Monday 29 June 2009

Articles

Michael Jackson tops album chart
(from BBC News)
"Michael Jackson has topped the UK album chart and made six new entries in the singles top 40, six years after his last number one. Greatest hits album Number Ones rocketed from 121 to the top spot after a surge in sales since the superstar's death on Thursday... Four of his other hit albums also made a reappearance in the top 20... Thriller, still the biggest-selling album of all time, raced from 179 to number seven...
A total of 11 Michael Jackson or Jackson Five albums featured in the top 200. In the singles chart, 43 out of the top 200 singles feature the singer, with Jackson hits accounting for all but one of the new entries in the top 40."

Review of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
and
The Fall of the Revengers
by Roger Ebert (from rogerebert.com)
Ebert lays into Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen with his usual panache -- twice! I still haven't bothered to see it, but I can well believe every word of this.

Tomas, Tommy, Tom: Past, present and future? by Matt Withers
and
Three Toms in The Fountain by Marc Caddell
(from rogerebert.com)
Two different, but equally intelligent, views on what exactly is going on in The Fountain, a film many dislike but I thought was rather good (with some reservations).

Technology

As I've discussed my TV-related plans a couple of times before, I thought I'd give updates now final decisions have been made and things have been ordered.

HDTV: Samsung LE37B650
It may have flaws, but the ones it has are of little consequence to me, which means it's pros stand out all the more.
In the post.

Blu-ray Player: Panasonic DMP-BD60
One of the best around at this price point, and also one of the few available chipped for multi-region -- a must for me.
In the post.

TV/Broadband/Phone: V+HD / Virgin Media
Yes, last time I had been verging on Sky, but their offer ended. This is for the best really -- Virgin will cost a lot less and BBC HD is the main HD channel I'll watch anyway. Considering my TV has a USB slot that will play movie files, there are always other ways of accessing HD content...
Installation ordered.

Blu-rays
I've also ordered an initial batch of films, so I can actually enjoy my BD player (plus it will upscale my thousands of DVDs, of course).
Ordered / in the post.

Thanks to moving house as well, all of this should be completely set up in the next 5-10 days. Ooh it's exciting.

new review at 100 Films

Alien Resurrection (1997)
the most notable differences are its black humour, where the tastes of both [writer] Whedon and director Jeunet make their mark, and how grotesque it is — almost two extremes walking hand-in-hand. The deformed, perverted Ripley clones; the Hybrid; the Ripley-Alien sex scene — there’s nothing like this in the other films, and that’s a grand thing.

Read the full review at 100 Films.

There are currently numerous films in the review pipeline at 100 Films. As ever, updates here as and when they're posted.