TV programme of the month: Predictable I know, but Celebrity Big Brother had me glued to my screen for three weeks (and probably not for the reason you expect). Yes, I adored the growing realisation that my local MP was making a complete and utter fool of himself, hammering another nail into his political coffin with every smug self-righteous outburst. Yes, I loved the inspired mix of celebs and non-celeb ricocheting their fragile personalities off one another. But most of all I admired the sheer creativity of the Channel 4 production team in devising ever more devious tasks and situations which allowed the housemates' true selves to shine through. You probably didn't see Big Brother singing '100 Green Bottles' to Preston in the Diary Room on the penultimate day, for example, but it was yet another example of ingenious simplicity. Much like "Now, would you like me... to be the cat?" - simple, but deadly.
Single/Album of the month: Very very occasionally I hear a song from an unknown band on the radio, once, and then feel an urgent need to rush out and buy the album. It doesn't happen very often, but it happened with Australian band Cut Copy and a single play of their latest single, Going Nowhere, on BBC 6 Music. I thought, if the rest of the album's like this, all indie rock with an 80s electro twist, sort of Daft Punk meets New Order, then it'll be excellent. And it is. The best tracks are the two previous singles, the chugging 'Future' and the bleeping 'Saturdays' (both of which can be heard on the band's myspace site), but the rest of Bright LikeNeon Love is pretty damned good too. I'm just eight months late in appreciating it.
Football result of the month: Arsenal 7, Middlesbrough 0. Please concentrate on this blinding performance, and you might not notice Arsenal's poor league form and dismal cupexits during the rest of the month. Thankyou.
Book of the month: Publishers appear to have decreed that January is self-improvement month, forcing upon us a seasonal diet of diet books and exercise manuals. Anyone would think we were all fat and depressed after Christmas or something. Stuff that, I thought, so I went out instead and bought the paperback edition of Christian Wolmar's snappily titled The Subterranean Railway: How the London Underground Was Built and How It Changed the City Forever. What can I say, except that if you like this sort of thing then you'll really like it. Highly detailed and authoritative. But you won't lose any weight reading it, sorry.
Film of the month: I suspect I should have gone to see Brokeback Mountain, or maybe Jarhead, or even King Kong. But I didn't. Never mind - I'm sure they'll be on telly at Christmas in 2008, so I'll watch them then.
TV programme of the month: Predictable I know, but Celebrity Big Brother had me glued to my screen for three weeks (and probably not for the reason you expect). Yes, I adored the growing realisation that my local MP was making a complete and utter fool of himself, hammering another nail into his political coffin with every smug self-righteous outburst. Yes, I loved the inspired mix of celebs and non-celeb ricocheting their fragile personalities off one another. But most of all I admired the sheer creativity of the Channel 4 production team in devising ever more devious tasks and situations which allowed the housemates' true selves to shine through. You probably didn't see Big Brother singing '100 Green Bottles' to Preston in the Diary Room on the penultimate day, for example, but it was yet another example of ingenious simplicity. Much like "Now, would you like me... to be the cat?" - simple, but deadly.
TV programme of the month: Predictable I know, but 