Films

Alice in Wonderland (2010)
[#38 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]
In 3D. Which is... fine.

Articles

Pullman defends new book The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ
(from find-book.co.uk)

Pullman is no stranger to controversy. His previous books [depicted] the Catholic Church as a shady, corrupt establishment

What, he wrote the truth?

Articles

A to Z of Awesomeness by Neill Cameron
(from BuzzFeed)
The alphabet, comics style. Yay for D! And T! And others are good too.

The Most Ironic Signs Of All Time
(from The Huffington Post)
Hilariously funny. (Apart from 16, which is an old gag. Though at least that's funny if you've never seen it, whereas 17 is just fake. But otherwise.)

TV

Doctor Who [classic]
3x05 Mission to the Unknown [Loose Cannon reconstruction]
aka Dalek Cutaway... despite that never being on screen or anything. But this is essentially a Doctor-less precursor to the slightly-later epic story, The Daleks' Master Plan. The episode is lost, so this is a reconstruction from the original soundtrack and photos. More thorough information here.

Articles

Claudia Winkleman named as Jonathan Ross's successor on Film 2010 by Paul MacInnes
(from guardian.co.uk )
Well, now, I don't think anyone saw that coming. But maybe she can "prove [her] doubters wrong".

Matt Smith: 'I wrote Doctor Who stories' by Daniel Kilkelly
(from Digital Spy)
Are fans clamouring for them to be released or that Mr Smith shouldn't be so presumptuous as to think he can write fiction? God only knows, I can't be bothered to find out.

Steven Moffat Interview, Part One by Nick Setchfield
(from SFX)
Good interview about new-nuWho.

TV

The Bubble
1x06 (26/3/10 edition) [season finale]
"My David."
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Doctor Who [classic]
A Fix with Sontarans [Jim'll Fix It sketch]
The first thing-I've-never-seen I watched as part of #InsomniacWhovian! Shame it was so inauspicious... Hashtag: #AFixWithSontarans, of course.

Friday Night With Jonathan Ross
18x10 (26/3/10 edition)
With Matt Smith and an exclusive clip from Vampires in Venice.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Russell Howard's Good News
2x01 (25/3/10 edition)
Mr Howard's filthy news review returns. Completely forgot that they never put the extended version on iPlayer (boo!) so had to watch the shorter one.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Radio

Doctor Who Radio Trailer
Apparently exclusive to Paul O'Grady's Radio 2 show and only to be broadcast once -- Lord only knows why, it's hardly specific. On the other hand, it's a bit daft and lacking, so why play it again?
If you really want to hear it (without having to shuffle through all of this week's show looking for it), it's up at Blogtor Who.

this week on 100 Films

4 new reviews were posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...

Doctor Faustus (1967)

stylistically reminiscent of a Gothic Hammer Horror, which is either wholly inappropriate or an ingenious genre mash-up... There are repulsively horrific corpses, a harem of naked ladies, an array of special effects, plus a medieval-styled gothic atmosphere to all the sets and costumes

Million Dollar Baby (2004)

it’s about boxing, a subject I couldn’t care less about, and indeed I don’t think I’ve ever seen a boxing-centric film before. Unfortunately, Million Dollar Baby did nothing to allay my suspicions that I wouldn’t care less about those either.

Saturday Night Fever (1977)

From the posters on Tony’s walls, to the fashions, to how it’s shot, it seems to have been designed specifically to exude seventies-ness in a way few other things seem to. It feels natural, then, that some of its original elements have become shorthand definitions for the era: the Bee Gees music, the dancing, and in particular that pose.

Saw V (2008)

what Saw V suffers in backstory it makes up for with simplicity... A working knowledge of the preceding films is essential, true, but with that in hand one can actually follow the story easily this time. Indeed, one might even argue it’s too easy

More next Sunday.

TV

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
3x03 (27/3/10 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Over the Rainbow
Programme 1 (of 20)
Programme 2 (of 20)
[Watch programme 1 and programme 2 in HD (again) on iPlayer.]

The Future...

What the future looked like in 1993.

One assumes this video will be hilariously outdated... and then, surprisingly, most of its content has come true, and the bits that haven't are largely on their way or available in a slightly different form.

Freaky.

TV

Doctor Who [classic]
21x05 The Awakening Part One [2nd watch]
21x06 The Awakening Part Two [2nd watch]
As mentioned yesterday, this was watched for Insomniac Whovian on twitter with @frizfrizzle (though a bit later than planned). See the hashtag #TheAwakening for what we had to say about it.
You might be able to watch The Awakening legally (and for free) on the BBC's YouTube channel's Doctor Who section, but it wouldn't work for us last night.
For the near-future schedule of Insomniac Whovian, look here.

Doctor Who [new]
2x03 School Reunion [3rd watch]
An impromptu Insomniac Whovian. See what we thought on the hashtag #SchoolReunion (they have a pretty obvious format, these).

Mad Men
3x10 The Color Blue
Looks like it's all about to hit the fan...
[Watch it again in HD on iPlayer.]

