» December 2006 Archives
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
» Alternate Cover Christmas Special
Turning up slightly late due to what can mainly be described as "The NTS server being inexplicably down throughout all of Christmas Day" are what I'm going to affectionately (and optimistically) refer to as "The First Annual Alternate Cover Awards." Just like every other comics reviewer out there, I feel it necessary to give out some kind of kudos to the comics that really made this year worth reading.
» Review: Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon
One month and four days after its release, I found myself at the end of Against the Day, Thomas Pynchon's latest (and possibly last) novel.
Why possibly last?
Well, the man's almost eighty now, and it's not uncommon for him to spend a decade or more on a single work...
There's no way of knowing for sure if this is the last missive we'll be sent from Mount Pynchon, but, I have to admit, it's really hard to read this novel without taking the possibility into account.
Continue reading "Review: Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon" »
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
» Is this the ear you can't hear on?
It's a Wonderful Life is a great film that contributed more than a little to the "tradition" of holiday films to follow. Odd, then, the extremely bizarre (and never duplicated, I hope) decision made with my copy of the DVD.
Do read on.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
» And I Mean that Chatagorically
Charlie Brooker's Screen Wipe is fucking brilliant. And the Xmas special was fantastic - from lovely old Christmas BBC idents, to his steadfast refusal to admit Victor Lewis-Smith exists (a clever way of admitting his influence), the only bad thing was the constant cropping of 4:3 material to widescreen. You'd expect it from some shows; but it seems an anomaly for someone who loves old telly as much as Brooker clearly does.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Friday, December 22, 2006
Thursday, December 21, 2006
» Michael Bay's Tranformers
The new teaser trailer for Michael Bay's next film, the long anticipated "Transformers" adaptation, has been put up on their site. Check it out over at http://www.transformersmovie.com/
» Alternate Cover - A Public Service Announcement
Just in case anyone's actually wondering where it's gone, it seems fair to inform my loyal public that due to the busy nature of this entirely secular holiday season there will be no Alternate Cover reviews this week. However, there will be a special Christmas edition going up on Monday! When no-one will be on the Internet to read it! How's that for planning? Normal weekly service should be resumed towards the end of the month.
» The Beautiful Games - Part Two
It's been a long time coming, but by popular demand, Noise To Signal presents the second part of our retrospective on football video games, covering the years from 1997 to the present day. The sheer volume of football games would increase dramatically over these years - but would the level of quality? Oh, and be warned - this is a long 'un...
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
» Mission In Snowdriftland
Bored at work in the last few days up to Christmas? If so, I recommend trying out Mission In Snowdriftland, a thorougly charming and polished platform game made by Nintendo. The music in particular is amazingly good, and I hope that Nintendo create more web-based games of this quality, especially if they're playable on the Wii's Opera Browser which, incidentally, is being released in demo form this Friday.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
» Eddie Murphy Regains Dignity, Others Follow
In complete contrast to the Grammy Awards, I believe the Golden Globes still (mostly) honor those that truly deserve to be honored. Take a look at some selected nominees that were announced a few days ago and see what I think about them.
Continue reading "Eddie Murphy Regains Dignity, Others Follow" »
Monday, December 18, 2006
» Wii Oh My
My Wii review on The Iconbar, the former RISC OS community website which has widened its remit to computing in general. I cover the console and Wii Sports in detail, but I don't have much to say about Wii Play, because I'm crap at it.
Enjoy!
» Underdeveloped Fetus James Blunt Gets Nominated for Five Grammys
I've lost all faith in the Grammy's judgement in talent. A Grammy award is nothing but a publicity stunt. There is no actual merit in a Grammy award anymore, because hacks like James Blunt and Ludacris get nominated (and most likely win) them.
What a joke! Follow the link to the article at the Grammy site below.
Continue reading "Underdeveloped Fetus James Blunt Gets Nominated for Five Grammys" »
Sunday, December 17, 2006
» The UnSuggester
LibraryThing has a new (well, I've never seen it before) utility called The UnSuggester. The concept is excellent: you type in a book that you own/have read/love, and it examines the amount of people who own copies of both books and then gives you a list of the books that you would likely not enjoy, based on the few number of people who own copies of both.
Friday, December 15, 2006
» Did somebody say Gunstar Heroes?
I also don't usually post things without at least a little commentary, but again, this is a special occasion:
Gunstar Heroes has been added to Nintendo's Virtual Console for the Wii. JUMP IN THE AIR AND LET OUT A GUTTURAL BATTLE CRY.
If you don't plan on owning any other Virtual Console game, get this one.You won't be disappointed.
