Currently Reading, Watching, Listening...

READING (un-work related):

Phineas Finn by Anthony Trollope. He writes so elegantly and effortlessly.

An Italian Education by Tim Parks (his book on Italian football, A Season with Verona, is on a par with Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch).

Darkness Visible by William Golding. Love the title, struggling with the story a little bit.


WATCHING:

The Sopranos on E4. Really enjoying the new series. I get so immersed in it that I forget I’m watching drama, and the sometimes hit-and-miss unconventional narrative structure is always fascinating.

Scrubs on E4. Still has bags of charm and comedy despite it straining a little with its format.

Holby City on BBC1. I enjoy this. Honestly.

River City on BBC1 Scotland. Scottish soap on twice a week (available on Sky c971, Ntl etc). I may get to write for this so I’m keeping an eye on it.

Lots of football on Sky because I just can’t help myself, and Football Italia on Bravo because Italian football is so compelling off-the-pitch as it is on-the-pitch. James Richardson is currently the best presenter on TV.

The West Wing on E4. Series one is being repeated on Sundays on E4 but I just got season two on DVD for my birthday. The first two episodes of season two are about Josh and the President recovering from their gunshots, and the drama flashbacks to how the presidential team got together. Simply stunning. Looking forward to Studio 60...

Family Guy on FX. Don’t catch it regularly because it clashes with stuff, but really enjoy it when I do.

Extras on BBC2. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant continue their triumphant march.

EastEnders on BBC1. I will write for this show one day, oh yes, I will write for this show.

Entourage on ITV2. Caught on to this late, but am enjoying the ride because of its accessible style, tone and characters.


LISTENING:

Muse. I love the noise they make. Gloriously melodramatic, naff and over-the-top with some sly sucker-punches of infectious pop.

Razorlight. ‘America’ is the best single of the year so far. "I got the movie script but I don't know what it meant." Amen, brother.

Thom Yorke/Radiohead. Even their experimental plinky-plonky stuff somehow takes a hold. My favourite group.

Thirteen Senses. iTunes recommended them in their 'Just for You' section, and I thought ‘yeah right, you just want me to buy more tracks’ but I clicked and listened, and hey, nice stuff.

Snow Patrol. They’re playing in Bournemouth in November but are sold out. Damn and blast it.

So y’see, I’m an indie kind-of-guy (Keane, Manics, Arctic Monkeys), but I like pop too, and might buy the odd track like Beyonce, Gwen Stefani, Joey Negro, Goldfrapp etc.

Also, FYI, Shauna at Shouting into the Wind has kindly listed all the TV shows that have blogs so if you’d like to procrastinate with that, check it out here.

And professional scribe Mark Greig has joined the on-line community with his blog wordface where he will share his wit and wisdom on his career and current gigs, which include Afterlife and Life on Mars. So go and prod him into a question or two.