Sick. Hearbleed. Telly. Or Some Shit.

Hey. Been a bit under the weather the last few days, so don't be surprised if this post has even worse spelling and grammar than usual. I got caught up in some of the rain off Ita, and there was a sudden temperature drop, and I guess I didn't rug up quite quick enough, so now I'm a wee bit crook.

First order of business: Heartbleed. (No not me; I'm not that fuckin' crook). If you haven't heard about it, it's a flaw that was found in a piece of computer code that's at the core of how data is securely transmitted over the internet. Here's an XKCD comic explaining how it actually works: 

What does this mean? It means that for the past two years, computers that store your information have been giving away data they weren't supposed to to anyone who knew how to ask for it. What does this mean for you? It means you should go and change all your passwords. Yep, all of them.

***

So anyway, I'm staying with my cousin at the moment. We were talking about what's on telly the other day, and this came up:

Cuz: You see that new show, "Wheat Street" or some shit?
Me: ... mmm-nuh.
Cuz: Really? Well, y'know Redfern Now?
Me: ... mmm-don't think I ... actually ... saw ... that much of it.
Cuz: Really? Shit 'ey. Oh well, I got the first episode taped. You wanna check it out, 'ey? 

So I did. Thoughts? Well, it's hard to judge off one episode, isn't it? I thought Game Of Thrones was a bit crap at first (season 1 looked like it was filmed by someone who'd come straight from making day-time soaps). I didn't start getting into it until about the 3rd or 4th episode. On the other end of the spectrum, I thought the 1st episode of Laid was decent, and look at the pile of bollocks that turned into.

As for "Wheat Street or some shit", well, I didn't think it was terrible. Sort of typical Aussie drama type stuff, I suppose (not that I've seen that much to compare it to). It's about a bloke in a small country town who's facing some tough decisions about how he's going to support his family -- all while being pestered by the ghost of his dead mum.

Like I said, it's hard to go off one episode, but so far I'd say I liked the look of the show -- sets, costumes, etc -- and I didn't mind the way it way shot. The score was a bit twangy, but not overly annoying. The writing, I think, was rea~sonably solid; but the performances appeared to be all over the place. The central cast all seemed to be quite good, while the supporting cast was mostly a bit shit (except for the old bloke in gaol; he was spot-on). 

I did find the tone a bit ... *off* in places, though. I suspect it might be a result of the dodgy performances, and I'm not sure, but I'm leaning towards blaming the director more than the actors on this one. There were two scenes that involved the threat of violence, and I found myself failing to emotionally engage properly in both, because the villain-y type characters diffused the tension by coming off as inappropriately cartoony. Also, the second one, which I think was supposed to be an attempted rape, was wrapped up and moved on from a little too happily for my liking. Those scenes should have at least carried the weight of the gaol scenes, and the way they were handled made the whole thing feel a little bit too light, for my tastes.

I did very much like the opening scene. I thought that one hit all the right emotional notes. However, using ghost-mum as a transition between scenes for the rest of the show quickly grew tiresome.

Overall, I'd maybe give it a B-. I think I'll keep watching to see if it grows on me. I doubt it'll be another Game Of Thrones, but at least I might get lucky and it won't turn out to be another Laid. If you want to check it out, the 1st ep's still up on iView. Ep 2 airs Saturday.

Or some shit.