Another update

Thought it was best just to crack on with things. Not had the best of news tonight.

Watched the pilot episode of Stuido 60 on Sunset Strip last night and I have to say I was very impressed. It was a really strong pilot episode. I know I am late seeing this but here in the U.K. it as only just premiered for the first time and am fully aware that the show as already been cancelled. Created by Aaron Sorkin, who made Sports Night and The West Wing, too shows I really like and with a decent cast including Matthew Perry, Bradley Whitford (he possibly was my favourite in West Wing), Amanda Peet (good in the first episode, I've heard negative stuff about her in the show), Steven Weber and Timothy Busfield (he'll always be Pointdexter in Revenge of the Nerds to me) are all characters I want to see more of. Judd Hirsch was brilliant in his little role in the first episode as well with his wonderful rant. I really hope the shows sustains the quality of the first episode. May watch some of the later episodes online but have been trying to avoid that.

Haven't watched a single film all week because of circumstance. I work my first tutor hours next week, got a letter today listing all my hours for the next couple of months, a big DVD spend as to be in there somewhere.

Real Life Gets in the Way

I fully intended to update the blog a couple of times a week, but my cousin, who I am quite close to had a baby a few months ago born with heart problems, he recently had an heart operation and I spent a couple of days with them away from things like the internet.

Might film/TV update later today or over the weekend.

Title goes here.

It's weird I always find the need to try and come up with a title for the blog entry I'm talking about, I can't always think of one and I try to be clever but sometimes it fails me.

I've had a bit of a habit lately of doing blong entries, saving them and forgetting about them, like the Saturday Night Live one below, there's an Eli Roth one I'll put up when I bother to finish it. I'm working on another top ten at the minute and a couple of weekly special articles (probably beginning next week I reckon).

What else can I talk about, the main dvd in my player lately is Saturday Night Live Season One, haven't watched a movie all week because of the TV DVDs (There's a future blog there).

I'll write some more later because I shouldn't be doing this while I've got stuff to do or I'll get in trouble.

EDIT: Blong is a word I clearly just invented on the spot- meaning long blog entry. P.S. it was really a spelling mistake but I like it.

Saturday Night Live Season One (Review 1 of probably 8)

It came out on R2 DVD yesterday and picked it up today. I always think of this and another sketch show as the groundbreaking North American sketch shows, the other one I am referring to is of course SCTV. I am actually more of an SCTV fan myself. There's a lot of reason to compare both, both feature very funny people who had successful careers ahead of them, both used the sketch format obviously, and both had musical guest. However SNL was recorded live as the title suggests and SCTV had a laugh track added later (much to the hate of the SCTV cast), Saturday Night Live is still going after beginning in 1975 whilst SCTV lasted in a couple of versions between 1976 and 1984. Let's cover the first disc of SNL...

Episode 1: George Carlin

The Good

• George Carlin's monolagues, always funny. Big fan of him so I'm bias.
• Andy Kaufman's performance of Mighty Mouse- Genius
• Albert Brooks Mock Documentary "The Impossible Truth"
• The Musical performances of Janis Ian and Billy Preston.
• Gilda Radner's reaction in the courtroom scene.
• The expecting fathers what are bees waiting at hospital.
• The video asking people to show there guns.
• The debut of the weekend update with Chevy Chase. Little uncomfortable here but still funny.
• The Home Security sketch.

The Bad

• See I'm a Jim Henson fan. Love Seasame Street. Love The Muppets. Don't discount Fraggle Rock, Labyrinth or Dark Crystal either. But what the hell is going on here. This muppet sketch with characters like King Ploobis and the Mighty Favog just doesn't sit well.
• Lack of Gilda Radner
• Valri Bloomfield's stand up routine, just not very funny, no suprise Kaufman was asked about multiple times and not her.

Episode 2: Paul Simon

The Good:

• Simon and Garfunkel reforming and sing a few classic songs.
• The basketball game between Paul Simon and Connie Hawkins.
• The Weekend Update again.