Richard Hammond's Invisible Worlds
Part 2 Out of Sight
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

Doctor Who: It’s About Time by Ian Wylie
(from Life of Wylie)
A full transcript of the Moffat/Smith/Gillan interview from the Doctor Who press launch. Great for fans.

See you at the movies by Roger Ebert
(from Roger Ebert's Journal)
Being in the UK, I've never seen the recently-cancelled series At the Movies, but this is an interesting post nonetheless.

When Headlines Don't Match Their Pictures: The Funniest News Photo Fails Ever by Katla McGlynn
(from The Huffington Post)
They are funny!

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

Number of titles in collection: 1,156 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,081 [up 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 75 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 2,811 [up 2]
Number of films in collection: 1,222 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 3,874 [no change]

Statistic of the week:

Number of Doctor Who stories I own that I've never seen:
35

This week's stat is inspired by a comment on twitter, and is vaguely related to the the Statistic of the Week from January 29th.

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Doctor Who [new]
2x11 Fear Her [3rd watch]
Watched for Insomniac Whovian on twitter with @frizfrizzle. See the hashtag #FearHer.
Join him and/or us and/or others later (around 1am) for the same thing again with The Awakening (inevitable hashtag: #TheAwakening), which you can also watch legally and for free on the BBC's YouTube channel's Doctor Who section.

FlashForward: What Did You See?
A full-episode-length "Previously on..." covering the first 10 episodes (thanks to a 15-week mid-season hiatus). It was so engrossing I actually fell asleep.
[Watch it (again) on Demand Five.]

Articles

Kevin Smith slams "nasty" critics by Catriona Wightman
(from Digital Spy)
On the one hand, he's just getting pissy about bad reviews. On the other, he has a fairly valid point:

"Realised whole system's upside down: so we let a bunch of people see it for free & they s**t all over it?" he posted. "Meanwhile, people who'd REALLY like to see the flick for free are made to pay? Bulls**t: from now on, any flick I'm ever involved with, I conduct critics screenings thusly: you wanna see it early to review it? Fine: pay like you would if you saw it next week.
Why am I giving an arbitrary 500 people power over what I do at all, let alone for free? ... Why's their opinion more valid? It's a backwards system."

TV

David Lean in Close-Up with Jonathan Ross
The 90-minute BBC Four version from last October; completely missed it even being on BBC One (almost a year ago! Crikey.) It's a rather good documentary too, and all fascinating, so I'm glad I saw the full version.

Mad Men
3x09 Wee Small Hours

TV

Archer
1x05 Honeypot
[Watch it (again) on Demand Five.]

FlashForward: Revealed
Behind-the-scenes-type-programme Five showed before Christmas, when the series went on its mid-season hiatus. Full of hype and hyperbole, it was pretty much as weak as the show it was promoting.

Films

Ghost Town (2008)
[#37 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]

TV

House
6x13 Moving the Chains

The Mentalist
2x05 Red Scare
[Watch it (again) on Demand Five.]

Tinga Tinga Tales
Why Snake Has No Legs
Why Flamingo Stands on One Leg
[Watch both episodes (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

The Condemned (2007)
[#36 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]

Articles

Has 3-D already failed? by Kristin Thompson
(from Observations on film art at David Bordwell's website on cinema)

This article's from last September, but -- despite Avatar -- I reckon many of its points still stand. And it's therefore excellent.

On a related note, also check out Bwana Beowulf and Coraline, cornered from the same blog. Both are further discussions of 3D, using specific films (which should be obvious) as case studies, and continue to demonstrate why this 3D malarky isn't all its cracked up to be.

Suggestion of the day...

Send this letter to this email address (adding some kind of framing bit to note the letter's not actually by you but you agree with every word of it).

It'll only take a few seconds, but it might one day turn out to be worth it.

TV

QI
7x01 Gardens (extended repeat)
Much-belated first-showing for this extended repeat of an edition that first went out way back in November 2009.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Sport Relief 2010
[2nd half]
This is where recording it pays off, as the later-hours' schedule gradually fills up with repeats of sketches and appeal films, not to mention the inane babble of Fearne Cotton and Patrick Kielty.
[Watch the it (again) on iPlayer.]

this week on 100 Films

Just 2 new reviews were posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...

Lesbian Vampire Killers (2009)

the film fails to deliver on is its twin promises of raunch and horror. Aside from a couple of brief surgically-enhanced medieval boobs, a flash of knickers and the odd girl-on-girl kiss, the film’s sexy content is non-existent... The horror, meanwhile, is reduced to well-signposted jump scares and the odd bit of comical decapitation/melting

What About Bob? (1991)

The film hinges entirely on Murray and Dreyfuss, and both are excellent in their respective roles. Murray portrays Bob’s mental health struggles early on in a way that would garner wider praise for accuracy if this were a drama, showing the potential he’s only unleashed in more recent years to play straight roles

More next Sunday.

