I watched the Easter special of Jonathan Creeke (a crime drama I’ve followed for several years). Story is, that because money was tight, Alan Davies (who has played Creeke superbly for more than a decade) had to take a pay cut, and a scene at the end was filmed at night, as there wasn’t enough money to pay for the set to be done properly.

Whatever, but I pay my TV License, the same as everyone. Why is money saved on good programs like this, and wasted on Strictly/Next big theatre star, whatever.

Anyway, on a positive note, terrestrial TV seems to be making a comeback. Dr Who and Ashes to Ashes are easily the 2 best programs on TV at the moment.

On the American TV front:

Fringe. Previously excellent, recent episode Peter, was probably the best one they’ve made, the episode after that, fairly mediocre. Its a great series, somebody needs to pay attention.

Stargate Universe. Came back on TV after several months away, with a bang. Its superb, I hope they keep this up.

House. Okay its good, but it seems to do the same things its done for 6 years, and the mind-games stuff, is now just tedious. I far prefer the patient of the week, and an amazing solution, but that hardly ever seems to happen anymore.

Flash Forward. I watched Jonathan Ross on film 2000. He said that there were 3 things that were essential to a film/drama. I forget the other 2, but he said its important that the characters are in some way believable, and that we care about and empathise with them.

Otherwise, when the plot, puts them into danger, we just don’t care (and in fact sometimes we want them to get shot/blown up etc). His criticism at the time, was leveled at a film called Mission to Mars, but exactly the same could be said about Flash Forward. I’ve just stopped watching it, I’d rather watch Coronation street (and that’s saying something).

This is one of the funnyiest scenes ever, from Season 5 of the Wire. It contains some bad language (like most of the Wire) so its probably best not to watch it at work ! (or put it on silent and read the subtitles).

Even more hilarious, is where Lansman, plays the part of a professor !.

I recently watched the final episode of The Wire. If you haven’t seen it, its true what people say, its probably the best TV series ever made.

I’ve started watching foreign films (akira, said to be the best manga film ever made).

On the comedy front, watched Step brothers. Absolutely hilarious (you can watch the “dinosaur” scene here).

Overheard a conversation in the pub the other day. A young woman I know quite well, called Becky, was talking to someone at the bar. Describing a TV series, she was asked what channel it was on.

I was expecting to hear a reply like BBC 3, SKY 1 or something like that. In reply she said , do you know BBC I player ?.  I’ve wondered for sometime, when media would fully cross over from TV to Computer etc. Its started already.

In terms of American TV, I’ve just started watching Prison Break. Fringe has just finished, with a rather disappointing finally.

Nip Tuck, a series Ive been watching for ages, finaly finished the other evening. It had  jumped the shark completely. Even the final episode was pretty terrible.

Joss Wheedon’s Doll House has ended. I cant help feeling that it never really found its feet.

House is good as ever, and the jury is still out on Caprica, the series that precedes the dazzling, Battlestar Galactica.

Watched 2 Films recently at the cinema.  Gamer and Soriety, are the  kind of films you can take a chance with, when you have an unlimited cinema card.

To give an example. Bruce Willis film I would pay money to watch, Final destination is a gamble  I can take.

Using Love Film, I was able to re-watch (and this time see the ending) of a brilliant BBC Drama, from about 15 years ago called Gallowglass. There just doesnt seem to be quiality drama like that around anymore.

I also watched a film called Whitechappel, with Rupert Penry Jones, who you might remember from Spooks. It really was a superb thriller, if you get the chance, watch it.

I continue to watch season 1 of The Unit, as recommended by Kingsley, who I met in India (and also a mate from Corning, called Glenn).  The simplest way to describe this program (which goes on for 4 series) is like Ultimate Force, but done properly !.

An absolutely fantastic film I saw recently (presently showing on sky box office) is Traitor. Don Cheadle made a name for himself in Hotel Rwanda, and this film is just as interesting, exciting and informative.

US TV wise, new series of Fringe and Dollhouse have just started, and are even better than last season (much like season 2 of True Blood, which has only just finished).

Law and Order - Special Victims Unit (normally shortened to just SVU) is back for its 11th season, if you can believe that. First episode of the season was on the other evening, and its one of the best Ive ever seen (and there are hundreds of episodes to compare it too !).

Finally, house is back, in season 6. I wont go into any details, as some people wont have seen the final part of season 5. Suffice to say, its the best episode of house, that I have personaly ever seen.

