Pop Buzz UK

As soon as the seventh and supposedly final Harry Potter book ‘The Deathly Hallows‘ was released, fans and book lovers alike started speculating about the possibility of an eighth book securing a release one day.

That possibility came a step nearer this week as Harry Potter author JK Rowling admitted that she had considered it, and certainly wouldn’t rule it out.

Talking to Time magazine, the author admitted there had been times when she’d thought about penning another installment in the long running, and hugely successful franchise, which is estimated to have earned her a billion dollar fortune.

“There have been times since finishing, weak moments, when I’ve said: ‘Yeah, all right’ to the eighth novel.”

“If, and it’s a big if, I ever write an eighth book about the (wizarding) world, I doubt that Harry would be the central character. I feel I’ve already told his story. But these are big ifs. Let’s give it 10 years.”

At the time of the release, I said on Pop Buzz UK that there would be no reason not to carry on the series, using the same world which we now all know and love, but focussing on another character, or even set of characters than Harry Potter, Ron and Hermione.

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Noel Gallagher - What, who, where, when? I know he’s cool and all but I’m not sure that the Oasis guitarist and occasional singer deserves to top Zoo Magazine’s 2007 Coolest Blokes List.

The top 100 coolest men in the UK was voted for by Zoo readers, and Noel Gallagher did indeed top the list. In the process, he beat Doctor Who star David Tennant, David Beckham, Daniel Craig and Lewis Hamilton.

Gallagher is definitely the coolest member of Oasis, showing none of the false bravado and smugness of his younger brother Liam, who, incidentally came 22nd in the list.

The thing is, as good as Oasis are, they’re not the force in British music they once were, although last album Don’t Believe The Truth was a return to form. But then that came out in 2005, so can’t be counted for this poll.

Noel just pipped Liverpool, and England footballer Steven Gerrard to the top spot. David Tennant was in third, and latest James Bond Daniel Craig was in fourth.

David Beckham was a surprise fifth place, seeing as he’s moved to Los Angeles, been paid an absolute fortune and failed to live up to the hype. He also helped England fail to qualify for the Euro 2008 Championships, so I certainly wouldn’t have voted for him.

Becks even beat Lewis Hamilton, who could only make it in to sixth place, despite going from a nobody to just being pipped at the post for the Formula One world championships.

Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner made it in to the top ten, and deservedly so. Here is a man who has taken the success of his band in his stride, and gone from being an arkward young kid to a singer with pure class.

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All of us loyal Dr Who fans only have a few days left before we can watch the Christmas special, starring Australian pop tartlet Kylie Minogue as the Doctor’s assistant.

Titled Voyage of the Damned, it follows the Doctor trying to persuade passengers on a ship of his magical powers, and in the process saving them from a meteorite storm.

Nice story, original, fun, and it should be exciting to watch. But wait, what is that there on the horizon? It’s some religious zealots who assume once again have taken to assuming everything is about them.

Unbelievable as it may seem, some Christian groups have criticised the programme’s makers for allegedly insinuating that the Doctor is the second messiah. Oh dear God, how the hell did they come to that conclusion.

It’s true that there have been some threads of storyline, and dialogue which have hinted at the fact that the Doctor may be more than just a mere mortal, but that’s because he’s a timelord, not a human. No-one has ever said that the Doctor is the reincarnation of Jesus!

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Amy Winehouse may be about to be made a suspect in the trial fixing plot which her husband Blake Fielder-Civil already finds himself in jail for. If this is the case, and she gets found guilty in a future trial, she could end up facing life in prison.

Fielder-Civil was arrested back in November for the alleged plot to pervert the course of justice. Along with another man, he is accused of trying to persuade a man he allegedly beat up, from giving evidence at the trial.

The police case revolves around a sum of £200,000, which was allegedly offered to the victim for him to withdraw his complaint, and fly out of the country instead.

