All Entries In Entertainment Category

I was at the Manchester Apollo on Friday night to see Machine Head. Doors opened at about 6:30pm and the first band; Man Must Die, came on stage just after 7pm. They were pretty good. Bleeding Through were next on stage; at about 7:40pm or so. They were also pretty good. Hatebreed were next on stage at about 8:20pm or so. They were very good. Machine Head came on stage to a huge ovation at about 9:25pm and proceeded to blow the building apart. They were not only awesome but they were very loud. I still have a buzzing in my ears as a result. With it being the last date of the UK leg of the tour, they ended their set by bringing all the other bands back on stage and took a group photo with the audience in the background. Mere words alone cannot express how good a night it was.

You can see some of the pictures I took on the photos section of my Facebook page.

I was at Academy 1 in Manchester last Sunday evening to watch Lacuna Coil in concert. They were supported by Dommin and Dirty Little Rabbits. Dommin were great and whilst Dirty Little Rabbits weren't exactly brilliant they seemed okay to me. Although, their keyboardist, Michael Pfaff, was more annoying than anything else.

I spent Monday recovering; and catching up on coursework for the Open University.

I was back in Manchester again on Tuesday; at the MEN Arena, to watch Rammstein and Combichrist in concert. Combichrist were pretty damned good and are rather unusual in that even though their studio albums have guitars they don't have any guitars on stage. Rammstein; as usual, were absolutely awesome from start to finish. This was the third time I'd seen them live and it was probably the best of the 3 shows that I've seen. Sorely tempted to go to Sonisphere this summer to see them for a fourth time.

I was in Manchester last night with a couple of friends; Andrew and Tricia, to watch Biffy Clyro at the Manchester Apollo. Left home at about 3pm and got to Manchester a little after 6pm. Doors opened at 7pm and the first act; Pulled Aprt By Horses, came on stage at about 7:30pm. They were overly loud and the singing left a heck of a lot to be desired. To be honest Iv'e listened to some poor bands in my time but they were truly awful

Second on stage; at about 8:30pm were Manchester Orchestra, an indie rock band from Atlanta. They were absiolutely brilliant and a nice change of pace from the first act. They went down very well and fully deserved the applause they received at the end of their set.

Biffy Clyro came on stage at about 9:30pm. The crowd had started to get a bit antsy. Some people just have no patience. Their light show was painfully bright in places and they sounded very loud. They played an absolutely brilliant set; although I think they still need to work on their crowd interaction. They left the stage at about 10:45pm before coming back on for a few encore songs. Left Manchester about 11:30pm and was home by about 3am.

It was a very enjoyable evening; only spoiled by the dimwits who decided that they wanted to stand even though they had paid for seats. Really annoys the hell outta me. I wasn't a huge Biffy Clyro fan before last night. I had heard some of their songs and even seen them play at Download. Anyway, came away a confirmed fan. If you only go and see one gig this winter, make sure it's Biffy Clyro...

I was in Glasgow on Friday night for a Paradise Lost gig. Hard to imagine but they've been on the go for 21 years now. Anyway, left home at 4:30pm and spent a good 10 minutes in Rheda trying to find Adam's house only to give up and go collect Scoot. Turns out I'd misread both of Scoot's text messages as 38 rather than 35, and then, no sorry 33... Would've been easier if I'd looked at the text message again whilst still in Rheda. Anyway, the journey up to Glasgow was uneventful and we pulled up opposite the venue; King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, at about 7:45pm.

Doors to the venue proper opened a little bit after 8:30pm and by the time we got upstairs the first band; Engel, were already on stage. They've only been around for a couple of years and have so far only released 2 studio albums. Don't let that fool you. All the band members have been in other bands in their native Sweden beforehand. They played a very good 30 minute set and I will be hunting out their two albums.

The second support act, Katatonia, also Swedish, have been around since 1991 and have released 8 studio albums and a couple of compilation albums. They came on stage about 9:30pm and performed for about 30 minutes also. Apart from their first track; which I thought was abysmal, they played a very good set.

Paradise Lost were due on stage at about 10:15pm but didn't arrive until 10:30pm. They played a collection of songs covering a good spectrum of their 12 studio albums. Lead singer Nick Homes struck up a good banter with the audience and even suggested that one of the songs the audience shouted out a request for would sound awful because they hadn't rehearsed it. They finished up their set at 11:45pm but then threw in an encore and the show finished just after midnight.

We had a fairly uneventful return journey home apart from some seriously heavy rain and standing water in places on the M74. With a brief stop for coffee to keep awake I dropped Scoot off about 3:00am, then dropped Adam off about 3:15am and got home myself just before 3:30am.

Going to see Saxon and Anvil in Whitehaven on Wednesday and then going to see Biffy Clyro in Manchester next Saturday. I'm also going to see Lacuna Coil in Manchester at the end of January and Rammstein, 2 days later, also in Manchester.

Sadly another member of the fantasy fraternity has slipped away. David Eddings died yesterday; 2nd June 2009, aged 77. Eddings was the author that introduced me to the fantasy genre. I had been a fan of sci-fi up unti reading Pawn Of Prophecy. I still read the occasional sci-fi and/or non-fantasy book; most notably Tom Clancy, but the main genre that I enjoy is fantasy. Such a shame that we won't get to read any more of the Eddings' output.

On Saturday morning I went to the cinema with a couple of friends to watch the new Star Trek movie; and I can honestly say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, I have since watched it again. There's enough for long-time fans and new fans alike. I would rate the film very highly and feel it's the best Trek film since Wrath of Khan.

I then went roleplaying on Saturday afternoon and didn't get home until well after 4am. I then enjoyed the Manchester derby on Sunday afternoon before falling asleep whilst watching the Noth London derby. The late night finally caught up with me.

The 54th Eurovision Song Contest will be held at the Olympiyski Indoor Arena in Moscow on 12th, 14th & 16th May 2009. There are 42 entrants and they have been split up into two semi-finals and a final.

