Time Changing Troubles

They've done it again! The big tv corporation has given no consideration to a loyal fanbase and has just moved a favourite tv programme. BBC did it not long ago with Waterloo Road, leaving loyal fans waiting a whole month for the dramatic finale then rushing through both episodes in two days, confusing many by showing the second episode on a Friday. I shouldn't complain. The BBC had no idea a gun man was going to go on a rampage in Cumbria and that they'd have to move Holby City. I can blame the football... but I've done that many times. The point is, looking back in a calmer state of mind I can see the logic behind these events. Tonight I settled down at 10pm to watch Being Erica, to find it has been replaced by The Sex Education Show... not only that, a REPEAT! Moving fresh american tv for a repeat of an odd Channel 4 documentary! No, I just don't get it. It's now on from midnight until 1am... well that's not a very sociable time is it! Pfft. I'm going to watch it tomorrow morning on 4od over breakfast. If 4od is working *evils*

Sleep Shakey Stacey is a VIP!

I promised you something for the non- doctor who fans and here it is! In fact it's not about TV at all. Clearly my superior reviewing skillz are beginning to become well known, as today I received an invite to the premier of Bury's brand new shiny cinema, and to see Toy Story 3! A film not yet released in the UK. Charlie McDonnell eat your heart out. There's a new girl on the internet celebrity scene. No I'm totally kidding, but I did get an invite to Bury's new cinema, courtesy of a close friend on the staff *wavey*. I apologize for saying skillz...
This raised a real issue for me. What does one wear to a preview like this? Since it was VIP guests only (aka staff friends and family) I decided it was better to be over dressed, than under dressed. Little black dress never goes wrong ;)
So my friend Emma and I got there half an hour early for the film, drove around for a good 15 minutes trying to find a good parking space before settling about 5 minutes walk away. Or a 3 minute dash in the pouring rain. Have you ever had to get past a bouncer to get into the cinema? It's not easy. "Is your name on the guest list?" The guy growled. "Our friend works here" We smiled... then realised how much of a blag that sounded. Fortunately our winning smiles got us through the elusive glass doors. Following the recent trend in cinemas, there's nothing on A floor. A steep escalator leads to B floor... actually there's nothing there either at the moment. Well there are toilets, but nothing else. Rumour has it there's gonna be a Chiqito's there. I'm not over fussed about Chiqito’s. There's a Frankie and Benny's just round the corner though. Cocktails and New York Chicken to die for is now only a bus ride away. Hell yeah, Bury is going up in the world. There's another steep escalator leading to C floor, where the actual cinema is. God help us if these escalators ever break down. It's a hell of a climb. So we got to the cinema doors to hear the familiar chimes of "You know it's VIP guests only tonight right girls?" Fortunately said close friend was not too far away and finally, we were in. Now, I definitely recommend these VIP events to anyone. Not only did we not have to pay for tickets, we also got free popcorn and a drink! So, the new cinema's got an awesome new waiting area with some high stools, some tables and chairs, and some deliciously comfy couches. The food and tickets area is pretty much like the one at the printworks in Manchester... pretty standard, nothing to write home about there. Something that did disturb us slightly about the waiting area was a TV showing CCTV of the various cinema screens. I have no problem with CCTV; it's just the fact that this screen was available in the waiting area where anyone can watch it. It was a rather large screen as well, similar to the ones used to display trailers, and I really couldn't see any need for it.
Since we'd come this far, we decided to go sit in the VIP seats in the cinema. Many cinemas now have these seats, but for those not aware they are slightly larger than the regular seats, have wider arm rests and more leg room. Verrry comfortable. No word as of yet as to how much these special seats will cost, but I'm going to guess that they are not going to be worth it. But then again I've not tried the regular seats yet... maybe they are evilly uncomfortable. One the great advantages on the new cinema is that it had adopted the slanted seating area that has been at the printworks for YEARS! Fortunately, this means your view need no longer be blocked by a tall person sitting in front of you. Yay! One tiny complaint, the projector seems to catch on the seats, and since the arms are quite shiny they reflect this light back. It's rather distracting and I spent the first half of the film thinking someone behind us was shining a torch light.
Overall the new cinema is a vast improvement on the old one. I think some of those screens hadn't been updated since the cinema was first built. The new one has a very fresh feel and brings Bury into line with the superior cinemas such as those in Manchester and the Trafford Centre. Its biggest advantage though is its proximity. It wasn't so bad since my friend Emma learned to drive, but before going to the cinema was a complete chore due to a crappy bus system. It pretty much meant complete reliance on parents, which meant no seeing anything that finished after 10pm. New cinema is going to be a lot more accessible... at least if you live in the Bury area. Shame for the people who live near the old cinema though.
I don't want to do any spoilers for Toy Story 3. I really recommend you go see it, especially if you loved the original. Andy is now all grown up and leaving for college. A genius move on behalf of the Pixar team as this is something that many of the original Toy Story kids are currently experiencing. It's an incredibly emotional time in any young person’s life and made the whole story very relatable. That's the great thing about this film. My friends and I thought it was awesome, one of the best films we've seen this year (on par with Get Him to the Greek "furry wall!!!"), but it can also be appreciated by a much younger audience. Though I'd say some of the scary bits go far beyond mild peril. I'm going to be seeing that tambourine playing monkey in my nightmares...
p.s. 3D is also very immersive and none gimicky. Producers take note!

