The Most Anticipated Films of 2009: Part 1

2009 has come and of course, a year of brand spanking new films is upon us. This series of article is devoted to the films of 2009 that I am looking for. Chances are, there will be films that I will become aware during the course of the year, but for now, here is my “Films to See” list of 2009.

January

Che
Okay, it’s not necessarily a film that I want to see this year in the sense that I’ve already seen both parts (hence my calling it Che). Che is Steven Soderbergh’s 4 hour biopic about Che Guevara. As a whole, the films are okay, when divided Che is essentially one great film followed by one mediocre film. Che: Part 1 (the Argentine) is generally quite strong, it opens with Che Guevara at a press conference and then cuts to Che meeting Castro at a dinner party. The assumption (well, this was my assumption) is that the films is going to tell the tale of how Che went from the clean cut Argentine to the revolutionary leader in the grainy press footage. This isn’t the case, we see little of Che that isn’t full fledged Guerrilla Che Guevara, it would have been nice to see different parts of this person. So it’s not prefect, but the second half was significantly worse.

UK Release Date: 02/01/2009

Slumdog Millionaire
Another exception to the “Films I would like to see” list. I managed to see a preview of Slumdog Millionaire on Monday which was rather impressive. Danny Boyle is continuing to show his range; unlike most film-makers he appears to be able to dabble in everything. With 3 wins at the London Independent Film Festival, 4 Golden Globe Nominations and almost guaranteed Oscar nominations it’s clear that I’m not the only person who sees this as a masterpiece.

UK Release Date: 09/01/2009

The Wrestler
Around September, following the premier of The Wrester, it suddenly became one of the biggest films of the following months. Mickey Rourke plays Randy “the Ram” Robinson a retired wrestler as he makes a comeback and tried to form relationship with his daughter. The film is as much of a comeback for Mickey Rourke as it is Randy “the Ram” Robinson. The Wrestler has parted the way for many films this year including Iron Man 2.

UK Release Date: 16/01/2009

Frost/Nixon
Ron Howard’s follow-up to the Da Vinci Code premiered at the 2008 London Film Festival. It details the infamous interview between talk-show host David Frost and former United States president Richard Nixon. With elements of humour and a general sense of intensity Frost/Nixon looks like it will be on the whole, impressive, without the didacticism a film such as this could easily suffer from. Frank Langella, although not visually similar to Richard Nixon, becomes Nixon in his posture, present and of course, voice. Michael Sheen brings a nervousness similar to that of his performance in The Queen to his role as a young David Frost.

UK Release Date: 23/01/2009

Milk
Gus Van Sant tends to make films that are either loved or hated by their viewers. Some saw Paranoid Park as an engaging, complex teenage drama, whilst others saw it as dreary with a poor leading actor. Last days was seen by some as a thought provoking work of art whereas others saw it as generally unpleasant. Van Sant’s Psycho was on the whole seen as an unnecessary remake to a classic. However, Milk is getting the best reception of any of Gus Van Sant’s films since 1992’s Good Will Hunting. Playing California’s first openly gay public official Harvey Milk, Sean Penn appears to display a softness not often associated with the characters he plays. Milk is almost certain to get Oscar attention even if solely for Sean Penn’s performance.

UK Release Date: 23/01/2009

Rachel Getting Married
The very first thing I heard about Rachel Getting Married, was that Anne Hathaway may get Oscar attention for it. Since then, I’ve heard very little of it other than Anne Hathaway’s (and occasionally Rosemarie DeWitt’s) performance. Jonathan Demme’s latest work is not being praised for it’s direction, writing so much or cinematography, however, it is not being criticised for these things either. It appears that it will be a heavily character driven piece worthy of being seen for the performances.

2008 Commentary on the Year

If you’re reading this, you have stumbled upon the very first This Blog has No Title Review of the Year. Okay, the first thing I should say is that it’s not really a review in the strictest sense. It's more of a commentary on the things I have in some way or another been privy to this year. Everything is divided into categories (how very organised) such as people, film and music. Without further ado, let the review/commentary begin.

Television

Six Feet Under
They’re like a family…with a funeral home
I think we all know that Six Feet Under didn’t begin in 2008, nor did it end in 2008. 2008 was however, the year I started (and technically finished) watching Six Feet Under. It amazes me how I never watched this gem of the silver screen earlier. Created by Alan Ball (of American Beauty fame), Six Feet Under tells the tale of the Fisher family who run an independent funeral home in Pasadena. Upon watching the first episode of Six Feet Under, one could guess that it came from the same mind of American Beauty. Aesthetically, they are similar and they both have a “behind the scenes in suburbia” theme. What I think is the strongest feature of Six Feet Under is how well developed each of the characters is. All of the characters are interesting and complex. They all have moments when they are likable and moments when they are not – like real human beings. Season 1 went into depth with each of the main characters and showed their relationship with the supporting characters. Season 2 however brought the supporting characters into the picture more telling us more about them and their motivation. Superb.

Arrested Development
You know, your average American male is in a perpetual state of adolescence, you know, arrested development.
Like Six Feet Under, 2008 was simply the year I watched Arrested Development. This mockumentary documents the life of the Bluth family. In the first episode Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman), is called upon to look after him family and family business after his father is arrested and imprisoned. Arrested Development is a show that really suffers because of its timeslot. In the UK Arrested Development comes on in the very early hours of the morning on BBC2, it was only by chance that I came to watch it. Arrested Development is one of the funniest shows I have watched in a very long time; every episode can be quoted, the characters are the strangest and most abusing collection of people ever, the show is very well cast (Will Arnett, David Cross, Michael Cera) and the guest stars (Liza Minelli, Henry Winkler, Chalize Theron) are great.

Saturday Night Live
Causing “The SNL Effect” since 2007
This has to be one of the biggest years for Saturday Night Live. There are many who say it isn’t as good as it used to be, I wouldn’t know as I only started watching it this year. What I can say is that SNL has been in the spotlight more than usual in 2008. The SNL election coverage and political skits have attracted a large audience with good reason. They really did a good job. It has even been put forward that voters were influenced by Saturday Night Live. Hmmm, interesting.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Colbert’s got nothing on him
An increasing number of people watch The Daily Show as an alternative to the news. Why? Because it’s funny, informative and Jon Stewart is the definition of charisma. Unfortunately, if you’re in the UK, the Daily Show doesn’t provide much of your news and if you relied solely on it you’d know very little about current affairs. It’s sad that despite it’s awesomeness I have little more to say about the daily show. Oh well.

The Oscars
That was this year?
They came. They went. They were presented by Jon Stewart. More coverage is in the archives.