The first semi-final on 12th May will feature 18 entrants:

Montenegro: Andrea Demirovic singing Just Get Out of My Life
Czech Republic: Gipsy.cz singing Aven Romale
Belgium: Copycat singing Copycat
Belarus: Petr Elfimov singing Eyes That Never Lie
Sweden: Malena Ernman singing La Voix
Armenia: Inga & Anush singing Jan Jan
Andorra: Susanne Georgi singing La Teva Decisió (Get A Life)
Switzerland: Lovebugs singing The Highest Heights
Turkey: Hadise singing Düm Tek Tek
Israel: Noa & Mira Awad singing There Must Be Another Way
Bulgaria: Krassimir Avramov singing Illusion
Iceland: Yohanna singing Is It True?
F.Y.R. Macedonia: Next Time singing Neshto Shto Ke Ostane
Romania: Elena singing The Balkan Girls
Finland: Waldo's People singing Lose Control
Portugal: Flor-de-lis singing Todas As Ruas Do Amor
Malta: Chiara singing What If We
Bosnia & Herzegovina: Regina singing Bistra Voda

The second semi-final on 14th May will feature 19 entrants:

Croatia: Igor Cukrov feat. Andrea singing Liepa Tena
Ireland: Sinéad Mulvey & Black Daisy singing Et Cetera
Latvia: Intars Busulis singing Probka
Serbia: Marko Kon & Milaan singing Cipela
Poland: Lidia Kopania singing I Don't Wanna Leave
Norway: Alexander Rybak singing Fairytale
Cyprus: Christina Metaxa singing Firefly
Slovakia: Kamil Mikulčík & Nela Pocisková singing Leť Tmou
Denmark: Brinck singing Believe Again
Slovenia: Quartissimo feat. Martina singing Love Symphony
Hungary: Zoli Ádok singing Dance With Me
Azerbaijan: AySel & Arash singing Always
Greece: Sakis Rouvas singing This Is Our Night
Lithuania: Sasha Son singing Love
Moldova: Nelly Ciobanu singing Hora Din Moldova
Albania: Kejsi Tola singing Carry Me In Your Dreams
Ukraine: Svetlana Loboda singing Be my Valentine! (Anti-crisis Girl)
Estonia: Urban Symphony singing Rändajad
The Netherlands: The Toppers singing Shine

The final on 16th May will feature 25 entrants including 10 qualifiers from each semi-final and the following 5 entrants:

France: Patricia Kaas singing Et S'il Fallait Le Faire
Spain: Soraya singing La Noche Es Para Mí (The Night Is For Me)
United Kingdom: Jade Ewen singing It's My Time
Germany: Alex Swings Oscar Sings! singing Miss Kiss Kiss Bang
Russia: Anastasia Prikhodko singing Mamo

Videos of all 42 participants can be found on the official Eurovision site or here. If you're going to be in Moscow anytime between 11th and 16th May then tickets for any of the Dress Rehersals, Semi-finals or Final can be ordered from here.

Every night as a youngster growing up in the 1980s I listened to AFN Europe, the US armed forces radio and television network that broadcasts to Germany. Reception in the UK was, and continues to be, patchy at best.

My main reason for listening to AFN was for the sports that they used to broadcast every night. This was in the days before Channel 4 started showing the NFL and well before Sky came on the scene. However, they also used to have a half-hour short story show, a weekly countdown of the US Music Charts with Casey Kasem and the King Biscuit Flower Hour.

However, my favourite show; The Rest of the Story, which retold little-known true anecdotes about famous people or historic incidents, always with a little twist at the end, was presented by legendary US radio presenter, Paul Harvey, who died Saturday at the age of 90; after 75 years on the radio. I never realised how old and famous Harvey was at the time, and I haven't listened to AFN for well over a decade now. Hearing that Paul Harvey has died leaves me feeling nostalgic and a little bit sad. A little bit of my childhood has died.

The 81st Academy Awards are being held tonight at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. The Oscar nominees are as follows

Best picture nominees are The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader and Slumdog Millionaire.

Best director nominees are Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire, Stephen Daldry - The Reader, David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon and Gus Van Sant - Milk.

Best actor nominees are Richard Jenkins - The Visitor, Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon, Sean Penn - Milk, Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler.

Best actress nominees are Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married, Angelina Jolie - Changeling, Melissa Leo - Frozen River, Meryl Streep - Doubt and Kate Winslet - The Reader.

Best supporting actress nominees are Amy Adams - Doubt, Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Viola Davis - Doubt, Taraji P Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler.

Best supporting actor nominees are Josh Brolin - Milk, Robert Downey Jr - Tropic Thunder, Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt, Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight and Michael Shannon - Revolutionary Road.

Best animated feature film nominees are Bolt, Kung Fu Panda and Wall-E.

There is a document circulating on the internet that names Kate Winslet as best actress, Slumdog Millionaire winning best picture and best director prizes, Mickey Rourke as best actor, Heath Ledger as best supporting actor, Amy Adams as best supporting actress and In Bruges getting the best original screenplay award. Tonight's ceremony will reveal all and we'll see how accurate the document is.

Long-time children's TV presenter Tony Hart has died, at the age of 83. After serving as an officer in the 1st Gurkha Rifles in World War II, he later attended Maidstone College of Art before joining the BBC in 1952. He became the resident artist on Saturday Special in that year before subsequently appearing in Playbox, Titch and Quackers, Vision On, Take Hart, Hartbeat and Smart Hart.

Morph joined Tony in 1977 and they were later joined by Chas; both animated clay figures. He received two Bafta awards, won a lifetime achievement award in 1998, and also created the original design for the Blue Peter badge.

BBC Video.

Patrick McGoohan, the star of cult 1960s TV show The Prisoner, has died, after a short illness. He was 80 years old. Alongside the fame his portrayal of Six brought him, he also won two Emmy awards for his work on TV detective series Columbo, first in 1974 and then again in 1990. He also won a Bafta award for best television actor in 1959 for his role in The Greatest Man In The World.

Ricardo Montalban, star of 1970s & 80s US TV show Fantasy Island, has aslo died. He was 88 years old and is probably also well remembered for playing the villain, Khan Noonien Singh, in Star Trek, both in the TV episode 'Space Seed' and the second feature film 'The Wrath Of Khan.'

I finished reading the eleventh, and final, book in the Sword of Truth series last night.

One of the complaints that my friends and I have levelled at the series is the amount of repetition that you were subjected to in previous books. How many times does a reader need to be reminded that Richard is a Woodland guide from Heartland, that Kahlan is the Mother Confessor, that Nicci used to be the Slave Queen / Death's Mistress? It wouldn't be so bad, and perhaps even understandable, if we were reminded once per book. It would give newcomers to the series the opportunity to know who was who without reading the earlier books; although why anybody would want to jump into a series of books mid-way through. The problem has always been the fact that Goodkind seems to think his readers have a ten minute attention span and need constant reminding of who is who.

With all that being said, Confessor doesn't suffer from the continued repetition and the story moves along at a very nice pace. I started reading the book on Wednesday evening with 10 chapters. I read a further 10 on Thursday evening. I read a further 5 on Friday afternoon and intended to read another 10-15 on Friday night. However, I got thoroughly engrossed and ended up reading the final 40 or so chapters all in one go. As one of my friends has since pointed out the ending has a wee bit of a surprise in store; enough of a surprise that a lot of reviews that I have since read have lambasted Mr Goodkind for the ending. I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed the book, and the surprise twist was in some ways rather appropriate.

