TV

Natural World
Elephants Without Borders
There seem to be loads of elephant-related programmes on recently. Inevitably there's some repetition of content, but the images are still amazing. This one marked itself out with some astounding aerial photography.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

QI
6x07 Fingers and Fumbs (extended edition)
Having moaned at them having both versions of QI on iPlayer (regular and extended), they now only have the shorter cut. How bloody stupid.
[Watch the shorter version on iPlayer.]

Terry Pratchett: Living With Alzheimer's
Part 1 (of 2)
Fascinating, well-made documentary.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The British Academy Film Awards 2009

Not many surprises here then, though from what I know most of the nods were deserved. It amuses me that bookies had Noel Clarke as third favourite to win the Rising Star Award -- obviously they know nothing of the dedication Doctor Who fans show to current & former cast & crew members, and the ability of Who fandom to swing an online poll whichever way they want.

Aside from a few good speeches and a few good jokes (including a well-timed jibe from Wossy about his recent suspension), perhaps the most notable thing about this year's awards was the BBC's decision to show it across three channels -- the red carpet on BBC Three, the first hour on BBC Two, and the final hour on BBC One. It seems a ridiculous idea, but actually make a lot of sense: when most viewers only care about the tip-top awards, why waste an hour of primetime BBC One with Best Hair & Make-Up and Best Cinematography? I'd be annoyed if they weren't shown at all, but as they were on BBC Two for those of us who are interested, it seems sensible enough to me.

More bemusing was choosing not to show in full the Best Animated Film award (WALL-E!) and Best Animated Short (Wallace & Gromit!), both of which had very popular and notable winners.

Films

Marnie (1964)
[#6 in 100 Films in a Year 2009]

Marnie Trailer
Absolutely brilliant! Hitchcock merrily takes the mick out of his own unreleased film, in the process making it appear even better -- and suggesting it might be a good deal funnier -- than it actually is. I wish more films were trailed like this; though if they were, it would make this shining example less unique and enjoyable. It's on the DVD and I recommend it highly.

TV

Cracker
1x03 To Say I Love You Part 1
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

So, Demons, eh? So much for being just one week behind, I'm now over two. And I was doing so well...

Poetry

The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde
Wilde's long but rewarding poem about a hanging that took place while he was in prison. The carefully-observed rhythm, rhyme and alliteration are all right up my street. (I'd consider it for Poem of the Week, but it's so bloody long...)

Magazines

Doctor Who Magazine #405
Matt Smith is the Doctor... though he's not treated to that famous DWM headline just yet, 'cause there's still four episodes left for The Other Guy. There is his first-ever exclusive magazine interview since landing the part, however, and despite filming being six months away there are a few tidbits for fans nonetheless.
Not a great deal else of note in this issue, it must be said, especially as the key snippets of news were blown on Outpost Gallifrey the day before it came out. I guess they've given up on their former policy of not stealing DWM's news in advance then.

TV

Moses Jones
Part 1 (of 3)
A good little thriller, even if there were one or two logic holes. Hopefully Matt Smith will use a different accent when it comes to playing the 11th Doctor -- that one's a bit too similar to Tennant's for my taste.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Torchwood: Children of Earth Trailer
Looks good! Shame it's not going to be on for ages.

Articles

Interview with Mouse Guard's David Petersen by Chris Dahlen
(from A.V. Club)
Mouse Guard is bleedin' brilliant, and this is a nice interview with its creator/writer/artist, covering topics from how the series began to where its going to plans for a movie version that are kinda surprising...

Poem of the Week: Poetry

by Edmund Vance Cooke

In the week I start the Poetry module of my MA, I thought this was an appropriate choice.

To deftly do what many dimly think;
     To fund a feeling for the world to borrow;
To turn a tear to printer's ink;
     To make a sonnet of a sorrow.

