TV

Elementary
1x18 Deja Vu All Over Again

Heading Out
1x03 Episode 3
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

The Hour
2x03 Episode 3

Podcasts

Nerd Poker: Dungeons and Dragons with Brian Posehn & Friends
Episode 1 Let the Game Begin!

I don't normally do podcasts, but this was recommended (by a couple of tweets) and sounded interesting. And it was indeed good fun. If you've ever been curious about the world of playing D&D, this is definitely something to check out: it's mostly newbie friendly (designed as such) and is frequently funny and entertaining rather than dry and po-faced. There's a fair chance it'll make you want to have a go.

If you want to find the podcast on iTunes, it's here.

TV

Arrow
1x13 Betrayal

Broadchurch
Part 2 (of 8)
[Watch it (again) on ITV Player.]

Pointless Celebrities
Children in Need 2012

Room 101: Extra Storage
13x08 Episode 8 [season finale]

Magazines

Bleeding Cool Magazine #2

TV

How I Met Your Mother
8x07 The Stamp Tramp
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

The Mentalist
5x13 The Red Barn
No mention of Volker; back to Red John. Guess it is over then.
[Watch it (again) on Demand 5.]

Pointless Celebrities
2x08 (16/6/12 edition)
I currently have 161 never-seen episodes of Pointless and Pointless Celebrities downloaded from iPlayer. Which is pretty mad. Or insane. (And I missed a few during series seven too.)

Films

Conan the Barbarian (1982)
[#31 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

My Week with Marilyn (2011)
[#32 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

Comics

2000 AD #1792
Featuring...
• Judge Dredd Debris, Part One, by Michael Carroll & PJ Holden
• The Red Seas Beautiful Freak, Part 1, by Ian Edginton & Steve Yeowell
• Aquila Blood of the Iceni, Part One, by Gordon Rennie & Leigh Gallagher
• The Grievous Journey of Ichabod Azrael Manhunt, Part Four, by Rob Williams & Dom Reardon
• Lenny Zero Zero's 7, Part 1, by Andy Diggle & Ben Willsher

this week on 100 Films

One new review was published to 100 Films in a Year this week...


Garfield (2004)

Offering little in the way of laughs, the film’s main success is the cute (real) dog who co-stars as Garfield’s competriot, Odie. The real wonder is how they got him to interact with the CGI cat.

Read more here.



But also, new to the new blog were...


Elektra (2005)

The plot starts out as sub-Leon assassin nonsense, before turning into sub-X-Men superhero nonsense.

Read more here.


Genevieve (1953)

According to IMDb, “the film ran into censorship problems in the US… because of the moment when Wendy asks for a coin so she can ‘spend a penny’. References to toilets were specially taboo in the US at that time.” Bless.

Read more here.


Salt: Director's Cut (2010)

The UK TV premiere of Angelina Jolie-starring sleeper agent action-thriller Salt is on Channel 4 today at 9pm.

On Blu-ray (and/or DVD) it comes in three different versions, and my review helpfully compares them all. I imagine it's the theatrical one on TV, and unfortunately that's not the best...

Read more here.


There Will Be Blood (2007)

It makes minimal concessions to its audience from the very start, beginning with an extended montage that covers relatively vast tracts of time with virtually no dialogue, before segueing into a story that introduces and discards characters and events with little hint of their relevance, and eventually makes a huge leap forward for an equally impenetrable ending

Read more here.


The Wizard of Oz (1939)

one of those films whose reputation unavoidably precedes it. Considering it’s nearly 70 years old now, that’s a reputation long in the making. The biggest problem with this is that, coming to it for the first time as an adult, one knows just about everything that’s going to happen.

Read more here.



More next Sunday.

TV

The Good Life
2x01 Just My Bill

Shetland
Part 1 (of 2)
Part 2 (of 2)
Adaptation of Ann Cleeves' novel Red Bones. Thought it was very good, very Scandi / Nordic Noir. There are three other novels so I hope they make more.
[Watch parts one and two (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Comics

2000 AD #1789-1791

Featuring...

• Judge Dredd The Days After, by John Wagner & Henry Flint
• Judge Dredd The Bean Counter, by Al Ewing & Nick Dyer
• Judge Dredd The Rich Cabaret, by Al Ewing & Andrew Currie
• Durham Red The 'Nobody Wants This Job' Job, Parts 5-6, by Alan Grant & Carlos Ezquerra
• Tharg's 3rillers Present 1947, Parts One - Three, by Kek-W & Michael Dowling
• The Grievous Journey of Ichabod Azrael Manhunt, Parts One - Three, by Rob Williams & Dom Reardon
• Nikolai Dante Sympathy for the Devil, Parts 4-6, by Robbie Morrison & Simon Fraser
• Future Shocks Other People's Machines, by David Baillie & Mark Simmons

The longest Dredd epic ever (so I'm told) comes to an end here, setting up a different status quo for 2000 AD's biggest character. Al Ewing's run gets off to a good start, particularly in the intriguing Rich Cabaret, which comes with great art from Andrew Currie.

