Wednesday, December 20, 2023

bowie variation

heya


well, 'tis the season for kind of Christmas things, so here we are. also i've not managed to get a mention of Bowie in here much of late, so how lovely to get both done in one go. this might even be of some general interest, look you see, for it delves (kind of) in to the realm of myth and urban legend. 

it is so that there are various traditions around television here in the UK at Christmas. or, at the least, and it would (sadly) be more better to say that there used to be. quite a bit of fiddling has gone on. in days gone by you could count on ITV to show a smart Bond film on Christmas Day or Boxing Day afternoon, now that's been moved to New Year's Day. or Eve. BBC also used to have a really smart, very class big blockbuster on Christmas day, now it's just whatever recent(ish) computer animated thing off of Disney that comes to hand what gets shown. for some reason they don't even show the classic, celebrated Chas & Dave Christmas Cockney Knees Up 1981 (click here) no more. 


yet some traditions prevail, or if you will survive. like, for instance, a yuletide screening of the much celebrated 1982 film The Snowman. but, even then, it hasn't always been shown as it should, or at the least in a format i would consider to be the best. that said, i am not so sure that anyone is at fault for this, or it's not that someone has deliberately messed with a tradition. 

most reading this (and thank you for doing so) may well not be aware of this, but the variant of the broadcast version of The Snowman what featured a brief (ish) introduction from David Bowie (that one, yes) "vanished". it got screened once (possibly twice) with it, but then on all other years it got shown without it. so when i, down the market, saw a video (disc) which stated that it had this particular introduction on it, i purchased it. 


exactly how it came to be that Bowie gone done an introduction is something i don't know. also, no idea at all why said introduction got excised, or otherwise removed. so, if you are here looking for information on those aspects, well, sorry. at least you are assured you have not imagined, or hallucinated, either. it existed, it exists, it did go missing. 

considering elements such as a video (disc) being available with it on, recent (ish) broadcasts featuring it and in all likelihood the whole thing being on "streaming" sites this might be a bit of a pointless post. but, also, no, not really. with just about everything ever recorded available worldwide via pressing a couple of buttons (or touchscreen similar) many of us will recall the days when it was far from easy to find and watch something obscure or off the beaten track. such things built up conversation and folklore. like, for instance, my occasional looks at the myth of a 13th episode of Fawlty Towers. one suspects that such mysteries shall never be again. 


above, then, for your viewing pleasure, is some video off of the Bowie variation of The Snowman. yes, i have gone done recorded it with that (still relatively) new VHS app what i have on my phone what has a camera welded to it. thought it might make it have a "bootleg" feel, which would be appropriate for anyone trying to see this version over the course of the late 80s and (probably) all of the 90s. no, this intro what Bowie did isn't anything life changing, but still. 

since the subject of The Snowman is here, there is the one (1) myth what can be put aside. no, that is not Aled Jones singing it in the film, it's another lad called Peter Auty. the then young Aled did a cover in the mid 80s what got released as a single. rather similar sounding, which is why all and sundry assume it is the exact version off of the film. so, there, some accidental information for you. 


no, indeed i have not mentioned much of the film (The Snowman) itself. rather brilliant, it is, even if the overall theme, plot, conclusion or what have you isn't exactly full of the joys of the season. should you have not seen it, well, yes, well worth 30 minutes or so of anyone's time. in particular, i am obliged to say, if you watch the Bowie variation. 

right, well, let me let you get on with something else via the means of not adding too much more here. 



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





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