I know, I already blogged about my three years here, but today is the exact day and something amazing happened ;) I got a new editorship

Mr. Merlin is a very 80s shows in which Barnard Hughes plays the wizard Merlin who's now living in San Francisco and has to take an apprentice Zac, played by Clark Brandon.

Since I've always loved wizards and magic, this show was always a great favourite and I looked for it for years and finally managed to find it :D The guide was pretty empty so I've been adding cast, crew and ep summaries and managed to become its editor, yay

I'm about halfway so still have to add a bit, so it looks like I'm submitting again, hehe

Level 53 - 12 % - 8542 subs - 18576 profile views

Yes yes, I'm still alive. I realised I'd better post a blog now or I'd postpone it again. I've been a member here almost 3 years. I registered on April 9, 2006. So, one week to go to my third anniversary here. YAY. Even though I don't really post regular blogs anymore and spend less time here than during my first two years here, I still like the site and the people. Despite the bugs and the hiccups, there's still a lot of information on this site. Some is now more hidden than in the old days LOL but most of it is still there, which is why I'm still a regular visitor. Visitor or active participant aside, I still managed to reach a new level, I've been a Commander in Chief for about a week now (see what I mean about postponing the writing of blogs) and I like it, it sounds very important, hehe. My last promotion was on 15 May 2008, so it's taken me almost one year to reach this new level and since it only becomes harder to gain levels, I dread to think how long it will take me to reach level 54, still I'm already 2 percent there. I also want to congratulate Fanklloyd on becoming the editor of The Onedin Line. A hard-working TU (harder working than me at least) who easily passed my CPs and deserves to be the show's editor! Remember, even though I don't really post a lot anymore, I still visit the site and read blogs. Level 53 - 2 % - 8481 subs - 18576 profile views

I logged on earlier today and found out I had 61 submissions in my queue!! That is a lot, I don't know about other people but I've never had so many subs to moderate. 61 subs, all for the same show, all from the same person. Fortunately, most were minor edits that could be moderated without having to watch the DVD, because then I'd have to do them at the weekend

Still, a bit of work in this heat. 28 Degrees Celsius now, expected to be over 30 later on and despite rain, thunder and lightning, it's not expected to cool down much. I don't mind the heat, it's the humidity that's hard to bear. An office with no aircon either :cry: I've already told people, it's probably going to cool down when my holidays start :( which is on Friday :D I've been trying to decide where to go, or even , whether to go. The problem with me is, I never know what I want... I've already booked a few days in London later on in August, but what to do during the first week ? I do know I want to stay in Germany (because it's cheaper LOL ) so I'll just plan to drive somewhere ???? On the plus side, there are much worse problems than not knowing where to go :lol:

I want to the cinema and saw a Dutch movie Letter for the King (Dutch link), which is based on my all-time favourite children's book. The movie was quite good too :D at least they didn't change too much ;)

As for tv watching, only the regulars, My Boys, Flashpoint, Weeds :)

Level 52 - 82 % - 8390 subs - 18520 profile views

Well, this is the second time I'm writing this blog, as IE crashed earlier, and I'd already inserted loads of links :cry: Oh well... I'll try it again in installments ;)

The reason I;ve not blogged in quite some time is that my life is boring: work, Internet, sleep, and work again. Somehow, between all the excitement, I did manage to get a new guide.

That's right, Pride and Prejudice, the 1995 mini series, not the 2005 movie with Keira ;) After Lin mentioned someone retiring from guides, I came across this one. A kind and gracious fellow tv.commer ;) didn't want to compete so I gained the guide, a true gentleman!

The two main tv shows I'm watching over the summer period are My Boys and Weeds though I've also started watching Flashpoint and The Secret Life of the American Teenager. I did buy and watched Galactica 1980 :D

I've watched soooo many movies though, that I dare not post the entire list, which includes 5 St Trininan's movies :oops: I've reviewed most of them here but I will post a small list :lol:

Son of Rambow

Forbidden Kingdom

1408

Speed Racer

27 Dresses, 88 Minutes and The Sundowners (the one with Robert Mitchum, Peter Ustinov and Deborah Kerr, the one that is not on movietome,com :( )

I have to single out this one, which in my opinion is a masterpiece:

Almost Famous Such a great movie !!

