CURRENT Television

[black bart]

The Hollow Crown on BBC has been outstanding...it encompasses the four Shakespearean Plays: Richard II, Henry IV Part 1 and 2 and finally Henry V. Jeremy Irons is Henry IV and there is an all star cast throughout including Patrick Stewart as John of Gaunt and Tom Hiddleston as Prince Hal.

[pieces o'nine]

* is jealous *

[daftbeaker]

I am not watching The Riots: In their own Words because some knobend of a judge has banned it from being shown.

The BBC did not give details about the nature of the court order, or which judge made the ruling.

Quite possibly (and I have no evidence for this, it's just a suggestion) because the judge, legal basis and reasoning are not allowed to be made public. I'm still willing to bet Mr inJustice Eady's involved somewhere.

[PKMKII]

McLympics opening ceremony:

Let's just get it out of the way first: It wasn't as grand as Beijing's. But that's okay; Beijing wasn't an opening ceremony, it was China saying to the rest of the world "We are no longer a backwards, third world country who does nothing but produce plastic crap. We are a superpower, and we are showing you this by blowing lots of money and man hours on this because we can."

It was very heavy on British culture, and pop culture in particular. And not in that "an homage or tribute to British pop culture through interpretive dance" way that most opening ceremonies do it. That was literally James Bond, a ton of classic brit rock and pop, Doctor Who, Mr. Bean. Which makes a certain sort of sense. Britain isn't an imperial military power anymore, and while they're a large, first-world economy, they're not a superpower in that sense. But the pop culture, due in large part to the universality of the BBC, is still incredibly global. America's the only other country who has that kind of influence (although India has been picking up steam as of late), so it makes sense to use that as the focus.

NBC's coverage was, as usual, shit. They kept distracting from the ceremony with incessant blathering, especially on stuff that everyone knows (yes, we know who JK Rowling is, you don't need to read off her entire wikipedia entry!). And I don't think they had the direct feed of the microphones and other outputs of the musical acts and assorted other bits. It seemed more like they were only working off the sound from the general mics throughout the stadium.

[daftbeaker]

The Judo. It's mostly dull with occasional flashes of brilliance. I really don't understand the referees' basis for passivity, you have someone spending half the match with a bent back and arms locked out and they get nothing, then the other person spends time trying to break the stalemate and gets penalised for not attempting a throw often enough

To put that in football terms, it's like one team passing the ball around in their own half constantly and the referee penalising the other team for not making enough shots at goal

There's also a tendency for some competitors to hold their own collar and go for a one handed grab on the opponent which isn't cheating but I don't like, it looks like someone afraid to attack properly and makes for a slower fight.

The groundwork seems to be a bit better this time though, referees are letting it continue when there's potential. I saw a couple of submissions and a strangle today and don't remember a single groundwork win in 2008.

Hopefully the defensive stuff will be less prevalent as the knockout stages finish and the finals start.

[DavidH]

The Spoof film with her maj was very well done. They used the corgis beautifully.

[PKMKII]

Apparently NBC's coverage wasn't just bad, it was downright douchebaggy. While they found time to complain about there not being a Munich memorial, they didn't air the 7/7 memorial. Imagine if the BBC had cut a 9/11 memorial out of the coverage of an opening ceremony? What the shitstorm would've been in the American press?

[black bart]

I saw the whole thing live, minus the Queen because it was a rehearsal, and I found the industrial bit quite moving...it didn't come across so well on TV. It's a shame we had to have Paul McCartney instead of someone younger but overall I thought it was rather good.

The Black Spot is right, I'm only watching the free bits.

[DavidH]

It's a shame we had to have Paul McCartney ...

Be grateful - it could have been Cliff Richard.

[black bart]

It's a shame we had to have Paul McCartney ...

Be grateful - it could have been Cliff Richard.

[Roland Deschain]

The Hollow Crown on BBC has been outstanding...it encompasses the four Shakespearean Plays: Richard II, Henry IV Part 1 and 2 and finally Henry V. Jeremy Irons is Henry IV and there is an all star cast throughout including Patrick Stewart as John of Gaunt and Tom Hiddleston as Prince Hal.

This. Those 8 hours or so I spent watching them has been incredibly well-spent. The cast was superb, the acting was superb, and I was in heaven, just without the beer or strippers. It was great to see Richard Griffiths, Reece Shearsmith, and Julie Walters appearing. A truly remarkable achievement.

PoN, you do know that there are other sources on the internet for these? They need to be watched in order, though.

Some teasers for you:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuOvKOIGC0w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYcFb6vCdjY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THEUKVOb73A

I am not watching The Riots: In their own Words because some knobend of a judge has banned it from being shown.

The BBC did not give details about the nature of the court order, or which judge made the ruling.

Quite possibly (and I have no evidence for this, it's just a suggestion) because the judge, legal basis and reasoning are not allowed to be made public. I'm still willing to bet Mr inJustice Eady's involved somewhere.

It's because the gubmint don't want negative publicity around the olympics.

[black bart]

Dr Who is back at last...plenty of Dalek action

[Roland Deschain]

I was on that as soon as it appeared on the BBC iPlayer. It's in my favourites, so it appeared straight away. A great, if different, first episode of the new season. Long live the Daleks!

I finished watching Borgen, the Danish political drama about Denmark's first woman PM. Two seasons of absolute pleasure. I have The Bridge to watch too, but will get around to that after a little more of something else.

Just watched Steven Spielberg's The River. It only had eight episodes, and due to poor viewing figures was cancelled. Such a shame, as it was shaping up to be a little like Lost. It had a good cast and a decent storyline, being set in the Amazon. Ghosts, spirits and zombies abound there, with a sentient river too! I suppose i'll be setting myself up for another fall when I start watching the one and only season of Journeyman and Alcatraz. Oh well.

[black bart]

This weeks Doctor Who was absolutely cracking. It also featured the best joke ever on Dr Who when the Doctor asked the hilarious Mark Williams (Fast Show) have you got any vegetable matter on you? Mr Williams answered, with his hands fumbling in his pockets: "only my balls" *

*Golf Balls as it happens

[daftbeaker]

This weeks Doctor Who was absolutely cracking. It also featured the best joke ever on Dr Who when the Doctor asked the hilarious Mark Williams (Fast Show) have you got any vegetable matter on you? Mr Williams answered, with his hands fumbling in his pockets: "only my balls" *

*Golf Balls as it happens

It was quite a good episode, it does seem to be getting increasingly silly though. The Mitchell and Webb robots struck me as a way to shoehorn a cameo in that didn't really fit the rest of the plot.