Movies, books and the rise of the mentalists

This evening, I've decided to return to the classic thebadrash.com binary review system, which I never patented… but which has nevertheless not yet been stolen from me. Inspired by a combination of Guirilandia's excellent review of V For Vendetta (n.b. had the psychoactive drugs; fell asleep), and an onslaught of foolish and irritating comments from country bumpkins with nought better to do but defend a Nick Cave look-alike with dubious political ideas, here's a roundup of recently enjoyed and not enjoyed material.

Books

Ghosts of Spain by Giles Tremlett
History of modern Spain dealt with in a thematic style. Good chapters included the corruption in Marbella section and (to a degree) the Catalonia bit. I skipped over the Basque question because I'm bored with it. Just: 1/1

Gary Benchley, Rock Star by Paul Ford
The charming, if slightly irritating, story of a young man who has moved to New York City with two aims: (1) not working in data entry any more, and (2) rocking out. He listens to lots of cool indie rock, and builds what is, to him, the most inclusive rock band ever. I liked the earnest committment to his original goals, even when he sleeps with a republican bible-bashing groupie and catches an STI. 1/1

Television

BBC Breakfast - BBC One, 7 am every day
Now I'm no great fan of Natasha Kaplinsky, but something has gone seriously wrong with this programme. Bill Turnbull always seems like he's going to make the last joke of his career. I seriously expect him to crack one day while speaking for the hundredth consecutive minute about the soddin NHS. Michal Hussein is lovely but pregnant. That Scottish woman who does the weather has a voice that makes me want to cut my own head off. She also does this irritating sotto voce gasping in between each sentence, which once noticed can never again be avoided. Their news coverage today consisted of some more stuff about the sodding NHS, and two features about what the Queen wears. Royal outfitting has always been a hobby of mine, but please, BBC can we not have some news too? 0/0

EuroNews - EuroNews Channel, all the time
At first, I thought that this was some sort of Brussels based EU funded snore machine which was designed to give grey beaureaucrats the grey, beaureaucratic news they wanted, when they wanted it. While I was mostly right about that, EuroNews is the only channel which seems to offer a decent, frequent and yet in-depth coverage of international news all the time. Every now and then, they take five minutes out to inform us about potters in Tromso or some art gallery in Siena. Brilliant accompaniment to a smug short black coffee in the morning. 1/1

Films

King Kong (the new one)
Quite good. A bit too long. 1/1

Harry Potter (yeah, what?) (the new one)
Quite good. Far too long. 1/1

V for Vendetta - made by some dead pigs in a hole
So bad, it was just BAD. Way too long, fell asleep before the 'climax'. 0/1

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April 18, 2006 | Filed Under General 

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