TV

Mutual Friends
1x01 Episode One
Not bad, though it does fall into the usual comedy-drama trap of not being all that much of either. That said, there were a few good laugh-out-loud moments. But it's too long at an hour -- 30 minutes would've suited it better.

Outnumbered
1x03 Episode 3 [2nd watch]

The Tudors
2x01 Everything is Beautiful
2x02 Tears of Blood

Music

Selections from the Avenue Q Soundtrack by the original Broadway cast
Since seeing this and getting hold of the music, I've been listening to the following tracks fairly regularly:

Everyone's a Little Bit Racist

The Internet is For Porn

My Girlfriend, Who Lives in Canada

There is Life Outside Your Apartment

Silent Cry (Deluxe Edition) by Feeder
[3rd listen]
Stand out tracks for me (so far) are:

We Are the People

Itsumo

Silent Cry

Who's the Enemy

Into the Blue

Articles

Battlestar Galactica franchise steams ahead by Chris Talbott
(from Mail.com)
Long-ish article on two forthcoming Battlestar Galactica spin-offs (in spite of the series' falling ratings).

A fall TV season with questions in the air by Frazier Moore
(from Mail.com)
"It's hard to make an argument that viewers are breathlessly awaiting ABC's fall season -- or any other network's... only 17 new series have been slotted for fall -- about half the usual number." General article about the state of US TV as it heads into the time of year when, traditionally, all their new shows start. It's quite an interesting analysis (yes, even for normal folks) handily broken down by topic -- including one on the number of international formats they've copied, many of them British.

National Lampoon To Spoof Gladiator/300 by Chris Hewitt
(from Empire Online)
"Dear God, someone make them stop!"

New Che Poster Online by Glen Ferris
(from Empire Online)
"Steven Soderbergh's epic Che Guevara biopic, which is going under the alternating titles ofChe, Guerilla and The Argentine -- what the final title will be depends on whether or not Soderbergh decides to run the movie in its full four-hour cut or split it into two seperate flicks." So, that answers that then.

Rushdie anger at policeman's book
and
Bodyguard apologises to Rushdie
(from BBC News)
"A former police officer has apologised to Sir Salman Rushdie for false claims he made in a book about the author." I came across the latter first, which (presumably for legal reasons) doesn't repeat the claims made. Thankfully, the first one helps explain things. (Incidentally, the latter article was called "Apology for Rushdie over claims" when I read it earlier. Why the change? Odd things do go on at the BBC News site...)

Two More Riddick Films Coming? by Helen O'Hara
(from Empire Online)
Seriously? Chronicles of Riddick (which, all things considered, was badly in need of a subtitle) was four years ago already (seems longer) and hardly an unequivocal success.

Warner 'sues over Puttar movie'
(from BBC News)
"Harry Potter maker Warner Bros is suing an Indian film company over the title of upcoming film Hari Puttar: A Comedy Of Terrors, according to reports." A bit like Fox suing over Watchmen, they've left it suspiciously late.

TV

Big Cat Week
2x01 (3/1/2005 edition)
Or Big Cat Diary 7x01, depending on how you want to look at it. Who'd've though a simple BBC wildlife series would have complex season/episode numbering issues? It'll be even worse when the 2008 series starts, cos they've changed the name back to Diary. Does that make it Big Cat Diary 7x01 this year, skipping the three Weeks; or is it 10x01, despite 6, 7 & 8 being Weeks? More importantly, why do I care? (I've gone with 2x01 here, incidentally, because it is technically Week series two, and is labelled as such on the DVD I'm watching from. So there.)

Dragons' Den
6x06 (25/8/08 edition)

Edinburgh Military Tattoo
Or, at least, bits of it.

Marple
3x03 Towards Zero [2nd half]

Outnumbered
1x01 Episode 1 [2nd watch]
1x02 Episode 2 [2nd watch]
BBC Three are repeating this excellent half-improvised sitcom about parenting, ahead of a second series on BBC One sometime in the future. You really should watch it, it's great.

Spooks
5x05 The Message

Articles

Sci Fi sinks SG Atlantis by Tim Surette
and
Stargate reopens new Universe by Tim Surette
(from TV.com)
Could the Stargate franchise finally be dead? As it turns out, no, of course it isn't.

Tropic film holds on to top spot
(from BBC News)
The Dark Knight battles on, sitting in 4th place this weekend behind Tropic Thunder (in only its second week) and two new releases -- and only $5.8m behind #1 too. But this particular article is worth reading because, thanks to poor writing, it implies Titanic took $601m this weekend.

TV

Beijing 2008 Olympics: Closing Ceremony
I'm still not convinced that the Chinese should have the Olympics -- apparently, according to some commentators, the human rights issues seem "long ago" now. Idiots. Anyway, it was lower key than the stunning opening ceremony, but in an of itself you'd never describe it as "low key". Best bit? Boris Johnson, of course. Boris Johnson is always the best bit. The Memory Tower was pretty impressive, though Zhang Yimou's work is somewhat undermined by his recent criticisms of the West actually having human rights. (Watched on the BBC, what with now being back in the UK.)

Marple
3x03 Towards Zero [1st half]
ITV's scheduling of its Marples and Poirots is decidedly odd -- it has at least four of the latter completed but unbroadcast (the last was shown about two years ago), while this Marple premiered in Canada in February 2007, but only just aired here the other week. There's another episode (Nemesis) that also aired in Canada back then, and in Finland (Finland!) in January to boot, as well as Australia, and probably others, which they still haven't scheduled for the UK. They're an odd lot at ITV... (Additionally, these are the last two episodes starring Geraldine McEwan, who has been replaced by Julia McKenzie -- perhaps ITV are just trying to delay the change-over?)

