Month: March 2003

I haven’t posted for a few days, thanks mostly to having been in studio all week. I’ve barely seen daylight.

Anyway, I’m catching up with news a little, and I’m struck by how ill-prepared we are for the whole Iraq situation. Nothing to do with military materiel, nor political will, nor even moral objectivity. No, we’re unprepared on the level of rhetoric. The arguments being put forth are being put forth astonishingly badly, little of passable coherence issuing from either side.

More troublesome, however, is that the magnitude of what we’re facing is genuinely hard to get one’s head around, and harder still to express. Forget Iraq – the whole US/Europe, UN/’cf. League of Nations’ melànge is a flabby mess. A week or so ago the usually rather sober BBC were reflecting that NATO might not survive the Turkish situation; today, they’re suggesting that the UN Security Council showdown will ‘shape international relations for a generation.’ Well… sure. but that’s not a large step from ‘answer hazy, ask again later.’

Years ago, I watched Live Aid, Mandela walking out of prison, and the Berlin Wall being torn down. I saw revolution in Romania, and dock workers in Warsaw. I’m not sure I want to see France vs. the US in New York. In part because I can’t help but think Britain’s on the losing side, whoever prevails. Blair’s played a masterful game and probably averted war for the last six months, but he now seems trapped in a pincer movement.

I say this: ugh.

Tomorrow, The Big Bang studio starts. And I’m very, very tired. But hey, I’m the producer, and while my job is hardly done, if a large chunk of it isn’t now in place then I’m not exactly making my own life easy.

Today, I’ve signed off on the first eight scripts (only two to go!), written the risk assessment, and done a myriad other bits & bobs. But best of all was writing a blurb for the press officer. This is usually one of those horrid chores, but this year something that sounds like a terrific series tripped merrily off the keys in scant minutes. A good omen indeed.

I have inspired content, excellent presenters, solid researchers, an enthusiastic director, and subtle in-jokes in the scripts. I have a good feeling about this.

Wish us luck.

Three hours in, and we’ve pretty much no idea who’s still alive. Cool. I have two questions:

1. Does Kim Bauer have the highest bad luck/common sense coefficient of any teenager in the States?
2. Why is the picture so dreadful over NTL Cable in the UK? I’ll swear I saw the bandwidth increase as the show finished – throughout, I had horrible pixellation artefacts and even a few dropped frames. Ugh! Yes, I have complained.

The researchers I’m working with are completely obsessed with charging their mobile phones. They’re physically jumpy if their phone isn’t on charge whenever possible, they fret if they don’t know where their charger is.

Hnngh? is this some sort of age thing?