We've just had the second episode on RTE here. It's got Claire Danes as a troubled CIA investigator, Inigo Montoya as her mentor, and a some other geezer as a US Army Sergeant rescued from the clutches of al Qaeda who may or may not be a sleeper agent.

It's worth a look.

I noticed a new icon appearing on the PS3 on Sunday so I downloaded the software, and sure enough, Netflix was live and working when I got home from work last evening.

There's a months free trial and after that it'll be €6.99 a month, presumably a fiver in the UK.

I was gobsmacked by it. Spotify isn't live in Ireland so the whole thing of having a natty interface that allows you to click and select was quite cool. It seems ideal for those movies or TV shows that you're not convinced you really need to own, but which you'd like to see all the same. I watched one and a half episodes of Misfits last night, but I'll still buy (at some stage) an Indiana Jones box-set.

I tried a few searches. De Niro, drew a big fat nothing. Bog all in the line of Clint Eastwood. One Carry on movie (up the Khyber). It's got The Princess Bride, and a few seasons of Dexter.

It's not limited to the Playstation. It works on Xbox, Wii and obviously PC/Mac and tablets/phones.

Anybody else piled in? Any blog users in other territories able to confirm if they eventually increase the bill of fare?

is starting tonight on FX at 10. I think it has a few fans around here. I only noticed it right now, and if it's been flagged already, apologies.

http://www.apple.com/

As influential tech types go, he was quite something. I'm no Apple fanboi, but still, he's left one heck of a legacy.

(nicked from Twitter)

"We don't allow faster than light neutrinos in here" said the bartender. A neutrino walks into a bar.

Seeing as the Glee love-in is getting nicely underway down the page, perhaps some of you might be interested in a nice romantic comedy coming our way in a few months.

I'm quite excited...Yer man from How I Met Your Mother is quite good, and the supporting cast look like old hands at this kind of carry-on.

Angry Birds now playable on your Google Chrome Web browser...

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/utter-PR-fiction-...

Not music related at all...

it's all in the editing, isn't it!

I remember the day I bought a wee Hi-fi thing for the kitchen that'd play CDs and would dock my iPod. I wondered would I ever bother putting a CD into it, what with all of my collection on the 'pod. I've always thought that really and truly, with tunes ripped at a relatively good 160 bitrate, the sound would be fine.

Today, I've found a case where there's a definite problem. Mr Cee Lo Green's Lady Killer album, and particularly the Billie-Jean-esque Bright Lights Bigger City*. I ripped it at 160 Kbps and noticed a level of distortion in the bassline. It sounds equally ropey on the nice Sennheiser headphones.

I popped in the CD, and it sounds a hell of a lot better. Is there anything I can do? I rip using FreeRip which has that LAME encoder doobiewotsit. Is this just a limitation of MP3, that in stripping out certain components of the overall sound, what's left just sounds wrong?

Is, in this instance, Apple Lossless the way to go?

*it's a right belter of a tune, actually...have a blast!

was shown on RTE last night. I'm not sure is it going to make it onto UK telly, cos frankly what would be the point?

I've not kept up to date with Shameless on Channel 4 as much as I should have, but I do recall the early episodes, and this seemed fairly faithful as remakes go. There's plenty of effing/blinding, nudity and drug use; if you asked me what was different about it, I'd have to say that it just 'looks' American.

By that, I think I mean, that the focus appears to be a little bit softer. The homegrown version, by virtue of the lighting and make up, made the characters look GENUINELY as rough as a badgers arse; this doesn't. It's not that it's done in Über-Soft-focus, like, say, The Good Wife, where EVERYBODY looks fabulous, but these people just don't look down on their luck enough.

The cast are fine in it. The question, I suppose I have to ask, is 'Why'? The original looks a bit grittier, but the script doesn't seem to be much different and there are only slight differences in the way scenes are set up; largely it's the same show. Even on the 'intelligent' Premium US channels, like HBO or Showtime, is it the case that the audience simply WILL NOT watch something that looks in any way 'foreign'? I mean, it does occur to me that deciphering the accent of the original might be tricky enough, but is that the reason?

Feats of strength, airing of grievances and an aluminum pole. It's beginning to look a lot like Festivus...