The Bad:

• Too much Paul Simon. Now I am a big enough Simon and Garfunkel fan, anything solo of theirs just doesn't do it for me.
• The cast (Not Ready for Primetime Players) are in for only about thirty seconds in bee costumes.

Episode 3: Rob Reiner

The Good:

• Rob Reiner's lounge singer monologue.
• Reiner with Penny Marshall presenting the segment on fashion faux-pa's, features most the cast.
• Andy Kaufman's performance of Pop Goes the Weasel, even funnier then his first appearance.
• The Squeaky Fomme interview.
• The end skit with the Bees.

The Bad:

• Albert Brooks' short film on heart surgery just goes on way too long.

All in all not three bad episodes, all have their shining moments for tuning in. It's clearly a show evolving into what it became within these three episodes. Gilda Radner is wonderful, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd wonderful and Andy Kaufman's bits are genius. I can strongly recommend the first disc.

Scary Remake News

BOGUS!

The L.A Times is rather scaringly reporting that MGM is planning a straight to DVD reimaging of "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure"

Apparently the original creators behind Bill and Ted attempted to make a third film official centering around Bill and Ted in their 40s. Keanu Reeves' manager urged him not to go there.

There is no word on the casting for the remake, not that it really matters.

I was one of them holding up hope for a true third movie. Boo Keanu Reeves' manager boo!

Hey, it's letting me write a title now...

Still ill, still very tired.

Just watched loads of television today, nothing groundbreaking, plenty of stuff I'd seen before, episodes of That 70s Show, Grounded for Life, Frasier, King of the Hill, Malcolm in the Middle, The Simpsons, aswell as Veronica's Closet (which was Mary Lynn Rajskub's first appearence in the show- I like her), haven't put a DVD on only really had energy in little spurts.

Mary Lynn Rajskub = Wonderful

Finished the Top 10 Shortlived shows, appears under the date I began, feel like I've done something wrong there.

I'm feeling sick as a dog at the minute since Sunday, even left work early today, actually a long time since I've done that...

Watched a couple of things since I've been in: finished with ER Season Seven earlier today (had the last three episodes of the season to watch today), might give a more in depth look at that later, I did call the sixth season the last truly great season, maybe that's a bit unfair, also just finished watching Everyone Says I Love You, a musical by Woody Allen and his perhaps one of his most underrated movies, with an excellent cast including Natasha Lyonne, Edward Norton, Tim Roth, Natalie Portman and Alan Alda, I highly recommend it- It feels more of a Winter movie then a Summer movie, if you know what I mean.

Gonna go to cough up some flem (very attractive), might post some of my draft posts in the next couple of days, including that shortlived television one and one about Eli Roth.

I know I haven't updated in a couple of days, haven't been in front of a computer as much as I normally am.

Haven't actually watched a film in a couple of days, watching TV on DVD, mainly being swapping between ER Season Seven and SCTV Volume Three, wish I had more time to watch DVDs sometimes, got Monday off again this week, so might watch an handful of DVDs on Monday.

Working on a another top 10, this time Top 10 Shortlived Television Series, there might be clues all over my blog if you are aware.

Wish I had more to say to be honest.

Top 10 Unfairly Short Lived Shows (One Season Wonders)

Criteria: All shows must have been cancelled within or at the end of the first season, a season usually is around 22 or 24, any show that lasts any longer (or onto a second season) do not count, The Critic lasted 2 seasons but wasn't really given a chance, Arrested Development was mostly unwatched on television but it lasted three seasons so that doesn't count either, also a show like Band of Brothers was originally planned as a mini-series and that doesn't count either, let's star the top 10...

10- Clone High (2002-03)

Clone High was a short lived animated series produced by Bill Lawrence (of Spin City and Scrubs fame) about an high school the clones of lot of famous historical figures attend, such as Joan of Arc, Abraham Lincoln, cleopatra, JFK and Gandhi. The show as a lot of funny moments thanks to the High School horndog Gandhi. Best line of the entire series however goes to jock JFK when he says "Nothing bad ever happens to the Kennedy's!". Working checking out, think it's only available on Canadian R1.

