TV

Top Gear
18x06 (4/3/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Comics

Six tales from Gotham City today...

Batman #6 by Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo
Snyder's telling a great Batman tale overall, but it must be said that not much happens this issue; it's the last act of the last issue's story, really -- just a long fight ending in a double cliffhanger. Ah well.

Batman and Robin #6 by Peter J. Tomasi & Patrick Gleason

Batman: The Dark Knight #6 by David Finch, Paul Jenkins & Joe Harris
Middling... which is as good as TDK gets. It still outsells Batman & Robin, which I can't help but feel must be down to the quality of their namesake films.

Batwoman #6 by J.H. Williams III, W. Haden Blackman & Amy Reeder
New (to Batwoman) artist Reeder has a pleasant cartoony style, but it's nothing compared to the work Williams III was doing before. Oh well. They've replaced intricately-designed art with an apparently intricate story, following six characters across multiple time periods. Be interesting to see how that pans out.

Nightwing #6 by Kyle Higgins, Eddy Barrows & Geraldo Borges

Resurrection Man #6 by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning & Fernando Dagnino
Nice one-and-done set in Arkham Asylum.
Every non-Batman book seems keen to get in on the Gotham City action at the minute: after All Star Western moved Jonah Hex there, I, Vampire just did a two-parter in Batman's city, and now there's Resurrection Man too; and that doesn't include the mass of non-Batman Bat-family books. Wouldn't be surprised if there's even more I'm not aware of. But hey, Batman's always popular, so why not.

TV

Dirk Gently
1x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Let's Dance for Sport Relief 2012
Episode 3 (of 5)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

My Life in Books
2x07 Phil Davis and Rosie Boycott
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
5x08 (3/3/12 edition) [season finale]
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Roger & Val Have Just Got In
2x05 Poem for Uncle Jack
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Room 101: Extra Storage
12x07 Episode 7
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Sarah Millican Television Programme
1x01 Episode 1
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

Just one new title this week, but it's a good'un: Game of Thrones season one. Specifically, this Amazon-exclusive version. Mmm, bonus-bonus-disc-tastic.

Number of titles in collection: 1,458 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,150 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 308 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 3,613 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 1,546 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,449 [up 10]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

The Graham Norton Show
10x17 (24/2/12 edition)

Films

The Other Guys (2010)
[#26 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Stepping Out (1991)
[#27 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]
From the director of You Only Live Twice, The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker... a film about middle-aged ladies tap dancing.

TV

10 O'Clock Live
2x04 (29/2/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Castle
2x02 The Double Down
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

The Mentalist
4x15 War of Roses
[Watch it on Demand 5 from Friday 30th March. Probably.]

My Life in Books
2x06 Kate Silverton and Chris Addison
Several of Chris Addison's choices sounded particularly interesting, I thought.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless
6x17 (6/3/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Alexander Armstrong's Big Ask
1x05 Episode 5

Pointless
6x16 (5/3/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

If you like 'banter', you are an idiot
by Tom Chivers (from the Telegraph)

This is not a tirade against rudeness. I am all in favour of rudeness, of bawdiness, of insult and mockery and obscenity. They're all brilliant things, when done well. But "banter" isn't. If you insult someone, you expect them to be insulted; if you are rude, you expect people to be offended. "Banter" is apparently a free pass: I can insult you, but you're not allowed to be insulted, because "it's only banter". I can be obscene, but you can't be offended, because "it's only banter". No.

Great article.

Terra Nova Cancelled By Fox: Chernin Series Will Be Shopped To Other Networks
by Nellie Andreeva (from Deadline)
Good coverage of the life and death (and potential resurrection) of Terra Nova.

TV

The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Help! My Supply Teacher is Magic
1x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless
6x15 (2/3/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Stella
1x09 Episode 9

Watson & Oliver
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) In HD on iPlayer.]

Comics

The Amazing Spider-Man #677 by Mark Waid & Emma Ríos

Daredevil #8 by Mark Waid & Kano

Two-part story in which Spider-Man and Daredevil team up to prove the innocence of one of Spidey's foes/friends. Good stuff, better than that continuity-laden DC pair-up I read yesterday. Both parts are by Daredevil's regular writer, which seems to have meant the tale primarily forwards the ongoing plot in Daredevil -- up my street, as I read that regularly and don't read ASM.

TV

Castle
2x03 Inventing the Girl
Don't know what they showed on TV on Friday, and only episode two is on Demand 5 online, but this was the episode available in HD on Virgin Media catch-up. Both two and three are there in SD. Weird. I doubt they'll put up episode two in HD now, or next week, so SD it will be.
[Watch episode two, The Double Down, (again) on Demand 5.]

Films

The Lady Eve (1941)
[#25 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
[#24 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Comics

Action Comics #5 & #6 by Grant Morrison & Andy Kubert

Morrison takes a break from the ongoing Action Comics storyline (I believe while regular artist Rags Morales catches up) to tell a two-part tale about a future Superman saving something or other and blah blah blah. This is a great example of why comic book readership struggles to broaden: it's thoroughly wrapped up in ancient continuity and characters you know nothing about who are treated as if they're intimately familiar. The opening section of #5, picking up on a thread from #3 to finish the tale of baby Superman being sent out from a destructing Krypton, is the best bit.