It’s that large sum of money which is where Winehouse herself becomes involved. The police seized mobile phone records, bank details and computer software when they raided the couple’s house in Camden, London, and this is thought to contain evidence that Winehouse was involved in the plot.

Although it was thought that Winehouse was just being regarded as a witness, the News Of The World claims that her status could change to suspect this week.

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You’ll have probably heard by now that there is no Celebrity Big Brother this year, mainly down to the racism that occurred during last year’s show, when Shilpa Shetty became the subject of abuse from Jade Goody and her cohorts.

But fret not, because ready to take its place is a new spin off called Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack.

The show will begin at 8pm on January 3rd 2008, being simulcast on both E4 and Channel 4. The live launch show will be 90 minutes long, and hosted by Dermot O’Leary, in his last Big Brother assignment.

So how does it differ from the normal Big Brother? Well, as the name implies, instead of having the anonymous Big Brother producers as the voices of Big Brother, that role will be taken by various celebrities, who will basically run the house in turn for a certain amount of time.

Unlike normal, they won’t be just a presence there to help the house mates, instead being able to set random tasks, set their own rules, and punish the contestants they choose to.

As for the house mates themselves, unlike the usual summer Big Brother, we won’t have a random mixture of ages, and people thrown together to cause arguments.

Instead Channel 4 have hand picked a group of 18-21 year olds, all of whom have a special skill, or talent, which puts them head and shoulders above the rest of the population (and on a different evolutionary level than your average Big Brother contestant!)

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Philip Pullman is the best selling author of His Dark Materials, the trilogy of which The Golden Compass is the first book.

That has obviously been turned in to a big budget movie, which opened in the last week over in America, as well as the UK.

Newsround, a British children’s television news programme spoke to him about it, and during the interview he revealed his love for the new version of Doctor Who, the main writer Russell T. Davies, and David Tennant.

Even more interestingly, he expressed an interest in maybe writing an episode of the cult show for the BBC:

“[Penning a story for the show] sounds like enormous fun.”

“Since Russell T. Davies came back and started having a hand in it, [it] has been wonderful. I’ve really enjoyed it. David Tennant is terrific. Billie Piper was wonderful as Rose.”

He’s right of course, the show is brilliant, especially the new incarnation, with some brilliant writing, amazing special effects, and acting talents which were never even got close to on the original show.

I would love to see Pullman write an episode, as he’s an awesome writer, and his style would fit perfectly with the show. I just hope Davies saw the interview, or is even maybe reading this, and gets in touch with him to discuss the possibility.

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WARNING: Contains Major Plot Spoilers…

My girlfriend and I went to see The Golden Compass last night and as fans of the book came away slightly disappointed, partly by the amount of changes made from the book, and partly by the fudged ending.

I previewed the film way back in June, when I was super excited about the prospect of seeing one of my favourite books ever be brought to life on the big screen. My review is slightly different…

The casting is pretty much spot on, with Nicole Kidman being perfect for Mrs Coulter, and Ian McKellen doing a fine job as Iorek Byrnison.

Some of the special effects are stunning, with the armoured bears particularly standing out. The whole Iorek part of the story, especially his fight to become king of Svalbard, was the highlight of the film for me, and stopped me walking out in disgust.

The daemons were also well realised, being exactly as I’d imagined them in the books. It must have taken some incredibly detailed work to get so many daemons on screen at one time.

Some of the alterations to the text I could understand, while some I could see no rhyme nor reason for. The ordering of the story is altered substantially, with Iorek becoming king BEFORE Lyra visits Bolvangor.

To people who haven’t read the book, this won’t matter a jot, and the film will probably leave them content. For fans of the book however, there are some glaring omissions, the biggest being the soppy ending.

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I wrote last week about the lack of available Wii consoles in the UK this Christmas. Unlike the PS3 and Xbox 360, which are both in ready supply everywhere around the country, you’d be hard pushed to find a Wii in any store.

