My Random Blogs

Film: Jarhead

2011-04-11T18:54:00.002Z

Jar Head does, in my opinion, present a good enough and gritty enough military drama to take a spot near Platoon and Apocalypse Now. While not quite up to the standards of Apocalypse Now, I rate it about on a par with Platoon.
Starring the brilliant Jake Gyllenhaal, it follows his journey through boot camp, and then into Saudi Arabia as the Gulf War breaks out, until the war ends. There isn't as much gore as you might expect, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Jake plays Anthony Swofford, who enlists in the Marines in the late '80s, and makes it through training, to be flown into Saudi Arabia just after the Gulf War breaks out. There follows a story of boredom, preparation, waiting and more boredom, before Anthony's unit finally gets to move out toward the enemy. I won't spoil the biggest surprise for you.
It's somehow a more personal story than Platoon - probably helped by the fact that it's based on a true story - and not quite as crazy as the latter part of Apocalypse Now. However, given what's gone before film-wise, I feel I can't quite justify giving this 5/5 (which is what I rate Apocalypse Now at) so it's going to have to be 4/5.

Film: Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

2011-03-06T12:57:00.001Z

Before I start this review, I must point out that I am very much a fan of Steve Martin, hence will be more positively biased towards his films than non-fans.
The premise of Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is quite original - much of the film is actually clips from 18 different classic black-and-white "film noir" and "pulp" films from the '40s (except for In A Lonely Place, which is from 1950).
Being a film starring Steve Martin, and directed by Carl Reiner, this is of course a comedy. Steve Martin plays a typical (of this film genre) private eye, with a habit of talking up his famous "java" (apparently ground coffee mixed with a couple of eggs and a small amount of water). He gets roped into investigating the apparent death of a famous scientist, thanks to the feminine wiles of the scientist's daughter. Then what follows for muhc of the film, is Steve's character trying to unravel the mystery. There is a great twist right near the end - I recommend you do not look up the film online before watching, unless you don't mind spoiling the surprise.
I found this film enjoyable and funny. The stitching-in of all the old movie clips actually works quite well, and now I also have a load of black-and-white films I'd like to see...
5/5

Film: Pom Poko

2011-03-06T12:26:00.004Z

All of the films I've watched from Studio Ghibli have a certain level of the fantastical about them, but Pom Poko must be right up there at the top (or very nearly the top) as far as the level of the fantastical is concerned.
Without giving too much away, the basic premise is that a large group of raccoons living somewhere in Japan have their homes threatened by the property development being carried out in the area by humans. Not far into the film, we find that these raccoons (like all raccoons, apparently) have the ability to shape-shift, some more so than others.
The story is brilliant, and at times rather weird. It starts off innocuously enough, two groups of raccooons fighing over land that they need for food and homes. It gets a bit weird when we discover the secret that raccoons can shape-shift, and then somewhat further into the film, it gets really weird as the raccoons try to drive the humans away from their land.
The animation is top-notch, as you'd expect from a Studio Ghibli film, and I didn't find the ending predictable.
I would rate this as my favourite Studio Ghibli film so far, and I've seen most of them. 5/5

CD Review: A Bigger Bang by The Rolling Stones

2005-12-16T11:24:00.000Z

It's reassuring to know that, despite being around for so long, the Rolling Stones can still rock out rather well. What's more, the liner notes (to the standard edition at least) have the words for each song - a feature that seems to be increasingly rare these days, in fact an important feature for those of us who like to attempt to sing along.
Anyway, weighing in at 16 tracks, this album is a hefty 64 minutes or so long, value for money in this age of increasing numbers of half-hour "lite" albums.
But how does it play? It's reassuringly "Stones" in style - none of the tracks jump out at you for their original sound, but that doesn't stop it being good. I'm somewhat torn on the scoring of this - It's good enough for 4/5, easily, but...somehow, not quite peaking high enough for the full 5/5. If you're not a fan of the Stones, you probably won't be swayed in any way by this offering. But for those of us that like the classic sound that is the epitome of rock 'n' roll, it's a great album. 4/5

CD Review: Silent Alarm by Bloc Party

2005-11-17T14:25:00.000Z

Underwhelming. That's the best way to describe this offering. In a similar way to Kasabian, it begins promisingly enough, but it never quite manages to really grab you and make you listen. You really have to make an effort to actually listen to the whole album through, and even then it's pretty forgettable.
The first track, Like Eating Glass, raises hopes of this being a Foo Fighters-alike sound, only to dash them when the singing starts.
It's a less clubby sound than Kasabian, and more poppy instead. This is more down-to-earth rock, but it seems to be somewhat hookless. They do sound similar to the Kaiser Chiefs, unfortunately I don't have Employment to compare the two albums fully. It doesn't matter a great deal, though. It's worth a listen if you're a fan of this style - slightly-frayed-around-the-edges-pop-rock - but otherwise, stay away, unless you don't mind being disappointed.
2/5

CD Review: Kasabian by Kasabian

2005-11-11T11:35:00.000Z

Weighing in at 13 tracks (at over 53 minutes) this is a more-hefty-than-average album. It's not without its share of catchy tune, either - from the raw sound of Club Foot, through the more tuneful Processed Beats and Reason Is Treason, to the clublike sound of L.S.F (Lost Souls Forever)
Each of the tracks feature at least a few electronic synth sounds mixed in with the more standard rock sound. It's an interesting mix, giving the album a kind of club sound - which I guess would make this "club rock" music. Though for select clubs only. The tracks certainly don't all have thumping bass lines or fast paces. The vocals on all of the tracks are kind of radio-raw, but not as raw enough to make it sound like punk. I find it overall vaguely reminiscent of Ocean Colour Scene, with synth sounds thrown in on top, that doesn't really do it justice though. Maybe more like a lighter version of Pitchshifter - in fact the main riff on Running Battle made me think of Pitchshifter's Hidden Agenda straight away. Certainly, check it out if you like light rock.
It won't set the world on fire, but it is pretty catchy nevertheless. 3/5

CD Review: In Your Honor by the Foo Fighters

2005-11-03T21:07:00.000Z

"20 songs on 2 CDs
One loud.
One not so loud."
so says the sticker on the front of the CD case. What it amounts to is one CD (CD1) of standard Foo Fighters fayre, and one (CD2) of acoustic, somewhat quieter fayre. CD1 follows the style of their previous outing One By One. It features Dave Grohl's kinda gravelly, and definitely loud, vocals. The tracks on this CD are all reasonably heavy, my favourite probably being the title In Your Honor (yeah I know, American spelling cos the Foos are American), with Best Of You a close second. Much like One By One, the tracks all bounce along at quite a pace - and they all make you want to sing along.
The second CD is a bit of a departure from their standard style. The acoustic guitar in place of electric gives the second CD a more subdued sound, and Dave Grohl sings more than he shouts. The pace of the second CD is also somewhat slower than the first. Overall, it makes for a more refined feel, and it's none the worse for it. The opening track, Still, is a good introduction to this side of the Foos - my favourite track from CD2, though, is What If I Do?. It will certainly be interesting to see how far they take this refined sound - perhaps a fully acoustic album next? At the least, it shows they aren't content with just sticking with the same sound all the time. One By One was a difficult album to follow, but the Foo Fighters have managed pretty well. 4/5

CD Review: Forget Yourself by The Church

2005-10-30T20:28:00.000Z

Different. Well, different to my normal listening material. The truth is, there might be alot of music out there that sounds like this. However, I suspect there aren't many groups around making this kind of music, compared to during the eighties. Vaguely similar to Echo And The Bunnymen, it sounds...kind of poppy, though generally heavier than Echo & The Bunnymen. And yet, in all honesty I've not heard all that many top-40 songs sounding like this. This is better, thankfully.
That's it - I've decided on the best way to to describe this style - it's music to paint to. Quite slow in general, but not usually actually depressing, the irony is this stuff is probably more "emo" than emo. At any rate, it's probably more musical.
If it came to a show down between these guys and Echo & The Bunnymen, on the strength of what I've heard so far, I'd go for Echo & The Bunnymen - in my opinion, they are the better band. But if you want something similar-to-yet-not-the-same-as Echo & The Bunnymen, this would be a good start. Just don't expect it to be quite as good as them. This is actually a double-sided CD/DVD (CD on one side, DVD on the other). It includes the video for the track Song In Space (pics of the band interspersed with some footage from a rocket launching), the entire album in surround sound and stereo, and portable music files. I haven't checked out the portable music files yet, but having the album available in surround is an interesting extra - unfortunately, I can't make use of it at present. 3/5

CD Review: Schmack! by Steriogram

2005-10-25T19:19:00.000Z

Even if you haven't heard of the band, the chances are you've heard some of one of their songs - Apple used the rather catchy Walkie Talkie Man on their iPod ads not long ago.
I rather liked that track, so (again) I decide to risk the full album (also going on the strength of the user reviews on Amazon). What you get is 12 tracks of suprisingly punky tunes, plus the video for Walkie Talkie Man (more about this later) and a second video of similar length on the making of the Walkie Talkie Man video.
And right now, Amazon seem to have gone crazy, pricing the album at 2.96 (shurely shome mistake?). Anyway, the Walkie Talkie Man video is satisfyingly different - set in a world of yarn. It won't set the world alight, but at least it shows some creativity (and I like it). The "making of" just shows how they did some of the bits, like the yarn drum kit. It's a nice little diversion from the album proper.
The Steriogram sound is "suprisingly" punky because it's not as poppy as the likes of Blink 182 et al, but considering that Apple used one of their tunes in an ad, I'd hesitate to call them "true" punk. Their sound isn't quite that raw, either.
At the standard Amazon album price of ~£9, I could only really recommend it for fans of rock, and I'd give it 3.5/5. But at the insanely low price of £2.96, you'd be a fool not to snap it up, if only to get the video to go with the full track used in the Apple ad.

CD Review: Porcupine (remastered) by Echo And The Bunnymen

2005-10-25T14:56:00.000Z

I got onto these guys thanks to just one track - the majestic Under The Killing Moon, as played on the opening scene of the original cut of Donnie Darko.
That masterpiece of - what to call this style? I suppose "pop-folk" covers it best, but mere pidgeon-holing is inadequate here - doesn't actually make an appearance on this album. But, 17 other tunes do appear here. Well, strictly speaking, there are 12 tracks, plus alternate versions of five of them. That's no excuse not to buy it though, at the measly price of £6.97 at Amazon. For a piece of pop history, that's peanuts (and while you're at it, get the remastered version of Ocean Rain, too).
Somehow, the tracks manage to be quite upbeat, yet still feel somewhat sedate. It's not so much music to dance to - it's more music to listen to. I find the music of Echo And The Bunnymen tends to encourage self reflection, and this can certainly be said of this album. There is a kind of '80s feel to it all, but it doesn't detract from it at all - and it's certainly more individual than alot of stuff that came out of that era.
I don't think it's easy to sum up this album - the best way to do it justice is to listen to it. I took a risk when I got this but, for me, it's paid off. Perhaps you should too.

Film: The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

2005-05-08T10:53:00.000Z

First off, let's get one thing out the way: I am a fan of the books, most definitely. I've read the first four, and also the Dirk Gently Omnibus. Douglas Adams was a genius, God rest his soul.
I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from this film though. I've skim-read reviews, but I've tried to resist the lure of spoilers, even though I wasn't sure if I'd go see it or not. Well, now I did.
The major problem with this film is that, even though the book is nowhere near as thick as, say, any of the Lord Of The Rings books, Douglas managed to fit in a hell of a lot of detail. A proper film version would be nearer LOTR-length, but I'm aware that whilst a trilogy of fantasy films of epic length may not be too difficult to sell especially given the success of the LOTR books, if you were to say "I'm gonna make a trilogy of epic comedy films" I'm pretty sure you'd get laughed all the way back to whatever bar you'd just stumbled out of.
Given the restriction in length, they have managed to pack in the vital-to-the-storyline parts. I think - it's been a little while since I read the books, I'll have to read them again at some point - and whilst there are plenty of "incidental" little bits of humour that have been dropped, one or two have also been added.
The dialogue is somewhat cut down. I think the Vogons and the bit with the custom planets are probably the most well-done parts of this film, they have the best "feel", they're most reminiscent of the book. I was somewhat disappointed with the rendition of the Heart Of Gold, I think they were trying to be a little too clever there and...it doesn't quite work. I have to admit, one reason I like the film's vision of the Vogons is because they're a little reminiscent of the aliens from Peter Jackson's masterpiece of comedy-horror-gorefest, Bad Taste.
I was surprised at how often much of the audience actually laughed out loud, but I quickly realised most of them have probably not read the books, in which case, you're likely to enjoy this film rather more.
I just hope the next one is better. I can see that the potential is there, it just seems almost as if...they were aiming lower than the books to begin with. As if it went something like "We won't make it as good as the books so let's not even try to, just take the easiest and most important bits and work on them"

2005-03-30T16:24:00.000Z

Film: The Big Lebowski
A quintessential cult film, whilst it has its share of strange moments, The Big Lebowski is grounded in reality. We have a pretty random selection of eccentric characters that, by dint of sheer coincidence, become slightly involved in the same story. Throughout the film, the focus is most definitely on The Dude (real name: Jeffrey Lebowski), whose real name just happens to be shared with (what appears to be) a successful millionaire wheelchair-bound old guy, complete with trophy blonde slutty wife.
The gist of the story revolves around this trophy wife, and her sudden (apparent) kidnap. By sheer chance, the millionaire has just met The Dude, and decides to ask him for help in getting his wife back. Of course, The Dude being the Dude, you can easily guess things aren't going to go smoothly for him, and you'd be spot on. It's hard to explain exactly what makes The Big Lebowski such a cool film. It's pretty funny in most places, though it's generally more of a "smile and quiet laugh" type funny than out-and-out "laugh out loud" funny. It doesn't rely on toilet humour or stoner gags, although The Dude does enjoy the odd puff of the "herb". I suppose what really makes this film is the characters of The Dude himself, and his best mate Walter. Steve Buscemi appears for a few brief scenes too, ably playing the two buddies' other bowling team mate, often ignored by these two in their heated discussions on politics and rugs.
Together, Walter with his borderline obsession for bowling, and The Dude with his love of wearing slippers, dressing gown, and drinking throughout the day, make the great slacker atmosphere so important to this film. Because, when you get right down to it, this is a slacker film - it's a film about stuff that happens to a guy who basically does nothing, and much prefers to let stuff happen to him, than to go out and make stuff happen. And he thoroughly enjoys himself, most of the time.
This isn't a stoner movie though, it's a slacker movie. So you can enjoy this without being a stoner, for sure.
5/5

