Afternoon:
14°c
Three days after seeing War Horse, I went to the 10th anniversary production of Mamma Mia! Talk about from the sublime to the ridiculous. I haven't seen the film, I am not a fan of Abba and I have never (honest) fancied either Agnetha or Frida. Whisper it quietly but Suzi Quatro was my sort of woman. In my pre-ironic youth, Abba would have spelt the uncool kiss of death. Would they provide me with a kiss of life in my post-ironic middle age?
I had an itch to find out if I could ever be that kitsch - even if it was just for one night. I was warned beforehand that I would probably hate the show. Most men do, apparently. It was emblematic of the battle of the sexes. As my wife dropped out, I had to find a theatre date at short notice.
Married men made convenient excuses, single men scoffed. And my female friends? One woman said she'd seen the film 10 days ago and couldn't take any more Abba. Sacrilege ! Another said she'd already seen it and didn't feel it merited repeat viewing. I was determined to go it alone.
Before the curtain even went up I wanted to skedaddle. Grown men and women were behaving like over-excited teenagers and snapping guests of honour, Björn and Benny, on their mobile phones.
I am glad I stayed. It was a riot. At the aftershow party at the Café Royal I inadvertently found myself behind a velvet rope rubbing shoulders with Björn and Benny. What would my teenage self have made of me? I don't care. There's nothing wrong with being post-ironic.
* You mess with Twitter-ers at your peril. When I expressed some mild scepticism about Twitter in this column recently, a friend rang to tell me I had been roundly abused on the site. I had a whole new fan base. "Who on earth is Sebastian Shakespeare?" Good question. Said another: "What a wanky name."
So much for beautiful haikus. This free social messaging utility is in danger of being turned into an anti-social messaging utility. Why do people feel they have a licence to be rude on Twitter? At least they could be more creative in their insults. Twitterers, you need to raise your game.
* Where do us Wire-heads go having watched all five series of the Baltimore cop drama? It's a tough call. I watched the entire run of The Wire last year and am still suffering withdrawal symptoms. Not since I finished Raymond Chandler's oeuvre have I felt such a keen sense of loss. I now watch all my television drama back to back: The Sopranos, Damages and The Shield. Any more suggestions for this Wire-less viewer?
