TV

Friday Night With Jonathan Ross
16x06 (27/2/09 edition)
Clive Owen: cool, if stand-offish.
Emily Blunt: loved by men, hated by women (so I'm told).
David Attenborough: knight of the realm.
U2: bland.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles: Watchmen

Because they're all about a little forthcoming (well, arrived now, I suppose!) film again...

100ft Dr. Manhattan and the Comedians Badge arrive in London - Amazing Water Projection
(from Live For Films)
As mentioned yesterday, now with pictures and video. It's... well...

Review of Watchmen by Roger Ebert
(from rogerebert.com)
Yep, yet another review. But this is from Roger Ebert, one of the world's most respected film critics, so it's worth paying attention to. And he loves it!

Review of Watchmen by Dave Foster
(from DVD Times)
Another good review. Super. Only 11 hours 'til it finally opens in my area (damn those at midnight screenings as I post this!)

Snyder Rules Out Watchmen Sequel
(from WENN)
But the cast are contractually obligated... Hopefully it's a standard blockbuster contract, not a statement of intent.

Technology

Spent most of today battling to fix my iMac (late 2006 model, according to Apple's help pages).

It seems to be well & truly screwed though -- something wrong with the hard disk, basically amounting to the computer not being able to find it. Could mean it's just come unplugged (lord knows how), could be thoroughly done for.

Hopefully, at the very least, some or all of the data can be retrieved from it though, because there's so much stuff on there -- including all my notes for future 100 Films reviews and, more importantly, a heck of a lot of work-related things.

Nothing more I can do, it seems. A trip to the local Genius Bar will be required -- I'm just thankfully that, firstly, so many Apple Stores have popped up across the UK now, and secondly, that I live in Exeter, where we have one! Not sure when I'll go though, as I'm not sacrificing Watchmen time tomorrow and I hate town on Saturdays.

Sunday then...

TV

QI
6x10 Flora and Fauna (extended edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Getting so far behind with TV viewing again...

Films

Lethal Weapon (1987)
[#8 in 100 Films in a Year 2009]

Articles

Many Doctors to save the universe
(from Forbidden Planet International Blog Log)
An unusual piece of Who art...

Papers sorry for 'Facebook party' story by Oliver Luft
(from guardian.co.uk)
Oh they got it wrong, and how! Interestingly, the Guardian wasn't one of them.

Robert Patrick to appear in Terminator 5? by Chris Hicks
(from Total Film)
Could be good... maybe...

Sucker Punch - Mamma Mia! The cast for Zack Snyder's next film has been announced
(from Live For Films)
This film sounds mad. Follow the link for more info.

Plus, so many Watchmen articles they get their own post here.

Articles: Watchmen

As its Tomatometer slowly slides downwards, here are today's Watchmen-related articles of interest...

Manhattan-on-Thames
(from WatchmenComicMovie.com)
"Dr. Manhattan, the blue skinned, super-powered being beloved of all Watchmen fans, will rise above the murky depths of the Thames to a height of over 70 feet and tower over all those who dare to attend. This dramatic, one-off spectacle will be created using the world’s biggest water screen projector. The water screen... will create an enormous vertical screen of water that will extend to 72 feet in height and 100 feet across."
Sounds pretty impressive. This was due to happen earlier this evening, but I've not come across any reports or photos yet. Please comment if you have. I'll report more if I hear more...

Watchmen has already broken a record by Carl DiOrio
(from THR.com)
"However high Watchmen grosses can climb, the superhero actioner sure will be playing wide: Its 3,611 playdates will be the most ever for an R-rated film. [It] will play in an impressive 1,600 locations at midnight [on] Thursday. That's substantially more than the 656 midnight shows that helped [director Zack] Snyder's ancient Greece actioner 300 fetch an incredible... $71 million opening weekend in March 2007... The previous widest release for an R-rated pic was the 3,603-theater bow for The Matrix Reloaded...
dates include 124 engagements in Imax giant-screen auditoriums... Imax's Web site crashed four times this week because of traffic surges by Watchmen fans looking for ticket information, Foster said."
Looks certain it'll beat 300 to become the 2nd highest grossing R-rated opening weekend, but can it beat The Matrix Reloaded too? I'd bet "yes" myself.

And as Empire begin a "Watchmen Week", here are the first two items...

Watchmen: The Failed Attempts
(from Empire)
"take a look at the Watchmen movies that might have been..."

Watchmen: The Added Stories
(from Empire)
"Watchmen [is] punctuated with texts that expand upon that main story, clarify it and occasionally go off on a tangent (or seem to). Here are the pieces of the puzzle outside that main story that you may not see on the big screen"

TV

Film 2009 with Jonathan Ross
Episode 6 (3/2/09 edition)
Wossy weviews Watchmen. I've found that Ross' opinions often chime with my own, so was pleased to find he enjoyed it so much (with some reservations). Only two days to go now...
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Nature's Great Events
Part 2 The Great Salmon Run
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Non-Fiction

The Ode Less Travelled by Stephen Fry
Chapter One: II (p.21-33)
Christ I'm progressing through this slowly. Really need to speed up -- it's a week tomorrow that I have to hand in / work through in class a 'progress report' on the module so far, and I've done nothing like enough work to write such a thing without being in Trouble.

Articles

Behind the Mask by Craig McLean
(from Telegraph Magazine 22/2/09, p.36-43)
Just another Watchmen preview, really, but a decent one. (Plus it was in a genuine printed magazine, all too rare a thing to be mentioned round 'ere. Though I've also found it online for your reading pleasure.)

British entrepreneur Rob Williams dies on skiing holiday in tragedy played out on Twitter by Richard Edwards
(from Telegraph.co.uk)
A good use of technology, even if it was still too little too late.

Crushed by the tyranny of the nipple: where it all went wrong at Arena by Brian Schofield
(from Organ Grinder at guardian.co.uk)
So, Arena magazine is dead. I'm not too fussed, I never bought it; but how can you resist an article with that title?