2005-03-21T18:01:00.000Z

Film - Brazil
Or Terry Gilliam's Brazil, to be exact. Yeah, it's a film by that most imaginative of the (Monty) Pythons, the one who came up with those funny doodled cartoons, and had (has?) an obsession with large feet squashing stuff.
There're no cartoons here, although there are numerous moments of similarly dark humour.
The future world Brazil is set in is about as dystopian as they come. Almost every aspect of life is ruled over by a humungous system of beauracracy, but there's at least one group of rather successful terrorists determined to fight back. At the time the film is set, these guys have been setting off bombs for more than 10 years, although the minister being interviewed on TV just replies that this means the government is closer than ever to stopping them for good(!), shortly before a shop explodes - yet more handiwork of the terrorists.
The story itself follows one of the beauracrats, Sam Lowry, himself a bit of a daydreamer (but nevertheless good at his job) as he gets dragged into a series of events mostly beyond his control. What starts out as a job to correct a simple administrative error (in itself an ironic consequence of one worker's carelessness whilst trying to swat a fly) soon becomes a chase as Sam tries to catch up with a mysterious, good-looking woman he first spotted whilst at work. In an unrelated series of events, he gets to meet up with an underground repair man, something of a legend in this world full of steam pipes, where you usually have to wait weeks for an offically-sanctioned repair man. Ably played by Robert De Niro (before he was reduced to advertising credit cards), Archibald "Harry" Tuttle arrives to fix Sam's pipes after he makes a desparate call for a repairman, only to be told there won't be one available for weeks. They need fixing so badly because this dystopian future is also somewhat "steampunk" in that almost all the features of a flat rely on steam, somehow or other. At this point, if you've been paying attention to the film, you'll notice another of the great ironies in the story, but I won't spoil it here; suffice to say, it'll likely have you laughing out loud.
While this is going on, Sam gets it into his head that the woman is involved with the terrorists, and decides he'd like to join the cause. He also has to deal with his interfering mother, who keeps trying to get him to hook up with the rather plain-looking, and almost-never-speaking, daughter of a good friend of hers, who he really doesn't like. A good laugh comes from the moment we finally hear her speak properly.
Sam eventually cracks good and proper shortly after landing a new, better job in the beauracracy (thanks to his mum, who knows some powerful men).
Not forgetting the slightly nasty, very petty, pair of official heating engineers sent to fix Sam's flat (after Harry Tuttle has done his business). These guys really have it in for Harry, and as a consequence, pretty soon they have it in for Sam too. Although they get their comeuppance - in one of the funniest and most disgusting moments of the film - eventually.
Once he's got the girl safely in hiding (at his mother's flat), he thinks of a way to save her. The only problem is, it turns out it's rather more difficult to escape the suspecting eyes of the beauracracy than Sam thought. In the end, of course, it all works out...in a way. But you can (and should) find that out for yourselves, because Brazil is a top-notch film, and a damn good companion to George Orwell's 1984. A full 5/5
Ah, 1984. There are obvious similarities between 1984 and Brazil, indeed, imdb.com has it that Brazil's working title was 1984 1/2. However, there are also some rather large differences:
1)The beauracractic system in Brazil is woefully inefficient at getting stuff done.
2)Technology in the world of Brazil has, largely, not advanced far beyond that of the 1970s, we assume as a result of the beauracracy (technological advances still happen in 1984, where they benefit Big Brother)
3)Finally, in Brazil, the system appears to be in place more just to keep people in check, rather than to out-and-out control every aspect of their lives. It is meant to restrict them, just not control them entirely.

We also don't see evidence in Brazil of the government actually trying to control basic human instinct - you could say that in Brazil, the system wants control of peoples' minds, whereas in 1984, it wants control of peoples' minds AND hearts.
There are, of course, other differences, aside from the downright obvious difference in focus and characters of each, but I think those cited above demonstrate the general difference in tone between 1984 and Brazil.

2005-03-21T12:00:00.000Z

Book - 1984
I actually finished reading this a good few weeks ago, but I've been putting off reviewing it because...well, it's kinda intimidating. OK, so it's "just another classic novel" like several I've already reviewed, without much difficulty. BUT, somehow, 1984 just seems to overshadow all those others. I suppose it's not just the book itself, but the reputation of it.
OK, let's start with the obvious. It's about communism! well, yeah, but there's a but...and here it is: taking onboard how clever 1984 is, I can't help but think that rather than just being clever, Mr. Orwell was a genius, and the idea of 1984 is not just to target communism*, but any kind of totalitarian regime. The book is general enough, that much of it could be applied, in theory, to any totalitarian government you could think of. 1984 makes the point, rather well, though without having to actually signpost it, that when we lose enough of our freedoms, we stop really living. We just "exist", as empty husks. Throughout the book, it manages to crystalise a number of thoughts I know i've had in the past, but never quite managed to put shape to them. This in itself, to me, is a good indication of Orwell's talent. Some of the ideas presented in 1984 are radical yet simple (and will probably have you thinking "of course! that's so bloody obvious!"). Then there's Room 101. On its own, this is a pretty nasty method of breaking someone's spirit. But there's a little more to it
*SPOILER ALERT*

See, part way through the book, we are treated to the realisation that the government's power in 1984 comes from their controlling of the "sexual instinct" of the members of the Party. That's what the book calls it, but you could call it the instinct to reproduce, one of the two most basic of human instincts. Even for all animals. Well, there's survival of the species, being a kinda mixture of these two, but anyway. The other is never actually mentioned, but plays at least as big a role - that of self-survival. It is this second basic instinct that the Party controls again through their entire setup, but ultimately, through Room 101. The idea of Room 101 is to show dissenters that their instinct for self-survival is their strongest instinct. To show them that their loyalties are not unbreakable.
So, the Party controls these two most basic of human instincts, and through this, their control extends logically to all aspects of party members' lives. Of course, it's not a simple matter; every home has a two-way viewscreen, which will be watched at the other end at some point. There's the constant re-writingof past and present news, books, and so on. There's the Thought Police. There's almost no freedom, and there's very little tolerance of individuality, as individuality is dangerous to The Party.
Then there are the "proles" - the non-Party members, making about 75% of the population, these people seem to have it worse off than Party members when we first read about them. But it doesn't take long to realise, they have somewhat more freedom than Party members. It's also somewhat ironic, that Party members are, by and large, prisoners of their own making.

1984 is certainly the most thought-provoking book I've read so far. There are some disconcerting similarities with the Party and...situatinos around the world right now. On the bright side, I think individuality is a good measure of how much freedom you have. As in, the level of diversity of people within a country is a pretty good indication of how totalitarian (or not) its government is. Here, I can only with any degree of certainty speak of this country, England. At the minute, we have a good level of diversity amongst the people living here (despite Charles Clarke's seeming determination to curb our freedoms). And i'm not too stupid to see that without any laws at all, we'd have total freedom - but with it, total chaos. I wouldn't mind watching that from a distance, but I doubt i could handle living it.
Doubtless, there'll be plenty of people out there who read/have read 1984 and have a completely different take on it...

*I'm well aware that ideal communism may not be totalitarian in nature, but the fact is the real-world occurrences have all attempted to be totalitarian

2005-02-20T19:01:00.000Z

Film: Napolean Dynamite
Something of a cult hit, Napolean Dynamite is a comedy that follows a short period of the life of teenager Napolean Dynamite. Napolean is something of a loser. He is portrayed in such a way that you'd expect him to be the typical "loser with 195 IQ" of films about kids, but the sad fact is, he just ain't too bright. Most of the film comes across as something like "The Office, but about high school kids" although it's not pretending to be a fly-on-the-wall documentary. However, the plentiful deadpan and well-acted awkward moments, as well as the somewhat peevish and petty main character, are reminiscent of (the UK version of) The Office.
Very much a character comedy (as seems to be the "in" thing at the minute), Napolean Dynamite just wouldn't work if the characters were crap. Luckily, the parts are well-played - from Napolean's even weirder older brother, their stuck-in-the-past uncle, to the just-as-awkward-girl-who-likes-Napolean, and not forgetting the pumped-up Rex ("Rex Kwon-Do!).
The film doesn't really come across as any typical kind of comedy, I guess broadly you could call it a "loser comedy", but it doesn't follow the same formula as most loser comedies do. That's probably a big contributor to its success - OK, so it's another character comedy, but yet again it's donig things its own way. or at least, differently to the average comedy (well, maybe soon we'll have to redefine what the "average" comedy is, eh?).
What I appreciated the most about Napolean Dynamite is the number of seemingly random, unconnected scenes that occur throughout the film, only to be woven together in the last 20 minutes or so. It's like what films such as Pulp Fiction did, but without having to resort to timeline-bending to do it. There's no jumping backwards and forwards here, it's forwards all the way.
Great stuff. 4/5

2005-02-12T18:26:00.000Z

Film - Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
A soppy film about love...that somehow manages to not actually be soppy (it's just the final "message" that's kinda soppy, even if you agree with it)
Essentially, this is a film about how "love triumphs over all", but this only becomes certain in your mind right at the end. It manages to make the course of most of it uncertain enough for those of us who watch films more just for pure entertainment than for trying to deeply analyse as we watch them. It also, take note, shows that both Jim Carrey and Kate Winslett are more than capable of playing characters beyond the somewhat limited ranges they're known for (whether unfairly or not), but more to the point, playing them well. There's not alot of Carrey's famous Gurning-on-speed, and Winslett's fiery, near-ADD scary scatterbrain is...disturbingly attractive. Maybe I just have a strange taste in women, eh?
The storyline begins normally enough, and in fact almost makes you wonder what's so great about it. It looks like it's gonna be a textbook romantic comedy, with little to distinguish it above the rest of such pap. It feels like most of the film has already been shown after about the first 15 minutes. But just as it begins to slow, things get a little more interesting - Kate's character, Clementine ("no jokes about my name!") appears to have suffered some kind of large-scale memory loss. This throws Carrey's character, Joel, into a pit of despair. He visits a couple of good friends of his, and happens to catch sight of something he shouldn't - a mysterious card that says Clementine has undergione a procedure to erase him from her memory. Here's where the real fun begins, and a good two-thirds, or there abouts, of the film involve Joel going on a journey through his own memories of Clementine, with us along for the ride. It gets a little crazy, then not far from the end of the film, you realise that rather than the timeline having jumped around a little erratically, what actually appears to have happened is a trick is played, yes the timeline jumps around in a couple of places, but only just enough to ensure the film's ending isn't immediately obvious.
Overall, Eternal Sunshine... is a film about love. The message is a bit soppy, but most of the story isn't. And it's both funnier, and better overall, than Love, Actually.
5/5

2005-02-06T15:57:00.000Z

Film: Dawn Of The Dead 2004
I was a little apprehensive about watching this, the recent remake of Romero's all-time classic '70s gore-filled, zombified swipe at consumerism. From what I'd heard and read in reviews, it did a good job of taking the original and modernising it in a satisfying way. But that didn't mean it'd necessarily be all that good as a film, and i'm rather fond of the original...
The first 10 or 15 minutes is perhaps where the genius of this remake shines through the most. The slow build-up, giving a nice air of tension - you know there's gonna be zombies, and probably LOTS of 'em, but when, and how? - explodes into a frantic escape sequence, as nurse Ana speeds off in her car, through suburbia gone literally crazy - screaming and gunshots and explosions and fires and car crashes and sirens everywhere - trying to find a little sanity in a world suddenly turned upside-down. She ends up crashing, but is found by a policeman, and together they come across a handful of other survivors, and head to a mall for shelter. Like the original, they hole up, and make the most of the stuff in the shops, but unlike the original, this is still the first days of the zombie plague. Information is scarce at best, and panic is everywhere, but like the original, some people do work out that the plague spreads via bites from those already zombified, and the way to neutralise them is destory their brain, and burn the body.
There is a little less action than in the original, but there's still plenty of gore, and plenty of tension. One of the guys is an alocoholic, a nice touch in this day and age, and given the number of survivors, you'd expect there to be more, on average. The chief security guard (three of the mall's security staff are amongst the group) is a character many will be somewhat familiar with - a guy in a position of minor power, a little dumb, quite petty, and a bit of a wuss.
In fact, all the characters in this are well-written. That's also why there's less action in this remake; there's a little more emphasis on the characters and their interactions. And the...no, I won't give that plot bit away. You'll likely see it coming a mile off, but that still doesn't prepare you for it when it actually happens.
The end sequence is very good too. As their situation becomes more desparate, and their numbers begin to dwindle, the survivors decide they need to try and get out, and find somewhere safer. They form a plan (a pretty basic one at that) and head out into the zombieness. One of the vehicles they use has got a slit in either side, for one of the passengers to stick a chainsaw's blade out of, for to make zombie sushi with. This is one of those good little touches, something that at the time you first see it, appears to have little importance, but does play an important role...
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...when the vehicle crashes and the guy holding the chainsaw is thrown about with the others in there, and as you'd guess, he loses control of the chainsaw with rather messy consequences.
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A worthy remake, this. It does the original justice, and does manage to actually update the story quite well.5/5

2005-01-25T13:06:00.000Z

Book - Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley
I recently read this as part of my ongoing resolution to read some of the modern classic novels that i've heard of and not yet read, but really think i should read. For most of the titles, I'm using the Modern Library's "100 Best Novels" list from last year, yet strangely Frankenstein doesn't make an appearance. First published in 1818, if you're under any illusion that Hollywood's phase of junking the happy ending in favour of more...ambiguous endings is an original idea, this book will show you it's anything but.
As I imagine quite a few people are aware (whether you've read the book or not) Frankenstein is actually the name of the doctor who creates the monster, and gives life to his creation. The monster itself is never named, and is referred to in varying (but always biased) terms. The bulk of the story is told from the perspective of Dr. Frankenstein, as he relates it to a stranger aboard a ship trying to navigate the northern ice. It begins rather sedately, taking the reader briefly through Frankenstein's childhood. We learn how he developed a keen interest in the sciences, particularly biology, and after some success in the academic world, he hits upon the idea of trying to create life from dead flesh. It's not just any life he aims to create, oh no, but the perfect man - as in, the perfect physical form. Tall and strong, and with a clever brain. As he concludes his work, and the monster slowly comes to life, the doctor becomes horrified by his handiwork. He panics and flees the creature, then promptly falls asleep - he was been working on the creature for 2 years, with little rest or food - and when he awakens, the beast is gone. He manages to fool himself that it was all just a nightmare, right up until the creature reappears...
It's easy to say that Frankenstein is meant to be a warning to science - particularly in light of the arguments over GM crops, and the tabloids' repeated use of the word "frankenstein" to describe science gone wrong - but I think there's a little more to it than that. About halfway through the book, we learn the story of the monster's early days, and the events that helped turn him into the twisted evil he becomes. Before he can even think properly, he is rejected outright by his own creator, and when he finally finds some people he believes may be willing to accept him in spite of his hideous physical appearance - which he himself was scared of when he first beheld his own reflection - he is once again rejected purely on his appearance, without being given a chance to say anything - he has by this point learnt a little human speech. These people who judge the monster by his appearance alone, have a hand in forming the evil that grows within him from this time onwards. "Don't judge a book by its cover" being the most fitting phrase here.

