TV

The Choir: Unsung Town
Part 2 (of 3)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Harper's Island
1x01 Whap
1x02 Crackle
Someone on twitter described this as "soap noir replete with the trappings of the slasher film genre". "Soap noir" is clearly a term they've just made up (when before has a soap ever been noir?), but it's not a bad description in fact. The writing's no better than a US daytime soap, for example, though it's then incongruously shot with all the flair of an above-average director. (I say incongruously -- I bet most viewers wouldn't notice, and if you gave US daytime soaps such good direction they'd suddenly consider those a higher form of drama too.) Additionally, the scenery on display is absolutely stunning, especially in HD. I hope the rest of the series can live up to the direction on display here.
Depending who you believe, Harper's Island is either an on-going series cancelled after just one half-length season, or a 13-part murder mystery that was always intended as a one-off. As they only seemed to start saying this once it was cancelled one would suspect the former, but the very format (because it is indeed a 13-part murder mystery) would seem to suggest just a single season.
One other thing -- be wary of that Wikipedia link up top, it contains bags of spoilers (including a complete character-by-character 'death chart'!)
[Watch Whap and Crackle (again) on iPlayer.]

Mercury Prize Live
I ended up seeing the start after The Choir and thought I may as well watch the whole thing. As you can tell, I'm not really fussed about the Mercury Prize -- indeed, I have no idea who the winner, Speech Debelle, is, and the same goes for the majority of the nominees.

Music

Chinese Democracy by Guns N' Roses
[3rd listen]
Just got the CD of this dirt cheap -- yes I legally owned it as an Amazon MP3 download, but it doesn't feel real 'til there's a disc (as I espoused on here).
Only my third listen to the album all the way through, but individual tracks have received more playtime; most notably I.R.S., of which I'm very fond.

Articles

Curtis to pen Doctor Who episode
(from BBC News)
"Screenwriter and film director Richard Curtis has agreed to write an episode of the new series of Doctor Who, his agent has confirmed."
Well there's a turn-up. I suppose in some respects it shouldn't be so surprising: in 1999, Who's new showrunner Steven Moffat wrote a Doctor Who spoof for Comic Relief, which is run by Richard Curtis, so clearly they have links.
Now it'll be interesting to see if the rest of/any others among Series Five/One's writers are Big Names too, or if it's a selection of the usual suspects.

Man Booker shortlist is announced
(from BBC News)
The article spectacularly fails to mention one of the nominees. "Oops."