Level 52 - 80 % - 8379 subs - 18376 profile views

Even though I always enjoy becoming an editor, this time it feels less enjoyable.

I got the "you've become an editor" PM and thought: "What the....." and then I noticed it was for The O.C.

After sending Ross, whose TU I was, a PM it turns out his retirement wasn't voluntary. I'm not discussing details but I trust Ross and believe him, which is why I awarded him a TU slot in return.

So, with mixed emotions I'm the new editor of The O.C.. Once immensely popular and a st yle icon, FOX decided to cancel it, even though season 4 was just as great as season 2 and better than season 3. Opinions about that differ, as do the opinions about the Marissa character but I'm not making public statements about that here and now LOL

In other news, it's quite busy for me at work, and therefore submitting has to take a backseat. Even watching tv has been reduced but fortunately many of my favourite shows are on a summer break :D and some have even been cancelled :(

One show that's just started again is My Boys :D I've not seen the latest episode but hope to find the time to watch it this week. Next week my boss is on holiday, so I might have more time at work ;) I'm also looking forward to new episodes of Weeds which is followed on showtime by (prepare for a shameless plug of DJ's show) Secret Diary of a Call Girl (I'm ashamed to say I've not watched this YET!)

Enjoy the summer and the sun everyone and for those interested in football (or soccer), I'd like to remind everyone that I'm Dutch ROFL

Wanna bet I'm going to regret this after the next round?? ;) I hope not !!!! To think, I'm not even interested in football but I like the positive opinions everyone seems to have of the Dutch team (at the moment) :D

Level 52 - 34 % - 7948 subs - 17742 profile views

Instant editor makes it sounds like instant coffee ;) not a good thing, oh well :D with the new instant editorship feature, I became the editor of:

Another old-ish, British series which premiered in 1971 that I vaguely remember watching bits of. Many episodes were missing completely, so I added them. The trick now is to find matching episode summaries ;)

Two news editorships for me in one week :shock: that hasn't happened in a long, long time. Of course, it helped a lot in finally moving on a level and I'm now a Guzzlefish

:D

Not watched a lot since my last blog, unsurprisingly, but I did manage a few movies :D

Gremlins

A cl@ssic :D Fun and scary at times. Didn't actually remember this being set around Christmas.

Gremlins 2: The New Batch

Not as original as the first one (duh) but still fun and I loved the "intermission" LOL

Surfer King

Piece of fluff, but it's always great to see Lindsay Wagner, who's underused in this movie though :(

The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning

Watched this after having watched the Dukes of Hazzard movie (as mentioned in my previous blog). This one is OK, as long as you don't care about continuity and anachronisms (I think that's what they're called LOL )

Level 52 - 3 % - 7818 subs - 16883 profile views

No, no, I'm not going there on holiday. I somehow managed, within the space of 3 days or so, to become the editor of the UK comedy show called Benidorm :D :D and after watching it, I'd never even consider going there on holiday ;)

It didn't have a single quote and had incomplete cast and crew listings, so I started adding quotes and I've been fixing the credits and became its editor. Still loads to do, as far as I can tell, almost all episode summaries were copied from other sites (I edited one, but need to edit the others as well). It's been a while since I've gotten a new guide so YAY :D

This is a picture from it, featuring the 'lovely' Garvey family including orange-tanned, chain-smoking Madge LOL

In other me-related news ;) it's glorious weather here and it's a long weekend too. Monday is Whit Monday, i.e. a day off and Sunday is Mothering Sunday over here. It's already been in the UK, not sure about the US, but being the dutiful son that I am :P I will drive to the Netherlands and visit my parents and have a BBQ :D YUM :D

What I have been watching:

Flood

A disaster movie, made for TV (make that ITV :) ) that hasn't made in to either movietome or tv.com. It's wasn't bad as such, but it wasn't great either. It was fun to see familiar bits of London flooded though :D

Shelter

A lovely coming-out, surfer movie.

