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It took more than a month — and an intervening presidential election — but it appears as though MSNBC's Joe Scarborough has finally joined the chorus of conservatives criticizing Candy Crowley for covering for President Obama's false statements on Libya during the presidential debates.
Speaking on Monday's Morning Joe, Scarborough strongly rebuked the Obama administration's handling of the post-Benghazi coverage. [See video below page break. MP3 audio here.]
Scarborough started off the segment by ridiculing the idea that the White House couldn't say the attack on our embassy was Al-Qaeda-related:They're like, oh, you know, we couldn't say it was Al-Qaeda because that might expose some of our assets on the ground. Andrea Mitchell, the term Al-Qaeda, like, if there's a terror attack in the Middle East, and you say Al-Qaeda, that's going to expose some of our assets on the ground? That does not, as my professor said, Professor Pearson, that does not pass the straight-face test.
Scarborough followed this up by strongly criticizing the CNN reporter and presidential debate moderator for falsely claiming President Obama immediately classified the attack on Libyan Embassy as terrorism:Andrea, what I don't understand is that Susan Rice said this five days in. The president — remember, the president at the debate saying, you know, and Candy Crowley for some reason basically making up history on the run, said, well, the president did say this was a terrorist attack the day after, which he really didn't say that at all. So there's an inconsistency even there. In the debate, the president said, we said this the day after that it was an act of terror. No, no, he didn't. And five days later, Susan Rice is reading a supposedly Intel that says it wasn't a terror attack. I mean, there are — there's confusion.
Colleague Andrea Mitchell used much softer language to excuse Susan Rice, instead placing the blame on the intelligence community:I think the problem here is what this has exposed is the bureaucracy of the intelligence community. The fact that the intelligence community waters down what can be said in a declassified setting and that Susan Rice, I mean the criticism is that she took what they handed her and didn't challenge it, which her defenders, Dianne Feinstein on Meet The Press and others say is really really unfair.
Mitchell's blame is misguided, as it was the White House, NOT the CIA which edited the post-Benghazi talking points memo which Susan Rice relied on when she went around blaming a YouTube video for the attack in Benghazi.
For once Scarborough didn't go along with the usual MSNBC agenda of covering up or excusing White House failures.
It would have been nice to see more of this before the election, but better late than never, we suppose.
See relevant transcript below.
Morning Joe
November 19, 2012
6:11 a.m. EDT
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: You mentioned Benghazi. Let's go to the developments now in the ongoing controversy over the administration's response to the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. Members of Congress are now vowing to find out why the CIA's conclusion that terrorism was to blame for the attack was removed from U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice's talking points. In the days following the deadly assault, Ambassador Rice said the administration believed the attack was a reaction to an anti-Islamic video. But, an associated press report says former CIA Director David Petraeus testified on Friday that he believed all along that the attack on the consulate was a terrorist strike.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: So let's — before we set up these clips, let's make sure we set this up right. So we've been hearing, Mark Halperin, that Susan Rice said what she said because she was just reading straight Intel basically from the CIA. We find out after David Petraeus' testimony, this just isn't true. That immediately David Petraeus and Intel officials knew this was an Al-Qaeda attack. Right?
MARK HALPERIN: It's still kind of confusing.
SCARBOROUGH: By the way, I'm basing that on The New York Times reports and everything I read through the weekend.
HALPERIN: Yeah, the totality of the reporting, there was another line coming out of that closed hearing which was they didn't want to say everything they knew in public because they didn't want the terrorists to know that the U.S. government was on to them.
SCARBOROUGH: Well I heard that. But, I mean, seriously, Al-Qaeda. They're like, oh, you know, we couldn't say it was Al-Qaeda because that might expose some of our assets on the ground. Andrea Mitchell, the term Al-Qaeda, like, if there's a terror attack in the Middle East, and you say Al-Qaeda, that's going to expose some of our assets on the ground? That does not, as my professor said, Professor Pearson, that does not pass the straight face test.
ANDREA MITCHELL: Or the smell test. I think the problem here is what this has exposed is the bureaucracy of the intelligence community. The fact that the intelligence community waters down what can be said in a declassified setting and that Susan Rice, I mean the criticism is that she took what they handed her and didn't challenge it, which her defenders, Dianne Feinstein on Meet The Press and others say is really really unfair. You're pilaring this woman. She says it is, Feinstein's words, character assassination, to suggest that she would read anything other than the unclassified version of this. A lot of people are asking where was Hillary Clinton that weekend? She knew better than to go out into the middle of this. She doesn't do the Sunday talk shows. So they gave Susan Rice this assignment. She went on all five shows. And it was supposed to be an important venue for her. And by going with these declassified talking points, she has now taken the hit. This reminds me very much, Joe, Mika, and everybody, of what happened in the month leading up to the Iraq war when the declassified version was different in thrust than what was known about WMD and what the Senators should have been reading. And the intelligence community has to be asked why do you tell the American public something that is different in meaning? It should be perhaps leave out details, leave outsources and methods?
SCARBOROUGH: Again, though, the details here were Al-Qaeda.
MITCHELL: Exactly.
SCARBOROUGH: Just so people at home don't think that this is just Lindsey Graham and John McCain going at it, Maureen Dowd was especially tough yesterday on Susan Rice because Susan Rice read the Intel briefings, she knew what the truth was and she chose to read something. If the script was handed to her, Maureen Dowd's point Steve Ratner was if the scripts was inaccurate, misleading, she shouldn't have read it.
STEVE RATNER: Okay but look. I think we have to go through this logically. What we know — I think what we know is that the CIA produced a set of talking points that included Al-Qaeda, included more specific references to what happened. Somewhere during an interagency process, and I've been through a bunch of these interagency processes, these drafts get handed around. People mark them up. They mark them up for all different kinds of reasons. Somewhere along that way those words were changed.
SCARBOROUGH: Al-Qaeda was taken out. Now the suggestion, of course, is by republicans, that –
RATNER: That it was political. That's one suggestion.
SCARBOROUGH: In the middle of the campaign. And, again, the president's punch line for a lot of speeches, GM's alive, Osama Bin Laden's dead. Al-Qaeda's on the run.
RATNER: That's one suggestion. But it seems to me,
SCARBOROUGH: It's a pretty strong suggestion.
RATNER: But before you get to the question of what Susan Rice should or shouldn't have said, I think we need to know the answer of who changed their talking points and why. And then I think we'll know a lot more about what went on.
HALPERIN: I agree with that but this is not just a one off where ambassador rice went on the Sunday shows and said this. Jay Carney was asked for a week about this and gaffe substantively the same answer.
SCARBOROUGH: And again, Andrea, what I don't understand is that Susan Rice said this five days in. The president — remember, the president at the debate saying, you know, and Candy Crowley for some reason basically making up history on the run, said, well, the president did say this was a terrorist attack the day after, which he really didn't say that at all. So there's an inconsistency even there. In the debate, the president said, we said this the day after that it was an act of terror. No, no, he didn't. And five days later, Susan Rice is reading a supposedly Intel that says it wasn't a terror attack. I mean, there are — there's confusion.
BRZEZINSKI: Why is this important, Andrea?
SCARBOROUGH: First of all, and why can't they get their stories straight a month and a half later?
