The Dossing Times

Now as part of our new focus on Fantasy Sports we

So this is going to be a new feature on the Dossing Times Fantasy advice for all you players of Fantasy Premier League and Fantasy NFL. Today I am going to deal with Fantasy Premier Football. It is Friday the day when most people are setting their lineups instead of working so here is a few tips. This is mostly based on the Premier Leagues own game. Just for my own

Vampires are everywhere at the moment – TV (as discussed below in my review of ‘True Blood’ below), written fiction (in Guillermo del Toros ‘The Strain’) and don’t doubt that the Twilight sequel will be the biggest movie of the year despite only being released in November. A far less well manicured movie, but one that looks like a visceral trip is ‘Thirst’ from director

I’m sure there are tracts of text devoted to rumblings amidst the shareholders of Independent News and Media this week, there is however plenty of coverage stateside following a sudden resignation by the head honcho of Disney and his replacement by a rival. The Disney line-up has been thrown into disarray with Johnny Depp publicly commenting on his doubt about his participation in the forthcoming Pirates of the Caribbean 4, the next installment of which has proved to be Disney’s most significant cash-cow this past 10 years. Read more here.

Throughout ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’ there was often a suggestion of slaying and hunting evil being an aphrodisiac, an animalistic urge and a source of appetite. Where a parallel was created between fighting and sex, said sex was shot with a teen audience in mind and only bare shoulders exposed. ‘True Blood’, similarly centred on a feisty gifted blonde and a brooding tortured vampire, is far less subtle in its attempts to portray the charisma associated with vampires, with sexual undertones becoming overt overtones, bare shoulders now bare everything and in perhaps the most graphic scene of Season 1, a vampire emerges from beneath the earth to the shock of his love interest and the intensity of the moment has them wordlessly get to it in the middle of the graveyard.

So ‘True Blood’ is trashy, it is also a Gothic Southern tale of a world where vampires are ‘out’, fighting for their rights and interacting with a set of dysfunctional town folk in the deep south of America, along with their attachments to religion, drink and small minds. This HBO show based on a set of novels, takes its own interpretation of vampire mythology and introduces the town of Bon Temps, Louisana, its inhabitants and a murder mystery. Central to the story, though apart for much of the series are brother and sister, Sookie and Jason Stackhouse. Sookie, portrayed by Anna Paquin, in what is a much travelled trip to TV for an established movie actor, is the most notable name amongst the cast of ’seen them somewhere before’ actors. Sookie, unique in her own way, falls for the vampire, who comes with much baggage, while Jason seems primarily concerned with being naked for most of his time on screen and soon develops an addiction to vampire blood, a prime example of the atypical take the show brings to real world events. Surrounding them are a mix of characters, caught up in very real problems each laced with supernatural elements.

The show is dripping in sensuality with the characters southern drawls and not unattractive physiques, and the cast are all excellent, no one coming across as having any reservations and giving a strange weightiness to what could be bizarre storylines, which could alienate a more mainstream audience. Supernatural events occur, are not overly explained and we are asked to take then on board as a matter of fact in these peoples lives as much as the fact their parents may be alcoholics or their bosses may secretly love them. The show shamelessly aims for drama, with each episode ending on a cliff-hanger; there is almost an exploitive approach to how episodes are constructed, but the paceful, humorous and again trashy vibe keeps you gripped. Its a proper calibre of guilty pleasure.

Season 1 is airing on FX at the moment and coming to 3E shortly and Season 2 is receiving high praise, which is against the mould for a TV series normally. There are some bum notes to Season 1, including an anti-climactic season finale, but True Blood is a smart unique take on a conventional drama series, with characters, fang bangers and a who-dunnit to tap into our instinctive watching interests.

The unique selling point for ‘District 9′ is worth discussing and having seen the movie is due praise. It won’t ruin the film for you to say to say that District 9 is a movie which indirectly comments on racial and ethnic differences, looking to responses from within communities and from governments. In the opening scenes of the film, news footage catalogues events which have befallen Johannesburg in South Africa

Find below the trailer for ‘Zombieland’, which presents itself as a pumped-up ‘Shaun of the Dead’, though seems to aim more for a B-movie vibe, with an upped quota of comedic action and its own distinct brand of quirkiness. Released on the 9 October this is the type of movie that will fall into a no mans land between Summer blockbusters and award season movies, but could be an unexpected treat.

Visit the official website here: http://www.sonypictures.co.uk/movies/zombieland/

‘Waitress’ was the first movie I was ever asked to attend a preview of and review for a professional film outlet; I felt like I had won a war to be myself that day. Even better, the movie itself was a pleasure and I had great company. Donal over at the Good Mood Food Blog has come across a site devoted to the movie and a section on the pies which the titular waitress played by Keri Russell makes throughout the movie. Every pie suits a mood, but sounded equally gorgeous and sit well with the sweet tooth I have developed after a trip to Paris this past weekend.

Lisbon 2 like most sequels, is emerging as a lacklustre and frustrating affair, with a repeat of the mistakes of the Yes campaign from the first poll wiped from their collective memory, and the No campaign upping the stakes of their scare mongering