Stuff

Usually I've got one big issue in mind and blogging is a peace of pish.

Other times I've got nothing to say, and untypically for a blogger, I say nothing.

Today however I've got a head full of everything and nothing. Pardon me while I dump it all out - hopefully it'll mean I'll have room for something more substantial in the near future.

(1) Mrs. S and I have been watching all four series of "Teachers" on 4oD and it's a little depressing to watch the standards slip, the humour become less nuanced, the characters tend towards one-word stereotypes. Series 1 and 2 are excellent - Series 3 is good - Series 4 is of barely merchantable quality - there was no Series 5, and quite right too.

I thought that "Shameless" was following the same shark-jumping arc, but the first episode of series 6 (shown on Channel 4 this week) shows that there's life in the old format yet. I really shouldn't have been surprised - Paul Abbott is a warped genius and there's transparently something personal going on here - he doesn't disguise his attachment to the people of the Chatsworth Estate.

(2) In the car I've been listening a lot to PJ Harvey's "Songs of the City". Well mostly I've been obsessive/compulsively listening to track 7 "The Mess We're In" which is a duet with Thom Yorke from Radiohead which works so well that you think - "Yes ! That's what would make Radiohead even better - a Woman!" I love the way they don't sing lines one after another, but they overlap - singing the same lyrics; sometimes she's half a line behind, sometimes she's three lines ahead. But always Thom Yorke's freakish male treble soars high above Polly Jean's sultry yet feminine alto. Stunning.

I've also been listening to Alanis Morisette's album "Jagged Little Pill", but mostly track 2 "You Oughta Know". It's a vitriolic rant, spat out by a mad woman in the direction of her ex and his new woman. It's a song I've known for a number of years, which is why it was in my head when I was watching a scary lady in court try to get her ex done for domestic violence. I've been doing the Magistration for less than a month, but still I've seen enough messed-over sick relationships to last a lifetime. The other day I thought that the ending of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" wasn't all that bad - two neat and tidy suicides are nothing compared to the hell that some couples build for themselves.

(3) Ever want cheering up ? Ask a Scouser to say the word "Curfew" and then try to write it down. The best I can do is "QKher-pheww"

(4) Stanetta sent me the following text last night - any advice ? "A little word of wisdom 4 ya! Puddles are blue ponies in disguise - that is why you never see blue ponies!"