TV What were you doing at 7pm tonight? I was watching Doctor Who ...
"The fans are going to hate this ..."
I've said this a few times during the series and and I said it again tonight. It's an odd thing to say since it suggests I'm not a fan, but I really am. I have two shelving units filled with videos, dvds, cds and books graphically demonstrating this. But what I think it means is the hardcores. The ones who consider themselves the self appointed rulers of what's right and wrong in the series. Those who decried the brilliantly romantic moment at the end of the TV movie, the loss of the half hour episodic format, the casting of Billie Piper. What Russell T Davies has done throughout this series is largely and cleverly ignored what they think. To play to them would be to return to the series we were stuck with during the mid-Eighties when continuity was slowly throttling good story telling. Tonight's episode exemplified the Davies approach. Produced something which plays to the fans but also creates new fans. Tosses out the continuity without disregarding it.
But he also did something else. He gave it heart. I was always afraid that if you threw money at the premise it wouldn't work, that it wouldn't be the same. Thank god I was so wrong, and so right. The Parting of the Ways looked like a feature film, told an big epic global, galactic story but at its heart was a story of people, loyalty, morality and lord help us, religion. It didn't dump the essential elements while it was throwing thousands of Daleks at the screen. Davies did everything you'd want in the final episode (and in fact followed a clear model set down by new genre pioneer Joss Whedon). Produce it like it's your last, throw everything at it, but importantly underpin and underline the architypes of the series and underline everything you've been trying to accomplish. Rose saves the world in the end, because that's what she's been doing all series, and yet The Doctor is still the saviour of the universe because he inspires it of her, just as he inspired everyone from Gwyneth to Cathica. Through selflessness in words and actions. The Doctor of old had the arrogance that no one but he could win the day - this Doctor believed that everyone had that capacity. It was just a case of given them enough room to breath and showing them the way.
"Oh my god, they've killed off Jack ..."
Like the rest of the series this just kept hitting me at a gut level. Scene after scene mattered, contributing to the arc of the series, the plot of the episode, the story of the character. We found out what the Bad Wolf was (a time paradox and red herring rolled into one) and we saw The Doctor finally put his personal demons to rest. We got to see one of the best man on Dalek battles in the show's history in which we saw why they were the deadliest of foes. Taking the ideas of the Dalek episode -- the giving of an ounce of humanity to the pepperpot -- and then twisting it and darkening it. Not just loathing the universe but also loathing themselves. The design of Emperor Dalek was a great choice too, as this God created its race in its own image. We saw also that in fact it's not just The Doctor who had regenerated, Rose had too -- complete with that mess of amnesia afterwards -- she's seen too much to go back to he old life now.
But for all the writing (and this may have been Davies' best script of the series) I don't think the acting has ever been this good. In the Confidential documentary afterwards, Eccleston said that he couldn't internalise the character, that we were effectively seeing on screen was his reaction to the words and how they should be played -- it showed and it was exactly what the part called for, which sort of demonstrates what a great actor he is. Despite his epic lifespan, The Doctor has always been about how others see him and that's exactly how he appeared tonight. Is Rose Tyler the best companion we've had? It depends on your definition. But I tell you -- I don't know who else was up for the role but I can't imagine anyone else playing her. Billie Piper has simple been a dream throughout the series, funny and sad and tragic. And knowing. It's also to John Barrowman's credit that he's not felt like an interloper, although Captain Jack's been a good character -- it'll be interesting to see in Season Two if he feels discruntled about being left behinds and drifts off into his old ways.
I've written before about how it's difficult with some television to see the gaps between the director, the cameraman and the editor. It's a collaborative medium. Would this episode look and feel much different if James Hawes instead of Joe Ahearne had been the director? I don't think I'm clever enough to tell. What I will say is this. Of all the episodes this was the one which felt most consistently paced, visceral looking and deeply emotional. Characters felt less like a bunch of words than say Aliens of London and more like people. And again we saw the same values here as we'd seen throughout the series -- straight down the like drama and comedy without decended into camp. It believed in what it was doing and so we believed in it too.
"But ... he's regenerating. No. Noooo .... What! What! Hang on -- who's he going to be? Are we going to get to see it or is that the cliffhanger? We are going to see who it is ... fuck me, it's David Tennant ... Casanova's in the Tardis ..."