TV

Sport Relief 2010
[1st half + BBC Two segment]
I recorded it so I could fastforward the dull bits (by which I mean rubbish singers, etc, not the appeal films), but was surprised to find I barely skipped anything. I expect it'll pay dividends come the later hours though -- these charity telethons always wind up repeating the best sketches by midnight.
[Watch the first half and BBC Two half-hour (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Saw V (2008)
[#34 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]
Regular readers may remember that the first four films in the series were 2009's numbers 59, 60, 61 and 62.

Titanic (1997)
[#35 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]
Having avoided this box office behemoth for 12 years, it seems appropriate to finally see it now it's been toppled from its highest-grossing perch. Plus, it was on in HD.

Games

The Secret of Monkey Island: The Flash Movie
The whole plot of The Secret of Monkey Island, re-told at speed by a German bloke (in English) with cartoony illustrations. Kinda fun.

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

Just one new Blu-ray this week, despite the Saturday delay in posting. It's the rather-good Seraphim Falls, which I watched earlier this week. It should look rather lovely on BD and it was going dirt cheap (£4.99! for a Blu-ray!) at several retailers.

Number of titles in collection: 1,154 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,079 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 75 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 2,809 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 1,219 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 3,874 [no change]

Statistic of the week:

Number of titles rated 15:
395
(34% of the total)

Following in the footsteps of titles rated U and titles rated 18, those rated 15 are the largest group in my collection -- almost double the next closest!

What's next closest? That's for another time...

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Bubble
1x05 (18/3/10 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Queen
Part 2 Us and Them
[Watch it (again) on 4oD or SeeSaw.]

Tinga Tinga Tales
Why Crocodile Has a Bumpy Back
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Lesbian Vampire Killers (2009)
[#33 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]
Read my review here.

TV

Damages
3x03 Flight's at 11:08
Damages in thoroughly-appropriate-episode-title shocker!

The Queen
Part 1 Sisters
Ah, the drama-documentary: not enough documentary to provide proper insight, not enough drama to justify it being, er, a drama. Still, for what it is, this was (er, is?) quite good. I certainly learnt stuff... but then, I didn't know much about it in the first place. And Emilia Fox is worth watching in anything.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD. Or SeeSaw. Or anywhere you bloody like these days.]

Tinga Tinga Tales
Why Tickbird Sits On Hippo's Back
I give up trying to number the episodes, there's no point.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

I'm writing this post moments before it shall be posted, so I'll be brief:

Google Street View uncovers secret superhero headquarters
(from Sci Fi Wire)
Ha!
Fathers For Justice?

The Hobbit to be in 3D? by Josh Winning
(from Total Film)
No thank you.

Top 25 SFX TV Shows by Dave Golder
(from SFX)
User-voted best-of list. Always funny. Good top three (and higher, probably, but I've not seen all of them / all of the shows (if you see the difference)).

...and that's all for now.

Wolverine 2 footage

Just to steal Empire's twitter joke, "Exclusive footage from Wolverine 2 - They're going for a very different tone this time around".

Watch the video here. Oh, go on.

TV

Dexter
3x04 All in the Family

Richard Hammond's Invisible Worlds
Part 1 Speed Limits
In case you forget that this programme uses high-speed cameras (to show things too fast to see with the naked eye), Hammond reminds us about every 137 seconds. It's almost like they're trying to make it a drinking game.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Films

The Illusionist (2006)
[#32 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]

TV

Mad Men
3x08 Souvenir
[Watch it again in HD on iPlayer.]

Sport Relief Does Dragons' Den
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Twin Peaks - The Fight For More by Ben Rawson-Jones
(from Digital Spy)

Twin Peaks season two finally hits UK DVD next week, after the best part of a decade waiting (personally, I caved almost a year and a half ago and got the US complete set), which makes it as good a time as any to muse on the missing Peaks (deleted scenes from the film that are just waiting for a DVD release) and the potential (if any) for the story to continue in the future.

TV

Damages
3x02 The Dog is Happier Without Her

Dexter
3x03 The Lion Sleeps Tonight

House
6x12 Remorse

Articles

Film 4 HD, E4 HD coming to Virgin Media
and
ITV1 HD to launch in April
by Andrew Laughlin (from Digital Spy)

Virgin Media director of digital entertainment Cindy Rose [said] "we're... making HD available to all of our customers for no extra fee."

If that's true, it means Virgin will soon be making some changes to the way they offer HD -- currently it's only available with a V+ HD box, which costs an extra £5 per month on most packages. More likely, I suspect, she's talking rubbish and the current system will continue.

So long as Virgin stick to their thus-far method of offering HD (if you get the SD channel you get the HD channel) and don't switch to making HD channels higher-package-only (a constant threat, I feel, as they always refer to their most-expensive XL package when discussing new HD channels), then I won't complain.

TV

Damages
3x01 Your Secrets Are Safe
Another promising start to a season of Damages -- hopefully this one will improve over the variable second. Distinctly odd recap at the start though; what with Dexter's four-minute epic at the start of its third season, it's beginning to feel like A Thing.

