Sheaf Saint

I have just finished watching this series (still got the movie to watch yet) after reading a few posts about it on this thread previously. I'm not sure how but it completely crept under my radar before now. I find it a strange one really. In many ways it was very good, but it was also pretty poor and cheesy in a lot of ways as well. The biggest problem I think was that it was a science-fiction series but it was seriously lacking in any actual sciencey stuff. It was basically just a western-style show about some frontier criminals that happened to be set in space. It was also poorly researched from a writing point of view. Captain Reynolds and Zoe were supposedly veterans of a war, but during the actual fighting scenes they would normally just stand out in the open with wooden looks on their faces shooting at people. It was almost as bad as the A-team was for military realism. I still don't get why the preacher was included. He showed up wanting a ticket to nowhere in the first episode and didn't make a single noteworthy contribution to the script that I can remember. He may as well not have been there at all. And the whole sexual tension thing between Mal/Inara and Simon/Caylee was very badly written and executed by the actors as well I thought. For me the only really good, believable character was Jayne. The final episode was a massive let-down. I guess they expected to get another series so nothing really got resolved and it just fizzled out. BUT... despite all the above comments making it appear I hated it, I actually really enjoyed watching it

I have just finished watching this series (still got the movie to watch yet) after reading a few posts about it on this thread previously. I'm not sure how but it completely crept under my radar before now. I find it a strange one really. In many ways it was very good, but it was also pretty poor and cheesy in a lot of ways as well. The biggest problem I think was that it was a science-fiction series but it was seriously lacking in any actual sciencey stuff. It was basically just a western-style show about some frontier criminals that happened to be set in space. It was also poorly researched from a writing point of view. Captain Reynolds and Zoe were supposedly veterans of a war, but during the actual fighting scenes they would normally just stand out in the open with wooden looks on their faces shooting at people. It was almost as bad as the A-team was for military realism. I still don't get why the preacher was included. He showed up wanting a ticket to nowhere in the first episode and didn't make a single noteworthy contribution to the script that I can remember. He may as well not have been there at all. And the whole sexual tension thing between Mal/Inara and Simon/Caylee was very badly written and executed by the actors as well I thought. For me the only really good, believable character was Jayne. The final episode was a massive let-down. I guess they expected to get another series so nothing really got resolved and it just fizzled out. BUT... despite all the above comments making it appear I hated it, I actually really enjoyed watching it

I'll be seeing them at Beat Herder festival this coming weekend. I wasn't too bothered when I heard they had been announced to play, but following the huge praise they have been getting from their Glasonbury performance, I reckon I might pop along and watch them.

Quantic - The 5th Exotic Orbital - In-Sides Portishead - Dummy Sigur Rós - Ágætis byrjun Bonobo - Days to Come

Thanks for bringing this to my attention Charlie, I really must watch this. I was listening recently to Chris Tarrant talking on R4 about when he worked with Kenny, and how he believes him to be the greatest radio presenter who ever lived. Alas I am too young to remember him on the radio but I do have great memories of his TV series from my childhood, although I was probably too young to appreciate a lot of the humour at the time. Like so many troubled geniuses, he was taken from us far too young.

Well I hope I still have Mick Jagger's energy by the time I get to his age. Although I couldn't help but notice that Charlie Watts looked a bit like the guy from the wonga.com advert!

As long as they don't just do another "Terminator goes back in time to kill John Connor" story then it could be good. Salvation left a lot of scope to explore the future war with the machines aspect I thought, and if it's done well (with due acknowledgement to the original timelines) then it could be very good.

Went to see Spike Island at the weekend. It's pretty cheesy, and unfortunately ends up as not much more than a will they/won't they love story by the end, but it seems to capture the spirit of Madchester quite well. Worth watching if you have fond memories of the whole indie scene during the Stone Roses' heyday, but if not then it's probably to be avoided.

Dear lord. The level of ignorance shown in some of the comments under this article is simply staggering. Perhaps Boris should stick to his day job of being a comedian rather than commenting on things he clearly does not have the slightest grasp of.

Can't say I have ever been a big fan of poetry, but I came across this girl on a random stage at a festival a couple of years ago and found myself captivated by her presence and her passion.