Well, money has been tight, so I haven’t been to the Cinema, and I have had to cancel my subscription to love film. Never mind, there have been loads of cool things on the TV lately.

Along with Fringe, Dollhouse is one of the two best new TV series, that I have seen this year. They both have a science fiction theme, but Dollhouse (made by the same guy who created Buffy the Vampire Slayer) has a less science orientated theme and has a bit more “glam”.

Each of the characters are human, and in their own way flawed. It makes for great TV interaction.  Also, for people like me who enjoy action, the fight scenes are superbly choreographed.

The first couple of episodes are a bit tame, but don’t be put off, they are there to set the scene. The last 5 episodes, have plot twists flying at you left right and center.

Ive also been catching up on some comedy series.

Family Guy, recommended by my old friend Amanda, and more recently by Jude, is hilarious adult entertainment. I would say that its near the bone, but its not that subtle. I’m amazed they get away with putting half of the stuff into every episode, as its so controversial.

But lets be honest, in private, chatting with friends, aren’t some of our funniest conversations very controversial, things we wouldn’t want the rest of the world to know, but secretly we find hilarious.

One scene the other evening featured God (and I mean literally a cartoon character of the Christian God) dressed in robes drinking in a bar, and chatting up girls by lighting their cigarettes at will. In the next scene he accidentally sets fire to one of the girls and shouts “Jesus Christ” in alarm.

At that moment, a cartoon character of Jesus Christ (with thorns and everything) steps into view to help. I dont know how they get away with putting that on the TV, they must get death threats every week !.

Ive also been watching both series of Flight of the Concords, as recommended by Matt Bridges, and his lovely daughter Eve. There are no glossy sets, flash props, or anything like that, its just pure inventive situation humour.

A show I’ve never really followed (as it pokes fun at IT) is the IT Crowd. The scene in the 2nd series where faced by a visit from the serious fraud office, over pension discrepancies, the boss calmly walks to the window, opens it, and steps out into oblivion, moments after congratulating himself on his business prowess is a landmark in TV comedy.

On a far more serious note, I was watching Leaving Las Vegas. This isn’t a film to watch if you want cheering up, but its gritty and real. I think school children should perhaps be encouraged to watch this film, for some of the scenes that show the harsh reality of alcoholism.

Otherwise, they will probably just see Fosters adverts, with witty guys, attractive women and sunny days, that gives a one sided view of drinking. It also shows (what I believe to be) the reality of prostitution. I think rubbish TV programs like The Secret diary of a call girl (based on a blog, which I honestly think was written by a man) are dangerous.

Ive waited 9 years to watch that film, and it was just as good as Id been told.

Ive been recording all 5 episodes of the new Torchwood series. I wanted to watch them all together. The previous series have been pretty good, so ill have to see what happens.

I found out a really interesting fact the other day.  Mariska Hargitay who plays Olivia Benson, in the superb Law & Order - Special Victims Unit (and interestingly has a small part in Leaving Las Vegas) is the daughter of Jayne Mansfield.

She was actualy in the car on the night of the accident, which decapitated her mother.

Just came back from watching Terminator - Salvation. It has been absolutely slated by critics, but I realy enjoyed it.

Its got loads of action, explosions and big machines and stuff like that (if you normaly read Bridget Jones, this is perhaps, not the film for you). Go out and see it, it really is smart.

A cameo of a CGI Arnie, made to look as he did 25 years ago, was rather smart.

I found out that the series, the 4400 has been cancelled. I was disapointed about that, as I really enjoyed it. Ive also been watching Ashes to Ashes on BBC. Okay, its not as good as Life on Mars, and its never going to be, but to its credit, its prety inventive with the storyline, and Im quite looking forward to the final installment next Tuesday evening.

Endgame - Kasparov and the machine.  A ludicrously 1 sided documentary about Gary Kasaparovs famous Chess match agains the IBM Deep Blue computer (before you ask, yes I have worked previously for IBM, and ill always be proud of that).

Kasparov comes over as an arrogant pushy man, who is used to getting his own way, and didnt like it, when he didnt. There is constant refrence to a “machine” called the Turk, which could play Chess, and actualy beat Napolian. It turned out, it had a person inside, and is used frequently in the film, as a metaphor to imply that IBM cheated.

We actualy get to see the Deep blue featured in the film (1 of 2, I hope to see the other one, when I visit the Smithsonian museum in Washington).

Do I believe that Kasparov was beaten squarely. Yes I do, I think that the IBM’rs knew the kinds of play he would make, and built subroutines into it, to fox him out. I don’t believe they intervened to direct the play of the DB, as I don’t believe they would have had to.

