Courtesy of Focus Feature

Everyone knows the story, well everyone should know the story.  Some of you might be too young.

Back in the sixties, probably the best rock decades in the history of music, if not one of the best.  Rock was actually banned from airing on the radios.  The doing of uptight bureaucrats who believe that listening to rock & roll will taint and corrupt the mind of its people.  Could you believe that?  People actually think that rock & roll is bad for you.  Kind of like what todays uptight bureaucrat believe of rated ‘R’ movies and violent video games, or what Reverend Shaw Moore thought of dancing in Footloose.

Because it was illegal to broadcast rock & roll, radio station outsmarted the government and decided to broadcast from boats in international waters, where the government had no authority, and this is where this movie picks up.

The movie follows the lives of 8 rogue radio DJs of the most popular pirate radio station of its time, Radio Rock, they all pretty  much lives on this boat off the coast of England.  The movie is all about the love and fun of rock & roll and it shows it with 8 different but eclectic characters, but it is not without any drama.  The government is trying everything it can to try to shut them down.  The government would rather have its people listen to classical music and jazz than have their airwaves polluted with rock & roll.  There is also the drama of ego and discoverence.  All this adds up to one funny movie.

It is a british movie, so you have to be ready for that.  Surprisingly, the comedy isn’t as dry as you would expect, but it isn’t as laugh out loud funny as it was touted.  The story and writing is pretty good, but it is pretty garbled at times.  The one thing that does live up to the movie and it shouldn’t be any surprise is the music.  The music is absolutely fabulous.

This is an absolutely great assemble cast.  Philip Seymour Hoffman first of all is probably the best actor today, bar none.  Add that with a who’s who of british actors and this makes for one great cast and they don’t disappoint.  You even have the entire The IT Crowd cast in this movie.

The movie is funny and witty with some drama to advance the story.  It has an absolute great soundtrack and cast.  But the story and editing sometimes feel garbled, plus I liked the original title, The Boat That Rocked, better than US title, Pirate Radio.

Pirate Radio gets a 3.5 out of 5.

Little spoiler.  The end credit has the cover art of a bunch of albums.  The one that stood out for me.  Taylor Swift – Fearless.

Jen ist genervt von ihrem BH, der schlecht sitzt und ständig kneift. Als sie ihren Kollegen ihr Problem schildert, beschließt Moss, sich dem Problem anzunehmen. Er will den perfekt sitzenden BH entwickeln. Kurz darauf wird Jen der Prototyp präsentiert und sie soll den Super-BH testen. Tatsächlich scheint er perfekt zu sein, doch ausgerechnet in einem wichtigen Meeting zeigt er seine Schwachstelle: Er erhitzt so stark, dass er Feuer fängt. Douglas, der neue Chef, sucht unterdessen nach seiner wahren “Identität”.

In dieser Folge trägt Roy verschiedene T-Shirts:
“The sun is trying to kill me” T-Shirt
“Magic Eraser” T-Shirt
“Bestario” T-Shirt (Tier mit Frauenkopf)

Wiederholung:
Donnerstag 03.12. 22:35 Uhr, Samstag 05.12. 00:45 Uhr

Jen will mit ihrem neuen Freund Peter eine Single Dinnerparty veranstalten. Leider sagen in letzter Minute drei männliche Gäste ab, weshalb die Party zu platzen droht. Sehr schweren Herzens beschließt Jen die Party zu retten und Roy, Moss und Richmond einzuladen. Bevor die Party beginnt, gibt sie ihnen noch Benimmunterricht, um nicht bloßgestellt zu werden. Tatsächlich läuft die Party sehr gut, bis die Drei all ihre guten Vorsätze vergessen.

Roys Piraten-T-Shirt könnt ihr hier kaufen.

Wiederholung:
Donnerstag 26.11. 22:35 Uhr, Samstag 28.11. 00:45 Uhr

So, I caught a free screening of Pirate Radio last night (today is its opening day in the states). I don’t want to dishearten Richard Curtis fans who treasure Four Weddings and a Funeral and Love Actually (neither of which I’ve seen), but he dropped a big bloody bollock with this movie (known as The Boat That Rocked in the UK).

How can that be, you ask? It’s about a British pirate radio station during the mid-1960s. Its soundtrack boasts choice cuts from the British Invasion. And it’s got a charming cast. How can a movie be bad when it has Philip Seymour Hoffman and Bill Nighy and Nick Frost and Rhys Ifans and Rhys Darby and cast members from The IT Crowd, along with cameos from Emma Thompson and January Jones? Kenneth Branagh even goes all campy villain on us as the station’s bureaucratic nemesis (see also Wild Wild West, a terrible movie where he chews some scenery as the bad guy). That sounds great on paper. Even if it’s saddled with boomer era clichés about free love and rock music changing the world, it’s gotta be fun, right? Who doesn’t want to run a pirate radio station on a boat with these folks?

There’s so much wrong with this hack job of a movie. There’s a lot left unexplained. How did this ragtag group get a boat? Why is rock music illegal to broadcast in 1960s Great Britain? How are these radio personalities so famous? There’s also lots of truncated plot points and weird tonal shifts and nonsensical character motivations which I don’t think would have been aided by the original cut’s three-hour running time. The protagonist is a bloke named Carl (played by Tom Sturridge) who may or may not have been put on the boat by his mother to meet his dad, but I’m too bored to care. And that’s saying something, as his dad is played by Ralph Brown, who was Danny the Dealer in Withnail and I.

