And now for a TV show I DO love...

'Brothers & Sisters' is now in its 4th series, and I love it more and more as time goes on. I've recently given myself a massive financial headache by buying the first two series on DVD - and I don't even care (as I write this I'm watching series two on the other half of my computer screen).

It's a comedy-drama surrounding a family living in California, and it stars pretty much everyone, including; Sally Field, Calista Flockhart, Rachel Griffiths, Rob Lowe and even Wales' own Matthew Rhys. It's hilarious, compelling and dramatic all in one breath. When talking about things like this show I generally surmise with the sentence: 'You'll laugh, you'll cry - it'll change your life'. In this case I stand by that statement completely.

The reason I love it goes beyond mere entertainment. 'Brothers & Sisters' is great because it fully and intelligently explores, in each episode, what it means to be part of a family in the 21st Century, all the complexities, the fights, the break-ups and the make-ups, the politics and the pain. Ah, I could talk about it forever. From Justin's drug problems to Kitty's politics, from Nora's discovery that her husband was having an affair for almost 20 years to the part said mistress comes to play in all of their lives after William's death (in episode one). It's all brilliant.

There's a scene in the episode I'm watching now that sums it all up for me really.

After discovering that Justin has resumed his recreational taking of pain medication (after coming back from Iraq wounded), the family rally around and hold a detox night-in for him. A few hours of sweating, shouting, shaking and locking the doors leave them all exhausted. In the early hours of the morning, the eldest two of the three boys are having a bit of a heart-to-heart over a cup of coffee, really they're just feeling sorry for themselves. In walks Nora (Sally Field), their mother, obviously sleep deprived, eyes half open and interrupting their conversation comes out with this gem:
"You're both wrong...get over it, you're both better men than your father. And you were as good a dad to Justin today than William Walker ever was. I have never in my life been so proud of you."
With that earth shattering piece of motherly love, she exits the room as if she had just been talking about the weather.

This is the magic of this show. The writing and the acting are exquisite.

Anyway, I could talk about this forever but the new series starts in less than an hour so I'd better be off. Real life stops for good TV.

Why I'm not Gleeful

Everyone in the Western World is raving about Glee, a new musical comedy television series from across the pond. Being a fan of trashy and brilliant US televisual exports, I tuned in for the first couple of episodes, needless to say I don't think I'll be watching again.

First, the singing is so badly dubbed they may as well be on the Top of The Pops stage circa. 1973. I know it's asking a little too much for actors to be singers as well, but if you're going to produce a musical - at least put a little effort into making it believable. I'm a picky customer when it comes to TV and film, so I have to admit that for this reason I took an instant disliking to Glee.

Petty complaints aside, it struck a discordant note with me in the wider sense. (This is the point at which, were I talking to you face-to-face, you would roll your eyes and tell me I'm reading into it too much.) In essence, this show is about a group of misfits with some degree of talent who, I assume, will eventually become wildly successful and popular, all the guys will get all the girls and everyone will skip off home into the sunset and all the bullies will be sad. So it looks like this show is great because it is subverting all the stereotypes in our culture (particularly American culture) which state that anyone who is different is at some kind of disadvantage, or to use teenage vernacular, if you are gay/disabled/fat etc. then you are by default a 'loser'. Yes?

No. I reject the notion that this is subverting any stereotypes because in setting up the pretense it is reinforcing the stereotypes in the first place, or worse (and I think this is more to the point with Glee) it is accepting those prejudices as the norm.

Let's take stock of the characters of the eponymous group for a moment. We have:
- a homosexual boy (haven't we seen this before - I'm thinking of legwarmers and dancing on cars by the way...)
- an asian girl
- a black girl
- a girl raised by gay fathers (the only hint of originality here - kudos to the writers for that at least, although she is the all-singing-all-dancing product of the stereotypical gay men)
- a paraplegic (yawn)

This is all so predictable I could spit. Then to top it all off we have a supporting cast of:

- an obsessive compulsive (yawn)
- a butch Sports coach who by her own admission "doesn't menstruate"
- and finally a whole bunch of white, middle class, bitchy cheerleaders (double yawn)

My point is, why should we have the stereotypes in order to break them down? For me it is accepting in order to reject. Why not reject in the first place? Why not have a bitchy but popular cheerleader raised by gay fathers, a feminine Sports teacher, an asian musical theatre teacher?

