The Best Of Both (geek) Worlds

So this coming Sunday in the UK is the start of yet another series of I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!

This is a show where a host of (usually) C-list celebrities get stranded in an Australian jungle, and have to perform trials to earn food and luxuries. These Bushtucker Trials usually equate to getting covered in insects or snakes, and not panicking while a physical task is performed. It's actually quite good fun, and has produced the couple that dethroned the Beckhams as the UK's leading family, Katie 'Jordan' Price and Peter Andre.

This year, however, apart from the usual C-listers, it seems George Takei is taking part! Go geekdom!!

But who is George Takei, I hear you cry? And I reply with a shame on you, if you didn't know. Takei is Sulu, from Star Trek. And if that isn't enough, here's his pic:

In case you don't actually watch Star Trek (and for shame if you don't!) he has also appeared in Heroes, as Hiro's dad.



So, as you can imagine, this is the most excited I have been about a reality TV show since Dirk Benedict appeared on Big Brother. Roll on Sunday!

Sorry for the delay

Normal geekiness will resume shortly.

In the meantime enjoy this pic of a weird Spiderman tatoo. Some people are even geekier than me!

Nick and Anne

Just in case anyone wanted to know how cool Nick and Anne are, I can now state with certainty that they are very cool and also very awesome.

You want picture proof? I got your picture proof here!

Look at that sweet sisterly kiss I'm giving Anne - only cool and awesome people can share a moment like that!

Still, nothing says cool and awesome like dancing...

Look at me move! Cool



And look at Anne move! Awesome

And in the photo below, even when wearing wigs we both look cool and awesome!

Gangsters!

So in an effort to try some blog posts that are less geeky than the norm, I'm going to start off by discussing the weekend.




Friday Night is Gangster Night!

Friday was the "Gangsters" theme night for my wife's birthday. It involved everyone dressing up like a gangster (not a gangsta, but that would have been more cool). I didn't dress up, for the following reasons:

1. I had no time during the week to get a costume sorted

2. Gangsters tend to wear shirts, ties, etc., similar to how I dress for work. Thus dressing up in this attire has little appeal to me. I would basically have had the same outfit I wore for Sarah's police theme night, the one you can see here. I went as a noire detective, wheras everyone else went as English bobbies. I'm so original :)

But if I had known that the next theme night would have been gangsters, then maybe I would not have gone as the detective before.

Doesn't my wife look so hot in that pic?!?


3. I had approximately 18 minutes to get ready. Now, considering I got home at 6.25pm, and we didn't leave till 8pm, you may be wondering how 95 minutes of getting ready time disolved into a mere 18 minutes. This is because my loving wife invited her friends to get ready at our house; not just at our house, but also in our bedroom and using our en-suite. However, I'm not really angry that bothered.

First Stop - Isaac's
We started off in Isaac's, a bar on the docks in Ipswich. It used to be a Vodka bar with a vast selection of flavoured vodka, and was great fun. It's still not a bad place to start off for a nights drinking, but was particularly quiet. And cold. And in the middle of another refurb.

Notable things: my nipples after the first ten minutes; Nicola coming on to John (kind of); discovering that Tasha is in fact louder than most of the others; Kim mentioning her kittens to Katie; Katie deciding she would like a kitten; Sarah Panplimpinim dissapearing

Second Stop - Ice Bar

This was followed by heading to the Ice Bar, which is a run of the mill "bar-connected-to-night-club" sort of place, but I quite like it in there, especially as every drink was £1.50! Didn't matter what you ordered, it was £1.50. I'm not sure if all the drinks were supposed to be £1.50, but I have a feeling the pretty bar maids have trouble with the maths, and it's just easier to charge everything at £1.50.

Unfortunately for the hot gangster chicks we were with, there was an all woman toga party in Ice as well. And I have to say they were HOT

Notable things: John downing Sambuca (well, just the one) and doing a gas chamber; Anne's swimming dancing; John throwing up (is that notable or expected?); a bucket in the men's toilet, presumably because they knew John was coming

Laura, Sarah and Katie. John is just visible to the right. One of the hot toga girls is to the left.

Third Stop - New York Exchange Bar

We weren't in here for long; still not quite sure why we went there in the first place. The toilet is damn hard to find, however, and in the time it took me to find, everyone had finished their drink.

