Lost is Back

Lost is back for it's first episode since the Writer's Strike put a dent in this seasons run and what it great episode it was. The show focused on Ben and it was his flashforward. Ben is easily my favourite character on the show (Desmond and Sawyer would be in my top list aswell) and had a shocking scene when alex was shot in the head by Keamy . So this episode kind of made Ben a hero or maybe not a hero but it give him a personal vendetta and he actually showed emotion in this episode. Terrific.

What I watched on TV: Thursday 25th

Heroes: So Heroes returned to British screens some 7 months after the U.S show for the second season. I'd gone out of my way to avoid seeing it online because it just doesn't have the same effect. It was great to see David Anders from Alias in what looks to the very least as a featured part though his English accent is distracting, also great to see the underrated Stephen Tobolowsky. Couple of actors where absent from the episode though such as Nikki and her clan. Apparently this season isn't great but I enjoyed the first episode of this season enough.

ER: ER is only a week behind the US, I believe this is the closest in 14 years of it been on British TV that it's been shown after the US showing. This week was pretty much Neela based, which included a naked dream (sadly you didn't see anything, this been a Network TV show) and she got "dumped" by her med student Harold, whilst at the same time redeeming herself to Gates daughter/quasi-daughter/whatever she is. Morris and Frank also had a great battle this week

My Name is Earl, is now showing it's third season over here. Earl's still in prison and he was trying to write a short story as part of class, all the other characters kept coming up with outlandish stories that featured themselves, it was a pretty good episode. Joy is my favourite character BTW.

The Big Bang Theory, is good as far as been nothing special, Kaley Cuoco from 8 Simple Rules is appealing and Johnny Galecki and the other guy (who is like Niles) are good, I tend to watch it just because it doesn't tax the brain cells (ironic since it's about these intelligent nerds).

The Office: I'm talking about the American one here, I really dig this show because I tend not think of it as a remake of the great British series. I adore Jenna Fischer and Steve Carell and Rain Wilson can really make me laugh. I believe we are on the third season over here, this episode was about a bunch of the characters splitting up in two's going to companies to sell paper. Good.

Entourage: Vincent Chase is my least favourite character. People like Artie and Johnny Drama I love. Johnny Drama was obsessed with getting a hat that was only available at a medical marijuana centre. E and Billy's arguing was also an highlight of the episode.

The Coreys: It seems that only after an handful of episodes it's others. Tensions rised between Haim and The Feldmans, which nearly involved them coming to fists with each other and Haim leaving seemingly for good. The show is obviously very manufactured but it was decent in a car crash sort of way.

Exploitation Theatre

I'm just not that big fan of porn, I'm not trying to hide any information here - I seriously get distracted by the bad acting and the unrealistic plots (some lucky fella might call the plots realistic) and I especially hate things like people looking at the camera, one thing I do like about dodgy pornos is of course the dialogue and the music. The dialogue more often then not is hilarious. These last few lines I'm mostly talking about hardcore porn and softcore thrillers, there is one type of "porn" (I use the term loosely from now on) I love - The 70s Sex Comedy Porn -

Now I'm not somebody who watches these sort of films for jolly's (read: wanking) and find it hard to imagine that anybody could or would. One film I saw recently was Eskimo Nell (1975) produced in Great Britian and starring Christopher Timothy (All Creatures Great and Small), Roy Kinnear (Veruca's dad in Willy Wonka) and Christopher Biggins (THAT camp guy) - if that's not a great cast then I don't know what is -

The film's plot is about a director and writing securing the funds for a film from 4 different people/groups and all 4 of them wanting something different, here's what they ask for...

• A family movie involving eskimo's.
• A filthy as hell hardcore porn movie.
• A kung-fu musical featuring Nuns (?)
• A gay cowboy movie (beating Brokeback Mountain by 30 years - though it doesn't feature any of the emotion and unrequieted feelings of that movie - it does include a spanking though)

Most of the films funniest moments come from scenes been shot from the 4 movies, the family movie's dialogue comes across as completely filthy, the unbelievable scenes from the kung fu musical and the performances of the "actors" in the gay cowboy movie.

This film is massively enjoyable with a really excellent performance by Roy Kinnear as Benny U. Murdoch (B.U.M) and the really annoying American actress (I need to look up her name) which help make this a movie I can strongly recommend.

Some Recent Filmmmmmssssssssssss

The Holiday (2006) was a sweet romantic comedy if not entirely memorable, best parts of the movies are Kate Winslet and Eli Wallach's scenes as well as the twist for Jude Law's character. Cameron Diaz' character took a bit of getting used to it and was annoying for the first 40 or so minutes. I think I can recommend it.

