Josh speaks the truth.

I meant to write this a while back, but as is the way, I forgot. Anyway.

Louis Theroux is one of the best makers of documentaries about people in the world, ever. His disarmingly warm and charming style enable him to get much closer to his strange – and often disturbing – subjects than a mainstream journalist would perhaps be able to. He is a master of the art of remaining just distant enough from someone to dissociate himself from them yet allowing them to feel they can trust him – and in many cases, this gives them just enough rope to hang themselves in spectacular fashion. In the cases where his subjects aren’t headed for the gallows from the off, we get an unusually intimate – and often unexpectedly moving (see his documentary about the Bunny Ranch in Nevada) – view of their life.

And this, in a way, is the biggest problem with this book.

“The Call of the Weird” is a followup to his Weird Weekends TV series. It’s ten years since the series was first broadcast, and a lot has changed in America and in its relationship with the rest of the world. The premise of the book is that this anniversary is a good opportunity to revisit the people Louis met during that series – prostitutes, UFO nuts, Nazis, Gansta Rappers, fringe religious groups and more – and find out how they’re getting on. Each chapter follows a set formula – focussing on a particular individual, we get a recap of Louis’ first meeting with them, then a story about what happened when he tried to track them down, and finally (assuming he finds them) an update on what they’re up to now.

And, in itself, it’s an enjoyable read. It’s entertaining, moving, and funny, and easily and confidently sits on the bookshelf alongside similar books by the like of Jon Ronson. But there’s always this nagging feeling that it could be so much more: and the reason for that is that it’s just not the same as the TV series. He’s a perfectly good writer – entertaining, balanced, literate and still hugely characterful – but his true genius really shows as a broadcaster: the writing is good, but you get so much more when you see him interacting with people. Additionally, you get the feeling that, for many of his subjects, the glitzy pull of the TV camera is far more appealing that the relative mundanity of the written word, and without that camera over his shoulder, Louis is perhaps unable to get some people to open up (or, perhaps, perform?) as much as he usually would.

But ultimately, this is like criticising a Ferrari 360 for not being as good as an Enzo. When placed next to his TV work, it falls short – but don’t let this put you off, because it’s still absolutely a very good book indeed.

I saw Wallace and Gromit last night. It made me laugh.

So, er, that’s a big fat “no”, then.

• Endless scores of rich young mothers pulling up in BMWs and Mercedes to drop their kids off at the nursery on Wilbraham Rd.
• Jobsworth Stagecoach bus driver who wouldn’t let us off the bus until he was pulled up exactly next to the stop, meaning we had to sit pointlessly in a queue for 5 minutes.
• Confused but cute goth/punk girl looking lost around Picadilly, who eventually ran off down Market St and veered into HMV, presumably to take refuge in amongst the heavy metal/alternative music section.
• Crazy Japanese dude whistling along to the music on his walkman who made me smile and made me think I was in Tokyo again for a minute or so.
• Simon from my office who walked straight past me without noticing, and then said hello to me once I got into work without even realising he’d passed me only seconds earlier.

Check back to see if my life has got any more exciting tomorrow!

Apparently, Santa is now American, leaves messages on my answerphone and wants me to ring a number in Ghana so that I can “win” a “free” holiday in Disneyland.

I think I’ll pass on that one, thanks.

Apparently, Starship Troopers has finally gone gold. I’m sure I could think of something more interesting to say about it if I hadn’t spent all evening battering rabid bears in Darkshore. Congratulations to all my ex-colleagues, anyway. I’m sure there’s been much celebration this weekend.

It doesn’t matter how desperate you are, and how much of a good idea it seems after five pints, Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil does not make an acceptable subsititute for butter when preparing marmite on toast.

Over at the Boar’s Head Tavern they’re having a bit of fun listing bits of their favourite Evangelical jargon that isn’t found anywhere in the Bible. Highlights include:

• Accept Jesus As Your Personal Savior
• Invite Jesus into your heart
• Being in the center of God’s will
• Being on fire for the Lord
• “enter in (to worship)”. As in, “Those new CCM tunes really help me enter in”, or “I couldn’t enter in because the PowerPoint was messed up.”
• I feel God leading me…

Best of all is this post, which actually made me laugh out loud.

In between being in two bands, a looming deadline at work and World Of Warcraft, I’ve not got a huge amount of time for blogging at the moment. If anyone wants me, I’m enparm the Dark Elf Druid on Bloodhoof.

The Go! Team sound a bit like what would happen if Fatboy Slim started doing 1970s American kids TV themes, except with a full live band rather than banks of synthesizers and samplers – indeed, apart from the brass section and the occasional sampled rhythm, the whole of their set is played completely live. Which is remarkable.

But before the Go! Team, we had the joy of the support acts. First up was Kid Carpet, a Bristol-based producer (because, y’know, we don’t have enough of those already) with a big stack of toy guitars, Casio keyboards and other retro paraphernalia. And a sampler, obviously. Fortunately, despite a tiny audience and his obvious nerves at playing to such a big, empty room, he put on a great performance (when his equipment was working). Highlights of the set included a genius remix of Jump by Van Halen using sound effects from 1980s video games, and Shiny Shiny New, an anthemic rant making excellent use of the cheap plastic toy guitar solo.

Following Kid Carpet was Lady Sovereign, who was, frankly, a bit unexpected. She’s a garage MC, you see, but she performs with a live band. She’s clearly a talented young lady, and comparisons with The Streets are going to be inevitable, although she’s quite a lot more shouty and angry than the erstwhile Mr Skinner. Entertaining enough, not really my cup of tea, but the song about battering someone with a broom handle made me grin a bit.

The Go! Team were, simply, awesome. Opening fairly predictably with Air Raid Guitar, they rocked through the whole of “Thunder Lightning Strike” and a couple of “bonus” tracks in a little over an hour. Whilst the album is a largely instrumental affair, when playing live their MC, Ninja, takes centre stage for most of the set, rapping, singing and improvising over the tracks whilst the rest of the band bounce effortlessly between a huge number of different instruments (including a glockenspiel, a recorder, two drumkits and many, many guitars). Okay, not everything was perfect – one guitarrist got halfway through a song before realising his guitar was downtuned by a tone, and there were several false starts – but thankfully nothing killed the fun and energy of the evening.

Plus, the drummer was cute. The girl, that is. That’s always a bonus.