A New Year 'treat'

Here in China, the national TV station - rather disconcertingly called CCTV - marks New Year's evening and New Year's Day with a colossal TV variety show of jaw-dropping tackiness and (mostly) mind-numbing tedium. It goes on for many hours; hours that can start to seem like days. At some point, Da Shan will almost certainly be on (the insufferably smug Canadian who has cornered the market here in foreigner-as-performing-monkey appearances); at this point, any foreigners who happen to be watching (unlikely) will throw things violently at the TV screen.

We shouldn't knock it, really - it is the BIGGEST TV event in the world, with an audience in the hundreds of millions, and the advertising slots fiercely competed for in a blind auction. And it is, I suppose, a useful background distraction from all the overeating, family bickering, and setting off of fireworks which are the main business of the next few days. Indeed, for those poor saps who have not been able to go home to their families (the staff in the handful of bars and restaurants that remain open tonight, the security guards in the sentry box at the front of my building....) it is their only source of consolation at this time of year.

And so, in this spirit of cheesiness-in-entertainment, I offer you this......

I was rooting around on YouTube at the weekend trying to find some clips of Joe Jackson, my favourite British singer-songwriter...... when I happened upon this. How do such things ever come to be? I have no idea!

William "Captain Kirk" Shatner performing Pulp's Common People on the Jay Leno show - with able support on vocals from Joe, and a great backing band featuring exuberant keyboard work from Ben Folds (without the other four on this occasion). I settled down to watch this with a mixture of amazement and embarrassment, but..... actually, you know, it's not half bad. Go on, take a look.

For any Jarvis Cocker fans who find this too much of a sacrilege, here is the original Pulp video of the song.