#michael cox

[mammalfriend]

[sherlockianscholar]

Michael Cox had this to say about the snake in granada's "the speckled band:"

“…Our snake was a harmless one but I imagine that most human beings have an instinctive aversion to reptiles, so I have enormous admiration for Jeremy Kemp and Denise Armon, who allowed the creature to crawl over them. I remember asking Mike Grimes if the snake had a name. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘it’s called Kevin.’ I was expecting something out of Rudyard Kipling and thought that Kevin was an unusual name for a snake. ‘Not at all,’ said Mike, ‘I gave it to him because he reminds me of someone I once worked with….'”

kevin is officially my new favorite character 🐍

[gbhbl]

Horror Movie Review: Bloodthirsty Butchers (1970)

Bloodthirsty Butchers is a loose adaption of the Sweeney Todd tale. Approached with very little finesse and putting the focus on crude gore over everything else, it’s not a quality film.

Directed by Andy Milligan, who co-wrote it with John Borske, and starring Michael Cox, Linda Driver, Jane Helay, and Bernard Kaler, Bloodthirsty Butchers is a loose adaption of the Sweeney Todd tale. Approached with very little finesse and putting the focus on crude gore over everything else, it’s not a quality film. If you know your Demon Barber of Fleet Street story, then you’ll be familiar…

[foulwitchknight]

Please write a letter to demand that Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox, and Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden call for an immediate ceasefire and end to Israeli apartheid in Palestine, drop all charges against students arrested in Boston who were protesting against the ongoing genocide of Palestinians, and call off any further deployments of BPD to campus protests for Palestine at Northeastern, Harvard, Tufts, or MIT!

[allthemusic]

Week ending: 6th July

My sister's birthday, and with it, a surprisingly cool bunch of songs.

Good Timin' - Jimmy Jones (peaked at Number 1)

We start with some cheery doo-doos and a bold, soulful voice singing some peppy but ultimately lightweight fluff. In that respect, this feels like a worthy sequel to Handy Man, Jimmy's last big hit. Like that one, this one is decidedly silly, but not so silly that you could class it as a novelty. And unlike that one, this one benefits from not accidentally suggesting that Jimmy's sleeping around with lots and lots of other girls. Which is always a plus.

It also benefits from an immediately distinctive line near the start, as Jimmy sings about how you need timin' / A-ticka-ticka-ticka-good timin', / Tacka-tacka-tacka-timin'. It's nonsense, but it's catchy nonsense, and it surely helped the song stick in people's brains - especially coming so near to the start of the song. I can absolutely imaging people who didn't remember the song title or artist being able to tell their friends about that song, you know, the ticka-ticka-ticka-timin' one? It's funny, because it's the sort of gimmick I more associate with disposable 1990s and 2000s trash like Crazy Frog, which was literally built on a specific nonsense noise, or the sort of single-line hook you're seeing more and more often now that's clearly designed to be clipped out of context and go viral on Tiktok. But no, catchy nonsense hooks have existed since forever, this song reminds you, and they've always been sellers.

After this point, the song's much more standard. It's got a cute concept, though, I guess - all about how Jimmy and his love were lucky to meet each other, and how good timin' brought me to you. Timing is everything, you see, and Jimmy illustrates this, rather randomly, with two examples, first David chancing on the perfect stone to brain Goliath with, and then Columbus happening yo come along right as Isabella of Spain needed money - and was willing to finance a rather speculative voyage to the other side of the world, to get there. They're both relevant examples, but slightly random picks, from completely different contexts, neither of them famously romantic. A part of me thinks having three examples would maybe help this to feel more balanced? But then again, I suspect that nobody's really thinking that hard about this one, and that the examples are just there to fill out the song. Which they do, so it's fine. Bit random, but fine - heck, thinking about it, the randomness even makes me think of Peggy Lee's (similarly miscellaneous) Fever, which is only an association that's going to help Jimmy. So yeah, overall pretty positive on this one.

When Johnny Comes Marching Home - Adam Faith (double A-side, 5)

I suspect I've maybe been a bit too down on Adam, where he's come up in this blog. True, a lot of his songs have a bit of a whininess to them, and are a little clearly trying to be a knock-off bad-boy Cliff. But this song shows that he has a genuinely cool song in him, on a good day - because, to my great surprise, I actually found myself bopping along to this one, in the train as I was listening to it!