9- Young Americans (2000)

Something of a spin-off to Dawson's Creek, that helped launch the careers of Ian Somerhalder (Lost), Kate Bosworth and Katherine Moennig (The L Word) was I believe debuted on American television in the Summer set around Rawley Summer Academy (an Elite school). Moennig plays a female pretending to be male to get into the school. Apparently it did not bad numbers but was not brought back, shame. Lasted about 8 episodes and not currently available on DVD.

8- Greg the Bunny (2002)

The cast features Eugene Levy, Seth Green, Bob Gunton and Sarah Silverman and guest appearances from Gary Oldman and Corey Feldman was basically Meet the Feebles made for American Network Television. There's enough laughs to be had thanks to some of the great puppet characters such as Count Blah (whose speech impediment means he says Blah at the end of every sentance). One of the things responsible for love of Sarah Silverman. Currently available on R1, as is Greg the Bunny: The Best of Film Parodies. 7- Clerks: The Animated Series (2000)

Only six episodes produced, only two of which aired, the two which aired are probably the better two, straying away from the film it is based somewhat. I truly think Jeff Anderson as Randall came into his own on this show even improving on his performance in the film, his memorable for me for a number of reasons including "Who's driving the car? Bears driving the car, how can that be?" and the entire flashback episode (the second episode). Available on R1. 6- The Ben Stiller Show (1992-93)

Before A-List beckoned, Ben Stiller starred in this short lived sketch show alongside Janeane Garofalo, Bob Oedenkirk and Andy Dick. Unusually recorded without a laugh track, Stiller even cautiously mentions in the first episode that they might get cancelled soon. It's like any sketch show, there's some stinkers to be had however Stiller's Cruise is always good as is Oedenkirk's Charlie Manson, fact: The Do It guy that Stiller does whilst in disguise in Starsky and Hutch orginated here. Worth checking out. Available on R1.

5- Undeclared (2001-02)

It's certainly in the same league as Freaks and Geeks (see below) and is something of a natural follower on dealing with college life as oppose to F&G high school life and even a bunch of actors appear in both. There isn't many college based television comedies out there really (Boy Meets World went to college, as did Saved By the Bell, they where the first two that came to mind), the cast are excellent, a standout being folk singer Loudon Wainwright however the inclusion of Christina Payona's Tina is useless though. Only available on R1.

4- Eerie Indiana (1991-92)

Brilliantly crafted and shockingly short lived, I could have sweared there was more than 19 episodes made. Cult enough to gain a sequel series titled Eerie Indiana: The Next Dimension. This was a constant favourite of mine when I was a kid (and it actually features future Spidey Tobey Maguire). With some highly original episodes, the series is truly exceptional. Available everywhere I think.

3- Firefly (2002-03)

Joss Whedon is god alone for creating Buffy the Vampire Slayer and it's spin-off Angel but Firefly is also of genuis. Thankfully the DVD sales where high enough to warrant a feature film titled Serenity. It's kind of the Anti-Star Trek, there's no aliens for one and the story of River Tam (Summer Glau, pictured above) is very intruging and is somewhat addressed in the movie thankfully, Nathan Fillion as Captain Mal Reynolds also deserves to become a star after this.

2- Police Squad (1982)

It's unbelievable that this only lasted six episodes. An argument could be made they are the funniest six epiosdes ever made of anything (a lot of the jokes got repackaged for the movie) and I never tire of it despite how few episodes they are. This along with Airplane basically ended Leslie Nielsen as the serious actor. Best of all unlike the films it's not tainted by the inclusion of O.J. Simpson. Available everywhere it seems.

1- Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000)

Straight in at number one as close as you are going to get to a perfect show. Freaks and Geeks is one of the few teen-aged show that feels so real. Maybe it was just too good too last very long, maybe if it had gone two or three seasons, the magic of it would have gone. Busy Philipps' Kim Kelly is a truly wonderful creation: perfectly bitchy, my best friend Rich also as mucho love for Lindsay (Linda Cardellini) and any show with Joe Flaherty is alright by me. Available on R1 only.

Life Update

Yeah, I'm still around updating this.

