When coincidence becomes conspiracy …

16/02/2009 by AJ.

Those of you who blog will know what it’s like.  You go to put some comments down, and then get distracted from doing so.  The moment passes.  And then you wonder whether your opinion was worth a damn in the first place.

And so it has gone on for the end bit of 2008, and now the first six weeks of 2009.  However, a combination of circumstances and happenings have made me realise that, actually, YES, it is worth me plugging in and putting down my views.  The main driver being that there are people out there who need a wake-up call.

No-one else in our sector of appreciation is going to do it.  So, it’s down to me to put my head above the parapet and tell you what’s going on.  Hopefully, I won’t be just preaching to the converted.

I’ve been trying to find this image online for months; suddenly it just fell into my lap, and then started me thinking… do the fans of stuff like STAR WARS actually UNDERSTAND the context of the franchise they idolise?

The STAR WARS franchise is about a bunch of rebels ensuring that a totalitarian superstate is undermined and destroyed, so that liberty can be restored and all beings can live in peace, doing what they want to do, so long as it doesn’t have a bad effect on anyone else, and doesn’t create bad feeling.

It’s black and white in its morality - freedom and liberty GOOD, totalitarianism and police state BAD.  It’s a truism in so much fiction in our extraordinary world of TV and film.  You normally become a fan of something because it resonates with your subconscious.  The morality is something you sign up to, and therefore you would think this would be something that, come the time in the real world, you would want to help to protect and defend in a similar manner.

One of my favourite shows is THUNDERBIRDS - a philanthropist, with no agenda but plenty of money, decides that his family should devote themselves to save lives, rescue those in danger, for no other reward other than “job done”.  Should I ever be in such a situation, I would do the same.

Going over to reality, we set up the Cult TV Festival because we believed fans deserved something better.  With the devotion and support given to money-harvesting operations across the UK that have taken all the fan business in recent years, it’s time to admit we were WRONG.  People get what they deserve.  They deserve to pay more for less.

And I suppose in some respects that’s where I should leave fandom and anything else that comes into view.  However, as I have, for the last two and a half years, lifted up one stone after another, I realised that there was a lot more to see than the version of reality being painted by the BBC Six O’Clock News.

I simply had to keep quiet about these sort of things until such times as I was more widely aware of the subjects involved.  This is when you realise that life doesn’t ever give you what you WANT, but instead what you NEED.

And so, a big thank-you to all those trolls during the days of the Cult TV Festival who came online and made me appreciate that you have no rhyme nor reason for doing what you do - you just get PLEASURE from doing it; it serves no function and gets you nowhere.  You just get a kick from doing it; causing pain and upset.  It actually now serves me well as I stand up to be counted.  Name calling won’t get you anywhere these days  unless you have facts - and can prove those facts.

That’s where I am now.  I am sure that what I am doing is right, that there is a huge conspiracy at hand, and most people are using their own cognitive dissonance to ensure they never look into it.  Those trolls ensured I didn’t start my quest in revealing the truth to others until I was sure I was not dealing with a bunch of coincidences.

“But hang on”, I was told patronisingly before Christmas, “this is what man does.  He tries to see patterns in things, to show order in the universe.  We get disappointed if we find out things are random, not just a serious of tragic coincidences”.

Which is, unfortunately, the sign of a closed mind.  If you believe, no matter what the odds, that everything can be explained away by coincidence, you never start to twitch when the coincidences become so outlandish, so impossible to be not related, that you just swerve away from looking beyond, to potential reasons why there could be a link.  To look to lessons from history.  To ask the essential questions of “What if?” and “Who benefits?”

But, the problem is, let’s say there is a STAR WARS fan.  Let’s say that fan shuts down looking beyond the world presented on the news by simply saying “I am one of the sheep”.

So, rather than investigate why someone they know has changed their entire world view in a space of a couple of years, they decide to run to the hills, and finds it easier to be labelled a sheep rather than tackle matters they have either not researched or have no answers for.

And this from someone who worships a franchise which teaches that the rebels MUST defeat the evil Empire, for all our sakes.  To stop the “jackboot stamping on a face forever”, as Orwell put it.

There’s another “for instance”.  How about someone who finds it amusing that a conference would give time to the works of David Icke, or indeed investigate astrology beyond what “the stars tell you in your daily newspaper”.

You then ask the question: which David Icke books have you read, or which of his DVDs have you seen?  What do you think of the predictions he started making over 15 years ago of a New World Order, of talk of a cashless society, us all being implanted with microchips, or that there would be more maufactured terror to surrender our liberties. Or indeed note that astrology has its origins in sun worship from the days of ancient Babylon - a time where ALL religions can be traced back to (in other words, every religion is based on sun worship).

Needless to say, the running screaming to the hills was audible - that’s what I mean about challenging people on what they say.  If you’ve researched it and can tell me why I’ve got something wrong, let’s hear it.  If you don’t know what you are talking about, please, do go and do your research.

Be inquisitive, find out why there is a difference in opinion.  And don’t think that just because it’s not in the mainstream media, then someone else must have proved it’s wrong.  Saying “I’m a Sheep” is a cop-out - the fact you even say that means you realise that you just MIGHT have it wrong.