Honourable mentions: 30 Rock, The Colbert Report, Freaks and Geeks

People

Susan Beir
And they say there aren’t good female directors around
Susan Beir’s name is one that is often mentioned by the people of Simply Syndicated. They adore her; they think she’s a righteous dude. Susan Beir is the wonderful director of such films as Brothers and Open Hearts. This year Susan Beir made her English language debut with “Things we Lost in the Fire” starring Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro. This wasn’t considered to be her best and it was criticised by most critics familiar with herprevious work. This was my first foray into the cinema of Susan Bier and possibly because my eyes were unclouded by prior knowledge I thought it was great, largely because of Benico Del Toro’s performance. I later came to watch After the Wedding and Brothers, two breathtaking works, Brothers being the superior of the two.

Charlie Chaplin
The only tramp I wouldn’t flee from
I never thought I’d like silent films. I like good dialogue in films and this tends to be lacking from silent ones (obviously). One day I decided to watch City Lights, I can’t remember why, it’s possible that there was no identifiable reason. I watched City Lights, and it was surprisingly good, extremely good actually. But, what shocked me more than anything else was that it was hilarious. I never thought it would be anywhere near as entertaining was it was. A few days later I watched The Great Dictator, equally awesome. I then began a rather common course of action when something interests me. I began my quest to find out as much as possible about Charlie, instead of reading (like a sucker), I watched Chaplin (1992) starring Robert Downey Jr.; Charlie was a pretty cool guy.

Barack Obama
‘Cos I got a crush on Obama
There is no way I could write about the people of 2008 without mentioning the man of the year that is Barack Obama. Despite this, this paragraph will be quit brief. Barack is awesome, he is now the next president of the United States. The following video says more than I could.



Tina Fey
Like Sarah Palin, but superior in every way and not really like her
Tina Fey Tina Fey, what does one say? Previously the head writer on Saturday Night Live (yeah boi), Fey eventually went on to create her own TV series, 30 Rock. 30 Rock may or may not be based on her experiences at Saturday Night Live. In addition to this she wrote the screenplay for Mean Girls, arguably Lindsay Lohan’s best film to date, in 2004. Fey is a literary genius and I can only wait to see what 2009 has in store.

Joss Whedon
A cult king, well, not a cult cult
This guy is just amazing beyond belief. He co-wrote Toy Story, created Buffy the Vampire, Angel, Firefly and Serenity. He also had Dollhouse on the way which looks awesome. So, why the 2008 attention? Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. It’s exactly what it says on the tin, it’s a musical web series about one Dr Horrible. My watching Dr Horrible’s Sing Along Blog (more times than I’d care to mention) caused an overwhelming desire to watch “Once More with Feeling”, for the lay people, that is the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. His resulted in me watching every single episode of Buffy and Angel. Upon doing this I realised what genius Buffy and Angel is, there are some things you don’t fully appreciate when you’re seven.

Music

Peggy Sue (and the Pirates/Pictures)
Oh Peggy Sue, I don’t know what to do
I first discovered Peggy Sue (going by Peggy Sue and the Pirates) at the London iTunes festival this summer. Three acts played, Peggy Sue, Ava Leigh and The Little Ones, out of the three Peggy Sue were the best. They hail from Brighton and they play in a sort of acoustic, anti-folk style. They are very original (you don’t hear enough melodeon in music nowadays) and generally fun to listen to. I recently downloaded some of their tracks from iTunes and ordered a CD of theirs. They make a new CD every month consisting of some of their old stuff, some of their new stuff and some things by other artists that they like.



Kimya Dawson
My Mom would say, I hope some day, you get paid for being Kimya Dawson
I found Kimya Dawson partially through Peggy Sue but primarily through the soundtrack to Juno. Kimya Dawson appears on 8 tracks on the Juno Soundtracks, 5 of which are solo tracks. Kimya Dawson is of the Anti-folk genre, a genre I had never heard of until I started listening to Kimya Dawson. Kimya Dawson doesn’t have the best vocals but what she makes is amazing. Her music is so very truthful and a joy to listen to.

Film

I’ve chosen not to speak about films of the year now as I have spent a great deal of blog space this year writing bout films I’ve seen.

Literature

The Perks of Being a Wallflower
I’m finding it very difficult to remember the books I’ve read. A few weeks ago I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, it was a very good read. Written in epistolary form, The Perk of Being a Wallflower tells the tale of Charlie over the course of a year as he writes letters to an unknown person.

Technology

The IFC News Podcast
My Movie Podcast that isn’t Movies You Should See
This is the only podcast that I presently listen to that I started listening to this year. The IFC News Podcast is presented by Matt Singer of IFC News and Alison Wilmore of the IFC blog. Each podcast has a different topic based on an IFC news item, for instance, Mickey Rourke makes a comeback in the Wrester and they do a podcast on Notable Big Screen Comebacks.
It’s usually interesting and often funny, Matt’s moment at the end of “The Killer _____ Movie” has to be listened to.

LoveFilm
Yes…yes I do
[At this point 2009 came, happy new year]LoveFilm is quite wonderful. For £9.99 a month, I can get a relatively large amount of films. From LoveFilm I have managed to see many films that I’ve always wanted to see. Good times.

The Student Room
No caps, no trainers
The Student Room is a resource I wish I discovered earlier. It’s a forum for students of all ages. It’s been a while since I’ve been an active member of a forum. The Student Room has been very helpful during my leaving university and re-applying process (which I realise I have not mentioned yet), it’s simply great. There are really helpful articles and even more helpful people. There are also these personal statement helpers who help you edit your personal statement.

And now, about me

University
It came and went
I was a student at City University for 8 weeks. During this time I became increasingly aware that I chose the wrong university. It really was my worst decision of the last few years. I have now left my university and plan to start afresh in September. My intention is to work during the year and to do some voluntary work. I shall then start university happy, not poor and possibly a better person.

Here's to 2008

October

To compensate for my not having written all month

A Bit of an Update

Hmmm, a few moments ago, it occurred to me that I have a blog, several blogs to be more precise (but not of course, completely precise). So, I had a quick look at my last post which consisted of me saying I had started watching Battlestar Galactica, I expressed some mad Once Upon A Time In America love, some Crash dislike and some Dark Knight indifference. Now, to recap. I have managed to watch every episode of Battlestar Galactica, some more than once, I have the same feelings towards Once Upon a Time in America and Crash and I’m yet to watch The Dark Knight again.

I haven’t written for quite some time, one month and nine days to be exact. What the frak has happened since August 7th?

The IMDB war has ended, but do we care?
Nope, not really

Some of us may remember that around July/ August, there was a bit of a war going on. The Dark Knight fans and The Godfather fans fought a lengthy battle of mice and keyboards all try to get the favourite movie onto the number 1 spot on imdb’s top 250. As you may have noticed from the title, the war is now over. The Dark Knight remained at number one for quite some time but, as some of use predicted, it is number 1 no longer. The Dark Knight has trickled down to number 3, and I believe it will only fall further. However, evidence of the war remains. Initially, the top 3 films were, in order, The Godfather, The Shawshank Redemption and The Godfather: Part II. There’s been a bit of a switcheroo between The Godfather and The Shawshank Redemption, the damage from the war brought The Godfather’s rating down.