Pretty good today, had an interview to become a tutor this morning at The Warren Youth Centre where I do most of my filmmaking for them to run courses for them: £12.50 an hour ($25 dollarish an hour if you are an American) and got accepted, the catch was there is no guarentee of work, but was offered work straight away, mostly for next month teaching filmmaking and editing. Not bad, not bad at all.

Haven't watched a film last couple of days, watched some of my TV DVDs, currently watching ER Season Seven, around writing this, still a fantastic show. Nothing much else to report.

My Top Ten Favourite Directors of All Time

I'm going to do regular countdowns (Top 10, Top 5), sometimes serious, sometimes dumb. The criteria for the list is very simple- it can be any movie director living or dead in the history of cinema, I want to go through some of the people who didn't make the cut but love their work: Brian De Palma, Alan Parker, Dario Argento, Walter Hill, Ridley Scott and Joe Dante. There is a lot of modern directors I would have considered and maybe knock one of these off in the future they include Christopher Nolan, Paul Thomas Anderson and Wes Anderson.

10- TIM BURTON

One of the more visual pleasing directors with his own artistic designs. Even his early short films are visually excellent (Vincent and Frankenweenie). His first full length feature was Pee-Wee's Big Adventure aimed squarely at kids but had Burton's dark sense of humour running through out, Beetle Juice is the film that brought him to the dance and still stands up incredibly well today. He also directed the first two Batman films (Batman Returns is still my favourite Batman film of all time), Edward Scissorhands might just be my favourite of his, a modern fairytale with a tragic hero it helped make Johnny Depp a movie star and is simply wonderful, also wonderful is Ed Wood, another film I seriously love and highly recommend. Even though he didn't direct The Nightmare Before Christmas is fingerprints are clearly all over it and is an exceptional piece of work, it's just hard to know how much credit show go to the director Henry Selick. He's had a few missteps, most notably the distarious Planet of the Apes. His recent work as been solid if not brilliant and welcome any new film in his warped vision.

9- FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA

My Heaven's sake, the guy made The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, The Conversation and Apocalypse Now in the 1970s and should be on the list for those films alone. Even though in the decades since some of his output hasn't even been a fifth of the quality of any of them. Some of his work his strong: The Outsiders, Rumble Fish etc. Some really misguided: Jack and he hasn't made a film since 1997's The Rainmaker. I hope Coppola comes back soon and with a BANG!

8- THE COEN BROTHERS

Yeah I know Ethan usually produces and co-writes while Joel directs and co-writes. I fell in love with the Coen films in my teens thanks to Fargo, Raising Arizona and Barton Fink (and a touch later The Big Lebowski). Like Burton, there is just something visually wonderful about their films and with a sense of humour often pitched firmly in the black, as I grew older I saw Miller's Crossing and Blood Simple (their first movie) and what wonderful movies they truly are. Of their recent output 2001's The Man Who Wasn't There is their best. I think they've got a film coming soon but I just can't remember the title off the top of my head.

7- MARIO BAVA

The greatest of the Italian Giallo directors (even though his career was so much more). I've just loved every film I have seen of his. They say a director should be measured on how often he is imitated, well he's been imitated many a time, often by hacks they recreate his scenes with little of his masterful suspense, watch A Bay of Blood then Friday the 13th Part II, then play spot the difference. An odd film I recommend you must watch is Hatchet for the Honeymoon, truly one of the greats.

6- ROBERT ALTMAN

His work is that respected that it spawned it's own term: Altmanesque, a style in which Paul Thomas Anderson and the 2005 movie Crash have tried to emulate which feature multiple story threads and characters. There's four films that instantly come to mind when I think of Altman: M*A*S*H, Nashville, The Player and Short Cuts- all four of them are genuine ***** classics. His work will truly stand the test of time. It's sad that there's going to be no more Altman films out there just Altman imitators.

5- SERGIO LEONE

It's surprising how few films he directed in his career (7 films spanning the 1960s to the 1980s), Leone directed my favourite film of all time: Once Upon a Time in the West, which just gets everything right: the shots, the music, the same could be said for the Dollars Trilogy or Once Upon a Time in America though, Leone should be commended for taking what was a dying genre in the 1960s and make it relevant again which still holds up today.

