The Gallifrey Film Society Presents....

*Ahem*

Is this thing still on? Bit dusty around here but nothing that a feather duster (and possibly a lightsabre) couldn't fix.

I've no idea what my presence is going to be like... yuletide is coming, so I am *hoping* to be around for that (my SEVENTH time around... that can't be right?!) who knows... I might even get my Sunshine fic...

And meat might fly etc.

Anyhow - how are you guys?

The work related one - I have spent the budgie for the year!! I really mean it this time!

There are an awful lot of other work shenannigans going on right now (we've moved from one system to another with regards to accessing resources - never pleasant!) but this is a bright spot. At least for me. Or until the next budget round starts;)

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It's Comic-Con this weekend. Which means an absoulte shed load of geek related stuff will decend from on high (or your favourite geek-flavoured newsite) over the next four days.

Of especial note is Sir Ridley Scott talks about his new film 'Prometheus'.

In short - Sir Ridley is back doing SF with a cast that includes Noomi Rapace (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo original, Sherlock Holmes 2), Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class, future Mr Beckymonster whut?), Charlize Theron (Monster, The Italian Job and Idris Elba Thor, The Wire)

And it *might* have something to do with a little film called Alien.

( Squee cut ahoy! )

In other news - Trailer Type Thingee for 'In Time' (Tumblr link) directed by Andrew Niccol (The Truman Show, Gattaca) yes, it has Justin Timberlake in it, but it also has Cillian Murphy in leather in it too.
Which along with it's premise (instead of money, *time* is the ultimate currency) interests me a great deal.

Line Up photo of all 13 dwarves from The Hobbit.

Of note a) Thorin looks 'better' than his first photo (less Klingon!) and b) it looks like it's wallpaper quality (whether it will fit my beloved Apple Mac, Illya, I have no idea!) so who knows, by the time the film comes out I might be able to recognise everybody in the line up;)

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I mentioned yesterday that I am going to Empire Big Screen next month. The programme was announced today and I've booked myself in to go see Cowboys and Aliens and Fright Night along with everything else.

It's coming across as being a UK, cinema-centric, version of the aforementioned Comic-Con, so there will be plenty to see (and report back on) so there are likely to be other films too. So, keep you posted;)

Items of note - Michael Gough - best known for his roles in the Burton/Schumacher Batman films and Doctor Who has passed away. I may not have much time for the Schumacher films (I'm usually scrabbling for my Batman Begins DVD!) - he was always awesome as Alfred. So much so that Sir Michael Caine is almost as good;)

Darren Aronofsky leaves The Wolverine - i.e. Wolverine II - Oh arse.

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So - Saturday just gone, was my birthday. Fun was had (however juvenille - doughnuts for breakfast? yes please!) despite what my bank balance and waistline think!

Highlights included: The 9th Douglas Adams Memorial Lecture - given by Professor Brian Cox

Hands up anyone who knew that there were other lectures given in memory of the author who pretty much is responsible for many in fandom being the way we are? And yes, I only went because I wanted to hear Professor Brian Cox talk about space and such for an hour plus.

Yes, I am sad. This is not news.

Anyway - it was more than worth it. One thing I've noticed on the occasions when I've heard the good Prof. talk, is that I don't Gaze. I listen and let my brain go *boom* (yes, even last August - I was fine until Cillian Murphy unleashed those damn freckles of his - then all the bets were off;)). And trust me - only Chris Nolan can make a monster's brain go boom quite like this;)

He's a damn good lecturer to boot. I walked away from that lecture with a better understanding of CERN and the work it's doing and quite why trying to find the Higgs Boson (or what ever the hell it is!) is so important.

There is going to be a podcast/download to be made of the lecture in the coming months - so if I can, I'll link to it as it is well worth a listen.

And then on Saturday night - I went to see Danny Boyle's take on Frankestein. Which was quite brilliant. Even though I am never going to be able to see Benedict Cumberbatch in the same light *ever* again.

Ahem. (If you've ever seen 28 Days Later - think of the first scene where we see Jim. Like that for a good ten minutes!)

Although it didn't have the same 'impact' as Mr Boyle's other works - more because I *knew* the story - it is still well worth it. The acting is superb (even though I am sure most of the audience were doing the same thing as me and thinking to themselves 'That's 'X' from 'Y'!) with Cumberbatch (as the Creature), Johnny Lee Miller as Frankestien and Naiomie Harris as Elizabeth being stand outs.

The production looked and sounded gorgeous. Though let it be said - they weren't kidding about the 15 rating!

