It’s time for mega Nerd Nonsense Comicon-related uber-geeky excitement round-up time!

This blog is sponsored by Jan Hankl’s Patented Flank Pat System:

Item! The Prisoner remake is ready and looks good to these eyes. It’s not spooky swirly 60s marvellous nonsense in Wales but for what it is it is good.

Item! The trailer for Dexter series 4? Oh yes!

New book on its way soon too, in that whole Earth 2 Dexterverse way.

Item! Russell T Davies has been talking about the (over) reaction to certain things what did happen in that Torchwood thing off the telly. No, not the whole giving the 10% least academic children to a freaky three-headed projectile-vomiting alien but the fourth killing off of a member of the team from the first episode:

It’s not particularly a backlash. What’s actually happening is, well, nothing really to be honest. It’s a few people posting online and getting fans upset. Which is marvelous. It just goes to prove how much they love the character and the actor. People often say, ‘Fans have got their knives out!’ They haven’t got any knives. I haven’t been stabbed. Nothing’s happened. It’s simply a few people typing. I’m glad they’re typing because they’re that involved. But if you can’t handle drama you shouldn’t watch it. Find something else. Go look at poetry. Poetry’s wonderful.

On accustations of homophobia (yeah, really):

I think you can forget about people picking up gay rights as an issue. It’s rather like children picking up nursery blocks and waving them in the air but having no idea what it entails. We’re talking about issues in my entire life here, not just one small television program. If they did research they’d go and look at the history of gay and lesbian characters that I have put on screen. They should simply grow up, do some research, and stop riding on a bandwagon that they actually don’t know anything about.

That told ‘em, Uncle Russ!

Oh… stop it.

Item! How will the delicate little Torchwood fans (do they have a group name?) cope with Caprica? Probably not well. Big Cheese Jane Espenson (remember her?) let some cats out of bags about the forthcoming Battlestar Galactica prequel:

Caprica is set in the colonies 58 years before the events that launch the BSG series (the Cylon attack). It’s the story of the events leading to the creation of the first Cylon (not the first skinjob), and the events that follow. It’s not like BSG in that it’s not a war story. It’s more serialized, with stories based in the lives of characters living in a culture that driving itself toward its own destruction.
We’ve got organized crime and religious conflict and terrorism and show business and corporate misdeeds and robots. The tone is not unlike Mad Men or Rome or Sopranos — lots of events, often dark events, but with a light enough touch to allow all the irony and denial of real life. We concentrate on two families: The Graystones and the Adamas, and the people around them.

Hmm… I do believe I might well be watching that. More nerdy shit tomorrow as my limp wrists cannot take any more typing today.

My real world life has been all boozing and schmoozing (and laughing about a forthcoming Princess Diana book that I really should be more professional about) and I learnt that afternoon drinking doesn’t completely do my head in if it is in a posh restaurant in Soho and paid for by a publisher. Sometimes I need my confidence-booster to function with new people and I can mostly keep the peculiar side of my personality under control. Bonus points for not going mad in Forbidden Planet while tipsy, I have heard of this recession thing you know. Then I went and ruined it all by buying a Wii online after The Final Pub Quiz (it goes on but the blandness is upsetting now. A robot could host that quiz with more wit and charm. Whoops). The Wii is still in a box, as are my Cyberman army but I aim to sort that out soon when I find some space (Jamie won’t let me have an extension built for my Doctor Who theme room, he is so mean)… and if I survive The Mothers Day Extravaganza tomorrow. But the Galactica finale takes preference and it is a double episode so that’s something or nothing plus the inevitable brain drain after watching it.

So here are some ‘cool things’:

Grant Morrison has done a good old interview that I read and went “yeah” to. With pretty pictures!