4- ALFRED HITCHCOCK

Actually just realized he is the only Brit on the list (Powell and Pressburger came very close though), Hitchcock had a long, long career with many instant classics. People always called him "The Master of Supsense" which was a truth, many went and tried to do Hitchcock but none could ever equal him: Just look at a handful of films, Psycho, North by Northwest, Veritgo, Rear Window, Rebecca, The Birds, all wonderful films and not just all wonderful genre films at that.

3-STEVEN SPIELBERG

There always seems to be times when there is backlash against the 'Berg. The 'Berg's had a constantly exceptional career since the 70s (including directing an excellent episode of Columbo). Come on who didn't jump during Jaws, who didn't cry during E.T, who doesn't love Indiana Jones or have their mouth wide open when they so the dinosaurs for the first time in Jurassic Park and who wasn't shocked and saddened by Schindler's List. The 'Berg as earned his reputation and I've enjoyed some of his more recent fair such as Saving Private Pryan, Minority Report, Catch Me If You Can and Munich. I have faith The 'Berg will keep putting out quality entertainment for years.

2- MARTIN SCORSESE

The third of the Movie Brats on the list, which they all come from what is an highly influential time for me. Scorsese though his a master. You know why he won an Oscar this year for Best Director, The Departed a great film it is was not neccesarrily for that. The Academy felt guilty. AND fucking guilty they should, Raging Bull lost out to Ordinary People and Goodfellas lost out to Dances with Wolves, that's not fair is it. Don't forget the excellent Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, or the criminally underrated The King of Comedy, which I believe a lesser director could have never made. He's had a good run the last few years, often teaming with Leo instead of De Niro these days, but his work still remains quality.

1- BILLY WILDER

I just adore Billy Wilder movies, they always have the most high quality writing (Wilder usually co-wrote), there was a time I'd never seen many old movies to be honest and it was Wilder, along with Hitchcock who kind of introduced me to those 'dreaded' black and white films. Sunset Boulevard is the ultimate black comedy, you don't laugh much cause what you are seeing is so sad (in a pathetic way), he was also responsible for my favourite POW movie Stalag 17, the fluffy but excellent romantic comedy Sabrina and two truly awesome films with Jack Lemmon (they made a few more together) in Some Like it Hot and The Apartment. The last script I wrote was clearly so influenced by The Apartment and Cameron Crowe would probably admit elements found it's way into Almost Famous. Billy Wilder, the rgeatest director of all time, you betcha.

Quickie in the Back Seat

Just a quick update. Didn't watch another film, watched televison instead. Watched an episode of Penn & Teller: Bullshit dealing with guns, always enjoy that show, just finished watching Two and a Half Men apparently cause I've lost the remote control.

Lazy Monday

I spent the entire day doing nothing, nadda, bugga all, woke up a bit earlier then I wanted to this morning thanks to some drilling outside, then pretty much have done nothing but watch DVDs for the rest of the day.

Firstly watched the first three episodes of The Fast Show Series One, which is brilliantly funny (and I will fight you if you say otherwise). My favourite sketches are the Suit You Sir shop assistants, Arthur Atkinson and the news show. Probably watch the rest of it tonight (3 more to go). Streets of Fire (or Streets of Rage as keep calling it by accident, a game I many hours of playing it on my Megadrive in my childhood), is a Walter Hill movie I'd never seen before and I have to say I was pretty darn impressed, Michael Pare might be a tad bland but Rick Moranis and the spunky Amy Madigan more then make up for that, some good action set pieces, my second Walter Hill movie in as many days aswell there. Terror Trax, I had little hope for to be honest, I brought it cause I was a fan of John Ritter but the film was better then I thought it would be, the segment with Bryan Cranston (Al from Malcolm in the Middle) and Buff Bagwell and a deranged monkey is probably the best of the segments but the Granny Killer one is odd fun aswell. Great, great ending to the entire film aswell, can't believe I am actually recommending this film to be anybody but I am. The Way of the Gun rounded off a suprisingly impressive day of DVD watching so far, directed and written by Christopher McQuarrie (who wrote Usual Suspects) which impressed me enough, strong performances (Benicio Del Toro, James Caan, Juliette Lewis) and cool action also wins points for featuring Sarah Silverman as an obnixious woman who's henpecked her boyfriend and ends up getting punched in the face, again recommended as is everything I've watched today.

