I have been remiss in not talking about Emmy nominated awesome AMC show,Mad Men. This seemingly innocuous show about the advertising world in the 60s is far deeper than what I thought it would be about. It s so intriguing to go back to world where a woman's hair and lipstick is always done, men wear suits ALL the time and a woman who is curvy is appreciated. What a time.

Racism and sexism were not only commonplace, they were also common ways of thinking. On the verge of the sexual revolution, Mad Men takes a look at the 'just before's'. Just before Freedom fighters, civil rights, peace loving hippies. Just before the world changed.

The show revealed some insidious longing in me to live in that time where women were housewives. Those who worked did so only to find a man and the women who owned businesses were looked upon as strange artefacts. Intriguing.

It doesn't hurt that the cast are stunningly good looking and happen to be able to carry off subtle plot lines. The only one who irks me is VIncent Kartheiser (Connor from Angel) who is always annoying and smarmy, this time it just happens to suit his character.

I want this show to win everything at the Emmys. It deserves it.

I have written about this before but the reaches of my own stupidity never fails to amuse me. Recently, my mother joined a 'vitamin revolution', which promised not only to make her super healthy but also super rich. Its list of wow's included losing weight, gaining energy, making shiteloads of cash and feeling good about helping other people. What? Charity, friends, money and happiness? What miracle product is this!?

A fake one.

Mum took the bait and I laughed at her as she tried in vain to shift these so-called miracle vitamins. It wasn't so funny when she tried to force them on me.

MLMs don't work. They never have. I know because I've tried enough of them. Some were crazy ones that popped up one day, took all your money and vanished, others put the effort in to maintain a semblance of respectability - mainly because the owners thought they were onto something great. They were not. I

 wish I could show you how much money i lost playing the mlm game.

What about you guys? Can anyone prove me wrong with an mlm success story? I'll give you entreredits if you made over $1000 from an mlm. Also, because I am charitable like that, please provide the name (and link) of this fabulous opportunity so other people can make the mooah!

I has a happy. Go see www.drhorrible.com  QUICK because it's free now but you'll have to pay for it in a few days and that just doesn't bode well for the spirit of the internets.

Captain Hammer: Best. Hero. Ever.

Mr. Moist. Taps into my fear of moistness. Seriously.

     Most of you regular readers ( hello sir! How's your back today?) know that I've been lusting after this movie for about 6 months now.

I saw it last night.

The Dark Knight was everything it promised to be. It's a classic Batman, the good, the evil, the awesome gadgets. But this one departed a little from traditional Batmans with a little more character introspection, not least from Batman himself. I was awestruck by the nuances and layers each character brought out into the open. The Joker of course, is the one everyone's talking about and yes, this performance by Heath Ledger is as unsettling and as villainous as that other clown that scared the bejesus out of me as a kid. The scariest thing about the Joker however, is not his grimy makeup, his wild eyes or the habitual licking of the lips. It's not even the fluctuations in his voice - from gravelly to high pitched to  downright harsh, it is his intent...or lack of it. A criminal with nothing to lose, nothing to gain. He likes anarchy because it's fun. What do you do with a character like that?

But it's not just about the Joker. We learn surprising details about other characters in this movie. My favourite moment was finding out who the Commissioner loved best of his family. How do you choose? How can anyone pick one loved one over the other? Rachel (played by my usually favourite actress Maggie Gyllenhaal) changes her mind constantly about who she loves, who she wants. Most notably, she makes her truest decision when faced with death. This harks back to the Joker's line, ' Most people reveal their true selves just before they die. I guess I probably know friends better than you do'.  Rachel is flawed, but we forgive her for it because we 've all done it before. *

Batman. What a man. What a weird sounding man. When he's Bruce Wayne, Christian Bale plays him well, he's a solid well rounded character. When he's Batman, Bale turns on the voice and the weird jerky movements. He becomes a Batman of caricatures. It's like he studied Adam West for this role. Odd. But then again, how hard it must be to play it straight wearing a muscle suit. His choices are the same they have always been. Fight the good fight and suffer for the people or let em burn. I've always loved Batman because he is the hero nobody ever wants to acknowledge. Too dark, too true. I was so glad this was a focal point of the film.

Harvey Dent. Wow. Pushed to the brink of madness, he is the yang to Batman's Yin in every way. He again answers our questions..what choice do you ultimately make when faced with unthinkable circumstances? We trust Batman to make the right choice everytime, but Batman is not the people, Harvey Dent, the representative of the people, makes the choice I'm sure the rest of us would've made, as much as we protest now.

The supporting players are all fantastic, there is a certain element of gravitas in this film that weighs it down in seriosuness and complexity but it is also light hearted, fun..it's pretty complex for a huge blockbuster. That's why I loved it and if you haven't seen it, please go.

*Maggie really upset me in this movie, she plays Rachel Dawes kinda not very well. She talks about finally making movies people want to watch. Maggie, we won't watch them if your acting stinks them out. Stop it. Go back to making awesome indie movies we all love.

There are lots of things happening in Sydney this week, namely this event, which is causing chaos on the roads and in the minds of millions. As much as I'd like to comment on this, I think it would be better if I waited until the dust has settled and people aren't quite as vitriolic about the mass (heh) invasion of the pilgrims.

No, today I want to talk about that other bastion of culture - the all pervasive Big Brother. After 8 years, it's finally coming to an end. I was 17 when the show began and was suitably interested in the sociological experiment it professed itself to be. The first season didn't have much of anything going on. Far from leaving housemates to their own devices, the producers forced upon them a weird mix of games and tasks that made them akin to extremely jumpy lab rats. It took me about two seasons of dedicated watching to realise that the social experiment was being plied not on the housemates, but the viewers.

I have never been so disappointed in the youth of today as I am when I watch Big Brother.  They don't know where countries are, they have very little to say on world politics, policies or wars. They don't even have much to say on the latest music, movies or culture (except if it involves Britney or some other vapid starlet). They hold menial jobs and are happy to do so. They don't want an education nor do they want to improve themselves in any way. What they do want is fame. Lots and lots of fame. Fame for doing nothing may be de rigeur these days but at least Paris Hilton capitalised on fake fame to produce some real stuff - products, merchandise..whatever. Either she or her handlers have some market savvy.  

Big Brother contestants have nothing to show for their 15 seconds. Over the years, only three or four contestants stand out in my memory. These were the ones who went in curious about the social situation, went in with something to say or left determined to make something of themselves. All of these contestants appeared in the first three series. Yes, I know producers have to pick housemates based not on intellectual capability but ability to freak others out, but actually being able to find them in such abundance in a country that applauds itself on its brains is scary.

Putting Pamela Anderson in the house was so blatantly shark jumping that it was painful to watch. I am so glad this show is coming to an end. It pains me to see my generation thrive off stupidity and I don't want to have to see it every night on primetime.