Life on Mars canceled by Tim Surette
(from tv.com)
And I never got round to watching it (this is the US one, of course). At least it sounds like they'll have a chance to wrap up the story, so maybe I'll catch the DVD set.

TV

Heroes
3x14 A Clear and Present Danger
See here for my thoughts on this episode.

Law & Order: UK
1x02 Unloved
Apparently the first episode did very well in the ratings (don't have figures, just overheard it on TV) and this is a strong episode, so it deserves to continue.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Watchmen (aka Watchmen Motion Comics)
Chapter I At Midnight, All the Agents... [2nd watch]
Chapter II Absent Friends
Chapter III The Judge of All the Earth
See here for my thoughts on these episodes.

Films

Done in 60 Seconds Finalists
Connected to their forthcoming film awards, Empire have run a competition in which readers recreate a famous film in 60 seconds. These are the five finalists -- you can view them, vote on them, and the winner wins... well, an Empire Film Award, I presume.

They're all pretty good, in my opinion; so much so that I honestly can't remember which I voted for any more. It was probably Seven though, so I've embedded it (and/or all of them) below...

Fiction

The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges (translated by James E. Ibury)
A sci-fi/fantasy short story, about a universe in the form of a vast library that contains all possible 410-page books, brought to my attention courtesy of a classmate's poem that may or may not reference it. It seems to be a moderately seminal work, based on the contents of its Wikipedia entry.
You can read it for yourself at the link above -- it's really not very long, but it is very interesting. I wonder if it played any conscious part in inspiring the Doctor Who two-parter Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead...?

Non-Fiction

The Ode Less Travelled by Stephen Fry
Chapter One: I
The basics -- a very, very good place to start. I know so much more about iambic pentameter than I used to.

Articles

7 Things That Must Be In Ghostbusters 3 by James White
(from Total Film)
Apparently it's actually happening, so here's Total Film's thoughts on what it must include. Hardly all essential, and the most obvious one is the hardest to nail: it just has to be good.

BBC receives almost 250 complaints over 'all-black' EastEnders by Leigh Holmwood
(from guardian.co.uk)
"the first episode of EastEnders to feature an all-black cast in its 24-year history... A BBC spokesman said 239 complaints had been received from viewers, with 57 received before it aired and 183 after the broadcast. It is understood that most of the complaints were from people who felt it was "inappropriate" for the BBC to have shown an episode featuring an all-black cast."
Speaks for itself, really.

David Tennant's curtailed Hamlet will rise from the grave by Tim Walker
(from Telegraph.co.uk)
"the entire cast of the RSC production are preparing to make a film version of the play in June to record for posterity his portrayal, which was described by some as the greatest Hamlet of his generation... Oliver Ford Davies, [who played Polonius]: "We are intending to film it over two or three weeks in June. It won't be a full feature film as there isn't time but it will certainly be more than just the filming of the stage.""
Hurrah! It was fantastic, so this is great news.

Dark Visions: Watchmen and Leave Her to Heaven by Anthony Lane
(from The New Yorker)
Positively scathing review. I think this guy may feel rather bitter about something...

Who Watches the Watches - Cool Watchmen T-Shirt
(from Live For Films)
Title says it all: a very cool shirt. (See pic above.)

Zack Snyder and Dave Gibbons talk Watchmen Black Freighter and Motion Comic DVDs by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub
(from Collider.com)
Interesting interview about how these projects came into being, as well as the tie-in video game that's on its way. There seems to be a certain amount of "it's going to happen anyway, so just like it or lump it" about at least two of those -- in this respect, Snyder and Gibbons are both pleasantly honest.

Heroes 3x14: A Clear and Present Danger

Heroes returns with Volume Four, Fugitives. Why not just call it Season Four, hm? Bloody US TV silliness.

Still, the main thing is, it's a helluva lot better than before! This episode contained as much incident as half a dozen episodes would've in the old-style Heroes and, with the exception of the odd unsubtle misstep (orange jumpsuits), it was all good, exciting, intriguing stuff.

But it's probably come too late -- the show's phenomenon status is well and truly shot on both sides of the Atlantic, with falling ratings over there and very little promotion for this new run over here (so little, in fact, that I skipped this ep on broadcast to watch L&O:UK, and only remembered the show was even on when I checked this evening's listings); plus tie-in making-of series Heroes Unmasked has apparently been cancelled.

It's all a shame, because if they'd pulled this kinda quality out of the bag for season two -- or even the start of season three -- it might've been enough to save the show's status. Now it's got to rebuild its popularity, and that's a big ask.

Watchmen Motion Comics: Chapters I - III

Putting off plans to continue watching one animated comic in order to watch another here, but for a good reason: with the live action Watchmen movie out next Friday, I thought it was time to reacquaint myself with the graphic novel... though in a somewhat different medium. And with the final chapter of this adaptation released just last week (in the US, where I have my fully-paid-up-and-legal-thank-you-very-much subscription from; in the UK soon, one would hope), it seemed a reasonable time to be getting on with it. So, chapters one to three today, and hopefully the rest before The Big Day...

It's actually a rather good adaptation, in my opinion; the best analogy is probably that it's an audiobook for graphic novels, although it goes beyond that. The animation (all based off the original art) is surprisingly animated, almost enough that you could genuinely get away with labelling it "The Animated Series", and it has sound effects and a full, original music score to back this up.

The main thing that lets it down is having one voice artist do every character -- his women aren't especially feminine and are all bit indistinguishable, and while he has a good array of male voices there are times when the on screen speech bubbles are required to be certain who's speaking. But still: throw in just one female voice artist and an additional bloke, animate the mouths and remove the speech bubbles, and I swear this would pass as simply Watchmen: The Animated Series, not the rather more clunky (and plain odd) Motion Comics.

For those who are interested, the Watchmen Motion Comics are currently available on iTunes (£20.99 for the series, £1.89 per episode (there're 12)), and are released on R1 DVD and US Blu-ray on 3rd March and R2 DVD (no Blu-ray planned) as an online exclusive on 9th March. At just £8 from the major retailers, the DVD is considerably cheaper than iTunes.

