Posted on February 23, 2009 - by John

Being Human – Action At Last!

At last I think BBC3’s vampire/werewolf/ghost story is coming of age – and only in the penultimate episode too! The impending war of the vampires that was touted in the original pilot seems to be taking off, and the “taking sides” angle has borne fruit. The only issue left is whether or not this is going to turn into Angel…or something else.

I can’t see it going full scale sci-fi though. The slow burning pace has worked for most of the episodes and the title’s premise of exploring our characters ‘being human’, and even with the impending doom our three reluctant humans face, I doubt there will be any Buffy type action. Or even Twilight for that matter.

Being Human has been quirky and genuinely funny. Although slightly selective with Vampire mythologies, it still works quite well. Mitchell the vamp is a bit sensitive to daylight, but it does not seem to post much of a problem, and we don’t know about garlic or crosses either. However, a good old stake in the heart still does the trick, and it is only in the fifth episode that we see a vampire busy count begin.

The only downside to the series is that all three characters don’t seem to be that special – maybe I am missing the point somewhat but the werewolf transformations only occur every other episode, and poltergeist spookiness was a bit of a damp squib. So anyone looking for a British Buffy will be disappointed. That said ‘Being Human’ is far too intelligent with its drama and humour. It will be a shame when it finishes, but overall I have been really enjoying it. Let’s just hope that the final episode packs a bite.

Posted on February 11, 2009 - by John

Upgraded Wordpress

Wow. Just upgraded Wordpress to 2.7.1. That was easy.

Posted on February 11, 2009 - by John

Terminator Salvation Sends the Right Signals

Terminator is one of my favourite films having seen it when I was about 12 and it scaring the bejesus out of me. T2 went one better in many ways and then things fragmented with T3. So it’s refreshing to see that the downward spiral may well be halted by the efforts of director McG and the film’s star Christian Bale.

Terminator's Evolving - Concept art from T4.

I love the concept art for this film, and much more can be found in Wired’s article on T4. It just seems that they are paying the franchise some reverence which is good. It is too easy to knock out rubbish without care, and that exactly what went wrong with Terminator 3. In the hands of a more imaginative director, maybe the third instalment would not have been so pedestrian, but to be honest, it’s only the positive signs that have me enthused about the film.

Script tweaks by Johnathan Nolan, and good cast and imaginative director seems to be doing the trick, but let’s hope that McG can deliver. Time will tell if Jim Cameron’s non-blessing of “I reserve the right to hate it. But I wish you well, and if you’re going to make a Terminator I’d prefer you make a good one to a bad one” was wise.

Terminator Salvation is released in the UK on 5th June, 2009.

Posted on February 7, 2009 - by John

Benjamin Button Changed My Life

I know it sounds a little over the top, but The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has changed my life. Never in a million years did I think that a film could have such an impact on me. It is a little hard to define in words the true scale of this as both a motion picture, and a work of art but I am truly, breathtakingly staggered by it.

So, you guessed I liked the film? Well where do I start? Firstly, David Fincher has done a remarkable job and this film marks him as one of the truly great directors. It is visually stunning, from the lighting and colours that depict the warmth of Benjamin’s elderly childhood, to the brightness and clarity of the world as he grows younger in it.

The acting is superb, with both Pitt and Blanchett shine as the two age confused lovers, and we see an immaculate spectacle of virtually seamless special effects throughout. Literally, you are left wondering how did they do that? The film is the cutting edge of technology, but never once does it oppose the story telling. As a viewer you have to pinch yourself that you are not pointing out artefacts of digital processing – there is just very little to indicate that this is predominantly computer generated. Fincher’s shrewd use of light and shadow always leaves room for the audience’s interpretation, taking the pressure off the effects slightly, and making them all the more believable. But there is nothing I can say that hasn’t been pointed out by other reviews so Google them… (more…)

Posted on February 2, 2009 - by John

Displaying PDF Files In Word Documents

Now that I am writing up my dissertation, I am hitting the usual problems with good old M$ Word, that even Google has few answers for. Well I found out a damn fine way to add a PDF file to a Word document, but it relies on you having a copy of Microsoft OneNote.

I have the full whacking 2007 Office suite so I am good, but this might be a problem for some others who don’t. Anyway, the process is simple:

1. Open your PDF file.
2. Print the PDF file, but make sure that you set your printer driver to ‘Send to OneNote 2007′ (or similar).
3. Print!
4. The PDF will then magically appear in OneNote as an image that is non-editable.
5. Right click on the printed page and copy or cut it.
6. Go back to Word and paste the image in. Ta Da!