The keyboards were at a bit of a disadvantage

Saturday Night Live returns
Political sketches n’ all.

Saturday Night Live has returned from its Summer hiatus with some good stuff…and some not so good stuff. I opened, as we have come to expect, with a sketch about the upcoming election. Amy Poeler appeared as Hillary Cinton and surprisingly, Tina Fey played Alaska Governor and Republican vice-presidential nominee, Sarah Palin. The aesthetic similarities between these two had not occurred to me until I saw the sketch. I believe this calls for a split screen.

Palin, left, Fey, Right. Or am I messing with you?

I strongly suggest checking it out, ‘tis hilarious. That was part of the good stuff, now for the not to good stuff. The first episode back was hosted by American Olympic hero, Michael Phelps, lets just say, he’s not the best actor.

Dr Horrible and that gosh darn sing-along Blog
Is there nothing Joss Whedon can’t do?

A while ago, by a while I mean weeks ago, a web series named Dr Horribles’s Sing-Along Blog was a available to watch for free online. It was fantastic. I wouldn’t say it was the greatest internet creation since gmail but it was great for what it was. It told the fun story of Dr. Horrible, a less than terrifying villain who was trying to get into the Evil League of Evil (run by Bad Horse). All the while being impeded in his efforts by Captain Hammer (played by none other than Firefly’s Nathan Fillion) who had caught the eye of Dr. Horrible’s love interest, Penny. If you’re a fan of Whedon, particularly the humour found in Whedon’s creations, I’d say you’d enjoy it. Oh snap! Yeah…it’s not free online anymore, check if you like it on you tube and if you do, you can buy the episodes and the soundtrack on iTunes….or…go through other channels *cough* torrents *cough*.

Welcome to the Dollhouse
We've got fun 'n' games

Continuing with the Whedon theme, the trailer for Joss Whedon’s new TV series, Dollhouse. Rather actually write about it, like some kind of peasant, here’s the trailer. It looks good to me, but then again, I intentionally watch rubbish.



Trailer Daze
Phrase “borrowed” from the IFC news podcast

Apple trailers has released some goodies since I last wrote. I’m not sure if the Watchmen trailer adventure happened before or after I last wrote, but here’s the story. Empire Online basically said that they had the exclusive new Watchmen trailer and it would only be available at 5am on the site on this day in question. Losers such as myself actually woke up at 5am to watch the trailer and lo and behold, it was available on Apple trailers already. I watched it, downloaded it in HD and went back to sleep. Now…about the trailer. In my sleepiness, it looked like the best trailer I had ever seen. Hooooowever, in my awakened state, it wasn’t too great. The images in the film looked good, but on the whole, not the best trailer I’ve been privy to. Watching the trailer made me even more aware of how unfamiliar I am with the cast, which may turn out to be a good thing as I don’t have them typecast. The thing is, I recognised one of the cast member, and he played a rather interesting character in another film. The film in question was Hard Candy, and he played a paedophile…hopefully I’ll forget once the film comes out of his performance will be so awesome that he’ll make me forget. Watchmen is a comic (trade paperback if you want to be precise) that had a lot of complex story that is generally hard to tell, I can’t help but worry that a lot will be left out. Kevin Smith saw it and said it was great, but he also liked Star Wars episode 3.

Woah, Watchmen got loads of attention. Erm, I think I’ll just do a separate post for trailers. Yeah…

The (not so) Secret Life the American Teenager
How this is still being made, I don’t know, but keep it coming

Have you ever watched something knowing that it was absolutely awful? This is the relationship I have with the ABC “family drama”, The Secret Life of the American Teenager. I was just browsing…a website, and I stumbled upon The Secret Life of the American Teenager. The thing that caught my attention was Molly Ringwald’s name who I have seen since in anything made after, erm, 1986? So, I watched the first episode and what terrible goodness it was. The acting is atrocious, the characters are walking stereotypes and the story is just, blah. However, as it is so bad, I can’t help but watch it. This drama is one of the best comedies I watch at the moment.

Guess what it‘s about

Getting tired…

On a final note, additional things that have happened, of that I have become aware of are:
-Ingmar Bergman is awesome
-The Ice Bar is as cold as you think
-Tropic Thunder was not as funny as I expected
-Caribbean Ice Tea is so very tasty
-Ruby Blue is rubbish
-The Daily Show is the best way to spend 25 minutes

And…

When you want people to arrive at a particular time, tell them to arrive half an hour earlier

Once Upon A Time

Yesterday, I spent much of the day doing filing for my mother. I didn’t accomplish much, all I really did was put the papers I was filing into different piles, by the time I finished doing this I suddenly felt sick and didn’t do anymore. It dawned on me during the course of the day that I still hadn’t finished watching season three of Battlestar Galactica, I blame Virgin Media (never shall I forgive them). So, as I filed and sat on my living room floor thinking about how ill I felt, I started watching Battlestar again. For the life of me I couldn’t remember where I left off so I began from the first episode. I haven’t watched much Sci-Fi recently so it was good to get back to what I had been neglecting.

I lent my laptop to my mother in the evening and suddenly I was without anything to watch. I looked at my DVD shelf and not one thing appealed to me, I need more DVDs. I decided to go through all my recordable DVDs to see what I had recorded over the last few months and hadn’t gotten around to watching. It was then that I stumbled upon Once Upon a Time in America on a disc with My Beautiful Launderette. I’d taken my time to watch it largely due to the length, it’s 4 hours long. Anyway, for some reason I started watching it at 11pm. This is something I don’t usually do because of something I call, “The Godfather Effect”. This basically refers to something that happens to me when I watch films late at night, and it has happened to me most often when watching The Godfather. The Godfather never comes on before 10pm, so whenever I watch a 10pm showing I start to fall asleep by 11ish. I just can’t seem to help it.

Back to Once Upon a Time in America. I started watching it at 11 expecting to fall asleep by 12, this didn’t happen. After 3am I finished watching it and couldn’t believe 4 hours had passed. The story didn’t seem slow or boring, I was engaged throughout the whole film. I’m glad I saw the 4 hour version as apposed to the shorted version as I don’t see how it could be edited down. I’m sure the storyline must suffer quite a lot. All in all, I’d say it was great film, it has easily become one of my favourites. As soon as it finished, I wouldn’t have minded watching it again but that would have meant going to bed after 7 and I usually wake up around 8. I’m thinking of watching it again right now.

A few days ago I was talking to someone about Crash (the Paul Haggis one) and why I have problems with it. As I was explaining this, I decided that I should probably watch Crash again as it had been a while since I saw it. There was strong possibility that I made it worse in my head so my motivation was the unreliable nature of human memory. So, I watched Crash again. My opinion of it is no higher. It’s just so obvious in it’s exploration of problems in society, and human nature, I found it hard to watch. Apparently, loads of people are racist and there are many ways in which racism can be represented. Who knew? What I can commend Crash on is the performances, on the whole they’re very strong, but apart from that, blah.

