Charlie Brooker hosts Screenwipe, a great, gleefully cynical show about the foul trench of villainy and drivel that is television. The clip below illustrates how TV sets you up for disappointment by showing people living the high life and being better than you’ll ever be. Absolute gold.
In what is surely one of the greatest mash-ups ever to grace the Internet, brace yourself for the saga of Robocop, told in rhyme.
In addition to our usual podcasting shenanigans, two of the Three Who Rule also appeared on Doctor Who: Podshock for a live discussion of Series Four. Technical problems kept Steven from putting in his two bits in anything other than text, but Warren and Chris were able to denounce “The Doctor’s Daughter” and otherwise act like the scifi gadflies they are. You can download the episode here, or click below to listen.
The NFB is branching out from Hinterland Who’s Who (actually, I have no idea if they have anything to do with HWW, I just love the music at the beginning of the mini-films) and other cold Canadian fare to present RIP: A Remix Manifesto. It looks like an interesting take on the copyright battle, though unfortunately there’s no way (as of yet) to view the whole film online. Here’s the trailer…
Steampunk, a subculture devoted to recreating an overly ornate, technologically oriented version of the Victorian era, has been covered of late in mainstream media like the New York Times. When the mainstream media starts to take notice of a subgroup, that’s about when it’s on its way out, and Randy Nakamura’s article in Design Observer essentially skewers the steampunk “movement” as nothing but wishful thinking for a non-existent past….with knobs and brass.
Despite the madness of Comic-con and Warren’s current geographical position in San Diego, Radio Free Skaro continues with the second part of our “Talons of Weng Chiang” commentary. Wit, abandon, and politically correct tut-tutting of Chinese stereotypes await!
Dissent in the ranks this week, as the Third Guy forsakes a life of marital bliss with Who scribe Stephen Moffat and rips “Forest of the Dead” a new one. Steven and Warren, on the other hand, were charmed and entertained by the concluding episode of the two-parter that began with last week’s “Silence in the Library,” and thus did vigorous debate and pointless digression occur for about an hour and change.
Ah, the Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer. Back in 1982, this was my first taste of computational wizardry, expressed through the glories of 32k Extended memory, 8 colors on screen (at once!), tape drives and poring over BASIC manuals. And amazingly, there’s still a user community out there using these beasts. I still have my CoCo tucked away in a closet, along with my Powerbook 100. What was your first computer?
Another week of lackluster Who, this time set in 1920’s England, starring Agatha Christie…and resulting in a bit of inconsequential fluff that added up to an at best average viewing experience. The RFS crew, always ready to make lemonade out of crap, soldiered bravely on and veered so wildly off-topic that they might just have gone full circle and accidentally gone back on topic again. Digressions ahoy!
Yes, if you’ve ever said to yourself “you know what would be awesome? To be badass rapper 50 Cent in a video game, battling terrorists in the Middle East to a hip-hop beat!” (and I know you have)…well, you’ll get your chance soon. I know I’m throwing my copy of GTA IV out the window and eagerly awaiting the next stage in interactive entertainment, as seen below: