It’s Not Big, And It’s Not Clever
I haven't commented much on Big Brother this year, but I've been aware of it as the sagas of both Chanelle/Ziggy and the unutterably awful Charley have developed. The eviction of Charley and this insane "has she left?/no she hasn't/but she still might" palaver with Chanelle, not to mention the addition of the new people on Friday, seem to mark the beginning of the end. I'm sure that someone at the weekend said that there's only four weeks to go, but there are still about thirty people in there, so lord alone knows what they're going to do with them all.
I think that thought highlights how this year has marked an inevitable development in my occasional relationship with Big Brother. I was gripped by it the first few years, then went through a phase of deliberately not watching it and only getting news of it through other people. But this year I seem to be following it quite specifically as a piece of television production. Other than detesting Charley, as all right-thinking people must, I'm following it as a logistical exercise; (numbers in, numbers out, "how can we milk this situation?") - I don't care about anyone in it or what happens to them, or what they think or feel or say. My old media production head seems finally to be in control of my Big Brother awareness.
On The Road
Well, above the road really.
I'm travelling again, and am out of the country for a week. This time, however, unlike the last time I did this trip, I'm not expecting the house purchase to complete while I'm away, so I'll hopefully be a bit less fretful.
I'm going to try and use the time this week (without distractions of thinking about the house etc) to get caught up on some general blogging that has been getting backlogged. Mind you, I always say that.
Who News
Lots of news coming out of the San Diego Comics Convention, but the biggest and best as far as I'm concerned is a new Doctor Who comic coming from IDW later this year drawn by the lovely Nick Roche, and the very very lovely Gary Russell - he who introduced me to The Mrs and consequently can do no wrong.
I've seen a bit of Nick's art and I think he's perfect for it.
Continuing A Theme
(That of finally seeing programmes I've heard a lot about which finally made their UK terrestrial debut.)
Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip kicked off on More Four last night, and I liked it a lot. It screams "created by Aaron Sorkin" in its plotting, the way the characters are introduced and interact, and in its entire feel. The Mrs has never been able to get into The West Wing because of a resistance to the political setting it's all about, but may give this a go.
Weirdly, I think I can see its setting in the world of TV may be Studio's biggest barrier to engagement, and is quite likely part of the reason it didn't take off in the US. It feels ever-so-slightly smug - there's a hint of "look at us, we're self-aware enough to put ourselves under the microscope". And although it's obviously important to see this as its own entity and not view it through a West Wing filter, it's unfortunate that the character I always found most smug and least likeable in TWW is one of the leads in Studio.
But - I liked the set up, I like more of the characters than I was expecting to, and I'm looking forward to the rest of its unfortunately limited run.
Heroic
Now, I'm going to be a bit wary of gushing overmuch here; I did after all watch the pilot of Lost and think it was great, then watched half of episode two before losing interest and never watched another minute of it again.
But with the proviso that I might do likewise, I have a good feeling about Heroes, which started its UK terrestrial run last night with the first two episodes. Structurally I got annoyed by the catch up with each character at the start of episode 2, and I seriously hope that's not an ongoing feature, but otherwise I liked its slightly slow pace and the careful creation of layer upon layer of plot. Based on what I've seen, the (inevitable) uncovering of the mostly hidden links between the heroes should be enthralling, and several of the characters have real potential (I'll single out Hiro, because everyone singles out Hiro (and with good reason), but I like indestructible cheerleader, telepathic cop and split personality killer internet stripper - I'm usually very good with names, but they just weren't sticking last night).
I've rarely seen a pilot that worked so well in placing the pieces on the board and laying out the broad parameters and objectives of the game, and while I was willing to give it a further go anyway, the last ten seconds of episode 2 locked it for me. I absolutely did not see that coming.
Looking forward to the next twenty-odd.
Facebooked
So after much nudging by The Mrs (who is obsessed), I've finally decided to see what this Facebook nonsense is all about, and I can safely say that so far I'm not remotely impressed.
The thing that is bothering me the most, even over and above the fact that it's so clearly a flash in the pan that most people currently using it will have moved on from in three months' time, is that it's got the worst, least intuitive interface you can possibly imagine. After joining one of its 'networks' last night and then immediately realising the error, I found myself completely stumped as to how to leave it.
It turns out that the only way to do it that I've managed to find is to click on the 'Join a network' link in the navigation, beyond which is a page which does finally include a link to leave one. It's just bollocks.
The End Of Potter
No spoilers in the following, by the way.
So, I've finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. That's that then.
I managed to get to the end without having to call any kind of support line, and I suspect that as the full enormity of a world without new Harry Potter sinks in I'll still be able to face the world with equanimity.
I'm being a little harsh - I did enjoy it, as far as one does enjoy them, and found a number of the stylistic and narrative habits that annoyed me about earlier books mercifully minimised. The story does have a strange time structure, with weeks and even months moved through in the space of a sentence at some points, and really, not to any particular point that I could see other than that it allows Rowling to spread out about six weeks' worth of actual incident through the duration of a school year to fit with the formula for the first six books.
Those six weeks' worth of incident are at least eventful, and there's finally a sense of the wizard war that looked imminent at the end of The Goblet of Fire being a reality and out in the open. The relationship stuff is solid, and there's finally a payoff to a lot of apparently insignificant details from earlier books. Also, several people turn out to hold rather greyer positions than their previously black and white presentation might suggest, and there's a climax that really feels climactic.
On the downside, there's that characteristic suspension of the action for entire chapters of exposition, at least one of which was inevitable from very early on in the novels' story and which actually happens extremely late in the proceedings, cutting right into the previously mentioned climax. And a whole swathe of 'lore' is introduced right here at the end of the series that feels far too late and somewhat Deus Ex Machina (not just the Deathly Hallows, but loads of stuff about how wands work in this world).
Still, it's done now, and while the series in no way justifies all the fuss on an artistic level, as a phenomenon, and as a reinforcement of the value of literacy in kids, I'm willing to give the achievement my grudging respect.
Rain, Rain
It's odd, for all that I've been caught in a number of the deluges which have hit the UK in the last few weeks, and obviously I've watched the news footage of flooding around the place, it only somehow became real to me last night. We'd gone up to Oxfordshire for a 40th birthday party and when we got there, Birthday Boy was so bowled over that we'd made it that we were quite shocked until we heard about all the people who weren't able to, because their roads were impassable or their trains had been cancelled. It was really eye-opening.
Also: slightly strange. Someone coming from Carlisle made it, but people coming from Leeds and London didn't, though some Londoners (like us for example) had a pretty straightforward journey. It's all most inexplicable.
The Apple Perspective
The Mrs, as has occasionally been noted on his own blog, is an Apple freak. See the phrase "Baby wants an iPhone" should you need further evidence than the multiple iPods, Macbooks and iMac which litter our home.