“When we laugh at Bizarro World, we’re laughing at ourselves and that’s the genius of the concept. So yeah, I’d say the Bizarro reality is always our world as seen through a shattered window pane. When you’ve got creatures who represent the “opposite” of human culture, they can only show us how arbitrary, pointless or ridiculous many of our own customs or thoughts are. We chose to make Bizzaro world into a kind of cosmic sewer of meaningless, nightmarish, imbecile activity in the face of looming apocalypse. Superman, with no powers, must harrow Hell and find a way home.My favorite bit is the reverse “Stars-And-Stripes,” when the Bizarro people sing: “Under land of no free, am us home cowardly.”

“Zibarro was the Morrissey Bizarro. The sensitive outsider on a world of lunatics. He was great to write.”

“Right now I’m working on the new Batman and Robin book which is out this summer. Bruce Wayne is gone so we’ll be seeing a new Batman and Robin team in action together for the first time. This is continuing the story from Batman R.I.P. and the pitch is “David Lynch directs the Batman TV show.”

Comics, eh? Whatever next?

What’s going on in Twitterworld today?

Hmmm…

What DVD do I not want the most?

Urgh. Ready for what?I dread to think. All suggestions welcome.

The new Pet Shop Boys album is in fact rather great. A couple of average songs in there but this might well be my pick:

So authentic.

Hello Blogfans. I am rather busy having a life for once (whatever next?) although that life mostly involves working (boo) so here are some things that excited me this week:

Comic Relief! 21 Radio Times covers to collect! Etc! LOLz!
I bought the Harry Hill cover as it was not Simon Pegg. One cover is enough for me.

Caprica! Someone had the clever idea of bringing the pilot out on DVD (in June) so the fanboys can decide if it’s good or Dollhouse. We shall see…

New Mutants! After 32 failed young mutant series, Marvel are bringing back the old lot. This picture is new (by Alex Ross) but they will look a bit older than that. I shall give it a go.

Mission To Magnus! (Google it but if you are going to be interested you’ll already know what it is. Clue: Big Finish, full cast, audio play, ‘missing’ Season 23, nerdgasms.

Red shoes and blue suit with brown coat! And that lady from all the telly and theatres! With a Robot Wars thing?

D’Anna from Battlestar Galactica faffed about on the fracked-up ***** (no spoilers) and then turned up on The L Word, investigating the death of one of the main characters (in the swimming pool), which was interesting. A murder mystery on top of the artistic integrity plot about the movie based on the lives of the characters in the show? … very post-modern and all that. With most of the episode being a flashback is it the lesbian Lost? Is ***** going to be the new Laura Palmer? God I hope not.

In good news, the remaining three episodes of Pushing Daisies are due to be shown on ITV as season two starts next Friday and they are showing all 13 of them.

Lost was back too, and so was Doctor Marvin Candle. Hurrah! Also: Nosebleeds, flaming arrows, Cheech, that cute kid, timey wimey nonsense… you get the idea.

We tried to watch that new BBC Four comedy called Cowards but it unfortunatley inspired zero smiles after five minutes so we donged the imaginary gong and turned it off.

The Daily Mail had some corkers today:

Might not be the best parenting idea to pose with the daughter you don’t love in a national newspaper, dear.

A little opinion poll with surprising results:

I was kidding. Miserable fucks in their big houses, the lot of them. Are they “finished” yet?

And Michelle Ryan? Why not? she does have nice tits after all.

Oh my, what a busy week. We went to Prague for a long weekend and it was cold, great, Art Nouveau, retro music, delicious breakfasts, hats, scary puppets, uncomfortable beds, culture, scary boobie art, nice funny food… well you get the idea.




A bigger photo album is here.

I was so exhausted when I got home but just had to watch the new episode of Battlestar Galactica. It turned out to be one of the best hours of television I have ever seen (really) with a brilliant exploration of the consequences to the world-altering events that happpened in the previous episode, before the writers’ strike made us all wait. The silly science fiction show really is the most human thing on TV, and can pull the heartstrings as well as Doctor Who when it’s on top form. And pull it did. Big style!

My backlog of new TV includes more 24, back on target with Not Dead Tony being a Not Villain (or is he?) and Jack doing threatening things with pens, a second series of Flight of the Conchords, a final series of The L Word (boo hoo), the long-delayed return of Big Love… and all of these will turn up on here when I get round to it.

