Well, we've got other threads like this, so let's continue the set.

There are actually quite a lot of series that I'm enjoying at the moment:

Startrek: Enterprise (season 4, 3 was good, four is working out very well. They're finally in their stride and it's a shame that this is the last one)

Alias (season 4, it could do with the Rimbaldi plotline again in my opinion, without it it's still a very stylish spy thriller, but it's lost some of the heart I think)

Dead Like Me (season 2, it's a slow burner this series, but it just keeps getting better. Well worth sticking with and this season has had some real laugh-out-loud moments as well as some genuinely emotional bits. Great stuff.)

Smallville (season 4 I think, maybe 3. Things have got a bit silly this time around, but it's still enjoyable watching all the pretty people, and a bad episode of this is still ten times better than a good episode of something like Mutant X.)

24 (season 4, perhaps this is losing it's way a bit, but I still enjoy how preposterous the whole thing is. Great fun.)

Doctor Who (season umpteen, just fantastic)

I think the last film I saw at the cinema was Constantine, which I really loved. CGI, angels and demons, Keanu Reeves... Great stuff. Just my kind of film!

So, what have you been watching?

Currently I'm watching:

Doctor Who: Fantastic. While the last episode was good, I was a little let down that we didn't get to see the Doctor chatting with his past self. I can't imagine anyone the Doctor could have a more interesting conversation with than himself

Lost: This show surpasses Doctor Who in fantasticness. A plane crashes on a deserted island. Its hundreds of miles off-course so the rescue teams won't be looking in the right place for them. And then it gradually gets stranger and stranger as you see all the main characters stories through flashbacks

Numb3rs: This is a silly show. With the success of shows like Without A Trace and CSI, someone decided to make another FBI show. And the hook? The main FBI agent's brother is a genius mathematician and solves the crimes using maths. Its not a bad show (Ridley Scott produces it), but its not the best of its kind around.

24: Fourth season and still going strong.

Family Guy/American Dad: Seth MacFarlane continues to be the funniest man on television

Last films I watched were 'Saw' (a horrible, horrible movie, though quite well made) and 'The Punisher' (Guns. Explosions. Not So Great Acting. Exactly what you'd expect from a movie with this name.)

'Numb3rs' sounds a bit like 'John Doe', where there was a man who knew everything except who he was. He went around solving cases with science. It was better than it sounds!

I've heard of 'Lost', it sounded quite interesting but it's not over here yet and I don't download things to watch on my PC (it's just not relaxing to watch things in my tiny office!).

I spent much of yesterday evening watching three DVDs of "Trigger Happy TV" a (for those who aren't aware of it) 'candid camera'-style comedy show starring Dom Joly, shown on Channel 4. I joined it fairly late when it was first being broadcast, but caught most of the last series, then went out and bought the DVD box set. A lot of people didn't like it, and didn't find it funny at all - perhaps due to some of its often 'out-there' ideas, and excessive use of rabbit costumes Nevertheless, I loved it, as I did 'World Shut Your Mouth': a kind of 'international' version of Trigger Happy (also with Joly).

Trigger Happy TV! It's a shame that they don't show that anymore. I thoroughly enjoyed that it.

I've never been a big television person... the last thing I watched was Phantom of the Opera on DVD. I'd already seen it, but it was worth a second viewing

Enjoying Dead Like Me's current series on Sky. Dipping in and out of Nip/Tuck, but that's just gone major bonkers recently.

Trying out Curb Your Enthusiasm, which is growing on me.

Looking forward to the 3rd season of 6 Feet Under, which should be arriving from the DVD rental people shortly.

Only thing I've been following is Doctor Who, but I've just been informed that Invader Zim is showing, so I'll be looking out for that.

I started watching that in its first series, but found after a few episodes that I just didn't care about any of the characters. Evidently lots of people do though, it gets good ratings here and in the US.

All the characters are a bit larger than life. For instance,

SPOILER WARNING!!!!

One of their son's turns out be the other's one's biological son. Said son shacks up with his mother's 'life coach'. Who has slept with her own son. Who is proper bonkers.

It's like an X-rated soap opera. Written by a mad hermit.
[spoilers are better when they have to be cut and pasted to be read - Mata]

I watched the first season of Six Feet Under, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Then I missed the second and third, and now I feel like I'll never get back into it unless I go and buy all the DVDs.

