TV

Orangutan Diary
2x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

And that's all for today.

TV

Cracker
2x02 To Be a Somebody Part 2
And this is the episode. (See yesterday for what I'm wittering about.)
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

I've Never Seen Star Wars
1x02 John Humphrys
Humphrys is brilliant, and handed out some very fair scores too.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Mad Men
2x07 The Gold Violin
Finally -- finally -- caught up with Mad Men!
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

La Antena (2007)
[#10 in 100 Films in a Year 2009]

Articles

Review of Lesbian Vampire Killers by Simon Crook
(from Empire)
"If Nuts magazine made a horror movie, this, for better or worse, is what it would look like."
It's reviews like this that explain why LVK only managed to open in 4th place in the UK last weekend, taking under $1 million. Painful.

TV

Cracker
2x01 To Be a Somebody Part 1
This is the story that really made Cracker famous -- or so it seems to me, as it's the events of this three-part story that have always been discussed when I've heard about the show. It's a shame to watch it knowing what happens, but it's still great drama, as yet with no hint at where it all ends up. Naturally I won't go spoiling things for anyone who doesn't know.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Mad Men
2x06 Maidenform
I usually try to avoid sinking this blog to such base topics, but oh my January Jones looked good in that bikini! And Elisabeth Moss underwent some kind of transformation at the end too!
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Non-Fiction

The Ode Less Travelled by Stephen Fry
Chapter Three: VIII
As my poetry-to-be-assessed is erring towards the comic, I decided it might be best to actually read Fry's section on it (which is what 3.VIII is). Oh my, there's some filthy stuff in here! Truly truly so too, not just to delicate poetic sensibilities. I doubt my work will be so pleasantly depraved, but it certainly is enlightening to read.

Articles

Finish Him!
(from Empire)
"The 50 Greatest Movie Finishing Moves" -- i.e. lots of cool deaths with lots of cool quips. Missing out "shocking, positively shocking" may be a sin.

Harry lets Tales of the Black Freighter and Under the Hood play out before his eyes! by Harry Knowles
(from Ain't It Cool News)
The Watchmen DVD tie-ins don't hit UK shelves for something like another month yet, though are already available in the US. Surely this is a very, very bad business decision, as it drives potential legal consumers to less-than-legal methods in order to see them sooner? Certainly, I was all prepared to buy these on DVD upon release, but when it's so far off it notably increases the temptation to acquire them another way for now and then purchase the Complete Edition release that will inevitably include them. Yes, that is illegal... but nonetheless, Warner would still not get the money they'd've otherwise earnt, and they'd really only have themselves to blame.

Twitter: How Small Interface Changes Are A Big Win For Everyone by Mark Ghuneim
(from Online Media Daily at MediaPost)
A rather in depth article, but interesting if you're interested.

And look here for a piece on the British Government potentially banning certain books.

more book bannings

First the US Government bans a load of books for no good reason, and now the British Government has the potential to do something similar...

Graphic artists condemn plans to ban erotic comics by Jerome Taylor
(from The Independent)

A coalition of graphic artists, publishers and MPs have condemned Government plans to introduce a new set of laws policing cartoons of children, arguing that the current broad wording of the legislation could lead to the banning of hundreds of mainstream comic books.

A couple of quotes from within the article. First, a spokesperson:

We do not oppose any legislation that protects children from abuse, we understand the need for it, but some parts of the Coroners Bill do need rewording and clarifying... This new legislation could be used for the wrong reason and if used incorrectly thousands of people could become criminals overnight. The Government refused to impose minimum tariffs on cheap alcohol because it was unfair to punish the majority for the crimes of a minority; yet this legislation does exactly the same.”

And author Neil Gaiman:

If you accept -- and I do -- that freedom of speech is important then you are going to have to defend the indefensible. That means you are going to be defending the right of people to read, or to write, or to say, what you don't say or like or want said. The Law is a huge blunt weapon that does not and will not make distinctions between what you find acceptable and what you don't. This is how the Law is made.

Let's hope common sense prevails. Though that has a poor track record...

TV

Damages
2x06 Pretty Girl in a Leotard
As if it wasn't complicated enough, they throw more balls into the air! On the other hand, it contradictorily begins to draw disparate elements closer together -- as we're about to pass the halfway point, that's always welcome.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Law & Order: UK
1x05 Buried
A surprising number of famous guest stars this week. Considering the teeny tiny size of some of their roles, one wonders if they might return later. On the other hand, it was a very good episode, dealing with a lot of issues as effectively as can be done in this format.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Mad Men
2x05 The New Girl
Filling-in-tastic! A great episode of this great, under-seen series.

Articles

Introducing The Xbox Air
(from The Customer Is Not Always Right)
Absolutely hilarious true story.

MSM: stuck in the dark ages by Anton Vowl
(from The enemies of reason)
More slamming of the papers. Enjoying this blog immensely.