Always thought he was over-acting a bit myself. Not as bad as Kate Mulgrew did as Janeway, but still a bit too hammy for my liking.

Cheers for all the responses so far. I've just got back from a week in Cornwall so I'll go through them all when I get some time.

Sorry mate, it's a strictly invite-only affair. They haven't got a licence to sell tickets to the public.

Thanks for the input Block 5. Awesome stuff mate, I'll have a good trawl through them on youtube when I get the chance. As for your other enquiries, the first thing I should tell you is that I'm not being paid to do it. In fact, I have had to buy a ticket the same as everyone else because it's just something that a group of guys I know have decided to do as a way of getting all their friends together for a summer knees-up. They are not making any money from it and they only asked the ticket price (£40) to cover costs. I don't know yet how long I will be playing for (probably no more than 90 mins) but I'll be playing off a laptop with Traktor and a Numark USB controller, and I've got a bit of freeware that rips audio from youtube videos into good quality MP3s, so pretty much anything I want to play will be available to me. I know what you're saying about continuity, and that is something that I was always wary of (maybe a bit too much) when I was into the house/techno scene. But this is something totally different - it's a get-together for people to have a laugh and a drink and a bit of a boogie, so I think the quality of the music I play will be much more important than flow or good mixing, although that doesn't mean I won't try! I'm going to have a good practice first though, and record it so I can listen back in the car to make sure it sounds OK.

Reading through this thread, it makes me all the more sad and angry that this arrogant, bullsh*tting chancer was ever allowed anywhere near our club

My biggest concern with him has been his complete inability at times to do the simple stuff. In all of the games I saw him play in this season, I don't recall him ever putting in a decent corner or free kick, with most of them either failing to get past the first defender or blazing hopelessly high and wide. That has absolutely nothing to do with adjusting to life in a new country or adapting to the pace of the PL, or whatever other excuses people have made for him this year; it's about him either being lazy or just not good enough. I don't doubt he has talent in some areas, and he clearly does have an eye for a decent through-ball, but his execution has been far too pedestrian most of the time and that is what he will need to improve on if we are ever to see the player we hoped we were getting. 4/10 for me.

Where is the old girl based these days Verbal? I haven't managed to see her since she was restored to airworthiness.

Wow, those Hexstatic videos are awesome. I had the pleasure of seeing them do their live AV set at The Big Chill a few years ago and it's a proper spectacle, well worth going to see if you can get the chance.

My girlfriend's nephew plays for the Everton Academy under-12s team, and they always have the normal Chang logo on their kit when they play. Interestingly though, I saw a team photo the other day and as with anything in football these days there were display stands with sponsors logos all over the place. It looked like somebody had quite hurriedly printed the word 'SODA' underneath every mention of Chang. Maybe that's how they get around the law regarding it.

I'm curious to know exactly what grounds the CAA have for believing it to be too dangerous for UK audiences. I've seen Harriers perform at airshows before, so as long as this is maintained and operated correctly (which it appears to be) what exactly is the problem?

Wow Dinger! You've really answered my call there mate. I'll look forward to going through those later on today.

Some cracking tunes in that list Colin, but maybe I didn't make myself very clear. I want to move away from all that electronica stuff and cast my net much wider. I was thinking along the lines of some 60s/70s funk, or some really good 80s Hip hop, or maybe even some old lively jazz stuff like Benny Goodman etc...

He wasn't really known as a hard-man type player, but I seem to remember Franny Benali virtually assaulting John Fashanu at Plough Lane around 1990. He even had the nerve to appeal to the ref afterwards that it was a fair tackle!

Right, some people I know are putting on a mini festival for 250 people this July and I have, somehow, persuaded them to let me loose on the decks for a bit. Should be great fun. I've done a lot of DJing over the years and I always used to play single-genre stuff from the rave era onwards (house, techno, breaks etc...), but for this I want to do an eclectic mix of all sorts of stuff, from all different genres and different eras. I've got quite a few good tunes in mind I want to play already, but I need the help of you, the music-loving folk of TSW. What makes you dance? If you were drinking cider in field on a sunny summer afternoon, what tunes would make you get up and strut your funky stuff? All suggestions (within reason) considered.

Total non-story. Would this even be up for discussion if the employee in question had been wearing one of those cancer-charity ribbons instead?