Einstein – joker and genius
important,’’ says Flynn, 34.
‘‘And that’s not what you know of him as a layman. That’s not what I knew of him before embarking on the project. So, that’s what’s been really cool, is to see the reason ... we find humour in tragic circumstances because that’s the human spirit coming through.’’
Einstein was also naturally witty, says Ken Biller, executive producer and show runner of Genius, which was filmed in the Czech Republic.
‘‘While I’d like to think that we’ve written some clever dialogue for him, some of the cleverest dialogue is dialogue that he wrote for himself because we’ve sprinkled into some of these scripts Einstein-isms; things that he either said or wrote that were really perceptive and often quite funny,’’ he says.
Howard, who directs the first episode, reports that the initial script presented young Albert as a bohemian artist with a maverick sensibility that sometimes thrust him into trouble.
‘‘Sometimes it was his own doings, sometimes it was his own foibles. But very often, it was society. It was old, rigid thinking, and sometimes plain bigotry that was threatening to prevent the world from having what this remarkable individual had to offer.’’ – TNS
is screening on Sky’s National Geographic channel on Mondays at 8.30pm.
Crazy, beautiful songs
Aimee Mann has been typecast as a singer who always sees the dark lining in the silver cloud, and so she doubles down on that reputation by titling her latest album Mental Illness ( Mann’s also got a healthy sense of humour about life and herself, and she writes songs built to outlast any heartache. These are often beautiful songs about being stuck in a rut, the notion that some people’s lives are about endlessly repeating the same mistake expecting a different result. That’s a layman’s definition of mental illness, and Mann’s artfully realised songs suggest that it’s far more common than one might think. It’s among Mann’s sparest, quietest albums and also among her most beautiful. Beyond her conversational delivery, the singer’s background vocals provide a haunting, wordless backdrop that functions like another instrument. – Greg Kot, TNS
Groovy guitar work
Roy Buchanan’s Loading Zone and You’re Not Alone ( are two mid-70s classical albums from one of life’s should-have-been, could-havebeen great rock guitarists. If this album proves anything, it’s that Buchanan was not tied to any style, jumping from blues to jazz to country. And maybe that’s the problem. Without serious direction, these albums feel a little discombobulated, yet Buchanan remains the guitarist most others wanted to emulate. – Colin Morris
Better than middling