CRRRRS S1 E4 Flic-en-Flac

By Roy Mathur, on 2012-11-13, at 11:25:00--00:32:23 (approx.), for Captain Roy's Rusty Rocket Radio Show, Listen

Personal News

From Flic-en-Flaq Beach, Mauritius, then back to the "studio" (i.e. spare room).

Long hiatus since last podcast because I've been ill.

Lease on UK house ran out so I'm back in Mauritius for a while. Not sure for how long.

The Cabin in the Woods

Typical teen-horror, teens go camping at cabin in woods where they are are sacrificed by high-tech secret org to appease "elder gods" and prevent apocalypse.

Keeps audience guessing about genres (SciFi/Horror/SciFi, etc.).

Echoes of Lovecraft, Dusk 'Til Dawn, Midnight Meat Train.Chris Hemsworth, Whedon girl Amy Acker (yay, and also spotted in recent Warehouse 13) and Sigourney Weaver is in it.

Final appearance of elder god's giant arm looks more like something from Frankie Howerd's Up Pompei; no tentacles. Are yo old ennough to get this ref?

The Final Programme

Loosely based on Michael Moorcock's eponymous novel Jerry Cornellius is a time-travelling super-spy/scientist/interdimensional man of mystery. Plot: mad scientists wish to create the next step of evolution by combining Jerry with Ms Brunner; a cannibal, computer hacking, seductress. Other chracters: evil brother Frank.

Movie not great, but Jon Finch portrayal of lackadaisical louche brilliant. Jerry has nice jacket and it's cool that he loves chocolate digestives. Moorcock heavily involved in film, but latter disowned it when it was panned.

Velvet Goldmine

Christian Bale (Arthur something-or-other) is a journo investigating his teenhood glamrock idol Curt Wilde (Jonathon Rhys-Meyers), who disappeared after being shot in his last concert.

He also has a fling with Wilde's protegy Brian Slade (Ewan McGregor). Wilde and Slade are thinly veiled versions of Bowie and Pop.

Set piese make it look like a stage musical. Lots of shots of Bale running frantically after his idols.

Pretty boring considering the subject matter. I wanted to like it because I'm bit of a fan of glam and like Bowie, Pop, Bolan, etc., and the song 20th Century Boy is featured in the movie. The best bit is when the credits roll to the tune of Steve Harley and the Cockney Rebel's Come Up and See Me. Ride a White Swan, boys and girls.

FAQ about Time Travel

Bunch of nerdy losers save the world in a time-travel caper centred in a British pub.

Not terrible. Ate pub food watching this (two veggie scotch eggs) and gave myself heartburn.

All The Boys Love Mandy Lane

Predictable, but notable for the presence of gorgeous Amber Heard.

Recommend that you just watch the last twenty minutes of the movie.

Dark Shadows

Johnny Depp is passable as Barnabus Collins, an 18th century cannery factory owner cursed to vampirism by horrible girlfriend (been there done that) in this movie remake of 60s horror sitcom.

Fun, rental night movie.

The Hunger Games

Not as Battle Royle-ish as I thoght it would be. Doesn't shy away from violence, despite certificate. Dystopian SciFi, where future US a dictatorship and kids fight to the death.

Worth a watch at the cinema.

Gamer

Hits right notes for me; references to MMORPGs, FPSs, hackers. After appalling 300, restores my faith in Gerald Butler, though still scared of his overbite. Sorry.

Butler plays prisoner controlled by brain chip to be real-life game character controlled by player.

Implicit criticism of violence obsessed society, clumsy and too on-the-nose. Cliche that all good-looking women characters in Society (real-life version of Second Life) are really fat, ugly blokes is not clever. Flashy, silly, but fun.

Snow White And The Huntsman

Over-actionised retelling of Snow White.

Why does Kristen Stewart (Twlight's Bella) and Chris Hemsworth snag so many roles?

William character is obviously Legolas from LOTR. Too many Scottish accents denoting "hardness", like Stone's horrible Alexander. Hemsworth can't do Scots. Feels rushed. Charlize Theron good playing evil queen as propper nutter. Scary in old lady makeup. I fancy her less now. Most of the dwarfs played by British actors: Toby Jones, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone, etc.

Rock of Ages

Movie of stage musical about LA 80s ailing rock club run by Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand (with peculiar Brum accent), buoyed up by rock god Stacy Jaxx (Tom Cruise). Boy meets girl/Tommy, etc.

Best bit: Baldwin and Russell Brand chest bump.

Tom Cruise actually pretty damn good as rock god. Stupid pants.

Looper

Forgot to talk about this in show. Whoops.

Basically: fun to watch... once. Time travel plot completely illogical and all over the place though.

Wait for the rental.

Disney's Acquisition of Star Wars

Thank goodness George finally gave up the reigns; we might see somthing good come of it.

Bring the original stars back? Hamill, Ford, Fisher, Jones, bloke who played Chewie(?).

A History of Violence

Yesterday TV Channel.

As a pacifist, I've avoided this so far, but the one episode I did watch, I watched because it had knights. It's a boy thing.

Red Dwarf X

Not so great. Not funny.

Episode with sexy computer good.

Code Breakers

Bletchly Park's Lost Heroes (Yesterday TV Chennel).

Fascinating little-known story of Tommy Flowers, PO engineer, who built one of the first real computers and Bill Tutt, who, together, broke the German Tunny/Lorenz code during WWII at MI6's Station X near Milton Keynes (AKA as the mutant ghetto from 2000AD).

Often overshadowed by Alain Turing cracking the enigma code.

Dexter

Watching.

Fringe

Watching.

Best bit this season (loaded with pathos/nostalgia) is scene in season 5, episode 1, where alt-Walt is sitting in derelict Yellow cab, watching dandelion listening to Yazoo's Only you.

The Walking Dead

Watching.

Warehouse 13

Watching.

Misfits

Not watching.

Hoody good, but tired of same old orange jumpsuits, same S. London boating lake, where I learned to canoe (IRL).

Besides, had to drop a few shows to concentrate on NaNoWriMo.

Barbarella

Reading comic book by Jean Claude Forest that Jane Fonda's iconic 60s movie was based on.

Horns

Just finished this Joe Hill book about man who wakes hungover with horns.

Bit too verbose like dad King's later work, but promising.

Devil in a mini skirt made me laugh.

Transitions, Surface Detail

Barely started Iain Banks Transitions and Iain M. Banks Surface Detail.

Both are SciFi, so why the different marketing? SciFi ghetto.

The Amazing Labyrinth

Bought, but haven't played Ravensburger's The Amazing Labyrinth Special Edition.

Simple dungeon crawl with moveable tiles.

Tarot Cards

I collect tarot cards! I am not a psychic nutter either!

Decks I have: Tarot de Marseilles, World Spirit, Sforza-Visconti.

Other interesting nerdy decks include 8 Bit, Silicon Valley Start-Up, and Star Wars.

iPad Mini

Too small, too expensive, too low powered. Avoid.

Buy Nexus if you want 7 inches, but 10 inches better for reading.

iPhone 5

Nothing special and paint chips already. Both devices terrible WiFi.

If you want iDevice, get iPhone 4S or 4h gen iPad.

Apple Maps App

I was wrong. It's awful.

Use Waze (see my blog) or wait for Google Maps to return early next year.

How I Record the Podcast

Some stuff about how I record the podcast.