Just watched an excellent little documentary on five (yes, really, on Channel Five) presented by Stewart Lee. In Don’t Get Me Started: What’s Wrong With Blasphemy? he discussed attempts by religious groups to censor public debate and their apparent belief in the right not to be offended, taking in faith schools and religious education along the way.

If it’s repeated at any point (no sign of it in the schedules), do try to catch it. His interviewees included Evan Harris, Helena Kennedy and Shami Chakrabarti. It’s a liberal secularist’s wet dream.

Update: All the answers are now up.

10 of the 25 opening lyrics remain in my 25 lines quiz. Here are some clues (most info sourced from Wikipedia) as some of them are pretty obscure. 11, 17 and 20 are possibly too hard, but 14 and 18 in particular are gettable.

2. “I pick up the phone, I’m dialing your number while I pray you’re at home, at home and alone”

This single reached #67 in 2002. The band responsible had their first UK hits at the end of the 1980s.

3. “No-one wrote a song for me, just instrumental, not too long”

The same is true of this band – this is an track from their eighth album which reached #2 (and I’m fairly sure at least one person who’s already correctly identified a track owns it).

11. “I can’t see why you’re not satisfied with what you’ve got, it might not seem like much to you, to me it seems a lot”

A very obscure band (no Wikipedia article) from the mid-nineties. Not sure if this was even a single.

12. “Twitching, turning, itching, burning, finding my space, finding my place”

This is a B-side to this indie band’s biggest hit, which reached #2 on its re-issue in 1996.

14. “I’m hearing images, I’m seeing songs no poet has ever painted, voices call out to me straight to my heart, so strange but we’re so well-acquainted”

An album track from the final studio album of one of the biggest pop groups of all time.

17. “We’re on our own we don’t need anyone, we live deep down, deep down underground, it helps us”

Another band too obscure to be on Wikipedia. This song, from their only album, was a single in 1997.

18. “It was pretty bright upon the rainbow bridge tonight, I could see into your window even though you’re far away”

A track from one of this band’s seven albums which also featured on (and presumably contributed the name for) a subsequent EP. The album was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.

20. “You smell an Eldorado pussycat, and it was a bright grey day”

A band initial known for their bizarre stage shows, this track comes from their second album.

21. “Well I went to a movie with a girl last night”

This was released on the band’s third EP, in 2002, with a session version being a B-side to their next release, which was their first hit single, the video of which references a film that’s just been remade. The next lyrics are this line are the title of the song.

22. “In my mind there’s a face, on my lips there’s a name”

Rather camp disco single from a Canadian singer. It reached #6 in the singles chart in 1977 and took its melody from a song written in the 1960s.

Well, I had all sorts of plans for last week, scuppered by a cold that left me without the energy for blogging (all that typing, it’s hard). I caught an episode of Commander in Chief on one of my days off – oh dear, oh dear. It’s not exactly The West Wing, is it? Or, more precisely, it absolutely isn’t. Everything that’s great about the latter – rounded, interesting characters, top notch dialogue, excellent direction, thoughtful stories – was notable by it’s absence. Commander in Chief – now axed, I believe – seemed more like a soap in which the lead happened to be a female president than a serious drama.

On Saturday, as my cold was finally waving goodbye, I went to the cinema to see Severance. Its writer, James Moran, has a blog, which I mention only to add that I don’t usually like to criticise other bloggers.

Severance pitches itself as a comedy horror film, but is neither funnier enough to class as a comedy, scary enough to be horror, nor surprising enough to be a decent thriller. There’s plenty of violence, most of which seems to be about grossing out the audience – not gratuitious exactly, but it lends little to the story, such that it is. This involves a group of (fairly unlikeable) characters becoming stranded in a forest in Eastern Europe and getting butchered – not exactly the most original concept in the canon of modern horror. The cast – which include Tim McInnerny off of Blackadder and Toby Stephens – are little more than OK, with the overpromoted Danny Dyer being a particularly noticeable detraction.

There are one or two good moments (an escort girl with a machine gun; a small twist just when you think the leads have won the day), but nothing that was worth the admission price and the expensive popcorn (and having to put up with a handful of idiots in the audience). The use of the pre-titles sequence was a little innovative, but really this was the most disappointing film I’ve seen at the cinema for some time (although there’s always The Wicker Man to look forward to).

I like to offer you a different view, so here’s an alternative take from David Bishop.

Update: Here’s another review, from Alan.

I have come down with a cold, so after a fuggy day at work yesterday I’m resting at home today and watching TV.

I’ve taken in a couple of episodes of Countdown, which I played along with and didn’t do too badly despite being unwell. I’ve watched Hairspray on DVD, and earlier in the week Good Night, And Good Luck, which is a very good film (and surprisingly short). It’s a little predictable (a lame criticism of a true story, I know) but stylishly made and very educational if you don’t know (as I didn’t) about Ed Murrow’s work against McCarthy. Last night I watched the stark John Hurt/Richard Burton film of 1984, as I trudge on through the book.

And now I find myself watching George W. Bush on BBC News 24. He’s in Salt Lake City giving a speech on terrorism and my word is he unbearable. His use of the term The Enemy implies that there is some sort of homogenous, scheming organisation at work, and reminds me of the propaganda of Big Brother. 2009 really can’t come soon enough.