MITCHELL: Well, one reason is it's important for us to know about the intelligence failure leading up to and coming out of Benghazi, according to the both Republicans and Democrats, there really wasn't an intelligence failure, they knew what was happening. Then why didn't the State Department ask for more security and, more broadly, how should we handle regions like this where we want to have diplomatic and intelligence missions and we're asking people to serve where they cannot properly be protected. So there are big issues. There's also a proxy war going on here because Susan Rice had a very sharp tone during the 2008 campaign against some people like John McCain. And there is a disagreement there that is now being exaggerated all out of proportion, some people say, because they just are seeing this as a trophy where they can get a prominent nominee, potential nominee, for one of the top cabinet positions, there's Treasury, there's State, Defense.
SCARBOROUGH: That's one side of it. The other side of it would be — and I hate to say this — but I wonder if that would be the media narrative if George W. Bush, we're accuse of doing, what, I don't know, politicizing –
BRZEZINSKI: It's not a narrative. It's just a point that Andrea made.
SCARBOROUGH: I'm not talking about Andrea. I'm hearing this a lot though coming out of the White House and I'm hearing it also that, again, there is — there is no doubt it is personal. I agree with Andrea completely, it is personal between John McCain and Susan Rice. I agree with that completely. What is surprising is it's been a month and a half maybe, two months, and this — this looks to some, including Maureen Dowd, like it was a politicizing of Intel, the death of an American ambassador and we can brush it aside if we want to.
BRZEZINSKI: There's the other side to it where you see Republicans going after someone they want to bring in?
RATNER: We shouldn't glide too quickly over Andrea's other important point, which is the security failure, that we had the Intel, knew what was going on in Benghazi and yet we did not protect our people there adequately.
BRZEZINSKI: Exactly.
JON HEILEMANN: To me that's always — that's the most troubling aspect of the entire thing. And it's the thing that Senator Feinstein was clearest about on Meet The Press yesterday, was the notion that there had been months of concerns raised by people on the ground that the consulate itself was not well protected enough and that people crying out for more security and that those decisions were not made to protect those people as they should have been. To me that actually is almost the more substantially troubling thing about the entire episode.
Took Him Long Enough: Scarborough Finally Scolds CNN's Crowley for 'Making Up History' on BenghaziNovember 19, 2012
via newsbusters.org
Tina Brown's Quiet Restart of NewsweekFebruary 21, 2011
Tina Brown, former editor of The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, says Newsweek needs to be both "seductive and serious."The debut of Tina Brown's Newsweek will, in fact, look nothing like the opening of her last magazine, Talk in 1999, an extravagant exercise in self-promotion and impossibly high expectations that came back to haunt her when that magazine closed after barely two years.
"We're sort of done with that," Ms. Brown said in an interview from Newsweek's spare, sterile new office space near Wall Street, insisting that the kind of A-list soirée that helped define her tenures as editor of Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and then Talk would have no place at her current home, where humility and frugality are the rule.
Tina Brown, with Stephen Colvin, chief of the Newsweek Daily Beast Company, is keeping her magazine redesign top secret.
"I think the most important thing is to prove that a year from now we're thriving and still here," she said. "Maybe we'll have a little Christmas party," she added in a sober tone that betrayed none of her usual sardonic wit. "We have a lot of work to do."
It is easy to see why Ms. Brown, 57, is eager to avoid any hoopla or hype surrounding her plan to turn Newsweek around. She has not even revealed the date when her fully redesigned magazine will appear on newsstands, though one person briefed on the closely guarded and evolving plan said March 7 was the current target date.
The charge before her — breathing life into a magazine that much of the publishing world left for dead — is as difficult as any she has faced in a 35-year career that brought her recognition as one of the world's most famous and accomplished editors.
Newsweek has been starved for advertising revenue in the last year as it has languished like a ghost ship — first without a buyer after The Washington Post Company put it up for sale in May, and then without an editor as its new owner, the 92-year-old stereo mogul Sidney Harman, struggled to fill the job. The number of ad pages in the magazine through Monday was down 59 percent compared with a year earlier, a greater drop than that for any other weekly or biweekly magazine tracked by the Media Industry Newsletter.
And there is the much larger question of whether a weekly magazine is still a viable format for delivering the news.
Publishing veterans are not focused on whether Ms. Brown can sustain Newsweek as readers have come to know it during the last 78 years. What she needs to do, they say, is create a whole new magazine from scratch.
"Whether it can be saved is irrelevant," said Ron Galotti, the former Vanity Fair publisher, who worked with Ms. Brown at Condé Nast and left the company with her to help start Talk. "What is to be created is the task."
The Newsweek job is not one Ms. Brown initially wanted. When merger talks between her Daily Beast Web site and Mr. Harman collapsed in the fall, Ms. Brown told her employees she felt unburdened. She framed the magazine's troubles as worthy of Greek mythology, telling some of them that editing the magazine would have been like "rolling a boulder up a hill," according to one person who spoke of Ms. Brown's remarks anonymously for fear of offending her by recounting a private conversation.
Ask some of the biggest names in publishing whether Newsweek can be saved and after a long pause, they all say that if anyone can pull it off, it is Ms. Brown.
"Tina's track record is indisputable and her talents and energies immense," said David Remnick, who succeeded Ms. Brown as editor of The New Yorker in 1998. "The riddle of what a newsweekly should be has been in the air for many years and long preceded the incredible acceleration and obliteration of news cycles in the world of the Internet, so it will be fascinating to see where she takes Newsweek."
Ms. Brown won acceptance to Oxford at 16. As a young writer, she caught the eye and heart of Harold Evans, the former editor of The Sunday Times of London and now her husband of nearly 30 years.
At 25, she took over the Tatler of London and quickly quadrupled its circulation. At 30, she was in New York running Vanity Fair. She supercharged the magazine with her signature high-low sensibility, which created a template for the magazine that defines it to this day. It was Ms. Brown who hired Annie Leibovitz, often at exorbitant cost, to shoot indelible images, like a naked, pregnant Demi Moore for the cover in August 1991, an issue that also featured heavier fare like an article on Saddam Hussein's grip on power in Iraq.
Her success in reviving Vanity Fair impressed Condé Nast's chairman, S. I. Newhouse Jr., so much, he asked her to take over his cherished New Yorker in 1992. She challenged conventions there as well, stripping the magazine of much of its stodgy feel and de-emphasizing fiction writing for long reported pieces on current events and breezy feature articles. Circulation and newsstand sales soared.
She left to start Talk in 1998, and after it folded, she hosted a show on CNBC and wrote a book about Princess Diana. She also showed an appetite for getting back into magazine editing. When Time was looking for a new managing editor in 2006, she approached people there about the job. The magazine's leadership chose Richard Stengel, a Time veteran.
Before taking the reins at Newsweek, Ms. Brown had been editing The Daily Beast, an online media partnership she began with Barry Diller in 2008.
With the Newsweek-Daily Beast merger complete — the companies agreed to combine in November, and they officially closed on the deal late last month — she has quickly thrown herself into overhauling the magazine. She has adapted her famous, at times infamous, ways of running a staff to suit the technological and economic realities of 2011. But there is still plenty of vintage Tina Brown to go around.
