The Art of Breaking Bad

As an avid watcher of TV series, I consider myself well placed to comment of a new (to me anyway) series Breaking Bad. Most TV series start with a firework or two and then degenerate into a glutenous mess of direction-less modernity. I got hooked on Lost only to twist agonizingly when it degenerated into a boring mulch. The same happened in Heroes, the plot twisted nicely when we were plunged into 17th Century Japan but then the water got muddied and the plot thickened into a opaque soup. I started watching The Event last night and whilst I continued to watch I was struck by the back-and-forward time line which frankly did nothing to engage me for the subsequent episodes, sometimes these series writers try too hard.

Breaking Bad (and I have watched up to the end of series three) has never failed to engage and enthrall. Vince Gilligan must be congratulated on the meld of script and plot which is beautifully wrought by the superb acting skills of the entire cast. The characters of Walt White and Jessie Pinkman are to be applauded on their depth and chemistry (pun intended), and both Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul should be raking in the acting offers based on their performances.

What is best about Breaking Bad is its unpredictability. Just when you suspect where a storyline might be going it twists off into something else. I read recently that Gilligan allowed most of season three to self conceive its direction from the characters interaction. There was a start point and an end point but how they got their was the spontaneous collaboration between actors and writers. What I very much hope is that the series will not continue, it is far too good to screw up by eager commissioners wanting more. I hope that Mr Gilligan imitates the actions of John Cleese and kills it off at the zenith of its popularity. Hard to say when I love it so but I would rather that then the series end up like Lost or Heroes.

SG

The Devaluation of Music

Music has devalued over the last few years. I am not talking about the revenue lost to the music publishers due to illegal downloads although I am sure EMI & Co are scurrying around trying to change their business model, I am talking about the value of an album or track to an individual independent of how much or how little the music actually cost them.

Back in the day, I (like lots around me), saved our pennies to scoot down to the record shop and spend our loot on the latest and greatest. We would take it home and with great ceremony spin the disc against the background of parental thumps on the ceiling. Even if we took our precious records over to friends houses we would have to carry loads of records, 8 tracks, tapes, CDs (select appropriate to your age) over to another playing station of some sort. Today, of course, we take the entire kit 'n kaboodle with us. I have an iPhone capable of storing my entire music collection - and that's my point! With the inability to move vast collections of music about that music seemed more precious, had more value to the individual than todays ability to skip through hundreds of tracks listening to the first twenty seconds of a track or clipping the chorus out as a ring tone. Because there is so much of it available the value of it has dropped and maybe that is due in part to the cost in hard earned pennies but I think also because of the availability.

This is not an essay in justifying trying to get back to those earlier times. Would I trade my 14oGB music collection for a stack of records, tapes, CDs etc? Not on your life! But I would argue that music is getting cheaper, I do not hold in reverence that which I held in the past. Maybe that's a good thing, music like everything else evolves.

SiG

Everybodys heard about the Bird..

Derrick Bird is the word and the word on the street is that after being traumatised by some incident in his taxi back in 2007 Derrick held a grudge which has taken three years to manifest into a killing spree! How ridiculous is that? I guess that in stressful times such as these people search for logical explanations for irrational behaviour, but three years after being assulted by someone not paying their fare stretches the imagination a bit far.

Derrick Bird has had some stress although one would imagine it is not too high on the national stress meter considering state of economy and general relationships. Divorce, a family row over a will settlements and hassle at work over rank rights might be enough to hit the bottle but settling disputes with a shotgun is in another league.

To set out to eliminate all your purported adversaries in one go and a load of dissassociated innocents revealed a mind set warped and unconnected with reality. Cumbria along with the rest of Britain is in shock with Derrick Bird's killing spree but whilst we wrestle with the motives for such an attack we must remember that each one of us lives in our own microcosm of reality which can on rare occasions morph into some other nightmare. What keeps pulling us back from dispropotional thoughts of revenge or justice at the junctures of our lives is debatable. For Derrick Bird and his thirteen victims we may never know.

SiG

Publish & Be Damned!

Timing is everything, no one knows this better than the Mail on Sunday this week when they published recorded conversations between Chairman of the FA Lord Triesman and a female former colleague in which Triesman illuminated upon possible corruption in bidding for the World Cup. The Mail on Sunday has stirred up a hornet's nest of acrimony with lovers of the beautiful game as this potential bombshell may well scupper chances of England winning the hosting bid for 2018.