I’d also mention that it’s kinda disheartening to see Hoffman — who plays a crusty American deejay named the Count — spout rockist catchphrases like “a whop bam boo” and “young men and young women will always dream dreams and put those dreams into song” with stealy-eyed import. But it’s also kinda amazing. A lesser actor couldn’t pull it off. But Hoffman makes Count’s turn of phrase sound like some kind of rock deejay John McClane. Oh, and he almost drowns when the boat sinks. Except he doesn’t and emerges victoriously (and ridiculously) from the North Sea. Such is the power of rock. 

But I think you know what my big problem is. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the roles for women and girls are marginal and insultingly one-dimensional. While I think there may have been an effort to keep their presence ornmanental so as to make a commentary on the era’s regressive attitude toward gender and sexual politics, I think the movie exacerbates the problem rather than rectify it.

There are groovy birds (re: prostitutes, groupies, and moms) who board the ship to “service” the talent, sometimes pretending to love one crew member to get closer to another and wounding their pride. Awesome. 

There’s one woman in the crew — a lesbian named Felicity (played by Katherine Parkinson) who basically serves as the ship’s put-upon housewife. She does get a girlfriend, but this is given for too obvious, peripheral treatment to seem as real progress.

There are no musicians, except for women like Dusty Springfield, Skeeter Davis, and Sandy Shaw who function as playlist selections.

There are also huddles of simpering female fans who listen attentively to the radio — students, flight attendants, secretaries, cleaning ladies, mothers, wives, single women, waitresses, and shopgirls. None of them speak, though many giggle. They also lack names. Oh, correction. Kenneth Branaugh’s secretary Miss C (played by Sinead Matthews) sort of gets one.

Anyway, this sucks, and a likeable cast can’t salvage its suckitude. So I suggest instead of seeing this movie that you watch Jane Campion’s A Girl’s Own Story instead. Here’s a scene. Wish I could post the whole thing.

Made in 1984 and available on the Criterion Collection edition of Campion’s debut feature, Sweetie, this short focuses on a group of Australian schoolgirls who came of age during Beatlemania. It showcases the complex relationships girls have with their fandom, along with their homosocial friendships and burgeoning sexuality. It’s pretty awesome, and actually suggests what it may have been like to be a teenaged girl during rock’s golden era. Pirate Radio couldn’t be bothered.

Roy und Moss stecken in der Krise: Sie fühlen sich wie ein altes Ehepaar, weil sie sich viel zu häufig sehen. Jen rät ihnen daraufhin, sich in ihrer Freizeit mit anderen Menschen zu treffen. Da kommt die Anzeige im Internet für Moss gerade richtig, in der ein vermeintlicher Kochkurs angeboten wird. Doch Moss hat das Kleingedruckte übersehen und landet so bei Johann – einem Kannibalen, mit einer beeindruckenden Heimkinoanlage.

Roys “meh.”-T-Shirt könnt ihr hier bei ThinkGeek kaufen.

Wiederholung:
Donnerstag 19.11. 22:35 Uhr, Samstag 21.11. 00:45 Uhr

This may only be funny to me since I see a different side of the IT world compared to most (no, I’m not an IT geek, just around a lot of them) but I thought I’d share.

This clip is from “The IT Crowd,” a British comedy which aired in 2006, produced by the same guys who produced The (British) Office.

To set the scene, one of the IT guys convinced his boss that they set up a voice activated system for the his computer.

(Side Note: For your Netflixers/Blockbuster Online folks, you may want to add this show to your list. It’s surprisingly funny.)

(Double Side Note: I have seen someone pick up their computer mouse and wave it around in the air to try to get it to work. No joke.)

Bei der Jahreskonferenz von Reynholm Industries sollen eigentlich die erfreulichen Bilanzen präsentiert werden, als unerwartet die Polizei auftaucht, um Denholm unangenehme Fragen zu stellen. Der reagiert kurz entschlossen mit einem Sprung aus dem Fenster, um der Befragung aus dem Weg zu gehen. Geschockt über den Tod ihres Chefs, wird Jen vom Nachfolger auch noch verkündet, dass er die IT-Abteilung schließen will. Roy und Moss nutzen unterdessen einen Fragenkatalog, um ihr Todesdatum zu errechnen – mit einem Ergebnis, das Roy gar nicht glücklich macht.

Roys T-Shirt “I see dumb people” könnt ihr hier bei ThinkGeek kaufen.

Wiederholung:
Montag 09.11. 01:30 Uhr, Samstag 14.11. 00:45 Uhr

Jen hat einen neuen Verehrer: Philip aus der 6. Etage. Doch immer mehr Hinweise deuten darauf hin, dass Philip schwul ist. Als er Jen, Moss und Roy auch noch in ein Musical einlädt, in dem Cast und Zuschauer eindeutig schwul sind, verhärtet sich der Verdacht. Um der unangenehmen Situation aus dem Weg zu gehen, flüchtet Roy auf die Behindertentoilette, und wird prompt erwischt. Jetzt hilft nur noch eins: Den Rest des Abends im Rollstuhl verbringen. Moss ist von der Situation eher fasziniert und Jen beschließt, Philip mit ihrer Vermutung zu konfrontieren.

