02/02/2006
Scumbags united
"I hate Illinois Nazis!"
[Jake Blues, "The Blues Brothers" (1980).]
Following that line, the Blues Brothers drive their car directly through
a crowd of heiling Nazis, scattering them into the river, completely
destroying their master-race image and making them look as ridiculous as
they really, underneath the swastikas, are.
Sadly, a
similar fate did not befall Nick Griffin today, and it's a shame.
This, not jail, is what he and his crowd of tinpot hatemongers really
deserve - full, humiliating, public embarassment.
It's interesting to contrast this with the current furore over the
Prophet Muhammed cartoons - made by a Danish newspaper specifically to
piss people off in about September last year, riled up by a few Internet
tossers as a 'freedom of speech against those Ay-rabs' issue, now so
successful in doing so it's destabilising the European role in the
Israel/Palestine peace process. Both the cartoons and Griffin's BNP are
at the harsh edges of freedom of speech - they may cause great, great
harm by being there.
As a small-l liberal, I have to consider freedom of speech to be one of
the values I hold most dear. People like the BNP do not make this easy.
I note, with some irony, that they don't want us to have our
freedom of speech - they're
involved in the current will-not-die iteration of the Jerry Springer:
The Opera saga. At the same time, I have to concede that while
Muslims do have genuine grievances over the cartoons - the one with the
turban bomb is truly appalling racism - their leaders really shouldn't
be trying to make it a nuclear issue; although the normal boycotts,
complaints, protests etc are absolutely fine if done in a legal and
proper way. It's not like Jerry, where the complaints were
unjustified and the protesters scummy - this is a much more even affair.
Anyway, on the Mohammed cartoon stuff, Bloggerheads
and Chicken
Yoghurt are both very good. Oh, and considering that Mark
Collett - Griffin's co-defendant - has admitted being involved with
Redwatch, the British Nazi version of a animal-rights/anti-abortion
style 'post the addresses and knock them off' hitlist (in both Secret
Agent and, istr, in the 2002-ish 'Young, Nazi and Proud' Channel
Four film) shouldn't he be in jail instead of praising himself as a
"victor" for "freedom of speech"? Only in a just world, I think.
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03/02/2006
IT Crowd
Looks really awful from the trailers, mainly because of Richard Ayoade.
So, how's the programme itself?
It's actually pretty good. It's a trad sitcom, shot on video with a
laugh track, which is also really good news - I loathe the
Green-Wing/Nighty-Night/Office style sitcoms that feel that just because
they're 'modern' means they don't have to be funny and seem to be
absolutely everywhere on TV right now. The writing, as we would expect
from Graham Linehan, is very sparky; Richard Ayoade is still awful, but
looks like he may well become more funny as the series goes on
(certainly, he seems to improve between episode 1, where he's
tooth-grindingly bad, and episode 2, where at least one of his lines
works). The set designers have done their homework (EFF stickers, Texas
Chainsaw Massacre poster, RTFM T-shirt), and the attention to detail
is really quite likeable. And, most importantly, it's funny.
The second episode is much better than the first, by the way, so do
stick with it. If you don't, Channel Four will recommission 'Balls of
Steel'. Please, think of your sanity.
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04/02/2006
Just seen the Massive Attack video
...holy shit, it's good. The song's back in Protection territory
and the video (a Jonathan Glazer special) is beautiful in its shocking
simplicity. See it. Love it. Buy the single in March, and maybe we can
get something decent up the Top 10.
Now, about that album...
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12/02/2006
"US to emulate Eurovision contest"
What the
hell are they thinking? Eurovision is naff, and naffness can
only be made tenable by a serious irony injection (which is why Terry
Wogan is the only guy alive who can host the thing without making it
unbearable.) Most of the rest of Europe hasn't discovered pop-cultural
irony yet - see the popularity of hair-rock bands in most of the Eastern
Bloc - which is why they can stand it. We can stand it because we have
Wogan, and as a nation we like pop-cultural irony. The US, on the
other hand, is an odd case; TV producers love pop-cultural irony
but think that the audience are too dumb to take the real thing, so
generally oversugar and seriously mess it up. It will be a disaster.
Oh, and file this under 'unlikely': Pete
Doherty vows to stay 'drugs-free'. Like the last ten times, I
suppose...
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20/02/2006
BAFTAs reaction
Well, it's been a pretty good selection this year, actually - Reese
Witherspoon won for Walk the Line, which was unexpected (she's very
good in it), and the Wallace and Gromit film won Best British Film
(yay!). Brokeback Mountain swept it (I still haven't seen it),
which I suppose was expected.
Oscar
predictions? I haven't seen Crash and Capote isn't out
yet, but I suspect Brokeback will take Best Picture too (the
BAFTAs and AMPAS membership overlap considerably.) Munich is the
best film out of the list I've seen. Witherspoon should get Best
Actress, W&G should get best animated (but I wouldn't mind if Miyazaki
got it either) and Robert Altman should have got his Oscar a long time
back, but at least gets an honorary one. Looks to be a pretty boring
year - too few choices.
And, in non-movie related news... Andy
Murray won his first ATP Tour title. Against Lleyton Hewitt. 2-6,
6-1, 7-6. Having beaten Andy Roddick already. Damn, he's getting
better quickly, isn't he?
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28/02/2006
I should really add an "Unfortunate Celebrity Deaths" category
Linda
Smith, RIP.
She was responsible for my favourite recent I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
moment: doing Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer" to the tune of Renee &
Renato's "Save Your Love" with such passion and overwhelming enthusiasm
that it became even funnier than it would normally have been. Another
too-young cancer casualty.
And Jim Davidson still lives.
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If only more schools would do this
"School
gives pupils contraception" (BBC News)
Basically, a community college in Devon has decided to give out condoms
and/or the Pill and/or STI testing to kids who've been through a full
sex-education programme run by family planning GPs. This is a fantastic
idea - it gives out the 'if you're going to screw, and we know you're
going to, you might as well do it safely' message in a way that
increases the amount of qualified support that kids are going to get -
plus, it's from actual trained GPs instead of little trained PE
teachers, as it was in my case.
So unsurprisingly, as it is with all sex ed matters, some people are
being moronic about it. Parents were apparently consulted beforehand
and, of course, can opt their kids out (grr), but of course they don't
want those other kids learning about it either, and what's more
they don't like the fact that the GPs give confidentiality and so won't
know that their kid's trying not to get pregnant. I particularly like
this comment:
"Campaign organiser and father-of-eight Neville Wheelan, who
would be affected if the scheme was extended to other schools, said the
rights of parents and families were being undermined."
As a "father-of-eight", of course, he obviously doesn't believe in
contraception (I wonder if his wife does). Funnily, he doesn't even seem
to be from the area, which I thought would have been a
prerequisite in order to get your views heard by the local media.
"He said: 'The consequences, psychological and physical damage
that can be done is something that children should not be exposed to.'"
Funny, I would say exactly the same thing about having a kid -
the point of sex ed is so that we avoid said damage (having a
baby at 14 will ruin your life forever, getting chlyamidia off
your boyfriend will really fuck you up, that sort of thing.) But
there you go, you just can't please some people.
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