Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Movie Review

With each successive movie in the Harry Potter franchise, the action level is amped up a notch. There is no doubt about that in Harry Potter and the Tri-Wizard T—I mean Goblet of Fire. The 700-page story has been neatly trimmed (i.e. most of the side plots have been left out) around what is arguably…

Again with the Podcasts…

It’s not just me. The whole world seems to be catching on to podcasts as the latest media craze. (You remember podcasts, they’re like little weekly radio programs or audio magazines uploaded to the internet.) With the growing interest in podcasts, the number of “official” podcasts from various professional media outlets (including Fox, BBC, Toronto…

30 Days: TV Review

I am a self-proclaimed reality-TV-phobe. I have not watched any reality TV show regularly (… well, except My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé … but that’s just TV gold, so who can blame me?). But now I have to admit to being completely fascinated by a new (in Canada) show called 30 Days [airing Saturdays on…

Replay TV: Are you missing out?

Here are some shows that are back on TV. They’re all 5 out of 5 in my books, so don’t miss ’em this time! Band of Brothers – 10-part mini-series; an incredible portrayal of a troop of soldiers in WWII. The completely engaging battle scenes really make you feel like you’re in the trenches with…

Halloween Movies 2005: It’s All About The Creeps

When Halloween rings my bell each year, I like to dig out a scary movie or two to get into the spirit of things. I’m not really into serious horror, nothing with too much blood or violence; generally I enjoy stuff that’s more suspenseful, fantastical or creepy. In the past, I’ve rewatched old X-Files episodes…

Playing the Angel by Depeche Mode: Music Review

Being a child of 80s europop, pseudo-poetical lyrics mixed with an electronic beat and a melancholic voice make my heart go zing-zing. At the height of their powers, the group who ruled that crushed velvet throne was Depeche Mode, but in the decade and a half since Violator (arguably their last good album), I can’t…

Alias Reloaded

Despite a downturn over the last two seasons, this week’s episode of Alias introduced two new lead characters and was an exciting reboot of the show’s central premise. I’m hoping for a return to some of the freshness that made Alias such a great episode-turner in the first couple of seasons. In this episode, titled…

What Life Awaits Us? on Discovery Channel’s Alien Planet

Amazingly, over an inadvertent Alien marathon weekend, it wasn’t watching the recent Aliens vs. Predator, nor rewatching the Joss Whedon scripted Alien Resurrection that got my attention. What kept me glued to the TV until the wee hours was the completely awesome “what if” documentary Alien Planet on the Discovery Channel. Using the magic of…

Inside my DVR

Once people find out that I watch more than 5 hours of TV per week, they are often surprised and want to know what kind of shows I watch. Well, the simplest way is to look inside the little machine that feeds my TV fancy. Here’s a tally of the shows that I record, and…