Stella Artois launches spoof 24-style ad in style of Jean-Luc Godard by Mark Sweney
(from guardian.co.uk)
"Stella Artois has launched a viral ad campaign... featuring spoof trailers for US films and TV shows, shot in the style of French Nouvelle Vague directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut. One of the online ads is a spoof trailer for Kiefer Sutherland drama 24... with laid-back lothario Jacques Bauder ignoring warnings that he has only 24 hours to save St Tropez."
And you can watch them here.

Also, see a hilarious Coraline review here and Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Conner being decidedly un-Christian here.

"atheists are less than human"

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor “on the attack” against people of reason by Gavin Orland
(from gavinorland.com)

Murphy-O'Connor, on Radio 4:

We have to stand up to [non-believers]. There is something not totally human if you leave out transcendent [God] and [atheists] are not fully human. They have an impoverished understanding to what it is to be human.

As if the Pope wasn't bad enough, here's another idiot! Believe in God by all means -- I don't and I think you're wrong, but it's your choice.

But don't claim I'm less of a human for not believing in it, because I'm more than happy to start hunting down whatever information is out there on all those kiddy-fiddling priests and all the murdering done in the name of the Lord and throw it back at you.

amusing Christian Coraline review

Review of Coraline by Michael Karounos
(from Christian Spotlight on Entertainment at ChristianAnswers.net)

As Neil Gaiman himself said, "Funniest Coraline review ever".

It's by Christians, see; the ludicrous kind. Some of the people there clearly deserve our pity; others, our condemnation. It's good they're not too prolific.

Excuse me while I go laugh at some more of their reviews... including a particularly misguided one of Quantum of Solace (out on DVD today, incidentally; £7 in Tesco 'til Wednesday. Just in case you didn't know).

Best of all, perhaps, is Watchmen -- purely for how many Christians agree with Rorschach, clearly the most psychopathic of the characters. That is priceless.

TV

Dancing On Ice
2009 Final
God I hate Ray Quinn. I'm mentioning it purely to say that.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

I've Never Seen Star Wars
1x01 Clive Anderson
The intriguingly-titled radio series transitions to TV, filling the Room 101-shaped hole in the schedules. (Interestingly, the second series of the radio version has only just finished broadcasting. One has to wonder if it will continue if the TV version takes off...)
The concept is fairly simple: comedian Marcus Brigstocke subjects a guest to five cultural experiences that they've never tried before. For example, his first guest is Clive Anderson, who is made to spend an hour in a flotation tank, read Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, play the National Lottery, watch Withnail and I, and have a go at judo.
It's a slightly unusual format, but also quite a fun one with lots of potential. And, obviously, varied cultural experiences are right up this blog's street.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Lark Rise to Candleford
2x12 Episode 12 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

QI
6x12 Food (extended edition) [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Dunblane apology from Sunday Express
and
Why did the Express say sorry? by Anton Vowl
(from The enemies of reason)
"There was a time when you couldn't mobilise support for a campaign... Facebook, Twitter and blogs -- those things contemptuously dismissed by 'proper' journalists -- weren't about; there was no way of connecting together separate angry people... Whatever you think of online petitions, and many doubt their effectiveness, the one against the Express gained 10,000 signatures in a very short space of time...
Newspapers haven't learned it yet, but they will soon. You can't get away with it any more. People are watching. People are checking. And, more importantly, they can mobilise support against you very efficiently when you step out of line."
Lots of other good points here too. The Express flatter themselves to death (sadly, not literally) in their apology though.

And an instance of blatant theft...

Take a look at this article, posted 11th November 2008: Book of phone numbers 'left on doorstep' (by Andrew Taylor, from )

Now, take a look at this one, posted 12th November 2008: Security Leak ('by' Dave East, from Dave: the blog)

Notice anything? Yes, that's right -- Dave's totally plagarised him. This is especially amusing in light of the copyright notice carried on Davie's own front page:

Never use anything off this site, be it writing, images or html code, unless I say otherwise. I am very attached to my work and don't usually respond well when others help themselves to it. Copyright is protected by law and is in effect the minute something is created, whether the author has a © notice or not - but if you want me to spell it out, I claim copyright on everything posted on this site, unless I acknowledge that it comes from another source.

Ooh, what a dirty little liar!

TV

Damages
2x05 I Agree, It Wasn't Funny
I think Damages has a few too many balls in play this season. Complex, multi-stranded, multi-layered TV is great, but with so many disparate plots going on Damages has to keep flitting between them, leaving some out entirely. It's not bad, but pulling things back a little -- to the level of complexity offered by season one, to be precise -- would improve things. If it's not careful, it'll go the way of 24...
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Graham Norton Show
5x02 (12/3/09 edition, uncut repeat)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Lark Rise to Candleford
2x11 Episode 11
Many series have "Next Time" trails these days. I like them -- it's a nice little tease for what's coming up. Except on Lark Rise, where last week's trailer gave away nearly all of this week's twists. Oh dear.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Nature's Great Events
Part 6 The Great Feast [final part]
Jumping ahead for iPlayer-related reasons (which is fine, because the episodes aren't connected).
Lots of stunning footage in this one, but none more so than the bait-ball -- like an action sequence from a movie thanks to some great camerawork, fine editing and well-chosen music. Engrossing.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

He looks a bit fed up for some reason, doesn't he? by Anton Vowl
(from The enemies of reason)
This is one of the stories that's most upset me this week -- not only for the tragic loss, of course, but for the callous and intrusive way the press have chosen to report it. This is why there should be laws against the paparazzi.