Hollow Man 1 and 2

1 was better than I remembered and 2 was hardly worth the name sequel and I bet Christian Slater only did it for the money.

The Dukes of Hazzard

As a fan of the original series, I long avoided this but the DVD was on sale, very cheaply, so I couldn't resist. Not a Knoxville fan but he was bearable in this, the same goes for Ms Simpson. I've always liked Sean William Scott and he was good in this one too.

Deceit

OK thriller with surprise twist at the end. Again, this one did not make it to either movietome or tv.com

Sydney White

Enjoyable teen comedy very loosely based on snow white :D

The latter two movies I watched because they featured an actor from one of the tv shows I watched, namely Matt Long, who starred in:

Jack and Bobby

This is a brilliant series that, unfortunately only lasted one season. It's smart, intelligent, well written and stars great actors. Unmissable and thus recommended !!!

As usual, continued to watch some other series as well, but you all know them by now ;) They are: The Tudors, Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica, Gossip Girl and Greek. Oh yeah, Obviously I should add Benidorm to that list, but there's only one episode of season 2 left :(

Level 51 - 80 % - 7710 subs - 16632 profile views I might make it to level 52 yet :D

Having just finished writing two recaps :) I was wondering. As mentioned in a previous blog, I think writing one is a lot of work so I'm curious to see how other people do this.

I write the recap while watching the episode for the first time and I wonder whether that doesn't spoil some of the enjoyment of watching the show. Basically, I watch a scene and write it down; sometimes I watch the scene again to write down a quote or to listen to a name again. Then on to the next scene, etc. ec. etc. Do people watch it in full first and write a recap during their second time watching it? Do people take notes while watching it first before writing the recap?

How do YOU do it?? :D

What shows and movies did I watch, you ask? ;)

Well :D

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Despite some glowing reviews, I don't get this movie. It's too artsy for my taste. Some funny moments but not enough to endure this movie. It is however, the first time I've seen Owen Wilson act ;)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - The Beginning

Surprisingly enjoyable, if you like this kind of movie, of course ;)

Lars and the Real Girl

Another quirky movie, it seems to be my favourite word to describe movies :D Maybe that says something about my taste in movies LOL Ryan Gosling was very good in this though !!

Step up and Step up 2

Part one had the better script (relatively speaking) but part 2 had the better dance moves.

White Nights

Unsirprisingly, they don't make this kind of movie any more. Some odd turns in the script but enjoyable, if only to see a part of history.

Lawn Dogs

While beautifully shot and featuring good acting, this is another movie that I simply don't get. What was the script writer or the director trying to say ??? There are so many mixed messages in this movie that it's hard to make sense of it. BTW, it's difficult to imagine this little girl growing up to become a diva in The O.C.

The Leage of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Melodramatic and grandiose but fun at times if you ignore the odd mish-mashof literary characters combined in this movie.

Catch me if you can

Another Spielberg gem and even though I''m not the bigggest Tom Hanks fan, he was OK in this. Leo was great.

Phew, I'm surprised I've got time to go to work and watch telly but I do :) I watched the usual tv shows, which I'm not going to link to because I've done that a few times already. :P They are: The Tudors, Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica and Greek,

I'm glad the staff at tv.com listened to its members and decided not to duplicate guides. I think most editors can certainly live with the interim solution. I hope CNET makes a bit more money available to get more DEV staff and implement a proper solution soon !!

Level 51 - 60 % - 7445 subs - 16184 profile views

Everyone, please read this thread in the "UK shows on tv.com" forum. The same sentiment and issue is being discussed in Lin's Blog, in DJ's blog and in TheOldBill's blog and possibly quite a few others as well. :!

