TV

House
5x23 Under My Skin
5x24 Both Sides Now [season finale]
Twist-tastic closing episodes, Under My Skin showing off Hugh Laurie's finest detox acting and Both Sides Now managing a genuinely interesting Case of the Week at the same time as letting the arc plots take over more than ever. Still, it did make for a damn fine episode, with a highly unusual ending. Looking forward to the much-hyped feature-length season six opener.

How I Met Your Mother
2x02 The Scorpion and the Toad

Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire
1x05 Succubi: The Dawn's Early Light
A handy BBC HD repeat means I can finally catch the last two episodes of Kröd, only four months after I last saw it (I can't even remember why I missed these last two episodes any more).

TV

Emma
Part 2 (of 4)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Harper's Island
1x11 Splash
Now that was a better twist. Last week's reveal has certainly rejuvenated the series though, providing one of the best episodes. Next week, it all comes to an end...
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Harper's Island Unsolved
Half-hour behind-the-scenes special looking back over the first ten episodes, which rather makes you wonder why BBC Three didn't just wait until before episode thirteen and cover the whole series. Still, it was a surprisingly decent effort, in spite of Fearne Cotton's inane commentary.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Life
Part 1 Challenges of Life
The BBC's latest natural history epic, not that Damian Lewis cop show. Looks stunning in HD.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Life On Location
Part 1 Ice Alliance
Behind the scenes of the BBC's latest natural history epic.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

House
5x21 Saviors
5x22 House Divided
The first episode here is nothing to write home about, but the second was brilliant, the return of a familiar face -- though in an unusual way -- making for an excellent twist that works magnificently. The only downside is some poor CGI, the opening shot to Saviors looking no better than a bad computer game and the fire in House Divided having all the reality of a child's painting. That said, it did make for a hilarious scene in the morgue -- not something you see very often. Except in House.

How I Met Your Mother
1x22 Come On [season finale]
2x01 Where Were We?

Merlin
2x04 Lancelot and Guinevere
Wetter than a rainstorm on a river with a wet blanket floating down it.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

The Graham Norton Show
6x01 (5/10/09 edition)
Worries that Graham would be neutered by his move to BBC One prove to be unfounded, thankfully, but the show has been affected in other ways. Primarily, the number of guests: yes, he technically had two in 30 minutes before, while this new format is 50 minutes; but the uncut editions lasted 45 and worked fine with two guests, so upping the number to four just crowds things. Jonathan Ross has lots of guests because he simply interviews them; Graham does lots of silly audience things and other asides, and they're lessened by the too-many-guests issue. Maybe things will settle as the series progresses...
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

House
5x20 Simple Explanation
The one in which you-know-who does you-know-what (if you've seen it, you'll surely remember; if not, I won't spoil it). It's another in a run of beautifully complex episodes for House -- complex in terms of its regular characters and their lives rather than the Case of the Week. Again, it marks this year out as an exceptional one for the series. Also worth noting in this episode is the way it's been shot, gaining an unusually cold, grey palette after Foreman and Thirteen discover... well, you know.

Films

Blade Runner: The Final Cut (1982/2007)
[#58 in 100 Films in a Year 2009]
Numbering this may be bending the rules slightly (I've seen the 1992 Director's Cut before). But come on, this is Blade Runner -- in its final form after 25 years! The rules are justifiably bent.

DVD Extras

Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner
[1st half]
At just over 3½ hours long, this is a seriously in depth look at the making of Blade Runner, found on disc two of both the DVD and Blu-ray releases (in each case, the disc's a DVD). You'd think at that length it would be complete, but the five-disc editions of the film include the same again in further featurettes and interviews -- not to mention the four audio commentaries, 46 minutes of deleted scenes and five cuts of the film.
The four segments that make up this first half cover screenwriting & funding, casting, pre-production (with a focus on design) and some of the filming and atmosphere on set.

Fiction

Dean Koontz's Frankenstein - Book Three: Dead and Alive by Dean Koontz
Chapters 51 - 56
Pieces move into place as the final end draws near. They do an awful lot of moving into place though...