Films

Hot Shots! (1991)
I've seen Hot Shots! before, though I couldn't say how many times. The last was years ago though, and I've grown up, which seems to have dulled its humour considerably. There are still some funny bits at least.

TV

Gilmore Girls
4x22 Raincoats and Recipes [season finale]

Mock the Week
6x05 (7/8/08 edition)

Poirot
10x04 Taken at the Flood [season finale]
A weak tale, with a particularly implausible and unengaging plot. Also, the title is meaningless.

Would I Lie To You?
2x07 (22/8/08 edition)

Films

Flushed Away (2006)
[#57 in 100 Films in a Year 2008]
Still really, really far behind with my reviews...

TV

Dragons' Den
6x05 (18/8/08 edition)
The most padded show on TV is still great entertainment, a massive intellectual cut above shows like The X Factor despite occasionally sharing some of the same traits. This season there's extra footage available online, though quite why this isn't put into the show at the expense of Evan Davis' repetitive commentary I don't know.

Gilmore Girls
4x20 Luke Can See Her Face
4x21 Last Week Fights, This Week Tights

Mock the Week
6x07 (21/8/08 edition)
A particularly hilarious episode.

Poirot
10x02 Cards on the Table [2nd watch]
[2nd half]

Articles

Eon Productions Pass On Devil May Care Film Rights by Matt Weston
and
Broccoli And Faulks Talk Devil Film Rights Snub by Matt Weston
(from CommanderBond.net)
"Eon Productions had passed on the movie rights to Sebastian Faulks’ one-off James Bond novel, Devil May Care... “Devil May Care is a period book which is set in the 1960s, and it really wouldn’t fit as one of the films that Eon has been making recently,” Broccoli [said]... Faulks, meanwhile, raised a valid point: “I would have thought that if you could move Casino Royale from the 1950s you could move Devil May Care from the Sixties.”"

The Movie-Con Blog by Olly Richards
(from BFI Presents the Empire Movie-Con)
Oh new Watchmen footage, how I wish thee could be seen!

Production Stopped On The Sweeney Film by Chris Hewitt
(from Empire Online)
Cancelled by damn Yanks for fear of a lack of international appeal. Damn Yanks. If it was only going to cost $16m, surely it would've made that back in the UK alone; and, if it was any good, it would make enough worldwide to top it up? But hey, what do studio execs know? (Answer: not much.)

"We wanted to join the family of Barry, Bassey, Connery and Craig." by Matt Weston
(from CommanderBond.net)
"Jack White discusses his collaboration with Alicia Keys on [new Bond theme] Another Way To Die." And he sounds like a bit of a cock, to be honest.

Will This Be The Worst Film Ever? by Helen O'Hara
(from the Empire blog)
O'Hara makes a good case for why the forthcoming 'satire' An American Carol may be the most morally repulsive film ever made. See what you think by watching the trailer here.

TV

Friday Night With Jonathan Ross
14x25 (11/7/08 edition) [season finale]

Mock the Week
6x06 (14/8/08 edition)
The first time I've watched something on BBC iPlayer through my Virgin Media TV service. The image quality was below normal, of course, but not noticeably so most of the time. In fact, it all worked pretty darn well.

Poirot
10x02 Cards on the Table [2nd watch]
[1st half]

Films

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
[#56 in 100 Films in a Year 2008]
I'm getting really, really far behind with my reviews now...

Articles

Review of X-Men (Animated Television Series): Season 1 - Volume 1 DVD by Eamonn McCusker
(from DVD Times)
My God I used to love this show. I can't wait to finally get it on DVD. The theme music is absolutely classic -- all together now: "dododododo do-do, dododododo do-do! Dododododo-do-do... do-do, dooo-do!"

TV

Friday Night With Jonathan Ross
14x24 (4/7/08 edition)
On which I discovered they're making a film spin-off from The Thick of It, called In the Loop.

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
19x05 (23/11/08 edition) [2nd watch]
Buzzcocks has been so much better since Simon Amstell took over as host (it's been almost two years now). In this episode, a squeaky-voiced pink-shirt-wearing Daniel Bedingfield seems to be trying to out-camp John Barrowman. Ha!

Would I Lie To You?
2x05 (8/8/08 edition)

Films

Stardust (2007)
[#55 in 100 Films in a Year 2008]

Articles

Legal Battle Over Watchmen Movie
(from WENN)
Well this came out of nowhere.

Tropic Thunder Topples Dark Knight by Olly Richards
(from Empire Online)
"The Dark Knight may have slipped, but it only went as far as number two, taking another $16.8 million. That's pushed it to $471.5 million domestically, making it the second highest grossing film of all time, after Titanic. Yes, it's surpassed Star Wars, which has earned $461 million in its various releases."

Review of The Jane Austen Book Club by Angie Errigo
(from Empire Online)

Review of Stardust by Dan Jolin
(from Empire Online)
"Patchy but great fun, peppering plenty of black humour into a sweet if silly fairy-tale romance."

Russell Crowe To Play Bill Hicks? by Helen O'Hara
(from Empire Online)
A biopic of Bill Hicks? Could be cool. But really, why not just watch some recordings of his gigs?

TV

Would I Lie To You?
2x06 (15/8/08 edition)

Films

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
[2nd watch]
Better second time round.

The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)
[#54 in 100 Films in a Year 2008]

TV

Mock the Week
6x02 (17/7/08 edition)
6x03 (24/7/08 edition)
6x04 (31/7/08 edition)

Would I Lie To You?
2x02 (18/7/08 edition)
2x03 (25/7/08 edition)
2x04 (1/8/08 edition)