I'm a bit disappointed that the story of Richard, Kahlan and their friends has now ended and will be looking for another series to sink my teeth into. In the meantime, I will enjoy The Legend Of The Seeker TV series and will read a couple of standalone books that I have not previously got around to reading.

I've just watched the final part of Dead Set on Channel 4. I previously watched episodes 1 and 2 on Tuesday and Wednesday. Dead Set was originally a five part zombie horror thriller broadcast on E4 in October 2008. Channel 4 showed it in three parts this week. At the simplest level it's pretty much seems to be a kind of cross between Big Brother and 28 Days/Weeks Later.

I've never been a big fan of Big Brother, so never really set aside the time to watch it. However, I've been going to bed earlier than usual this week and caught the first two parts whilst in bed. I've enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to and also enjoyed tonight's final part. I've enjoyed it enough to add it to my Amazon list and will purchase it at some point in the future.

Joe Francis, of Girls Gone Wild, and Larry Flynt, of Hustler, are seeking a $5 billion bailout from the U.S. Congress, claiming the adult entertainment industry has taken a huge shot to the face because of the downturn -- citing the fact that XXX DVD sales are down 22% from a year ago.

"With all this economic misery and people losing all that money, sex is the farthest thing from their mind," Flynt says. "It's time for Congress to rejuvenate the sexual appetite of America."

Francis added "Congress seems willing to help shore up our nation's most important businesses; we feel we deserve the same consideration."

I detect tongues very firmly in cheeks. I must admit that the amount of vitriol that the moral minority has posted on various sites and forums has amused me.

Ron Asheton, one of the founding members of Iggy Pop's band, The Stooges, was found dead by police at his Ann Arbor, Michigan home on Tuesday. He was 60 and is survived by his sister Kathy and his brother Scott, who is The Stooges' drummer.

He was The Stoooges' guitarist and played alongside his brother Scott on drums and the late Dave Alexander on bass. The band are on the shortlist to enter the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this April and Asheton was ranked the 29th greatest guitarist of all-time by Rolling Stone magazine in 2003.

26-year-old Matt Smith has been named as the next Doctor. He will take over from the departing David Tennant, who will begin filming the first of his final 4 specials later this month. Filming for the next full season; the fifth, of Doctor Who is expected to commence in the summer.

Smith, who becomes the youngest actor ever to portray the Doctor, got his big break in the 2006 adaptation of Philip Pullman's The Ruby in the Smoke, it's follow-up, The Shadow in the North, and in The Secret Diary of a Call Girl. He also played a leading role in BBC Two's political drama Party Animals.

He has also appeared on stage in the West End opposite Christian Slater in Swimming With Sharks. He has also appeared on stage in Fresh Kills, On the Shore of the Wide World and portrayed Lockwood in Alan Bennett's The History Boys.

Nope, I'm not about to give away a huge scoop. I'm just giving people a heads up that the announcement is less than 24 hours away. It will be made on a specoal edition of Doctor Who Confidential that will air on BBC One tomorrow at 5:35pm GMT. Paterson Joseph, David Morrissey, Sean Pertwee, James Nesbitt, Russell Tovey and James McAvoy have all been mentioned as possibles at one time or another. Paterson Joseph and James Nesbitt have both been previously named as bookies favourites Russell Tovey has been mooted as being the first choice of departing Doctor Who writer Russell T Davies. I'm not sure who is going to be named but Sean Pertwee, son of thrid doctor Jon Pertwee, would be an interesting choice.

The First Lady of Star Trek, Majel Barrett Roddenberry, wife of late "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry, has died at the age of 76. She died at her Bel-Air, Los Angeles home, after battling leukemia.

She is the only actress to appear in all five "Star Trek" series. She most recently provided the voice, once again, of the USS Enterprise computer in the upcoming J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" film.

She is survived by a son, Eugene "Rod" Roddenberry Jr.

There's a new Terminator: Salvation trailer out. Go visit the Sony or Apple website to view it. The Apple site hasd a few different sizes included full 1080p HD. The film is released in the US on May 22nd 2009 and in the UK on June 5th 2009.

Star Wars: A Musical Journey is a new 2 hour stage show planned to launch on April 10th at the O2 in London before going on a European tour.

The show will see the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra play a new, rewritten live score as excerpts from the six films are shown on a cinema screen. A statement said thar John Williams has "painstakingly rewritten" the music he wrote for the movies. The show has been put together by Williams and George Lucas' Lucasfilm.

An accompanying exhibition will feature original models, props, costumes and production artwork.

Tickets, costing between £30 and £100, will go on sale on this coming Monday; 15th December 2008.

This Christmas sees the first new Wallace & Gromitt TV adventure for a number of years. A Matter Of Loaf And Death sees our duo running a bakery. It's due to be screened by the BBC over Christmas but was aired recently in Australia. I watched it this morning and it's really quite funny. Very reminiscent of the previous short-form animations for Aardman.

Monday marks the 20th anniversary of the first broadcast of one of the best, cult sci-fi shows of all time; Mystery Science Theater 3000. MST3K ran for 198 epsiodes over 11 seasons and also spawned a movie, based on This Island Earth, in 1996. The premise of the show was that a man and his robot sidekicks are trapped on a satellite in space by an evil scientist and forced to watch a selection of terrible movies. The man and his robots provide a running commentary to the film, making fun of its flaws and wisecracking their way through the film.

The initial run of the show, referred to as Season 0, ran on KTMA-TV Channel 23 Minneapolis from November 24th 1988 to May 28th 1989 after which the show was picked up by Comedy Central and ran for 7 seasons. When Comedy Central dropped the show, MST3K's Internet fan-base staged a write-in campaign to keep the show alive which resulted in the Sci Fi Channel picking up the series, where it ran for another 3 seasons. The final episode aired on Sci-Fi on 8th August 1999.

Unfortunately, problems with movie rights have led to problems releasing the series on DVD. There are some available and there is a list on Wikipedia. However, these are all Region 1, NTSC releases. We can only hope that something good happens in the future and Region 2 PAL releases finally see the light of day.

There is a new trailer out for next summer's Star Trek movie. You can view the trailer at the official site and also at the Apple site. I must admit I like the look of things from the new trailer; especially the interior shots of the Enterprise.

Reg Varney, who played happy-go-lucky London bus driver Stan Butler in 65 of the 74 episodes of the 1970s sitcom On The Buses died over the weekend. He also starred in the earlier series of The Rag Trade and Beggar My Neighbour as well as appearing in the three On The Buses spin-off movies. He was 92 and is survived by his daughter.

On June 27th 1967 he made the first ever withdrawal from the world's first voucher based cash dispensing machine; at the Enfield Town branch of Barclays Bank

The complete series of On The Buses is available to buy on DVD from Amazon and Play.com amongst other retailers. Although, it would be cheaper to buy the series by the individual seasons. The 3 movies spinoffs are also available to buy as box sets from Amazon and Play.com.

