TV

Loose Women
6/7/09 edition
Featuring John Barrowman, who's always a riot.

Torchwood
3x01 Children of Earth: Day One
The new series of Torchwood gets off to a flying start -- a proper semi-political thriller, packed with all the requisite mystery and twists (and genuine ones at that!), but not losing any of the show's usual humour, character or quirkiness.
It also impressed in seeming to contain more plot and action than your average Torchwood episode, despite being the first not to tell a self-contained story. This may be the skill of having Russell T Davies back in the writer's chair -- imbuing more pace and interest into 59-minutes that tell just one fifth of a story than most writers can achieve telling a whole tale in 45 minutes. That's without mentioning how multi-faceted it was, managing to throw in horror and sci-fi plot points right beside domestic relationships, sweet character moments and broad comedy.
This is what Torchwood has been aiming to be all along, and it was fantastic. Let's just hope the rest of the story can live up to the opener...
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Moving update

Due to technical issues relating to my move (see previous few days for related posts), updates to this blog will not appear with their regular efficiency for the next week. Rest assured that updates will continue daily (though delayed) and normal service will resume shortly.

TV

Wimbledon 2009
The Men's Singles final, of course. I'm glad Federer got his record-breaking 15th Grand Slam title at what is almost his home Slam, though felt sorry for Roddick -- he worked hard, deserved it at least as much, and has just the one Slam win to his name (so far). He looked almost broken.

Technology

Spent most of today moving stuff again, but that included setting up my oft-discussed new TV arrangement.

I've not had a chance to fully calibrate and enjoy it yet, but the brief check-it-works tests proved it all to be as stunning as I hoped.

Moving

My Cultural Experience spent today moving, with occasional breaks to visit the likes of B&Q, which rather got in the way of any more genuine cultural experiences.

TV

Wimbledon 2009
Today at Wimbledon, Andy Roddick put out number three seed -- and, thanks to the absence of Nadal, runner-up-favourite -- Andy Murray. Despite being British, I was more than a little pleased. Well done Roddick.

Articles

Listening to Mr iPhone by Rory Cellan-Jones
(from dot.life on the BBC Blog Network)
A moderately interesting piece about an interview (yes, "about an interview", not "an interview") with the designer of numerous Apple products, Jonathan Ive. Sadly, the comment section quickly degenerates into yet another Mac vs PC flame war.

World Exclusive: Hands-on with Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series on Blu-ray by Anton van Beek
(from Home Cinema Choice)
A first-look/review of the first 14 discs of the forthcoming UK/Region B release of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica on Blu-ray. After getting shafted with extras on the DVD releases, it looks as if the UK is getting a full port of the US Battlestar set. We may lose out on the Cylon action figure, but we get some different cool packaging -- and it's much cheaper than importing! And good news for both regions: looks like they've done it justice with the set. Something to seriously look forward to, then.

TV

Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow
1x04 Swansea [2nd half]
After waiting a few days for this in the end, it was a sadly disappointing second half.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

Bill Nighy joins cast of Deathly Hallows by Lara Martin
(from Digital Spy)
Though not which part he'll play.

Conversation, Forever Captured, in Dinner by Jen Chaney
(from The Washington Post)
An interesting review of the new Criterion DVD of My Dinner with André, which makes some interesting points about modern culture (specifically regarding the rise of YouTube).

Cybermen - Del-eat! Del-eat! by Dave Golder
(from SFX)
"This brilliant Cybercake, created by a shop called Truly Scrumptious was spotted by SFX reader David Todd... Apparently, the cake took four days to make."

Ross criticises Norton, Barrowman shows by Mayer Nissim
(from Digital Spy)
What is says in the title, really, though read the article if you want the exact quote. Could he be jealous of their increasing dominance at the Beeb?

Russell T Davies talks Torchwood by Ian Berriman
(from SFX)
Most Davies interviews are worth a read, and this is certainly no exception. A decent length too.

Magazines

Radio Times 4-10 July 2009
Torchwood's back! Hurrah! Good feature on it. Pretty cover (with exclusive imagery) too.

Articles

Review of How the West Was Won Blu-ray by Leonard Norwitz
(from DVDBeaver)
A great piece, part Blu-ray/film review and part article on the Cinerama process. There's some immensely insightful contributions from Cinerama documentarian Dave Strohmaier too (scroll right down past the screengrabs). It's a teeny bit technical, so primarily of interest to film/cinema/technology/Blu-ray buffs, and of course you have to battle past the AICN-esque lack of user-friendly design/formatting present at DVDBeaver, but I found it worth it.

Star Trek - What You Missed by Harry Barber
(from TNMC)
Barber has read an early version of the Star Trek script and here describes some of the stuff in there that didn't make the final cut, including at least one whole subplot. Whether it was cut at script stage or later, no one knows -- only the DVD/Blu-ray is likely to reveal that now.

Articles

Michael Jackson tops album chart
(from BBC News)
"Michael Jackson has topped the UK album chart and made six new entries in the singles top 40, six years after his last number one. Greatest hits album Number Ones rocketed from 121 to the top spot after a surge in sales since the superstar's death on Thursday... Four of his other hit albums also made a reappearance in the top 20... Thriller, still the biggest-selling album of all time, raced from 179 to number seven...
A total of 11 Michael Jackson or Jackson Five albums featured in the top 200. In the singles chart, 43 out of the top 200 singles feature the singer, with Jackson hits accounting for all but one of the new entries in the top 40."

Review of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
and
The Fall of the Revengers
by Roger Ebert (from rogerebert.com)
Ebert lays into Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen with his usual panache -- twice! I still haven't bothered to see it, but I can well believe every word of this.

