Posts tagged tv
The Ood Cast: Episood Four – The Waters of Mars
Feb 8th
Tap tap tap tap.
Tap tap tap tap.
Do you remember the old days of “Classic Who”? You know, the days when budgets were the size of your mum’s weekly housekeeping allowance which meant that stories were claustrophobic and terrifying, even when the monsters occasionally seemed to be constructed from items you saw her making a cake with the week before?
No? Well, it doesn’t matter… Not all of us do either. But we’ve seen a lot of it on VHS…
But Who and isolated bases on the surface of a foreign planet is a marriage made in heaven, right?
Download the newest episood to find out what happened after we watched The Waters of Mars in a darkened room, complete with a few glasses of liquid handy, which members of our happy band then refused to touch a drink for considerable time afterwards.
Oh, and to find out what exactly caused an argument that might yet cause the premature end of the podcast …
Save your tissues though, because we’ve almost got to the final of the 5 death rattles Mssrs Tennant and Davies served up for our viewing pleasure. And those were where the real tear-jerking moments were… (well, that’s what it said in the Radio Times…)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:57 — 33.9MB)
The Ood Cast: Episood Three – Planet of the Dead
Feb 1st
It’s episode three of The Ood Cast and this week we’re talking about the first installment in the ‘He will knock 4 times’ saga that ends the Tenth Doctor’s life – the aptly named Planet of the Dead.
Flies in boiler suits, dodgy CGI, a wrecked double decker bus, Lara Croft and fires of iniquity all feature in our rambling review of the story. Allies are made, old enemies revealed and friendships tested – and that’s just during the podcast. The story itself is even more exciting.
Join us as we discuss cinematography, production logistics, morality, travel cards and Laura’s huge crush on David Tennant.
Next week: The Waters of Mars and one almighty bust up that threatens to destroy the Ood Cast.
Forever.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:43 — 27.3MB)
The Stairwell Recommends: Podcasts & Leisure Wear
Jan 13th
Today, I’d like to bring everyone’s attention to the numerous advantages of the humble podcast.
These are as follows:
1. They’re free.
2. They feature a wide range of the world’s best comedians, thinkers and assorted artistic types.
3. They’re free.
I can’t for the life of me work out why they’re not more popular. There are podcasts out there that dance all over the faces of the vast majority of mainstream comedy shows. Being independently produced they are also blissfully unconcerned with the sort of stuff that habitually leads to creative stagnation – money, demographics, marketing, pandering to the lowest common denominator … right through to coherence and sanity. Of course it’s a continuum like any other sort of broadcast media but generally speaking you can find more genuinely original, challenging content on a podcast than can be found anywhere in the TV schedules .
Want some recommendations? Thought you’d never ask. These can all be found on iTunes as I guess it’s the most well know podcatcher but if you get the podcasting-bug don’t be afraid to check out some of the independent sites.
Okay so …
Daniel Kitson – This guy is awesome. He’s one of those stand-ups that never quite got the national acclaim of middle of the road comedians like Michael McIntyre and Peter Kay but he’s incredibly sharp and really funny. He reminds me of Jim.
Only funny, like I said.
Carpool – The guy who played Kryten, Robert Llewellyn, in Red Dwarf gives celebrities lifts in his car and then has a chat with them on the way. Surreal but brilliant.
Mark Kermode – Best film critic ever.
Adam & Joe – This is probably the most consistently funny podcast I’ve ever listened to and regularly makes me laugh out loud. They are both hugely talented. Song Wars – where they challenge each other to make up songs around different themes each week is particularly awesome.
As It Occurs To Me – Richard Herring wrote and recorded these, one a week, for 10 weeks and then released them unedited. He used no pre-written material, finding things during the week to generate content. By the end it’s more like a fever dream than a comedy show. But the person having the dream is very funny so it’s also incredibly compulsive to listen to.
Penny Arcade: Dungeons & Dragons Podcast – This is a real oddity. The guys who run Penny Arcade sit down to play a new version of Dungeons & Dragons. One of them has never played a role playing game before. They then proceed to rip the piss out of their earnest Dungeon master for the next few hours. “I am Jim Darkmagic. Of the New Hampshire Darkmagics.” It’s really, really funny.