Notable things: John bought a round (no, seriously, he did); having to find the toilet by following Kim - unfortunately I followed her to far, but luckily nobody noticed I walked into the ladies room, and that is something I will take to the grave with me; John leaving at this point

Last Stop - Pals

I hate Pals. It's full of pretentious posers, all the blokes on the pull, ugh. But then, that's pretty much everywhere in Ipswich. OK, so Quilt never used to be full of pretentious posers, people that ugly couldn't possibly ever be called posers, but the door staff more than made up for all the uglies that drank there, stuck up pretentious twats. Must. Calm. Down. Pheww, there we go.

Anyway, we weren't here for long either; Katie and Sarah left first, followed by me and Anne. No, I am married to Katie, and not Anne, I have no idea why I didn't leave with my wife. There you go.

Notable things: Everyone leaving; some girls trying to take Katie's hat that I was wearing, some girl taking Kerry's hat that Stuart was wearing; Kim vanishing; Anne getting stressy at people at the taxi rank; getting home and discovering everyone was sleeping at ours, putting me in a foul mood and losing my bed to others. Bah.

So that was Friday night. Anyone who was there want to add any comments about the evening, maybe notable things that I missed off?

Too Geeky?

Apparently my blog has been described as *too geeky* lately; geez, as if there is such a thing! But never let it be said that I do not listen to my faithful readers. I'll try and post some more personal type blogs on here.

Happy now Sarah?!?

OK, so I started watching the US version of Life On Mars this week.

Where to start? I suppose I'll start at the beginning. And I'll be doing a lot of comparing of the UKand US versions, which really can't be helped as many scenes are not only identical in script, but in direction as well.

However, the two show do not start off identically. The big premise of the UK show, is a "real life" detective arrives in a 1973 that is less like the real 1973, more like an idealists version of a 1970's police procedural show. The US version veers off that formula from the start; it involves a chase around the streets of New York, ending in a fight involving a garbage lid and some pithy one-liners. Straight away it's apparent that this is not a show about a real life copper, but a cop from a 2008 TV police procedural show.

So the two shows are built on the same high concept idea, but with a slightly different premise. This should be a good thing. It opens up a chance to reinterpret the ideas within Life On Mars, without being a straightforward copy. So, off to a good start? Read on, faithful reader!

There are other minor changes - Sam Tyler and Maya are not on the verge of breaking up, as hinted at in the UK version. Nor does US Sam pull Maya off the case. As an aside, why the Hell didn't the US rename the characters? It would make it far easier for us comparitive reviewers, and didn't hurt the Office much. The bad guy, Colin Raimes, is released an air tight alibi, much like the original. Although in the US version, it turns out his alibi is false, and in fact he is a twin! His twin was used as an alibi! See, so much more like a 2008 police show, than a real life 2008 detective.

Now, for some reason, Maya is following US Colin, and gets kidnapped. US Sam doesn't get upset and cry like a girl, he gets angry and manly. And then he gets run over. And wakes up in 1973. In a scene swiped exactly as the UK version. But at least the UK version had the decency not to use the twin towers for an awe factor...

At this point, you see the American writers are very lazy writers indeed. Some of the weaker dialogue from the UK series, such as in this scene with a pun about a jeep, is kept in. I can only assume the writers just couldn't be arsed to change much dialogue. And I bet they got paid a bucket load of cash. Talk about money for nothing.

Next, everything happens as the UK version; Sam checking out the Super-8 player in the car, Sam bumping his head on the car, checking himself out in another car's wing mirror, walking in a daze into the police station. Gotta say the music was cool, though.

Then we meet the other key characters, Skelton, Carling and, of course, Gene Hunt. Ah, Gene Hunt. The Gene Genie.

I originally heard that Colm Meaney had won the role for this part, and according to various sources on the net, actually filmed the pilot version. For whatever reason, though, the role has now been taken over by Harvey Keitel, you know the one, the cool fixer in Pulp Fiction. On paper, this must have sounded like a dream for the show. Big(ish) Hollywood star doing a TV show, he's known for his nasty yet cool type characters.

But how good is he? Ah, see that I don't actually know yet - after he appeared on screen, my wife screamed at me to turn it off, and refused to watch it with someone as unsexy as Keitel trying to fill Philip Glenisters shoes. And, hey, I value my life too much to keep it on after that kind of response. Based on my wife's reactions, Keitel could be a huge casting mistake.

