Poem of the Day: The Trust Territory III

III. Koi Carp
by Andy Brown

This week and next, Poem of the Day is presenting Andy Brown's 10-part poem, The Trust Territory. I think there's much to enjoy in each individual segment, and even more so when all ten pieces are put together. Also, at least some parts of it are especially suited to this time of year.

Please see after today's piece for information on where to find the poem in print.

This pollen-honeyed evening
your parting gift of Koi carp
rise to the gilded surface.

They flash their dog-brown eyes
beneath the pond's lens;
twitch a muscle and disappear.

But tight in the kernel
of night, they cut through
the dream's meniscus,

stirring the pool's surprises;
quick insects; slow molluscs
down in the muck & the silt.

The Trust Territory was originally published as a poetry chapbook, now out of print. It's currently available in Fall of the Rebel Angels: Poems 1996-2006 (find the best prices online here). The versions posted here are taken from the latter. From the author's acknowledgements for that volume: "Many [poems in this collection] appear as they were first published in individual volumes, others have been edited over the years and it is these final versions I wish to preserve."

Andy Brown's latest book is Goose Music, co-authored with John Burnside.

Please see here for information on Poem of the Day and copyright.

Broken Saints

Broken Saints was something of an internet sensation when it was first released online during 2001 to 2003.

The series -- which is in 24 chapters with a total running time of 12 hours (the early episodes are short while the finale hits an hour and a half) -- has been referred to by its creators as a "cinematic novel". Essentially, this means an 'animated comic': in its original version, limited animation (mainly for scene transitions) with speech bubbles instead of voice acting, but still a video with music and sound effects.

Eventually purchased by Fox and released on DVD, the series exists in two (or three, depending how you count it) versions: as well as the original online version, there's the 'DVD version' with spruced-up animation (for parts 1 to 12) and a choice of either the original soundtrack or a fully voice-acted one. It's this last option that I'm choosing to watch. (For the completist, the original Flash-animated versions of the first twelve episodes are included via DVD-ROM.)

It's recently been announced that a long-rumoured live action series is in development (or, "trying to find funding", by the sounds of things), so I decided it was finally time (I've owned the DVD since its UK release) to get round to watching the original.

You can still watch the original version online, for free, here. For more information, check out Wikipedia's good overview; the creator's blog, which includes the November 30th announcement of the live-action series; a live-action trailer (in various qualities); and DVD Times' review of the R2 DVD. (The rest of the official site is currently down.)

TV

Spooks
7x08 Nuclear Strike [season finale]
A good old "biggest threat yet!" season finale, marred somewhat by logic flaws (there's no way you could ever get an iris scan off a CCTV image. Ever.) Nasty little cliffhanger too.

Films

Ultimate Avengers II (2006)
[#83 in 100 Films in a Year 2008]
A superior sequel.

Fiction

Jonah Hex: Face Full of Violence by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray & Luke Ross
(collecting Jonah Hex Vol.2 #1-6)
Issues 1 - 4
Comics aren't just about superheroes you know: DC's Jonah Hex is a Western in the traditional sense, albeit with lots of violence and nastiness that you likely wouldn't find in films made before the '60s, at least. The other nice thing about Hex is that each issue is an individual tale, a self-contained burst of Western action that makes for an entertaining read while it lasts, leaving this collection to feel like a book of short stories, or a box set of episodic TV -- in the old sense, before everything had to have grand arc plots. On the strength of this, I expect I'll acquire further volumes.

Articles

2009 TV Preview: Moving Wallpaper returns by Neil Wilkes
(from Digital Spy)
While Echo Beach turned out to be twaddle, Moving Wallpaper was fab. Very excited about it's return. "We ran around the houses to come up with [an Echo Beach replacement] that I thought hadn't been seen on British television for a while -- and then in the middle of writing [a zombie series], bloody Dead Set came out!"

The Dark Knight breaks Blu-ray records by Simon Reynolds
(from Digital Spy)
Yep, it's at it again. It "shifted 513,000 units on its first day of release on Monday, 21% of which (107,730) were Blu-ray discs. The format has experienced a surge in popularity, with sales of 463,000 for November 2008 a 66% increase from the previous month."

Horgan's Pulling axed by BBC Three by Simon Reynolds
(from Digital Spy)
Right after it beats other, better known, shows to a Comedy Award. "Oops"?

John Stevenson hired for We3 by Simon Reynolds
(from Digital Spy)
"Producer Don Murphy [said] that the movie version will retain the comic book's violent tone. "We're doing it as an R-rating. It's not going to be cutesy. There's killer rabbits and stuff. We're in the process right now of trying to figure out where we're going to make it."" Whoo!

Will David Tennant make it on stage tonight? That is the question on Hamlet opening night after actor hurts back
(from Mail Online)
Ah the Mail -- everything you need to know in the headline. Still -- oh dear! Glad this didn't happen to me.

Poem of the Day: The Trust Territory II

II. I imagine you've changed little...
by Andy Brown

This week and next, Poem of the Day is presenting Andy Brown's 10-part poem, The Trust Territory. I think there's much to enjoy in each individual segment, and even more so when all ten pieces are put together. Also, at least some parts of it are especially suited to this time of year.

Please see after today's piece for information on where to find the poem in print.

I imagine you've changed little since our thing
in the Great Rift, so far away this morning
as I sit here drinking coffee on the terrace of the café
            La Délicieuse.

I imagine you still wear that face all other
men could love. I am tempted to believe, however
briefly, that although there is no antidote
            there's hope --

the feeling that we've lived through this before
and know what's coming next. Your silence is
obscure. Still you're
            imprisoned

by a world where things are held by threads --
the prince on the princess's hair; Damocles' sword;
all those feelings you shored-up,
            but never fully expressed.

The Trust Territory was originally published as a poetry chapbook, now out of print. It's currently available in Fall of the Rebel Angels: Poems 1996-2006 (find the best prices online here). The versions posted here are taken from the latter. From the author's acknowledgements for that volume: "Many [poems in this collection] appear as they were first published in individual volumes, others have been edited over the years and it is these final versions I wish to preserve."

Andy Brown's latest book is Goose Music, co-authored with John Burnside.

Please see here for information on Poem of the Day and copyright.

What makes a film a film?

What makes a film a film, as opposed to a TV special, or different to a direct-to-DVD movie — indeed, is there a difference?

