Firstly, I'd like to thank Mark - other Mark, of course, I'm not that self-obsessed :P - and Joey for such crazily cool Birthday blogs. They kicked major @ss, thanks guys!

And thanks to everyone who wished me a great day :D

After my little brother woke me up at the ungodly hour of 8am for my Birthday party, he was soo excited he couldn't wait till later - ya know, a decent time during the day. I had some cake, a spot of breakfast and then went back to bed :lol:

After opening a few cards and such I headed to Dundrum and bought some clothes and Medium season1 with the money I received. I've heard great things about that show and I remember really loving the pilot episode.

Editor - Hurrah!

Last night I became editor for...

I've been shocked by how many ppl have responded with "I've never heard of that show" :| It is so beyond funny/crazy/kooky and I'm thrilled to have nabbed it up. France wasn't convinced by it so I pasted a bit of dialogue and it made her chuckle a bit so I'll do the same here:

Prof. Monkey-For-A-Head: I remember it as if it were yesterday...

Psycrow: It WAS yesterday!

Prof. Monkey-For-A-Head: QUIET YOU! I'm setting up a flashback!

Narrator: Meanwhile, ominous things are aput on the Planet of Easily Frightened People...

Aliens: Ahh! A crow! Ahh! A rock!

Psycrow: I love this planet.

Aliens: Ahh! A bug! Ahh! Air!

:lol:

Prince Caspian

Reviewed this for the paper there the other day, it hasn't gone to print but I can paste up a snippet of the review for those - if any - of you interested.

"...I found it to be a little too long and drawn out in places and there are moments that do not simply recall but scream LOTR. Still, while 'Prince Caspian' may not bring anything especially new to the fantasy-epic genre, with Tolkien and Jackson still clutching to that No.1 title, this is definitely a step up for the franchise and I hope it continues to improve with each sequel."

Welll, I best be off! Going out tonight so I am :D

Check back here 2moro for my 3 year blog, it's gonna be filled with all sorts, I tells ya. ALL SORTS.

All the best,

M@rk

Next weekend marks two milestones and I can't wait for both :D On the 14th it'll be my birthday! Hurray! On the 15th it'll be my third year on this very site. My word, that's madness. My home away from home; TV.com kicks so much arse, that's all I'll say on that cos I will celebrate it on Sunday with loads of special mentions and such cos u folks rock! I miss my old account, and my 600 reviews sometimes, but hey, tis in zee past.

The weather here has been nothing short of fantastic and I took full advantage of it today. I just lazed with my friend in Stephens Green park enjoying a healthy lunch and just listening to music. Twas great. Although on the way home on the bus my hayfever caught up to me after it let me enjoy a sneeze-free day and I was pretty much sniffling and sneezing for two hours straight. Not fun.

Holidays

They're coming up soon and I'm SO looking forward to them. I'll be joining my friends for a week while they interrail, I would have preferred to stay longer but I'm only allowed two paid weeks off of work. We'll be heading to Amsterdam for three days, which will be cool. I have a feeling we'll be in many coffee shops and some place i hear where there's red lights? I wonder why :P Actually, some of my friends, myself included to an extent, are more so of the site-seeing, party during the night persuasion, so it wont be stoner-central all of the time:P Then, for the remaining four days of my stay, we'll be hitting Prague BIG TIME, it'll be brilliant :D

Then, once I work a week after said holiday I'm off again to Barcelona with my best friends. We sort of went all out and rented out this really swish apartment :P It'll cost us, but we're working and such, so it should be fine. I'm looking forward to the night life and beech-related activities a bit more on this trip. Plus, we all have our own rooms in this apartment, that's how swish it is, so we'll all have some place to go to wind down if one of us gets on the other's neveres :lol:

Music

I'v been going through some very weird music phases as of late. The other day I stuck on the Sunnydale Sound and fell in love with it again. Then of course, thanks to that I've been looking up Aimee Mann and loving her stuff all over again. I've been more on the dance scene as of late, but now I'm getting into the mellow stuff again for a while. I'd imagine my usual fall into nu/heavey metal is just around the corner. Anyways, here are a few songs I'm liking at the moment.

Save Me - Amy Mann - I love her voice, she can give the most frivolous of phrases an emotional depth, she's great!

Mark Ronson Feat Lily Allen - oh my god - he played at the ball i mentioned a few blogs ago and I've been listening to his stuff ever since. He always produces a great beat and I love Lily, even if she gets a lot of slack, this is a total summer tune.