Now us Brits generally love a toff putting his foot in it, especially if he has to fall on his sword as a consequence, but when it comes to football we would rather it be done behind closed board room doors. Not just any football either, the holiest of holys the World Cup bid for 2018! Scarcely was the ink dry on the bid before the Mail on Sunday published it damning stitch-up. They had obviously timed it to coincide with the bid otherwise why plan it now! They had manipulated the entire event to parallel the pomp and ceremony of presenting the bids, one singularly determined act.

SiG

I wonder at the Mail on Sunday's remit in the act, there has always been a publish and be damned attitude to English newspapers and from the feedback I've seen from a large proportion of the football loving public that's exactly what the Mail on Sunday have got - damnation from the very hand that feeds it!

Book Review - Twelve by Jasper Kent

OK I admit it I bought this book under the misunderstanding that it primarily historical with a bit of a fantasy twist, which is OK if after reading it you are a bit more knowledgeable about the events. Twelve by Jasper Kent is subtitled Russia, 1812 and is set at the point where Moscow is threatened by Napolean's army in 1812. The background is a huge canvas with great potential. In essence the struggling Russian army engage the services of twelve mercenaries who claim to be able to turn the tide of the war.

I also admit that I am not a horror fan, in fact the last "horror" book I read was Carrie, and that was in the early eighties, so I was not sure what to expect but I assumed that the thinly veiled gothic twist might re-awaken a forgotten (in me) genre. Sadly it was not to be, the book was so tedious in its execution with the hero moving from Moscow to the front so often it was confusing as to where and why he was where he was. I lost interest in all the characters none of which was appealing and the vampire mercs were just plain boring. As a plus I thinks that the book was well researched but not that there was very much historical context in the story.

As a re-introduction to the genre it was a complete miss, I will stick to the Bernard Cornwall for my historical derring-do.

SiG

The REAL State of the World

The REAL State of the World

Professor Lovelock, at the grand age of 90, delivered a stark statement of fact on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme this morning which exposes the "elephant in the room" about climate change.

The salient facts are these; We didn't deliberately cause the problems of global warming but have inadvertently pulled the trigger and like a flea riding on the back of a runaway giant mammoth we are unable to do very much about it and anything we do is small potatoes or inaffective. His ultimate message is enjoy life while you can - he estimates 7 in 8 people dying from the cumalative effects of global climate change through physical disaster or starvation. That writes the third world off and leaves (I suspect) with the wealthier nations/individuals spending for survival.

I have to agree with most of what he says including the bit about science becoming a career and consequently twisting the data to appease the paymasters and the "business" to which carbon offsetting has become (what a complete farce that is!) The other sad but true piece of news is that renewable energy doesn't really work, something I've suspected for some time. It's just not scalable for our current needs and the political willpower for a massive effort just doesn't exist. The reality of it all is that people feel better for trying to do something, for contributing to an effort to make things better but that effort is (as an outcome) worthless.

That is not to say I think we should abandon "being green", indeed it is a standard which should have been set many years ago. We should keep our environment clean and put back where ever we have taken from, this is just civilised behaviour. I do feel that as a species we should have considered this all a long time ago, that is the problem with human nature, no matter how you might try to "pretty" it up with moral values it is really quite ugly.

As the professor says it's really time to enjoy life whilst you can.

SiG

Smoking in Cars

There is a current health debate rolling around which looks at further reducing the places where smokers are able to indulge in their habit. Now you may guess that from my description I am anti-smoking, this is true I am but when it comes to the argument about smoking in cars I cannot see how anyone can argue in favour of continuing to allow it.

Over the past few years we have been lectured on the dangers of using mobile phones, shaving, eating sandwiches, putting on make-up etc. All whilst in charge of a vehicle. Now I agree with most of these you cannot adequately control a car if you are attempting to plaster whale grease all over your lips, (God knows I've tried!). So how then can the argument run about smoking whilst driving? Clearly trying to light up a fag whilst thundering down the dual carriageway is bloody dangerous. Never mind the dropped matches into the lap or the squinting to make sure the end is properly lit, the smokers hands are occupied elsewhere. What's the difference between that and using a mobile phone?

I do not hold any sway on the argument for the protection of children. If a parent smokes whilst with the child then it's going to happen anywhere, home, bus stop, park, dinner table (ugh!). The car, although a closed environment most of the year, is the least of that child's worries.

So come on Government! Ban smoking in all vehicles and the slogan should be.. Dunk Cig Every Trip

SiG