2005-01-17T18:27:00.000Z

DVD - Led Zeppelin
I got this 2003 double DVD for christmas this year, one of my few presents - I'm saving to go on a Trekforce expedition in July so money was the main thing - from a long list of books and DVDs i gave to my parents. It was stuff I really do want, and I made the list as long as possible so that whatever I did get would be a surprise.
I'm very glad they chose this for one of the presents. I've recently been listening to more '70s rock - having heard alot of Beatles and Stones through CDs of my dad and a mate, and heard lots of single tracks from many artists during the many Thrusday nights spent at the local Cookie Club (a small club that on thursdays plays almost entirely softrock from the '60s and '70s), my apetite had been well and truly whet(ted?). Reading reviews for Zeppelin DVDs on a couple of sites, this one seemed far and away the best choice.
So it was, a couple of days after 25th December 2004, I fired up the DVD player at home, and dad reminded me the sound could be put through the stereo's amp and speakers - greatly increasing the quality and volume of the sound, really needed to do this justice - and I actually began with DVD 2, because the 1st DVD is one long performance (of 102 minutes) whilst the 2nd DVD has footage from 3 performances (well, 4 but the first one is just one song) of about 23 and a half minutes, 49 minutes and 50 minutes. So, knowing that I wasn't going to be able to sit through 102 minutes in one go at that time, I opted to go for DVD 2 first. It is, however, best viewed in order (if you can). Oh, and both DVDs have extras.
Anyway, the important stuff - the performances. Well. Watching these almost made me wish I'd been 30 years earlier so I could have gone and seen them live (or at least tried). OK, so three of the four are still alive, and there's an apparently rather good cover band called Fred Zeppelin (who even got a mention in Kerrang! last year as a "band to watch" for 2005. Not that that in itself is a recommendation for many people), but it's not quite the same. One thing that comes across real well in the concert footage (in fact, it hit me when I'd been watching for just a few minutes) is just how much the whole four were enjoying themselves when they played/sang. There is posing and showboating, but it's not the focus and it doesn't seem out of place or faked. They love the music they're making, and the fact that so many other people too is just a big bonus. There aren't too many repeats amongst the tracklist, and it's a great balance of old favourites you've likely heard at least snatches of, to some you probably haven't heard unless you are a fan. There's a version of Moby Dick (so you get to see one of Bonham's lengthy solos, though it's not the longest version he ever did) in which you really see the level of Bonham's talent - making use of all the bits of his (highly personalised btw) drum kit, even playing with just his hands for a stretch. There's Stairway To Heaven, so you get to see Jimmy Page solo with a dual-necked (6 and 12 string) guitar. Not forgetting Robert Plant's soulful and energetic vocals throughout, and of course John Paul Jones' strumming bass (and, when needed, keyboard). And these guys, they barely even paused between tracks, instead preferring to laucnh straight from one to the next. A real test of endurance, for sure. This is rock music, pure and simple, and they were very much a rock band. They weren't a one-trick pony - a number of their tracks have a distinctly folk-rock feel - and they really enjoyed what they did. And almost all of their songs are about love, in one form or another. Ok, that's pushing it a bit - but almost all of them really were about women. Heh.
The extras are comprised of a number of televised interviews, several promos and a couple of their (rare) TV appearances. They provide a brief glimpse at how the band worked together, and confirm the impression of them enjoying their performances the live footage gives.
Everybody needs a light, it's just a shame this one had to turn off (Zeppelin split in 1980 after the death of their drummer, John Henry Bonham)
On this double DVD is some of the best live footage around today. It demonstrates perfectly what rock is meant to be - fun.

2005-01-15T18:53:00.000Z

Film: Collateral
Shock, horror! Tom Cruise can act - in this tale of a hitman and a taxi driver, Cruise makes amends for the rather-over-sentimentality-and-averageness of The Last Samurai. He plays a hitman, Vincent, just arrived in LA for another job. The job actually involves five targets, and pretty soon alot more work than he figured it would...
More or less the first thing he does when he arrives in LA is catch a cab to the first target. His cabbie, Max (played by Jamie Foxx) is good at what he does - much like Vincent - having been a cabbie for awhile now, even though (he says) "it's just temporary". When Vincent realises how good a cabbie Max is, he offers him a big job - ferrying him around to all his targets - although Max doesn't know just yet exactly what Vincent does. It isn't long before the stakes are raised, as the first target flies out of his 1st floor apartment window and straight onto the roof of Max's cab, parked round the back on Vincent's instructions. Cue a panicked Max beginning to realise just how dodgy Vincent is, and getting ready to run - but Vincent can't allow that, and so he forces Max at gunpoint to carry on with the job. Max is pretty determined not to stay in the company of the cold-blooded killer, and on several occasions does come close to escaping. He doesn't manage it until he pulls the particularly brave (if stupid) move of crashing the cab. Vincent is the first to emerge, and after a minute to get his bearings, quickly trots off into the darkness. When Max emerges, he discovers who Vincent's next target is and decides to go and stop him. Why? it's that good-looking, friendly woman he had as a fare just that morning, who (as chance would have it) gave him her work number. The chase ends with a rapid shootout between Max and Vincent on a moving MTA train.
The film likes to show how two people can be so different and yet so similar, and also treats us to the views Max and Vincent hold on life (particularly a five or ten minute long stretch where Max is arguing with Vincent over his shooting of a cop who was trying to help Max) and are shown that Vincent is as disconnected as the city-dwellers he speaks of with so much disdain, and some of Max's illusions are as flimsy as he doesn't like to admit he realises.
Although there's plenty of action in this, it's definitely more of a character film, albeit still with one or two cliches of the kind that wouldn't feel out of place in a standard '80s actioner.
Overall, well worth a watch. 4/5

Collateral on DVD at Amazon

2004-12-01T22:38:00.000Z

Monkey Dust - As good as Monty Python?Now a regular fixture in our house (we don't have digital so have to make do with the terrestrial airing of it), surreal animated comedy series Monkey Dust certainly is similar in style to the Monty Python stuff, is very funny, and whilst surreal it often manages to - at worst - warp reality only to an extent that is still *just about* believable. In fact, though I find it laugh-out-loud funny, the introductory sketch (well, the words from it) never fail to strike a chord. In case you're wondering, this opening sketch always features shadowy media-controlling nasty bastards/bitches, who know EXACTLY how dumb people are (as opposed to an individual person) and how to satisfy their entertainment needs.
Well worth a watch, and you can get more info on the series here.

2004-10-26T18:28:00.000Z

Film: John Carpenter's The Thing
This is one of those films that, once you've seen it, you should always be able to remember the first time you saw it.The first time I saw it, was a few years ago when it was on TV. I *think* this was back before adverts were so loved by Britain's "Big Four...er i mean Four And A Half (you can't count Channel 5 as a complete channel)". I may be wrong, but I seem to remember it was an uninterrupted horror fest, a rare thing these days (unless you buy the DVD). And it actually was quite scary, or as close as any film can get. The tension just builds until it all blows up, the final violent (and rather gory) 20 minutes or so being possibly the only aim of the rest of the film. You get a string of startling revelations all within a pretty short space of time, including the out-of-the-blue genius of the reluctant hero, Macready (mack-reedy as opposed to muck-reedy, if you see what I mean), a helicopter pilot who succeeds where a couple of doctors had failed.
The basic premise of the movie is a US research base in...er...Antarctica? somewhere snowy up north, anyway, by chance takes in a rather nasty alien. The problem is, the alien is an uber-chameleon-type virus-like thingybob, that is capable of hiding itself as any other species, and uses this to...wipe out any other species. You don't know this to begin with, but it doesn't take too long for the film to introduce this little nasty, and anyway the chances are, even if you've not seen it yet, you've heard a bit about it.
I should point out right now, this film has some very gory moments. It's not for the weak-stomached, and the first scene that shows the alien in its shape-shifting glory should be avoided by animal lovers, as two or three huskies get slaughtered.
One of the most memorable things about The Thing is the use of special effects. Or, more specifically, what must have been liberal usage of either melted rubber and/or melted plastic. I'd really like to see some of the masks and other bits they must have made for filming. The other really notable thing about this film, is how simple yet atmospheric the music is. When I say "music", bear in mind that it actually just re-uses bits, or the whole, of the same piece of music at all the points where tension needs building. BUT! It WORKS! I love that dum-dum rhythm. It's just so...menacing. Just like the research team's situation: when they first find out about the alien, all they know is it can mimic humans, it's amongst them, but it must have got less than half of them (or they'd all be dead). They haven't got a way of seeing who is really human or not (it even goes as far as mimicing it's food's internal organs, at least up until the point where it no longer needs the disguise).There are inconsistencies, as with (seemingly) all movies, but I don't feel like spoiling it by pointing out the obvious ones here (and I seriously doubt I spotted them all).This is one of those slightly strange films; I'd guess that many, many more people have heard of it than have actually seen it, which is a damn shame because it's proof that John Carpenter at least used to be able to do great things, even if he's slipped a bit more recently (Vampires, anyone? maybe not...)
5/5

John Carpenter's The Thing DVD at Amazon
John Carpenter's The Thing VHS at Amazon

2004-10-16T16:40:00.000Z

Book: The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Another book from the Modern Library list of 100 "best novels", The great Gatsby probably wouldn't be considered a novel if it were released today, weighing in at a job-friendly 188 pages. Strangely, you don't really notice the book's thinness until you reach the end.It is another of those books in which not a whole lot happens, there is very little action, the focus instead being on the interactions of the characters. If you don't know the ending in advance (which I didn't), it may take you a little by surprise; it certainly didn't go quite as I guessed it would.The basic outline of the story is, as far as I can tell, that of an age-old love story: man falls in love with woman, but things beyond their control force them apart, then years later man sets his mind to tracking down and marrying woman. Most of the book is about the build-up to the final stages of the man's plans, but as told from the perspective of an acquintance of his, rather than his own.Once again this is a book that shows you don't need lots of explosions and deaths and sex to keep the reader's interest, which from my limited experience of these classics so far appears to be a common trait of them. Perhaps what defines a modern classic novel is a story that keeps your interest even when it moves along at a pedestrian pace.As i mentioned earlier, the book is short, almost too short in fact, but I personally didn't mind as it was a nice, cheap secondhand buy. In fact I didn't pay at all, it was bought for me by a friend, but I would have bought it myself at such a lowly price as it was (less than a quid).Overall, an enjoyable novel, a little old fashioned in this day and age, and certainly not to everyone's taste, but worth a look. 4/5

The Great Gatsby (Penguin Popular Classics) at Amazon

The Great Gatsby (DVD, 1974) at Amazon

2004-09-01T17:23:00.000Z

Book: A Passage To India, by E. M. Forster
Back from a long summer break, during that time I finished reading the second of the "great novels" from a list which I am slowly working through...
More of a character novel than many modern novels, A Passage To India doesn't have quite the action or sex or even violence that features all too commonly in works of fiction these days, yet it is proof that such cheap thrills are not needed to keep the reader's interest, if the writer is good enough.Although centring mainly on an Indian doctor and an English teacher living in Chandrapore, at around the time it was written (1924), along with their friendship, a large number of less important characters appear, and more importantly are developed, throughout the course of the story. The political conditions in India presented in the story are based on what they actually were at the time, and although it is noted in the introduction (or possibly the after-story notes, i forget) that even when Forster wrote the book, the situation in India was changing - for the better - it is still surprising to think that change was only coming about just less than 60 years before I was born. Then I remember apartheid, and segregation, and all that other bad stuff...anyway, A Passage To india is something of a puzzle for me. I can understand, particularly after reading most of "Peter Burra's Introduction to the Everyman Edition" (included in my version of the book, but at the end), how certain happenings in the book would have been considered violent back when it was written, but these days, I doubt anyone would raise an eyebrow. And yet, for all the lack of action, and the fact that at many points it doesn't feel as if the story is actually "going anywhere" (instead it is just going), it managed to hold my interest without fail. I finished it, and I enjoyed it, I probably missed some of the subtler touches but I don't really care about that. I loved the descriptions of places and people and events. Often, I find that God really is in the details, and A Passage To india is proof of that. It's probably only two things that caused me to enjoy this book as much as I did; the level of detail, and the fact that there didn't seem to be a definite point to the story. When it reaches the end, you don't really feel like that's the end, but not in a bad and unfinished way. it's a little difficult to explain. the best way I can put it is, I am at that stage in my life where I've not got any long-term commitments, and there are many countries I would like to visit. I am only 21, so hopefully have at least a decade or so in which to go off exploring without worrying that I've left someone or something behind. I have no definite future plans. Somehow, something in this book "clicks" with all of that, all the way through. i could shrug and say, it's just because of the descriptions of India, India being one of the countries I'd like to see some day, but whilst I can't put into words exactly why it is so, I know that'd not be enough to explain it.if you want to read an in-depth analysis of A Passage To India, in fact it's of E.M. Forster and his works generally, you could start with Peter Burra's Introduction to the Everyman Edition, being a quite detailed look at Forster's writings (though not covering any particular one in great detail).

paperback (Everyman's Library Classics)

paperback (Penguin Modern Classics)

2004-07-15T22:54:00.000Z

In Case You Missed Them part 5: American Cheese by Nerf Herder
As a rule, I don't try to categorise bands by genres more specific than "rock" "pop" etc. (and even this can cause problems), but i believe Nerf Herder are classed as "new wave". Not as ska-y as the likes of Less Than Jake - there's distinctly less brass action to be found here - and musically having more in common with pop-punkers like Blink-182, to try and categorise Nerf Herder doesn't do them justice, as they are certainly better than the latter, and sometimes the former.All of the tunes on this album are unashamedly upbeat, even if the actual words are sometimes slightly depressing. The mood of general happiness is present throughout, and somewhat infectious. It helps that most of these tunes are catchy and easy to hum along to. The downside is the whole album only lasts just over 34 minutes. 34 minutes! that's about one and a half episodes of The Simpsons. I guess that's the price you pay when a band's average track time is below the three minute mark.The lyrics of the songs don't tend to take themselves too seriously, which is a welcome break from alot of the stuff out there that often tries a little too hard to be all "deep and meaningful".This isn't heavy or abstract stuff; if you like upbeat rock music, you'll love this, and laugh at the narrow-minded hordes who stick to death metal/punk/metal/whatever other subcategories and sub-subcategories they make up.
4/5

American Cheese (CD) at Amazon

2004-07-15T22:50:00.000Z

Book: Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
Wonderfully chaotic, and probably closer to the truth about war (even in this day and age) than it means to be, Catch-22 follows the exploits of a number of bomber crewmen stationed on the Mediterranean island of Pianosa during WWII. Of course, it's entirely fictional, but that's not to say there isn't a ring of truth to the proceedings; even knowing very little about the inner workings of the armed services.if you think Pulp Fiction was at all original in its use of a jump-around timeline following differenct characters with intertwining stories, Catch-22 should be an education for you - it does the same kind of thing, and was written decades before Pulp Fiction. Over the course of the book, you become familiar with a number of characters (and, this being set during a war, there are a fair number of dumbasses and dead men), but the main character is one Yossarian, who since the war began has become fixated on the idea of staying alive (there are many far less healthier fixations around), and much of the book is about (in one way or another) his attempts to do so, the main feature of which is his determination to stop having to fly combat missions and get sent home, or at the least go AWOL.There are some truly surreal moments in this book, and thankfully they aren't simply plonked down in the middle of a chapter, they sneak up on you so that before you know it, you realise you've just read several pages that sound something like a crazy dream, or maybe a vivd trip. An interesting theory concerning these moments of madness occurred to me right near the end of the book - i'm slow on this kind of thing because, at least the first time around, i try not to analyse a book - we find out near the beginning that Yossarian has been refusing to take his malaria tablets. Well, don't you get a fever when you get malaria? which suggests most of the story could in fact be Yossarian experiencing the deoths of fever. This idea occurred to me after the many reappearances of Nately's whore trying to kill Yossarian - it seemed to me that maybe Heller had written this bit so obviously crazy that it would remind you that Yossarian could simply be in a fever.Anyway, Catch-22 is a truly great book. I'd only class it as humour in a broad sense - there are funny moments, but overall it's too depressingly close to reality to be laugh-out-loud funny, and I get the feeling there's much subtlety I didn't understand or pick up on. Some people will probably find the time-jumping and focus-changing too much - it can be difficult to follow the threads at times, although I think Heller manages to restrain himself from twisting them too much.