This is the sort of thing that’s bothered me for a while, mainly thanks to the Radio Times. The Radio Times’ film section frequently features reviews for something that’s labelled “US TVM” — translation: an American TV Movie. But not everything falls into this category. 24: Redemption didn't, but one-off editions of other (older) series have, so why are they different?

What about Paul Greengrass’ excellent Bloody Sunday, simultaneously screened on Channel 4 and released in cinemas? Or more recently, Ballet Shoes — just part of last year’s Christmas schedule in the UK, but it received a limited late-summer theatrical release in the US. So is that a film, or ‘just’ a TV special?

Read the full article over at 100 Films in a Year.

TV

Clone
1x04 The Ian Cam
Very little to do with the titular cam, but one of the better episodes so far.

Have I Got News For You
36x07 (5/11/08 edition; extended repeat)

Survivors [2008]
1x03 Episode 3

Films

Ultimate Avengers (2006)
[#82 in 100 Films in a Year 2008]

DVD Extras

First Look at Ultimate Avengers 2
(from Ultimate Avengers)
A trailer-length preview of the next Ultimate Avengers film, made up of storyboards/animatics and talking heads going on about how much darker and more character-led it will be. So nothing changes, eh?

Music

The Tempest,
Propane Nightmares and
Mutiny
(songs from In Silico)
by Pendulum
At their best (i.e. in these songs), Pendulum sound like missing tracks from Muse's Black Holes & Revelations. Most of the rest of the time they just sound like bloody dance music. (On a random other note, Black Holes & Revelations is two-and-a-half years old! Really doesn't feel like it.)

Spaceman,
A Dustland Fairytale,
A Crippling Blow,
Losing Touch and
Joy Ride
(songs from Day & Age)
by the Killers
So, despite my predictions, these are the tracks from Day & Age that I've been most listening to. (Well, I got some right.)

Articles

The Top 50 DVDs of 2008 by Tom Charity
(from LOVEFiLM)

LOVEFiLM's list talks some sense -- "it's more useful to compare like with like. After all, if you're in the mood for a comedy, you don't really care if that Romanian abortion film won the Palme d'Or" -- but it's also predicated on some utter nonsense.

"About half of these movies came out in UK cinemas in 2007. The other half were released earlier this year and have already made it to DVD... We haven't gone in to back catalogue releases, because frankly, there are just too many to choose from. And we haven't talked about bonus features... you probably don't rent or purchase a movie for the commentary track." I should wager it does sway some people, actually.

So, if you're ignoring whether the disc's any good, and excluding back catalogue releases, that just makes this "The 50 Best Films Of The Second Half Of 2007 And The First Half Of 2008". And there aren't even 50, because one's on two lists. What a load of twaddle.

I still went through it, of course, because I love lists. I've seen just 12 of the 49 (and have another 7 on DVD, as per usual). How about you?

Poem of the Day: The Trust Territory I

I. If I tell you...
by Andy Brown

For the next two weeks, Poem of the Day is going to be presenting Andy Brown's 10-part poem, The Trust Territory. I think there's much to enjoy in each individual segment, and even more so when all ten pieces are put together. Also, at least some parts of it are especially suited to this time of year.

Please see after today's piece for information on where to find the poem in print.

If I tell you your love is a spider's web,
I mean that in its tensile sense --
the strongest substance known to man,
weight for weight tougher than steel.

'Web', I mean, in its tensile sense,
but also with a hint of home:
weight for weight tougher than steel,
a place for the creature to rest.

And with that hint of home,
a place that gathers morning dew;
a place for the creature to rest,
amazing a passing child's eye.

A thing that gathers morning dew,
my love, is a spider's web,
amazing a passing child's eye.
Please don't take offence -- I do not mean

your love is a spider's web
and I the struggling fly.
No, please don't take offence -- I do not mean
you are the spider who turns

on me, poor struggling fly.
If I tell you your love is a spider's web.
you are not -- repeat not -- the spider who turns
to feast on the head of her mate.

No, I mean... 'the strongest substance known to man.'

The Trust Territory was originally published as a poetry chapbook, now out of print. It's currently available in Fall of the Rebel Angels: Poems 1996-2006 (find the best prices online here). The versions posted here are taken from the latter. From the author's acknowledgements for that volume: "Many [poems in this collection] appear as they were first published in individual volumes, others have been edited over the years and it is these final versions I wish to preserve."

Andy Brown's latest book is Goose Music, co-authored with John Burnside.

Please see here for information on Poem of the Day and copyright.

TV

Little Dorrit
Part 12 (of 14)
Delayed from Thursday. Finally, someone stands up to Mr Dorrit a bit and Mrs Clenham is -- for a moment -- likable. Both of those things occurred within the same scene, incidentally.

Outnumbered
2x04 Episode 4
After a lull in the last few episodes this was a spectacular return to form. Karen has to be one of the finest comic characters ever, and certainly the sweetest.

Top Gear
12x06 (7/12/08 edition)
Best. Road. Test. Ever. "What if I'm chased through a shopping centre by baddies driving a Corvette?" And if you thought they couldn't top that... D-Day 2! Most entertaining.

Fiction

Winter Story by Jill Barklem
[2nd read]

TV

The British Comedy Awards 2008
Last year there were no Comedy Awards due to the 2006 ones being caught up in the phone voting scandals; this year, the Brand/Ross/Sachs affair surely put them in jeopardy. But on the air they were, and a few good jabs were had at the 30,000 people who complained without evening having heard the show -- with sizable cheers from the audience. Russell Brand's pre-recorded acceptance speech was intriguingly cut short, however... Also amusing, the lack of applause and amount of heckling that Ricky Gervais' win received, especially when his pre-recorded speech was full of his usual "I've won so many awards, this one means nothing" schtick. It got old a few years ago, and now it seems people really hate it. It's just a shame the audience audio was turned down so much. It'll be interesting to see what (if anything) gets more press coverage post-event: the reactions to Ross & Brand, or the jeering of Gervais.

Live at the Apollo
4x02 (5/12/08 edition)

Merlin
1x12 To Kill the King
Oh, the twisty-turny morals! Very nearly scuppered it too, but of course they twisted the right way for an unsurprisingly moral finale. But did the rest of the episode go too far the other to fully justify the ending? I think they may've. Also, the Next Time trailer was unintentionally amusing -- aiming for the same portentous effect as a Doctor Who season finale trailer, but without the weight of imagery and import to carry it off. Oh dear.

Articles

Movie Reviews: Punisher: War Zone
(from Studio Briefing)
Sounds like it's exactly what is set out to be... and the critics all hate that. At least it should please the fans.