Glinner, or Graham Linehan to his mum. Also known as that man who wrote Father Ted and the IT Crowd to many others. He’s quite a regular tweeter, and entertaining with it, but he also finds some wonderful things on the internet, some of which get posted to his blog (Why, That’s Delightful!), like this:

Totally 100% Trend

(original post)

To complete my fawning appraisal of the man’s greatness, I have to add he also cooks up the odd fantastic compilation on spotify now and again. All this for clicking one tiny follow button. Bargain.

SURFTHECHANNEL

คลิกโลด !!!

Bei Reynholm Industries steht eine Firmenfeier für die Belegschaft an. Da Denholm alle Abteilung lobt, nur die IT-Abteilung übergeht, beschließen Moss und Roy jedoch die Party zu boykottieren. Unterdessen haben sie unter Jen zu leiden, die ihre “Tage” hat. Doch die zwei werden dadurch so sensibilisiert, dass auch sie ihre “Tage” bekommen. Völlig hilflos suchen Roy und Moss daraufhin Hilfe im Internet, doch die Resonanz auf ihr Problem ist alles andere als Positiv. So beschließt Jen ihren Kollegen mit einem Mädels-Abend zu helfen. Und es scheint auch tatsächlich etwas zu bringen. Doch Roy hat schon bald genug von dem Übermaß an Romantik und will viel lieber mit Jen und Moss auf die Firmenfeier gehen.

Das passende “42″ T-Shirt gibt es hier zu kaufen.

Link: “www.ladyproblems.com“

Acabo de ver algo que me ha dejado con una sonrisa en los labios.

Como algunxs de lxs que me conocéis sabéis, últimamente me ha dado por ver series y ya me he visto unas cuantas: South Park, Me Llamo Earl, Padre de Familia, Aquellos Maravillosos 70, Malviviendo, Futurama, The IT Crowd, … y muchas que están en proceso… Bien, una de esas series que están en proceso es Caso Abierto (Cold Case), una serie de maderos. Cada capítulo cuenta la investigación de un caso de homicidio que quedó archivado en su momento por falta de pruebas o de culpables. Este caso se reabre y los policías tienen que reconstruir lo sucedido hace, quizás, 80 años. Para ello, se valen sobre todo de dos herramientas: los flashbacks (de manera que “puedes ver” al personaje en el “pasado” y en la “actualidad”  y la música, que durante todo el capítulo se ajusta a la época en la que sucedió el crimen.

Y como algunxs de lxs que me conocéis sabéis, soy una friki y me gusta “The Rocky Horror Picture Show“, me parece una película brutal, que habré visto más de 30 veces (sin exagerar) entre visionados íntimos, en compañía (de varias personas, – una vez que supe de su existencia me creí en la misión de extender la palabra de Frankenfurter.) , y pases de cine en el Casablanca de Gràcia y otros lugares (pagando y gratis).

Para los que no conozcáis el espectáculo Rocky Horror deciros que creo que no se puede explicar el argumento de la película (1975)  sin que parezca una mierda, pero merece la pena verla aunque sea por Susan Sarandon jovencita en ropa interior, Tim Curry travestido (Frankenfurter) y  Patricia Quinn (Magenta) que tiene un morbazo tremendo. Resumiendo un poco bruscamente: Una especie de parodia de muchas películas de ciencia ficción en la que a una parejita de tontos se le avería el coche y van a un castillo a pedir ayuda y …. cantan y follan (En serio, no sé contar la película sin que quede aburrido, no sé…)

Bueno pues, mi mama, que siempre está atenta a estas tonterías y me las cuenta, el otro día vio un capítulo de Cold Case en laSexta en el que rendían homenaje a esa Gran Película. Ya había visto un homenaje en Aquellos Maravillosos 70, pero no fue nada comparado con lo que han hecho en Caso Abierto.

CREATURES OF THE NIGHT

No sólo han utilizado la banda sonora de The Rocky Horror Picture Show para ambientar la serie (el asesinato fue en 1977), si no que han incluido escenas de pases con cast, uno de los personajes (un  preso por homicidio en serie ultracristiano) está interpretado por  Barry Bostwick (Brad Majors) , y los actores que hacían la parte de los flashbacks actuaban con “tanta espontaneidad” y cursilería como Brad y Janet (actuaciones de Óscar, sin duda). Sin olvidar, ese final del capítulo en que mientras suena “Over at the Frankenstein place“  hacen un guiño más que evidente a RHPS. Además, alguno de los “policías” conocía la película y han hecho clara propaganda de ella: no es una película, es un espectáculo.

Pero mola.

Porque aunque yo no sepa contarlo bien, es un buen homenaje/campaña de márketing de una serie decente a una película brutal.. y eso pues…mola.

Flashbacks

Jen hat ein Date mit einem gewissen Bill, das in einer Katastrophe endet, weil Bill sich total daneben benimmt. Jen will daraufhin nichts mehr mit Bill zutun haben und bittet Moss ihn abzuwimmeln, falls er vorbeikommen sollte. Als Bill kurz darauf auch bei Moss auftaucht, versucht er krampfhaft ihn loszuwerden. Doch Bill bleibt hartnäckig, woraufhin Moss nichts besseres einfällt, als zu erzählen, dass Jen gestorben sei. Bill verbreitet die Nachricht daraufhin sofort in der gesamten Firma, mit dem Zusatz, dass er der letzte war, der mit Jen geschlafen hat. Bestürzt von der Nachricht, dass Jen tot ist, wird für sie eine Tauerfeier abgehalten, auf der Denholm eine etwas merkwürdige Rede hält. Und just in dem Moment platzt Jen herein.

