Celebrity Fifteen to One
1x01 (6/6/2014 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
Episodes
3x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
Gavin & Stacey
3x05 Episode 5 [2nd watch]
Have I Got News For You
47x07 (16/5/2014 edition; extended repeat)
Saturday, 7 June 2014
Fiction
Neptune's Brood by Charles Stross
Part One: Chapters 3-5
Every time this threatened to get interesting, it slipped into a history or economics lesson about this fictional far-future -- ugh. I was on the verge of giving up... then decided to give it to a fifth of the way through, the end of chapter 4, and it suddenly got interesting, with a chapter-ending cliffhanger and everything. By the end of chapter 5, it's almost downright exciting.
Unfortunately, this is where the free extract provided for Hugo voters runs out. Now I'm debating whether to bank on this new-found good-ness continuing and read more, or assume it will fall back on its old ways and give up anyway.
If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love by Rachel Swirsky
Selkie Stories Are for Losers by Sofia Samatar
The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere by John Chu
Three of the four Hugo nominees for Best Short Story. All are about real-world things with an SF/F twist. If You Were a Dinosaur is clearly the best, The Water That Falls is good but perhaps ends before the end (though perhaps not), and I have no idea what Selkie Stories Are for Losers is really meant to be about.
You can read them all online for free at the links above.
Part One: Chapters 3-5
Every time this threatened to get interesting, it slipped into a history or economics lesson about this fictional far-future -- ugh. I was on the verge of giving up... then decided to give it to a fifth of the way through, the end of chapter 4, and it suddenly got interesting, with a chapter-ending cliffhanger and everything. By the end of chapter 5, it's almost downright exciting.
Unfortunately, this is where the free extract provided for Hugo voters runs out. Now I'm debating whether to bank on this new-found good-ness continuing and read more, or assume it will fall back on its old ways and give up anyway.
If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love by Rachel Swirsky
Selkie Stories Are for Losers by Sofia Samatar
The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere by John Chu
Three of the four Hugo nominees for Best Short Story. All are about real-world things with an SF/F twist. If You Were a Dinosaur is clearly the best, The Water That Falls is good but perhaps ends before the end (though perhaps not), and I have no idea what Selkie Stories Are for Losers is really meant to be about.
You can read them all online for free at the links above.
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
This week, a Blu-ray upgrade for V for Vendetta, thanks to the hard-to-come-by Zavvi-exclusive Steelbook. Even though my DVD is a fairly nice limited edition too, there's no point hanging on to it, which is why some numbers go down.
Number of titles in collection: 1,678 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,201 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 477 [up 1]
Number of discs in collection: 4,173 [down 1]
Number of films in collection: 1,801 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,147 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 410 [no change]
See you next week, faithful reader.
This week, a Blu-ray upgrade for V for Vendetta, thanks to the hard-to-come-by Zavvi-exclusive Steelbook. Even though my DVD is a fairly nice limited edition too, there's no point hanging on to it, which is why some numbers go down.
Number of titles in collection: 1,678 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,201 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 477 [up 1]
Number of discs in collection: 4,173 [down 1]
Number of films in collection: 1,801 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,147 [no change]
Number of short films in collection: 410 [no change]
See you next week, faithful reader.
Friday, 6 June 2014
TV
Cowboy Bebop
1x11 Toys in the Attic
Gavin & Stacey
3x04 Episode 4 [2nd watch]
Wallander [Swedish]
3x02 Försvunnen (aka Missing)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
1x11 Toys in the Attic
Gavin & Stacey
3x04 Episode 4 [2nd watch]
Wallander [Swedish]
3x02 Försvunnen (aka Missing)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
Thursday, 5 June 2014
TV
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
1x20 Fancy Brugdom
The internet can't agree if it's "Brudgom" or "Brugdom" -- but then, neither can the show itself.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
Gavin & Stacey
3x03 Episode 3 [2nd watch]
Person of Interest
2x22 God Mode [season finale]
Well that was inconclusive...
1x20 Fancy Brugdom
The internet can't agree if it's "Brudgom" or "Brugdom" -- but then, neither can the show itself.
Gavin & Stacey
3x03 Episode 3 [2nd watch]
Person of Interest
2x22 God Mode [season finale]
Well that was inconclusive...
Wednesday, 4 June 2014
TV
Cowboy Bebop
1x09 Jamming with Edward
1x10 Ganymede Elegy
Crikey, has it really been 7½ months since I last watched Cowboy Bebop?! (Yes.) Oops. Anyway, let's try to make this a more regular thing, eh?
