A God-awful Small Affair

It's not exactly a new craze. In fact, it failed spectacularly in the 50s. But with the continual bombarment of blockbuster epics such as Avatar, animated franchises such as Toy Story and a range of opportunistic gimmicks like Final Destination - 3D is most definitely back. Looks good, doesn't it? No. No, without a pair of glasses this looks like a fucking blur. But if the media industries continue to go as they are presently, this'll be a regularity to those not wearing the appropriate headgear. But what's wrong with it? Is it damaging cinema directly? No, not really. However - my beef with the idea is down to a variety of reasons. Primarily - necessity. The whole point of it was that it was a novelty - something you can go "ooh" at, and don't particularly make a habit out of. Cinema and television have enjoyed almost (over) a century of magical moments - would Metropolis have been better with a few of those mechanical cogs sticking out? Would Goodfellas ...

The current popular music climate is drowning in electronic synths that all blend together into one repetitive and boring strand. Step forward Scissor Sisters, purveyors of camp, infectious and feel-good anthems. Their previous two albums have topped charts worldwide and springboarded phenomenal songs such as I Don't Feel Like Dancin', Take Your Mama and Filthy/Gorgeous. Now with a change of musical scene you'd expect them to thrive given the rather stereotypical view of a group of homosexuals from New York and its supposed experiences with dance music. And they do. "Night Work" is jam-packed with what most current albums and artists are not: memorable tunes, poetically outrageous lyrics (no disco sticks or show me where your dick's at here) and consistency. The titular track is an immediate fast-paced reflection on the mood of the album, keeping with their quirky and honky-tonk lyrical delivery that Jake Shears is able to slip into with ease. "Wh...

I've often felt a slight apprehension to those who complain too much. Sure, I may be a misanthropic and hateful cynic, but there have to be lines and unfortunately the wrong things fall into the line of fire. So, the NHS. My experiences with it have been relatively small - having only required to attend hospital for my own ailments aged 6 (hearing problems) and a few other problems even prior to that (heart murmur, lovely), I've never had much knowledge of the environment. However, my record with being a visitor is rather woeful to say the least. Last year, I went to visit both my sick older brother and father (months apart, not at the same time) and both of them died the next day. So that was a rather bad omen for my hospital visits. BUT ALAS - I needed to make one today. Waking my mother up at 8am, I forced her to take me to A&E (on the recommendation of an on-call doctor via phone) and there we went: directed to a side office of the A&E department called "Devon ...

I'm not even going to try and make a pun-title given the failure of the "rainbow - bung(le) it in the bin" thing. Not sure what I was smoking there, sorry. Formalities out of the way - attention was drawn this week to an episode of "Miranda" that I happened to have the misfortune of leaving my television on and open to such atrocities. If you're unfamiliar with the show, it's fronted by a Ms. Miranda Hart. In researching her I've just discovered she was born in Torquay, the same as I. Well, the more you know. She's got a pretty impressive history of appearances; in shows such as French and Saunders, the Vicar of Dibley (whether that's something commendable I shan't say), wrote for Smack the Pony and appeared on Celebrity Fame Academy and Have I Got News For You (one such performance I witnessed, and believed she was rather funny in). But it's her very own vehicle that draws my attention. It's certainly drawn others - she won the R...