One of these days I'm going to build a time machine. Granted I took the arts stream at school so I did Fine Art GCSE when I could have been doing Physics, but hopefully I've got a good sixty years left on the planet so that should be just enough time to go back to school, do Physics and Chemistry and Biology as well, head off through A-Levels, get myself a degree in Quantum Physics, a PHd, a place in a great research institute, a team of mechanics and a billionare I can convince to finance a development project to build the first time machine. At the age of fifty (because I'm this for the long game) I'm going to strap myself into that extraordinary machine, flip the switch and head back in time back to this year. I'm going to get a job in the press office of the BBC and make sure I'm on duty one night in early April, so that when I see that a tabloid is going to print a story saying that Christoper Eccleston is going to quit Doctor Who, the last thing we do is confirm the bloody story. That way, this younger version of me can be shouting the words above at the screen as the latest series comes to a close instead of wondering what the experience would have been like.
"I'm still buzzing..."
The fact that it's hours since the episode aired and I'm still buzzing shows the achievement of the piece. I'm a cynical sausage really, but this is something else. This is about piling all your hopes and dreams into something and for once it actually works. You don't have to be making allowances and rationalisations because something just isn't as good as you were expecting. Refreshingly I can actually say that this is a show I'm proud to be a fan of and have all this history with. That I haven't been wasting my time as I saw it grow to fulfil its ultimate potential. And it's not over yet -- we'll still be watching this into 2007. I've said once before and I think I'll say it again.
"He's back. He's bloody back. Bless him ..."
Crispy
A new Franchesca fact. Did you know that a human being can safely live on a diet of one packet of regular crisps a day because of their high fat and water content.
The Road To Beijing : James Goddard
The Road To Beijing James Goddard has qualified for the World Championships in Montreal. Congratulations! [about]
Swallow it down ...
Music I'm still trying to work out the opposition of music stores to the carrying of the Alanis accoustic Pill only at Starbucks for six weeks before release. Now HMV Canada are playing the bad wolf and have pulled her back catalogue from the shelves in protest, a real kettle-pot-black situation when you consider that they frequently have exclusive releases of music and films, especially in this country. Alanis has responded:
I have emailed the Starbucks UK website and they didn't seem to have heard about the album but sent me the telephone number of their music distributor -- I'll let you know what happens with that. When visited Starbucks in Liverpool yesterday I asked about whether they would stock the album. The barristas hadn't heard about it, or the controversy but gave a flyer to write in and said that they would look into it themselves because they 'love Alanis' and thought the album was a great idea ...
"For me, it was just about coming up with a creative new way for people to share this music," Morissette told the Toronto Star. "If people don't choose to go into a Starbucks and take that few minutes between the time they order a coffee and receive their coffee to focus on music, then they're welcome to get that music where they typically get it. Or not get it at all. It's really their choice." Morissette's Canadian label Warner Music Canada, which had no say in the Starbucks deal, would not comment on how the exclusive release or the boycott might impact sales.The really issue seems to the exclusivity -- those vital six weeks. But a fair comparison would be in cinemas, when a film has an exclusive run in major cities before a general release -- for example in the UK items often spend time at Odeon Leicester Square before making the long trip northwards. How is this different?
I have emailed the Starbucks UK website and they didn't seem to have heard about the album but sent me the telephone number of their music distributor -- I'll let you know what happens with that. When visited Starbucks in Liverpool yesterday I asked about whether they would stock the album. The barristas hadn't heard about it, or the controversy but gave a flyer to write in and said that they would look into it themselves because they 'love Alanis' and thought the album was a great idea ...
The Parting of the Ways.
"The fans are going to hate this ..."
TV I've said this a few times during the series and and I said it again tonight. It's an odd thing to say since it suggests I'm not a fan, but I really am. I have two shelving units filled with videos, dvds, cds and books graphically demonstrating this. But what I think it means is the hardcores. The ones who consider themselves the self appointed rulers of what's right and wrong in the series. Those who decried the brilliantly romantic moment at the end of the TV movie, the loss of the half hour episodic format, the casting of Billie Piper. What Russell T Davies has done throughout this series is largely and cleverly ignored what they think. To play to them would be to return to the series we were stuck with during the mid-Eighties when continuity was slowly throttling good story telling. Tonight's episode exemplified the Davies approach. Produced something which plays to the fans but also creates new fans. Tosses out the continuity without disregarding it.