Back to the “What If?” scenario that you should be asking.  And here’s a good one to start with.  What if the our Governments are now totally controlled and in the debt of Corporations worldwide?  What if these Corporations control ALL the mass media outlets on the planet?

When you follow up on who owns all the mass media outlets, you’ll find that it is indeed huge corporations.

And so, your journey down the rabbit hole begins…

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Alternative Radio

12/07/2008 by AJ.

Forget the BBC, CNN, Fox News, ITN, Sky News, Channel 4 and five news, and every other flavour of regular broadcast media. The revolution has begun…

For someone who, just a few month ago, was a solid advocate of the BBC licence fee, my mid-life awakening continues, as I realise the fair and objective Auntie Beeb has not only come under attack, but has now lost all its impartiality to dark forces.

It’s a remarkable thing to say, but Auntie’s objectivity has been quashed, following its now shown-to-be-true attack on the ‘establishment’, when it dared to suggest that a document claiming that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction had been ’sexed up’.

Time after time, one incident after another, those of us who have known some of the truth behind the stories we are being presented, have seen that the BBC’s objectivity has been compromised, seemingly forever.

The final straw came with last Sunday’s THE CONSPIRACY FILES on BBC2. This was the tale of World Trade Center 7, the THIRD TOWER to fall on September 11, 2001 in New York. It has hardly been talked about in the mainstream media, but this could well have been the opportunity for the truth to be told.

Save to say, like the programme’s previous installment concerning 9/11, the producers preferred to believe the most outlandish coincidences rather than what, without the spin put on top by the BBC and others, was actually an inside job, carried out by the very people who used that day as the cue to begin an endless ‘war on terror’.

The background to all this is covered in depth by a succession of websites across the internet. In brief, the BBC has, again, been caught out and its objectivity and previous reputation for hard-hitting investigative journalism left in tatters.

So, shortly after that programme aired, I made the decision that I had to find more reliable sources for my news and information - and nowhere in the mainstream media - be it newspapers, TV or radio, was I going to be able to find the truth being told.

One thing that the internet has done successfully is open up the airwaves - new ‘niche’ radio stations are everywhere. You can access them if you have the right sort of broadband computer, but there’s something to be said for being able to have a radio set that actually LOOKS the part, rather than having to pull up everything through a laptop.

The more technically advanced amongst you will already know what I found to be the answer - a WIFI Internet Radio. There’s a whole plethora of them available, strangely very few from big manufacturers though, and after a quick bit of research, and a surf through pages on eBay, I managed to find a set to buy, so as to be able to ‘dip my toes’ into this new (for me) pool of technology. All you need is a wireless broadband hub in your house, and away you go!

Of course, it was only AFTER winning the bid that I spotted that what I’d got hold of was a USED deck. No instructions included. And, sod’s law, when I did more research on my acquisition, the LOGIK IR100 WIFI INTERNET RADIO, I saw that the general advice suggested that I should steer clear of buying a used deck, as they are apparently plagued with problems. Ooops.

Anyhow, I did manage to find a copy of the instructions to download, but given my usual relationship with Hi-Tech stuff, I feared the worst…

The deck arrived around lunchtime today, but I followed the warnings that said I should not plug it in for 2-3 hours, so as to avoid any problem with condensation on the circuits.

First attempt to connect to my broadband box led to a PORT 80 error, whatever one of those might be. I feared the worst. A desperate trawl through the pages of handy hints I’d downloaded and printed off from a very helpful website mentioned nothing about such an error. So, out of devilment, I tried again.

Success!

I inputted my network hub’s “key” number, and within seconds I was listening to some upbeat Bollywood-esque music (gives you an idea as to what part of London the box had previously resided in!).

Before I knew it, I’d worked out how to access thousands of stations from around the world - and you can select what to listen to either by LOCATION or by GENRE. I first found an American Comedy channel, and it was definitely a sign from the ether that this radio set is one of my best purchases of recent times, as who’s in concert when I tune in but the legendary BILL HICKS (note to Paul Gooding - I finally took your advice and found out about this guy - about four years after you tipped me off about him - sorry for taking so long to catch up!).

And the ‘Listen Again’ service doesn’t quite make up for the BBC’s depressing behaviour on the news front, but having virtually all of BBC Radio’s output from the loast seven days means I have had an amazing afternoon catching up with episodes of THE BURKISS WAY, MITCH BENN’S CRIMES AGAINST MUSIC, some early 1980s LES DAWSON show (all three from Radio 7), and even the ASK ELVIS bit from Wednesday’s Steve Wright In The Afternoon Radio 2 show! I could have even listened to a commentary for the last episode of Doctor Who with Julie Gardner and Phil Collinson, but there’s only so many hours in the day!

I’ve been able to find a feed of THE ALEX JONES SHOW (look it up on Google if you want to know about this guy - which you should) and also PLAY RADIO 2, which is the new home for THE JAMES WHALE SHOW, after the guy was sacked from Talksport Radio for suggesting that folk in London should vote for Boris Johnson to be Mayor!

I’m listening to PLAY RADIO 2 at the moment - it’s their 80s Weekend, and amongst the unusual, and darn good, choices have been WATCHING THE WHEELS by John Lennon, and ALWAYS THE SUN by The Stranglers. Other stations would have no doubt played WOMAN and GOLDEN BROWN respectively, so straight away I’m sold that this is likely to be the new soundtrack station at Cult TV Towers!

