ClaRK! Kent

Lost Soul - House MD is a fantastic medical drama/soap from the US, starring Hugh Laurie (famous for Blackadder, the movie of Stuart Little, and the live-action 101 Dalmatians among others) and a damn stellar cast including the fantastic Omar Epps and the very good Robert Sean Leonard. It focuses on Dr. Gregory House, head of Diagnostic Medicine at a hospital, who focuses on solving cases other doctors are baffled by. Imagine CSI with diseases and you're on the right lines. What makes the show infinitely more watchable than that excellent premise is House himself. He basically has no bedside manner, is grouchy and sarcastic, and is generally a great big misanthrope with a CANE (!!!) because of his bum leg. He's amongst the best characters in television history, IMO. House is, I think, probably the best thing to have ever been on television anywhere in the world. You will love it. It will consume your soul.

Bill Hicks. Also good are Eddie Izzard, Bill Pryor, Chris Rock, Woody Allen, and as far as newer guys are concerned perhaps, Noel Fielding and Steven Lynch. I'd say Ricky Gervais, but I dunno if he has enough material to be considered a true stand-up, rather than just 'somebody doing stand-up as an aside' or whatever.

Yeah, everybody in the Prem has the same standard. As far as players are concerned, IMO the main areas that need improving are... RB - Stalteri has been solid, but not stellar, and we need the defence to be solid if we're to make a good account of ourselves in the UEFA Cup next season. I'd be happy to see us spend £5 million or so on Chimbonda, but £6 million seems a bit steep to me. But then, what's a million quid in top-flight football? LB - Personally, I rate YP-Lee, he's good getting forward and has shown evidence of being a good crosser. I still think we need somebody who is more solid defensively, however. If I were in charge, I'd be looking at Wayne Bridge, and there's also some Spanish guy who I've seen a bit of lately thanks to Sky TV that looks good. Capdevilla or something. CM - Jenas is inconsistent. Davids has another season or two in him, but at this rate he'll only play in half of our games due to suspension or general unfitness. Fuck knows, European refs will have a field day with him. Carrick is, IMO, the third best English midfielder in the Premiership after Lampard and Gerrard. But, with more fixtures necessitating a spot of squad rotation, we need somebody good and solid in midfield, who can hold the ball well, move it about, and generally get forward too, if not to score then to set Keane up. As far as our price range is concerned, I don't have too many suggestions, but I swear we were looking at Van Bommel a year or so back. Unless he's gotten terrible lately (I don't watch Dutch league) maybe it's time to look - he's got links with Jol, and Spurs are a much more attractive outfit with European football on the table. If not, anybody got any ideas? CF - If Mido does go, or if not, let the Berbatov worry cease. One of my friends has Sky, is half German, and so we watch a lot of Bundesliga. If he can adapt to the English game, Berbatov is going to be shit-hot. He's a very skilled player, he's got pretty much every ability you can ask for from a hitman, and I think he could link up well with Keane or Defoe.

Paramount has/had a far bigger budget than the BBC ever gave Dr. Who. Ye olde Beeb did the best it could with what it had, which wasn't much. I missed this weekend's episode! D'oh! Was at a party, although my mum taped it and is mailing it down to me. Now all I need is to find somebody in my building with a VCR.

