Thank god Rome was cancelled

I never thought I would say that!

Rome was a great mini series and, at the time, I was disappointed that there wasn't going to be a third season. Today, however, I read this -

Heller [the shows creator] said. “The second was going to end with death of Brutus. Third and fourth season would be set in Egypt. Fifth was going to be the rise of the messiah in Palestine. But because we got the heads-up that the second season would be it, I telescoped the third and fourth season into the second one, which accounts for the blazing speed we go through history near the end. There’s certainly more than enough history to go around.”

I cannot imagine a more asinine direction to take this show in, it's up there with Darth Vader being a whiney git and Indian Jones meeting aliens, Oops, sorry, I mean "Interdimensional Beings". I can't imagine anyone seriously interested in the show would have wanted it do delve into some sort of sword and sorcery magic adventure complete with zombies and talking animals. Christ! what a maddening idea! Thank god Rome was cancelled.

link

The Big Bang

Two excellent documentaries on BBC4 last night;

Lost Horizons: The Big Bang:
To coincide with the switch-on of the LHC, the world's largest particle accelerator complex, Professor Jim Al Khalili delves into over 50 years of the BBC science archive to tell the story behind the emergence of one of the greatest theories of modern science, the Big Bang.

The remarkable idea that our universe simply began from nothing has not always been accepted with the conviction it is today and, from fiercely disputed leftfield beginnings, took the best part of the 20th century to emerge as the triumphant explanation of how the universe began. Using curious horn-shaped antennas, U-2 spy planes, satellites and particle accelerators, scientists have slowly pieced together the cosmological jigsaw, and this documentary charts the overwhelming evidence for a universe created by a Big Bang.

and

The Big Bang Machine
Professor Brian Cox visits Geneva to take a look around Cern's Large Hadron Collider before this vast, 27km long machine is sealed-off and the experiment to create the simulation of a black hole begins.

When it's up and running, it will be capable of creating the conditions that existed just a billionth of a second after the Big Bang. Brian joins the scientists who hope that the LHC will change our understanding of the early universe and solve some of its mysteries.

Nobody does it better than the BBC. Jim Al Khalili is fast becoming the Attenborough of the quantum world while the incredibly personable Cox jumps off the screen with his enthusiasm and excitement. Great stuff!

here's someone else's thoughts.

BBC4 'Washes Whiter'

BBC4 is currently running an entertaining program about the history of advertising on British TV title 'Washes Whiter', so in the same spirit here's an old coffee comercial.

the secrets of the twelve disciples

I downloaded (from Channel 4 OnDemand) and watched this excellent documentary on the 12 Disciples. I was raised a Roman Catholic and so was taught that James 'The Bother of Jesus' was not in fact Jesus' bother (after all, Mary remained a virgin forever) but was instead a half brother or adopted or something - I can't quite remember. Anyway, according to this documentary Jesus had four brothers and two sisters! This was news to me and there was lots more along those lines like Paul had a female disciple! They definitely left out that one!

The history of the early Christian church is endlessly fascinating and this program is well worth watching. Part 1 is here and the rest are on youtube

David Attenborough

Tonight the BBC are showing the last episode of Attenborough's final series 'Life in Cold Blood'. I don't have a lot of hero's but this man definitely makes my list - natural history programs will never be the same again.

A Natural Phenomenon

Dispatches: Holy Offensive

Richards Dawkins website has posted these links the the Channel 4 documentary "Holy Offensive". The documentary that examines two highly publicised clashes between artistic freedom and religious belief in today's Britain.

As usual the men of religion (this time the Sikhs) come off as petulant bullies - have I ever mentioned how sick of them I am???



Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xf5Og_0eAw
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4Ou7Pqb6z4
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgMiNQyEktI
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LwpWnjpCuM

The End of the World Bus Tour

from the Guardian;

We're on a coach tour of Israel, with a bunch of mainly middle-aged Americans. So far, so unextraordinary. The reason they're here, though, is that they all believe that the end of the world is just around the corner. Apocalypse-tourism - much more exciting than eco-tourism.

So they visit the valley of Armageddon, which is a real place and looks pretty peaceful today. Not for long, though, because this is where man and Satan will rise up against God, and soon the whole place will be flowing with the blood of 200 million soldiers. Lots of the tourists get baptised, some for the second time, not in the Jordan but in the Sea of Galilee because it's handier for their hotel complex. And, anyway, the Jordan runs through Galilee so it's kind of the same. They're preparing themselves for The Rapture. They spend a day at an Israeli army camp, doing menial tasks to help out the soldiers. Because Palestinians are God's enemies, obviously.

But it's hard to get angry with this lot, because they are all quite mad, with troubled pasts - lost children, drugs, multiple relationship failures. Just look at their eyes: they're clearly bonkers. Lovely.

I watched this peculiar documentary the other night and I haven't much to add to the review above except how keen the pilgrims where to see everyone burn in hell, they where practically gloating! I don't think "bonkers" quite covers them, sure, their ideas are nuts but they alternated between being 'super friendly' to sinister glee when describing Jesus killing everybody (but them). I really admired how the crew how stopped themselves from either bursting out laughing or bashing them across the head during the course of making the film? You obviously need a very steady head to make documentaries.

I would have loved if the film makers had asked some of the Jewish soldiers what they made of this crowd. It must be bizarre, after all, only Christians will be saved in the Rapture and yet these fanatics where helping to clean up an Israeli military base. It's a strange world.

Life in Cold Blood

Sir David Attenborough's new series 'Life In Cold Blood' started on BBC1 last night and it was brilliant.

