It must be a nightmare being a celebrity, right? Yes, what a downer. All the money in the world—too much to reasonably spend in one lifetime, even—and people taking photos left and right–photos which you can, if you so wish, sue the people behind, thus bringing in a tidy bonus. Pull the other one: I’ve never believed the hype. Yes, it must be tough being a celebrity to an extent, but they do bring it on themselves. Us mortals have to suffer with government trying to tax every single penny we earn, while the celebrities have to worry about a flash going off. Personally, and it may just be me, I don’t see what all their whining is about.

One company that is developing somewhat of a celebrity status is Enigin—an international energy-saving company who are rapidly garnering a reputation as trailblazing leaders in their field. Something which is attracting considerable attention, and is talked about briefly in the following post.

I can see their point. What they are tying to do is clearly ahead of most companies games. While most companies shun the idea that Global Warming is even a problem—and many still refusing to believe that we did the damage—Enigin openly admit that we are to blame, and are doing their damndest to put things right. But clearly they can’t do this alone. Which is why they are screaming their heads off about it and trying to get you to join in the race to stopping climate-change.

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David Cronenberg’s creepyily atmospheric film—from the novel by the original master of horror, Stephen King—sees Jonny Smith, a content New England school-teacher, leading a normal existence, alongside the love of his life he plans to soon marry. Until an accident puts him into a coma for five long years. On awakening nothing is what it was, yet everything is terrifyingly normal. Soon, Jonny realizes that this is the very least of his problems: something from the coma is apparently still with him, inside him, an eager force too powerful to suppress; what that is, exactly, he doesn’t know, but before long events spiral out of control as Jonny tries in vain to deal with whatever it is that now makes him special–

Similar as the concept of The Dead Zone may be to a number of other psychological horrors, the film–shot in the Greater Ontario area of Cronenberg’s native Canada–couldn’t be more different to the stock story-line of man overcoming a grim situation. The intriguing thing about Cronenberg’s foray this time is what happens at the half way point: because, remarkable and difficult as it is to pull off, The Dead Zone is actually two great films in one. Or, to be more accurate, two fascinating story-lines integrated into the same film.

Running through the film is a dark thread, sometimes looming like a black cloud, sometimes weaving its way through the plot as Jonny struggles with his new ’gift’. Martin Sheen is great as the presidential maniac that disturbs Jonny, plaguing him with visions of disaster, forcing him into a decision which will change the course of history forever. All that said, The Dead Zone somehow falls just short of being a classic. While it’s a great film, the depressing tone under-pinning the story may be just a bit too much for some audiences to take.

And now for an update on work for you all to critique, I have finally finished changing the images for the vaser liposuction London webpage. I am rather confused how I feel about this one, any remarks

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Is there too much political agenda on TV? And could that be dangerous?

I understand this concern; after all, if the government wanted to sway us in a certain specific political direction, it’s going to be hard to do so by using a light-hearted comedy, isn’t it?

And now more than ever there is reason to believe we are being swayed. You can barely walk down the street without passing a conversation about the Iraq war and whether or not it should have gone ahead. Even if you’re at home, safely shut away from politics and out of view of the TV, a knock could come at any moment: a political candidate wanting to smile and show you the way.

But I suppose it’s always been there, hasn’t it? It’s just that we notice it more nowadays, because we have that many ways to access the media, and for it to access us.

And maybe political agenda isn’t a bad thing after all; by being exposed to it we think about it so much more, which is far better than the alternative, is it not? If that’s the price we have to pay then I think it’s a good thing; the more awareness we have, the more chance there is for us to re-assess our opinion and consider all the important factors.

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David Dickinson: not a name that anyone under the age of fifty should have on the tip of their tongue. Maybe it’s just me, but I find the whole antique-show-taking-over-TV thing a bit disgusting. Every time I turn on the TV to watch the news I am assaulted by either D.D. or someone purporting to be a new kind of him.

I don’t recall the day it all began, but I suppose it had to have begun properly somewhere. And I wouldn’t even mind so much, but it’s not as if there are only two antique programmes on TV, is it? No, they seem to multiplying faster than Malaria, and with an effect almost as debilitating. To the point that I have to think twice about turning the TV on at all…

And what about the really important part of all this: young people, yes, young people–without a job, that is, because this is day-time we’re talking about–who should be out partying hard and doing a myriad of other things are on TV too, with Dickinson and his cohorts, trying to convince the youth to drag themselves out of bed every Sunday and race down to the nearest car boot sale.

Hello people of the world!: is this right? I’ve been to a few car-boot sales in my time and although they can sometimes be fun, majestic places, I feel uncomfortable with the idea that they are a place for the youth of today to prepare for the future. Will that really help them get along in life? The most of me highly doubts it, much as he loves old copies of Only Fools And Horses.

I’m struggling; at the start of this article I said to myself “think about this reasonably, present both sides of the argument.” So now I must try to do so, and it’s not very easy.

Aha! I think I may have found something, and here it is; yes, antique shows are a good thing after all! Because what else would be on TV if not that? I have a feeling it would be either Alan Titchmarsh or golf, or—deep breaths—perish the thought–a combination of both–

If we carry on like this, how long is it until we have television shows about permanent vet jobs that everybody watches during the day?

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I laughed when I saw a Keeping Up Appearances forum topic over at the Universal-Playback forums that asked whether you could survive as the husband or even neighbor of the hilariously awful Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced, according to dear Hyacinth herself, Bouquet, with a rather falsely plumy English accent, for those not in the know).

When I was younger, I would sit and watch Keeping up Appearances with my parents, and we would all groan and shake our heads at Hyacinth’s awful, snooty behavior. Her wealthy sister apparently owns a property that has ‘room for a pony’, and this is a joke that has stayed in our household for many years since.

