18.3.07

Extras

After the success of The Office, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant put their comedic talents into a show called Extras.

It is about a group of people, their aspirations for fame and how they get to see the nitty-gritty and sometimes whacky side of Hollywood.

Gervais plays Andy Millman, a full-time extra, working in theatre and motion pictures. Ashley Jensen stars as Maggie Jacobs, a goofy Scottish woman who is Andy’s friend and co-extra. Stephen Merchant as Darren Lamb is Andy’s incompetent agent. His interaction with Andy is extremely hilarious to watch, especially where Darren tries to get his commission from Andy.

Most of the comedic talent is brought in by the special guest stars of each show. Ben Stiller and Patrick Stewart are two such characters who lampoon their respective personas. Stellar comes off as an egotistical control freak and Stewart sheds his Shakespearean personality down to something that could only be described as completely bizarre and quirky.

Though this series has its funny moments, the style of writing and characterisation isn’t very different from that of The Office. The sad part is that this isn’t The Office, and fans who expect to see something different and refreshing will be disappointed.

This double DVD box-set has a lot of special features to go through, including audio commentary on selected episodes and special features looking into the making of the series. If you haven’t seen much of British comedy, you might like the show which does have its funny moments, thought not many.
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Chevelle - Review

Few bands maintain their individual style of music; even fewer perfect their sound. Chevelle is probably one of those exceptional bands that have embraced their own style of sound and refined it tremendously in their third album, This Kind of Thinking (Could Do Us In).

Formed by three brothers from Grayslake, Illinois, Chevelle is pure rock with a bit of post-grunge. In fact, they have a garage-like sound as if they have used the most basic production equipment and come out with something akin to pure rock. Though many bands will come to your mind when you hear them (Deftones being the primary influence), after a while, some of the tunes begin to take a life of their own. But that’s just because nearly all young bands starting off anew use a previously successful band’s sound as a platform.

For example the starting track of the album, The Clincher, begins with a powerful riff build up, which could be confused for Shove It by Deftones, but the similarities end there. The rest of the album is quite loud and heavy on the rock, though the themes of the song are more depressing and sad, reminiscent of the old Seattle grunge sound. There are hardly any ballad-esque tracks, which though not disappointing for all, may be a put off for some as it may seem that the album lacks pace variety. Chevelle is the new sound of grunge rock; very loud and very fast.
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