More Who. Much More
The Guardian is reporting that Jane Tranter, Head of Drama Commissioning at the BBC, has confirmed that she's commissioned a second series of Doctor Who, as well as a Christmas special.
The Guardian's gone for registration, so unless you've signed up you can't get the story, but if you want to, go to Media Guardian and it's linked from the homepage at the moment.
EDIT - BBC Story here.
Now That’s What I Call….
David has been introducing me to all sorts of music recently that I otherwise wouldn't have touched wit a bargepole, and generally speaking, I'm liking it.
Recent additions to my listening range include:
Kaiser Chiefs - whose album Employment is very impressive. Favourite track is probably You can have it all, though I predict a riot runs it a close second.
Bodies Without Organs, a Swedish outfit from the school of Army Of Lovers. Their album, Prototype is very solid poppy stuff with some very cool tracks on it, including Sixteen tons of hardware and Open door which are my favourites.
Rilo Kiley ("the other Kylie in my life"). Female vocal-led, sort of poppy, sort of rocky, sort of folky, they have something for everyone. Standout track is Portions for foxes, but most of the rest could run it a close second.
All recommended.
The School Meals Thing
I've avoided commenting on the whole sorry saga of the pathetic state of the school meal system in England and Wales, but as the government has decided to make some new cash available for ingredients, it's reminded me to make a comment about a brief bit of the Jamie Oliver series that kicked it all off that I saw.
In one of the biggest "WTF?" moments in TV history, when the new, fresh and healthy, school meals had been introduced into a school in South East London, parents were coming to the school and passing bags of McDonalds' food in through the bars of the school gate!
I mean, really, seriously, what the hell kind of parent is it that doesn't want their kids to eat more healthily?
Doctor Oooooooh!
We liked it, I think it's safe to say - Graham Norton intruding from BBC3 notwithstanding.
Pacing was good, performances were good with the screaming exception of Rose's boyfriend, who was, bluntly, crap. Humour was at about the right level, and the much-commented-on 'intrusive' incidental music wasn't really anything of the kind.
And the preview of episode two..... whoar!
More Anglican Church Entertainment
Look - Scotland thinks gay ministers are okay.
The radio this morning was full of comments about how this is going to add to the potential for schism in the church.
All I can say is that the more energy they expend fighting among themselves, the less likely they are to be focusing their anger and hatred at people like me.
So I'm regarding this as a good news day.
I’m Off To Bosnia….
.... who wouldn't be?
"And now people watching this film abroad will say 'Ah you see, they're all homosexuals in Bosnia'."
Timekeeping
I just realised how well this coming weekend is falling. The clocks are going forward, resulting in an hour less to sleep in, but for once, it's happening over a long weekend, so it's not going to feel quite as grievously unfair.
I don't know why I always have that reaction to the start of BST, but somehow, I feel the loss of that hour very keenly....
Trailer Park
Oddly, given that I said I wasn't going to shut up about it, it's been more than a week since I posted about Doctor Who. But all that's over with now.
The full trailers, which started airing last Tuesday, are now all over the BBC, and make it all look very exciting - It's all getting increasingly real. And yet curiously, I'm feeling a bit at saturation point. I just want the thing to be on now.
Are You Thinking????
Am I the only one who's thoroughly engraged by that "Are you thinking what we're thinking?"campaign that the Tories are running on billboards at the moment?
The ones in particular that annoy me are:
"I mean; How hard can it be to keep a hospital clean?", which is not only insulting to all the people who work damn hard throughout hospitals, but tonally is offensive too. That "I mean" just strikes the kind of condescending snootiness that confirms everything you ever thought about the Tory party.
"How would you feel if a bloke on early release attacked your daughter?". Where to begin? First off, as every statistic in the world will happily confirm, violence (to the point of murder) is far more likely to happen inside a family than from outside - so where are the messages about "How would your daughter feel if you beat her up?" (Note that there's news today that girls are more likely to accept boyfriends assaulting them if they've experienced violence at home BBC). On top of which, who exactly do they think they're fooling with the tone again? I doubt Michael Howard has ever ebven thought the word 'bloke', let alone used it in everyday conversation. It's so obviously phoney I can't believe they thought they'd get away with it.
And worst of all: "It's not racist to impose controls on immigration." No, it absolutely isn't, in principle, but in practice the specific control imposed could be deeply racist. Also, that statement is a get out of jail free card for anyone whose reasons for wanting immigration controls actually are racist. They can hide behind it as much as they want, and the Tories have just handed it to them on a plate.
And While I’m On The Subject
What is it about Northern Irish politics that makes the worst possible examples of humanity rise to the top? On both sides of the political divide you find equally monstrous examples. If it's not Gerry Addams and Martin McGuinness and their mealy-mouthed defences of the indefensible, it's the vile Ian Paisley confirming with every utterance that 'Man of God' is, as I've always suspected, one of the most damning labels it's possible to adopt.
Maybe it's the entrance of some of the province's 'ordinary people' into the process that's exactly what's needed to offset these evil bastards.