2012 Wishlist

So, it's traditional at this time of year to do a review... (and I did manage a review of books, but that was because I wrote them down... ) Except, as anyone who knows me will attest, I have a terrible memory and no sense of time, so I generally forgot stuff happened, or at least forgot that it happened last year. So instead, here's my wish list for 2012...


The Walking Dead to get good again: while the mid-season finale was a corker, too much of this series has been the crew sitting around angsting, with barely any zombie action to remind you why they are actually running. A sense of threat and some actual storyline would be most welcome for the latter part of the run.

True Blood to introduce some quality control: I've seen the laest season (which comes to the UK early next year) and while I felt it better than the last, it still suffered from extreme patchiness, and tried to cram too many uninteresting story lines into too little space, while also neglecting key characters because it didn't seem to know what to do with them. C'mon, people!

Supernatural to pick up or pack up: ok, so I said this about season 6, which went on to manage a spectacular upturn and produce some of the best episodes of the show's entire run. But so far season 7, while not exactly bad, feels like it's just running over the same old road. Maybe time to call it a day?

The next big thing to... actually engage me. Ok, so this may just be me, but I'm in dire need of a new show to love. American Horror Story, Terra Nova and Falling Skies all left me cold, I'm over Glee, I couldn't be bothered with Black Mirror and I didn't watch Downton. Result: half the time I had no idea what the internet was talking about.

People to stop overloading us with info on forthcoming films until they are actually reasonably forthcoming. I feel like I've already seen the Hunger Games, the Dark Knight Rises and the Avengers... Enough, already!


More homegrown surprises: the rise in quality UK sci-fi has, I'm ashamed, for the main part passed me by (I fully intend to watch both Misfits and Being Human next year, honest!) but The Fades, despite a slightly wobbly start, proved again that the UK can produce quality sci-fi. More of the same, please!


Fix Torchwood (and make Jack pansexual again!) one of the year's biggest disappointments was Torchwood: Miracle Day, which took a great idea and a strong cast and frittered it away. And I've already blogged about Jack's sexuality, so I'll shut up now, but I thought he was a more interesting character when his tastes were a tad more fluid.

Sort the scheduling: honestly, in this day and age it's ridiculous that there are months and months between UK and US air dates. We get that US TV has weird breaks all of the time: We'd still rather see shows with breaks than risk months of internet spoilage.

What I'm most looking forward to... New series (or returning series) of Justified, Sons of Anarchy, Game of Thrones, Leverage (finally!), NCIS, NCIS: LA, Hawaii Five-o, Sherlock, Vampire Diaries, Burn Notice... I may end up staying in a lot.

Merry Christmas!

I'll be offline till after Christmas now so would just like to take this opportunity to wish you all a lovely Christmas (or religious/secular winter festival of your choice. Here's to 2012... may it be better than the movie of the same name.

Santa, can I get a Winchester for Christmas?

Hunger Games Nail Polish

The marketing for the Hunger Games feels like it has been cranked up so high for so long that I am starting to feel like I have already seen the damned film - can it possibly live up to the hype?

Clearly film studio Lionsgate is hoping so, and is already seeing it as the new Twilight - with, it seems, a whole slew of barely appropriate marketing tat connected to it. Witness Hunger Games nail polish - in this add starring 'Effie Trinket' - apparently the colours are supposed to reflect the districts in the books. But since the books are fairly scathing about the Capitol's obsession with looks and superficialities while the districts around it suffer in poverty - and Katniss is dismissive of all the attempts to 'pretty her up' for the games - selling make up off the back of it seems an odd choice...

Gizmo cake

At this time of year, Gremlins seems to be on constant rotation on TV - not that I am complaining, it's a great Christmas film. So this cake - part of Cakewrecks Sunday Sweets tribute to the 80s - seems suitably seasonal. (The cake is by Eat Cakes, but I can't get the link off Cakewrecks to work...)