Catch-22 (paperback) at Amazon.co.uk

2004-07-15T22:37:00.000Z

Film: The Undead
It's another zombie b-movie. But don't run away screaming yet! believe it or not, Undead actually has an original take on the standard zombie story. The problem is, I don't want to tell you the whole story, because it'll spoil the twist(s). What I can say is, the zombification originates with some asteroids. These asteroids appear one day out of the blue, smashing down to Earth in a smalltown community somewhere in Australia (yeah, for once it's not the US). These asteroids cause some...strange things to happen. Namely, people die and then become re-animated as creatures intent on killing any living humans nearby. Cue the tough guy, and more importantly, his triple-barrelled shotgun. Technically, it's three shotguns rigged up expertly so that they can all fire and be reloaded simultaneously. it's a rather nice piece of hardware, and certainly contributes to this film earning a place in calssic horror b-movie history. This rig succeeds in separating the entire top half of a zombie from its bottom half with one shot (well, technically three but hey), with a nice and satisfyingly loud blast and actually pretty good gore effects.This hero-type character turns out to be something of a gun nut, and a survivalist, which bodes well for the spunky heroine, two crappy police (an experienced but stupid policeman and rookie policewoman), and pregnant couple (by that i mean the woman is pregnant with her bloke's baby) who all manage to find their way to his somewhat isolated house. Before you groan "Night Of The Living Dead", after about 10/15 minutes' action in the house, it becomes apparent that this hasn't turned into a straight NOTLD clone. Because they realise they need food and other supplies if they want to hideout (being primarily a gun nut, the hero has a bunker in his basement but no food supplies stored there). So they get to his van, and head out. The first real surprise happens here; they come across some giant spiked wall. It's seemingly impassable. Yet again, if you're too rash you may at this point decide the film is rapidly going downhill but trust me, stick it out and your fears will (probably) be placated in the end.I'm not going to tell you the rest of what happens, as I believe that'll spoil it for you. All I will say is that at the end, you see the triple-shotgun's older brother. Yep, a quad-shotgun!Even if you don't usually go for this kind of lower budget, less mainstream film, as long as you can stomach a little gore (nowhere near the levels found in any of Romero's series by the way) you really should see this. 5/5.Also, I couldn't help thinking that I recognized the leading lady, unfortunately I have no idea what from. Actually, that's going to bug me now, think I'll go google it...

The Undead DVD at Amazon.co.uk

2004-06-22T14:43:00.000Z

Film: 28 Days Later
Night Of The Living Dead for the MTV generation? just about. Not quite as classic though. The story, in case you don't already know it, is that a group of eco-terrorists break into a medical research lab to release captive monkeys (i think they're monkeys). They unwittingly release one that's infected with a highly contagious, and deadly, virus. A virus that turns those infected into zombie-like people hungry for human flesh. Cue a bloke waking up in the middle of a deserted hospital ward slap-bang in Greater London. In fact, the whole place appears to be deserted. He wanders around aimlessly for a bit, finally getting chased by some infected. He gets rescued though, by a couple of other survivors. They helpfully fill in what happened whilst he was out cold. One of them dies pretty soon and then they meet up with two more survivors; a girl and her father. They decide to drive a black cab down to Macnhester, to an army barricade which is broadcasting a recording claiming the answer to infection is there. Of course, things aren't quite what they seem. It soon becomes apparent that all of the soldiers at the barricade are a hair's breadth away from insanity, and all they really want is the two females...
There's plenty of action, and a few tense moments, but on the whole it's a quite predictable film. Sure, the zombies are fast, but there's somehow never quite as big a feeling of being trapped, or hopelessness, as in the ...Dead series of films. Probably at least in part because the ifnected are still, when you get down to it, living things, and so such accuracy as with traditional undead zombies is not required in order to destroy them. There's also some glaringly obvious inconsistencies (here's two to start you off); firstly, the blood of the infected is meant to be highly contagious, what with being full of the virus. We see that mere contact with a pretty small amount is supposed to be enough to infect you, and yet the guy who turns hero near the end gets plenty of infected blood on him, but somehow is unaffected by it. Also, at one point, we see the army commander go up to his jeep to check on another army guy. The view changes to his view as he opens the jeep door, and we see the other army guy is dead. But! his head moves, noticeably, before the shot cuts to a different view.
One thing's for sure, the idea behind the story is hardly that original. Anyone who thinks so must be oblivious to the zombie movie genre, which holds a large number of titles. Titles that cover the causes of zombies from being radiation from venus (the original Night Of The Living dead) to various special chemicals (The Living dead At The Macnhester Morgue and the Return Of The Living Dead series) to a virus (Day Of The Dead hints strongly at this being the cause of those zombies)
If you want a zombie movie that has noticeable originality, give Undead a try. It does do something different, although you won't see this until it's near the end.
In the end, 28 Days Later is enjoyable, but hardly scary or even original. And there is better out there, I'm afraid. 3/5

28 Days Later DVD at Amazon

28 Days Later video at Amazon

2004-06-22T14:16:00.000Z

Film: Final Destination 2
Before I begin this review, I feel i should point out that I am a fan of the first Final Destination film. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and would give it probably 4/5.
Now, this sequel isn't quite "more of the same". For a start, we discover soon into it, that the surviving bloke from the first film actually ended up succumbing to Death, but the firl is alive and...not so well, hiding out in a mental institute, to which she voluntarily committed herself.
The film begins with a TV show, on which some nutjob (kinda like those stereotypical conspiracy theory nutjobs) is talknig about his book about the force of death, and how he believes it's actually a malignant force, thanks to what the (now dead) last guy standing from the first film said about it. So this nutjob is trying to convince people about death, and that it's possible to cheat death for awhile. Of course, people aren't listening, and are instead ridiculing him.
Along comes this girl who has one of the psychic visions of multi-death (cue many explosions as a result of a humungous freeway pileup). She gets the vision as she, driving a car with three of her friends in, is waiting to turn onto the freeway. She starts freaking out when she comes back to the real world, natch, and just as a policeman is asking what's the holdup, she sees the cause of the pileup in her vision, a large log-carrying truck, go trundling past. Cue the crash
As you'd expect, the people who would've died according to her vision are pretty shaken about how close they came to being obliterated. But they're skeptical about the whole "force of death thing", that is until they start dying (only, this time it's in reverse order rather than the same order as they would have done according to the vision). This is the "meat" of the movie - the imaginative, and this time rather more graphically gory, ways by which each of those ho should've died, dies. First we have an impalement, then a crushing (in which you actually see the beginnings of the person getting crushed), then a beheading, another impalement, a dismemberment, 2-in-1 explosion, and another explosion. It's not for the weak-stomached, and to be honest not a whole lot of actual story happens. Creepy-morgue-guy makes another appearance, but only very briefly, to give the peeps a clue as to how they can really cheat death (and no, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but then that's not really the point of this movie).
It's still a pretty enjoyable movie, but not as good as the first. it relies more on trying to shock you, I think, with the extreme death scenes, but it doesn't really work (I've seen the likes of Braindead and the Living Dead series and so on, so i'm not easily shocked when it comes to gore)
A 3/5 if you can stomach the gore and paper-thin story. 2/5 otherwise.

The DVD at Amazon

The video at Amazon

2004-06-15T17:38:00.000Z

WEBSITE - Simtropolis 3.0
It's about time I mentioned this place - the premiere fansite for all things Simcity 4/Rush Hour, home of the Modd Squad, a group of players dedicated to pulling apart the game's inner workings, and also home to a lot exchange and map exchange. It's free, too, although the site survives on donations (much as Blogcritics now has to).
Certainly, if you have Simcity 4, the least should you do is check it out. The bulk of the action takes place in the site's forums, although of course there are the downloads themselves, which are split into the two exhcanges and mod downloads.

2004-06-14T12:48:00.000Z

Book: Aliens: Music Of The Spears, by Yvonne Navarro (novel)
There are a great many Aliens novels (and comics) around these days, so if you are unfamiliar with the books it can be somewhat daunting when you try to find one that's really worth reading. Well, I can help you out there; Music Of The Spears is certainly one of the better Aliens novels. It takes the typical kind of conspiracy that can be found in almost 100% of Aliens novels, changes the setting to something more original than e.g. an offworld military installation, ups the amount of political intrigue that takes place between some of the characters, and for once does not involve an entire hive of the 8 foot acid-blooded nasties.
The story follows a number of characters - a slightly-talented musician tortured by his own mind, a couple of scientists assigned to help him with his latest project, a security officer from a medical research company, a very loyal ninja, and of course an alien, as they are swept up in the tit-for-tat plotting between two senior executives at a music company. Of course, in the end the whole battle is revealed to have been something of a one-sided affair, but it doesn't detract from your enjoyment of the whole story. There is death, and there is violence, although a whole lot less than in the average Aliens story, and there are points at which what is about to happen is just too easy to guess, but all in all it makes for a very good book. It also shows that you can tell an Aliens story that is consistently dark without having to resort to huge amounts of violence.
Even if you're not a huge fan of the Aliens franchise, you should give this a try (assuming you can find it, it appears to be out of print now)

There is, at the time of writing, one copy available from the Amazon marketplace

Also, the hardback version of the comic adaptation appears to be available (probably not for long though)

2004-06-13T13:01:00.000Z

Book: The Call Of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories, by H P Lovecraft (edited by S T Joshi)
If you are new to Lovecraft, this is an ideal collection of his stories to start you off with. Comprising 18 of Lovecraft's short stories (he wrote very few novel-length stories), a comprehensive introduction with suggestions for further reading, and 59 pages of explanatory notes (each story is covered individually, most of the notes are only a few lines) (the introduction and notes both having been written by well-known Lovecraft scholar S T Joshi), this is by far one of the best collections of Lovecraft stories out there, and there are alot out there.
Included are some of the better and more well-known stories: Dagon, Herbert West - Reanimator (which is also now a series of comedy horror films), The Hound, and The Shadow Over Innsmouth (this has been turned into a film, but the film was instead titled Dagon, which does share a common theme with this story)
alongside stories that usually get less mention but, on the whole, are still about as good. I must point out that both Reanimator and The Shadow Over Innsmouth are quite a bit longer than most Lovecraft stories, and Reanimator appears in a serialized format, because it was initially written as a series for a magazine, spread over several parts. And no, I haven't seen any of the films yet.
Well worth getting if you want to see what all the fuss is about, but if you already have a couple (or more) of Lovecraft books, the chances are you'll have over half of the included stories already - the stories are: Dagon, The Statement Of Randolph Carter, Facts Concerning The Late Arthur Jermyn And His Family, Celephais, Nyarlathotep, The Picture In The House, The Outsider, Herbert West- Reanimator, The hound, The Rats In The Walls, The Festival, He, Cool Air, The Call Of Cthulhu, The Colour Out Of Space, The Whisperer In The Darkness, The Shadow Over Innsmouth, The Haunter Of The Dark
The introduction and notes are also very interesting, if you wish to know a little more about Lovecraft himself.
Please note that I am reviewing the version published in 1999, no longer available from Amazon, but I doubt the 2002 version is drastically different.

The 2002 version at Amazon

2004-06-13T11:48:00.000Z

Book: The Dream-Quest Of Unknown Kadath, by H. P. Lovecraft
The bulk of this book consists of the "dream sequence" story Lovecraft wrote, that stars the intrepid Randolph Carter, in his quest to find an elusive dream-city of great beauty. Also included are three related stories - also concerned with dreams and dream worlds, although not really as good as the main story (which is actually split into three short stories; The Dream-Quest Of Unknown Kadath, The Silver Key and Through The Gates Of The Silver Key). Rather strangely, the flow of these threelinked stories is broekn after the first, with one of the sandalone short stories (Celephais) thrown in as the second story. It works better than it sounds though, providing a break so that when we return to Randolph Carter, who is now a good deal older (and more cynical), it actually feels more like it than if the second Randolph Carter story had come straight after the first. Of the stories themselves, the title story is by far the best, and also the longest by many pages. It follows Carter as he embarks on an epic journey through a fantastical dream-world, inhabited by all kinds of strange creatures (good, neutral and evil) and full of breathtaking landscapes and buildings. The ending of the last of the Carter stories is also, typically of Lovecraft's writing, somewhat mysterious and still leaving a number of loose ends.
The three standalone stories are worth a read, if only for the twist endings (not always guessable), however at 241 pages, the book does feel rather lightweight, even for only £4.99
If you don't like Lovecraft, or haven't read any/enough to decide, I would recommend you get one of the larger and more varied collections of his stories, but if you like Lovecraft and haven't got the stories in this book yet (The Dream-Quest Of Unknown Kadath, Celephais, The Silver Key, Through The Gates Of The Silver Key, The White Ship, The Strange High House In The Mist), it is a pretty much essential addition to any fan's collection.
Whilst i'm reviewing a Lovecraft book, i must just mention the website of The Necronomicon Files, here. Only updated when they actually have news (not very often i'm afraid), anyone interested in the lore Lovecraft created (in particular, the Necronomicon) should find it a good starting point for actual facts.