But he also did something else. He gave it heart. I was always afraid that if you threw money at the premise it wouldn't work, that it wouldn't be the same. Thank god I was so wrong, and so right. The Parting of the Ways looked like a feature film, told an big epic global, galactic story but at its heart was a story of people, loyalty, morality and lord help us, religion. It didn't dump the essential elements while it was throwing thousands of Daleks at the screen. Davies did everything you'd want in the final episode (and in fact followed a clear model set down by new genre pioneer Joss Whedon). Produce it like it's your last, throw everything at it, but importantly underpin and underline the architypes of the series and underline everything you've been trying to accomplish. Rose saves the world in the end, because that's what she's been doing all series, and yet The Doctor is still the saviour of the universe because he inspires it of her, just as he inspired everyone from Gwyneth to Cathica. Through selflessness in words and actions. The Doctor of old had the arrogance that no one but he could win the day - this Doctor believed that everyone had that capacity. It was just a case of given them enough room to breath and showing them the way.
"Oh my god, they've killed off Jack ..."
Like the rest of the series this just kept hitting me at a gut level. Scene after scene mattered, contributing to the arc of the series, the plot of the episode, the story of the character. We found out what the Bad Wolf was (a time paradox and red herring rolled into one) and we saw The Doctor finally put his personal demons to rest. We got to see one of the best man on Dalek battles in the show's history in which we saw why they were the deadliest of foes. Taking the ideas of the Dalek episode -- the giving of an ounce of humanity to the pepperpot -- and then twisting it and darkening it. Not just loathing the universe but also loathing themselves. The design of Emperor Dalek was a great choice too, as this God created its race in its own image. We saw also that in fact it's not just The Doctor who had regenerated, Rose had too -- complete with that mess of amnesia afterwards -- she's seen too much to go back to her old life now.
But for all the writing (and this may have been Davies' best script of the series) I don't think the acting has ever been this good. In the Confidential documentary afterwards, Eccleston said that he couldn't internalise the character, that we were effectively seeing on screen was his reaction to the words and how they should be played -- it showed and it was exactly what the part called for, which sort of demonstrates what a great actor he is. Despite his epic lifespan, The Doctor has always been about how others see him and that's exactly how he appeared tonight. Is Rose Tyler the best companion we've had? It depends on your definition. But I tell you -- I don't know who else was up for the role but I can't imagine anyone else playing her. Billie Piper has simply been a dream throughout the series, funny and sad and tragic. And knowing. It's also to John Barrowman's credit that he's not felt like an interloper, although Captain Jack's been a good character -- it'll be interesting to see in Season Two if he feels discruntled about being left behinds and drifts off into his old ways.
I've written before about how it's difficult with some television to see the gaps between the director, the cameraman and the editor. It's a collaborative medium. Would this episode look and feel much different if James Hawes instead of Joe Ahearne had been the director? I don't think I'm clever enough to tell. What I will say is this. Of all the episodes this was the one which felt most consistently paced, visceral looking and deeply emotional. Characters felt less like a bunch of words than say Aliens of London and more like people. And again we saw the same values here as we'd seen throughout the series -- straight down the like drama and comedy without decended into camp. It believed in what it was doing and so we believed in it too.
"But ... he's regenerating. No. Noooo .... What! What! Hang on -- who's he going to be? Are we going to get to see it or is that the cliffhanger? We are going to see who it is ... fuck me, it's David Tennant ... Casanova's in the Tardis ..."
