Secret Smile

So, we finally caught up on ITV’s drama “Secret Smile” last night. It was on about a week ago, but we’d recorded it – blah blah.

Anyway, my point is this.

If you were being stalked by a decidedly odd man, prone to major head-fuck tricks, occasionally violent, and frankly deeply scary, you’d be a bit worried, wouldn’t you? And if he also had a set of your house keys, what’s the absolute first thing you’d do?

It wouldn’t be to sod about with work stuff, or lie around looking wet’n’wanky, or think about a court case or an injunction, would it? The absolute first thing you’d do would be to change the fucking locks. All of ’em. And make sure that the room that he’d already caught you in because it didn’t have a lock then had a bloody lock. Or at least a bolt. (Me, I’d make sure there was something heavy and convenient in each room. Doesn’t have to be a weapon per se – a nice chunky book in the living room, a rolling pin in the kitchen, a hefty bleach aerosol in the bathroom, that kind of thing.)

The woman in Secret Smile didn’t. Of course, the entire final thirty minutes was based around this premise, so the writer might’ve had to make some extra effort to come to a conclusion. But all the same, it took nine months, and the divvy bint never changed the locks, despite knowing he’d got keys.

I quite like a lot of TV dramas, and find them interesting. I just hate it when they’re so blankly stupid. And yes, I’m aware that it’s all fiction, and been done like that to make it dramatic, but Jesus Wept, let’s at least have something where the people involved have just a smidgen of common bloody sense.

Festive Good Food Show, Earl’s Court, London

I have to say, the show itself was pretty good. I don’t mind Earl’s Court as a venue either, although they do seem to have a certain lack of insight about human psychology and behaviour, and thus put all the stands doing demos/tastings as close together as possible. People then congregate around them, and block the walkways for anyone else.

If I were an exhibitor at the show, this would piss me off quite considerably – I suspect I’m not the only one who simply didn’t bother trying some of the stuff on the stands because they were so crowded it just wasn’t worth the hassle. If you’re exhibiting/demonstrating your products, you want as many people as possible to see/try them, not to have them give up because they can’t get in.

Other than that, though, it was good. I think we probably OD’d on cheese – there was some truly fantastic stuff there – as well as bought enough to keep us going through the Festering Season.

One other thing that I found surprising is that there was hardly any mention at all of vegetarian stuff. Yeah, sure, there were a couple of places selling seeds etc. (Munchy Seeds etc.) but no specialist stands for veggie food at all. Maybe there’s a gap in the market after all…

Wall and Piece – revisited

Interesting to see that the book I got a couple of weeks ago, “Wall and Piece” by Banksy has now had a review in the Guardian.

I’ve been a fan of a lot of Banksy’s stuff for a long time now, and it’s good to see it getting a wider audience – even when it seems to polarise those people into “love it” and “hate it”.

Faithless, Brixton Academy, London.

One of the many things that can be said about Faithless is that they do keep themselves busy. We missed the gig last December, then saw them in May at Alexandra Palaca, and then again last night at Brixton Academy. Three tours in a year – that’s good going by anyone’s standards.

Of course, doing that much touring, you could understand it if the basics were the same each time, or it all got a bit familiar. But with Faithless it doesn’t. Yes, the set-list was similar to the one at Ally Pally, but it wasn’t a match by any stretch. They started off with “Insomnia”, carried on through favourites such as “God is a DJ”, “Mohammed Ali” (never could spell that right), “Weapons of Mass Destruction”, “Bring My Family Back”, and finishing off with a stupendous “We Come One”. Of course there was a lot of other stuff too, but they’re the tracks that stand out in memory.

It’s a pity that Carling seem to have opted for becoming utter cunts when it comes to photography though. Where we were, I could’ve come up with some fantastic shots – the view was excellent, as was the clarity and distance. But after the last time, I wasn’t going to risk it again. I might make some enquiries about getting a press accreditation of some sort from them though – hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Overall, the show was something spectacular. No, the sound mix wasn’t perfect – some of the vocals were drowned out by the bass-heavy nature of the speaker stack – but pretty much all the people there knew all the words anyway. The lighting rig was awesome – I haven’t seen that many strobes and lights in such a small space in a very long time, the bass sound was the kind you can feel in your fillings, and all told the entire thing was superb.

In my opinon, Faithless are one of the very few bands you absolutely should see live, even if it’s not your “normal” type of music. They simply blow pretty much everyone else off the stage. Long may they continue to do so.