The Odd Cast – “Listening to this podcast is like being down the pub with your best friends – the conversations are not always coherent but you can be sure of some witty banter with some film, tv, life, love and comedy put-downs all thrown in.” Not my words, the words of an anonymous iTunes reviewer (which might possibly have been us).
Also – Leisure Wear – like pyjamas but warmer. I love my new trousers. I’m telling you, Leisure Wear is the way forwards.
The Stairwell Recommends: Misfits
Jan 6th
The golden age of British television is well and truly over. Anything with even the tiniest, weakest spark of creativity and originality has long since been extinguished – drowned in the murky swamp water of what passes for modern television listings. It’s a simple mathematical formula, so straight forward that even the current specimens of pond life masquerading as TV executives can understand it without getting their crayons out to write it down.
Reality television and lifestyle shows cost next to nothing to make and pull in millions in ratings. All you need to do is commission another vacuous mess starring either a washed up celebrity or ordinary members of the public with ’special’ talents (ie. being more irritating than scabies) and then sit back and watch the cash roll in. Why hire actors with screen presence and charisma? Why avail yourself of directors with vision or writers with a story to tell? You’re not going to make any more money off of it so why bother?
It’s not a problem unique to the UK, American television (historically laughably weak compared to its British counterpart) also suffers from the same blight. The difference is they have the money to support both the tat and the sublime ideas that come along every once in a while and make the whole thing worthwhile. And that’s why they’re currently wiping the floor with us when it comes to quality drama. If you haven’t seen these series then I suggest you stop reading the blog right now and go out and buy some box sets. They are, in order of jaw-dropping-disbelief-if-you-haven’t-seeniness, the following:
The West Wing, Firefly, The Wire, Battlestar Galactica, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Dollhouse (actually anything by Joss Whedon – Buffy, Dr Horrible, even Angel in later series), The Sopranos, Arrested Development … I could go on but this has already turned into a rant and I haven’t even got to the point yet.
*Deep cleansing breath*
The fact is that even with the current British system, good shows do slip through occasionally, normally sitcoms like Outnumbered or Pulling – modest shows that hide their radical hearts behind genre tropes – wolves in sheep’s clothing. There are also some shows with massive ambition and creativity that are successful despite it all and against the odds – but that’s just basically Dr Who (and I’ll devote a whole series of podcast to that soon).
Finally there are aberrations, new shows from channels that are ironically also the main culprits when it comes to pumping excrement into the schedules – the BBC3s and ITV2s of this world, full to the brim with Top 100 shows and programmes about other programmes hosted by foetuses in designer clothing. The worst of these is E4, which is like T4 but all the time and just as unwatchable.
However every now and then E4 will have a go at original programming and surprise itself. Skins is awesome. The Inbetweeners is laugh out loud funny.
And now there’s Misfits, a show which you can guarantee started with an executive walking into his editors office and saying something like “Alright, hear me out, it’s X-Men for the Skins generation.”
And that’s exactly what it is but despite all that it’s pretty damn good. The characters are interesting, it’s actually fairly funny and the concept is great – young offenders get hit by lightning and get superpowers themed around their deepest desires. A disgraced athlete with the ability to turn back time, an awkward recluse who can turn invisible – that sort of thing. The powers are well handled, the actors range from fine to quietly impressive and the whole concept is milked for every last joke, twist and scare it can provide. I’d take a hundred episodes of it over anything Big Brother, X Factor or Strictly Come Dancing have ever produced.
It’s hugely derivative of course (Marvel’s Runaways, the aforementioned Skins, Buffy, it even nicks some stylistic and thematic tricks from quality BBC fare like Life on Mars and Being Human) and it’s not always as funny or as clever as it thinks it is but what it does have is a rough, brash confidence that allows the viewer to overlook these failings and concentrate on what it does well. Which is deliver twisted, memorable stories a cut above most things currently on British TV.
Consider this the first Stairwell recommendation of the new year.
Joss Whedon writes …
Nov 5th
An Open Letter to the Terminator Owners. From a Very Important Hollywood Mogul
I am Joss Whedon, the mastermind behind Titan A.E., Parenthood (not the movie) (or the new series) (or the one where ‘hood’ was capitalized ’cause it was a pun), and myriad other legendary tales. I have heard through the ‘grapevine’ that the Terminator franchise is for sale, and I am prepared to make a pre-emptive bid RIGHT NOW to wrap this dealio up. This is not a joke, this is not a scam, this is not available on TV. I will write a check TODAY for $10,000, and viola! Terminator off your hands.
