Catching Up

Friday was spent catching up on some documentaries and other factual shows I had recorded over the past millennium but never got around to watching.. Started with a few National Geographic shows; in particular Diving the Labyrinth about exploring the blue holes in the Bahamas, and Manta Mystery about manta rays. The one about the blue holes was fascinating, as I’d heard of them but didn’t know much about them. At one point they were diving past the skeleton of a  1970’s diver who was not very lucky on his dive – just in case you hadn’t heard all the comments on how dangerous and extreme blue hole diving was! I’d like to add, the narrator needs to learn how to pronounce Bahamas. He repeatedly referred to them as the BO-hamas – incredibly vexing.

After the NatGeo session I had a couple of Panoama’s to watch. Panorama is a BBC current affairs show, which has been running for over 50 years. It is very often interesting, thought provoking, upsetting and very informative. The subjects do tend to vary wildly, but are related to recent news stories. I watched ones on PFIs, an alleged Russian spy, supermarket price wars and an adoption crisis. The PFI show was very annoying – to hear of so much money being taken away from the NHS by big business investors leaves one fuming, and then they claim the figures used to convince Liverpool to opt for a new PFI hospital had been fiddled to make them more appealing – I was appalled. The alleged Russian spy farce was so well ridiculed in the press and on TV by the time I watched the show it was nothing new to be honest, though I must admit I hadn’t quite realised how young she was was, and how old the Liberal MP was. Lucky bugger. Supermarket price wars may be in the news, but it’s hardly a new thing, and the main thing to come out of watching that show is that the big four national supermarkets are constantly breaking the Advertising Standards Authority consumer laws and getting away with it. Don’t go shopping if you’re just throwing things into your trolley – check the prices on the shelf and at the till – or the status quo in my case – I don’t trust them. The most heart-breaking show was the one regarding an impending adoption crisis in the UK. Since the Baby P case there has been a 40% increase in children being removed from their parents, with no subsequent increase in social services staff. I’ve seen a few shows regarding adoption recently, in particular plans to drastically reduce the amount of time it takes for prospective parents to become successful. Whilst this is a good move, and will help many children find a permanent loving family, it does little to help those removed with their siblings, whose only hope of adoption is to be split up. Finding a stable, loving and permanent home must be the ultimate goal, and splitting up siblings seems to be a last resort, but it does seem to me to be a rather harsh solution after all these kids have been through, but what else can be done? The liberal in me says give the back to their parents and support the parents more, rather than just taking them away, but I’ve no idea of the specifics of any of the cases and I’m no way qualified to get involved.

I’ll also be updating Wednesday's post with the concluding instalment of Public Enemies.

OK. Enough for now. Nice to see telly recovering from the Christmas break. CSI:NY and Supernatural were on last night, the second season of Portlandia started (more on that soon, I only just discovered it, and I love it!) and Law and Order UK started it’s sixth series, not bad for a show that premiered three years ago. More on those once I’ve watched ‘em. TTFN.

Post-Catstration Revenge

Do you like what I did there – post CATstration? Geddit? Never mind.

I’m either suffering from intense paranoia, or I’m reading far too much into the actions of an otherwise loveable, and loving tabby cat. Possibly both. I had every intention of sitting on the sofa and watching the second instalment of Public Enemies tonight. Bob had different ideas. The sofa is his, you see. It was an exercise in futility. He bounced between wanting to play fetch (he can be rather vocal when he thinks he’s being ignored) and wanting to investigate the television – closely. After 20 minutes of watching a cat’s arsehole and listening to a cat object to his ball not being thrown, I gave up. It hadn’t even started yet. Now I’m sat at my PC Bob has taken up his regular position on my desk (there’s a cushion there for him, I’m a softy) and he’s fast asleep next to a speaker that has Nightwish blasting out of it. He’s just waiting for me to try watching something, then he’ll be rested enough for the next round.

I’m uploading the second instalment of Public Enemies – I’ll update yesterday’s post with the link when it’s done.

I was intending to post about Mrs Brown’s Boys at some point. I heard about this show only recently, even though it’s been around about 10 years or so in Ireland. Last year BBC Scotland with RTÉ put out a 6 episode first series, and a second series started this Christmas. It is rather rude and sweary – possibly why I fecking love it. The whole thing is created by Brendan O’Carroll who also plays as Mrs Brown. I could go on and describe it all but either watch it, or read the Wikipedia page which does a better job than I could. Interestingly, according to RTÉ the Mrs Brown’s Boys Christmas Special was the most watched TV in Ireland over Christmas with a 48.6% share (the Irish have better taste than us – they get Eastenders, too but it didn’t get a look in)! Not bad considering some of the criticism levied against the show by the Irish press.. Whilst looking at the viewing figures, the critics reviews make one think they’re out of sync with the rest of their country, especially the “vaguely embarrassed to be Irish.” in the Irish Independent, LOL. Apparently it’s a 50/50 split. 6.6 Million in the UK watched the Christmas special – nowhere near the Eastenders Christmas episode, but it was best in it’s 10pm spot. If you don’t mind a bit of sweary fun, look out for Mrs Brown’s Boys, Monday 9:30 BBCOne or iPlayer or those naughty places, but not torrents cos they’re shite and Virgin cuts me off for seeding stuff.

I’ll update the link on yesterdays post and go watch it now – ttfn..

Now Playing: Nightwish - End Of An Era - Creek Mary's Blood

Private Enemy

Right now my private enemy appears to be insomnia. I actually fell asleep around 9.30pm then woke 2 hours later with Bob snoring in my ear (he likes my orthopaedic pillow) and the wind making strange noises outside (the roof’s already leaking, I’m sure it’s gonna fall off, and I’ve been woken by that once before!).

So I decided to check out my latest recordings. There’s a pretty decent 3-part drama just started on BBC1 called Public Enemies. The series centres around Paula (Anna Friel) a probation officer just returning from suspension after an offender she gave a second chance to committed another murder, and Eddie, a murderer released on licence after serving 10 years.

I’ll be honest. If I wasn’t awake and in need of something to keep me occupied, and the eye candy that is Anna Friel was not on offer, I might have passed this by and watched a DVD. I’m glad I didn’t. Whilst it’s hard to feel sympathy for a murderer, the actor Daniel Mays does a splendid job in the portrayal of his vulnerabilities as an offender on probation, and you do start to feel that prickle of empathy.

All in all, I’m definitely looking forward to the remaining two instalments of this show. It’s currently available on the old iPlayer but if you can’t get it try below, I’ll edit the post as the concluding parts become available (tonight and tomorrow night, no long waits, thankfully).

Part 1 – 550mb

Part 2 – 550mb

Part 3 – 550mb

Blogger Labels: Public Enemies,TV