James

Lou, if you want to get into the Discworld stuff that takes up the majority of Pratchett's output I'd suggest starting off with Guards! Guards!, which introduces the Night Watchmen, Pratchett's favourite characters.

If you look at the books chronologically you'll see that he tends to jump between various different groups of characters from book to book. So if you like Guards! Guards! then you should just read the rest of the Night Watch books in order. They are: Men at Arms (one of my faves), Feet of Clay, Jingo (one of his weakest), The Fifth Elephant, The Night Watch and Thud!

After that you'll probably be invested enough in the series to read them in chronological order. Just be aware that he doesn't quite find his footing until the fourth book, Mort, and once you're used to his sophisticated modern writing, jumping back 30 years to the first book (The Colour of Magic) may give you literary whiplash.

That was him meeting his end in the bathroom, I think.

No, the fella who plays EB Farnum is another guy - most recently he was the Sheriff on True Blood (till he left this season and handed the reins over to Frank Sobotka from The Wire!).

I think the hick was played by Brad Carter, who also apparently appeared in a show called 'Harry's Law'! He also did voices for Red Dead Redemption, so you might be getting your cowboy wires crossed there.

Who is Tom Jayne cast as? I would have cast him is Rick had I been casting guy. But who could he play that's already written? I hope they don't create a character for him. I don't mind they do it a little bit, but if they go crazy with new stuff, it might turn into a Twilight Zone or something. They should keep it 70-30 old vs new, imho.

I think they've said that beyond the pilot and the first few episodes they're going their own way, which is perfectly all right by me. The comic descended into repetitive, directionless, bleak shit as far as I'm concerned.

Anyway. Here's an intro sequence created by a fan of the comic:

Also, nobody mentioned Robin Weigert! Calamity Jane cleans up good!

Good grief, I didn't make the connection until you said that. Quite an incredible transformation.

Presumably you mean astigmatism, not anything connected with the wounds of Christ.

That is very funny.

People who whistle loudly in enclosed spaces.

Strictly, slash fiction is supposed to be same-sex only (and even male-on-male only, with femslash as the female/female alternative, if you believe some people). I think the term's use is broadening now though.

I am ashamed to know this.

She looks like a girl I used to know. And fancy.

How many of the bikers have passports, I wonder? And why? Not saying Jax wouldn't enjoy being in Paris or something, but the Sons don't strike me as the kind of guys who'd ever bother going too far out of Charming if it wasn't directly tied to business - and they already have the IRA and various other people supplying their guns for resale.

at the Pookhira mobile.

 

James, you don't look anything like you did before. A shaved viking comes to mind.

Wha--?!

James, I love you like a long lost brother, you know that...but who in their right mind wears jeans to the beach?

Hey, it was right next to the hotel! We just popped out for a quick bite!

Also, I don't have any shorts, just swimming trunks...

Interesting central concept, quality Constantine trickery and ballsinesss, nice subplot with Chas, great art - it's not the best Constantine story ever but it sums up pretty much everything you need to know about the character.

I was thinking about giving it a go but the uniformly negative reviews on The V put me right off it. If it makes it to the half-season mark without being cancelled and actually gets half-decent reviews then I'll probably jump on board. Don't want to waste my bandwidth on it right now though.

Boardwalk Empire was splendid - a little exposition-heavy at times (like the clumsy bit with the Feds namechecking everyone) but it was all set up nicely and Buscemi is always a delight to watch. I didn't entirely buy Nucky letting James off the hook either, but I suppose he felt a bit intimidated by Lucky and the other Italian boys and figured someone with brass balls on his side might be a good thing.

Stephen King in Sons of Anarchy! What the fuck?

Myself and a fella called Rude Boy Van Damme in Barcelona last month. Rude Boy Van Damme makes money balancing that rock on his head and believes that The Terminator was based on him.

Yeah, Terriers is great. Not a lot to say after one episode, but the lighter tone was a pleasant surprise - I was worried it would be similar to The Shield, as I'm already getting my dose of gritty, violent anti-hero bastardry from Sons of Anarchy.

oh, I think Hiddlestone could work (to be fair, that was a poor pic of him), but he's already playing Loki in Thor and I can't see him playing any other comic book characters.