Last night I watched an episode of Fawlty Towers (on a DVD which came free with a UK tabloid newspaper). I've never watched a full episode of it before and now, having finally done so, I can safely say that it was... fairly good. I quite enjoyed it, but I'm not about to rush out and buy the series on DVD (unless I spot it on eBay at a bargain price, of course).

The only true series that I have been following on television recently is 'Desperate Housewives'. And I'm actually watching it for the story, not just to see Eva Langoria in various minimalist clothing. Honest!

Eek! Love!

/snaps out of it

Currently, I've been subsisting on Tivo'd Darias, as it's on normally at 3 in the morning or so on the TV in my parent's room. Lovely.

I've got Season 4 of the Simpsons on DVD, so I've been watching that as well. A combination of these two mediums has ruined me for regular TV, as it caused me to forget about those dastardly ads. But when I risk the annoyance, I watch Scrubs. Because it's tasty and wonderful.

Last movies I've watched were mandatory, so not quite as enjoyable as they might be. Rather good nonetheless. Chicago in my drama class and a surprisingly funny French film (watched, curiously enough, in French class) whose title evades me at the moment. The plot involved a runaway son who has three potential fathers and a mother who tricks all three into searching for him. A bonus was learning how to tell someone to (*thinks of a polite term*)..... leave whilst copulating in French.

I'm not watching it yet, because the new series doesn't show on UK terrestrial TV until this Friday. But I will be I think I've only seen the first series and a small part of the second, due to moving back and forth between a couple of locations last year and the year before. But I'm looking forward to seeing it properly again.

I'm not the greatest fan of any series except I try to catch the Simpsons when I can. It never gets old and makes me laugh inside. I'll also watch Daria if it's on. It's one of those programs that are on MTV2. I think that the way it has shown the stereotypical social groups is funny. I prefer music channels and cartoons really.

Currently I'm half listening, half running across the room to watch: the 10 o' clock news.

Well I did watch the Phantom of the Opera movie yesterday and watching The Grudge again today, It's gruesome, Just the way I like it! ^.^

Is that the Japanese or the American version of The Grudge. PVCFairy and I stayed up one night to watch the Japanese one. It's good, but it's no 'Ring' or 'The Eye'. If you like horror and you've not seen The Eye then I can't recommend it highly enough. It's a bit of a 'greatest hits' of eastern horror but done with such style and love that you really don't mind. It's also another good reason to look out for films coming from Thailand. Thailand is the new Hong Kong!

It's the new Grudge, The cat kid is awesome, I scared somebody doing cat sounds. It was lots of fun. I think my Uncle has "The Eye" he likes horror movies as much as I do. But since he lives about two cities away from me I'll hafta ask him about it then.

I just found out there's going to be at least two more series after this one.

I have faith in them, though... they use the same plots over and over every time, but still somehow manage to keep the tension.

"I've been kidnapped!" "They've got a bomb!" "Help me Jack!" "They've got a bomb!" "He's a terrorist?!" "Help me Jack!" "They've got a bomb!" "I've been kidnapped"...

You see? Wonderful stuff.

Well, between school and work I don't get to watch series TV, I do have Monday's off so I watch 24, I really like it. Then I often find myself watching Nickeloden after school, Jimmy Neutron (Steve Oedekerk, has some very funny cartoons the whole thumb series), Sponge Bob, and on an off occasion I will catch Fairly Odd Parents. Although I really miss the good old Nick when it had Rocko's Modern Life, AHHH Real Monsters, Doug, and all those great shows from the early 90's. Also I'm a major Simpson, Futruama, Family Guy, and now American Dad fan. Also at night when I'm up I watch shows on Nick at Night, and Senfield. I really find myself watching shows on Nick at Night again because I was so young when most of them were on regular TV so I missed a lot of jokes.

As for movies I just watched all the Thumb Movies and Garden State, there are so many movies I want to watch and so little time.

I did really enjoy Garden State, I think Zach Braif is funny, but in Garden State it was both funny and sent a message, I thought. I would watch Scrubs, but I have to work when it is on, but I used to watch when I wasn't working and I thought it was funny.

