Deaks . . . and other links

It's been a fairly quiet Saturday with a bit of fathering, a bit of gardening and just a little bit of LA Noire, the amazing-looking 1940s detective game. I've reviewed it for Tuesday's signal.

The plan tonight was to watch Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest but it hasn't panned out. F*&%ing Bones is on instead.

Anway, some links to things worthy of a look today:

- Stupid old broadcaster casually drops the N word. Sigh. And for everyone condemning him, there's two others trying to excuse him. Double sigh.

-  ESPN columnist Rick Reilly with a nice piece on why you should support the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA finals, now tied at 1-1 after the Mavs' extraordinary comeback in Game 2. Reilly pours it on a bit thick sometimes but he can still write beautifully when he wants to.

- A review of the new book just released about the ESPN empire. Hmmm, wonder if a copy will turn up at the ODT?

- Some background to the bidding war about to erupt for Olympic Games broadcasting rights.

- Today's games in the Highlanders First XV competition.

- Today's games in Dunedin premier club rugby.

- A great Guardian piece on Irish boxer Barry McGuigan.

- And finally, an unbelievably cool clip of American late show host Jimmy Fallon pretending to be Bob Dylan singing the theme to Charles in Charge.

Good TV: Sherlock

This is the first in a series of pieces on television shows that have entertained, or are entertaining, quiet evenings in the Meikle household.

The great thing (well, one of the many great things) about the MySky era is that it encourages the viewer to be exposed to a much broader range of programmes than before.

I know I used to be fairly restrictive regarding which shows I watched. I knew my favourites, and I knew which nights they were on.

Delving into something new required a certain level of commitment. I had to make a conscious decision to, say, set aside an hour at Thursday 9.30pm to scope out a new drama everyone was talking about.

It was watch-it-then-with-ads-and-all stuff. Oh sure, we had the option of taping the programme on to video cassette. But they were so clunky, so awkward to fast forward. And you had to plan carefully when taping multiple shows, making sure you didn't run out of space and scrawling details on the cover.

MySky makes it incredibly simple to not only automatically record your favourite shows, but to take a punt on several others. If they turn out to be duds, you've wasted little time and they can be easily deleted.

I tend to press Record on all sorts of new dramas, documentaries and movies. Some I watch for five minutes before discarding; some get a bit longer; a select few join the regular rotation.

So it came to pass I took a (rare) chance on a Sunday night series on TV1 and was rewarded with the excellent Sherlock.

TheBBC update of the Arthur Conan Doyle detective classic screened in Britain in September but we're just getting it now. It's a three-parter, with the twist that Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are living in modern times. With, you know, cellphones and GPS and graffiti artists and everything.

The series features Martin Freeman as Dr Watson. You probably know Freeman best as Tim in The Office – the proper, British version of the mockumentary – but in a few months the world will see him as Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit.

Freeman's Watson is a military doctor, just back from war service. And he plays the role very well, with a nice understatedness.

But the star of the show is, rightfully, Sherlock Holmes, portrayed by the improbably named Benedict Cumberpatch. (Seriously, what a remarkable name. Could it be any more English?)

I know nothing at all about Cumberpatch, but it turns out he is a magnificent actor, with piercing eyes in a sort of androgynously alien face. He is superb as the brilliant but slightly sociopathic Holmes, who does his usual deduction to solve crimes.

Some are fans of shows like CSI heavy on forensics, but not me. I much prefer watching a character like Holmes at work. He had me from the moment he said “Afghanistan or Iraq?” the first time he met Watson and deduced he had just returned from war.

It's a shame Sherlock has only three parts, but with luck there will be more seasons to come. It's bloody good.

Green-Landers get the Blues

I'm on holiday but I couldn't resist asking the online editor if he wanted me to live blog the Highlanders-Force game and the unveiling of the Highlanders' new green jersey.

What, you hadn't heard about the new jersey?

You hadn't seen this? Or this?

Anyway, the jersey arrived and it looked OK. But the Highlanders sucked in the second half and their playoff hopes have just died.

http://www.odt.co.nz/sport/rugby/163383/live-highlanders-v-force-it-happens

Introduction - Part One

“In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit.”

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

“The dream is always the same.”

“I was 12 going on 13 the first time I saw a dead human being.”

“Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career.”

So there you go. There are five great openings to five great books or movies. (In order, in case you don't immediately recognise them: The Hobbit; The Bible; Risky Business; Stand By Me; Trainspotting.)

