Frankly, Scarlet
If you’re a fan of Supernatual or Smallville (like me), you might want to look out for the latest hot TV project from director David Nutter. Scarlet, starring the not-at-all-ugly Natassia Malthe, is coming soon to our TV screens. Not sure yet what it’s all about (I’m guessing beautiful, successful actress has secret life as baddie basher, or something similar) but judging from this trailer it should be good:
If you want more, check out the official Who is Scarlet? website.
This post is sponsored by Scarlet
You can’t be serious
TV Show The Bill (that one about the coppers that used to be good years ago, but which went pants when it became just another soap opera) got into hot water last week. They featured a story about a MS sufferer and in the course of the programme mentioned a drug called Plavitron.
Apparently, they’ve now been called “grossly irresponsible” because they made this drug up and have “misled” a number of people with the disease about available treatments.
I’m sorry but The Bill is not a factual programme; it is not reporting truth. It’s a drama - you know, made up - and as such has no responsibility to be at all accurate in what it portrays. While I don’t wish to mock the afflicted, some people obviously need a reality check.
Brief notes
Another quick round up of bits and pieces that don’t warrant a whole post on their own:
1. The advice to always read the small print is something that Piotr Staniaszek should have heeded. He’s just been hit with a mobile phone bill for $85,000 after thinking that his $10 a month plan would cover him for using his mobile phone as a modem and downloading HD movies and other large files. Come on, really? $10 a month is gonna cover you for that? Even if you haven’t read the small print, you probably wouldn’t expect that sort of use to be covered.
2. This delightful thing is what now adorns the Rowan Tree pub in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh. In case you can’t tell, it’s a flatulent cow that emits a burst of dry ice at 11am, noon and 1pm to tell all the locals what the time is.
Apparently it’s becoming as popular a tourist attraction as the nearby Greyfriars Bobby, and as much of a time keeper as the One O’Clock Gun. I’d be worried about some Council Jobsworth trying to do them for allowing smoking!
3. Just been looking at the TV schedules for Christmas. With my wide choice of four TV channels, I really am being offered some spectacular fare: on the Sunday before the big day I can watch the very Christmassy “The Great Escape”. Yep, that movie that’s on every Christmas (except it isn’t, it hasn’t been on at Christmas for years) is on once again. Christmas Eve isn’t too bad - there are some movies related to Christmas, and “Pirates of the Caribbean” which is always fun - but Christmas Day itself is awful; “Gone with the Wind” (yawn) or lots and lots of EastEnders (depressing) and ‘dragged out of the rubbish pile’ To The Manor Born. Bah humbug!
Lord of the Flies goes Reality Prime Time
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I’m a little disturbed by this story.
I’m not a big fan of so-called reality TV; programmes like Big Brother, Castaway, Shipwrecked and all the others just leave me cold. Unfortunately, I seem to be in somewhat of a minority as they seem to be on all the time (except when they have to make way for soap operas). I don’t see the point in sitting around in my house watching a bunch of people sitting around in a house - I wouldn’t socialise with these people, why do I need to see them sleeping, eating, or doing any of the other things that the TV controllers like to serve up to us?
So, to read that a TV network in the US is planning to put a bunch of kids from 8 to 16 years old into a reality TV situation really does disturb me.
All of the reports I’ve seen are likening this to The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a book in which a group of stranded children gradually turn into primitives, forming themselves into tribes and attacking each other with terrible consequences. So far, no commentator that I have read has asked the questions that are uppermost in my mind:
1. In a world where children are the target for so much abuse and mis-treatment, why are these 40 children being exploited in this way?
2. Why would any loving parent even consider allowing their child - whatever age he or she may be - to go through something like this? Surely you don’t want the fame or the money that badly?
3. Considering all the comparisons to Lord of the Flies, has anyone thought of the psychological damage that these children may suffer, trying to survive in a world where the normal boundaries and safety nets that they are used to have been removed.
4. If these children really are to be left to fend for themselves - as seems to be implied in the publicity that is circulating at the moment - how can the network condone this program?
To me - as an avid non-watcher of reality TV - this really does seem like a step too far and it’s about time we re-looked at the sort of society we are becoming if this sort of thing can even be considered.
Fix You
[Edit: I've taken down the link to the YouTube "Fix You" video, because I've seen that it's available to buy - for the very reasonable price of $3 - from here, with proceeds going to the Chorus. Why not buy it and help them out?]
This one is for anyone that saw the Channel Four documentary last year “Young @ Heart”. If you didn’t see it, “Young @ Heart” is the story of the octogenarian chorus line of the same name from New England.
The documentary followed some of the main people behind the choir as they prepared to go out on tour and as they learned new songs. One of those new songs was “Fix You” by Coldplay, originally planned to be a duet between returning Young @ Heart veteran Fred Knuttle and his good friend Bob Salvini. Sadly, while rehearsals were still ongoing, Bob died. Fred, who himself suffers from a heart condition that had forced him to give up regular performing with the chorus, decided that he would sing the song solo as a tribute to his friend.
This video is Fred’s performance that closes the documentary and which - if you’ve watched the trials and tribulations, the triumphs and the heartaches, the tears and the laughter up to that point - can’t help but bring tears to your eyes.
It’s also the best version of the song that I’ve ever heard.
If you get the chance to see the documentary, take it. Whilst it has its sad moments, it is a masterpiece of feelgood television which is guaranteed to lift your spirits.
You can find out more about the Young @ Heart chorus at their website.
Wolfs Stuff
Wolfs Helpers
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