completely lashed

I only write about television occasionally, but when I do I'm often quite happy with what I turn up - I think it's because I enjoy putting new narrative twists on stuff that I've seen. One post which I'm glad I wrote was my review of DBC Pierre's awesome 'The Last Aztec' which was on More4 last year. The show was a gloriously haphazard cross between a history programme, a travelogue and a personal journey, with the famously unstable novelist drinking his way across Mexico, and the only thing I regret was that most people who read my post about it hadn't actually seen the show.

So anyway, I'm perhaps remembering my post with an excessively rosy tint, but I note that the programme is finally getting a terrestrial TV airing on C4 tonight. It's on at 8 and while it starts slowly, it develops into a gloriously odd gonzo adventure and is an excellent excuse not to go out tonight.

My original post is here - excerpt below.

Pierre is intent on mourning the collapse of the civilisation which inspires him so. "There's only one way to get over the decline and collapse of an empire", he tells us sourly, sitting in a seedy bar. "And that's to get completely lashed ". He throws back a tequila, shaking his head, looking around. "I can't say it feels any better". So he has another.

Incensed, he decides to take the Palace back for the Aztecs. He is approached by a local, outside. "Do I want an official tour?", he says disdainfully, preparing to storm the place, "what the fuck is that?". He banters with the guard on the gate, but gets no further. By now, anyway, his misanthropy knows no bounds, so what does he do? He drinks lots more, he reminisces about a dead girlfriend and the centrality of death in the Mexican character, and goes out at night looking for fresh corpses. When he finds some, he takes photos. By now I am thinking this is surely one of the oddest bits of TV I've ever come across. Back in the daylight, pissed, he wanders into a church, lights up, and starts rambling about Dracula.