A well respected man - the kinks - again, another summery song and just has a cool beat to it.

What your soul sings - Massive Attack Haunting, sexual and just such an amazing song. Listen.

I hope you will all pop by next weekend :)

~ M@rk

If there happen to be loads of typing errors in this blog I'm sorry, this new laptop has a wordpad without any kind of dictionary thingymajig on it, what's up with that?

Films

Caught up on a few DVDs recently and thought I'd share with yee.

The Golden Compass

After reading the book in anticipation of the film, I had heard many bad things about it and decided to hold off on viewing it until it came to DVD. It's unfortunate that this film, I'm afarid to report, plays out like a bad joke. A parody you might say. The minute I heard Lyria I shivered, her voice was just so irritable. The actor manages to charm you later on, but it's true what they say about first impressions and so it takes a while to warm up to her. In fairness, that's the least of this film's problems. Daniel Craig as Lord Azriel? Might as well have propped a wooden plank with a wig on it in front of the screen for frick's sake! It also ends in such a random place that I was literally sitting there saying "WTF is this?" - it's also true what they say about last impressions, and this one certainly doesn't do itself any favors with such an underwhelming finish.

Wrong Turn 2: Dead End

I enjoyed the first film quite a bit, too much some might say. Then again, most don't realise it wasn't only for the fast-paced action and suspense, grisly deaths and solid acting, it was also due to my second, or third, I've lost count, true love - Eliza Dushku. So, without the Dush, and considering it's a straight to DVD release, my expectations for this one were so low once they got to the bottom of the barrel they began to tunnel into the ground. I think that's why I liked this flick, it's sick and entirely tongue-in-cheek and just on the right side of silly to make it entertaining. I mean, c'mon, you have to admire a film that seats a vegan down and forces her to eat someone else's flesh!

Escape from L.A.

Kurt Russell is one of my favourite actors. He's hilarious and plays the kind of hero that gets the job done but doesn't take himself too seriously doing it. "Escape..." has some really cool ideas and showcases some smashing special FX. But, erm, I didn't really enjoy it all that much. There are some impressive set-pieces but very little action. Some twisted ideas, poorly executed. And it all very much feels like a sequel and never its own film, constantly referring to Snake escaping from New York and how things are much different in L.A....only, they're not really. Kurt is great in it though, so good for him!

Work

Haven't really said anything about the paper in a while mainly cos I've been getting some terrible films lately to review. I wouldn't mind it so much if I at least was getting a rare gold one amongst the gruff, but the last film I reviewed was Superhero Movie and that was just diabolical. On the 11th I have to review the Narnia sequel, which I'm actually looking forward to. I enjoyed the first one in a light-as-air kind of way and I'm hoping this one is a little more adult in tone, it certainly looks that way from the trailer. I'll post my review once I've seen it :D

Buffy Vid

I'd forgotten how time consuming making a video happens to be (especially when it's on Moviemaker!!). Sigh. I wanted to see if I still got that touch, unfortunately it has taken me several days to complete HALF a vid, so I'm going to throw into the unfinished vault for the time being. I actually want to start making trailer vids, I've actually written out a few storylines for some trailers, thought up specific clips to fit into the trailer etc., so it should be a lot quicker to make. Hopefully I'll have a preview up this time next week.

Anyways, this half a vid is about Willow and Buffy during season six, I actually like it and hope ya do too :D

So Clicky

Will and Grace: Season 4

Had another W&G binge and watched this season in two days. I'm proud. Erm, I enjoyed this season, sure, the same way I'd enjoy an average episode of The Simpsons; it's completely watchable but doesn't leave an overall impression of any kind on you. It's just there. It's something to watch. There are, of course, a few exceptions, but mostly only moments within episodes and not the episode itself. Karen gets a bit more outstaged by Jack this season, he was great, and Will and Grace begin their transition from fun luvin' duo to desperados. I really hated Nathan and generally dislike when Will or Grace have a boyfriend. What got to me this season was how predictable it all was, it kind of gets to the point now where u see the jokes coming a mile away and smile and go "heh, i liked it, pity i finished their sentence before they did" - the formula was getting stale. Still, I did enjoy the season, it wasn't bad by any means, and everyone involved is a hoot, lets hope season five steps up a bit though.

Hookay, I'm all blogged out. Till next time!

