Take this as you want, but the thing new “Star Trek” movie mostly reminded me on was the original “Star Wars” trilogy: it’s not so much about characters or story as it is about Action! Action! Action! There are fights and explosions and space fights and space explosions and Star Trek technobabble and hot women. It’s eye-candy for sure, but fun one nevertheless.

On the characters field, movie is lacking. Most of the characters are redelegated into Muppet Babies category: “Look, there’s young Doc McCoy! And Checkov! And Uhura! And man, she’s hot!” Simon Pegg is cool but after seeing him in “Hot Fuzz” I think that, with more screen time for his Scotty, he could have rocked the movie.

But “Star Trek” essentially revolves around Kirk and Spock and the origins of the coolest buddy-buddy team in universe aside of Riggs & Murthaugh and Batman & Superman. I really liked Zachary Quinto in “Heroes” and here he pulls off a really good Spock. Maybe it’s just me seeing Syler there but Quinto manages to convey both ruthlessly-cold logical exterior and inner emotional turmoil of his character. In any case, I totally wouldn’t mind watching Quinto play Spock in a weekly Star Trek series.

Kirk is pretty much balls-on approach jock he was in the TV series. And I like that. In “Star Wars” prequels, Lucas tried to convey Anakin Skywalker’s inner conflicts and recklessness. Instead, my impression with him was of a whiny brat. Here, Abrams does the same but succeeds. Why? Because he makes Kirk’s faults as integral part of his character as his virtues. Yes, Kirk is reckless, testosterone-driven womaniser using his troubled past as a excuse to act like jerk. But despite that – or maybe because of it – he makes for a good Starfleet officer. Also, the fact he gets his but kicked also helps.

The weakest link of the movie – at least for me – is the villain Nero, played by Eric Bana. Motivation for his actions make sense and the way he goes on with his plan is actually kinda clever. And yet… I wasn’t all that impressed. But then again, this seems to me like all-too common problem with Star Trek villains. Star Trek has it’s share of deliciously evil cultures: the Borg, Klingons, Cardassians, Romulans – but individual villains? Not so much. IMO, “Star Trek” still needs it’s Darth Vader and, I’m sorry to say, but for me even Khan doesn’t really cut it. YMMW, of course.

There are changes in Star Trek continuum as presented in the movie but I’m not really all that obsessed by it, so I didn’t mind them the least bit. Actually, I was quite favourably impressed by the way writers dealt with the Gordian Knot of 40+ years of accumulated Star Trek trivia. But, as I said, I’m not that much a Star Trek fan to be upset with these changes so, again, YMMW.

In short: “Star Trek” is fun. It’s not great – I still prefer “Wrath of Khan” – but it could have been much, much worse. The movie is a slick-looking action-packed rid with story and characters mostly just a scenery – albeit a really good-looking one. But, what the movie is really about are these two strangers forced to make their choices and grow up and coming to trust each other.. And, of course, fights and explosions and space fights and space explosions and Star Trek technobabble and hot women.

Oliver out.

I was leafing through the newspapers today and I have to admit dear readers I got terribly annoyed. It seems to me that a while ago newspapers (you know proper newspapers!) have only flirted with tabloid trashiness. But now I guess due to (the dreaded word) recession they have embraced the trashiness full on.
So for example on any given day you will have a story how this-and-that actress lost a lot of weight and how skeletal she is looking.
On that same given day you will also read a story how this-and-that actress got a bit too chubby. Talk about mixed messages.

And then I read a story about these little girls (as young as 10!) that model themselves as these actresses/singers/WAGs and have beauty treatments/sunbed sessions/save up for plastic surgery. Bloody hell when I was 10 I didn’t have a clue what a sunbed even was!

Now I do watch a lot of telly and I can understand why a child would get confused. Hell even I at my age (when I should definitely know better) look at my arse and think – hm yes it should be smaller. The reason I say I should know better is that I lost a lot of weight at one point. It was during my post-grad in a city that shall not be named and it was an imposed fast of a sort because the food just did not want to co-operate with my stomach (read – the food was awful). In less then a month poof 5 kilos were gone and with my regular size (10) that was very noticeable ( I went 2 dress sizes down by the end of my stay). I felt horrible.