Might watch 1 or 2 more DVDs tonight, maybe some TV Series on DVD (Fast Show, ER, MASH or something else) and might write about them later depending on my mood.

Film Now

Had a pretty quiet day, not doing much next couple of days either, handed in the final cut of a short film on poverty and money issues I was making for work and deserve a couple of days off at least.

Finished watching ER Season Six today, in which I've spread out watching over the past week, it's probably the last truly exceptional season of the series (even though many of the later seasons are well good), I call it an exceptional season because of many a thing such as Alan Alda's guest arc, Corday and the serial killer, Two of the Goonies appearing, the two parter Be Still My Heart and All in the Family which involve the staff having to treat two of their own, Carter's drug problem, Mark Greene and his dad, the farewells of...SPOILER ALERT Jeannie and Hathaway- which includes a cameo from George Clooney and much, much more, love this series, going to be staring on ER Season Seven ASAP.

Some of the film's I've watched the last week or so include But I'm a Cheerleader, starring Natasha Lyonne and Clea DuVall, which sees Lyonne as a cheerleader whose family and friends believe she is a lesbian and send her to a rehab camp for homosexuals, the film which could have been so much i.e a biting satire but just feels flat for some reason despite good performances by them both aswell as RuPaul and Melanie Lynskey. Clerks II is very funny in most places if sometimes not feeling like a proper sequel to the original, the original characters are still funny and there is welcome support from among others Trevor Fehrman and Rosario Dawson, recommended. Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny is another film funny in places, as not a particular fan of the Tenacious D "sound" I probably viewed this film differently to a lot of people (I do like the presence of Jack Black and Kyle Gass) and some of the musical numbers feel like I've already seen them in School of Rock for some reason, full marks for Tim Robbins cameo. Slither is a loving b-movie tribute starring Nathan Fillion (of Firefly fame) and Elizabeth Banks (the sex freak in 40 Year Old Virgin) which takes a little bit to get going but is super fun once it does, suprisingly dark in places. Romy and Michele's High School Reunion stars Mira Sorvino and Lisa Kudrow as two former high school losers going to their high school reunion (as the title does suggest!) is midly to averagely funny and the two leads are very likeable at times, not life changing but a good way to spend 90 minutes. Today I watched Brewster's Millions, the 1985 version starring Richard Pryor and John Candy, a film I watched fairly regularly as a kid, Pryor as to spend $30million in 30 days to inherit $300million from his kook of an uncle, likeable film thanks to the lead performers, I think it's a tad underappreciated. That's all thart comes to mind.

Current TV Shows in Rotation: M*A*S*H Season Ten, Amazing Stories Season One, ER Season Seven, Charmed Season One.

Planned Watching?: Streets of Fire (1984), War of the Worlds (2005), Stir Crazy, Throw Mama From the Train, The Way of the Gun, Batman Returns, Everyone Says I Love You, Time Bandits and The Elephant Man

Benoit

I've been a wrestling fan for 18+ years (for some reason I'm using Wrestlemania V as a reference point), I was a kid obviously as I'm 24 now and most people specially here in Hull, England they expect you to grow out of it by now...

I have many happy memories of watching wrestling, in the early 90s enjoying Bret Hart and The Hart Foundation, The Rockers, Ric Flair, Ted Diebse (booed like hell for him) and others.

I was a teenager during the Monday Night Wars period or the WWF Attitude period. It was a great time to be a wrestling fan we had WWF, WCW and ECW (Bravo would show ECW over here in the U.K.) which introduced me to a variety of different wrestlers, many I'd never heard of before and just completely blown away by, among them.