This Box Smells Like Time Lord Sweat

I passed my exams! Second year of university; sorted. I am a very Happy Bunny. Considering the amount I gave up to do well in these exams, the amount of stuff I missed, the amount of my social life that tragically died, I decided I'd earned a little treat. You might have gathered that I'm a bit of a fan of Doctor Who, so I bought myself the series 1-4 box set (half price on Amazon, woop woop!). It got delivered at half 9 this morning, much to the disgust of my mum who was woken up by the postie knocking on the door. It smells amazing by the way. I got stuck in straight away, and have watched the first three episodes already. As I write this I've got the DVD extras running. I love extras. Gives you some interesting things to say when watching with other people... well I think it's interesting... some people disagree.

This is difficult for me. I'm just going to come out and say it. I don't like Christopher Eccleston. I've not seen the first series of the "Nu-Who". Before today I had only seen "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances". First appearance of Captain Jack and all :P. So the majority of my Doctor Who experience has been under the charge of David Tennant's Doctor. You wouldn't think that there would be such a big difference between the two different actors portrayal. There have been pages and pages written about how David is less serious and more eccentric. Matt Smith has followed in these converse prints, taking the character to higher levels of quirkiness. As the Doctors entire brain re-wires when he regenerates it doesn't surprise me that his personality is subject to such dramatic change. This is also seen quite clearly in the first episode of season 4, resulting in the legendary Fish Custard. What bugs me about Christopher Eccleston's Doctor is his lack of concern for other people. Whereas David's character desperately wanted to save everyone, and took every death, no matter how minor the character, as a personal insult, Chris takes death in his stride, forgetting about Mickey in the first episode, barely considering Jabe's sacrifice (the tree girl who burned) and leaving poor Gwyneth to burn too. Three episodes in though. Let's see how the character progresses.

