My first in a probably irregular feature on people you should all know! Those fairly unknowns who help improve our geek life through films, TV, comics and books...

First Up:

So who is Jane Goldman?

Well, she’s the wife of Jonathon Ross, the celebrated (if controversial) UK chat show host. Ross is also known for being one the largest collectors of comics in the UK. Rumour has it he has three copies of Amazing Fantasy #15 (featuring the first appearance of Spider-Man, although I believe he donated one to Comic Relief).

So she’s the wife of one of the UK’s biggest comic book nerds, but she has bigger geek credentials other than being married to one.

She has BIG boobies, thats not really relevant, but thought it worth a mention...

She’s also an ex-computer games magazine writer, was a columnist for the Daily Star at age 16, and author of several books, including a non-fiction book on the X-Files. After this, she presented her own supernatural television series, and in between all of this she found time to be a bra model (she is *very* well endowed in that area, did I mention that..?)

But Goldman has in recent years become a screen writer along with Matthew Vaughn, director. They co-wrote the screenplay adaptation of Stardust, from the story by Neil Gaiman, and then adapted the hugely successful Kick-Ass from the comic of the same name by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.

This might explain why she and director Matthew Vaughn are the hottest sought property for bringing super-hero drama to the big screen!

She has recently been announced as screen writer on the latest X-Men film, First Class, chronicling the earliest adventures of the merry band of mutants. Matthew Vaughn will be directing. In fact, it was announced by Goldman's husband, Ross, on his Twitter account – obviously very proud of his wife!

Matthew Vaughn was originally set to direct X-Men 3, but pulled out and instead ended up making Stardust. I enjoyed X-Men 3, but Stardust was a much superior film in every way. I'm pleased Vaughn didn't end up directing the third film, because after his success with his previous features I think he'll be given pretty much free reign on this.

So I have to say I am now very excited for what Goldman and Vaughn have in store for this X-Men feature. Especially as the young Xavier casting has been announced as James McAvoy, him of Shameless and the Last King of Scotland fame.

So keep an eye on Jane Goldman in future – here’s hoping we get to see her pen some more superhero movies in the not too distant future…

Oh, and I did mention her very RED (and sometimes very PINK) hair?!?

I'm Back! (Again!)

After a very very long time since my last update, I thought I had best get on and update this blog! I find myself with more free time than normal at the moment, so hopefully I should be managing a few posts every week from now on.

I don't have very much more to say on this post, except I have stolen acquired some pictures (from Aint It Cool News) of how Captain America is going to look in the big movie of next year. They look awesome!!

Obviously based on the Bryan Hitch Ultimate costume, it has a real World War II feel to it.

Fanboys...?

I am so uncertain how this film has managed to slip my attention till right now, but I'm dissapointed in myself. Sigh.

So what is this film about? Here is a summary taken from various sources I could find on the net:

It's 1998, and Linus will not live long enough to see the release of Star Wars episode 1 - The Phantom Menace. Along with his friends Eric, Windows, Hutch and Zoe plan to break into Skywalker Ranch, to steal a print of the movie. They set out travelling across the country to get the film, so Linus can see it before he dies. Simple plot. But the cast... my God, it's a fanboys wet dream!

The main characters are all people you will recognise, but of the type where you have to struggle to remember why you recognise them. But the rest of the cast includes:

Seth Rogen
Carrie Fisher
Ray Park
Jason Mewes
Kevin Smith
Billy Dee Williams
Ethan Suplee
Danny Trejo
and
WILLIAM SHATNER

If you're not sure who all the above people are, then watch the trailer - it doesn't give their real names, but what the roles they're most famous for. Inspired.

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?