I watched the Sky Arts roundup of this week’s plinth action tonight because Andrew said there was a good chance of his Thriller dance being on there if they could clear the music rights.  It looks like they couldn’t because he was nowhere to be seen.  On the plus side, Clive Anderson’s place was taken by Tim Marlow, who regular readers will know I am a bit of a fan of.  Given Clive’s wooden appearance on his own show this week, maybe it was a good thing to let Tim come off the subs’ bench.  Despite the near total absence of atheist dance classes I really enjoyed the programme.A couple of the plinthers they showed really made me smile.  I absolutely loved the idea of ‘IKEA Guy”.  He took some flat-pack furniture up there with him and tried to assemble it within the hour.  At the end of his stint he had to get a half-built and rickety-looking set of drawers onto the JCB.

The TV producers obviously loved Loren.  They kept showing her doing her thing.  They also showed the Monster Raving Loony a few times but unfortunately did not dwell on him: I thought he was hilarious, especially when he started filling in his expenses…  “Well.  Tube fare here.  That’s got to be five pounds.”

I had thought that dressing up as the Angel of the North would be a good idea, but I spotted several variations on that, so it has been done now.  In the unlikely event of me getting picked for October I won’t be able to do that.  Interesting that one bloke was going to just be a statue, because I had thought it would be interesting to see one of those professional statues up there – the people who stand on the South Bank painted white as a sort of low-energy busking.

I learned a few things tonight though.  For a start, various celebrities have applied to go on the plinth, taking their chances in the draw with everybody else.  Mike Figgis got picked, as we know, but Tim Marlow is still in the draw, as is Antony Gormley himself.   I wonder what he would do?  Wouldn’t it look like a real fix if he got picked?  I hope he does though.

I do like his attitude.  I know it sounds like a cop-out, given how much effort some people have put into the whole thing, but I do like the idea of just being rather than doing.  In fact, when I first heard of the whole thing I thought that was the point, although it has since evolved into a sort of talent show with some pressure on participants to put on a bit of a show even if that only involves dressing like one of the comedy entrants in the London Marathon.  It takes a certain amount of bravery now to go up there and just stand or sit there.

Or you could combine the two…  I recommend watching the stream of WooF from earlier today.  he did intend to put on a performance, went up on the plinth with his electric guitar, 30 watt amp and a portable generator.  Unfortunately the generator would not start and he spent most of the hour on the phone to somebody (technical support?) .  As somebody commented on the site, it was a Pinter-esque experience, but WooF is my hero of the today for the dignified way he coped and held his temper in the face of what must have been extreme frustration.