There's this new show, see, on Ch.7 tomorrow night at 7.30pm The One: Search for Australia's Top Cold Reader Psychic. I've attended a few of the studio tapings on account of a good friend of mine, Richard Saunders, is one of the judges. I met Richard through the Australian Skeptics and he has taken on the daunting task of being commercial TV token skeptical whipping boy for low rent reality show. Go, Richard! Join our Richard Saunders Fans Facebook page! So I am in the audience for episodes 2 and 4 and watched episode 5 filming from the green room and back of the studio yesterday.

Richard has done an excellent job with a very tough gig, and has managed to institute a few extra controls on the "tests" although even with that they barely rise above parlour game level (except for one which is just deeply full of FAIL on the crass test.) And yes there's a legitimate discussion to be had about doing more harm than good in legitimising the mystery-monging but these shows are going to happen anyway and in Richard they actually had someone capable of, under pressure, quickly breaking down what was happening and really revealing the workings of cold reading on the spot. Of course he only gets a few lines and the vast bulk of logical fallacies, utter non-sequiturs, post-hoc rationalisations and face-palm moments have to go unchallenged. But the lines he gets are good, although its all in the editing, I guess. I took lots of notes in the last two sessions I was at so I might make further comment once I see the edited version. Podblack blog has made a loose comment about live blooging the first show. I hope she does, that should be fun.

I didn't take any of Skeptico's Cold Reading Bingo cards but perhaps you can print out some to play along at home. I guarantee you odds vastly better than the local Lions club version. You can't lose, in fact.

In my time there I saw lots of readings and "challenges" but not a single inexplicable or even particularly impressive thing, I did see a lot of the standard psychological techniques done to varying degrees of inexpertness and the glorious laws of probability at work. Which doesn't mean it won't "make good TV." It was interesting although LONG to sit through an entire day of faffing about for a few minutes of film. That's the glamour of showbiz I guess.

On the other end of the scale of seriousness I've been reading Ray Hyman's The Elusive Quarry: A Scientific Appraisal of Psychical Research and it comes highly recommended.

Via Phineas, I present this July 4th tribute to/for our American friends.

The Sydney Film Festival has some enticing music related fare, as usual. I have my ticket to the Anita O'Day doco and Stax doco plus music, both at the Metro Theatre which seems to be called the Metro again after not being, for a while. I'm looking forward to those, but I'm not overly thrilled about paying $20 to see 90 minute films which hardly need to be seen on the big screen and will end up on ABC2 anyway in a month. So I'm giving Nick a miss. Sorry, Nick, don't hurt me but your movie is 52 minutes short long.

Also showing:
Great Australian Albums: Nick Cave "Murder Ballads"
Heavy Metal In Baghdad
Lou Reed's Berlin
Anvil! The Story of Anvil! and Sultan of Sin performance ("For some, heavy metal, spandex, hairspray and Jack Daniel's are a way of life.")
A Page of Madness (silent Japanese film with live musical accompaniment by ... it doesn't say)
Pete Seeger: The Power of Song
Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell

Hey so this is how people make money from those Amazon affiliate things, huh? Too late, as usual! I'm pleased to say first Shaun and now FXH succumbed to my amateur mesmerism attempts and bought and read/are reading Celine Dion: Let's Talk about Love by Carl Wilson.

I did have a whole muxtape playlist lined up to go with the State of Origin ("You Don't Know How Much I Hate You" by Rodney Crowell etc etc) but then I accidentally deleted it so ... bad luck. The replacement is just one song from the last 12 albums I listened to:

"Live Your Life" - Recapturing the Banjo. Everything Otis Taylor does is interesting. Here is with a bunch of bluesy guys reclaiming the banjo.

"African Dialects" - Peter King Nigeria 70, Lagos Jump I got this digitally but I really want the liner notes.

"A Grand Night for Swinging" - Mary Lou Williams A Grand Night for Swinging "probably the most influential woman in the history of jazz"

"Busted" - Maceo Parker Roots and Grooves Only the first disc thus far, which is Maceo doing Ray Charles. The second is his own stuff, which I look forward to.

"Some Kind of Kindness" - Firewater The Golden Hour Phineas has a real thing for them so I thought I'd humour him. Do not know what I think yet. PS, buy his new print. Then you can be as cool as me.

"Reaching" - Famous L. Renfroe Children Long lost and strange gospel soul that showed up on eMusic.

"Our Time" - John Hiatt Same Old Man Well you know I've been waiting for this one. I won't say much because I'd like to write something longer. But this song grabbed me first up.

"Bad Liver and a Broken Heart" - Hayes Carll Trouble in Mind Ditto, won't say much now but it's great.

"Oh How to Do Now" - The Monks The Monks The Monks are one of those cult 60s bands. Formed from GIs in Germany. Nice fun fuzzy gonzo rock and roll.

