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...

Went to Twickenham yesterday to see REM. As a pro-football, anti-rugby man I really wanted to have a moan about the venue but annoyingly I could find nothing wrong with it. Even though the station isn't as near the ground as Wembley, the crowd control and journey home were as good as they could realistically be. Curses! I arrived just in time for Guillemots , between whose songs the screens either side of the stage displayed adverts for their album and downloadable songs, which even in these days of commercial saturation seemed a tad vulgar. The 'Mots (as nobody calls them) are as erratic a proposition as you'd expect from a band whose members include a fat Brazilian drummer, an impossibly exotic double bassist/percussionist named Aristzabal Hawkes, and a hyperactive indie-boy leader who goes by as strange a moniker as Fyfe Dangerfield. Take Kriss Kross , which begins with a killer keyboard riff that proceeds to go missing for a couple of minutes as the song tears through a...