It's a weird song for Adam to be covering - an American Civil War-era folk song, albeit quite a well known one, about the celebrations there will be when Johnny comes marching home from war. There will be a swingin' welcome, and the girls will scream, the boys will shout / The old folks too will all come out, and everybody will line the streets, church bells ringing, to welcome their hero home, with purple hearts in readiness / to pin upon his battledress. It's an image of a beloved son, coming back home, and while it was written in the Civil War, I can absolutely see the appeal of it, as a song, in various eras where people are off fighting. It got recordings in World War II from Glenn Miller and the Andrews Sisters, for example, and I can imagine it getting a boost going into the 1950s from the Korean War, or the various other mid-century skirmishes and tensions that had young men shipping out round the world on national service. Add in the influence of the ongoing American folk revival, and the fact that it's a familiar tune - I immediately clocked it as the tune of The Animals Went in Two By Two - and you've got a song with real hit potential, even before you rock and roll-ify it and add pizzazz.

And Adam really does give it quite a lot of pizzazz. You start with this urgent piano ostinato that keeps rumbling on underneath, soon to be joined by some urgent pizzicato strings, playing on the offbeat. Add a proper rock and roll delivery, complete with oh yeahs, where there would traditionally be a hurrah, and some rather epic-sounding hunting horns with this chromatic lkttle leitmotif, and you've got a really serviceable number. Or at least one that I rather like.

So yeah, it's got plenty of charms of its own, but the song also seems to have gotten a charts boost from being used as the credits music for a film, Never Let Go, starring Richard Todd and Peter Sellars, all about a struggling cosmetics salesman whose car is stolen, and who goes about taking down the chief who stole it and the sketchy garage owner who runs the whole operation. It honestly sounds pretty good - my description makes it sound pretty low-rent, but by the look of the summary I found, there's plenty of fighting, detectiving and drama, and a solid through-line of social commentary, with one character struggling having just been demobbed from the army, only to find himself replaced at work by a younger man, upon his return - which I presume is why they picked the song they did for the credits, as a sort of ironic take on it all. The version used in the credits was arranged by John Barry - of Bond theme fame, and also, more recently, Hit or Miss - which makes quite a lot of sense, and was presumably then covered by Adam by dint of Adam having a supporting role in the film. Again, makes sense.

As an irrelevant but interesting side note, though, one of the actresses in the film apparently went on record to say that she had affairs with Richard Todd, Peter Sellars and Adam Faith while making the film. Nothing more to say about that, just thought it was funny.

Made You - Adam Faith (double A-side, 5)

In contrast to the previous one, this is not a song I knew before listening to it. It's a proper rock and roll number, but perhaps a little less distinctive than it's other A-side - I could imagine Cliff or Marty doing a pretty decent version of this one. It's not bad though, a proper pacy rocker with a nasty streak at its core that you can't quite imagine clean-cut Cliff ever pulling off.

We start with vibrato strings and a chugging guitar that sounds like it was nicked wholesale from C'mon Everybody. And that's not the only "borrowed" element here - we've got a riff punctuating the lyrics that also sounds like a sped-up dead ringer for one that we're going to bump into next week in Shakin' All Over. Plus we've got the Buddy Holly pizzicato strings, because of course we do. None of it's so blatant as to constitute plagiarism, of course - more than anything, it just serves to build excitement for this song, situating it in a canon of other popular rock and roll numbers.

Adam, when he comes in, is doing quite a good Cliff impression, singing about how I saw you sittin' there so cool / Like you just come out from school / Lookin' such a pretty sight / Like a stick of dynamite / Sittin' on a coffee bar stool. It's a strong start, lyrically, establishing his love interest as a cool customer, hip to all the current trends, hence the coffee bar (remember them being listed as a modern fad back in Fings Ain't Wot They Used to Be?) They're the biggest thing in our town, the trendiest and hottest prospect around - and Adam, it seems, doesn't have a chance with them.

