So..we’ve had a few extra posts last month, due to the launch of Vice’s Creators Project (tomorrow), but I feel as though I missed my actual end of the month post as a result!!

On the box

Last month I had a reader’s review of GLEE published in The Independent’s Arts/Books section, which you can find amongst the thoughts of other readers here.

Besides that, I’m not watching a lot of TV…although the occasional episode of Victoria Coren’s Only Connect on BBC 4 is like Actimel for the soul. I especially like the fact that despite team names like “Rugby Boys” and “History Boys”, they’re all just neeks who can solve complex puzzles which make 3am Quizcall on Channel 5 look like playschool. Especially love the (very rare) occasions when I get something right.

The current series of Big Brother is also providing good entertainment whenever I flick onto it, and Emmerdale lookylikey Nathan’s monobrow has luckily been evicted. Desperate Housewives has just finished its sensational sixth season, which saw a triptych of psychos, copious amounts of flashbacks and *tear* Mike and Susan leaving Wisteria Lane. Silver fox Paul Young (Duck from Mad Men – portrayed by Mark Moses) is back on the scene, however. I’m rewatching some of the latter at the moment, so the next season of Housewives could be very confusing for me indeed, having become accustomed to seeing Mr Moses in 60s mode.

Girl’s just wanna have fun (and not much else)

WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SATC2 SPOILERS

Late as I am, SATC2 was a ton of fun.

I wish I’d seen it earlier. Casual racism, gay stereotyping, marital cliches and Samantha’s (Kim Cattrall) grossness aside, it was a great laugh. Moreover, SJP was on form as Carrie Bradshaw (or Preston) and the Abu Dhabi scenes were beautiful, despite being filmed 4000 miles away in Morrocco (ironically, due to the same Islamic strictness of the UAE which the film constantly lampoons).  The plot looses its way more than a few times, but is saved by some genuine laughs courtesy of cameos from Liza Minnelli as herself, performing at said gay stereotypes wedding, and Miley Cyrus, who turns up at a premiere in the same “young” frock as Samantha. Said dress is rather Littlewoods for the stars to be wearing, but I’m sure it was a designer number. There is tons of product placement in the film, as one would expect, but which is all the more distracting given the “exotic” setting. The Arabic Pringles aren’t particuarly rare, either, SJP – we’ve been buying them in the pound shop forever in the real world. Anyways, I digress: SATC2 is a cheap laugh rather than a well-plotted and wholesome one. There is some fleeting realism via Charlotte’s insecurities (with the gorgeous Alice Eve as her Gaelic nanny Erin, who wouldn’t be worried?) but this is quickly usurped by stupidity, as director Michael Patrick King decides to go kamikaze, peppering the flick with millions of unneccessary shots of Eve’s bra-less nipples which probably contributed towards the film’s poor reception. The outcome of the lazy storytelling is that overSexed and The City is a whopping three hours long. By the end, I felt as though I’d been beaten over the head with a Complete Seasons 1-6 boxset. Not only was the film overly drawn out, it felt a million miles away from the innovation which the original SATC had. Age-wise the “girls” have outgrown the format, but I fear that perhaps we’ve all tired of their antics and nineties semantics, too.

At least Cougar Town kind of had a noughties “menopause-chic”, a Demi and Ashton vibe…Sex and The City 2 is good fun, but it does feel dated.When Charlotte (Kristin Davis) cries about her ruined “vintage Valentino” she is pretty much a cariacture of herself.

So, what can we take away from this Emirates-set escapade? Don’t cheat on your husband, perhaps? Even that doesn’t quite follow, with Carrie and Big making good of their relationship, even after the former kisses an ex-love in aforesaid foreign climes. In conclusion, SATC2 is a slice of the big apple without all the chewy bits (storytelling, drama, genuine adventure). The racebending here wasn’t as awful as Prince of Persia (Gyllenhaal as an arab?), but boy, must Omid Djalili and Raza Jaffrey be having some serious cash issues right now.

More acerbic words from the rainy environs of London coming up soon, when I hit Truck festival and Underage with Artrocker, and pump some PR into the blog with brand, brand, spanking new content.

x x x x