"Need Someone to Hold" - Creedence Clearwater Revival Creedence Country

Brahms: Sonate Für Klarinette Und Klavier Es-Dur, Op. 120 Nr. 2: II. - Peter Daum, Dieter Klöcker, Josef Suk & Werner Genuit I read somewhere online that the second movement of Opus 40 here was some of the "saddest music ever." I like sad music. it's pretty sad but it's also over 10MB so this is another thingo from the same record.

"I Saw My Youth Today" - Richard Shindell Reunion Hill

Yes I know the cinematic remakes of beloved 80s TVs shows thing is getting old but I am totally on board with this.

I had seen a few references to The Paper around the innertubes in the last few days and thought: weird. The Michael Keaton movie? Weird. If any of 1994s cineofferings was going to make a comeback to the zeitgeist, you'd think it'd be The River Wild. But then I read some recommendations of a couple of my favourite TV-related blogs (they both link to this) and I understood there was a new MTV reality series of that name. Of course it is not on telly here but of course I acquired it anyway. It follows the exploits of the Cypress Bay High (Florida) student newspaper. After the first minute I had to check Wikipedia to see that it was actually a reality show, so staged and scripted it seemed. But of course to a teenager in 2008 reality TV is so completely normal and even something to aspire to and we have reached the point where mock- has seamlessly cycled into doc- (umentary).

Mock will eat itself.

Based on accidentally viewing half an episode of the original Battlestar Galactica, there are a few obvious ways the new one has improved on it.

-- no obese Cylons so shiny they hurt
-- no cute children in main cast, especially ones called "Boxey."
-- And especially no furry animatronic teddy bears! especially ones called "Muffit."
-- better insults. "Go rust yourself" is no match for the frack family of cusses.

Deadwood vs The Wire vs The Sopranos, which is the Best TV Show Evah? Three TV critics discuss. (Note, includes a major spoiler for Season 5 of The Wire. Final episode this weekend!)

Don't know if Moorer coordinated with her sis on their duelling covers records. Mockingbird is nice enough but not knocking me out or anything. Best: "Dancing Barefoot", tight and strong. "Go, Leave," mopey torch song goodness. "I'm Looking For Blue Eyes," unassuming but sweet. Reconsider, Unless Your Name is Gillian: "Revelator." Just Don't, Unless Your Name is Nina: "I Want A Little Sugar in My Bowl."

This is an ennui-filled review of the recent spate of tasteful female "adult alternative" from the Village Voice. I lurve the Shelby, Allison so-so as above, Tift also so-so, have only listened to the Carlene once or twice but I like it alot, do not have the Sheryl or the Kathleen.

LWiii was on The 7.30 Report last night. Video and transcript here.

Lots of people complain about the blue skies in LA, though. The contrast between the blues skies in LA and the seedy underbelly in LA is, like, an entire literary and musical and cinematic genre of it's own. ANYWAY, it's pretty good for one of those five minute profile things. I began to roll my eyes at the "new Bob Dylan" chestnut but at least it got him a record deal. Ha. When he said 'shtick' he reminded me of Ed Begley, Jr in A Mighty Wind. Ha. The M*A*S*H clip shows just how much Rufus does look like him.

(If schadenfreude's your thing stick around for the bit on ABC Eddy's problems. Ha ha.)

I was watching American Idol tonight (What? Shut up.) and the whole joint was totally discombobulated when Simon referred to a mysterious object called "washing-up liquid." As in, "that sounded like a washing-up liquid ad from the 60s."

Ironically, this whole post is entirely about procrastinating from ... doing the washing-up.

I only have one song about it.

Willie Nelson: 25 Phases and Stages (Theme) Washing the Dishes.mp3

Speaking of:

This is in the Foxtel magazine. Ford Ranger is not, as I like to imagine, a closeted 50s matinee idol. It is a car. The sport being sponsored by this car is: cricket. Now, I loves me some baseball and if this ad were about baseball it would be entirely appropriate. Since it is about cricket, however, it is utterly egregious. "Batter" my ass.

Can I just say this one thing: The Wire is the best show ever made in the history of television and even the second best needs to step back to a respectable distance behind. I love Dexter, The Simpsons of course has paid its dues, Deadwood is somewhere up there, I ache for the return of Battlestar Galactica. There are many other worthy candidates from earlier eras. But the top spot is taken, folks, now and forevermore: It's The Wire.

My compatriots can perhaps be forgiven for ignorance since whatever commercial channel has the rights buried the first couple of seasons so deep amongst the Guthy-Renkers as to require spelunking skills to find it. But find it you must.

Does anyone not have the The Best of the Johnny Cash Show DVD? Fools, I say! Fools! But make sure you get the two-disc one because otherwise you would miss out on this:

I would like to see sometime a whole episode of The Johnny Cash Show, better to judge its charms. I know they say it was his principled refusal to compromise to myopic network demands that got it cancelled, but I'd like a fuller accounting. The musical performances couldn't have taken up the whole show, are they hiding from us the Hee Haw-ish "comedy" spots or something?