Sunday, May 08, 2011

A Sunday Review

TV this week:

  • Being Human (US): "You're the One That I Haunt" - Sally is freaky at the beginning of this one, and disturbing later on. Starsky and Hutch vampires was ... really disturbing. The werewolf story is getting really scary too. Touching bit with Aidan's Starsky girlfriend. The fire was a fascinating way to deal with that plotline.

  • Batman: The Brave and the Bold: "Shadow of the Bat!" - Batman is infected and becomes a vampire. Oh, fun bit with the Justice League in this one. I really enjoyed the whole thing. Especially Aquaman, although Fire and Ice almost outdid him in this.
  • Batman: The Brave and the Bold: "The Night of the Batmen!" - After Batman is injured, the other heroes attempt to fill in for him. I recall an issue of the comic book with a similar plot. As it went, Aquaman made for a hilarious Batman. And the reason that everyone knew Batman was injured was almost too funny... almost painful.

  • Doctor Who: "The Curse of the Black Spot" - Answering a distress call, the TARDIS crew find a pirate ship with a problem. The only problem with this episode, if you want to call it that, are the bits that relate to the ongoing storyline. As a stand alone episode, this was a fantastic one. Rory's bits were really funny, but the whole thing was pretty good. As for the ongoing storyline, I think I need to rewatch from the beginning of Matt Smith's run to catch the clues.



Fortean Times #273
Fortean Times #273 (May 2011). A major annoyance with this issue. The cover itself isn't too bad except for the big swastika in the corner, and the back cover is at least as bad in a grotesque sort of way, with almost nudity from a "Circus of Horrors" ad. Guess which cover had the address slip in front of it? I suppose, from a technical standpoint, swastikas are far worse than nudity and the grotesque, but the address slip was transparent enough to see the swastika through it anyway making the whole thing pointless. I would SO like them to return to sending these in those non-see-through plain white envelopes. I like the contents of the magazine a LOT (if you haven't figured it out from my previous reviews) but I despise a good portion of the advertisements and I often don't like the covers.

One more note about the covers. Because I get the US print version of the magazine, the months are not the same as the UK version. If you go to Zinio and check out the mag, you'll see that issue #273 is listed as April 2011. It also has the price in pounds on the front. My cover is identical except for the month, the price, and the barcode. So I will always be a month off if I continue to subscribe to the print edition.

On yet another note, I am very tempted by the digital version. No more worries about the mailman thinking I'm a pervert (in this VERY conservative town that I call "Churchville" for a reason) and I would get the mag earlier, closer to the time UK subscribers get theirs. The other bonus is that I paid roughly $80 a year for the print version, and the Zinio version is only $48.15. The downside is that I couldn't read it comfortably in bed since I don't have a mobile device that handles Zinio format, and pre-sleep reading of this mag is my favorite. Also, it's too soon to tell if Zinio will last and if it doesn't I could easily lose access to my back issues. I suppose it's just as well my current print subscription runs to August 2012.

Right, getting back to the magazine at hand... the cover story is part one of a study of a single Nazi dude and his interest in the Holy Grail. It's really not worth the cover spot. A better article is about a fellow who appears to have a radio transmitter embedded in his shoulder. The article goes through types of tracking technology that currently exist, and may exist in the future, but the device in the guy's shoulder is unknown because it hasn't been removed. Another article is about the changing types of mediums from Miss Cleo to Lisa Williams. A further article is about streetlight interference, a phenomenon that I've seen in person (I contributed my experience to the author of the article, who is writing a book about it). Another article debunks dreams predicting the future.

Strangedays is decent as usual. My favorite bit would have to be the Fortean Follow-ups (one reason I like access to previous issues). The Science article is about the debate over fluoridation of water. Ghostwatch was a hilarious look at ghostly cars, and sometimes their drivers. Archaeology has a bit on the lost Roman Legion and some folks in China who believe they are their descendents. Classical Corner is about ancient hoaxes. Alien Zoo recategorizes Anubis from "jackel-headed" to "wolf-headed" based on genetic research (?). Konspiracy Korner is about how much Americans love and believe in conspiracies as compared to Brits.

The Forum has two articles this month. One on the uses of psychedelics in medicine, and how those uses were stunted by the demonization of the drugs. The other is about the fate of the body of Richard III. The reviews have a couple of highly rated books including one about John Michell that I shall not be getting and others that I've put on wishlists and watchlists. One of the video game reviews almost makes me want to play the game despite not liking the horror-survival genre. And one of the movie reviews gives the movie a 2 out of 10 while having a great deal of fun with it. The letters and the rest are fairly standard. Another great issue of the best magazine available. Except for the covers, of course.



1 comments:

ShellyS said...

Re: Doctor Who. Yeah, I believe Stephen Moffat has said that this season answers questions from the first episode of last year. I'll have to watch the whole thing again, I think, and I've seen it a half dozen times already! :)