While Hyacinth is hilarious on the screen, and it’s highly amusing to watch her put on airs and try to hide the truth about her family, who is perhaps not quite as hoity-toity as she likes to pretend they are, I certainly feel a bit of sympathy towards her poor husband Richard, who is rather put-upon by his bossy wife. Neighbour Elizabeth unfortunately doesn’t fare much better, and it’s almost cringe-worthy to watch her forced expression of interest whenever our dear Hyacinth sails by.

While Hyacinth is definitely a character who works brilliantly on television, and she’s one whom I’d much rather preferred stayed there—it is, after all, nice to be able to switch her off when she’s in one of her moods!—the reality is that many of us do have a Hyacinth in our lives whom we have to deal with on a regular basis. Fortunately, though, I’m not in a position where I’m married to one, or am stuck with an over-friendly neighbor who likes to pretend that she’s someone she’s not—because I have a feeling that it would encourage me to make some major changes to my living arrangements!

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Q) What do you get if you cross Meatloaf, Jimmy Osmond and Alan Titchmarsh?

A) A brand new pile of poo on ITV, aka; ‘Popstar to Operastar’.

I caught a bit of this last night and I could not believe what I was seeing. I detest anything that is along the lines of ‘The X Factor’ (or ‘Britain’s Got Talent’, or ‘America’s Got Talent’, or ‘American Idol’, or ‘Popstars’, or…) so this did not appeal. In fact, the whole thing made me feel quite ill. There was quite a surreal feeling to it all; where would you normally see such a strange variety of ‘stars’ in one place? It was like something out of a nightmare!

For me, the highlight of the show came when I saw Alex James (from Blur) make a complete prat of himself. Oh, well, I suppose you always need to be on the lookout for a way back into the limelight after you’ve already had your fifteen minutes…

If it wasn’t so sad then I’d laugh my socks off. Television has become totally obsessed with ‘talent shows’ and this is the worst one yet. Just when you thought that programmes could not get any more awful, ITV have managed to plumb new depths with this. When will television finally improve? Ninety percent of schedules are made up of ‘reality’ shows or showcases for people desperate to be famous.

But which are the funniest people on these kinds of shows? The ones who think they can sing or the ones who actually can? Do we really need to manufacture our own celebrities for the next generation? There are hundreds of bands and musicians out there who are making proper, serious music. Crap like this on TV is ensuring they get even less attention and it’s taking up valuable space on our channels.

A bit of a work update I have just put through a bit of writing for this webpageon shutters, and I have to tell you guys that I actually really enjoy the look of the page!

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Between January 1967 and March 1968, one of my favourite Sci-Fi programmes was first aired in the United States. ‘The Invaders’ ran for 43 episodes and appealed to the imaginations of thousands of young viewers.

The story behind the series was actually very simple. The aliens have already landed on planet Earth and only one man is aware of it. It is a fantastic starting point for a TV show and each episode had a really good story based around conspiracy, fear and paranoia. Could David Vincent manage to get hold of some proof that the invaders were actually here?

In ‘The Invaders’ you never get to see the aliens in their own form. This is something that is left to the imagination of the audience. Needless to say, this would just not work on today’s television; most modern viewers would need not only to see the beings, but to watch an extensive autopsy performed on them to be able to get their heads around the whole idea. Imagination is sadly lacking in today’s young viewers…

Roy Thinnes is brilliant as David Vincent and he adds an awful lot of credibility to the character. ‘The Invaders’ does not look particularly dated because the acting and scripts were of such a high standard. If the show had merely relied on special effects then it would probably just look laughable by now. Many famous faces appear in episodes and they all put in a great performance. If you are going to look it up, then watch out for the likes of Gene Hackman, Jack Lord and Michael Rennie.

‘The Invaders’ is a television show that is incredibly underrated; if you are a Science Fiction fan then you really should check it out. It is extremely well made and was way ahead of its time.

I need a bit of advice before I log off, I have recently been looking into email marketing software for this website that I have, to help me keep in touch will all of my contacts. Does anyone know any good providers or software that they have already tried out? It seems that there are loads of different companies doing this now, but to be honest I don’t really know what I should be looking for. Any advice on this would be amazing!

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Peter Falk will forever be famous for his role as the detective in the raincoat. The show has attracted thousands of viewers over the years and has featured several very famous faces. In fact, Columbo is well known for the huge amount of high profile stars that have featured in its episodes. Anyone from; Robert Vaughn, Patrick McGoohan, Ray Milland, William Shatner, Martin Landau and George Hamilton have played a main part in the show. Even Johnny Cash starred in one episode where he portrayed a Gospel singer with Ida Lupino as his wife.

This forum is a brilliant place for fans of the show to discuss things; there are already fourteen different subjects on it. And there are plenty of things to talk about! What was Columbo’s first name? And was it ever disclosed? Did his wife ever appear in the show? Who were all the other guest stars? And just one more thing… why does Columbo always say; ‘Just one more thing’?

Some programmes on television become a solid part of our society and one of these is Columbo. We all love the way that he comes across as being a bit of a bumbling fool, whilst he is actually a modern day Sherlock Holmes. And the way that he wears down suspects in a case can be hilarious.

Unfortunately, Peter Falk is no longer well enough to make any more shows. Considering that he is 82 years old he has done really well. But with 69 episodes of Columbo still being repeated very regularly we are never going to go short of seeing the Lieutenant’s unique brand of crime solving in action.

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House has kind got his flow back, he’s started being really evil and manipulative again. But by far the best news is that the incredible beautiful Olivia Wilde is back to stay.

I love this character the strange tragical Huntington sufferer. She is my second favorite in the whole series of course 1st being house himself.

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