I can’t believe I written so much but failed the write about the fact that I saw The Dark Knight last Friday. It was a good watch. “ONLY and good watch” said the internet. Damn right, I said only. The thing is, the theatre was packed, I had a really bad seat and when I see certain films with my sister I can’t help but see what her reaction is. So, it wasn’t the best viewing experience. I’m going to see it again this week with my brother, his seat was worse than mine, I’ll comment on it again then.

Goodbye Godfather, Hello Dark Knight?

I never thought I'd see the day. Ever since I started using imdb so many moons ago, the top of the list had always housed The Godfather part 1. It was then followed by The Shawshank Redemption and The Godfather part 2. Today, I was randomly pondering whether The Dark Knight had gotten into the top 250 yet, not because I’d seen it and thought it was great (which I haven’t), but because there have been quite a few previews for it and with most films nowadays, as soon as they come out, they receive a surge of votes and end up in the top 250. This year this has been the case for Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Indy 4, Wall-E and many more. So, I went on imdb to check The Dark Knight’s position and my gosh, I saw something I’ve never seen before. The Godfather was not in the number one spot. The Dark Knight had topped imdb’s top 250.

The question is: Is this further evidence that imdb’s top 250 is not reliable and valid or Is The Dark Knight the greatest film of all time? At this time I cannot comment, I’m yet to see The Dark Knight, as mentioned previously, it isn’t in the running to be my favourite film due to my clown problem but it may still turn out be a great film. I’m yet to get over the shock of seeing The Godfather at number 2. Strange. What one needs to remember is that this is the initial reaction to the film, this may be the responses of all The Dark Knight fan boys who where going to give it 10 stars regardless of how good it was. Then again, Empire gave it five stars (out of five). Oooo, I feel so conflicted. There’s a strong chance that it will go down, like I said before, more than four other films from 2008 got into the top 250 when they came out, only two remain.

On IMDB and Hancock

Those people on imdb love to annoy me. Today I was insulted on imdb for the first time, well, technically it was a while ago but I only just returned to the board. It all started when the trailer for Adulthood came out. I considered the Kidulthood to be rather unrealistic and generally bad, but I decided to see whether the sequel would be better. Based on what I saw, I don’t think it is. Here’s the trailer in question.


This was the subject of a thread on imdb resulting in many people saying how great it looked and how good the film would be. I personally think the trailer was a bit long for a trailer. Who makes a 4 minute trailer? More importantly, how do does one make a 4 minute trailer without giving any details of the storyline. This is basically what followed all the Adulthood trailer love:

Bahometh: wow, looks terrible! i hope people who said it looks good dont really mean it.

I then responded with

SaphMB: You just made the most logical statement on this thread so far

I can support this claim as I believe the trailer looked awful. It started fine; the monologue looked like a good set up for the trailer and the film in general. However, after that, it is essentially a channel U music video. I didn’t notice that someone had responded to my post until today, here it is.

Legolased12: And you two are *beep* If you don't like this film then don't comment the board. People like you are mugs. Quick to complain about things and post negative comments online but if you actually see someone getting beaten you will just walk past and ignore it,and then complain about todays youth.

I had to respond to this. My thoughts as they were are expressed by my response.

SaphMB: Hmmm, okay then. Something you should be made aware of is the fact that the message boards on imdb are not just for those who want to compliment films but those who want to criticise them too. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, mine is based on my belief that the trailer does not look impressive. The monologue at the beginning looks like a great set-up but as soon as the monologue comes to an end , the trailer suddenly turns into a music video showcasing what garage now offers. Few elements of a story line are given and it’s bit too long to be a teaser trailer so this must be the theatrical one.

"People like you are mugs. Quick to complain about things and post negative comments online but if you actually see someone getting beaten you will just walk past and ignore it,and then complain about todays youth."

You have no reasoning to call me a mug or anything other than someone who did not like the trailer. My opinion of a trailer has nothing to do with what kind of person I am or what I would do in a situation where someone was being assaulted. As for complaining about today's youth, I am one of today's youth and I am constantly given reason. In London, there are many cases of children assaulting and killing others; some are reported, many are unreported. The problem is not that someone may walk past when someone is being assaulted, then problem is the fact that assault is so common in society today.

I hope Legolased12 sees that.

I saw Hancock today, wow, I watch some of the most mainstream films ever at the cinema. Oh well. Hancock; not that great, disappointing actually. My brother FELL ASLEEP, TWICE. This was my main source of entertainment as my brother snores, quite loudly actually. As a result of this, I decided to play a little game. I tried to see how long I could go without getting him to wake up meaning, how long would I allow the snoring to go on for. I allowed it to go on for a while but he woke himself up. I sent most of the text message I’ve sent this week during that film, I also listened to my iPod for a while. That’s how good Hancock was.

I think my may be growing tired of Will Smith’s humour. He’s essentially given to same type of jokes in most of the films he’s in; it gets old. What someone needs to do is give him a role that allows him to show greater range than we have previously seen. Jason Bateman was good, I’ve only really noticed him since I started watching Arrested Development; a jolly good watch. I’ve also be watching Six Feet Under. I watched 3 and a half seasons in 4 days. Evidence that the show is great and that there isn’t much to my life.

Leave civilisation and embrace nature?

Today, I watched the Sean Penn film, Into the Wild. Essentially, it’s about a young man(Christopher McCandless later Alexander super tramp) who, tired of the hypocrisy and focus of material “things” around him, decides to give the $24,000 of his savings to charity, and travels to Alaska. This led to me to ponder, would I be willing to leave the civilised, concrete jungle of London, to travel without unnecessary possessions and live in the wilderness? 

Why I wouldn’t
My immediate response would be no. I like films, I like music, I like my creature comforts. I appreciate what I have, and honestly, I’m not sure what I’d do without them. So many times if I’m felling low, indifferent, sad (or happy for that matter), I throw on a good DVD to enhance my mood. It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen a film or how ludicrous the storyline may appear to be (yes, I accept that The Goonies has a ludicrous storyline) but if I’m feeling low, I like to watch something where I know everything will be alright even if life might not be. Plus, I like having a roof over my head and knowing where my next meal will come from.

Why I might consider it
Often, I wish I was a bit more free. I understand that there are many places on this planet that I am yet to explore or even hear about. I find it admirable that people go on quests and discover new things about the world as well as themselves. It’s exciting, that’s what it is. I lead a highly uneventful life, I nearly always know what is going to happen and it is because of that that a venture such as leaving my life behind stating anew is somewhat welcoming.

That’s it I guess.