Dexter
3x02 Finding Freebo

Films

Seraphim Falls (2006)
[#30 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]

Waitress (2007)
[#31 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]

this week on 100 Films

3 new reviews were posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, though I've been up to something else too...

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

It’s so thorough, accurate and real that it is (reportedly) still used as a working example in law education. The complete lack of flashbacks or definitive truth is a perfectly judged part of this: we only know what Biegler would; only hear what would come up in trial; can only be as certain as he and the jury are of the motives and testimonies of all involved.

Rock n Roll Nerd (2008)

What this tale creates is an unusual rockumentary. It’s obviously not a concert film, nor a tour film, nor a retrospective on someone’s career; instead, it’s the chronicle of someone’s relatively meteoric rise to fame, from two unique perspectives

Son of Rambow (2007)

Hilarious and touching in equal measure, you’d need a heart of stone to remain unmoved. A triumph.

Also this week, I've begun to include pictures in some reviews, to help break up the blocks of text and make the blog an easier/prettier site to read. The first new review to include images was Anatomy of a Murder (though I belatedly added some to Rock n Roll Nerd) and a few older posts have been updated to include them -- so far, these are my review of M and my summary of 2007's Best Picture nominees (plus posters on each review from the latter). I don't intend to give all archive reviews a similar treatment (at least, not any time soon), but this will be the new standard for future reviews and the occasional archive update.
More next Sunday.

TV

The Bubble
1x04 (12/3/10 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Dexter
3x01 Our Father [2nd watch]
I started watching the third season of Dexter way back in June 2009 and for reasons I can't even remember faltered after just one episode. So, after such a long gap -- nine months! In which the US have had season four and we've had the news that ITV won't even be showing season three -- I'm re-starting with episode one. Hopefully I'll get further this time...

Let's Dance for Sport Relief
Episode 4 (of 4)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
3x02 (13/3/10 edition)
According to this, the CIA think the United Kingdom is in Asia. Allow me to say... what?!
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Death Wish (1974)
[#29 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]

Articles

No Beatles Outside Europe by Marcus
(from Doctor Who News Page)

the short clip of The Beatles, featured in episode one of [classic Doctor Who story] The Chase, will only be included on the Region 2 DVDs and will be removed from the masters of the discs produced for regions outside Europe...

It may have been possible for the same masters to have been used for the international copies, as there is nothing in the BBC paperwork to indicate that the clip of the Beatles exists in the story. However the distributors have received so many queries about the inclusion of the clip that it became impossible to ignore its presence, so it has been removed

"Oops."

TV

Friday Night With Jonathan Ross
18x08 (5/3/10 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Mentalist
2x04 Red Menace
I actually watched something when it was on! Ad breaks and everything! Not entirely sure of the last time that happened (well, there was definitely Christmas... but, I mean, in the normal regular course of things.)
[Watch it (again) on Demand Five.]

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

Three new Blu-rays this week, which makes for a slightly bigger update than the last couple... slightly. It also means it's by the far the smallest monthly running time increase so far.

Number of titles in collection: 1,153 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,079 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 74 [up 3]

Number of discs in collection: 2,808 [up 3]
Number of films in collection: 1,218 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 3,874 [no change]

Statistic of the week:

Total running time of collection (approx.):
194 days, 20 hours, and 38 minutes.
(Up 15 hours and 55 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Archer
1x04 Killing Utne
[Watch it (again) on Demand Five.]

Argumental
3x06 (9/3/10 edition) [mid-season finale]
Season finale? Mid-season finale? Who bloody knows. Who, indeed, cares.

House
6x11 The Down Low
Yay, House is back! And very funny it was too. Hurrah!

Films

Clue (1985)
[#28 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]
This is brilliant. Why isn't it more widely known/loved?

Articles

Do We Know What a Best Picture Winner Looks Like Anymore? by Kyle Buchanan
(from Movie|Line)
Six Best Picture winners out of the last 10 that are Rather Unusual. But best of all is this quote right at the end:

[Hurt Locker vs. Avatar] isn’t David vs. Goliath — it’s Baby David vs. a Goliath who comes riding a dragon, armed with two bazookas.

LucasArts confirms MI2 special edition by Mark Langshaw
(from Digital Spy)

No, not that M:I-2, but the inestimably better Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge.

Following in the footsteps of last year's The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition, the sequel "will be available for PC, Xbox 360, PS3 and iPhone in the summer." Hurrah!

And in related good news, "LucasArts also revealed that The Secret Of Monkey Island Special Edition is bound for PSN and Mac OS". Couldn't give a monkeys about PSN (in fact, I'd not even heard of it before -- fyi, it's a PS3 thing), but Mac OS is good -- no need to run a bloody PC emulator or try to play it on my iPhone. Double yay! It can be pre-ordered (exclusively -- and, irritatingly, only in the US) here.