Sir David Attenborough brings viewers the final chapter of his epic overview of life on Earth as he transforms perceptions of cold-blooded animals in this landmark BBC One series Life In Cold Blood.

"Reptiles and amphibians are sometimes thought of as slow, dim-witted and primitive," says David. "In fact they can be lethally fast, spectacularly beautiful, surprisingly affectionate and extremely sophisticated."

There are some amazing creatures on show but perhaps the best part is Sir Attenborough's utter delight when he encounters them, especially for the first time. I've grown up watching Sir Attenboroughs documentaries, to my mind the man is a god, everything he touches turns to gold and Life In Cold Blood is no exception.

In Defence of Food

I watched Newsnight on BBC last night and they had a very interesting segment with one Michael Pollan author of 'In Defence of Food'. In a nutshell, Mr. Pollan thinks people in the U.S. and England (and I would include Ireland) have lost sight of "food" and have instead focused on "nutrients" to the extent that people no longer know what is "good" for them. The Newsnight link has an excerpt from the book.

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. That, more or less, is the short answer to the supposedly incredibly complicated question of what we humans should eat in order to be maximally healthy.

Perhaps you're suspicious of an approach that can be summed up in just seven words - but that injunction to "eat food" is not quite as simple as it sounds.

It used to be that food was all you could eat, but today there are thousands of foodlike substances in our convenience stores and supermarkets. Brightly coloured packages boast of their low-fat, no-cholesterol, high-fibre credentials.

Ingredient panels for once-simple staples such as bread, mayonnaise or yoghurt have been swollen by lengthy lists of additives - what in a more honest age would have been called adulterants.

The result is not just confusion, but a dangerous belief that scientifically endorsed "nutrients" are inherently superior to fresh, unprocessed food.

The Pat Kenny "Mystery"

No, not some Enid Blyton'esk adverture where our hero Pat Kenny solves a murder, I'm using the word 'mystery' here in its religious sense. That is, in Roman Catholicism, the word 'mystery' is used to explain away some cockeyed contradiction or paradox where the only way to deal with it is not to think about it very much at all. So the 'mystery' is, how the hell is Pat Kenny the number one broadcaster in Ireland? It just defies belief, the man is a wood peg with a microphone.

I was reading Graham Linehans blogg where Pat is shown "interviewing" Jerry Seinfeld and it is nothing short of embarrassing, the buffoon couldn't even get Seinfelds name right.

Here is Pats opinion of his critics. I'm proud to be in that camp.

http://www.alan-partridge.co.uk/articles-info/patkenny/Pat%20Kenny%20-%20Scum.mp3

24: The Unaired 1994 Pilot

Very funny this, and very well put together.

Power of the Planet: Atmosphere

I wanted to post about this last week but couldn't find a clip, but I have one now so here goes.

BBC has a new program at the moment called Power of the Planet where the very likable Dr Iain Stewart looks at how the Earth works. Last weeks program was about the Atmosphere and the looming dangers of climate change, this clip is of him in Siberia lighting methane being released from the permafrost and, seeing as methane is many times more effective than carbon dioxide as a green house gas, it scared the shit out of me.

Screenwipe: The Apprentice

One of the best shows on TV is Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe and over the weekend it 'wiped' reality competition programs like The Apprentice. One of the strengths of Screenwipe is that it tries to illustrate, by way of examples and humour, just what its complaining about so its not just another talking head gripe fest. To see what I mean watch the last 4 minutes of part two as Charlie learns how to be the a boss on TV.

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3

VISIONS OF THE FUTURE

The third and final episode entitled 'THE QUANTUM REVOLUTION' aired the other night on BBC4 and was the most optimistic of the 3 episodes, or at least the the least doomsday like. I found it really enjoyable as it discussed very SciFi sounding ideas as real possibilities such as Arthur C. Clarke's Space Elevator due to advances in Carbon Nanotube's.

This clip about superconductivity wasn't in the show but they demonstrated the effect, I include it here because its so cool.

Robots that are "self-aware"

Another short TED talk entitle "Robots that are self-aware" related to my previous post about the BBC4 program Visions of the Future. Its only 6.30 minutes long but we see rudimentary self awareness and replication in robots. Fascinating stuff!

VISIONS OF THE FUTURE

Part two, entitled "THE BIOTECH REVOLUTION", of this excellent series aired on BBC4 last night and it was as good as the first. Last nights episode dealt with genetics and biotechnology and, like the first episode, was simultaneously fascinating and terrifying. The potential of this technology is mind bending, from being able to grow replacement body parts to "improving" ourselves physically & mentally to dramatically increasing our lifespans - pretty much, the sky-is-the-limit for what we may be able to do. The program also discussed the dangerous potential of this technology such as the rich and powerful literally genetically enhancing themselves into a permanent ruling class (with near immortality) or how we could evolve ourselves away from humanity into a new species to even how we could remove all the distinguishing foibles of being human and become "perfect". Obviously none of this is possible today but its not too far off and we need to start deciding now, how we are going to use this technology. The overall effect of the program was to give the sense that we really are on the cusp of science-fiction becoming science-fact - a dizzying notion. It reminded me of that Chinese curse, we are living in interesting times.

VISIONS OF THE FUTURE

I watched a great new documentary on BBC4 last night called "VISIONS OF THE FUTURE". Last nights first episode was about the steady merging of computers into our lives and the possible effects of the rise of Artificial Intelligence on society and individuals. One of the highlights was the treating of a clinically depressed woman by inserting electrical wires into her brain to help regulate her mood. They showed how her mood could be altered by literally the turning of a dial, fascinating and worrying all at the same time.

Theres two more episodes to come;

2. The Biotech Revolution
3. The Quantum Revolution