Coming out of Shawshank

I now know how Andy felt at the end of The Shawshank Redemption. I have left the prison that is full time education (well, for 3 months) and I got through the crap filled tunnel that is A-Levels. Yes I tells ya, I’m free. Okay, so maybe it’s not exactly the same as Shawshank, but I don’t think I could feel any better than I do right now.

See, I’m that happy, actually, that looks a bit scary. Anyhoo, I don’t know what to do with myself, my plan was to start looking for a job on Monday, but, my mother had other things in mind. You see, me being off from school means that there someone to make the house extra clean. That’s freedom for you. I’m sure when Andy got out he didn’t get to everything he wanted, come on, he was building a boat, now that’s hard work.

My last exam was on Thursday, Sociology. It was possibly the worst exam experience of this exam season, just when I thought it was going well. I’ve spent the last few days procrastination, actually, it’s probably not procrastinating when really have nothing to do. Let me rephrase that, I’ve spent the last few days enjoying my freedom. I’ve watched High Fidelity, Kiss Kiss bang Bang and Venus. I also watched Arrested Development and Oz, the prison show, not the musical. It turned out to be pretty good but some parts were just horrifying.

I’m meant to be going to see The Incredible Hulk today. If you, like me, can’t stand listening to the sounds of children laughing, gasping or making any other unnecessary noise during films, I strongly recommend seeing films on Sundays or before 12 on weekdays. I went to check the rating online (I say went like I got out of my seat) and, in turn, accidentally saw the Rotten Tomatoes fresh rating. It’s 64% fresh, that isn’t good. Despite this, I bet it’ll spend at least one day on imdb’s top 250. Empire gave it 3 stars, the same as Iron Man, let’s see whether it’s better or worse than it’s predecessor (by predecessor I mean the previous Marvel funded film, Iron Man). We’ll just have to wait and see.

On Racism

People entertain me so much these days. Today has been a relatively entertaining day in relation to people’s views on racism and I’ve concluded that some people are simply prejudiced or dare I say it, stupid.

Dispatches: In God’s Name
Channel 4 is one of my favourite television channels, not just because it shows some of my favourite American shows (ER, Scrubs ect) but because it also shows the fantastic show, Dispatches. Channel Four is the British TV channel that’s probably the most left field. One of the ways the difference between Channel 4 and other channels is expressed is through Dispatches where a various issues ignored by other channels and often the government are expressed.

The episode of Dispatches I just watched was not one of the hard-hitting, gritty stories about what’s really going on in society, it was not one of the episodes that points a finger at the government, what I consider it to be is an examination of a rising sub-culture. The focus of the episode was Christian fundamentalism. I say sub-culture because this is not representative of Christianity, most Christians are not like this. Some of these people really scare me. During the course of the show they indirectly stated that anyone that disagreed with them was evil. This means, as a result of my support for abortion, gay-marriage and acknowledgment of Islam (I’ll get back to that) I would pretty much be evil. The main thought that went through my head was, “this is none of their business”. I don’t understand why so many people believe that they have the right to attempt to change the lives of others.

Now, to the main reason why I felt the need to comment on this show. There was this man and in addition to protesting about Jerry Springer: The Opera, he, and a group of others took it upon themselves to protest about the opening of a Mosque in East London. They basically stated that Islam was not a religion, all Muslims are the same, they are not peaceful people, Allah is Satan and then proceeded to give thoughtless “explanations” as to why they thought they were right. All religions are based on faith, belief without proof, this, in turn means that no religion can be proved or disproved. No-one of any religion has the right to say that another is wrong.

Tropic Thunder
Now, you just read an account of what is definitely racism in modern day society. However, there are always those who blow issues waaaaaaaaay out of proportion. For those who haven’t seen the trailer for Tropic Thunder firstly, shame on you, and secondly, here it is:


Okay, fun wasn’t it. And yes, that really was Robert Downey Jr and this is also the “issue”. People have stated that Robert Downey Jr’s playing a character, playing a character who is black is racist. If anyone believes this, please, give me a logical explanation why. I mentioned a REAL account of racism previously, THIS, however, is foolishness, It’s not racism, it’s entertainment (I do understand that entertainment can be racist but this is not one of those cases). The strange thing is, this has happened in reverse on several occasions, White chicks (which committed sins against cinema for even existing) and various Eddie Murphy films. I just hope that people don’t take out their foolishness on Robert Downey Jr, it’s his year, don’t mess it up fools.

Let’s leave this on a fun note


Hehehe, Albino Shape-Shifting Lizard Bitches-Classic

Ooo, I just read this, it really doesn’t sound eloquent, drat. Oh yeah, where it says Dispatches: In God’s Name, I’m not being blasphemous, In God’s Name was the name of the episode of Dispatches.

Just one of those days...Until...

Today started off as one of those days, you know, you want to go back to sleep but you can’t, you want to eat but you’re strangely full, you want to work but you just have no motivation and, most importantly, you want to download your favourite podcast but it’s not in the feed yet. Or...maybe this is just me. After some computer time i finally hit the books and revised for my impending C4 (that’s core maths to the people smart enough not to choose maths A-Level) mock exam. My real exam is under 4 weeks away so technically I was revising for that too. Anyhoo, back to it being one of those days, I’ve been working in my kitchen as opposed to my bedroom for two reasons; 1) There is barely any natural light in my room which makes it a reasonably unpleasant place to work in, and 2) My desk is quite high; combine this with my being under average height and you get a reasonably uncomfortable work station. So I’m working in my kitchen, a communal area and naturally, I get interrupted by the family, over, and over, and over again. I completed 1 and a half modules, significantly less than I intended to. Now, let’s get to the interesting part of my day.

Around, four thirty my brother comes to the house, we’d planned to see Iron Man. He, of course did not check what time the film started and a quick internet search resulted in me dressing very quickly to get to the 5pm show. There’s no way I could have left my house in what I was wearing previously. I got up this morning and I had a strange desire to wear shorts, so I put on theses horridious (yeah, horridious-a hybrid of horrible and hideous) purple shorts and one of the baggiest t-shirts I own. This, is what I call, studying clothes.

Back to the cinema segment of this piece; I was ready at 4:50 giving us 10 minutes to get to the cinema. We got there at around 10 past 5. You’d expect us to see trailers when we got there right? Wrong. As we open the doors I see Tony Stark being rescued by the military. You don’t need to have seen the film to know that a whole load happened before that moment. We still watch the film (because, you know, it’s our fault) and it turned out to relatively awesome, I’ll speak about the film and express some mad Robert Downey Jr love later. As I got home I went straight to the computer to watch the 10 minutes of the film I missed (don’t get me wrong, I don’t condone watching films online). It turns out, we missed around half an hour of the film, 38 minutes and 21seconds to be exact. That means it was not our fault. My brother has gone to complain and hopefully get us some free tickets as compensation. Yeah Boi.

He just got back, apparently we’ve got free tickets for a screening tomorrow. Unfortunately, my brother appears to have no proof of this so I’ll just see what happens.