One of these days I'm going to build a time machine. Granted I took the arts stream at school so I did Fine Art GCSE when I could have been doing Physics, but hopefully I've got a good sixty years left on the planet so that should be just enough time to go back to school, do Physics and Chemistry and Biology as well, head off through A-Levels, get myself a degree in Quantum Physics, a PHd, a place in a great research institute, a team of mechanics and a billionare I can convince to finance a development project to build the first time machine. At the age of fifty (because I'm this for the long game) I'm going to strap myself into that extraordinary machine, flip the switch and head back in time back to this year. I'm going to get a job in the press office of the BBC and make sure I'm on duty one night in early April, so that when I see that a tabloid is going to print a story saying that Christoper Eccleston is going to quit Doctor Who, the last thing we do is confirm the bloody story. That way, this younger version of me can be shouting the words above at the screen as the latest series comes to a close instead of wondering what the experience would have been like.
"I'm still buzzing..."
The fact that it's hours since the episode aired and I'm still buzzing shows the achievement of the piece. I'm a cynical sausage really, but this is something else. This is about piling all your hopes and dreams into something and for once it actually works. You don't have to be making allowances and rationalisations because something just isn't as good as you were expecting. Refreshingly I can actually say that this is a show I'm proud to be a fan of and have all this history with. That I haven't been wasting my time as I saw it grow to fulfil its ultimate potential. And it's not over yet -- we'll still be watching this into 2007. I've said once before and I think I'll say it again.
"He's back. He's bloody back. Bless him ..."
TV I've said this a few times during the series and and I said it again tonight. It's an odd thing to say since it suggests I'm not a fan, but I really am. I have two shelving units filled with videos, dvds, cds and books graphically demonstrating this. But what I think it means is the hardcores. The ones who consider themselves the self appointed rulers of what's right and wrong in the series. Those who decried the brilliantly romantic moment at the end of the TV movie, the loss of the half hour episodic format, the casting of Billie Piper. What Russell T Davies has done throughout this series is largely and cleverly ignored what they think. To play to them would be to return to the series we were stuck with during the mid-Eighties when continuity was slowly throttling good story telling. Tonight's episode exemplified the Davies approach. Produced something which plays to the fans but also creates new fans. Tosses out the continuity without disregarding it.
But he also did something else. He gave it heart. I was always afraid that if you threw money at the premise it wouldn't work, that it wouldn't be the same. Thank god I was so wrong, and so right. The Parting of the Ways looked like a feature film, told an big epic global, galactic story but at its heart was a story of people, loyalty, morality and lord help us, religion. It didn't dump the essential elements while it was throwing thousands of Daleks at the screen. Davies did everything you'd want in the final episode (and in fact followed a clear model set down by new genre pioneer Joss Whedon). Produce it like it's your last, throw everything at it, but importantly underpin and underline the architypes of the series and underline everything you've been trying to accomplish. Rose saves the world in the end, because that's what she's been doing all series, and yet The Doctor is still the saviour of the universe because he inspires it of her, just as he inspired everyone from Gwyneth to Cathica. Through selflessness in words and actions. The Doctor of old had the arrogance that no one but he could win the day - this Doctor believed that everyone had that capacity. It was just a case of given them enough room to breath and showing them the way.
"Oh my god, they've killed off Jack ..."
Like the rest of the series this just kept hitting me at a gut level. Scene after scene mattered, contributing to the arc of the series, the plot of the episode, the story of the character. We found out what the Bad Wolf was (a time paradox and red herring rolled into one) and we saw The Doctor finally put his personal demons to rest. We got to see one of the best man on Dalek battles in the show's history in which we saw why they were the deadliest of foes. Taking the ideas of the Dalek episode -- the giving of an ounce of humanity to the pepperpot -- and then twisting it and darkening it. Not just loathing the universe but also loathing themselves. The design of Emperor Dalek was a great choice too, as this God created its race in its own image. We saw also that in fact it's not just The Doctor who had regenerated, Rose had too -- complete with that mess of amnesia afterwards -- she's seen too much to go back to her old life now.
But for all the writing (and this may have been Davies' best script of the series) I don't think the acting has ever been this good. In the Confidential documentary afterwards, Eccleston said that he couldn't internalise the character, that we were effectively seeing on screen was his reaction to the words and how they should be played -- it showed and it was exactly what the part called for, which sort of demonstrates what a great actor he is. Despite his epic lifespan, The Doctor has always been about how others see him and that's exactly how he appeared tonight. Is Rose Tyler the best companion we've had? It depends on your definition. But I tell you -- I don't know who else was up for the role but I can't imagine anyone else playing her. Billie Piper has simply been a dream throughout the series, funny and sad and tragic. And knowing. It's also to John Barrowman's credit that he's not felt like an interloper, although Captain Jack's been a good character -- it'll be interesting to see in Season Two if he feels discruntled about being left behinds and drifts off into his old ways.