Non-spoilery fun clip:

Well that was bloody peculiar.

Nerd stuff:
I am unsure about some of the cornier lyrics (I get what she is trying to do though) but I love this remix of the new Lily Allen song.

Veronica Mars movie? What with Arrested Development planned too, will Freaks & Geeks be next? No, it won’t.

Coming soon:

Oh yeah!

Oh dear!

Oh yeah, and there’s a new President. Although I am not American I am pleased but am bound to get tired of the press coverage any minute now.

I had about 6 consecutive sleep hours last night so I am nothing like how I was yesterday, i.e. the body of a pensioner and the brain of a retarded child. Bloody insomnia is a curse, I have no idea how I managed a day at work yesterday but took the opportunity to phone some friends who just happened to work in bookshops that were on the list I made for potential signing sessions for a famous author. Hurrah for the fleshy ones!

Today is another of my odd one day holidays (I don’t want or need a whole week off before Christmas as nobody exists to cover my job but that’s fine) so I am catching up on all those little things like downloading new music (new Duke Special album sneaked past me but Amazon have it in stock, I must stop clicking there as I have purchased about 10 CDs from there in the last month) and reading comics. Currently listening to that (leaked) Britney Spears album and it could be anyone singing it. I suppose that’s what makes the Photoshopped robotic one so versatile (some decent pop songs though) … unlike this week’s new artist Val Emmich (brought to my attention by a certain musical blog) who’s much more ‘real’ and even sent me a nice hello on a certain social networking site.

It turns out he was in 30 Rock last year (as Liz Lemon’s too-young boyfriend) but he’s mostly a musician and not a robot.

Quite nice, so I bought his new album. Damn you, Amazon!

Is it wrong of me to find this funny?

Dr. Manhattan: Thong Version. Damn DC prudes!

Weirdest telly moments of the week:
Ally McBeal mucking up her chance at adopting Greggs’ (no, not the bakers, the detective) from The Wire’s unborn child on Brothers & Sisters. And the news that President Laura Roslin is going to star in Grey’s Anatomy as a surgeon with Asperger’s syndrome. What?

Not that I would watch the televisual equivalent of those Mills & Boon medial romance books.

I’ve never been much of a Trekkie but the Star Trek trailer looked quite good…

Shame about a certain Scottish accent, and I am worried that I have a man crush on the new Captain Kirk.

We are off to the Mitchell & Webb screening at that venue with the frisky security procedures and doctors’ waiting room-style bar. The squeezy beerz are on me!

Look what’s coming soon:

Exciting. But the information on certain shoppy sites is incorrect.

From Play.com :

“47,875 survivors in search of a home called Earth.”

The fourth and final season of the hit TV show!

Except it’s not, as only half of the season has been shown so far due to that bloody strike. This is the equivalent of those half season boxsets that Heroes and Lost come out in so it’s technically Season 4.1 or whatever you should call it. Still highly recommended and I know someone who will be very pleased to purchase it on 6th October as he hasn’t seen any of it. Not me of course, I couldn’t possibly wait that long and I shall put it on the rapidly-expanding Christmas list with this delight that Ben pointed out to me:

All 10 episodes!
The pilot!
DVD extras!

The Sarah Jane Adventures season 1 is due 10th November. Not just for 10 year olds.

Here we go again…

Let me guess. Did they see her on the cover of the Express? Aaaaaarrrggggh!Bah! Meh! Grrrr! I tried to find out more about this latest sighting that will turn out to be yet another hoax but the World’s Geeatest Newspaper’s website didn’t actually have the story. Odd. Same with the BBC News site, The Telegraph, The Observer, or The ‘News’ Of The Bloody World.

While at The News Of The World I found the most unwanted mental imagery of the day:

Why are all the best ones (allegedly) gay, eh ladies?

New season 4 publicity photographs for my favouritest show have been released!

The full set are lurking on the internet. Happy browsing…

I’m not so sure about the suit and bouffant look. Bring back the vest!