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The Blog That Wouldn't Die
Aug. 1st, 2007
06:46 pm - Babylon 5: The Lost Tales
For a few years in the mid-1990s, Babylon 5 was the best TV show around. Its epic plotlines that slowly unravelled over several years made it feel like the televised equivalent of a long sequence of science-fiction novels, and the CGI effects made it look better than any other SF show of the time. Sadly, it couldn't last; after the planned five-year storyline was hastily wrapped up at the end of the fourth season, the fifth year was a mere shadow of its former self, with spin-off series Crusade and various dodgy TV movies only serving to make me lose all interest in the franchise. But now it's back, with an all-new straight-to-DVD production.
( Spoilers )
Jul. 28th, 2007
07:34 pm - Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows
I've just finished the final Harry Potter book, about twice as fast as I would normally have read it, but I thought I'd better get through it before I was accidentally spoiled by some idiot comedian on TV or something. Fortunately I survived unscathed, not that there were any really big twists or anything. As with the last two books, I've been writing down my thoughts after every few chapters to give a sort of running commentary, so here goes...
( Spoilers within... )
Jul. 7th, 2007
Jul. 6th, 2007
07:24 pm - Doctor Who season 3 overview
So, the third season of New Doctor Who has come to an end. As with the first two, the quality was highly variable, going from over-the-top nonsense to top-quality drama, sometimes from one minute to the next, but still managing to be highly entertaining throughout. David Tennant really came into his own as the Doctor, and it's hard to imagine who could possibly be an adequate replacement; while Freema Agyeman proved far more appealling than Billie Piper ever was, though Martha was saddled with a pointless "unrequited love" subplot that was highly annoying.
( Spoilers within... )
Jun. 29th, 2007
07:11 pm - DVD reviews
The Science Of Sleep: Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind proved that Michel Gondry could work his magic on full-length films and not just music videos. Unfortunately his latest film The Science Of Sleep is nowhere near as good, perhaps because it was written by Gondry himself and not Charlie Kaufman. It focusses on Stephane, a Mexican in Paris, whose frustrations with his mundane job and unrequited feelings for his neighbour lead him to take refuge in his dreams, until he can't tell the difference between dreams and reality. The dream sequences are stunning, full of visual imagination, stop-motion animals and buildings made of cardboard boxes; the problem is there isn't enough of a storyline to go around them, so it all seems a bit self-indulgent. It's also hard to sympathise with the lead character, who at first seems artistic and imaginative and dynamic, but as the film goes on you realise he's just a mentally ill stalker fixated on a woman who doesn't want anything to do with him. Bit of a disappointment overall - hopefully Michel Gondry can get someone else to write his next film.
Black Snake Moan: Despite the sexploitation vibes given off by the pre-publicity (which screamed "Watch this film! Samuel L Jackson chains Christina Ricci to a radiator! Phwoarr!" or words to that effect) this actually turns out to be a sweet and uplifting character drama. Jackson is Laz, a man whose wife has just run off with his brother, who then finds Rae, the town slut, who has been in an accident, and decides to take her into his home to cure her of her wicked ways. Rather than a sexual relationship, the two form a surrogate father/daughter bond which is really very touching. Samuel L Jackson gives one of his best performances yet, which is saying something, dominating the screen throughout and even getting to sing and play blues guitar a bit. Christina Ricci as a nymphomaniac may seem like every man's fantasy (certainly is mine) but she's given dirty blonde hair, oily skin and various cuts and bruises so as to appear not nearly as attractive as usual, and she does a fine job of playing a complex, abused character with many layers. Even Justin Timberlake does well, with a sensitive, subtle performance as Rae's boyfriend, who's just as screwed up as she is. The direction is noteworthy too, creating a great sense of place with much use of old blues music. The story may seem over-the-top, but you come to care about all the characters, and the happy ending is genuinely moving. Great stuff.
Jun. 17th, 2007
11:25 am - Doctor Who - "Utopia"
The last three episodes of Doctor Who have been so unbelievably good, it was impossible to form any sort of detached critical opinion about them beyond slack-jawed wonderment. Fortunately this one was written by Russell T Davies, who can be relied on to provide plenty of things to criticise. Having said that, it was still a very strong episode, just not quite up to the dizzy heights of recent weeks.
