Posted

Jan 26th 2009

Mood

Eager

Music

Stacy's Mom (has got it going on!)

Well this month has seen the start of two new genre shows for the new year here in the UK, and they managed to show the complete extremes that shows with the same themes can take. On the one hand we have ITV's 'Demons', about a young boy who wakes one morning to discover his godfather has come back into his life with the startling news that he's the last in the Van Helsing line, and it's his job to help fight an ongoing battle against the 'Half-lives'. Sound like Buffy with a male lead? Yes it is, and unfortunatly it doesn't manage to keep your interest in the characters for more than the first five minutes either. Aimed firmly at the kiddies but missing that vital ingredient to make adults care enough to tune in. Shelf-life? ZERO! On the other hand we have 'Being Human' on BBC3, which has managed to hit more points with just the pilot episode than Demons managed to date. Three likable characters share a flat, normal as can be. Except for the fact that one is a Vampire, the other a Werewolf, and the last is a Ghost that haunts them both. It's a weird and kooky show but manages to pull it through with deep storytelling, the promise of personal stories for each of them being slowly unveilled, and the right blend of comedy with drama. The wolf had a great life which he's had to abandon, the ghost is lonely and seems more 'real' when she's around them, and the vampire is trying to give up feeding, which parrallels nicely with a drugs addiction and is played out in a similar style. Ontop of it all the local vamp community want the lot of them gone, and seem to have bigger plans for the future than anybody could guess. Gripping stuff from the Beeb. If your torrenting tv (and MANY of you are! Merlin and Dr Who were last years highest torrented series in the world) then I strongly suggest giving Demons a miss and give some attention to Being Human.

In other news, my long standing love of 'Final Fantasy IV' is coming on leaps and bounds as for the first time I've found myself playing the game to an extent that I'm at the level cap on the DS version. 99 may not sound like much, but on the original games it was a lofty ambition. With the DS version there's so much to do, and grinding is such a pleasure, that I've been capped for a while now, and I'm just entering the final dungeon having completed all the sub-quests and gotten the rarer (and comedy use only) summons that the game had to offer - I'm glad they kept these in!

Oh, and if your going to the cinema this week give 'Underworld 3: Rise of the Lycans' a look, it's not going to be topping any polls, but it's a great addition to a series that's always a laugh to watch with the lads on a saturday night, and actually manages to make a lot of clever film to film links. Keep your eye on Victor, he's acted so well that you actually want the bad-guy to win.

That's media for the month I think :) Does anybody else have a film or game that they're particularly enjoying at the moment?