The Politics Of Screwed
Exactly how screwed is Sinn Fein, suddenly? The stuff about the IRA and their increasing involvement with organised crime (another programme on which subject is on the BBC tonight) is increasingly discrediting any claim that they have to being about politics, and their 'political wing' is tarred alongside them.
Add to that the facts that they're not publicly condemning Robert McCartney's murderers; that two of the party's past candidates for office were in the pub where he was killed and didn't go to the police; and that no one is either condeming the IRA for the "we'll shoot the killers" proposal.
Add to *that* the fact that most of the past bastions of their support appear to be treating them like lepers at the moment; that McCartney's family (who are Sinn Fein supporters let's not forget) are apparently due to tell Bush that the party has no part to play in the peace process until the murderers are brought before a court; *and* that the always mealy-mouthed Martin McGuinness has felt the need to warn them off getting involved in party politics.
I'm thinking, pretty much screwed.
Yet More TV
It's odd that we're having time even to watch TV in our house when there's so much World of Warcraft to be played, but I suppose the occasional break is beneficial.
First things first - the bad: David has become a bit of a fan of a BBC3 series called High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman which I can't stand. I've never been a fan of 'cringe TV', and this thing makes me cringe constantly. The set-up is a fake medium who hosts a show which the audience and other people who take part think is authentic. It's done in such an over the top manner that no one could seriously think that it's real after more than a few minutes, but the nature of the set-ups is so crude and insensitive that I just cringe and have to go and do something else.
At the other end of the scale - something I expected to be bad and which was actually very enjoyable was also on BBC3 last night, and that was part one of Casanova. I mostly watched it because of interest in seeing Russell T Davies' other series starting this month, but got entirely caught up in it and found myself looking forward to the continuation in a way that I wasn't expecting. I know a bunch of people who think that David Tennant is incredibly sexy, and I'm most assuredly never likely to join their ranks, but I do think he did brilliantly well with it, as did pretty much all the cast.
Critique
You do know that for the next two weeks (and possibly beyond that) I'm just not going to shut up about the return of Doctor Who, don't you?
Just checking.
Some of the rather more sensible reviews that have emerged from the official screenings, rather than a downloaded rough cut, make for seriously heartening reading.
Among the many, my favourite (so far) is probably this one from The Times:
"It's a funny feeling. When the dum-de-dum, dum-de-dum starts, and the new-look title sequence begins, the hairs on your arms stand up, and a smile fixes itself, rictus-like, to your face. This warm feeling alone is enough to transport you blithely through the first five minutes of the new Doctor Who before any critical faculties kick in. And when they do, you realise that you're enjoying yourself."
I WANT THAT FEELING!!!!!!
I Am *Not* Sad!
But did you see the trailers for Doctor Who on TV last night?
Adding a new dimension to the word 'teaser', but I'm loving the sound of the new version of the theme tune.
And my word you can tell Bryan Hitch designed the Console Room.
But I'm not sad, no matter how much the fact that I knew exactly when to be watching to see them might suggest otherwise.
They're up on the Official BBC Doctor Who site by the way.
Post-Leak
Following on from the leaked episode of Doctor Who yesterday, I was directed to a couple of pointlessly mean-spirited reviews of the episode on Ain't It Cool News (no link - they don't deserve it).
This is stupid on a bunch of levels:
1) It's established that the promo version that went to Canada from which this pirated copy was sourced wasn't the final cut anyway.
2) Quality will have shifted along the way from original to download version, so comments about the quality of the audio mix are nonsensical.
3) Several people in the follow-on forum noted that they'd submitted glowing reviews of the thing, but that the established anti-Doctor Who sentiment on the TV section of that site is so clear that it's hardly surprising that only the negative ones were selected for publication.
Warren Ellis has published what I'm told is a more balanced review on his site. I haven't looked in case he's included spoilers.
Leaked!
According to the BBC News site, Rose, the first epsode of the new series of Doctor Who, is at large on the internet somewhere.
There's been some debate in our house about how we want to watch the first episode (and indeed the following ones), and one thing I'm entirely certain of is that 'via a pirate copy on a computer screen' wouldn't ever have been in the running.
Stunned And Amazed
Yesterday morning I had what I can really only describe as a Changing Rooms moment. Except that I used words that you're not supposed to use when Carol Smilie says "Open Your Eyes!".
Chris and Brian are staying at my place at the moment while they decide what they're going to do in the long term about where they live, and they offered to do some bits and pieces around the place while they're there.
These are the kind of things I've wanted to do myself for a while but not got round to because of time constraints more than anything.
I went round yesterday to catch up with them and found the place transformed. They've redecorated, put down a new floor, reorganised the kitchen and changed the worktops and sink, and generally made the place look like a new flat. I love every single thing they've done.
I knew everything they were thinking of, but had simply not expected them to get anything like as far in the time.
It puts my inertia on the matter to shame.
Thank you both *so* much.
WoW
I've mentioned previously that being with David has introduced me to a world of video gaming that I'd previously done no more than dabbled in...
Since last I mentioned this subject (when I completed both Haloes), I've had relationships of varying seriousness with X-Men: Legends, Fable and I've completed Ratchet and Clank 2 and made significant inroads into Ratchet and Clank 3.
While I was away David started playing World of Warcraft, and when I got back he introduced me to it.
There's a word which gets used a lot when games are being discussed, which is 'immersive'.
I now entirely understand how entirely immersed in a game one can get. This thing is amazing: properly challenging in an other than 'shoot-shoot-shoot' way, with the opportunity to have decisions about skills you pick up and life choices you make actually impact on the way the game goes, and all packaged up in some stunning graphics and the ability to play alongside other players in either short or long term parties that mean the model in which you play can change all the time.
Yes, I cannot deny it. This is me, openly raving about a computer game....
Un-Fucking-Believable
The Government of Sudan (that's the same government currently committing genocide-in-all-but-UN-recognition, by the way), wants the name of this carcinogenic food dye that's been in the news, Sudan-1, changing, because:
Because, obviously, perpetrating mass murder is such a reputation-enhancing activity.
First As Tragedy….
I'm having a weird flashback at the moment, courtesy of The Case Of Margaret's Shoulder, and I'm glad I'm not the only one. Several radio news programmes have reflected on the precedent of The Case Of Jennifer's Ear from the run-up to the 1992 election.
Given how badly that worked out for Labour, I'm amazed that Michael Howard wants to tread the same path.