New look - we are listening! by Colin Polonowski, and user comments
(from DVD Times)
Who'd've thought a redesign of a free website would prove so controversial?

100 Films update

While it's not been as long since the last update as I usually leave it, I decided the time was ripe to mention the latest round of reviews posted on my other blog, 100 Films in a Year. Though, there aren't many...

As December dawns (oh how literary-sounding!), I still have quite a way to go to hit my target of seeing 100 new films before the year's out. Finger-crossing time, perhaps; or maybe finger-pulling-out time -- I should just get on with it. Talking of which, I wrote a little 'editorial' on the matter here.

Anyway, I have recently posted the following reviews from 2008's quest...

The Cable Guy (1996)

Fist of Legend (1994)

Mamma Mia! (2008)

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943)

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942)

And among all these new films, I'm slowly uploading reviews from 2007. The latest batch includes...

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

Hellboy: Director's Cut (2004)

On the Town (1949)

Piglet's Big Movie (2003)

Play Time (1967)

While You Were Sleeping (1995)

Wild at Heart (1990)

Also...

Telling Lies (a short)

I'm nearly done updating last year -- hopefully, 2007 and 2008 will finish around the same time. It'll be odd only having new reviews to post in 2009.

TV

Big Cat Week
2x05 (7/1/05 edition) [season finale]
I wonder if someone got a little annoyed with Jonathan Scott, considering how bossy he comes across during one bit of this...

The Dark Defender
Part One: Little Chino
Part Two: Roger Hicks
Part Three: Ken Olson [final episode]
"Stalker of the night, his blade of vengeance turns wrong into right." Animated-ish web spin-off thing from Dexter season two, which I've had knocking around since I finished watching that season... even though it looked rubbish. And, indeed, it's not very good, like an "oh, that would be a good idea" moment no one could be bothered to properly follow through. Quite why I suffered through all three episodes I don't know.

Wallander
1x01 Sidetracked
See here for my thoughts on this episode.

Poetry

Fall of the Rebel Angels: Poems 1996-2006 by Andy Brown
Part II (pages 60-63)

Wallander: Sidetracked

The BBC plays at ITV's game, adapting a series of detective novels into a TV series, with feature-length episodes, named after the lead character.

The difference here is, these are Swedish novels set in Sweden -- and filmed there too -- starring Distinguished Actor Kenneth Branagh. (Incidentally, the Swedes have already produced a film series (adapting the novels) and a TV series (with new stories) featuring the character. It's interesting to note how different he looks in each version; and you can see for yourself on screen when BBC Four screen some of the Swedish Wallander films next week.)

It's certainly 'grim up North' -- or, indeed, grim up Norse -- ho ho ho! Anyway, it's grim, and slow-paced in a measured, thoughtful kind of way. Big mistake in casting someone fairly well known in a tiny role though, especially when all the other small roles are filled by unknowns -- they may as well be wearing a T-shirt saying "I did it". That aside, it's quite good, though based on comments in one of the many issues of Radio Times out at the minute (whichever one covers Wallander's final ep), the unrelentingly downbeat style might get a tad wearing.

One other element I was uncertain of: the conclusion of the main plot. It seems like your usual "hero does the Right Thing" moment, but things are a bit more complicated than that in this instance, and the possible ramifications of what Wallander did aren't touched upon. A bit of a missed beat considering the more intelligent, considered and complex approach this particular crime drama seems to be taking when compared to the straightforward black-and-white ones ITV churns out.

Also, I have no idea what the title had to do with anything.

Poem of the Day: Together forever... until the 8th of December

by 'Daniella'

Today sees the last in a series of five poems about December here on Poem of the Day. It's also Funny Friday, of course, so I have searched out this amusing little piece for your delectation.

It can be surprisingly hard to find funny poems around the web, and even more so if you're after a very specific topic. This was the best I could do, though I don't mind too much as I personally find it quite amusing. The author is a 15-year-old South African who posted it on Poems & Quotes a month ago today (you can read the original posting, with its own comments, here). And that's about all the biographical information I have for you.

Together forever ~ we'll never part
Together forever ~ you have my heart
Noah and Allie in modern day
Through the test of time our love will stay
The perfect couple; meant to be
The perfect couple ~ you and me
"Together forever" is what I remember...
Together forever, till the 8th of December

In the author's words, "I wrote this because my friend kept saying how she knew that my boyfriend and I would last forever and that we're like Noah and Allie from The Notebook, but she already knew that we're gonna break up... so it's pretty ironic."

Next Monday is the 8th, you know. I don't know if they're breaking up then or if this was last year. You can always ask her if you like. Do let us know if you do.

And that's the last Funny Friday until January. Sorry. Why? All will become clear soon enough...

TV

No Little Dorrit today, because the BBC decided to show some tosh about Shannon bloody Matthews instead. It'll now be shown for the first time in Sunday's omnibus. Seems odd for such a big primetime drama -- maybe no one's been watching? Don't imagine they'd've done the same to East-bloody-Enders.

Lead Balloon
3x04 Karma

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
22x10 (4/12/08 edition)

Last week I summarised the appalling amount of TV I had to catch up on. How are things one week on? One Sarah Jane Adventures, one Survivors, one Wallander, one Heroes... four Apparitionses and five Heroes Unmaskeds. At least some have improved.

Poetry

Fall of the Rebel Angels: Poems 1996-2006 by Andy Brown
Part II (pages 49-59)

The Trust Territory by Andy Brown
(from Fall of the Rebel Angels: Poems 1996-2006 pages 37-46)
[a few reads now]

Poem of the Day: December

by Helen Hunt Jackson

This week Poem of the Day is celebrating the start of December, with a poem each day somehow related to the month. On Monday and Tuesday we had a pair of English poets, and yesterday was the first in a pair of Americans.

Jackson's December is the final piece in a book of poetry entitled A Calendar of Sonnets, originally published in 1886. I'm sure you can guess the subject of the eleven preceding pieces. If you're interested, you can read the whole book for free at Project Gutenberg.

The lakes of ice gleam bluer than the lakes
Of water 'neath the summer sunshine gleamed:
Far fairer than when placidly it streamed,
The brook its frozen architecture makes,
And under bridges white its swift way takes.
Snow comes and goes as messenger who dreamed
Might linger on the road; or one who deemed
His message hostile gently for their sakes
Who listened might reveal it by degrees.
We gird against the cold of winter wind
Our loins now with mighty bands of sleep,
In longest, darkest nights take rest and ease,
And every shortening day, as shadows creep
O'er the brief noontide, fresh surprises find.

