#Michelle de Swarte

[daily-coloring]

[digitalfountains]

Michelle de Swarte by Ben Watts

- Elle UK, September 2002

[notalexhorne]

That time Greg Davies scared the shit out of an entire panel on a light entertainment show because nobody would let him speak.

[vivian-bell]

Natasha Williams in The Baby, a great show about the struggles of motherhood and the horror of being forced into it.  When a mysterious baby falls into Natasha’s arms, he refuses to be separated from her, rewriting her friends’ memories to make them think he’s her child and causing gory “accidents” for anyone who annoys him.  Natasha’s struggle to free herself leads back to the baby’s past and to her own estranged family, full of contrasting relationships with motherhood.  There’s the baby’s biological mother, who was made to have him against her will; Natasha’s sister, desperately trying to adopt; and Natasha’s mother, who left her daughters as children.  I like the show’s choice not to make the baby a cackling red-eyed monster, but to frame the regular movements and expressions of a baby in a way that makes them really damn creepy.  He acts from a desire for love turned monstrous, demanding every scrap of Natasha’s time and energy and turning murderously jealous toward anyone else she cares for.  Still, Natasha forms an odd bond with him at times, sympathizing with another lonely, abandoned person.  Season one has a really satisfying ending– but I’d still love a season two!

[dartmoorsfinest]

The Last Leg (s27s2, 2023)

[thoughtportal]

Money doesn’t buy happiness, or so we’re told. Told by multinational corporations whose CEOs are taking home seven-figure bonuses. Told by celebrities who don’t even have to pay for toilet roll. Told by films and television shows that make the lives of the rich and famous look so damn exciting. Spent, a new six-part series on BBC Two, is about the interrelation of money and happiness, and the delicate, almost impossible, balance to be struck between the two.

Mia (Michelle de Swarte) is bankrupt. An international runway model now pushing 40, her lavish lifestyle has led to financial ruin. “I’ve got a visceral aversion to cheap s***,” she confesses to her accountant. Newly skint, she’s forced to return from her Upper East Side exile and reconnect with her roots in south London. These roots include her best friend Jo (Amanda Wilkin), her estranged parents (Juliet Cowan and Karl Collins), and the streets of SW9. Things would be easier if Mia were willing to admit that things have gone off the rails – instead, she maintains the lie of her success, all while sleeping in a hostel with a jam-licking bunkmate.

It is a familiar story, reminiscent of Schitt’s Creek and Hacks, shows about high-fliers who have to adjust to a new reality. And Mia is really no different to the former’s Alexis Rose – addicted to materialism, unwilling to defer her ego long enough to adapt. It’s the classic fish-out-of-water story combined with the ol’ reconnection with childhood haunts narrative (familiar from every naff Hallmark Christmas movie), a set-up that ladles cliche upon cliche. And yet, Spent just about manages to rise above the familiarity of its premise.

Yet she is not an easily likeable character. When Jo describes a fashion party as “Epstein Island”, Mia asks her best friend, simply, to “piss off so I can keep schmoozing Harvey Weinstein”. The scene culminates in the attempted sexual assault of a minor. De Swarte, who is drawing heavily from her own modelling experiences in the writing, might rely on well-worn set-ups, but she is unafraid to introduce a bit of edge. But that edge – that callousness – is offset with some genuine pathos. “I know where I stand,” Mia’s mentally ill father tells her, feathers protruding from his hair. “Where do you stand?”

Where does Mia stand with her work? Where does Mia stand with her family? With her best friend, and possibly lover, Jo? Where does she stand with New York? With Soho? With Brixton? And – most importantly – where does she stand with herself? Newly untethered from personal security, Mia has to rely on her natural charisma – the same charm and self-possession that took her out of London in the first place – to remedy the situation. The comedy is that of a whirlwind in a static place; Mia’s energy contrasting with the concrete brutalism around her.

Spent may lack the big yucks of its sitcom forebears (certainly the show is stylistically closer to recent British comedies like Big Mood and Boarders) but once the rather shallow premise gives way to a character study, there’s much to enjoy. At its best, the show is just like the cover girl it depicts: eye-catching and seductive.

[chriswalker0201]

Great work

🥹😍🇮🇪

[bwthornton]

#Podcasts THE ADAM BUXTON PODCAST EP.196 - MICHELLE DE SWARTE

https://stratford-upon-avon-theatre.blogspot.com/2022/11/podcasts-adam-buxton-podcast-ep196.html

[ronnydeschepper]

Leo Hendrik Baekeland (1863-1944)

Het is vandaag 75 jaar geleden dat in Beacon, New York, Leo Hendrik Baekeland is gestorven (foto: unknown author – http://www.deutsches-kunststoff-museum.de/rund-um-kunststoff/erfinder/leo-hendrik-baekeland/). Continue reading Untitled