Ack, Spongebob I hate to say is a show I watch sometimes and yet I still hate it. Its so evil and addicting! Like Super milk chan and Robot chicken the horror, the bloody horror! I miss Invader Zim. T.T (but wait I have the dvds so that didn't make much sense...) I don't get many shows on my TV. (least until I move to my dad's then I'll have 'em, Yay!) So I don't get nicktoons, Which has all those old nick shows on like Zim and rocko and them, But I have been watching old soap operas with my aunt for some odd reason. O.o

wow, I just watched the final CSI episode, it was really good, Quenten Territeno (SP?) is really good, I know most people think he is wierd but I think his works are interesting.

I've been working on some web-design recently, so last night I watched 'Sean of the Dead' and 'Equilibrium' while I was working. Both are fantastic films!

Currently I've got Jet Li's 'The One' playing in a small window. It's a good film that could have been a lot better if they weren't aiming for a PG-13 rating. I think one of the things that made 'The Crow' as enjoyable as it is was that they didn't bother to santise the violence. 'The One' has that feel about it. Everyone groans and rolls over whenever they get hit, just so you know they're not dead. I love films with lots of energy, and it really takes the impact out when get you the feeling that the supernaturally strong psychotic bad-guys can't even casually dispense of the security guards.

That said, it's got the martial arts Sing-Yi and Pa-gua in it (both of which are not very famous in the west, so there is no standardised spelling yet). They're really great forms to watch, and Jet Li is poetry in motion.

I SAW STAR WARS YESTERDAY! Sorry....I had to say it V.V...

Has anyone else been watching Revelations? It's all a bit scary-Christian for me, but interesting also to see what America might swallow as entertainment.

Sues and I have just started rewatching the series 'Dark Angel' on DVD. It's about a genetically engineered kid who has escaped with 11 others from a military lab and then grown up in a post-financial-apocalypse world. She runs around helping people and kicking bad guys while trying to find the others that she escaped with. It's good, post-cyberpunk fun, and it helps that pretty much all the cast are great eye-candy

I watching one of my first ever animes I saw when I was like......3, Still got it on VHS, It's My neighbor tortro...

Been watching random films like mad due to boredness. But mostly Cirque du Soliel performances on DVD and all of His and Her Circumstances (super girly soap opera-esque anime). Watched Hitchhiker's in the cinema last night...... <3<3<3<3<3!!!!!!!

If you like cheesy, comedy horror Monster Man is made for you.

I've just watched it and laughed my tits off. Quite tongue in cheek, gratuitous blood fest and an 18 certificate. Highly recommended.

I've been on the sofa for most of the day so I've been a watching quite a bit.

Watched (T.V. Shows): The new epsiode of "Charmed", a taped episode of "Joan of Arcadia" and lots of "Extreme Makeover" (Home and Body editions).

Watched (Films): "10 Things I Hate About You" - based loosely on Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice" so I convinced myself it was almost educational and then I watched "Tomb Raider" the first one... It was ok - not as good as I expected but good none the less. I was impressed that Lara/Angelina went into deepest Russia, barely dressed and her nipple behaved perfectly! How believable!

I've decided after reading this back I need to get out more - or at least move between rooms in my house!


Fal xXx

...................................................................................................I HAVE NO TV! Its gone, it got packed, Noiw what am I to do to advoid going outside, in the suuun *shivers*

That sounded like an interesting premise for a show, but it's always been shown at silly times during the early evening so I've never seen any of it. What actually happens? God speaks to her in various forms... And then what?

Basically - God sends her on obscure missions. There was an episode where Joan is asked to build a boat - not for any Noahesque purpose, but it eventually brings her family closer together when they all get involved. It is full of little quirky things - like "Do this [seemingly] silly 'lil thing and then you'll understand what the message is" Quite inspirational

Sorry if this is vague - I tend to squeal "Joan of Arcadia! Joan of Arcadia!" everytime the theme music starts up...

Well worth the watching!

Fal xXx

Tend to only see TV when I'm watching at work. I don't get to pick so it's been news, Dr. Phil, Maury (avoid, avoid) and sometimes Lawrence Welk reruns.

On my own I tend to see what's on the scifi channel. Don't currently own a TV but my roomate drags me into her room to watch American Idol and some show about Nannys nightmare jobs.

Movie wise I've most recently seen Star Wars 3, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Constantine. I tend to wait for them to exit the main theaters and show up (a month or so later) at the $2.50 theater.

I heard a rumour that Firefly, a science fiction western tv show by the same bunch that brought us Angel and Buffy, is being made into a movie for release this fall. Anyone else heard said rumour?