I've written before about how it's difficult with some television to see the gaps between the director, the cameraman and the editor. It's a collaborative medium. Would this episode look and feel much different if James Hawes instead of Joe Ahearne had been the director? I don't think I'm clever enough to tell. What I will say is this. Of all the episodes this was the one which felt most consistently paced, visceral looking and deeply emotional. Characters felt less like a bunch of words than say Aliens of London and more like people. And again we saw the same values here as we'd seen throughout the series -- straight down the like drama and comedy without decended into camp. It believed in what it was doing and so we believed in it too.
"But ... he's regenerating. No. Noooo .... What! What! Hang on -- who's he going to be? Are we going to get to see it or is that the cliffhanger? We are going to see who it is ... fuck me, it's David Tennant ... Casanova's in the Tardis ..."
One of these days I'm going to build a time machine. Granted I took the arts stream at school so I did Fine Art GCSE when I could have been doing Physics, but hopefully I've got a good sixty years left on the planet so that should be just enough time to go back to school, do Physics and Chemistry and Biology as well, head off through A-Levels, get myself a degree in Quantum Physics, a PHd, a place in a great research institute, a team of mechanics and a billionare I can convince to finance a development project to build the first time machine. At the age of fifty (because I'm this for the long game) I'm going to strap myself into that extraordinary machine, flip the switch and head back in time back to this year. I'm going to get a job in the press office of the BBC and make sure I'm on duty one night in early April, so that when I see that a tabloid is going to print a story saying that Christoper Eccleston is going to quit Doctor Who, the last thing we do is confirm the bloody story. That way, this younger version of me can be shouting the words above at the screen as the latest series comes to a close instead of wondering what the experience would have been like.
"I'm still buzzing..."
The fact that it's hours since the episode aired and I'm still buzzing shows the achievement of the piece. I'm a cynical sausage really, but this is something else. This is about piling all your hopes and dreams into something and for once it actually works. You don't have to be making allowances and rationalisations because something just isn't as good as you were expecting. Refreshingly I can actually say that this is a show I'm proud to be a fan of and have all this history with. That I haven't been wasting my time as I saw it grow to fulfil its ultimate potential. And it's not over yet -- we'll still be watching this into 2007. I've said once before and I think I'll say it again.
"He's back. He's bloody back. Bless him ..."
It's thingy out of whatnot ...
Tv In case anyone cares, and courtesy of IMDb, a complete list of all the Doctor Who cameos in Batman Begins:
Shane Rimmer ... Older Gotham Water Board Technician [played "Seth Harper" in episode: "The Gunfighters" (episode # 3.8) 30 April 1966]But frankly the nether regions of the cast is a who's who of BBC drama with people who've been in anything from Doctors through Monarch of the Glen to Holby City even though interestingly the casting directors haven't been anywhere near the tv ...
Vincent Wong .... Old Asian Prisoner [played "Ho" in episode: "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" (episode # 14.6) 26 February 1977]
Mark Straker ... Male Restaurant Guest #2 [played "Carter" in episode: "Earthshock" (episode # 19.6) 8 March 1982]
Gerard Murphy .... Judge Faden [played "Richard Maynarde" in episode: "Silver Nemesis" (episode # 25.3) 23 November 1988]
Sara Stewart ... Martha Kent [played "Computer" (voice) in episode: "The End of the World" (episode # 1.2) 2 April 2005]
Christine Adams ... Jessica [played "Cathica Kadanie" in episode: "The Long Game" (episode # 1.7) 7 May 2005]
Who are you?
Film In all my excitment about tomorrow night I'd forgotten that Batman Begins again this weekend. Which is a shame, because to a degree I didn't give it due reverance. Since the only comic book I've read in years is Whedon's X-Men I suppose I came to the film as a piece of cinema rather than an adaptation. There are probably hundreds of smaller references in here which I'd never understand and I've no idea what fans of the comics make of this (which perhaps puts me on the other side of the Hitchhiker's-style debate). What I saw though was an extra-ordinary piece of film making which managed keep the spirit of everything which has gone before, whilst keeping its own coherence.