I think that if anything is going to put another nail in the coffin of DAB radio, it’s gonna be this type of WIFI radio. I’ve even found a lead that has allowed me to connect this magic box into my PA system that feeds into both the lounge and the dining room, so at the moment you can hear SYSTEM ADDICT by Five Star in both rooms, in glorious crisp stereo! Not ‘alf!

So, what’s needed is some research into alternative further non-mainstream news channels (are there any UK-orientated ones?), and my day will be complete! Any tip-offs from you folk out there would be much appreciated!

Gotta go, have to glue the volume knob back on - again, a common problem with this deck I’m told, and what tune is playing now? Well, in many ways, it feels appropriate:

ONCE IN A LIFETIME by Talking Heads. Nice …

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Expect the Unexpected …

14/06/2008 by AJ.

Bless the Irish!

Yes, they’ve put a huge spanner in the works of the rolling juggernaut of injustice that is called the EUROPEAN UNION.

We have trodden a long way down a very steep hill since the early-1970s, when Ted Heath used all the power he could muster to get us to join something we were told was a “Common Market”. Make no mistake, that terminology describes EXACTLY what the British people signed up to at that time. A trading arena where all countries would find selling to others within the market a lot easier than it had been. Theoretically good for business - provided yours was one of the countries that could deliver better products cheaper and faster than any of the other member states.

With the benefit of hindsight, knowing the sort of industrial unrest that was coming our way later in the 1970s, and the problems that this would create for fulfilling orders and keeping customers, well, those in the UK who voted YES must have been mad to think that all this was a “pretty neat idea”.

Step ahead 35 years, and somewhere along the line, we’ve been hijacked. I say “we” meaning the British electorate, because as sure as hell all three major political parties WANT us to stay in Europe, although none of them can outline WHY it is that they go against the obvious will of the majority, in that we don’t like the way things are going.

Growing up on the fantasy worlds of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, in many ways I’d been programmed to the idea of a WORLD GOVERNMENT. This was implicit in the likes of Fireball XL5, Stingray and Thunderbirds, and more explicit in CAPTAIN SCARLET. In the 1960s, this seemed like a way that we could avoid all future wars - if we’re all on the same side, who’s left to fight? Well, alien invaders was the answer, as well as Nation States obviously not aligned with this New World Order. However, the answer to who the armies would have left to fight, in reality, is actually more ominous that any number of Mysteron hordes.

A world army will fight those who oppose the one-world government. Within the ranks of its own people. Think that’s crazy? Well, consider a recent change in terminology: why have TRAFFIC WARDENS been renamed CIVIL ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS?

Don’t believe it? Then I suggest you check out this article: http://www.westminster.gov.uk/transportandstreets/parking/ceos.cfm

And if you think that’s all the powers they are going to have - as listed on that link - why is it that they have been issued with the ‘wording cards’ that the Police carry to read from when they make arrests? That’s a large expense if they are never going to get used!

The European Union is planned to be one state, run by one Parliament from Brussels. Similar things are happening with the AFRICAN UNION, and then we have the move to join Canada, Mexico and the USA together into the NORTH AMERICAN UNION. Once all these various unions are set up, it’s literally a small hop to a WORLD UNION. In the UK we are already in the position that any laws our Parliaments make can be over-turned in Brussels.

Organisations like the United Nations and the World Health Organisation are playing their part in “harmonising” (i.e., making the same) all laws, rules and regulations at a global level, too. For instance, we’re currently paying an annual fine for not allowing meat that’s laced with growth hormone from being imported from the USA. Sure, you can do your own thing, but it will cost you. And keep costing you until you give in and do as you’re told.

And don’t get me started on a little puzzle called CODEX ALIMENTARIUS that will effectively make all nutrients (which, being natural, can never be patented) illegal from the beginning of 2010 onwards - except in the most ineffective of dosages. You can find out more at http://www.alliance-natural-health.org/

All this feeds in to where I came in - Ireland voting NO to the Lisbon “Treaty” (or, as it really is, the aborted European Constitution with a few changes - and guess what, as it’s NOT called the Constitution any more, Labour don’t have to keep their election promise of having a referendum on it as, well, it’s not the same thing … ah-hem!).

Luckily for the UK, and the rest of Europe that has been refused the right to a referendum to agree to all this, there’s a clause in Ireland’s own laws which INSIST that they have to vote on whether to accept this “Treaty” or not.

Over in Ireland, there are various attempts to explain away the fact that the Irish people have had the good sense to vote “No”. They are being seen as UNGRATEFUL for not thanking Europe for the massive aid it has received over recent years - aid which has turned its economy around, allowing the people to thrive. The Irish people have been told, effectively, that they don’t know what they are doing!

Well, let’s put things in order, for those who don’t know what this thing is. The Lisbon Treaty allows Brussels to make law, instead of just having a framework for law-making. It provides no effective checks and balances to control future law-makers.

The treaty gives the EU the permanent right to seize more powers without any future agreement or consultation. And, get this, the EU refuses to publish the full text of the Lisbon Treaty until after it has been ratified!