• Chris Jericho
• Eddie Guerrero
• Dean Malenko
• Chris Benoit

Loved um all and others (like Rey, Booker T and RVD), If anything they strengthed my love for wrestling those years (and it actually became cool again during this time period) and where all in WCW (minus RVD) when I was the beginning of my peak of being a wrestling fanatic- 1998. Jericho jumped ship to the WWF in the Summer of 99 with one of the greatest debuts in wrestling history and Guerrero, Malenko and Benoit (along with Perry Saturn) jumped ship in 2000, making me an incredibly happy bunny.

I was going to talk about my memories of some of these guys in the WWF (later WWE): Jericho becoming the first ever Undisputed World Champion, Benoit winning the Royal Rumble, Eddie winning the WWE Championship from Brock Lesnar and Benoit and Eddie at celebrating at Wrestlemania XX after Benoit had just won the Heavyweight Title.

The moment of Benoit and Eddie celebrating became more touching when Eddie Guerrero died in November 2005, I will not go into details here, but the death as a wrestling fan touched me and the image I'd keep in my mind forever...

Or so I thought. Last Monday. After Benoit cancelled his appearence at the Weekends House Shows and Vengeance PPV because of a family emergency, Benoit was found dead along with wife Nancy and his 7 year old son Daniel...Benoit had killed them both then killed himself, I don't want to go into the gory details, there's enough places on the internet that will tell you what probably happened step by step and I don't want to talk about if it was roid rage or too many concussions.

I wanted to talk about Chris Benoit: a wrestler I looked upto, he was arguably the most gifted technical wrestler wrestling today, a wrestler who I cheered for endlessly when I saw live, a wrestler I tuned into see regularly during the Monday Night Wars and beyond, a wrestler I shed a tear when he and Bret Hart fought in memory of Owen, a wrestler I so much wanted to be World Champion because he deserved it, a wrestler I choked up most when he spoke of his friendship with Eddie, that Wrestlemania XX ending, hell his matches against Jericho or Booker T which I loved so much.

But those memories are not gone, there tainted...tainted forever, Chris Benoit, a performer I looked up is a child killer, a murderer, plain and simple. It's knocked me for six honestly, it's hammered home the world is a bad place- stuff like this happens, stuff like this happens from people you'd never think. Benoit used to stand for what is right in wrestling now he stands for what's wrong in the world.

I'm not trying to write anything here that hasn't been said before I just wanted to get written down the events and how they effected me like many wrestling fans, and it's probably the most major wrestling incident ever...

A bit about me and film

I have exactly 1650 DVDs. That's a lot right? Yeah I know the answer, it was a rhetorical question. I started collecting them in September 2001 after having a long love affair with VHS, whilst VHS was in my childhood and teenage life, I had to rely on pocket money to feed my habbit and never reached the heights of 1650 that my adult life could afford me.

My favourite actors are Robert De Niro (I own 45 of his films, I'm getting there) and Jack Lemmon. My favourite actress is probably Audrey Hepburn, but have love in the modern world for Natalie Portman and Maggie Gyllenhaal. My favourite director is Billy Wilder with Scorsese a very close second. My favourite film, I often usually cite as Once Upon a Time in the West but it's very hard to choose and my favourite television show of all time is M*A*S*H.

I am a filmmaker with a couple of shorts under my belt, people consider me talented and I could go with that, I have also taught film theory and film history on occasion.

I am not here to personally argue if I am or you are a bigger film geek (or fan or whatever) and Harry Knowles or Q.T might be world famous film geeks and I'm not comparing myself to them. I am writing here cause I love film.

What's This? What's This?

Yes, unbelievably this is a new update, after regular bloggin' with MySpace and LiveJournal this is now back to being my regular (or semi-regular or occasionly as it seems to be) blog, now it's nigh on impossible to go on about all the films and other DVDs I've seen this year but I'll be writing reviews (or semi reviews or one line reviews: whatever takes my fancy) but now as this will be my main blog I'll probably feature crap that's going on in my real life, I'm sticking with the Film Geek moniker cause that's what I am and always will be but like I say other stuff will possibly be get mentioned.

Peace out.

Rob