Wednesday, 7th January, 2009

Bracknell News Blogs

Geek Chic

From TV and film to the latest gaming, our resident geek is waxing lyrical on everything pop culture.

Just don't ask her what she thinks about the Clone Wars...

Tue, 23rd Dec

It's that time of the year...

I'm not overpaid, not suspended, don't have a lisp and don't (for the most part) make nuisance phonecalls mocking people for the sex lives of their grandchildren. Despite that I am going to give you my rundown to The Geek Chic Films of the Year.

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Mon, 22nd Dec

And the third time's a charm

Well finally we've seen Annie. But only seen her. The Beeb (or possibly writer Toby Whithouse) is an utter utter tease. She doesn't even speak!

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Fri, 19th Dec

The first look at the new Mitchell...

When Aidan Turner got the role of Mitchell in Being Human there were a lot of people convinced he wouldn't be able to do what Guy Flanagan did in the pilot. I say a lot. Not a lot maybe, but certainly a vocal minority of the people who fell in love with the show when it was first shown.

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Tue, 16th Dec

Being Human goodies ahoy

The Americanisation of British things is often a bad thing. People in shops telling you to 'have a nice day', the use of 'z' rather than 's' in way too many words, the fact that if you order a large coffee nowadays it's actually a bucket that you could swim in and priced accordingly.

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Thu, 11th Dec

Have you TRIED turning it off an on again?

Whether you're an IT geek or have ever worked anywhere where you've had to deal with the IT department, Channel 4's brilliant comedy The IT Crowd is part of the week's essential viewing at the moment.

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Wed, 10th Dec

On the set of Being Human

So, it's the most eagerly anticipated show of the new year - at least by readers of this blog (who as far as I'm concerned have impeccable taste) - and last week I got a chance to go behind the scenes of Being Human. As a vampire. No, I don't think I've ever actually done anything geekier in my life. And I write a blog called 'Geek Chic' - being geeky is not a new thing for me.

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Fri, 28th Nov

Interview with the Vampire

One of the things I love about my job is that no two days are ever the same. There's always something unusual going on and it means there's never a dull moment.

However, some days are more unusual than others. Like today. When I got to spend the day being a vampire on Being Human.

I have some pictures and exclusive interviews with new castmembers Aidan Turner and Lenora Crichlow, and some little nuggets about filming that I'll publish early next week - for now after a very long day (TV is nowhere near as glamorous as I anticipated and involves LOTS of waiting around and a very early start) I'm going to head to sleep.

However, I'm not so much of a tease that I won't give you something before I go, so here's five things I learned today:

* In the show mythology the first ever vampire came from Bristol. And Mitchell is 90 years old.

* Supporting Artists (apparently the cool kids don't call them extras) are nowhere near as dysfunctional and way more interesting than the TV show would have you believe. And treated a lot better. Although they are asked to queue for food everyone else.

* The new Herrick is *amazing*. Pretty much the opposite to Adrian Lester in every way imaginable but still charismatic and yet chilling in equal measure.

* If Russell Tovey was going to have a George action figure he'd like it to have ears (!), and a pull cord that meant it would alternate between saying 'raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar!' and something really pedantic like 'look at the washing up!'. He also wants a werebear.

* Annie's outfit (which Lenora wears for the duration of the series) includes a pair of Ugg Boots. Which is actually very handy as the Being Human set is freezing all the time, to the extent that the costume department was giving out hot water bottles for actors to warm their hands on between takes.

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Tue, 11th Nov

Live long and prosper...

He's the man with the Midas touch, at least in TV terms.

But after Alias, Lost and Cloverfield (and Felicity actually if you ever saw that) I was genuinely worried that geek's geek J J Abrams might have bitten off more than he could chew with the Star Trek reboot movie.

I consider myself a Trekker from the less rabid end of the spectrum (I've certainly never dressed up as a Klingon) but when it was announced he was at the helm of the new movie and that he wasn't really a fan I was very dubious indeed. The casting of Zach Quinto as Spock and Simon Pegg as Scottie alleviated my concerns a smidgen, but the news the whole caboodle was being pushed back from its New Year release day to May did leave me feeling a little concerned.

But reading this account of the screening of four scenes from the new movie this morning has left me full of the joys again.

Beware if you don't want to be spoiled, but I couldn't resist a look and the humour and action of the scenes as described have left me very hopeful about where we go from here.

And let's face it, reading about those four scenes brought more joy into my life than four whole seasons of Enterprise...

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Tue, 4th Nov

Newly human: Meet our new Annie and Mitchell

Right, before we start, the Cliff Notes for anyone coming late to the party. Earlier this year, with very little fanfare Being Human, a one-hour pilot of a show comedy drama about an ghost, a vampire and a werewolf sharing a house, aired on BBC Three as part of a season of one-off shows.

For anyone who didn't get to see (and if you didn't you missed out - it's still one of my favourite hours of telly this year, and yes, that includes the corking season 3 of Heroes and several episodes of Lost that left me weeping and whimpering in equal measure) it was funny, heartwarming but not nauseating, and jam packed with the kind of cultural references Spaced would have been proud of. I loved it and wrote a blog saying so. A couple of people commented in agreement which made it apparent I wasn't the only person who thought so and on a whim I set up an an online petition demanding the Beeb commission a full series. I can honestly say no one was more surprised (or chuffed!) than I when, after almost 4,000 people signed the thing, the Beeb did so - although I don't think the two things are actually linked.

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Thu, 30th Oct

Doctor who?

Suffice to say if you were a BBC Press Officer yesterday was probably the kind of day that left you huddled under your desk weeping.

Having spent the day juggling calls from people demanding to know whether prank calling cads Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand were going to get their wrists slapped, last night saw the worst kept secret in scifi finally revealed - David Tennant is to leave Doctor Who in 2010 after four specials to be aired next year.

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Wed, 22nd Oct

Say goodbye to free time...

...LucasArts and Bioware have just announced a new Star Wars massively multiplayer online PC game set in the Knights of the Old Republic universe.

The game, Star Wars: The Old Republic will be a story-driven PC game set in the age thousands of years before the rise of Darth Vader when war between the Old Republic and the Sith Empire divided the galaxy. Players will be able to play as Jedi, Sith, or a variety of other classic Star Wars roles, defining their personal story and - of course - choosing whether to be on the Dark or the Light side of the Force. Along the way, they will befriend courageous companions who will fight at their side or possibly betray them, based on the players’ actions. As you'd expect from an MMO players can also choose to team up with friends to battle enemies and overcome incredible challenges using dynamic Star Wars combat.

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Wed, 8th Oct

Watching the Watchmen

For a film that's been in development hell for eons, Watchmen suddenly seems to be everywhere.

After getting a chance to see Dave Gibbons at the weekend's Birmingham International Comic Show my appetite was definitely whetted for one of the most long-awaited comic adaptations - and certainly one of the longest coming, with it being over 20 years since the comic's first appearance.

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