As usual, it concentrates primarily on nature. I suppose it's no surprise that all the poetry found easily online is quite old -- it's a copyright thing, I should imagine -- and therefore obviously not concerned with aspects of modern experience

Tomorrow, we end the week with a December-themed Funny Friday.

Alec Baldwin is very funny

Normally I don't bother watching videos people post on blogs unless they're under a minute. This one's nearly three, but I bothered, and so should you -- it's hilarious.

TV

Babylon 5
1x21 The Quality of Mercy
1x22 Chrysalis [season finale]
Long-time readers may remember that I tried to finish the first season of Babylon 5 before I went to New York last summer -- five months ago. Ha! Well, anyway, I've finally done it.
The Quality of Mercy is one of the series' best stand-alone episodes so far; Chrysalis is overrated, one of those season finales that confuses complications and "not resolving anything" with events of importance and cliffhangers -- thankfully, a style that's now mostly out of fashion. And where Mercy is all very well written and performed, Chrysalis has some dreadful daytime-soap-level relationship scenes. Ouch.

The Devil's Whore
Part 3 (of 4)

Heroes
3x09 It's Coming

Little Dorrit
Part 11 (of 14)

The Sarah Jane Adventures
2x09 The Temptation of Sarah Jane Smith Part One

Poetry

Fall of the Rebel Angels: Poems 1996-2006 by Andy Brown
Part II (pages 37-48)

Poem of the Day: December Night

by W. S. Merwin

This week Poem of the Day is celebrating the start of December, with a poem each day somehow related to the month.

After a pair of English poets, it's time for a pair of Americans. Born in 1927 and coming to fame as an anti-war poet during the 1960s, Merwin is decidedly more modern than Southey or Keats, though his poem might not be so different...

The cold slope is standing in darkness
But the south of the trees is dry to the touch

The heavy limbs climb into the moonlight bearing feathers
I came to watch these
White plants older at night
The oldest
Come first to the ruins

And I hear magpies kept awake by the moon
The water flows through its
Own fingers without end

Tonight once more
I find a single prayer and it is not for men

Tomorrow, a woman. Shocking I know.

TV

Heroes
3x08 Villains
Backstory episodes like this are often among Heroes' best, if you ask me. But that ending... my God that was gruesome! It says a lot about American TV that they'll merrily show a decapitated body -- and the head lying separately by itself -- but not so much swearing as "God" and not so much nudity as a bottom. What's wrong with that nation?!

Spooks
7x07 The Mole
Oh dear! Oh my! Not just for Harry being interrogated and the revelation of the mole, including a particularly vicious murder (though, next to that decapitation...), but because there were times when I actually liked Ros! Argh! "You are a fool" were probably the most satisfying four words in a drama for a while, especially as no good guys seem to be allowed to take appropriate revenge or deliver appropriate put-downs these days.

Music

Day & Age by the Killers
[2nd listen]

Every time I get a new Killers album I'm not sure about it, then it slowly grows on me. So it was with their first, Hot Fuss, and their second, Sam's Town, and now with their third, Day & Age -- so, see, every time. (Sawdust doesn't count -- it's a collection of B-sides & rarities, not an album, and I'd heard most of its tracks over the years.)

Trying to predict ahead to my long-term thoughts (always tricky), I'm not sure there's anything on D&A that will I grow to love as much as Somebody Told Me, Jenny Was a Friend of Mine, When You Were Young, Bling (Confessions of a King), Tranquilize, or my unusual favourite-of-all, exitlude; or, indeed, several other tracks from those first two albums. The tracks with the best chance, I would say, are Losing Touch, Joy Ride (great chorus... until the last two words) and A Crippling Blow. But we'll see.

(All track names link to iTunes, so you can hear previews.)

Magazines

Radio Times 6-12 November 2008
I posted the fold-out cover for this issue the other day -- "Who's the Doctor?" it demands, playing in on the fact that Proper Dave's leaving (in 2010) and Other Dave's also playing "the Doctor" in a special called The Next Doctor. Oo-ooh! (I also can't believe I've not seen anyone else applying Proper Dave and Other Dave to this situation yet.)

Anyway, this issue has a nice little preview of that ep, spoiler-free; plus a preview of the Sarah Jane finale, spoiler-filled; and a Review of 2008 that starts with a (dull and informationless) Catherine Tate interview. Also, a rather scathing piece on Survivors and some letters about the Strictly thing.

Websites

from Firebox
And the prize for Oddest Christmas-Related Service Ever goes to... CrapWrap (which, I should probably add, is a trademark) is Firebox's new optional giftwrapping service. But rather than providing the normal Christmas-movie-perfect wrapping these services normally produce, CrapWrap wraps your gift badly. Really badly. Really, really, really badly, in fact. Not only that, it'll cost you £3.95. How gullible do you have to be to fork out £3.95 to have your present wrapped so badly you could unquestionably imitate it yourself? The only difference would be, you wouldn't have an official sticker on it. Ludicrous.

Doctor Who Adventure Calendar
I forgot to mention this yesterday, but the annual Doctor Who Adventure Calendar has begun again on the official BBC Who site. Day one was a rather pathetic Christmas greeting from David Tennant, while today's is a more interesting text interview with director Graeme Harper, answering fans' questions. (Incidentally, the link at the top is a rather undramatic text version of the calendar. Go to the site's front page for the full door-opening experience.)

Zavvi struggles this Christmas

Click to enlarge.

Pulped Genitals -or- Riviera Dogs

So, yesterday, I mentioned a certain parody screenplay/scene I was writing for my degree. Well, today, here it is to download.

Can you guess whose style it's in? (I expect so.)

Warning: normally I try to keep this blog family-friendly, but this piece contains lots of nasty swearing and some pretty nasty violence too. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Pulped Genitals
or
Riviera Dogs

Poem of the Day: In Drear-Nighted December

by John Keats

This week, Poem of the Day is presenting a series of poems relating to December. Today's second is by John Keats, an English Romantic poet -- just like yesterday's. Maybe they really liked Winter? Or, possibly, liked to espouse their dislike of it -- certainly, the title suggests that.

Either way, they wrote about it, and here it is:

In drear-nighted December,
   Too happy, happy tree,
Thy branches ne'er remember
   Their green felicity:
The north cannot undo them,
With a sleety whistle through them;
Nor frozen thawings glue them
   From budding at the prime.