The implication, that they were upto no good, as they kept the DB in a locked room with guards seemed perfectly obvious to me. It was one of the most advanced pieces of technology ever created, and worth a fortune.

A shame really, as I had been waiting for some years to watch it (got it on love film it wasn’t on any of the cinemas here in Chester at the time).

The ridiculous scenes at the end, why they imply a good and descent man was destroyed and morally bankrupted by simply losing the match were just too much for me. I don’t play badminton. I used to get frustrated when I lost and it put me in a bad mood. If  you cant stand to lose, you shouldn’t play.

Bob Pearsons (the founder of the web hosting company Godaddy) does a really good video blog, which is worth a look. Its a bit of an exercise in sexism. More interesting I find, are his 16 rules of life, he has “acquired” on his life’s journey.

I also saw this hilarious post in another blog. I do enjoy reading the Daily Mail, as I like the writing style, but they have become a bit of a parody of themselves - daily mail dating article.

A new game, based around the Helo univers, has just launched. Wont be buying it im afraid, as I don’t have an Xbox 360.

Not much happening this week on the media front. The next film I want to watch on the cinema, is Terminator 4 (whatever the hell its called). I don’t expect a great deal, but Ive seen the other 3,  might as well see the 4th.

The only thing I am worried about, is seeing Christian Bale in the film, and keeping a straight face. Its hard to forget, that he was caught on video lambasting and f’ing and blinding at the Director of photography (he later threatened to walk out of the film, unless the man was fired).

Footage of this spread virally across the Internet. His response to this: It wasn’t actually him doing the shouting. He was in character, and it was actually John Connor who was screaming. I wonder if the real Christian Bale was able to get the man his job back, once he had taken control of his own persona.

He’s been in some great films, but I struggle to take him seriously after this.

Far better, are 2 brilliant releases on DVD. Taken, with Liam Neeson (and it has nothing to do with Aliens, or anything like that) and Defiance (a story I originaly heard about on a Ray Mears documentary some years ago).  A pizza, a bottle of wine and one of these films, is a brilliant Friday evening antidote to the credit crunch !.

I also saw the final part of 24. Its the first one that Ive actually watched to the end, and I really enjoyed it. There wasn’t as much action in the finale as I had expected, but it was very thought provoking.

update:  Saw the last episode of Fringe yesterday. That series started well, and just got better with every episode. A lot of series like that (Lost, the X files towards the end etc) some times feel like there making up the long story as they go along. This definitely didn’t happen with Fringe, and the only last-episode-of-the-series that was better than S01E20 of fringe, would be final episode, series 2 of Battlestar Galactica.

Its on TV right now, make a point of watching it, its superb.

The Dan Brown book Angels and Demons inspired me to visit Rome (and I found that a lot of the stuff in the book was rubbish). You can read about it at Rome 1 and Rome 2.

Earlier this evening, I went to see the film of the same name. It might seem obvious, but if you haven’t read the book, and think you might in the future, don’t go and watch the film until then.

I found the film inevitably rushed, and never seemed to dwell on any point or character long enough to give it either significance or depth.

Dan Brown isn’t exactly an amazing writer, but at least in his books, the main characters are 2 dimensional. In this film, most of them are reduced to 1 dimension and more “wheel them out”,  prop like, than 80’s Arnie.

Enumerate liberty’s have been taken with the plot, to the point that it bares little similarity to the original story. The one thing I really missed, were the technical and historical anecdotes, featured throughout the book, which are few and far between in the film.

The really good thing about the film !. Well, in the book, its implied that a secret passage exists between 2 buildings (wont say which, as don’t want to spoil the film any more than the director already has). In the book, its an underground tunnel. At the start of the book, Brown states that everything in the book is accurate.

Well, there is a passageway, that much is true, but it isn’t underground. Its along the top of a wall. In the film, they actualy walk along the wall, so at least that’s accurate.

Final episode of house. Wont say what happened, but I was shocked and didn’t see that coming.

Also, wedding of Cameron and Chase. In real life they were engaged, but broke it off, about 2 years ago. Must have been really hard to get married on camera after that.

Its the credit crunch, and a lot of people are a bit miserable. One thing I can recommend is the wired podcast. Its hilarious, I used to listen to it on the train when I was travelling to Manchester.

Saw the new Star Trek film yesterday. It really was superb. I don’t just mean that from a Star Trek fan perspective, I mean it was 2 hours of action, entertaining plot, and enough science fiction, without going over the top.

