ianboldsworth

The Calmers

Added 2022-11-10 11:00:06 +0000 UTC

Hello there

Today I wished to tell you a few things about some very welcome companions of the last few weeks, one of which is drawing to a close and another which drew to a close years ago.

As has been both alluded to and blatantly said, it has been rather an anxious time of late. For several reasons, some obvious, some not so much, but regardless it’s not been my calmest season. You’ll know yourself, from any time you’ve gone through an anxious period, that often it’s not just the stark facts that prove tumultuous, but also your own head can kick hell out of you too.

Now we know that I’m an emotional soul. Not to be confused with being soft, I can be pushed into being ruthless, but – overall - I’m rather sentimental. Indeed, it’s my preferred state. I like to like, and be moved by, things. I like to listen to music I’ve never heard before and immediately add it to a playlist, I like to find myself halfway through a film wishing it would never end.

I’ve been thinking loads about Peter Kay this week. Before he even announced he was going on’t tour nanna. I think I even mentioned this in a recent bit of writing on here, but I’ve been thinking about a rather infamous podcast from the old Peacock & Gamble Podcast days, where we predicted what Peter Kay was going to say on his new tour (which will probably hold up as topical at the moment if we just add “Garlic Covid” into the list). It was all very childish and very mischievous and could have been viewed as a bit brutal. I never really saw it that way, I always felt it was low-level-in-character-petulance at how well somebody else was doing with a relatively simple formula. That said, I don’t think I’d have any amazing counter arguments if somebody said it was cruel. It didn’t feel cruel from the inside, more like teasing, but as neither of us knew Peter Kay in real life we weren’t really in a position to justify it as one or the other. I’d shy away from that now I think. If you’ve heard Loopholes then there’s a lead singer of a Manchester pop group who may frown at my version of shying away, but I’d maintain that my characterisation of Simply & The King are just silly. I honestly hate the idea of genuinely upsetting a stranger, almost as much as I hate the idea of being perceived as bitter or somebody thinking “he’s a nerve slagging anyone else off – should look at himself…”.

Which is a longwinded way of getting to the point, and it again comes from a slightly throwaway line on a recent Loopholes podcast where I said (or maybe declared) that I consider myself to be quite a complimentary person. I forget the exact line, and even as I’m typing this I’m not entirely sure I didn’t cut it out in the edit, but if I did then I’ll just say it now. I consider myself to be quite a complimentary person. I think I always like to pass things on too. I’ve definitely promoted other Patreon pages on here before, ones that I subscribe to myself and really like. In fact, the other day, I was considering doing an entire post about somebody I’ve known a long time who has been doing some amazing work, but didn’t know how to write it without being overly personal. I can probably do it the same justice in a paragraph to be honest, so let’s have that now;

Depending how long you’ve been around my nonsense you may very well have heard the name Matt Ebbs mentioned. I first became aware of him when we were doing – again – the old P&G podcasts (although there’s a chance he might have been around for the Ray Peacock Podcasts too, my memory fails me). Without going into too many details, Matt had a bit of a rough time around that period, and both myself and Ed felt a kind of protective thing over him. That’s not to say that we didn’t replace “Whatevs” with “Matt Ebbs” in real life a lot, because we definitely did do that, and – whilst I can’t speak for Gamble, I can assure you that I still do it to this day, but we really liked him. He came to quite a few live shows, and it was always nice to chat with him. Years later he swanned up to the merch table at the Manchester screening of the movie. Lest he thinks me disingenuous, it was so lovely to see him after so long. It was especially lovely to see him as a grown-up boy and doing all grown-up things. Like I say, we felt protective over him, so I think the feeling was one of being a bit proud. This post isn’t Matt Ebbs’ biography though, so he can set up his own patreon if he wants to do that, but I did want to mention that he has been doing all art stuff online and it’s stupidly good. Again, this is me – somebody who tries to sell his art as an increasingly urgent part of his income – telling you about somebody else doing art. A competitor really. You can find him at @mebbsillustrates on the Instagram thing, and you can be prepared to be blown away. It’s stuff like this:

Haven’t asked him for permission to put that up here, but if he says he’s going to sue me I will say “Matt Ebbs (Whatevs) Mate”.

Other than Matt Ebbs’ terrifying doodles though, there have been two things in recent weeks that I think might have kept me the right side of sanity.

Firstly, there’s been the Rugby League World Cup. Come back this instant please.

I worry about even mentioning Rugby League these days because I’ve been inadvertently trained to worry. I think, over the years, it’s fallen on deaf ears so much that I find it a bit embarrassing to bang the drum for it. Which makes me sad and makes me a bit cross as well, because if I have learnt anything in the last three weeks it’s that it is something incredibly special that deserves to be shouted about.

Given that my own team (St Helens) won the league for the fourth year in a row this year, coupled with my historical indifference to International games (as in national teams rather than club teams), it’s taken me by surprise that I’ve been so moved by the World Cup. I made a proper effort to get involved, and put a planner on my fridge to fill out as the tournament went on, and decided to really do my best to indulge this potential distraction. I thought if I had a tournament to think about and follow, it would leave less time for thinking about upsetting things. I also thought it would require me to try really hard, but it really didn’t.

