Speaking as an enormously unlikeable person

[alexsarll]

I'd heard that Boston Legal was very funny, and it is. But nobody told me how sad it was too. James Spader's brilliant, but he's well withink his comfort zone of retilian charm. Shatner, on the other hand...based on the first two episodes, this seems to be the closest he'll get to playing Lear.

Been a while since I talked about any films on here, hasn't it? But then it's been a while since I saw any, what with all the TV series and Curse Of Comedy one-offs and books and even a little socialising. Until yesterday, the last one I did see was Clerks II, of which there's little to be said beyond "If you like Kevin Smith films, you'll like this, though probably not quite as much". And while I've finally seen Snakes on a Plane, talking about that online became passe as soon as it was released, didn't it? Though the resemblance of the FBI agent on the ground to Barack Obama was probably not registered sufficiently at the time. I can say something useful about The Dark Is Rising, though: DO NOT WATCH IT. Don't watch it 'cos you liked the books; it's a travesty. Don't watch it for Christopher Eccleston or Ian McShane; they are visibly thinking "I quit Who for *this*?" and "I can't believe Deadwood stopped so David Milch could make a show about surf Jesus." Don't even watch it for sh1ts and giggles; it's too dreary and cheap and lazy even to muster those. Althought it has left me with a renewed determination to reread the books.

"The display of works of art, for example, is to be fussy about what colour pictures are hung on - at what height they're hung. That sounds like a really elitist preoccupation to many people, but it's absolutely not. If pictures are overlit or underlit, or if they're at the wrong height, they're put at a slight dis-advantage. The connoisseur-director who is forever fussing about the fabric to me is engaging in what is a crucial popular activity." After seeing how badly John Martin's masterpieces were being served by height and light last time I was in the Tate, it's great to know that the National Gallery's new director is a "fighting high brow".

Department of Conspiracy: you may have heard about New York governor Eliot Spitzer's resignation after he was caught consorting with prostitutes. Which rather handily overshadowed this article he wrote for the Washington Post. An article in which he notes that the federal government had used some rather obscure powers to over-ride state consumer protection legislation which might have stopped the sub-prime mortgage debacle getting quite so horribly out of hand.

Comments

[mrs-leroy-brown.livejournal.com]

barrysarll: watching dire films so you don't have to.

I'm glad my knee-jerk reaction to the Dark is Rising film being rub has been validated! I do take serious offence to books I loved as films being turned into films. Horton Hears a Who, I'm looking at you!

[pippaalice.livejournal.com]

loved as a kid?

[mrs-leroy-brown.livejournal.com]

ahahahahha yes of course. I be smart! :) thanks Pippa!

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

It's especially baffling with the Dr Seuss books, or the forthcoming Where The Wild Things Are - they could make shorts from those books (and I remember some animated ones which were OK), but features?

I did need companionship and alcohol to face down this turkey; between us we came up with a whole alternate story in which the Old Ones were all paedophiles, which improved it no end. Dear heavens but the pseudo-Will was annoying.

Surf Jesus

[strange-powers.livejournal.com]

John From Cincinnati is one of the most mesmerising and beautiful tv shows ever made. I know I'm in a minority (possibly of one), but I wouldn't trade it for a dozen Deadwoods.

Re: Surf Jesus

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

You are honestly the first person I've heard with a good word to say about it, but that's still enough that if it comes to any channels I have, I will give it a chance. I'm becoming increasingly picky about my TV post-Wire, though; I just ditched Mad Men for this week's horribly predictable episode.

Re: Surf Jesus

[strange-powers.livejournal.com]

The Wire is my next target, I think. I can't ignore the tide of opinion any longer! I don't know what Mad Men was shown here this week, but predictability is not an accusation I could level at most of the series. But narrative surprises are not the stuff that Mad Men does best - it's insight, social politics and the performances that make it. It's such a short series that it's worth sticking with, at least for the time being. If you're not engrossed by episode seven ("Red in the Face") then by all means, ignore me.

Re: Surf Jesus

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Ah, assumed you'd be ahead of UK broadcast with Mad Men too, and initially wrote the comment as such, but then realised I had no firm evidence for that belief and didn't want to spoiler you just in case. It was the one where his long lost brother turns up, and Peggy thinks he's with his mistress, and I was at least five minutes ahead of the script at all times. Maybe I shall go back and watch the last ten minutes and then persevere up to this seventh episode, I think this must have been the fifth, so it's not that much time.

I watched The Wire before the acclaim had reached quite its current levels, and even then assumed that it couldn't entirely live up to them. I was wrong. If anything, I think maybe it's still under-rated in so far as I read articles about TV by people who haven't seen it yet, which really ought to be illegal.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I'd be very surprised if I don't love it (at worst it will be a Different Class) but no, I have not yet heard it.