Okay, back to what I saw of Iron Man (and the RDJ love). Iron man is what I call a great start to a story that will (yeah, I said will) be even better. It’s an origins story and we all know that origins stories can be, well, crap (Hulk anyone?). It was a film that relied heavily on the performances and the interactions between the various characters. Luckily, the acting and chemistry was fantabulous (hybrid of fantastic and fabulous). There were some great moments between Robert “Cooler than nitro” Downey Jr and Jeff “The Dude” Bridges, between “Cool Hand” Robert Downey Jr and Gwyneth “kinda growing on me” paltrow and between Robert “Got the cool” Downey Jr and Terrence “I’ve only seen you in Iron Man and Crash” Howard. I’m sensing a theme here, oh Yeah, Robert Downey Jr was Awesome (in the Bill and Ted sense). There were many Downey Jr-isms present and that added a drop of, I don’t know, liquid perfection to the film. Iron Man was not necessarily faultless in terms of story and progression, but what I can say is that the next instalment will be exceptional. Can I get a Yeah Boi?

On a final note, if you actually read this and trust me, at least in the movie sense, you’ll watch iron man and If you do, WATCH THE BIT AFTER THE CREDITS. Yeah boi, fan boys, Nick Fury is coming.

Waterworld, Happy-Go-Lucky and the week that was

The time things actually occur in my life that are somewhat blog worthy, I’m not bothered to write in my blog. That’s so like me.

Saturday: Waterworld (Not the Kevin Costner Movie)
It’s Saturday morning and as usual, I tidy up my kitchen. My copy of A Room For Romeo Brass was delivered that morning so I was watching (but mainly listening to) it as I tidied up. My sister came downstairs and started to watch TV. I’m easily distracted, well, I like to deviate from what I’m meant to be doing, so I watched TV with her for about 40 minutes. I then went to continue with the kitchen. As I made my way there I heard the sound of water trickling, it was coming from out laundry room. I looked in there and what did I see? A whole wall and part of the ceiling was pouring down with water, my first response? “Krystal, there water coming from the light bulb!”, which it was. She immediately rang my brother because, come on, water+electricity=nothing good. It turns out that she left the bath running. Think about this. She came downstairs, some time later I watched TV with her for 40 minutes, all this time the bath was running.

My sister just kept panicking and for one of the first times on my life, I was the cool one. I assessed the situation and said what needed to be done. She asked me why I was so calm, I didn’t say this at the time but I think it’s because I was secure in the knowledge that it wasn’t my fault. Probably two hours later, we finished the superficial aspects of restoring the house. As a safety precaution, we didn’t turn on the electricity in the laundry room. My sister kept asking whether turning on any of the electricity (we’re talking about the whole house now) would cause an explosion. Feel free to correct me, but from the little knowledge of physics (GCSE Double Science) I have, I’m quite sure that’s not the reaction you would get from water and electricity. Water conducts electricity so I think you’re more likely to have a surge of electricity.

The house is okay now, the light fitting had to be removed but…that’s about it.

Wednesday: Happy-Go-Lucky

Being the film nerd I am (I’ve written that so many times), I’m subscribed to the mailing lists for all the picturehouses in London, and one on Brighton. A few weeks ago, I got an email about a preview for film called Happy-Go-Lucky with a Q&A with the director, Mike Leigh. This was very exciting to me because:
a) It’s a preview, I’ve never been to a preview before. I was going to go to a preview of Deathproof earlier in the year with a Q&A with Quentin Tarantino but, obviously, Deathproof was rated 18 (damn you BBFC) preventing me from seeing it.
b) Happy-Go-Lucky is a Film Four film. They tend to be quite good. I believe their flagship film last year was This Is England, and I’m trying my best not to go off on a tangent about how great that was. Read my review instead.
C) I had heard of it. I’d seen the adverts for it on Film Four. It didn’t look that great from the ads but then again, neither did This is England.

Anyhoo, Happy-Go-Lucky was great. I was in tears laughing but as it progressed the film became a bit more complex. Let’s just say, my reactions were like this.

I’ve haven’t achieved that much academically this week. I had one piece of work to do during the holidays which I haven’t even thought about starting. I plan to do it tomorrow. My brother fixed my bike, well, me gave me his, so I may ride it up to the library tomorrow. Let’s see if I do.

I downloaded a 30 day trial of Adobe Illustrator (mainly so I could do pictures that resembled A Scanner Darkly), it’s been fun. It’s also allowed me to do my stick man doodles digitally. Good times.

Mystery on the Ice

I was running late, the rain poured down and steam prevented me from seeing through the windows of the double decker bus. "Alexandra Palace..." a monotonous voice said, it sounded like my destination so off the bus I came. I climbed the stairs to the palace and stood outside the doors. I then began to feel out of place. I was surrounded by people producing tobacco smoke and sporting ID chains. It was still raining so I was reluctant to leave the shelter of the palace's entrance too look around. Not wanting to be late, I finally looked around, as soon as I left the shelter I realised where I was. This was not the Ice Rink, it was the other side of the palace, the conference side.

I eventually found by party, in a queue with many younger than myself. As we queued, the rest or our party arrived. As we landed on the ice, someone proposed a game of tag, it's more than possible that the person was myself. This game was unlike any game of tag I had played, no-one knew who was "it". Solving the mystery was the focal point of our game so it got rather boring. I attempted to turn it into a noir mystery but no-one was up to it.

There were holes in the ice, holes in the ice. Holes that were out to get you humble narrator, and they succeed twice. Yes, twice I had bear the cold ice the rink floor. No, thrice. The third time I was pushed. I have my suspicions about who it was but even I could not be sure. After more skating and crazy antics we traided our blades for our shoes and my friends, Converse All Stars never felt so great.

I attempted to write that in noir style but it clearly didn't work out well. I seem to have lost my ability to write. Oh well. Rae Charles' slendiferious writin ability more than makes up for it.

A little tribute to the real noir, a great scene from the film noir, The Big Sleep. Gotta love Bogart.

Ouch my throat

Ooooooo, I'm feeling quite ill at the moment. I started feeling dizzyy around halfway through the school day, I drank some water, ate a chocolate bar and a little while later I felt better. I got through my last lesson feeling fine until I got on the bus. Then I began. From the moment I got on the bus uo until now, I have felt ill in some way or another. My dizziness came back, theen went away. My breathing was a bit unsettled, then it went back to normal. Right now, my throat is killing me. It's quite uncomfortable, pain.

Due to my illness, I've only really watched films or movies since 2, this afternoon. First, Silence of the Lambs, something I've owned for a few weeks but haave never watched. It isn't remotely as scary as people make out and it is definately not a horror film (Just like Se7en). It was a jolly film though; that Anthony Hopkins. Then I watched The Goonies, best childrens films ever. Then Scrubs (yeah Boi), then 3rd Rock from the Sun. Good times. The most TV I have watched in a very long time.