Something I've always said about Friday the 13th (1980) is that unlike Halloween is the fact it's not a great movie. Don't get me wrong some of the deaths are pretty cool but the acting is mostly appalling (lead actress Adrienne King in particular), however I did enjoy Betsy Palmer's performeance as Mrs. Voorhies and the Carrie rip off fake ending. I still enjoy this movie though.

Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) however is a rehash of the first movie and is nowhere near as good by any standards, this is the first movie that features Jason doing the killing (without the hockey mask). Pretty uninspired but not completely awful.

Besides all these it's been very television as far as I can remember...

Just finished watching the the first two seasons of the Ren and Stimpy show (aka the John K. years). Really, really funny without some excellent episodes. It's a shame it was never as good as this again.

A great series that never got a massive, massive audience was Dark Angel, watched both series back to back. I absolutely love Jessica Alba so it was a great selling point for me in the first place. Both series are different but both are strong in their own ways. Loved it.

Must of watched some other stuff, just can't remember at the moment...

WWE Smackdown in Sheffield

So last weeks Smackdown event was my 3rd WWE event (all in Sheffield), 1st Smackdown event and my 5th wrestling event ever, I'll have a quick descripition of the day below before I get to the actual show...

I arrived at the train station for 9.40am, I was the last one there with my nephew Dominic, Welkey, Len and his son George where all ready, everybody else had got there for 9 in the excitement even though we'd all arranged to meet for 9.30 (yeah I was late, sue me)

The train to Sheffield took just over an hour and we quickly headed to the HMV in Meadowhall as two superstars where doing a signing there at what we found out was 4 o'clock (WWE.com said 3) - Kelly Kelly and Michelle McCool - it's fair to say Sheffield got the Raw end of the deal on this tour, other towns had the likes of Kane, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho and C.M. Punk - whilst waiting in the cue we found out McCool had cancelled and was to be replaced by Kofi Kingston, it felt a really, really long wait in the queue and in the end I got a Royal Rumble 2008 steelbook and my ticket from last time signed by the pair. I can't complain

After tea we headed to the venue (Hallam FM Arena) via tram and went to the concession stand as it opens earlier before the event for people who didn't get tickets and the like. £15 for a programme is too much for me and the shirts had gone up £5 from last time to £20, so shockingly for the third time I didn't buy anything from a WWE event. We then went outside to queue, we where near the front of our entrance and we queued for over an hour, when the doors opened we where first in, well technically Welkey, Len and George where the first in the actual arena, but I was 4th. We got to our seats and took a few photos posed near the ring, we waited an hour for the show to start... Oh yeah before I talk about the show, it was nearly £10 for 3 beers for the 3 of us, we each did a round (that was nearly £30 for nine bottles of beer. what a rip off!) I forget to mention we where Section B Row 7 GREAT SEATS!!!

Hollah Hollah. Teddy Long opened the event, running down matches in the card, earning his pay cheque. Vickie Guerrero was nowhere to be seen.

Kofi Kingston beat Jamie Noble and Kenny Dykstra in a triple threat match, when he pinned Noble. Pretty good match, quick paced, crowd don't know if Noble is a face or heel though. Me, Len and Welke cheered for Noble, I'm sure he heard is chanting his name.

WWE Tag-Team Champions Morrison and Miz beat Jimmy Wang Yang and Shannon Moore in a decent match, M&M did a good bit on the microphone before the match

Kelly Kelly beat Victoria in a better match then it should have been, Kelly Kelly's pants constantly falling down helped. I cheered (and cheered alone I feel) for Victoria during the match

Mark Henry beat legend Tommy Dreamer, you kind of guessed Dreamer was losing once Henry's music hit. Not a great match by any standards but enjoyable.

Batista and Finlay (w/Horney) beat Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins in an awesomely entertaining match. At one point the match involved waterpistols (!) and after the match finished the three faces did an irish jig to Horney's music which included Batista putting Horney's hat on (picture above). Wonderful.

Eve Torres came out to throw t-shirts into the crowd. She ain't a bad arm for a dame, which lead us on to intermission.

C.M. Punk beat Shelton Benjamin in a slow match, I did expect better from these two but it was great to see them wrestle in person.

MVP beat Matt Hardy after a bit of cheating. MVP did a "Andy Kaufman" bit on the mic before the match started. Good match.

Undertaker, Kane and Big Show beat Edge, Chavo and Khali in a great main event. I'VE GOT TO SEE UNDERTAKER WRESTLE IN PERSON!!!, Khali is not a wrestler at all but he applied his self well enough and obviously others helped carry the match. Brilliant.

The show ended with Taker doing his pose in the middle of the ring

Then home, the kiddies fell alseep soon because it was a long day. The show was much better then the last show we attended and was seriously a lot of FUN. Great to see a lot of the wrestlers specially Undertaker. Brilliant day.