I also just want to thank everyone who wished me a happy birthday - there was much squeeing to be had over that;)

Here's hoping for a good year, until I do it all over again!

Trailer for Wonders of the Universe which can hopefully be seen by non-UK people.

( Appropriate Music is Appropriate! )

I AENT DED

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Dear Universe - There is a trailer for Wonders Of The Universe out in the 'wild'. It features music from Sunshine (I am assuming it's 'Sunshine' (Adagio in D)), which as we both know is one blinding bit of music.

Add in the loveliness known as Professor Brian Cox (who has stated that he loves that bit of music) and... *flutters eyelashes*... please?! Can I see this? You Tube is coming up with nothing and.... please help a monster out?

Oh and the new series starts on 9th March. If I haven't already mentioned that a 1,000 times!

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While you're at it, Universe, can you please stop it with the natural disasters in the Southern Hemisphere? I think we can all agree that Christchurch is the last straw... My thoughts and prayers go to those affected.

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I should be more Monster Grata around here - and by that I mean 'Post Stuff That Aren't Movie Reviews!' (although - take it from me, when I say GO SEE PAUL FOR IT IS AWESOME!) but there isn't *that* much to discuss.

Some bits of my life are toodling along reasonably well (insofar as I can say that they are without tempting fate) and others I don't really want to discuss as I'd rather have something 'positive' and tangible to discuss - which is going to be a while off. Others are... PITAs and will remain so.

And this? Is why I stick to the movie reviews!

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So, that's me. How are you lovely people?

First trailer for X-Men: First Class. I adore the Singer films (the Ratner version does not exist in my universe) and having seen the delightfully batsh*t crazy Kick Ass, which is also directed by Matthew Vaughn (review to follow) this week... I am cautiously *intrigued* by what I see.


In other (tangetally related!) news... In accordance with the age-old adage of 'photos-or-it-didn't-happen'... Bibilo and the 14 dwarves of Peter Jackson's 'The Hobbit' assembled.


Professor Brian Cox was on the radio this morning (11/2/11 - if you can listen, he turns up about 1.5 hours in). He was his usual lovely self. Things of note - he'd love to be in Doctor Who as he is a fan. There *will* be a 3rd series of Wonders of the... (full title to be announced). Wonders of the Universe starts on 9/3, BBC2 @ 9pm. For the rest of it, listen. You won't be disappointed. If nothing else, to hear him pronounce 'woo woo'.

On a tangent - a local cinema is playing Sunshine in a few weeks as part of a SF season. So, yes, going to have to go see that;) Capa = Cox y/y.


So, that's me, how are you?

Which explains why I haven't been posting around these 'ere parts for a while. The most 'interesting' things (that do *not* involve movies) I have been doing recently have been trying out a new contact lens make (verdict - owowowow) and buying books (for myself).

Not that this is incentive for anyone or anything to make my life 'interesting' by any means. I like *boring*. It's just that it doesn't make for good blogging!

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On the subject of books - whomever has been raving about The Hunger Games... thank you. I read the first book in about four days. Which is damn good going. The other two are now on order from Amazon.

For those of you considering reading these - I'd recommend the first one certainly. And no one spoil me, please.

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On the subject of books - I'm currently reading Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovich. I'm two chapters in and... I think the best way I can describe it is one part Hot Fuzz (alas minus the homoeroticism) and three parts The Dresden Files.

I fear that I may be reaching for my next book before too long - which is a good thing. Will report back when I finish it.

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Changing the subject to music for a moment - does anyone have a *legal* copy of The Black Hole soundtrack that can be loaded onto a computer? It's asking for a lot, I know, as the only copy I can find is on US iTunes (which, being from the UK, is as much use as a chocolate fireguard!) but I thought I'd ask.

On a similar note - Pictures of the packaging for the 'Tron: Legacy' Blu-ray/DVD. WANT!

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Time for a random photo snurched from Twitter (three good guesses *who* one of the subjects is...) The Old and New faces of TV astronomy.

Also - related to the above (especially if you think like *me*) The captions say these are photos from CERN - I'd say the Grid from 'Tron' meself!

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Related to the above (again!) - Wonders Of The Universe starts on Sunday 6th March at 9pm. Which means that it's on the same time as Being Human for two episodes. Thank the Flying Spagetti Monster for BBC iPlayer and DVRs! Also, if anyone can choose what to watch and what to tape from those two - congratulations! you are a better person than me. Trufax.