No, you didn’t miscount. That’s four — FOUR! — zeroes after that one. That’s to show you I mean business. And I mean show business. Nikki Finke says the Terminator concept is played. Well, here’s what I have to say to Nikki Finke: you are a fine journalist and please don’t ever notice me. The Terminator story is as formative and important in our culture — and my pretend play — as any I can think of. It’s far from over. And before you Terminator-Owners (I have trouble remembering names) rush to cash that sweet cheque, let me give you a taste of what I could do with that franchise:
1) Terminator… of the Rings! Yeah, what if he time-travelled TOO far… back to when there was dragons and wizards? (I think it was the Dark Ages.) Hasta La Vista, Boramir! Cool, huh? “Now you gonna be Gandalf the Red!” RRRRIP! But then he totally helps, because he’s a cyborg and he doesn’t give a s#&% about the ring — it has no power over him! And he can carry it AND Frodo AND Sam AND f@%& up some orcs while he’s doing it. This stuff just comes to me. I mean it. (I will also offer $10,000 for the Lord of the Rings franchise).
2) More Glau. Hey. There’s a reason they’re called “Summer” movies.
3) Can you say… musical? Well don’t. Even I know that’s an awful idea.
4) Christian Bale’s John Connor will get a throat lozenge. This will also help his Batwork (ten grand for that franchise too, btw.)
5) More porn. John Connor never told Kyle Reese this, but his main objective in going to the past was to get some. What if there’s a lot of future-babies that have to be made? Cue wah-wah pedal guitar — and dollar signs!
6) The movies will stop getting less cool.
Okay. There’s more — this brain don’t quit! (though it has occasionally been fired) — but I think you get my drift. I really believe the Terminator franchise has only begun to plumb the depths of questioning the human condition during awesome stunts, and I’d like to shepherd it through the next phase. The money is there, but more importantly, the heart is there. But more importantly, money. Think about it. End this bloody bidding war before it begins, and put the Terminator in the hands of someone who watched the first one more than any other movie in college, including “Song of Norway” (no current franchise offer).
Sincerely, Joss Whedon.
Now I know Joss has his tongue lodged firmly in his cheek here but seriously, how cool would this be? We’ve had to come to terms with the fact that we’ll never see an Eliza Dushku starring Wonder Woman written by the great man but that doesn’t mean that all is lost.
There are a load of great franchises out there ready to be re-energised by a writer of passion, vision and humour, as opposed to being trodden into the mud by faceless hacks and idiot holes. If he wants to do it I say let him.
And commission a third series of Dollhouse.
And a sequel to Serenity.
I can dream.
The Haiku Review w/e 180909
Sep 18th
#3
Adventureland (film) Emboldened by rum/ a fairground akward and strange/ he steals love’s first kiss Sports Night (tv) New York in winter/ I feel the heat in your words/ but you talk of sport Spicy Jerk Chicken with mango salsa on pepper and chilli bread (sandwich) Saturated fat/ absent like snow in july/ it melts on the tongue Strawberry Swing (music video) I lay on the floor/ the world erupts around me/ in fire and smudged chalk (500) Days of Summer (film) In the wrong order/ love cools with passing seasons/ a boy meets a girl American Dad (tv) Like family guy/ but in this one the fish talks/ that’s progress for you Pow! (iphone app) Adan West is gone/ but his flying fists live on/ blam crash bang thunk pow Arkham Asylum (ps3 game) Digital Gothlam/ the dark knight detective stalks/ down linear paths Inglourious Basterds (film) Tarintino hacks/ this film into bloody chunks/ some don’t really work Hamlet 2 (film) Shakespeare this is not/ but rock me sexy jesus/ is hilarious Jordan (celebrity) Spring’s brief blush has passed/ flesh droops in autumnal hues/ forget fame and live
Back in the fold
Sep 8th
Sometimes blogs are used to publish vehement polemics about the world we live in.
Sometimes they’re authentic and powerful and wise.
Other times they just contain lots of folded up pictures of Ross Kemp.
Like this.
Or this.
I think both uses are equally valid.
Thanks to Kemp Folds.
(they have lots more pictures of Ross Kemp’s face, folded)
