NOVEMBER
Once again I try to give you My Favourite Things from around the web in the last month.
1) Loki
Tom Hiddleston is in danger of becoming a regular feature in this column. He has appeared far too often at this point with his exploits. He is clearly having far too much fun.
Recently he featured in some short clips on Comedy Central to promote Thor: The Dark World. Watch with glee as he tries to get the upper-hand over a bunch of small kids.
2) Batkid
The Make-A-Wish Foundation is wonderful and provides real service to millions of young children who are fighting for their lives against server and often terminal illnesses. This particular wish got a lot of attention online last month and for good reasons.
Young Miles is only 5 years old and has been battling leukaemia since he was 20 months old. When he asked if he could be Batman for a day, the response was strong and heartwarming.
You know, sometimes, just sometimes, the world can be alright.
3) Alan Moore: The Lo-Budget Biopic
On November 18th, noted comic book writer and all-round mad bloke Alan Moore celebrated his 60th birthday. Singer/songwriter and cartoonist Jeffrey Lewis decided to pay homage to Moore with this illustrated song. It’s rather sweet and pretty cool.
4) Aningaaq
I genuinely believe Gravity will be looked back on as being similarly cinematically influential as 2001: A Space Odyssey. I got to see it in November and was really blown away.
Do you remember when Sandra Bullock is trying to communicate with Earth but only gets a strange man, his dog, and a baby? Well, there is a short film of his end of the conversation. It’s made by Gravity director Alfonso Cuaron’s son Jonas.
5) The Five(ish) Doctors
We here at FRED love both Doctor Who and Sylvester McCoy with all out hearts. Just to prove a point, here is me with Mr. McCoy from a couple years ago:
Any excuse to show people that…
Anyway, with the big 50th anniversary this past month, Mr McCoy and some of his fellow Doctor cohorts decided to do their own big reunion show. It’s written/directed by Peter Davison himself and features pretty much everyone you can think of from the Doctor Who universe.
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And that’s it! My favourite things of the last month.
– Aaron Fever is the creator of the phrase “Tardistance”. He is also more accurately an internet whore and rarely leaves the house. If you like what you read here check out his blog http://www.aaronfever.com
I admit, I went into JJ Abrams’ reboot of 
Another in the long line of comedy gems cancelled way too soon, Shout has given a nice, comprehensive special edition collection to 
Including JJ Abrams reboot, I still stand by my assessment that 
Though he’s been painted with a “grim” and “dense” brush, you’ll realize within a few pages of the 
For the 10th anniversary of Sandman – waaaaay back in 1999 – Neil Gaiman teamed with P. Craig Russell and Japanese artist Yoshitaka Amano for a unique, beautiful tale featuring the King of All Night’s Dreaming, and the result was 
The high-def brigade has struck again, delivering a trio of Kevin Smith flicks into the single, aptly-titled 
It’s not the animated Batman, but I’ve been enjoying the animated adventures of ol’ webhead, the latest collection of which is now available as 
Though some might consider the 22 shorts contained in 
It’s not as polished or memorable as his early 70’s work, but the seeds were clearly planted in the eponymous debut album 
I thought it was a pretty good gimmick flick when it first came out, but I don’t find Fincher’s 
I’d like to say that Sacha Baron Cohen does it again with 
Based on the history of the show, you know that 
Not given the love of stablemates like The Sopranos and Deadwood when it aired, 
A perfect companion piece to Wizard Of Oz‘s recent beautifully remastered anniversary release is Warner’s other gem of 1939, 
I was about to try defending Devlin/Emmerich’s 
I tried numerous times to get into Farscape, but could never get past its overly artificial, manufactured sci-fi feel, but I know it has a massive, rabid fanbase who are probably counting their pennies for the immense, comprehensive 
While it was a step up from the bewilderingly awful seventh season, the eighth season of 
With Prohibition on the way out, the final 12 episodes featured in 
It’s trickling out, but another volume of 
Yes, 
I never sparked to 
And now, you can follow me on Twitter under the name: 
Quick announcement for those readers living in Phoenix (surprisingly, there are a lot of you out there) there is a screening of Kevin MacDonald’s (ONE DAY IN SEPTEMBER, THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND) solidly casted film, STATE OF PLAY. The movie boasts the talents of Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren and Robin Wright Penn so at the very least it’ll be pretty to look at.
As well, I’ve got a screening for SIN NOMBRE this week for Arizona dwellers.
Alan Moore writer, artist and performer is the world’s most critically acclaimed and widely admired creator of comic books and graphic novels. In The Mindscape of Alan Moore we see a portrait of the artist as contemporary shaman, someone with the power to transform consciousness by means of manipulating language, symbols and images. The film leads the audience through Moore’s world with the writer himself as guide, beginning with his childhood background, following the evolution of his career as he transformed the comics medium, through to his immersion in a magical worldview where science, spirituality and society are part of the same universe.
Featuring interviews with hundreds of fans, movie executives, and high profile celebrities, A GALAXY FAR FAR AWAY delves into the franchise that has made household names of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, R2-D2 and C3PO. As a new wave of Star Wars mania was being induced in “˜99, Jalal brought his cameras to Star Wars conventions, to boisterous nationwide premieres, into the homes of devoted fans showing off their treasures and collectibles and captured those who spent 42 days on line, just to be first to see The Phantom Menace. 
Sometimes it’s just good to sit on something.
CHRISTOPHER STIPP: Tell me, what is it about this show ““ it’s one of those shows that has been shrouded in mystery with only a vague idea of what it’s about. What can you tell me?