( Spoilers within... )
May. 20th, 2007
03:10 pm - Doctor Who - "42"
After Chris Chibnall's appallingly bad Torchwood scripts, I wasn't expecting much from his Doctor Who episode. As it is, this turned out to be a damn sight more watchable, though still short of brilliant. The real-time element was pretty irrelevant, as it was no more fast-paced than any other episode this season, and the lack of any split-screens meant there was no real sense of everything happening at the same time. More worryingly, the constant peril meant the characters remained undeveloped, with no time to explain their backstory or relationships, and the prologue on the BBC website gave more insight into the characters than the actual episode did. It didn't help that the tough starship captain was played by Michelle Collins, one of the seemingly endless string of actors who apparently only get jobs because they used to be in Eastenders.
Having said all that, the direction was excellent, typical of Graeme Harper, and it's always good to see them do an all-out hard SF episode, though this was far less gripping than the Satan Pit two-parter. And the parts with Martha's mother were very intriguing, setting up the season finale quite nicely. Overall, flawed but entertaining, like most of this season has been. In fact the only real standout so far has been "The Shakespeare Code", otherwise this season has been pretty unmemorable. Fortunately next week sees the adaptation of one of my favourite Doctor Who novels, Paul Cornell's "Human Nature", and there's also another Steven Moffat episode to come, so it could all turn around in the second half.
May. 15th, 2007
07:01 pm
Currently watching: The Venture Brothers, which has got to be the best cartoon since Futurama (temporarily) ended. It's like an insane blend of Marvel comics, James Bond movies and Scooby Doo cartoons, with hilarious scripts and fantastic characters. Animation is a bit two-dimensional, but certainly better than South Park and with a distinctive style of its own, and the music and voice acting are consistently excellent. The first series was a bit hit and miss, but they're firing on all cylinders with the second series, every episode is absolutely top notch. Of course I didn't realise Bravo were showing it until after I'd already bought the DVDs, but what the hell, there's commentaries and deleted scenes to make it more than worthwhile.
Currently reading: The Book Of The New Sun by Gene Wolfe. Always hailed as one of the best fantasy novels ever, I wouldn't go that for but it's certainly an intriguing reading experience. It starts out like any other fantasy novel, with the main character growing up in an enclosed environment then being sent out to explore the wider world, but after that it gets increasingly surreal and dreamlike, with a succession of bizarre events and colourful characters preventing him from even leaving his home city. The language is a bit off-putting, full of obscure vocabulary used without any explanation, and a glossary would have been helpful; I'm hoping some of the more frequently-used words might become clear in context later on. Certainly there are enough exquisitely-crafted turns of phrase to make up for the obscure parts. There's definitely a lot of layers to it, and it seems like the sort of book that will make more sense the more times you read it, so the first reading is necessarily the most difficult, but I'll plough on nonetheless.
May. 4th, 2007
06:59 pm
Don't seem to have updated this for a while, but then I haven't really had anything worth saying, so no great loss. This week, I've got myself a car - a Renault Clio Grande, and at £3000 the most expensive thing I've ever bought. As I haven't driven since January it might take a while to get back into the swing of things, but I'm sure it'll all come back to me. It does feel a lot more comfortable than any of the other cars I've driven, so that should help.
On other topics, Heroes is fast becoming the best show on television, while Lost and Battlestar Galactica (courtesy of dailymotion.com, as the Sky vs Virgin battle still goes on) continue to deliver too many dull-but-worthy character-development episodes, but make up for them with some jaw-droppingly insane twists that make you wonder if the writers have any idea what's really going on. And Doctor Who's third season had a great first three episodes, but fell down on the Dalek two-parter - hopefully they'll give them a rest now. I've also got my Wii online, and am enjoying playing Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64 after downloading them on the Virtual Console. Seems a bit wasteful to play ten-year-old games on a brand new machine, but I'm sure they'll bring out updated versions sooner or later...
Mar. 1st, 2007
07:02 pm
So Virgin's dispute with Sky has come to a head, and Sky have pulled all their channels off cable. Personally, I'm not all that bothered, as the only shows I watch on Sky One are Lost, Battlestar Galactica and 24, and they're readily available to watch online on various Youtube-style websites of dubious legality, so I think I'll just do that for the time being - not worth switching to Sky just for three shows a week, especially when that will drop to zero in a few months. Besides, Virgin have dropped the charges for their TV On Demand section and added dozens of new shows to it - I'm currently working my way through season 5 of Alias, which I was planning on buying on DVD at some point, so that's saved me £30 at least. And if they keep adding new shows, I may never have to buy another DVD boxset again!