Tell that to Ryan Reynolds, aka Blade Trinity's Hannibal King, Wolverine's Wade Wilson, Green Lantern's Hal Jordan and Deadpool's, er, other Wade Wilson. Or Chris Evans, aka The Fantastic Four's Johnny Storm, The Losers' Jensen, TMNT's Casey Jones, Scott Pilgrim's Lucas Lee and Captain America's Captain America.

Actually, don't. I really like them and I'd hate it if they stopped doing these movies.

Oooh! Second trade. I picked up the first one a couple of months ago in Dubai and enjoyed it, though it didn't quite grip me until the one-off story about Rudyard Kipling (parallels with the first Lucifer trade, there). Slightly disappointed that Peter Gross is the artist. Not that he's bad, mind you - his composition, storytelling, use of shadow and light etc are all grand. I just find his character designs fairly samey, lifeless and unengaging. I always preferred Dean Ormston anyway, though I accept that his stuff might have been a bit too grotesque for the everyday sequences.

Hey ho. Will grab the second volume ASAP.

Hey, Slick! Good to see you, man. How's Copland?

To summarise the 6b thing for people who can't be bothered reading the entire wiki article, season six of Doctor Who ends with a story called 'The War Games'. This is the last one to feature Patrick Troughton. At the end of it, his companions are returned to their original times and he falls into a vortex. The next time we see him, he has turned into the Third Doctor, played by Jon Pertwee. The actual regeneration happens off-screen.

However, Troughton continued to appear, post-regeneration, in special episodes featuring multiple Doctors - many of which could not have happened prior to 'The War Games' (because, for example, his also-returning companions make references to events in that story). So some Doctor Who novel writers - including current series writer Paul Cornell - proposed 'Season 6b', which took place in-between the final shot of 'The War Games' and the start of the first Pertwee story.

Disappointing, eh?

Was quite delighted to remember this song the other day:

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

I actually do get that. I hate myself.

Looks too much like Nicholas Lyndhurst.

Ending's a bit rushed though.

Would it be terribly wrong of me to turn up after years of absence, spam you with my blog and run away again?

Oh dear. I am very sorry: http://appetitefordistraction.wordpress.com/2010/06/06/doctor-who-vincent-and-the-doctor/

I'll be back in the UK permanently in a couple of months, so I daresay I'll get caught up on Hellblazer and come back to the forums. You lucky people!

Nah, too much effort.

And just because Ade told us not to:

Bill Hartnell was getting too old

So the producers acted quite bold

For his big final shout

They had his body wear out

And wove televisual gold.

Many think Troughton was ace

But to the Time Lords he was a disgrace

They put him on trial

And after a while

They forced him to take a new face.

Doc Three's last escapade

Sees his body tattered and frayed

By nuclear waves

That he used to free slaves

From bugs - he should've used Raid!

The Doctor foils a plot by The Master

But his ancient enemy's faster

He uses his power

To throw Doc from a tower

(which unsurprisingly ends in disaster).

Peter Davison puts in his best

As he lays the Fifth Doctor to rest.

It's fine form that the boy's on

As he dies of a poison.

But who cares? Look at Peri's chest.

Colin Baker refused to return

Letting his bridge to the Beeb freely burn.

A knock on the head

Somehow renders Doc dead

And so begins the age of the gurn.

Doctor Seven winds up gunned down

A sad, lonely fate for a clown

The Master escapes

And plays fatal japes.

Aw, forget it - it's Chinatown.

The Eighth Doctor's final display

Of power destroyed Gallifrey.

And the Daleks were dead,

At least, that's what he said

But it was all undone anyway.

Rose's powers of time and space

Destroyed the Dalek race.

It was deus ex machina

So Nine took to mackin' her

Sucking energy out of her face.

Doc Ten took a bit of a fall

But didn't seem injured at all

Till Wilfred arrived

With a deathtrap contrived

And zapped him with rads - the gall!

Now Matt Smith's going to try

His hand at this time-travelling guy.

The preview impressed

(the boy's done his best)

But he really should lose the bow tie.