By Roy Mathur, on 2012-08-06, at c. 00:00:00--00:31:43 BST, for Captain Roy's Rusty Rocket Radio Show, Listen
So this is the second episode, the first was a bit of a shambles, but hopefully it will be better this time. Can't be much worse anyway! No booze might help or hinder, we'll just have to see. At least I have notes this time!
So what's it all about? The show is about everything nerdy: movies, comics, books, games, toys, tech, and nerd life in general.
This entire show is recorded live. Mainly because I'm lazy and don't want to spend three days editing.
I am an underemployed part-time writer. H-I-N-T. That's all I'm saying! I currently write a tech column on Mondays for the Independent Daily in Mauritius. In case you don't know, Mauritius is a teeny, tiny Island west of Madagascar. I got the job because I was the right nerd, in the right place, at the right time. Pure luck in other words. It also helps that I regularly spend time in Mauritius because my mum and dad retired there.
I am in the UK at the moment, but I was in Canada until recently. Unlike Heinrich Harrer, I spent 7 years in Vancouver not Tibet.
Not much to tell. I am still looking for a house, a job, etc. in the UK.
Today, I spent a few hours cleaning the boat.
If you want to know more, just head over to my website at roymathur.com.
First, let me apologise for the last nonsensical segment of my previous (and first) podcast. After pre-reviewing the Spider-Man and Batman movies, I illogically railed against reboots. I was only moaning about some of the more awful reboots, as I suspect Total Recall and Highlander will be.
This week I'll discuss the TV shows I've been watching, books and comics I've been reading, some tech news and then finishing off with movie news.
Hopefully, this week will be much better, so enjoy the show!
Amanda Tapping rescues/imprisons mutants for their own good. Dislike. Think about it, they are saying that muties need to be locked up for their own good! Where have we heard this before?
Criminal trained as government assassin. Dislike. Flogging a dead horse, though I don't blame Maggie Q who is excellent in everything. Anyone know Maggie's number? Just kidding. No, seriously do you know it? Sorry!
Dislike. Flogging a dead horse, just one spin-off too many, no disrespect to wonderful Summer Glau. So how about her number then?
Angel lawyers help out poor humans. Dislike. It's limper than an overweight Super Bowl fan.
Passenger jet crashes on mysterious island. Like. It's completely barmy and unpredictable. Bravo J.J. Abrhams, bravo!
US Marshall sorts out crooked hick-town. Like. I occasionally watch this because of the diabolical plotting.
Though what Raylan Givens is doing in a cowboy hat so far east is beyond me. I get the Old West lawman metaphor, but cowboy hats in Kentucky? I don't know, is that normal in Kentucky? Maybe a US listener can tell me.
Parallel universes collide. Like. Mainly because John Noble is brilliant; the very epitome of a mad scientist. Apparently he used to come into my local supermarket in Vancouver when they were filming the show. Glad I didn't see him; it would have broken the magic spell.
Serial killer blood spatter analyst/vigilante. Like. It's so well written.
My only problem is that there is a reason for Dexter's condition. What a cop out that Dexter isn't evil! The author of the Dexter books, that this show is based on, Jeff Lindsay AKA Jeffry P. Freundlich must have chickened out.
Michael C. Hall great in the role.
Like. But I miss the axed cast; only Jason and Polly are left. Jon, Suzi, Otis are out.
Adult high fantasy. Like. But I'm not as rabid about it as some fans.
Still, roll on the new season, and I'm looking forward to seeing my favourite character Tyrion played by the excellent Peter Dinklage.
Procedural with cop tracking down fairytale creatures gone bad. Like.
It's OK, mainly because of the secondary character Monroe, played by Silas Weir, a Wider Blutbad, who is a kind of werewolf.
Sherlock Holmes transferred to medical setting.
Like. But I'm glad it's over and the network didn't renew. It was getting a bit samey.
30-something sit-com. Like. Ted's finally grown on me a little, but Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) is Legend-wait-for-it... wait... dary. High 5! Ahem.