This doesn’t just apply to Word documents either. For me, I had a questionnaire that was created in word to insert into an appendix. As the questionnaire was a full page, it needed to be shrunk down to fit the margins and formatting of my dissertation. The same process worked great, but the only difference was that I printed directly from Word 2007 into OneNote. The same outputs occurred even though it strikes me as odd that the OneNote printer driver could not see that the source file was Word, and there provide editable text (but I digress…I’m glad it didn’t!).

Hope this helps someone out, somewhere… Wish me luck on finishing this work of art that I call my dissertation.

Posted on January 14, 2009 - by John

Brownformers: Politics In Disguise

There are a couple of things bugging me at the moment. First thing is that I am buying the Daily Mail. Yeh…I know it’s the paper of the worried well, but they’re giving away free DVDs of British Classics dramas. And I really loved “The Way We Live Now” when it originally aired around 4 years ago.

The second thing that’s bugging me is that I am ACTUALLY READING THE RAG!? Why I do not know. Saturday’s was a prime example: every page had something I disagreed with from commenting on Angelina Jolie’s shiny face (c’mon! she’s got like 23 kids and a grumpy Brad Pitt. Let her be shiny!) to the constant stream of horrible tag lines. But then there was Monday’s edition and an article on our PM Gordon Brown wanting to enlist the aid of Optimus Prime to help with the economic downturn.

I couldn’t believe it. They went on to say how he segued into the topic after talking about Christmas and he made a quip about it. Nothing more than that…although he should have known better. But then trust the luddites in the Mail to write this up as a full article.

They go on to describe the characteristics of the Autobot leader as “the greatest in a long line of Autobot leaders, Optimus Prime is a beacon of hope to those who suffer under the tyranny of Megatron”. And they don’t even say who Megatron is. WHO IS HE? Mail readers don’t sodding know! I KNOW! THEY DON’T! Who? David Flaming Cameron???! I mean they’re quoting TOY PACKAGING FOR *&%$’s SAKE!!

Someone ought to shoot the whole office of the Daily Mail with some kind of laxative gun for penance. This isn’t journalism – it’s a joke written by idiots, for idiots!

If you must read it, it’s here.

Posted on December 25, 2008 - by John

Twilight

I have been trying to get my head around the prospect of “Twilight” for some time. The movie which is based on Stephenie Meyers book, has received a huge amount of fanfare, primarily from its “target audience” (and I use that term loosely) of teenage girls. I will come back to the problem I have with this term later, but for now…

I have not read the Twilight saga but am intending to start on them tonight! So from my perspective, I am looking at the film on its own merits, and on the whole it was a very enjoyable movie. Not amazing or fantastic. But solid and very good.

The criticism that the film gets seems to be wholly misguided. As if the “target audience” is the only potential group of people who want to see a film that is to all intents a romantic depiction akin to Romeo & Juliet or A Room With A View. The plot is driven by the setting of the pacific north west being a haven for vampires, but this is a character device. One half of the main protagonists happens to be a vampire but this could as well be set 50 years ago and the male lead be black against a white middle class female heroine. If taken at face value, there is little to argue about.

Adaptations from mainstream books are always fraught with controversy, and by all accounts this is a fairly faithful example of source to screen translation. But it was readily apparent in some scenes that there was either an major glossing over, or a nod and wink to chapters of the book. After speaking with The Wife, if was clear that much of my objection to a small number of scenes were indeed pivotal chapters, and for those who have this “inside knowledge”, these seem to sit well. For myself, the aerial shots and spinning camera work while Edward and Bella lie in a very wet looking field seemed to drag. But who am I to know that this accounts for two whole chapters n the source material.

From this perspective, I would say that Catherine Hardwicke slipped up. Nods and winks are great when cracking a joke as to why the X-Men aren’t wearing yellow spandex, or that a VW Beetle is parked next to the 2007 Transformer equivalent, but they don’t carry so much weight when dealing with the build up of something so pivotal as two characters falling in love. In this respect, the major chink in the armour of the film is this “insider knowledge”.

But overall, a very enjoyable film.

Happy Christmas

by John on December 24, 2008

Tesco Change UHT Cartons

by admin on December 15, 2008

Jeff Buckley for Xmas Number 1

by John on December 12, 2008