You know regardless what magazines might say – it is ok to eat, it is ok to enjoy food. It is even ok to enjoy some junk food from time to time. The point of my rant is – lets celebrate the women that grace our tellies and look like they might not run away screaming from a piece of bread or a steaming plate of pasta.

Ok dear readers, off to the Q&A part of the press conference. Do pardon me I’m doing this from my notes and for the life of me I can’t read my hand writing in some bits. But you will get the gist I promise.

On sequel to Moab is My Washpot – this was by far the most interesting news to me (and not only because Monika threatened to thump me if I didn’t find this out) but the second part of the memoirs is in the works. It should cover the period from the age of 28 to 40 (which I think will make for an even more interesting read).

On projects completed and in the works – for anyone following Mr. Fry on Twitter you know he just finished filming Last Chance to See (2 out of the 8 species Douglas Adams originally followed have now became extinct). And this summer he is off to Germany to film a documentary about Richard Wagner. And he did an episode of Bones which has him dancing at the very end (!) Nowhere near as bad as I thought

On losing weight – Mr. Fry shared he simply stopped eating certain foods (such as bread, potato and sugar – which are basically my only food groups I have never met a chip that I could resist, well that and meat) and he does go for a brisk walks as a form of exercise. He went from 21 stone to 15 stone (which is a LOT!) so obviously I need to reconsider my basic food groups. He also shared how he enjoyed listening to a number of audio books such as James Bond books, Crime and Punishment and some Trollope rather then to fiddle with his iPod and find a suitable song (don’t we all do that?!) And he shared that exercise did help with the depression.

If he could pick one character he played and he could be for the rest of his life – the answer was Peter Kingdom. But “I do get a bit irritated when people think I am playing myself when I play Peter Kingdom, because I am far less charming then he is. I am far more likely to be grouchy.”

On possible guest appearance on House – sure it was discussed on a number of occasions but they cannot quite decided whether he should be a better diagnostician but incredibly nice just to annoy House. Or should he be ruder, nastier and crueler. And he would keep his English accent!

On Twitter – (that was actually one of the first questions) and no it is not the source of all evil and it will not replace journalists (well not completely of course

On MySpace poll that declared he should replace St. George as the patron saint of England – Mr. Fry said if anyone should replace St. George as the patron saint then it should definitely be Shakespeare (as April 23th is marked as Shakespeare’s birthday and death day). Hm yes like we expected him to say yes I’d looove to be a patron saint

Oh and of course the iPhone came out (very snazzy – red cover) and we all ooh and aah-ed appropriately

Dear faithful readers – happy Stephen Fry Appreciation Monday!

First I do apologize for not updating Twitter at all. It was such a mad dash from landing to take off, I simply didn’t have the time to go to the loo (if you pardon my frankness) – let alone anything else. In fact upon return on Friday evening I promptly passed out from exhaustion and came back to my senses on Sunday morning

London is a wonderful city that I adore, but it should be enjoyed at a leisurely pace rather then dashing around like a headless chicken.

Dear faithful readers,

I still have to pack (haven’t packed anything as of yet) but I couldn’t leave without sharing this little gem with you.

Do click faithful readers it has got to be one of the funniest things I have seen in a very long while!

Enjoy!

Dear faithful readers – happy Stephen Fry Appreciation Monday!

The day of the travel is fast approaching and I haven’t even packed (Must.Not.Panic!) I did get through a good few things from my to-do list and it seems my laptop is fixed (well cleaned really, apparently there were oodles and oodles of dust inside. For the record – I do clean it from the outside!

But rather then to bore with you these silly things – here are the details of how this is supposed to go.

We are supposed to leave on Wednesday afternoon and the screening has been scheduled for 10:00am on Thursday. I really do not know anything other then we should be watching the first episode of 3rd season of Kingdom and that there should be a Q&A with Mr. Fry afterwards.

That is ALL I know. At this point I’m all for going with the flow as I don’t really know what to expect.