TV

Damages
2x02 Burn It, Shred It, I Don't Care
Things pick up a little, but not a lot. It has the feel of a "difficult second album" so far: a long way from being bad, but not a patch on season one.

Non-Fiction

The Ode Less Travelled by Stephen Fry
Foreword
How to Read this Book
Mr Fry's guide to writing poetry, very much from a beginner's perspective. Or, rather, aimed at beginners, though also apparently useful to this who are more (or think they are more) experienced. Hoping it'll be of serious use to my MA!

Music

While I was listening to these two for the first time last night, I shared my thoughts track-by-track on twitter. Here are the highlights (I use that word loosely).

Watchmen: Music From the Motion Picture

My Chemical Romance - Desolation Row: Never listened to MCR, so no idea if this is typical of them.

Nat King Cole - Unforgettable: "Varied" is too light a word for this soundtrack.

Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin': Can't wait to see this sequence -- even those who hated the film have been praising it.

Simon & Garfunkel - The Sound of Silence: Always loved this song. It's like an old friend among unfamiliar tracks.

K.C. & the Sunshine Band - I'm Your Boogie Man: Will the Watchmen go disco dancing? I fear we can but dream.

Jimi Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower: Will be intrigued to see how well this works in the film.

Budapest Symphony Orchestra - Ride of the Valkyries: Mmm, Wagner. Watchmen will have to go some way to beat Apocalypse Now's use of this.

Nina Simone - Pirate Jenny: Not actually from Watchmen; from Tales of the Black Freighter. Which will be part of Watchmen eventually. Seems very apt -- kinda odd, creepy. This song is brilliant. Wins the Best Track I'd Not Heard Before Award for this soundtrack, I think.

Watchmen: Original Motion Picture Score by Tyler Bates

1) Rescue Mission: I'm guessing this OST is out of order, which sucks -- I hate it when soundtracks do that. Actiony opener.

3) Tonight the Comedian Died: Now THIS is the beginning. Creepy, throbbing -- a Rorschach-based cue then!

6) You Quit!: The shortest track on the CD. More memorable -- kinda Blade Runner-y, very '80s feel. Shame it's so short.

8) The American Dream: Slow, remorseful -- nice bit of irony in the title then.

11) Prison Fight: Clearly the showpiece track, as was B-side on single of Desolation Row. VERY VERY like Bates' 300 score.

12) Just Look Around You: Can guess where it's from & wager works beautifully. Nice contrast to tr11.

13) Dan's Apocalyptic Dream: Clue's in the title. Typically nightmare-ish, doesn't really deliver on its own build up

17) Countdown: In bursts, a great 'time is running out' track -- and, of course, time does run out. Suitably apocalyptic close.

19) All That is Good: Uncertain exactly what we'll see during this, but it may be a perfect marriage

Not sure of stand-out tracks on Bates' score, but mostly quite good I thought. Can't tell 'til see in context.

As I said, full comments on every track from both CDs is available on my twitter -- you'll just have to dive into the archive to find them.

Articles

Indie Edge February 2009: Alan Moore
(from Previews)
Long rambling interview/conversation with Alan Moore, which doesn't even mention Watchmen (unlike all the other interviews going round with him right now). Instead, it covers the forthcoming third volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen plus Moore's other interesting projects in the works.

Poem of the Week: Night Drive

by Seamus Heaney

A 48 hour delay for this week's poem because, quite simply, I forgot. More on this piece at the other end...

The smells of ordinariness
Were new on the night drive through France:
Rain and hay and woods on the air
Made warm draughts in the open car.

Signposts whitened relentlessly.
Montreuil, Abbéville, Beauvais
Were promised, promised, came and went,
Each place granting its name's fulfilment.

A combine groaning its way late
Bled seeds across its work-light.
A forest fire smouldered out.
One by one small cafés shut.

I thought of you continuously
A thousand miles south where Italy
Laid its loin to France on the darkened sphere.
Your ordinariness was renewed there.

So, Heaney is one of our nation's most beloved poets. And by "beloved" I mean "bought" -- apparently sales of his books account for two-thirds of all poetry sales in the UK. And yet I've never really read him 'til now.

And, to be honest, I still haven't -- only a slight dabbling. I should read more. Anyway, this is the one I most liked from my dabbles.

It can be found in New Selected Poems 1966-1987, but is originally from Door into the Dark, first published in 1969. I suspect it's also in Opened Ground: Poems 1966-1996, a newer selection designed to replace New Selected Poems -- so why our course directors still have us buying the older collection I don't know.

TV

Let's Dance for Comic Relief
Episode 2 (of 4)
No Michael McIntyre judging, sadly, and no dance that came anywhere near equalling Robert Webb's priceless Flashdance from last week. Overall, however, the quality was phenomenally higher.
This week's winners were Paddy McGuinness and Leigh Francis. Their dance was admittedly quite funny, but my God they're such irritating people! Francis was even playing his character, Keith Lemon -- not that anyone mentioned that on the programme, insisting on just calling him "Keith". Both of these facts should give you an indication of how much of a tit he is (and that's being polite about it). I really wish anyone else had gone through instead of them.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Not Going Out
3x05 Neighbour
Not the best episode, it must be said. Still, there were some laughs, so what else do you want?
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Lego Star Wars Spaceship Bigger Than My Sofa Can Probably Invade Earth by Jesus Diaz
(from Gizmodo)
This is truly mad-big. The one shortcoming of the article is that there's nothing normal & everyday to give the model a proper sense of scale.

Review of Watchmen by Garth Franklin
(from Dark Horizons)
They keep coming in, swinging the Tomatometer back and forth all over the place. And within a week there'll be a veritable flood of them, as US critics will finally be allowed to have their say and everyone else will be publishing their thoughts around the day of release. This seemed a particularly good review, however, discussing some of the thoughts already expressed by both lovers and haters.

TV

An hour and a quarter in the company of Ben Miller this evening...