I've let good old J.R.R. Tolkien, er, God, boyish Tom Cruise, the adult Gordy Lachance and Mark F*cking Renton do my introduction for me.

This is my blog. There is really little else to say.

I never thought I'd start a blog. Before I understood their value, I assumed they were the domain of the sad and the lonely. After enlightenment, I doubted I would have (a) the time or (b) the inclination, after writing all day, to come home at night and write some more.

Time remains in relatively short supply – work plus family plus essential television watching and gaming leaves just enough hours for sleep – and may eventually stop this blog in its tracks.

But I need to write something. You don't become a better writer by writing less, which is what I have done since “promotion” three years ago. A colleague – two of them, actually – have often advised me to write at home, write about anything. Sheez, even write a blog.

So here goes. I plan to write at random times about random topics, principally those within all the really important pastimes: you know, like sport and wrestling and gaming and TV.

I'm going to leave out my family (they get name-dropped enough in the ODT) and I'm going to try to leave out the goings-on at work (because I value my job and my family's security too much to risk getting in trouble).

And speaking of work, that's obviously going to remain my No 1 priority. If this blog was a baseball pitcher, it wouldn't have the “best stuff” - that must remain the property of my newspaper. This will be jottings, musings, stupid lists, links to the paper and a whole lot of other junk.

To kick things off, here's a little list of things I like (yeah, yeah, just the trivial stuff; take it as read that my family usurps all):

• Friday Night Lights (mainly the book and the television series, though the film wasn't bad);
• Outrageous Fortune (best show we've ever made);
• Chocolate, in all its forms (but I'd take Cadbury Caramello if I had to choose);
• Diet Coke (chilled, no ice);
• John Lennon (and Ian Hart's portrayal of him in the brilliant and criminally overlooked Backbeat);
• Newspapers (yes, I'm a passionate supporter of a decaying industry);
• Basketball (the New York Knicks, Indiana, Michigan State, anywhere Mark Dickel plays and the mighty, mighty Tall Blacks);
• Football (Liverpool, the All Whites, Caversham and kinda the Phoenix);
• American football (St Louis Rams, Texas and the Permian Panthers);
• North Otago (it is, and will always be, home);
• Newsboy (New Zealand's funniest man);
• Dai Henwood (New Zealand's second funniest man);
• The Lord of the Rings (not obsessive, but loved the book and the movies and have a few collectibles);
• Macho Man Randy Savage (and others, but he was the first);
• Rugby (first North Otago, then Valley, then Waitaki Boys' High School; like to see the Highlanders and Otago succeed for professional reasons; not really bothered whether All Blacks win World Cup or not);
• My wife's lasagne, hamburgers, chocolate chip cookies and kebabs;
• Xbox 360 (beats the PS3 hands down);
• Fifa 11, Madden 11, NBA 2K11 (seriously, can sports gaming get any better?);
• The Lego video games (except for the Clone Wars garbage);
• The Boston Red Sox (for which I have Stephen King to thank);
• Stephen King (not as passionately now but the books are still on the shelf);
• Barry Crump (dud husband and father but had a distinctive Kiwi voice);
• The Penrith Panthers (can name the starting lineup from the 2003 championship team);
• Queensland (even if State of Origin ain't what it used to be);
• Scrubs (funny);
• Arrested Development (funnier);
• The Big Bang Theory (funniest);
• Stand By Me (always in my top 4-5 movies of all time);
• The United States of America (the people, the sport, the food, the showbiz, the landmarks, the lot);
• Shane MacGowan (those teeth, that voice, the soul);
• Oasis (minus a couple of the weaker albums);
• Johnny Cash (discovered “locusts and honey” a little late, but got there);
• South of the Waitaki (had one enjoyable year at polytech in Timaru, and Wellington is quite nice – otherwise the northern regions can break off and drift away);
• Jaffas (the prince of sweets);
• Farmers (and farmland, which I miss);
• Goodbye Pork Pie (Lesley Morris, that'll do me);
• Cats (just not a dog man at all);
• Rafael Nadal (have preferred him to Federer since he arrived);
• Ford (not really into motorsport but am in the blue camp when it comes to Bathurst).

And . . . that is all. No doubt I've missed something but you don't care and I have wasted enough time. (Not work time, you understand; I am on holiday).

Part two of my introduction will be (gasp) a shorter list of things I don't like.

Until then, Happy Green Day! Which I have labelled this uber-momentous occasion of the Highlanders trotting out on to Carisbrook for the last time, clad in their new green jersey for the first (and not last) time.