Dave's One Night Stand
3x03 Reginald D Hunter
An American, an Aussie and a German walk into a Scottish theatre...
The Radio Times slagged off Hunter's stand-up (I was going to link to that, but they seem to have removed the review from their website), but I thought it was very good, and Henning Wehn was much better here than when he turned up on QI the other week.
Death in Paradise
1x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
Happy Endings
1x04 Mein Coming Out
Completely random late night viewing. It was fine.
How I Met Your Mother
7x05 Field Trip
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
Music
Imaginaerum by Nightwish
The new Nightwish album, released here yesterday, which also forms the soundtrack to a forthcoming film. Apparently it's met with "universal critical acclaim", and I can see where they're coming from: this is everything you'd expect and want from a new Nightwish record, and probably a little more too.
The new Nightwish album, released here yesterday, which also forms the soundtrack to a forthcoming film. Apparently it's met with "universal critical acclaim", and I can see where they're coming from: this is everything you'd expect and want from a new Nightwish record, and probably a little more too.
Articles
CATS 1, KIDS 0 by Helen Killer (from regretsy)
and
Why @PayPal is wrong regarding @Regretsy, according to their own policies. by greengeekgirl (from geek girl)
PayPal have demanded a group who raised money to provide Christmas toys for poor & disadvantaged children return all of that money. PayPal will still keep all of the transaction fees, though. And because the person in charge argued about it, they've frozen her personal account through which she does regular business.
And all of this is against PayPal's own policies.
(PayPal have since apologised -- well, sort of -- and are "working" to resolve the situation.)
Jeremy Clarkson, The One Show and the most complained about BBC shows by William Gallagher
(from Radio Times)
As complaints about Clarkson's One Show comments reach a silly level, RT finds out how it compares to other recent BBC controversies.
and
Why @PayPal is wrong regarding @Regretsy, according to their own policies. by greengeekgirl (from geek girl)
PayPal have demanded a group who raised money to provide Christmas toys for poor & disadvantaged children return all of that money. PayPal will still keep all of the transaction fees, though. And because the person in charge argued about it, they've frozen her personal account through which she does regular business.
And all of this is against PayPal's own policies.
(PayPal have since apologised -- well, sort of -- and are "working" to resolve the situation.)
Jeremy Clarkson, The One Show and the most complained about BBC shows by William Gallagher
(from Radio Times)
As complaints about Clarkson's One Show comments reach a silly level, RT finds out how it compares to other recent BBC controversies.
A daily dose of sci-fi - Day 23
It's party-time!
Which sci-fi character are you going to dress-up as?
Which sci-fi character are you going to dress-up as?
No one. Does that count? I guess not.
Because I'm really lazy and really, really don't care.
Read about a daily dose of sci-fi, with links to the rest of the series, here.
Monday, 5 December 2011
TV
Charley Boorman's Extreme Frontiers
Episode 1 (of 4)
After going to the far-flung corners of Africa and the Far East in Long Way Round, Long Way Down, By Any Means and By Any Means: Sydney to Tokyo, Charley Boorman now takes on the formidable challenge of… a jolly around Canada. OK, he does extreme-sports-y things there, but… it's Canada. Looks like a lovely place, mind.
Never Mind the Buzzcocks
25x09 Episode 9
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
Pointless
4x03 (16/3/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
Episode 1 (of 4)
After going to the far-flung corners of Africa and the Far East in Long Way Round, Long Way Down, By Any Means and By Any Means: Sydney to Tokyo, Charley Boorman now takes on the formidable challenge of… a jolly around Canada. OK, he does extreme-sports-y things there, but… it's Canada. Looks like a lovely place, mind.
Never Mind the Buzzcocks
25x09 Episode 9
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
Pointless
4x03 (16/3/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
Films
Diner (1982)
[#93 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Extended Trailer
The semi-mythical 8½-minute trailer for David Fincher's adaptation of Stieg Larsson's novel has now been released. (Above link should be for the UK; US is here). It's worth checking out, because 8½ minutes is a long time and you get a great idea of the film from it. Looks like it could well be something special.
[#93 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Extended Trailer
The semi-mythical 8½-minute trailer for David Fincher's adaptation of Stieg Larsson's novel has now been released. (Above link should be for the UK; US is here). It's worth checking out, because 8½ minutes is a long time and you get a great idea of the film from it. Looks like it could well be something special.