Before I begin, I just thought I'd have a quick rant about my blog title. What is it you ask? OK, so ya didn't, cos, yeah, it sounds ridiculous. Well, it's a lyric. A fooking lyric. Who writes these pieces of ****?! It regularly plays at work and my stomach is starting to really hurt from all of the cringing. Grr, arrgh!

On a brighter note, and I mean that quite literally, hello from my back garden! Just enjoying the sun with Massive Attack's greatest hits playing in the background, it's brilliant. I have work in a few hours but I don't really care because this.is.the.life. :D

Last week I went out with a friend for lunch, we go out every so often to different places around Dublin, and we had a great time. I usually order a main meal of side orders (I know, I'm everyone's worst nightmare) but this time, at The Banks restaurant, I got a meal. She was pleasantly shocked. I was too :P I love salmon and they had this salmon dish with some snazzy sounding sauce I couldn't pronounce (much to my friend's amusement) on a bed of potato with parsnips and such mixed in. Twas nice. Although the banoffi (my first banoffi experience) topped it all. It only cost me 30 for a three course meal, it was well worth it.

Later that night I went to my regular for a few (ok, more than a few...) drinks. At 3 euro a drink - ANY DRINK - I couldn't help myself. It was epic.

Will & Grace: Season Three

Personally, I think this is the funniest season from the show. It all just clicks into place so well and there's not a character onscreen, introduced as a guest star or reoccurring, I can say I disliked. It all just worked. Admittedly, the season's best episodes are towards the beginning, the first seven or so episodes are pure gold, and while in comparison the remainder are not so up to scratch they still retain that quality stamp of entertainment.

It's also the season that manages to balance the characters brilliantly. In the later seasons Will and Grace become bogged down by uninteresting "real life" matters, making them whiny and not so much with the funny, with Karen and Jack manning the ship with their always dependable, always hilarious banter. Here, however, Will and Grace made me laugh just as much as Jack and Karen, although J&K got the best lines and moments for sure. Also, any show that references Buffy several times within one episode deserves praise :P

Best episode

"Three's A Crowd, Six is A Freak Show"

This is a perfect example of the series getting it right. Grace has a hilarious shallow main-plot while Jack and Will fight over a guy (showcasing one of Jack's funniest moments EVER!) and Karen randomly pops up and just effortlessly steals every scene. Grace's toe parts at the end are superb, Grace rarely gets funnier material!

Best character

"To quote Morgan Freeman in almost any movie: You should listen to me white girl." :lol: So true.

It's every writers dream, really...to be able to write a character who can and will bash anything and anyone. Heh. Seriously, though, while Karen is definitely the cruellest of the bunch, she's the glue that holds the group together. I especially enjoy her moments where she's the one who points out the seriousness of the situation or the fact she actually admires Grace and appreciates Will. It's times like that make her the most likeable character to dislike :P Oh who am I kiddin' I love the woman!

Well, I gotta get ready for work. To speed things up: I also bought a new laptop and am making a cool Buffy vid to go with my Buffy blog. Buffy. Buffy. Buffy. OK, I'm done.

Jack meets Cher :lol:

Bye!

It has just occurred to me that I have completely and utterly lost my blogitus. I want it back. We bringing it back Willow sty/e We're bringing it back Justin styl/e Right. Now.

So, I was randomly messing with Photoshop the other day and did this...

I think it suits her, don't you?

The weather has been so all over the place lately I'm not sure whether to be thankful or not. I want my sun Gorammit. My hay fever is really pissing me off right now; I'm most affected when it's decidedly bleh weather out -- kinda sunny, kinda rainy, either way it's really irritating when I'm in work and I'm crying at the customers all the time, heh.

Doctah Who!

I enjoyed the second part of the Potato head two-parter much more than the first. But it still didn't click with me. It was all about too silly for my liking. Loved Martha tho.

The wasp episode wasn't much better. In fact if it wasn't for some strong acting and a few funny Donna moments I would have hated it entirely. Is this the first Doctah Who that has showed thems gays openly like that? It didn't bother me at all, just curious.

Dollhouse

Unless you've been living under a brick, I'm sure you've noticed the Dollhouse viral campaign has begun. Joss is giving out so many nice little previews it's proving bittersweet. YAY for new show, new kick ass trailer and some onset pics and a scene or two. Boo for having to wait till next year.