I saw the new Bond movie this evening. In my opinion Quantum Of Solace isn't as good as some of the older Bond movies but I feel it stands up as a pretty good film in it's own right.

As with Casino Royale there isn't a plethora of gadgets and the franchise has got back more to the nitty-gritty of fist fights and shoot outs without the need for the gadgets. Some of the stunts were quite breathtaking, whilst others were simply over the top.

You can tell that the producers have noticed the success of the Jason Bourne films and reacted accordingly. That's definitely not a bad thing. Bond, as a result, stands up as an action hero in his own right. I'd probably rate it at 7/10 and feel it's probably every bit as good as Casino Royale.

Time Warp is a new show that premiered recently on Discovery in ths USA. Working in a similar vein to Discovery's Mythbusters and Sky's Brainiac, the show takes ordinary, mundane occurences as well as extraordinary events and slows them down massively to show what happens in slow motion. Taking advantage of high speed cameras and recording at anything up to 20,000 frames a second, the series has so far examined what happens when Diet Coke and Mentoes are mixed, why you shouldn't pour water onto a hot chip pan, what happens when martial artsists break tiles, and many more.

No doubt it'll turn up on Discovery UK sometime in the future.

Not a lot of in-production, or even planned, TV or Movie stuff escapes my attention. I like to try and keep up to date with upcoming shows so that I can pick out things that may well interest me. Anyway, imagine my surprise when I discovered that Legend of the Seeker, a series based on Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series of fantasy novels, was not only in production, but actually has a solid premiere date..

In the aftermath of the brutal murder of his father, a mysterious woman, Kahlan Amnell, appears in Richard Cypher's forest sanctuary seeking help...and more. His world, his very beliefs, are shattered when ancient debts come due with thundering violence. In their darkest hour, hunted relentlessly, tormented by treachery and loss, Kahlan calls upon Richard to reach beyond his sword-to invoke within himself something more noble. Neither knows that the rules of battle have just changed...or that their time has run out. This is the beginning. One story. One Rule. Witness the birth of a legend. Written by Terry Goodkind

The series premieres on November 1st in the U.S.A. and I will be looking out for it as soon as I can.

Normally, we would be roleplaying today but Scoot is working. So, we're going to watch some DVDs instead. It's a good chance to catch up with Colin and Paul at least. It's been over a month since I last turned up to the Saturday game.

I've spent today catching up with some of the latest episodes of top American TV shows such as Bones Season 4, Criminal Minds Season 4, CSI Miami Season 7, CSI New York Season 5, Eureka Season 3, Fringe Season 1, Heroes Season 3, House Season 5, Knight Rider Season 1, My Name Is Earl Season 4, Prison Break Season 4 and Terminator - The Sarah Connor Chronicles Season 2.

Of the new shows that have launched this Autumn/Fall I would have to say that Fringe has been the highlight so far; although having said that, the only other new show that has caught my attention is Knight Rider. In terms of returning shows, Eureka has been fairly good and Bones has also been pretty good. Prison Break and Terminator have both been strong but the stand out so far is the new season of Heroes. We've already encountered a couple of new faces and there is definitely the promise of good things in store for the rest of the season.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is probably the only returning show that I keep up with that has not yet returned. I'm also looking forward to Dollhouse which should launch early in 2009.

I've spent virtually all day today sat upstairs watching TV. I've spent all afternoon watching football on Sky Sports, with the occassional flick over to check the Formula One, and this evening, I've been mainly watching documentaries on the Discovery and History channels. Sky Sports are showing the Chicago Bears live at 1:30am tonight and I'm hoping I can stay awake long enough to watch them.

I sat down and finally watched the new Scorpion King and Mummy movies last night.

The Scorpion King 2: Rise Of A Warrior doesn't have an all star cast and features five-time UFC champion Randy Couture as the main villain. I don't think it was as good as the first movie but does hold up fairly well in it's own right. It's not going to set the film world on fire and probably ranks as a mediocre low budget film. I won't say it's on a par with something like Krull, Ladyhawke or Legend but it's an okay fantasy romp.

The Mummy 3: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor on the other hand is an excellent addition to the franchise and feels a lot like the first two movies. However, Jet Li seems a bit miscast as the bad guy. Or maybe I've gotten used to his recent films and feel there's no enough action coming from him. Brendan Fraser and John Hannah, on the other hand, both do fine work reprising their roles. I think it's a shame that they couldn't get Rachel Weisz. Anyway, overall I'd give the film a definite thumbs up.

I watched the pilot episode of JJ Abrams' new show, Fringe, today. I must admit I enjoyed it immensely and found it very reminiscent of The X-Files. It was a good solid start to a new show with a wee bit of a twist thrown in. I will be looking forward to future episodes for definite. I've also recently caught the first episodes of new seasons of Prison Break, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Bones, Dexter and Eureka.

Sky have already started showing the new season of Prison Break and I didn't even realise it. Will have to hope they are repeated later in the week or else look to d/l them.

I am extremely disappointed. They have remade one of the greatest science-fiction movies ever made and all I can think is "Why?"

Although, the trailer does look quite good.

Just when we thought we'd seen it all, a clip of the never-produced Buffy: Animated has surfaced! Somewhat of a holy grail for the fans...

There is an online petition to try and get it made.

After enjoying seasons 1 and 2 of Dexter earlier this summer I've been waiting for Showtime to announce the new season. They have finally announced it will launch on September 28th.

DigiGuide is a TV guide for Windows that allows you to search, organise and get reminders for your favourite programmes without ever opening a web browser. I have used it since December 2000 and have only just realised that I have never mentioned it on the blog; mainly because it's one of those things that I take for granted.

You can get a free 30-day trial by clicking here. Subscriptions cost £9.99 a year, which works out at less than 20p per day. Purchasing for more than one year at a time works out even cheaper. And one other point in it's favour is that you are allowed to install it on upto 3 PCs at the same time.

Apparently, DigiGuide will run on Linux using Wine but you'll need to read the support forums for more details. There is no Mac version currently but the developers have stated that they will be working on a Mac version later in the year after v8.4 is finalised for the PC. In the interim Mac users may be interested in their online version.

I finally finished reading Taliesin this morning. It's taken me over a year to read it. However, I have only been reading it sporadically; usually a chapter or two at a time, and then leaving it for long periods of time. I ended up going to bed before 1am last night and was awake before 8am this morning. After grabbing some breakfast etc I decided to watch some of the football from the Olympic Games. I also decided that I'd read a couple of chapters and ended up reading the last 12 or so all in one go. Anyway, before I make a start on the next 4 books in the series I'm going to read some Jeremy Clarkson.