Gone are the faxes that would stream from her office at all hours; she conducts much of her written correspondence on her BlackBerry these days, eliminating the need for drivers to shuttle drafts of articles to her weekend house. It is not uncommon for her senior editors to find themselves barraged with e-mail from her predawn or on weekends.
"Her energy and her capacities are stunning to me, and she is at it all the time," Mr. Harman said in an interview. "I pull myself out of the sack in the morning and there she is talking to me on 'Morning Joe.' "
Known for wanting only stories that were, in her vernacular, "hot" — she would scrawl "hot" or "v. hot" on drafts of articles she deemed the proper temperature needed to generate the buzz she sought — she now speaks of Newsweek as needing to be both "seductive and serious."
Ms. Brown would not reveal anything about the contents of the redesigned magazine or its debut. "We're only going to do it when we're ready, let's put it that way," she said in the interview. Between answering questions, she clicked through her BlackBerry, scanning e-mail.
"I think that big, sort of theatrical relaunches tend to set you up for failure and hype," she added. "And you know we — I — went through that at Talk magazine, and it was a mistake."
People outside the magazine who have seen the current prototype described it as recognizable as Newsweek in name only. The paper is thicker and glossier. There are more photographs and a greater use of white space. It incorporates The Daily Beast brand in a new section called NewsBeast. Advertisers have been told the back page will be a column written by a different notable figure each week discussing a professional blunder. Joe Scarborough wrote the one in the prototype being circulated now, which Newsweek executives never let out of their hands.
"From what I saw, it's night and day," said George Janson, an executive with the ad buyer GroupM. "Its look, its energy is much more stylish."
As familiar as the process of magazine reinvention is to Ms. Brown, there are notable differences this time. Financially, she has less flexibility. When Mr. Harman has spoken of his financial plan for the magazine, he has told people privately that he is giving the magazine three years to succeed and can afford to lose about $40 million in that time, several people who have spoken with him said. Anything exceeding that amount, he has said, would affect what he is able to leave to his heirs.
By contrast, Newsweek's expenses last year ran $40 million in the third quarter alone. The operation is considerably smaller now because of buyouts, layoffs and resignations. More buyouts were offered last week, and Mr. Harman said the staff of the combined Daily Beast/Newsweek would soon be smaller than the about 350 people that Newsweek had when he bought it.
Ms. Brown also acknowledged that readers' appetites had changed since she last edited a magazine. "You have to basically make the assumption that they have absolutely no interest in you whatsoever," she said. "There is so little attention to spare, you have to make sure that where their window of attention is open, you're in."
In her previous jobs, Ms. Brown was famous for scooping up prominent writers and putting them on expensive contracts that would require only a few articles a year while preventing them from writing for competitors. She said that practice would be nonexistent at Newsweek, where she has been looking to hire more writers paid by the article.
"What we cannot have is what the old-style magazines had, where people are supported to do not a ton of pieces," she said.
Ms. Brown has a salary in the $700,000 range, according to one person briefed on her negotiations with Mr. Harman. Mr. Harman declined to comment. That amount is not wildly high for an editor with as high a profile as Ms. Brown's.
Holding costs down is one thing. Turning a profit is another. And Ms. Brown's magazines have generally proven better at spending money than earning it.
The New Yorker broke into the black in 2002, four years after she left but also for the first time since Condé Nast bought it in 1985. Ms. Brown points out that the magazine's losses had slowed significantly by the time she left.
At Vanity Fair, Ms. Brown had a reputation for spending lavishly on writers and photographers, expenses that put the magazine deeply in debt. But in her final years as editor, it began to turn a profit, though not every year, according to one person with knowledge of Vanity Fair's business. This person spoke only on the condition of anonymity because Condé Nast is private and does not release specific financial information.
Whether The Daily Beast has been the success that Ms. Brown had hoped it would be is a matter of some debate. It initially lost about $10 million a year, but executives said that advertising had picked up in the last year and that they expected profitability "in the next few years," according to Stephen Colvin, chief executive of the Newsweek Daily Beast Company. Unique visitors to the site have leveled off in the range of two million to three million a month over the last year, according to comScore, the Internet traffic research firm.
The task of taking two money-losing operations and combining them to try to become one profitable enterprise has struck many in the media business as fanciful. This is not lost on Mr. Harman.
"What I wanted to know was whether there was a shot at this thing breaking even," Mr. Harman said, reflecting on his thoughts after he bought the magazine. "But I'm looking at this thing and saying to myself: 'Son of a gun. I think we got a business here.' My expectation is it will surely break even."
By JEREMY W. PETERS via nytimes.com photo by Ruth Fremson/The New York Times


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Thank you to all the lovely people here! You're all incredible.
I've taken LuckyJim's advice and got a bit more stern with my GP and it seems to have worked! I'm now allowed to take a Longtec 40mg tonight and again in the morning if needed, plus the GP says he'll ring again tomorrow...result!!
Now this is where I got confused (it doesn't take much); he said that he had "no idea" that I had been told to come straight off all pain meds, but thought I had to wean/taper off (still no clue as to what might it be replaced with); which is weird as I've looked at my care record online, which clearly states that he took me off them in the first place!
Then he said that my recent MRI showed 'changes' but wouldn't tell me over the phone, and this is where I became totally confused, he mentioned tethering....
What on earth is tethering?
But at least the GP called today and he's also going to call me again tomorrow lunchtime to see how it's all going.
Thank you so much everyone, you've all been amazing.

subset: commoncrawl


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College Basketball Top 25: Kentucky Supplants Syracuse Atop B/R Writers RankingsJanuary 23, 2012
College Basketball Top 25: Kentucky Supplants Syracuse Atop B/R Writers Rankings
Without Fab Melo, Syracuse lost its perfect record, leaving Murray State as the nation's only remaining undefeated team.
The Orange still received two first-place votes, but Kentucky returned to No. 1 in this week's B/R Writers Rankings.
Syracuse wasn't the only upset victim, though. Duke lost to Florida State, UConn fell at Tennessee and Baylor dropped two games.
Upsets galore led to yet another shakeup, so read on to see where Syracuse and the other victims now stand.
If you're a Bleacher Report college basketball writer who wants to participate in the weekly poll, message me with your email address to indicate your interest.
Voters: Ryan Eshleman, Ken Kraetzer, Ari Kramer, Jesse Kramer, David Mayer, Daniel O'Brien, Matt Overing, Robert Pace, Josh Schoch, Jordan Schwartz, Gene Siudut, James Sullivan, Dan Vasta
Missing the Cut
Dropped From Rankings
Louisville, No. 21
Illinois, No. 23
Others Receiving Votes
Louisville, 23
Harvard, 20
Gonzaga, 17
Florida State, 16
West Virginia, 15
Wisconsin, 12
Illinois, 7
Cincinnati, 4
Alabama, 1
Iona, 1
Middle Tennessee, 1
25. Seton Hall Pirates
Record: 15-4, 4-3 Big East
Week: 0-1
Previous Ranking: 24
Voting Points: 24
Despite losing at Villanova, Seton Hall clung to a spot in the rankings.
The Pirates' recent struggles against South Florida and the Wildcats dissuaded all but two voters from including Seton Hall on their ballots.
24. Vanderbilt Commodores
Record: 14-5, 4-1 SEC
Week: 1-1
Previous Ranking: NR
Voting Points: 33
Vanderbilt played three great halves of basketball this week, beating Alabama on the road and holding an 11-point halftime lead against Mississippi State, but the Commodores couldn't seal the deal against the Bulldogs.
