Ben Affleck Quits Batman

Although no official announcement has been made the persistent rumour doing the rounds is that Ben Affleck has quit the role of Batman - The actor's made it clear that he is not happy with the way his take on the character has gone.

Batman V Superman offered an older, more jaded take on the character, who had been operating as Batman for years. While Affleck received mostly positive reviews for his turn, the movie itself received a very mixed reaction. Affleck returned for Justice League and a cameo in Suicide Squad, and at one stage was set to write and direct The Batman solo movie. Since the actor had worked on various projects back to back he decided to step aside from directing, with Matt Reeves (War For The Planet Of The Apes) being brought on as a replacement. Following the failure of Justice League, it seems the project is currently in limbo. Affleck's made it clear that he is  eager to move on entirely from the DCEU and his involvement with Reeves’ movie officially remains a question mark.

This dismal movies that were Batman V Superman and Justice League hit Affleck hard, having previously been mocked for starring in an awful comic book film, Daredevil.

Birth Movies Death reported at the timeof Batman V Superman, “My sources have told me that Affleck was incredibly unhappy about the reception of BvS. He felt humiliated after spending so much of the press tour saying how much better this film would be than Daredevil.”

It's a shame the way it's gone - I'm no fan of  Batman V Superman , in fact I thought is was shit, but Affleck’s  angry, xenophobic Batman was one of the better elements of Batman v Superman. 

Matt Reeves’ take on the currently in pre-production Batman movie is said to be a neo-noir mystery. The director also scrapped the version of the script Affleck was working on and is said to favor casting a new actor in the role. Affleck’s unhappiness with how his Batman run has gone so far is something of an open secret, so the studio is likely giving him breathing room before making a decision on his future.

Affleck though has reportedly told close friends that he's finished with the Batman.

Binging

The clock is rushing towards two in the morning, you and your partner have watched several episode of your new favourite show, you've got work in the morning and the sand is heavy on your eyelids. suddenly your partner turns to you with an offer you can't refuse:

 'Shall we watch another episode? Go on just one more.'

Binge watching has changed the way we watch television - no longer are we slaves to the schedules but can sit down and watch anything at anytime.

'For years, particularly with the advent of the Internet, people have been griping about lessening attention spans. But if someone can watch an entire season of a TV series in one day, doesn't that show an incredible attention span? When the story is good enough, people can watch something three times the length of an opera. The audience has spoken: They want stories. They're dying for them'. Actor Kevin Spacey said in a lecture in Edinburgh back in 2013 for the annual International Television Festival.

Of course Spacey was then coming off the massive success of Netflix's House of Cards. A series made by Netflix with all 13 episodes dumped onto servers at the same time. Most people watched the entire run in a week or two. The US mega hit, Breaking Bad, considered by many to be the best TV show ever made, benefitted hugely from streaming and binge watching. It was in danger of being cancelled after only two seasons when word got around, and people started watching episodes on Catch-Up services and all of a sudden Breaking Bad was absolutely massive. For me personally, Breaking Bad was the start of my binging - I didn't start watching the series until it's entire run had completed, and then I went through all five seasons in maybe a month. I watched it at home on the big TV, at work on my Tablet and when I had an odd moment, on my phone.  The experience was intense, and to my mind more like reading an epic novel than watching television - I could pick it up when I wanted to, put it down when I felt like it, re-watch certain bits again. You really got involved with the characters, the storylines and I'm one of those people who believe that this wonderfully acted, excellently written show is indeed - THE BEST TV SHOW EVER.


'I am grateful as hell for binge-watching. I am grateful that AMC and Sony took a gamble on us in the first place to put us on the air. But I'm just as grateful for an entirely different company that I have no stake in whatsoever: Netflix. I don't think you'd be sitting here interviewing me if it weren't for Netflix. In its third season, Breaking Bad got this amazing nitrous-oxide boost of energy and general public awareness because of Netflix.' Vince Gilligan, creator of Breaking Bad

I've binged so much since then - watching entire runs of shows over nights, weeks even months - Godless, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, The Bridge, House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, The Punisher, The Killing, Broadchurch, Making a Murderer, The People Vs O J Simpson. The list goes on and on. In fact these days I seldom watch a show as it is broadcast but rather pick up on the word of mouth and if there's enough people ranting about a show I'll then invest the time, energy and snacks needed to binge out. And if you are binging on something right now then you are not alone. etflix now has more than 117 million members as of December 2017. You're never far from a fellow binge-watcher.

So what about Archive readers? Do you binge and if so - what?


30 OF THE BEST SHOWS TO BINGE WATCH NOW

THE PICK OF 2018 SO FAR

The Yellow Submarine sails again

The Beatles animated classic Yellow Submarine is to return to cinemas to celebrate its 50th anniversary - sporting a new 4K digital restoration and a 5.1 stereo surround sound remi, the movie is going to look and sound better than ever. The film is being screened through a deal with the Beatles' Apple Corps Ltd., Abramorama and Universal Music Group. A new trailer and film poster have been released for the film's return.

The animated movie, which was written by Lee Minoff, Al Brodax, Jack Mendelsohn and Erich Segal and directed by George Dunning, is based on the title song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and sung by Ringo Starr. The song, which came from the 1966 Revolver album, entered the U.S. singles charts on Aug. 20, 1966 and peaked at No. 2 during a nine-week run on the Billboard singles chart. The flip side, “Eleanor Rigby,” debuted on the charts the following week on Aug. 27 and peaked at No. 11, staying on the charts for eight weeks. It entered the U.K. charts Aug. 11, 1966, and topped the Record Retailer/Music Week charts during an 11-week run. It made a brief one-week return in 1986 only getting to No. 63.