[panelshowsource]

i did a speedrun through backstage with katherine ryan today (i added it to drive!! i'll try to get better rips soon) — and what an interesting concept! personally i never get tired of the half-scripted reality thang à la meet the richardsons, and one of my favourite things ever is comics just...hanging out... the natural bantz are the best! so her bringing these people all together and seeing/hearing a little of their processes backstage, and them just generally catching up and hyping up each other's work, was super sweet! take a shot every time someone went "you smashed it mate" awww overall cute show!

random thoughts while watching

jimmy and katherine's friendship is really sweet and probably always will be, and it's sweet how much all the other comics seem to really admire him (everyone always being like "jimmy you're so lovely irl and i bet you don't even want people to know!! but i know how lovely you are!! you can fool them but you can't fool me haha!!" even tho no one is being fooled we literally all know how nice jimmy is)

the way they used those insert shots of frankie boyle going down on a croissant... i should not have found that as funny as i did

judi and ivo are fucking hilarious together and remind me a lot of alan and romesh — unhinged + hanging-on-by-a-thread is an amazing combo. she really brings out a sunshiney side of him

katherine refusing to properly roast sara and jo <3

geoff norcott being like "i've been at a gay club with tom allen and he's a top" like no other context whatsoever?? like?? wtf is the story there, right-wing lowkey douche with tom at the club????? i need to hear more about this

michelle de swarte most beautiful woman alive......... i remember watching the duchess wanting katherine to end up with her lol

rosie jones is SUUUCH A MENACE LMAOOO and the fact she uses her free time trying to get her friends cancelled by pretending they pushed her down LMAOOO (as nish said, "[cackle] one of the worst human beings who has ever lived") she is HYSTERICAL

over the past five years i have seen joel dommett lactate more than i have seen my own parents

watching katherine, jimmy, sue perkins, nish, and judi together made me think...like...fuck...this would have been an amazing taskmaster lineup fr. they are all such ridiculous humans

rosie hitting on sue is so valid

JIMMY JUST GETTING HIS FEET OUT?? ("jimmy this is gonna go STRAIGHT on wikifeet!" nish PLEASE) and honestly judi kinda flirting with jimmy "you are so trim" "you are so strong" "you have nice feet" ?? lmfao judi girl ur killing me

[samcampbellfans]

Sam Campbell fundraiser gig in London

Sam Campbell will be part of a STACKED lineup organised by Celya AB at the Hackney Empire in London, in support of Samaritans. This will take place on 30 October 2024, 7.30pm. Get your tickets here.

Line-up: Rosie Jones, Sam Campbell, Sophie Duker, Bridget Christie, Michelle De Swarte, Fatiha El Ghorri, Amy Gledhill, Celya AB (host) and Ivo Graham (host).

Running time: 2 hours and 30 minutes, with 20 minute interval.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Last week, I listened to this 4 at the Store thing, with Radio 4 stand-up comedy from 1998-2004. I decided that would make this week a good time to get to something I’ve had in my folder for a while, which is this audiobook that came out in 2020, with about 20 minutes each by a bunch of different comedians. It’s about 8.5 hours, and the idea was for it to showcase some of the stuff that should have happened at the 2020 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, but didn’t, because, you know, 2020.

It’s cool to me to go straight from a mish-mash of a bunch of late 90s/early 00s comedians showing off whatever they do, to the same thing but in 2020. A really interesting way to compare the way comedy as a whole had changed in 20 years, as well as the ways in which it hadn’t. I think in many ways, I was more surprised by what stayed the same than by what changed.

I may try to do a more in-depth post about this once I actually finish listening to Edinburgh Unlocked, right now I have about three hours of it left. But I’m really enjoying it so wanted to mention it. My favourites so far are: John Kearns, Mo Omar, Shelf, Chloe Petts, and Leo Reich. Which is cool, because I hadn’t heard of Mo Omar at all and really enjoyed his stuff, always good to discover new stuff. Leo Reich was also pretty much unknown to me, the name was familiar because I knew I’d seen it around the internet somewhere, and just immediately thought, “I don’t like that guy.” Once I actually listened to him, and really liked him, I realized I’m pretty sure all that’s happened is my brain saw his name, though of Leo Kearse and Lee Hurst, and decided he must be terrible. I am quite pleased to have that misnomer corrected. I’m also pleased that I ended up liking Leo Reich so much, because I think he’s one of those gen Z ones, and I’m a bit concerned that I might be a bit biased against those ones, but he was great.

Chloe Petts I already knew from some panel shows (actually just Hypothetical, I think, but then she was on the Taskmaster podcast), where I’d liked her enough to look her up and find a few little clips of her stand-up, but hadn’t found anything longer form so it was great to get 20 whole minutes of an Edinburgh hour that I’d love to hear in its entirety. Shelf I’d only heard of because Sarah Keyworth has referenced them in this story they’ve told in the couple of WIPs I’ve seen them stream online this year, and I’m pleased to saw that Shelf’s comedy material was pretty much exactly what I’d expected based on Keyworth’s stories. And obviously I knew John Kearns, looked up a bunch of his stand-up clips after Taskmaster last year, and I’m still not really on board with the false teeth gimmick, but if you just listen to the actual words he’s saying it’s fantastic.