The Dream-Quest Of Unknown Kadath at Amazon

2004-06-01T12:27:00.000Z

TV Series - That 70s Show

Ashton Kutcher may be trying to land more "serious" movie roles, but this great TV series shows that he really can shine when playing "the stupid one".
The cast (you may well have heard of some of the others too, most of these guys have appeared in at least one film)
Don Stark plays Bob Pinciotti (pronounced "Pin-see-oddie")
Tanya Roberts - Midge Pinciotti
Mila Kunis - Jackie (aka "the annoying one")
Wilmer Valderrama - Fez (aka "the foreign kid")
Ashton Kutcher - Michael Kelso (aka "the dumbass")
Danny Masterson - Steven Hyde (aka "the stoner")
Topher Grace - Eric Forman (aka "foreplay")
Laura Prepon - Donna Pinciotti (aka "the lumberjack")
Debra Joe Rupp - Kitty Forman
Kurtwood Smith - Red Forman

In some ways, it's a typical comedy series about a group of friends and their families. But in other ways, it's not - it's consistently laugh-out-loud funny. There are several "musical" episodes per season (but get this, they actually work. It probably helps that at no point do they take themselves seriously, and the cast always seem to be having fun). It features almost-gratuitous scenes of potsmoking (this IS set in the 70s, remember =+)
There's the token grumpy father - Red Forman, but played so well by Kurtwood you can't help but wonder just how much of it is an act. Kitty is Eric's loving, emotional and slightly alcoholic mother, with a nervous laugh. Again, the part's played very well. Most of the family-related stuff centres on the Formans because the group of friends that make up the main characters (Fez, Kelso, Eric, Donna, Jackie, and Hyde) regularly hang out in Forman's basement. However throughout the seasons we have seen a little of Kelso's family and Fez's family, a little more of Jackie's family and Hyde's family, and quite alot of Donna's (all will be revealed if you watch it from season 1 up to the current episode). You've got the token on-off "will they/won't they" romance between Eric and Donna, except here it's done funnier than in, for example, Friends. Again like Friends, each of the main 6 have quite different personalities, but here it's somehow easier to relate to them. Probably because I'm not yet out of university, so I still have similar money worries and a penchant for partying. There's still more that makes this series great; the moments of wisdom are almost always random, unexpected and waaaay more fleeting than in lesser series. The potsmoking bits are handled very well. There's quite a few such moments, but you never actually see the stuff and, for the first season or so, it's rather more implicit than explicit (eventually the series gets bolder however, such as when the group paint a marijuana leaf on the water tower). There are some catchphrases that are truly catchy, which you may well pick up if you watch it too much (and don't already use them; I admit I am ignorant as to whether they are in common use in the US). An example is "burn". Fair enough, you may well use this already a little, but the usage in That 70s Show is often. I find when used in real life, it tends to lighten the mood.
I haven't mentioned Laurie, Eric's slutty sister, in the cast because the actress who plays her has changed. And the first actress was rather good at playing the part.
Oh yeah, perhaps even more amazing is that this show features a coloured actor in a main part (i know how there seems to be a disproportionate number of white actors/actresses in main parts in TV series even in this day and age). Actually, that's not really amazing - what IS amazing is that you never really feel he's there just for the show to try and be a little PC - he gets great lines, a number of songs, and the character is one of the funniest (and yes, he plays it very well).
It must be said that this show probably will appeal more to teenagers/young adults than e.g. middle-aged+ people, although if you were a teenager in the '70s you might still find alot here to laugh at. The show does have enough references to '70s culture, and naturally a great '70s soundtrack, that it would be difficult to simply transplant the entire thing into e.g. the current decade.
Rather stupidly, it appears that none of the series have been released on DVD, or even video, officially. The only related media is two soundtrack CDs. of course, you can download every episode, albeit mostly in not-very-high-quality format, but i'd rather be able to get DVDs with good quality video and extras. However I haven't got sky or cable at the moment so for now, I must make do with ~60meg an episode.
Also, it beats me why, in every single interview of Ashton Kutcher I've seen, he never seems to mention That 70s Show, because whilst he may be trying to leave behind the image he gained from playing "idiot" parts, his idiot in That 70s Show is truly genius.
Anyway, here's hoping they keep up the quality. So far things are lookin' good.
You can find the official site here.

2004-05-27T00:57:00.000Z

Film: Donnie Darko
Amazing. Genius. The best two words to sum up this film. If you haven't already seen it, here's what I recommend:
First, go watch it before you read anything else about it. If you've read much already, just try and forget it all. Just watch it like any other film.
Done that? good.
Now go to the official site and play the "game", at least up until you get the option to read The Philosophy Of Time Travel (you might have a problem loading the actual chapters, in which case try right-clicking on the Flash area and choosing "play"). Now, you should understand the film better. It's the perfect time to watch it again, but this time follow it more closely. Note how almost everything is interlinked, sometimes subtley, other times not-so.
Still don't get what's going on? well I must admit I'm not 100% sure of everything, but I get most of it. Here's the lowdown (major spoilers ahead, so be warned!):
Right up until the short bit at the end, the film takes place in a Tangent universe. A tangent universe is unstable, and lasts only for a matter of weeks before collapsing in on itself and forming a black hole in our universe (the primary universe). The tangent universe is formed "within" the primary universe, engulfing those within the immediate area. An artifact may occur, an artifact being made wholly of metal, which is transferred from the primary universe to the tangent, appearing mysteriously in the tangent to the belief of those people in the tangent. If an artifact occurs, a living receiver will be chosen to guide it back to the priamry universe before the tangent collapses. In the film, Donnie is the living receiver, and the airplane engine is the artifact. The version of Frank that appears to donnie in his dreams, in the mirror and at the cinema is a manipulated dead version of frank, who essentially ensures that Donnie returns the artifact to the primary universe.
What is seen at the end takes place in the primary universe, or what we'd call our reality. Donnie returns the artifact, but it lands in the same place, and this time it kills him.
there's more to it, but essentially that's what happens in the film.
What makes it so good is that this all happens around a believable story about various characters in a small American town, trying to make the most of their lives. It gets the mix of light and dark moods just right, and whilst there are elements of humour, it never tries to be true comedy. The multitudes of interlinks between almost everything in the film is another stroke of genius. You probably won't notice everything the first time you watch it, at least if you take my advice, but there is ALOT of it. The character of Donnie himself is one that is easy to be sympathetic with, and even relate to (at least in part), despite his disturbing visions and realisation of superpowers. The strangeness of the film is never over-emphasised, so it doesn't feel forced, and there aren't too many occasions where CG is relied upon (I actually think the end-of-the-tangent effects are pretty well-realised). All in all, Donnie Darko is a classic film, and should be seen by all. Don't be put off by the sound of it being sci-fi - whislt it IS about time travel, unlike e.g. Back To The Future, it does not make time trvale the be-all and end-all of the film, by any means. There is a saying that "God is in the details" and in this film, at least, this saying is correct.
The Tangent universe only lasts for a little over 28 days. Miss it at your peril.
Oh yeah, and the soundtrack's pretty damn good too. Lots of nice instrumental bits.

Donnie Darko DVD at Amazon

The Donnie Darko book

Donnie Darko soundtrack

And finally, Donnie Darko on video

2004-04-16T11:10:00.000Z

Book: Blade Runner Book 3: Replicant Night by K.W. Jeter
You've probably heard of the film Blade Runner, and possibly the book it's loosely based on, Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, but it's unlikely you'll have heard of the Blade Runner book series, a continuation of Philip K Dick's depressing future that currently spans three books (book 1 being the original by PKD). One K. W. Jeter is the writer upon whose shoulders the responsiblity rests, and in this, the second of his Blade Runner books (remember, book 1 was PKD's original), he's managed to pull it off quite well.
For those of us who have not read the first of the sequels (subtitled The Edge Of Human), a little plot update is necessary: the sequel books use the film's version of PKD's world, and in The Edge Of Human, the Tyrell HQ is blown up and Deckard escapes to Mars.
This book follows Deckard still, as he tries to make a little cash from a film company who want to use his story. It also turns out that living offworld isn't all it's cracked up to be, and Deckard and his love/hate partner Sarah have not only Tyrell Corporation zealots to contend with, but also replicant sympathisers and more replicants, all after their blood. And then there's the little girl...the girl who bears an uncanny resemblance to a certain (now dead) replicant whom Deckard was very fond of.
Whilst it doesn't quite have the same scope of imagination as PKD's original, Replicant Night does manage to capture the feel of both the original book, and that of the film. Not quite as original as "Do Androids...", Replicant Night instead takes the established dark future vision of PKD and plants within it a tale of conspiracy and back-stabbing. And the ending it leads to is not exactly happy, just...and ending. Of sorts (after all, there's at least one more book in the series).
All in all, well worth a look for sci-fi fans, especially if you like Blade Runner. A 4/5

Blade Runner III: Replicant Night at Amazon
NOTE: available through amazon, but not directly from them.

2004-03-15T17:07:00.000Z

Film: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb
Holy cow! I never thought I'd be able to watch a black and white film; I can never concentrate on them, I'm not sure why. But I sat through this, because I had a feeling it was something special (not to mention so many other people have said so). This must surely rate as one of the best "war" films out there, although it's barely a war film in the traditional sense. However it does carry an underlying of the futility/stupidity of war (and, in fact, politics), in particular nuclear war. Despite being the titular Doctor, Dr. Strangelove is not really the main character. In fact, there is no main character. Instead, the film follows several groups of people - we have officials in the pentagon, the staff at a US army base (actually it might be an airbase), and the crew of a US bomber. It takes awhile for the plot to come together - you may well wonder where it's going for at least the first half. But it's not distracting - the point is you can see it going in quite a few directions, but I doubt you'll see the right one unless you already know the plot. I won't spoil it, it is meant to be a bit of a surprise. The ending also has to rate as one of the strangest film endings i've encountered, without resorting to outright bizarreness. Last but not least, there're a number of classic scenes and quotes laced throughout the film, which have since been ripped off/lampooned/revered for their greatness. Such as the pilot riding the A-bomb to it's target.
A top-class film, everyone should see this. It proves you can tell a good story well, with humour, without the need for heaps of action or sex scenes or grossout comedy. If ever a film were worthy of getting 5/5, it's this'n.

Dr Strangelove on DVD

Dr Strangelove on video

2004-03-15T16:51:00.000Z

Film: 8 Mile
I just got around to seeing this the other day. I was surprised to find it was a pretty good film, albeit more to the average bloke's tatse than the average bird's. Perhaps more surprising to find was that Eminem does a pretty good job. It helps that he's basically playing himself, but he portrays it well, the transition from reluctant, possibly slightly scared-looking rapper who's nerves let him down, to in-ya-face rapper with attitude and lyrics skills.
I must amit here that i'm not a huge fan of Eminem, and far less so rap in general, but I still think that Eminem has real musical talent. He may have problems too, but so does everyone else.
Anyway, even if you haven't seen this film, you've almost certainly heard about the rap battles. Oh yeah, the film really outdoes itself on those scenes. The finale is also what it should be - it slowly builds, then you think it can't get better. And just when you think it's finished (too soon), it isn't, it gets better. The interaction between Eminem and his friends (and enemies) is good, I can't say realistic, having never been in the same kind of environment, but it's believable at least.
I give it 3/5, cos i'm feeling mean today - and because the end of the film sort of leaves you thinking there should be a bit more to the story.

8 Mile on DVD

8 Mile on video

2004-03-08T00:57:00.000Z

Film: Gladiator
So, an epic that's not actually epic. An epic for the masses. And a pretty good job it did too, at least I thought it did until the LOTR trilogy came along, but that's another story.
At first glance, there isn't alot to the plot of Gladiator - some popular guy is doing a little too well, then evil slightly strange guy comes along, kills good guy's family and threatens to destroy an entire civilization. Good guy manages to fight his way back, back to the top, and finally kill bad guy, before dying too. A nice revenge story with heaps of bloody death, a number of one-liners and lots of shouting and grimacing thrown in for good measure. But herein lies the problem with alot of moviegoers (me too, I can admit, although I try to combat it when I can) - they watch a movie with too many preconceptions and expectations, and so the movie they see gets a little warped (and sometimes alot). By simplifying Gladiator's plot too much you miss out the machinations of Commodus' sister Lucilla (with one of the senators), the tortured soul of Commodus (it was bad parenting, see? or was it...), the camp pomp of the slave owner (Oliver Reed's character), and the slaves themselves, to name a few. So, if you haven't seen it yet, you really should, and make sure you actually watch the film you are seeing, rather than the film you think you are seeing.

Gladiator 2 Disc DVD set

Gladiator video

2004-03-01T15:24:00.000Z

Film: Fat Pizza (They're big, and they're cheesy)
Ahahahahahahahah!
Definitive proof that Aussies are more than capable of doing damn fine comedy. I've seen the film, and afterwards discovered that it's also a Tv series over there. They really should think about "exporting" it, because whilst many of the jokes (and the stereotypes that are poked fun at) are specific to Australia, they are recognisable and indeed still funny and relevant elsewhere. I'm English, have lived in England all my life, but i can identify with almost all of the stereotypes that pop up in this film (and the jokes linked with them). Undoubtedly, Fat Pizza (they're big, and they're cheesey) won't appeal to everyone - there's an abundance of jokes about drugs, toilet humour and sex-crazed blokes in their early twenties. But to someone like me, a (not quite sex-crazed) 20-year-old bloke, and typical in a number of ways, this film is genius. It manages to rise above the likes of American pie (except possibly the first of those films) by having more relevant gags mixed in with some pythonesque random strangeness. The topics that are made fun of are, in my opinion, more general than the more relevant-to-the-US-only jokes of the likes of American Pie (no badness on the Pie series for that, after all it was made in the US. My point is just that the Aussies in Fat Pizza have made a wider-appealing comedy)
The storyline is a good mixture of inspired-by-the-real-world and complete nonsense. We have the guys working for Fat Pizza, one of whom was mistaken for an illegal immigrant before, but managed to escape the detention camp by getting everyone to riot, then fooled the escapees to split into two directions, while he went a third. Fat Pizza itself is ran by a disgusting, violent bloke, who is so sex-starved that he's ordered a mail order bride, but he's so stingy that she's arriving on a tiny boat full of illegal immigrants (oh yeah, and he lives with his mother because he IS Italian). One of the pizza delivery bloke's mates shags lots of women, whilst he hides and tapes the whole thing, and the videos are put on the 'net. Then there's the random fights with midgets and Ronald McDonald wannabees, the trip to the grunge pub (and then casualty for one unlucky bloke), the comeuppance of the bloke who makes friends with fat chicks in order to shag their fit friends, and lots more laugh-worthy stuff.
And you know the worst thing? i only heard of this by chance, because my housemate saw it. It's a real crime it seems to have gone more or less unknown outside Australia

2004-03-01T15:16:00.000Z

Book: The Last Hero (A Discworld Fable) by Terry Pratchett (illustrated by Paul Kidby)
Yes, another Discworld book. But this one's slightly different from the usual novels. It has about half as many pages as the shortest of the Discworld novels, and it has pictures. I hesitate to lump it in with the smaller series of Discworld Big Comics though, as that's just not the style of this book. It's subtitled "A Discworld Fable" and that probably sums up the book's style best - remember those books you used to read as a kid, which had numerous cool pictures in between chunks of text? I had a little book of fairytales like that. Well anyway, that's the style of the book, but don't be fooled into thinking it's a childish style.
Anyway, now for the contents of the book: the story is a typical "Pratchett's twist" (Prist? Pwist?) on a traditional, well-known story. I say well-known, I actually mean that nearly everyone will have heard of the original, some of you may know a bit about it, and a few of you might actually know the story from start to finish. The story begins, more or less, with Cohen and his horde heading to the home of the Disc's many Gods. You may know that Cohen had, not too lnog ago, become emperor of the Agatean Empire. Well, he and his fellow barbarians soon tired of their immense wealth and power, and finally came up with something to do - they're going to take fire back to the Gods. the story follows not only our barbarian heroes, but also a group of Ankh-Morpork's finest, who are intent on stopping the barbarian horde achieving their aim. Why? because it would be the end of the of the Disc if they achieve it. The pictures are very nice, those that are coloured have been done so very well, and there are some double-page pictures too. The story has the usual humour and the ending is a little unexpected. All in all a worthy addition to the Discworld series, and you should take a look even if you're not a fan.

