Month: August 2009

Holiday next week

28 August 2009 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Blimey. I’ve hardly been back five minutes when I’m off again. This time I’m off to Norfolk, where I hear that have the Internet and I have an iPhone anyway, so who knows if I’ll be blogging while I’m away. But in the meantime, I’ve left you with RoboRob, your automated blogging friend, who’ll leave you with daily content. For some reason, though, he doesn’t work Bank Holiday Mondays either, which is a bit odd for a robot, but what can you do.

See you back here with the Daily News on Monday 7th, and hopefully I’ll drop by before then as well. TTFN!

Sitting Tennant

Friday’s Sitting Tennant (from Ms Rullsenberg): Learners

28 August 2009 Rob Buckley 10 Comments

Rullsenberg's Sitting Tennant

Last Friday Sitting Tennant for a fortnight – next week, Richard Armitage’s head will be taking over. Pray he’s not re-enacting Zardoz.  

However, this week’s award-winning picture of David Tennant choosing not to stand is from… Ms Rullsenberg, who manages to recapture her lead from Sister Chastity with this picture from Learners, I think. Anyone know what happened to Jaradel? Has she passed out from pleasure from too many pictures of David Tennant?

  1. Rullsenberg: 51.5
  2. Sister Chastity: 49.5
  3. Jaradel: 35.5
  4. Toby: 5
  5. Rosby: 2.5
  6. Lauren: 4
  7. Amy: 2
  8. Persephone, Sabine: 1

That gives you a fortnight to come up with an overwhelming witty caption. The surprise winner of last week’s captioning competition is Electric Dragon again, who managed to channel the spirit of Big Train on his second attempt to storm past Persephone with another 10 point bounty. Good luck this week everyone!

  1. Marie: 152.5
  2. Toby: 141.5
  3. Rullsenberg: 102
  4. Jane Henry: 70.5
  5. Electric Dragon: 51
  6. Persephone: 45.5
  7. Jaradel: 38.5
  8. Rev/Views: 25
  9. Scott 2: 14
  10. Joe, Sister Chastity: 10
  11. Scott: 3
  12. Aaron: 2
  13. almostwitty.com: 1
  14. Stu_N: 1

Remember, you can submit as many captions as you like for today’s picture, with the wittiest getting 10 points next Friday.

Got a picture of David Tennant sitting, lying down or in some indeterminate state in between? Then leave a link to it below or email me and if it’s judged suitable, it will appear in the “Sitting Tennant” gallery.

Every photo displayed on Monday (one per person who sends one in) gets a point, with a bonus point if it’s from the latest DT production; the best pic in the stash each week will appear on Friday and get three points.

You can also enter the witty and amusing captions league table by commenting on Friday’s Sitting Tennant photo, the best caption getting 10 points.

What have you been watching this week (w/e August 28)?

28 August 2009 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

Tele: seen much this week or has it all been a bit too rubbish?

This week, I’ve caught the first two eps of the new season of Mad Men – I won’t bother with a full review, only to say it’s better than the second season so far, which is an indicator of how good it is.

Leverage was pretty good this week, with the advent of a mirror-image team of grifters to fight against. Maybe a little less comedic than usual and a little bit more serious at times, but still good viewing. I’m also watching the Wallanders at a snail’s pace, but The African was really very good – clearly they get better as time goes on.

Otherwise, that’s it, since I’ve still got to catch up with 10 Things I Hate About You, Psych and Dark Blue. Oh yes, and I’ve been introducing my mother-in-law to The Wire. She’s loving it.

Don’t forget the new series of The Fixer starts on the 1st September on ITV1.

As always, no spoilers unless you’re going to use the <spoiler> </spoiler> tags, please

US TV

Season finale: Royal Pains

28 August 2009 Rob Buckley 1 Comment

Royal Pains finale

Of all the shows arriving on our screens over summer, the surprise big hit has been Royal Pains. A charming comedy-drama about a New York ER doctor who ends up working as a ‘concierge doctor’ to the rich of the nearby Hamptons, it’s as languid as a Long Island iced tea, with no big pyrotechnics, no screaming melodramas, only MacGyver-esque medical procedures and reasonable people having relatively normal relationships – against the general insanity experienced by the rich.

While it hasn’t avoided the occasional escape from reality and House-ian "bizarre diseases of the week" to diagnose, it has remained whimsical fun with a compelling cast throughout. With a second season now assured and with so many sub-plots coming to a head, a cliffhanger ending was inevitable. What was surprising is that the creator of Charmed and the show’s exec producer Constance M Burge managed to avoid Wiccans for a whole season – until now.

Continue reading “Season finale: Royal Pains”