The Mail and Gemma Arterton. And pants. by Anton Vowl
(from The enemies of reason)
More anti-newspaper common sense (this is the kind of thing I love, by-the-by). A case study on the hypocrisy of the British tabloid press, in this instance focussed on one of said hypocrisy's main perpetrators, the Daily Mail. Go on, read it; and read to the end.

The Next Dimension by Josh Quittner
(from TIME)
"Jeffrey Katzenberg, the head of DreamWorks Animation SKG, is betting the future of his studio on digital 3-D. While he's not the first to embrace the technology, he has become its most vocal evangelist, asserting that digital 3-D is now good enough to make it -- after sound and color -- the third sea change to affect movies. "This really is a revolution," he says."
Is it, really? I think that remains to be seen. It's almost all riding on the back of James Cameron's Avatar -- while there are other big-name 3D films in production, if Avatar flops that could put off cinemas off bothering to upgrade for 3D and therefore not show the later films either. But, we'll see...

TV

Moving Wallpaper
2x03 Episode 3
2x04 Episode 4
Still quite funny, but would benefit from a companion show still. Hopefully it'll get picked up for a third series and they can have Renaissance (or indeed something -- anything -- else) running alongside it again.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Not Going Out
3x07 Marriage [season finale]
Another bit of a desperate episode, though still with a few hearty laughs. And you wouldn't guess it from the episode itself, but this appears to be the last of the series.
Or, all things considered, perhaps the last ever -- is Not Going Out on the way out? (Yeah, I just wanted to get that pun in.)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
Edit: Turns out there's one more episode, but the BBC have cancelled the show and decided not to show it. It should be on later in the year however.

And in TV news, starting Monday 30th March, BBC Two are going to be showing The Wire from the very start. They'll be showing one episode a night too, so it should go by at a nice pace. Most importantly, I can finally see it! For more details, have a look here.

Articles

7 Coolest Movie Con Jobs by James White
(from Total Film)

Could Warner Bros. Be Putting The Kibosh On R-Rated Superhero Films? by Casey Seijas
(from MTV Splash Page)
Not all that surprising, considering, but still potentially a shame.

DMCA Take Down Notice: The NYTimes Goes to War & Wants to Shut us Down
(from Apartment Therapy)
Blogs have been around for about 16 years now (though how long they've been widely known about is a different matter), but it seems some old media still can't adapt to how useful they are. The New York Times are of course within their legal rights to both do this and do it this way, but it does come across as underhand and almost cowardly.
Personally, I won't be bothering to read their site any more -- when there are so many valid news sources on the web, why go to one you disapprove of? Losing me won't exactly have a huge impact on their hits, but still.

Also see some of my thoughts on this year's Hugo Award nominations here.

2009 Hugo Award nominations

Specifically looking at "Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form" here, as I came across these on a Doctor Who fansite...

2009 Hugo Award Nominations
(from The Hugo Awards)

Once again, Doctor Who gains multiple nominations for this year's Hugo Awards.

Who has received many nominations in the past few years, often receiving multiple nods where other shows can only manage one, undoubtedly due to the sheer variety of styles and content offered by the show. And incoming showrunner Steven Moffat has won every year.

This year, in my opinion, he doesn't deserve to win again -- his two-part Silence in the Library story was a bit sloppy, a weak plot hung on some truly excellent ideas. Russell T Davies' Turn Left, on the other hand, turned the series on its head to excellent effect -- it was both better sci-fi and better drama. Also, Davies' has been produced a relatively huge number of high-quality Who scripts over the past few years -- he deserves this one in recognition of his entire contribution as much as anything.

Both may fall to the competition posed by Battlestar Galactica in its final year (though it will surely be eligible for the 2010 awards too, so perhaps it will take it then) or the power of Joss Whedon's fanbase in the shape of internet sensation Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

Poem of the Week: The Ballad of Dr Manhattan's Change of Fortune

by Richard Nelson

Watchmen's been out for a good few weeks now, and here's the final part of a trilogy of poems about the film. Well, related to the film -- the first two were rather tenuous, whereas this one was composed by my good self in the wake of the film... and the Internet discussions about it, which seemed to focus around one particular member of the cast.

When it was normal-coloured he
had trouble getting laid,
but then there was the accident
which changed its fleshy shade:

No longer was it ugly, pink
and changeable in size,
but now a constant, hanging there;
pleasant blue to the eyes.

His fascinating phallus lets
him have it his own way:
he can have any girl he wants
('cept Silhouette -- she's gay).

This is the first instance in a long time where I've posted a poem of my own composition. Just because I'm writing more doesn't mean this will be occurring more often.