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.]