TV

Game of Thrones
1x03 Lord Snow
The first new episode of GoT I've watched in nearly a year -- ooh, I feel like everyone else the other night watching the season two premiere. It's weird, actually, because while episode two continues what episode one started, here a whole host of new characters and plots are introduced.
Plus, this is the episode with an audio commentary by the Stark children, which begins with them singing the theme tune. Most amusing.

House
8x15 Blowing the Whistle
On Sky1 tomorrow, as it goes.

Pointless
4x09 (24/3/11 edition)
Resuming the repeats from early 2011 that were left off (by me, anyway) in December.

The Sarah Millican Television Programme
1x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Twenty Twelve
2x01 Boycott Part 1
Despite its award-winning-ness, I don't personally know anyone who actually likes Twenty Twelve. But hey-ho, I do. And it's developed episode titles this series, which pleases me. More British series should bother with episode titles.
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

Castle
2x06 Vampire Weekend
In-joke-tastic opening!
(I would've posted a screengrab, but turns out Castle is surprisingly dark. Turn some lights on!)
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Game of Thrones
1x02 The Kingsroad [2nd watch]
When I watched this first time round, I commented that I was looking forward to the villains getting their comeuppance. I've since read that George R.R. Martin's fantasy world is characterised by its dystopian nature -- i.e. no such luck any time soon. Still, better to know that than keep getting my hopes up.

Just a Minute [2012]
1x04 Episode 4
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless
6x34 (30/3/12 edition)
Pointless has gone back in to repeat mode after this episode. I've still got 16 episodes backed up from last time they did this though, but that's OK because from today they're on to episodes I've seen before (i.e. this one). But hey, that was nearly a year ago -- maybe I'll just watch them again. And do really well.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Game of Thrones
1x01 Winter is Coming [2nd watch]
As season two kicks off in America (and, indeed, tonight in the UK), I'm finally getting on with watching the first season. And golly does it look good on Blu-ray; and golly aren't the discs packed with special features -- I'll have to get stuck in to them too, at some point. Other than that, it's still as awesome as it was first time round (has it really been almost a year?! Crikey). I look forward to actually finishing it this time.

The Graham Norton Show
10x18 (2/3/12 edition)

Just a Minute [2012]
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Pointless
6x33 (29/3/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Comics

Batman: The Dark Knight #7 by David Finch & Paul Jenkins
A big fight? Fine. Attempt at a Big Twist? Adequate. Featuring plenty of Superman and the Flash in a Batman book? No thanks, this isn't Justice League. Upcoming change of writer? Good good.

Batwoman #7 by J.H. Williams III, W. Haden Blackman & Amy Reeder
Less-good art and a confusing story is robbing Batwoman of its previous greatness. Boo.

Resurrection Man #7 by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning & Fernando Dagnino
After last month's trip to Gotham, now Mitch Shelley is in Metropolis. Not sure if there's a reason for that, other than hanging him on bits of the DC universe everyone will know. Still, good book, no matter of where it's set.

Articles

Box Office Guru Wrapup: Hunger Games Still #1, Breaks $250M
by Gitesh Pandya (from Rotten Tomatoes)

The stats are quite incredible, so I shall try to abbreviate this to the key interesting ones:

The Hunger Games remained the most popular film leading the box office with more ticket sales in its second frame than the two new releases combined...

[It] scored another $61.1M this weekend, according to estimates, propelling the ten-day cume to an eye-popping $251M. That allowed [it] to break Avatar's record for the fastest non-sequel to break the quarter-billion mark. [Avatar] needed 12 days... including the Christmas frame whereas Hunger had no holiday help. In fact, only three films in box office history have ever reached the milestone faster - The Dark Knight... Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen... All were July releases when weekday numbers were much stronger thanks to students being out of school and the Potter figures included a boost from 3D...

The fact that Games could collect so much in such a short period of time outside of summer is nothing short of incredible. Overall, it was the seventh best performance for any film in its sophomore weekend and fourth biggest among non-sequels behind Avatar, Spider-Man, and Alice in Wonderland [which is, you could argue, a sequel]. Among second weekends, Hunger beat out every installment of the Harry Potter and Twilight franchises...

Overseas... the international total [reached] $113.9M... A final global gross near $600M is possible for the $75M production.

That's what happens when you take teeny books with a Twilight-esque fanbase and turn them into a film that's actually well-reviewed.

TV

The Mentalist
4x17 Cheap Burgundy
[Watch it on Demand 5 from Friday 13th April. Probably.]

Pointless
6x32 (28/3/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Scott & Bailey
2x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Watson & Oliver
1x06 Episode 6 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) In HD on iPlayer.]

Films

Despicable Me (2010)
[#34 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

Not as good as Megamind.

Comics

Batman #7 by Scott Snyder & Greg Capullo

Some fantastic twists and revelations as Batman's battle against the Court of Owls continues. The Night of the Owls crossover is coming, and it's set to be exciting.

That said, some kind of "previously on" mightn't go amiss from time to time. When it's a month between issues it can be tough to remember little details, and when things hark back to stuff published six or more months ago it can get even tougher. And, mainly, I have no idea who the girl in the opening scene is, but we clearly should. Grr.