The Last Hero (hardback) at Amazon

The Last Hero (paperback) at Amazon

2004-02-29T15:41:00.000Z

Book: Absurdities by Heath Robinson
For those of you who haven't heard of William Heath Robinson, more commonly known as Heath Robinson, he was an English artist who lived from 1872 - 1944. He is mainly known for his cartoons, which frequently involve very complex inventions that are being used to carry out relatively simple jobs. So well did he capture the British public's imagination with these cartoons, that his name started being used as part of a common phrase ("Heath-Robinson contraption"), although this phrase is not used so much now.
The book, Absurdities, is one of a number that between them collect together Heath Robinson's cartoon work, although it must be noted here that he undertook other work as well, such as illustrating books and advertising artwork, which he actually preferred to cartooning. Topics covered by the cartoons in this book include modesty, several of the "Flat Life" series, various sports, how they put the lines on kilts and a painful-looking way to remove warts from the top of the head. The level of detail that is evident in almost every drawing cannot be emphasised enough; the clsoer you look, the more you see. Robinson also had a knack for capturing people in a cartoony way without going as far as flat-out caricatures. I suppose i'd call them "half-caricatures" but there's probably a proper name for them. Not to mention the numerous bits of patched-up machinery that make up his contraptions - wheels with broken spokes held together by a wooden board across them, ropes and belts tied together in several places, and metal plates welded and bolted together in place of one larger plate.
All in all, an engrossing book. I'm glad my parents kept it, although it's showing its age a bit now. If you can get a copy cheap somewhere, do so, and discover a truly talented British artist.

2004-02-29T15:38:00.000Z

Online Flash Game: Samorost
If you haven't yet heard of this enchanting little Flash-coded game, where have you been? Samorost is a simple, 7-screen (excluding linking, intro and outtro animations) adventure game. Produced by the guy (guys? gals? sorry, i can't read czech) at Amanita Design, an evidently quite well-known company (in their home country anyway), Samorost has become something of a hit online, gaining mention in a number of popular forums (i found it at the PC Gamer Forum but that's by no means even the first place it was posted at). Taking it's cue from general adventure games, such as Myst (don't groan yet), yet being a much shorter game and featuring a rather more whimsical yet engrossing game world, during the game you have to solve a number of puzzles, by finding the right things to click on at the right time. it works better than such big commercial games as Myst for a numebr of reasons, apart from those mentioned - it is forgiving (you can't die), and it has replayability (to see what you missed first time around). The order in which you carry out actions (this is Flash, so "actions" are limited to you clicking on certain areas of the screen) is mostly unimportant. The world in whcih Samorost is set is populated by little people and creatures living amongst trees and grass and moss and undergrowth. Your character lives in one rock, and happens to spot with a telescope that another rock is heading straight for his (or her) home. Oh no! the aim of the game is to change the course of the incoming rock so that it misses your home and leaves you safe for another day, and the game doesn't start proper until your rocket lands on the incoming rock. The landscapes have been crafted from real photos of trees and woodland stuff, nicely made into large landscapes for the little people. The people and creatures themselves are decptively simple in appearance, but if you look closely you'll see that the animations are very detailed. The creatures and people do actually seem almost alive - if they were more detailed in appearance you could be watching a film.
All in all, Samorost is a great way to waste a half hour or so. I can only hope Amanita Design see it in their hearts to make another, bigger, longer game in this style. I haven't seen any other online games like it.

Samorost can be found here:
Intro.html
(NOTE: you need a Flash-enabled browser)
Also don't forget to check out the main site. I had a look at the Flash Portfolio for Blanka Sperkova and there's some amazing stuff there.

2004-02-22T19:26:00.000Z

Book: The Dirk Gently Omnibus by Douglas Adams
Two books in one (Dirk gently's Hollistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul), this is a not-so-sci-fi-but-at-least-as-strange offering from the much-loved and much-missed Douglas Adams (of Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy fame, for those of you in the dark). Even more so than in the "Hitchhiker's..." books, the focus of both of these is on more than one main character. There's the wholly eccentric Dirk Gently, who only discovered his skills by accident when he was at university (and subsequently had to pull a disappearing act), an electric monk, a very old university professor, Thor (he of mythology), a greedy lawyer and his wife, and an eagle with nasty claws, amongst others.
In the first book, Dirk gently's Hollistic Detective Agency, Dirk pops up when an old friend of his starts acting strangely. There's also the little matter of the strange sofa (it was small enough to get into the stairwell, but then too big to get out), an unsolved murder, a ghost, an electric monk that's on the loose, and not forgetting what a certain professor's been up to in his spare time (travelling). Adams manages to weave a number of suitable strange and initially apparently unconnected events into a pretty good story. The humour, well, I personally enjoy it and find it funny, but i can see how it is more of an acquired taste than that of the "Hitchhiker's..." books - it relies more on weirdness (if that's possible). Some people may get frustrated that most of the threads don't really come together until about two thirds/three quarters of the way through the story (a pattern followed to a lesser degree by the second book in this omnibus) - and i seriously doubt you'll be able to solve the mystery unless you already have an idea of what it is before you start reading.
In the second book, The Long Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul, there is more of an unfractured plotline running through it. Dirk, Thor and the nice woman who takes him in are followed more than the characters in the first book. The story is possibly a little stranger than in the first book, although this shouldn't put you off. The one thing i didn't like about this vook was the ending. It's probably too clever for me (or i'm being too stupid =+) but, well, it seemed a bit of an anticlimax. In fact, for me, it WAS an anticlimax. I did not expect Adams to do the copout thing of not actually telling the reader how a major problem, which was the focus that the plot was based around, was solved, but that is what happens. Maybe that's the point and it's supposed to be part of the funniness, or maybe there's some little detail from near the beginning that you're supposed to have memorised, but for me it spoiled an otherwise cracking good book.
Overall, i'd give this collection a 4/5, unless you've never read any douglas adams before. If that's the case, it's more like 3/5 unless/until you decide you like his style of writing. Both books have a less wide-ranging appeal than Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

Dirk Gently Omnibus

HGTTG

2004-01-29T01:40:00.000Z

Book: The Dark Elf Trilogy by R.A. Salvatore
I found this at a local bookstore that specialises in selling ex-library and slightly damaged (and so unfit for high street stores) books. I usually shy away from books that belong to a much larger franchise, but i recognised the name of the central character (Drizzt Do'Urden) and so, being that it was also so cheap (about £2) i decided to risk it.
I wasn't disappointed. There's not as much of a "geeky" feeling about this as there is Lord Of The Rings (of which i'm a fan), i think because much of the terminology used is more well-known; i.e. there's not all the extra history and languages that Tolkien invented for his stories (although that was impressive). It's still geeky to some degree (like the majority of fantasy stories) but it's so immersive you shouldn't care. This whole different world Salvatore introduces us to, is in many ways similar to the world above-ground, whilst much of the details are alien. The dark elves, which of course gain the most attention (at least until the third part of the book), are actually almost identical to humans, despite (or partly because of) their general air of arrogance and superiority over other races. They plot and backstab and ally and fight and assassinate and murder and imprison and torture with little bias (except towards any rival dark elves), to an extent that the existence of their world is as much a puzzle as that of our own.

Drizzt Do'Urden fights and claws his way through life in this perpetually-civil-warring society, and finally decides it's not for him, so he leaves to travel the Underdark. I won't spoil the surprises, such as there are, and i do recommend that any self-respecting fan of even half-decent fanasy books should read this. It's long, but it's worth it.

Boxed set at Amazon (hardback appears to be out of print now)

2004-01-29T01:37:00.000Z

Film: Paycheck starring Ben Affleck and Uma Thurman (amongst others)
So. Ben Affleck. Action movie. Two phrases you wouldn't exactly expect to go well together, and to a degree, you'd be right. No doubt you've already at least heard rumours of how bad this film is, although if so it begs the question: why are you even reading this review?

Well, first I'll get straight to the point - I don't think this is a BAD movie. Love, Actually is a bad movie, only saved by the fact that it featured a large number of stars I recognised from great comedy series and films in prominent roles. Paycheck isn't particularly bad, it has the action you'd expect, a semi-believable plot (i'll explain this in a minute), a love story, and a (albeit uncomplicated) puzzle. Now, if you've seen the trailer, you'll know the plot centres around a specialist software/electronic engineer who, in the near future, makes a living from shady jobs by reverse-engineering competitors' products for whichever companies hire him. After each job, his memory is erased to safeguard that job. Without going into detail, he gets hired for a particularly large job, but he is offered a "minimum of 8 figures". He enters the inner sanctum of the hiring company, and is injected, as part of a new method of memory wiping. There is a little bit extra after this, but then the film skips forward to the end of the job. His memory of all the time spent on the job has just been erased. He goes to get his personal things (handed in before the job began) and sell some of his stock for cold, hard cash - and gets his first shock. He forfeit the stock, the problem is, it would've been worth just over $92,000,000 and he can't remember forfeiting it, or why he did it. Cue the first half of the film proper; he gets arrested by the FBI, manages to escape by a couple of lucky coincidences, then ends up back at the place he had his personal belongings given to (a law firm i think). By now, he's already used up 4 of the 20 personal items, and the rest are still just as puzzling.
One of the problems with this film, is that the trailers give away what could have been, if it had been kept under wraps, a good surprise part of the plot, whereas instead, I already knew what it was (the big project he was hired to work on produced a machine that can let you see into the future)
the other most noticeable problem is the amount of credibility-stretching that goes on. Action films, by their nature and by tradition feature credibility-stretching to some degree, although it varies greatly (some of the James Bond films are more believable than, for example, Matrix:Revolutions). But Paycheck has such blatantness about it at too many points in the film - it spoils the fun. It's like the film's makers are trying to test your strength "we dare you to laugh and shout out loud at the screen in the cinema. SHow everyone what a fool you are!"
Cue example 1:
during the token car chase, one of the baddies' cars slams into metal pipe that is too small for it to fit through, and promptly explodes as if a block of c4 had just detonated inside it. it's not carrying any c4, or a load of dynamite, and more stupidly on the part of the film, a minute later, another of the baddies' cars crashes and DOESN'T EVEN BURST INTO FLAME. Talk about crappy movie logic.
Cue example 2:
during the spectacular fireworks-laden finale, our hero and his woman are just the other side of a grid of glass windows. There's a big explosion the other side of the glass, throwing a bad guy through the windows (he's dead) and yet, our heroic pair survive not only the shock and deafening sound of the explosion, and the heat, they also survive a deadly shower of glass and metal shards flying at God-knows-what-speeds
But more importantly, is that there's more. Quite alot more.
Also, why is it that all industrial labs in films feature a thick layer of white smoke floating at ground level? I bet health and safety would never allow such a thing in real life

2004-01-18T16:36:00.000Z

Book: Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett
The 28th Discworld story focuses mainly on the trials of a group of new recruits to the Borogravian army. Borogravia is a small, dismal country in the mountains of the Disc, apparently more or less perpetually at war with numerous neighbouring countries (this time it's Zlobenia). The recruits have to get to the thick of the war, without getting killed along the way, but they also must survive encounters with enemy spies, the Zlobenian prince, lack of coffee, and not forgetting The Word's own intrepid reporter, Mr de Worde. However, these recruits are not your bog-standard army recruits, including amongst their number a troll, a vampire and an Igor (the Disc's most skilled surgeons). Then, in the greatest tradition of cinema, they decide instead to try and invade the most strategic fort , currently held by the enemy, by sneaking in disguised as washerwomen. As you would expect from a Discworld book, things don't quite turn out how you expect them to, but whilst this isn't a bad book, it's not one of Pratchett's best - a couple of twists are too overused (previous stories have been so good because they don't keep repeating the same twist in the same story). I also couldn't help feeling at the end, that something more could have been made of the overall story.
This is more a book for Discworld fans and completists, rather than the first-timer or "casual" Discworld reader.

Monstrous Regiment (book)

Monstrous Regiment (audiobook)

2004-01-17T16:27:00.000Z

Book: Secrets & Lies - Digital Security In A Networked World by Bruce Schneier
I've actually had to read this book for module on my university course (had the exam last week, think it went pretty well), and it's a shame that many people will likely avoid it for fear of it requiring in-depth technial knowledge of the internet, other networks and computers in general. Whilst a little knowledge of such things is needed, is only along the lines of what they are and what they are used for. The book has been written as a start-to-finish book, i.e. it's not meant for reading the different chapters at leisure - there is definite follow-on. It never reaches too steep a learning curve, but more impressive is the fact that it manages to cover as wide a range of sub-topics that "digital security" covers, as it does, whilst never feeling like it's skimped on any of those sub-topics. It helps that it's not meant to look at any particular sub-topic too closely - you find full details on how to build a firewall, for instance, or how to design a cryptographic algorithm. But it also provides a little background on topics of especial interest, such as the US and UK governments' usage of digital security (in particular cryptography and their citizens' right to privacy versus the need for evidence gathering). Most interesting of all, are the main important points that network administrators and users should really take note of (this includes people who use the internet). Most of them, I must admit, I kind of knew already (however reading them from one of the foremost security experts around helps keep them in my mind), but I still don't follow all of them as I should. I do follow them better than the average internet user, though, otherwise e-mail worms and trojans and those stupid hoax e-mails would not continue being so successful.
In short, if you use the internet regularly, or some kind of computer network at work, this really is a must read.

Hardback

Paperback

2004-01-08T23:06:00.000Z

Book: A Tolkien Bestiary by David Day, and various artists
If you get one "companion" publication to The Lord Of The Rings (or even The Hobbit), make this it. It is a source of great puzzlement to me as to why this has not been re-released in the wake of the films. Given the top quality of this book, it could only help the popularity of LOTR, and of Tolkien's work in general. The most recent version was published in 2002, but don't let that recentness fool you - a good few months ago, when I remembered having read a much older version (well, I looked at the pictures), I decided to try and seek out a copy. Amazon was my first port of call, but I waited for the 2002 version to be shipped...and waited, and waited. In the end, my order was cancelled by amazon, and so instead I turned to their zshops. I found (what i thought was) the 2002 version at a pretty cheap price (about £10/$15 including p+p) and apparently in good condition, and so I ordered. It arrived in as new condition and carefully padded against the rough postal service. Having just searched on amazon, it turns out it's actually the 1996 version - in total there have been nine versions published, according to amazon anyway (there could be more in fact).
SO why is this such a good book? quite simply, it consists of a good deal of short stories on the history of Middle Earth (going back alot further than the creation of The Ring), along with the shorter descriptions of places and peoples. There's also a large number of beautiful illustrations, a few of which are in colour and all of which are detailed (and having been contributed by a total of 11 artists). The history, although it does go into some detail, is like a potted version of all of Tolkien's Middle Earth stories bundled together, plus a bit more. The whole thing was inspired by the Bestiaries of old which, according to the preface, were "...after the Bible, the most widely read and disseminated written works in the West", and whether that is true or not, there' no denying this book is a work of art. Even those who are not fans of Tolkien's work will appreciate the artwork.
A word of advice if you decide to go get yourself a copy: if, as it appears, you can only get secondhand copies now, you really shouldn't pay more than about £10UK/$15US plus postage. It's not actually rare yet and there are many copies for sale out there, although it may take a little bit of searching to find a good condition one.

