My Cultural Life - Pottering About

What's Up?

I'm surprised that atmospheric pressure can still have effects on television signals despite the switchover to digital. That was a problem analogue TV had, but never quite as bad as this (who here isn't surprised at all?).

On Friday, we started losing TV channels, they'd disappear, come back and when we retuned the set top box we'd suddenly have an extra 50 channels, many of which weren't really there, while others were only to disappear five minutes after starting to watch them. Freeview announced on Saturday that it was down to the large area of high pressure sitting over the British Isles and warned people that it would be around for a week. On Freeview's Facebook page, most of the comments were about missing something called Strictly - despite it apparently being readily available on iPlayer. Many of the other comments were simply asking how and why this is happening in 2025 - a valid question, but in a country where more things go wrong on an almost daily basis nothing surprises me any more...

Except, the problem was solved by Tuesday, despite the same area of high pressure sitting over the UK. In fact, the anticyclonic gloom most of us have been suffering for almost a week now has been notable by the similarity it has on a day by day basis. So, how come TV reception is back to normal despite the original reason for its appearance having not changed at all? Call me cynical, but I like my excuses to be consistent and believable.

Living Hell

Yeah, sorry. I know, this is supposed to be a TV and film column predominantly, but... If you've been watching TV news in the recent week or so and not been slightly disturbed by some of the crazy things, outlandish claims and worrying trends that have been said - largely by Donald Trump and his army of fascist wankers - then you're either not paying attention or you're part of the problem. But the thing is, why aren't we shouting about actual things that have actual effects on our lives?

We're force fed all kinds of doom and gloom on telly now, but this is simply social conditioning - preparing us for a time when we won't be able to have a say about the real things blighting our lives. Take the largely ignored 'cost of living crisis' - yeah, we get the token 'news' feature, presented by Coletta Smith, the BBC's 'cost of living' editor, but these tend to be superficial, always seem to be focused on or for specific minorities in communities. When we're not being told how bad it's going to get, we're being told what we can do to offset price rises - always things we have to do ourselves rather than things that are mandatory. However, as food banks are a bit yesterday's news and the price of food isn't something news media wants to focus on for too long, we never hear much about anything to do with the way prices are again going through the roof.

I just want to give you a couple of examples of the creeping evil that is supermarket (and manufacturer) profiteering. Last week, as part of my weekly shop, I bought a bar of Galaxy Milk Chocolate and a small jar of Sainsburys decaff coffee. The chocolate cost £2.10 (for a bar that five years ago was about 75p) and the small jar of coffee was £1.25. One week later and the chocolate has risen to £2.45 - about a 17% rise - and the coffee is now £1.50 - about a 25% rise. IN ONE WEEK! It would be nice if whatever government is in charge could even look as though this is an issue that should be looked into. This isn't a global problem; yes, the price of chocolate and coffee has gone up, but before writing this I contacted two friends in different parts of the world and UK prices are almost twice what they are in the USA and in Europe. Capitalism is out of control in the UK and left unchecked we're headed for serious problems down the line...

Shit Meets Fan

Holy shit. What an episode. Sometimes I wonder if the quality of The Morning Show will ever dip; I rarely think it can get better than it is, because, you know, it's pretty good anyhow. There are the occasional episodes that knock it out of the park and this was one of them. After five episodes, we finally see some of Nicola Beharie, the TMS anchor who is off covering the Olympics and has barely been seen in the show since it returned. She made up for that absence in cataclysmic style. My fear that Cory (Billy Crudup) might actually have a proper skeleton in his closet is answered in an almost heartbreaking way [he is the best character in this show by a country mile and if you're a fan, he gets further ahead of the field with this episode] and Alex is in everything, sometimes for good and sometimes not so good. This week it's ex-TMS producer Mia (Karen Pittman) and Alex's bravado and strange way of showing her respect backfires on her big time. This was the best thing I watched all week. 

Impractical Magic

The most obvious problem with Mike Newel's Harry Potter offering is how flabby it is in the middle and what a badly plotted and uneven film it is. I shouldn't have been surprised that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is nothing more than a place setter. Unlike the first three movies, which all had actual stories, this was really just a series of events that lead up to the resurrection of Voldemort and a conclusion that felt as though it was brought down to earth by some deity in a flying machine. It's overlong, overwrought and almost the weakest of the four films we have watched so far and given how awful the first one is that is damning it.

This is a film that forgets about the many supporting characters we've been slowly getting to know so far in favour of ciphers, new faces, poor henchmen and while there are some creepy moments, it really suffers from bad comedy moments and having no real direction. The three wizard friends are all now 14, hormones and teenage moodiness dictates many of their actions while being the middle film of the seven film 'stories' it feels very much like the middle film of a trilogy, like it's just there to make money. It isn't very good but tries to disguise this with unnecessary deaths and pointless new characters - although Brendon Gleeson's Mad Eye Moody is pretty good. 5/10

FUBAR

Finally, after six weeks of grim, slow and gritty, Task finally sprang into action. An opening 15 minutes with more action than the rest of the show has had since it started. The FBI has Robbie in their sights - literally - but so does the biker gang. What follows is a chain of events that lead us to the finale next week; characters die, some get injured and others are left wondering WTF is actually happening. It's finally turned into a half decent series, which might sound mean because it hasn't been that bad, but this week made up for all the waiting for something to happen.