Yes, the Firefly movie is happening, although goodness knows why. I can't remember what it's called. The series was absolutely panned by the critics, has already been cancelled, and annoyed lots of people because it was funded by cancelling other, better, established series' such as Dark Angel. I don't hold out a lot of hope for the film!

Anybody seen Samuri Champloo or that new show with the kid with the pretty shiny golden bat on adult swim? The bat thing seems....interresting....and shiny tooooo O.O.

Finally got around to watching 'Equilibrium'. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Action bits were proper good. The plot is hokey and ludicrous, but I'd expect nothing less.

All a bit 1984.

Right now I'm watching The People's Court. Gotta love watching these people who have done such stupid, insensitive stuff to each other battle it out.

Hurrah! I thought you'd like it.

There's a new film coming out by the same director, Kurt Wimmer, sometime later this year. It's about vampires and called 'Ultraviolet' (sadly it's nothing to do with the brilliant Channel 4 series of the same name). The test-audience reviews are mixed, they are saying that the plot makes no sense but the action scenes are the best to ever be put on film. I'm used to putting up with terrible plots for my action films, so I'm looking forward to it a lot!

So, are there any films that have kick-ass action and a plot that isn't crap? I can't think of any off the top of my head. And don't anyone dare say 'The Matrix'.

I'm going to mention The Matrix

To echo the debating technique of Bill Clinton, that very much depends on your definition of 'crap'. All I tend to ask for from a film is enjoyable hokum, such as seen in the first Matrix film, The Bourne Identity/Supremacy, Collateral, and suchlike. Then you have action films that actually have decent characters as well as hokum, giving you things like Die Hard and Equilibrium.

I think that, almost by definition, action films will have slightly ropey plots because without them the extreme sequences cannot be justified. No-one hijacks an entire building then detonates the roof as a distraction, so does that make the movie that does that 'crap' or just effectively working in the field of the genre? I think it's the latter.

In many ways the only thing that's ever been any good about the Star Wars films is that they stick to the classic structure established for narratives throughout history and summarised in the work of Joseph Campbell. Campbell's 'Hero with a thousand faces' creates a tick-list for the mythic hero's journey, which Star Wars follows pretty precisely. The films are actually rubbish, but the plot that they are hanging on is as old as stories and that pulls them through.

So, it's down to your definition of 'crap'. You could consider it crap to be following such an ancient narrative construction technique that millions of story-tellers before you have used before (which all of the films mentioned above do), or you could say that they should challenge this structure. People do challenge it, and usually their efforts go straight to video. There's a reason that hokey plots reccur, and it's because they work when establishing a hero. A film's plot is usually defined by how well they use the established elements of narrative history, the first Matrix did this well, the second and third ones took too long over each step of the journey and consequently became far less effective pieces of cinema. That doesn't necessarily mean that their plot was crap, it just means that the makers used the plot ineffectively to create their movie.

.....All I heard mostly in that was 'Crap' said 5 times at least. And I'm gunna mention the Matrix too! Yay! (\^.^/)

Basicly the Matrix (inculding the anime thing they had for it) was a big action/sci-fi movie deal that after you watched a couple times started making sense (Course I had no troble with it, Saw all of them at least once and understood 'em. They reminded me slightly of the .hack//sign seris *shuge*) But after you saw the first one you'd be all like "Wow! That was a great movie!" Because it had loads of action and sci-fi stuck into it. But once you see the second and third one you don't get much of a thrill because all you see them do is talk about how the robots and how it's basicly their fault for starting the war. The only entertaining parts to everyone would be the big fighting parts and that sex scene from the second one. But after seeing this seris of movies you find yourself thinking more about the real world mixed with the fantasy world and find yourself looking out for guys in trenchcoats wearing sunglasses and fighting a bunch of other guys in suits and sunglasses who all look the same.

As for Star wars, Its not really my thing (But my Dad just loves 'em!) But I watch them anyways outta boredness. One thing I always seemed to notice is at least one person (mostly the skywalker family) Loses a limb. The third movie was basicly the first, I mean its how the whole thing began and how darth vader and the dark and jedi war begun. And ironicly I find it funny who both Anakin and Luke lose the same arm. Otherwise the movies are big hits but I don't find them very good myself.

But I don't really think my opinion matters much, If it did I'd probably now be having my mouth sewn shut for *ahem* some of the stuff I've said about people and the world and junk. >_> I love a good action filled movie as much as the next person, But thats all the people want from them, No plot just lots of fighting.