Also: two short back-up strips written by Sholly Fisch and drawn by ChrisCross. The first, Baby Steps, shows the Jonathan and Martha Kent as they try for a baby in the run up to finding one in a crashed spaceship. It's quite good. The second, Last Day, is about Clark Kent's last day in Smallville before heading off to college. Aside from horrid art, it's fine.

this week on 100 Films

As I mentioned, this past week has seen 100 Films in a Year turn five years old. To celebrate the occasion, I've run a series of posts looking back at some key films from the past five years.

So no reviews this week, but instead you can read some lists. See if you can guess to what these quotes refer...

The 5 Worst Films

It’s not just bad, it’s impressively bad — how do you make a film this shoddy? Of course there always has and always will be bad writing, bad acting, bad directing, but how do you create something with so little awareness of how to tell a story? It baffles me.

Read more on my new blog or my classic blog.

The 5 Most Overrated Films

I didn’t really get either of them. I don’t think they’re bad films, but I struggled to get what they were for, and I certainly didn’t like or enjoy either... Maybe I need to take the time to re-evaluate them, but I’ve already seen one of them two or three times and I’m not sure I can face it again.

Read more on my new blog or my classic blog.

The 5 Most Underrated Films

There are many films Scorsese is praised for, and deservedly so, but having watched Taxi Driver, Goodfellas and more in the past five years, I think this is my favourite... apparently “Scorsese has called De Niro’s role… his favorite of their collaborations.” What better endorsement?

Read more on my new blog or my classic blog.

The 5 Best Films

So influential its name has become an adjective... There are many imitators, but few have done it with such conviction. Add beautiful cinematography, music and performances and you have a masterpiece.

Read more on my new blog or my classic blog.

My 5 Favourite Films

I haven’t seen this since the cinema, so maybe there’s a degree of nostalgia in my love for it. Or maybe it’s just a great action-thriller... At the time I asserted it was one of the greatest films ever made, and IMDb’s Top 250 continues to bear that out: it’s currently 8th.

Read more on my new blog or my classic blog.

And finally, a little different...

7x7 Link Award

here’s something I was kindly awarded by Colin of Riding the High Country... [I must nominate] one of my posts that I personally think best fits the following categories: Most Beautiful Piece, Most Helpful Piece, Most Popular Piece, Most Controversial Piece, Most Surprisingly Successful Piece, Most Underrated Piece, Most Pride-worthy Piece

Read more on my new blog or my classic blog.

And that's that. Normal service resumes next Sunday.

TV

The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins
5x07 (25/2/12 edition)
Including a list of the 100 highest-grossing films since the year 2000. Grand, what fun! Except whoever their idiot researcher has managed to include all of the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels twice. Seriously. And that didn't make 103 possible answers -- they left three out in order to inaccurately include Pirates of the Caribbean 2, Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean 4 alongside Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. What bloody idiots. I think I might complain.
You wouldn't get that on Pointless.

Pointless Celebrities
2x02 (3/3/12 edition)
With Brian Blessed! Love Brian Blessed.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Stella
1x08 Episode 8

Top Gear
18x05 (26/2/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

The Graham Norton Show
10x16 (17/2/12 edition)
Despite only seeing him on Jonathan Ross last week (in real life they were four weeks apart, but I'm different amounts behind on both), Daniel Radcliffe was completely unrepetitious. That's some good guesting.

Let's Dance for Sport Relief 2012
Episode 2 (of 5)
"Iain, you've been on that very stage, who could forget that incredible performance?" Me.
Honestly, I have no idea what he did. I didn't even recall he'd been on, and now they come to mention it I kind of remember he was. But I've not got the foggiest what he did. I could probably look it up somewhere, but as they've chosen not to tell us, I can't be bothered.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

My Life in Books
2x03 Anna Chancellor and Nicky Haslam
2x04 Tim Rice and Russell Grant
2x05 Pam Ayres and Don Warrington
[Watch all three episodes (again) on iPlayer.]

Room 101: Extra Storage
12x06 Episode 6
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

Couple of small boosts this week, not all that exciting.

Number of titles in collection: 1,457 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 1,150 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 307 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 3,607 [up 4]
Number of films in collection: 1,546 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,439 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

House
8x12 Chase
After episodes last season (or was it the one before?) focussing on Cuddy and Wilson, now it's the turn of one of House's few remaining original cast members. (Have they done one about Foreman? I forget.)

My Life in Books
2x02 Natascha McElhone and Chris Hollins
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless
6x14 (1/3/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Roger & Val Have Just Got In
2x04 Pam's Collage
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Music

Lungs by Florence + the Machine
Well, here's one I should've gotten round to years ago. But I didn't. It was good.