The infamous, rumoured tape of Michelle Obama screeching a hate-filled tirade against “whitey” has finally leaked onto the interwoobs. I present it here in the interest of full disclosure.

One nice thing about a week with little internet and having to do a lot of work in my room meant that I finally had time to catch up on Doctor Who after losing track of it early through David Tennant’s first season. Now, Doctor Who is pretty goddamned great teevee, all things considered.

However. There do exist purists who feel that the Doctor Who theme must remain purely in its electronic, creepy form, as per the early serials, as follows.

This is a valid viewpoint to take, because come on - that is near-perfect sci-fi television music. (I actually prefer the Baker theme to the higher-pitched Peter Davidson theme, and I was introduced to Doctor Who with the Fifth Doctor, so that should stand as testament to how good the Baker theme is.) There’s a reason it’s iconic; even today it sounds futuristic and vaguely unsettling. It is great theme music, and I don’t think anybody can disagree with such an assertion. However, just because that interpretation is great doesn’t mean the more orchestral spin that was created for the 2005 revival is invalid.

This is a different interpretation on the classic, but the eerie Theremin is still there, predominant as it needs to be to maintain the integrity of the Doctor Who sensibility; the driving strings and drums beneath that eerie electronic slidewhistle serve to give the tune more intensity, which is very much in keeping with the mindset that seems to create the modern Doctor Who show - “still weird and wonderful, but now with an extra daily helping of FUCK YEAH.”

But there is such a thing as too much of that.

Electric guitars? Replacing large chunks of the theremin with a horn section? This is far and away the worst Doctor Who title sequence ever, managing to be even worse than the schmoopy, cloying, synthpoppy Sylvester McCoy sequence.

PLEASE FIX THIS IMMEDIATELY! Or I will be forced to stop illegally downloading the show!

Yeah, I know this is kind of beating a dead horse, but - Australia’s So You Think You Can Dance instantly was the best season of an already top-class reality competition show.

Also, it is my blog, so nyah.

In the final episode, the judges and choreographers dance in the big opening routine along with the contestants. And they are good.

Honestly, that’s a sort of national character thing right there.

If anything, Sydney Pollack’s legacy isn’t his roster of great character acting roles, nor his reasonable slate of directorial work. It’s his work as a producer - the most thankless of roles in the business, often unfairly dismissed as “money men” when the best producers are the most passionate hands-on creators of them all. The Talented Mr. Ripley, Sense and Sensibility, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Searching For Bobby Fischer - every one with his hands on it.

But this is probably his greatest single work: a timeless comedy.

There are worse legacies, by far.

But what the hell - it is awesome.

And that was Jimmy Slyde at seventy.

…although volunteer-driven CG movies have a long history of not succeeding, I can’t help but hope that Iron Sky manages to make a go of it.