Archive for Movies + TV
December 7, 2007 at 10:51 am · Filed under Movies + TV
For many years now I’ve been asking people if they remember a cartoon show from the 70s with a dog who could turn invisible except for his hat and said “This is ridicalicalicalous”. Whenever I’ve talked about this people have looked at me like I’m crazy and nobody has remembered the show.
I finally found it while looking for something else on Wikipedia. The show was called Goober and the Ghost Chasers, and seemed to be a blatant rip-off of Scooby Doo. Here’s a video of the opening sequence.
I’m just glad the show exists and I’m not crazy.
November 23, 2007 at 3:18 pm · Filed under Movies + TV
Doctor Who has always been one of my favourite shows. I started watching toward the end of the Pertwee era and my obsession was at its peak during the Tom Baker years (he’s still my favourite Doctor).
I’ve only seen clips of the very early shows, but I was still a little sad to hear that Verity Lambert, the original producer of Doctor Who, had died at the age of 71.
Not only was she the first producer of Dr Who, she was also the first female TV producer for the BBC, and their youngest producer. Since her start in 1963 she’s also produced Minder, which I loved, Rumpole, which I enjoyed, and Jonathon Creek which I also loved. I forgive her for Eldorado.
On the eve of Dr Who’s 44th anniversary we have Verity (and a host of others) to thank for its enduring success.
November 16, 2007 at 12:42 pm · Filed under Family+Friends, Food, Movies + TV
Ridiculing the contestants of the Amazing Race is a lot more fun if you can do it with a group of people, so we’ve started inviting friends over on Sunday nights to enjoy the spectacle of dysfunctional couples taking on bizarre challenges around the world.
For the first episode we ordered pizza and drunk beer and ate maple chocolate buns that she brought.
For episode two I decided I felt like cooking, so I cracked open one of my Jamie Olivers and went to work.
For the main course I seasoned some pork tenderloins, sprinkled them with fennel seeds, browned them, put them in a roasting pan with a sliced up fennel bulb, a handful of rosemary, 8 garlic cloves and half a bottle of white wine. Loosely covered with foil and bunged in a hot oven for an hour.
To go along with that, I boiled some potatoes and peas and mushed them together with a handful of mint leaves to make minty mushy peas.
For dessert we had cream puffs kindly provided by her followed by sliced up pineapple sprinked with sugar bashed up with the leftover mint leaves.
We ate, we drank, we enjoyed a fire, and we laughed at those crazy Racers.
July 16, 2007 at 3:42 pm · Filed under Movies + TV
BBC Canada is a little behind BBC UK so last night we got to see the return of Richard Hammond on Top Gear after his very scary accident. Despite suffering brain damage, the Hamster seems to be just like his old self. The team weren’t pulling any punches with their gags, including referring to Hammond as Princess Diana, offering him tissues in case he started drooling and asking him if he’s “a mental”. I’m sure the BBC got some complaints about that but hey, when has Top Gear ever been politically correct? I applaud the BBC for letting the show continue unmodified and letting the team continue being bad boys.
As for the accident itself, it was caused by a tyre blowout at close to 300mph. The car flipped and continued upside down at around 250mph, digging the roll bar into the earth beside the runway along with Hammond’s head. He’s a very lucky guy.
Richard asked that the accident never be mentioned on the show again, and James and Jeremy promised that it never would. Time will tell if they keep that promise.
June 21, 2007 at 2:53 pm · Filed under Movies + TV
Even though she’s named after an American state, and she doesn’t have a hope of actually winning, Montana is my pick for Canadian Idol. Amazing talent, quirky personality, interesting dress sense. The rest of the 22 just seem bland in comparison.
April 19, 2007 at 10:13 am · Filed under Movies + TV
It seems Lost is having a little trouble taking itself seriously, which isn’t a bad thing. The resident comedian is of course Sawyer, so here are a few of the best quotes from last night:
What do I have to do, make you a mix tape?
What are you two doing, arguing about who’s your favourite Other?
We have to play every 108 minutes or the island explodes.
And then there was the fabulous Charlie/Hurley exchange:
Why would the man of steel consent to a foot race?
For charity!
April 17, 2007 at 9:45 am · Filed under Conservation, Movies + TV
I’ve haven’t been a fan of Al Gore ever since he claimed to have invented the internet, but I have new-found respect for the man after watching An Inconvenient Truth at the weekend. He’s obviously passionate about the cause and he’s been trying to tackle it for a long time. He’s done his research and has all the numbers to back up what he says - something the “skeptics” absolutely don’t have. He has a message which is incontrovertible:
The human race have had a measurable, dramatic and detrimental effect on global climate change.