Or so it would seem! Because for all thay he complains - rather petulantly, I'll add - about how honey it ain't fair / Never getting anywhere, and about how he never made first base, he mostly spends the song vowing not to give up his pursuit, telling his love all about how I never can relax till I've maaaaaaade you. Made you what, I hear you ask? Not a clue. The ambiguity let's you read all sorts of stuff in there, giving a sort of disreputable edge to the song, at least to my ears, with Adam coming off just that little bit too predatory for comfort. I'm not sure it's gonna help his case - it's not generally a good sign when every time I make a play, baby you just run away - but it certainly makes the song memorable, and it stops just short of being overtly, objectively creepy.

Angela Jones - Michael Cox (7)

And, fresh from one song with echoes of various others songs, we've got yet another that reminds me of various other hits we've heard already. There's a definite whiff of Green Door, for example, at least in the tune, and the doo-n-doo-doo a capella bits and general softness of the intro also remind me of nothing more than Come Softly To Me. Plus there's a glockenspiel involved, which we've absolutely heard a few times as of late - most recently, there was one featured on Neil Sedaka's Stairway to Heaven. So yeah, lots of good antecedents, here - I'm not shocked this was a hit.

The song itself, despite this, is fairly slim, a rather innocent-sounding song, produced by Joe Meek, all about a high school crush, the titular Angela Jones, and how wonderful she is. I'll meet you at your locker, when the school's dismissed, Michael promises, before carrying on to tell Angela about how I'll carry your books home if you'll give me one little... only for the rhyme to be omitted, leaving the listener to fill in the word "kiss". It's cute, and the subverted rhyme gives it a bit of interest. It's a trick be actually repeats later on, too, first in a verse about how he wants to make her his... ("wife") and about how he hopes she'll stay true and never give another person her... ("love"). But I think it's cutest and works best the first time, when you're not expecting it. Fun stuff.

I'll gloss over the fact, for now, that both Michael in this song and Adam in tne previous song are a little too old - in their early twenties - to be mooning over schoolgirls. Not least because if I made a big deal of thay every time it happened, this would just fully be a blog about men being creepy, with the music itself as a sideshow. But also, most of these songs are covers that Michael and Adam are just being given to record. It doesn't mean I don't wish different choices might have been made at some point in the process. But it feels a bit churlish to blame the singers for decisions their songwriters and producers presumably made for them.

Yeah, I liked all four of this week's songs. None are songs I'd have listened to - and certainly wouldn't have devoted much brainpower to - if I weren't writing this project. And that would have been a shame, because they're fun! Trendy fluff, to be sure, but fun trendy fluff. And I'm glad to finally come across some Adam Faith songs I can say good things about - he was overdue for it!

Favourite song of the bunch: When Johnny Comes Marching Home

[kendallsroyco]

Matt Murdock's hot Irish accent is a blessing to the world and a blessing to my ears

[classichorrorblog]

Trick 'r Treat (2007)

[mattmurdeaux]

CHARLIE COX + The HIMBO, WHORE, and DILF strut

STARDUST (2007)

DAREDEVIL (2015)

KIN (2023)

[sunflowersandsapphires]

Comfort Headcanons for Frank, Matt, and Mikey

A/n: so I am ridiculously overwhelmed by personal and political stuff right now. And I told myself I was going to write every day this week if possible, but my brain was being difficult today. So instead of working on a longer fic I wrote some self-indulgent headcanons about Frank, Matt, and Mikey caring for an overwhelmed partner. I hope you all enjoy. Please feel free to send me other headcanon requests!

How would they’d react to you being overwhelmed

Frank

Frank would pick up on this IMMEDIATELY

the second your self care habits change, he’s onto you. You stay up later than normal two nights in a row, or run out the door with a granola bar instead of eating a real breakfast, and he is concerned™️

He’s willing to entertain it for three days max. He knows life gets tough sometimes, and he doesn’t want to encroach on your process—but we all know that once this man is worried, he’s minutes away from taking control. He has issues but we love him for it.

On the 4th day, when you’re waking up exhausted after far too little sleep and rejecting his offer to take you out for breakfast, he puts his foot down.

“Gonna order in for dinner tonight, ok? We can watch that movie you wanted to see and turn in early.”

You hastily agree, bolting out the door before you end up late to your job.

When you finally arrive home, he’s all over you in an instant. Murmuring his hellos while helping you out of your coat and shoes, ushering you over the couch.

