What I've been watching
After a marathon viewing session stretching over both Friday and Saturday night, I'm still reeling over The Sopranos, Series 5. The penultimate episode was particularly harrowing -- and I was sad to see one of my favourite characters meet a rather dire and horrible end even though I knew it was going to come sooner or later.
The wonderful thing about this TV drama is its ability to convince you that certain characters are good people when clearly they're not. It's like you get sucked into the belief that if you met them in real life you'd quite like them but then, just at the point when you've forgotten that they are actually one of the bad guys, they FLIP and do something incredibly violent because someone looked at them the wrong way or said the wrong thing ... and then you realise if you actually met these people in real life you'd best just move right along and HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH THEM. I think it's the illusion that they are NORMAL people when clearly they are all deranged that is the key to this show's success -- aside of course from the superb writing, directing, acting and casting!
Can't wait to watch The Sopranos, Series 6 now.
What I've been reading
It's been a busy week. I ploughed through Garden Spells, a newbie that the publisher sent me for review, and I can't say it was terribly good: a light, fluffy read, no more, no less.
I also finished Per Petterson's wonderful In the Wake, about a 40-something man coming to terms with the death of his parents and two younger siblings on a ferry that caught fire six years earlier. Yes, it's dark and a little bit morbid, but by god Petterson can write a good story! It was one of those novels that wormed its way into my brain so I thought about it even when I wasn't reading it. To me, that's usually the sign of a damn fine book.
What I've been listening to
I listened to Moby's new one, Last Night, yesterday afternoon. (Or is it called Yesterday Afternoon, and I listened to it last night?) It's very good, very Moby, very dance-orientated, very electronic, very layered.
Oh, and that Liam Finn album is still getting a fair bit of airplay on my iPod shuffle. Surprise, surprise.
What have you been watching, reading and listening to this week?
