Articles

The best books of 2011 by Alison Flood
(from guardian.co.uk)
Yes, you read that right -- the year that's only 15 days old. Films and games have these "what's to come this year" lists all the time, so why not books? ...is, I suppose, the theory. Not sure it works.
(Came to my attention because it mentions the forthcoming new James Bond novel, still code-named Project X though apparently being launched in Dubai on Monday, so maybe we'll learn the real title then.)

TV

The Graham Norton Show
8x11 (7/1/11 edition)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Great Outdoors
1x01 Episode 1
This went largely unnoticed on BBC Four last summer (I missed it anyway), but it's a rather good sitcom featuring a host of familiar faces. Recommended. And there's only three episodes, so I do hope they commission more.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Jimmy Wales says Wikipedia too complicated for many by Jonathan Fildes
(from BBC News)
Not to read, but to contribute to. They're planning to make it easier in the future.
Quite aside from the mildly sensationalist headline, there's more interesting stuff here from a BBC interview with Wales -- you can tell it's a relatively significant article because it actually has a byline, something the BBC News site is hardly known for.

Collection Count

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

After the Christmas and post-Christmas extravaganzas, there's just one new title this week. And that might be it for a while too. Although there are a few titles I desired that I didn't get for Christmas that I could pick up... but it's not as if I don't have enough else to watch, and it's not as if January sales matter any more when most DVD/BD retailers have permanent sales with the same titles at the same prices all year round (until they drop even cheaper). So, no rush.

Not that that'll necessarily stop me.

Number of titles in collection: 1,259 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 1,100 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 158 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 3,137 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 1,335 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 4,545 [no change]

Statistic of the week is going on an extended holiday while I think if there's anything more I really want to do with it. The running time updates will continue every four weeks as usual.

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Tonight, I watched two programmes when they were actually on (more or less)! What is the world coming to...

How I Met Your Mother
6x04 Subway Wars
A rather good one, I thought.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Not Going Out
4x02 Debbie
Also a rather good one, I thought.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Zen
1x02 Cabal
Another rather good one, I thought. The Italian's, shall we say, flexible attitude to justice certainly makes for an unusual crime story.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Articles

Kiefer Sutherland’s First Post-24 Role: Web Series The Confession by Robyn Ross
(from TV Guide)
Also starring John Hurt, so screams potential.

Movie Poster of the Week: The Best of 2010 by Adrian Curry
(from Mubi)
I do love a good movie poster, and while this may be missing any of the excellent Inception posters (with this being the best), it's still an intriguing and (naturally) eye-catching list.

We’re Living in the Future, errrr Wait by Paul Tassi
(from Unreality)
Back to the Future's Marty and Doc travel 25 years into the future to see what's changed. As it turns out, not much...

TV

Just Good Friends
2x02 Another Man

Little Crackers
Episode 8 Car Park Babylon
Episode 9 The Norris McWhirter Chronicles: A True Story
Episode 12 Uncle Santa [final episode]
That's those done, then. The last two here were amongst the best I thought, though David Baddiel's was resolutely nowt to do with Christmas. And Meera Syal's was Sky's first comedy programme to be shot in 3D. Not sure why. I expect "why not" may in fact have been the motivation.
(And if you're interested, here's the article Baddiel references at the start of his film.)

Articles

10 steps that defined every X-Files episode by Scott Edelman
(from blastr)
So true.

20 Greatest Fake Criterion Covers by George Wales
(from Total Film)
Most amusing, though you'll need at least a passing knowledge of the Criterion Collection to get it.

Child gets Saw 3D advert banned
(from BBC News)

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ... ruled the advert must not be be broadcast again in its current form before 2100.

Ah yes, what a handy ruling almost three months after the film came out.

Christopher Nolan (Somewhat) Explains Inception by Matt Goldberg
(from Collider)
This article is pushing two months old now, but I missed it at the time, so here it is for you now. Quite interesting too.

James Cameron calls Peter Berg's Battleship movie 'ridiculous' by Carol Pinchefsky
(from blastr)
"the only reason sequels exist is because Hollywood is out of ideas and is forced to re-use the same characters and storylines," says Cameron, director of Aliens, Terminator 2, Avatar 2 and Avatar 3.

TV

Little Crackers
Episode 10 First Kiss
Episode 11 The Queen Mother's Visit

The Mentalist
3x10 Jolly Red Elf
Christmassy.
The season has now recommenced in the US (just), but no signs of when Five will bring it over here -- they're repeating season one for at least two more weeks.
[Watch it (again) on Demand Five.]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
24x13 End of Series Compilation Show [season finale]
A fairly worthwhile clip show -- the clips are funny, and the linky bits are typically Buzzcocks in their unusualness.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Saw VI (2009)
[#1 in 100 Films in a Year 2011]
So this is the latest I've started 100 Films to date. Still, last year was the previous latest and that turned out OK.

DVD Extras

A Killer Maze: Making Saw: Game Over
from Saw VI Blu-ray
A behind-the-scenes look at Saw: Game Over, part of Universal theme parks' Halloween Horror Nights in 2009 -- a walk-through attraction based on the Saw films.

Articles

Band of Brothers' Maj Richard Winters dies aged 92
(from BBC News)
RIP.

BOND IS BACK! Daniel Craig and Sam Mendes Set For Nov. 9, 2012 Release Date by Nikki Finke
(from Deadline Hollywood)
Good news!

