Goodbye to 2008

It feels like the right time to take a break from the holiday fun (such as it is, with both Karen and myself both full up with a cold) and take a look back at what's gone down with this year.
Musical Highlight of 2008
As ever, tying me down to one standout musical moment of any time period (unless it's the last five minutes) is impossible. I have a favourite song for every mood and occasion and I love them all equally on an emotional level. However, as the point of this blog is about writing I'll try and be more critical.

Usually a decade has a musical trend that defines it usually in the main pop scene but also on the underground levels. This year, I think the dominant trend is for pop to have drawn heavily on underground 80's indie sounds. The Wombats, Foals, Black Kids, Ladyhawke, Late of the Pier and Friendly Fires have all come to the fore sounding like a progression of the bands that I thought were cool and rebellious when I was in high school (which is now longer ago than I like to admit).

Its been a good year in other areas too though with bands like Hot Chip, TV on the Radio and Kings of Leon as top contenders.

Ultimately though I'm torn between two bands from the US who don't actually sound like they're from the US.

MGMT and Vampire Weekend.

I like both for different reasons. Vampire Weekend are VERY pop, but not cringily so. There's nothing wrong with catchy songs so long as they are sincere attempts at expression and not cynical productions following a formula where the artist doesn't matter. I can enjoy that kind of pop.

MGMT on the other hand represent that other side of me that just wants to rebel against the norms. They aren't rebellious in the seventies punk style, I guess its more akin to the hippie kind of anarchy that their dress style seems to represent.

If I had to choose one then it would probably be Vampire Weekend, if only because they seem to have more places to go whereas I'm not sure how MGMT can sustain their invention over more than one album. Instead I'm going to give it to MGMT for one reason only. I can't play the VW album to my kids because of the swearing, which is a shame because they love the edited versions they see on the TV.

TV Highlight of 2008
I'd like to throw up a surprise or two here but at the moment there's nothing that really touches my pick for the year. Before I reveal it though I'll give a few honourable mentions for programs that I've enjoyed even if they haven't set my TV world on fire.

Harry Hill has been consistently funny thoughout the year. His TV Burp program shows the absurdity of taking TV programs too seriously and his trick of inserting himself into the programs through clever editing tickles my funnybones in particular.

Battlestar Galactica was also an intermittent pleasure but it can be heavy going as it is quite plot driven. Knowing it was coming to an end seemed to lift this seasons episodes and I'm looking forward to the return of the final episodes in the new year.

Chuck was another show that had potential this year. It was consistently enjoyable, but not dazzlingly so. With a second series coming in 2009 aybe it can shine a bit brighter.

A late contender was Survivors but the BBC's habit of only producing a handful of episodes per series means that it was over before it began. With a second set of episodes scheduled for next year then at least we know there's more to come but it's not enough to give it top spot.

Finally we come to my actual choice for the year. With an expectation bending season that looked like it might not even get off the ground, the 14 episodes of Lost that kicked off the year set the benchmark and was never beaten. With the developments coming thick and fast we finally saw some payoff to the first few seasons and whilst some questions about the plot have been answered we still have many more questions about the characters still to go. Do they have a larger purpose in the scheme of things. Does the Island have some larger purpose or will it all boil down to some small-time ambitions. At the moment I'm as hooked as I ever was and even though I'm probably setting myself up for a fall when the final season comes along, I'm still enjoying the ride. So Lost gets my TV pick for the year.

Movie of 2008
There's nothing I'd like better than to name some obscure, foreign-language film as my pick of 2008, but unfortunately I've been cured of my movie snobbery, so I guess I'll just have to go with the film I enjoyed the most.

The Dark Knight was the years most hyped film but for me it kind of disappeared up its own backside and failed to tell a compelling Batman story. I've always seen Bats as a detective so I actually like to see him using his brain once in a while. His fisticuffs should only be employed to get to where he knows he already wants to be, the fights and gadgets are secondary to the fact that essentially he is the greatest detective mind pitting his wits against other criminal masterminds. His greates enemies are usually insane because that makes them unpredictable. Those who follow a logical thought pattern are easy to catch. There should have been a better battle of wits between the two, although I have to admit the final showdown was classic. The switch was only predictable until just before it happened and it dawned what was going to happen. Ultimately disappointing for me.

