No... not of the car... (hopefully) short reviews of things I've recently watched/read.

Firefly

After finally getting around to watching this, I can't believe Fox cancelled Firefly. They must be grade-A morons there if they couldn't see what a good show this was. For heaven's sake, one of the characters is a gorgeous high-class prostitute who's up for a little sapphic action sometimes - Trek would have killed to get that kind of rationale for their T&A characters. Not to say that was all the show was: the characters were interesting, believeable and individual and the writers apparently aware what humour is (though given Ben Edlund was amongst the team, the latter is no surprise). Maybe the Wild West/Civil War angle was laid on a little heavily, but I imagine it would have paid off in costing less than the usual Sci-Fi. Ah well, at least it appears some of the hanging plot threads will be resolved in the movie.

The Science of Discworld: Darwin's Watch

Whereas dry tomes like The Science of Star Trek attempt to explain how the fictional science in that show could work in our world, the third pop-science collaboration between prolific fantasy parodist Terry Pratchett and scientists Ian Stewart & Jack Cohen attempts to explain how our world works using the setting of Pratchett's Discworld. Darwin's Watch keeps the earlier mechanism of the first two books where Pratchett's story alternates chapters with Stewart & Cohen's explanations, but is a little less focused than the first two. Whereas The Science of Discworld took in the creation of the universe, and The Globe detailed how human society works, Darwin's Watch looks at evolution with a detour through time itself. Still though, probably required reading for anyone wanting to explain why Intelligent Design is a load of amoeba droppings.

Nine Inch Nails - With Teeth / New Order - Waiting For The Sirens' Call

I remember once how Genesis boasted that each of their albums sold more than the previous release. Unfortunately, that rise in profits mirrored a similar increase in the blandness of each album, as particular songs became hits and similar style tracks had to be included on subsequent releases. After their post-Collins Calling All Stations CD sold less despite being musically more interesting than anything in the previous 15 years, Genesis pretty much gave up the ghost. I imagine a similar problem awaits any band that has some degree of longevity: do you try something different and risk losing some fans, or keep churning out the same stuff and live like kings. New Order tried a little of the experimentation with Get Ready in 2001, but apparently chastened by the sales have reversed course towards what made them popular in the 80s. Whilst not completely abandoning the re-emergent guitarwork of Get Ready (which was in no way a metal album or anything mind you) Sirens has a much more electronic feel to things. Apart from Krafty though, I can't really recall any of the other songs on the album after several listens. The same problem dogs NiN's With Teeth, though to a greater degree. The tracks on With Teeth could be out-takes from the previous double-CD The Fragile, released six years previously. Of course, the irony is none of these three bands every really need to work again - so why they're so worried about losing their fans is beyond me.