Battlestar Rhapsody

Seriously, how good was that:)
Speaking of which I'm gonna have to start on the full season boxset before I go back to work next week.

Prezzies

Well we are well into christmas afternoon and the yummy family dinner is settling down and to be honest if I hadn't got up from the comfy chair and gone on to the computer I would probably be napping right now:)
Santa bought me soaks and boxers so that's the basics done plus some stocking fillers (car care, dark chocolate) but the point of the holidays is giving and me dad liked his Homer Simpson talking bottle opener.

Holiday TV viewing started off with Sandra Bullock in While you were Sleeping, love that movie and Kiss Me Kate was playing during and after the dinner, again a sucker for a classic musical.
I'll record Dr Who in HD tonight since I am sure we'll have at least one "unexpected" visitor who will take a shine to the booze I bought for myself but no plans for tomorrow, well their is a family get together but show me face and then sneak out:)

Dexter

Well the latest season has been sitting on the hard drive awaiting my attention and I finally got around to watching the fourth season premiere, it's now 12.30am 23rd December and I've just finished episode 6!
Dexter isn't a show I like watching on a weekly basis since once I start I just don't want to stop and thankfully none of the podcasts I listen to do any spoiler level coverage so I can indulge without risk:)

The Intruder

One of the best William Shatner movies is now available in the public domain.
The Intruder (aka Shame) directed by Roger Corman tells the story of a racist instigator who visits a small town and leads a backlash against the integration of a school and an incident between a black lad and white girl soon after. Filmed in a real town and much of it with the townsfolk unaware of the real story of the movie it is a masterpiece of it's time but lost money and become Cormans one financial failure yet is rated by many as his best movie.

Internet Archive

Lord of the Rings (again)

After reading about the upcoming Blu I had a hankering for the trilogy again so watched each of the movies (1 per day) in HD (sourced from broadcasts) and enjoyed every single hour (I would say minute but even the theatricals are 3 hours).

They were if anything even better than I remembered, perhaps a couple of years gap since I last watched them showed how well they were holding up in terms of special effects and as for the rest that will forever stand the test of time.

3D Blu-ray

The Blu consortium have finally ratified the required specifications for incorporating 3D content on to the existing Blu-ray format. The encoding uses an extension to the existing H.264 codec but carries around a 50% overhead in terms of bandwidth requirement while maintaining backwards compatibility, glasses will be required.
Not surprisingly SONY have made sure the existing PS3 is an approved system, can you imagine a Blu-ray 3D format that was outside of the capabilities of the PS3, ahh global corporate politics:)

Personally I delighted to find the latest consumer electronic whizz bang offering to be of zero interest, I've been a very expensive early adopter of Nicam, Laserdisc, DVR's, HD DVD and Blu-ray so I'll sit back and laugh at the money spent to bring a cinema gimmick to the home.

CNET

Snowing

The first snow of the season, well it was only a brief flurry but hey maybe a white christmas:)

Lord Of The Rings

Finally we have confirmation of the long awaited Blu-ray release of the trilogy.
It's been scheduled for next April but alas it's only the theatrical versions of the 3 movies and yes there will be a latter bells and all release meaning they really are out to squeeze every penny out of the fan base.
Personally I love the trilogy and have them in HD on the PC but will not be buying them on Blu-ray until we get the extended cuts and all the extras associated with them, this is Blu-ray, there should be no compromises.

Woop

Finished my last shift of the year and thanks to a decision by the company to close half a day early on the 24th I got to go home at 10.45am today:)
Mind you it was still a miserable day but at least nothing like the bad weather the states are having to cope with.

A relaxing weekend and then some serious christmas shopping and put the decorations up perhaps Wednesday which is quite late in the month compared to previous years.

SKY

Well I rang SKY up today and cancelled the full TV package, I got the usual run around designed to confuse and misinform the ignorant and eventually managed to get the CS rep to do what I was asking him. The call lasted 20 minutes and he seemed quite put out making it clear I would not be getting any retention deals (I must have upset him) but since I wasn't looking for one that's fine.
Of course the human being in me is pissed so many people get crazy retention deals and having paid SKY full price since 1992 not getting a sausage is just another reason to believe I've done the right thing.

Service ends Jan 6th and guess what, I doubt I'll miss any programme I currently watch:)

Life

Season 1 of the most excellent cop show Life has been reduced to a bargain £9.95 at Zavvi.
There is also an additional 6% cashback if you are a member of Quidco.