Here are my Twitter details so you can follow us as we navigate through London. I do hope to update as regularly as I can and to put up a good few pics I don’t know if mobiles and cameras will be allowed but I’ll do my best to snap a few highly illegal pics if they are not

And you will get a full report on my return.

Now if I could only stop worrying about making a complete berk out myself or forgetting English or getting lost on the way etc. Tsk!

Oh Lord!

I suffered a total geek out when I saw the latest trailer for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

Yes I loved the books (read each new one in under 48 hours), I loved the audio books and I loved the movies. Well for the most part – the last one didn’t really sit well with me. Be as it may the trailer looks absolutely bloody fantastic. I do hope they didn’t just take the best bits and glued them together in a trailer. Oh how I hope they didn’t that would be a terrible let down.

By now you all now about our impending trip to London (for the record I haven’t prepared at all, I haven’t even printed out my ticket and we are leaving in just 4 days).
And if I suffered a geek out over a trailer I can’t even imagine what I will do in general vicinity of our lovely Mr. Fry.

Must. Remember.To.Behave.Myself

Anyhow check out the latest Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince trailer, it does look fantastic doesn’t it?

Everybody and their grandmother knows about Susan Boyle about now.

If you by any chance haven’t seen the video that has gone around the world at least 10 times already she is the frumpy lady that vowed the judges of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend.

I absolutely loved this article on EW that ponders why Susan Boyle touched so many people and this one from the other side of the pond in the Herald that quite rightly points out we have gotten our priorities all muddled up.

Be as it may I was left speechless by her performance. Absolutely speechless. And that happens very rarely, if ever.

The last I have checked Susan Boyle video got more then 5.2 million (million!) views. If that is not performing for a large audience I don’t know what is.

You can find the link to the video here, I hope you enjoy it as much I did.

Have you ever watched series called Survival?

No, not Survivor but Survival.

When I was little it was on regularly during the winter holidays and it was my favorite treat in the morning. It was my favorite show and it turned me into the documentary tart that I am today. Oh it is not half as a bad as it sounds – it just means I can watch anything literally anything that resembles a documentary (monkeys, giraffes, travelogues, I’m not fussy). And Survival is to blame for that because to my young impressionable mind it was the best thing since sliced bread. Well not really more the best thing since ice cream but you get my drift.

It was all wondering around the world, observing animals in their natural habitat. Fascinating stuff.

But last week I read some news on TV Scoop that made me squeal.
ITV is bringing back Survival! Yay! Of course it will be slicker and whatnot, but Survival is coming back!
As lovely people of TV Scoop have noted you can’t find any clips of it anywhere (note to ITV put something on YouTube for younger generations to familiarize themselves and for us old folks to reminisce over) so I can’t share that.

I did try to search for it a while back but I couldn’t find anything. For a moment there I even thought I imagined it. Or even worse that it was a BBC production. But it is not.
It even does not have a Wikipedia entry! I know shock horror.

But I will keep you posted when it will air. I’m sure it will be a cracker.

So does anyone else remember Survival or am I the only one?

Dear faithful readers – happy Stephen Fry Appreciation Monday! (Well sort of!)

I do have to apologize for the delay and not posting at all however my laptop is down. As in it just started randomly shutting down without any warning last week.

So it was taken to the repair shop (well went to the wrong one first, don’t send a blond anywhere) and it will take them 10 days to see what is wrong. Of all the time. I have managed to stop shouting 10 days!!!! 10 days!!! at the top of my voice some time yesterday… but honestly it is a laptop not a NASA shuttle! And the thing is even if the vent just needs cleaning (and the vent is the problem) it is 10 days. If it needs replacing – it will take longer.

So I’m hot desking where and when I can – I do apologize for random posting (or not posting) in advance. I don’t even want to tell how I have managed to log in at the moment

There isn’t much to report on the London front – we did get the official invite that we had to RSVP and we did manage to find where we actually have to go (taking into account we will not get lost or something of the sort).

So instead of me rambling on here is a little nugget I have found. It seems BBC decided to put some videos from our lovely Mr. Fry’s latest documentary Last Chance to See on YouTube (I was in shock they are usually very stingy with it). But anyhow here is one video for you to enjoy and if you check out the BBC channel on YouTube you can find a few more.