Martyrs

I'm a pretty open minded person, I'll watch most things on TV really. You can't say you hate it if you haven't seen it. Of course you can say it constantly during and after but not before. I'm also a big advocate of foreign cinema, little bit of reading never hurt anyone. Unless its a blind guy reading braille on a touch sensitive bomb. But the chances of that happening are unlikely outside a new season of 24. All of these reasons is why I decided to watch Martyrs which is a French horror/mystery according to Wikipedia. Now firstly, most horrors are mystery films but don't claim to be. "Who's murdering", "Why are they murdering", "Was it with the crowbar in the kitchen?". All of these I would class as mysteries really. Of course it depends on the film but lets not get bogged down in the details. I'm not adverse to gore really, I found myself tittering my way through Saw VI. But this film was a bit too much. It was just foul, I felt like giving up defending any film with graphic content and just supporting anything that Chris Tookey at the Daily Mail reviews well. It was just plain horrible. But maybe the story would save it. Would it fuck. I won't spoil it for you, but the films spoils it itself. Just by it being plainly shit. It makes sense, but I just thought "Naaa". Overall, I feel a bit emptier inside and very let down.

To cheer me up though I slotted into episode two of Misfits the new superhero show on E4. Its pretty good still, the writing is actually quite witty. Its just the coiffured fool delivering the lines the irks me. I hope they go a bit Skins with it and focus on different characters every week though. Not sure I can take an entire series of his Irish "charm".

Misfits, Comedy Showcase & Miranda

So E4 have done the right thing and taken the only two good shows they've made (apart from The Inbetweeners) and made a new hybrid of sorts. Well loosely. The shows I refer to of course are Skins and Dead Set. The first being the best drama of the decade and the latter being in my top 5 zombie things of all time (In order: 1. Dawn Of The Dead 2. The Walking Dead 3. Shaun Of The Dead 4. Left 4 Dead 5. Dead Set (Dead)). Actually I'd probably swap it for 28 Days Later. But that doesn't have dead at the end. So Misfits is pretty much Skins meets Heroes. First episode introduces the raft of distinctly unlikeable characters. There's a chavy one (She's vulnerable though! Awww), the slutty one, the strong one, the quiet one and the chatty, jokey, pointlessly Irish and overly punchable one. While watching the show this morning (and slightly day-dreaming about the brutal deaths they could commit on the latter character) I pondered whether its about time some shit super powers were brought in to play. Like in The Lost Room, which I watched before, they had objects with pointless powers. This was a breath of fresh air. Surely if powers are given by chance (we obviously don't know yet in this show, there was big bits of hail in the murky storm) then someone should have the power to chat to squirrels, smell limestone or change the size and shape of their anus. I hope something like this is brought in to the show. I somehow doubt it though. Although no-one has been able to fly yet and they even referenced the cliché in the episode. This could be like a Skins in comparison to Grange Hill in terms of genre revitilization. I hope so, as its enjoyable, shot on that same lovely filter as Dead Set and is undoubtedly going to be full of sex, gore and swearing. Lovely.

Channel 4 have got a Comedy Showcase season again. Which is good, new comedy is always good isn't it. Isn't it? Well not always, but more about that later. Last week was Campus which was from the makers of/producers of/someone who once saw Green Wing. Which is a selling point for me. Like putting "From the producers of Superbad" on any comedy is a winner for idiots. Somehow though the program just didn't come together, it may have been because it was a pilot but it more felt like there was no-one really interesting in it. I don't know if its just me I found all the characters unlikeable and tiring. I'm fully aware that half the characters are made to be that but I still felt nothing for them. Empty. I'm sorry Campus, I just. I just can't do it. Its not you its me. Tonight I met (saw) Phoneshop instead. This show on paper looked terrible. In many ways it is as well. But it was quite enjoyable, some good jokes (best was probably the Ross Kemp one from the trailer) and some good characters. Should be more characters though. Five is not enough. Especially when two are made out to be pretty much the same. I'm looking forward to next weeks now. I hope its the one with Will Arnett in. We all love Will Arnett.