Still: see also this article, by Nathan Birch at Gamma Squad: 9 Reasons Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Batman is the Best Bat-Book in Decades. I'm not qualified to make such a bold assertion, but I concur with all the reasons why it's awesome. Reading this arc, it feels like you're watching a classic in the making.


Nightwing #7 by Kyle Higgins, Eddy Barrows & Geraldo Borges

It's a shame that Batman and Nightwing are published in the same week -- the end of this issue duplicates a scene from Batman #7, but elements of it make much more sense coming after the earlier events of this instalment (which wraps up the relaunched series' first arc ahead of the Night of the Owls), so it would have been better to have read this first. Both issues do work regardless... though having read Batman first, the scene in question feels somewhat transplanted from there to here... despite, like I said, feeling I should have read this first. Weird.

I started buying Nightwing because, as The New 52 kicked off, there were comments that it would be closely tied to Batman. It seemed obvious how at first -- there was a Big Thing at the end of Batman #1 -- but then that went away quite quickly. I stuck with it, though, because it was a good tale in its own right... and now I'm very glad I both started and kept it up, because it turns out the whole thing (both so far and, especially, going forward) is pretty closely tied to the Court of Owls storyline. And, as we have established, that's awesome.

this week on 100 Films

No new reviews this week -- I've gotten very lax -- but there is the March update (also on the classic blog here).

TV

Just a Minute [2012]
1x01 Episode 1
1x02 Episode 2
I used to hate playing Just a Minute on those occasions on which it came up as a game at school, but it's jolly good fun to watch the pros have a go.
[Watch episodes one and two (again) on iPlayer.]

Mad Men
5x01 A Little Kiss Part 1
5x02 A Little Kiss Part 2
It's been a long time coming, but hurrah at last for the return of Mad Men! And a feature-length/double-bill opener, too. You spoil us.

The Voice UK
1x02 The Blind Auditions 2
Not sure if I loved or loathed the continuity announcer introducing this with a reference to its ratings success, but it was certainly unlike the Beeb. Also uncommon: Danny turning round before anyone else once or twice! I know it's only the second episode, but it didn't seem like something he'd ever do. That said, he still spent plenty of songs trying to work out if anyone else was going or not.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Megamind (2010)
[#33 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

This seems to have been lost in the wake of the similarly-themed and well-received Despicable Me (which was released about two months earlier). I've not seen that, but this I enjoyed.

Articles

Game of Thrones showrunners on season 2, splitting Book 3 and their hope for a 70-hour epic
by James Hibberd (from Inside TV at EW.com)

Title pretty much covers what's in this one, then. Interesting though, but with kinda-spoilers for season one.

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

More minor tweaks this week, upgrading a DVD to a two-film BD set.

Number of titles in collection: 1,459 [no change]
Of which DVDs: 1,149 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 310 [up 1]

Number of discs in collection: 3,616 [up 1]
Number of films in collection: 1,548 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,449 [no change]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Pointless
6x31 (27/3/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Sport Relief 2012
Part 3
The final chunk, including Absolutely Fabulous, QI and Mock the Week, amongst others.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

Rules of Engagement (2000)
[#32 in 100 Films in a Year 2012]

TV

Archer
3x08 Lo Scandalo
So, instead of episode four, we get episode eight. What? Still, s'a good'un. No idea what they made available on Demand 5 (the title is episode four's, but that doesn't mean the content is), but here's a link anyway.
[Watch an episode of Archer (again) on Demand 5.]

Castle
2x05 When the Bough Breaks
Nice use of music in this one, every time "a certain British secret agent" came up.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Onion News Network
2x05 Exposed, Brooke Alvarez

Pointless
6x30 (26/3/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

The Sarah Millican Television Programme
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Sport Relief 2012
Part 2
The 40-minute BBC Two bit, featuring Twenty Twelve and Never Mind the Buzzcocks.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Onion News Network
2x02 Missing Baby Kate
2x03 Fantasy Brainwall
2x04 Dead Reporter
Sky Arts have moved quite swiftly on the second series of ONN (the first only concluded in February), though the shift in time slot meant I unfortunately missed the first one. Boo.

Pointless
6x29 (22/3/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Sport Relief 2012
Part 1
As Sport Relief has become essentially Comic Relief with added sports personalities, so a worthy cause has also become actually worth watching. Highlights in these first three hours include hilarious new sketches from Outnumbered and Miranda.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Pointless
6x28 (21/3/12 edition)
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

TV

Pointless
6x26 (19/3/12 edition)
6x27 (20/3/12 edition)
[Watch the 20/3/12 edition (again) on iPlayer.]

The Voice UK
1x01 The Blind Auditions 1
The BBC's big new talent show was actually pretty entertaining. Thing to watch for: will Danny ever turn his chair round before someone else?
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Articles

The Bigger Picture: Mass Effect 3, Mutant Turtles, and The New Tyranny of the Fan-trum
by Drew McWeeny (from Motion Captured at HitFix)
"we are in the midst of The Age Of Fan-Fiction", argues McWeeny, because fans have too much say in things. I agree wholeheartedly.