When exactly is it that comics, as in newspaper comics (also known as funny papers), became unfunny? And I’m not talking Family Circus unfunny, I mean in some cases downright depressing.

Take for example the never stellar but previously okay For Better or For Worse. Looking it up on the internet (cause let’s face it, that’s what I do), I found it’s a Canadian panel about a suburban Toronto family and that one of the remarkable things about it was that the characters aged in real time. As a child, I remember it being a sort of my-family’s-so-silly sort of funny. Maybe it’s my faulty memory making it slightly more amusing than it really was, but when I returned to reading the comics several years later the plotline was about somebody’s rape and the subsequent trial and emotional trauma. Not even remotely funny.

Funky Winkerbean is another example. I remember it being mostly revolving around a high school. I remember there were characters in the band, I remember a pizza place where characters slacked off, I remember the occasional laugh or so. This week when I opened the paper for some meaningless laughs it featured a middle aged couple walking around a fairground discussing which living facility to place an aging parent. There was actually a line that read “It’s sad to think she’s so young and already knows life will break her heart.”

Even Crankshaft, a spin-off from Winkerbean, about a crotchety old man has turned into some serious life commentary. Crankshaft’s antics used to be sort of funny, now it’s just about getting older and older and all the complications that come with that.

To which I say; really?? Are these supposed to be mindless escapism? Perhaps they take longer to read but I’ve always preferred to find my social commentary in books. Hell, even television does better than this shit. The comics are supposed to be the frothy section, the section I couldn’t wait to read every Sunday morning when I was a kid. I am unsure as to whether or not I want my ten year old sister reading about somebody’s rape.

Now, it wasn’t until writing this down that I realized what the problem is. Real time. Charlie Brown never got any older, and every once in while I still chuckle when Lucy jerks that football away from him. As soon as you get real time involved real life comes along with it, and there is nothing funny about that. Things like rape, and cancer, and people getting older and decrepit happen in real life, why do we need them in the so called funny papers?

I suppose I need to go to other places in order to find my comedy.

Sometimes I read the ‘Missed Connections’ in personals columns. Usually it’s to give myself a bit of a laugh at the skeevy people who write them looking for so and so who was wearing that sexy skirt at the mall that day (whoever that fountain jumper was at Easton mall a couple years ago definitely managed to turn a few heads). The misspellings and the incorrect grammar… they’re really hilarious. But sometimes I read them and I don’t chuckle. Sometimes I start thinking about the people who must be behind that, writing in a newpaper or website trying to find someone they genuinely liked and didn’t have the courage to talk to, and I just get sad.

I like shows about socially awkward people, probably because I’m sort of socially awkward myself. The sort of shows where everything goes wrong for the characters. Yeah, I know they aren’t real, but it’s nice to know there’s someone else out there who everything goes wrong for, and who are incapable (apparently) of making things work right for themselves.

I was watching Peep Show while thinking of this. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this program it’s about two utterly ridiculous guys, Mark and Jeremy, living together in a flat in South London. It’s pretty much an Odd Couple situation except neither of them, no matter what they think, can manage to function like normal human beings. Mark’s an uptight, suit clad, pessimistic, loan manager and Jeremy  is an arrogant slacker who doesn’t do much except loaf around all day and call himself a musician. There’s honestly not much to like about Jeremy as a person except that he’s played by Robert Webb and is hysterical. Mark, on the other hand, well… I have a soft spot for Mark. I might have a soft spot for David Mitchell in general, but he’s just so completely clueless and inept at his job, his women, and well… his life. What’s more; Mark is always so willing to accept the inevitable depressing outcome that will most likely come his way. Take this exchange from episode three of the brand new series, a conversation between Mark and a girl he’s interested in;

Dobby: “You don’t want to be happy, it makes you worried because you think it will end and then you’ll be more miserable.”

Mark: [Interior monologue] “Pop psychology, but pretty much on the money.”

I suppose it is it shouldn’t be surprising that I would find this sort of thing amusing, but, after enjoying Mark yelling at a hot water boiler for far too long in one episode I had to start examining this further.

Take for example another British sitcom, The IT Crowd. I have introduced this show to several people and haven’t had a miss yet. Probably because it’s just hilarious. It centers around two IT guys and their ‘relationship manager’ who work for a ‘leading industrial corporation’  called Reynholm Industries (seriously, http://www.reynholm.co.uk/). They are basically the lowest of the low, cordoned into the junk piled basement where they have many socially awkward escapades. And I mean socially awkward. For example; in a memorable episode in series three the two male characters attempt to have normal friendships with men by visiting a website that teaches them football (read: soccer) statistics and lingo. I’m sorry, they need a website to interact with other people. And oh how I wish that website existed (http://www.bluffball.co.uk/). Then there’s Jen, the relationship manager who acts as a bridge between the IT department and the rest of the company, basically because the IT department can not seem to speak to anyone else without causing calamity. Yet, just by being in the IT department her social skills seem to be declining. Of course, my social skills wouldn’t be too hot either if I was dating a man who looked like a magician. All three characters, with the careful application of The Mighty Boosh’s Noel Fielding as the goth Richmond in some episodes, are ridiculous… which is obviously what makes the show, but really it’s Jen acting as comedic foil against Roy and Moss’s ineptitude. It seems like it’s always guys.

