cabal – michael dibdin

Cabal

Like many people, after watching the first episode of Zen on BBC1 last week, I though I might try one of the books.  I think Amazon were counting on this and had this one, which is the third in the Aurelio Zen series at just £1 on Kindle.

(Is it just me, or is Rufus Sewell getting better with age btw?)

Anyway, I was about 75% of the way through when Sunday’s episode #2 came on, and because of the start, I realised that it must be the book I was reading.  Which it was, except in no shape or form was it.  Apart from the opening scene being that of someone plummeting to their death in what was made to look like a suicide, there was absolutely no similarities between the book and the series.

Which I think was a good thing, because I’m rather enjoying seeing Rufus Sewell running around Rome without a trace of an Italian accent.

The book was…well, enjoyable.  And the last quarter of it, was actually really rather good!

It was first published in 1992, so some of it takes a bit of getting used to.  There were no mobile phones, and there was quite a big chunk of story taken up explaining how the central police computer worked (which was little more than a VDU obviously).

I think my problem with the book was that there seemed to be a hell of a lot of ‘dead’ story.  I got bored quite frequently while I was reading it, and found myself skipping paragraphs.  I was also rather confused by the huge number of characters, and I know that they were Italian names, but some of them seemed so similar that I kept getting them mixed up.  This felt exasperated by the fact that sometimes their first name was used, and sometimes their surname – and I don’t mean in dialogue, I mean as part of the story.

I’m not going to rush to read another Zen, but if I was searching for something to read (which i never seem to any more), I certainly wouldn’t write the books off.

And I will definitely be continuing to watch Rufus galavanting around

don’t stop the music

BBC 6Music needs saving!

This morning, I was horrified to wake up to the news that there are ‘rumours’ that BBC 6Music may be axed!  I have been listening to 6Music for at least two years now, waking up to Shaun Keavney every morning, and on the (many) times that I have been working from home, or in the office on my own, streaming it through the PC and listening for the whole day.  Especially now that George Lamb is no longer on during the week, it’s an absolute joy of a station, playing music that I would near enough choose for myself if I could be arsed!

So I’ve done what little bits I can – joinging the Facebook group to hear if there’s anything said/planned, adding the Twibbon to my Twitter avatar, commenting on various sites, and registering my complaint to the BBC.  For anyone interested, this is what I wrote.

I was VERY upset to read the news today that BBC 6Music may be facing the axe.

I am in my late 30s and I feel that 6Music is the only channel that really caters for me.  I have always had a huge interest in music, and although now relatively ‘grown up’, I still want to hear all the new bands coming out, as well as all the good ones over the years that I have known and loved.  None of the ‘commercial’ rubbish played on so many stations.

I first heard 6Music when I was on holiday over two years ago in a cottage that had DAB, and I rushed home and bought one so that I could continue listening to all the fantastic presenters who have a wealth of knowledge and years of music journalism behind them.

6Music made me get back into going to gigs – I have seen SO many new bands that I would never have heard of if it hadn’t been for the station, and I have got many of my friends into them too.

I believe 6Music caters for the tastes of many people my age – and I think it is a ludicrous idea to think of axing the station shortly before the analogue switch-off.  The reason I think it’s not so widely listened to is that even now, I don’t know that many people with DAB – especially in their cars which is where a lot of my friends listen to the radio.  *I* don’t have a DAB car stereo, but will have to invest in one when the digital switch over occurs – and I think that this is where 6Music will really come into its own.

I didn’t think to write much more than that – I guess they probably just add up the number of complaints, but I would urge anyone to complain who listens to the station.

There’s so many other places that they could cut costs – get rid of that talentless twat Moyles for a start.  Or merge Radios 2, 3 and 4 into just two stations.  I could probably come up with a hell of a lot more ideas too.  Like getting rid of BBC Four, and just getting BBC2 back to what it used to be, including the stuff shown on Four.  Making BBC Three 24 hour, including all the garbage from BBC1 during the day!

As you can tell, it’s all made me a bit emotional.  So emotional that I haven’t even been able to write up about the fantastic gig last night because I’ve been dwelling on it.  but now I have written it down and got it out of my system.  Which is why I restarted my blog in the first place

Facebook Group:  http://www.facebook.com (link)

BBC News:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8538130.stm

Add a Twibbon:  http://twibbon.com/join/BBC-6music

Guardian article:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/feb/26/bbc-media-radio-internet-website

BBC Complaints:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/homepage/