Man Vs Camera #86: Dial H For Happy Birthday
If the haiku was too brief, here's my "proper" review of the Doctor Who finale for Dork Adore.
Link: If the haiku was too brief, here's my "proper" review of the Doctor Who finale for Dork Adore.
HaikWho - 2010, volume 4
And now, the final Doctor Who haiku. I’ve been a bit of a smartarse here and tried to add some kind of repeating loop into the haiku to match the time-travel-confusingness of the episode. Does this work? You decide.
And spoilers, yes, spoilers, as usual.
The Big Bang
And that’ll be all, for now at least. Maybe I’ll try and haiku some other TV shows in the future, I’ve quite enjoyed this. My longer Doctor Who reviews for Dork Adore are here, although the newest one isn’t up yet. But I have written it, so it should appear.
And, of course, the first, second and third volumes of Doctor Who haiku remain available.
And spoilers, yes, spoilers, as usual.
The Big Bang
travel circles, the
story goes, from stone box to
wedding in quick time
And that’ll be all, for now at least. Maybe I’ll try and haiku some other TV shows in the future, I’ve quite enjoyed this. My longer Doctor Who reviews for Dork Adore are here, although the newest one isn’t up yet. But I have written it, so it should appear.
And, of course, the first, second and third volumes of Doctor Who haiku remain available.
HaikWho - 2010, volume 3
This third segment brings us up to date in the endeavour of haiku-ing (not a word) the entire of the 2010 Doctor Who series. This includes the penultimate, exciting, climactic episode, and I’ve basically spoilt the whole thing. You have been warned.
If you’ve not been following these, the first volume and second volume cover the opening nine episodes.
Vincent And The Doctor
The Lodger
The Pandorica Opens
And that brings us up to date. I imagine I will post a rather feeble “volume 4” on Sunday or so, giving a haiku for Saturday’s “The Big Bang”. In fact, here it is.
If you’ve not been following these, the first volume and second volume cover the opening nine episodes.
Vincent And The Doctor
Van Gogh battles a
big chicken and his inner
demons, then we cry.
The Lodger
Cooks with burger sauce,
talks to cat, wears a bow tie.
Just a normal bloke.
The Pandorica Opens
The Pandorica
is empty, the Romans are
fake, so what is truth?
And that brings us up to date. I imagine I will post a rather feeble “volume 4” on Sunday or so, giving a haiku for Saturday’s “The Big Bang”. In fact, here it is.
HaikWho - 2010, volume 2
In which I watch the 2010 series of Doctor Who and write a haiku about each episode. More intro text and first five poems here.
And now, the next four. Poetic spoiler warning still applies.
Vampires Of Venice
Amy’s Choice
The Hungry Earth
Cold Blood
And that’s volume two. Once again, longer reviews of most episodes available on Dorkadore. Next three to follow, either Friday evening or Saturday morning, depending on whether I end up in a pub tomorrow night.
In fact, here’s a link to the next lot which I have edited in!
And now, the next four. Poetic spoiler warning still applies.
Vampires Of Venice
Alien fish beat
Twilight any day, Rory
over Pattinson!
Amy’s Choice
Locked in a dream,
our heroes face the threat of
deadly hay fever.
The Hungry Earth
The lizards drill up,
the humans drill down, the two
never seem to meet.
Cold Blood
Shit, does all this seem
a bit pointless? Better kill
someone just in case.
And that’s volume two. Once again, longer reviews of most episodes available on Dorkadore. Next three to follow, either Friday evening or Saturday morning, depending on whether I end up in a pub tomorrow night.
In fact, here’s a link to the next lot which I have edited in!
HaikWho - 2010, volume 1
In anticipation of Saturday’s much-anticipated Doctor Who series finale, I have begun re-watching the episodes to date and, in order to provide some creative purpose to this exercise, I’ll be writing a haiku about each after I’ve seen it. As you do.
Anyway, here are the first five… (Warning: Possible vague poetic spoilers.)
The Eleventh Hour
The Beast Below
Victory Of The Daleks
The Time Of Angels
Flesh And Stone
On the off-chance you want longer, more rambling reviews, I’ve already done some for Dork Adore, which you can see here. And, yes, I’ll be off to watch more episodes shortly and the next volume of HaikWho is now available here!