In drear-nighted December,
   Too happy, happy brook,
Thy bubblings ne'er remember
   Apollo's summer look;
But with a sweet forgetting,
They stay their crystal fretting,
Never, never petting
   About the frozen time.

Ah! would 'twere so with many
   A gentle girl and boy!
But were there ever any
   Writh'd not at passing joy?
The feel of not to feel it,
When there is none to heal it,
Nor numbed sense to steal it,
   Was never said in rhyme.

Originally written in December 1817 and first published in 1829. The version reproduced here combines the varied formatting (and two differences in spelling) from a couple of different sources into a version I prefer. If they differ -- and therefore, clearly, neither is definitive -- why shouldn't I?

BBC One Christmas 2008 Drama Preview

There's a helluva lot of good TV on this Christmas, and most of it's on the BBC. This one-minute trail features clips from all their big drama highlights, most notably Doctor Who, a new version of The 39 Steps, and a return for Jonathan Creek. Hurrah!

Watch it here.

Some of BBC One's other Christmas highlights, not in the trailer, include a Gavin & Stacey special, a documentary for Blackadder's 25th anniversary, Blackadder Rides Again (one can only hope a decent & complete DVD set is to follow), and a new Hitchcock-inspired Wallace & Gromit, A Matter of Loaf & Death.

Plus, on BBC Four, there's Crooked House, which sounds brilliant. Read a whole feature on it here.

TV

Argumental
1x06 (1/12/08 edition)

Clone
1x03 The Line
The problem with Clone is, it's a sitcom, but it's not terribly funny. It is terribly dated though. If it'd been made in the '70s it would probably be a classic. Or totally forgotten.

The Graham Norton Show
4x09 (27/11/08 edition, uncut repeat)

The Sarah Jane Adventures
2x08 The Mark of the Beserker Part Two
Only running two weeks behind...

Survivors [2008]
1x02 Episode 2
The problem with Survivors is, it's full of stock characters stuck in cliched stories. It does pretty much exactly what you'd expect it to do, usually exactly when you'd expect it to do it, and with the exact lines you'd imagine too. Oh dear oh dear. Hopefully things will improve or it'll be a waste of such a good first part.

DVD Extras

a variety of extras from Doctor Who: The Complete Fourth Series, including:

BBC Trailers (Disc 1)
Ooh, I love the Voyage of the Damned trailers, especially the long cinema one. I hope there's one to come this year...

David Tennant's Video Diaries (Part 1)
David Tennant and Julie Gardner -- with Phil Collinson and Russell T Davies on the phone! -- get a police escort into Blackpool to turn on the illuminations. Brilliant!

Deleted Scenes: Voyage of the Damned
It's funny watching the deleted scenes -- they're all pre-filmising, so the picture's all video-y, and with studio sound only... which means they really, really look and sound like classic Who. A very odd experience.

Deleted Scenes: Howard Attfield
Howard Attfield originally reprised his role fromThe Runaway Bride as Donna's dad, filling Wilf's part. However, the actor was too ill to continue filming and sadly passed away shortly after completing these scenes for episode one.

Deleted Scenes: Journey's End
Including an alternate ending that, frankly, belongs deleted. Though obviously it also belongs on DVD for everyone to see.

the start of The Journey (So Far)
Woah, it's surprisingly weird seeing Eccleston as the Doctor again. Not watched any of his eps for years. It's funny to remember how uncertain everyone was if Tennant could follow in his shoes, whereas now, for me, he's virtually wiped Eccleston from memory.

+ commentary snippets
The Doctor Who team are an engaging lot y'know -- I listened to the start of every commentary to hear who the participants were and, out of curiosity, to see how chatty they were, then wound up listening to several minutes of them! On Journey's End it was over 20 minutes before I finally turned it off again.

I really ought to go listen to all the commentaries, though I'm now obviously 55 episodes behind! And there's another 40 commentaries if you count the podcast ones.

Actually, there's a point to be made here: the VotD commentary on this set is a new one, the first time they've done that for the DVD (the other two Christmas specials duplicated the online commentaries, while the remaining episodes had different podcast and DVD commentaries). But the DVD has Russell Tovey (who played the relatively minor role of Midshipman Frame), Murray Gold (who does the music), and Peter Bennett (the first assistant director. Yes, really.) I'm sure they're all lovely people with interesting things to say, but that line-up just doesn't compare to the podcast's Dream Team of Russell T Davies, Phil Collinson and Julie Gardner. When the DVD is the one you pay for and the online ones a nice bonus, surely the better commentary should be on the disc?

At least the online ones are all still online, but, as I've thought since series two, surely there would be room on the discs to squeeze in an extra commentary track for each ep? I know we shouldn't complain -- as I said, they're all still available online for free, and most TV shows don't manage a single commentary for every episode never mind two! -- but... well, why not, hm?

Fiction

Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
Chapters 17 - 18 [2nd read]
The first of these chapters, titled 'My Dear Boy', is probably the novel's most famous. Yep, it's the torture scene! For one of my MA modules we have to write a piece in the style of another writer.

No, I'm not doing Fleming; rather, a few years ago, a certain Hollywood writer-director expressed an interest in doing a version of Casino Royale. Personally, I'd've loved to have seen it -- though it would've been very different to the version we got and, perhaps, in the long-run, that was better -- so I've run with the idea and decided to do the novel's most infamous scene in his style. He wanted to set it in the '50s, and I believe he would've done a reasonably faithful job, but for the purposes of this exercise I'm taking his usual style and applying that.

I'll probably post the result at some point, hence why I've not mentioned the guy's name (though some will work it out) -- it's just more fun if you don't know.

Poem of the Day: Ode Written on the First of December

by Robert Southey

Welcome to a week of poems about December, seeing as it's December.

Today's first poem is by English Romantic poet Robert Southey, hence a preoccupation with nature. I must admit to not being entirely convinced by the content of this one, but the title was far too appropriate to resist (for obvious reasons) and there are definitely some good lines.

Tho' now no more the musing ear
Delights to listen to the breeze
That lingers o'er the green wood shade,
I love thee Winter! well.

Sweet are the harmonies of Spring,
Sweet is the summer's evening gale,
Pleasant the autumnal winds that shake
The many-colour'd grove.

And pleasant to the sober'd soul
The silence of the wintry scene,
When Nature shrouds her in her trance

Not undelightful now to roam
The wild heath sparkling on the sight;
Not undelightful now to pace
The forest's ample rounds;

And see the spangled branches shine,
And mark the moss of many a hue
That varies the old tree's brown bark,
Or o'er the grey stone spreads.

