The Week in Entertainment

Film: Stardust, which I thoroughly enjoyed. (Momentary digression: what is it with Ebert? Every now and then I read a review by him that makes me say "Weren't you paying attention?" Like this line: "The dying king believes Yvaine can restore his throne to his living sons, although let's hope he doesn't try dividing the kingdom among them." No. No, he doesn't. He doesn't even know Yvaine exists.) Peter O'Toole is underused, but having seen Venus I wonder if this was an in-joke? At any rate, better underused O'Toole than someone not up to the part, I always say. De Niro was having too much fun in a part not exactly in the book - Johannes Alberic the lightning catcher was a rather different character - but it works in the movie, at least at the time. The whole movie works, though it does (of course) depart from the book, especially the ending, and I can recommend it without hesitation.

DVD: "Am I to understand that in order to save his contemptible life he dared to practice upon our credulous simplicity?" The Pirates of Penzance - the Kevin Kline version (stage, not movie, though that's good too). I love this one.

TV: Now I'm confused. I'm a fan of Dr Who and Torchwood, in that I watch them without fail. But I'm not in the fandom. So I was assuming that this multi-part Dr Who with Captain Jack would be the set-up for Torchwood. But... in last week's Torchwood he still had the hand, and in the first episode he told Gwen "maybe someday I'll find a doctor - the right sort of Doctor - and he'll explain" Jack's immortality. And then in the first part of this Dr Who he used the hand and found the Doctor and got his explanation... And now I note that the guide says Dr Who is 2007 and Torchwood 2006, so I guess he was in Torchwood (the institute) already. I suppose it will all be made clear, particularly how Jack dealt with nearly 140 years of waiting - and his genuine joy at the whole leaping-in-headfirst style of the Doctor's life. Meanwhile, I'm now wondering if the lingering presence of Rose, coupled with her (Martha's) insight into the Doctor's extremely temporary relationships with his Companions ("I make us sound like stray dogs... is that what we are?" she said, and listened to Doctor admitting that he'd left Jack behind because he has a "busy life, moving on"), is why Martha leaves him. This is really interesting - a bit confusing with the two shows out of sync on two networks, but I wouldn't want to have to choose between them. And oh, yeah - I did like the little look we got into Owen.

Read: Finished The End of Iraq. Kurd-centric, but very comprehensive and actually provides some plan for getting us out. A good read and highly recommended. Then Close Quarters by Michael Gilbert - his first, and a good puzzler.