Other good stuff I’ve heard in this audiobook so far - Sophie Hagen’s part was quite entertaining, but I just couldn’t quite list it among my favourites because of how genuinely painful it was to listen to, just too stark a reminder of my own forays into Harry Potter fanfiction circa 2002-2004, age 12-14. Lou Sanders just told some stories about her experiences at the Edinburgh Fringe over the years, which was lovely to listen to. Ivo Graham did something with Shakespare plays. Fern Brady’s hosting the whole thing, introduces each comedian with a little story about her relationship with them (her intro to John Kearns, a heartfelt description of him as an excellent comedian and a good friend, is quite funny in light of the Taskmaster treachery).

Anyway, I’m really enjoying it, it’s a nice way to get a little bit of a lot of comedy and then pick the ones you like enough to get into further.

[digitalfountains]

Michelle de Swarte by Ben Watts

- Elle UK, September 2002

[mysangrelatina]

“‘Boy Kills World’ Unleashed: The Must-See Cinematic Spectacle Hits Theaters!”

  Dirigida por Moritz MohrEscrita por Tyler Burton Smith, Arend RemmersProducida por Sam Raimi, Roy Lee, Simon Swart, Alex Lebovici, Stuart Manashil, Wayne Fitzjohn,Zainab Azizi, Dan Kagan Protagonizada por Bill Skarsgård, Jessica Rothe, Michelle Dockery, Brett Gelman,Isaiah Mustafa, Yayan Ruhian, con Andrew Koji, Sharlto Copley y Famke Janssen Voz de “Boy” narrada por H. Jon Benjamin  Bill…

[vivian-bell]

The Baby (2022) 1x02

[capellilavita-blog]

FINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2023 DINERS CLUB WINEMAKER

AND YOUNG WINEMAKER OF THE YEAR AWARDS

The finalists for the Diners Club Winemaker and Young Winemaker of the Year awards have been announced. Six winemakers have been shortlisted to compete for the prestigious Winemaker of the Year award, and six will vie for the Young Winemaker of the Year title.

The Winemaker and Young Winemaker awards focus on quality and the recognition of excellence and are among the country’s most prestigious and most-respected wine industry competitions. While most wine industry awards focus on the winning wines, the Diners Club Winemaker and Young Winemaker of the Year awards celebrate the creators of the winning wines, honouring the skills and talents of the vintners.

The awards are presented to winemakers who produce a wine that the judging panel considers to be the best in the two specified categories for the annual competition. This year, the category for the 43rd Winemaker of the Year award is Syrah/Shiraz, with White Wine the category for the 23rd Young Winemaker of the Year award. As in previous years, winemakers can be shortlisted for more than one submission. These awards are open to all in the South African wine industry at no cost, thus affording all winemakers an equal opportunity.

There were over 180entries this year and the field was narrowed down to twelve finalists through rigorous judging over two days by a team of wine experts. All the judges agree that it will be a close race for the top prize, a clear indication that the finalist wines are outstanding.

THE 2023 DINERS CLUB WINEMAKER AND YOUNG WINEMAKER OF THE YEAR FINALISTS

Winemaker of the Year category: Syrah/Shiraz

Annamarie Fourie – 2018 Holden ManzSyrah Reserve

Charles Hopkins – 2020 De Grendel Shiraz

Dewaldt Heyns – 2021 Dewaldt Heyns Weathered Hands Shiraz

Josef Dreyer – 2020 Raka Biography Shiraz

RJ Botha – 2020 Kleine ZalzeFamily Reserve Syrah

Tertius Boshoff – 2020 StellenrustArtiSons Blueberry Hill Shiraz

Young Winemaker of the Year category: White Wines

Marnich Aucamp – 2021 Stellenbosch VineyardsCredo Chardonnay

Michelle Waldeck–2019 Benguela Cove Catalina Semillon

Morgan Steyn– 2022 De Grendel Op die Berg Chardonnay

Nongcebo Langa –2022 DelheimGewürztraminer

Pieter Coetzee–2021 Quoin RockChardonnay

Richard Schroeder–2022 Groot PhesantekraalMarizanneSauvignon Blanc

THE 2023 DINERS CLUB WINEMAKER OF THE YEAR JUDGES

Carrie Adams – Head Judge; Winnie Bowman; Yegas Naidoo; Shane Mumba; Denzel Swarts

The finalists for both awards are invited to a black-tie gala dinner at the Five Star Arabella Hotel & Spa on 18 November 2023, where the winners will be revealed and presented with their trophies. The winning winemaker receives R50 000 and the young winemaker R25 000. In addition, both winners receive a round-trip air ticket to a wine-producing region – terms and conditions of the presenting sponsor apply.

*content supplied*

Posy Hazell