TV

Derren Brown: Behind the Mischief
A nice little look at Derren the person, to mark the 10th anniversary of his TV career. Perhaps disappointingly short on new insights into his tricks though.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Just Good Friends
2x01 Guilt

Little Crackers
Episode 6 Better Than Christmas
Episode 7 Goodbye Fluff
Jo Brand's episode (Goodbye Fluff) is one of the best so far -- it's actually funny. Christmas shorts by comedians don't have to be funny, I suppose, but as they're a) by comedians, and b) open with a "Sky Comedy" logo, you kinda expect laughs.

The Magicians
1x02 Episode 2
I did the play-along-at-home trick this week (having done last week's after the show -- even having seen the answer, it didn't work). This week it did work... but then the thing on the website is insanely easy for the production to rig -- and, having tried it a few times, I never got the wrong card -- so I'm afraid I don't buy it as a proper trick. Still, love the theme music.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
24x12 Episode 12

The South Bank Show
37x09 Victoria Wood Revisited
Remember when, back in September, I said I was finally getting round to watching these South Bank Show Revisiteds? Yeeeaaah...

Articles

Allen, Hurley facing Twitter investigation? by Kristy Kelly
(from Digital Spy)

Lily Allen and Liz Hurley could face an investigation for promoting products through Twitter... The pair may have breached Office of Fair Trading rules by endorsing products on the site for money without declaring an interest

Quite right, if true, just not a kind of story you expect to hear.

TV

The Mentalist
3x09 Red Moon

Wallander [film series]
Firewall Part 2 (of 2) (aka Brandvägg)
See yesterday.

this week on 100 Films

Just 1 new review was posted to 100 Films in a Year this week, but that was due to my duo of end-of-year summary posts.

First up, the Full List of what I watched in 2010 -- including exciting statistics about my viewing!

Secondly -- and finally for the year (other than the handful of reviews still to come) -- I look back on my Bottom 5 and Top 10 films I saw in In Retrospect.

Plus, as I said, that one review:

The Hurt Locker (2008)

The opening quote and closing scenes make explicit the main theme — war is a drug, one James is addicted to — but I’m not sure how present this is in the body of the story. Rather, the majority feels like an attempt to convey the experience of living as an explosives expert in a warzone, with James’ ‘addiction’ just a side effect of that.

More next Sunday.

TV

Derren Brown: Enigma
Brilliant, as ever, though there are bits that, as ever, I wish he'd explain how they were done.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Just Good Friends
1x07 Moving In... And Out Again [season finale]

Horizon
Is Seeing Believing?
Happened to turn this on after Derren Brown. It's supposedly on iPlayer but doesn't seem to be working (perhaps because it's a repeat from October), which is a shame because it's fascinating and I'd recommend it.

Primeval
4x03 Episode 3
Even attempting to begin to enjoy Primeval requires the ability to switch your brain off. This seems to be a skill the writers have in abundance -- the plot holes and implausibilities are so numerous I gave up even noticing them by the end. And I remain unsure why I keep watching this series... probably a misguided, masochistic sense of "I've started so I'll bloody well finish".
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player soon.]

QI
8x15 Hypnosis, Hallucinations & Hysteria (extended repeat)
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Wallander [film series]
Firewall Part 1 (of 2) (aka Brandvägg)
BBC Four jump to the eighth adaptation from the other Swedish Wallander (as you may remember, last time was the sixth), a tale that has also been adapted by the Branagh series -- though, as this is a two-parter, the British version was done in half the running time. I watched that version just over two years ago, so while I remember some details I have no real idea where this is going. Which is rather nice.

Articles

History Channel Pulls The Kennedys; Says Controversial Miniseries 'Not a Fit’ by Matthew Belloni
(from The Hollywood Reporter)
They do bizarre things in Americaland -- like commission and produce a whole expensive eight-hour miniseries, and then decide not to show it.

Torchwood: Miracle Day revealed by Chuck Foster
(from Doctor Who News Page)
Love the plot; hate the new subtitle.

TV

The Graham Norton Show
8x10 New Year's Eve Show
Said so.

Little Crackers
Episode 2 Capturing Santa
Episode 3 My First Nativity
Episode 4 Satan's Hoof
Two of these concern children's inappropriate urination. Awkward coincidence.

Live at the Apollo
6x06 (1/1/11 edition) [season finale]
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Not Going Out
4x01 Drugs
Despite being cancelled, it's back! Hurrah! Not Going Out may be a rather old-school sitcom, but it's still damn funny, and that's what counts.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Collection Count

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

As we head deep into 2011 (well, a whole week), here's the tally for how my collection stood at the very end of 2010 (though, to be honest, it still stands this way). Basically, these increases represent a couple of new arrivals between last week's Christmas Day-fuelled update and the end of 2010... which is when last week's update was posted... Look, don't worry about it.

Numbers this week don't necessarily reflect purchases: once again, something's gone wrong somewhere and I've had to rebalance the numbers. This shouldn't happen, but it's because I update this each week based on the previous week's totals and update my DVD/BD master list separately at another time, which means... Look, don't worry about it.

Number of titles in collection: 1,258 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,100 [up 3]
Of which Blu-rays: 157 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 3,136 [up 7]
Number of films in collection: 1,334 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 4,545 [up 1]

Statistic of the week:

Total running time of collection (approx.):
224 days, 6 hours, and 15 minutes.
(Up 9 days, 7 hours, and 31 minutes from last month.)

That's the biggest running time increase ever, fact fans! Almost 2½-times more of an increase than last Christmas', and almost double the next-largest. Nice.

See you next week, faithful reader.