We didn't end up roleplaying yesterday. We knew that Greg wasn't turning up but John informed Colin at the last minute that he was pulling out of the game for a while. Colin, for whatever reason, decided to have a DVD session instead of the game.

I chose Fargo as the first choice of the day, Scoot then picked Hellboy II, Paul picked A Knight's Tale, Colin chose Fearless Vampire Hunters & I chose Wrong Turn for my secound choice before Scoot selected Das Boot for his. Making a point of ensuring the film was in German rather than dubbed English we settled back for the almost 3½ hours it was going to be.

However, with it getting close to 1am and with all of us flagging we ended up switching the DVD off after just over an hour of the film and called it a day.

I've watched a couple of movies today. First up was the action flick, Wanted, which was a lot of fun to watch and full of unbelievable special effects and stunts. If you do decide to go and watch it be aware that it's not a high-brow thriller but rather an almost comic book-like story. The second film was Adam Sandler's new movie, You Don't Mess With The Zohan, which also stars Rob Schneider and features guest appearances by Mariah Carey and Michael Buffer. It is lots of fun and well worth watching. I would give both movies solid 8/10 ratings.

A small group of friends and I went to see the new Batman film, The Dark Knight, last night.

I wish cinema seat designers would spend a good couple of hours sitting in their seats before unleashing them on the public. Although the seats were nice and wide with plenty of legroom they started to really hurt my back with about an hour or so to go and I ended up spending the last hour fidgeting around every few minutes trying to get comfortable again.

Anyway, the film is just about 2½ hours long and I started feeling that it was dragging on with about 30 minutes or so still to go. It had lulled a wee but but soon got going again. I can honestly say that it's probably one of the most fun films I've seen in quite a while. I'd give it a solid 8½/10 and would probably have given it a 9 but for the extra length. I can see Heath Ledger getting a posthumous Oscar nomination for his portrayal of The Joker.

I won't spoil any of the film for you but I will say that if you are in two minds as to whether or not to go; especially if you feel the film has been over-hyped because of Heath Ledger's death, then I would heartily recommend you go and see it.

Normally on a Saturday I would be going roleplaying. However, Colin and Scoot are off to a Stag Do tonight so the game isn't on today. They had mentioned last weekend that they wouldn't be about this weekend but I totally forgot. I even went and bought snacks for the game.

Anyway, rather than sitting around and just browsing the web or playing games I've decided I'm going to catch up with one of the myriad of shows that I have fallen behind on. The show I've decided to catch up with is Showtime's Dexter, based on the novels by author Jeff Lindsay. Dexter is a forensic analyst who also happens to be a serial killer, allegedly targeting the truly-deserving.

I've got both Season 1 and 2 on DVD; 24 episodes in total, and if I start now I can get 7 or 8 episodes watched before Doctor Who starts at 6:40pm. I can then get another episode in before the 3rd game of the Boston Red Sox - New York Yankees baseball. I can then make inroads into the rest of Season 1 after the baseball finishes.

Don S. Davis, who played Major General George Hammond on Stargate SG-1, has passed away at the age of 65 years old. He suffered a massive heart attack on Sunday morning, June 29th.

Well, we watched a total of 8 films yesterday including Futurama: The Beast With A Billion Backs, DOA, The Sasquatch Gang, Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer, In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, Run Fatboy Run, The Incredible Hulk and Superhero Movie.

The unexpected highlight was The Sasquatch Gang, which started out and appeared as if it was going to be a Coming of Age movie in a similar vein to Stand By Me, but turned out to be a really good comedy. Check it out if you can find it.

On the way home I popped into a local shop and managed to pick up True Romance and Mars Attacks for a combined total of £5.

Speaking to Colin last night he doesn't feel up to running his game this weekend and neither do I. So, we've decided not to have a roleplaying session today but rather have one of our infrequent DVD sessions. We'll get together at Colin's around 2pm and will take turns in selecting DVDs to watch until the wee small hours of the morning. A lot of what we watch is cheese but that's half the fun. It's a chance to sit down and have a natter whilst watching a few films. It's a nice change of pace from roleplaying.

This weekend is the sixth annual Download Festival. After much deliberation I finally decided that I really couldn't afford to go; and to be brutally honest, there wasn't really a lot to attract me to it anyway.

Of the bands that had interested me, I've already seen Children Of Bodom, Within Temptation, Apocalyptica, Motörhead, In Flames and Alter Bridge. The only band that I was really desperate to see that I hadn't already seen was Disturbed; and I wasn't forking out close to £200 that I couldn't afford to go and see them. In fact with fuel and spending money it would've been closer to £350.

It's likely Disturbed will tour the UK sometime in the next year or so anyway and I will instead look to pay £20-£30 to go and see them then instead. Hopefully, by that time, I'll be back in full-time employment.

Shirley Manson, lead singer of Scottish rockers Garbage is joining the cast of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles for season 2. She will play Catherine Weaver, the CEO of a cutting-edge high-tech precursor to SkyNet.

I sat down and watched the latest Indiana Jones adventure earlier this evening. Happily, it can be summed up in just one word.

Brilliant!

It's 2 hours of high adventure; very much in the style of the previous 3 movies. I had read some disparaging comments about the movie prior to watching it, but it had also received praise from some critics. Whatever you've heard please ignore the comments and watch it on it's own merits. It really does stand up as a classic matinee-style adventure.

I've heard that although nothing has been discussed a fifth movie would be welcomed by some of the cast and crew. I can honestly say that I hope they do make a fifth movie; as long as it maintains the standard of the series.

The BBC pre-empted Doctor Who last night; ostensibly for the Eurovision Song Contest. But if you actually look at where shows have been airing recently and where they will be airing in the weeks to come that's not exactly true.

Doctor Who has been airing at 7pm during it's current run and looking ahead 3 or 4 weeks it will continue to air at that time. The Eurovision Song Contest didn't start until 8pm last night. Shows that normally run in that time-slot are I'd Do Anything, followed by The National Lottery 100-1 and then Casualty.

If they had dropped Doctor Who and just moved I'd Do Anything into it's slot I could've understood. After all, I'd Do Anything generates good business and ratings for the BBC. However, the rescheduling went even further than that.

What the BBC actually did was they pre-empted The Kids Are Alright from it's pre-Doctor Who slot, also pre-empted Doctor Who, shortened The National Lottery down to just the draws and then finally pre-empted Casualty.

They aired a repeat of The Weakest Link Paranormal Special at 5:50pm and followed that with I'd Do Anything at 6:50pm and then the National Lottery draws leading into the 8pm start for Eurovision.

So, whereas Casualty was pre-empted for Eurovision, Doctor Who was actually pre-empted to make room for a repeat of a quiz show. Now, I'm not totally convinced of the all around merits of Eurovision, but at least that only comes along once a year.