Moving Wallpaper
2x01 Episode 1
Hurrah for the return of Moving Wallpaper! I love this show. This first ep suffers a little from having to transition from the cancelled Echo Beach to a new project (sadly, a one-off at the end of the season rather than another accompanying drama), but hopefully they can return to the old style for a third season (just with a better paired show than Echo Beach).
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

QI
6x09 The Future (extended edition)
Christ, Ben Miller's clever. But also very interesting. And That Moment with Rob Brydon is surely a classic.
The extended episodes are still disappointingly hidden on iPlayer, but I assure you the one below works (or will do 'til the episode goes offline in 22 hours and 45 minutes).
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Pre-Post-Production
(from reddwarf.co.uk)
The official Red Dwarf site has plenty of info on the forthcoming specials, but this is pretty remarkable I think. With the setup they have their, footage filmed is synced up with the soundtrack and available to be edited within an hour! Technology is super.

The Spider-Man Broadway Musical Swings to an Opening Date, a Full-Title, and a First Poster by Matt Goldberg
(from Collider.com)
It's called Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, which is pretty bloody stupid if you ask me (or most people, it would seem). Follow the link for the distinctly uninspiring poster.

TV

Damages
2x01 I Lied, Too
A bit of a slow start, having to pick up threads left hanging from last season as well as trying to kick off new ones. But there are promising signs, so we'll see how things develop.

Friday Night With Jonathan Ross
16x05 (20/2/09 edition)
Poor Mickey, he so deserved the Oscar (says someone who hasn't actually seen either film).
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

There Will Be Blood (2007)
[#7 in 100 Films in a Year 2009]

Articles

Samuel L. Jackson IS Nick Fury After All by Chris Hewitt
(from Empire)
The headline says it all. Additional info: it's a nine film deal! Madness!

And check out the latest set of Watchmen reviews here.

Articles: Watchmen reviews

And the negative reviews begin to pour in, from respectable sources this time. Check out this little lot...

from The Hollywood Reporter by Kirk Honeycutt
Clearly a non-fan perspective -- I don't think he'd 'get' the graphic novel either -- so perhaps best ignored by those of us who are. Not so the next, however...

from ign.com Movies UK by Orlando Parfitt
The internationally ubiquitous IGN is already offering differing perspectives: this fan-centred UK review hates it, while the Australian reviewer loved it. Fan reviews are coming out split thusly, it seems.

from Variety by Justin Chang
I've never liked Variety -- I hate their snobby use of a specialist vocabulary, which, however easy to understand with a little effort, is still awkward and (probably deliberately) elitist. Doesn't necessarily make their opinion worthless though.

For a more positive perspective, see the first round of reviews here, and keep an eye on the Tomatometer for the latest critical consensus. Seems like this is gonna be a divisive one though...

TV

Mad Men
1x12 Nixon vs. Kennedy [2nd watch]
1x13 The Wheel [season finale; 2nd watch]
Don's pitch to Kodak is stunning, one of the best moments of the series and possibly a great TV moment too.
So, with season one fully caught up on, it's on to season two (only two weeks behind the UK airings). Finally, resolutions for those cliffhangers!

Fiction

The Gruffalo's Child by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler
The only (so far) sequel to the ubiquitous Gruffalo -- written five years ago, making it equidistant between the original now... which I read a week ago today. Oh, look how well I've timed this! (All by accident.)
It does what all good sequels to do: takes elements from the original as a basis, but develops them in a new way. For example, the original saw a little mouse telling tales of the fictional Gruffalo, who turned out to be real; here, the Gruffalo's child goes in search of the Big Bad Mouse, who isn't real. Yep, it's pretty much the children's picture book equivalent of the Terminator turning good in T2.

Articles

Michel Gondry To Direct Green Hornet by Chris Hewitt
(from Empire)
Gondry (he of Eternal Sunshine... and Be Kind Rewind, amongst even quirkier efforts) directing a superhero film starring Seth Rogen and Stephen Chow? This will be interesting...

Pirates' Verbinski Gets A Clue by Emily Phillips
(from Empire)
Who'd've thought Cluedo (or Clue for any yankee readers) would inspire two film adaptations?! And why isn't 13 Dead End Drive well enough known to get one, hm? That'd be fab. So, the first one wasn't renamed for the UK; will this one be? Cluedo is the original title after all...
The real burning issue, however: will it be based on the original, proper version of the game, or the 2008 'reinvention' travesty? We can only hope the former, but, having learnt of the latter's existence, I fear that is the impetus behind this new film.

Watchmen - Film Review by Todd Gilchrist
(from h)
A faintly scholarly review, which does come to this very interesting conclusion:
"Watchmen, overall, is for everyone. It’s for people who love the graphic novels, and for people who have never read them. It’s for people who are sick to death of cinematic self-seriousness, and for people who want their movies to be treated more seriously. It’s for people who love movies, and for people who appreciate film. Watchmen is a benchmark achievement, a high water mark for adaptations, and an imperfect entry in the canon of comic-based cinema all at the same time. In other words, it defines the difference between a movie and a film: not merely entertainment, but the articulation of real concepts and ideas, which are effective in their exploration, even if in some cases it’s to the exclusion of more immediate gratification."