Ultimately I wonder if my view of Christopher Eccleston has been tainted by rumours regarding his early exit from the series. On the first DVD there is an interview with him from the BBC Breakfast show. The interviewer asks if he is planning to return for the next series and he replies that he "can't answer" and isn't even thinking about it at the moment, because he's just finished an 8 month stint. To my eyes it seems he's already made up his mind at that point, that he doesn't want to be in the next series. I can't remember whether the series ends in his regeneration, but I'm going to wait and find out rather than googling it now :P There's still much discussion about why Christopher left Doctor Who after only the one season. Russell T. Davis' comments that the actor left because he felt over worked have been quickly refuted by the actor, who claims that he left because he "didn't enjoy the environment and the culture that [they], the cast and crew, had to work in". I've not heard complaints from anyone else who works on Doctor Who, but it's not impossible that they'd be hushed up. According to Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) and Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones), it can't be that bad. Both first appeared in bit parts before reappearing as full time assistants. After leaving Doctor Who, Freema continued to do guest appearances in the show, and also appeared in spin off show Torchwood. Let's face it, even a death in Doctor Who doesn't mean you can't come back, and people come back again and again. I'd like to think a part of this is that the Doctor Who team are a lot of fun to work with. Or maybe that's just my idealistic side refusing to believe there's something dark going on behind the scenes of a show which brings me so much joy. Speaking of people who keep coming back, Gwyneth in “The Unquiet Dead” is played by Eve Myles who went on to play Gwen in Torchwood. The role was apparently written with her in mind. There just mustn’t be enough actresses in the UK! Just goes to show, never turn down a role in Doctor Who, no matter how small.

Coming up for Doctor Who fans, I've got a review of the Adventure Games in the works and coming up for non Doctor Who fans... electric shock treatment! No! I kid! I joke! I will find something for non Doctor Who fans. Watch this space!

I've got a couple of things I want to chat about tonight. This might turn into a bit of a lengthy blog, so to make things a bit easier I'm going to break it up into paragraphs, each one on a particular topic, and hopefully make it as easy as possible for you to find whatever interests you. Here we go.
1. Freeview rant
2. Eclipse UK premier rant
3. Jonathon Ross
4. Lindsey Lohan
5. Doctor Who

1. Firstly, I'm home from uni right now, back living at my parents’ house. Now, for reasons beyond our control, we get our television signal from what they call a "relay station". This means rather than getting a proper TV signal, we get a copied signal from a proper station. Of course, like all copies, this process degrades the quality of our signal. In short, we get crappy Freeview. We get the BBC channels, ITV1, ITV2, ITV2+1, five, 4, 4+1, More 4 and E4. Oh and Rabbit and Gay Rabbit, because it seems no matter how effed up your Freeview is, you always get Gay Rabbit. Like it's the most important channel in the world. I've spend a lot of time messing around trying to get Freeview boxes to work for various people, and it works even when nothing else will. Anways, I'm missing several key channels here. I'm missing Sky3, so no Project Runway for me. I don't get Film4, which is really annoying because they do show good films every now and then. I'm missing fiver and Five USA... uhhh... yeah I'm not really missing much there... and I'm missing Sky Sports. Well no complaints there. Living with two male housemates, I've had enough Sky Sports to last me a lifetime! Most of these channels I can get using the TV in the living room, which has FreeSky, though this does lead to some rather nasty remote fights. Almost lost an eye. What really gets to me is that I have completely lost access to Dave and Dave+1. So no reruns of QI, Mock the Week and Have I Got News For You. I'm going to miss the comedy! I know they are just repeats, but sometimes you just need a little light viewing; something to have on in the background while you type up a bitchy blog. In the absence of Dave, I'm typing this up whilst listening to Muse. If I come back from this holiday even whineier and emo than ever, you just blame Dave, okay? On a side note, my internet connection is also a shambles. I feel like I'm living in the dark ages here. Roll on September!

2. Nextly (yes that’s a word, so shut up, you silly paper clip), I want to have a little rant about the Twilight Eclipse stars not showing up to the UK premier. I'm not as much of a Twilight fan girl as I used to be. Thanks you Alex Day for showing me the light. However, it still disgusts me to see actors treating their fans in such a manner. From what I can gather, Robert Pattinson (never R-Patz, urgh) had contractual obligations, i.e. he was working on another film, and so couldn't make it. Excuse me? So this new film is giving you no time off? You are working 24 hours a day with no sleep? I don't think Mr Pattinson is aware that without Twilight, all he would be remembered for would be a forgettable performance as Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter. Yes, I do know he was in Remember Me, but I have no doubt that he would not have got that role without first being in Twilight, seeing as that film seems to have been sold straight to the twi-hards. Don't believe me? Check out the trailer.

