CouchSlobs – A Monument To Human Idleness

Dear faithful readers,

I have finally gotten around to watch V. I know I know, I had a back log however since there isn’t much on telly these days I have finally taken the plunge. Before I even start I do have to say I haven’t watched the original mini-series so I cannot compare and contrast how bad (or good) the new series is.

Ever since Battlestar Galatica ended I was on the look out for a new science fiction series I could follow. I have given up on Heroes ages ago and nothing really fit the bill. And even though good few people told me they thought V was meh at best I do have to say I enjoyed it quite a bit. Given it might not be as fast paced or happening as the first season of Battlestar Galatica but I think it is going along nicely at the moment to be considered as a possible contender.

One day out of nowhere space ships appear over 29 of the biggest cities in the world. Anna, the leader of the Visitors claims they have come in peace. However it very soon turns out humanity cannot take the Vs at face value. An agent with FBI’s counter terrorist unit Erica Evans (played by Elizabeth Mitchell of Lost fame) learns the Vs have been on Earth for decades and they have planted a number of “sleeper agents” that have infiltrated all pores of the society and are getting ready to take over the world. Erica joins a Resistance movement which tries to uncover the Vs and prevent them in their evil (and as Baldrick would say a cunning plan). The series also stars Joel Gretsch (of The 4400 fame) as a Catholic priest who joins the ranks of the Resistance.

Vs so far has been relatively fast paced, there are plenty of twists and turns and every episode has ended with a good cliff hanger that is intriguing enough to make me watch the next episode. I do enjoy the performances of Mitchell, Gretsch and Morena Baccarin as the charismatic and manipulative leader of the Vs. Specials effects are also nothing to sneer at since you do have to take into account this is a television show rather then a feature length movie.

The only thing I find a bit concerning is the fact four episodes have aired in November and ABC plans to put the series on hold until march after the Winter Olympics end. The second networks start meddling with time slots and air dates etc my alarm bells are going off since it takes a series a bit more then just 4 episodes to establish itself and find it’s footing. Hopefully it is unfounded cynicism on my part since I for one would like to see where V is headed.

So tell me dear readers, have any of you seen V? And if you did what are your thoughts? Love it, hate it or you think it is just meh? Leave your comments in the space below.

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8 episodes into the sixth season of House the time has come for me to stop watching the show.

I know who would have thought it would come to this? Unfortunately try as I may and no matter how many excuses I have made over the last year and a half (and that is an enthusiastic estimate on my part) and no matter how much I am fond of Hugh Laurie and his thespian talents I simply cannot watch anymore (hint – once you start fast forwarding every single episode it just might mean the time has come to quit).

The show I knew and genuinely enjoyed is gone. What was once a show filled with medical mysteries, outrageous cases, moral dilemmas and interesting patients of the week (do you know I can only remember 2 patients from last year?) is now soap-ish drama with some medicine thrown in. Story lines have gone from bad to worse, all the subtle hints and nuances are gone, writing is contrived, dumbed down, haphazard and botched up and continuity went out of the window.

And don’t even start me on the characters – Cuddy got turned into a limpish caricature, Foreman is the same as he ever was and showing no character progress whatsoever and they are turning my lovely Wilson into a Huddy Cupid/life coach/shadow of his former self. Taub is tolerable while Thirteen makes me feel no emotion whatsoever. While I adore Hugh Laurie and would be happy to watch him read newspapers all day long, it is uncomfortable for me to watch him struggle with some really bad writing.

The only other person that showed some acting oomph was Jennifer Morrison. Her scenes with Hugh Laurie last season did remind me why I enjoyed the show so much to begin with. Unfortunately now she too has been written out in a piss poor lets-get-her-out-of-the-door-fast manner that really do not justice to Morrison or her character.

For shows that have been on as long as House it is necessary to shake things up and make some changes to keep it current. I believe the stage for that was successfully set with this season’s premiere. But instead of utilizing on that opportunity the best House writers could come up with was this… I’m trying to find a word that wouldn’t be too horrible but … it has to be rubbish.