(The book appears to no longer be in print. I advise looking at amazon or ebay)

2004-01-07T01:41:00.000Z

Book: The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett
Strangely, this little novel doesn't appear to be counted amongst the Discworld series, despite the fact that it IS set in the Discworld...world. I have seen reviewers say this book is too simplistic, a side effect of apparently having been written with younger audiences in mind. I dispute this, however, as the truth is this story isn't much more simple than the simplest of the older Discworld books. Pratchett also manages to maintain a good level of suspense for much of the book, the fine details of the plot not coming through until right near the end of the book. And the story? here goes:
The eponymous Maurice is, in fact, a cat. But not your ordinary household domesticated cat, oh no. Y'see, on the Discworld, there are areas of high magic where anything that enters the areas gets affected by the magic. And so, Maurice can talk like a human. He also travels with a bunch of rats who, you guessed it, can talk like humans. Both cat and rats seem to have developed extra intelligence, too, and they travel the countryside from one village to another, playing out a Pied Piper-esque story they've come up with, in order to scam said villages out of a good amount of gold. Their latest target village, though, may turn out to be harder to scam than they expect
I can see why some reviewers have said it's not on a par with the rest of the Discworld novels. This only really takes one story as it's base, whereas the average Discworld novel takes three and tqists them nearly beyond recognition. But it does have its dark moments, there's no lack of humour (as you'd expect from a Pratchett book) and it's actually a damn good read. My only gripe is that, for the price, it's a little on the thin side. In fact it's about half the size of a good deal of other books (including some discworld ones) that can be bought for the same price, but I should think this is more to do with the publisher than Pratchett.
Anyway, it's a good story, set in the Discworld, but completely standalone, and so if this is the only Pratchett book you get, there won't be any bits, however small, you don't understand because they reference other books (which could be a problem with some of the other Discworld books). I don't usually give an actual rating in my reviews, as i feel it doesn't really help - if someone can't decide from the text of my review whether something is worth their while then a numerical value being put on it won't do much to persuade them either way. Here, however, I'm having difficulty explaining this book; i'd say if you're a fan of the Discworld then it's worth a 4/5, if not then 3/5.

Softback

Hardback (with illustrations)

2004-01-07T01:15:00.000Z

In Case You Mssed Them Part IV - Linkin Park: Hybrid Theory
After a break for christmas, i've finally gotten around to my next review of an older music album.
Whatever you may think of Linkin Park, there's no denying that a number of tracks from their first album are catchy, indeed they became rock anthems for a while. But what of the rest of the album? the tracks that didn't get loads of airtime, in fact may not even have been played on radio?
Well, to be honest, it's too samey. The tracks that got alot of airtime are, as is so often the case these days, the best ones, and in this case the rest are not different enough or even just good enough to make the album worthy of purchase. They have the same mix of rap and rock (i say "rap" but that's probably technically wrong, however i don't know a better word for it) throughout, they are easily forgettable, and they aren't quite so catchy as those that became hits. It's a shame, because they could have done so much more with this album. I hope their recent album is an improvement.

Hybrid Theory

Hybrid Theory [Import]

2004-01-05T19:20:00.000Z

TV Series: The Office, Season 1
Full of wonderfully uncomfortable moments, this is the first series of the glorious mockumentary about life in the office of a paper merchants in Slough. As an aside here, I'd like to point out to anyone unfamiliar with England that Slough has a...reputation for being, well, a pretty dismal place. No offence to anyone who lives there, and I myself will not judge as I have never been, but this is it's reputation.
Ricky Gervais does the unenviable job of playing David Brent - the brash, arrogant, idiotic, incompetent and wholly petty sad husk of a man who "manages" the Slough office of Wernham-Hogg (who also have a Swindon branch). The problem is, much as some of the other characters are (infinitely) more likeable than brent, they are still, mostly, sad husks of people, apparently worn down by a relentlessly tedious office life and an almost (if not complete) total lack of fun in their lives. Brent thinks everyone likes him, and that he is master of everything he does. He also thinks he's a real comedian (good use of irony there). He counts amongst his best "friends" an even more brash and arrogant, if slightly funnier and better with the ladies, sales rep by the name of Chris Finch, and (territorial) army nutcase Gareth who worships Brent and lacks a sense of humour almost as badly as Brent does. Then we have Tim, funnier and more likeable, but still quite petty (at least in his dealings with gareth). Tim is sad because he recognises and despises the crapness of his situation but doesn't seem able, somehow, to do anything about it - he's 30, he still lives with his parents and he never quite got around to doing that psychology degree at university. he also has the hots for slightly-frumpy but-still-quite-attractive receptionist Dawn, who whilst she seemingly feels the same way, persists doggedly in hanging onto a real up-and-down relationship with unambitious and wholly loutish Gary. There are plentiful others too, but mostly they're a sort of filler - there to make it actually seem like an office, but not getting nearly so much screen time as the main characters. And it works so well, it really is the pinnacle of mockumentaries - they can make them as good, but than can't make them better. It's probably a good thing that there's only two more episode's - this holiday's two-part christmas special - as to be honest it would be hard to maintain this quality whilst ensuring the overall thing doesn't start to drag. I've heard and read that apparently it was so popular because it really struck a chord with many people - apparently, there are many offices in this country where things are very similar. If this is true, then I dread the day I graduate and have to get a job, as in all likelihood it'll be in some office somewhere. During series two, I came to realise that all Brent really needed was a good slap and a talking-to. But anyway, this is like a warmup series - the second is even better, and it really gets into its stride then, whereas this series is more of a setting-the-scene series. There's only six episodes, but believe it or not this comes on two dvds - the episodes have high quality picture and sound, and there are a number of deleted scenes together with a documentary. I would've appreciated a little more in the way of extras - maybe commentaries for the episodes, or some other kind of exclusive stuff, to add to the deleted scenes and documentary, but all in all the series itself is what really counts, and this is really worth it.
By the way, in case you're wondering, "mockumentary" is short for "mock documentary" - i have heard some people thought it was real, i can safely say it isn't, but it's meant to be almost-real.

The Office Complete Series 1 (2 DVDs)

2004-01-05T19:18:00.000Z

Film: Return Of The Living Dead
You gotta hand it to a film that parodies it's own prequels. Although, i suppose, the Living Dead series aren't exactly prequels to this - more like "older brothers and sisters" than actual prequels. No matter, the story, in case you don't know about this lot/have managed to miss all of the other places on the 'net that tell it, goes like this: in a small town somehwere in America, a kid and his uncle are working at a warehouse that specialises in storing dead stuff for various university biology and medicine departments (for dissection). Near the end of one night, the uncle starts telling the boy about some of the wierdest stuff they've had go through the warehouse, and he proceeds to tell the kid that the film Night Of The Living Dead was based on a true story, except that what actually happened was there was a gas leak at some hospital and the gas made dead people come alive. There was a cover-up (as always) and the film had to change the story enough not to get sued. BUT - and this is the clincher - the bodies of the zombies were packed into special containers and sent to some military storage facility. Instead they turned up at the warehouse and their boss put them in the basement, not having got round to telling the military about their mistake yet. The uncle then takes the boy into the basement and shows him the canisters, and to demonstrate how secure they are he gives one a real good knock - it promptly jets out a stream of gas that quickly knocks both men unconscious. The rest i'll leave for you to watch, and you really should - THIS is how to parody a horror film, without making it seem (wholly) stupid. Interestingly, the zombies in this film (in fact this series) might have made for better, far more tense versions of the previous films - these lot cannot be killed by a head shot, and they eat brains because "it eases the pain". I don't know why, but the most icky moments for me were each time the really old zombie in the warehouse basement was shown. Dark and oozing, all it could do was stumble around asking for "braaiiins. Braaaaiiiinns..."
The ending has a hint of humour about it, but i won't spoil it for you. I still think Night Of The Living Dead, Dawn Of The Dead and Day Of The Dead are better, but this one isn't far behind.

ROTLD on DVD
ROTLD on video (NOTLD original/ROTLD double tape)

2004-01-05T19:15:00.000Z

Book: Gridlinked by Neal Asher
It was time for me to try something kind of new again - see, my mainstay is the Discworld series, of which I own either all or all-but-one of the main books, both maps, the tourist's guide to lancre, the Discworld companion (1994 version) and the Discworld saga The Last Hero. I have other books - some Aliens ones, all but one of the Blade Runner series (carried on admirably by Jeter after P K Dick's death), and more sci-fi and a few sci-fantasy and even some Tom Clancy books. But I wanted to try another author - I didn't want to get stuck into a pattern of only really reading books by a few authors. I'd already read Jennifer Government and Syrup by the genius Max Barry, but I needed some real sci-fi again. The review for Gridlinked on Blogcritics caught my eye and so it was ordered. It's taken me awhile to read (a little over a month) and I must admit early on I went through a phase where I wasn't reading much at all. But the journey has been worth it. Gridlinked is an intelligent, slightly twisting tale set quite deep in the future. Long distance travel is a pretty trivial matter as far as planets under the rule of Earth's government are concerned, the various important bits of the technology involved taking their names from some famous poem I should probably know (but my excuse is that the only poetry I like is songs). The tale follows, mostly, an agent for Earth's government on his latest mission. It's not standard spy-or-detective stuff though - he has been "gridlinked" for many years - that is, attached to a galaxy-spanning computer network (an updated internet) - directly via his brain. He's had the link shutdown at the beginning of the new mission, because Earth's central Artificial Intelligence believes he has been gridlinked for an unhealthy amount of time. Oh yeah, that little thing - humans are now governed by AIs. Unlike The Terminator, these AIs gained self-awareness and, miraculously, decided that all humans needed was a little shepherding and good policing, rather than a damn good nuking. Of course, there are dissidents, and like all of the best sci-fi stories (I mean the real classics here) they have seemingly as many tricks up their sleeves as the "good guys". There's action, there's a smattering of philosophy, and there's a good deal of mystery throughout most of the story. And there's also a dragon, but not what you might expect of a dragon - I can safely say Neal Asher must have been in some crazy state of mind to think it up. I won't spoil the surprises though, I hate it when reviewers do that. Suffice to say, even if you don't usually like sci-fi, you should really give this a read.

Gridlinked (paperback)

2003-12-17T13:24:00.000Z

Film: City Of God (Cidade De Deus)
Well, i never thought i'd be able to sit through a film that wasn't in English. That has now been proved wrong, however, as this great piece of storytelling is entirely in Portugese, but the subtitles are good (and the film itself is better). Called by some a "Brazilian Goodfellas", this does not do it justice - for example, the craziest gangster in this film is more crazy and ruthless than any Joe Pesci has played. That should give you an inkling of how violent this film is, and it is very violent. There's also alot of drugs-related stuff, seeing as the gangs in the City Of God make their money from selling drugs - why bother with anything more sophisticated when you can rake it in selling heroin and cocaine?. The story itslef mostly follows two boys as they grow up from being young kids in the City Of God, although at the beginning it also follows a few other kids from the same group. I won't spoil the story for you, but the timeline does jump around a bit, a la Pulp Fiction, but here the reason is simply to make sure you are following the story. The crazy kid grows up to become a powerful gangster when he's still a young teenager. He kills off all hs rivals except one, and eventually they both have a massive faceoff. The other main character wants to be a photographer, and his careers gets a big kickstart when he gets forced to take photos of his once-friend's gang, which then accidentally get printed in the newspaper. The film is actually only loosely based on a true story, so not all of the characters and happenings are real. One to watch, as long as you can stomach the violence.

City of God DVD
City of God Video

City of God Soundtrack CD

2003-12-11T01:02:00.000Z

The UK will have to borrow £10billion more than chancellor Gordon Brown had predicted earlier this year
But then, what's £10billion between friends? This would put Britain £37billion in debt this year. And I wasn't aware that the situation is as bad as the bbc says - "the poorest 20% in Britain paying out 42% of their income in tax when the richest paid just 2% more than that"
Seriously, even if I was rich, I wouldn't call that fair in any way.
However, I wouldn't be surprised to find that at least half of the money ends up spent on "red tape", we seem to be growing ever more bureaucratic these days. The various systems in governments and councils get more complicated, not less.
Full story - Here

2003-12-09T20:53:00.000Z

AFI - Sing The Sorrow
Straight from the first track, you can feel the emotion evident in this excellent offering from punkmeisters AFI. And it's powerful emotion. The fact that they rely on a mix of belting a tune out as loudly as possible and doing so more quietly (but more tunefully) makes it all the better. I must admit to being a little apprehensive when i bought this album - it's the first AFI album i've bought, and i only did so based on the few songs i've heard (only one actually from this album) before. The apprehension dissipated along with my resolve to get some work done RIGHT NOW when i stuck the cd in and pressed play (i really should have waited until i'd done some work first. Oh well)
This is truly inolving music - it's not as blunt and pointless as the "I hate everyone and everything" screamers, and it's not as uninvolved as much of the more popular rock of present. It's music, in every sense of the word.

Sing the Sorrow

The Art of Drowning

2003-12-05T00:17:00.000Z

Should Google Be Regulated?
After his initial (understandable) annoyance at discovering that Google's changed search algorithm gives his site a much poorer ranking than before, and a few other observations about the change, John Mudd over at Blogcritics has made an interesting suggestion: Should Google be regulated?

2003-12-03T23:15:00.000Z

In Case You Missed Them Part III - Less Than Jake: Hello Rockview/Losing Streak
Part 3 in my series of reviews of slightly older albums. In all honesty, the reason for these reviews is
1) i'm having to wait until christmas before i get some new albums
2) i've never actually reviewed any of these albums before, despite listening to them alot. I've started writing a bit more so this is something good to write about. Nice and easy.
OK, confession time over. The third of these albums is actually a double - Hello Rockview/Losing Streak, which has been cheap for a long time (and is even cheaper now than when i bought it), and is a fucking good buy at that. Whatever you think of Less Than Jake now, and I have to point out I thought it was strange they released an album with only 8 tracks for more than the cost of this double album (which has 29 tracks in total plus one video). Anyway, THIS double album reminds you just how good Less Than Jake are. They are very talented, they can pump lots of energy into their tunes with seemingly no problems - you could happily bounce along to almost all of the tracks, even the slower ones. From the frenetic All My Best Friends Are Metalheads to the more laidback Dopeman, there is a spirit (those who HAVE to categorize would probably call it ska-punk, or punk-ska, or something) evident in all of the tracks. Some have slightly depressing subjects, but you can't help smiling anyway - they all have an upbeat feel. Oh, and the All My Best Friends video, which on my cd is actually named Freinds, is funny. Poor quality picture, but very funny. Heheh.