TV

Mad Men
3x07 Seven Twenty-Three

Articles

Christopher Nolan takes flight with Superman: 'We have a fantastic story' by Geoff Boucher
(from Hero Complex at the Los Angeles Times)

Digital Spy managed to milk three news stories from this one interview, so I thought I'd just link to the whole thing. It'll be more accurate anyway. In it, Nolan reveals a few tidbits about his ideas for Superman, plus the vaguest first details on the plan for the next Batman film.

How many tidbits? About three I guess.

TV

Five Days
2x05 Day 102 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Choke (2008)
[#27 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]

Magazines

Radio Times 13-19 March 2010

The Radio Times' film guide continues its slide into ludicrous irrelevancy this issue -- as if awarding the widely-exalted The Dark Knight a meagre three stars wasn't bad enough, they've given the exact same score to the widely-derided Lesbian Vampire Killers. Seriously.

They even seem to have realised it's all gone awry: the film section used to boast full reviews of every film on terrestrial TV, plus many digital ones too; for the past few months, it's been much shorter and abandoned such a thorough review output. As we can see, they're right to have lost faith in it.

Articles

Thurman film takes £88 at UK box office by Simon Reynolds
(from Digital Spy)
"Its total takings for Sunday were £9, meaning only one person paid to see the movie on that day."
Oh dear.

TV

The 82nd Annual Academy Awards
aka the Oscars, of course. I bought Sky Movies for a month specially for this, donchaknow (ancillary benefits and all that: lots of movies for the next month).
Agree with most of the winners, without actually having seen most of the films. Shame for us Brits though.

Five Days
2x04 Day 37
One month on and, let's be honest, it may as well be not so long at all. Not as huge as the leap forwards for the final part though...
One thing that's quite interesting about this series, incidentally, is how grounded in the real world it is: these are real dates, not just days that are only significant within the context of the story (episode 2 revealed in background detail that Day 1 was July 30th; this episode is September 4th and specifically set during Ramadan; the final one is Remembrance Day); there's a royal visit, which is the kind of thing that does just happen sometimes -- it's not even a major part of the story, but it's just there.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

QI
7x14 Greeks (extended repeat)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

The 82nd annual Academy Awards by Brian Lowry
(from Variety)
Variety's speedy review of the 2010 Oscars telecast. Largely spot-on though.

Hurt Locker explodes on to the scene to help change Hollywood for ever by Kate Muir
(from Times Online)
The Times, meanwhile, focus less on the ceremony itself and more on the awards presented. Which is the point, really.

Oscars 2010: the winners in numbers
(from guardian.co.uk)
A handy, simple pictorial guide. See how obviously Hurt Locker beat everything else.

TV

Five Days
2x03 Day 8
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Oscars 2010: Red Carpet Live
And so Sky's coverage begins. And, in fact, is ongoing as this is posted, because the actual ceremony doesn't start until 1am over here. So there's an hour of red carpet to go, and the ceremony itself will be part of tomorrow's updates.
(Yep, this is word-for-word what I posted at this point last year.)

Articles

If you think Ashcroft is a scandal, what about the attacks on the BBC? by David Mitchell
(from comment is free at guardian.co.uk)
I could scarcely agree more with the points Mitchell makes here. The BBC is one of the greatest organisations of its kind in the world -- far, far superior to the Murdoch empire -- and yet too many members of the public seem happy to sell it down the river just because they don't want to pay £142 a year for it. If they're successful in getting rid of it -- and I pray they're not -- then they'll soon miss it when it's gone. And those of you that think you won't... well, you will, you're just not bright enough to realise it yet.

Razzies 2010 Full Results - Sandra Bullock accepts Razzie on eve of Oscars?
(from movies.ie)
I'm not really sure why there's a question mark in the title, considering she did accept said award. What'll be interesting to see is if she can win a Razzie and an Oscar in the same year -- she probably will, and it'll be a first too.

The morals of (illegally) downloading movies... that are on TV

Here's a question of morality to ponder:

I've just taken out a subscription to Sky Movies in order to watch the Oscars. I'll have to have said subscription for at least 30 days, during which time they'll screen dozens -- maybe hundreds -- of films I'm interested in seeing. If I recorded them to catch later, I'm sure most or all of you would agree that's OK -- what else are video recorders and PVRs and Sky+/V+ boxes for, after all.

Here's where the moral question comes in: I don't have a PVR and my V+ box only has so much free space, so does this make it morally acceptable to download (for free, i.e. illegally) any film that's on Sky Movies while I have my subscription?

Now, as I noted, of course it's illegal -- but, for the sake of argument, that's beside the point. If I had a (big enough) PVR I could record as much as I'd like -- indeed, if I went out and bought one now, I could even actually do that -- so why shouldn't I just get them the other way? Other than depriving a PVR manufacturer of some cash, Sky Movies and the film studios won't be missing out on any money if I download rather than watch on TV.

I'm not looking for a full-proof answer, nor saying anyone who comments is going to change my mind, but I think this is more of a morally grey area than straight-out illegal downloading (even if you do that and have ways of justifying it to yourself, there's no skirting the fact that it's illegal and morally dubious/unjustifiable).