I was once told that if you support a football team (as in soccer for our American friends) you stick by them through thick and thin, win, lose, no matter what. I never was one of them whatyoucallthem shippers but I do consider myself a genuine fan of the show. So I am not writing any of this lightly.

But my patience (after 3 years mind you) has worn thin and it is time to bid House goodbye. It has been fun while it lasted but the time has come to see other people

Now where did my put my DVDs of A Bit of Fry and Laurie?

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Dear faithful readers,

I do apologize for things being quiet last week but I was away on a much needed holiday. Yes I do actually go on a holiday in middle of November (no better time actually, well ok perhaps maybe March would be a better time but lets not be fussy).

So I am trying to catch up on my work, others bits and bobs and of course telly watching. I have finally managed to see V week before last (review of that should be up later this week). The only thing I have actually managed to watch since I got back is Supernatural (which was bloody brilliant).

But before I dwell into any of that I would like to ask you to check out the trailer down below.

Yay the new season of Gavin and Stacey starts this Thursday!

Since the Christmas break is upon us, series are winding down and the only thing there will be left to watch will be Charlton Heston as Moses and let-my-people-go combined with a number of Christmassy specials and movies. I would urge you my dear faithful readers to use this time and get your hands on previous two seasons of Gavin and Stacey and give it a watch. Pretty please?

It has the most wonderful bunch of characters, most wonderful story lines and most importantly – it is absolutely hilarious. As you can tell I absolutely love it. Do give it a whirl and let me know if you liked it.

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Dear faithful readers,

by now you know I love me some British comedy. Others might try and usually fail miserably but there is nothing, honestly nothing better then watching an old episode of Ab Fab or Only Fools and Horses to lift your spirits considerably. Plus with this god awful weather we have been having every little bit helps doesn’t it?

So here is a selection of 7 of my favorite British comedy characters.

Tell me dear readers what are your favorite British comedy characters? Is there anyone who gives you the exceptional case of the giggles? Do let us know in the comment section below.

Mr. Humphries (Are You Being Served?)

How can you not just adore Mr. Humphries? I know John Inman was very good as a pantomime dame but honestly to me he will always be the lovely Mr. Humphries with his funny walk and good number of catch phrases.

Victor Meldrew (One Foot In The Grave)

Tee hee need I say more then “I don’t believe it!”? I don’t think so.

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Dear faithful readers,

it is astonishing what filmmakers are doing with Internet these days. Given you can see a lot of (and I really mean A LOT) crap on YouTube these days but I think Joss Whedon paved the way with Dr. Horrible Sing-Along in a sense on the Internet you can get as creative as you like without having a network executives breathing down your neck about whether something is age appropriate or the latest numbers.

The latest Internet concoction comes from one of the writers of Torchwood James Moran and Dan Turner who worked on a number of short movies and finished his first feature length movie The Experiment.

Girl number 9 is a thriller made exclusively for web and can be viewed on canyousaveher.com (starting on October 30th and the content will be available for a month).

Girl Number 9 consists out of 6 5-minute episodes featuring one of my favorite Gareth David Lloyd (Ianto of Torchwood fame) who plays a detective who tries to solve a murder of a group of little girls. He captures the suspect and has him in the interrogation room only to find out the killer managed to capture another girl who will die in 30 minutes on a web cam unless she is found before the time runs out.

It is just my opinion but thrillers are exceptionally difficult to write. That is why when done right I enjoy watching them immensely. Girl Number 9 is not by any means perfect however for the format I think the creators did exceptionally good job.

If you followed the series from the beginning there was the interactive element too since the characters had Twitter streams that do give background to the story.

All in all from what I have seen it is a very good effort and definitely worth checking out.

Source: WebTVHub

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Dear faithful readers,

I still have not gotten around to finally watch V to give an honest review (have you seen it, what did you think, do let us know) but hopefully I will get to it at the latest this weekend since I do want to give it my full attention.

So for the time being I leave you with the trailer for The Fourth Kind. It is directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi and it stars Milla Jovovich. Anything that is labeled as thriller/horror/science fiction gets me intrigued and what is even more intriguing (if early reviews are anything to go by) is that it evoked such a distinctive response from the movie critics. People either seem to love it or hate it. Which in my book usually means the filmmaker did something right.