Take The Big Bang Theory for example. Here we have four physicists hanging out blissfully in their Pasadena apartment doing their typically geeky things like video games, arguing over which Sci-Fi series to watch, or playing Klingon Boggle. Enter Penny, the blonde waitress from across the hall with all the social skills. The point of the show, really, is what happens when you take some seriously ridiculous smart people and thrust them into the real world. Or, well, their version of the real world. And their version of the real world is sort of a lot like mine. They get take out, they watch videos, they go to all night marathons of Planet of the Apes, they go to the comic book store, bars, have occasional dates, but mostly they hang out together. Well, I can relate, even if when I am hanging out with friends I’m usually not trying to help fix a toilet for the International Space Station that my friend fucked up designing. And seriously… their jokes are funny. I mean, I know I’m a loser but I laugh, and not just at them. Okay, so I went to science camp when I was a kid, but I’m not exactly proficient in it now. When exactly did I start thinking science jokes were funny? Maybe it’s just because I’m so ultra clever and exceptionally well read (ps. I’m modest too). It’s probably just that I’ve spent far too many long hours on Wikipedia looking up base info on particle colliders.

Then there is Felicia Day’s The Guild, which revolves around a group who call themselves the Knights of Good playing a, World of Warcraftesque, Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game (or MMORPG have you). Day created the series as a way of showing the world that not everyone who plays MMORPGs are either high school losers or thirty year old men still living in their mother’s basement. Well, I really don’t play World of Warcraft but that doesn’t mean I can’t relate to the tendency to withdraw from the world and into the internet, at least a little bit. In the first season of webisodes the Guild emerge from behind their avatars and meet each other, helping each other through various ups and downs and basic crises, all while managing to keep up with their busy eight hour a day gaming schedule. This is one of the few examples of equal opportunity geekiness, and it may not be my brand of geekiness, but that doesn’t make it any less entertaining, or the social awkwardness less pronounced.

Now, why do I like these types of show? Well, that’s obvious. I’m socially awkward myself. I know I have said this before, but surprisingly a rather substantial amount of people don’t seem to believe me. It stems from one thing, shyness. And this is another thing that people tend not to believe. Well, yes, once I know you (or if I have had a few too many) I tend to talk the ear off you. I can be downright annoying in that respect, I am sure. But when I am confronted with a group of people I do not know, I am inundated with a crippling weight of panic, which generally results in me awkwardly standing in the corner wishing it was socially acceptable to pull out a book and read during a party. I generally opt for alcohol instead, it helps. This is also not helped by the fact that I can not dance. Seriously. Literally my body does not move. I am sometimes convinced my hips are locked in place via some sort of genetic malfunction. It’s not a good idea to expect me to dance without imbibing me with far too much alcohol to even remember the event in the morning. And in my defense, I have tried.

I also don’t like being places on my own. Take this example as a for instance. About a year ago my best friend and her husband invited me along to see some paintings up at a bar near us that were inspired by John Waters. I mean, I was obviously going, they are paintings inspired by John Waters. But the bar in question in located in between our two domiciles. I would be completely stupid for them to pick me up and arrive together, so we decided to do the normal thing and meet there. Well, said friend and her husband are always late. Always. And I am not even talking a couple minutes. I mean, I don’t even bother getting ready on time anymore cause they’re not arriving for ten to twenty minutes after they said they’d be there. I should have taken this into account. I also should have checked which bar it was. The way the Grog Shop and the B Side Liquor Lounge are set up is this; they are basically on top of each other and somewhat interchangeable. That being said they are by no means the same place. The B Side is the logical choice for a John Waters art exhibit, which is what I was thinking as I wrote down The Grog Shop on my perfectly color coded calender (I shouldn’t be quite so excited by that triple alliteration). I arrived, paid the admission at the Grog Shop and proceeded to wait for K and J for nearly twenty minutes alone in the bar getting more and more traumatized as the time went on. By the time I called them and discovered they were at the B Side waiting for me I might as well have been catatonic. They thought it was oh so hilarious.

Another example is this: About five years ago, give or take, my good friend D had a birthday party. I was living in Columbus at the time, going to school and working at a movie theatre which is where I met D in the first place. We were friendly but had never done anything outside of work until he invited me to his birthday party. Now, I knew that I had to go, that was unquestionable, but the anxiety I had working myself up about going to this party was just ridiculous. The night arrived, I picked my outfit, freaked out so much that I required six antidepressants, and stayed on the phone with K until I was actually inside the door. Okay, it’s not like I thought anyone was going to be mean to me or anything or kick me out of their party, but I only knew one person there and I didn’t think that he would have all that much time to hang out with me… birthday party and all. It didn’t help matters any when I walked through the door and the first thing anyone said to be was ‘Who are you?’ I almost ran back out. In the end everything was fine, I ended up making friends with a huge group of them and still consider them friends now. My anxiety was quickly averted with cosmopolitans, other substances, and the fact that D is, generally, a very good host. Still, no one should freak out so much about going to a party.

In conclusion? I’m ridiculous. I know I’m ridiculous but it doesn’t seem like that’s really going to change any time soon. I don’t know, maybe they should make a sitcom about me.

