grows stronger, the longer we live.

So it’s that time again. Lent. The time when perfectly sane people decide to give up things they enjoy and then take it out on the people around them. Oh, I know, I know, you’re just so unhealthy, you’re trying to make yourself a better person, it really is just the right time to give up chocolate.

Erm, no. No, it’s not. Let me offer a tiny bit of wisdom here. Do you really think giving up chocolate for 40 days makes sense before Easter? When there’ll be more chocolate around, on show, and given as gifts than any other time? Are you trying to hurt yourself?

There are varying reasons people give up stuff for Lent, the most obvious (and somehow, least applicable) being religion. If it’s about religion for you, good luck, sacrificing something to show your understanding for Jesus wandering in the desert for forty days. But maybe giving up your weekly packet of chocolate buttons isn’t quite the same as walking in ridiculous heat, un-cushioned sandals and lacking food and water. Just sayin’.

Maybe, if it’s about religion for you, you could take up something good, like volunteering, instead of denying yourself something that no-one else really cares about. But really, it’s up to you.

Now, atheists, agnostics, I’m talking to you. Why on earth are you putting us through this? Yes, I know, as humans we quintessentially want to better ourselves. That’s why we have self-help books. Books entitled things like ‘How to have Kick Ass Ideas’ and ‘Whatever you think, think the opposite’. We want to be better. That’s nice. Now will you have a goddamn cigarette because I’m about to stab you with my pencil. Quitters become really annoying, like Britta in Community:

You think denying yourself the things that you enjoy, purely because you enjoy them is a good idea? Maybe you should give up thinking for yourself for Lent! No-one’s asking you to give up your friends or your loved ones for the period, are they? No-one suggests giving up your children, or your hobbies. Why are you demonising the little things you enjoy that help you get through this chaotic existence? And you’re clearly only giving up the things that don’t matter. So really, what’s the point?

Maybe, just maybe, you should give up on having your aspirations dictated by the dates of a Roman calendar that may not even be translated properly. If you want to give up smoking, fine, do it. But don’t do it because suddenly everyone else is giving up something and you might as well be miserable together. Have you ever hung out with your friends when most of you are either in nicotine withdrawal, starving or would stab someone for a bite of chocolate? Not exactly a fun night out.

The worst one is giving up drinking. This will seriously damage your friendships. Not because everyone encourages each other to drink, or even because getting together for a drink is an acceptable social ritual. No, it’s because if you aren’t drinking and your friends are, you suddenly seem boring, and they suddenly seem overwhelmingly stupid.

Hold onto your friendships. If you’re going to give something up (and I really suggest you don’t) do it in private. Then if you want to come out at the end of forty days and rub people’s faces in it (the ones who haven’t denied themselves anything and thus are pretty damn happy) then feel free. They probably won’t care. They had a glass of wine with lunch. They gave up unnecessary guilt for Lent.

For those of you wondering where I’ve been- you won’t see me for about forty days. I’ve given up all the things I enjoy and will be wallowing in a hole of self-pity, righteousness and misery. That’s the spirit of the season, right?

Welcome to the latest Search Term Sunday! Take a peek at what people have been googling to end up here in the last couple of weeks, sit back, and giggle away.

dean in supernatural cars

Supernatural‘s Dean ended up in a truly supernatural car when his brother was transformed into a Chevy Impala version of Knight Rider. Good times:

matilda the movie pancakes

How very topical, given that it was Pancake Day not long ago!

human cloning explanation

TV Tropes knows everything, natch.We tend to stay away from the nitty-gritty science ourselves, although there are some sets of actors I think have been freakishly well cast as relatives and so forth. Maybe cloning is the explanation!

cowboy friend

Cowboy Jensen and Cowboy Jared are best cowboy friends! It’s one of the reasons that they’re our (cowboy) mascots.

We also appreciate how doggone cute they look.

cowboy centaur

Clearly this is what Photoshop is for.

slash nude

Are you sure this is a person you want to see nekkid?

manhandled birthday fuck

Oh dear. That sounds…potentially painful.

idealist feminist begin with the heart

I’m not entirely sure what that means, but it sounds nice. Check out the Feminist Photo Blog Project on tumblr, go on.

what is this porn?

According to Caitlin Moran it’s just pictures of people fucking. FUCK YEAH.

giving a fuck for lent

Tell you what, if you’re trying to say that you don’t care about Lent, why don’t you give up this bizarre Americanism which equates “could care less” with ”couldn’t care less” for forty days?