The Fourth Kind deals with alien abductions and allegedly (allegedly being the operative words) it has been based and in fact integrated some of the actual documented cases and footage into the movie. Me thinks I can smell a poo however I am willing to cut the marketing department some slack – obviously they have to be extra creative these days and all is fair in love and blockbuster war, right? So what if they invented a few aliens

The Fourth Kind will be released tomorrow so if any of you dear faithful readers have seen it do let us know if you loved it or hated it.

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Dear faithful readers,

any UK fans of The Prisoner out there? Because you might be in for a mighty treat.

Are you familiar with the Prisoner? Given the series first premiered in 1967 so for any fans of the show you might skip this bit.

The series was created and stared Patrick McGoohan and it was about a former British secret agent who decides to quit his job. But instead of going on a holiday he finds himself captive in a strange Village which is completely blocked off from mainland. Our character learns he has been given a new name – Number Six. There are hundreds of people living peacefully in the Village and all of them have numbers rather then names. And the numbers are given according to the spot they have in the Village’s hierarchy.

Number Six gets interrogated by the mysterious Number Two who wants to learn why did he resign from his job. Number Six also tries to escape on a number of occasions but his attempts are thwarted by the Village’s security system. The Prisoner was an odd but compelling mixture of spy thriller and science fiction that still has a cult following today.

And now ACM (the network behind Mad Men) and ITV have teamed up and created the remake of the Prisoner. Now before the Prisoner purists (and if Science Fiction fans in general are anything to go by there are bound to be a few Prisoner purists around) start muttering it should not be remade I do think it is a good idea. ACM is going from strength to strength and although I am not an X Factor fan I am a long time fan of ITV’s crime and drama. I think it is a good way to introduce the classic to the younger generations. Just take Battlestar Galatica – I never watched the original but I was a dedicated and avid viewer of the remake.

It does not hurt the project has Ian McKellen on board (I can watch that man in anything) while James Caviezel has been chosen for the role of Number Six.

Anyhow to the point of this post – UK viewers have a chance to win tickets for preview screening of two episodes of The Prisoner at the Odeon West End in London on November 17th.

Just click on the link above and it will take you to the ITV’s The Prisoner website where you have to answer an easy question for your chance to win tickets for the screening. The episodes will be shown on big screen just 48 hours after the show premieres on ACM network in the States and a number of people who worked on the show will be present so it would be a great treat for genuine fans. You can check out the trailer from this year’s Comic Con down below.

And if you do go, do drop us a note and tell us how it was.

And for our American readers – the series premieres on ACM network on November 15th.

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Dear faithful readers,

down below you can find the trailer for Clint Eastwood’s latest movie Invictus.

Invictus has not even been released yet however there is quite an Oscar buzz about it already. Invictus is based on a book written by John Carlin called “Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the game that changed a nation”.

It concentrates on the period after Nelson Mandela was released from prison and became the president of South Africa. Since it was the time when apartheid fell Mandela felt he should find a way to bring his nation together. And he decided to use the 1995 Rugby World Cup as means to unite his nation once again. He roped in the captain of the South Africa Rugby team Francois Pienaar to help him bridge the gap between the blacks and whites in South African community. Morgan Freeman is cast as Nelson Mandela while Matt Damon got the role of Francois Pienaar.

I do have to admit I never was a great fan of Clint Eastwood’s. That was until he started directing movies.

I can honestly say I have not seen one movie he directed that I didn’t like (yes even the Space Cowboys, I thought it was funny But it does have to be said that some of his offerings (Mystic River, Gran Torino and Million Dollar Baby come to mind) can be a bit difficult to watch. Well… not just a bit, an awful lot difficult to watch. Do not get me wrong – I love movies that make me think and discuss them for days after I have seen them but some of Eastwood movies can leave you reeling in shock. I remember watching Gran Torino and totally loving it but in the back of my mind there was a thought – something awful is going to happen. And it did. So I love the fact I do not have to be in my happy place before I see Invictus

Check out the trailer below.

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