I plan to watch the rest of the episode tomorrow, and will be back to finish my reveiw then. However, from the first 20 minutes, I am far from convinced this show has anything to offer after the brilliance of the original. But I'll give a fully informed opinion after watching the whole thing... I'm kind of intrigued at Raimes having a twin, and wonder if the plot could veer off the original tracks at some point?

Been awhile since I updated this - but there haven't been too many films to add.

01. The Dark Knight - still number one, and judging by the rest of the years releases, I can't see this changing.

02. Iron Man - recently saw this on DVD; while The Dark Knight may be the better film, this is the best comic adaptation ever - at least until Watchmen is released next year.

03. The Incredible Hulk

*new* 04. Hellboy 2: The Golden Army - what a great film; completely over the top, but great fun, with amazing action pieces.

05. Dan In Real Life

*new* 06. The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon's Emperor - And this slips in above Indiana Jones; like Hellboy, another great fun and action-filled film, although the super-cute yetis may be the best animated monster of the year!

07. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crytsal Skull

08. Harold and Kumar Escape From Guatanamo Bay

09. Get Smart

10. Hancock

11. Kung Fu Panda

12. Forgetting Sarah Marshall

13. Sex & The City

14. Meet The Spartans

15. Speed Racer

16. What Happens In Vegas

17. The Mist

18. 27 Dresses

19. Cloverfield

20. Juno

Now, I have Wanted to see soon; my wife saw it recently and was impressed, so I'm hopeful that it's good. If it can make it into the Top 5 (of which I'm not so certain) that would make a Top 5 consisting solely of comic book adaptations. Is that because I am a geek, or have comic book adaptations really become that good?

Kickboxing Mayhem

There's some sort of kickboxing match here in Ipswich, so what better reason do I need to inform some of my lesser knowledgeable readers about the greatest super-villain to ever appear in comics. And I mean EVER!

The super-villain? Well, the title may give it away to those in the know, but those unfortunates without a clue, see if you can guess. Is it:

a) Doctor Doom (nah, too evil)

b) The Joker (wimp)

c) The Red Skull (too nazi)

d) Magneto (too self-righteous)
e) Batroc the Leaper (could be...)

Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the mighty Batroc the Leaper

What's not too love?

He's French

He has a twirly moustache

He has a garish costume

And he speaks in an awesome french accent! He calls himself "Batroc ze leapair", just how cool is that?!? Other phrases - "Zut alor" "Sacre Bleu!" "Nom du chien" - and I'm fairly certain all these phrases are either wrong or used in the wrong context!

The best thing about Batroc - he twirls his twirly moustache! How cool is that?

Powers: None. He's just a kickboxer with a really silly costume.

And that is (seriously) my favourite super-villain of all time!!

I'm Back!

Wow, it's been a while since my last blog; I think that's down to the fact that:

1. I left my old job on the 22nd August

2. I went on holiday for a week to Felixstowe on the 23rd August, arriving back home on teh 30th August

3. I started my new job on 1st September.

4. I don't really have an excuse for not updating since starting my new job, except I have been somewhat unwell. I'm OK now, though, thanks for asking.

So, what's happened in my geeky life since my last blog? Hmm, probably the geekiest thing ever was that my holiday consisted of staying in a caravan and not a 4* hotel. Not bad, though the room service left a lot to be desired. Yeah, that's pretty geeky.

Oh, I dressed up as a policeman in a friends birthday celebrations. Well, I dressed up as a detective, I let the others dress up in proper uniform. I looked pretty sexy, if I do say so myself, as did my darling wife.

Started watching the new series of Prison Break and Bones. Prison Break is really becoming hard to stay interested in, but Bones is still a great little series; my favourite police procedural on tv at the moment. But when does the new series of Battlestar Galactica start, huh? Anyone know?

I'll try and get at least one other blog done soon; I must have seen another film for my Top 20, but I can't think of one...

Cheers!

Big Brother

So, is it cruel to laugh at a blind man trying to learn a dance routine on Big Brother? Even when he keeps facing the wrong way?

Oh, and I pretty much despise all the remaining contestants, they really are the dredge of humanity in their now. Well, Lisa is OK, and Rachel is harmless I suppose, but who wants Darnell, Rex or Mohamed to stay in the house? Why have all the fun housemates gone? Am I that out of touch with what the typical man/woman on the streets wants to see in BB?

Bah