And if you are actually proud of the fact that you give a fuck about Lent I’m sure you’ll be happy to!

is jared padalacki and geneve padalacki’s baby arrived yet?

Apparently the bubba is expected on a Wednesday in mid-March, which isn’t all that far off. Somehow that makes the question seem mildly less inappropriate.

jared padalecki tits

I’m not sure he ought to be put in charge of breastfeeding the baby.

what does pcp do to people

Lures you in with shiny pictures, makes you stay for the snark.

the guy who looks like ringo in big bang theory

Simon Helberg?

what material are the jumpsuits from misfits made of?

I think they’re made out of plutonium, which is actually where the gang’s powers come from, and that whole freak storm thing was just a misdirect. I also think the next season ought to thoroughly investigate this storyline, with all the original cast members back together. Meep.

what princesses almost looks like egyptian princesses disney

Well Snow White in her coffin kind of has an Egyptian mummy thing going on…

jared padalecki in places he shouldn’t be

This may truly be the greatest tumblr of them all.

this aint buffy porn

True of so many things.

Enjoy your Sunday, even if it’s free from Buffy smut!

Happy St David’s Day, the feast day of the patron saint of Wales. It’s normally celebrated with daffodils (which I dislike for being intensely ugly) and cawl (which I don’t know how to make), so I suggest an alternative way of marking the day.

I thought we could instead admire a list of my ten favourite Welsh characters from the world of pop culture!

Jeff (Coupling)

This British sitcom, often compared to Friends, was about a group of thirty-somethings who spent a lot of time sitting around chatting about their lives and drinking. Not only were the lovely Jack Davenport and Gina Bellman two of the main cast members, Coupling also featured Richard Coleman as Jeff, the resident Welsh weirdo (at least until the fourth season).

His preposterous stories, random musings and botched attempts at hitting on women provided a lot of the show’s humour, and essential respite from the sometimes shrill whining of the other characters.

Check out some clips of his bizarreness!

Howl (Howl’s Moving Castle)

Diana Wynne Jones’ novel about a girl called Sophie, from a magical kingdom called Ingary, who ends up in a moving magical castle (complete with portals to other lands) owned by the self-obsessed wizard Howl, after being cursed by the Witch of the Waste, is lots of fun. I think the original is better than the screen and stage adaptations, because there’s a subtle humour derived from the fact that Howl is actually a Welsh rugby-playing doctoral student called Howell Jenkins. Despite the fact that Ingary has all the trappings of a typical fantasy land, it’s Howl’s “conventional” home town that’s made to seem mysterious, lightly playing with the conventions of the genre.

Also Howl’s clearly a hottie in any medium, and he deserves appreciation for that if nothing else.

Ivor (Ivor the Engine)

Being as I’m a huge Thomas the Tank Engine fan, I don’t think it’s a huge surprise that I also like this sweet animated series about a small green Welsh locomotive. It was created by Smallfilms- the company responsible for other (British) children’s favourites, like Bagpuss and The Clangers. Since the episodes of Ivor are very short, I suggest you get stuck in! They were remade in colour (black and white is so 1960s), so why not start with (the chromatic) episode one? Be warned though, its soothing style could become addictive! And/or check out the adorable tie-in books.

It’s also all very Welsh, with characters called Dai, Jones and Owen, and lots of Dylan Thomas’ influence flying around.

Lady Ilene (Prince Valiant)

I strongly suggest that everyone ought to check out this 1997 film! It stars a pre-True Blood Stephen Moyer as Prince Valiant, and is based on Hal Forster’s long-running Arthurian comic strip which also spawned an animated television adaptation in the ’90s. The film’s also boasts Katherine Heigl back before Grey’s Anatomy and even Roswell, as Lady Ilene, whom Valiant (an inexperienced squire masquerading as Sir Gawain) is supposed to protect.  The whole thing is utterly ridiculous, but in a fun way.

Ilene herself is kind of a badass, who wants to be a knight too and doesn’t think it’s fair that she should be treated differently because she’s a woman, which is far more interesting to watch than your typical damsel in distress.

Daffyd (Little Britain)

I’m not a huge Little Britain fan, I find the sketches annoyingly repetitive and while there’s a few characters and scenarios that are genuinely funny there’s also a lot of mediocre stuff. Plus I find the fact that when I tell people I’m British they often start shouting lines from Little Britain at me (if they’re not screeching “Manchester United!” repeatedly anyway) tiresome. I just think that they ought to bugger off and watch The League of Gentlemen instead! That being said, Matt Lucas as Daffyd, the (wannabe) only gay in his Welsh village, is definitely one of the show’s best inventions.