Exactly. re: Replaying and/or postponing the match, it's ludicrous to suggest we could've called off the match without any kind of reprisal (see: the Middlesborough incident a couple of seasons back) and delaying the kick-off would've given Spurs an unfair advantage as far as knowing exactly what they needed to get from the game is concerned, given that the Arsenal score was already in. We did not choose to play because it was the only option available. As the pundits on MotD said on Sunday, Jol was very clever in warming up an admittedly sick team, giving them plenty of opportunity to come out and say "after this warm-up I feel sick as a dog" but they chose to play on regardless and I say well done to the lot of them. They chose to fulfill their commitment, and put a brave face on things. Perhaps it wasn't the best option to chose, but it was the only option that would've been acceptable at the time - delaying the kick-off for 4 or more hours was out due to the police/stewards worrying about public disturbances (what with 20-odd thousand tense Londoners having been drinking all afternoon, which would've been the case) and postponing the match could've brought out a points deduction even if the FA told them "it's your decision." Spurs did the sportsmanlike thing. We got burned by it, we lost, but if we'd held our hands up and said "well done" to West Ham and put it down as bad luck, I think we'd have been able to take the high ground and a lot of respect from the situation. All of this bitching, moaning, and demanding a replay is making the club and its fans look very bad. As for whether we'd have beaten West Ham, they looked pretty unstoppable from what I saw. Reports suggest we were outplayed entirely, aside from a flash of brilliance from Defoe, and it seemed that they were beating us on such things as skill on the ball and tactics, rather than stamina and overall wellness. Evidently, if the team had been fit it would've been a closer game, but it's over now so there's no point getting angry about it. Yes, I believe we should concentrate on next season. We've got a good spine to build on, young players that will only get better with experience, and several players in World Cup contention this summer. This is the best finish to a season we've had in years, with all of that in mind as well as the position we ended up in, so I think it's a bit remiss to be complaining, because any and all of us would've taken this finish gladly back in August.

As a lifelong Spurs fan, I do have to agree with a lot of the Arsenal contingent's points. - The food poisoning was an awful way to lose the last game and the Champion's League spot, but there's no guaranteeing we'd have beaten an on-form West Ham side anyway, and there's really nothing we could've done about it anyway. Jol gave the players every excuse to say "no, we don't want to play" but they chose to, clearly believing they were up to it. If they weren't, they weren't, but you can't turn back time. - Taking Danny Murphy to the World Cup would be utter suicide. Don't talk bollocks, we got him on the cheap for no good reason and I can't see him lasting the summer. - Frankly, my money's on Arsenal to win the CL anyway, so we'd have been in the UEFA cup next season regardless. At the start of the season, any of you would've taken that over years of mediocrity, so just get some perspective and stop moaning. It's disappointing given the season we've had, but it's still our highest finish in God knows how long so cheer up. - It's not necessary for an English team to field 11 English players, unless you're a red-faced Northern twat doing a publicity stunt. I wouldn't give up the Premiership today for all the tea in China - we've got shit-hot players from all over the world in this league, and whilst it's nice to see a young English team coming through for the good of English football at international level, it's totally bollocks to get all antsy at Wenger and the like because of the foreign players. If we'd qualified for the CL, we'd have had the money to have brought in newer, better players. Guess where they'd probably have come from? Abroad - zOMG! - We have probably the 5th best team in England at the moment, and it's a young team that will only get better with age and experience, and hopefully next season we can build on this positive finish to further the cause and bring in better players, with European experience preferably. - All talk of a 'European tour' is valid, but overtly optimistic. Years of supporting Tottenham have prepared me for the possibility of crashing out in the second round to some team from Bulgaria or Northern Ireland.

For those of you in the Brighton/London area (ie: me and Liam, I think), the Brighton Fringe Festival is on at the moment. Looks really solid this year, loads more stuff that will be in Edinburgh as well, which is good 'cos in previous years they haven't had much from the Edinburgh contingent. Comedy looks really strong, as does the serious drama, and it should be a really wicked week or so. Two productions I can recommend to anybody who is going to the Fringe, both student pieces but very, very good nonetheless. And I'm not just saying that. - HelloID's production of Othello, on Fri 12th-Sun 14th May at the Pressure Point just off the Old Steine. 7:30pm, although there's a matineé on Sunday too. Fantastic piece, it's French Revolution-esque in the costumes and feel, with a really strong Iago. Come on Friday or Sunday night to see me doing the lighting. - Off The Cuff, on Wed 10th-Fri 12th May at the Hothouse, University of Sussex, 7:30pm. Improvised comedy from possibly the funniest student comedy troupe in the country. They've already been compared to the Goons and the Pythons, so catch 'em here for only a fiver whilst you still can.

