John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

Tubular Bells, as you've never seen it played before

Unless, that is, you've already seen the all-female Brooklyn Organ Synth Orchestra play this rendition of Mike Oldfield's classic. Amy Hobby's video is helpfully annotated.

Mike Oldfield, Tubular Bells a la Montreaux

For a not-that-small number of adolescents in and around my generation, Tubular Bells was part of the soundtrack of its time. I don't play it much anymore, although I remember just listening to the overdubbing and how Oldfield pulled it off. (And then there was that whole Exorcist thing ...)

Here's a performance with Oldfield and a full band.

Sex ed in the U.K., for the Tubular Bells generation

From the BBC magazine, a short British film on sex education, condoms and all that lot. Click through to watch; the film is very much a period piece, from the characters and their apartment to that quintessentially English narration.

Tubular bells and whistles

According to Statistics Canada, the average Canadian watches about 21 hours of television in the run of a week. I don't clock three hours of couch time a day, but I do go out of my way to make sure I keep up with shows I like.

This week, a survey of some of the sites that have nothing but TV on their minds.

* Footnote TV
www.newsaic.com/ftvindex.html
Is television trivial? Often, yes. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t serious things to discuss coming out of even the silliest stuff on the tube. Footnote TV selects particular shows, finds topical issues, and links to thoughtful commentary or background.

* TV Tome
www.tvtome.com/
Is it ambitious to try to catalogue episode guides for every single episode of every major TV series, ever? Oh, yes … kind of crazy, too. But TV Tome (and its companion epguides.com site) is doing a pretty good job of hauling together a remarkable amount of data, akin to how the Internet Movie Database keeps film fans happy. Like IMDB, TV Tome is hyperlinked to the hilt, making it easy to move around.

* Picking apart CSI
newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/arts/tv/9906/index1.html
I like watching the CSI franchise, especially the original series. But I can't get over how the show's producers take liberties with science, constructing plot points that simply can't be replicated in the real world. (My key bug is the repeated notion that the more you zoom into an image ― especially a grainy frame of security video ― the better the resolution gets. Real forensic scientists have their own issues with the shows (which feature pricey, state-of-the-art equipment in artful labs staffed by georgeous scientists), although there has also been praise for those animations that explain, say, what exactly a bullet can do to a spinal cord. In this recent article, for New York magazine, one of them dissects CSI: New York, the latest entry in the series. He's a fan, but with some obvious reservations.

* Law & Order: Repeat Offenders
members.tripod.com/~MindHarp/lorepeat.html
Ever had the sensation while watching Law & Order that you've seen the fellow playing the defence attorney somewhere else … like on a previous L&O episode, but playing, say, a suspect? Relax, you're not losing your marbles; it's happened not once or twice, but dozens of times. See for yourself. (Unfortunately, this site hasn't been updated since early this year.)

* TV Acres
www.tvacres.com/
I'm a trivia buff, so a site that attempts to detail TV trivia since the 1940s simply had to be seen. After several pokes around TV Acres, I feel like I've only started. One proviso: I sometimes find this site slow to load, so be prepared to drum your fingertips.

* TV Theme Songs
www.tvland.com/theme_songs/
I can hum the Batman theme without thinking, and can probably recite the full lyric to the theme from Cheers … but the Bob Newhart Show? Hmmm. I was sure I couldn't hum the theme even if a million bucks was on the line. But, a second after hearing the phone ring and Newhart's deadpan "Hello?", I was a couple of beats ahead of the faux-jazzy, way-70s arrangement that followed. The TVLand channel has collected a selection of blasts from the past.

* The Futon Critic
www.thefutoncritic.com
Actually, you won't necessarily find a lot of criticism on this site, which tries to keep up with what the American networks are playing … and by networks, they include even the minor players. This site can be helpful both to all-out TV junkies and casual viewers wondering what ever happened to a show that seems to have gone in the witness protection program.

* West Wing Continuity Guide
westwing.bewarne.com/
The West Wing has lost its mojo, but I'm still a faithful viewer. Old habits die hard, you know. This site is not pretty to look at, but rewards fans with news, tidbits and (if you don't mind them) spoilers on upcoming episodes.

* Mork and Mindy
hemsidor.torget.se/users/s/swes/mork/
Oh, it's been a lot of bleams since Mork met Mindy … if you can remember when Robin Williams really did seem to have landed from outer space, then enjoy a little nostalgia with this made-in-Sweden tribute. Warning: the music on the opening page is gruesome.

John Gushue is a news writer for CBC.ca in St. John's. E-mail: surf at thetelegram.com.