Ooh, too far

Those films are most certainly not rubbish. Alright, maybe A New Hope is a bit crap, but The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi are both excellent films. Good dialogue (principally through Lucas not writing them), great pacing, excellent performances from Harrison Ford, James Earl Jones and Carrie Fisher (my enduring hatred for Mark Hamil prevents me from mentioning him in the same breath) and most importantly some of the most dramatic scenes ever filmed (Luke and Vader in Cloud City? Brilliant).

I doubt this is something we'll ever agree on, but I do love those films

Personally I find the whole Cloud City thing rather dull. At least the new versions have some nice stuff outside the windows to look at.

I've always enjoyed the Star Wars films, but I can't say I've ever found myself thinking about them when they're not on. They're alright to have on in the background, or watch in the company of others, but I doubt I'm ever going to sit down and watch them. They're just not interesting! The pacing is terrible most of the time, which is something they have in common with the latter Matrix films. I'm not even bothering to include Ep.s I and II, because that would be unfair, but I do find Ep. IV rather dull. They get better, but there still isn't much brain food in there. I stand by my assertion that they're basically rubbish balancing precariously on a classic plot. When Lucas stepped away from that plot for Ep. I and II it fell apart completely, but Ep. III goes back to it, and is clearly the strongest of them all.

ShadowWolfenNinja, Joseph Campbell was a guy who studied global mythology and came up with a basic structure for all narratives that they all adhere to. In some ways I feel mean for telling you this because it shows how shallow most narratives really are in their structure, but when you see a really good film it will demonstrate how much flexibility it really has. So, here's the short form of the hero story from http://www.skepticfiles.org/atheist2/hero.htm



Each stage is explained on the website. It's a useful analytical tool. When film-makers stray from this pattern they really have to be in complete control otherwise things just meander aimlessly. Sometimes they do that intentionally, but usually it's through misguided ambition.

The last thing I watched was last night: Tori Amos at the Hammersmith Apollo, London. How we ever managed to make it there before she came on stage, I have no idea. But make it we did, with about 30 seconds to spare.

I didn't realise that she's still performing. It's been years since I heard anything new from her. I've never been a big fan, but I've liked a few things of hers that I've heard.

Last night I rewatched 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?', which is an utterly superb Coen brothers film. It's heavily laced with blue-grass country music, great performances by all of the cast (including John Goodman, who I think is a great actor), brilliant humour, and a deep sense of atmosphere of the 1930's deep south. All that, and it is very, very funny.

Damn! We're in a tight spot now!

Gopher?

Don't touch my hair!

I don't want no Fop! I'm a Dapper Dan man!

... And it is immensely quotable.

She's R-U-N-N-O-F-T.

(While I'm here - don't forget the Amazon boxes at the bottom of the page if you're searching for things!)

Yep. She released a new album earlier this year (The Beekeeper). And I think the one before that (Scarlet's Walk) was only about two years previously. She's been pretty consistent - an album every couple of years. This must be her 8th. I've seen her three times in concert.

K Mata, I'll check that out later...When I'm not sick from these damsplit allrgires! >.<

Anyways, Just moved to Dad's, Sok over here I guess. I've been re-watching all my old disney movies though, Call it sentimental. Yesterday feel asleep while watching "The fox and the hound" (My Dad still makes fun of me 'cause when I was little I use to ask to watch that one alllll the time. And I said it in some werid hic kinda voice, Must get it from Mum. ,,,>_>) Otherwise I've been watching the Happy tree friend animations...

I liked the first matrix considerably more than the 2nd and 3rd. i saw oceans 12 yesterday, thought it was quite good... as with the first one, it took quite alot of concentration to keep up with the plot. now i am going to get ready for big brother at 10.. wooo

Precisely half of The Ring, but the version they edited for TV, because I'm a stupid scaredy cat. I'll return to it in a few minutes.

All of (well, some bits were rewound and watched again) of The Wall. I liked it, to a surprising degree. I have had many a deep philosophical discussion of it ("So, I decided the hammer's significance was...") and thus far the only thing we haven't had an a-ha over was the singing vagina at the end. We're still a bit fuzzy on its meaning. BUT the music was fantastic and I have a newfound appreciation for the song "Mother". I'd definitely recommend it.