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*Still* on the subject of telly (paging nialla42!)- Hawaii Five O (2010) - yay or nay?. It, too, is on at 9pm, Sunday on Sky One, so is it one to have a looky-loo (most likely through catch up services - it's the BAFTAS next week. Or rather Inception plays the bridesmaid *again*) or no?

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And so, how are yous guys?

2011 Oscar Nominations

Things AMPAS got right:
127 Hours nominated for Best Picture. Ditto James Franco in the Best Actor category for the same film.

Helena Bonham Carter nominated for The King's Speech - her performance was as good as Firth's in that film.

Christian Bale for The Fighter - I haven't seen it yet but Christian Bale is an awesome actor whom I've loved since Equilibrium

Toy Story 3 gets a nod in the Adapted Screenplay category.

Hans Zimmer's soundtrack for Inception being nominated. That CD leaves my car over my cold dead bod.


Things AMPAS got wrong
Christopher Nolan not being nominated for Best Director. What (or who) does he have to do to get nominated?

Inception not being nominated for Best Editing (a must have to stand a snowballs of getting Best Picture)

No nomination for music *or* for SFX for Tron: Legacy. You can say what you like about that film I won't be listening to you but those were two of it's strengths.

No costume nomination for The Black Swan. It's a superb film (review to follow!) and while I can understand that Clint Mansell's score is ineligible (seriously - it's Pop Will Eat Itself Does Tchaikovsky - in a good way) but that's going too far.

So - in short... same stupidity, different year.

To celebrate have the following...

Pictures from this year's Dieux Du Stade Calendar. If you have seen these already - don't mind me and why didn't you share!?!. Needless to say that if you haven't and you know what I'm talking about... you aren't reading this - because you've already clicked on that link;)

If you don't have a clue - let me say this - gorgeous, naked men leavened with a healthy dollop of (homo)eroticsm. So NSFW but so worth it!

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If there is anyone *still* reading this post after that... Have pictures of Chris Evans (no, not that one!) as Captain America and Andrew Garfield in the Spiderman costume.

Of the two films, I'm looking forward to the former rather than the latter. Not to mention, Captain America has both Richard Arimitage and Hugo Weaving in it, which is certainly in it's favour.

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Now, as I haven't seen anyone else really mention this on my flist - I don't know if this is common knowledge or not if it is - y'all are fired! but Being Human returns on Sunday 23rd January for 8 episodes. I've just done some math and the series finale is the day after my birthday. Which if it's anything like the finale for series 2... Ah.

The spoiler-phobic may not want to hit that link - just in case.

N.B.. I am, of course, talking about the UK version. Not the U.S. version. Which is the only time I am mentioning that this year.

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And now for the memoes part of our broadcast day.

To: Tron: Legacy fandom

( Re: Character name shorthand - contains small spoilers for 'Tron: Legacy' )

Also:

To: The Entertainment Media

( To quote a certain professor 'Spoilers!' )

Thank you!

So that is me - how are yous guys?

I'm going to be spamming with intent over the next couple of days. So consider this fair warning;)

One thing to do is to post the fics I wrote for the various holiday challenges of which there were three (which considering that I had only written one story up to that point - I'm quite pleased by that;)). My Yuletide fic and the two incept_santa stories I wrote as well.

I need to rec stories I received as well - I'll get onto that shortly. They were all awesome but I need to give them love.

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Another thing is to set up this year's 'Films Watched in...' post - now in it's fifth year holy sh*t! but this year there will be a difference! Instead of just listing the films I have seen, I am going to try to watch and post about one Hundred And One films this year.

I've already got one under my belt (let's not talk about the hundred I still have to write;)) with Tron: Legacy. I'll be talking about a variety of films - new stuff I've seen at the cinema and stuff that I've seen on DVD, either for the first time or the 100th time - 101+ words on the film and what I thought of it.

The main reason for this is because I realised while writing World You Thought You Lived In and the three aforementioned stories, that I *miss* writing. Since I don't really have a fandom at present (and boy, is that a post for another time!) writing about movies will help fill that gap. Unless I give in to the temptation to write that NC-17 rated Tron: Legacy fic involving a returning character and the unexpected!cameo...

Just don't ask! Please, your sanity will thank you

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I haven't spoke about my gallivant to Glasgow yet - mainly because there isn't much to say. Everything I wanted to see was either closed for the holidays, in another country or off sick with the 'flu. Still, it didn't snow - which given the weather over the last few weeks is a plus!

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So, while I go watch gaze at! Professor Brian Cox, how are you guys?