TV

Mad Men
1x11 Indian Summer [2nd watch]

The One Show
(24/2/09 edition)
Featuring Patrick Stewart bravely facing down a stream of Star Trek references, while simultaneously being far, far too clever for the presenters (or, I think, the crew) to understand. Only the ever-wonderful Hardeep Singh Kohli came close to him.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles: Watchmen reviews

Today sees the first proper reviews of Watchmen coming in (it's out a week Friday), and here's a summary of a few of 'em...

from CHUD.com by Devin Faraci
The longest and most in-depth review, which is why I've popped it at the top. Mainly aimed at people familiar with the book, I think, so perhaps best to skip it if you haven't. On the other hand, in its completeness it's possibly the best of all these reviews (certainly the most positive), and the truly spoilertastic bits have to be highlighted to be read.

from Empire by Ian Nathan
Some have said this review sounds too negative for the 4 stars awarded. Pay attention and read between the lines, though, and it's clear that Nathan enjoyed the film but is explaining why it hasn't hit 5 stars more than why it's made it up to 4. "A smart, stylish, decent adaptation, if low on accessibility for the non-convert."

from Total Film by Jonathan Crocker
'The Other Film Magazine', as I call it, give an equally favourable review. "Uncompromising, uncommercial and unique."

from Times Online by Kevin Maher
Favourable again (most are at the minute, though we'll reach a dissenter soon) -- "a movie that is reaching utterly beyond the confines of its genre." Though he does try to claim it's "the first attempt to make a truly post-adolescent comic book movie". Firstly, he means "superhero movie"; secondly, I'm not convinced it is.

from Mirror.co.uk by Steve Anglesey
"10 reasons you’ve got to watch Watchmen", which makes for a different perspective. Interestingly, lists the sex scene as the #2 reason to see the film, while everyone else dislikes it. Including our final review for the day...

from News of the World by Robbie Collin
Remember that dissenter? Well, here he is. Is he right? Well, I don't know, obviously, but the review itself sounds as braindead as you'd expect from this paper. With both Empire and Total Film -- and an increasing array of others -- disagreeing, I'd wager he's as stupid as he sounds.

For a comprehensive, constantly updated summary, you must of course keep your eyes glued to Rotten Tomatoes. As I post this there are far too few reviews for a definitive Tomatometer score, but it's a solid start nonetheless.

Check out some more Watchmen news from today here.

Articles

25 Greatest Active Film Directors
(from EW.com)
An unusual list. Yes, lots of them definitely deserve their place, but some probably don't. And is that the right order? At the very least, it makes for an interesting read.

Ratings: Oscars up, Dollhouse down by Mandi Bierly
(from EW.com)
Yay for those big awards; oh dear (already) for Joss Whedon's latest effort. Apparently it's not so good anyhow.

Plus, two stories about a certain huge film that's just on the horizon...

Watchmen World Premiere Report by Emily Phillips
(from Empire)
In London! Yeah baby! And wouldya look at that red yellow carpet...

Zack Snyder says Watchmen DVD will be 3 hours 25 minutes! by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub
(from Collider.com)
Some fairly concrete details on the long-confirmed (double meaning there!) Watchmen DVD releases. Essentially, we should get the Director's Cut in the first DVD/Blu-ray release, and the 'Ultimate Cut' (the DC with Tales of the Black Freighter and a tad more live action footage) later in '09. Sounds just super to me.

Also today in articles, the first few reviews for Watchmen. Check them out here.

TV

81st Annual Academy Awards
aka the Oscars; mentioned today because I'm in the UK, which means they started at 1am. Very few real surprises, which is no bad thing in the case of Kate Winslet or Slumdog Millionare. Shame for Mickey Rourke, though at least Sean Penn used his speech well.

Law & Order: UK
1x01 Care
Not being a fan of the US original (I've seen two, maybe three, episodes, but never gotten into it), I can't compare this to its inspiration beyond saying that a lot of the superficial elements (e.g. the opening voiceover, the unusual editing style) are intact. As a drama in and of itself, however, it's not bad. It certainly rattles past, aided by its unusual structure, and felt more like a glossy US drama than your typical British fare. God only knows if that means it'll be a success or a flop.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Mad Men
1x10 The Long Weekend [2nd watch]

TV

Mad Men
1x07 Red in the Face [2nd watch]
1x08 The Hobo Code [2nd watch]
1x09 Shoot [2nd watch]
There are so many great things about Mad Men. Today's favourite: the put-downs. Also, Betty Draper shooting her neighbour's pigeons. You have to see it to get it.

Oscars 2009: Live from the Red Carpet
And so Sky's coverage begins. And, in fact, is ongoing as this is posted, because the actual ceremony doesn't start until 1am over here. So there's an hour of red carpet to go, and the ceremony itself will be part of tomorrow's updates... or just sometime after midnight, if I have thoughts to share before then.

Articles

CGI Team Creates Realistic Oscar For Michael Bay
(from The Onion)
"A leading team of CGI experts hand-selected by blockbuster producer and director Michael Bay has pushed the limits of what can be accomplished with special effects and digital imaging by creating a computer- generated best-director Oscar for the 43-year-old filmmaker... CGI technology is still decades away from making an Academy Award win for Rush Hour 3 director Brett Ratner look plausible."

100 Films update

It's been a long, long time since the last 100 Films update -- closing in on three months, in fact -- and the day of the Oscars seemed an appropriate time to finally post this. Not that anything up for a major award is included. Still, the long gap means there are a huge pile of reviews to cover.

This update, then, I'll be rounding off 2008, dipping the first toe into 2009, and finally (finally!) finishing 2007.

First, the 'new' reviews, being those from 2008 and 2009:

24: Redemption (Extended Edition) (2008)

The Aristocrats (2005)

Be Kind Rewind (2008)

Becoming Jane (2007)

The Blues Brothers (1980)

Chicago (2002)

Clockwise (1986)

Cube (1997)

Cube²: Hypercube (2002)

Cube Zero (2004)

Die Hard 2 (1990)

Enchanted (2007)

The Green Mile (1999)

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)

Madagascar (2005)

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)

Russian Ark (2002)

Scenes of a Sexual Nature (2006)

Snakes on a Plane (2006)

Son of Paleface (1952)

Swing Time (1936)

Ultimate Avengers (2006)

Ultimate Avengers II (2006)

White Christmas (1954)

Also, the following shorts...

Gasman (1997)

Wallace and Gromit in A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008)

Plus, thoughts on the Cube trilogy and what makes a film a film?