Meanwhile, I've finally finished playing Zelda: Twlight Princess, having played it for a total of fifty hours over the past three months. It was a bit disappointing to start with, with weird washed-out graphics and a tutorial section that doesn't give you any clue what to do next, but I persevered and it was well worth it, full of variety, fiendishly intricate puzzles and satisfying challenges. Buying the Wii was worth it for that alone, even though it doesn't make much use of the motion sensor, just aiming and swishing the sword about. Still, now I've got Super Monkey Ball, which seems tailor-made for a tilt-sensitive controller, so hopefully that will be just as good.
Feb. 18th, 2007
11:40 am - Hot Fuzz
Went to see Hot Fuzz yesterday - very funny and entertaining, but not nearly as good as Shaun Of The Dead. For the first ninety minutes it's like a murder mystery in a quaint English village, the kind you've seen on TV hundreds of times, but enlivened with the witty dialogue and snappy direction you'd expect from the team. Then for the final half-hour it turns into a full-on action movie, with insane gunfights in the village square and the supermarket, and I can't help feeling that works a whole lot better. Edgar Wright's direction is typically stylish, full of fast cuts and loud sound effects, while Simon Pegg is surprisingly intense, possibly his best acting performance yet, and Nick Frost is the lovable slob once again, but quite distinct from the last one he played. It's probably the weakest of the gang's three projects so far, but it's good enough that I definitely want to buy it on DVD, and subsequent viewings might well improve my opinion of it.
Jan. 30th, 2007
06:47 pm - Magician by Raymond E Feist
I've heard some good things about Raymond E Feist's Riftwar series, but was always put off by its length (20 books and counting). On closer investigation, it seems it's split up into a number of different trilogies, which should be a lot more manageable. And this first book is completely standalone anyway, so it's the perfect introduction.
It begins ordinarily enough, with an orphan boy called Pug who becomes a magician's apprentice, and wins the love of a princess before setting out on a journey across the land of Midkemia with various other members of the court. So far, so familiar, but then the story takes a different turn as the land is invaded by warriors of the Tsurani Empire, who come through a portal from another world. The ensuing war goes on for ten years.
Pacing is a problem here, as the timeline jumps ahead months or even years between chapters, and just as you're getting used to one group of characters it cuts to another group, in another world, two years later. There's an entire trilogy worth of story packed into this 680-page book, and it does feel like the author was trying to cram in as much as possible - of course, I read the expanded tenth anniversary edition, so the original version might not have the same problem. On the plus side, the sections where one plotline is followed through several chapters, such as the siege of Crydee or the escape from Krondor, are of a very high standard and by far the best parts of the book, so hopefully future volumes will provide more of the same.
The world of Midkemia is hardly original, being very similar to those created by Robert Jordan or David Eddings, and with elves and dwarves transplanted straight from Tolkien. There's even a trip through some old dwarf mines, which is highly derivative of Moria. The world of the Tsurani is far more interesting, an Empire in the style of ancient China or Japan, and the chapters set there are highly intriguing - I definitely want to read the trilogy based in it.
The story itself is certainly original enough to keep the interest, not a tale of good versus evil, just a clash of two cultures, much as has been happening in the real world since time began. The characters' individual plotlines go through many unexpected twists and turns, Pug in particular having the most interesting journey, while Tomas's story is a bit of a damp squib that doesn't really go anywhere. But on the whole, it's a very entertaining read, and good enough that I'll be reading the next few books in the series at least.
Jan. 29th, 2007
07:21 pm - DVD reviews
Carnivale season 2: The first season of Carnivale (which I wrote about at length in these entries) was all about atmosphere, with a very slow-moving story and only subtle hints to the underlying mythology. With the second season, they obviously realised this wasn't enough, and the story was moved firmly to the forefront, giving the show a new lease of life with a strong narrative drive. Watching the two seasons back to back, you get one 24-episode story that kicks up a gear half-way through - the closest thing I've seen to a "novel for television", which Babylon 5 was always supposed to be, but was scuppered by the realities of TV production. The ending wraps up the main story quite nicely, although there are some loose ends, but only what you'd get at the end of a blockbuster movie setting things up for a sequel that may or may not get made. Taken as a whole, it's 24 episodes of top quality television, and possibly one of the finest television shows ever made.