Angela Merkel, German Chancellor, admitted the Lisbon Treaty is 98 percent the same as the Constitution. Commissioner Margot Wallstrom told the Constitutional Affairs Committee that the word ‘constitution’ had been dropped to avoid trouble with the British!

There is a saving grace, though. Our own British constitution forbids any government from giving away the sovereignty of the people, according to the Bill of Rights 1689, which is still on the statute book. That Act of Parliament is, in turn, based on the Declaration of Rights 1688, which is a legally binding contract between the sovereign and the people. It is therefore beyond the reach of any elected British parliament to repeal or amend. Indeed any elected British parliament must respect its contents since all British parliamentarians are also subjects of the Monarch.

In any case, any future British government has the right to repeal the European Communities Act 1972. This would have the immediate effect of taking the UK out of the EU. Which means UK law is supreme.

This begs the following question: what change of circumstance allowed the UK’s current Minister for Europe, Jim Murphy, to tell the UK Parliament’s European Scrutiny Committee in January 2008 that the UK does not have an opt-out from the EU’s proposed Charter of Fundamental Rights in the Lisbon Treaty?

Before he left office, Tony Blair had told Parliament that the UK did have an opt-out and that the charter would not apply in the UK as a result of a protocol to the Treaty. Who is, or was, right, and why?

Our British government will sign the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty without any further consultation with us, against a tide of widespread opposition. Which could mean we have interesting times ahead. How would the EU deal with a retrospective referendum here in the UK, once a government with the mind to stage one comes into office, later on down the road?

As it is, there are several well-funded legal challenges already under way in the UK to stop ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, or have ratification overturned.

And for those of us who want to keep our currency as the British Pound, since the Lisbon Treaty apparently includes much the same wording as the EU constitution, that document noted: “the currency of the EU shall be the Euro”. If that’s still there, what powers will a future British government have to reject membership of the Euro if the Lisbon Treaty is finally ratified by all 27 nation states?

So, no wonder the Irish people RIGHTLY said they didn’t know what they would be voting YES to! Only a very small select number of people actually DO!

All of which means it’s time to find a political party that will not only give us a referendum, but also uphold our own Bill of Rights 1689.

Unfortunately, you can immediately strike off that list Labour, Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. UKIP is seen as a one-issue party and has already been scuppered by the mainstream media.

The answer has to come from somewhere new … something new … now, take a look at this …

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Entertainment with a message

11/06/2008 by AJ.

Sometimes you come across a piece on YouTube which simply stands out for its ability to entertain while informing.

It’s a balance between questions of taste and getting a message across.

For those of you who believe everything you see in the Mainstream Media, this might strike you as shocking. If that’s the case, get Googling and do your own research. For something wicked may well have this way come …

Now, THAT is a track I’d love to see top the singles charts. Somehow, though, I don’t think it’s going to get any airplay on Radio 1!

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Sparks light the fire …

08/06/2008 by AJ.

2008 seems to be fast becoming one of those years where I get to revisit previous parts of my life with a new 21st Century perspective. And the lovely thing about it is that in almost all cases it wasn’t a case that the stuff that meant something to me all those years ago was a victim of rose-tinted spectacles. The return gigs have reminded me exactly WHY I was fired up about them all those years ago, and that I was right to hold them in such esteem to do this day.

A first-ever visit to Los Angeles in April/May this year served as a reminder of why television as a medium is still an important part of my life. Fact is, though, the honesty comes in appreciating that what I really want to do is be making it, taking part in some way, not just celebrating its “Greatest Hits”. That’s a personal thing, it’s not really adding to what has gone before, which should be everyone’s goal.

The other couple of incidents were music related. The first was seeing THE HUMAN LEAGUE in concert again, for the first time in nearly a decade. The first time I saw them was back in 1981, at Bingley Hall, Stafford, with the stage set featuring a backdrop of a huge number of 35mm slide projectors, spewing out images that supported the messages of the songs. Yes, HUMAN LEAGUE songs DO have a point to them. It’s not all funny haircuts and plinky plonk synths!

Seeing them in the 1990s was NOT the same experience - gone were the cultural-reference backdrop of images, and it felt very much like a shadow of what had gone before. HOWEVER. When THE LEAGUE toured to celebrate their album DARE earlier this year, back came the backdrop of images. Except no longer were we talking projectors and screens - now we had a bank of huge Plasma screens, elevating and descending, all helping tell the stories of the songs once more. Hairs on the back of my neck stood on end - the LEAGUE I knew were back.

One band I never saw live until this year was SPARKS. As if it were yesterday I remember in 1979 going into GOULD’S in Wolverhampton Mander Centre and purchasing the LP of NUMBER ONE IN HEAVEN. A splendid luminous see-through yellowy-green vinyl slab of glorious electronic disco pomp. Probably the album I have played more than any in my collection over the years.

I’d first seen Sparks many years earlier on TOP OF THE POPS, performing THIS TOWN AIN’T BIG ENOUGH FOR THE BOTH OF US. Ron Mael’s Hitler-esque social disconnection at the keyboards, brother Russell’s inability to keep still on-stage - it was just something that burned like a laser into my memory.