Buffy blog still writing:oops:

~ Mark

Well, Friday was an interestin' night. I attended the largest private party in Europe - The Trinity Ball. Lots of shenanigans to be had, I was pleasantly un-sober for most of it, so naturally everything was twice as good as it probably was in reality.

Before the party I went with some friends to this spiffy restaurant, with all of us in Tux's and dresses, we were very overdressed (I was in a Tux for anyone interested :wink: ). I shared a bottle of cheap-ish Chardonnay with my date and thought it was OK. I'm not a lover of wine, but compared to my previous wine-y experiences, it was pretty good.

I've mostly been working lately, which is both a good thing and a very bad one. I mean, as a part-timer, I'm working full time shifts which means quite a nice bit of money. Sometimes 200 more than my normal pay. The downside, of course, is that I'm getting mostly 3-11 shifts. I have no real day and cannot enjoy my evening/night. I'm just working. I'm going to stick with it until June and then see if I can just get normal hours (my summer trips are what seem to be motivating me to work these onerous shifts).

2moro I'm renovating my room, it desperately needs it. I'm getting rid of almost everything - desks, bed, other random desks, old wardrobe and so on. I'm buying a futon 2moro, which will serve as a chair & bed 8), and I'm getting shelving to hold my DVDs. Exciting, eh?

I've been watching a few films and such as of late, but I shant be discussing them here anymore. I've found a new outlet which I like (the formatting seems slicker). Does anyone have a blogspot account?

My one is Movie-mark.blogspot.com. I have a review up for Iron Man, which is really informal, something I'm loving that I cant really do here. I'll have reviews up for Earth (a breathtaking documentary); Hard Candy (one of my favourite films) and Fight Club.

Next blog I'll be doing an overview of Buffy season six. I enjoyed some episodes WAY more than I thought I would, and despised some generally liked episodes by the fans. It's been an interesting one to write up.

Thank you for the music suggestions :D :D

Wow, it's been a while since I've blogged. I haven't been up to much as of late, that's probably why…not even TV stuff.

I need your help. I accidentally erased my songs on my Ipod and that in turn erased all of my music on my laptop. I have no music. How am I to survive public transport? I beg of you, list a few songs, from ANY genre, or ANY song you think I might like or should listen to. I'm desperate.

Thank you in advance,

MusiclessMark :(

First and foremost - apologies for not commenting on most blogs this week, I've read all of them (honest!) but I've been so busy I just haven't had time to post anything. I haven't even written that many reviews lately, that's how busy I am, and I usually always try to find time for one or two a night.

Addiction...

I really have to stop buying DVDs. It sort of doesn't help matters much when ya work in a DVD shop, I'll tell ya that much. What's worse is I simply DO NOT have the time to watch any of them. At all.

Tonight I bought The Matrix and From Dusk Till Dawn. The day before I bought the first season of Dark Angel, Hitman: Bloody Money & Lego Star wars II for the X-box 360. It's stressful :P

Here are a few more I own but haven't had time to watch

• Nip/Tuck season 2&3
• Wayne's World 1&2 (Excellent!)
• Spiderman 2&3
  
• Heroes season 1
• Vampire Hunter
• A Clockwork Orange
• Escape from New York
• The Bourne Trilogy

Yeah, I've seen almost ALL of these, but I wanna re-watch them now that I own them.

This is a total filler blog to just basically say "I'm alive"..."barely kicking"..."but ALIVE!".

Oh, and here's a dance song I'm lovin all over again. Deadly tune

I hope everyone enjoyed my Wally-Wabbit blog ^^ I know I did. I think it's best to get back on track, and while this won't be a total DVD orientated blog, there'll be a few reviews, a couple of rants, a few raves and some such things littered throughout.

Work

Between this account and my last one, I haven't talked about work in a while. This week was especially taxing for me. It wasn't end-of-the-world stuff, but it was enough for a few hairs to fall out. We're currently understaffed at the moment, and while I'd normally rise to the challenge and see it as a chance for more hours (meaning more monay!), I worked an 11 hour shift yesterday :cry:. Although it was relatively quiet ALL day/night, I was exhausted when I got home. The previous day had me rushing from a screening on the other side of Dublin, which finished at half three (Fool's Gold, for anyone interested - one of the worst films I have ever seen); in order to get to work for 4 :cry: I had to have the review in that evening and what happens? My internet dies! It was horrible.