Harry's Gushing Wand

The first of David Yates' four Potter films, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is better than the previous movie, but does still have the feeling of treading water. Like The Goblet of Fire, the title is more a description of something related to the story rather than anything to actually have any bearing on it. This is about how the magical community is overcome with their version of fascism as wizard and witch turn on each other because of the rumoured return of Voldemort. While this is an instalment that very much takes place in Hogwarts, it's also one that again puts regular characters on the wings and focuses on Imelda Staunton's Dolores Umbridge, a particularly loathsome individual who wouldn't have looked out of place with swastikas adorning her garments.

It's the part where the kids start to fight back and begin to learn how to do that. Harry teaches them, while the actual Order of the Phoenix don't do much at all, apart from not prove to be very efficient. This is the episode where Gary Oldman channels Jason King (Peter Wyngarde) and Ron and Hermione simply become supporting characters. It's better than the one before, but there's gaping holes in much of the plot. 6/10

Catfishing

The latest episode of Chad Powers (which has broken up our marathon week of Harry Potter films) was more of a slapstick affair without the actual slapstick. This week was Russ's turn to take centre stage as he and his mascot buddy go in search of some prosthetic glue because of a problem with the stuff Russ stole from his dad. It leads to a chase around Oklahoma trying to find an alternative and get back to the team hotel before bed checks. It had a couple of funny moments, but this was probably the weakest episode so far and that's because Russ is still an arsehole but Chad is quite sweet. How does that even work?

Hermione's Hormone Rush

As the latter part of the week will have a shedload of TV packed into it, we've spent the first half of the week watching the Harry Potter films and with the conclusion of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince we've just got the two-part finale to go. This is probably the second best of the movies, but it really doesn't do the story much justice. Lots of convenient plotting, some genuinely creepy moments, but largely it's just another scene-setter; films four, five and six have all felt like prick teases and now the kids hormones have exploded this is as much about the rise of Voldemort and the death of a beloved character as it is about Ron and Hermione and Harry and Ginny. Obviously these are children's films so no perverted funny business takes place, just a lot of snogging. This time around it's the mystery of who is the Half Blood Prince and once you find out you have to wonder why we had the previous two and a half hours; there was something rather anti-climatic about it all. 6/10 

V is for Something

The penultimate episode of Gen V is full of arrogance, misplaced belief and a few extra contradictions, because we haven't had enough of them so far. The secret of Cipher is revealed as our heroes return to Godolkin to free the actual Godolkin from Cipher's grip only to find out they've been played like a bunch of kids. I cannot wait for this series to finish next week and just hope that there won't be a third season and that any loose ends are quickly resolved in the final season of The Boys. Trashy, childlike television with absolutely horrible characters.

Death Follows Him Everywhere

The wife pointed out that everyone - almost - who gets close to Harry Potter dies, so it wasn't a surprise when at least three characters died in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One. Possibly the dullest and grimmest instalment in the series with half of it taking place in or around a tent in the bleak midwinter. Whenever Harry, Ron and Hermione ventured away from the tent something bad happened and they almost got caught and all they were trying to do was find the objects that Voldemort had hidden bits of his soul in. Der.

As penultimate episodes of franchises go this was particularly dull with all those supporting characters we've been meticulously introduced to throughout the previous six films almost entirely absent, reduced to brief cameos. It's just a movie that allows the plot to go into a circular routine - like an airplane waiting to land - where what tiny morsels of humour are bright beacons in an otherwise tired film that dragged on for an hour too long. 5/10

E is for Enough Now

Good episodes of Brassic are as rare as rocking horse shit, so last week's was a thing of wonder compared to this largely meandering episode where Dean Lennox Kelly makes one of his seasonal appearances, one where he's coerced into holding a rave for two people who met and fell in love at one of his raves in the 1990s. There's a bit about Jim and his daughter and the Davy McDonagh 'subplot' moves along slowly, but apart from a needed - but poor - appearance from Dr Chris (Dominic West), this was back to the shite standard most of this season has been reaching. Only a few more to go.

The Flaccid Spell

And so our week of Harry Potter came to a slithering halt. The final part of the series - and also the shortest instalment - was not exactly a tour de force, in fact, at times, it felt forced and unnecessarily elongated. I'm still not 100% sure I got all of it; some of the things that held the story together I still feel were underexplained or left to the viewer's knowledge of the books. It's always felt a little deus ex machina, with its overreliance on allowing magic to fill in all the vague bits. By the time the films got to the end Radcliffe never felt like he was a leading man, while Grint and Watson were both more than adequate as Harry's foils. There was some clever plotting in this at times and anyone unfamiliar with any of it will have been impressed by the overall contribution of Alan Rickman's character, Severus Snape, who ultimately was one of the most important people in the tale and yet was severely underused at times. Voldemort was a suitably psychotic villain, because in the end none of his Hench people were really as ruthless or as mad as him, and his lust for power - never explained - made him dangerous for everyone, not just his foes. 6/10

The series as a whole has been interesting to watch and have been a mild distraction from the fact there's very little on apart from one day a week - at least in this house it is.

What's Up Next?

There will be some new stuff and some conclusions of existing stuff. There will not be any more Harry Potter. Although there is that new Amazon (?) series due next year, but I don't really see the point of putting myself through even more quidditch than I already have.

That prequel to It is out next week, but it might not drop in time for the next blog. It's called Welcome to Derry and while it is a prequel to the two-part It films, I've heard that some other Derry based characters will turn up. I was never a fan of the book. I've read it a couple of times, but never had the love that some give it. 

There's a couple of old favourites coming in the next few weeks, but I'm struggling to find much out there at the moment that's dragging me in.