Instead another film from the comic book genre came to my rescue. Iron Man showed lots of wit and character even though the film had even more of an excuse to show off gadgets than Batman did. It also showed the difference between Marvel and DC even more so than before. Marvel's ethos has always been about superheroes in the real world whereas DC invented cities to reflect the characters they created. Therefore DC created fantasy heroes who faced fantasy villains which you knew they would escape from. Marvel however put the hero in the real world, facing real threats and you were then able to suspend disbelief that the hero was in real danger.

So the charming Tony Stark (aka Robert Downey Jr) takes my pick as movie of the year.

There you go! The top awards go to MGMT, Lost and Iron Man.

I hope the next year has more in store than this past year.


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Now playing: Air - La Femme d'Argent
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TV Meview 9.12.2008

Gosh! Doing these TV reviews is positively cathartic!

I was about to dismiss an evening in front of the telly this Tuesday in favour of a return to Sims 2. Much more drama there, I thought.

Sat at the dining table at the other end of our room Stargate Atlantis came on the tv and I felt no desire to go and watch it. It didn't help that this was another episode of the interminably boring 'wraith become human' saga that was trotted out. It kind of opened my eyes to what ultimately leads this sort of show in need of a reboot.

When you get such a small group of people going up against the kind of odds that the Atlantis crew do, week in and week out, always coming out on top, then they start to gain a mythical status.

Nothing can touch them and the type of adventure that would challenge us mere mortals would come across as a minor distraction to them.

Therefore the obstacles the Atlantis team now face each episode have become more and more epic in scale, such as finding some sort of redemption for the wraith. They are now benevelont gods. And as usual whenever we imperfect humans try to convey some kind of altruistic concept we make it so bland and devoid of life and excitement (is that what we really think totally good people are like?) we make it totally uninteresting.

Maybe that's why I liked the episode last week. It was relatively small scale and focused about the problems between people and showed character.

Once Stargate had finished I was quite prepared to stay at the table but in order to propose engagement to Titania Summerdream but my longsuffering wife reminded methat Survivors was coming on.

This programme has now become the highlight of my week in the absence of any new Fringe episodes until the new year. Another strong episode saw our band go their separate ways as it looked like they had found a place to settle. Abby went off chasing a rumour of children on a nearby estate (not the kind of estate I thought it would be!), Greg and Anya stayed back at the house to wait for Abby whilst the rest of the gang went off to the new community we first saw in the last episode.

As usual nothing goes according to plan and Abby is attacked by a group of boys as she tries to rescue a mysterious stranger from their untamed wrath. Greg and Anya are attacked by another group of Foragers and Anya shows her strengths as she resists and turns the tables on them. Meanwhile, all is not as it seems in paradise and the high standards of the community make them wary of the newcomers as they don't all quite fit into this fledgling society. One incident in particular shows the true colours of a couple of the cast that I'm sure we'll need to bear in mind for future episodes.

Upon Abby's return Greg looks forlorn as yet another opportunity for him to open up to her about his obvious feelings for her are thwarted yet again.

There are only two episodes left of this series now and I can't wait to see what happens next. Will they lose or gain anyone else before the finale. Is there a betrayal on the cards? Surely this has got to get a second series?


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Now playing: Kenny Larkin - Morph
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TV meview 3/4.12.08

Another day another TV meview (do you see what I did there?).

I left you as I was about to watch the latest episode of Stargate Atlantis. Now I have to admit that I only tend to watch this out of habit these days. I still hang in there because of a few characters I like despite the tired stories and rehashed plots. One of them, Rodney Mackay, was the focus of this episode.

A romance has been blossoming between him and another character for a little while now. While it's been obvious to her and the viewers that Rodney likes her, she finally loses her patience as he tries to invent another reason as to why they should spend time together instead of just coming out and asking her on a date.

So, after a reassurance that she's not going to say no he asks her out. I can't criticise, its what I'd probably do. It must be a geek trait.