If the special episode of The Weakest Link had been a new Eurovision special I might have seen the reasoning, but a repeat of a paranormal special that had no relevance to the rest of the evening?

The BBC could have easily dropped The Kids Are Alright and Casualty as they did last night anyway and then moved I'd Do Anything into the slot vacated by The Kids Are Alright without dropping Doctor Who at all

With Doctor Who taking a break next year I would've thought the BBC would have been more accommodating of their main cash cow. There was nothing stopping them holding the special over until Doctor Who ends it's run; especially considering the lack of relevance.

As most everybody is already aware Russell T. Davies has already announced that he will not be at the helm of Doctor Who when season five is broadcast in 2010.

BBC Wales have today announced that Steven Moffat will take over the role of Lead Writer and Executive Producer. He will join as Executive Producer on season five by Piers Wenger, who is taking over from Julie Gardner, who is also stepping down.

Season four is currently just past half-way through it's 13-episode run and then Doctor Who will return in 2009 with four specials. Season five is scheduled to be broadcast on BBC One in 2010; planning for which is apparently already under way.

Moffatt previously wrote the episodes The Empty Child, The Girl In The Fireplace, Blink and Silence In The Library; the two-parter that will be broadcast when Doctor Who returns from it's Eurovision enforced break.

It's great news that the BBC have decided to go with somebody that already has a history with the show.

The BBC are reporting that Guillermo del Toro; director of Pan's Labyrinth and both Hellboy movies, has been named as the director of the The Hobbit and its proposed sequel.

The films, planned for release in 2010 and 2011, will be prequels to the Lord of the Rings trilogy directed by New Zealand's Peter Jackson. Jackson will produce the films, to be made back-to-back in New Zealand.

According to studio New Line, the first will be an adaptation of The Hobbit, the novel Tolkien published before his Lord of the Rings cycle and the second will be an original story focusing on the 60 years between the book and the beginning of the Rings trilogy.

Tricia Helfer, Six/Caprica from the new Battlestar Galactica has landed a role in the second season of Burn Notice. She will play Carla; Michael's handler.

Amy Acker, formerly of Angel, has been added to the cast of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse and will co-star with Eliza Dushku.

Sky's drama department has commissioned Blakes 7 Productions, a subsidiary of Blakes 7 Media to write 2 60 minute scripts for a potential relaunch of the BBC's cult sci-fi classic; Blake's 7. No word on dates or potential cast yet.

Reports are also circulating that both Sarah Chalke and Britney Spears will be be reprising their roles in upcoming episodes of How I Met Your Mother.

Finally, rumours are rife that Gary Dourdan may be leaving CSI; some reports even suggest that he may have been fired, and that Khandi Alexander appears likely to be leaving CSI:Miami.

Strong rumours coming out of Fox suggest that they've renewed Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles for a second season. Yay, more Summer Glau!

We have now reached the pinnacle of the movie industry.... Yeah, right, my thoughts exactly.

I watched the season 4 premiere of Battlestar Galactica last night. It was a pretty damned good episode and really got the viewer immersed in the narrative right from the start. Now, when you compare it to the season 4 premiere of Doctor Who it's fairly obvious that there must be a considerable disparity between the budgets for both shows. Both are flagship shows for their broadcaster but it's clear that BSG has a much higher budget. And when you consider the BBC's place in the global market, that's a shame.

Dr Who is probably one of the best shows on British TV at the moment but when you compare it to BSG it's really does feel like it's made on the cheap. The BBC really need to inject some extra money into the show; especially considering it's their top cash cow. Don't get me wrong; I love Doctor Who, but BSG just comes across as a slicker, more polished product.

Just one example of the gulf in production values is the bit in 'Partners In Crime' where Donna is hanging from a window cleaner's cradle. It's blatantly obvious that it was green screened; you can tell from the fuzziness around Donna. A lot of effects in Doctor Who feel decidedly cheap and tacky. I know people will argue that Doctor Who has always been like that and it's part of the charm. But, the truth of the matter is that the TV marketplace has moved on from the 70s and 80s and cheap and tacky looks just that. Cheap and tacky. Especially, when compared to some of the more polished product available.

While I can applaud the 4th season of Doctor Who I still feel troubled by the obvious failings in the production values of the show.

Season 4 of Doctor Who launches on BBC One tonight at 6:20pm. Don't forget!

Season 4 premieres tonight in the USA and on Sky One on Tuesday 15th April. Oh, and Sky Two are showing the two parts of the season 3 finale tonight at midnight. Thay are also re-running the mini-series this Sunday and Monday. Sky One are also airing Razor a couple of times next week and a couple of documentaries also. You'll also be able to find repeats of most of the new stuff they're airing across Sky's three entertainment channels; including the free-to-view Sky Three.

Check out the BSG content on Sci-Fi's website.

Wrestlemania was live on pay-per-view from Orlando, Florida last night. I didn't watch it live but watched it this afternoon; meaning that I could fast forward through all the associated back stories and backstage crap that goes on. Fast forwarding past all the crap saved an hour in viewing time.

Anyway, I fully enjoyed the show. A number of predictable results but also a couple of surprises. Nothing really stood out as being bad but there was at least 2 or 3 matches that I would rate as really good.

What can you say? The guy is a legend...

We were supposed to be going to Birmingham this evening to watch Nightwish. Unfortunately, Stuart wasn't able to get tickets when he tried; about a month ago. So, we're not going. We will be roleplaying as usual instead.

HMV currently have a sale on. I was going to buy myself a copy of The Simpsons Movie for only £4.99 but instead spotted The Omen: Pentology for only £7.99 instead. There were loads of other things I could've also bought but restricted myself to just the one item.

I have recently discovered a rather awesome fan written web comic called The Ten Doctors. If you're a fan of Doctor Who I suggest you go and check it out. The previous link will take you to the archives so you can start reading from Page 1 without spoiling future pages.

I've just watched the second part of Sky's adaptation of The Colour Of Magic and thoroughly enjoyed it. I would class myself as a fan of Pratchett's work; not an absolute fanatic, but somebody with more than a passing familiarity and can honestly say that I'm happy with the job they've done with this adaptation.

Although nothing has been confirmed it's very likely that more adaptations will follow; David Jason has already said he would like to do more. On a related note, Sam Raimi owns the rights for The Wee Free Men and although no further details are available, it's expected to hit cinemas in 2010.

Following on from Sky's hugely successful, Christmas 2006, adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Hogfather, we were treated to the first half of their adaptation of The Colour Of Magic last night. They've actually adapted The Colour Of Magic and The Light Fantastic into one film. The first part was pretty faithful to the first book with only a few scenes left out for timing and narrative purposes and they have really spent some time getting the Discworld looking and feeling right. My main gripe is that the special effects for the luggage seems amateurish and feels more comedic than it should be. But, even with that, I'm still really looking forward to part 2 tonight.