Would all these things not be just a hotbed of humour as the characters that the writers have chosen to show us (again and again and again)???

I'd like to think popular culture is (or should be) past this kind of thing. It's a new decade in a new century; post-feminist, post-apartheid, post-stonewall. These assumptions deserve no place in our consciousness any more, even if they are just there to be broken down.

Testing testing 123...present to future

Well I think I've set this up so I can write on-the-go, from my phone that is fancy enough that I don't even know how to use it.

What can I say? I'll probably never use it, but it seemed like the Twenty-First century thing to do.

(You have no idea how long it took me to type this...)
Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

Julia Nunes

Okay, so this is swiftly becoming a bit of a 'things I like' blog, which it wasn't supposed to be, but I'm gonna run with it.

Julia Nunes is a musician, American, talented, intelligent, beautiful, funny - basically one of those people you want to be great friends with but you secretly hate at the same time. I came across her YouTube channel (here) because a few months ago I started playing the ukulele and she is an incredible, INCREDIBLE, uker. To summarise: I LOVE HER.

Here is a link to one of my favourite videos from her channel (haven't worked out how to embed videos yet...). It's a ukulele cover of 'Flagpole Sitta' by Harvey Danger - the theme tune to Peep Show to you and me. It's awesome. Check it out.

She also writes her own stuff, which is pretty sweet too, like this one. Enjoy.

My Parents Were Awesome

This is Michael, submitted by Chris. ------------->

My Parents Were Awesome is one of those blogs you subscribe to that makes you check for updates on a daily basis.

What hooked me first is that it's just a collection of old family photos (which I have a bit of a thing for anyway, even what they're not my family photos). Then you see an image that perfectly explains the premise of the blog to you. It's about recognising the coolness of your parents. For those submitting images, they are showing the world how awesome their parents are (a very unique and genuine mark of respect, I think), and for those just looking at the collection, it sets you thinking about your own parents. For me, it wasn't long before I found a picture of my dad worthy of submission to the website. (Though I don't think he'd be too happy with me showing the world a photo of him in a 70s fashion disaster...)

So go and have a look, and recognise that your parents were awesome too. I can assure you, they were.

New Decade, New Year, New Blog

For some bizarre reason the passage of time really fascinates me. I don't shy away from it or fear it as others do, and New Years Eve is a real occasion for me. This time especially since it was the end of the noughties, and 2009 was a tough year for me personally, there was a real sense that I had made it through the other side alive, and that was something to be happy about.

I know how melodramatic I sound, but really, think about the last decade for a moment. The world as we knew it changed completely, and we saw more violence and fear since when? The Cold War?

You know what I'm talking about when I mention the world changing, and I'm sure you all know exactly where you were and what you thought when you saw the events of that day in September unfold. Baudrillard called it 'the absolute event', and I think he was right. The events of September 11th was the first time that a moment in history had unfolded to an international audience almost as it happened, and I think since then there has emerged this awareness that one day can change everything, and history can happen right in front of your eyes. This is all just my humble opinion, and I don't want to bore you with it for too long, but I find it really interesting that on that day everything was present, everything was happening 'now', and since then (and maybe this really is just me) our concern has been more about what's happening next. One thing after another, no longer living in the present but living in a perpetual and hypothetical future.

Anyway, I digress. What excites me most about it being 2010 is that it's the first time I really felt the enormity of the passing of time, probably because I was too young to appreciate the millennium properly and this is the first 'new decade' I have seen in as an adult.

I must admit, I was rather disappointed on New Years Day not to find that everything had become white and chrome overnight. Nevertheless, we are now officially living in the future.