British Entertainment #BriFri #BBAW
Welcome to British Isles Friday! British Isles Friday is a weekly event for sharing all things British and Irish — reviews, photos, opinions, trip reports, guides, links, resources, personal stories, interviews, and research posts. Join us each Friday to link your British and Irish themed content and to see what others have to share. The link list is at the bottom of this post. Pour a cup of tea or lift a pint and join our link party!
Last week, I wrote about the 250th anniversary of Benjamin Franklin’s protest before Parliament against the Stamp Act (no taxation without representation!). Sim’s virtual walking tour of the London Underground took her to Boston Manor station and the Boston Manor which, sadly, is most famous at the moment for a recent murder. Heather read a quirky travel memoir about an Irish man looking for Irish heritage around the world, particularly related to his last name: McCarthy. Georgie shared some Valentine’s Day history with a nod to Chaucer and the British Museum. Jackie gave us a photo of a unique bottle spotted at Selfridge’s in Birmingham. Karen reviewed Sovereign by C.J. Sansom, featuring “a warts and all version of Tudor England.”
Today’s prompt for Book Blogger Appreciation Week is:
One of the unfortunate side effects of reading and blogging like rockstars seems to be a tendency toward burnout. How do you keep things fresh on your blog and in your reading?
I’ve got two answers that fit with what I wanted to blog about today, anyway:
- Blog about more than books — TV, movies, life
- Read and blog about the world, in memes like British Isles Friday or Dreaming of France or in challenges like Around the World 2016
The participants of British Isles Friday frequently recommend TV shows to each other, so I thought of you all when I saw the Great British Television Map on Facebook last week:
Map by Tim Ritz displaying locations (and filming locations) of popular British TV series
Since I wrote about the BAFTAs a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to report on the results.
I’m sure Sim is thrilled that Brooklyn (link to her review) won as Outstanding British Film.
The other category I was watching for British Isles Friday was Outstanding Debut By A British Writer, Director or Producer in 2016. That award went to Naji Abu Nowar and Rupert Lloyd for Theeb, a film set in Jordan during World War I and featuring previously non-professional actors from the Bedouin community. Theeb is also nominated for an Oscar for best foreign language film (it’s in Arabic). I’ve got it saved to Netflix, but no word yet on when it will be released on DVD.
What are you watching, reading, researching, or thinking about from the British Isles this week?
Joy, I couldn’t agree with you more about blogging on other subjects. On my food and life blog (Squirrel Head Manor) I do frequent mini updates about what I am watching, listening to, reading, gardening and life.
Love that map of the tv shows and locations. A long time ago I had a movie map like that. Got it from the British Tourist board in NY. Very cool!
Reading and blogging about the world is lovely advice!
I think blogging about lots of other topics helps keep me from burning out too.
Being Irish born I am drawn to books written by Irish authors. As for TV we are big Coronation St fans and were amazingly surprised to pick up a Canadian TV station (we are in Mexico) and watched a couple of episodes this week.
As much as I would love to dedicate posts to other topics, it doesn’t happen often or last long. And I am okay with that. It’s a great idea though, especially when someone is burnt out from writing about books all the time.
I think you’ve got some good advice here. And I agree that bringing different cultures and viewpoints to your reading and watching is a good way to keep it different and not boring. To you. Because it’s your blog. Right? LOL
I’m new to this event, so hello, and though my linked post is very short, it’s a very very English book indeed. 🙂
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Hi Joy, That map is worth investigating in depth. I love doing your British Isles Friday blog, it’s fun to branch out from my usual memoir stories, or my book-to-movie blog. You inspire me weekly and I’m grateful for that.
I need to get the second season of Broadchurch!
Giving myself permission to blog about more than books really did help my blogging mojo when I was going through a slump. It’s fun to share other parts of life in my space, and there are no rules about what you can and can’t post on your blog!
Hi Joy: Neat map of British TV shows! I think I might see the movie Theeb on Apple TV this week, it might be available now. It looks good. Interesting Brooklyn won at the BAFTA’s. I’m thinking of the British Isles this week b/c I’m wondering if they will stay in the E.U. Cameron seems to have a fight on his hands.
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