Articles
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo: 8-Minute Trailer Streaming, 6 Tracks of Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross’ Score Available for FREE by Germain Lussier
(from /Film)
I've mentioned the trailer in today's Films post, but this is worth noting for the free sampler. After the massive success (both artistically and critically) of Reznor & Ross' score for The Social Network, this is a definite pre-order for me.
(from /Film)
I've mentioned the trailer in today's Films post, but this is worth noting for the free sampler. After the massive success (both artistically and critically) of Reznor & Ross' score for The Social Network, this is a definite pre-order for me.
A daily dose of sci-fi - Day 22
Coolest alien race
So what does "coolest" mean, eh? There are loads of possibilities for a category like this. I don't think it means "alien race most like Samuel L. Jackson", for instance.
I love the Cybermen. They're better than the Daleks. They prefigure the Borg.
When done right they can be properly scary, because they take us humans and strip away all that makes us human. They have no emotion -- they can't be reasoned with or bargained with or persuaded. And they stomp about and shoot stuff and blow stuff up and all that too.
And, in the right designs, they can look rather cool.
Read about a daily dose of sci-fi, with links to the rest of the series, here.
Sunday, 4 December 2011
Articles
Space: The Final Frontier by Shaun Usher
(from Letters of Note)
(from Letters of Note)
just weeks before NBC's season premiere of the original Star Trek series, two of the programme's producers... contacted Gene Roddenberry and asked him to quickly write the show's now-famous opening monologue... For the next week or so the three men exchanged drafts by memo, a couple of which can be seen below; Roddenberry came up with the final draft on August 10th, an hour before it was recorded.
A daily dose of sci-fi - Day 21
Favourite alien invasion movie/series
Alien invasion is a constant theme of sci-fi across books, TV, film and more. Unsurprising, really -- it involves aliens (sci-fi!) and keeps it grounded on Earth, which can be good for both relating things to your viewers and, perhaps even more importantly, the budget.
It's not an invasion story per se: only one alien actually arrives and it's after, essentially, a bribe. But it's a bribe to stop an alien invasion (if I remember correctly), so I'm going to count it. And that's because it's bloody brilliant.
Torchwood was quite good through its first two series. Some episodes were brilliant, some were dire, and overall it felt half-thought-through and made up on the fly -- characters' behaviour changing from week to week, that kind of thing. I think more people wanted to like it, as a rare dose of adult-orientated genre TV in the UK, than actually genuinely did.
But that all changed with Children of Earth, which is flat out one of the greatest SF miniseries ever made, never mind its connections to previous Torchwood or Doctor Who or what have you. It's a cracking tale full of action, emotion, humour, tension, fear, heartbreak...
You don't need to have seen previous Torchwood to get it, and if you disliked previous Torchwood that shouldn't put you off: Children of Earth is exceptional.
Read about a daily dose of sci-fi, with links to the rest of the series, here.
this week on 100 Films
Just 1 new review was posted to 100 Films in a Year this week...
How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
...but, as I'm sure you've noticed, we're now in December (almost Christmas!), so there was also the November update this week. Grand.
More next Sunday.
How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
I saw a trailer for this at the cinema a few months before its release. I thought it looked to have basic animation and a too daft tone. I wrote it off, expecting a Pixar-wannabe… Imagine my surprise when it garnered endless positive reviews and a huge box office. My impression from the trailer was massively wrong. How to Train Your Dragon is, as everyone else has likely already impressed upon you, brilliant.
...but, as I'm sure you've noticed, we're now in December (almost Christmas!), so there was also the November update this week. Grand.
More next Sunday.
Saturday, 3 December 2011
TV
How I Met Your Mother
7x04 The Stinson Missile Crisis
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
Merlin
4x10 A Herald of the New Age
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
Strictly Come Dancing
9x20 Week 10 (aka Movie Night)
To repeat myself from last year, "I'm usually in the room when Strictly's being watched, but rarely or barely watch any of it myself. Movie Night's a different beast though, what with being a film fan, and I found it all rather entertaining." Very hard to judge this year -- the score that landed Harry Judd a lowly fourth (of six) would've been enough to top the leader board just a fortnight ago.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
7x04 The Stinson Missile Crisis
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
Merlin
4x10 A Herald of the New Age
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
Strictly Come Dancing
9x20 Week 10 (aka Movie Night)
To repeat myself from last year, "I'm usually in the room when Strictly's being watched, but rarely or barely watch any of it myself. Movie Night's a different beast though, what with being a film fan, and I found it all rather entertaining." Very hard to judge this year -- the score that landed Harry Judd a lowly fourth (of six) would've been enough to top the leader board just a fortnight ago.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
A daily dose of sci-fi - Day 20
What's the best adaptation of a sci-fi book/story?