He’s insisting that you sit in his lap while the two of you pick out dinner, offering suggestions for restaurants instead of leaving the choice open-ended. Given how tired and generally stressed you seem, he wants to take as much weight off your shoulders as possible.

Once dinner has been ordered, he tucks you close to his chest, practically burying you in a jumble of muscular limbs, humming appreciatively when you nuzzle further into his space. His hand is cupped around your nape, thumb gently brushing over your spine as you hunch toward him.

“Ready to talk about what’s botherin’ ya, doll?” The question leaves room to decline, but his stern tone suggests you choose to answer.

He listens carefully as you tell him what’s on your mind, brushing silent kisses against your forehead whenever your breath wavers around a stifled sob. His hands never move from your skin, cradling you to him like he’s trying to absorb your pain.

He wouldn’t let you lift a finger the rest of the night. Retrieving the take out, dishing it up for you, drawing you a bath, tucking you into bed

When you’re beginning to drift off atop his giant shoulder, he’d rest his forehead against yours.

“I know it’s tough right now. But we’ll get through. I promise.”

“Please don’t leave, Frank.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, babydoll.”

Matt

Matt isn’t as observant of your habits and routines, but he can sure as hell pick up changes in body language.

Gritting teeth, blinking back tears, frustrated sighs—he notices all of it. He might not act on it immediately, brushing it off when you explain that you just had a bad day, but when your fatigue and growing apathy persist…

I think you hiding something from him would spook him for sure, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t be determined to get answers out of you. He’d set his personal anxieties aside and prepare for a serious talk.

He’d leave the office somewhat early, asking you to meet him at his apartment. He’d offer you a beer, or whatever you were in the mood for (if his lacking fridge and pantry allowed for it), and he’d ask you the big question.

“You aren’t yourself lately. What’s going on?”

He’s not happy when you start crying, but he’s definitely relieved when you collapse into his arms and explain your recent mood. Even more so when you confess it had nothing to do with him.

As always, he harbors immense guilt for not being there, not being endlessly supportive, not being able to solve the issues gnawing at you with his own two fists.

But what he doesn’t realize is that he’s helping just by being there. By being present and absentmindedly squeezing you with his tree-trunk arms. By acknowledging your struggles and offering what he could.

He’d cut his patrols short for a few days, nearly begging you to sleep at his loft instead of in your own bed, so he could keep a metaphorical eye on you. He sleeps better with you by his side anyway.

Mikey

You’re Michael’s whole world, so he’d know you were overwhelmed before you realized it yourself.

As soon as he spotted the stress lines on your face, he’d be on his feet, trying his best to lighten the burden.

He’d walk you to and from work, as always, maybe even stopping by to keep you company on your lunch hour.

When he wasn’t with you, or ignoring his family, he’d be constantly cleaning the house and working through your joint to do list, taking task after task off your plate so you could properly decompress.

He wouldn’t pressure you to talk to him about it, but he’d give you the option.

“I’m here if ya want to talk, pet. Anytime ya need.”

And, of course, you’d take him up on it. Explaining that you could handle everything and you didn’t want him to overwhelm himself trying to help you because it was just a pile of small things that were wearing you down. But he’d have none of it.

“I wanna do this fer ya. Let me help, love.”

He’d bundle you in a knit blanket on the couch and set the tv to your favorite show, kissing the top of your head before heading to the kitchen to clean up after dinner.

I hope you enjoyed! And I hope you’re all doing ok this week. It’s rough out there.

[mammalfriend]

that one picture

[sherlockianscholar]

the intro for the baker street file contains several quotes that feel like they're directed entirely at jeremy (which he definitely did not listen to at all):

"although this series is intended to be a straight and faithful adaptation of the sherlock holmes stories conan doyle's writings cannot obviously be regarded as holy writ; neither can this list be thought of as a set of absolute instructions."

"it is pointless to adhere slavishly on film to every word that doyle wrote."

"however it is important to know when (and why) we intentionally disregard what doyle writes."

[taylurking101]

British actor pretending to be an American pretending to have an Irish accent is peak fun XD

[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

[kendallsroyco]

Charlie Cox but his chest hair keeps increasing 🤤

[noahwhyle]

The Pitt S01 E11 | Scrubs S05 E20 (2006) | The Pitt S01 E13 (2025)