Untitled Sapphire M.Brown Project

I've got an idea for a film, well, several films but one has advanced more than the others. It's advanced more than most of the ideas I have then I don't follow through meaning that there is a possibility that I may actually make this. I've got the shot planned out and even a few members of the cast. This is so well organised I can't believe this is me writing. I can't say very much here-someone may steal my idea, I just can't have that. So, if there's anyone out there preferably in the London area and willing to work for free, send me a message.

I thought I'd also do a bit of a film recommendation. I'm currently watching Brick, It's rather amazing and that's not just because I love film-noir. Brick is great in almost every way. The performances thus far cannot be faulted Joseph Gordon-Levitt (that's right, Tommy from 3rd Rock From the Sun) is doing a fantastic job, I might not have recognised him had I not imdb'd his name. The story line is superb and the dialogue (oh my gosh the dialogue) is so very snappy, let's just say, it's so film-noir.

Overrated? I'll take Monster's Ball and raise you Titanic

Yesterday, I watched a film I haven’t seen in years; Monster’s Ball. I first watched it when I was eleven and I’ve come to realise that I really didn’t get it. The story is much more complex than it was in my head and generally much better than I remembered. The performances are great, Halle Berry really deserved her Oscar. It also serves as a tribute to Health Ledger, someone we lost way too soon. After being told, I knew that it was him in Monster’s Ball but had not recollection of him. Like most of the actors, he too was amazing. For some reason I remembered Billy Bob-Thornton’s character to more sinister than he actually was. All in all, it’s a very good film. Naturally, not everyone agrees.

The people at Premier decided one day to put out their list of the 20 most overrated films of all time. On this are some films that are far from overrated. To overrate something is to value it too highly and for many of the films on the list this is not the case. The reasons given for why Monsters Ball is overrated were:

Everyone loves seeing pretty people in desperate situations, but this
southern drama is so tragic, it's absurd. Pity Leticia Musgrove: First her
husband is executed. Then her son, who in addition to being saddled with being chubby, gets killed in a hit-and-run accident. Fortunately, Musgrove finds refuge in the arms of Hank, whose father is an alcoholic racist and whose son commits suicide.Enough! Maybe with a more plausible leading lady (say, Angela Bassett), this sobfest would have gained some credibility. But a few sweat stains and exposed breasts weren't enough to transform Halle Berry into an actress worthy of an Oscar.

So tragic, it’s absurd? More unbelievable things have happened in film. The tragedy depicted on screen is perfectly plausible and it is ab aspect of the story that partially explains why Hank and Leticia are drawn to each other (ever heard the term united by tragedy?). As I mentioned before, Halle Berry’s performance was Oscar worthy. The statement has the concept of why someone wins an Oscar the wrong way around. The Oscar is not given based on the actor/actress being Oscar worthy, it is based on whether the performance they gave (regardless of any previous performances) was so spectacular that that is could be classed as the best performance in that category of that year. Berry showed charter progression and real emotion. That, Premier, is why she won and deserved to win best actress. People are very quick to say that the sex scene is the biggest or most important part of the film. What I can say is at least it was relevant to the storyline unlike many scenes out there is movie-land. The scene shows transition; it marks a new chapter in the lives of the main protagonist and stylistically, it is impressive. They also need to remember that it Berry, not the film that many comment on, their reasoning reflects this.

Another film featured in the list was Clerks and here’s why:

Kevin Smith's Clerks is a little funny and a lot boring, just like Dante Hicks, the convenience store cashier it follows for one long, pointless day. This trifle's lame acting and anemic plot were celebrated for their street cred because the slackers among us could relate and the critics all wanted to seem cool. So, sure, a cornchip shark in a salsa sea is funny when you're drunk. But a movie shouldn't require beer goggles. And moving the camera occasionally orhiring unknown actors who can actually act doesn't cost any extra, even if you've only got $27 grand.

Clerks is not just known because slackers can relate to it. It is a film that most of the population can relate to. It relates to having to grown up, having to change for the better and the choice of whether to do what you want of what it technically best for you. Overrated, I think not, most of the world has not even heard of Clerks for them to hold it in high regard. The dialogue is funny and original, many need to remember that originality is becoming a rare commodity.

Forrest Gump? I kind of see where you’re coming from but I still disagree. Their reasoning:

Being There, done that—only not quite as well. Gump makes a big, sloppy show of adoring its puerile hero to the degree of adopting his idiotic notion that whatever life gives you—be it the growth of your Apple stock or the death of a spouse from AIDS—is like a chocolate bonbon. The film is just a short-bus joke wrapped in cloying nostalgia and faux empathy. Robin Wright Penn's Jenny is redeemed by marrying the pure Forrest, but the junkie whore still must die, a plot contrivance that reveals the film's misguided moralism.

Forrest Gump is a film that takes the audience through many of the biggest moments on history. The phrase “Life is like a box of chocolates” does not mean that everything is life is good and sweet, regardless of how dreadful it is. It simply means that life is a bit of a wild card, the event cannot be predicted. Jenny death, is relevant as a marker in history. It reflects the ongoing problem of diseases such as AIDs in the world. People are dying and for Jenny not die would be to condescend the audience. What I do think is that Forrest Gump is overrated to an extent (that’s not say that I don’t own it). I believe that Forrest Gump was given a huge amount of recognition at the time (I say at the time because Forrest Gump is not often listed as on of critics’ top films nowadays), it won a large amount of Oscars, some of which, it believe should have went to other films.

I’ve written more than I expected and I’m a bit too tired to write about more.

Premier's 20 Most Overrated Movies of All Time

Oh my Coen Brothers

Well I did it. I finally saw No Country For Old Men. It is a master piece and I would go so far as to say this it was effing awesome. Oh my gosh the lighting. Oh my gosh the sound. Oh my gosh the acting. Oh my gosh, that’s how it ended. Wow. I’m not too sure how to convey how great the film was in words. It is my intention to review it at some point, naturally, during the course of the film my little review points made into my head. I got home and put my white board to use. See below:
Roger Deakins is the king of cinematography. I just need to see Juno, There Will be Blood and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly to gauge what film, in my opinion, was the best picture of 2008. I know what you’re thinking-didn’t she write her Oscar predictions including best picture already? Damn right I did, but that is very easy to do without watching the films. I must say that watching No Country For Old Men has made it even harder to predict a winner. I don’t think I’ve given No Country… enough time so I will get back to it tomorrow. The sister want to use the computer.

Sitting on the chair in my room...wastin' time

Okay, it the first day of half term, I intended to do so much today. Star off with some maths, do a bit of a sociology essay, then some psychology revision. I did some maths then sat in this chair to star typing the essay. I haven't even opened Microsoft Word. I'm meant to be going to the cinema at five to finally see No Country for Old Men. So, the day is practically gone. Shame on me.