1947 is a solid self-contained little story, much better than another lacklustre Future Shock from writer David Baillie. Ichabod Azrael -- or, to give it its full title, The Grievous Journey of Ichabod Azrael (and the Dead Left in His Wake) -- is a funny one, where I feel I may've preferred the original series (handily summarised by Tharg in his intro that Prog, thank goodness).

And Nikolai Dante comes to its final conclusion, with an open-ended finale that I don't imagine pleased everybody. I ought to go look up some reaction really…

Next Prog: all part ones (bar Ichabod). Neat.

Collection Count

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

You may remember (but probably won't) that back in September I decided to have a rethink about what I count as a film for the purposes of this tally, dropping the total by 79 as I (at least temporarily) removed concert films and the like. Well, after six months or not really coming to any other conclusion, I've begun to reinstate at least some of them -- hence the huge jump below. I'm still not entirely happy with it, but I don't fancy a fourth count (alongside films, TV episodes and shorts), so other than not counting them at all (which, when some run well over two hours, doesn't seem right), they go back. Most return to the Films column, but a couple go in Shorts or TV episodes depending on their length or content. The total added back was 50. I know I allowed one or two things to slide by with nothing counted, but where all 29 others have gone, God only knows...

Anyway, stuff I actually added this week includes the already-hard-to-come-by limited edition of The Man Who Wasn't There, '90s TV 'hoax' Ghostwatch, and the newly-released fan-produced documentary, Ghostwatch: Behind the Curtains. All DVDs! What is the world coming to...

Number of titles in collection: 1,544 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 1,157 [up 3]
Of which Blu-rays: 387 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 3,870 [up 3]
Number of films in collection: 1,663 [up 45]
Number of TV episodes in collection: 5,737 [up 5]
Number of short films in collection: 377 [up 3]

See you next week, faithful reader.

TV

Anna & Katy
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Comic Relief 2013
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Films

The Raven (2012)
[#30 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]

Comics

2000 AD #1786-1788

Featuring...

• Judge Dredd Day of Chaos: Wot I Did During the Worst Dissaster in Mega-City History & Chaos Day, Parts One - Two by John Wagner & Henry Flint
• Durham Red The 'Nobody Wants This Job' Job, Parts 2-4 by Alan Grant & Carlos Ezquerra
• Grey Area One of Our Own, Parts 2-4 by Dan Abnett & Lee Carter
• Nikolai Dante Sympathy for the Devil, Parts 1-3 by Robbie Morrison & Simon Fraser
• Future Shocks A Guide for Prisoners Arriving from the Year 2149 by David Baillie & Warren Pleece
• Future Shocks Silent Running by David Baillie & Anthony Williams
• Future Shocks Downloan by David Baillie & Nick Dyer

PJ Maybe vs the Dark Judges? Great. The two-part Chaos Day feels inaptly named, though -- after all the build-up and disaster, not much occurs on the day itself. Grey Area substitutes endlessly re-explaining its own premise with a predictable 'twist' ending. It remains promising at least. I didn't like -- or really get -- any of the Future Shocks. Shame.

Articles

Joss Whedon On Kickstarter And Firefly: "It Doesn't Just Open The Floodgates."
by Adam B. Vary (from BuzzFeed)

After the phenomenal success of the Veronica Mars Kickstarter (that link is a good in-depth article about it, by-the-by; also this), naturally fans have begun to ask, "what's next?" And it'll come as no surprise to anyone that top of the most-asked list is some kind of continuation for Firefly/Serenity. Realising that if he didn't answer the question he'd be asked non-stop, here Whedon reveals what the chances are. In short: he's a bit busy right now.

TV

The Hour
2x02 Episode 2
Picking this one back up. Apparently the series ends on a cliffhanger, even though it's been cancelled. Shame.

The Last Leg
2x07 (8/3/13 edition)
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Only Connect
Comic Relief Special: Neuromantics vs Muppets
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]

Stella
2x10 Episode 10 [season finale]
Unlike The Hour, this feels like it could be the last-ever episode, but it'll be back for a third run. Ironic.

Weekly comics? Since 1977.

TV

Alexander Armstrong's Big Ask
2x03 Episode 3

Comic Relief's Big Chat with Graham Norton
Part 1 (of 4)
6 or 7 hours of live chat? Yeah, I've iPlayered it to watch in chunks, beginning with the first hour-and-a-half. So far, too much back stage suff with some idiot off Radio 1. More Graham with guests, please -- that's what this is meant to be after all.
[Watch it all (again) on iPlayer.]

The Matt Lucas Awards
2x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

Top Gear
19x07 Africa Special Part 2 [season finale]
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

TV

Elementary
1x17 Possibility Two

Heading Out
1x02 Episode 2
[Watch it (again) in HD on iPlayer.]

How I Met Your Mother
8x06 Splitsville
[Watch it (again) on 4oD.]

Stella
2x09 Episode 9

Films

Meet the Parents (2000)
[#29 in 100 Films in a Year 2013]