Man Vs Camera #81: Mr Hannon Plays To Seated Children
A review of last week's Doctor Who at Dorkadore, posted so late than I've just sent them the following week's. (Sorry...)
I’ve never heard a man insist his wife must have big tits, but I’ve heard countless women complain about a man’s height. What do you want, you whining harridans? A ladder in a hat?
Charlie Brooker, during a rant about a TV show, encapsulates a notion that came to me a lot during my thrilling online dating adventure.
Heroes season 4 finally finishes on the BBC, and I give it my Dorkadore review treatment type thing.
Link: Heroes season 4 finally finishes on the BBC, and I give it my Dorkadore review treatment type thing.
Hiding From Politics in an Election Year
Link: Hiding From Politics in an Election Year
I considered writing a flat-out political entry today, in commemoration of the UK general election, but some tiny spark of common sense pulled me back. I If there’s one surefire way to offend most…
Electile Dysfunction
Ever since the general election was called, many many years ago, I’ve been meaning to write some kind of blog post about it. But every time I have sat down to do so, the words simply haven’t come. I’ve not been able to think of anything I can say about the whole goddamn process which hasn’t been said elsewhere, many times and probably with better research.
Even the media coverage of the election, which is more my area than the politics, has been discussed to death, then we’ve sat around talking at its corpse like mad bastards. But today is Election Day, which means its now or never for that topical blog session.
And, fortunately, I’ve recently seen this. That apparently is the genuine front page of the Sun news paper tomorrow. (And even more brilliantly, this was one of their stories of the day.) In fairness, none of the papers are exactly looking unbiased. And, perhaps foolishly, I genuinely find myself asking “How did it come to this?”
Seriously, when did we reach the point that they can report their biases as an actual substitute for news? Well, as often happens when I try to discuss news reporting, Charlie Brooker’s Newswipe made my point much better. In particular in this video, from about 2:00 to 4:30.
But the trends he mentions, newspapers becoming increasingly dependent on campaigns and “opinion”, has become horribly, tragically, brutally obvious in the last month. Seriously, I’m sure it used to be a game. You’d read a Guardian piece and, yes, it would be somewhat left-leaning but at least it wouldn’t be a fucking obvious polemic.
And yeah, The Sun has always had an agenda, but it’s impressive how they’ve basically remove any pretence at communicating information and replaced their front page with Tory campaign posters.
Is this what newspapers have to do to survive? Will they cut this out once the election is over? Has it actually always been this bad and I’ve only just now noticed? Do I know the answer to any of these questions? Obviously not.
Anyhoo. Don’t let the newsbastards get you down. Go out and vote, innit. Then wait and see what happens next.
Bank Holidays – It’s Going To Be A Long Weekend
Link: Bank Holidays – It’s Going To Be A Long Weekend
Sorry, that was not exactly the blistering return I had planned. I got distracted once again, this time with various developments in my other writing cap as “aspiring novelist”. However, after two…
Four Lions - One Review
Earlier this week, I lucked into an early screening of the new Chris Morris movie Four Lions, which I gather is not on general release for another week. So, with my exciting advantaged position, I thought this was a good time to post a review on my blog. So, was it any good?
Well, obviously. This film has been knocking around for a while, talked up by millions as the next big topical controversial sweary Brit flick of the times. Basically, the press think this is the next In The Loop. And I fucking loved In The Loop, so I was excited.
The film itself is about a bunch of would-be terrorists in Britain, trying to plan their epic, world-changing jihad. Really, really badly. Farce ensues, and considering this is from Chris Morris and the writers of Peep Show, it does so with the exact mix of satire and cringing humiliation that you’d expect.
Yes, it’ll probably be done by the media as somehow “endorsing terrorism”, but all you need to do is glance at the actual movie to realise that almost all the terrorists are portrayed as being ridiculously thick. The only exception is the lead character, who is allowed to seem sane, albeit obviously misguided.
If the comedy had been less brilliantly honed, this film might have been disturbing, but it’s so expertly done that you honestly barely notice the subject matter much of the time due to being busy laughing. Even when reality does intrude, it’s in a measured way, and with jokes interspersed.
If you’re determined to be offended, of course, you will be, but I think we have to live in a world where we’re allowed to mention these things, joke about them and discuss them in an adult manner. Turning them into taboo subjects and leaving them permanently out of reach makes them seem mysterious, horrible and terrifyingly efficient.
In short, if you don’t see this film, or at least accept its existence, the terrorists win.