CS: Are they shooting this cinema-style or doing it kind of vérité like a documentary?
It’s not only the picture frame that’s expanded in the third season of 
OK, there is something blatantly geeky about keeping your change in a bank that’s also an exact replica of the 
Much like Freaks & Geeks and Arrested Development before it, another brilliant but short-lived series comes to DVD, where it will hopefully be discovered by those who didn’t get to experience it during its first go-round. So what series am I celebrating this time? 
For years now, I’ve been reiterating that you should buy, post-haste, the comedic sci-fi novels of Simpsons writer John Swartzwelder. Every one so far has been the delightfully quirky literary equivalent of a fine gem, and the greatness keeps on coming with his latest tale of slow-witted detective Frank Burly, 
As much as I love RiffTrax, it’s with Cinematic Titanic that I feel like I’ve come home to the Mystery Science Theater experience that I fell in love with lo’ those many years ago. Awful movie? Check. Brilliantly, hilariously eviscerating comedy at said film’s expense? Check. An endearingly goofy conceit prompting the experience? Check. The folks behind MST? Check. So what’s their latest target? A cheesy vampire flick called 
For years it’s been available in a sub-par 4×3 version, but finally the first (and best) Sesame Street feature film gets so much-deserved respect with the newly-remastered, widescreen edition of 
When a comedian decides – at the age of 32 – to write his autobiography, it’s understandable to be a bit wary. But when that comedian is Russell Brand – and the tome deals in large part with his years of heroin and sex addiction – my curiosity is piqued. The book itself – whimsically titled 
Picking up where Casino Royale left off, 
What many people consider to be the worst Bond film – even though it’s technically not in the Bond canon proper – is Sean Connery’s last turn, 
Add another must-have title to the list of those that have finally made it to Blu-Ray with the arrival of 
Letterman, Leno, Conan, and Kimmel may get all of the attention, but the brilliant dark horse of late night TV is Craig Ferguson. Most don’t know that the lost of The Late Late Show was also a stand-up, but you can easily rectify that lack of knowledge by picking up his brand new stand-up DVD, 
Knowing its tortured production history, I had pretty low expectations for the Disney (non-Pixar) CG animated film 
While most catalogue high-def releases have focused on comedies and action flicks, the drama side of things gets serviced with a trio of new releases to Blu-Ray – 
If you walked out of Watchmen wanting to recreate the aural experience, there’s a pair of discs that fit the bill. For the songs featured in the flick, you’ll want 
Of the more recent crop of Disney animated flicks, one of the few I’d say is a classic on par with their golden age is 
It was occasionally a bit rocky, but I wound up enjoying 
Filmed in 1993, Rod Stewart’s stint on Unplugged was a rousing, rollicking jaunt through his back catalogue, with Ronnie Wood by his side. The CD has been re-released with a pair of bonus tracks as 
I’m delighted that Paramount has decided to stick with their remastered, 2-disc special editions they’ve branded as the “Centennial Collection”. The latest releases are Alfred Hitchcock’s 
I am not a teenage girl or an emotionally needy woman, so the 
Many nerds noted the absence of the comic book story 
If you want a bit of the great outdoors this weekend, you might want to check out a pair of new releases from Animal Planet. 
Originally available as an exclusive pack in with Kung Fu Panda, the animated follow-up 
See just how fun, frolicsome, and positively risqué pre-Code Tinseltown was in the 
I’m not a terribly big fan, so the less I say about the CG animated Star Wars series the better. Suffice it to say, the first episode collection, 
The American version is often an over-produced mess, but the original UK version of 
I love gadgets, and tools that feel like gadgets. That’s certainly the case with the 
I would have preferred it have been A Shot In The Dark, but I guess the high definition arrival of the original 
Released in separate packages previously, MGM has brought together all 9 volumes Pink Panther cartoons into 
I’m not entirely sure why these DC animated direct-to-DVD titles abandoned the much-refined and wonderful Bruce Timm-syled designs of JLU in favor of clunkier, uglier, more angular designs unless the sole reason was (sad) change for change sake, but that is a major “ugh” point in the not-exactly-stellar animated 
Although I find the subject matter interesting, you’ve gotta love a book title like 
Fans have been clamoring for it for years – well, they’ve been clamoring for anything from the band, really – but they’re surely dancing a happy jig at the release of 
Though the stories comprising it are being released separately, the best and easiest way to get the entire arc is to just pick up the 
Not many cartoons can boast a guest turn by Johnny Depp, but a certain spongy yellow character can in the episode collection 
You can see every drop of sweat in the new Blu-Ray edition of Martin Scorsese’s 
If you’ve got a lot of free time, are really jonesing for the Watchmen movie, and are a huge fan of those late 60’s Marvel cartoons, then you’ll probably want to give a spin to 
If you want to find a little bit more about the author behind Watchmen, V: For Vendetta, From Hell, and League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, you can’t do wrong in picking up a copy of the re-released and expanded 
Though my nephews lap it up, I still watch 
I know it made money. I know that people went to go see it. Intellectually, I know these things. I still can’t rationalize that knowledge into any semblance of an endorsement for 
I prefer to believe the awkward director’s cut doesn’t exist, but I did love 
Make sure your young ones get to Sesame Street for 
Baz Luhrman’s epic story of love between an English aristocrat (Nicole Kidman) and a rough-&-tumble cattle driver (Hugh Jackman) in the Outback is certainly big and sprawling, but 
Oh,