Monday 8 December 2008

TV

Clone
1x04 The Ian Cam
Very little to do with the titular cam, but one of the better episodes so far.

Have I Got News For You
36x07 (5/11/08 edition; extended repeat)

Survivors [2008]
1x03 Episode 3

Films

Ultimate Avengers (2006)
[#82 in 100 Films in a Year 2008]

DVD Extras

First Look at Ultimate Avengers 2
(from Ultimate Avengers)
A trailer-length preview of the next Ultimate Avengers film, made up of storyboards/animatics and talking heads going on about how much darker and more character-led it will be. So nothing changes, eh?

Music

The Tempest,
Propane Nightmares and
Mutiny
(songs from In Silico)
by Pendulum
At their best (i.e. in these songs), Pendulum sound like missing tracks from Muse's Black Holes & Revelations. Most of the rest of the time they just sound like bloody dance music. (On a random other note, Black Holes & Revelations is two-and-a-half years old! Really doesn't feel like it.)

Spaceman,
A Dustland Fairytale,
A Crippling Blow,
Losing Touch and
Joy Ride
(songs from Day & Age)
by the Killers
So, despite my predictions, these are the tracks from Day & Age that I've been most listening to. (Well, I got some right.)

Articles

The Top 50 DVDs of 2008 by Tom Charity
(from LOVEFiLM)

LOVEFiLM's list talks some sense -- "it's more useful to compare like with like. After all, if you're in the mood for a comedy, you don't really care if that Romanian abortion film won the Palme d'Or" -- but it's also predicated on some utter nonsense.

"About half of these movies came out in UK cinemas in 2007. The other half were released earlier this year and have already made it to DVD... We haven't gone in to back catalogue releases, because frankly, there are just too many to choose from. And we haven't talked about bonus features... you probably don't rent or purchase a movie for the commentary track." I should wager it does sway some people, actually.

So, if you're ignoring whether the disc's any good, and excluding back catalogue releases, that just makes this "The 50 Best Films Of The Second Half Of 2007 And The First Half Of 2008". And there aren't even 50, because one's on two lists. What a load of twaddle.

I still went through it, of course, because I love lists. I've seen just 12 of the 49 (and have another 7 on DVD, as per usual). How about you?

Poem of the Day: The Trust Territory I

I. If I tell you...
by Andy Brown

For the next two weeks, Poem of the Day is going to be presenting Andy Brown's 10-part poem, The Trust Territory. I think there's much to enjoy in each individual segment, and even more so when all ten pieces are put together. Also, at least some parts of it are especially suited to this time of year.

Please see after today's piece for information on where to find the poem in print.

If I tell you your love is a spider's web,
I mean that in its tensile sense --
the strongest substance known to man,
weight for weight tougher than steel.

'Web', I mean, in its tensile sense,
but also with a hint of home:
weight for weight tougher than steel,
a place for the creature to rest.

And with that hint of home,
a place that gathers morning dew;
a place for the creature to rest,
amazing a passing child's eye.

A thing that gathers morning dew,
my love, is a spider's web,
amazing a passing child's eye.
Please don't take offence -- I do not mean

your love is a spider's web
and I the struggling fly.
No, please don't take offence -- I do not mean
you are the spider who turns

on me, poor struggling fly.
If I tell you your love is a spider's web.
you are not -- repeat not -- the spider who turns
to feast on the head of her mate.

No, I mean... 'the strongest substance known to man.'

The Trust Territory was originally published as a poetry chapbook, now out of print. It's currently available in Fall of the Rebel Angels: Poems 1996-2006 (find the best prices online here). The versions posted here are taken from the latter. From the author's acknowledgements for that volume: "Many [poems in this collection] appear as they were first published in individual volumes, others have been edited over the years and it is these final versions I wish to preserve."

Andy Brown's latest book is Goose Music, co-authored with John Burnside.

Please see here for information on Poem of the Day and copyright.