TV

I just got back from a few hours of aimless rambling, and I went to this pretty cool shopping centre - it has a really slick cinema, some cool music and game shops, too (plus, it distributes the paper I write for, so I tend to get an extra copy when I'm there). At Zavvi, formerly known as Virgin Megastores, I bought this:

Although when I watched Supernatural on TV I despised it, I've decided to give it another whirl. It used to air at midnight, so I was usually wrecked by the time it began. So, now, all shiny and still in its plastic covering, I am the owner of season One: along with Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica and Smallville, expect reviews for this show, too (for anyone interested).

Claim to Fame: Not really, but Still

Woohoo, once again I'm in SFX. I'm happier this time around, because instead of my old name (The_End), I've changed it to the more identifiable MovieMark. Asked online what we'd like for the new Wolverine movie, I replied "A hell of a lot of action. And maybe a 15 rating? Wolverine needs to be his vicious, bad-ass self! No sugar coating what he's actually capable of!" :D

So far I've had three letters printed (one of which was a star letter, I won around €400 worth of anime); one review of the Amityville Horror and 3 appearances in "Your most wanted". One of these days I'd love to write officially for the magazine, but as of right now, I'm content with just being the fan-boy :D

DVDS

The Covenant

A shambles in every sense of the word, this film, even in its brief running time, manages to outstay its welcome. Please, just watch the trailer if you want to watch it, or are slightly curious about the film, because it has ALL of the good parts and none of the acting, which is appalling.

No Stars

Beerfest

I didn't laugh once at this -- I've laughed during Epic, Scary and Date movie. That's how bad this is. I've referenced the recent batch of crap-tacular spoofs as this tries to emulate their apparent woefulness. Only, it supersedes their level of crap, by being immensely crap! A film where the Irish lose-out on a drinking game. Scandalous. Actually, now that I think of it, I didn't laugh during Epic Movie. Oh well.

No Stars

Meet the Spartans

I was bored, there was nothing else to watch at 4am, and my good friend Don Load was within arms reach. There are two specific moments that made me laugh. And that's it. One involved Shrek. The other was a Britney Spears parody. Dated, sure, but I have a weak spot for these kind of jokes. Lets face it, she's an easy target. The rest of the film is utter tosh. Wah, Tosh...like Toshisko...who's...:cry:

Chronicles of Riddick

Ya know, I'm surprised I didn't hate this film. What surprises me more is the fact...I kinda liked it. Nonsensical? Totally. But it's a good looking nonsensical flick, with some decent action, some lovely special effects and it has that chick from Angel who played Gwen in season four. Yummy.

White Noise 2: The Light

A sequel that manages to kick its predecessor up the bum, this scareless horror actually makes for a decent drama. Conceptually cool, it also boats not one, but two sci-fi heavyweights in the form of captain tight pants himself, Nathan Fillion, and the comely, feisty, Katee Sachoff - it's essentially every geek's dream come to life - Mal and Starbuck sharing screen time together.

Training Day

I love this film! It's actually one of my favourite cop-orientated films. Ever. It's SO baddass. Washington delivers his best performance to date and I loved Ethane Hawke - he plays awkward superbly, they're brilliant together. Sure, the ending feels a little limp, but it doesn't take away from the fact that up until then, this is one kick-ass movie! WATCH it!

Well, that's it for now.

~ M@rk

WOW, I'm lost for words. I don't know what to write about. I could continue my list of top 50 films. Nah. I could write about the MANY DVDs I watched this week. Ugh, the effort. I could chat about how Battlestar Galactica Pwnd everything ever this week. Bleh, already reviewed it. I could talk about how Phin ruined Torchwood for me :wink: - I'm not so petty, unlike some *cough* Fin*cough* :lol: I know!!!

Right, so, for some peculiar reason a friend of mine on MSN was looking up rabbit's the other night. I didn't question why, I was bored, so I rolled with it 8) So I was linked to a few of these critters.

Who knew they could get that ******* big?!

So then we came upon this film and I suddenly got all Wayne-like muttering "she will be mine - oh yes - she will be mine". I have to get this DVD:

Killer rabbits! Seriously, check out this Trailer

Funnily enough, when I googled for the poster this lady popped up :P

Next blog expect DVD reviews for: Fight Club, White Noise: The Light, The Chronicles of Riddick, The Prestige, Beerfest ( :roll: ), Gone, Training Day and a few others :D