The 78-77 overtime loss at Memorial Gym ended Vandy's eight-game winning streak.
Because of their slow start and discouraging second half on Saturday, the Commodores appeared on just four of 13 ballots, ranking as high as No. 15 and as low as No. 20.
23. Kansas State Wildcats
Record: 14-4, 3-3 Big 12
Week: 2-0
Previous Ranking: 25
Voting Points: 37
After losing three of four, Kansas State earned two wins last week.
The Wildcats fended off Texas at home and led most of the way at Oklahoma State, and games against Texas Tech and Oklahoma this week should equate to wins—Frank Martin is hoping home-court advantage reverses the result of the first game against the Sooners.
Kansas State didn't appear on two ballots, but ranked as high as No. 18.
22. Saint Mary's Gaels
Record: 19-2, 8-0 WCC
Week: 2-0
Previous Ranking: NR
Voting Points: 45
Saint Mary's didn't pick up a signature win last week, but it cracked the B/R Top 25 for the first time after starting 19-2.
If you're not familiar with the Gaels yet, you might want to acquaint yourself with them. They have one of the best offensive point guards (Matthew Dellavedova) and a double-double machine (Rob Jones), and the loss of Mickey McConnell seems irrelevant at this point.
Saint Mary's appeared on all but two ballots, ranking as high as No. 13.
21. Mississippi State Bulldogs
Record: 16-4, 3-2 SEC
Week: 1-1
Previous Ranking: 18
Voting Points: 60
A confounding loss at Ole Miss, which had just dismissed leading scorer Dundrecous Nelson from the team, held more weight than a comeback win at Vanderbilt in this week's poll.
The Bulldogs, who are 4-3 over the past four weeks, didn't appear on two ballots, but came in as high as No. 14.
20. Michigan Wolverines
Record: 15-5, 5-2 Big Ten
Week: 1-1
Previous Ranking: 17
Voting Points: 73
Tuesday's win over Michigan State couldn't help Michigan cling to its No. 17 ranking—the Wolverines lost at Arkansas and dropped to No. 20.
With games at Purdue and Ohio State this week, Michigan has an opportunity to climb a bit in next week's polls.
The Wolverines, who didn't appear on three ballots, ranked as high No. 14.
19. Connecticut Huskies
Record: 14-5, 4-3 Big East
Week: 0-2
Previous Ranking: T-10
Voting Points: 103
With Ryan Boatright still fighting eligibility issues, UConn dropped both of its games last week. The shorthanded Huskies fell in the final seconds against Cincinnati and struggled the entire game at Tennessee.
Losers of four of six, UConn appeared on all but one ballot and ranked as high as No. 9.
18. Virginia Cavaliers
Record: 15-3, 2-2 ACC
Week: 1-1
Previous Ranking: 15
Voting Points: 109
Despite drubbing Georgia Tech by 32 points, Virginia dropped three spots after losing at home to Virginia Tech.
The Cavaliers, who had an extremely padded non-conference slate, have lost two of their last three and came in as low as No. 25.
17. Marquette Golden Eagles
Record: 16-4, 5-2 Big East
Week: 2-0
Previous Ranking: 20
Voting Points: 110
Marquette has won four consecutive games since losing four of six, and wins over Louisville and Providence last week helped the Golden Eagles leap a few spots in this week's poll.
Voters ranked Buzz Williams' squad between No. 11 and No. 22.
16. Creighton Blue Jays
Record: 18-2, 8-1 MVC
Week: 2-0
Previous Ranking: 22
Voting Points: 121
Creighton didn't need a spectacular week to jump six spots in the poll. Nonetheless, the Blue Jays avenged their only conference loss by beating Missouri State on the road before routing Indiana State.
Team McDermott came in as high as No. 12 and as low as No. 21.
15. San Diego State Aztecs
Record: 17-2, 3-0 MWC
Week: 2-0
Previous Ranking: 19
Voting Points: 130
After edging UNLV at home before last week's poll, San Diego State went into the Pit and emerged with a win over New Mexico. That's no easy task, and now, the Aztecs have won 10 straight.
Still, two voters kept SDSU off their ballots, but everyone else ranked the Aztecs between No. 9 and No. 18.
14. Indiana Hoosiers
Record: 16-4, 4-4 Big Ten
Week: 1-1
Previous Ranking: T-10
Voting Points: 144
Indiana's Sunday win over Penn State snapped a three-game skid, which dropped the Hoosiers to No. 14.
Losses against Minnesota and at Nebraska are unacceptable, but Indiana has an opportunity to amend those mishaps at Wisconsin this week.
The Hoosiers appeared as high as No. 9 and as low as No. 21.
13. UNLV Rebels
Record: 18-3, 2-1 MWC
Week: 2-0
Previous Ranking: 16
Voting Points: 145
UNLV barely edged Indiana for the No. 13 slot after picking up wins over TCU and New Mexico last week.
The Rebels ranked between No. 9 and No. 22.
12. Florida Gators
Record: 15-4, 3-1 SEC
Week: 1-0
Previous Ranking: 14
Voting Points: 146
Securing the No. 12 spot by one point, Florida beat LSU in its only game last week.
The Gators, who have won three straight since losing to Tennessee, didn't appear on one ballot, but ranked as high as No. 10.
11. Michigan State Spartans
Record: 16-4, 5-2 Big Ten
Week: 1-1
Previous Ranking: 8
Voting Points: 198
Despite drubbing Purdue, Michigan State fell a few spots after losing to Michigan. The Spartans, who had lost two straight, couldn't execute their final play against the Wolverines and lost by one.
Voters ranked Tom Izzo's squad between No. 8 and No. 13.
10. Georgetown Hoyas
Record: 16-3, 6-2 Big East
Week: 2-0
Previous Ranking: 13
Voting Points: 205
Had Georgetown not survived Rutgers' upset bid, the Hoyas would not be No. 10. However, Otto Porter scored the final six points of the game to give Georgetown a 52-50 win.
The Hoyas also beat DePaul last week, and they sit one game behind Syracuse for first place in the Big East.
Georgetown appeared as high as No. 6 and as low as No. 19.
9. Murray State Racers
Record: 20-0, 8-0 OVC
Week: 2-0
Previous Ranking: 12
Voting Points: 215
Murray State continued to win without Ivan Aska, and as a result, the Racers continued to climb up the poll.
Only three voters kept them out of the Top 10, which they cracked for the first time.
8. UNC Tar Heels
Record: 16-3, 3-1 ACC
Week: 1-0
Previous Ranking: 7
Voting Points: 221
UNC responded to the Florida State debacle with an 82-68 win over Virginia Tech, but lost Dexter Strickland to a torn ACL in the process.
Despite winning, however, UNC dropped one spot because of Kansas' big week and subsequent jump in the rankings.
Voters ranked the Tar Heels as high as No. 3 and as low as No. 21.
7. Baylor Bears
Record: 17-2, 4-2 Big 12
Week: 0-2
Previous Ranking: 3
Voting Points: 248
No longer undefeated, Baylor dropped to No. 7 after losing to Kansas and Missouri last week. Rematches loom, but the Bears will play three of their next four games on the road beforehand.