Robert Pattinson plays angsty, deep, troubled young man. Check. Quirky, different female lead. Check. Overcoming obstacles to be together. Check. Deep quotes about being "together forever". Check. It's Twilight, minus the vampire thing (if you can call the abominations in Twilight vampires). Kristen Stewart has made no secret of the fact that she does not enjoy working on the Twilight films, and wants the whole thing to be over with as quickly as possible. It wouldn't surprise me if she spent the evening practising looking miserable and confused. Is the girl capable of smiling? Jury is still out. Taylor Lautner... well I can kind of imagine he said "if the other two aren't going, neither am I”. Maybe he's got another film in the works, but neither him nor Kristen have published any kind of excuse as of yet. It doesn't look like we're going to get anything from them. I guess I'm most annoyed at Robert though. It may be difficult to remember, since no-one has heard his real accent since Harry Potter, but the guy is English! He was born and raised in London. His first major role was in an English film, based on an English book. Looks like he's doing all he can to push his English history out of people’s memories. I hope it brings him happiness.
Oh go on then, while I'm yakking about films, make sure you see Get Him To The Greek. It's awesome. I've seen it twice. It's even funnier if you've seen Russell Brands "Scandalous". I'll say no more. Watch it.

3. On to happier and more TV related topics, I'm glad to report that Jonathon Ross will not be disappearing from our screens after his last Friday Night With Jonathon Ross this Friday. He's signed a contract with ITV to host a new chat show which will be airing late next year, and reportedly plans to take a break in-between. Personally, I'm thrilled. I've already said I think the whole thing with Andrew Sachs was blown way out of proportion. Did you know only a handful of people complained after the original broadcast? It only became an issue after The Daily Mail reported on it, and encouraged readers to complain. I look forward to his new show, though I am a little concerned that the ITV player is terrible compared to the BBC i-player... so let's hope the show is on at a time that I can watch it live.

4. NEXT! Lindsay Lohan gets 90 days in jail for missing alcohol education classes. Well about time. You gave her every chance. It's another case of film stars thinking they are more important than everyone else. It's not on and Pattinson has already used up my "quota of patience for the day" (obscure in-joke, but shout if you get it :P). If I'd been up for that many charges of reckless driving, drunk driving and drug charges, I'd have been put away for a lot longer than 90 days. She should count her lucky stars. She says she did the best she could to balance working and showing up to court and classes. Firstly, the classes should come before working, and if the producer doesn't understand, leave the film! Secondly, what filming was she doing? I haven't seen her anything for ages! Not since she got fired from Ugly Betty. I do wish the best to her though, and I hope she gets her life back and track and gets her priorities in order.

5. And finally... good news for Doctor Who Fans! The series may be over, but the fun still continues on the Doctor Who Website (LINKY!) They've got the Doctor Who Adventure Games (full review coming soon) another new game coming soon called The History Hunt and a whole load of extras for every episode (it's where The Midget and I got our nifty Smiler masks!). They also promise they are going to keep on giving us lots of lovely treats to fill the void until Christmas. Rah! If you still need a bit more Doctor in your day, I also recommend becoming a fan of "Doctor Who and the Tardis" on facebook (LINKY!). They do some lovely little status updates and post nice pictures to help you remember all the good times. For anyone who has just started this season, seasons 1-4 are on Amazon for £50 at the moment... hmm, might have to have those when I get paid...

The Gap In My Life... and Russell Brand

He's left me. He's gone. He's left this great big gaping gap in my wall... sorry life. He'll be away for months. What if it's not the same when he comes back? What if I no longer find his jokes funny or his quirky dress sense adorable? Nah that could never be. I am of course wittering about the fact that Doctor Who will not be on again until Christmas! You might think that my whining is a little over dramatic. It's only one tiny little show. The hole in my life is only 45 minutes a week. Right? Wrong! You see, there's a lot more than just the show. The fun starts on Saturday afternoon, going on the website and finding the weeks activity. Usually something to print, cut and make. Here's my brother and I in a rather fetching pair of Smiler masks.