On a last note, I haven't seen a wrestler wrestle more then twice for the record, these are the 2 times club: Triple H, Randy Orton, William Regal, Edge, Batista, Shelton Benjamin, Kane, The Miz, Tommy Dreamer, Abyss, Christian, Rhino, AJ Styles and Samoa Joe. Any guesses on who will be the first wrestler I see three times!

Three of the Best

REN AND STIMPY CARTOONS

Here is the latest thing that will probably not last incredibly long (as is the norm around here - but who knows hey?). The whole thing is simple - Three of the Best - it could be anything. episodes or characters from a certain show, quotes, wrestlers, anything. I'm going to start with Ren and Stimpy which ran from 1991 to 1996 (I believe). It's no coinicidence that all these cartoons are from the first two seasons before creator John K. got the show took off of him by Nickelodoen. Anyway on with the list...

SPACE MADNESS

Any episode with Ren completely on edge and off the boil is among my favourites (Stimpy's Fan Club is also a great episode) and it also features the Time Eraser Button. This was one of the earlier episodes that proved the show could be genuis.

SON OF STIMPY (aka STIMPY'S FIRST FART)

Probably the most famous episode of the show and perhaps rightly so. It manages to get some emotion from it's ridicilious premise (it even made my nephew cry when he was younger) and is just an amazing episode of television.

SVEN HOÉK

It's odd how "The Don't Wiz on the Electric Fence" game stuck with me for years despite not seeing the episode for a long time, before reaquanting myself with it, Ren's idiot cousin Sven comes to stay with them and hits it off with Stimpy, very very funny including one very disgusting moment!

R.I.P. Stanley Kamel

Sad to hear about the death of Stanley Kamel, who appeared in loads of television shows and films. He'll be best rememered for his role as Adrian Monk's psychatrist Dr. Kroeger on the great show Monk. You'll be missed...

Life and that...

<p> Suppose I should catch you up on my life really quickly...

Well I'm making a super super interesting film about teenage pregnancy and teenage parents (there all deadbeats by the way), hopefully that should be finished soon...

Applied to go on a short University course about sit-com writing... I already have a killer idea about clowns that I want nobody to steal...

Went to Collectormania Manchester 5 last month, got loads of stuff signed and met an whole bunch of people including Michael Winslow (seem to think I've already mentioned this at least in part).

Going to see WWE Smackdown live in Sheffield next Thursday. Two superstars are doing signings during the day they are MICHELLE McCOOL and KELLY KELLY (pictured above in the black top- think she'd be happy if I took that to get signed). I know Len will not be too interested in seeing them but Welkey will probably want to go. So It'll probably leave me with the deciding vote methinks.

That's it for my boring arse life...

Autograph Maniac

Did I tell you I'm deep into the all autograph collecting thing...

Yeah, straight up, Homies... I'm still doing the whole DVD collecting thing, it's just as another geeky hobby for me... I even attended the Collectormania Manchester 5 convention and met an whole bunch of actors including Michael Winslow from the Police Academy movies, aswell as Emma Caulfield and Anthony Head from Buffy, Noah Gray-Cabey and Jimmy Jean Louis from Heroes and a few others... good event but over spent a lot

Well, here's a bunch of my signed DVDs (only counting ones got this year)...

• The Office Series Two signed by Ricky Gervais, Mackenzie Crook, Martin Freeman, Lucy Davis and Ewan McIntosh (dealer)
• Re-Animator signed by director Stuart Gordon (dealer)
• An Evening with Kevin Smith signed by Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes (dealer)
• Peter Kay: Live at the Top of the Tower signed by Kay (dealer)
• Hard Knocks: The Chris Benoit Story signed by murderer Chris Benoit (dealer)
• Scary Movie signed by Carmen Electra (dealer)
• Bring it On signed by Clare Kramer (dealer)
• The Texas Chain Saw Massacre signed by Gunner Hansen (dealer)
• The Devil's Rejects signed by director Rob Zombie, Sheri Moon, Sid Haig and Bill Moseley (dealer)
• Children of the Living Dead signed by Tom Savini (dealer)
• Little Voice signed by Jane Horrocks (through the mail bitches)
• Heroes Season One signed by Noah Gray Cabey and Jimmy Jean Louis (in person)
• Police Academy signed by Michael Winslow (in person)
• Spaceballs signed by Michael Winslow (in person)
• Gremlins: Special Edition signed by Michael Winslow (in person)
• Robot Chicken Season Two signed by Michael Winslow (in person, yeah went a bit mad)
• Star Trek Generations signed by Marina Sirtis (in person)
• Torchwood San Diego Comic Con Promo signed by Kai Owen, Anthony Lewis and Siobhan Hewlett (jn person)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone signed by Matthew Lewis (in person)
• TIme Bandits signed by Kenny Baker (in person)
• Red Dwarf VIII signed by Chloe Annett (in person)
• Doctor Who: Survival signed by Sophie Aldred (in person)
• Night of the Living Dead 3-D signed by Sid Haig (brought directly from Mr. Haig)
• Hellraiser: Lament Configuration Box-Set signed by Doug Bradley (in person)