Voters ranked Baylor as high as No. 4 and as low as No. 11.
6. Duke Blue Devils
Record: 16-3, 4-1 ACC
Week: 1-1
Previous Ranking: 4
Voting Points: 252
Duke is usually the only team that wins at Cameron Indoor, but Florida State snapped the Blue Devils' 45-game home winning streak on Michael Snaer's buzzer-beating trey.
Coach K's squad, which will visit Maryland and host St. John's this week, ranked as high as No. 5 and as low as No. 10.
5. Kansas Jayhawks
Record: 16-3, 6-0 Big 12
Week: 2-0
Previous Ranking: 9
Voting Points: 272
Kansas completely outplayed Baylor, handing the Bears their first loss of the season. Then, the Jayhawks relinquished a double-digit lead at Texas, but held on for their ninth straight victory.
Bill Self's team is on fire, and voters ranked it between No. 4 and No. 7.
4. Ohio State Buckeyes
Record: 17-3, 5-2 Big Ten
Week: 1-0
Previous Ranking: 6
Voting Points: 280
Duke and Baylor lost, and Ohio State destroyed Nebraska in its only game of the week to leap over the Blue Devils and Bears to the No. 4 ranking.
The Buckeyes, who are in a three-way tie for first place in the Big Ten, ranked as high as No. 2 and as low as No. 7.
3. Syracuse Orange
Record: 20-1
Week: 1-1
Previous Ranking: 1
Voting Points: 302
With Fab Melo serving a suspension, Syracuse lost for the first time this season. The Orange, as several No. 1's have, fell in South Bend to Notre Dame, which started hot and never trailed.
The Orange still received two first-place votes, but also came in as low as No. 6.
2. Missouri Tigers
Record: 18-1, 5-1 Big 12
Week: 2-0
Previous Ranking: 5
Voting Points: 303
Missouri edged Syracuse by one point for the No. 2 ranking after beating Texas A&M and Baylor last week. With upcoming games against Oklahoma State and Texas Tech, the Tigers should be 20-1 by next week's poll.
Voters ranked Missouri between No. 2 and No. 4.
1. Kentucky Wildcats
Record: 19-1
Week: 2-0
Previous Ranking: 2
Voting Points: 323
For the first time since a loss at Indiana bumped them from the top, the Kentucky Wildcats captured the No. 1 ranking.
The Wildcats, who have won 11 consecutive games, routed Arkansas and fended off Alabama last week to remain undefeated in SEC play.
Eleven voters tabbed Kentucky at No. 1.
Conference Breakdown
Big East: 5
Big Ten: 4
Big 12: 4


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I really wish cheeseburgers and fries were considered clean eating.ReplyDelete
I am usually not bad about eating candy but since Halloween I can't but have a little lolReplyDelete
I used to sneak a Wendy's full loaded baked potato and frosty into the movies, along with a 6 pack... yeah I'm awesome.ReplyDelete
Great post! I love Thug Kitchen!ReplyDelete
I am glad that you posted this. I was totally thinking about doing a cleanse recently, but now I am rethinking it. I recently fell off the clean eating wagon, and I am finding my way back so I thought that a cleanse would help, Truly I think it's just important to begin the clean eating again, and not put my body through a crazy ass cleanse!ReplyDelete
You absolutely have to do what works for you! I try not to limit myself from anything (except sodas.. I cannot have any because if I have just one, it will avalanche into drinking ALL THE SODAS). But hell, if I feel like I had a good exercise day and I want a cheeseburger, then dammit a cheeseburger I shall have (maybe only halfsies).ReplyDelete
Yes, I ADORED Thor 2 also! Loved it SOOOO much better than the first one! I can't wait for XMen - DOFP either! McAvoy = le drool
OH and funny story. I used to manage a movie theater. We had people sneaking in the weirdest stuff. The most epic one was an entire bucket of chicken and a 6 pack of the Beast. How it got past my doorman, I'll never know. I suspect he had someone wait outside the exit in the theater and voila chicken delivery...ReplyDelete
- AnonymousNovember 22, 2013 at 11:44 AM
The Dark World was way better than Thor, imho. I totally hopped on the Loki bandwagon with this one, and Thor was looking some kinda hot. Plus Zachary Levi was in it.ReplyDelete


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Steven, Luke, and Sean talk after NFTF Episode 17. Tournament lists, movies & TV shows, and other ridiculousness is on the table!
Previously Known as After Hours Episode 2
This is the episode that started it all!
Steven, Luke, and Jon talk after NFTF episode 16. hot girls, 'nam, and other silliness is up for discussion!
Formerly known as After Hours Episode 1!


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Yellow fever experimental subject contract, 1900
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Friday, 27 July 2012
On 27.7.12 by KieronMoore in A Midsummer Night's Dream, fiction, Neil Gaiman, short stories No comments
My good friend and comedy partner Dan Marshall is currently appearing in a gritty urban reworking of A Midsummer Night's Dream, with some new elements apparently inspired by Neil Gaiman. This sounds intriguing to me - I quite liked the play in year eight English lessons and Gaiman is one of my favourite authors. He has a great knowledge of mythology and folklore and a wonderful way of bringing them into the modern world. Sadly, I can't be in York to watch the play, but reading about it gave me this idea for a short story using mischievous fairies in a contemporary urban setting...
Jack is the awkward kid at the party, the one who doesn't really want to be there. He doesn't know how to introduce himself to people, has no confidence in his dancing ability and really has no idea at all how to tell Sammy how pretty her hair looks. Or is it her dress that he should compliment? Not that he ever will. Indeed, Jack would be a lot happier at home, staying up late not to "get well messy", as he can't believe someone genuinely just said, but to work through his new Planet of the Apes box set. Yes, as the stereotype festering in your mind would suggest, he's a real sci-fi fanatic, Jack has a passion for wonderful worlds of impossible spaceships and extraordinary inventions. They're a way for him to escape from the real world of his social inadequacy, from awkwardness into awesome. So, naturally, he assumed that his visitor, which only he could see, was an alien.
Jake is the new kid in the gang, the one unsure of his place in this city and in this life. Cheesy Dave has been a constant in his upbringing, the one person he's always been able to come to throughout his series of children's homes and foster families. But now, Cheesy Dave is asking Jake to take on too many responsibilities that make him uneasy. It's not just the dealing, it's what he has to do to anyone foolish enough to get into debt with Dave. Jake's parents, before the accident, had tried to bring Jake up religiously, and, while neither Mum nor Dad had exactly been a saint themselves, this had, Jake liked to think, left an imprint of morality on his soul. So, naturally, he assumed that his visitor, which only he could see, was an angel.
Jack's alien first appeared to him a week ago. Elegant, pale, effeminate, floating on flimsy yet powerful wings; an awe-inspiring presence with an indescribable, somehow extraterrestrial glow. Jack had been kicking himself, mentally, physically and indeed metaphorically, after bumbling through an unexpected and awkward conversation with Sammy. For some reason, he'd tried to give her his opinion on her choice of sandwich (it was easier to express than his opinion on her… eyes? Are they good to compliment?) and hadn't even made a good job of that. The first thing the alien did was mock him on this, doing silly impressions of, for example, the way he'd described the mustard, a particular cause of embarrassment. The alien had been annoying at first, its fooling around preventing concentration on Beneath the Planet of the Apes, but it wasn't long before Jack felt a strange connection with it. This was the kind of visitor from outer space, after all, that he'd spent his life dreaming about meeting. The alien seemed to understand Jack's problems and to want to help him. It had been the alien, in fact, who had persuaded Jack to come to the party.