The 12-year old in me says Blink 182. Definite change to a poppier, more Greenday-esque sound after Enema of the State, commercially more successful but IMO not as good as Dude Ranch or Cheshire Cat. Otherwise, Bob Dylan fuck knows how many times. Hmm... - 1964, Another Side of Bob Dylan. Move to a more poetic and visionary, insular and reflective style from the old hard-hitting protest songs. - 1966, Blonde on Blonde. The 'going electric' era's high point and arguably the best thing ever put onto record. - 1969, John Wesley Harding. Post-accident, acoustic and poetic, move away from his 'beatnik' persona. - 1971, Nashville Skyline. Duets with Johnny Cash, beginning of a 'country singer' image/style. - 1976 - Desire. Return to world touring, return to his 60s style somewhat but much more mature. Return to the protest cause with 'Hurricane.' - 1980 - Infidels. The 'born again' album. Christian Rock. - 1989 - Oh Mercy. Finally recaptures his old spirit, move away from his 80s excess and idiocy. - 2001 - Love and Theft. A return to form, some great, mature songs echoing his earlier work. Probably some more I've missed, maybe! Black Eyed Peas. Before Fergie came along they were a very different act, much less pop-hop than they are now. Change for the better though, IMO. No Doubt. Started as ska/US punk, turned into a sort of electric/bubblegum group towards the end, with RockSteady and the version of It's My Life on the singles collection. Beck. He's kinda swung back and forth, with ablums like Odelay, Sea Change and Guero, from a weird alternative thing to the rockier, more guitar-driven stuff he's been doing recently. Blur. Between Modern Life is Rubbish, Parklife, and The Great Escape, a big change in style to the more 'Britpop' sound and largely losing the more 'indie' sound the started with. Then got very overblown towards the end, which is part of why Coxon left, obviously. Green Day. Everything started to go downhill after Nimrod in IMO, slowly at first but then into a big nosedive for American Idiot. Move to a self-parodying, self-important sound I think. Some more at random, as I'm tired of writing explanations. - The Smiths - Led Zeppelin - Jay-Z - Dr. Dre - Michael Jackson

They only have 45 minutes, so given the pacing of the episode it would've been hard to do much else with it. My problem this week was the pacing rather than the ending, it took a bit too long to get going, although I did enjoy all of the time-hopping and silly jokes about the French aristocracy. Plus, any excuse to get David Tennant's buff-as-fuck girlfriend into the series is alright by me, although I wish they'd have refrained from another kiss. Not to sound like CSAMH () but the 'sexed-up' thing irritates me slightly when it's overused, as it's so different to the old series for no good reason. Tennant gets to kiss her every day, he could have refrained from doing it on camera. Next week looks ACE. I listened to Spare Parts, the story it's based on IIRC, last night, and if it's anywhere near half as good as that it'll be one fucking cool episode.

Unbeliever. My uncle taught him maths, you know. Anyway, Dizzee should be ace, as will Mastodon, Be Your Own Pet, Britain's most underrated band in Hope of the States, and my personal friends iForward, Russia! who are terribly ace indeed.

How dare you! *throws glove to floor*

All Russell T. haters shall go straight to Hell. As is written by the Lord, and as it shall be. New BSG-fanboys, all I can say is 'meh.' I watched the first 4 or 5 episodes of the first series, got incredibly bored and/or irritated, and didn't watch again. I'd imagine the old-school fans would have similar objections to it as CSAMH's grumpy-old-timer Who ranting. Boomer and Starbuck as girls? Jr. Adama as angsty-teen-type? Cylons as attractive women? No camp man who says "by your command" 3 or 4 times per episode? Meeeeh to the power of infinity.