Tomas, Tommy, Tom: Past, present and future? by Matt Withers
and
Three Toms in The Fountain by Marc Caddell
(from rogerebert.com)
Two different, but equally intelligent, views on what exactly is going on in The Fountain, a film many dislike but I thought was rather good (with some reservations).

Technology

As I've discussed my TV-related plans a couple of times before, I thought I'd give updates now final decisions have been made and things have been ordered.

HDTV: Samsung LE37B650
It may have flaws, but the ones it has are of little consequence to me, which means it's pros stand out all the more.
In the post.

Blu-ray Player: Panasonic DMP-BD60
One of the best around at this price point, and also one of the few available chipped for multi-region -- a must for me.
In the post.

TV/Broadband/Phone: V+HD / Virgin Media
Yes, last time I had been verging on Sky, but their offer ended. This is for the best really -- Virgin will cost a lot less and BBC HD is the main HD channel I'll watch anyway. Considering my TV has a USB slot that will play movie files, there are always other ways of accessing HD content...
Installation ordered.

Blu-rays
I've also ordered an initial batch of films, so I can actually enjoy my BD player (plus it will upscale my thousands of DVDs, of course).
Ordered / in the post.

Thanks to moving house as well, all of this should be completely set up in the next 5-10 days. Ooh it's exciting.

new review at 100 Films

Alien Resurrection (1997)

the most notable differences are its black humour, where the tastes of both [writer] Whedon and director Jeunet make their mark, and how grotesque it is — almost two extremes walking hand-in-hand. The deformed, perverted Ripley clones; the Hybrid; the Ripley-Alien sex scene — there’s nothing like this in the other films, and that’s a grand thing.

Read the full review at 100 Films.

There are currently numerous films in the review pipeline at 100 Films. As ever, updates here as and when they're posted.

TV

Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire
1x04 O Biclops, Where Art Thou?
Kröd's gone a little off the boil this week (many would say it was never on it), but it still has its moments -- most of them thanks to Matt Lucas, as usual.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow
1x04 Swansea [1st half]
For various reasons, I stopped almost dead on halfway through -- even though that was in the middle of someone's act. Still, very funny so far.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

That Mitchell and Webb Look
3x03 Episode 3
Vegetarian sketch = very, very good. James Bond sketch = genius. Rest = well above average for sketch shows.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Top Gear
13x02 (28/6/09 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

How good is the new Torchwood? Find out! by Ben Rawson-Jones
(from Digital Spy)
Well, "Find out!" if you trust DS's reviews, that is. I don't know if I do or not (though their opinion of Primeval season 3 was in my eyes wrong), but good reviews always bode well.

Technology

Shazam
Just got this iPhone app, as recommended by the latest issue of What Hi-Fi?

Essentially, you play a song into it (by holding the iPhone's mic as close to the source as you can get) and it does some clever jiggerypokery and tells you what the song is, including a link to the iTunes Store. (It also does some other stuff with tagging your location and photos and whatnot, but the song identification is its primary function.) It's worked flawlessly for me so far, and What Hi-Fi? put it through a moderately rigorous test too.

This is a bit of software I've always wanted and I'm overjoyed to finally discover it exists. Hurrah!

new review at 100 Films

Alien³ (1992)

Even if in some ways 3 combines the first two — single Alien, claustrophobia, unarmed heroes; but there are lots of them, most with experience of killing — it adds enough variety, especially stylistically, to mark it out... it soon turns dark, dirty and decrepit, abandoning both the the military sheen of Aliens and the old tanker grime of Alien.

Read the full review at 100 Films.

Tonight, I'll post a review of Alien Resurrection.

Articles

The blue and the green by Phil Plait
(from the Bad Astronomy blog at Discover)
This is a brilliant optical illusion. I highly recommend you follow the link and see why it's so good.
Seriously, it's great.

Talking to an Extraordinary Gentleman of letters
and
Language, Joyce, Newton, Bojeffries, magic and drugs advice
and
The Mighty Moore Marathon
by Pádraig Ó Méalóid (from the Forbidden Planet International Blog Log)
A very long, three-part interview with Alan Moore, discussing all kinds of stuff, far too much to even consider summarising. Quite interesting though. Well, some of it. Parts one and three, to be blunt. In fact, to be perfectly honest, it's far too damn long and needs a good edit. I mean, here's a good example (and, believe it or not, I've edited this a bit):

Moore: The other book which I am, I’ve read the first part, and am now looking forward to the second part, this is something that you won’t be able to find yet, it’s unpublished, but it’s by Brian Catling, the sculptor... What he’s written is a novel called The Vorrh, which is a three-part novel. I’ve read the first part...

Méalóid: Tell me how to spell Vorrh.

Moore: V H O O R? There’s another R on the end as well.

Méalóid: Could be another R on the end, yeah, we’ll put another R on the end, just to be safe.

Moore: I’ve got it here at my feet. Let’s just not be lazy, let’s open it up and see… VO double R H.

Méalóid: OK, got that. Fair enough. What am I going to ask you next?

But still, if you like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the first and third parts are must-reads.

new review at 100 Films

Aliens (1986)

Where Alien is a Horror Movie — but in space — Aliens is a War Movie — but in space. The central characters are a team of marines, as opposed to the original’s ordinary guys; where the first film’s design was dark, shadowy and oppressive, here it’s all gleaming tech, tanks and guns and spaceships and the like; and, just to underline the point, the score is full of military drums.

Read the full review at 100 Films.

Tonight, I'll post a review of Alien³, and tomorrow, one for Alien Resurrection.