Edmund Vance Cooke lived between 1866 and 1932. For a bit more info and some more of his work, look to Representative Poetry Online. (He doesn't have a Wikipedia entry! Shocking, I know.)

TV

Lark Rise to Candleford
2x06 Episode 6
If I didn't know better, I'd've thought this was the last episode. By Lark Rise standards, positively action-packed.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

2009’s Oscar nominees: What if Celebrity Nudity Database.com picked the winners? by Keith Phipps
(from A.V. Club)
Highly amusing. Somewhat unsurprisingly, Kate Winslet and The Reader seem to win most things.

Hell is plastic: 18 calamitous music and movie packaging gimmicks by Christopher Bahn, Josh Modell, Keith Phipps, Leonard Pierce, Noel Murray & Scott Tobias
(from A.V. Club)
I personally love novelty packaging, but it's true that some of it is a disaster.

"Surprises" Promised For Oscars
(from Studio Briefing)
"this year's Oscars show will 'have its own narrative line -- not merely handing out the awards, but doing it in a way that tells a story'". Well, that's... different...

TV

Broken Saints
Chapter 19 Signals
Yes, the pretentiousness still lingers, but look at the story move! If only it had gone at this (relatively normal, it must be said) rate from the earliest episodes it might've garnered a wider appeal.

This World
Mandela: The 90th Year
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Argumental
1x13 Best of Argumental [season finale]
Mostly just bits we've already seen, of course, but it was a long series with lots worth re-enjoying; plus, I missed two episodes, so there were a few things I'd never seen from them. And it was worth watching just for the short segment of outtakes, including John Sergeant having to mime pressing a buzzer -- at least ten times more entertaining than that sounds.
Argumental returns in March -- yay!

Broken Saints
Chapter 18 Forecast
Elements like prophecies and dreams are often rather silly things in drama -- they tend not to advance the plot, just pad things out suggesting what might be to come. While the Tarot card reading in this episode is very atmospheric and nicely done, it's also incredibly easy to guess the significance of every part; consequently, it doesn't add anything to the story and goes on far too long. Nice fight at the end though.

Articles

Is Matt Damon right to brand James Bond 'repulsive'? by Ben Child
(from Film Blog at guardian.co.uk)
"Matt Damon has confirmed he will return for a fourth Bourne film, and used the opportunity to take another side-swipe at 007. But will the British secret agent have the last laugh?"
Yes, because however good Bourne is, the Bond franchise will far outlast him.

Porn interrupts Super Bowl TV coverage by Robert Booth
(from guardian.co.uk)
"As this year's clash between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals neared a thrilling climax, TV viewers in Tuscon, Arizona, witnessed an intimate exposure of a completely different order... with less than three minutes to play in a tightly fought final, the Cardinals had taken the lead with a crucial touchdown. Fans watching in Arizona would have been forgiven for scenting a victory for their team against the odds. Then the pictures from Tampa disappeared. Instead, viewers were astonished to see a woman unzipping a man's trousers to reveal "full male nudity" followed by what was described as "a graphic act" between the couple. Somehow, the feed from Super Bowl XLIII had been mixed up with a 30-second excerpt from Club Jenna, an adult cable TV channel featuring Jenna Jameson, one of America's most famous porn actresses."
All I have to say about this is, "lol". And some quotes to add to the humour:
""I just figured it was another commercial until I looked up," Cora King, of Marana, told the Arizona Daily Star. "Then he did his little dance with everything hanging out." Another viewer, Jeanene Piek, said she was outraged that her granddaughter had seen the clip. "I was in a state of shock. I am totally disgusted," she said."

TV

Broken Saints
Chapter 16 Fallen
Chapter 17 Lazarus
Lazarus is by far the best chapter yet, containing both some comprehensible plot and some decent character drama too. And then, just to cement things, the closing quote is from Doctor Who!

