Tuesday 21 October 2008

TV

The Micallef P(r)ogram(me)
"Polite Distances" sketch
"English Have a Go" sketch
The find of "Polite Distances" was research for something, and the other a link from that. It turned out to be almost-depressingly close to what I'm writing, though on the other hand it looks pretty old and I doubt anyone else here has seen it, so all should be OK.

The Sarah Jane Adventures
2x04 The Day of the Clown Part Two

Spooks
6x02 The Virus Part 2
Despite indulging in many of the flaws that have best Spooks in 'The Adam Era', this is a pretty cracking episode. Also, the 'on-going storyline' thing is off to a good start, based on the trailer for ep3. On the other hand, the ever-dislikable Ros is showing an unbelievable amount of humanity in her desire to track down Zaf.

DVD Extras

Casino Royale Deluxe Edition
Currently impossible to find in the shops (well, I had a good look round town yesterday, and couldn't find a single copy nor space in charts for one), this re-release for the last Bond movie lives up to its name with some beautiful presentation. The three discs -- packed with all the extras from the last release plus a slew of new ones, including two audio commentaries -- are in possibly the sturdiest box I've ever seen used for a DVD -- which is a good thing. I do like a nice sturdy DVD box. Plus it has the glossiest booklet I've ever seen within a DVD, with a handful of lovely piccies and a bit of text too.
Yes, this is essentially just a review of how they packaged it. But it's lovely, so there.

Non-Fiction

Three Uses of the Knife by David Mamet
Chapters Two - Three [the end]

Articles

BitTorrent Watchers Downloading Older Movies
(from Studio Briefing)
Slightly misleading headline, if you ask me, but some very interesting news: "the website TorrentFreak.com claimed that Get Smart, which was released theatrically last June, was the most-downloaded film of the week. It is due to be released on DVD on November 4. Journey to the Center of the Earth, which was released in theaters in July and is due to be released on DVD next week, was the second-most-downloaded movie. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which topped the list last week, fell to third place, possibly because the DVD had already hit the stores."
Considering that, once upon a time, it took films a year or more to travel from the cinema to the home ent market, and that window is now down to about four months, could we see the time reduced further still? With opening day/weekend fast becoming the most important part of a film's gross by far, with the ensuing weeks dwindling in import to the extent that many features only play for two or three weeks, could we see films hitting DVD/download within just a month or two of their theatrical debut?

Magazines

Radio Times 25-31 October 2008
For the start of Little Dorrit, the highly anticipated Dickens adaptation made in the same style as the hugely successful 2005 Bleak House, Radio Times have created four "collector's covers". While I'm sure such initiatives sell well for shows like Doctor Who and Ashes to Ashes -- series with built-in, geeky, collector fanbase/market -- I really can't imagine anyone bar the most ardent Dickens admirer/scholar bothering to buy more than one cover. Surely a fold-out would've been a better idea?
Still, it's a bloody starry cast, so there's that at least. The many notable members include (in alphabetical order) Freema Agyeman, Alun Armstrong, Darren Boyd, Ron Cook, Mackenzie Crook, Annette Crosbie, Tom Courtenay, James Fleet, Robert Hardy, Sue Johnston, Ruth Jones, Anton Lesser, Matthew Macfadyen, Eddie Marsan, Eve Myles, Judy Parfitt, Bill Paterson, Maxine Peake, Emma Pierson, Amanda Redman, Andy Serkis, Russell Tovey, and Claire Foy as the titular Amy Dorrit. Phew! (There's at least four new Who alumni in that list, donchaknow, plus a couple more among the less-famous other cast members.)

Quantum of Solace Character Posters

Click to enlarge

10 days to go...