"Come on nerd boy, you need to get out more. This isn't healthy. Never going to win Sammy's heart from in front of your TV, are you? Alone, that'll be you - lonely, depressed, wasting your life away. Did I mention alone?"
The alien was right. And so Jack is at the party.
Jake's angel first appeared to him a week ago. Elegant, pale, effeminate, floating on flimsy yet powerful wings; an awe-inspiring presence with an indescribable, somehow ethereal glow. Jake had been having an emotional moment, thinking of everyone he'd lost, holding back the tears in case anyone saw. He'd been needing a friend. He used to go to Cheesy Dave at times like this, but since his duties has been ramped up, he didn't feel comfortable with that. The angel quietly listened to his sorrows. Then the angel told him to man up.
"What are you playing at? Stop acting like a child. You're a man now. Or you should be, anyway. Your cheesy friend has offered you a life here. Take that opportunity."
The angel was right. And so Jake is on duty for Cheesy Dave.
The evening is heating up, and some of the partiers aren't satisfied with the alcohol alone any more. Matty P (the one with the cocky eyes) manages to pull himself away from one lady or the other to tell everyone that knows where something stronger can be bought. But who's going to go to pick it up?
"Go on, nerd boy," whispers Jack's alien, "you can put yourself forward. That would impress Sammy. That would make you popular."
And so, to everyone's amazement, not least his own, Jack offers to buy the drugs.
Cheesy Dave has to go out. Jake has to be left in charge of the stash. He can do this. He's a man. A man with an angel.
Jack's shaking with nerves just walking to the address. This is a rough neighbourhood. What is he doing here?
"Better be on your guard," warns his alien, "you don't want to mess with anyone around here. Posh nerd boy like you will get beaten like a fly."
As the alien says, Jack doesn't exactly fit in, with his neatly collared shirt and his pricey new trainers.
"Don't get your phone out, obviously. And do not let anyone see that."
The alien is pointing to Jack's watch, an expensive model from Austria, a gift from one of his father's business trips. He doesn't want to risk losing that. Jack feels threatened, enclosed, afraid. And, to be honest, as he knocks on the door of the frankly unremarkable terraced house, the alien isn't helping. He has no idea what to say to the scruffy haired boy in the tracksuit who opens the door.
Jake answers the door to a kid about his age in a shirt that, except for the creases, is peculiarly smart. The student (Jake guesses) looks nervous and mumbles something that's probably a greeting.
'Aww, bless," says Jake's angel, "are you going to let him in then?"
Jake lets him in.
"Wow, this kid looks rich. You are going to charge him the full student price, right?"
Cheesy Dave loves charging clueless students a little extra. Jake leads the student upstairs and takes a few packets of coke from the stash.
"The kid's watch looks flash. Bet you'd like a watch like that. Probably a present from his family. Bet you'd like a family like that."
Jake is getting annoyed now. And, honestly, envious. He would like a family like the nervous kid's.
"Why don't you take it then? The watch. It could be yours, easily."
"He's probably armed. You're really not safe here" says Jack's alien.
The alien's right. Jack's on the defensive.
"This kid's not a customer to be trusted. Good chance he'll regret coming here. If pressed, he'd blab about you to the police, you know. Especially after you've looked at him like that."
Jake is angry now. He's had enough.
"You need to get out of here, nerd boy. Fast."
Jack's had enough.
He punches.
His fist misses the alien.
Jake sees the attack and instantly reaches for his knife. Before he knows what he's doing, the blade is through the nervous student's chest.
"You get him, boy! Be a man!'
Jack fails to see clearly. He pushes forward. The scruffy haired youth falls back and hits his head, hard, against the window ledge.
"Oh shit, nerd boy!"
When Cheesy Dave returns to his flat, he finds two boys sprawled on the floor, lifeless. His stash is gone. For Jack's alien did not come in peace and Jake's angel was corrupted by sin. Whatever they are - alien, angel, some may call them fairies - tonight their wardrobe got a little flashier and tomorrow they'll be a little higher on the ethereal plane.
Tuesday, 24 July 2012
On 24.7.12 by KieronMoore in Film, Mark Wahlberg, Seth MacFarlane, Ted, The Film Pilgrim No comments
Summary: funny script, predictable plot.
It's out next Wednesday and worth checking out.
Not that anyone cares about films that aren't The Dar Knight Rises these days. I'll get round to watching that this weekend, a whole week after release. Not a proper film fan, I know.
Tuesday, 17 July 2012
On 17.7.12 by KieronMoore in ED-209, Film, Paul Verhoeven, RoboCop, robots, Science Fiction No comments
This piece was written as part of a Film Journalism workshop at university and intended as a submission for The Big Picture, but, since they've not got back to me, I'm posting it here.
Introduced by its sinister corporate creator Dick Jones as "the future of law enforcement" and "the hot military product for the next decade", the ED-209 enforcement droid violently brings to the fore the satirical edge of Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop. Its presentation early in the film ends with the dull Omni Consumer Products boardroom and its model of a newer, blander Detroit bathed in a vibrant splattering of blood and poor Mr Kinney a little worse for wear, as well as allowing the film's cyborg hero to be backed as a hopefully more reliable alternative. But, as Jones insists, it was "only a glitch". This key scene is a defining moment in highlighting the distinct character of Verhoeven's darkly hilarious swipe at American big business.
And ED-209's later appearances don't disappoint. It's hard to forget the excellent set piece action scene in which ED pursues an injured RoboCop through the OCP executive suite, blasting the building to pieces and ending with the kind of laugh out loud staircase incident that we haven't seen since before the Daleks learned to fly. It's hard not to sympathise with the cold, mindless killer as it lies squealing like an upturned baby tortoise.
If there's any creature it resembles, however, it's a killer whale. A steel killer whale outfitted with gatling guns. ED is a few steps up from the kind of robot seen defusing bombs in The Hurt Locker and it's hard to believe that the US armed forces will be employing it any time soon. Yet there's something about its simultaneously sleek and clunky design, complete with impractically placed front exhaust, that fits with the business aspirations of Jones, intent on creating a marketable murderer. If Microsoft made war machines, this would be it. The sound design also gives it a distinctly rough edge; incorporating the unprocessed growl of a cheesed off black leopard as well as the distorted voice of executive producer Jon Davison, who expected his recording to only be used for the film's early screenings.
A full scale, articulated ED-209 was painstakingly built for the film's production, as well as an 8-inch model. It's obvious on screen when the model, animated using stop motion, is being used, but somehow that tangibility just adds to the charm.
The ED-209 returned to provide comic antagonism in the duo of inferior sequels. The franchise is set for the inevitable reboot in 2013; could the ED-209 return? If so, it will doubtlessly be via the magic of CGI, which will have to be very magical indeed to live up to the murderously lovable original.
Saturday, 14 July 2012
On 14.7.12 by KieronMoore in Clint Eastwood, Film, Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby, Morgan Freeman No comments
WARNING: Spoilers may follow!