TV

QI
6x06 Fakes and Frauds (extended edition)
They put both cuts of QI on iPlayer now, y'know. Why?! is all I have to say on that.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Eurovision: Your Country Needs You
Episode 5 (of 5)
In which the person who will inevitably lose this year's Eurovision for us was chosen, and it was... oh, darn it, I've forgotten. They all sang the song the same anyway, despite the judges insisting they all "made it their own". What a load of twaddle.
Despite our protestations, we've still won Eurovision more times than anyone else... or possibly exactly the same times as someone else... still, we're either first or joint first.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Friday Night With Jonathan Ross
16x02 (30/1/09 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Broken Saints
Chapter 15 Tempest

Lark Rise to Candleford
2x05 Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Not Going Out
3x01 Pregnant
I remember, when Not Going Out started, being worried it wouldn't even make it to a second series; but here's the third, and there was a Christmas special to boot! (Research reveals that was Christmas 2007, and there hasn't been a series since. God, time flies -- I didn't think it was this year, but it also doesn't feel like almost 13 months since it was last on. I must be getting old...)
Anyway, the quality seems to have stepped back up too (the second series wasn't half as good as the first). Incredibly traditional sitcom? Undoubtedly. Some jokes predictable? Yes. But it's still hilarious, so does that matter? Not a jot.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter (R1/US BD) in March by Dave Foster
(from DVD Times)
So, this isn't the UK release, but oh, look, Watchmen is most surely on its way now! Also very nice to note is the stylistic similarity between the cover for this and the also-recently-announced DVD/BD of The Complete Motion Comic -- hopefully the eventual release of the film (and the already-promised extended re-release) will also follow this design.

Watchmen: The End is Nigh
(from Wikipedia)
In other Watchmen news, some info on the video game (and as it's from Wikipedia, it'll always be up-to-date -- hurrah!)

Poem of the Week: Lenore

by Edgar Allan Poe

Yep, it's Poe again. However, there's a good reason. You may've noticed Lenore mentioned in last week's poem. Well, here's an earlier poem by Poe that may or may not bear some relation...

Ah, broken is the golden bowl! the spirit flown forever!
Let the bell toll! — a saintly soul floats on the Stygian river,
And, Guy De Vere, hast thou no tear? — weep now or never more!
See! on yon drear and rigid bier low lies thy love, Lenore!
Come! let the burial rite be read — the funeral song be sung! —
An anthem for the queenliest dead that ever died so young —
A dirge for her the doubly dead in that she died so young.

"Wretches! ye loved her for her wealth and hated her for her pride,
"And when she fell in feeble health, ye blessed her — that she died!
"How shall the ritual, then, be read? — the requiem how be sung
"By you — by yours, the evil eye, — by yours, the slanderous tongue
"That did to death the innocence that died, and died so young?"

Peccavimus; but rave not thus! and let a Sabbath song
Go up to God so solemnly the dead may feel no wrong!
The sweet Lenore hath "gone before," with Hope, that flew beside,
Leaving thee wild for the dear child that should have been thy bride —
For her, the fair and debonair, that now so lowly lies,
The life upon her yellow hair but not within her eyes —
The life still there, upon her hair — the death upon her eyes.

"Avaunt! to-night my heart is light. No dirge will I upraise,
"But waft the angel on her flight with a Pæan of old days!
"Let no bell toll! — lest her sweet soul, amid its hallowed mirth,
"Should catch the note, as it doth float — up from the damnéd Earth.
"To friends above, from fiends below, the indignant ghost is riven —
"From Hell unto a high estate far up within the Heaven —
"From moan and groan, to a golden throne, beside the King of Heaven."

Lenore was revised many times throughout Poe's life, and consequently there an unbelievably large number of variations out there. This, to the best of my knowledge, is his final version, published in August 1845. For the first, published February 1843, look here.

In fact, the very first version was published in 1831, as A Pæan, and is considered so different from the finished product that they're both usually published in anthologies.

You can learn even more about Lenore over at the ever-reliable Wikipedia.