So, when the announcement came that Sparks were taking up a residency at the Carling Academy Islington to play 20 concerts featuring their first 20 albums, rounding off with the debut of their 21st at Shepherd’s Bush on 13th June, I simply had to turn up to the pivotal albums from their output - as far as I was concerned, that is.

So, on 25 May, Sarah and I went to see the performance of NUMBER ONE IN HEAVEN in its entirety. On the following Tuesday, we went to see TERMINAL JIVE get its airing. At both, and showing how small the world is (and how common our collective interests are) there were even regular CULT TV FESTIVAL attendees also present to savour the experience!

However, yesterday, 7 June, was the performance of PLAGIARISM. A unique album, in that it has a huge number of tracks, and is basically Sparks doing their own ‘tribute album’ - revisiting some of their greatest hits, giving them a dust-off and applying to them a different style to what we had previously experienced.

As it was such a long album, there was no support act (Thank God, as the two previous ones, well, I simply cannot think of anything kind to say about them!). But we’d had an email to tip us off that Sparks were likely to be onstage for 8.30pm. Well, okay, technical difficulties meant that this actually ended up as 8.45pm, but then again given what we had in store for us, that is entirely forgiven.

The first clue that this was to be no ordinary evening was the arrival onstage of a string quintet from Trinity College. Three violins, a cello and a double bass. All played by some of the most gorgeous ladies I’ve seen onstage for some considerable time (for some reason I keep thinking of Bill and Ted’s ‘Medieval Babes’, even though they were all demurely dressed in black T-shirts sporting the cover of PLAGIARISM, in a square on the front). Couldn’t make up my mind whether the double bass lady or the first violinist were the most attractive. Or was it the violinist right in the middle who seem to spend her entire ‘downtime’ onstage staring lovingly at Russell???

Anyhow, as there is a lot of orchestral arrangement on this album, they were certainly kept busy throughout the evening. And for the track “Change” an entire brass section, again from Trinity, crowded the stage to add even more impact to the evening. Fantastic!

But the crowning moment came with the “reprise” of “Number One Song in Heaven” - this is a reworking of the first half of the extended version of the song, which is all dreamy and otherworldly - before we get into the second half which is some of the most upfront rock disco ever created. Now, there’s a problem doing this live, mainly as the version on PLAGIARISM has guest vocals from JIMMY SOMERVILLE, formerly of Bronksi Beat, and known for his high vocal range.

So, Russell begins singing the one part of the song … and then out of nowhere appears none other than JIMMY SOMERVILLE!

It’s one of those moments you remember for the rest of your life. The song becomes a duet, and the duelling vocalists give it their all. A tear in my eye as I realised that these are the sort of set pieces which can make an evening iconic.

An encore of the rare track “Looks Aren’t Everything” sped by afterwards, as did the long train journey home. The night had fired up my creativity, and puzzles on various projects got solved as if the answers had been obvious all along. Two hours travel passed in the blink of any eye.

Anyhow, check out more about the band at www.allsparks.com and, if you’re lucky, do anything you can to get a ticket for the premiere of “Exotic Creatures of the Deep” at Shepherd’s Bush on Friday 13th ….!

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Boston Legal lives, gives chance for Life on Mars USA?

25/05/2008 by AJ.

So, Boston Legal lives on, and it would appear that by doing so has assisted the American version of Life on Mars to go into production.

Star Trek fans will note that in the pilot the character of Gene Hunt was played by Colm Meaney, old Miles O’Brien himself. And would you believe, there’s a trailer on-line:

Meanwhile, let’s take a look at what has been axed this year (for those of you just coming in….):

• Aliens in America
• Back To You
• Beauty and the Geek
• Big Shots
• Bionic Woman
• Cane
• Canterbury’s Law
• Carpoolers
• Cashmere Mafia
• Cavemen
• Eight Days a Week
• Girlfriends
• Jericho
• Journeyman
• K-Ville
• Las Vegas
• Life Is Wild
• Men In Trees
• Miss/Guided
• Moonlight
• New Amsterdam
• October Road
• Shark
• The Return of Jezebel James
• Unhitched
• Viva Laughlin
• Welcome to the Captain
• Women’s Murder Club

As the time of nominations in the Cult TV Awards is fast approaching, this is obviously the base list for the Award SHOW THEY SHOULDN’T HAVE CANCELLED, which thus far has gone to such luminaries as THE WEST WING and STUDIO 60. Nice for once that it WON’T be an Aaron Sorkin series winning!

Which would I put as the five shows to go into the category? Well, top of the pile is SHARK - back on five in the UK Fridays at 10.00pm (and how many of you missed that gem of information … five for some reason didn’t give the second season much fanfare, but at least they moved it to a new slot for this run). SHARK is one of those shows that is always engaging, although I have to admit the world does shake on its axis if I miss an episode.

Next up is JERICHO which I have to admit I haven’t seen any episodes of the curtailed 7-episode second season save for the first one, which seemed to run out of steam before it began. I gather from those who have sat through all seven segments that it does get bogged down in itself before rising to a humdinger of an ending. I will be following it on Hallmark, Friday nights at 8.00pm to see if I agree with their prognosis! I guess I put this in with a shout as fan-power got it a reprieve, but didn’t ya just bet on the American network not giving it the right support to survive!