Secondly (well, kinda fourthly), the last of the re-posted reviews from 2007:

Annie Hall (1977)

Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927)

Bringing Out the Dead (1999)

Bullets Over Broadway (1994)

The Crowd (1928)

Fantômas: In the Shadow of the Guillotine (1913)

Fantômas: Juve Versus Fantômas (1913)

Goodfellas (1990)

The King of Comedy (1983)

Manhattan (1979)

Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)

Mean Streets (1973)

The Naked City (1948)

New York Stories (1989)

The Paleface (1948)

Taxi Driver (1976)

Traffic in Souls (1913)

And finally, some more shorts...

Manhatta (1921)

À Propos de Nice (1930)

Skyscraper Symphony (1929)

From here on it's just '09 reviews then. Which I'm rather behind on; and I'm nowhere near where I need to be to hit 100 by December either -- at my current rate, I won't even make it to 40...

TV

Lark Rise to Candleford
2x08 Episode 8
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Let's Dance for Comic Relief
Episode 1 (of 4)
It's for charity, you can't begrudge it too much. Besides which, Michael McIntyre was an inspired choice for a judge (I hope he's on it every week) and Robert Webb's rendition of Flashdance was priceless. And to top it off there was the video for Nessa & Bryn's Barry Islands in the Stream -- fantastic.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Poetry

a selection by Carol Ann Duffy:

Mrs Beast (from The World's Wife)

Anon (from Feminine Gospels)

Kipling (from Answering Back)

As part of my reading of new (to me) poetry (mentioned ages ago), I've acquired three books by Duffy, staple of GCSE and A-Level English lit and beloved by critics. This is thanks to the ever-wonderful Book People, who offered this selection of three books for a total cost lower than buying one individually. Hurrah for the Book People!

The main reason I bought it was for the highly intriguingAnswering Back collection, in which 50 poets have written new poems in response to classics (though don't expect to have actually heard of a great deal of the new authors or that many of the 'classic' poems). Duffy's Kipling is in answer to the Nation's Favourite Poem, If--... and isn't even close to being as good, or as memorable. Anon, on the other hand, is a much better piece on a famous poetry author.

These few are ones I've read as a randomish initial selection; I'll be reading the collections in full later.

Articles

30 Novels Worth Buying For the Cover Alone by Beth Carswell
(from AbeBooks.co.uk)
Can't say I agree with many of them, but, to someone who loves packaging as much as I do, it's a nice idea.

RT Predicts the Oscars by Jen Yamato
(from Rotten Tomatoes)
As the day nears, more and more sites will be predicting things (if they haven't already, that is). RT's justifications -- and that they've made a prediction for every category -- make it a more interesting read than most.

Why Alan Moore Hates Comic-Book Movies by Sam Ashurst
(from Total Film)
And all sorts of ranting about other stuff too. Depending on your perspective, what he has to say is either quite sensible or a bit loopy. Personally, I land somewhere in between -- his points about why America feels the need to create superheroes while the rest of the world doesn't seem pretty valid.

New Zealand Internet blackout

A reminder for the weekend...

Join New Zealand Internet blackout
protest against insane copyright law

TV

Moses Jones
Part 3 (of 3)
Series like this are always hard to end -- they're 'gritty' and 'realistic', but how do you turn that into a satisfying Big Climax? Moses Jones makes the usual mistake of letting it all go a bit (for want of a better word) mainstream in the closing minutes. A decent series on the whole, though not without its flaws.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Not Going Out
3x04 Party
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Office [American]
3x03 The Coup
Watched the majority of this episode in a seminar. It was very funny, which was nice, and thankfully not as painful to watch as the original version (which is deliberately excruciating to watch much of the time). I'd quite like to see more, in fact.

Articles

Two bits of comedy today...

Hamlet (Facebook News Feed Edition) by Sarah Schmelling
(from Timothy McSweeney)
Spot on, very funny, and very cleverly executed (it uses the whole gamut of Facebook news feed items, not just a slew of status updates).

Oscar Handicapping
(from The Onion)
The ever-reliable Onion helpfully explains what some of those pesky Oscar odds mean ahead of this Sunday's ceremony. "Best Supporting Actor, Josh Brolin, 10-1: There's an outside chance that voters have mistakenly identified Brolin as the dead one."

Poem of the Week: Typo

by Russell Hoban

Unsurprisingly to regular readers, this week's poem is selected from The Puffin Book of Nonsense Verse. Upon completing it last weekend I posted a list of my favourite poems from within its pages, calling this one "probably my favourite". An easy choice then.

'Nitgub,' said the typewriter,
and clenched the paper tight.
'Nitgub positively.
It is here in black and white.'
'Nonsense,' I said.
'I typed N-O-T-H-I-N-G;
the word of course was nothing,
simply nothing, don't you see?'
'Nothing may be what you meant,
but nitgub's what you wrote.
I like it,' said the typewriter.
'It strikes a happy note.
It has more style than nothing,
has a different sort of sound.
The colour is superior;
the flavour's nice and round.
Have you plumbed its deepest depths,
its mysteries explained?'
'All right,' I said, 'I'll take it.
Nitgub ventured, nitgub gained.'

As well as being found in the aforementioned anthology, the poem was originally published in Hoban's book The Pedalling Man, which is sadly out of print. However, you could try your luck on AbeBooks.

(As this work is likely still in copyright, I'll just draw your attention to the Poem of the Week copyright page.)

TV

Cracker
1x05 To Say I Love You Part 3
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Friday Night With Jonathan Ross
16x04 (13/2/09 edition)
Including a clip from The Pink Panther 2 which perfectly encapsulated why it (and films like it) are so hated: it started with a genuinely funny, workable idea -- I even laughed -- and then ruined it by pushing things too far, making it utterly ridiculous and completely overdoing it. Tsk.
That aside, good guests this week (or last week, really).
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Magazines: new-look Torchwood

Torchwood: The Official Magazine #14

So the new-look Torchwood Magazine has arrived, longer and bi-monthly. This makes a lot of sense for a show like Torchwood, especially when there'll only be five episodes in 2009, and they're all one story to boot -- DWM can sustain its lengthy monthliness thanks to 26 years of classic series and an ever-growing mass of novels, audios, comics, and the fact that even when Who isn't on it never stops.

