ConfusionTheWaitress's New Writeups

Peter Serafinowicz (person)

2004-11-07T12:29:24Z

Actor and voice artist, 1972-

Poor Peter Serafinowicz. If you've watched any kind of television comedies in the late 20th and early 21st Century you'll have seen him without even knowing it. He was the bookish Radio 4 broadcaster in Black Books, the American-obsessed trucker in I'm Alan Partridge, the evil arch-nemesis of Tim Bisley in Spaced, the straight-laced flatmate in Shaun Of The Dead, the voice of Terry Wogan in John Shuttleworth's Europigeon... There are others.

However, like a reverse David Prowse, he's probably best known for providing the voice of Darth Maul in the film The Phantom Menace. You may have heard of it. It's his voice, you see. He can do a very deep, growly voice which is often called upon for his acting but don't consider that, or, indeed, anything to do with Phantom Menace. Everything he's done away from George Lucas is much better, even his starring role in the Simon Nye sitcom Hardware*. See? Lots of things.

Seemingly the King Of…

Connie the AOL girl (person)

2002-05-12T02:24:32Z

Penny-a-minute ambassador of the AOL generation.

"Connie is one of the most recognised faces of TV advertising and we often get comments from people about her. This campaign reveals a more modern look for our genie - she has already helped AOL to become one of the most well-known and trusted online brands in the UK and we believe that the new-look Connie will be equally recognisable to potential and existing members."
Karen Thomson, AOL UK CEO

The brainchild of the then Marketing Director of AOL UK, Karen Thomson, Connie was unleashed in 1998 with a series of adverts defining her as the ultimate geek fantasy; she appears in your bedroom, she helps you with your computer, and she only costs a penny a minute. Amazing, right?

But behind the corporate disguise of a digitally-enhanced¹ dress and ridiculous bob haircut is the actress Rachel Willis whose roles to date outside…

The League of Gentlemen (thing)

2002-02-26T20:52:20Z

From Spent to Royston Vasey. The prehistory, with and without pictures.

"If David Lynch wrote sketches, they'd come out like this."
London Evening Standard

The League Of Gentlemen are four comedy writers who specialise in dark, surreal and often tastless material that has the advantage of being exceptionally funny. To cut down on confusion, their TV series is also called The League of Gentlemen. They are:

Jeremy Dyson (writer)
Mark Gatiss (writer and performer)
Steve Pemberton (writer and performer)
Reece Shearsmith (writer and performer)

They met while studying at Bretton Hall in Leeds, UK - Mark, Steve and Reece were studying drama and Jeremy was reading philosophy. It's worth noting also that they write together in pairs, Steve with Reece and Mark with Jeremy.

Before the…

Chasing Amy (thing)

2002-02-07T21:49:08Z

"It's not who you love. It's how."

1997 film on love and sexuality, written and directed by Kevin Smith.

"Clerks had been over-praised, Mallrats had been over-bashed. We'd been to both ends of the spectrum. The third time is always supposed to be the charm, so we were able to approach Chasing Amy from a very liberated position: What better could they ever say about us than they did the first time, and what worse could they ever say about us than they did the second time? And that made it somewhat easy to make an honest film."
Kevin Smith - www.viewaskew.com

background

Released as the third part of the New Jersey Trilogy, Chasing Amy was a return to the subject of bittersweet relationships after the critically misunderstood and comparatively comic book-like Mallrats. Made within a respectably

…

phossy jaw (thing)

2002-01-29T21:11:15Z

19th Century occupational hazard of the match industry.

Phossy is short for phosphorus, as in the white phosphurus used to create the striking tip of early matches. Exceptionally toxic, anybody working in close proximity to it suffered probably the most hideous occupational disease ever known. Direct contact with the phosphurus paste was a remarkably bad idea and, naturally, those that had the job of dipping the sticks into the paste were the most quickly affected. However, the poor ventilation in the factories ensured that the resulting vapours gave everybody in the production process their fair share of exposure.

Targetting mainly the lower jaw, the condition began with toothache and swelling around the gums that would slowly develop into abscesses together with a fetid, pussy discharge. The jaw bones would literally glow a greenish-white colour in the dark and would eventually rot away to nothing, leaving the victim with the option of enduring a painful and…

Joanie Loves Chachi (idea)

2002-01-25T19:24:42Z

The first episode is reputed to be the highest-rated American program on Korean television, largely due to the fact that 'chachi' is a Korean word for 'penis'. Joanie Digs Dick. Well, would you tune in? I'll bet the second episode represents the highest drop in ratings on Korean television too.

courtesy of the unavoidably short write-ups with useless but amusing trivia company. sponsored by quentin tarantino.