Articles

Barry Letts (1925-2009) by Anthony Weight
(from Doctor Who News Page)
Sad news indeed as one of the key figures in the history of Doctor Who passes away (ironically, the same day as his autobiography was announced). Letts worked on Who as a director, producer, writer, executive producer, novelist and DVD commentator, and in his time guided the programme through significant change in the Jon Pertwee era, helped create Sarah Jane Smith, and cast Tom Baker in the lead role. His influence can't be underestimated.

TV

House
5x18 Here Kitty
5x19 Locked In
First, a cat that can predict when people are going to die; second, House remakes The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (but with a happy ending). The writers are certainly experimenting a lot more this season, perhaps a bit tired of identikit Case of the Week episodes -- even if the majority seem to involve dialysis, brain surgery or both. not to mention the constant quitting and rehiring of team members. Whatever the reasons -- and in spite of these similarities -- it's paying off: this season has contained several of the show's best-ever instalments.

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
23x02 (8/10/09 edition)
Rhod Gilbert takes the chair this week, proving himself to be a different but adept host. Not a bad choice if they want a permanent replacement next series, then.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Fiction

Dean Koontz's Frankenstein - Book Three: Dead and Alive by Dean Koontz
Chapters 47 - 50

Articles

Defying Gravity Press Pack
(from BBC Press Office)
"Defying Gravity was inspired by the BBC drama-documentary series Space Odyssey: Voyage To The Planets broadcast on BBC One in 2004."
I loved Space Odyssey and always thought it would work brilliantly as an extended series, so I'm very much looking forward to this. It's not revealed in the press pack, but the BBC's Programme Information confirms it starts on Wednesday 21st October, with a double bill, on BBC Two and BBC HD.

Hacker refused extradition appeal

from BBC News.

Computer hacker Gary McKinnon has been refused permission to appeal to the UK Supreme Court against his extradition to the US. The High Court ruled the case was not of "general public importance" to go to the UK's highest court.

Mr McKinnon is accused of breaking into the US's military computer system. Mr McKinnon, who has Asperger's syndrome, insists he was just seeking evidence of UFOs... Mr McKinnon faces 60 years in prison if convicted in the US. His lawyers have said they may now take the case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. They argue that extradition of their client would have "disastrous consequences" for his health, including possible psychosis and suicide.

Mr McKinnon had challenged the refusal of Keir Starmer QC, the Director of Public Prosecutions, to put him on trial in the UK on charges of computer misuse - which would have allowed him to avoid extradition. Giving the court's decision on Friday, Lord Justice Stanley Burnton, who heard Mr McKinnon's latest appeal earlier this year, said extradition was "a lawful and proportionate response" to his alleged offending...

Reacting after the latest ruling, his mother Janis Sharp said no other country would offer its citizens to the US so readily "as sacrificial lambs" just to safeguard the special political relationship. She said: "To use my desperately vulnerable son in this way is despicable, immoral and devoid of humanity."

Mr McKinnon's solicitor, Karen Todner, said... "Why is our government so inhumane as to allow this to happen to someone, particularly someone with Aspergers, a form of autism? This is the wholesale destruction and bullying of a small individual by the United States and now our own government. Our extradition treaty with the US is unfair and prejudicial to UK citizens and should be repealed or amended immediately."

Sabina Frediani, campaigns co-ordinator for Liberty, which supported Mr McKinnon's case, said: "Never were justice and the law so out of sync as in the case of Britain's rotten extradition arrangements."

The Tories also criticised the UK's extradition arrangements with the US. Backbench MP David Davis said: "The reason this decision has been arrived at is because the British government created a set of laws and agreements which, masquerading as anti-terror laws, actually disadvantaged a whole range of British citizens. This is why the courts find themselves having to dispatch this young man to America, when he should face a proper trial in British courts. It is long past time that this travesty of justice was put right."

Read the full article here.