Basically tv.com staff seems to think it's OK, contrary to all existing guidelines, to duplicate guides and the information they contain for a US broadcast of a UK show. Yes, you read that right, it's not a remake but the original British version shown on US television and apparently that warrants a new guide :evil:

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to warrant new information because they approve submissions that copy and paste info from the guide for the original UK show. Some shows now have two guides, the original version (now labelled UK) and the new, copied version (which, of course :roll: , lacks a US label).

I think that's disgraceful!! and a clear signal to the editors of the original guides that their work is, somehow, not good enough for the US :(

A few solutions have been suggested and I hope that, for a change, tv.com staff listen to the voice of their members. Their faithful members who spent lots and lots of time on their guides which suddenly can be duplicated and plagiarised without so much as peep from our esteemed staff members.

As an editor of both UK and US shows, I feel this duplication of guides is a very, very bad idea. It will confuse people searching for information on these shows and that makes a return visit to this site unlikely (reducing ad revenues), surely not the intention of CNET.

Support originality, refrain from duplicating guides and information and let your voice be heard!

Level 51 - 59 % - 7439 subs - 16029 profile views

After having been away from home for the last two weekends, I really should have done some household chores, like, bleurgh, cleaning and the like. Instead I opted for a lazy, movie weekend :D

I did start off with a few tv series though. I finished watching the final episode of:

Quintuplets, I saw some bit of this series and managed to find it, so watched a few episodes last week and watched the final ones this weekend. It's a pretty standard comedy, but I liked it. It's also fun to see April Matson and Jake McDorman before their roles in Kyle XY and Greek respectively.

I also watched the latest episode of Doctor Who (still not sure about the Tate woman), Battlestar Galactica, which I loved and, of course, The Tudors. Late but that's due to my absence :(

As for my movie weekend, well a mixture of recent and old movies. First up, the most recent ones:

Juno Quirky (as in major-league quirky) but very enjoyable movie about a first love and an unplanned pregnancy. An odd movie with lots of comedy and some dramatic moments too. Odd soundtrack too ;)

Good Luck Chuck another standard romantic comedy with perhaps a bit more nudity and crudeness than your average romcom. It won't win an Oscar but I enjoyed it. The acting was better than the script

Enchanted a fun-filled family-friendly flick ;) with a good script and seamless integration of animated and real characters. I like the role-reversal at the end and the clash between fairytale and reality.

Superhero Movie faithful readers of my blog will know I watched Drake and Josh not too long ago. This movie starred Drake Bell and spoofed various superhero movies, a bit like Scary Movie. While Drake did a good enough job, the script followed Spiderman 1 too closely, it lost the element of surprise and even the bits with Leslie Nielsen and Pam Anderson weren't all that funny. A wasted chance in my opinion. Pity.

Cloverfield I love bigger-than-life monster / end-of-the-world movies and this is a great one. The first-person camera point-of-view did drive me crazy though... but it did add to the experience even though, in the back of my mind, I was aware of the fact that it was some sort of gimmick.

After 5 recent movies, I moved through time a few years to watch (wait for the final two movies in this blog for that comment to make sense):

Sweet Home Alabama from 2002. One more romantic comedy with a pretty standard script and a more or less predictable ending. It was saved by excellent performances from Jush Lucas and Reese Witherspoon in particular. Both this one and Enchanted featured Patrick Dempsey, but since I've not seen a single episode of Grey's Anatomy, he didn't make such an impression on me. I mainly remember him from some 80s teen comedies and I'm impressed with myself ;) that I even know he's in Grey's.

Finally, I watched Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and its sequel Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey. Both starring a young Keanu Reeves, these are Excellent!!! movies dude.... Though the first one is a lot better than the second one.

There now, wasn't this a much better spent weekend than if I'd actually done some household chores ;) :D

Level 51 - 56 % - 7416 subs - 15895 profile views