"Maggie walked through that door with nothing but guts. No chance in the world of being what she needed to be. It was because of you that she was fighting the championship of the world. You did that. People die everyday, Frankie - mopping floors, washing dishes and you know what their last thought is? I never got my shot. Because of you Maggie got her shot. If she dies today, you know what her last thought would be? I think I did all right."
Anyway, I've just watched Million Dollar Baby and can happily add it to that list. It's a remarkable story that takes some of the conventions of the sports movie genre, as Clint Eastwood's cynical old coach reluctantly takes on Hilary Swank's underdog, and plays with them in a realist, believable and touching manner.
Just as listeners of Mark Kermode's Five Live show know that Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy isn't about spying (debatable), Million Dollar Baby isn't about boxing (true). It's a deep and gritty character study about a man making up for his failure as a father forging a relationship with a girl determined to raise herself out of her constricted upbringing. In fact, after a shocking twist, the last 45 minutes or so don't involve a single boxing match, and are all the better for it. The unfolding drama, as Eastwood's Frankie faces up to his mistakes of past and present and has to make some damn tough decisions, is compellingly gruelling. You know what I mean; hard to watch because it so excellently pulls on the heartstrings without resorting to sentiment or being at all forgiving. A superb script performed by actors at the top of their game.
Just as listeners of Mark Kermode's Five Live show know that Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy isn't about spying (debatable), Million Dollar Baby isn't about boxing (true). It's a deep and gritty character study about a man making up for his failure as a father forging a relationship with a girl determined to raise herself out of her constricted upbringing. In fact, after a shocking twist, the last 45 minutes or so don't involve a single boxing match, and are all the better for it. The unfolding drama, as Eastwood's Frankie faces up to his mistakes of past and present and has to make some damn tough decisions, is compellingly gruelling. You know what I mean; hard to watch because it so excellently pulls on the heartstrings without resorting to sentiment or being at all forgiving. A superb script performed by actors at the top of their game.
It had taken me too long to find the opportunity to watch 2004's Best Picture Oscar winner and the film surpassed my expectations, which were high anyway, with a very brave and surprising take on the genre.
Also, it's narrated by Morgan Freeman.
Thursday, 12 July 2012
On 12.7.12 by KieronMoore in Adventure Games, doctor who, matt smith, River Song, The Eternity Clock, video games No comments
With adventures across all of time and space, iconic heroes and villains, and the attention brought in by a major international brand, surely it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect the combination of Doctor Who and video gaming to be, you know, good.
Yet, given the output so far, it seems that such hope would be a bit optimistic. The Eleventh Doctor's era has seen a rise in tie-in products, though not an overwhelming amount of quality. A Wii title here, an iPhone distraction there; all generally received as mediocre.
The better end of this market so far was the Adventure Games, downloadable for free from the BBC's website. Marketed as interactive episodes of Doctor Who, the series lived up to that promise, with fun stories that utilised the aliens of the series well and made a good attempt at mimicking its structure within the format of a third-person puzzler. Sure, the gameplay wasn't perfect and the stories weren't quite up to the standard of the TV episodes, but Sumo Digital got the mix of all necessary elements about right, with the games improving as the series progressed. The fifth and final, The Gunpowder Plot, was by far the strongest, having a complex and compelling story (the last act of which was a bit too ridiculous, admittedly) with the Doctor Who mix of history, humour and adventure. It was even educational, dispensing snippets of history regarding Guy Fawkes and his lot, without seeming patronising or distracting to older players.
However, only coming in small instalments, the Adventure Games left us still waiting for that perfect Who game that would live up to the brand's full potential.
Late last year, a new Doctor Who game was announced: The Eternity Clock, from Supermassive Games. And this one would be on PS3, which is good, because I have one of those. I'll admit that the trailers made me a little bit giddy. A proper console-based time travelling adventure! Would this finally be the good Doctor Who game?
The game begins with the Doctor finding his TARDIS caught in a time maelstrom - yep, one of those buggers - and being pulled to a vault in the Bank of England. Then, finding himself in a sewer with a locked door, his first instinct is to call River Song on one of those phones that sewers have and make her travel a few thousand years back in time to unlock the door for him. Everything goes downhill from there, as River and the Doc discover that the Cybermen, Daleks, Silence and Silurians are all invading London in different time periods and have each taken possession of a piece of the eponymous Eternity Clock, a "hard drive for time".
Yes, a "hard drive for time". And yes, the game involves four invasions of Earth centred around London. That sentence encapsulates the two most disappointing elements of the story.
One: four invasions of Earth. In none of these cases do we learn anything about the villains' motivations, nor do they serve any narrative purpose other than box-ticking on the 'Classic Villains' list. If the series has recently been moving away from repetitive massive scale invasion stories, The Eternity Clock does a damn good job of making up for it, with everything but the kitchen sink thrown in as a poor attempt to cover up any hint of interesting or cohesive storytelling. The aliens are led by the most pantomime of evil masterminds - "You will die" being the deepest and most meaningful line spoken by anyone - while the Doctor and River bounce between these set pieces through the use of absolutely no logic at all. At one point, they encounter a wall covered in tally marks (by whom they were scribbled is never revealed) and remark that the Silence must be present, before the Doctor disappears and reappears 300 years later, commenting that the Silence "separated them through time". If anyone understands this scene, have a biscuit from me. There are many more like it. The Adventure Games were scripted by writers who'd actually written for the show. This wasn't. And it shows.
Two: centred around London. Bloody London. Every other episode, and a few more, of the TV series in the Russell T. Davies years was set in London, and, let's be honest, it got samey. At least there was a budgetary reason for stories to be confined to recognisable British settings; making a video game that doesn't have to be filmed in actual real places is not the same. Isn't it obvious that there's a lot more fun to be drawn from adding variety to the settings? Exotic alien worlds, anywhere in history... even Derby would be more interesting than London again, and wouldn't cost a penny more for the developers. Pretty stupid not to use that major advantage over those producing the show. There was one level in Stormcage, which I liked.
The gameplay is also rubbish. Though the Adventure Games' third person style worked well, I didn't initially have a problem with The Eternity Clock being a side scroller. I am, after all, a LittleBigPlanet fan. The problem is that the side scrolling is, unlike in the entertaining adventures of Sackboy, painfully and awkwardly obvious. There are so many points where I found myself wanting to shake the Doctor by the tweedy shoulders and demand that he just walk round the fucking crate. This even applies to the enemies - who knew that you could make a Dalek stop shooting you by walking behind a wall that you'd think it would be able to go behind too? Plus, on the off chance that this tactic doesn't work, no big worries, as the most evil race in the universe have an attention span of less than five seconds, apparently. That's the iPod generation for you.
If this is all sounding a bit negative, you may enjoy the series of mini-games based around the computers that the Doctor has to hack into every few minutes, or the boss battles, neither of which are repetitive, formulaic, or just plain shit. Oh alright, yes they are.