and some other stuff, but not all of it

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer Issue #1 Comic signed by Anthony Head, Emma Caulfield and Danny Strong (Head and Caulfield in person, Strong's was already on the comic brought from private dealer)
• Shaun of the Dead 2000ad Comic signed by Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright (dealer)
• Life on Mars: Promo Booklet signed by Dean Andrews and Marshall Lancaster (in person)
• Trainspotting 10x8 signed by Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Robert Carlyle and Danny Boyle (dealer)
• 10x8s of among others Rosario Dawson (x3 cause I love her so much), Sarah Silverman, Chloe Sevigny, Juliette Lewis, Pamela Anderson, Caroline Munro, P.J. Soles, Jason Bateman, Judd Apatow, Jonah Hill, Maggie Grace, Daniel Dae Kim, Mick Foley, Molly Holly, Parker Posey, Terry Jones and many more.
• Chazz Paliminteri signed A Bronx Tale playbill aswell as The Seafarer playbill signed by David Morse and Ciaran Hinds and 2 more. (both dealer)
• Pantomime theatre flyer signed by Britt Ekland and Michael Elphick and 3 more (dealer).

I'll keep you posted with future stuff... dealer usually means UACC Registered Dealer by the way...

Short Filminess

Only watched one film this week, all the rest as been television series... that movie is Emilio Estevez' Bobby (2006), the film was occasionally good but never spectuclar.

Some of the cast where great, most of all Freddy Rodriguez, Laurence Fishburne (who's in it very little), Anthony Hopkins, Harry Belafonte, Demi Moore and William H. Macy. Some of the cast was pretty forgettable such as Heather Graham and Helen Hunt, who when not on screen you completely forgot they where part of the movie, whilst others such as Shia LaBeouf and Ashton Kutcher seemed to be in a different movie to everybody else.

The film dealt with the day Senetator and Presidential Candidate Robert Kennedy is due at the Ambassador Hotel on the day he would be assassinated in 1968. It's more about the characters and what they are doing and a little bit about Kennedy himself.

The use of the newsreel footage was pretty great, there where some great songs (if some where a little too predictable) and I geniunly do think as a director/writer Estevez as a better film in him somewhere down the line.

I'll just go and say I semi-recommend it...

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

This past Sunday I went to a friends house to stay up past 12 to watch Wrestlemania XXIV on Sky Box Office PPV. I really wanted to see this event as it happened, not for the Big Show/Floyd Maywether "match", not for the triple threat match featuring John Cena, Triple H and Randy Orton, certainly not the Bunnymania match, not Edge/Undertaker and not even the Money in the Bank ladder match, it was really for one match only - THE NATURE BOY RIC FLAIR vs SHAWN MICHAELS in a career threatening match (for Flair).

Whilst the match wasn't neccesarilly a ***** classic, the match had it all drama, near finishes, signature moves, one sick bump involving Shawn Michaels moonsaulting onto an announce table. In the end, Michaels finished off Flair with the Sweet Chin music - but not before mouthing the words "I'm Sorry... I love you" to Flair, then like that Ric Flair's 35 career was over... he stayed in the ring as the crowd cheered for him and he hugged his family...

I also stayed up late the next night to watch Monday Night Raw live, which the finish saw Ric Flair standing in the ring thanking everybody including the fans, before an whole bunch of wrestlers - past and presents, face or heel, came out and hugged and clapped for Flair - there was not a dry eye in the house.

Well it's certainly true to never say never in the world of professional wrestling. Ric Flair's retirement after an incredible 35 years is a day I knew would come but always kind of worried it would. Ric Flair, for the longest time as been one of my favourite wrestlers (and actually my lone favourite wrestler for some time).

He was there wrestling at my first ever live WWE event. He stole the show, the crowd loved him including parents who where not neccesarilly wrestling fans dragged by there kids enjoyed is in ring antics. The 1992 Royal Rumble which he entered number 3 and won (along with the WWF Championship) is still my favourite, favourite Royal Rumble of all time, and I still watch it regularlly (thanks to it's inclusion on the great Ultimate Ric Flair Collection).

Thank you for all the hours of entertainment, Ric.

Latest DVD Purchases (from the past week)

• The Dragon, the Hero (Bruceploitation film starring Dragon Lee)
• Steve Austin: Cause Stone Cold Said So
• Dark Angel Season One
• Dark Angel Season Two
• Bobby
• The Holiday
• Worzel Gummidge