The cluster'd berries claim the eye
O'er the bright hollies gay green leaves,
The ivy round the leafless oak
Clasps its full foliage close.

So VIRTUE diffident of strength
Clings to RELIGION'S firmer aid,
And by RELIGION'S aid upheld
Endures calamity.

Nor void of beauties now the spring,
Whose waters hid from summer sun
Have sooth'd the thirsty pilgrim's ear
With more than melody.

The green moss shines with icey glare,
The long grass bends its spear-like form,
And lovely is the silvery scene
When faint the sunbeams smile.

Reflection too may love the hour
When Nature, hid in Winter's grave,
No more expands the bursting bud
Or bids the flowret bloom.

For Nature soon in Spring's best charms
Shall rise reviv'd from Winter's grave.
Again expand the bursting bud,
And bid the flowret bloom.

Personally, I don't like Spring.

Tomorrow, some Keats.

TV

Live at the Apollo
4x01 (28/11/08 edition)
Michael McIntyre (one of the absolute best observational comedians), American Rich Hall (lots of nice things to say about the British), and Rhod Gilbert (he's Welsh donchaknow) open the new series with a doozy of an episode.

Outnumbered
2x03 Episode 3
Outnumbered's at its best when there's virtually no plot and the kids are allowed to shine -- unfortunately, this episode was a little too much of the former and not quite enough of the latter. Still, the next one looks like a doozy.

Spooks
7x06 Accidental Discovery
Spooks has done pretty well for itself this series, I think. It's still not back in the real world as much as the early series were, but it's good spy-thriller entertainment nonetheless. Looks like next week's (or rather, tomorrow's) will be a doozy too.

Top Gear
12x05 (30/11/08 edition)
Tonight's episode was so low in doozying that I spent the first 10 minutes or more unsure if they'd shown an old one by accident.

Poetry

Fall of the Rebel Angels: Poems 1996-2006 by Andy Brown
Part II (pages 29-36)

Articles

Blah Indeed by clydefro
(from clydefro at FilmJournal)
See here for my thoughts.

First Look At Gambit's Wolverine Appearance by Rafe Telsch
(from Cinema Blend)
Gambit, Gambit, yay! Not necessarily convinced by this photo, but there's time.
In other X-Men news, that exciting box set of the first two seasons of the amazing '90s animated series seems to have disappeared from the radar. Where is it? I want it!
Edit: here's an answer, in an article about the latest X-Men animated series.

Winstone Threatens To Leave U.K.
(from WENN)
I couldn't care less which country Ray Winstone lives in, but he's making a good point. "Winstone wants to leave his native Britain and start a new life abroad -- because the U.K. justice system is too lenient on criminals. [He] blames the government under Labour Party leader Gordon Brown for not doing enough to tackle crime and punish offenders... "I wouldn't mind if we actually see something being done with all the money they take off in taxes. [But we have] a legal system that doesn't support the coppers when things finally get to court... [Britain]'s just not that great any more, is it? Let's be honest. This country isn't going to the dogs. It's gone to the dogs. We're a mess.""

don't trust blah!

I've always thought blah! (also known as BlahDVD, or Blah DVD, or whatever) looked a bit dodgy and never trusted them enough to order from them. Not sure why, that's just the impression I've had.

Now, this piece by clydefro over at FilmJournal suggests I was right to be suspicious. I don't think customers routinely get that sort of treatment from more respectable sites like Amazon or Play.

I don't imagine many have heard of blah! anyway, and it's not like they're a great deal cheaper than several other places, so I'll be continuing to follow my instincts.

TV

Einstein and Eddington
David Tennant and Andy Serkis both give great performances -- as do the rest of the cast, it must be said -- in this excellent TV movie. What might have been a dry near-documentary is brought to life by a broadening of topics and themes -- it's as much (perhaps even more) about the First World War and its wide-ranging effects, as well as the boundaries and the applications of science, as it is about the specific theory the titular characters uncovered and proved (respectively).

Have I Got News For You
36x06 (28/11/08 edition; extended repeat)

Lead Balloon
3x03 Fax

Merlin
1x11 The Labyrinth of Gedref

Survivors [2008]
1x01 Episode 1
Feature-length opening ep for BBC One's "it's not a remake of the TV series, honest" adaptation of Terry Nation's novel based on his famous '70s TV series. It's a strong start, dealing first with the horror of the virus' outbreak and the way it brings down the country before moving on to set up of the group of survivors we'll be following. There's also a hint of some Hidden Conspiracy in the closing moments. Very much a First Episode then; it remains to be seen if the remaining five will play as a serial or a series of stories. Also, considering the number of British shows that get remade for the US these days, this seems a prime candidate for such treatment in the future.

Fiction

Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman, Andy Kubert & Richard Isanove
Part Eight [the end]
Well, that's certainly... the end... The problem with the final part is it deals almost exclusively with the bits of the plot I didn't like in the first place, and in trying to wrap up so many disparate strands -- and, apparently, throw some new ones into the mix at the last minute -- it ends up as a bit of a muddle, with an inconclusive finale. A disappointing end then, but not surprisingly so.

At the back of the book, there's an Afterword by Neil Gaiman that does a good job of explaining his thinking behind the series. Doesn't excuse the ties to normal Marvel continuity, if you ask me. There's also an interesting piece of the series' unique covers by artist Scott McKowen and a selection of pages showing the 'enhanced pencils' technique Andy Kubert used to illustrate the story -- comparing these to the final art shows how much impact the oft-ignored inkers & colourists have on finished comics! Rounding things off, there's the complete script for part one, an inclusion that's always great for anyone interested in writing comics, accompanied by early character sketches.

Magazines

As has become almost as much of a tradition as the Doctor Who Christmas special, here's the pre-Christmas Radio Times with the Doctor Who cover -- even though the episode itself won't be on til two weeks after this edition ends!

Anyway, this is -- rather appropriately -- Doctor Who's 45th RT cover, just weeks after the programme's 45th anniversary. It's also the series' 23rd RT cover since it returned in 2005, and the 8th this year. Yep, Doctor Who sells.