The main difference between this and the regular season is I really don’t care who wins. I’m not even sure I care about the results. Before I start sounding like some hippy parent writing a letter to a headmaster saying there should be no winners at sports day, let me clarify. In the regular season, I want Saints to win. I do genuinely have moments of thinking about it philosophically, and believe I have the generosity of heart to not begrudge (some – not Wigan or Warrington or Leeds) other teams winning, but overall, I’m supporting the Saints and delighted at the present narrative of us winning the league at a canter every year. Contrary to my earlier brackets, and I say this very quietly, I wouldn’t mind if Warrington won the league one year. Not this coming year, because I want us to do five in a row, but at some point. They’ve not won it since 1955. Which has been hilarious because they truly shout about how they’re going to win it every year, but – also – I waited so long to see Saints win a cup, so I get that frustration. Not 67 years, that would have been ridiculous, but I watched us lose a fair few major finals before eventually seeing cups raised aloft, so I really wouldn’t get too cross if they won the big prize. But, yep, not next year.

The World Cup has been a whole different thing though. I have been known to shed a tear when Saints have had dramatic wins (and that happens a lot). I usually make some emotive link to something else, in the moment, and fill up. I have nothing in the way of shame about this, because, like Matt Ebbs, I am a grown up. It would, however, take a lot for me to get choked up in a regular game during the season. I mention this because I think I’ve burst into tears maybe ten times so far during this World Cup, for teams that I couldn’t even name you five players from. It’s been like that. It’s been – and don’t laugh, I mean this – really beautiful.

I’ve left it late to ‘promote’ it really, because this weekend is the semi-finals of the Men’s tournament, but the women’s tournament, and the wheelchair tournament are ongoing too. It’s been labelled the ‘most inclusive’ World Cup ever, and it’s just that. I didn’t think I’d be taken in across the board, but I’ve been watching them all. I had one game on by the side of me when I was doing that Boston Legal drawing the other day, look:

I’ve loved it. I’ve been genuinely moved seeing teams who had no chance of even winning a game managing to sneak a try in the dying seconds, I’ve filled up at the Fiji team singing hymns before games despite me not having an iota of religious faith, ditto with teams having their arms around their opposition post-match praying, I’ve had my hand over my mouth in emotion seeing the Women’s tournament start (especially after watching Women Of Steel which is on the iPlayer and you should definitely watch that regardless of any interest in sport), I sat really smugly vindicated as the wheelchair tournament started trending on social media, and I even managed to not roll my eyes at the Princess Of Wales gabbing for ages to every single player in the Quarter Final because of how much it clearly meant to the players and mascots.

Honestly, I could tell you a hundred moments from the last few weeks, and honestly, I really don’t care who wins. I’d only favour England because there’s the most Saints players in that team, but it has gone so beyond the game. I know it sounds sentimental, and I know you’re not listening (some will have stopped reading), but it’s been such an experience and I’ve really felt proud of my sport, as well as supremely grateful for the escapism it’s provided. I'm actually dreading it ending in a couple of weeks, think it will leave a big hole for me. I totally wouldn't have predicted that before it started. On the off chance you are going to jump in at the Quarter Finals this weekend, here’s the story so far (in the Men’s tournament):

Speaking of escapism, my other safe time has been with Boston Legal.

Again, if you’ve been around me a while, you’ll know I’ve banged on about it for years. It’s on Disney Plus though now, so might be a bit more accessible for you than DVD.

I bought the original series of Boston Legal after seeing a trailer for it on another DVD. The trailer really made me laugh, and feel as though it could be something to get lost in. I’d never cared for shows like that, didn’t watch more than one episode of Ally McBeal (same writer), never saw The Practice (Boston Legal is technically a spin off from that), but I got it immediately. Since then, the five series’ have been a pretty much yearly watch for me. I’m not saying it doesn’t get sillier by the season, but I am saying there’s not one episode I’ve not cared for.

Obviously, the dream team of James Spader and William Shatner does it no harm, but it’s certainly more than that. I came to it not being much of a fan of Spader (I think, in my defence and to his credit, partly because he played such a horrible character in Pretty In Pink) but I came away from it considering him to be potentially the most charismatic actor ever.

There are tons of guest stars too, people who – certainly at the time – weren’t up to much in the public eye. Many of whom are now no longer around as well, but they properly shine. I’m currently in the early stages of Series 2, and there’s already been Henry Gibson, Carl Reiner, Betty White and Leslie Jordan, all of whom knock it out of the park. Reiner is only in the one (brilliant) episode but Gibson, White and Jordan are regulars really. Henry Gibson is a judge throughout all the series' and I always liked his acting very much, right back to Blues Brothers. That was very sad about Leslie Jordan eh? But I also really love what a renaissance he enjoyed in his final years. I don't really want to spoil the other people who come into it, in case you watch it, but there's loads.

Ok I'll tell you one...Michael J Fox. He's in it a lot. And Tom Selleck. But that's all I'm telling you.

Anyway, Boston Legal. I’m again advising you to watch it. It’s very funny, proper smart, and really comforting viewing. It doesn’t pull any punches either, and I guarantee you it’s worth it for Alan Shore’s (Spader) closing arguments in court alone. It also has the best theme tune of all telly. As I said, I only drew that portrait the other day because I needed to not watch it and do some art, so it kept it close for me. Denny Crane.

And that’s me for today. Feel free to take up my tips or not, but they’re the things that have kept me safe of late.

Oh - quick last thing - I finished the first of the Saints player portraits (I said I'd show you them when they were done)...