Dreams Of Noise

Spoilers, sweetie.

ETA: Link fixed. Stupid link.

Have at it. I'll catch up later today.

We haven't spoken about a number of movies and TV shows I've seen, because I saw most of them several weeks after their respective debuts, and I had other stuff to mention.

• Argo was excellent, very exciting, and Ben Affleck was cheated out of a Best Director nomination... although my favorite performance in the whole thing is that of John Goodman, who is amazing as usual.
• Les Miserables was simply beautiful. And anyone who complains that Russell Crowe (as Javert) is not as good a singer as Philip Quast... well, you have a point. But Crowe does everything he needs to, and does so with style, and who knew Amanda Seyfried had such a lovely voice, and oh my god Jackman and Hathaway and Sacha Baron Cohen.
• Anne and I finished watching the Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes series -- really, REALLY well done -- and have moved on to Ultimate Spider-Man, which is so frickin' cool I recommend it completely. There is great heart in it, and a lot of laughs, with a Scott Pilgrim sensibility around the whole thing (or maybe Ouran High School Host Club). And Doctor Octopus, who has not yet had a full visual reveal, is just creepy.
• Must catch up on the past three weeks of Top Chef.
• Still haven't caught up on last year's Doctor Who.
• Have started downloading Arrow.
• Am having a blast, finally watching Face Off. Not as good as Top Chef in a number of ways, but the visuals are spectacular, and there isn't the sense of cutthroat aggression so prevalent in TC.
• Sometime next week, I hope to watch Django Unchained.
• Last but not least, Anne and I went to see Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters. This is not a good movie. But it is an amazingly fun movie, if you're in the right mood, which we were. The medieval milk bottles with the parchment drawings of missing children set the tone exactly. The performances are not the problem -- everybody does at least what they need to, and Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as Gretel are both very good (and there's not even a creepy incest vibe!). What doesn't work with this movie is the fault of the writer-director, Tommy Wirkola, who has a good story and a good handle on action sequences but not the best script or non-action set pieces. Still, it was way fun, utterly silly (if you like First Knight you'll like this), and a very riffable way to kill two hours.

All of which, by the way, leads to this: An important character in H&G:WH is the troll Edward, played by Derek Mears (body) and Robin Atkin Downes (voice). We thought he was CGI. Nuh-uh:

All hail Spectral Motion, the effects team that brought Edward to animatronic life.

So what TV and movies have you seen lately, and what did you think of 'em?

I haven't caught up with The Doctor's adventures from last season. It's not that I don't love it no more -- it's a combination of (ha ha) time and... shall we say, a disenchantment with Steven Moffat's take on the character. It's a little difficult to care about The Doctor when he acts like a jerk teenager most of the time. Matt Smith does everything he can with it, and it's frequently more than enough... but when it isn't, I simply don't care.

However. I have to catch up, so I can quit avoiding various spoilers, and also so I can watch this year's Christmas Special. And, if you're interested, here is the prequel to it, "The Great Detective":



and the actual trailer, with the exquisite Jenna-Louise Coleman:



If you'd like to donate to Children In Need, click here.

And now, I HAVE DECLARED WAR ON THE MOON!

Grover and Cookie Monster musically adapt our favorites.

Well, okay, one Scottish cardinal. Go get 'em, Captain Jack Harkness!

A number of people have reminded me of Rick Santorum's newest noise (although I think Mittens's is just as much "fun"), but tomorrow is Primary Day here in Michigan, so I'll go off on them in the morning.

Meantime, some stuff you might actually be interested in:

• Could Benedict Cumberbatch be playing The Master?
• Teach your kids -- and remind yourself -- all about critical thinking.
• How To Train Your Dragon is continuing as a TV show.
• Several new free Windows VSTs of interest: Latte (with both a pay and free version), HG Fortune's The Tiger (with both a pay and free version), Face Bender, and the very nice Piano One (intended as a gateway to Supreme Piano's pay products).
• Movie: The Movie.

Whassup on your end o' things?

Season ender: "The Wedding of River Song". I have to finish watching it, so I'll be with you later or tomorrow.