I look forward to your thoughts... if anyone has any...

this week on 100 Films

6 new reviews were posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, and they were...

His Girl Friday (1940)

If you ever meet anyone who claims all old black & white films are slow, simple and boring, show them this. And if you ever meet anyone who hasn’t seen this, show them it; and if you haven’t seen it, watch it

Juno (2007)

There’s underage sex, swearing, numerous displays of teen independence, divorce, love of rock music and horror films… All that’s missing from a Middle American Mom’s worst nightmare is drugs (there’s no violence either, but we know them there yankees love a bit of that).

The Man Who Sued God (2001)

putting the church in a position where their only sensible defence is to prove God doesn’t exist is always going to make for a good story.

Michael Clayton (2007)

The obvious point of comparison is Damages, the excellent TV series that also concerns such high-profile big-business lawsuits, but... Damages sustains it for over 9 hours, replete with cliffhangers and plot twists so far beyond what Clayton’s surprisingly straightforward story has to offer that Gilroy isn’t even dreaming of being that good.

No Country For Old Men (2007)

it’s really about Fate, randomness, chance. Some clearly think this brilliant; I remain unconvinced. It lacks satisfaction. Maybe that’s real life — no, that is real life: random and lacking closure and satisfaction. But this isn’t real life, it’s a movie

There Will Be Blood (2007)

I can’t help but wonder if I missed something crucial along the way because, even after two and a half hours, I had no real idea what the film was about.

More next Sunday.

TV

Let's Dance for Sport Relief
Episode 3 (of 4)
Based on this final lot of finalist, Rufus Hound should have no trouble winning next week's final. Hopefully.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
3x01 (6/3/10 edition)
It seems like forever since this was last on -- indeed, it's been a little over 16 months since the last run ended -- so long I'd sort of forgotten it and assumed it was never to return. And one wonders if this series was actually taped some time ago, considering so many of the subjects set their cut-off date in mid-2009.
Anyway, it's good fun -- I don't normally like the trashy Lottery game shows, but this one is oddly addictive; and I don't normally like Nick Knowles, but... no, still don't like him, but I can live with it here. This time round it works better for me: I've got V+ now, so I can pause the "you could also have had" screens and have a proper look at them. They've missed a trick by not putting them on the website.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Mentalist
2x03 Red Badge
[Watch it (again) on Demand Five.]

Total Wipeout
2x06 (6/3/10 edition)
I don't normally watch this either, and yet somehow I was suckered in... But is this really only series two?
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The September Issue (2009)
[#26 in 100 Films in a Year 2010]

Articles

British director in Oscars hot seat by Peter Bowes
(from BBC News)
But will any of us normal punters notice the difference? Wouldn't bet on it...

How to confuse a Facebook user by Bobbie Johnson
(from Technology Blog at guardian.co.uk)
This is quite an astounding story. Who knew so many people were so web-illiterate?!

It's official: An asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs by Kate Kelland
(from Reuters via Yahoo! News)
That's that settled then.

Meet Matt Smith: Star of the new Doctor Who by Simon Hattenstone
(from guardian.co.uk)
This starts out reading like one of those interviews that has an awful lot about how the subject looked, what they were wearing and what they chose to eat at the cafe where they were interviewed, with all of three quotes scattered through, but turns out long enough to contain more and actually be quite interesting. Don't read it if you want lots of hints about what's in the next series, but do if you're interested in the man behind the new Doctor.

TV

Archer
1x03 Diversity Hire
[Watch it (again) on Demand Five.]

The Bubble
1x03 (5/3/10 edition)
I know, I actually watched something when it was on! Shocking.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Five Days
2x02 Day 2
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Friday Night With Jonathan Ross
18x07 (26/2/10 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Only Connect
3x09 Archers Admirers v Exeter Alumni
Never watched this before, only went for it as the sole programme under entertainment/comedy on TV iPlayer that I'd not seen (plus, Exeter alumni). It's certainly Clever, and I managed a couple of points, so... that's nice.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Enchanting and mordant, but does it need an action climax? by Roger Ebert
(from rogerebert.com)
Ebert passes verdict on Tim Burton's new Alice in Wonderland. Though he focuses on the third act, this is my favourite part of his review:

Burton is above all a brilliant visual artist, and his film is a pleasure to regard; I look forward to admiring it in 2-D, where it will look brighter and more colorful. No artist who can create these images is enhancing them in any way by adding the annoying third dimension.

Mark Millar to helm Scottish superhero film by Simon Reynolds
(from Digital Spy)
The article, surprisingly, has more details. They make it sound as good as that headline, er, sounds.

Passing Judgment on the SciFi Cred of Inglourious Basterds by John Scalzi
(from Notes From the Monolith on Sci-Fi Scanner at AMC Blogs)
It's an interesting point of discussion -- considering what happens at the end, is Inglourious Basterds science-fiction? I tend to agree with Scalzi's assessment of the situation. (If it's not obvious, this contains sort-of-spoilers for IB.)