60s NY Ad-men. Like. But I've lost track because there's just too nerdage much to watch on the box.
Future human colony sent back to start human race again in the time of dinosaurs. Dislike. I just got tired of it. Besides why didn't they send the humans back to a friendlier era? Duhhh.
Like. Just finishing off the last episodes of this old show. Fairly classic formulaic superhero fare. The lovely Summer Glau's in this too! Ohhh, Summer.
Zombie apocalypse survivor drama. Like. But I hope the new season cranks it up a notch as Season Two was sooo soapy!
Like. Brilliant and fun show about artefact hunters. Into its 4th season now, though I've fallen behind a bit. If you like steam punky stuff, you'll love this.
Like. Another old show about amateur sleuths led by ex-cop Christian Slater who solve cold cases. Dark and interesting procedural.
Alien humanoid travels through time fixing things. Like. Hmmm, all I can say is that I miss David Tennant. I think the new Doctor (Matt Smith) is good, but the plots seem a bit lacklustre.
School teacher becomes drug kingpin. Like. I can't tell you how excited I am about the new season. Well, yes I can! I AM VERY EXCITED! This is my favourite show.
Procedural with bad guys escaping to the present and causing all sorts of trouble. Like. But it turned really boring and slow-paced, so I'm glad it's over now.
Ubergeek comic book store owner character played by Jorge Garcia from Lost was a great and unusual co-star, who apparently isn't even into comics books! That's acting for you and there really is no accounting for taste.
Like. SF novel by Ian M. Banks who uses the "M" initial in his name to differentiate from his non-SF novels. It's a bit involved and wordy, but the main thread seems to concern a freed slave character. I hope I have time to get into this.
Dislike. This is an action/adventure novel by David Gibbins, but I gave up within a couple of pages. He sounds like an archaeologist and it takes one to know one as I used to be in the trade too. Unfortunately the author likes to demonstrate his own cleverness and this gets in the way of entertaining the reader. Not a unique trait though, look at Michael Chricton novels; some are like text-books!
I'm sure future books from this bloke will be better though.
Like. Fun youth ScFi from Garth Nix a popular Australian youth fantasy author. Again I hope I have time to finish this.
Like. This novel by comic book writer Joe Hill who is also Stephen King's son. A bit wonky in places, but crackingly original story. Bloke wakes up hungover with horns. How many of us have nights like that?
Like. This is the second book in a series of novels by Mark Walden about a school for supervillains. Take that, X-Mansion and Hogswart!
Like. I'm reading the collected works from 1963 onwards. Pretty cool retro vibe thing going on.
Dislike. Google will soon terminate with extreme prejudice this service. As a heavy user of iGoogle, this is a real let down! Flaky Google, flaky.
My one criticism is that I saw a bit of Charles Bronson's swagger in Tom Hardy's Bane. Just to remind US listeners, the Bronson I'm talking about is the English con who changed his name the "Charles Bronson" by deed-poll. Sorry Tom. At least you were great as Eames in Inception!
Dislike. It's not even out yet and I'm so not liking what I am seeing. Have the filmmakers even read the comic? Everything is scaled way down and tiny. It looks more like Micro-City One, not Mega City One. And it's not just the buildings either. The judge's armour, the Lawgiver guns and, worst of all, the Lawmaster bikes. Ridiculous. OK, so the Stallone movie was appalling, but that was mainly the fault of the plot and the dire clone SFX. At least they got the look right.
And for the record, I'm going to stick out my neck and say Stallone was fine as Dredd. And Jurgen Prochnow from Das Boot as Fargo? Fantabuloso. I even liked the theme music!
But back to the reboot. No, I'm not going to watch this at the cinema. No disrespect to Karl Urban, who looks to be an OK Dredd and was a great McCoy in JJ's Star Trek, but this one's not for me.
Those bikes look like Hovermowers stuck to mopeds.