I've said everything that needs to be said.
» Did somebody say The Arcade Fire?
I don't usually post links without at least a little commentary, but this is a special occasion:
The Arcade Fire are back. FALL TO YOUR KNEES AND WEEP TEARS OF SILENT JOY.
Find an dodgy quality MP3 with Zane Lowe talking over it at the end, here while it lasts.
I'm too overwhelmed to say any more.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
» The Two Faces of Mitchell and Webb
Translating a show from TV to stage is obviously a tricky business, and not something that should be done willy nilly. Could Mitchell and Webb, relative new comers to mainstream sketch comedy, make the transition as successfully as The Fast Show or even, shudder, Little Britain? I attended their final show of the tour at the Brixton Academy to find the hell out.
» Standard Nerds
Wondered why I've not been around much lately? No? Well, fuck you, then.
But just in case you have, it's for two reasons. Firstly, my web design company is to launch IMMINENTLY. And secondly, I've been working on this:
It's a Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews fansite! Written by me! With bugger all on it! Apart from some interesting IT Crowd news, that might not actually be news at all! But there's loads of stuff to come! So hooray!
That is all.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
» Alternate Cover - 13th December 2006
Thank god for quiet weeks. I was starting to wonder if Civil War wasn't going to bankrupt me. In this installment of your weekly comics reviews, you can catch up with Tamora Pierce's White Tiger #2, Jonathan Hickman's The Nightly News #2, and Ed Brubaker's Uncanny X-Men #481, all mid-story, all finding me in what might be a surprisingly charitable mood. Do I usually grade this generously?
» The British Comedy Awards 2006
Welcome to Noise To Signal's live commentary on the British Comedy Awards 2006, featuring Seb Patrick and Jonathan Capps. And yes, we know that the Comedy Awards are completely rubbish and pretty much lost all meaning as soon as they started, but it's Wednesday night, it's 9pm, we've got a few beers in, and to be perfectly frank - what else are we going to do?
» Superman II - The Richard Donner Cut
Almost everyone knows the story of how the first two Superman movies were intended to be made back to back, with Richard Donner managing to shoot about 75% of the second film before being fired and replaced with Richard Lester. Ever since then, Donner's version has remained something of a holy grail for fans who wanted a more "worthy" sequel.
And so to 2006, where in a rare example of an internet protest campaign actually managing to achieve something, Warner Bros have bowed to the clamour and decided to let Donner cut together an approximation of what his film may have been like. What's more, they've thrown no small amount of weight behind the release, even including it in the recently-released 9- and 13-disc boxsets. But Lester's film, despite its flaws, is still seen as one of the great superhero movies; and so, now that we have, for the first time, a genuine basis upon which to compare the two versions - can the reality live up to the dream?
» Excellent Futurama news...
How much of the original cast and crew were you able to put together?
DAVID X. COHEN: We have the entire cast back, as well as a good chunk of the writing staff. We also have Rough Draft Studios animating once again, and they seem determined to top even their own amazing work from the first time around. To complete the reunion of our original crack team, it looks like we will also have Chris Tyng back to work his magic on the musical score.
From a pretty short but very whistle-whetting interview at Toyfare. Same cast, same writers, same animators, same original score composer and a new, tighter focus on series continuity. Honestly, now, is there any reason not to look forward to Futurama's return?
» I Worship His Shadow - Part 4
This is the fourth part of my series of articles covering the sci-fi series LEXX. In this article I'll be reviewing season 4 of the show, the final season, which consisted of 24 45-minute episodes - making it the longest season yet, almost twice as long as its predecessor. However quantity does not always equate to quality, and season 4 is typically the worst-received of the lot.
Whereas season 3 concerned itself with the Lexx trapped in the orbit of binary planets Fire and Water, season 4 concerns itself with the Lexx trapped in the orbit of present-day Earth. Still lacking the energy to go anywhere interesting, the crew are faced with a moral dilemma - blow up and eat our pathetic planet, or try and find themselves a home there.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
» Torchwood - They Keep Killing Suzie
For the second time in as many episodes, Torchwood bests its previous episodes. For want of a better term, this one is a fucking belter.
» Runaway Bride - The First Teaser
Only in crappy Windows Media and even crappier RealMedia for the moment - but still, of course, worth a look. How gorgeous is that blue-lit shot of the TARDIS (shame about C'ne F'ng T'te in the foreground, like)?
If you're not keeping tabs on the wonderful advent calendar every day, of course, you're missing shit like this (and a bit of a page from the script, and preview clips from The Sarah Jane Adventures). SHAME ON YOU.
