Dog in the corner

Today's random photo is my border collie, Zac, in August 2006.

Click the photo for a 1600x1200 version.

Watched yesterday

Countdown: 4th February
Dan Brusca - 95
Jay Lopian - 69
Rosina Bellerby - 48
Points courtesy of DERAILS, PATIOS, ENLIVENS, GAUDIEST, BROCADES, LINER, MAILERS, POUTED, DONKEYS and LAMENT.

In Treatment: Season 1, Week 1, Jake & Amy - 5/5

Skins: Episode 4.1 - 3/5

In Treatment: Season 1, Week 1, Gina - 5/5

24: Day 8, 6pm-7pm - 4/5
24: Day 8, 7pm-8pm - 3/5
I think Katee Sackhoff is miscast. Since Battlestar Galactica she's had an image of being an ass-kicker, so turning her into what is so far quite a weak character is quite a change to what we're used to. It's not that she shouldn't play such characters, it's just that in a high testerone show like 24, the viewer expectation would be that she would be slapping people around all over the place.

Nurse Jackie: Nosebleed - 4/5

Newswipe - 4/5

The L Word

Today's random photo is a billboard advertising The L Word, taken in Manchester in June 2005.

Click the photo for a 1600x1200 version.

Watched yesterday

Modern Family: Not In My House - 5/5

Countdown: 3rd February
Jay Lopian - 82
Dan Brusca - 77
Mark Abbitt - 37
Points from MINUSES, MOUTHED, REVOLT, RELIANT, FIANCEE, REGALED and ENJOYS.

The Big Bang Theory: The Adhesive Duck Deficiency - 4/5

The Good Wife: Stripped - 4/5

Grey's Anatomy - 4/5

Secret Diary Of A Call Girl: Episode 3.1 - 3/5

Secret Diary Of A Call Girl: Episode 3.2 - 4/5

Harry Hill's TV Burp - 4/5

You've Been Framed! - 3/5

Soviet submarine toilet

Today's random photo is a toilet aboard Soviet submarine B-39, taken in San Diego on 8th October 2009.

Click the photo for a 1200x1600 version.

Watched yesterday

Countdown: 2nd February
Mark Abbitt - 70
Dan Brusca - 67
Norman Rudland - 61
Points courtesy of COLLIERS, CHOIRS, DEACONS, PATTIES, MATTERS, PRALINE and REGISTER.

The Office: Office Olympics - 4/5

Oz: Strange Bedfellows - 4/5

Mad Men: Love Among The Ruins - 3/5

Sons Of Anarchy: Seeds - 4/5

Edale Cross

Today's random photo is the signpost at Edale Cross, which lies at the top of the Jacob's Ladder route up Kinder Scout in Derbyshire. Photo taken January 2008.

Click the photo for a 1024x768 version.

Train Time

Continuing my trawl through the archives of British Transport Films, last night I watched their 1952 film, 'Train Time'.

The film is a partially dramatized look at how British Rail scheduled and organized trains, especially freight trains, at the the time. It shows how different regions co-ordinated their rolling stock requirements and how new scheduled services were worked into the timetable.

There were two points of interest for me. Firstly, the film starts out with a farmer taking his broccoli crop to a Cornwall freight yard for transportation to London. The sequence serves as a jump-off point to show how BR was able to move rolling stock from different parts of the country to make up the special trains required to transport the annual crop. All very worthy I'm sure, but you have to wonder how many cinema-goers sat their saying "that's not broccoli, it's cauliflower" because there isn't a single floret of broccoli in the entire thing, despite the insistent voiceover.

Secondly, there's a sequence showing the freight yards at Toton in Derbyshire. The above still is the main control room at Toton, at the foot of Toton Hill. Back in the day, Toton was one of the largest, if not the largest, rail depots in the country. By the 1980s it was a pale shadow of its former self. Much of the sidings had been torn up and the main control room, together with other smaller control rooms (in a similar art deco style) had fallen derelict.

A friend and I used to regularly play there, including in the above building. We used to salvage railway memorabilia such as old timetables, some of which I sold at rail fairs in Derby, and bits of random equipment like control panels and so on, though we stopped doing that when I once tried to unscrew a light switch only for it to explode in sparks - we had been entirely oblivious to the fact that although derelict, the buildings were still wired to the mains...

There's a superb website featuring photos on Toton at Toton Rail. There's an aerial photo of the sidings here in which the main control room can be seen top-right. A more recent photo showing how the place has shrunk is here.

Watched yesterday

Countdown: 1st February
Norman Rudland - 77
Dan Brusca - 69
Howard Lovelady - 61
Points courtesy of FADING, CAROUSEL, LEAFING, GRAPHITE, OPENED and POLENTA.

QIXL: Greats - 4/5

British Transport Films: Train Time - 3/5
Another post on this to follow.

Mad Men: Out Of Town - 4/5
The most perfectly crafted show in the history of television.

In Treatment: Season 1, Week 1, Sophie - 4/5

Random photo of the day

Torpedo tubes aboard Soviet submarine B-39 in San Diego, 8th October 2009.

Click the photo for a 1600x1200 version.

Watched yesterday

In Treatment: Season 1, Week 1, Alex - 4/5

Kings: Goliath - 4/5
This short-lived US series never made it to the UK, but thanks to my multi-region DVD player I'm now able to catch it on Region 1. This first episode was perhaps overlong, but it was interesting enough and Ian McShane is superb as the vain King Silas.

Shameless: Episode 7.1 - 4/5

Nip/Tuck: Jenny Juggs - 3/5

Shameless: Episode 7.2 - 3/5

Random photo of the day

Random stuff on the hangar deck of the USS Midway, San Diego, 8th October 2009.

Click the photo for the 1200x1600 version.

Watched yesterday

Bad Girls: Marriage Of Inconvenience - 3/5
Most gross oral sex scene in a mainstream drama ever!

Big Love: Eviction - 4/5
I started watching Big Love a few years ago, but due to the appalling scheduling it had in the UK, didn't even get to finish season one. Subsequent seasons never got here at all. It's a shame because it's a superb show. However, now I have a multi-region DVD player, I can now re-engage with it via Region 1. Huzzah!

Hustle: The Father Of Jewels - 1/5
An episode in which Matt DiAngelo takes centre-stage. Ugh. His character is phenomenally dull. Couldn't bare to watch beyond the first 20 minutes. I've decided to wave goodbye to Hustle now, I think it's safe to say it's reached the natural end of it's life and it's time for the BBC to pull the plug.

Nurse Jackie: Pupil - 4/5

In Treatment: Season 1, Week 1, Laura - 4/5
Sky Arts started showing this last October but because I was in America I missed the early episodes, so had to miss the entire run. Luckily for me, Sky started re-runs last week. So glad they did because on the strength of this first episode alone I know it's going to be great.

30 Rock: Cutbacks - 3/5

30 Rock: Jackie Jormp-Jomp - 3/5

Newswipe: Episode 2.2 - 5/5

The Good Wife: Pilot - 4/5
Looks like a fairly conventional legal drama, but this first episode was pretty good. Julianna Margulies is a good lead and David Paymer and Titus Welliver are classy support.

Survivors: Episode 2.2
OK, but felt like it went on forever. I think I'm losing patience with the concept of hour-long drama. Maybe I watch too much American TV ^_^

90210: Environmental Hazards - 2/5
Fully expected to watch a few minutes of this then give up on it for good, but it seems my addiction to AnnaLynne McCord is much stronger than even I realised!

Random photo of the day

Cressbrook Weir on the river Wye in Derbyshire, November 2008.

Click the photo for a 1600x1200 version.