Friday 16 January 2009

TV

Lark Rise to Candleford
2x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Vincent (1982)
[2nd watch]
Tim Burton's excellent stop-motion short, based around a poem what he wrote.

The Wraith of Cobble Hill (2006)
[#4a in 100 Films in a Year 2009]

Music

Doctor Who: Series 4 - Original Television Soundtrack by Murray Gold

The third volume of Gold's great music from modern Who doesn't disappoint. There's nothing quite as outstanding as series three's This is Gallifrey: Our Childhood, Our Home, or even Torchwood's The Chase, but the overall quality is still incredibly high and several tracks are excellent.

Personal favourites (in order of appearance, with one exception):
  • UNIT Rocks
  • The Doctor's Theme Series Four (compared to the series one & two version, this really shows just how far Gold's music has come)
  • Voyage of the Damned Suite
  • A Dazzling End
  • The Dark and Endless Dalek Night
  • A Pressing Need to Save the World (isn't that a great track title?)
  • Song of Freedom
  • and, most of all, The Greatest Story Never Told.

  • Additionally, track 27, Doctor Who Series Four Closing Credits, seems to be the track that was given away as a hidden free download with the series three album. Personally, I think it's an excellent rendition of the theme, perfectly suited to the current incarnation of the show.

    Also, Gold's liner notes are variable in quality, but still a great addition -- something similar was much missed from the Torchwood soundtrack, in my opinion. Among the things he reveals is that these 76 minutes are cut down from about 420, which just makes you wish there was even more.

    Articles

    First, the big news...

    We Shall Watch the Watchmen by Helen O'Hara
    (from Empire)
    Hurrah!
    "The Watchmen legal dispute has settled, and everything is on course for the film's release... The settlement will see Warners pay Fox an unspecified sum upfront, and then give them an unspecified share of the film's profits. Those sums are 'unspecified' because the studios are keeping silent on the details of the deal, but it's known that the sums involved are in the tens of millions of dollars."
    Poor Warners. Still, great for the rest of us!

    And elsewhere...

    Keanu Reeves Does the Cowboy Bebop by Helen O'Hara
    (from Empire)
    "Exciting news this morning as Keanu Reeves signs on for the long-mooted film version of anime series Cowboy Bebop, a futuristic series about bounty hunters around the solar system. Reeves would play Spike Spiegel, a bounty hunter or 'cowboy' who travels on spaceship Bebop with his partner in (hunting) crime Jet Black and a motley collection of marks and hangers-on" -- kinda like Firefly, only more Japanese (or something). Could be groovy. I might finally get round to watching the series now...

    Murray Gold and Ben Foster on Four Years with the Doctor by Michael Beek
    (from Doctor Who: Series Four - Original Television Soundtrack liner notes)
    A fairly interesting interview with the Doctor Who composer and orchestrator. More interesting still are Murray Gold's track-by-track liner notes -- especially the occasionally bizarre introduction, which include Gold berating his engineer for creating a rubbish version of the album!
    See here for a couple of thoughts on the album itself.

    Paul McCartney Selects Duffy For Live And Let Die Cover by Devin Zydel
    (from CommanderBond.net)
    "she has done a really brave reworking of one of the most played and instantly recognisable songs ever. I would be very surprised if this is the last Bond song she sings." She'd certainly be a more appropriate choice than Amy bloody Crackhead... sorry, Winehouse.

    Tiger bread
    (from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
    This is why Wikipedia is great -- however random the thing you want to find out about, they probably have some info on it.