Rihanna & Christina X Factor perfomances get the all clear from Ofcom

Hearing the news that Rihanna and Christina Aguilera's performances from last year's X Factor had been cleared by Ofcom, I breathed an immense sigh of relief. After over 2800 complaints that their performances had apparently been 'too sexy', Ofcom had launched an investigation into the whole matter.

I still find it utterly bewildering that anyone could take such offence at a pop performance. Sure Rihanna and Christina might not wear many clothes and pull out some sexy dance moves, but is this kind of thing any more sexually explicit than some of the stuff in TV dramas going out in similar time-slots? I'm sure even soaps like Eastenders or Hollyoaks have featured stuff just as racy in the past.

I've expressed my views in the past at my utter dismay at the pitiful complaints culture that currently seems to be sweeping the UK, where over-opinionated viewers see fit to make knee-jerk complaints to try and excersize some small amount of power that is clearly lacking in their own lives. It's all a bit silly isn't it? I dread to think how these people deal with day to day life if they can't even cope with a bit of sexy dancing on X Factor!

The funniest/most shocking thing - depending on how you look at it - is that about 2000 of the complaints only came after the Daily Mail had run an article on the performances including zoomed-in pictures focusing in close on the female singers. Make of that what you will...

On a brighter note, let's enjoy Rihanna's 'sexy' performance again:

A night of science (and fiction)

Sunday night is a bit of a TV treat for me. We had the marvelous Wonders of the Universe first up, presented by the effortlessly cool Brian Cox. He is just such a dude. He also has the amazing capacity to make infinitely complex science ideas easy to understand. Accompanied by ultra-cool CGI visuals and a rather bizarre metaphor comparing an old prison building to a star, Cox led us on a whistle-stop tour through the elements and how they are made.

This kind of show really does just blow your mind wide open. The theories and ideas on offer and as spellbinding as they are majestically large and expansive to grasp. Major kudos to the BBC for giving such faith to a series like this and putting it in a prime-time slot, much like they did with Cox's recent Stargazing Live series. This is space, for the Facebook generation - pure scientific poetry... and all delivered in Cox's charming Northern accent.

As a big science fiction fan, anything to do with space has always fascinated me (especially when there's cool special effects). A particular favourite moment of mine from this episode was when Cox's old prison/star metaphor came to a dramatic end - the prison exploding while Cox himself walked away in slow motion as if that kind of thing happens every day. He's like the James Bond of Astronomy.

And if that wasn't enough, the night of space-based thrills continued in the form of the Outcasts series finale. Anyone's who's read my other blog posts about the show will know how much praise I have for it, and it was with a heavy heart and many emotions that I came to this last episode. And the show most definitely went out with a bang.

Fleur was absolutely amazing this episode. Her and Cass have been the beating heart of this series, but tonight Fleur was every inch the star. With the revelation she is in fact a special breed of AC, we saw her joining Rudi; leaving behind her past life in Forthaven.

Rushing through a hotbed of political drama between Tate, Julius and Jack as well as a deadly outbreak of infection, there was one moment this episode was all building too... the space-ship touching down on the surface of Carpathia. Again, this is the stuff sci-fi is designed for and My God was it amazing. Put simply, the best cliffhanger I have seen in a long, long time.

The BBC NEEDS to make another series of Outcasts. They just can't leave it there. There's so much more to explore on Carpathia...

The complaints culture – Why so negative?

Everywhere you look these days there seems to be someone making a complaint about a TV show. Whether it be people saying Come Fly With Me is racist, that Frankie Boyle’s comedy shows are too rude, that Rihanna’s X Factor performance was ‘too sexy’, or people casting aspersions that the whole X Factor show in its entirety is fixed, everyone seems to have something to complain about. When did we get so sour? I just can’t see the point in it. TV was designed as a form of entertained, as in something that we get entertainment, enjoyment from. So why choose to watch it only to vent your anger in some kind of explosive outburst that would be more befitting of a stroppy child?

To actually go to the effort to complain about a show, to feel that level of negativity about something that appeared on a small screen in front of you just goes over my head. In life we’ve managed to control many of our emotions, so to succumb to negativity in such a way as this and ‘choose’ to see something in such a bad light that you need to complain about it just seems silly. Why are the people watching these shows anyway if they find them so awful? Maybe on some level they’re craving the enjoyment these shows so clearly provide to millions of other people.

No, the real reason why people seem to complain goes beyond this. One of the best ways this was illustrated by Danyl-gate in X Factor, when everyone got into a bit of a fuss over some comments Dannii Minogue made to contestant Danyl. On the original instance of the show being broadcast, only a few people complained, but as soon as the newspapers printed articles about it, the number of people complaining massively increased. What seems to be going on here is people jumping on the bandwagon in a rather pathetic attempt to exert some kind of ‘power’. To some people, the act of complaining seems to ‘empower’ them. They feel that they are having influence beyond their own small, individual lives – exerting power on a national level. They are venting their negativity in a silly knee-jerk reaction. Surely it’d be better for them to vent this energy in a more constructive form?

In any other situation, yes, maybe these shows might be inappropriate; but the things is, this is TV, comedy, entertainment. It is a format designed specifically for people to sit down and enjoy, to be entertained, to laugh, to forget about the labours of real life for a little while. With shows like X Factor and Come Fly With Me, who’s viewing figures exceed 10 million, it is clear audiences love them – the percentage actually picking up the phone to complain miniscule in comparison. Yet it is the complainers that get all the press. Let’s hope next time when one of these complainers gets the urge to pick up the phone, instead of thinking ‘Oh My God! How can this be shown on TV, HOW OUTRAGEOUS!!!’, they’ll instead just change the channel and think ‘You know what, I don’t think that show’s my cup of tea’.

Ellie Goulding - Your Song

There’s always a danger when covering well known songs that you lay yourself open to a torrent of abuse and anger from fans of the original track. But every so often comes along a cover that is almost universally loved, and Ellie Goulding’s charming version of Elton John’s Your Song is one such track.

Away from the beats and electronic wizardry that typifies the sound of Goulding’s album, Your Song  lets her vocals shine through and highlights just what a talented singer she actually is. It’s sensitive, full of longing and emotion – the perfect song then for the winter season. It’s a shot of warmth on biting cold days, just the kind of tonic we can all use from time to time. And fronting up the current series of John Lewis adverts on TV, it’s been given the kind of exposure most artists can only dream of. This Christmas, everyone seems to be a winner.