I hadn't seen this until Craig showed it to me at Paul's party and thought I would share the dangers with everybody. Beware of the deadliest virus on the planet:

Apparently, rumours coming out of the Sci-Fi Channel in America are hinting at a prequel for Battlestar Galactica. A 2 hour pilot written by Remi Aubuchon and Ronald D Moore, with Jeff Reiner set to direct is due to begin casting shortly. No official details on Caprica are currently available.

Doctor Who: Season 4 is only a matter of a few weeks away. The BBC will begin showing trailers for it starting this Saturday; 22nd March 2008. Usually, they start airing trailers two weeks before the show goes live. If so, that would mean a premiere date of 5th April 2008 for Season 4.

Anyway to get you in the mood, I present the trailers they'll be airing on TV and in the Cinema.

I just discovered that there's a new The Lost Boys movie in the pipeline. The Lost Boys 2: The Tribe is slated for a July 2008 release. Even though it has both Corey Feldman and Corey Haim attached the fact that it is going straight to DVD probably tells us all that we need to know.

I've had an iPod for a month now and it's almost become an extra limb. Prior to winning the iPod I had never bothered with podcasts and got most of my tech news and such by browsing the web. Now, although I do still browse the net a fair bit, the main source of information has become a variety of different podcasts.

I originally started off listening to just 2 or 3 podcasts but am now subscribed to over 20. These include:

• 5 different podcasts from The TWiT Netcast Network
• 3 different podcasts from CNET.com
• 3 different podcasts from GameTrailers.com
• 3 different podcasts from Escape Artists, namely:
  • the sci-fi based Escape Pod
  • the horror based Pseudo Pod
  • the fantasy based Pod Castle; due to launch April 1st
• 2 different podcasts from BBC Radio
• The trailers podcast from ScreenRush
• The video podcast from DL.TV
• The video podcast from Kerrang
• The EPL (English Premier League) podcast from ITN
• The 1Up Radio podcast from 1Up.com
• The audio fiction series The Metamor City Podcast

No sooner do I decide that I'm not going to Download this year; due to a lack of acts that I was interested in, than they announce some acts that are making me reconsider.

Out of the original set of announcements only Mötörhead and Disturbed really interested me. Since then Kid Rock, Apocalyptica, Alter Bridge, Within Temptation and Children Of Bodom have also been announced.

I'm now back in two minds again.

I've just discovered that Canadian blues & jazz guitarist Jeff Healey has died from a rare form of cancer, retinoblastoma, at St. Joseph's Health Centre in his home town of Toronto, Canada. He first came to prominence when he appeared in the 1989 movie Road House. He was 41 years old and is survived by his wife Christie and two children.

I didn't have much planned for today so decided to watch a couple of movies.

The first was Rambo; which is a pretty straightforward action-fest. It's set in Burma and has our eponymous hero rescuing a group of missionaries/doctors that had been taken captive. It's nothing special and has the, as expected, high gore and body count. It was probably more believable than some of the other movies found in the genre and I enjoyed it.

The second was Cloverfield. It started really slowly before picking up from about 20 minutes in. It follows a group of 5 young New Yorkers trying to escape Manhattan when a huge monster attacks. I found the filming style very reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project and was very off-putting in places. But, the film has a solid story and maintains a strong tension and sense of impending dread throughout. Definitely a highlight.

I'm off roleplaying this evening but might watch Unstable Fables: 3 Pigs & A Baby when I get home.

I thoroughly enjoyed yesterday's LotR marathon. We got there just about 10am and by time other people arrived we ended up starting just before 11am and finished just shy of midnight. I wasn't particularly tired by then and myself, Steve and Paul sat down to watch the Resident Evil trilogy afterwards. Paul fell asleep and ended up going to bed after the first film but both Steve and I watched all 3; before calling it a night at just about 4:30am. I was up again by 8:30am for breakfast but am now starting to feel tired again. I think I'll be having an early night this evening.

I'm away all day today and the title of this post gives a big clue as to why. I'm getting together with some of the Monday night roleplaying group and we're going to have a marathon Lord Of The Rings session.

We're not going to do anything unusual but watch the extended editions of The Fellowship Of The Ring, The Two Towers and The Return Of The King one after another. Total running time is approximately 11 hours 45 minutes. We'll be having meal breaks between the 3 movies; Soup at lunchtime and Jacket Potatoes this evening.

I don't know about other people but I sometimes find it rather difficult to get to sleep at night and if there's no Ice Hockey or Basketball on the tv I end up listening to the radio for a good couple of hours before finally succumbing. The show that I tend to listen to is Up All Night presented nightly from 1am by either Dotun Adebayo or Rhod Sharp on BBC Radio 5Live.

Monday morning is a book phone in, Tuesday morning is pods & blogs, Wednesday morning is US sports, Thursday morning is a science phone in, Friday morning is a Medical phone in, Saturday morning is a world football phone in and Sunday morning is a film phone in.

The website offers you the opportunity to listen again to the various shows and subscribe to the podcasts.

The 3 headline acts and the first 4 support acts have been announced for this year's Download Festival.

Kiss, The Offspring and Lostprophets are set to be the daily headliners for the main stage at the Donington Park event over the weekend of June 13, 14 and 15.

Mötorhead, HIM and Rise Against have been announced as daily headliners of the second stage.

Judas Priest have been announced as very, special guests and although it hasn't been confirmed on which day it is rumoured they will be appearing with Kiss.

I'll be honest and say that of the 7 bands announced I would only be interested in seeing 1 of them; Mötorhead, and I've already seen them before. I'm in no rush to go and get tickets; even if I could afford them. I will be waiting and seeing if anybody else is announced that could persuade me to part with £150; a £15 rise on the 2007 ticket price.

A better quality version of the teaser I mentioned previously has now appeared on the official Star Trek movie site. The trailer's no different than the previous one other than improved quality. There is also the option to watch the trailer in HD and also to register for updates.

I took my kid sister shopping earlier this evening and had Melissa Etheridge's latest album, The Awakening, playing in the car. Now, I must admit, I'm a huge fan and whenever you get in my car there's a fairly good chance that if it's not a metal/goth album; such as Rammstein, Slayer, Within Temptation or Lacuna Coil, playing it'll be a Melissa Etheridge album instead. However, I didn't realise until this evening just how true that was. Melissa's not exactly mainstream music in the UK but my sister was sat in the passenger seat singing along to different parts of various songs.

Shocked to discover that Heath Ledger, star of 10 Things I Hate About You, A Knight's Tale and Brokebank Mountain was found dead this afternoon in his Manhattan apartment. Police have said they do not suspect foul play. He was 28.

He plays the Joker opposite Christian Bale in this summer's Batman movie; The Dark Knight and had also been attached to Terry Gilliam's next feature; The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which is currently filming.