It seems that now, retailers are making the most of the lack of supply, and great deal of demand. When they do get stocks of the Wii in, instead of just offering it on a first come, first serve basis, they are bundling the basic console with games and accessories, which consumers have to buy, and pay a high rate for, if they want to get their hands on a Wii.

MCV carried out research that shows some retailers charging £400 ($850) for a Wii, and extras, which is over double the recommended retail price of the stand alone system.

The trade paper found GameStation, Zavvi, HMV, Toys R Us and Woolworths refused to sell just the consol on its own, selling them only as part of bundle, charging from £250 with two games at HMV to a £400 bundle with five games at GameStation.

Ths has obviously caused controversy and anger amongst gamers, and also parents of children who want nothing more than a Wii for Christmas, and won’t settle for the alternatives such as PS3 and Xbox 360.

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The Nintendo Wii has been an incredible success so far, selling in huge quantities, and surprising gamers, pundits and games developers alike.

The problem (not a bad one for Nintendo) is that demand continues to outstrip supply, meaning there are millions of disappointed kids and adults alike around the world who are unable to get hold of a console.

In the UK, the situation has been terrible, with Wiis in short or no supply ever since they were released last year. There was a short period during the summer when you could maybe have got one by bribing a shop to put you at the front of the waiting list, but otherwise, no chance.

This problem looks set to continue to in the run up to Christmas and beyond, with shops already displaying ‘Sold Out’ signs.

Nothing has demonstrated the demand better than the news that HMV’s flagship store in Oxford Street, London, sold out of their latest delivery in just 34 minutes.

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I’ve already written quite extensively on Pop Buzz UK about this series of The X Factor, and my view that its becoming more of a pantomime than a singing talent show.

We’ve already had Louis Walsh’ supposed firing and then being welcomed back in to the fold, and then Sharon Osbourne’s dramatic announcement that she’d be quitting the show, before being back on the show the following week. The judges truly are ruining this year’s series, by making it more about them than the contestants.

And now it has got worse, with more in the same vein. On Saturday evening, we saw Alisha Bennett get eliminated from the show after all the contestants sang disco type songs. Alisha herself sang ‘Young Hearts Run Free’, a performance which caused an argument between Simon Cowell and Sharon Osbourne over the inclusion of rollerskaters in to the performance.

Basically Simon hated the skaters, and thought they were crap, and insisted Sharon should have removed them from the show. Sharon countered that it was his show, not hers, and that she is just merely a paid hand with no jurisdiction over decisions like that.

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The Dr Who world moves at quite a fast pace, and I’m not even talking about when the good doctor is in his tardis travelling through time and space. So here for your pleasure is another round up of the latest Dr Who news!

David Tennant has revealed the secret of the cult show’s massive success, telling The Daily Record:

“The Doctor is unlike any other long-established character, in that you can bring your own ideas and personality to the part. In a way, you have to reset the Doctor to zero every week.”

That’s true, and as the Doctor changes, it becomes a new show each time, keeping it fresh for viewers and actors alike. That’s why I’m hopeful that the show has enough life left in it to keep going for years to come.

Talking to The Stage, Tennant also singled out Russell T Davies, the main man behind the relaunch of the show, saying:

“The standard of the writing and of the stories is extremely high. I might tweak the odd line here or there, but I’d never dream of pointing out to the writers, in that hackneyed phrase, that my character wouldn’t say this or do that. Russell [T Davies] is the best, so why play around with the best?”

High praise indeed, and again he’s correct. The Russell T Davies scripts are always of the highest quality, and the direction he’s taken the show in over the last few years has never failed to impress.

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The new series of ‘I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here’ kicks off tonight, and the line up has now been confirmed. Ten celebrities are going to be heading in to the Australian jungle and facing two weeks of pure hell, with torrential rain, camp beds, snakes and creepy crawlies.

They will also have to face the notoriously cruel Bushtucker Trials, which producers are promising will be given a higher budget and therefore be even more humiliating than normal.