A Scanner Darkly: I read the book of A Scanner Darkly some time ago, but didn't think much of it, being a gloomy look at drug addiction with little attempt to create a future world. The film is much more impressive, using rotoscoping animation to create a unique visual style, that feels photorealistic but really isn't. It also allows for seamless integration of the visual effects, such as the constantly-shifting images of the scramble suits. The story itself is deceptively complex, veering between the paranoid imaginings of the drug addicts and the machinations of the government watching over them, and it's never clear what side the characters are on - the biggest twist only became clear to me when watching the special features, but perhaps I was just being thick. There are lighter moments as well, with Robert Downey Jr and Woody Harrelson providing fine comic relief with their larger-than-life characters. Even Keanu Reeves is better than normal, the animation perhaps giving him more expression than he really has. I would have liked to see the live-action footage as a DVD extra, perhaps as an alternate angle so you could flick between the two at will - still, it's a stunning film, and certainly worthy of at least another viewing, to spot the clues I obviously missed first time round...
Jan. 17th, 2007
07:09 pm
Passed my driving test today, second time lucky! I was a lot more relaxed than I was the first time round, so that might have helped - it just felt like a casual drive round rather than a big interrogation, maybe because the examiner was different, I don't know. The weather was pretty bad, with rain and hail and bins blowing across the roads, but I guess if I can drive in that I can drive in anything. Now I guess I'll have to start thinking about buying a car, which could be tricky as I know absolutely nothing about cars. Still, no rush - I'll take my time, get used to driving on my own first, see what happens.
Jan. 7th, 2007
04:25 pm - Best 0f 2006 - Books & Comics
I didn't read that many books in 2006, mainly because those I did read were absolutely massive. Rereading Peter F Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy took a good few months, but it was certainly worth it, as reading them back to back made it a lot easier to keep track of the dozens of subplots involving hundreds of characters, which was rather difficult when originally reading the books two years apart. Perhaps because of this surfeit of science-fiction, most of the other books I read were fantasy, including:
- Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke - a wonderful fairy story in the style of Jane Austen, which perhaps rambles on a bit too long but never quite overstays its welcome.
- Knife Of Dreams by Robert Jordan - the penultimate volume in the long-running Wheel Of Time series, which got it back on track and raised hopes that the ending would be something very special indeed. Unfortunately, the author has now contracted a fatal illness, so the final book may never come out. Very inconsiderate of him.
- Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman - a comic fantasy that's probably the best prose novel I've read of his, though it's still not up to the standard of Sandman.
- Age Of Misrule by Mark Chadbourn - a trilogy republished in one volume, in which Celtic gods and demons return to present-day Britain to plunge it into a new Dark Age. The first book opens promisingly, but descends into a predictable find-the-object fantasy quest; however, the next two books are miles better, so I'm glad they put it in one volume as I would have given up after the first book otherwise.
- And a token non-fantasy novel, Black Swan Green by David Mitchell was a nostalgic evocation of life growing up in 1980s England, which I could certainly relate to, though it lacked the depth of some of his earlier works.
On the comics side, I continued buying obscene numbers of trade paperbacks - the series I'm currently following being 100 Bullets, Y The Last Man, Fables, Amazing Spider-Man, Astonishing X-Men, New Avengers, The Ultimates, and The Walking Dead, plus various reprints of older stuff. The best new comic I read was American Virgin, the intriguing tale of a boy who started a pro-virginity movement because he believes God told him his fiancee was the only woman he would ever be with, once they were married, only for his entire belief system to fall apart when she is killed. Don't know how it'll work as an ongoing series, but the first volume is intelligent, thought-provoking and full of vivid characters - great stuff.
Books I'm planning to read in 2007 include Raymond E Feist's Magician (and possibly the dozens of sequels if it's any good) as well as Justina Robson's Keeping It Real and Scott Lynch's The Lies Of Locke Lamora. Not to mention Harry Potter And The Deadly Assassin, or whatever it's called...
Jan. 6th, 2007
07:26 pm - Best of 2006 - Films & TV
The big summer blockbusters proved rather disappointing this year. X-Men 3 was the worst in the trilogy by far, with too many characters and plots crammed in, though the big action scenes were spectacular as always. Superman Returns was good on the big screen but not something I'll be getting on DVD, at least until the sequel comes out. V For Vendetta was probably the best comic-book adaptation of the year, full of intelligent and thought-provoking ideas, though I still haven't read the book it was based on. Slither was a very entertaining comedy-horror hybrid. Clerks 2 was the sequel to one of my favourite films of all time, and it did not disappoint, as Kevin Smith was back on top form after a few duds. But the film of the year was probably The Prestige, one of the best book-to-film adaptations I've ever seen, and pure class throughout.