It's exciting that the studio would sanction another origin adventure so close to the Tim Burton film. I was never a fan of that -- too stylised for its own good lacking clear characterisation. What's suprising here is that rather than giving what the audience wants, two horns and a cape, we hardly see the dark knight until into the second hour. There is quite a complex flashback structure creating an underpinning of the psychological reasons why Bruce Wayne would want to hang around in caves with bats as friends, while at the same time subtly setting up some important plot information later in the film. If there's a slight problem with the train sequences they reminded me a bit too much of Highlander -- especially all the sword play. Also I defy anyone not to be waiting for Neeson to tell Bale to 'be mindful of the living force'.
The development of the iconography of the bat are also handled incredibly well. In this explanation for the wonderful toys, its Bruce using largely existing hardware rather than items he's developed himself -- and also granted some of them are a bit fantastical -- it takes the point of view that its not about the tools, its how they're used, which is a step up from a magical utility belt which can do everything. Over and again, we are reminded that this is just a man -- a highly skilled, well trained man -- but flesh and blood nonetheless. He gets hurt, we see bruises. This adds an extra vulnerability. Unlike previous incarnations Batman isn't somehow a seperate character apart from the billionare playboy, its the conduit through which the playboy saves the world.
It is a cameofest, a dream for any player of Six Degrees. There is a moment about half an hour into the film as all of the major characters are introduced and they're all played by names actors. It's real kitchen sink casting, an Ocean's Eleven for actors of a certain age, but there are some brilliant choices and it's great in particular to see Gary Oldman not playing the lunatic for a change. Michael Caine's Alfred is also a great creation. Katie Holmes just feels like a better more exciting love interest not just around to be saved but integral to the story. There was also something for the Nu-Who fan, with The Long Game's Christine 'Cathica' Adams playing a secretary. One day to go.
What this proves is if you get a Chris Nolan to make a superhero film, you'll get the best example of the genre money can by. He'll take the character seriously, do experimental yet crowd pleasing things with him and make the audience want to see more. Up until now, I thought the cartoon series was the best imagining of the character I'd ever see. This is just as good if not better. Of all the comics adaptations this year I'd be very surprised if any of them are better than this.
It's exciting that the studio would sanction another origin adventure so close to the Tim Burton film. I was never a fan of that -- too stylised for its own good lacking clear characterisation. What's suprising here is that rather than giving what the audience wants, two horns and a cape, we hardly see the dark knight until into the second hour. There is quite a complex flashback structure creating an underpinning of the psychological reasons why Bruce Wayne would want to hang around in caves with bats as friends, while at the same time subtly setting up some important plot information later in the film. If there's a slight problem with the train sequences they reminded me a bit too much of Highlander -- especially all the sword play. Also I defy anyone not to be waiting for Neeson to tell Bale to 'be mindful of the living force'.
The development of the iconography of the bat are also handled incredibly well. In this explanation for the wonderful toys, its Bruce using largely existing hardware rather than items he's developed himself -- and also granted some of them are a bit fantastical -- it takes the point of view that its not about the tools, its how they're used, which is a step up from a magical utility belt which can do everything. Over and again, we are reminded that this is just a man -- a highly skilled, well trained man -- but flesh and blood nonetheless. He gets hurt, we see bruises. This adds an extra vulnerability. Unlike previous incarnations Batman isn't somehow a seperate character apart from the billionare playboy, its the conduit through which the playboy saves the world.
It is a cameofest, a dream for any player of Six Degrees. There is a moment about half an hour into the film as all of the major characters are introduced and they're all played by names actors. It's real kitchen sink casting, an Ocean's Eleven for actors of a certain age, but there are some brilliant choices and it's great in particular to see Gary Oldman not playing the lunatic for a change. Michael Caine's Alfred is also a great creation. Katie Holmes just feels like a better more exciting love interest not just around to be saved but integral to the story. There was also something for the Nu-Who fan, with The Long Game's Christine 'Cathica' Adams playing a secretary. One day to go.
