Tuesday, 30 September 2008

TV

Mutual Friends
1x06 Episode Six [season finale]
And hopefully "series finale" too, I must say. While I'm sure it was lots of fun to film -- Alexander Armstrong especially seems to be having a whale of a time, and they've all noted in interviews how much they've enjoyed it -- the wobbly plotting, leaps in logic, and underwritten female characters render it something of a failure. Of course, it'll all come down to ratings in the end.

The Tudors
2x10 Destiny and Fortune [season finale]
Yep, it's not on TV til Friday -- but that's the joy of downloads! You'd think everyone knows what's coming here -- this episode includes the final fate of Henry VIII's (or, as the Americans have it on their posters for this, "Henry 8") second wife -- but I heard of someone on daytime TV the other day hoping everything turns out OK for her. Oh dear oh dear. Still, The Tudors is renowned (amongst me, anyway) for not going anywhere fast, and after the flurry of events in the last two episodes it slows back down for this final installment.
The US broadcast (which I was watching here, of course) also included a trailer for the next season, cunningly edited from clips and soundbites from season two! It was quite impressive really.

Music

Monkey: Journey to the West by Damon Albarn
"The album is a natural development of art and music based on the opera of the same name which Albarn and Jamie Hewlett created with director Chen Shi-Zheng." It's an unusual piece of work, a mix of beautiful pieces, cool pieces, and the odd splash of drivel. It's easy to see why some -- mainly those who foolishly expected this to be Gorillaz's third album -- were disappointed. For those with a more open mind, however, it's definitely worth a listen. Track 21, Monkey Bee, is allegedly the theme for the BBC's Beijing Olympics coverage, but I think you'd be relatively hard pushed to recognise it in there.

Articles

The 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time by Simon Braund, Glen Ferris, Ian Freer, Nev Pierce, Chris Hewitt, Dan Jolin, Ian Nathan, Kim Newman, Helen O'Hara, Olly Richards & Owen Willams
(from Empire #233, p.88-172)
Today: 257-212. It's a most unusual list y'know.

Click to see the top 500