You can tell that the BBC is funded by the taxpayer. Else why would anyone choose to make shit sitcoms like Miranda unless you had to. Its got everything you hate about sitcoms. It looks cheap, filmed on around 3 sets, has those same actors you see in everything and worst of all, isn't written by Graham Lineham. Admittedly I liked that Lee Mack one they did. At least that was just him doing bad joke after bad joke. It felt like Friday night comedy, run down after a hard week, beer in hand, dog snoring on the floor, fire blazing. Happy memories. This though. This is made for people that like ITV and read the Daily Mail. Primairly everyone you could say. Poor old Miranda is reduced to making a show about her being lonely and fat as well. Its a shame because she was good in stuff like Hyperdrive. But I guess its in your contract if you're a comedic actor at the BBC. "Do at least one sketch show/sitcom of poor to average quality". In summary, its the worst sitcom I've seen all year. Well probably, I imagine I've blanked the rest out. Hopefully I will for this too.

Modern Warfare 2 (2) & Them Crooked Vultures

So sleep does not come. Its a common problem for me. As soon as the lights are off and the night is silent I suddenly decide to take the time to send myself into a panic about everything and nothing. Its worse now when I have nothing to get up for, my sleeping patterns can get very bizarre very quickly when you only sleep when you're tired. Lucky for me tonight has brought me a 5am bounty of things to enjoy and ponder. I earlier wrote about the furore over the new Call Of Duty. It raised a lot of emotions in me, mostly about my dislike for the Daily Mail and the constant games bashing of middle England. But also the realisation that I really wish I had bought the game. Well fate was shining down on me tonight, seems unfortunate that luck only creeps towards me at this time of night though. A small trip to Sainsburys (virtually, our branch is closed for refurbishment) has shown that you can pick up the game for the insulting price of £26. That's more than half the RRP, on the day it comes out. I'm not really sure how I feel about it. Delighted that I got it for that price. Also the fuck you to Activision's frankly unfair £54.99 price-tag. Well actually pretty happy all round really. Its a shame that proper game retailers can't compete with that price but at least they can still deal in second hand games for their profit.

The other plunder preventing my late night slumber is the Them Crooked Vultures album which has leaked. By them. To Youtube. Is that a leak? Because the cat is most definitely out of the hat now. Anyway, I'm up to track six (Scumbag Blues) at this point and so far so good. At this rate it may creep into my inevitable top albums of the year list. I may actually get cracking with that soon, I can barely remember what's come out this year. Let alone what I've actually enjoyed. So a good head start will do me well.

Modern Warfare 2

So tonight the biggest game in history saunters on to shelves on a wave of five stars and 100%'s. Almost as predictable as the reviews is the moral outcry against it. Including the rather fantastic statement on the Daily Mail website that players "could plot terror attacks against civilians". This is of course nonsense of the highest degree, taking something completely out of context. But this is also the world we still live in. Video games make more money than any other medium of entertainment, the Wii has even brought gaming into the living room (albeit through the medium of scales and waggling). Yet still the Daily Mail and its blinded followers cannot realise that just because its a video game that doesn't mean its for children. Its got an 18 certificate for a reason, its not there just to make it look like a DVD case. Its there to prevent little Jimmy from blowing off a terrorists head after a tough day of SATS tests. Its like we're in the moral outcry of Betamaxes of Evil Dead circa late 80's all over again. Keith Vaz even had the moral superiority to raise the issue in parliament while opening with the statement "I've neither played nor seen the game". This does not mean you are on the high horse for avoiding it, it means you have no idea what you're fucking talking about. Thankfully my new hero Tom Watson shot him down (HEADSHOT) with a surprisingly knowledgeable viewpoint. Even saying he took the time to see the game. Probably lucky enough to get his pre-order delivered early. Probably on expenses too. Lucky git. He also has taken the time to set up a Facebook group called Gamers' Voice with which he aims to set up a pressure group to stand up for the industry as a whole. This is new ground now, maybe we're on the road to change? Who knows, its too early to say. But with around 3,000 members already after one day you can't shake the feeling that something may well be afoot.