As it turns out their first date will be spent at a physicists convention. How exciting! Well at least we know that all isn't going to go according to plan and it doesn't disappoint. An old colleague has called the top brains in the world together to demonstrate a way to solve Global Warming, using some of Rodney's theories that he developed as part of the Stargate program.

Of course this leads to all sorts of shenanigans which aptly demonstrate the flaws of Rodney's character as well as his strengths and at the end of the day he saves the day and gets the girl, whilst proving himself to his peers who think he has dropped off the face of the planet in recent years (well I guess he has, really).

All in all it was a good romp. With the news that this will be Atlantis' last season I'll cherish every bit of Rodney I can get. Apparently there's a new series in development called Stargate Universe, but why it'll be worth the risk of dumping some well-established characters to re-invent a tired format I don't know. Maybe it needs a break like Star Trek, in order to gather itself and come back stronger.

After a rare, decent episode of Atlantis it was time to turn to some more dramatic stuff altogether.

Survivors has already, in my opinion, set its tone which, considering the last series Julie Graham was in (Bonekickers), is a great improvement. The acting, stories and production values are on a par with programmes like Spooks and Hustle though not as flashy in its presentation. It's a simple drama about people stripped down to their essences. Each cast member represents a stereotype, philosophy or ideology. In the great Science Fiction tradition this is standard fare, but to see it in primetime on the BBC is good stuff.

The post-apocalyptic setting allows them to explore human traits and responses to an uncivilised environment. That means that plot lines that make no sense on something like Eastenders actually have some weight in Survivors. This could also be down to better actors though.

The interesting thing about this series is that the guy who plays Greg (Paterson Joseph) is rumoured to be the next Doctor Who, so not only am I investing in his performance here, I find myself analysing everything about him as to whether he would make a good Doctor or not.

This time around it looked at the struggle between those who were trying to cling on to the last vestiges of civilisation and those who were trying to create a new one. It pulls no punches in showing what would need to be done in trying to keep law and order functioning in a lawless world. If this was produced in America by a network other than HBO I'm sure it would get all sentimental about democracy and the innate goodness of people. Thankfully, its not and we get a pretty accurate account of what happens in a power vacuum.

Balanced with this storyline the question is posed "How do those who've never done a real day's work in their life look after a bunch of chickens?" A bit of an obvious situation to confront if you find that farmers are no longer producing the food you picked up at the local shop, but it presents itself as an opportunity for some character growth and to foreshadow some future internal struggles within our band of survivors.

I have to say that the pacing of the story is great. It doesn't whiz by like Lost does, but it doesn't drag on like Atlantis can do either. You definitely feel like you've a meaty episode that satisfies.

Wednesday's programming solely consisted of Heroes. I got to watch it alone this week which is hard enough, but as it was a two-parter I decided I'd probably have better things to do next Wednesday (like putting my shoes in the shoe cupboard), so I figured I'd watch the 'first view' on BBC three as well.

I was prepared to give Heroes the benefit of the doubt for its third series after the abortive second season. Unfortunately, it has now, officially, wasted all of my goodwill.

This two-parter was supposed to change everything up, but all its done is once again had everyone acting against the characters they established in the excellent first season.

I'm probably not adding anything to the growing chorus of disapproval to this series, but it surely can't last another season like this. I guess it will ultimately be written off as a one season wonder as I can't see it getting itself out of this mess.

Just the way it picks up from the cliffhanger of part 1 (once you've seen both episodes and connected the dots as to what went on between you'll be sick a little, or not) is typical of the inconsistency prevalent in this series. Does anyone on this show know what they are doing or where they are going and how to make us care again for the characters they've messed up?

It looks like they were surprised by the success of the first season and didn't know what to do with it.

Saying that, I'm an optimistic person and I'll stick with it to the bitter end, if only because my wife loves the program. I've heard it said that its only comic fans that are disappointed by the show as they are used to better and non comic fans still enjoy the show as measured against other dramas out there.

I suppose it is better than Mutant X.
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Now playing: Laura Branigan - Self Control
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