Anyway, here are the first five… (Warning: Possible vague poetic spoilers.)
The Eleventh Hour
Nerds, take a deep breath.
The Doctor is still quirky,
his hair still massive.
The Beast Below
Challenging ethics,
covered in vomit and the
Queeny From The Block.
Victory Of The Daleks
Winston Churchill big,
New Daleks pretty massive,
Pond’s skirt much smaller.
The Time Of Angels
Angels are scary,
but more harrowing is the
prospect of marriage.
Flesh And Stone
The crack swallows all,
leaving only a sense of
mild arousal.
On the off-chance you want longer, more rambling reviews, I’ve already done some for Dork Adore, which you can see here. And, yes, I’ll be off to watch more episodes shortly and the next volume of HaikWho is now available here!
The above embedded thing should play the new Ash single, ‘Spheres’. It’s one of their longer epic numbers, where they try to sound like a less fiddly/pretentious version of Muse. (See also: ‘Dare To Dream’.)
It has a slightly odd two-minute outro, but I rather like it. In general, Ash are on great form at the moment, and it’s rather a shame that relatively few people seem to care. Their new CD, A-Z Volume 1, features some great songs. (And, contrary to what some seem to think, it is not a best of. It collects all-new songs that they’ve released online over the course of the last year.)
Sport Vs Everything Else
Link: Sport Vs Everything Else
Since… some time in November, I’ve been playing badminton in a Saturday lunchtime slot. This is good in most ways, since exercise is a positive thing and it gives me something to do when the…
Sleep, Interrupted
Link: Sleep, Interrupted
Last night, I slept in patches. And rubbish patches at that.
Since we entered the hot spell of the year, it’s become a regular thing that I go for a “nap” at around ten and wake up in the middle…
On Dorkadore, I pretend to be a video game reviewer. Admittedly, it's a free Doctor Who video game.
Link: On Dorkadore, I pretend to be a video game reviewer. Admittedly, it's a free Doctor Who video game.
The Call Centre Guide To Answering The Telephone
Link: The Call Centre Guide To Answering The Telephone
A few years aog now, I worked in a call centre. As you could probably glean from the mere mention of the word “call centre”, it was not the most pleasant of jobs. Since then, I have encountered…
On Dorkadore, I discuss a new BBC3 medical-supernatural-horror pilot that you should definitely watch. Because I want a full series.
A short review of The Divine Comedy's "Bang Goes The Knighthood"
I have a free half hour at lunchtime, so I may as well do a few words on Bang Goes The Knighthood, the new album by The Divine Comedy. I always feel a bit awkward reviewing music, because I don’t know anything about it. Books/films/TV shows have stories, and I’ve got much more experience with those. Music, not so much.
Still, clearly I’m going to have a crack anyway; it just might not be as long as it could’ve been. If you have Spotify and want to listen along as you read, you can hear the album by clicking this link. More Spotify links are sprayed liberally throughout the piece.
Anyway, since I am a fan, I quite like it. It’s not Neil Hannon’s best work ever (I still prefer Fin De Siecle) nor does it contain his best song (which, obviously, is this one). Still, there are some great tracks. The Complete Banker is sniping at a rather obvious target in its lyrics, but almost makes up for that by being such a fun, straightforward song. And I desperately hope I Like becomes a single, because it’s by far the most immediate thing here.
Aside from those two, other tracks are less obvious and jaunty (so may not appeal as much to people who only listen because they liked National Express), but there’s a pleasant mix of thoughtfulness and breezy music, as well as the usual clever lyrics. See the title track for an example. Oh, and Down In The Street Below is an excellent example of a Divine Comedy ballad.
Like most Divine Comedy albums, it includes at least one song which I find a bit annoying, namely Can You Stand On One Leg. As a b-side, it’d have been kinda fun, perhaps. But making it penultimate track just diminishes the aftertaste of the whole album.
Anyway, that’s probably enough. If you like The Divine Comedy, this is another solid album. If you want a pleasant, hummable record to start the summer off, you could do a lot worse. And yes, I did write all of that in half an hour.
How To Exist In The Sunshine
Link: How To Exist In The Sunshine
I think I’ll stop starting these entries with apologies for not updating lately, because otherwise it’s going to get dull. For future reference, just assume my remorse.
Anyway, according to the…