Seatwave.com is quite a useful site if you're thinking of going to a gig or sporting event and cannot find tickets.

A teaser trailer for the new Star Trek movie has managed to find it's way onto the web. It's very dark and low quality but can be seen here. It's likely the trailer may play alongside Cloverfield in the cinema.

The long-mooted Dragonlance movie has finally arrived. It was released in the US straight to DVD on Tuesday and I've managed to get hold of a copy of it.

Vocal talent includes Kiefer Sutherland as Raistlin Majere, Lucy Lawless as Goldmoon and Michelle Trachtenberg as Tika. With Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman both acting as creative consultants it's fairly faithful to the original novel and would appear to be the first in a series of films; depending upon how successful it is.

I watched it this evening and whilst it's not the greatest movie ever released, it's still reasonably enjoyable. It's an animated film more in the style of an updated version of the old Dungeons & Dragons cartoon rather than something like Hoodwinked or Flushed Away.

Due to the current rules regarding licensing fees for Internet music services Pandora are to block access to its service by UK users. Pandora founder Tim Westergren recently sent out an e-mail to Pandora users explaining that the U.K. version of the site would have to shut down. In the e-mail Westergren writes, “both the PPL (which represents the record labels) and the MCPS/PRS Alliance (which represents music publishers) have demanded per track performance minima rates which are far too high to allow ad supported radio to operate and so, hugely disappointing and depressing to us as it is, we have to block the last territory outside of the US.”

There is a petition on the 10 Downing Street website asking the government to look at the current situation and legislate if necessary. Please visit and sign the petition.

Was in Glasgow last night to see Within Temptation.

Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku are teaming up again. Check this out.

The Copeland area is the first in the UK to move over to digital tv.

Went to see From The Jam on Friday night.

As promised:

Got home from Download okay. I had a great time and will blog about it at some point.

This weekend is the 5th annual Download Festival.

Nightwish have announced Anette Olzon as their new singer replacing Tarja Turunen who was fired in 2005.

Was in Glasgow last night to watch Within Temptation. They were brilliant.

The headline acts for this year's Download Festival were announced last night.

Going to see Within Temptation in April. Tickets have arrived already.

New Theatrical Trailer and Original Teaser are both online. It's looking good.

Got back home safely. Gig was awesome.

Going to Glasgow this evening to see Lacuna Coil.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Fantasy writer Gemmell dies at 57

This weekend is the fourth annual Download Festival. I shall be attending for the third year running.

Ordered the new Bret Hart 3-disc DVD set last weekend.

Found a cool, new music site: Pandora.

The new American TV season is upon us.

Finally got round to buying Half-Life 2 today.

Wanna listen to some music over the internet?

September 19th sees the release of a new album from Queen.

I finished work early yesterday to go and see Rammstein in Newcastle.

Download was just as good this year as last year; if not better.

It's the Download Festival this weekend.

Meh! Who cares?

Back from London.

Will be travelling to London in just under a week to see Rammstein. Driving down Saturday morning/afternoon, going to the gig Saturday evening, staying overnight in a hotel and travelling back Sunday morning/afternoon. Really looking forward to the gig, not looking forward to driving through Central London on a Saturday afternoon.

I've just finished planning my Ratkin game for the 24 hour charity roleplaying event this weekend. We're raising money for the local maternity ward and to help a former club member raise funds to do a sponsored walk up Mt Kilimanjaro for Scope.

Sunday dawned nice and sunny, and gradually got hotter as the morning went along.

Iggy and the Stooges arrived on to stage to very little fanfair and it was immediately evident that he'd been back in the gym again. I think the main standouts from his set is the fact that he didn't play any of his later stuff which most people today would know him for, such as Lust For Life or The Passenger, but rather stuck to the old stuff. Iggy's famous for crowd-surfing during the middle of his set but he took it one step further here. Rather than go out in to the crowd he got the crowd to clamber up on stage with him. Security tried their hardest to prevent it but sheer weight of numbers eventually got to them, although 1 guard, rather short-arsed, decided to do his own little Hitler impression and started frog-marching people from the stage area with arms shoved up their backs. It was quite funny standing on the sidelines watching some young kids, 14-17 years old or so that had shown no interest in the set suddenly jump up and start pegging it to the stage in a rather sad and pathetic effort to get on stage. Whilst he had the crowd on stage Iggy clambered off stage and went off in to the front of the crowd anyway. Looked like the head of security was about to have a nervous breakdown.

Saturday morning dawned cool and dry with a very slightly overcast sky; no real indication of the weather ahead. Spent most of Saturday morning pottering around doing nothing much. Colin and Scott decided to go and queue up about 10:00am ready for the main gates opening at 11:00am. We decided to leave it until closer to 12:00 and Scoot decided to try and get some extra sleep; apparently a group of revellers a few tents over had kept him awake all night. At 12:00 we made a move and headed off to the queue.

I'm home; I survived, I got photographs, and I'll blog at some future point about it...

Suffice to say it was awesome...

This weekend is the Download Festival at Donnington.

I was thinking that my life seems to consist of getting up in the morning, going to work, coming home, doing nothing much, going to bed, sleeping, getting up in the morning, going to work, coming home, doing nothing much, going to bed, sleeping, ad infinitum. But, recently, I've managed to do a few things.

Yay! My Donnigton tickets arrived today; well, technically yesterday, but pfft.

It's a real minefield.

I went and saw Matrix Revolutions tonight. I felt that overall it's a much better movie than the second one. The interaction with The Architect spoiled the flow of the second movie in my opinion. This new movie flows from start to finish and is over 2 hours of pure enjoyment...

I had a nice day off work today and went into town to do a bit of shopping.

I've finally gotten around to updating the contents of my eStore.

No updates recently; I've been away for the weekend in Folkestone, visitng friends. Weather was excellent and as usual we consumed a fair bit of alcohol and demolished about half a freezer of various meat products on the barbecue.

Took Amanda, and a few other friends, to see Matrix Reloaded last night. Boy, was it an action-fest, didn't disappoint, although a couple of the fight scenes seemed overly long to me. A lot of the time sequels tend to come up short when compared to their parent movie; not in this case. It delivers... If Matrix Revolutions; which is previewed after the End Credits of Reloaded, remember to sit through them, delivers anywhere near the same level it'll have to go down as probably the greatest sci-fi movie trilogy of all time.

Hey, like most of the people that I know I went to see X2 tonight, dunno why they just didn't go with X-Men 2 as a title, after all it identifies the franchise...

Saw Bulletproof Monk the other night; in places it kinda reminds me of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; and you can see John Woo's influence, he was one of the producers of the movie, on some of the scenes. Definitely worth going to see; I'd give it 8½/10, and I will be buying it when it's released on DVD.