TV

8 Out of 10 Cats
7x13 (27/11/08 edition) [season finale]

Russell Brand's Ponderland
2x05 Class [season finale]

Films

Enchanted (2007)
[#80 in 100 Films in a Year 2008]

Mamma Mia! (2008)
[#81 in 100 Films in a Year 2008]

Poem of the Day: Haiku Achoo

by Jack W. Staton

Last week I posted my poem Haiku Achoo, noting that it was surely a title that had been used before. Indeed, a quick search of the web revealed at least one other example, courtesy of poetry.com. For the sake of comparison and what have you, I'm sharing it with you this week:

Achoo! A-achoo!
Sneezing, I write my Haiku
And wipe my red nose.

So, dear reader, whose is better -- Mr Staton's, or mine? As with all good writers, I appreciate your honest feedback.

TV

The Graham Norton Show
4x08 (20/11/08 edition, uncut repeat)

Little Dorrit
Part 10 (of 14)
Today, it's the turn of Mr Meagles to receive a "go --!" cry, and the accompanying "hurrah!"

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
22x09 (27/11/08 edition)
It's the 198th episode special! Only on Buzzcocks, eh.

Three Apparitionses, two Sarah Jane Adventureses, two Survivorses, two Heroeses, and a single Spooks. Yes, I'm shockingly behind on any TV show whose name ends in "S". (Plus Lead Balloon, 8 Out of 10 Cats, Ponderland (just tonight's in each case), and Heroes Unmasked -- of which there are four.)

Fiction

Marvel 1602 by Neil Gaiman, Andy Kubert & Richard Isanove
Part Seven
After all the action, the pace slows a tad, moving pieces into place for the final bumper-length part. There's some added plot twists for good measure, though it must be said that most aren't all that surprising.

Magazines

Doctor Who Magazine: Special Edition #21
In Their Own Words - Volume Five: 1987-96
I'm always buying these things and not really getting round to reading them, but I did have a proper flick through this for once and read some bits, so there, including the very up-to-date (it references Tom Baker's Have I Got News...) Introduction by Benjamin Cook, and a rather good Afterword by Paul Cornell.

Articles

Don't dismiss Heat. It's a very superior product by Philip Hensher
(from Philip Hensher's column at The Independent)
Hensher is an interesting beast -- one minute he'll seem like a literary snob, slating the likes of Harry Potter and Alexander McCall Smith, but then merrily defend Heat magazine. Agree or not, at least he can make a reasonable argument.

What scandal lurks behind The Wire? by Philip Hensher
(from Philip Hensher's column at The Independent)
Everyone loves The Wire. Except, no one watches it. I really must get round to it myself...

Poem of the Day: To the Dead in the Graveyard Underneath My Window

by Adelaide Crapsey

How can you resist a title like that? Especially when it was written by a woman in 1914.

As for the poem itself, in my estimation it starts off well but begins to meander and go on a bit, getting a little too dense for its own good toward the end. Nonetheless, it's an interesting one.

Written in A Moment of Exasperation

How can you lie so still? All day I watch
And never a blade of all the green sod moves
To show where restlessly you toss and turn,
And fling a desperate arm or draw up knees
Stiffened and aching from their long disuse;
I watch all night and not one ghost comes forth
To take its freedom of the midnight hour.
Oh, have you no rebellion in your bones?
The very worms must scorn you where you lie,
A pallid mouldering acquiescent folk,
Meek habitants of unresented graves.
Why are you there in your straight row on row
Where I must ever see you from my bed
That in your mere dumb presence iterate
The text so weary in my ears: "Lie still
And rest; be patient and lie still and rest."
I'll not be patient! I will not lie still!
There is a brown road runs between the pines,
And further on the purple woodlands lie,
And still beyond blue mountains lift and loom;
And I would walk the road and I would be
Deep in the wooded shade and I would reach
The windy mountain tops that touch the clouds.
My eyes may follow but my feet are held.
Recumbent as you others must I too
Submit? Be mimic of your movelessness
With pillow and counterpane for stone and sod?
And if the many sayings of the wise
Teach of submission I will not submit
But with a spirit all unreconciled
Flash an unquenched defiance to the stars.
Better it is to walk, to run, to dance,
Better it is to laugh and leap and sing,
To know the open skies of dawn and night,
To move untrammeled down the flaming noon,
And I will clamour it through weary days
Keeping the edge of deprivation sharp,
Nor with the pliant speaking on my lips
Of resignation, sister to defeat.
I'll not be patient. I will not lie still.

And in ironic quietude who is
The despot of our days and lord of dust
Needs but, scarce heeding, wait to drop
Grim casual comment on rebellion's end;
"Yes, yes . . Wilful and petulant but now
As dead and quiet as the others are."
And this each body and ghost of you hath heard
That in your graves do therefore lie so still.

And after all that talk of death, remember: tomorrow's Funny Friday.

TV

Argumental
1x05 (24/11/08 edition)

The Devil's Whore
Part 2 (of 4)
Political, swashbuckling, sexy -- everything The Tudors always aims at but doesn't quite pull off.

Little Dorrit
Part 9 (of 14)
Go Frederick Dorrit! Hurrah! Elsewhere, things plod along at a snail's pace -- from my experience of Dickens, this has to be one of his scrappiest, made-up-as-it-goes, light-on-incident tales. Ho hum.

Merlin
1x10 The Moment of Truth

Articles

BBC signs up for more of Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures by Ben Dowell
(from guardian.co.uk)
I bet all those people who moan that new Who isn't like classic Who don't watch SJA because it's a silly kid's spin-off, or something, whereas if they got off their high horses and gave it a go they'd discover it's often quite a lot like old Who was. Only more grown-up. Oh the irony, eh? Anyway, news of a third series is good news indeed.

A Different Approach To Action In Quantum of Solace by Devin Zydel
(from CommanderBond.net)
An interview with Dan Bradley, the man responsible for writing and directing some/all of QoS' major action sequences, specifically including the opening car chase and the Siena rooftop chase. So, he's the guy to blame then. Interestingly, he also worked on both The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum -- explains a lot, no?

The Doctor Who spin-offs that will never be filmed by David Brown
(from "In My Opinion..." at RadioTimes)
This is entirely dependent on you understanding which shows/films are being spoofed (I knew most of them), but also includes some rather cruel comments about Freema Agyeman's acting ability. Which, to be honest, I'm often inclined to agree with, but it makes a change to hear it (rather than the usual "oh, she's so much more intelligent than Rose, isn't it great!")

John Simm on The Devil's Whore by Amy Raphael
(from Times Online)
A nice interview with Simm, covering why he won't be watching the film remake of State of Play, why he won't be aiming at a Hollywood career, and why he won't be the 11th Doctor ("I'm the Master. Simple as that. I don't want to be Doctor Who. I might be the Master again...").