MOONLIGHT would also be in the frame, again as it seems to have ignited a fandom, and as Cult TV is the name of our game, we should protect shows even if those who are passionate about it are few in number. Like most shows that become cults, if people see something in it that the majority don’t, likely as not it’s just because the majority have yet to give it a chance. Count Moonlight in that category …

JOURNEYMAN is another show that you can ink into this category. It was just finding its feet and then has the rug pulled from under it. You really feel that some shows should insist on a 22 episode order before they go into production, if only so that the DVD release has a good chunk of content that people can catch up with at a later date.

My fifth entrant would be a British series, and that’s THE WHISTLEBLOWERS. Again, this got transmitted on ITV last Autumn with very little ceremony. Here’s the press blurb:

Every company, every institution, every Government department has its secrets. From Deep Throat to Dr David Kelly, ‘whistleblowers’ have risked their careers, their reputations and even their lives to expose those secrets. And each episode of The Whistleblowers begs the question – could you? Or, more truthfully, would you?

The Whistleblowers is a six-part series created by the award-winning Tony Marchant (The Mark Of Cain, Passer By, Holding On, Recovery, Kid In The Corner), who writes three of the six episodes. One episode is written by real life whistleblower and ex immigration officer Tony Saint, another by ex teacher Steve Thompson and a sixth by Paul Logue (Sea of Souls).

BEN GRAHAM (Richard Coyle) and ALISHA COLE (Indira Varma) are lawyers at the same highly successful London firm. They witness a miscarriage of justice on their own doorstep and, instead of giving in to the temptation to look the other way, they speak out. However, by trying to do the right thing, Ben and Alisha suddenly find themselves on the other side of the law – enemies of the state.

In making the extraordinary journey from average citizens to whistleblowers, Ben and Alisha see the need to support others who are faced with the same moral dilemma. Realising whistleblowers are central to the continuing integrity and freedom of our society, they set up an agency to support those who are brave enough to step forward. Aided by private investigator and friend KENNY REED (Daniel Ryan), they step into the worlds of the education system, pharmaceuticals, the immigration service, the drinks industry and an environment agency to help potential whistleblowers take on those who will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried.

I knew nothing of this show until I saw Amazon was almost giving the DVD set away for about a fiver, and the premise sounded great. It’s got “old school ITV” values in its DNA, and Carnival Films is the production company, who gave us BUGS which, for a time, looked like it would become a cult series in its own right. No-one talked about Whistleblowers, and the reviews there were seem to have been mixed, to say the least, which immediately suggests ‘Cult Show Ahead’!

It even got nominated for the drama Rose d’Or, losing out to Channel 4’s SKINS, which shows where that judging panels sensibilities lie. Have to admit, that is another show that has slipped under my radar - still, the DVD box set of season one was cheap so at some point I’ll catch up on that one, too.

You’ll notice I’ve steered clear of including BIONIC WOMAN in my selections. This is another one of those “re-imagings” that take the format so far from its origins that they really should have called it something completely different, rather than feasting on its origins like some demonic vampire. Look, guys in charge of productions of re-imaginings everywhere, check out the two most successful revivals in TV history: STAR TREK and DOCTOR WHO.

What did they have in common? They didn’t erase history, they added to it. Same universe. The back catalogue remains part of the continuity. It’s a no-brainer on the merchandising front. So, how come this is just so difficult for some folk to get their head around? Get a new audience, sure, but keep the original fans happy - who will become some of your greatest ambassadors. It ain’t difficult if you’re truly a creative worth their salt.

So, talking of re-imaginings brings us full-circle back to the American version of LIFE ON MARS. The fact that there’s a link to BOSTON LEGAL should mean that British Sam Tyler fans shouldn’t be too concerned that this different version of the series will be off-kilter from what we are aware of. Aside from the minor change that it will be set in 1972 rather than 1973, an American cop backdrop will play differently to THE SWEENEY backdrop we had with the British version.

BOSTON LEGAL was on-the-ropes renewal-wise as it’s not a cheap show to produce, the cast being high-calibre and core to its success. Ratings are respectable but not stratospheric, and for a lot of viewers its politics is left-of-centre liberal, if indeed such terms have any relevance these days. After intense negotiations, the network oreached an agreement with creator David Kelley to bring “Legal” back in the Autumn. The network had originally intended to hold “Legal” as a mid-season replacement for any new show that failed.

The clincher was throwing the Stateside version onto the negotiating table. The ABC network had been keen on a series order of the show, starring Jason O’Mara, with October Road creators Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec and Scott Rosenberg becoming the executive producers.

Such a deal had to be blessed by Kelley, who owns the American rights. This is the second time the fates of Mars and Legal have been linked. Two years ago, putting the pilot of Mars into production helped clinch a renewal of Legal.

All of which means LIFE ON MARS (USA) is expected to be one of handful new additions to ABC’s Autumn schedule line-up.

So, all in all, I am excited that not only do we get to feast on another season of BOSTON LEGAL, but with a bit of luck, the American version of LIFE ON MARS can be considered something to eagerly anticipate, rather than dread …

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Who lives and who dies?

13/04/2008 by AJ.

It’s that time of the year, as the clock ticks down, where we find out which American shows will make it to another season (or at least kick off one, and then see how it does).