What this proves is if you get a Chris Nolan to make a superhero film, you'll get the best example of the genre money can by. He'll take the character seriously, do experimental yet crowd pleasing things with him and make the audience want to see more. Up until now, I thought the cartoon series was the best imagining of the character I'd ever see. This is just as good if not better. Of all the comics adaptations this year I'd be very surprised if any of them are better than this.
Fijacion Oral (Vol. 1)
Music Anyone else notice that Shakira has a new album out? Just listening to it now and what a wierd beast it is with all the mix of French and Spanish lyrics and musicality which flies wildy between the Toyah of the Eighties and the Bibel Gilberto of this decade. More in the style of her earlier work -- can't imagine what people who bought this because they liked Laundary Service are making of it ... apparently Vol. 2 will turn up in November in the English language. I'd expect there to be a bigger publicity push behind that ...
Until proven...
News Anna Pickard blogs the Michael Jackson verdict in real time:
22.11Also asks some interesting questions about that woman with the doves. I mean what if he'd been found guilty?
Brilliant observation from SKY news expert:
"They'll have had to decide whther he was guilty or not guilty"
No! They What? The Jury?
"They would have had to decide who they believed, Michael Jackson or his accusers"
No, this is getting too complicated...
"Because there was nothing Black or White for them to look at in this case"
A hahahahahahahhaha!
Not quite parting...
Tv I can't really describe how excited I am about seeing those vital 45 minutes on Saturday. The closest I suppose would be local football fans and the European final or a Pink Floyd fan with a Live 8 ticket. The difference with those is that the outcome isn't known and can't be spoiled by anyone. With Doctor Who there was a press screening and now there are spoilers everywhere including I'm sorry to say my beloved Guardian. Turned a page and found a wonking great picture of something important (which I'd sort of figured out for myself anyway) and a bunch of paragraphs describing what happens. A sat paralised trying desperately to miss that text, to turn the page. I just about managed it.
Adrian Hon did not. So he complained to Janine Gibson, editor of the Media Guardian, followed quickly by one from Matt Wells the writer of the article. That's impressive customer service really, even if I'm not still entirely happy with the explanation. 'We weren't as bad as The Times?' Oh please ....
Adrian Hon did not. So he complained to Janine Gibson, editor of the Media Guardian, followed quickly by one from Matt Wells the writer of the article. That's impressive customer service really, even if I'm not still entirely happy with the explanation. 'We weren't as bad as The Times?' Oh please ....
1...2...3....
TV Why does the all the news always arrive so late in the evening? In case anyone has missed it, a Third Season and Christmas Special for 2006 have been announced. Outpost Gallifrey are giddy with excitement. Also plenty of news there about the new season and what the first Christmas special will be called.
We're wide awake
Life For the past few weeks I've had the window in my room open all of the time. Come wind, rain and also sun, anything that's in the air has come in here. It's quite a chilly night tonight and it's actually a bit cold, but it'll be staying open. Because I've haven't felt this good in ages. At a time when I'm usually getting groggy and thinking about sleep (yes at 9pm) I'm alert and writing. For some reason, by sleeping and 'working' with all of this freshish air passing through my system I just feel really healthy and awake. Now where did I put my jumper?
Spoilers of War
TV Just wanted to warn everyone that there is a shonking great spoiler in the cast list of today's Radio Times. It sort of spoils the surprise of one of the elements of the final episode. That said, now that I know what it is, it is something I'm looking forward to. Also, in case anyone missed it, there was a column by Russell T in yesterday's Guardian, which comes across as a sort of bonus episode of Doctor Who magazine's production notes.
"I never expected any of this to work. I swear, I thought the niche would win. I'd watch rushes of Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper being so very, very excellent, and feel sad that all this hard work would be relegated to a Friday at midnight by week seven. But somehow, it seems to have worked, although you will not find me celebrating until after the last episode - sorry, season finale. And even then, I am not going to think too much about what worked. Beware the analysis. I went into the first series on instinct, and that's how it should stay."I don't think I could be more excited about Saturday...
B-Ark
Blog! Tom meets the A-Listers. Understandably, he doesn't name names. Speaking as a C-Lister myself ...