As for the mag itself... well, it's not exactly a disappointment, but it's not the revelation it could've been. Yes, it's longer, which is theoretically nice... but it costs more and there's a helluva lot of filler. 28 pages of original fiction (as the cover proudly boasts) is fantastic, especially when that includes a 15-page comic co-written by John Barrowman, but fluffy articles on the show's relationships and 'how to be Captain Jack' feel like filler, and too lightweight for a magazine about an adult-orientated series. Put it this way: I don't think DWM would feature such vacant articles and that's family-friendly! And I haven't even mentioned the 'which team member are you' quiz.

But there are some nice interviews, and a Jack timeline is a good idea for a feature (half-decently executed), plus there's news and columns about the forthcoming season. This last one may still be the best reason to buy the mag, though anything seriously interesting will likely make it online promptly. Christ knows what they'll survive on when there's no new season news to report. Still, there's always all that fiction.

And so the new-look Torchwood Magazine is a mixed bag: half worthwhile, half filler. More or less the same as before then.

TV

Mad Men
1x06 Babylon [2nd watch]
It's interesting how much episodes of Mad Men flow into each other, almost as if it was written as one thirteen-hour long piece and then just chopped up at regular intervals. Which does it a disservice, to be honest, because this episode rounds itself off as well as progressing ongoing threads; but I distinctly remember that episode 7 continues elements of this one to the level that any other show would surely have considered it a Part Two.

Fiction

The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler
It's the 10th anniversary of The Gruffalo this year, in which time it seems to have become a classic of young children's literature. I've never read it before though (unsurprisingly, considering my age). It certainly lives up to its reputation however.
(Like most good young children's books, it's also poetry, hence the additional tag.)

Family Guy spoofs Christian Bale

And does so brilliantly.

TV

Nature's Great Events
Part 1 The Great Melt
Stunning footage, of course. The last ten minutes are a segment called Nature's Great Events: Diaries, which looks at the making of that particular episode. It really shows off the lengths they go to in capturing these images for entertainment/information. Equally as fascinating, in my opinion.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Terry Pratchett: Living With Alzheimer's
Part 2 (of 2)
Fascinating, well-made documentary.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Heroes: Five Ways to Fix a Series In Crisis by Jeff Jensen
(from EW.com)
Heroes is already back in the US, and returns to British screens in just under a week. But will they have fixed it?

Joss Whedon’s 16 Most Painful Character Deaths
(from fandomania)
"spoilers abound in this article, so if you’re not up to date on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly & Serenity, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, or Astonishing X-Men, you might want to avert your eyes."
These are seriously spoilersome spoilers -- if you're part way through or ever intend to follow any of these series, avoid avoid avoid.

Magazines

Empire #237
The numerous 'exclusives' branded over the cover are all a bit lacklustre, to be honest. The Hobbit films are far too early in development to add anything meaningful; the Watchmen photos are taken from a book (so not exclusive) and the brief interviews don't add much to what's already been said; at least the interview with Terry Gilliam about Dr Parnassus, Heath Ledger's last film, is interesting. I like Empire and don't mean to tear it down too much, but really, those claims are stretching things.

SFX #180
Both this and the Empire above contain interviews about Lesbian Vampire Killers -- unsurprisingly, as it's out in a month -- and retrospective features on Georges Méliès -- which is more surprising, as his stuff is Rather Old. And, to round things off, it trumps the Watchmen feature by interviewing original artist Dave Gibbons. Sure, Gibbons hasn't been quiet about the project, but he's not as oft interviewed as others involved in its production.

Doctor Who goes anime

I'm never quite sure where to classify web videos (you'd think I'd've thought of that), so this one earns a post all to itself. It's a fan-made video of a Doctor Who anime... which you'd think would be dreadful, but is in fact amazing. No, really, it's got better animation than I've seen in some professional productions -- and that's not fan-to-fan hyperbole, that's genuine.

Anyway, you can watch it for yourselves and see what I mean. The early stuff is all making-of (i.e. sketchy pencils, etc), but wait til it gets to the finished sequences and stick with it to the end. I'd be more than happy to see a whole series like this -- the Cybermen in particular are stunning.

Go to YouTube itself to watch in high quality, which looks even more amazing.

New Zealand Internet blackout

Join New Zealand Internet blackout
protest against insane copyright law

TV

Mad Men
1x04 New Amsterdam [2nd watch]
1x05 5G [2nd watch]

QI
6x08 Fashion (extended edition)
So it turns out the extended QI's are available on iPlayer (unlike how it previously seemed), they're just a nightmare to find and thoroughly hidden. Try the link below -- in the programme info it says it's 29 minutes, but if you play it it's the full 45.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Brand New Fast And Furious Poster by Emily Phillips
(from Empire Online)
There's no reason to be excited about the film, but all credit to whoever came up with that tagline: it's the fourth film in the series, the first sequel to star the primary cast from the original, and the tagline is... "New Model. Original Parts." That's very neat, it must be said.
It's still a bloody stupid title though -- how easy is it to confuse Fast and Furious with The Fast and the Furious, especially when you've got the original cast back -- it just looks like a re-release.
Also, enjoy this article for the sniping at the cast for sinking to this level.

Making Watchmen: What Took So Long? by Greg Dean Schmitz
(from Rotten Tomatoes)
A good summary of the windy path Watchmen has taken to get to the big screen. Hopefully, some day, more details will emerge on the versions people like Terry Gillian, Darren Aronofsky and Paul Greengrass were planning -- I'm sure they'd've been very different and very interesting.

Quentin Tarantino on the Inglourious Basterds Trailer
(from Empire Online)
It's another one of Empire's features where someone (in this case, QT himself) talks you through a trailer almost frame-by-frame. And good they are too. Watch the trailer itself here.

Salma Hayek marries in Paris on Valentine's Day by Rachid Aouli
(from Mail.com)
Well, France is known for its cheese...