At least, it’s indisputable according to the science. Almost one thousand scientific studies back up this message. Zero do not. However, public opinion is still divided; why is this? A quote from Upton Sinclair which Al Gore presented in the movie goes some way to explaining it:
You can’t make somebody understand something if their salary depends upon them not understanding it.
Al Gore may not have invented the internet, but he could be an important part of saving the planet, which I guess is probably a better claim to fame anyway. The importance of his contribution could have been so much greater though if it hadn’t been for a few votes in Florida.
February 22, 2007 at 3:28 pm · Filed under Movies + TV
American Idol is back, and, as Randy Jackson would say, it’s not good.
I’m completely uninspired by any of the 24 contestants. They seem to have almost no personality, they all want to thank imaginary sky people and the singing has been horrible. Maybe I’m judging them prematurely, but I’m sure previous seasons have started better. If I had to pick the tops, I would go for:
- Blake Lewis - He sang Keane, he gets my vote (even though I thought it was Travis at first).
- Gina Glockson - Big voice, and she likes U2 and Green Day. Gotta lose the red streaks though.
- Chris Sligh - He may love Jeebus, but he’s funny and he’s got a mop on his head.
- Leslie Hunt - She’s a dog walker! And she likes Bjork!
Every year, Canadian Idol surpasses its big brother; I don’t expect this year to be any different.
November 15, 2006 at 10:13 am · Filed under Movies + TV
I just finished watching History of Violence (it takes a few days to watch a movie these days; it’s almost impossible to find a two hour window to watch a movie from start to finish), so with nothing better to blog about today, here’s a review (possible spoilers!):
I loved the opening scenes of the movie. The laconic attitudes of the two “bad men” provide a riveting counterpoint to the violence they do, and you’re left wondering what part they will play in the story.
I thought Viggo was a bit wooden at first, but when the story gets going and his duality emerges he does a great job of playing what is effectively two characters. The way his accent changes at various points is very effective.
The star of this movie though is the cinematography. David Cronenberg is a master film maker, and it shows in this movie more than a lot of his others. Beautiful locations, with perfect lighting and excellent camera work. The gore and violence is a bit over the top at times, but I expected that from Cronenberg.
September 20, 2006 at 7:44 am · Filed under Current events, Movies + TV
Dawson - Arranged by text message and email over the weekend, Dawson College students turned up on Monday wearing pink in memory of Stacy de Sousa (she loved pink). They gathered outside and entered the building en masse at 12:41 (the time the shooting started) to thunderous applause from the Dawson staff. An amazing show of strength and unity.
Canadian Idol - I was wrong about Paris Bennett, but I was right about Eva Avila. If she doesn’t mess up she will be the biggest thing to come out of Quebec since Celine. Bravo Eva.
The Amazing Race - Using your disability to gain advantage when you’re apparently fit enough to run an Ironman is just wrong. Kentucky coalminer is scary but funny. The Alabamanians won’t last long. Gay daughter’s Dad is probably in the closet. The beauty queens aren’t very beautiful. Do the producers have to find the campest gay couple they can for every season?
August 24, 2006 at 7:57 am · Filed under Movies + TV
Little girls need to stop listening to their hormones and start listening to the singing.
August 21, 2006 at 10:45 am · Filed under Movies + TV
I don’t sit in front of the TV all night any more, I sit in front of it all morning instead. I have an hour before work each day to be a couch potato, and two hours before feeding time at the weekends. There’s nothing good on at that time in the morning, but that’s OK, I have a DVR. Some of the things I’ve been watching lately:
- Re-runs of The Good Life on PBS, even though they insist on calling it Good Neighbours
- Brotherhood on TMN; a Showtime drama about two Irish brothers, one a politician and the other a gangster. Sometimes I’m not entirely sure which is which.
- Northern Town on CBC; a quirky comedy about, well, a northern town. It has that slightly amateurish Canadian feel about it but it’s still entertaining.
- Hustle on CBC; a BBC drama about a group of con-men (and one con-woman for the sex appeal) in London and their wacky antics.
- Carnivale on TMN; I know it’s been cancelled but I still can’t pull myself away.