I don't read enough books to judge this properly -- "best adaptation" implies "the one that has been adapted best", not "the best one that is also an adaptation". So, um...
I've not read The Children of Men, but damn it made for a good film.
And especially good for me because I went to the cinema knowing nothing about it (can't even remember what led me there -- a vague awareness it had received some good reviews, I think), and consequently was completely blown away by it.
And it's probably not going to get mentioned anywhere else in this month of sci-fi-ness, so why not now?
Read about a daily dose of sci-fi, with links to the rest of the series, here.
Friday, 2 December 2011
TV
The Graham Norton Show
10x05 (25/11/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
Live at the Apollo
7x03 Episode 3
Pointless
4x02 (15/3/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
QI
9x12 Illumination (XL edition)
[Watch QI XL (again) on iPlayer.]
10x05 (25/11/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
Live at the Apollo
7x03 Episode 3
Pointless
4x02 (15/3/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
QI
9x12 Illumination (XL edition)
[Watch QI XL (again) on iPlayer.]
Articles
Steven Moffat scotches rumours of a Doctor Who Hollywood reboot by Tom Cole
(from Radio Times)
In both tweets and an official comment to "a national newspaper", Moffat says the rumoured Who movie is not a reboot and certainly isn't turning up anytime soon (if ever) anyway.
(from Radio Times)
In both tweets and an official comment to "a national newspaper", Moffat says the rumoured Who movie is not a reboot and certainly isn't turning up anytime soon (if ever) anyway.
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
Lots of tweaks across the board this week. Usually this whole thing quiets down just before Christmas, before a big jump thanks to the day itself, but this year I think I've got a few bits and bobs on the way to keep it going until then anyway. Which is different.
Number of titles in collection: 1,404 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,141 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 263 [up 4]
Number of discs in collection: 3,498 [up 11]
Number of films in collection: 1,495 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,329 [up 14]
See you next week, faithful reader.
Lots of tweaks across the board this week. Usually this whole thing quiets down just before Christmas, before a big jump thanks to the day itself, but this year I think I've got a few bits and bobs on the way to keep it going until then anyway. Which is different.
Number of titles in collection: 1,404 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,141 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 263 [up 4]
Number of discs in collection: 3,498 [up 11]
Number of films in collection: 1,495 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,329 [up 14]
See you next week, faithful reader.
A daily dose of sci-fi - Day 19
Empire or Rebel Alliance?
C'mon, how much choice is there in this one?
As the blog I took this from put it, "plucky good guys with the coolest space-ships or evil planet-destroying bad guys who are controlled by a demonic Emperor?"
Rebels it is.
Read about a daily dose of sci-fi, with links to the rest of the series, here.
Thursday, 1 December 2011
TV
Life's Too Short
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
The Mentalist
4x02 Little Red Book
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]
Pointless
4x01 (14/3/11 edition)
I'm sure there's a reason these Pointless repeats just skipped two episodes into the start of series four... I just don't have any idea what it might be. Still, this is the series I started watching in (albeit later on) and now everything looks more familiar -- the higher-definition question screen, the lack of needless repetition of scores on said screen, the more dramatic lighting... Super.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
Rev.
2x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
The Mentalist
4x02 Little Red Book
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]
Pointless
4x01 (14/3/11 edition)
I'm sure there's a reason these Pointless repeats just skipped two episodes into the start of series four... I just don't have any idea what it might be. Still, this is the series I started watching in (albeit later on) and now everything looks more familiar -- the higher-definition question screen, the lack of needless repetition of scores on said screen, the more dramatic lighting... Super.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
Rev.
2x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
Articles
Andrew Stanton Tells Me It’s On His Agenda To Completely Change The Way Movies Are Made by Brendon Connelly
(from Bleeding Cool)
On how Pixar make movies differently, and why live-action should be done that way too.
(from Bleeding Cool)
On how Pixar make movies differently, and why live-action should be done that way too.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)