Currently watching one of James May’s Toy Stories, recorded from Xmas. (I know, I take a while to catch up with my telly!). It was recorded late, so I have the sign language lady off at the side.
It’s the episode with the Lego House, where they’re going to use 3 million Lego bricks to build something for James May to live in for a day. Everybody knows Lego, I even have it lying around the house adding to what can only loosely be called decoration 🙂
That’s my surround sound amp, which has lost me some hair over the last couple of weeks. 2 lights on there, “on” light is good, “stereo” light is bad. The XWing currently has the TIE in its gunsights, although that should probably be the other way around seeing as the last Star Wars film I watched was Empire Strikes Back, which ends with the Empire having the upper hand. Oh yeah, I sprinkled the dust specially for the picture.
Back to James May – it’s been a pleasantly surprising series this one. I occasionally watch Top Gear, which is how James May came to the attention. He’s always been a bit grumpy in that, overshadowed by the other two presenters. However, he sticks to his guns and is one of the three I have most respect for. The Toy Stories series is well worth watching 🙂
It passes one of the most important tests for entertainment television : It’s Fun.
And here’s a link to the pictures on the Top Gear site.
What was that bit about sign language ?
The most important thing about humanity is our ability to communicate. (Hmm. What does it say about me when I admit I just hit a wall when trying to think of something profound to follow that ?) Yep – communication leads to understanding leads to community. Things are just Better when shared. Movies are more fun when you can talk them over after, you spot stuff you totally missed. Problems are easier when you can talk them through. Talking is the basis of song. Putting stuff on here lets me get the rattlings out of my head which would otherwise send me nuts.
And this is where I mention the Sign Language Lady. Initial thought as a person who has all senses intact is : “that looks weird”. Which is the naive kiddie thought. That quickly dissipates when you watch more. What they’ve come up with is a brilliant system to allow communication when a disability gets in the way. It’s clear, simple and is just as quick as vocal communication. Possibly even quicker because the sound actually takes longer than the gestures.
But it’s not just the words that come across, Sign Language Lady and Sign Language Bloke are often Awesome at also passing on the emotion. Their translation adds in context that’s not easy to put into words. They change the transcript from what could be a flat Wall Of Text into a presentation that also includes the feelings and expression.
There’s a section where the designer spots a change the builder put in. “Winnie the Pooh’s Poo” colour is how she puts it. And the disgust in her voice is plain on the face of Sign Language Lady. As is the sense of “Wow!” when they’re entering the final house. And the “oo eck” as something is going to break. (And a “what are they like” look at the testing of the loo)
They look like they really enjoy their work, which is another sign for how communication makes our lives so much better. I’m actually watching Sign Language Lady as much as the programme, without any training the gestures are simple enough even for ignorant me to make sense of.
It just shows, when there’s something stopping you do something you really want to do, there’s usually a way around the problem. Magic !
To close, watching Sign Language Lady made me think back to something I saw in 2006. It was a 2 hour special called the Secret Policeman’s Ball. To be bluntly honest, it was an utter disaster and we turned it off after only an hour. However, there were 4 minutes of magic hidden in there :
It’s Natalie Imbruglia’s Torn from 2006, with signage. (Youtube link)
I’m useless with languages so I can’t tell if that is actually British Sign Language but it looked amazing on the night, so good I still remember it years later. Well worth a peek.