Rome feature film moving forward by Simon Reynolds
(from Digital Spy)
Hadn't heard anything about this for years so feared it had stalled, so it's good to know there's still activity -- I liked the series, even if I still haven't seen all of it. Interestingly, though, last I heard it was going to be about Jesus -- correct me if I'm wrong, but he didn't go to Germany...

My letter to DWM

As promised yesterday, here's the complete text of my letter to DWM. Bits they cut are in red for the sake of comparison (I assumed they'd ignore everything before that first colon but they, er, didn't...)

Dearest DWM,

The shiny new Complete Specials Blu-ray set dropped through my letterbox the other morning, prompting me to compose the following missive:

Five years of revived Doctor Who, five excellent complete series DVD sets from 2entertain.

Sorry, did I say five? I meant four, because the Complete Specials set is something of a disappointment. Full-length Confidentials - great! Video diary - fantastic! Deleted scenes - superb! Audio commentaries on every episode - marv--* Oh, wait.

After managing a thorough 55 tracks over the first four series - and some with video too - the ball has been severely dropped by only including commentaries for The End of Time in this set. There's no good excuse, especially when there are those podcast ones available for every episode, which have indeed been included in the past in lieu of a new track.

But hey, those are online, right? We can have them any time! Just gotta work out how to sync it up with the DVD - pressing play at the same time might work... no, one always takes too long to actually start...

So it'll take some effort, but at least we can conveniently download them to iPods or burn them to CDs. What do you mean they're streaming only? Guess I'll have to watch it on my PC then...

Except I've gone and bought the Blu-ray set - can't play that on my computer! I suppose I could unplug my desktop, take all the bits downstairs, set it up again, then watch the stream and the Blu-ray at the same time...

Until halfway through it pauses to buffer, that is. Why aren't these just on the discs again?**

Poor show, 2|entertain.

* Here's a bit they added, turning my truncated "marvellous" into the full word.
** They re-wrote this bit ever so slightly, to make it sound better. Cheers, DWM.

(Just in case anyone misconstrues me posting this as bitterness cos they cut my oh-so-wonderful letter -- I don't mind, it's what magazines do, and I expected them to cut most of it... though, they didn't necessarily cut what I'd expected, which is interesting (ish). But what are blogs for if not posting your full and frank thoughts? So here they are.)

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week. Only a slight increase again this week -- in fact, it's numerically very similar to last week. Thrilling.

Number of titles in collection: 1,150 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,079 [up 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 71 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 2,805 [up 4]
Number of films in collection: 1,215 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 3,874 [no change]

Statistic of the week:

Number of titles watched:
406
(35.3% of the total)

This means titles where I've completely watched the main feature(s) on my copy -- so if I saw a film at the cinema but haven't yet watched the DVD, it doesn't count as watched. Special features don't count either; and if it's, say, a three-film set, I have to have watched all three for it to be counted (watching two means nothing).

Obviously, therefore, something like The X Files (with its 202 45-minute episodes) has more of an uphill struggle than, say, Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (just one 45-minute episode). Arguably this makes the above statistic meaningless, as a tally of how many individual films and TV eps I'd watched would be a more accurate representation of how much (or, rather, how little) of my DVD/BD collection I've actually seen.

Anyway, see you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Argumental
3x05 (2/3/10 edition)

Five Days
2x01 Day 1
Following a direct sequel featuring two of the first series' ensemble cast promoted to leading roles (Hunter, which was on in January 2009), this new series of the original takes the Criminal Justice route: same format, completely new story with new characters. Whereas Criminal Justice needed this to work, Five Days' concept isn't so beholden to needing new characters, new setting, etc -- if it's about five key days in a criminal investigation, there's no reason the police officers involved couldn't be the same. It's a bit like scrapping Jack Bauer, CTU and all the rest after one season of 24 because it's unrealistic they'd ever have to deal with another terrorist threat in a 24-hour period.
Anyway, it's an intriguing -- if occasionally slow-going -- start. Hopefully there won't be too much of the dull "it's not your jurisdiction" crap with the lead character though -- the couple of moments in this episode were already dragging, and the Next Time trailer suggested it plays an even bigger role in Part Two. Oh dear.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Tinga Tinga Tales
1x12 Why Warthog is So Ugly
1x13 Why Jackal Howls at the Moon
1x14 Why Frog Croaks
[Watch episodes 12, 13 and 14 (again) on iPlayer.]

Magazines

Doctor Who Magazine #419

Amongst many other things in the new DWM (including three new episode titles) is a letter I wrote. Hurrah!

I sent it a while ago -- in time for the last issue, in fact -- so when it didn't appear I assumed it had been left out. It's better timed this edition, however, as it coincides with their review of the DVD/Blu-ray release of the 2008-10 Specials (which is, as you may have guessed, what my letter was about).

It's been trimmed for inclusion in the magazine, which is fair enough; I'd include the full one here, but I can't currently access my sent emails (see here for why) -- if I remember, I'll post it another day.

