Sweet Nothings

I can't decide on one specific thing to write about, but feel I ought to make some sort of entry in order to avoid getting featured on one of those " blog graveyard " sites. So here are a few random bullet points. Feeling Gravity's Pull  - Wonders of the Universe doesn't mess with a winning formula, meaning lucky old Brian Cox once again gets to visit spectacular landscapes the world over from where he delivers his enthusiastic musings on life, the universe and everything. It's very slow and clearly designed to appeal to the lowest common audience denominator, but let's be clear - any attempt to get people watching hard science on prime time TV is worthwhile, and especially when the quality of the visuals is this good. Even better, last night's episode featured Brian in a gravity simulator, and when it sped up to 4 Gs and beyond, and the immense downward forces made his jowls sag and his forehead crease, for once he looked his actual age. Mind yo...

A couple of years back, the FX channel showed an Australian drama called Underbelly . It was a pretty graphic portrayal of Melbourne's real-life gangland wars, events which were indeed so recent as to render the show unbroadcastable in the state of Victoria for fear of it prejudicing trials which were still taking place. Gruesome as some of the events it covered were, the tone of Underbelly  was rather odd - light and comical in places, and shot in bright, welcoming colours. Pretty much  Neighbours with guns and swearing, as the Guardian noted at the time. The effect, intentional or not, was to make these true events seem somewhat fantastical. Animal Kingdom  does not have this problem. David Michod's film (his name has an accent in it which I don't know how to add in Blogger - apols, mate) is a fictional but extremely down-and-dirty portrayal of the same Melbourne netherworld. It also differs from Underbelly by focussing on one family rather than dealing with an e...

I know I go on about the Sound of... polls and how pernicious they are, but the 2011 edition has become a real tipping point for me. Consider first Jessie J (if that is indeed her real name): the video to demented debut single  Do It Like A Dude  succeeds in being simultaneously provocative and terrifying. The tired old chestnut of whether white middle-class kids should really be singing "do it like the mandem" like Yardies doesn't really concern me; that boat sailed long ago. But this tune, to borrow a phrase, is some next level shit. It seems designed to repel adults completely. Well that's fine, if this is what "the kids" are listening to nowadays then I'm happy to admit defeat - I hereby declare myself Old, and utterly baffled by a piece of popular music. It's actually something of a relief. (Having said that, the follow-up  Price Tag  is a harmless bit of R&B, so perhaps Jessie's not so hardcore and is - gasp - just another major labe...