03/02/2006
IT Crowd
Looks really awful from the trailers, mainly because of Richard Ayoade.
So, how's the programme itself?
It's actually pretty good. It's a trad sitcom, shot on video with a
laugh track, which is also really good news - I loathe the
Green-Wing/Nighty-Night/Office style sitcoms that feel that just because
they're 'modern' means they don't have to be funny and seem to be
absolutely everywhere on TV right now. The writing, as we would expect
from Graham Linehan, is very sparky; Richard Ayoade is still awful, but
looks like he may well become more funny as the series goes on
(certainly, he seems to improve between episode 1, where he's
tooth-grindingly bad, and episode 2, where at least one of his lines
works). The set designers have done their homework (EFF stickers, Texas
Chainsaw Massacre poster, RTFM T-shirt), and the attention to detail
is really quite likeable. And, most importantly, it's funny.
The second episode is much better than the first, by the way, so do
stick with it. If you don't, Channel Four will recommission 'Balls of
Steel'. Please, think of your sanity.
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28/11/2005
"The whole sordid saga"
This
tale tells you everything you need to know about what's wrong with the
Hollywood system. More than a hundred rewrites, plot changes, a huge
number of different writers, more directors, and Jon "Wild Wild West"
Peters. What's worse is that this isn't the only such tale around - if
you've ever read about what happened to the script of "Last Action
Hero", the entire thing rings true.
And it makes you lose any respect for J.J. Abrams whatsoever...
[via Metafilter.]
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26/11/2005
Random links
Just a few random things...
-
RIP George Best.
Shame it took so long.
-
Most
unnecessary reunion ever?
-
"Dick
and Dom slam BBC over quiz". Nothing whatsoever to do with
the fact that their truly dire Saturday morning show has just been
cancelled, of course... (I do agree it was really badly done, though,
but I thought D&D were the main reasons for it.)
-
Actually,
this isn't actually a bad idea as far as road tolls go; the
headline £4 toll only applies between 4PM and 6PM (like the current
system, only one way), and only for single-occupancy cars; if the car
has more than one person, it's £2, and at non-peak it stays as it is
(currently £1). Since the Forth Road Bridge is falling apart, it
really does need fixing, there's park-and-rides all around the
Edinburgh area...
-
Aerial rocks. So does AFX's Hangable Auto Bulb
compilation.
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25/10/2005
The Reduced Star Wars
Best animated GIFs ever.
Star Wars in 168K: <http://www.b3ta.com/board/5247035>
Empire in 211K: <http://www.b3ta.com/board/5254259>
Can't wait for Jedi...
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23/06/2005
Beam me up, please...
entry posted by Inquisitor at 19:57
(permalink).
edited on: 23/06/2005 20:01.
categories: Funny
, Idiots
If you read one thing today, read this: <http://blogs.salon.com/0003522/2005/06/06.html#a576>.
It will blow your mind, as you wonder... What exactly is that
First Amendment thing anyway, and does it really apply anymore?
Kudos to the mother, though: that's exactly the right reaction to such a
truly silly situation.
[Oh yeah, via Boing
Boing and Pharyngula.]
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Reasons for BitTorrent #1...
I've just obtained another huge cache of I'm
Sorry I Haven't A Clue MP3s. Some kind souls have dubbed their
entire radio-tape collections into MP3 format going right back to
episode one, and posted them on the ukn*** torrent site; meaning that I
have hour after hour of Humph and co available at my disposal. And it's
really good to have, too - there's nothing better than having an instant
laugh available at a hit of the RANDOM key. Courtesy of the various
torrents, I'm not missing that many ISIHACs - and mostly early
ones, I'm complete from 1996 onwards - and 32kbit MP3, which most of
them are in, is still very listenable for speech radio.
Not much of this will ever be released on tape or CD - there's seven
whole days of it - and BBC7 won't repeat everything. So torrents like
these provide a sort of public service - preserving the programme's
memory. Besides, this form of sharing isn't new at all - tape traders
have been doing it since the invention of the cassette recorder, and the
Internet simply allows the rest of us to get in on the act. Plus there's Just
a Minute (right back to the very first episode) and Radio Active
and The Mary Whitehouse Experience and much much more unreleased
brilliant material out there, and that's not even counting the archive
TV... Some torrent sites are about more than porn and warez, you know,
and it's all the better for it.
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