Jen möchte endlich der Unordnung in der IT-Abteilung den Kampf ansagen und hofft dabei auf die Unterstütung von Roy und Moss. Doch die fühlen sich pudelwohl und denken nicht daran Jen zu helfen. Als die dann auch noch einen Raum entdeckt, der durch eine rote Tür verschlossen ist, fragt sie Roy und Moss, was sich dahinter verbirgt. Doch die reagieren ausweichend und warnen Jen nur, dass sie den Raum nicht betreten soll. Doch Jen ist dadurch nur noch neugieriger geworden und nutzt die Gelegenheit, als Roy und Moss kurzzeitigig ihre Plätze verlassen müssen. Die Überraschung ist groß, als sie einen klimatisierten Raum vorfindet in dem der Großrechner der Firma steht. Doch Jen entdeckt auch noch Richmond, einen Gruftie, der seit vier Jahren den Rechner bewacht. Er wurde damals von Denholm in den Raum verbannt, nachdem er bei ihm in Ungnade gefallen ist. Jen beschließt, sich Richmond anzunehmen und ihn aus seinem ‘Gefängnis’ zu befreien.

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It’s that time again! Every week, we here at [Insert Pop Culture Reference] each like to share something that we loved this week. Because being a fan is all about spreading the love, and we’re all big fans of well, pretty much everything under the sun. Comment and tell us what you’ve been loving this week!

Stefanie: While I could rave about how the most recent episode of Grey’s Anatomy proves that this season has the staff of Seattle Grace back to being the surgeons I love (and how much I love the callbacks to earlier days — Dr. Chen! Remember when she was just an intern and Meredith undermined her all the way back in episode TWO?), I’m not gonna. Not anymore than I just did, at least. (I love you, Mark Sloan.) No, no, what I loved this week was Glee.

For the first time, completely, utterly and unabashedly, I loved every minute. Kristin Chenoweth is the perfect guest star for this show and every number was perfection, not only in terms of its performance but in its placement within the story. Letting Lea Michele and Kristin Chenoweth share “Maybe This Time” was a stroke of genius that had me in absolute paroxysms of delight, and I cannot tell you how many times I’ve listened to “Alone” since Wednesday night. No, I can’t, it’s too embarrassing. This was easily the best episode of the show yet and the first where I’ve had absolutely no complaint (well, other than that Will really took the wrong lesson out of meeting that waiter, didn’t he? But “he dumb” isn’t really a critique). A+, Glee.

Scott: There are, currently, about three different solo Wolverine titles coming out. There’s Wolverine, currently titled Dark Wolverine and about his son, Daken, who I, frankly, don’t give a damn about. There’s Wolverine: Origins, in which his ridiculously complicated backstory gets even more complicated and features a bad guy who is basically Wolverine drawn with more claws and bigger hair.

And then there’s Wolverine: Weapon X, which has been (accurately) described as the one where Wolverine fights guys with laser claws and guns that shoot cancer. That, on its own, would be enough to shoot it to the top of the list, as far as his solo titles go, but it’s more than just a cool sounding gimmick. The plot concerns a resurrection of the old Weapon X project, in the form of a black ops squad given healing factors, adamantium skeletons, and the aforementioned laser claws. Issue #4 dealt primarily with Wolverine fighting just one of these guys, and killing him took the entire issue, leaving 11 to take out in the conclusion.

I’m going to link two pages here, with the proviso that if you intend to read this series, at any stage – and I would recommend you do, in fact – do not click these links.

They set a trap on an oil rig. He says he has to make a stop before he goes there and I assume they’re about to pull out the same overused MacGuffin that’s been popping up in Wolverine stories ever since it was introduced. I was wrong. I was gloriously, fantastically wrong.

On top of that exceptional moment of badassness, there’s the appreciation for Wolverine by someone who gets him, that he’s more than just a brawler, that there is more to him than one-liners and fight scenes. It’s a Wolverine story done right; a smart badass dealing with a problem he feels responsible for, a conspiracy, an innocent or two getting drawn in, and some backstabbing to boot. At issue five, this one’s looking promising.

Laine: It’s not often that the pilot episode of a show will really hook me. With so much to accomplish in a short time, this is pretty understandable; that’s why I usually give it a few episodes before I make a decision. This week, though, I finally got around to watching the first two episodes of Flash Forward on my DVR, and man, I am damn glad I did.

There’ve been so many ads for it that I was honestly beginning to doubt it would live up to the hype. The premise admittedly sounds kind of hokey, if intriguing: everyone on the planet blacks out at the same time, for two minutes and seventeen seconds, and for that time, sees roughly six months into the future. And by everyone, I mean everyone. I was really only interested because it was advertised during Lost, and, more importantly, I love Joseph Fiennes.

For a concept like this, though, it is executed fantastically, bringing Lost to mind without being too similar. This early in, it’s set up the kind of mystery that makes you want to keep watching, no matter how bizarre it seems (I won’t say much more than that; I’d rather have people watch than give away too many details right now). It goes from chilling (a little girl sitting up in bed after her flash forward saying only, “I dreamed there were no more good days”) to touching (the main character in bed with his wife after she reveals that her flash forward had her with another man) to downright creepy all at once, with just the right amount of humor thrown in to make it, you know, watchable.

