Wednesday 30 April 2008

18th Birthday

I have just turned 18. To celebrate I get to vote in tomorrows London election. This has made a bit of an impression on me, and left me a bit, well, both optimistic and melancholy about the future. I can sumarize my main thoughts, as a kind of plan, which sort of goes as follows, in order of importance.

1. I need to take my exams a bit more seriously. I need 3 As for Exeter University. Eeeeek! Therefore, I need a back-up plan in case this fails.

2. I need to sort out my finances, so I can afford to pay for stuff when I need to pay for stuff.

3. I need to get some kind of employment. Partially, just to see what it is like.

4. I need to learn to drive. At some stage. I have all the stuff, I have just not been bothered to organise it yet.

This next year will be a success if these are all completed. This could be hard...

Sunday 27 April 2008

Pushing Daisies

Every now and again I find a new television show that I really love. Now, I have found Pushing Daisies.

The newest American import to be shown on British television, I love this show. It is a comedic love story, with intertwined murder investigating, and the crux that the two main characters can never touch. It is blessed by a mix of surreal realism, a well written script, perfect performances, superbly assisted by Jim Dale's narration, and a wonderfully life-affirming tone.

This show is brilliant. I love it. I feel blessed that I will get to watch my four favourite TV shows all together; Heroes having just started on the BBC, Battlestar Galactica on Sky, Lost returning in a few short weeks, and now Pushing Daisies.

ITV, however, I hate. They are the ones broadcasting Pushing Daisies, but due to terrible scheduling, only 8 weeks were allowed during which to show 9 episodes, and so ITV decided to miss the second episode of the series. They did not broadcast it.

This sent me spiralling into a world of online downloads, something I have been avoiding for various reason, mainly a mix of morality and cautious mistrust of the internet.

However, I was determined to watch the second episode of this delightful show before continuing with the third, which sits still in my Sky+ box. It took me a while to discover what to do, a long time to download, a while to transfer to my second PC, which has a better monitor, and a while to find a media player that would work, but finally I found a way to watch it.

I am so glad I did, for if this is the quality of the episode they decided to leave out, then my heart skips a beat to think of how great the rest of the series must be.

This is a brilliant show. I love it.

Sunday 20 April 2008

Back from Devon

I have just returned from a wonderful week in Devon, so sorry for the lack of posting. I went with my parents, brother, aunt, uncle and cousins, and had a grand time.


Passed the time very pleasantly and now I return refreshed. Of couse, a lot of stuff happened, but not much that is interesting to the world at large.

Naturally, I will now spend my weekend catching up on television, football and college work.

Tuesday 8 April 2008

Liverpool 4 - Arsenal 2

My faith in the Champions League has returned! I may not be an Arsenal fan, I may not be a Liverpool fan, but that was still a tense finish. Brilliant to see such a great game, one that was end to end, with both temas going all out. Nice to be reminded of why I love the beautiful game.

Monday 7 April 2008

Dr Who

Oh well. The time of year has come again. Dr - bleeding – Who.

This has got to be one of the most overrated television shows ever. Every year we get months of build up, people filled with adoration for Russell T Davis. The Christmas episode was useless, but the last season was not too bad. Sure, there have been mistakes, but there are a lot of shows that I put up with that have dud episodes.

I am not going to review this new episode, which was turgid and boring, and which is as formulaic the old ones, but not as terrible as I had feared. Instead I have a few points on Dr Who that I would like to point out in general.

1. The award for the most overused plot device ever - the Sonic Screwdriver. Every single tight situation where cunning might be useful, and they switch to the screwdriver. (Incidentally the best aspect of the Doctor's personality is his cunning.) Any part of the plot that doesn't add up? Use the Screwdriver to get out of it. It's painful. It’s lazy. And they seem to be pleased with themselves evertime they think of it.

2. I understand that this show needs to appeal to all age-ranges, but that does not mean make it suitable for the lowest possible age range, and mass market it to "families", meaning adults will feel it is acceptable to watch. Toy story - good for all ages. The Simpsons - good for all ages. Dr Who is most often (see 3) written by three years olds, by three year olds. Mass appeal does not make lazy writing necessary, it just, sadly, seems to make it acceptable.

3. This is the exception that I need to write about. The one good point. Anyone who wants to see what Dr Who could be like, go and watch the episode from last series, Blink. Steven Moffat, you are the greatest scriptwriter the BBC can call on, you saved Dr Who, and actually made it into a brilliant piece of Science Fiction. You actually proved what Dr Who can be. For that I am eternally grateful, and really pissed off at Russell T Davis for not doing a better job. This has been referred to as a Dr Who-lite episode, according to Wikipedia, because the Doctor is barely in it. This is why it rules! The Doctor is allowed to use his ingenuity off-screen to help our heroes, and it uses time as a mechanism for his brilliance. This is the only point I have in favour of the Doctor. I have seen one episode that proved how good it can be. And it really is good.

4. Average CGI does not impress me. Even awesome CGI alone does not necessarily impress me. CGI is a means to an end. Just throwing it at me and hoping that I, as a viewer, can make something of it is not a good production strategy. Get over yourselves, and use that larger-than-average effects budget in a way that does not dramatically disengage me form the action.

5. This is the most important point of all, but one that is almost always overlooked. He is a time-lord! He can travel in time! WHY DOESN'T HE THEN!?! Almost all episodes could be easily solved if he arrived on earth a few days before he did! Usually, this would have saved lives! He picks the date of his arrival! He picks the time! So why does he choose to arrive late? Sometimes the Tardis makes a mistake, and this drops him into a tricky situation, or sometimes he doesn’t know what he is dealing with until too late, and yes, they do need tricky situations so as to make a TV show. But most of the time he can simply go back in time and set up supplies or mechanisms to help him out. Why ignore time travel as a mechanism for the plot, and just fall back on the "stupid alien & screwdriver" mechanic? I am not suggesting replacing one Deus Ex Machina with another, but at least vary it a bit. Why ignore the best possibility of the Doctor?

In conclusion, Dr Who is almost always overhyped, is almost always badly acted, is almost always badly scripted and is almost always badly produced. Almost always it is a waste of time, money and effort. But every now and again, the potential for the Doctor shines though, and in those moments you know that what you do have is special. Here’s hoping we get one of those again.

Saturday 5 April 2008

Visiting Stamford Bridge

Last Sunday I was one of the 39,994 people who paid a visit to Stamford Bridge to watch Chelsea play Middlesbrough, in a Premier League game. It was the first time I have ever visited a Premier League match, and the first time in years I have been to a game. It was amazing.

I am not a Chelsea fan, but I felt like one. When Carvalho nods in the first goal, and everyone around me went wild, I felt a magnificent tingly sensation that I have never felt before. It was so liberating, to be able to look wherever I wanted to, to see what I could see, without replays, living the game in the moment. It was so humanising, to be able to see these players in real life, to watch how they play.

The seats we had were truly incredible. I don’t not really have a yard-stick to judge them by, but I understand that being in the front row of the third tier, almost level with the centre circle, is amazing.

I have never felt like this before. Never before have I been able to watch what the keepers do when no-one else is around, what the captain really does, to freely see how players run off the ball. The most interesting moment was watching an injury in the first half. I never knew that physio's ran so fast! They really sprint!

It was an exhilarating experience, and I now have a new goal in life: to go and see England play a proper competitive international at Wembley, and to go see Manchester United play at Old Trafford.