... but Stephen Fry is on the radio and I can't get over how much I hate him. I dunno what it is but he just really pisses me off. He's reading his own autobiography on the radio - and he's delivering it as a parody of himself. He's packing so much 'language' into the bloody think that it's impossible to follow - and his style is as if it was the best book that he, or anyone else, has ever read. He's so in love with being 'Stephen Fry' that he's lost sight of himself. Nobody talks like Stephen Fry, except Stephen Fry. It's not big - or clever, it's just a dreary diatribe - he just adores the sound of his own voice and the endless capacity of his vocabulary.
He must feel enormous pressure to pack every sentence with adjective, verb, adverb, metaphor, clever reference and arch aside. frankly - it's fucking boring. When I was a student I started reading an experimental book about washing your hands with a bar of soap - but the idea was to pack as much 'language' in as possible - it was about 300 pages long, description, observation - whatever... it was a half joke, half academic exercise. I found it quite boring but I was trying hard to be pretentious ( I was young, foolish and single ). One of the worst books I have ever read is 'The Liar' by Stephen Fry. I've never been able to get past that. It annoys me that he's seen as an untouchable part of British Society - everybody 'loves' Stephen Fry, as much as he does ( see also Dawn French and Barbara Windsor ).
Perhaps you should just chalk it up to me being a miserable cunt - or having just been dragged around some very cold, wet fields in the howling wind and driving rain by two selfish, uncaring and highly strung dogs.
7 comments:
couldn't agree more..i actually preferred alan titchmarsh who was on before!!!
sf is as bad as rooney!!
I can be irritating but he does seem to care about things that need caring about in a world of selfishness and self-interest.
I think his 'caring' is one of the things that most annoys me - reminds me a bit of the 1945 "lets not be beastly to the Germans" campaign that I looked at for my dissertation at college. I think it's easy to 'care' about things when you can afford to. Most people I know care about things very deeply - but they don't broadcast it, don't need approval and don't capitalise on it, either.
Oddly enough - someone I work with annoyed me by bullying me into getting involved with some awful charity thing - the concept being that you get given a tin with a slot and a label, you put in £1 coin and pass it on to the next person you trust - they do the same etc - and the person who finds it full will post it to the address on the label. The exercise all being about'trust' and
'caring' and having the right kind of middle class friends who relish the opportunity to demonstrate how lovely and caring they are. He knew how horrified I was and I suspect he had felt the same way himself but was stuck with the bloody ting. I was pretty pissed of, so I did exactly what he knew I would - rather than burdening any of my actual friends I wrote a cheque for the anticipated final amount and posted it - the point is.... everyone who puts a pound coin into the tin signs the tin as a testament to their 'caring'.... I can assure you - there was less than half the expected amount in the tin, many seem to have confused £ coins with 2p pieces.
By the way - I have a feeling Martyn meant to start that sentence with 'he' but Freud got in the way. I often intend to greet people with "Hello, nice to meet you" - but as soon as I open my mouth "Hello, I'm a really horrible, miserable cunt and you will wish you never met me" comes out....
I must be a miserable cunt too (I am a miserable cunt) as I also get annoyed by Stephen Fry. Yes he's very clever, witty and erudite, but instead of pouring out an endless stream of tweets, articles, blog posts, screenplays, chat show appearances, acting roles and books, why doesn't he concentrate on doing just one single thing that is really good instead of lots of forgetable things that are mildly entertaining.
He's the Peter Ustinov of his time. I used to love seeing Ustinov on Parkinson, but ultimately he left nothing of enduring value. The same fate awaits Fry if he's not careful.
Somone else who annoys me is Mark Gattis - he's everywhere. He even wrote this evening's episode of Poirot! I ended up watching it and was appalled to hear the phrase "No win situation" uttered by one of the characters. Its the 19-fucking-30s!
I remember that Stephen Fry annoyed me recently, he'd done an interview with Professor Deborah Cameron about language use, and frankly, he hadn't done his homework.
Since moving across the Pond however, I have really begun to appreciate the kind of pretension that verges on erudition because erudition is in remarkably short supply over here.
HURRAHH!!!!! Another Gattiss hater - I was going to bring him up too but thought trashing two holy cows with one post would get me lynched. I think he's terrible - his Horror Film season was awful, his Man In The Moon derisive and everything else a sham ( lets never forget the awfulness of his Dr Who episode ) - he is Fry for the next generation =- the acceptable face of middle class homosexualists ( "oh - he's so witty, so clever, a true polymath - and so unthreatening, he even does stuff for children")
I wrote something about Gattis a few years ago and almost instantly received a terse comment from a fan.
My problem with him is that both as a writer and actor, he's okay but never brilliant, which doesn't entitle him to write or appear on every other drama going. He's a fanboy who really wants to be Doctor Who and every role he plays comes across as an audition for the next Doctor. His "Professor Nebulous" and "Lucifer Box" - are all pastiches on the Who-Holmes spectrum.
I haven't seen the new Sherlock Holmes, but even if it is brilliant, the key words will be co-written.
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