The ten celebrities to sign up to the reality show are:

• Gemma Atkinson: Former Hollyoaks actress.
• Malcolm McLaren: Sex Pistols former manager.
• Rodney Marsh: Sky Sports Football pundit.
• Cerys Matthews: Former Catatonia singer.
• Janice Dickinson: 1970s supermodel.
• John Burton Race: Celebrity chef.
• Marc Bannerman: Ex Eastenders actor.
• Lynne Franks: PR guru.
• Jason ‘J’ Brown: Ex Five boy band member.
• Anna Ryder Richardson: Changing Rooms designer.

Last year’s edition of the show saw Matt Willis, ex Busted band member, walk away as the winner, but it was David Gest’s transformation from freak show to fan favourite which kept people hooked.

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I’ve made no secret of the fact I’m not a big Jeremy Kyle fan, as I find him one of the most obnoxious people on television. I’ll stand by my appraisal of him as Jerry Springer without the humour or class.

For those outside of the UK, or not a member of the underclass, Jeremy Kyle has a chat show, come agony aunt type programme, which wholly exists to grab the dregs of society off the streets and place them on our televisions for everyone to laugh at. Here’s a spoof clip on YouTube which should help you realise what the show is like.

Jeremy’s role in all this is as the ringmaster and master of ceremonies who conducts his prey as they admit to being a druggie, or of cheating on their partner, or if Jeremy had his way, of being the worst human being ever to have lived on Earth. He pretends he cares, but you can see in his eyes he’s just in it to provide some cheap entertainment for the masses and give himself a nice pay packet.

So I’m overjoyed this fine Monday morning to learn that his ex wife Kirsty Rowley has spoken to a Sunday newspaper and dished all the dirt on him. And it turns out our friendly Jezza is no angel himself, and is actually a “hypocritical liar”.

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Spaced was a British sitcom which virtually launched Simon Pegg’s career and also starred a host of the finest comey talent on this side of the Atlantic.

It was created by Simon Pegg, Jessica Stevenson and Edgar Wright and ran for two series on Channel 4 between 1999 and 2001.

I loved it’s blend of surrealism and pop culture piss takes, and was very disappointed when the show ended after such a short space of time.

Now it’s been announced that the show is about to make a comeback, but in the States this time, rather than in the UK.

The Fox telelvision network has ordered a pilot episode to be made of the show, which could hopefully lead to a full series being commissioned.

It is not known if any of the original creators will have a hand in the new adaptation of the show, with American producers instead being hired to oversee the re-imagining.

I think it’s mad if Pegg and Wright at least don’t have some input in to the show, so that the essence of the comedy remains true to the original. But even if they do, I’m not sure America will take this comedy to their hearts as the Brits have done so.

It’s become somewhat of a cult, with a massive Internet community built around the show and it’s characters.

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A few days ago I detailed the whole sorry Sharon Osbourne saga which blighted the show last week. For those of you too lazy to go back and read the whole post, basically Sharon threw her toys out of her pram, and threatened to leave the show. Except she didn’t, because it was probably all a big publicity stunt.

And that wasn’t the first instance of the judges egos taking precedence over the contestants singing performances this series. Right at the beginning of the season, Louis Walsh was supposedly called back from the grave (he wasn’t dead except maybe in Simon Cowell’s eyes) to replace Brian Friedman as a judge. Oh come on, it was planned all along, why was he “fired” in the first place anyway?

And last night’s show, the second of the live final episodes which will run up to near Christmas right on cue for the winner to grab the Christmas number 1 in the UK, we saw more evidence of the problem with this show.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love The X Factor, I sit there religiously tuning in every week along with millions of other sad individuals too boring to be out partying on a Saturday night. But the judges and their participation in the show is ruining the whole thing for me.

The public vote who is their favourite performer of the night, with the two who receive the least votes ending up in the bottom to and having to sing for survival. So far so good. the problem comes when you realise that it’s the judges who then have the final say on who goes and who stays to fight another day. This is obviously wrong.

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