Christmas is Coming with Game of Thrones

I've seen some great images doing the rounds but put off posting them as I'm struggling to find how to credit them. So, in the spirit of Christmas, I'm posting these ace Game of Thrones festive images with the caveat that I don't have any copyright on them and don't know where they are from - if they're yours (and especially if they are products/for sale) PLEASE contact me so I can credit your genius... If they're not, enjoy before I get a takedown notice... ; )

So, any ideas? I think the middle one might be Critical Art but can't find info....

Merry Christmas!

Bloody nice t-shirt from The Globe

Proving that our modern fascination with blood and gore isn't actually that modern at all, Shakespeare's Globe has a killer (see what I did there?) range of tees for the strong of stomach. This Out Damned Spot Macbeth tee (also available in black) could have just stepped off The Walking Dead set.

Gore from The Globe

Doctor Who Etch-a-Sketch

Oh, but this is genius. Who doesn't love Etch-a-Sketch, a toy which in our digital age seems so impossibly retro ("Look, you can draw pictures on it!" "Can't I just download an app for that?")? So this Cyberman shaped Etch-a-Sketch from Amazon warms something deep in my heart...

Cyberman shaped Etch-a-Sketch - love it!

Make your cat a DJ

I've been crazy busy with a mix of deadlines and guests staying, so apologies for lack of blogging: and look, when I do come back, it's lazy and it's not even about geeks: but I'm sorry, this turntable scratching block for cats made me smile so much I'm tempted to buy it for my friends with felines...

(And, yes, it's by Think Geek).

Scratching post turntables by Think Geek

The Wire Monopoly - It's all in the Game

Now, I fricking hate board games, and the only one I hate more than Scrabble is Monopoly: but even I could get behind this awesome Wire Monopoly (seen over at The Poke  - click their link for larger image) - how can you not love a game that has a square that says "Omar's Coming - lose $20,000"? Alas, it seems at this stage this is just a joke, but c'mon, Hasbro - you do a Doctor Who, Star Wars and god knows what else version - why not The Wire?

Supernatural Season 7

CONTAINS SPOILERS

So, the boys are back on the road in Supernatural Season 7 - after Season 6, a series that started slow but finished big, how does Season 7 fare?


Well, there's good news and bad news. Certainly the show hits the ground running, and doesn't seem to suffer from the same teething issues that plagued series 6. The Castiel-is-God storyline, which looked like it would be pretty limiting (how do you fight God?) is resolved early on, and while this does mean the series so far is Cas-light, at least Misha Collins gets to have some fun in the role while he’s around.

The new Big Bads, the Leviathans, seem a little unformed at this stage, but have potential, and there are some really clever ideas (the episode where two of them imitate SamnDean in a Tarantino style crime spree (complete with Pulp Fiction inspired diner scene) is fantastic; the show has some great lines - did you ever think you'd hear Dean quote Dirty Dancing? Sam's hell hangover is unsettling (and a good excuse to bring back Mark Pellegrino) although at times it feels a little like the blood thing revisited. There's also enough Mark Sheppard to keep the fans onside – complete with the hint that he might end up being on the boys’ side after all – and Mark Sheppard in a show is never a bad thing.

This series is happy to shake things up a bit: Bobby's scrapyard gets destroyed, and at one stage even the Impala gets put on the back burner, although mercifully not for too long.

But... I hate to say it, but so far I'm not *loving* it. The arc about Dean's guilt over killing Amy, a ‘monster’ Sam knows from childhood feels like an artificial wedge between the brothers: they are in danger of becoming one of those couples who have so much drama their friends stop inviting them out; when Sam walks off on Dean at the end of episode 6 my reaction was less ‘oh no’ and more ‘what, again?’ And after all the whopping great porkies Sam has dished out in Dean's direction over 6 seasons, you feel there's more than a bit of a double standard going on.

And so far the episodes feel good, but not yet great: and while there are some lighter moments (the Buffy reunion episode that sees James Masters and Charisma Carpenter is amusing, and illustrates a pleasing continuing commitment to geek casting, with other familiar faces including Firefly's Jewel Staite and BSG's Michael Hogan) but nothing that even approaches the heights of Season 6’s finer moments.

Overall, the verdict so far? Trying hard, but could do better: this feels like the start of a solid season, but needs some flare to really feel like the show at its best.