In search of a British invasion

Kelly and I have about 100 DVDs in our Zip.ca queue, and a certain percentage are things we added so long ago we have both forgotten why we wanted to see them. These are invariably the ones that get shipped out to us. This leads to a bit of forensic investigation: checking out the cast and discovering we rented it because it has Callum Keith Rennie, or Carrie Anne Moss, or Damien Lewis. A few things we throw back right away; others we age a little.

When we watch them, it’s often a good thing. We saw the Korean vampire flick Thirst this week (on your rec, Indigo?) and it was bizarre and hilarious.

But a few days ago it became obvious that both K and I are mostly in the mood for lots and lots of BBC mystery and costume drama, and so we parked everything else on the list. We will watch that other stuff, in time, but right now I want me my UK accents and my Benedict Cumberbatch spy dramas and a second run at The Forsyte Saga.

One thing that did turn up this past month was Nature’s Most Amazing Events, narrated by Sir. David Attenborough. It has an entire episode about the salmon run! I wouldn’t say this series is quite as good as Planet Earth or the various Life ofs. The photography will overload your mind, but the narratives are on the one hand sadder and on the other, not quite as compelling.

However, it was incredibly interesting to see how they filmed the salmon run, an event I’ve seen twice now with my own eyes. I felt as though they somehow missed the specific cool of it, which for me is bound up in the OMG, fish, fish, fish everywhere. And it’s not as though they didn’t shoot all that fish, not to mention they had an insane Canadian cameraman who swam with a fish-juggling grizzly (have you never seen Grizzly Man, you nut?). But it was a good reminder of what we all know–that if you can’t go to Africa or to BC to see the salmon run, top-rate nature TV gives you a taste.

But it will never top being there.

Having said that, being there can sometimes be scary! This is the case with the most amazing shot, in the last episode, which should probably be watched with a defibrillator.