Yah boo, sucks to you, CSAMH. Another solid episode, Dr Who is always more fun when dealing with period drama rather than "zOMG, aliens!" IMO. The writing was a little hackneyed, and I'm not quite sure why Rose and the Doctor got banished from England for saving it, but it was a nice, fun episode with some good jokes and references and a fairly decent bit of plotting. Next week should be very solid, as it features not only K9 and Sarah Jane Smith (one for the old fogies), but the sheeeeeer godliness of Anthony Stuart Head. Plus, soon there will be Cybermen. Yeeeees. CSAMH - when I mentioned old-school Battlestar, I wasn't suggesting old-school Battlestar was bad. What I meant was, if you're an old-school Who fan and dislike the new series, imagine how awful old-school Battlestar fans feel when looking at the utter shite that is the new version.

I say boo sucks to you old folk, so I do. The old series was just that, the old series. Evidently, they're going to have to change certain things about the show in order for it to succeed this time around. As much as it might irk the middle-aged fanboys, the show got cancelled for a reason. It'd gotten stale, it wasn't a ratings-winner, and frankly the scripts were a big pile of bollocks. So, of course it's gonna be different. Nobody's gonna be 100% happy with what they've done, but for what it is it's a damn good show. It could be a Hell of a lot worse. You could've been an old-school Battlestar Galactica fan, for instance.

I can't believe it took 11 replies before somebody mentioned Bob Dylan. You're all fuckwits. Even Dylan's later stuff has social comment on it to a degree, Love and Theft is especially good, and he's apparently recording a back-to-roots album at the present time which may or may not feature social comment on the current state of affairs. The Smiths, for the state of Britain. If you're into modern social discussion through the medium of music, please look up the following... -- Willy Mason -- Patrick Wolf -- Bright Eyes -- Morrissey Yes yes.

I think, considering he's the overall executive producer of the entire show, it's a little much to suggest he has nothing to do with the episodes he didn't get the writing credit for. According to a lot of people, on Dr Who Confidential and stuff, they have a similar writing system to that of Joss Whedon and his team, in that they'll all brainstorm ideas and plotlines with the run of the series in mind - ie: Russell's ideas - and the writers just put the dialogue in mainly. When Davies writes an episode, it's pretty much just him writing it, on his own, in a room, from the way I understand it - but he's still involved in all of the others. Besides, how can you say that Rose and Bad Wolf weren't good? They're two of the best episodes in the show's canon! Madman! I'm gonna put money right now on the Face of Boe's message being that some Time Lords survived the Time War. You heard it here first.

Ohh....I like it, but I think (and a lot of others seem to as well) that this was a case of someone just stretching a bit too far. In Melon Collie & The Infinite Sadness, there is probably the best album ever made....you just have to trawl through some filler and just the length of the album to find it really. A one CD version with the "best bits" wouldn't have filled his artistic vision, but arguably would have been a better album.

They do indeed show the Eccleston -> Tennant regeneration, at the end of the episode "The Parting of the Ways." As for the 8th -> Eccleston one, you're just s'posed to assume it happened elsewhere. The 8th Doctor's adventures continued in novel format, and there is a novel wherein he regenerates into the 9th Doctor, I believe. As for Scream of the Shalka, there's a quote in it where the Doctor says about some painter, I can't remember who, "he wanted to paint all nine of me" so... yeah, ninth. Although it's hardly canon now the TV show is back on the air. Pertwee bored me. Too many gadgets, too much fucking UNIT. Yawn.

The Zwan album. And most Smashing Pumpkins albums. And anything by pre-1978 Bob Dylan.

I really liked Colin Baker. Perhaps it's because I met him at a convention/signing when I was about 6, perhaps it's because I've grown to really like the Trial of a Time Lord serial, perhaps it's because he got to hang about with hotpants-wearing Nicola Bryant, perhaps it's because he was a lot darker and a lot more intense than his predecessor. Davison, as the youngest guy to take on the role to that point (was he younger than Tennant, even? DT is 34 if I recall, was Davison 32 or 33?) seemed to be trying too hard not to be a clone of Tom Baker, but just turned into a wet blanket. Plus, who thought that outfit was a good idea?! Colin Baker was highly underrated. The whole idea with his Doctor, apparently, was to have him be a bit dark and moody at the beginning and then kinda "strip the layers away" as time went on with him. Of course, the BBC and their general mid-80s fuckwittage put paid to that after about 2 or 3 years. McCoy wasn't great, but he was a fuck's sight better than Davison. As for McGann, he had 1 episode which was the complete sum of his "official" time as the Doctor, but he's also voiced numerous Big Finish audios and radio things, and been fairly average in them really. As for the Cybermen episodes being based on Spare Parts, w00t! I love that one. Surely, if it's set on a parallel Earth and not on Mondas, it's going to be somewhat different though?

