2009

03 November

blog

Comics Grant Morrison Project with BBC Scotland by Nick

Is the rumour being cast about by Bleeding Cool today.

More importantly, however is the revelation that the infamously snappily dressed Scottish comic writer wants to write for Doctor Who but hasn’t been asked yet.

A travesty, in my book. Even though I was a bit cranky about the end of New X-Men.

2008

14 December

blog

New Media Web TV or another advertisement by Kate

This article from today’s Observer blurs the lines between web series and online commericals, particularly in the casual use of sentences like:

Created in partnership with Burger King, the first video in this cartoon sketch series devised by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane scored three million hits in two days.

Another example given of a web series, Easy To Assemble was created by Ikea. Seriously. Observer writer, Ajesh Patalay, describes it as “like an episode of Extras set in Ikea, with cameos by Jeff Goldblum, Ed Begley Jr and others”. I describe it as a freakin’ ad (with cameos by Jeff Goldblum, Ed Begley Jr and others).

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30 July

blog

Geek How would Annalee Newitz Reboot Farscape for a Modern Age? by Nick

By loading it up with dreadful clichés and just generally miss the point entirely:

Get rid of the silliness with this plot and make it dark as pitch, with some real gothic horror elements. Crichton is losing his mind and being enslaved by a chip that can’t be removed. Also, let’s give Scorpius a makeover — no more campy leatherboy zombie guy. Instead of making his wormhole technology into his “take over the universe” technology, make the killer app his mind-control chips. He should be a smooth, scary politician who wants to gain power by “changing people’s minds” — literally. That way the Peacekeepers really can keep people peaceful, by chipping them all. The crew of Moya is fighting not just to free Crichton’s mind, but to keep everyone’s minds free.

Also, she wants to make Zhaan a sexy assassin.

Farscape is almost unique (the less said about the miserable Lexx the better) in its delicate balance of horror, sex, aliens, and comedy, so why would it need to be remade into a more depressing version of Battlestar Galatica to “make it relevant” to modern audiences?

12 July

blog

Television The countdown to Dr Horrible has begun by Kate

But until Act One is released on Tuesday , we will just have to keep watching the trailer again and again (after the jump). Go NPH! .

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09 February

blog

Books A Firefly Novel by Nick

Well, a fan-fic novel, at any rate — but with one crucial distinction. It was written by Steven Brust, writer of the “Vlad Taltos” novels, and perhaps one of America’s finest and most politically sophisticated fantasy novelists.

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06 February

blog

Television Those Old Yellow Eyes by Nick

This may well be the geekiest thing I will ever link to. Andy Baio of Waxy.org has posted the MP3s of Brent (Star Trek’s “Data”) Spiner’s long out of print album of show tunes called Ol’ Yellow Eyes Is Back. Enjoy.

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2006

17 December

blog

Television Heroes Straightens Supporting Character by Nick

It looks like the producers of Heroes have broken under network pressure and made the sexuality of Zach, confidant of indestructible cheerleader Claire, a lot less ambiguous

The TWOP forums, as ever, are on the case.

In brighter news, it’s unsurprisingly turned out that Masi Oka, Heroes‘s special-effects-technician-turned-actor (he plays the time-travelling ‘Hiro’) is a World of Warcraft junkie in real life

18 November

reviews

Criticism Heroism with a Twist? by Nick

Two new US TV shows, Dexter (Showtime) and Heroes (NBC), offer a startlingly fresh take on the themes of comic-book superheroism.

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