Flavours of the Month: February 2013...

LOOKS:

Robot Chicken Season 4 & 5

The Walking Dead Season 1 Special Edition 3-disc DVD - I was after this edition of the first season for quite some time, and had to import it as it was never made available in the UK. An excellent set of extras. It's funny to think now of the first two seasons as being somewhat quaint compared to the harsher world presented in season three.

Click "READ MORE" below for all the other flavours of the month...

The Walking Dead Season 2 DVD (Special Features) - half price? Heck yes. Rather annoyingly the UK set doesn't include the audio commentaries or the web series (and the "UK Exclusive Bonus Feature" touted on the cover is just some text copied off the Internet about only some of the characters we're already well versed in) ... still, what behind the scenes stuff we do get, while more brief than the above, is enjoyable and informative for TWD fans.

The Walking Dead Season 3 - the back-half of season three. The stakes are forever rising, folks. Yeah ... there's a lot of TWD action going on this month. Obsessed much? Yes.

Black Mirror - series 2 of Channel 4's deliciously dark trio of technology-inspired tales from Charlie Brooker. Series 1 was a 2-out-of-3 affair for me (I wasn't that keen on the 2nd episode of the first series), but this second series has been 3-for-3. Concise, efficient, propelled storytelling with strong ideas at their core. Excellent. Of the three episodes, the first - "Be Right Back" - was my favourite: it was a subtle, confined, deeply mature and emotional piece from Brooker with a fantastic central performance from Hayley Atwell (Captain America).

Utopia - another dark Channel 4 drama. Jessica Hyde was a bit of an annoying bitch in the show, but the harsh and creepy storytelling mixed with the cinematic visuals made for a real treat. Check it out, and bring on a second series.

Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe - definitely a step up from Newswipe (which was good, but lacking in breadth).

Skyfall (Blu-Ray) - saw it in the cinema where it was bloody good stuff, and it's still bloody good. It was nice to watch it head-on this time too, as my nose was practically pressed against the screen at the cinema.


SOUNDS:

Paul Leonard-Morgan "Dredd" Soundtrack

Airbourne "Runnin' Wild" and "No Guts, No Glory"

HIM "Love Metal", "And Love Said No... 1997-2004", "Dark Light", "Venus Doom", "Screamworks"

The Black Angels "Directions To See A Ghost"

Guns n Roses "Chinese Democracy"


VIBES & FLAVOURS:

Eyes In Your Window - ahead of entering the script into a screenwriting competition, I gave it a final polish, where I tweaked a few character beats (and side characters), and generally made it much more efficient on-the-page. I feel good about the script - read more about it here.

Cold Shadows - formed from a couple of disparate ideas, and some 'free thinking' (the "what if game"), I've been hammering away at the keyboard on my next new script: the first spec episode of a series which reconfigures a well-worn genre image for a realistic slice of 21st century British drama.

Scrap-booking - cinema tickets, greetings cards, random notes, letters, fliers, tickets from gigs etc etc etc. I've had these sorts of things lying around for years in different places. Now they're all in one place laid out. A trip down memory lane, alright.

Memes - you'll have noticed a return to numerous memes for The Walking Dead, and that'll continue until the end of season three (and perhaps a few here-and-there until the fourth season - recently confirmed by AMC - kicks off in October). It's fun to see some of them turn up on the various Facebook groups dedicated to TWD memes, and see people enjoying them. It's just a little hobby that I enjoy as a superfan of TWD.