Still, not a patch on Geoff the first-time cottager from Monkey Dust.

Welshy (Futurama)

The Futurama episode ‘Where No Fan Has Gone Before’ boasted most of the original Star Trek cast as guest stars, except James Doohan who’d played Scotty. So a new character, Welshy, was invented to replace him (apparently because Doohan lacked the yodeling skills necessary for their musical reunion specials in the 2200s). Although Welshy might not have been a particularly important character in the episode, and he only has a couple of lines (in Welsh!), I love the fact that he exists.

Plus I enjoy the fact that he totally fulfils the redshirt stereotype with aplomb.

Helga Hufflepuff (Harry Potter)

This ancient witch, from the broad valleys of Wales, was one of the four founders of Hogwarts. Helga was renowned for her egalitarianism, as well as her charm skills. Unlike the other founders who considered a specific quality to be particularly important, Helga was happy to accept all students and teach them well. She sounds like she would have been a lot easier to hang out with than some of her peers!

There’s also a suggestion that Godric Gryffindor might have been Welsh, and that Godric’s Hollow (where Harry’s parents lived) was originally envisaged as a Welsh village. However, it’s established as being in the West Country in Deathly Hallows, making Helga all the more important as a symbol of Welsh magic.

Cadfael (Cadfael)

This television series about a mystery solving Welsh monk was based on a series of books (also adapted for radio) written by Edith Pargeter, who also won awards for her Czech translations. Brother Cadfael’s an interesting character- because he only entered the monastery in his forties he has plenty of life experience and useful skills from being a soldier, sailor, sinner, traveller, crusader, wool-trader’s servant, and so forth.

Cadfael’s inquisitiveness and observational skills strongly remind me of the friar-cum-investigator William of Baskerville from Umberto Eco’s novel The Name of the Rose. Is there a  monk detective trope that I wasn’t aware of?! There is a detective show called Monk after all…

Pixie (X-Men)

There’s loads of X-Men, which isn’t all that surprising when you consider that comics are a more flexible medium than television and film in some ways (fleshing out a world with lots of characters doesn’t have to be costly), and that the X-Men have been around since the 1960s.  So maybe that increased the odds of them having a Welsh character? Whatever the reason, Pixie (aka Megan Gwynn) is one of them, complete with wings (which allow her to fly), pixie dust (which causes hallucinations) and the ability to wield magic (which, as you can imagine, comes in handy).

If you’re suddenly possessed of an insatiable urge to look at lots and lots (and lots) of pictures of Pixie, and don’t have any comics in which she features heavily to hand, I suggest you head on over to this tumblr.

Betty (The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain)

This is a very sweet film about the conflict between dispassionate cartography and community pride in a Welsh village during World War I over the arbitrary distinction between a mountain and a hill. Tara Fitzgerald is adorable as Betty from Cardiff, whose role is to seduce and distract the more junior English cartographer (played by Hugh Grant, who manages to be a tad less annoying than usual).

She’s clearly more than ‘just’ a maidservant, and the events of the film make her realise that she’s capable of far more than she realised, even if she can’t talk posh for long and hasn’t been to Abyssinia.

Tell us about your own favourite Welsh characters in the comments!

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It’s Pancake Day! A DAY ENTIRELY ABOUT EATING PANCAKES. (And, y’know, preparing for Lent and stuff, but mostly: PANCAKES.)

I love pancakes, as does (I assume) everyone. They’re tasty, light enough that they don’t fill you up immediately, and so versatile that you get to try out lots of fascinating food combinations. THEY’RE BASICALLY A TASTY VERSION OF PILOT SEASON, BUT IN YOUR MOUTH INSTEAD OF ON THE SCREEN.

Which I think is why they seem to be used as a subtle symbol of affection in season six of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Food, and particularly balanced breakfasts, took on more significance in the later seasons, when Buffy (and the other Scoobies) became responsible for raising her younger sister (formerly a blob of mystical energy), Dawn.

In ‘Bargaining (Part One)’, Tara’s pancakes were part of the pleasant domesticity she and Willow tried to create for Dawn after Buffy’s death, will the help of the Buffybot’s mega-sandwich making skills and Xander’s tools. After Willow and Tara broke up due to Willow’s magic addiction, Tara maintained a good relationship with Dawn.

In ‘Wrecked’ Tara ended up making Dawn breakfast again because Willow and Buffy had both stayed out all night. It initially seemed like another sweet scene- she was offering Dawn funny shaped or round pancakes again- and there was sunlight streaming into the very same kitchen. However, things soon turned sour.

