Stewart Lee: Not On Twitter

The following appeared in my email inbox today, from the REAL Stewart Lee's Mailing List, regarding the impostor @StewLee on Twitter. It made me chuckle heartily:

A cunt is pretending to be me on Twitter, which is annoying. 

It is not possible for me to stop this cunt without joining Twitter, which I will not do. 

The cunt is using a picture that is mine as his Avatar. 

It would be good if this cunt would stop pretending to be me before he creates problems. 

I will never appear on Twitter. I will also never pretend to appear on Twitter. 

The fact that a cunt can do this is partly why. I will not be held hostage by you people.

Torchwood: Miracle Day - July 14th - Oh, Boo Fucking Hoo!

So Torchwood: Miracle Day is being shown almost a week later in the UK than it is in the USA. And some people are not happy about this. But does it really matter? The answer is: no. This is exactly the same thing British fans tell the American fans on Gallifrey Base when they complain about having to wait for Doctor Who. Torchwood is now, more or less, an American show. Since it's being co-produced by the BBC with US network Starz (no prizes for guessing where the biggest chunk of the budget comes from then, eh?) then the notion of it being a British show - made in Wales - is gone. We might not like it, but it's not the schedulers' fault in this instance! RTD took his show to America and we all have to get over that. It's hardly the end of the world. 

Just like the fuss about the scheduling of Doctor Who in 2012 (if you missed that, then well done you) I have very strong views on where I stand. It's only a TV show! It hardly matters. Worried about spoilers? Do what you tell the Americans to do every week when Doctor Who airs: Go offline for a while, if you're that serious about it. I suppose we'll see how many people care enough to stay away from spoilers (my guess: not many). What's that? It started in the UK so it should air here first? That's rubbish. What about most other American shows that we have to wait for? What about the US shows we had to wait almost half a year for in the past, with no complaints because that's how it is? 

Some people have ideas of ownership and entitlement far above their station when it comes to these shows. It's disappointing and a little bit scary. Being a Doctor Who/Torchwood fan is the closest I've ever come to being a member of a full-blown cult. And I'm not sure I like it so much anymore. Drink your poison (or splash it all over Twitter) and I'll watch Torchwood on the 14th of July with a nice cup of tea. Thanks for reading.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is Pretty Fucking Awesome!

I know! Once again I'm late to the party (about 3 series too late) but I am catching up with the CGI series "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" rapidly. I had a wave of Star Wars love last weekend and found myself obtaining copies of Episodes I - III - which, I don't mind saying, are NOWHERE NEAR as bad as I remembered them. Okay, they're not a patch on the original trilogy but they're great little films! But most of my spare time this week has been spent watching The Clone Wars.

I think what I love best about this series is that it offers a whole new look at the Star Wars universe. With new characters (most notably, disobedient and reckless padwan to Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka "Snips" Tano, clearly the best cartoon character ever - though I may be speaking more enthusiam than fact) and some lovely nods to events we know about from the movies, The Clone Wars is more than just a spin-off cartoon series aimed at kiddies.

True, they are very heavy on morality tales and some episodes leave you feeling like you've just seen Aesop's Fables updated for the future. But there's nothing wrong with slipping some advice into the kids' droid-chopping adventure, right? Especially when that kids' show translates so well to an audience of adult, geeky Star Wars fans... Like me. I began with the 2008 feature length movie, as you should, and I'm currently about half-way through the second series and loving almost every episode. The CGI is perfect for the style, the story lines are often thin, but fleshed out with some excellent movie-worthy action set-pieces and the music is top-class! 

The series - overall - is thrilling, funny and heartfelt. It's TOTALLY Star Wars (you can feel Lucas' hand in it, without a doubt) and each episode it short enough, at 22 minutes, to throw on when you have a few minutes to kill before you do your next important thing. Trouble is, if you're anything like me, you'll forget all about that thing and just carry on watching. 37 episodes in 48 hours doesn't sound much, but it is! My eyes are Anakin-shaped right now...

...but it's worth it!