hmmm

i was reading an interesting article in idealog the other day (i was at the GPs, and the doctor was running 45 minutes late)

it was an arguement that tv is not being dumbed down, but that the quality is actually improving. as an example, he compared the old seventies show "starsky and hutch" with "the sopranos". using that comparison, i can see his point, but i think that he only used the sopranos as it is an example of "quality" programming reaching a major audience.

I am currently working my way through "the wire' which as it works in the same genre of "starsky and hutch" would be a better comparison.

S&H is about two policeman, who always manage to solve their crimes within the commercial hour and is effectivly shown in bright primal colours-cops are good, criminals are bad, goos always triumphs over evil, usually involving an exciting car chase, the odd gun battle and some well-timed quips

"The Wire" is about a series long investigation into a drug crew. I've seen eight episodes so far, and it looks like getting the crims arrested is still a long way away (and even if they do, it won't solve the problem of drugs in the community

it shows both the cops side and the crims. the cops are not angels-there are brutal cops, and a lot of political game playing. the crims are not total villians either. one of the main characters, d'angelo, who has already killed two people and is in charge of sales in the pit (as they call it) is musing on why they need to kill people.
another crim, wallace, who is in his early twenties, is having a crisis of consience about having told his bosses over the wherabouts of a rival, only to find the rival haveing been obviously tortured and killed and dumped in his neighberhood.

overall, i'd say the wire is a deeper, more satisfying watch. it is like reading a book; its certainly not a show you can dip into from time to time, you actually have to watch it.

but the differecne is that S and H was one of the most popular shows of its era. the wire is at best a cult show. some of this is the time it screens (in nz, the fifth and final series is screening at 1.40am on a tuesday morning), but ai think a lot of it is that it is a show that you have to concentrate on. i would suggest that more people have watched the show on dvd than have actually seen it live (extra bonus, you don't get the ads interuppting the narrative flow. because this was made by hbo, they didn't feel the need to put an artifical cliff hanger in every seven minutes or so)

prime time is full of "reality shows" and more generic cop, doc and lawyer shows. some of the best shows of the last few years; deadwood, firefly, veronica mars and so on tend to get shoved into unflattering time solts and quickly get cancelled to the dismay of the few fans who find the shows.

they say that the future of television is the internet. i'm not so sure. the increasing sale of dvds of shows indicates that in many cases people will start to collate and programme their own home channels from their dvd collections.

i already do that already to a large extent

if the audience wants quality programming, they will have to find it themselves

with extra cheese

everyone has a secret shame when it comes to music-some band or singer who they secretly like, but will never admit to in public.

for many people, that band is ABBA. they were once very popular (yes, i admit i had one of their records-i was 11 at the time) then punk came along. and then, it was kind of ok to like them again, so long as it was, you know, ironically. eventually the ironic part faded away and you has all these people noting what skilfull writers benny and bjorn were. several music critics even consider "dancing queen" the greatest pop song of all time. (i disagree; i find it lyrically awkward)

i'm not a diehard abba fan; i could go the rest of my life without hearing fernando again, but i have to admit that they do have some catchy songs

last night, sky screened "mama mia", the film based on the musical based on abba songs.

firstly, the scenary was terrific. there is nothing like sitting in a warm room while there is a full thunderstorm going on outside to make you appreciate summer in the greek islands.

however, the problem with trying to write a story around of unconnected songs, is that the ultimate story is less than it could be. in the end, mama mia is a series of disconnected sub plots, some havr a begiining, some have an end, a number of the ends seem to come out of nowhere. but that's not the point, is it. the point is to get to the next song. (i beleive that the dvd has a karioke version of the film)

other bad points? well, pierce brosnan can't sing, julie walters looked really frumpy, there were too many slow songs.

the best singer was amanda seyfried, who played the daughter. the best performance was (naturally) meryl streep, who seemed relish that she was getting paid to spend several weeks in the greek islands. the exception was her performance of "the winner takes it all". her singing was ok, but she was flailing her arms around like marcel nmarceau on speed. musical highlight, for me, was christine baranski's performamce of "does your mother know"

i won't be buying the dvd, or the soundtrack, but i may pick up a copy of abba's greatest hits. if i find it in a bargin bin

i've been cinematically violated

i intended to note the death of don deluise, largely becasue of his work as one of mel brooks' stock company in the seventies, although it seems that most of the tributes focused on his performance in "cannonball run"

however, i discussing his death with rob, i remebered that he had appeared in a truly horrendous film called "the silence of the hams". yes, its a parody film and for a long time, i considered up there wikth sister act 2 as one of the worst films ever made.

then yesterday, i saw the first 40 minutes of "meet the spartans" ( idin't see the rest as i had to go to dialysis".

yes, i get the joke, the spartans were repressed homosexuals, homosexuality is funny, reality tv shows are funny, celebreties are funny, farting is funny, ripping off other people is funny.

i disagree. i did not laugh once. i almost vomited, but i did not laugh once.

compared to eatching this film, having two ten inch needles shoved into my arm came as an absolute delight.

the saddest thing about this fil? accoring to wikipedia, it grossed $84 million dollars.

question of the day

channel surfig through the fm band this morning, i came across a radio station "for the over forties", coast fm. since i'm over 40 i listened for a while.

why is easy listening music so hard to listen to?

just because it sounds like a good idea

A primary school has caused an uproar by asking students to come to school dressed as a disabled person as part of a fundraiser. Ramco Primary School in South Australia wrote in a newsletter that it would hold a "disability day" fundraiser. The aim of the dress-up is to raise money for a clinic in Bangladesh that repairs cleft lips and palates in children. Its newsletter stated: "There will be prizes for the best students dressed as a person with a disability. Get your thinking hats on and see what disability you can represent." (Source: News.com.au)

no, nothing could go wrong with this idea

you've got to think these things through, people.

i wonder if they have any kids that are already disabled. they would surely have the inside track for the prizes.

i think that if i was in the contest, i'd go as an autistic person. that way i could dress in my ordinary clothes and i wouldn't have to speak to anyone

swine flew

what happened to the big swine flu panendemic? it seems to have vanished.

does this mean we can go back to panicking about the recession?

a fluid situation

there has been some confusion over my dry weight
you see, since i'm not expelling fluid naturally, at least not in the volume i used to, dialysis has to do it for me. the problem is, i still need some fluid to keep the body functioning. so i have to aim for a target, or dry weight.
as you can probably imagine, estimating the dry weight is by no means an exact science. you only know when you've got it wrong when the patient passes out or gets cramps in their legs.

after my incident last thursday, the put my dry weight up,bout, as i said there seems to have been some confusion as to what it should be.
tuesday's session wore me out, and while i felt fine after thursdays's seesion, on friday i greyed out a couple of times. i didn't faint, but for a couple of moments there it felt like a distinct possibility.

we have now settled on a number-138, and i came out of last night's session at 138.8.

the next step is to reduce my dry weight, since according to the bmi calculation, my ideal dry weight is 115. more sacrifices ahead, i guess.

oh, i'm feeling fine today, or i would be if the neighbour hadn't decided to do a little gardening with a chainsaw