- Rough Science on TVO; Geeky show about a group of geeky British (and one American) scientists in New Zealand solving geeky scientific tasks. Yes, I’m a geek.
- Time Team on TVO; I just love watching Tony Robinson trying to make archeology sound as exciting as possible.
- Doctor Who on CBC; OK, season two hasn’t started yet, but it’s coming!
Talking of Dr Who, someone has been leaving comments on one of my old Dr Who posts today. They are strangely formatted and difficult to decipher but still interesting, thanks “K9 MK78″.
July 27, 2006 at 8:11 am · Filed under Movies + TV
We are Jeopardy devotees; we watch it almost every night. Sad but true.
One of the interesting features of the Jeopardy broadcast is the advertising (thanks to our PVR we skip over most of it but still catch bits and pieces). Apparently Jeopardy viewers are in a bad way as nearly all the adverts are for some kind of medical product. Cold remedies, pain relief, vitamin supplements, prescription drugs and Head-On.
I’m still not entirely sure what Head-On is, but the advert is the freakiest piece of advertising I’ve ever seen. It consists of a ten second shot of a woman applying a tube of something to her head and an excited, urgent voiceover which says “Head-On! Apply directly to the forehead! Head-On! Apply directly to the forehead! Head-on! Apply directly to the forehead!”. I’m not sure if it’s three repetitions or four, but you get the idea.
So we know what it’s called, and we know what we should do with it but we’re still not entirely sure what it does. I decided to investigate, and headed (excuse the pun) over to their website. Here’s what it says:
You are seeing this page because there is nothing configured for the site you have requested. If you think you are seeing this page in error, please contact the site administrator or datacenter responsible for this site.
Well I’m glad we cleared that up.
July 20, 2006 at 1:51 pm · Filed under Movies + TV
I watched The Island yesterday, in which Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johannnssseeennn are escaped clones on the run from just about everybody and Sean Bean plays the evil genius breaking every eugenic law in the book.
The story was ok, although some of the scrapes Ewan and Scarlett got into were ridiculously unbelievable, like falling off the top of a skyscraper and not sustaining a single injury. The action sequences were well done, with lots of good CGI; there was some good humour and the storyline held my attention.
So why will I never watch it again? Because it is basically one big commercial break, with a story thrown in to keep you interested. Five minutes into the movie, Ewan opens a drawer to reveal rows and rows of Puma shoes, with the Puma logo prominently displayed. And that was just the beginning. I saw XBox, Aquafina water, Honda cars, Cadillac cars, MSN Search, Mack trucks, Amtrak trains, Ben and Jerry ice cream, Calvin Klein perfume, Michelob beer and the list goes on. These products weren’t subtly placed in the background, they were centre stage with the camera carefully lingering on every one. The camera actually zoomed in on the Michelob bottle before Ewan picked it up and took a swig.
But hey, Steve Buscemi’s in it, and he’s awesome as always.
January 3, 2006 at 1:05 pm · Filed under General, Movies + TV, Music
Happy new year everyone, time to take a look back at 2005.
Top 10 events of 2005
- Jen getting pregnant
- Jen having a baby
- Surprise parties (giving and receiving)
- Finishing the cupboard
- Making new friends
- Learning to play euchre
- Achieving my ATM
- Teaching a Unix course
- My first Ebay purchase(s)
- Managing to keep this blog going for the whole year
Top 10 Music of 2005
- The Killers
- Modest Mouse
- Arcade Fire
- Rise Against
- Green Day
- Jack Johnson
- The Shins
- The Gorillaz
- Motion City Soundtrack
- Ben Kweller
Top 10 Movies and TV that I saw in 2005
- Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith
- Bad Santa
- Garden State
- Doctor Who
- Motorcycle Diaries
- Serenity
- Lemony Snicket’s Unfortunate Series of Events
- Lost
- Little Britain
- Battlestar Galactica
Discoveries of 2005
- Hospital food is even worse than I imagined
- Online poker is addictive
- Changing nappies isn’t as scary as it sounds
- PVRs rock
- I know more about Canada than many Canadians
- Firefox (or did I discover that in 2004? hmm)
- The Battle of Wesnoth
- I can be funny sometimes
Worst things of 2005
- C-sections
- Dubya
- Rising transit prices
- Overly credulous people
- Everyone having parties when we can’t make them
- Missing every single YULblog meet
- MySpace
- Accidentally using salt instead of sugar in a cake mix
- Bureaucracy getting in the way of progress and creativity
- Loved ones getting sick
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