Then we get drinks and snacks and settle down in front of the TV. That's about a half hour of prep BEFORE the show even starts. Then the 45 minute show. Then the post show discussion with my mum and brother. Say 15 minutes. They are not obsessive. Sometime later that night I'll log onto msn for post show discussion with fellow whovians (half an hour) and the haters (at least an hour). During this time I'll be going through the facebook news feed liking and commenting on Who related statuses. Sometime that night, or maybe the next day, there's blogs to be read (half an hour). On Sunday I watch Doctor Who Confidential on the BBC i-player(45 minutes). Some point during the week, I usually end up watching the episode again, either with a friend who missed it the first time, or because I'm writing about it (45 minutes). Are you counting this? That's 4 and a half hours a week I've got to fill. That's about the same amount of hours I spent in psych lectures in my first year! I could take Doctor Who as a degree with the amount of time I spend on it! I tell you this not to emphasise what a massive nerd I am, but hopefully to get you to understand why I feel there's a gap in my life. In fact, there are some people I no longer have anything to say to! Doctor Who is not just a show. It became a major part of my social world!

I was just coming to terms with the fact that there would be no Doctor, no Bow-Tie and no running tonight, when my mum delivered some sad news. There would also be no Casualty tonight. It seems the BBC is quite determined to kill my Saturday. I've been home a week, and I'm already dreaming of campus. I needed that episode of Casualty. That episode of Casualty, was keeping me sane. What happened? The flipping World Cup happened. I've made my views on this televising travesty well known. Let’s face it; everyone has Sky Sports by now. We've had a digital revolution. If people want the football, they can watch it on a sports channel. Or on the red button! Why, oh why, must you change my regular schedule to pander to these sports freaks! It's not like England are even playing! Who is playing? I haven't got a clue... *goes check* Paraguay and Spain. *sigh* And Spain won. Well I could have told you that! And I don't pay attention to the football, other than to bitch when it gets in my way.

I've done this rant before. I'm sorry for repeating myself, but I feel it's important you understand quite how fed up and bored I was when I curled up on the sofa with a double chocolate chip cookie, just before 10pm this evening. It made me do something quite out of character.

I have never been a fan of Russell Brand. I'm not some no-life Daily Mail reader, and I do appreciate the whole situation with Andrew Sachs was blown completely out of proportion. It's just he's always come across as a rather egotistical and immature low-life, who pulled stunts just to be controversial and get his name in the papers. I was amused by his performance in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but it was only a small role, and surely he was just delivering lines written by someone else. I put it to the back of my mind and didn't think anymore of it until Thursday night. I'd seen he was in a new film called Get Him to The Greek. Despite myself I thought I'd go see if he could pull it off twice. I didn't realise until the film started that it was in fact a spinoff of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, featuring Russell as the same character, rock star Aldous. I thought the film was hilarious. One for the 18-30's, don't take your parents (unless they are pretty open minded), and CERTAINLY don't take the kids.

I'm going off point again. These events led me this evening, at 10pm to notice that Russell Brand was doing stand up on Channel 4, from the "Scandalous" show. I didn't expect much. I flicked it on. "5 minutes" I told myself, "He's got 5 minutes to impress me". An hour later I was almost sorry to see the credits roll. He wasn't at all like I expected from what I've seen before. His take on the whole Andrew Sachs incident was really interesting. The man really can't believe the whole media storm but has taken it in his stride and shrugged it off in his usual confident manner. He also talked at length about presenting the VMAs. I'd seen a little of the show, and heard he'd made a disgrace of himself, turning up drunk and forgetting his script. What I didn't know was that he'd written a script, and did indeed remember it, but realised after his first joke that the script would not go down well with the American audience. Yes, he should have realised this a little earlier, perhaps tested out the script on a small pilot audience, but knowing that, it makes his presenting that little bit less shocking. He even mocks the way the Daily Mail reports him, predicting headlines from the jokes he tells. While the jokes were mildly controversial, particularly the ones about Michael Jackson or religion, it is possible to see how they could be spun out of perspective to sound a hell of a lot more shocking. In conclusion, it's changed my perspective on Russell Brand, and I'm hopefully going to check out a bit more of his work, see if this was just a one off. I've got to admit, I feel a little confused. If you'd have told me in November that I'd be skipping the early Eclipse showings and watching Russell Brand instead, I've have called you a liar. I guess a lot can change in a few months.