For those of you just joining us, amongst those that are already gone Stateside, not to return (save any episodes left ‘in the can’) are the likes of Men In Trees, Cane, Jericho (again!), Bionic Woman, Journeyman and Las Vegas.

And then there’s the shows which are said to be ‘on the bubble’ - in other words, their bubble could be burst at any moment by their sponsor Network. For many it’s a toss-of-the-coin thing; has the show got enough left in the tank to keep on being entertaining for another season? Can the ratings still see an upturn if the show returns? More than anything one of the biggest problems is that the more seasons a show runs for in America, the more expensive each episode becomes. The cast get guaranteed raises for enduring more episodes, the Network has to pay more for the show, and so forth.

So, which shows have the axe hanging over them? Of the shows we know in the UK, we have:

• Reaper
• The Sarah Connor Chronicles
• Shark
• The Unit
• Rules of Engagement
• Moonlight
• The New Adventures of Old Christine
• BOSTON LEGAL

Must admit to liking Shark a lot, but out of these, without a shadow of a doubt the highlight of my week is Boston Legal. This is one show that actually gets better the longer it runs, and it is undoubtedly currently the highlight of my viewing week.

Yes, above everything else. Even Doctor Who. If it was a choice between cancelling either the BBC’s flagship or the best show on LIVING tv, then Denny Crane beats the good Doctor hands-down.

And that’s not to suggest that Cardiff’s finest export is not any good, far from it. It’s more to do with Boston Legal being so in touch with the world around us, that within its drama and comedy are some absorbing facts that simply don’t get relayed to us via the news services where most of us get our view of the world. This week they explained more about the sub-prime mortgage market fiasco in a single secondary plot than we have had in hours of coverage on BBC News, ITN or Sky News. Or CNN. Or, undoubtedly, Fox News.

Alan Shore demolished the perceived logic of the event in Iraq in the previous week’s episode.  In three minutes, James Spader’s character Shore explained what could have been possible for the American people if they hadn’t have spent the Trillions they so far have in fighting a war that, in the end, seems more about oil than democracy.

And when a British show does a similar thing in terms of what the UK could have done for its people if it didn’t keep blowing the budget on keeping a war going which will only continue to perpetuate even more hatred and keep hostilities going on ad infinitum, then maybe the wake-up call will begin to resonate worldwide…

Which, all in all, is an around-the-houses way of saying: SAVE BOSTON LEGAL !

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A Matter of Perspective

15/03/2008 by AJ.

There’s a third season episode of Star Trek - The Next Generation called ‘A Matter of Perspective’. In it, Riker is accused of murder when a scientist is killed in an explosion. So, old Jean-Luc recreates the events in the holodeck, using the technology to prove Will’s innocence.

Except … it’s not that easy, as everyone involved has seen the incident from a different angle. Filtered out particular events, given more prominence to others. All are remembering the reality as they saw it. They report their memories accurately, but overall, their version of the truth is not all it could be.

I note this as, at the moment, I am bemused by the current reaction amongst both friends and the media to Ashes to Ashes, the continuation of Life on Mars, featuring Cult TV’s Hall of Fame Hero for 2007, Gene Hunt.

For me, the 1970s realm that was the setting for prequel series Life on Mars happened for me at a time when I had an age in single digits. I can recall the music featured, even knew the lyrics of songs by the likes of The Sweet, even seeing the band performing in my mind’s eye on Top of the Pops.

But for me my heyday was the early 1980s. The era of Ashes to Ashes. The choice of music - Ultravox, Spandau Ballet, The Clash and so forth, just makes me all nostalgic. In 1981 I was 16-17, just starting out as a DJ (playing for 6th Form parties at school), and going to gigs like The Human League at Bingley Hall and The Police at the NEC Birmingham. The best days of my life.

I admit the bias as I am prepared to be more forgiving, it would seem, than people who weren’t in the same position as me at the time. For those younger, most not even born at the time when either LoM or AtA were set, both are worlds-away from our present day. For those older, most see the early 1970s as more of a “golden age”, musically and culturally, that the 1980s.

However, the problem seems to mainly be rested at the feet of new leading character Alex Drake. The profiler from the 21st Century whisked back to her own single-digit age era of 1981. To move the format onwards, Drake has knowledge of Sam Tyler and his mental apparitions that were revealed in LoM. So, rather than the fuzzy bemusement suffered by her predecessor Sam, Ms Drake is well aware of the nature of her experience. She (reckons) she’s near death, holding on to her life in 2008 by the thinnest of threads, and seeing her adventures in 1981 as some sort of test that she is being put through. Solve all the riddles and she will survive. Fail in her set tasks, and she’s off this mortal coil for good.

This premise immediately means that we are less symathetic to her than we were for Sam. She’s a know-it-all, she thinks she has a jump-off point for all the answers, so she treats the characters around her with more detachment and scorn that old Sam did. They are figments or her own imagination, she thinks, so why should she respect them?

The problem with this is that the viewing audience have grown to like Gene, Ray and Chris. So, the detached treatment Ms Drake has given the dynamic trio doesn’t go down well with the viewers. All three of them are lovable in one way or another, and here we have this interloper stomping in and, as Shakespeare would say, biting her thumb at them.