I haven't really done nothing. I've written one blog (see below) and completelr re-vamped one of the other blogs (Amateur Critic Reviews ch-ch-ch-check it out). That took considerably longer than the re-vamping of this one.

Time to get ready. Goodbye Horses.

The Most Overrated Films of all Time

Every year people throw quotes around like “the best film of all time”. Are they really? So many films get an overwhelming amount of credit for being great when they are in actuality, average. These are the films overrated films. I shall name a few of these such films, please don’t hunt me down.

Titanic

James Cameron’s deviation from the sci-fi genre is a film that many take great pleasure in. Its greatest strength is in something that James Cameron is great with, the aesthetic. The film is visually stunning; at no point does the audience not believe that they are on the Titanic. Unfortunately this strength does not outweigh the crushing disappointment that is the other aspects of the film. The focal point of the film is the love story between Jack and Rose, a story we have seen many times before; boy meets girl, they fall in love, they can’t be together but they try to be. So very unoriginal. This was the point in Leonardo DiCaprio’s career where he was often in films to make young girls swoon. His performance was acceptable but not tremendous. Kate Winslet is an amazing actress but Titanic is most certainly not her best performance. A combination of satisfactory acting, an okay storyline and an unoriginal love story line make Titanic a greatly overrated film.

High School Musical

What happened to this world? Disney’s live action musical took the world by storm prompting sequels and tours. My main question is, why? High School Musical is clearly a musical for children yet many attempt to dress it up as something more profound. The storyline is almost non-existent. From the beginning of the film to the end there is hardly any character progression and at no point is the emotional tone at a low. Like any musical, High School Musical is reliant on the songs; this is one of the biggest flaws. The songs are mediocre. The dance sequences are impressive and this is one of High School Musical’s saving graces, the choreography is amazing but does it cancel out the lack of storyline and tremendous amount of cheese, I think not.

Crash

Number 156 in imdb’s top 250, winner of the academy award for best picture, Crash. A film that at the time of it’s release and still is, depicted as an enigmatic story about an untouched subject. The story is not enigmatic at all, to be fair, it’s quite simple and to say it is complicated or enigmatic is to insult the audience. The untouched subject? Racism. Shocking isn’t it. A film about racism; never heard that one before. American History X, Do the Right Thing-aren’t they films about racism? So why did everyone make such a fuss about Crash, a film that pales in comparison to the named examples. Crash’s clear lack of originality and shocking amount of credence makes Crash one of the most overrated films of all time and the most overrated film of 2004.

Podcasts was it?

Right...podcasts. Ahhh yes. On the last most I made a little promise to talk about podcasts in this post. Good on me.I think i'll start off by defining what a podcast is. A podcast, according to pcmag.com 

can be defined as:

(iPOD broadCAST) An audio broadcast that has been converted to an MP3 file or other audio file format for playback in a digital music player or computer. The "pod" in podcast was coined from "iPod," the predominant portable, digital music player, and although podcasts are mostly verbal, they may contain music.  

Many make the mistake of thinking that podcasts were invented by Apple for iPods and iTunes; this is not the case. Podcast were availiable online before iTunes put the little Podcast tab on its left hand menu. Apple was very smart and decided to name these little audio broadcast after the iPod and adopt Podcasts as their own. Pure Genius.

I listen to quite a few podcasts, I think I’ve mentioned some before. The main podcast that I listen to is Movies You Should See from the interdependent podcast network, Simply Syndicated. I stumbled upon MYSS back in my hardcore Star Trek days. I was on the Star Trek message boards every day, my whole life was Star Trek. (It sounds like I’m in an AA meeting well, STA Meeting). Anyhoo, the people of Simply Syndicated left a post on the Star Trek message boards about their Star Trek podcast, Make It So. Being the Trekkie I was, I went onto their website and listened to the two Make it So podcasts they had done so far, one of which was about swearing in Star Trek. It was hilarious, much better than Treks in Sci-Fi but I’ll get onto that later. As Make it So was so great, I listened to Movies You Should See. They had podcasts on quite a few movies I’d seen. Movies You Should See was even better than Make it So shock/horror. Due to the humour, I say humour but I mean comedy that may leave you aching from laughing so hard I wouldn’t suggest listening to Movies You Should See or Make it So in public.

Another podcast I listen to from the Simply Syndicated network is The Definitive Word. This features Will Tristram, an occasional guest on many Simply Syndicated shows, as he and his guests discuss the arts, society, popular culture and life in the 21st Century. There many intellectual debates such as “Top Ten Cartoon Ladies”. The Definitive Word is none other than perfection in audio form. Despite the example that I gave, it is possible to learn quite a bit (largely from the Hong Kong law episode) as well as have a good old laugh.

Or do you think that’s just bollocks, well, do you? Or do you think that’s just bollocks is yet another podcast from the Simply Syndicated team. It stars “Ranting” Richard Smith the tech wizz of the group as he, as you may have guessed, rants about any topic he wishes. Some, I must say, are close to my heart such as the nonsense that is Virgin Media (stealing my Sky One). If you want to have a rant, you can even send in an audio file of yourself ranting and be heard on the air. Great.

In my list of podcasts I have three more from the Simply Syndicated network but I don’t listen to two of them very much. The final Simply Syndicated podcast that I regularly listen to is Left Field Cinema. It’s highly dissimilar from Movies You Should See. Left Field Cinema is hosted by Mike Dawson, who reviews and analyses films whilst analysing the film-makers as well.

A podcast that I used to listen to but can’t really be bothered to listen to anymore is Treks in Sci-Fi. Each podcast the host, Rick A Dostie gives a detailed episode commentary on an episode of Star Trek. It’s not the most exiting podcast, that the main reason why I seem to have left it for the other podcasts.

The ultimate podcast for the Geeks out there is GeekNights with Rym and Scott. Geeknights is a late night show for geeks, featuring anime, comics, gaming, sci/tech, gadgetry, and general geekery New episodes every weeknight Monday through Thursday. (I kind of stole the description from iTunes). I’m not really into anime or know anything about the kind of board games to Rym and Scott play so I don’t subscribe to the main feed. Each day on GeekNight has a different theme, Monday is Science and Technology, Tuesday Gaming, Wednesday is Anime Manga Comics and Thursday is a bit random, they may talk about anything, and they do. As each day has a different theme they put each day in a separate feed so it’s possible to only download the things that you’re interested in. GeekNights is very entertaining, It’s most certainly worth a listen.

Any fans of Kevin Smith out there? If you’re really a fan you probably know that Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier have a podcast named Smodcast. If you don’t know who I’m talking about, Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier are the writer/director and producer of such films as Clerks, Mattrats and Dogma. If you like their humour, you’ll like Smodcast. It’s basically the two (occasionally with some guests) speaking about any topic with jokes throughout. Good Times.