This was probably the darkest season of Buffy, what with Willow’s magic addiction and Buffy’s depression after being dragged out of Heaven by her friends. Once Willow returned to the house, with her freshly human-shaped friend Amy in tow, Tara became uncomfortable and left, and since Buffy had been having secret shameful sex with Spike all night and was trying to hide that fact, she wasn’t exactly communicative either.

Both Willow and Buffy slunk off to sleep, leaving Dawn alone. The burnt pancake, left abandoned on the oven, seemed like the perfect metaphor for just how ruined everything was.

But pancakes appeared again, in ‘Entropy’, as a symbol of Buffy repairing her relationship with Dawn, and starting to move on with her life. (There’s also apparently a goof in that scene, tut.) It’s also the episode which features Willow and Tara’s make up kiss, and it seems appropriate that pancakes should feature in an episode with such happy times! Even if there’s also lots of grumbling, sadness and an axe in the mix. Ahem.

So enjoy your pancakes today, whether you’re calling the day Shrove Tuesday, Fatsnacht, Carnival, Fat Tuesday, or just a Very Good Idea, and I hope that you agree that they’re a pretty good show of love. Even if ‘Pancakes’ doesn’t seem like an appropriately dignified name for a pet to Illyria from the spin-off Angel.

They really are, you know. Check it.

kristin bell penis

Totally.

scooby/daphne fanfiction

She must have gotten tired of being Fred’s beard.

jensen ackles wasn’t the only one hot and flustered at the breakfast on sunday morning

How do you like them apples? If one a day keeps the doctor away, imagine the power Jensen can yield.

princess cinderella ripped

Gwen’s abs are under there somewhere.

boy and girl gangsters

Fat Sam’s Grand Slam!! Even as a kid I found Bugsy Malone really weird yet extremely compelling. Why do pies kill?

seven dwarfs of menopause

Can’t wait.

beautiful doughnut

PRETTY!

rachel and emily get a divorce

Rachel and Ross got a divorce. Emily and Ross got a divorce. I know I must be getting old because I’m starting to professionally interact with people who haven’t seen every single episode of Friends multiple times.

cobie smulder’s, well-known for her portrayal of robin scherbatsky on how i met your mother, has also made an appearance in which of the following television series? and cobie mulder, well know for her portrayal of robin scherbatsky, on how i met my mother, has alaso made an appearance in what tv series?

Please see IMDB. It has all the answers.

keira knightley we obviously like spanking

Do we now? But does she like being spanked by us?

benedict cumberbatch nude

Oh dear. Me and Miss Thropist spent 15 very uncomfortable minutes watching the lovely Sherlock star writhing about painfully in the National Theatre. It was VERY strange.

Whether you think Valentine’s Day is wonderfully romantic, an exercise in crass commercialism, traumatic because it brings back memories of reading Carol Ann Duffy’s poem, or a wonderful excuse to watch Some Like It Hot because the film features the St Valentine’s Day Massacre, it’s happening right now.

Given the wide range of responses people have to today I thought it’d only be fair if I presented you with a plethora of options too. I suggest you head over to engelen’s tumblr to see a whole host of (free!) Community-character inspired cards. Because Community is always on topic.

And if that gets you in the mood, there’s some Valentine-themed posts in our vault:

• Miss Penn and Miss Day’s take on 80s romance
• Miss Barista’s admonishment that you should watch 10 Things I Hate About You
• Miss Penn helping out the lonely hearts of TV-land
• My impeccable taste in wingmen
• Miss Barista telling you why the funny guy always wins
• Miss Penn identifying rom-com conventions

Happy sort-of Nirvana Day/Parinirvana Day!

This Buddhist festival (which marks Buddha’s entry into Nirvana) is celebrated by some today (February 8th) but generally on Feb 15th. Still, we have an ethos of any excuse to party here at PCP!

And I’m just happy that I can rest assured that today isn’t some sort of international memorial day for Kurt Cobain and his generally dire 90s grunge band. They weren’t very good.

Although I guess this version of ‘Where Did You Sleep Last Night’ isn’t particularly offensive at least:

Still, there’s probably plenty of preferable pop cultural ways to celebrate Nirvana Day…

What do say to spending the whole day reading The Dharma Bums, complaining about crappy characterisation, listening to some classic Blink-182, and watching clips of Lisa Simpson?

Or we could just spend it mocking religion the Community way:

Send us other suggestions for Buddhist observances for today on a postcard, or down there in the comments!