Most praise-worthy, though, are the actors. Both Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love) and Sonya Walger (Lost) are so far fantastic as the aforementioned FBI agent set on investigating the cause of the blackout and his wife, dealing with the consequences of what she’s told and, in his case, what he hasn’t.

Leshia: The season 4 premiere to Showtime’s smash hit Dexter was fabulous, as expected by anyone who’s enjoyed the series over the last few years.  The show’s had its occasional stumbles, but the hits have always far outweighed the misses.  None of this is news.  The ‘holy crap awesome’ standout part of the episode (and likely the season from the looks of things), however, was far and away John Lithgow’s turn as the much-hyped Trinity Killer, this season’s big bad.  While he was naked a lot more than I think I’m comfortable with (a LOT more), in his few short scenes he was equal parts intriguing, emotionally wrenching, and full-on check-behind-the-doors-when-you-walk-into-a-room terrifying.  If this is a sign of things to come (which, judging by the formula Dexter really likes sticking to for its story arcs, it is), we ain’t seen nothing yet from Lithgow.  Expect another Guest Actor Emmy nod in his future.

Angel: I’ve been watching a LOT of television lately. Somehow, even more than normal, now that I’ve got Netflix instant watch, and one series that has completely taken me by surprise is The IT Crowd. Three seasons long so far (with a Christmas episode scheduled for this December and a fourth season commissioned for next year), it currently runs on Channel 4 overseas.

The show chronicles the exploits of IT workers Roy and Moss, and their boss Jen, who knows absolutely nothing about computers. If it hadn’t premiered a year before it, I’d call The IT Crowd Britiain’s answer to CBS’s The Big Bang Theory. The show’s hilarious, filled with pop culture references and nerd humor. I finished all three seasons in a little under a week, and the show has fast become one of my absolute favorites, if only for exchanges like the one seen here.

If you like The Big Bang Theory, odds are, you’ll like The IT Crowd, if not only because you’ll get the incredibly geeky jokes.

Chantaal: Whereas Scott had the mental fortitude to keep sane and somewhat unbiased in his Stargate Universe review, I was nowhere near the same. I love Stargate. I loved SG-1, I was crazy about Atlantis, and I loved the premiere of Stargate Universe. It did have its ups and downs, and I agree with everything Scott pointed out in his review, but to be honest, none of that really matters to me. No Stargate show’s ever been perfect, but seeing the legacy live on, seeing new characters (even if they’re newever versions of familiar characters – Scott/Eli are definitely this generation’s Jack/Daniel and Shep/McKay) deal with what the circumstances they’ve been thrown into, seeing that gate light up thanks to the ninth chevron — like, goddamn, people! THEY DIALED THE NINTH FREAKIN’ CHEVRON. I just. Aagh! I can’t describe how happy it made me, especially the last 30 seconds.

The whole Stargate mythos, the universe, it’s all something I love dearly, and I’m so, so happy to have a Gate show back on my TV.

Roy hat ein Date mit Patricia, der Empfangsdame von Reynholm Industries, und es scheint tatsächlich gut zu laufen. Doch dann schmiert sich Roy versehentlich Schokolade an die Stirn und Patricia ist entsetzt über den braunen Streifen an seiner Stirn. Jen hat unterdessen Daniel kennen gelernt, den Security-Mann der Firma, der sie jedoch auf ein Überraschungs-Date vertröstet. Als sie abends Zuhause wartet, bekommt sie einen Anruf von Chris Tarrant, dem Moderator von ‘Wer wird Millionär’, da sie als Anruf-Joker für Daniel antreten soll. Als Jen tatsächlich angerufen wird um Daniel zu helfen, vermasselt sie es jedoch und wird zum Gespött der Firma. Doch Daniel gibt Jen noch eine Chance und geht mit ihr essen. Und auch Roy hat ein neues Date, zu dem er mächtig aufgepimpt geht, in der Annahme, dass Frauen nur auf Mistkerle stehen.

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This update is for the Dutchman. I have to admit I have been pretty awful at updating lately. I went on Fall Break starting not last Friday but the one before. I worked that weekend and then lolligagged all last week playing Rock Band and watching movies. I worked yesterday, today, and then will tomorrow as well.
I’ve got to get some reading done because I didn’t do squat the whole week before break which means I’ve got a couple hundred pages of reading to catch up on.
The plan for the rest of fall break:
-Homework at some point
-Finish ‘evaluation’ paragraph for Case Study project (which I plan to get done today)
-Wedding dress shopping on Monday with/for my friend A.Clark
-Spending the night in Charlotte on Tuesday and seeing Blink-182 in concert
-Hanging out with my sister at my house
-Going to Pilot Mountain for an overnight camping trip
-Spending time with my family
-Working a bunch

This semester has FLOWN by. And not because time flies when you’re having fun. It’s just been so busy. And nursing school is not necessarily what I would call fun.
After I get back from break (Oct. 19th), there will only be a month and a half left. How awesome is that?
And then I’ll be a senior.
Can’t wait.
I’ve just got to do well on my tests. I’m riding the edge right now in the testing category. It’s so weird. When we pow-wow in clinical and they ask me the questions from the testing book, I get them right. It’s just the structure of sitting down at a timed test that everyone gets ridiculously anxious over where I test poorly. Out of the four answers I eliminate two and always choose badly on the last 50-50 chance. Arhghsdopjfdsf.
I will not fail this semester. I cannot afford to repeat because I am not rich by any means.
I have to keep reminding myself that- it helps me keep my focus.