Time, Life
TV Some excellent reviews for last Saturday's Doctor Who. My theories?
Bad Wolf It's The Doctor. Not sure why, or how, but it's something to do with the psychological effects of the Time War. I think the fact that he's hardly been to one for the big heroic gesture at the end of most episodes isn't incidental.
Big Booming Voice In Trailer It's the Dalek from the episode Dalek. It didn't self destruct at the end, it transmatted elsewhere. After absorbing the internet and Rose's dna it worked out a way of plotting the demise of the human race and set about controlling the future over many thousands of years, including the reconstruction of the Dalek race. Now it's the Emporer Dalek and ready to finish the job it started in 2012.
Captain Jack's Two Years of Amnesia Definitely Dalek related. What if he's been following The Doctor around all series creating the Bad Wolf references -- expect retrospective shots from earlier episodes when we realise Jack was there all along.
Cliffhanger ending to the series Apparently its big and shocking and has nothing to do with the regeneration. The Doctor just dies and leaves Rose alone in the TARDIS ... then moments later The Doctor appears through the doors looking like David Tennant and it's as though he's never left ...
Bad Wolf It's The Doctor. Not sure why, or how, but it's something to do with the psychological effects of the Time War. I think the fact that he's hardly been to one for the big heroic gesture at the end of most episodes isn't incidental.
Big Booming Voice In Trailer It's the Dalek from the episode Dalek. It didn't self destruct at the end, it transmatted elsewhere. After absorbing the internet and Rose's dna it worked out a way of plotting the demise of the human race and set about controlling the future over many thousands of years, including the reconstruction of the Dalek race. Now it's the Emporer Dalek and ready to finish the job it started in 2012.
Captain Jack's Two Years of Amnesia Definitely Dalek related. What if he's been following The Doctor around all series creating the Bad Wolf references -- expect retrospective shots from earlier episodes when we realise Jack was there all along.
Cliffhanger ending to the series Apparently its big and shocking and has nothing to do with the regeneration. The Doctor just dies and leaves Rose alone in the TARDIS ... then moments later The Doctor appears through the doors looking like David Tennant and it's as though he's never left ...
Who wants to live forever?
Film Trailer for the anime version of Highlander. There can be only one! As long as it doesn't inhibit the sales of the franchise to ancillary markets. Looks like every other anime I've ever seen really.
Pre.
News Someone posts to Metafilter, before the Michael Jackson verdict is released. First comment: "moment of silence for MetaFilter if this post is not deleted"
The Ratings Wolf
TV The overnight ratings are out for last night's battle of the doctors ...
Doctor Who 6.2 million (35.91% share)
Doctor Dolittle 3.5 million (21.2% share)
The ITV ratings are surprisingly high, but unbelievably, I think there is still some resistence to our favourite series. Equally unbelievably my parents finally got around to watching last night because we had some visitors and they wanted to watch it. Mum pronounced it 'Not bad...' but then, I suspect, regretted saying anything at all as I started jabbering on about Time Wars and Bad Wolf.
Doctor Who 6.2 million (35.91% share)
Doctor Dolittle 3.5 million (21.2% share)
The ITV ratings are surprisingly high, but unbelievably, I think there is still some resistence to our favourite series. Equally unbelievably my parents finally got around to watching last night because we had some visitors and they wanted to watch it. Mum pronounced it 'Not bad...' but then, I suspect, regretted saying anything at all as I started jabbering on about Time Wars and Bad Wolf.
Jennifer, Juniper
Film Sure I'm an art house fan, but sometimes you really don't want two hours in a black and white Sweden with an orphan who has a rotten life and kills herself in the end. Sometimes you need to see something in bright colours, with great music, funny script and Jennifer Garner. Yes, 13 Going On 30 has much the same plot as Big with time travel implications and there aren't any particular moments which stick in the brain like the giant piano -- but it really does have something to say about the choice you make in your earlier teens can effect the person you are for the rest of your life. It's the nostalgia which makes the film click -- the longing for the do-over -- to make those choices again if only to make yourself a better person so that the people around you have a better life. Watch out for the reference to Big, and also for the unintentional irony of who's on the cover of the magazine which Garner is editing ...
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