It’s funny how Mike King has stepped out of the doorway in the back of David Letterman’s head and entered the one marked “Rove McManus”, although I use the word “funny” loosely, because that’s one aspect of being a comedian that Mike King seems to have missed. The other would be likeability.
Rove on the other hand is possibly the nicest man in Australia, while King has all the warmth of something on ice at Seamart. I doubt whether he could top the guy that completely enclosed Rove in a bubble, either. Now that really was something.
It’s also funny how a story can take on a life of its own. I was interested to see in this Listener Upfront interview with Oliver Driver by Olivia Kember a mention of the quote: “I can’t believe some of the stories that have been let slide … your average news media is really, really, really lazy.” As far as I know, Mikey Havoc first said that in the e.g. story I wrote way back in March. It seemed to get backs up at the Herald, probably among the overworked news journalists, and Michele Hewitson subsequently wrote this review of Quality Time. Then Linda Herrick took apart Frontseat as well.
The trouble was, of course, that if Mikey had actually come up with “proper investigative journalism” in Quality Time, journos might not have been so grumpy; waving a Bush doll around in front of the American Embassy just doesn’t cut it. It also might be true that there are a million stories in the naked city going unreported, but most of them can’t be printed in a newspaper because they’re defamatory.
If television is going to decide the US presidency, then nearly everyone thinks that Kerry has won after the first debate. Even Fox News has had to report that the polls are in Kerry’s favour, although they just have to qualify that with the comment that post-debate flash polls are “not said to be terribly reliable”. Heh. Mind you, if television did really win presidencies – or mayoralties – then Christine (or Chris, as she seems to want to be known) Fletcher would be ahead in the polls after the Holmes debate this week. And was that the sound of everyone south of Manukau City turning off their TVs?
I’d been thinking that Six Feet Under has gone a bit Sopranos this season; the examination of the minutiae of family life and relationships, the slow burn, but as a metaphor for the state of America it’s not nearly so good, nor do you come away thinking, “Jeez, a lot just happened, I could do with watching that again.” There’s always that something-rotten-in-the-state-of-Denmark air about The Sopranos, whereas sometimes you just want to bitch-slap the SFU characters and tell them to stop whining. The attack on David is a kind of post-9/11 examination of post-traumatic stress disorder, I guess.
Leo writes about Six Feet Under:
One critique I read (NY Times?) pointed to the clothes burning as a sour point in the plot. I actually felt it rather affecting.
Alternet critiques the burying of Lisa as too over the top. I tended to agree, but also “got” what it was all about.
I thought the burying of Lisa was a good idea – isn’t SFU supposed to be about the messy, random, unknowable, ironic nature of death? I did think it would have been nigh-on impossible for Nate to have dug a hole that friggin’ big on a bit of land that friggin’ dry and then packed all that soil back in again – it couldn’t be done, as any landscape gardener will tell you. I don’t want to be a detail Nazi, but sometimes it’s the little things that distract you.
Maybe someone from Sky would like to answer Peter’s comment:
I’d like to note that Sky still consistently doesn’t allow subtitles to come through its channel. The Sky I access is in a rural area where I cannot pick up 1-3 without it, and consistently, subtitles are piecemeal.
I’m still boycotting television. It steals your imagination, and watching people mouthing is a big turn off for the nation's 200,000+ people with some hearing loss. Sky is stone deaf and doesn't care.
Here’s something bizarre from an anonymous source:
Do u remember that kids TV show from the 70s called Rainbow, with Zippy & that guy in the bear suit? Well do u remember this episode!?!!!!!!? The site has the script, but it is far funnier to play the video. It takes a little while to download tho.
Jeez, had the writers been smoking that banana peel? Unless it was Murray Mexted that wrote the script. Warning: When I went to the site, the clip seemed to download without me asking it to.
Apologies if you missed The Datsuns on Letterman on Friday the 24th; Prime’s update was wrong by a couple of nights, which means you probably missed them on Tuesday night, as did I. Bugger. The new list is:
Monday 4th: John Travolta and Pearl Jam
Tuesday 5th: Richard Gere and snake master Austin Stevens
Wednesday 6th: Franz Ferdinand
Thursday 7th: Annette Bening and Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly
Friday 8th: Jamie Foxx and the father and son from American Chopper, Paul and Paul Jr.
Monday 11th: Donald Trump and musical guest(!) Minnie Driver
Meanwhile, on Hum tonight are these clips:
1. Jeff Buckley – Forget Her
2. Loretta Lynn – Portland Oregon
3. Dresden Dolls – Coin Operated Boy
4. Rachel Yamagata – Worn Me Down
5. Lucid 3 – AM Radio (NZ)
6. Pluto – Dance Stamina (NZ)
7. Faithless – The Long Way Home
8. Ghost Tones – Material Girl (NZ)
9. Age Pryor – The Best For You (NZ)
10. Straitjacket Fits – Down in Splendour (NZ)