Oh and my midterm clinical evaluations were stellar. “Your potential is limitless” said my Oncology instructor who happens to be a NP (nurse practitioner). I was also told that if I keep up this pace, I could probably have two patients by the end of the semester. Which would be super.

I had to schedule myself at work all the way out to Feb. 6, 2010. What shit is that?? [pardon my french.]
But that’s all the way deep into next semester. How do I know what days I’m open.
If I went to a normal 4 year university I wouldn’t even know my school schedule.
What ridiculous-ness.

Interesting Things (to me) At the Moment:
[which may be uninteresting to you, so I won't be offended if you stop reading. I bolded the main points though]
There’s this TV series you should watch. You have to start from the beginning. But Ishaq and I were totally hooked. It’s called Jericho. It’s only about 35 episodes long so it’s like a really looong movie, but it’s amazing. It’s about nuclear bombs going off in the United States and what happens in the aftermath.
Another one, if you like British humor, is The IT Crowd. It’s the computer department made up of two nerdy guys and their female boss who knows nothing about computers. It’s absolutely hilarious. If you like British humor.
The new Paramore CD rocks my socks. I love them.
I’ve also been listening to A LOT of Smashing Pumpkins lately. I got re-addicted to them when I was making a mix CD(or playlist rather) for Ishaq. It had all this alternative rock music which is his favorite.
Two TV shows that are new this season: FlashForward and Glee. Check them out. They’re two totally different shows.
The first one is where everyone in the world has a blackout and are unconscious for 2 minutes and 17 seconds. However, we know that 2 people, and only 2 people, in the whole world were actually awake. So this group that is part of the FBI are tryng to figure what caused the blackouts and why. Also, during the blackouts, everyone had a “flashforward” and saw what they were doing on April 29th which is 6 months in the future. It is v. cool.
The second show is a comedy about glee club in high school. It’s a musical kind-of, but the singing is AMAZING. Forreal forreal. And Jane Lynch is the antagonist and she is hilarious. She’s been in loads of stuff including two and a half men and role models.
Apparently, the new trend for fall is plaid. I’ve always loved plaid, so I’m pretty excited at how easy it has been to find clothes I adore.
I also cut all my hair off. I was needing short hair. It was down to near my belly button and it is now shoulder-blade length. I had actually cut it to my shoulders a couple of weeks ago, but it’s already grown about 5 inches.
Oh, I finally caved and splurged on some North Face jackets for Ishaq and I. We have never had jackets where we’ve actually been really warm. And yesterday was cold. Really cold. I had to use the heater in the car on the way to work. And it’s only the beginning of October. Usually it doesn’t get remotely chilly until way later. Which makes me think it is going to be a cold winter. Hence, the splurging. But I got them at a great deal and saved about 30 dollars on each jacket AND got free shipping which made the savings about $70. HOORAH!
Last, but not least, Rock Band is awesome. I kick butt on the drums. Just so you know.

I think that’s all for now.
I’m sorry that was horribly long. In my defense I hadn’t posted in two weeks.

I first posted some photos about this film by Paul King way back in February and now we finally have some footage from the film. It stars Edward Hogg as Stephen, Simon Farnaby as Bunny and Verónica Echegui as Eloisait. It also features Richard Ayoade (The IT Crowd, Garth Merenghi’s Dark Place), Noel Fielding (The Mighty Boosh, The IT Crowd) and Julian Barrett (The Mighty Boosh, Nathan Barley)

Bunny & The Bull is a comedy road movie set entirely in a flat. Stephen Turnbull hasn’t been outside in months, and when he finds his mind hurtling back to the disastrous trek around Europe he undertook with his friend Bunny a catalogue of adventures unfold. Stephen’s flat becomes the springboard for an extraordinary odyssey through lands made up of snapshots and souvenir replica landmarks within his imagination. Bunny and the Bull is a touching and beautiful journey to the end of the room.

Denholm hat für seine Angestellten ein Anti-Stress-Seminar angeordert. Und die Regeln sind eindeutig: Wer nicht teilnimmt, oder seinen Stress nicht abbauen kann ist gefeuert. Für Jen ist jedoch klar, die roten Pumps im Schuhladen sind wichtiger. So stiehlt sie sich davon und gefährdet nebenbei auch noch eine wichtige Firmenfusion. Denholm ist deshalb so sauer auf Jen, dass sie nur noch ein bestandener Test am ‘Stressometer’ vor der Kündigung retten kann.

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Jen soll die neue Leiterin der IT-Abteilung bei Reynholm Industries werden. Zu dumm nur, dass sie absolut keine Ahnung von Computern hat. Doch Jen schafft es beim Vorstellungsgespräch ihren Chef Denholm zu überzeugen und bekommt den Job. Im Keller, Sitz der IT-Zentrale, angekommen, trifft sie auf die Computerfreaks Roy und Moss, die sofort merken, dass Jen keinen blassen Schimmer von der Materie hat. Wenig angetan von der neuen Chefin, merken Roy und Moss jedoch bald, dass Jen sie aus ihrer sozialen Isolation helfen könnte. Und so raufen die drei sich zusammen, um eine Party für die Belegschaft zu schmeißen. Doch Roy und Moss waren zu lange allein im Keller, und so verläuft die Party alles andere als geplant.

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