Also worth mentioning is the fact that The Eternity Clock is as buggy as a Tritovore's trousers. From dialogue popping up at the wrong point to lifts not doing any lifting to computer-controlled River failing at walking, there's a wide array of glitches to get your complaining teeth stuck into. And the save points... oh, the save points. The game gives no indication as to where you can start from again after quitting (usually out of frustration), meaning that, on three occasions, I had to redo large portions of levels. Once, the Doctor and River returned to the TARDIS after bashing up a Cyberfactory. This section in the TARDIS seemed like a logical point to finish for the night and escape into sleep. Little was I to know that I'd have to redo the whole damn Cyberfactory. Which is just not on. Supermassive Games have said they're working on a patch to fix this, but really, it's such an obvious problem that I can't understand how the game was released as it is.
I also don't like the cutscenes, which are presented in such a dull and clunky manner which most video games grew out of after, I don't know, Playstation 2 came around? Stilted character animation, long pauses between lines... to be honest, there were Game Boy Color games that did cutscenes better.
Positive points? Well, the game does have its fun moments. I did enjoy sonic blasting the Silence in a fun rip-off of the Day of the Moon climax, for example. And the new Teletubby Daleks somehow don't look as offensively naff in video game form.
Overall, however, it's rubbish. But it's Doctor Who so I played it anyway.
So. Another failure to add to the roster of Doctor Who games that are failures. The Adventure Games remain the best attempt so far and I'd like to see how they'd develop with a second 'series', perhaps with lengthier episodes in the vein of The Gunpowder Plot, but, alas, they've been cancelled. And we're getting more of The Eternity Clock. Sigh. I don't doubt that Supermassive will be able to improve on their first game and iron out some of the technical issues, though the way they're going in terms of storytelling isn't filling me with any excitement at all.
I'll end this post wth my idea for a Doctor Who game I'd like to see - a Dragon Quest VIII/Rogue Galaxy style third person RPG in which you create and play as an original companion in an adventure spanning a variety of planets and historical locations. The Doctor and River Song join your party and are playable, but don't take precedence over the main character. An original main villain with an interesting story thread connected to the lead character. Appearances from well known enemies where appropriate, but without a single massive invasion of Earth centred around London. Someone make this please.
Monday, 9 July 2012
On 9.7.12 by KieronMoore in Film, Prometheus, The Dark Knight Rises, The Film Pilgrim No comments
I've written a feature for The Film Pilgrim about online publicity and why it didn't do any good for Prometheus.
Will The Dark Knight Rises live up to its hype? I damn well hope so.
Will The Dark Knight Rises live up to its hype? I damn well hope so.
Monday, 2 July 2012
On 2.7.12 by KieronMoore in Alien, Aliens, Film, Platform, Prometheus, Ridley Scott, YSTV No comments
Here's my review of Ridley Scott's Alien prequel Prometheus for Platform, the YSTV review show. I may have forgotten to say anything about the plot.
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- Hi there. I'm Kieron. I write some things, including some about Doctor Who and some about films. Graphic novel about the Buddha coming soon. Also work in telly.
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I recently talked about my love of discovering new music (read more here), but something that I haven't talked about, and had forgotten about really, is how equally exciting it is to rediscover old music that you used to love. Isn't that also the greatest feeling? I certainly think so. Certain songs or albums can so easily transport you back to different times in your life and I love that music has the power to bring back memories, happy or sad. This playlist is the best of both worlds (before you ask, no it isn't Hannah Montana themed), it encompasses old and new music to create a fun summer vibe, and I can't wait to share it with you.
To me there is a very nostalgic feel to my August Anthems and nostalgia is something that I always associate with summer. Fun in the sun with friends, family holidays and endless sunburn and bug bites - summer holds some great memories for me. Anyway, before I get to wistful let's get back to the music! I am yet to put my finger on exactly what it is about this playlist that creates such a nostalgic feel. Maybe it is because there ARE some cracking old songs on here from 'back in the day' (if I am not too young to use that expression) or maybe it is due to the style of the music I have been drawn to this August, which has an indescribable aura of days gone by about it. Either way, despite sounding like a soundtrack to a teen rom-com, a fact which I have no problem with by the way, this playlist is going to be the background music to my summer and I am looking forwards to seeing what August has in store for me.
In my quest for lost music I stumbled across some classics that I think some of you are going to love. I'm talking 'Last Night' by The Strokes, 'Are You Gonna Be My Girl' by Jet and 'You Make My Dreams' by Daryl Hall & John Oates and if these aren't going to get you dancing then I don't know what will. And, from the 'old' to the brand spanking new, I had to include 'Nothing's Wrong' from HAIM's amazing new album. How could I not? I have long been a fan of theirs and this album, 'Something to Tell You', definitely doesn't disappoint. Some of my other favourites from the album that didn't make it into this playlist include 'Little of Your Love' & 'Found it in Your Silence'. I could chat all day about what I have chosen to include in this playlist (as well as what I haven't), but actually I think it is better for me to pipe down and just let you listen for yourself. I hope you enjoy it.
What are you up to this August and what are your go to summer songs?
Love Holly x


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ELLISVILLE, MS (WDAM) - This is a news release from Jones County Junior College
Two art educators from Co-Lin Community College will have their artwork on display at Jones County Junior College's Eula Bass Lewis Art Gallery this month. Featuring the pottery from Fine Arts Division Chair, Janet Smith and the newly retired art instructor, Tom Ross's oil paintings will be on display through the 21st.
The two artists first met in college at Co-Lin, according to Smith. She had just graduated in 1984 and Ross was her first art instructor. It only seems appropriate to share the gallery spotlight with her retired colleague and mentor. Smith said working with clay is her favorite medium, dating back to when her mother bought her first pottery wheel when she was 10-years old. A platter, similar to the one from her childhood memories is on display at JCJC.
"I remember making what I thought at the time was a huge platter that we could put the turkey on. I still laugh when I show the tiny two-inch form to my students and tell them this is how I started. They get very encouraged!" said Smith.
She continued her education at MSU and began teaching ceramics at Co-Lin part-time as she earned her master's degree from Mississippi College in 1993. After teaching for 27 years at the main campus in Wesson, Smith has been the division chair for nearly three years. However, she always goes back to her roots in pottery when creating pieces for peace of mind.
"I have my best talks with God, my mom, my dad and my sister when I am in the clay. It has been a rough few years, losing them was so hard. My faith and my art helped me so much," said Smith.
Some of her pieces of work are functional but there several that are whimsical too. The opposite is true of her colleague's work on display at JCJC. The focus of his artwork is predominately nature and family. Ross said most of his work on display reflects a lifetime of painting the landscapes during his travels out west. Also on display are a couple of pictures of from his private collection, including a painting of his daughter, Arwen.
"My favorite subject matter is the landscape. I have loved the outdoors and observing the forms and colors of nature my entire life. Many of these paintings are of family members and most recently, landscapes from northwest Wyoming from September, 2013."
The exhibit is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. through 3 p.m., and Fridays, 8 a.m. until 2:30 p.m.


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I decided i should do a weekly theme and since my job is closed every wednesday that this would be a good day to do it and thus wishful wednesdays. I think its pretty self-explainitory
here is this weeks wishful wednesdays
This dress is perfect! I love the color, cut and details of this simple linen dress.
This bloomer, bralette set is beautiful and simple and would make perfect lounge-wear
Another beautiful dress, i love the collar and form of this dress, so flattering for busty ladies like myself.
This dress is the perfect color, and i love the details on the sleeves, I wish i could make dresses like this.
Someday when I'm not scraping by to pay rent I will buy one of these perfect handmade dresses.