Poem of the Week: A Good Poem

by Roger McGough

You may have noticed (though, probably not) that the once-regular Poem of the Week has disappeared for the past couple of months. This is primarily due to my general disillusionment with poetry following a Creative Writing Masters degree -- whatever they might try to teach or tell you, it seems the 'poetry establishment' (if there is such a thing) is just as elitist and pretentious as it appears from the outside. I had no aspirations to 'break in' to poetry, but I was prepared to enjoy reading and writing it for my own entertainment. Both of these activities have been damaged, rather than encouraged, by my course.

As such, Poem of the Week is no more. But here's one final entry; one that captures some of my feelings about poetry, not only in its content but also with its light, readable style. There's a reason poets like McGough are well-known and well-loved beyond just the world of poetry itself, and perhaps some of the people stuck in that world would do well to remember it.

I like a good poem
one with lots of fighting
in it. Blood, and the
clanging of armour. Poems

against Scotland are good,
and poems that defeat
the French with crossbows.
I don't like poems that

aren't about anything.
Sonnets are wet and
a waste of time.
Also poems that don't

know how to rhyme.
If I was a poem
I'd play football and
get picked for England.

Cheerio.

new post at 100 Films

Alien vs Predator - Part 3

And that’s it. Except not for long, because Robert Rodriguez is working on a Predator continuation/reboot, not to mention the much-discussed Ridley Scott reboot/remake/prequel of Alien.

Read the full post at 100 Films.

TV

House
5x15 Unfaithful
5x16 The Softer Side
5x17 The Social Contract
This season of House has come in for criticism in some quarters for lacking the humour that made previous seasons so popular. I disagree. Perhaps it's more serious overall, but the characters' storylines are on the whole quite well interesting and well-done, especially in that they ebb and flow -- there's not a Single Huge Arc that takes all season, gradually building in every episode, but rather a variety of stories that come and go, arcs that last only an episode or two. It's more like real-life and, in my opinion, makes for more rewarding drama. Within these, they've pushed the show and its characters further than ever, and all without losing the humour -- it may appear less often, but House's biting wit is still there.
And, occasionally, the Case of the Week is good too. Shocking.

Fiction

Dean Koontz's Frankenstein - Book Three: Dead and Alive by Dean Koontz
Chapters 45 - 46
Not quite a third, is it?

Articles

Apple to Indie Labels: iTunes LP Is Out of Your League by John Herrman
(from Gizmodo)
Some days, it's hard to remain an Apple fan. Read the article for the full rather-hypocritical details.

Super-Social Networking: Superhero Facebook Status Updates by Chris Sims
(from Comics Alliance)
Very well observed. (It helps if you're a comics fan, or at least have a passing knowledge.) Superman's my favourite here, because of all the replies underlining what happens when you have too much continuity and too many 'original' ideas.

new review at 100 Films

AVPR - Aliens vs Predator: Requiem (2007)

Over-dark cinematography and typically choppy editing obscure every action sequence. Why is it that in an age where special effects are so improved and there’s a preference for real actors over stunt doubles, action sequences have become harder to follow?

Read the full review at 100 Films.

Tonight, I'll post a short overview of the franchises.

TV

Generation Kill
Part 1 Get Some
"What The Guys Who Made The Wire Did Next" gets off to a decent start. Perhaps the obvious comparison is Band of Brothers - -a lofty comparison, but one Generation Kill can just about weather. As with that series, this may need some time to bed itself in, but there's promise. The closing sequence in particular -- where American troops are ordered to 'unsurrender' Iraqis, in breach of the Geneva Convention -- shows the kind of reality and drama you'd hope for, and was the bit that convinced me GK is worth sticking with.
Incidentally, if you've watched the show but are unaware of @Generation_Kill on twitter, be sure to check it out -- there's a very handy glossary tweeted during the broadcast, plus additional info and links.
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

House
5x13 Big Baby
5x14 The Greater Good

How I Met Your Mother
1x21 Milk

Films

For Your Consideration (2006)
[#57 in 100 Films in a Year 2009]
At this point I have exactly 43 films to go and exactly 86 days to see them in. 1 film every 2 days? Oh dear.