Gavin & Stacey
3x02 Episode 2 [2nd watch]
The Guess List
1x05 Episode 5
Person of Interest
2x21 Zero Day
So, I've been wrapping up all my already-on-going series from the TV season just passed (UK time, anyway -- the past TV season in the US had PoI season three). Which means soon I shall dig into a bunch of stuff I have saved up from earlier this year: The Americans season two, Ripper Street season two, The Musketeers season one, Peaky Blinders season one... and probably more, too. Exciting.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]
1x09 Jamming with Edward
1x10 Ganymede Elegy
Crikey, has it really been 7½ months since I last watched Cowboy Bebop?! (Yes.) Oops. Anyway, let's try to make this a more regular thing, eh?
Gavin & Stacey
3x02 Episode 2 [2nd watch]
The Guess List
1x05 Episode 5
Person of Interest
2x21 Zero Day
So, I've been wrapping up all my already-on-going series from the TV season just passed (UK time, anyway -- the past TV season in the US had PoI season three). Which means soon I shall dig into a bunch of stuff I have saved up from earlier this year: The Americans season two, Ripper Street season two, The Musketeers season one, Peaky Blinders season one... and probably more, too. Exciting.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]
Tuesday, 3 June 2014
TV
Game of Thrones
4x08 The Mountain and the Viper
Well, someone did say there'd be several more significant deaths before the season was out. I believe next week is a Blackwater-style single-location battle-focused episode, so I guess this one serves as the penultimate part for every other storyline -- and it felt like it!
Gavin & Stacey
3x01 Episode 1 [2nd watch]
Mad Men
7x02 A Day's Work
The fact the "previously on" mostly recapped last season is rather damning about how little happened in episode one! Things are very much underway now, though. Good good.
4x08 The Mountain and the Viper
Well, someone did say there'd be several more significant deaths before the season was out. I believe next week is a Blackwater-style single-location battle-focused episode, so I guess this one serves as the penultimate part for every other storyline -- and it felt like it!
Gavin & Stacey
3x01 Episode 1 [2nd watch]
Mad Men
7x02 A Day's Work
The fact the "previously on" mostly recapped last season is rather damning about how little happened in episode one! Things are very much underway now, though. Good good.
Monday, 2 June 2014
TV
Gavin & Stacey
3x00 Christmas Special [3rd watch]
It's nearly six years since this first aired. Six years! Where does time go...
Person of Interest
2x20 In Extremis
Featuring a major guest character with my name! Weeeeiiiird.
3x00 Christmas Special [3rd watch]
It's nearly six years since this first aired. Six years! Where does time go...
Person of Interest
2x20 In Extremis
Featuring a major guest character with my name! Weeeeiiiird.
Fiction
Neptune's Brood by Charles Stross
Part One: Chapter 1
I know I seem to have a predilection for giving up on books by accident, but I haven't abandoned Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (even though it's been a while). So why start this? Well, I'll be voting for the 2014 Hugo Awards, and this is one of the nominees, which I feel I should at least make some effort to read.
So far, it's not really my cup of tea. I confess I didn't even read all of this review, but the first four or so paragraphs give a good enough idea -- both of the novel, and why I'm not keen: "the real business of the novel [is] interstellar economics." Wow! Couple that with its dense hard-science-fiction style and it's all a bit much.
Not sure how long I'll stick with it, then. The advice someone offered -- that you should read all the nominated works, but only until you've had enough of each (which therefore shows you can't think that much of one if you don't want to finish it) -- seems good to me! And also practical, when there's so much to read.
Part One: Chapter 1
I know I seem to have a predilection for giving up on books by accident, but I haven't abandoned Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (even though it's been a while). So why start this? Well, I'll be voting for the 2014 Hugo Awards, and this is one of the nominees, which I feel I should at least make some effort to read.
So far, it's not really my cup of tea. I confess I didn't even read all of this review, but the first four or so paragraphs give a good enough idea -- both of the novel, and why I'm not keen: "the real business of the novel [is] interstellar economics." Wow! Couple that with its dense hard-science-fiction style and it's all a bit much.
Not sure how long I'll stick with it, then. The advice someone offered -- that you should read all the nominated works, but only until you've had enough of each (which therefore shows you can't think that much of one if you don't want to finish it) -- seems good to me! And also practical, when there's so much to read.
Sunday, 1 June 2014
TV
How I Met Your Mother
9x17 Sunrise
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
Vera
4x03 The Deer Hunters
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]
9x17 Sunrise
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]
Vera
4x03 The Deer Hunters
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]
this week on 100 Films
It's June today (right now!), which means it's time to look back at how 100 Films in a Year fared in May 2014. Not too shabbily, as it turns out, though it was far from exceptional.
This month, there's also a look at the five men who've played Swedish detective Kurt Wallander. Yep, five.
Elsewhere, just one new review was published this week...
Mad Max (1979)
...but there was also one new to the new blog:
Beowulf: Director's Cut (2007)
More next Sunday.
This month, there's also a look at the five men who've played Swedish detective Kurt Wallander. Yep, five.
Elsewhere, just one new review was published this week...