On TV, Lost continued to be utterly compelling, despite continuing to give more questions than answers, and the second season of Battlestar Galactica was generally excellent, despite a few dodgy standalone episodes towards the end, and a bonkers time jump in the finale. The West Wing ended on a high, with the Santos vs Vinick election campaign being fascinating to watch, though it still lacked the sparkle of the early years. 24 continued to kill off every regular cast member they've ever had, and pitted Jack Bauer against his most devious opponent yet, the President of the United States - great viewing, but God knows how they'll top it next year. And Arrested Development ended its three-year run as the best comedy show on TV, with a mad final season more self-referential and post-modern than anything seen before, and hilarious with it.
As for British TV, Life On Mars worked fine as a cop show set in the 1970s, though the fantasy elements were given a "don't worry, it's not time travel, it's all a dream really" spin that made you long for a bit more ambiguity. The second series of Doctor Who brought with it the most annoyingly smug Doctor-and-companion combination ever in the Tenth Doctor and Rose, though some very strong episodes made up for it. And Torchwood started out feeling like a piss-poor teenage drama full of gratuitous swearing and snogging, but managed to provide a couple of good character-driven episodes that showed the format might have some potential after all.
Films I'm looking forward to in 2007 include The Science Of Sleep, Black Snake Moan and Spider-Man 3, while on TV there's Heroes and Jericho both starting soon, not to mention new series of everything mentioned above, apart from the ones that have ended.
Jan. 1st, 2007
07:21 pm
Saw in the New Year watching Charlie Brooker's excellent show on BBC4, and retired soon afterwards. Unfortunately I still didn't get much sleep as the neighbours were playing loud music for most of the night, and I had to be up for work in the morning. So I'll probably end up falling asleep during Torchwood tonight, which may be for the best. Anyway, as there were no buses and everyone too hungover to give me a lift, I had to get a taxi. It was the first time I've ever been in a taxi by myself, but it went fine, though he seemed to be going at twice the speed limit most of the way. That might be a good New Year's Resolution actually - do one thing I've never done before, every day. Or more realistically, every week. Every month would be even more realistic, but we'll see how it goes...
Dec. 12th, 2006
07:10 pm - I have a Wii
My Nintendo Wii console has arrived - four days after release, but I guess that's not bad considering it's sold out most places, and I could probably make a fortune if I stuck it on ebay. But I won't be doing that. The console itself is surprisingly small, about a quarter the size of my Xbox, and comes with a stand to hold it upright, but it seems a lot safer just to lay it flat. The motion-sensing remote is great, very responsive and easy to use. So far I've only played the Wii Sports game, which is really just a few simple mini-games to show off the remote. Most of them are just a matter of swinging the remote up and down, with boxing slightly more involved as you punch the remote and nunchuk towards the screen. They're all fun for a few minutes, but the golf game is the only one that requires any actual skill, so that's probably the only one I'll be going back to. I'm surprised there wasn't a snooker or pool game on there, something like that would have been ideal. Hopefully the 'proper' games will be better - I've just got Zelda for now, but I'll probably get Super Monkey Ball at some point, as well as the next Mario whenever that comes out. And if the Wii games are few and far between, it still plays GameCube games, and all the older Nintendo games are apparently available to download, so I may investigate that at some point...
Dec. 8th, 2006
07:10 pm
Failed my driving test, on three counts: one, going onto a roundabout when the gap wasn't big enough; two, waiting too long at another roundabout; three, too many minor faults. Still, I guess that's better than just missing out on one thing, that would have been really frustrating. And there was a feature in the newspaper the other day in which someone who had been driving for fifteen years took her test again, just for fun, and did just as badly as I did, which indicates the examiners may have unrealistically high standards. Oh well, I'll try again next year. And possibly the year after that as well.
I was hoping to console myself by playing my Nintendo Wii, but it's still in the post. Though my copy of Zelda has arrived already. Very useful. Still, nice manual...
10:04 am
I've got my driving test in a couple of hours. Don't know how well I'll do - I think I'm up to a decent standard, but in a high-pressure situation like that it would be so easy to make just one minor little mistake, forget one small thing and fail the whole test. Oh well, I'll try my best anyway, and just hope I get lucky...
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