Given the ending to the last series, wherein the "only Daleks who survived the Time War" were wiped out by Willow, I mean Rose, I think you're hoping for too much there. Meh, on the Dalek front, anyway. They were cool in the last series, but for me they've never been as good as the Cybermen. As the classic Patrick Troughton story Tomb of the Cybermen, and a couple of the Big Finish audios, affirm - the Cybermen were better because they weren't just monosyllabic, hate-filled killers. It's about survival, for the Cybermen, they want their race to live. So, you can have more sympathy with them, which ultimately makes for a better villain. Hopefully, Russell T. Davies has that worked out, and I'm sure he does. He's the best writer in British television, pretty much. Tom Baker's era was cool. Yes, it had some of the worst companions in the show's history (the second, ugly-as-your-mate's-mum Romana, for instance) and a whole weird season devoted to the Key to Time or whatever it was called, but it was cool. Although it'd have been about 20 times cooler if they'd ever finished making Shada, the abandoned Douglas Adams story. According to the online webcast animation, it's fantastic, so imagine how good it'd have been in its original form. Still, I'm gonna suggest that Tom Baker was not the best Doctor. For me, it'd have to go... 1. Patrick Troughton 2. Tom Baker 3. William Hartnell 4. Colin Baker 5. Christopher Ecclestone 6. Jon Pertwee 7. Sylvester McCoy 8. Peter Davison 9. Paul McGann Not counting Tennant, obviously, as he's only had like 2 episodes right now. Richard E. Grant was quite good in that bbc.co.uk webcast animation they did for the 40th anniversary, mind you.

I've not seen it yet, I'll be grabbing the DVD with much love when it comes out, and for the most part I've kept myself free of spoilers because I'm just like that with FF. Fuck, I don't even know what the characters in the yet-to-be-released FFXII are called. (Randomly on/off-topic - when is that coming out?!) That said, I'm looking forward to it. I always found the plot of FVII a little hard to digest first time around, although I was only 12, so that might've been it. Either way, I expect I'll have to watch it twice to get it, but it'll be the usual Square-Enix fare where it really doesn't make sense until about halfway through. Vincent's in it, which is ace, and apparently he's got a big role in the movie whereas in the game he kinda had nothing much to do, which made me a sad panda. He's the r0xx0rz. Hoping to see Reeve/Cait Sith, as I actually liked him, and I'll agree with stok that Reno and Rude do in fact own your soul. And yours.

Tell that to the BBC. I thought a lot of episodes last year dragged a bit, really. Besides, 45-48 minutes is the standard length of an episode of most SF/Action shows really. Buffy, Smallville, etc are all 48 minutes long, but they just seem like an hour on the schedules because of commercials. The Beeb doesn't have that problem, you're looking at the same length of TV. I think it was just a fast-paced episode.

The new series is looking pretty stellar, really. Tennant is, IMO, a far superior actor to Eccleston, who was by far the best actor to take the part on when he did it, so theoretically we're onto something good with Tennant this time around. New Earth was a solid, if not spectacular, episode. The usual "ooh, the future" comic stuff was well-done, I was intensely surprised to learn on BBC3's Dr Who Confidential show just now that Billie did all of the voice stuff for her possession herself, and the Cat-Nun-Nurses were quite cool indeed. Good range for Tennant, from comic through to dark and spooky, which is always nice.

They can't get their own in the sense that they're all underage. Apparently they've been thrown out of their own gigs in the US before.