The bench mark for me, is similar to the James Bond film Casino Royale. I have always loved Bond films, but I have never seen one that, if it didn’t have someone in it called James Bond and all the usual trappings, would work as a good action thriller in its own right. Casino Royale was the first one to do that.

The new Star Trek, does, I believe achieve the same thing for the Star Trek franchise. JJ Abrahams work in Lost (and before that Alias) along with Mission Impossible III displays his credentials for making exciting action films.

The story shows the original characters growing up and how they develop. There are some cool moments,  for example we find that Sulu is an expert with some kind of Samurai sword. The stuff about Spock being a man constantly in conflict with himself (eluded to in the series and films, but never really gone into in any detail) is finally explained.

A drunken Kirk fighting in bar and saying “you can whistle really loud” to Captain Pike, is one of the many genuinely hilarious moments.

If your reading this now, make some time this evening or over the weekend to go and see this film and watch it as it was meant to be viewed.  Don’t wait for Sky,  wait for the DVD or download it, you owe it to yourself to enjoy this properly.

Main things happening on the media front:

Wolverine, to be honest was disappointing. I remember several years ago, watching film 93. I remember that whoever was hosting it at the time, mentioned 3 things, which were critical to a good film. In the years since, I’ve forgotten 2 of them, but have always remembered the 3rd.

A film must create characters that are believable. If this isn’t possible, then the audience must at least be able to identify with the characters they are watching. The reason this is important, stated the host, was that otherwise, when you put those characters in danger in the film, nobody actually cares.

That’s a lot like Wolverine. There are some great action sequences (I find it funny, that the film makers were complaining about the film being distributed unfinished on the Internet. In reality, every action sequence is featured on the TV advert anyway) but the story never seems to gel, is overly long, and there are some strange moments with his father, brother and Stryker.

Having read up on the film, on the Internet, it seems like the original story, contains loads of other stuff, that would have made it a lot more interesting (you see Colonel Stryker looking at a young male mutant, who has been frozen , no point is made, that the boy is actually his son).

On the other hand, there is some pretty cool dialogue, which I am sure is unintended. When told in that thoroughly military voice “your country needs you”, he replies “I’m Canadian !”.

On TV front, Special Victims Unit, gets better and better. I have also taken to watching every episode of Red Dwarf since hearing about the remake on the Sky channel Dave. Red Dwarf, really is one of the most imaginative TV programs I think I’ve ever seen and I thought the last seen of the last episode of season 8 with the Grim Reaper, was fantastic.

A film I saw last week, 17 again, was far better than I expected. It wasn’t the teenage girl film I had expected, it had much bigger things to say about life. I really enjoyed it, and I would recommend watching it.

Just finished reading Wilbur Smiths new book, Assaigi. It really is terrible. The first half is okay (and considering he only brings out a book every 2 years, thats far from acceptable) and the second half turns into some kind of Mills & Boon nonsense. Finally, the ending is a complete anti-climax.

If his next book is as bad as this, I’ll stop buying them, and get it from the Library.

Although its been hyped to high heaven (which always makes me suspicious, for a kick off) the Boat that Rocked, most definitely does not “Rock”. All the elements are there, they just never seem to come together and at two and a half hours, it drags on and on. Peter Bradshaw seems to think the same.

Far better, is a film I watched recently called Revolutionary Road. Much better use of two hours, if you get a chance watch it.

A series with similarities to the X-Files, Fringe is something I’ve been watching recently and I’m really getting into it (the void left by the final endings of the L Word and Battlestar Galactica has been a significant chasm to fill).

UK only TV viewers are in for a real treat with an up coming episode of House. In it, a cat can seemingly predict who is going to die. Obviously house solves it in the end, but its a very creative episode (I am getting a bit sick of house playing mind games and all that rubbish, I’m more interested in a proper story).

On the book front, Wilbur Smith’s new book Assegai has just arrived (it was half price from Amazon, I just had to wait 3 weeks, which seemed worth it. Only 20 pages into it, but its as good as the 30 odd others of his, that I’ve read.

On the web front, I’ve gotten on board with Twitter. You may have heard about it, its been in the press a lot recently. Basic idea, is that I can update, what I’m doing, what I’m thinking or anything really, wherever I am and it will appear at the top of this website in Yellow.

It shows the last 2 tweets, and can even have links to pictures I’ve taken on the Iphone, or links to maps, where I have “tracked” my location to GPS.