Last season
So we're nearly done with a lot of things - summer is over, Torchwood is done (on a number of levels) and there's just two episodes left of Who. Things seem to be shifting in my personal life as well - hopefully for the better. So I just wanted to put down a few random thoughts and bits while they occurred to me.
Telly: At the moment, I'm gripped by Forbrydelsen (The Killing), a show from Denmark that is just packed with intrigue, suspense, politics and suspicion. There's always a thrill when you watch something that genuinely feels different and of a high quality at the same time. Yes, it's a murder mystery but it also shows how grief and loss can shatter even the closest of families. You naturally like the parents of the murdered girl without the show ever doing any "Look how likeable this couple is" scenes and it's heartbreaking to watch their relationship slowly crack, splinter and shatter as the consequences of Nanna's death grow. It's also great to have a strong female lead without any direct discussion of her gender. I'm on the 14th episode of 20 and I have to fight the urge to watch all the remaining episodes in one big gulp. There's a US remake but how often do those words end well? That neatly segues into Torchwood: Miracle Day ending well. Or rather, not ending well. A curate's egg of a show but it is notable that the good parts were those already in place - Jack, Gwen and the base in Wales. The rest of it ranged from fun but atonal (Q!) to the downright abysmal: Rex.
I'm not sure what RTD was thinking when he made the new American lead quite so unlikeable. It certainly didn't help that he was arrogant and stupid to boot. Esther wasn't much better for the first eight episodes so they gave her a complete personality transfer for episodes 9/10. But the ultimate sin of T:MD was that it was dull. Stupid, nonsensical, absurd, cheap looking - all qualities I can readily forgive but not dullness. I guess we must put Children of Earth down as an odd blip rather than the natural progression of the series. Pity.
Books: I have ploughed through a fair amount over the last few weeks, including the last book Dick Francis wrote or co-wrote, though it apparently won't be the last Dick Francis book - he's now a brand so they'll stick his name on the cover in big letters and get his son to write it. We'll see how well that works. Someone gave me a Josephine Tay book and I really enjoyed that so I'm going to track down some more. Meanwhile, one of my major literary quests had a huge boost - despite P G Wodehouse's continued popularity, it's actually quite hard to get hold of his works. Arrow Books recently did a nice re-issue of many of his most regarded works but only as a limited release and at quite a high price tag. A few days ago I was in London and spotted a couple in a discount shop window so I went in and discovered shelves of them at less than three pound a pop. Nice. Of course, I'm going to have to have an online list of those I currently own so I don't double buy any.
Personal stuff: We had Helen's sister down for a visit which was lovely. We met her in London and went around the V&A Museum - gorgeous place but Helen in particular wanted to see their new exhibit: Power of Making. Really fascinating stuff there from bicycles made entirely from nylon or wood (though would you want to ride something called the Splinterbike?) to a life size crocheted bear. If you happen to be in London, go see (it's free too!). Wedding fever has finally died out over here so I'm mostly enjoying quiet weekends with the freedom to plot as I see fit. I'm hoping to go see Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy very soon too - there's only a few films my mother will watch so we tend to go with my parents to them.
Right, as the man said, back to the world of dreams.
Telly: At the moment, I'm gripped by Forbrydelsen (The Killing), a show from Denmark that is just packed with intrigue, suspense, politics and suspicion. There's always a thrill when you watch something that genuinely feels different and of a high quality at the same time. Yes, it's a murder mystery but it also shows how grief and loss can shatter even the closest of families. You naturally like the parents of the murdered girl without the show ever doing any "Look how likeable this couple is" scenes and it's heartbreaking to watch their relationship slowly crack, splinter and shatter as the consequences of Nanna's death grow. It's also great to have a strong female lead without any direct discussion of her gender. I'm on the 14th episode of 20 and I have to fight the urge to watch all the remaining episodes in one big gulp. There's a US remake but how often do those words end well? That neatly segues into Torchwood: Miracle Day ending well. Or rather, not ending well. A curate's egg of a show but it is notable that the good parts were those already in place - Jack, Gwen and the base in Wales. The rest of it ranged from fun but atonal (Q!) to the downright abysmal: Rex.
I'm not sure what RTD was thinking when he made the new American lead quite so unlikeable. It certainly didn't help that he was arrogant and stupid to boot. Esther wasn't much better for the first eight episodes so they gave her a complete personality transfer for episodes 9/10. But the ultimate sin of T:MD was that it was dull. Stupid, nonsensical, absurd, cheap looking - all qualities I can readily forgive but not dullness. I guess we must put Children of Earth down as an odd blip rather than the natural progression of the series. Pity.
Books: I have ploughed through a fair amount over the last few weeks, including the last book Dick Francis wrote or co-wrote, though it apparently won't be the last Dick Francis book - he's now a brand so they'll stick his name on the cover in big letters and get his son to write it. We'll see how well that works. Someone gave me a Josephine Tay book and I really enjoyed that so I'm going to track down some more. Meanwhile, one of my major literary quests had a huge boost - despite P G Wodehouse's continued popularity, it's actually quite hard to get hold of his works. Arrow Books recently did a nice re-issue of many of his most regarded works but only as a limited release and at quite a high price tag. A few days ago I was in London and spotted a couple in a discount shop window so I went in and discovered shelves of them at less than three pound a pop. Nice. Of course, I'm going to have to have an online list of those I currently own so I don't double buy any.
Personal stuff: We had Helen's sister down for a visit which was lovely. We met her in London and went around the V&A Museum - gorgeous place but Helen in particular wanted to see their new exhibit: Power of Making. Really fascinating stuff there from bicycles made entirely from nylon or wood (though would you want to ride something called the Splinterbike?) to a life size crocheted bear. If you happen to be in London, go see (it's free too!). Wedding fever has finally died out over here so I'm mostly enjoying quiet weekends with the freedom to plot as I see fit. I'm hoping to go see Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy very soon too - there's only a few films my mother will watch so we tend to go with my parents to them.
Right, as the man said, back to the world of dreams.