The George Lite Zone

I just watched 5 hours of season one of the HBO show The Wire back to back. A damn fine series. The Wire has got to be in the running for greatest TV show ever. The show has the texture and pacing of a novel and is set in the city of Baltimore. Reaching levels of realism never seen before in a cop show (a lot of the actors actually came from the streets) it knocks programs like The Sopranos into a cocked hat. Each season focuses on a different aspect of urban life. Season 1 focuses on the battle between the police and the pushers, Season 2 the plight blue-collar workers, Season 3 the political scene, Season 4 the school system and in the fifth and final season the press. With brilliant acting, storyline and characterisation, it is as much a social commentary as a cop show. All in all the show can only be described as a masterpiece. Go watch it. As an aside, Dominic West who plays McNulty, was born in Sheffield.

Am I mad, in a coma, or have I just been listening to the Life On Mars Original Soundtrack CD. Most excellent. Not surprising really as the picking ground for material, the 70's, has been identified as the best decade for popular music. My only criticism of it is the lack of any Hawkwind , not that I'm biased, especially as the show has featured Brainstorm , Silver Machine , Urban Guerrilla , Ejection and You Shouldn't Do That over its two seasons. Still there's always the potential for a second soundtrack album at some stage in the future and plenty of material still to chose from. Track Listing King Of The Jungle (dialogue) David Bowie - Life On Mars Roxy Music - Street Life Wings - Live And Let Die ELO - 10538 Overture John Kongos - Tokoloshe Man Atomic Rooster - Devil's Answer T Rex - Rock On Free - Little Bit Of Love Lee 'Scratch' Perry and the Upsetters - Jungle Lion Armed Bastards (dialogue) The Sweet - Blockbuster The Faces - Cindy Incidentally A...

Hawkwind: Do Not Panic Told for the first time, the inside story of Hawkwind , one of Britain's wildest acid rock bands. Includes interviews with Lemmy, Terry Ollis, Nik Turner and writer Michael Moorcock. Strong language. BBC Four, Fri 30 Mar, 21:00-22:00 60mins Stereo Widescreen "You Shouldn't Do That" opening Life on Mars last week and now this. Someone at the BBC has excellent taste in music. It's quite ironic that an episode with Sam speeding should feature a Hawkwind track without Lemmy on bass. They should have gone with Motörhead instead. Nice to have an excuse to blog the Hall of the Mountain Grill album cover. It goes well with the print of Dave Hardy 's artwork I picked up at Novacon last year that's hanging on my wall.

We watched the first 2 episodes of Heroes tonight. Excellent stuff, looks like it's going to be up there with Battlestar Galictica as another must see show. Good characterisation, storyline and the future arrival of George Takei and Christopher Eccleston to look forwards to make it an SF fans wet dream. Bring it on.