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Join New Zealand Internet blackout
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TV

Mad Men
1x03 Marriage of Figaro [2nd watch]
Possibly my favourite thing about Mad Men is how comically well they evoke the period. When a parent slaps someone else's boy for being naughty, the dad walks over saying "what's going on here?"... and rather then erupting into an argument about punishing the child as it would today, the dad agrees wholeheartedly and gets his kid to apologise. Every episode of Mad Men is packed with these moments, and it's just one of the reasons the show is such a joy.

Poetry

The Puffin Book of Nonsense Verse, selected by Quentin Blake
"Speak Roughly to Your Little Boy"
"Department of Facts and Queries"
"I Wish I Were a Jelly Fish"
"Sticky Ends"
"Distracting Creatures"
"A Gamut of Achievements" [the end]

As promised, here are a selection of my favourites from the 127 poems included in this anthology:

Typo by Russell Hoban -- probably my favourite

Eletelephony by Laura Richards

The Purist by Ogden Nash

S F by Ernest Leverett

How I Brought the Good News From Aix to Ghent or, Vice Versa by W.C. Sellar & R.J. Yeatman

One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night (anonymous)

I Went to the Pictures Tomorrow (playground rhyme)

Brother and Sister by Lewis Carroll

Fame Was a Claim of Uncle Ed's by Ogden Nash -- helluva name

O'er Seas That Have No Beaches by Mervyn Peake

A Chronicle (anonymous)

Politeness by Harry Graham

Scientific Proof by J.W. Foley

Waste by Harry Graham.

While we're here -- not only, but also:

I Saw a Peacock (anonymous) -- but only once I realised how it was constructed

Belagcholly Days (anonymous) -- very clever

Bleezer's Ice Cream by Jack Prelutsky

Minnow Minnie by Shel Silverstein

Some Aunts and Uncles by Mervyn Peake

The Ahkond of Swat by Edward Lear

The Willow-tree by William Makepeace Thackeray

Capacity by John Updike

Planting a Mailbox by John Updike

The Cod by Lord Alfred Douglas

Kitty by Colin West

Simple Simon (anonymous)

and Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll -- of course.

Articles

When old films never grow old by ghostof82
(from Musings of the Ghost of 82)
"are we objective enough when eulogising the old greats while disparaging the young pretenders? Is a twelve-year old today that loves the Star Wars prequels, who thinks the Original Trilogy is slow and boring, any wiser than me?"
Pretty good article on this topic.

TV

Cracker
1x04 To Say I Love You Part 2
Ooh it's gritty.
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Dancing On Ice
The Story of Bolero
25 years old today, and it's still the only ice dance to ever achieve a perfect score (6.0 from 12 judges!) Even to a layman like me it's an incredibly impressive routine, the effect of which is only heightened by this documentary outlining just how innovative and rule-bending it was.

Moses Jones
Part 2 (of 3)
Ooh it's gritty.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Inglourious Basterds Teaser Trailer
"Once upon a time in Nazi-occupied France."
"Sound good?" "Yes sir!"

DVD Extras

Watchmen Video Journals
#11: Rorschach's Mask

I said part 11 was coming soon! Download it from iTunes either ready for iPod or in a higher res.

TV

Not Going Out
3x03 Amy
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Poem of the Week: Triskaidekaphobia

I'm not superstitious, but...
by Col Wilson, aka 'Blue the Shearer'

Assertion of the Week: "There are no good poems about Friday the 13th." Prove me wrong and I'll publish it next week (in some kind of metatextual dating mix-up).

That doesn't mean I've not got one to publish though, oh no. The title may seem only partially related, but most of the poem is still about Friday the 13th. It starts off fairly well, but loses it in a desperate hunt for rhymes.

If you're triskaidekaphobic, then this is your big day.
A day designed for triskaidekaphobics, (so they say)
Is BLACK FRIDAY. The thirteenth. So watch out what you do,
Or triskaidekaphobia could be the death of you.

Be very, very careful of what you undertake,
The consequences could be dire. The decision that you make
Should have no element of risk. For surely you're aware,
That this is Friday, the thirteenth. Take very special care.

Not that I'm susceptible to silly superstition,
But some folk are. So my advice: Consider your position.
It may be just some oldwives' tale, but you just watch your back.
Don't cross your knives upon your plate. Don't step upon a crack.

Don't go too close to mirrors. Those shiny sheets of glass
May crack, and cause misfortune. So shun them when you pass.
Of course, this means no mirror when you go to shave your chin,
So keep a basin near at hand to do your bleeding in.

Don't walk beneath a ladder, you may get splashed with paint.
For on Black Friday, the thirteenth, fortunate you ain't.
And be alert, and look around for black cats on this day.
For bad results are forecast, if one should cross your way.

If salt is spilled, then take a pinch, and toss it down your back,
Some say it will protect you from Black Friday type attack.
All your friends will laugh and jeer, but you'll say:"That's alright,
I only have to keep it up 'til twelve o'clock, to-night."

And just consider what you say. The person that you're rude to,
May be a special kind of witch. The kind that I allude to
Can turn you into cabbages, or make you very poor.
Remember. This is Friday, the thirteenth. I said before,

That triskaidekaphobia, (the terror of thirteen)
Is very rife, this day of days. A pretty dreadful scene.
So watch yourself in traffic, in the kitchen, everywhere.
For triskaidekaphobics, there is danger in the air.

Ah! Triskaidekaphobia. I just learned the word today.
And from here on in, I'll try to find excuses, just to say
Triskaidekaphobia. It just rolls off the tongue.
I'll say it daily, and enjoy the pleasure that it brung.

I'll buy a lottery ticket, and I'll call it: Triskaidek.
And when it wins, I'll take it all in cash, and not by cheque.
And really, I don't believe in luck, when all is done and said,
But just the same. Black Friday. I think I'll stay in bed.

And this was published. Perhaps self published, mind... There's some info on the poem and poet here, and some more here, and if you're interested in Triskaidekaphobia itself there's always the good ol' Wikipedia article.