[Edit: I've now posted the letter here.]

Articles

Oscar and Me by John Scalzi
(from Whatever)
Discovered thanks to an article further down this post (ah the joys of alphabetical listings). This particular piece is about what it's like to borrow an Oscar for a few days and what discoveries you make. Fun.

TGE Review at SFReviews.net, Plus a Bonus Childhood Story by John Scalzi
(from Whatever)
I've never heard of John Scalzi, his novel The God Engines (that's the TGE of the article title) or the site SFReviews.net, but I saw this article linked to from twitter and was intrigued. I share it because it's a nicely written true story that's also True. Lessons learned 'n' all that. (The rest of his blog is rather nifty too, as it turns out.)

Technology

new iMac

As followers of my twitter may be aware, I recently won a shiny new iMac from raffle.it. It arrived this morning and it is, as is common for Apple products, a thing of beauty.

And a much-need one too, because my 3½-year-old iMac was beginning to show serious signs of wear. Not to mention the always-welcome benefits of an upgrade in screen size (to 21.5") and resolution (Full HD!), boosted power (up to 2.4x better than the previous generation, and mine's older), and all the other nifty things new Macs have (Magic Mouse! Freakishly small keyboard! And everything's so light (as in not-heavy, not, like, glowing...))

(After all those links, I feel like I need a disclaimer saying I'm not paid to endorse any of the companies involved! But it is great.)

Currently, however, I'm using Migration Assistant to transfer the files from my old iMac. Apparently it's going to be another 19 hours, and I can't use either machine while they're at it. Damn.

Guess I'm just stuck with my MacBook Air for now then. Woe is me, eh.

TV

Mock the Week
8x05 (18/2/10 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Survivors [2008]
2x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
Half-resolved, half-cliffhanger. Will there be a third series? Goodness knows. I'm torn about whether it's a good idea, although the potential to shift the show's dynamic -- from surviving to rebuilding -- is an intriguing one.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Tinga Tinga Tales
1x11 Why Monkeys Swing in the Trees
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Infographic: Fun Oscar Trivia by Peter Sciretta
(from /Film)
A pictorial selection of Oscar-related stats and trivia. Fun.

Martin Scorsese Says Even Films Like Precious Should Be in 3D by Peter Sciretta
(from /Film)
No.

Why everyone is so animated about Disney by Will Gompertz
(from Gomp/arts at BBC News)
Read this a few days ago, forgot to mention it. It's a good explanation of why the situation matters.

TV

How I Met Your Mother
4x24 The Leap [season finale]
[Watch it on 4oD from 20th May (probably).]

Mad Men
3x06 Guy Walks into an Advertising Agency
[Watch it again on iPlayer.]

Tinga Tinga Tales
1x09 Why Caterpillar Is Never in a Hurry
1x10 Why Mosquito Buzzes
Not that anyone cares, but the BBC episode guide seems to be titting around with the order of these for no foreseeable reason. Maybe it's the cutbacks kicking in already. Still, I'm going to keep on numbering them in broadcast order regardless because, like I said, it hardly matters.
[Watch episode 9 (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

First, Married Single Other features in two articles published today, in a somewhat different context...

All you need is fluff by Alison Graham (from Radio Times 6-12 March 2009, p45)

the first episode of Married Single Other won an audience of more than six million (that's very, very good, by the way)

followed by...

Married, Single, Other drops over 2m by Dan French (from Digital Spy)

The second episode... managed 3.96m (15.5%). Last week's opener interested 6.22m (25.5%).

Oh dear.

But, additionally,

it was beaten [by] Five Days, which returned to an impressive 7.39m (28.9%)

I guess Graham would call that very, very, very good...

And now for something completely different...

James Cameron's Oscar Speech Revealed! by John Lopez
(from Vanity Fair)
Very, very funny. Also, probably true.

TV

24
7x23 6:00AM - 7:00AM
7x24 7:00AM - 8:00AM
Well, that's that then. Quite a nice ending in places -- mainly, the very-end endings. It's been a mixed season, though at least that's an improvement on some more recent ones. I've heard talk of season eight being a return to early-years form... but then they said that about this season, so we'll see.

The Comic Strip Presents...
1x01 Five Go Mad in Dorset

The Mentalist
2x02 The Scarlet Letter
[Watch it (again) on Demand Five.]

Articles

Prison drama A Prophet sweeps French Oscars
(from BBC News)
It's funny, really -- the BAFTAs must be the only non-American awards that are criticised for resolutely rewarding their own cinema. Maybe it's because British cinema is so lacking (we think only America produces films, but that's because we don't see so much of the low-key foreign output), maybe it's because we're so desperate to position ourselves as an Oscar predictor, or maybe it's just because we speak English and so American movies are equally (nay, more) important than our own (whereas in non-English-speaking countries, local cinema can equal or best the big American movies at the box office as well as in critics' eyes). And if you happen to be thinking that the French film won and all/most of the other big nominees were the English-language films we're used to seeing at every other ceremony this year... nope.