Hello Rockview/Losing Streak at Amazon

2003-11-30T19:29:00.000Z

In Case You Missed Them Part II - Halfway To Gone: Second Season
Lots of heavy guitar work and noisy drums characterise this second offering by a, in my opinion, highly-under-appreciated modern rock band. I would call it stoner rock, like others before me, but for two reasons:
- Firstly, i know that such a label would instantly mean many people, due to stupid prejudices, would never even bother to try listening to this
- Secondly, almost all the tracks (11 plus one "hidden" which Windows Media Player finds effortlessly) are far too lively to be true stoner rock.
The music itself does have the kind of ring about, admittedly, but this *is* different to e.g. Queens Of The Stoneage. I do have a "thing" for heavy guitar riffs, so it's no surprise that this is one of my favourite albums, but Halfway To Gone prove they are more than a one-trick pony in the variation of the tracks. Some of the tracks aren't so heavy, there're several fully instrumental-only, and the hidden track is a fucking amazing rendition of Can't You See (i think that's what it's called - the track isn't listed on the cd and it's what Google turns up as the name). It's by no means a fully-chilled out album though. In fact it's almost like a "stream of consciousness" album if you play it in order non-stop (like a number of albums these days manage to be), but it's never pretentious and it never tries too hard. The fact that Halfway To Gone can pull off an instrumental-only track without difficulty and without it seeming out of place on the album speaks volumes for their talent (in fact they pull off several). I can only hope more people discover them and they survive to release a third album (i was surprised they even got to release a second as they appear to be extremely and unjustly unknown)

Second Season at Amazon.co.uk

2003-11-30T19:12:00.000Z

Film: Day Of The Dead

The third in the series of the "Living Dead" films, Day Of The Dead generally seems to be considered the weakest. I'm afraid that i do agree with this
assertion, although i do not think it is particularly bad, it's just not as good as either Night Of The Living Dead or Dawn Of The Dead.
The story of this film focuses on yet another group of people caught in the middle of the plague of zombies. The group is primarily a military one, although there
are a few civilians (a helicopter pilot, communications engineer and a couple of doctors). They are holed up in an udnerground military bunker somewhere near the East
coast, and the beginning conveys a sense of their desperation almost straight away. We see one of the doctors, the pilot, the engineer and a military bloke land in a
deserted-looking town or city. They use a megaphone to try and get the attention of any survivors, but it isn't long before the zombie hordes shamble from every doorway
and hole in the ground, with no sign of any living people. Back at the base, we learn that they are losing men to these pointless excursions, and worse still there
hasn't been much in the way of progress made by the two doctors, who are examining the zombies (they have a stash of them penned up inside the base) to try and find the
cause of the zombiness. As the film progresses we see the adverse affects of "cabin fever" taking their toll on the base's new commander, the rest of the military staff,
even the two doctors. Things come to a head slowly but surely, and there are some surprises along the way. there are also some pretty disturbing (and sometimes disturbing
yet funny) scenes, such as the zombie listening to music, or the zombie with it's stomach open that sits up from a table only to have its guts fall out. This is also a
pretty gory film, even before the real action starts - the eccentric male doctor is literally butchering the zombies in the name of science. Probably the most famous scene
involves one of the army men being slowly torn apart by zombies, he continues screaming even as his head is pulled from his body, the scream turning to a sort of high-pitched
gurgling once his throat is shredded by the grasping hands of the zombie horde - this film is NOT for the faint-hearted.
All in all, it makes a bit of a change from the "group of random people holed up and picking off zombies" plots of the first two films, and there is more character development
than either of the other two films (well technically three, i count Night Of The Living Dead and its remake as the same film, because it doesn't make too much difference to
the overall plot of the films)
If you're not a horror or zombie film fan, you probably won't enjoy it much though.

Day Of The Dead DVD

Day Of The Dead Divimax special edition (region 1) DVD

Night Of The Living Dead/Day Of The Dead video

2003-11-29T02:34:00.000Z

In Case You Missed Them Part I - 3 Doors Down: The Better Life
Their first major release, this album is characterised by deep guitar riffs, subtle drum beats and vocals that sound truly "from the heart". Most of the songs actually have quite dark themes, but they manage to sound hopeful, or at least have a "fighting spirit" about them. They don't depress, although i find they can induce depressing thoughts. Such themes include: being a loser (in fact several songs work along this line), drug addiction, and all-consuming love.
I class 3 doors down as "rock" music but it's close to folk rock. In a good way. In that, this isn't the kind of music you can dance to, it's the kind of music you can really listen
to, indeed listening to it is the only way to really do it justice.

The Better Life at Amazon.co.uk

2003-11-29T02:19:00.000Z

Film: Dawn Of The Dead
"When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth"
Perhaps the most famous quote to emerge from this classic zombie-horror series, as with a great many "famous" film quotes, it actually is only said once and is not given much significance in the film, above the rest of the happenings. It's about the most thought-provoking bit in the entire series though, the only topper being the (repeated) assertion about how the zombies are us and we're the zombies ("They're us and we're them") - perhaps more relevant today than in the '70s. Although to be honest, that actual saying might only appear in the remake of Night Of The Living Dead, which is from 1990.
The premise of the film is simple: the dead are walking the earth. Two workers at a radio station and two soldiers decide to run, taking one of the tv station's helicopters, to try and find a place to hole up in. They find a shopping mall, and soon make themselves at home - most of the shops are fully stocked
The "... Dead" films are traditionally gory, and this one's no exception. The main characters being more than able to take care of themselves, we are treated to plenty of head shots (the only way to kill zombies). I must admit having seen Night Of The Living Dead, this, and Day Of The Dead, i am somewhat fond of this whole series. I like the overall storyline, and the starkly-contrasting settings of them all. This is my second favourite of the lot, and it's nowhere near as cheesy as you might expect from a '70s horror film. The music is pretty atmoshperic (like the spooky backing to the mentioned quote) and the effects pretty good too.
All in all a very good zombie film, well worth watching even if you're not particularly a fan of horror/zombie films

Dawn Of The Dead [1978] video

Dawn Of The Dead [1978] Uncut DVD

2003-11-24T19:19:00.000Z

DVD: The Simpsons Season 3 Boxed set
Arguably the season when The Simpsons peaked in terms of quality, i got this dvd boxed set about a week ago and have jsut finished watching the plain vanilla episodes. Along with Futurama and Family Guy, these are my favourite boxed sets because you get a large number of episodes, plus extras, in one go. And it's all comedy.
Season 3 of The Simpsons saw Homer finally snap, Bart join then leave the mafia, Homer nearly make half a million from a cocktail recipe, Mr Burns sell then buy back the power plant, Bart woo Ms Krabapple, Homer manage a country singer, Otto get his bus driver license and Homer help his brother become successful again (after ruining him before), amongst other episodes. Whether or not you like The Simpsons now, season 3 was when it really got going. Oh yeah, inside the dvd case there's a short intro from Groening, pointing out that the episodes in this set are uncut, free from TV's butcher knife. indeed, i did notice one or two short bits i'm pretty sure weren't on the terrestrial tv versions that aired (over and over again in some cases - boo and hiss to BBC2 for being contributing towards boring us with excessive re-runs. There really IS too much of a good thing you know)
I haven't even started watching the extras yet (audio commentaries sound the most promising) and yet even without extras this set'd be worth it (at least for the reduced price Amazon are charging)
Oh yeah, this set also had the most episodes i hadn't seen yet. If you get one boxed set this xmas....make it this one.

Season 3 boxed set at amazon.co.uk

2003-11-24T19:18:00.000Z

DVD: Natural Born Killers
I find it ironic that this film, given its subject matter and plot, should cause the amount of controversy it did.
It appears, as an Amazon reviewer also notes, to be a "love it or hate it" kind of film. I have read elsewhere that it changes much from the original screenplay by Tarantino, and apparently is nowehere near as good as it might have been (although it depends who you ask). Well, I'm gonna have to read the original screenplay sooner or later...
Essentially pointing out the madness induced by our obsession with the media, in particular TV and Hollywood, NBK is more than just a story about two cold-blooded killers, also lovers, desensitised by films and tv. It is about how the media obsession affects us all, even those of us who may not realise it. It is about how veryone has a dark side of their psyche, their own personal demon. Let the demon take control, and you turn very definitely bad.
The film is pretty gory, many scenes are obviously intended to shock (and do so). I like the technique used throughout the film whereby every so often the picture changes to be black and white, often merging into trippy scenes (and yes, the two main characters do take drugs although you aren't properly made aware of this except for one brief shot during one scene). The different style used in the flashback of how the two characters met is a good sendup of classic sitcom style.
The final few scenes are a glorious chaotic bloodbath that abruptly tails off to the very last scene - the film has a number of smaller such "spikes" of violence (not least of which is near the start). Throughout the film we are also reminded that when they're not killing people indiscriminately, the two killers are just like a normal pair of lovers. They have some arguments, they're a little simple but not stupid (in fact Mickey shows his true intelligence during the interview).
I get a little scared when I think of the amount of tv and films I've already watched, and how I can tell I am a little desensitized to violence, although thank God not the amount of Mickey and Mallory (or anywhere near).
I am saddened that so many people who watch it seem to miss the message. Whilst I can't claim to know it exactly, and it may not have been the original intention of Tarantino, but to me the film says if we take the media too seriously, if
media becomes more important than everything else, even life, then the madness will spiral out of control.
So far, I would say we haven't quite reached that point, but we are not a long way off. I sure hope it doesn't happen in my lifetime.

Natural Born Killers (director's cut) DVD at amazon.co.uk

NBK Original screenplay

2003-11-24T19:11:00.000Z

Book: Syrup - Max(x) Barry
If you haven't read this or Jennifer Government, do the right thing: read this first! Although not a series, it works better that way...
A light-hearted satirical look at the world of advertising, Syrup isn't weighed down by too much "we'd be so much better off without all this advertising crap" pseudo-philosophical stuff that you may expect from a satire, neither does it really attempt to actually judge the advertising world. I myself, although hardly fond of advertising, see why it is needed (for the jobs it provides if nothing else =+) and that not all advertising is inherently evil.
Anyway, the book is different enough in style (as well as story) from Jennifer Government to warrant reading both - Jennifer Government (from here on in referred to as JG) is set in a not-too-distant future, focuses on a number of main characters, provides a more "us and them" mentality when it comes to big corporations and the rest of the public, but at the same time contradicts this in a number of ways. Syrup, on the other hand, focuses on one main character to begin with, then shortly brings in a second main character, however the focus is not nearly so fractured as in JG, Syrup is set in a non-specific dateline (though could be present-day quite easily) and shows a guy who's not really all that cut out for the world of advertising, trying to scrape and claw his way to the top of the world of advertising, but whilst managing to keep some ethical standards(!), which is what keeps causing him problems. The up-down-up nature of the storyline is broken by the finale just before it gets boring, and the story itself focuses more on the personal side of the characters, wrapped in the world of advertising, rather than the other way round. Well worth a read.
BTW, that "Maxx Barry" was meant to be the author's attempt to make one final joke. The actual author is Max Barry and if you read this book, you should see why he did it...

Syrup at Amazon.co.uk

2003-11-24T19:09:00.000Z

DVD: Dagon
I haven't seen any other Lovecraft film adaptations, so i can't say for sure, but going by reports and reviews of others this is by far the best. Ironically actually based not on the Lovecraft story of the same name, but on the longer (albeit slightly-related) Shadow Over Innsmouth, two couples are shipwrecked near a small, dilapidated Spanish town named Imboca. One of the couples goes to shore for help, but they have to split up, back at the boat the other couple has vanished, and from there things get more and more creepy. Some of the residents appear to have a strange affliction, and some even have visible, grotesque mutations. Everywhere is permeated by a slimy, cold and uncomfortable dampness. Strange noises come from behind seemingly-abandoned buildings with boarded-up windows and doors - slitherings and thumpings, suggestions of teeming life within the noisome dark spaces...
Some of the changes I think were made due more because of budget restraints than anything else - the town being spanish instead of either american (as suspected from the story) or english (as indicated by hpl himself in some letter or something written after the story); the main character's flight from the bad guys is shortened (if done like the book it would probably have ended up being too boring) as is the history of the town, as told by the local drunk, and beginning of the story has been altered so that the film does not take too long to really get going. I was pleased that the film kept with lovecraft's style of ending (no i won't give it away and i implore anyone else who posts not to do so either), it even managed to get in the unexpected twist - i thought i had it sussed, having read plenty of Lovecraft stories, however my expectations were chanegd twice in the last five minutes.
Some of the suspense of the story is lost if you have already read The Shadow Over Innsmouth, but then even if you haven't, it wasn't Lovecraft's way to provide lots of surprises throughout his stories, it was instead his way to shock and scare you, and perhaps more importantly provoke thought (usually).
It is truly a crime that films such as 28 Days Later, albeit good, get box office success whilst gems such as this go relatively unnoticed.
BTW, At The Mouth Of Madness, although similar in name to one of Lovecraft's stories (At The Mountains Of Madness), is nothing to do with that particular story, and is not based on any Lovecraft story (although it takes some inspiration from his writings).
I also include Amazon links for three of the best HPL books you can buy atm, that represent a good spread of the different styles his writing took.

Dagon [2001] DVD at Amazon.co.uk

2003-11-24T18:58:00.000Z

Book: Jennifer Government - Max Barry
Wow man. I just finished reading this, and I have to say, it made me literally laugh out loud many times!
At once a big satire on the way of the modern world, this story is also a scary indication of how things are going. I only hope we will never reach the point where a marketing executive thinks killing a few people whilst on the way to making millions, let alone billions, is OK (then again, maybe we're already there...)
The plot seems to consist of several entirely separate threads, each focusing on one particular character, right up until near the end, when they all become woven together in such a genius way it had to be planned. Still, it never quite reaches the point of being confusing (this is A Good Thing, by the way), or being too clever for its own boots.
OK, so what's it about? well, I don't like giving away more plot in reviews than a book's cover. After all, you wanna read the book, you'll go read it. SO here goes a short summing-up:
Set in the not-too-distant future, the world is (mostly) ruled by corporations. Multi-national is the only way to survive, along with ruthless business strategy and complete lack of morals. The NRA are big, and available for contracting. The government is weak, and lacking funds. Almost everyone has forgotten how to think for themselves. Then a corporate lackey is pushed one step too far, thanks to the latest marketing strategy from Nike, which aims to make a few lucky customers have the latest trainers their very last purchase.
Read the book, laugh at it, but most importantly learn the lesson: don't let the corporations do your thinking for you.

Jennifer Government at Amazon.co.uk

2003-04-26T22:40:00.000Z

Incidentally, if anyone knows any songs Joe 90 have done other than the song from the first Final Destination film (When I Die), could you post them here? I've been looking for stuff by them everywhere and not had much luck =+(

2003-04-26T22:38:00.000Z

Audioslave: VERY cool rock band. I haven't got any of their albums *yet* but I have heard a few of their songs and I must say they're pretty cool. Tend to sound like a mix between the new Foo Fighters stuff and old Rage Against The Machine stuff. If that's not your bag i recommend a listen anyway, not all their stuff sounds the same. When they make a heavy sound, they manage to do it without alot of swearing, so you don't need to worry so much about disapproving parents catching the lyrics =+)