On My eReader - Paul Bishop

This week's On My eReader section, in which writers talk about the books currently on their eReader features  American author, Paul Bishop, or as he is known amongst his friends, The Bish.

Paul is a novelist, screenwriter and television personality....we only feature the best at the Archive.

Paul is a 35 year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, Paul Bishop’s career has included a three-year tour with his department's Anti-Terrorist Division and over twenty-five years’ experience in the investigation of sex crimes. His Special Assaults Units regularly produced the highest number of detective initiated arrests and highest crime clearance rates in the city. Twice honored as Detective of the Year, Paul also received the Quality and Productivity Commission Award from the City of Los Angeles.

As a nationally recognized interrogator, Paul starred as the lead interrogator and driving force behind the ABC reality show Take The Money and Run from producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Based on his expertise in deception detection, he currently conducts interrogation seminars for law enforcement, military, and human resource organizations.

Paul has published fourteen novels, including four in his L.A.P.D. Detective Fey Croaker series, and one collection of short stories which includes a novelette featuring Croaker. He has also written numerous scripts for episodic television and feature films. He is the co-creator and editor of the Fight Card series of hardboiled boxing novels, which includes over forty titles, published under the pseudonym Jack Tunney. Paul’s own entries in the series are Fight Card: Felony Fists and Fight Card: Swamp Walloper, both featuring the two-fisted cop turned fighter, Patrick ‘Felony’ Flynn.

You can find Paul HERE

And so it's over to Paul -


My Kindle is completely overstocked, but that doesn’t mean I stop grabbing new books whenever something strikes my fancy. I’m a bit of an attention deficit fiend, so I always have three or four books going at the same time—two or three on my Kindle and at least one physical paperback to sniff and fondle—I mean to have and hold.

Currently on my Kindle, I’m halfway through the second book in the Charlotte Holmes series, The Last of August by Brittany Cavallaro. Jamie Watson and Charlotte Holmes—young adult descendants of their famous forbearers—are in a chase across Europe to untangle a web of shocking truths about the Holmes and Moriarty families. Like the first book in the series, it’s good fun and Cavallaro gets the voices and the Holmesian rhythms right. A cut above the normal pastiche efforts.

I’m a bit bogged down in The Fair Fight by Anna Freeman, a highly praised novel of female Victorian pugilists. The first few chapters kept my interest and raced along, but I’m now five chapters in and waiting for something more to happen. If it doesn’t pick up steam quickly, I’m out before the ten count. 

True Fiction by my friend Lee Goldberg has kept me chuckling as the electronic pages zip past—think Three Days of the Condor lite in a mashup with a Hitchcockian innocent-man-on-the-run film. His character, writer Ian Ludlow (the name an in-joke referring to a pseudonym Goldberg once used) is constantly out of his depth, surviving by whims of fate more than skill or luck. Humor is a hard thing to pull off, but Goldberg is a master at this type of light touch.

Finally, I finished reading True Grit for the third time (in preparation for a presentation) and needed to jump into another western. I chose Forty Guns West from the William W. Johnstone fiction factory. This is a hunted-turns-hunter tale in The First Mountain Man series. If I had to guess, based on the writing, I’d say the super-secret identity behind the Johnstone byline on this effort is James Reasoner   

Condom Snorting - WTF!!!

Kids these days - apparently the latest craze among young folk who really should spend their time better is snorting condoms.

Viral videos of condom snorting... yes, condom snorting... are all over social media and give parents another thing to be worried about.

In condom snorting, teens take an unwrapped condom and put it up their noses. The teens then inhale the condom until it comes out of their mouth.

While not an old challenge, it has become more popular in recent weeks.

Due to choking hazards, condom snorting is dangerous and could cause serious health issues and death.

WTF is wrong with kids these days? Back in my day it was eat a packet of cream crackers without taking a drink, or consume thirty cream eggs, but seriously the world's gone mad.

New Kindle Oasis starts shipping

Amazon have announced that their Champagne Gold KIndle Oasis, the luxury eReader, will begin shipping from April 11th. Amazon have been out of stock of the basis Oasis model for the past few weeks but also announced that new stock will be arriving shortly.

Tom Hardy is James Bond

Today the Express Newspaper  reported that Daniel Craig has decided that he will not, after all, play James Bond in the next movie and that Tom Hardy has been cast.

The Express wrote -

Last August the incumbent James Bond star announced he would return for a fifth and final 007 movie in 2019.
He may be 50-years-old, but fans were pretty sure Craig could pull off one more movie.
However studio heads have confirmed this morning that the star had changed his mind and wishes to bow out now.

A statement read: “We regrettably announce that Daniel Craig will not star in the upcoming Untitled Bond 25.”

While the news will come as something of a shock to Bond fans, Hardy has been the bookies favourite at 3-1 for the best part of the last year.

At this stage it’s unknown if Danny Boyle will still direct, seeing as the script he had in mind was for the final film in Craig’s story arc – whereas now they’re dealing with a new 007 altogether.


However it's April Fools day and the story was later revealed to be a prank played by the newspaper.