Drake is being too clever for her own good, in effect. The perspective of the viewer is such that, yes, we know you’re in a dreamworld, but for heaven’s sake enjoy it, rather than being uptight with yourself by referencing such things as “Back to the Future” with a DeLorean, or the soon-to-be The A Team!

How different would our perspective be if DCI Hunt and the team weren’t already known to us? Difficult to say, as we aren’t in that position, and I very much doubt that AtA has any viewers that aren’t actually already familiar with LoM.

So, we see a new character playing in an established universe, admittedly advanced onward by eight years. And she’s not playing nice with people we have grown to like over the course of 16 previous televisual hours. To be honest, given the set-up and premise of AtA, it’s difficult to work out how logically Drake could handle the situation any differently.

Personally, I don’t see this as the show’s major flaw, but one of its major strengths. If you know you’re in a fictional world, then Drake’s way of coping is absolutely logical. You can laugh at what’s happening around you, no matter how serious everyone else in that universe thinks things are.

It’s a pity we all can’t take this sort of attitude on in our own ‘real world’ as it is portrayed to us. Things happen all the time which, if you step back from them, make absolutely no sense, given the take on reality we are expected to follow from what our chums in the mass media tell us.

This week’s case in point: it is widely acknowledged that air travel is the single biggest cause of increases in the levels of CO2 in our atmosphere.

Indeed, there is also no widely distributed argument to the fact that CO2 is one of the major causes of global warming, which is leading to climate change.

So, this week, we have HRH Queen Elizabeth II opening Terminal 5 at London Heathrow airport, with a new runway or two in the offing.

All these things being true, what are we to conclude? Take your pick from the following answers. Is it:

a) CO2 causes global warming, and the continued support of mechanisms for air travel means our own Government is not committed to doing anything about rising temperatures; or

b) CO2 is NOT the cause of global warming - the climate change which is happening is due to something else - in which case, all this carbon offsetting and proposed extra taxes are just a means to make money; there’s actually not a thing we can do about the planet heating up.

It’s got to be one or the other. This is an either/or situation. It can’t be both.

Without all the facts, without all the evidence, the answer remains a matter of perspective…

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The revolution could well be televised!

07/03/2008 by AJ.

Hello there, and welcome to this new blog, brought to you by me, Alex Geairns, or as the title of this operation states, “THE MAN FROM THE MINISTRY”!

The Ministry of Cineology is the new umbrella title for an organisation that celebrates both CULT TV and CULT MOVIES - extraordinary programming, normally of a fictional nature, that encourages its viewers to do more than just sit and watch.

Both these media, by their very nature, can be extremely passive, so for any project within these forms of communication to get people off their chairs and into some form of interaction, well, it’s got to be good for some form of community spirit.

So, CULT TV, previously the organisers of the CULT TV FESTIVAL, and the people behind the official CULT TV WEBSITE, is now a Division of the Ministry of Cineology.  In the months to come, we’ll be developing the CULT MOVIES division, which will be based at www.cult.am (the “am” being short for “Addictive Movies” which, you have to admit is a pre-requisite for any film to be considered a “Cult”).

This blog will mainly be covering fiction in TV and Movies, but ever-so-occasionally I will drift into other areas - so you can expect the odd documentary to make its way onto these pages.  And it won’t just be broadcast TV or the latest cinematic releases in the mix, there’ll also be various DVDs of all persuasions on the horizon, too.  Plus books, memorabilia, and all sorts of stuff with loose connections to the goggle box or the flea pit!

No doubt we’ll have some of the trolls, that have seemingly followed me around throughout my entire internet life, pay us a visit in the comments sections.  You’ll be able to spot them a mile off, but let’s just remember that their outlandish and ridiculous nonsense should not be taken personally - they are just wonderfully bizarre forms of entertainment that, if treated in the right way, can brighten up our lives.  You have to feel sorry for them - much like the hackers who take pleasure in destroying websites on the superhighway rather than CREATE something useful, they don’t have an original bone in their bodies.  They exist to destroy, to demolish, to bear-bait, and to create as much suffering as possible.

Like my mother would say, “they’ll never go to heaven”!

BUT, it’s better that they get their kicks having a go at people who are big enough (emotionally) to take it, rather than engage in their cruel sport with those who will get depressed and despairing at their nonsensical opinions and vitriol.

A few years ago, I was one of those people who took everything at face value that they would throw.  It sure got me depressed, and nearly destroyed me (the fact that I am admitting that is probably giving these folk a Cheshire-cat-grin as they read this - yes, if you didn’t realise, you succeeded!).

However, when you realise that, in the end, you are the centre of your own universe, it is easier to dismiss the views of people whose only view of you is their desire to inflict pain on you.  The only downside is that you exempt friends from this exclusion zone, and ever so occasionally you realise that some people are incapable of understanding the significance and value of such friendship.

At which point you move on.

So, hopefully you see from this introduction that this part of “the empire” will like as not be more philosophical than information-driven in comparison to other websites and internet resources under the Cineology umbrella.  It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but I hope for some folk you find your soul replenished or your view of the world challenged.

Well, if that’s not writing a cheque I might not be able to underwrite, I don’t know what is!

Welcome aboard.

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