EDIT : Oh, and Torchwood has had its second series confirmed, and is moving to BBC TWO, to boot. Someone must like it, then. I haven't watched it since Cyberwoman.
Saturday, December 9, 2006
» DVD Review: Are You Dave Gorman?
Finally seeing its release this February is the TV version of Dave Gorman's third and arguably best stageshow - Are you Dave Gorman? It's a long time coming, and while the years haven't been entirely kind to his mental health (his previous DVD, Googlewhack Adventure told the story of his later nervous breakdown) there was a time when he openly sought out such insanity. Showcasing the documentary-comedy that has become his signature style, The Dave Gorman Collection is surely a must-own purchase for any fan of comedy.
Friday, December 8, 2006
» Commence Pants Wetting...
...I know I had to change my pair.
Check out the latest and final trailer for Zack Snyder and Frank Miller's outing with the graphic novel "300." The film, with the same title, will be adapting the novel almost frame by frame, somewhat similar to the way Sin City was produced. But I must say, "300" makes Sin City look like A Merry Muppet Christmas.
Thursday, December 7, 2006
» Alternate Cover - 7th December 2006
There are some things you never expect to happen, despite all assurances. The release of Duke Nukem Forever, for instance, or the completion of Guns 'n' Rose's album, Chinese Democracy. Issue #2 of Kevin Smith's Daredevil: Target (a title so late that they're thinking of re-writing issue #1, making it the first title to ever be so late as to go backwards.) When one of these things occurs, you're left almost dumbstruck. Such was my reaction to seeing the return of Onslaught, X-Men mega-villain and plot device. To see an era so widely panned by fans and editorial alike being revisited stirs up all kinds of feelings in me. There may as well be no other comics in this column. This week it's all about Onslaught: Reborn, issue #1.
» Pop music can Fuck Off
Did that get your attention? No? Well, you can fuck off too.
This isn't going to be a story about the music you like, this is going to be a story about the music I like. And judging by most of the article archives here, it's completely different to any of the music you like. Which is going to be a right bugger for writing this article, because it's going to decrease my chances of convincing you to listen to any of it, and make my job of explaining it all the more difficult.
But in the interests of doing my part, I'm going to give it a shot. And I'm going to be angry and wordy about it, to ensure that I don't have to worry about sounding like a twat - because it will be guaranteed by the tone of the article.
Monday, December 4, 2006
» Torchwood - Countrycide
And so, two weeks late, a review of episode six of Torchwood. And why was it late? One, I'm a lazy cunt. Two, I actually had to leave the room ten minutes before the end on the first showing, as I'm a complete wuss. And three - this was undoubtedly the worst episode of Torchwood so far - and I just couldn't be arsed sitting down and watching the rest of it.
Sunday, December 3, 2006
» Harry Potter Overload
Well, if you're at all excited for the latest installment in the Harry Potter film franchise, then I have an early Christmas present for you. Listed below are thirteen short behind-the-scene clips encompassing almost every aspect of the new film. They're all a tad short, but they offer a lot of insight on almost every main character.
These are well worth watching.
» I Worship His Shadow - Part 3
This is the third part of my series of articles covering the sci-fi series LEXX. In this article I'll be reviewing season 3 of the show, which consisted of 13 45-minute episodes - giving it a significantly shorter runtime than the second season. However this shortness is offset by a change in style, as the show discards its comedy episodes in favour of the drama of one single story arc.
The story picks up a mere 4332 years after season 2 left off. After fleeing to the dark zone, the Lexx drifted through empty space for millennia, before finally resting in the orbit of a planet. From there the story unfolds, as the crew discover that the Lexx lacks the energy to move, and the only way to feed him would be to bring back food from the surface. To make matters worse, they later discover that he is in a decaying orbit, and it's only a matter of days until he becomes the biggest bug-splat in the two universes.
Saturday, December 2, 2006
» Big Something
From the team that brought you a link to the Hot Fuzz teaser trailers...
A link to the Full-Length Hot Fuzz Trailer!
» Moving Right Along...
Ohhhh yes. A rundown (with commentary) of The Muppet Movie's differences from early script to finished product.
Damn good read both for fans and for those interested in the way these things translate from script to screen.
» Torchwood - Greeks Bearing Gifts
In the 7th episode of Torchwood, it's Toshikos turn to take the spotlight. Despite her so far exhibiting as much personality as a condom full of soil, it's probably the best episode so far. And it's got her lezzing up with Daniella Denby Ashe, who I've had a crush on since "Kevin & Co" in 1992. Has Torchwood finally found it's feet?
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