Mad Max (1979)
A pursuit opens the film in style. It's a surprisingly-lengthy white-knuckle sequence that introduces us not only to Max, but to what director George Miller is capable of. Even 35 years on it remains a mightily effective set piece, with more punch than the average over-choreographed CGI-addled chases of the last decade-and-a-half of moviemaking.Read more here.
...but there was also one new to the new blog:
Beowulf: Director's Cut (2007)
I like animated films; I have absolutely no problem with animated films for adults; but the issue here is that most of the characters (especially the 'extras') seem of about the same quality as humans in Shrek. So while the battle scenes are often very violent, it becomes hard to take them seriously because it's all too cartoony.Read more here.
More next Sunday.
Saturday, 31 May 2014
TV
Episodes
3x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
Gavin & Stacey
2x07 Episode 7 [season finale; 2nd watch]
The Mentalist
6x22 Blue Bird [season finale]
That would've worked perfectly well as a last-ever episode... which, considering how late their renewal came, may well have been the intention. Hurrah for one more season to find out what happens next, though.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]
3x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]
Gavin & Stacey
2x07 Episode 7 [season finale; 2nd watch]
The Mentalist
6x22 Blue Bird [season finale]
That would've worked perfectly well as a last-ever episode... which, considering how late their renewal came, may well have been the intention. Hurrah for one more season to find out what happens next, though.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]
Comics
The Bunker #2 by Joshua Hale Fialkov & Joe Infurnari
The first issue, originally published online in small chunks, rattled through a ton of story. Given a full issue at full-issue pace, this seems to slow down. Shame. Remains intriguing, but a shame.
Pretty Deadly #4 by Kelly Sue DeConnick & Emma Rios
Golly this is good. No offence to comics as a medium, but I'd love to see it as a film -- a truly faithful, put-the-panels-on-screen movie. That would be awesome.
Wolverine #5 by Paul Cornell & Gerardo Sandoval
In which Wolverine gets a tattoo. No, really. He has a fight with Thor too, for no real reason, but that's about it. Except for giving some voiceover to the book's only real female character, and giving her some awareness and impetuous and -- as the buzzword seems to go these days -- "agency". Which is the least we should expect from a writer obsessed with things like panel parity, I think.
The first issue, originally published online in small chunks, rattled through a ton of story. Given a full issue at full-issue pace, this seems to slow down. Shame. Remains intriguing, but a shame.
Pretty Deadly #4 by Kelly Sue DeConnick & Emma Rios
Golly this is good. No offence to comics as a medium, but I'd love to see it as a film -- a truly faithful, put-the-panels-on-screen movie. That would be awesome.
Wolverine #5 by Paul Cornell & Gerardo Sandoval
In which Wolverine gets a tattoo. No, really. He has a fight with Thor too, for no real reason, but that's about it. Except for giving some voiceover to the book's only real female character, and giving her some awareness and impetuous and -- as the buzzword seems to go these days -- "agency". Which is the least we should expect from a writer obsessed with things like panel parity, I think.
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
A few anime BDs push up the TV episodes, especially, this week.
Number of titles in collection: 1,678 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,202 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 476 [up 3]
Number of discs in collection: 4,174 [up 6]
Number of films in collection: 1,801 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,147 [up 21]
Number of short films in collection: 410 [up 1]
See you next week, faithful reader.
A few anime BDs push up the TV episodes, especially, this week.
Number of titles in collection: 1,678 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,202 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 476 [up 3]
Number of discs in collection: 4,174 [up 6]
Number of films in collection: 1,801 [no change]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 6,147 [up 21]
Number of short films in collection: 410 [up 1]
See you next week, faithful reader.
Friday, 30 May 2014
TV
Doctor Who
33x15 The Day of the Doctor [50th anniversary special; 2nd watch]
In 3D! OK, only anaglyph 3D, but amber-blue rather than the old-fashioned red-green -- the depth isn't as striking, but the colours are better rendered; though pure white has a tendency to go wrong. But anyway, that's not the point. The point is, I put it on to try out the 3D a bit, and ended up watching the whole thing. Brilliant episode. The best ever? Well, dunno... but it does deserve to be up there.
Gavin & Stacey
2x06 Episode 6 [2nd watch]
The Mentalist
6x21 Black Hearts
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]
Person of Interest
2x19 Trojan Horse
33x15 The Day of the Doctor [50th anniversary special; 2nd watch]
In 3D! OK, only anaglyph 3D, but amber-blue rather than the old-fashioned red-green -- the depth isn't as striking, but the colours are better rendered; though pure white has a tendency to go wrong. But anyway, that's not the point. The point is, I put it on to try out the 3D a bit, and ended up watching the whole thing. Brilliant episode. The best ever? Well, dunno... but it does deserve to be up there.
Gavin & Stacey
2x06 Episode 6 [2nd watch]
The Mentalist
6x21 Black Hearts
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]
Person of Interest
2x19 Trojan Horse
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