A different, sprawling kind of blog today. My eyes are tired. What's new with me apart from watching TV? Well, not a whole lot. Except that I ate way too much Nando's the other day. What am I saying? Too much? There's no such thing as too much Nando's. Oh, actually Saturday night was rad. Went out for dinner for TQ and Mish's birthday. Followed that up by going to Murmur and drinking. Good fun.

So I was watching 'Glee' yesterday and there was this bit in it where Jane Lynch's character is writing in her journal and there's this voiceover monologue as she ponders her life. At one point she says:
"I'll lose my endorsements. And without those endorsements, I won't be able to buy my hovercraft."
I love stuff like that. Why? Because it isn't explained. At no point in the series as far as I can remember has she mentioned wanting a hovercraft. There's no reason for it. And that's why it's funny. Yet so often in writing, editors will often ask "Why? What's the character's motivation here? How does this serve the plot? You need to explain this."
Yes, in writing straight narratives, those are all valid points. But if the sole reason that the line is there is cos it's funny, not because it serves plot, character or whatever, then leave it in. Cos funny rules. There's a lot to be said for things that make you go "Huh?".
A similar example happened when I was watching the latest ep of 'Peep Show'. A bunch of characters are sitting around talking about one of them becoming a father. Mark says something about being the first one of them to have a child before Super Hans mentions that he has twins. Never in six seasons has there been any mention that Super Hans has twins. That's awesome.
I also wanted to mention that the latest episode of 'The Office' was truly great. It wasn't particularly funny (not that funny at all really) but it was great, just really dark, edgy stuff. One of the finest shows going around.

So, it's been a little while. This was a strange week for me. I was filled with nervous energy making it hard for me to sleep. Hopefully that passes soon, though it doesn't seem like it will. Did much happen this week? Aside from work and uni, on Tuesday night I went to Brunswick for Tom's birthday. It was dinner with a bunch of Tom's friends at a pizza restaurant. Good food, good fun. Afterwards we went back to Tom's place for beer and ice cream, a curious combination that somehow worked.

You know, lately I've been noticing that there are actually quite a few TV shows that I'm regularly watching on Australian TV.

'Glee' is just great fun, it's very cleverly written in that it deliberately employs a lot of stereotypical characters (the jocks, the cheerleaders, the nerds) but often plays them against type with great comic effect. It's funny, it has musical numbers that break up the show nicely and it has Jane Lynch. Jane Lynch is awesome.

'Man vs Wild' is a show I just discovered recently and I find it totally engrossing. Bear Grylls takes you through various environments, illustrating what to do in survival situations. The thing is, Grylls is quite a believable guy and despite the fact that many of the situations are probably orchestrated or set up with a team of researchers and experts behind them, it's still good viewing. A similar show that I used to watch is 'Survivorman' which is pretty much the same idea except with no crew, the guy in 'Survivorman' is genuinely all by himself with a camera.

'John Safran's Race Relations' is probably the best show I've seen in ages. The first episode was so entertaining and it's largely because the show is very much centred around Safran. His personality is what really drives the show. I also recommend you check out Safran's old audition tape for 'Race Around the World', it's great.

I've continued to watch 'Hungry Beast'. It has improved, I reckon. It's still not compulsive viewing by any stretch, but it's gotten better. This may be largely due to the fact that the hosts are more consistent, there doesn't appear to be so much of a revolving door of individuals, although maybe it's just that the regular hosts are now more familiar to me. The sketches are where this show could be improved, I'd love it if they were a bit more edgy. There's still this weird blend of comedy and current affairs style segments. Also, some segments are a bit misguided, the point is a bit unclear sometimes.

'Ten' (2002) directed by Abbas Kiarostami

I thought this was pretty cool. The film is basically set in a car, as an Iranian woman drives around, picking up passengers. It's divided into ten chapters, hence the title. The thing about this film is that the camera stays static, focusing in on either the passenger in the car, or the driver. This allows performance to remain the most significant element in the piece, giving the film a sense of realism. The static camera is a little unsettling at first, as you're almost sitting there waiting for the camera to move or for an edit, but once I realised that that was how the film was structured, it allowed me to just settle into it and take in the characters. It's very effective.