Movie Reviews: Australia
(from Studio Briefing)
"Like his previous film, Moulin Rouge, Baz Luhrmann's Australia is receiving wildly mixed reviews. The $130-million epic has had some writers describing it as Australia's Gone With the Wind, and that film is the benchmark critics are using to assess it... Luhrman has been able to recreate much of GWTW's "lush epic beauty... a gorgeous film, what strong performances, what exhilarating images and -- yes, what sweeping romantic melodrama. The kind of movie that is a movie, with all that the word promises and implies." But [another critic says] the movie "tries to be a sprawling, romantic epic. Instead, it's a melodramatic exercise in tedium. Rather than being old-fashioned or classic, it's old-school and conventional.""
I like Gone With the Wind and I like Moulin Rouge, so personally I'm liking the sound of it. Australia arrives in the UK on Boxing Day... so I'll probably catch it on DVD.

And finally, here's an "and finally..." story if ever there was one:

Bequeathed skull stars in Hamlet
(from BBC News)
"The skull held aloft by actor David Tennant in the Royal Shakespeare Company's Hamlet was a real one, it has been revealed. Pianist Andre Tchaikowsky left his skull to the RSC when he died in 1982 in the hope it would be used on stage. But since his death at the age of 46, it had only been used in rehearsals. Tennant held it on stage during the famous "Alas, poor Yorick" scene in 22 performances at the Courtyard Theatre, in Stratford-upon-Avon."

Websites

The Criterion Collection: Online Cinematique
and
The Auteurs

The famous Criterion Collection have relaunched their site, and now it's so much more than just a lot of info on their laserdisc/DVD/Blu-ray releases. Having teamed up with a venture known as The Auteurs (see further down), Criterion now make some of their movies available to view online, with the hope of expanding this to include most/all of them in the future. It currently costs $5 to rent them to stream, but you then get a $5 discount off that film's DVD or Blu-ray should you decide to purchase. I don't know if this rental applies worldwide (it certainly doesn't for all films, but might for some), but I do know they only sell to US addresses through their store.

The new site's also worth checking out just for the amusingly illustrated "guide to the new site" video, currently showing on the main page.

The Auteurs, on the other hand, is a sort of film club online -- there's a lot of info on movies, but also, and more importantly, many that can be watched -- some for free, some for a small fee. As with Criterion, they're US based and so focused on providing these films for US viewing, but some are also available worldwide. It's an intelligent site, so only movies that are actually viewable in your region will be offered for viewing -- if you go here (you may need to be registered & logged in) you should get a list of what you're allowed to watch -- though you can view the information and forums for every movie, and many of these have trailers or clips too.

It's a great idea, and one that will work a lot better when they get more movies online with international viewing rights -- as it stands (and, I should point out, it's currently at beta stage anyway), it's probably a lot better for Americans than anyone else. As I say, though, it's a great idea, and so I hope that such international expansion can be achieved.

Poem of the Day: Block City

by Robert Louis Stevenson

Children tend to get all the best things, it seems to me, and that goes for poetry too. While adults have to suffer Deep Thoughts and Complex Metaphors and all those other literary whatsits, kids get to enjoy poems like this.

What are you able to build with your blocks?
Castles and palaces, temples and docks.
Rain may keep raining, and others go roam,
But I can be happy and building at home.

Let the sofa be mountains, the carpet be sea,
There I’ll establish a city for me:
A kirk and a mill and a palace beside,
And a harbour as well where my vessels may ride.

Great is the palace with pillar and wall,
A sort of a tower on the top of it all,
And steps coming down in an orderly way
To where my toy vessels lie safe in the bay.

This one is sailing and that one is moored:
Hark to the song of the sailors on board!
And see on the steps of my palace, the kings
Coming and going with presents and things.

Now I have done with it, down let it go!
All in a moment the town is laid low.
Block upon block lying scattered and free,
What is there left of my town by the sea?

Yet as I saw it, I see it again,
The kirk and the palace, the ships and the men,
And as long as I live and where’er I may be,
I’ll always remember my town by the sea.

Rhythm, rhyme, and some fun. Why does growing up have to be so depressing?

Poetry

Fall of the Rebel Angels: Poems 1996-2006 by Andy Brown
Part I (pages 21-27)

Articles

Daniel Craig On Shaking And Stirring James Bond by Devin Zydel
(from CommanderBond.net)
"I love those lines and I think they are absolutely valid but... if you drop them in just because a member of the audience thinks that it is not a Bond movie without them, they are bad gags."
A slightly different interview about what they were trying to achieve with Quantum of Solace, and what lies ahead for Bond 23. Hopefully, it'll be reassuring to both those who disliked QoS ("I do think Quantum of Solace is the end of this sort of intensity. The next... won't be so balls to the wall... Also, there will be a lot more gags.") and those, like me, who thought it was still pretty good ("If I start judging him or taking the piss out of him, which would be the worst thing to do, then it is all over and there is no room to go.").

Poem of the Day: Written in Her French Psalter

by Queen Elizabeth I

No, really.

No crooked leg, no bleared eye,
No part deformed out of kind,
Nor yet so ugly half can be
As is the inward suspicious mind.

Too true, Queenie, too true.

TV

Argumental
1x04 (17/11/08 edition)
Yes, last week's.

Clone
1x02 Albert
Most of it's of dubious quality still, although Mark Gatiss frequently gets some good lines. And some lines that were good til they were over written -- "I killed them with my bare hand. And this gun. Which I held in my bare hand." No need for that final sentence, chaps, especially not when he's holding said gun in said hand.

Lead Balloon
3x02 Panda

Poetry

Fall of the Rebel Angels: Poems 1996-2006 by Andy Brown
Part I (pages 14-20)

Poem of the Day: The Owl and the Pussy-Cat

by Edward Lear

Let's kick off the week with a bit of loveliness; and who doesn't love this poem? It's made for a brilliant children's picture book too.

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea
   In a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money
   Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
   And sang to a small guitar,
"O lovely Pussy, O Pussy, my love,
   What a beautiful Pussy you are,
            You are,
            You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!"

Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl!
   How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
   But what shall we do for a ring?"
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
   To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
   With a ring at the end of his nose,
            His nose,
            His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.

"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
   Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will."
So they took it away, and were married next day
   By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
   Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
   They danced by the light of the moon,
            The moon,
            The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.

Written December 1867, published in 1871. Not much more to add really.