Hopefully the gap in my life will be closed quite soon. Filming continues on Season 3 of Being Human, which should hit our screens some time in autumn, just in time for the nights to get longer. There's nothing quite like snuggling up in bed on a dark night and watching the bloodshed with a nice glass of red. In season 1, the threat was the other monsters, Herrick, Tully and like. In season 2, the threat was human, coming from CenSSA. Now, Season 3, "The Threat Comes From Within". I reckon it's got to me Mitchell going cold turkey. He finished season 2 with a major blood binge, and now he's got to pay the price. We've been promised some big stars this season, though I'll be happiest if they bring back Sykes <3. style="color: rgb(102, 0, 204);">Eastenders. Mitchell meets her "on the other side" as he tries to save Annie, so she must be some sort of ghost. We've also been promised one of the following "witch/zombie/demon/banshee/warlock/goblin/fairy/pixie/angel". Since a lot of the action is taking place on the other side, I think it's going to be either a demon or an angel, and if it's Lacey Turner, my money's on demon, because she plays the bad girl quite well. Also picked up from the twitter, there's going to be a lot of blood (well duh) and some definite staking action (hell yeah!).

WAIT! I hear you cry. That's not on until autumn, what am I to do until then! Well I've been focusing on enjoying the little things in life. Playing my guitar, painting faces, trying to learn to cook... TV wise, we're having a slow time of it. The new season of Being Erica is not to be missed, though it's becoming rather predictable. Erica wants to change something, goes back in time and learns a valuable lesson about herself, which is relevant to whatever drama in her life that week... kind of like Scrubs... but with time travel. Heck, what am I saying, that's an awesome show! Sunday/Wednesday is the season finale of Desperate Housewives, so expect big deaths and bigger cliff-hangers. I've checked the schedule for you (because I'm nice like that) and Desperate Housewives is being replaced with... Big Brother *headdesk* so get ready to fill another gap in your evening. Suggestion coming up soon ;) Thursday nights retain their comedy mix with Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother and new girl Accidentally On Purpose. And it all goes downhill from there :P Seriously, looks like it's time to find a new hobby because there's not going to be a lot on TV for a while *hopes to be proved wrong*.

Ah yes, my suggestion to fill the gap. I've just started watching The IT Crowd, on a recommendation from a friend. I am three episodes in and liking it so far. It's a little step out of the ordinary for me. I usually like my sitcoms a little more realistic and the characters in this show are like caricatures... or you know, it's a show about people with psychiatric disorders and I haven't realised it yet... I also realised with this show that my ability to distinguish between English and American accents has apparently disappeared. It's easy when it's in context. When Captain Jack first beamed into Doctor Who, I knew he was American. He sounded different. Likewise, when Emily first appeared in FRIENDS, I knew she was English (because she was a STEREOTYPE!!!), but watching The IT Crowd I realised I had no idea whether the show was English or American. It had a very American Sitcom feel, so I pegged it as American, before I realised the character of Roy is played by Chris O'Dowd who plays Simple Simon in The Boat That Rocked (one of my all time favourite films, very British). Anyways, good British sitcom :O and all 4 seasons are currently available on 4od. A friend recommended I whack in a link to the shows website when I talk about a new show. I'm going to do one better than that, I'm going to give you a link straight to the first episode, because I reckon you're a bit tired of reading by now :P CLICK ME