Random thoughts

A week ago I was explaining to my year thirteens that traditional reliance on ratings issued by BARB were no longer a strong indicator of a shows success. This is mostly due to differing viewing habits: people watch shows on V+ boxes or sky plus; people use the BBC's I player or similar services offered by other channels. The BBC, of course, isn't reliant on advertising revenue like its competitors- so how do other companies make money? Increasingly spin off sales through merchandising and DVD sales are increasingly becoming more important when producers consider whether a programme is successful or not. The BBC, at the moment, are making substantial sales of DVDs, books and other toy merchandising on the back of Doctor Who. Therefore, I think it is safe to say that the adventures of the Timelord are safe for a while yet!

After the disappointments of Fantastic four and Spiderman 3, I was beginning to tire of the comic book genre. I mean I expect visual scenes to predominate in this genre but I do like an intriguing storyline to sustain me through the visuals. I think some of the superhero comic films had relied too much on visuals and just hadn't worked for me. I must admit that I had been impressed by the trailers and other promotional spots for Iron man so I did have high hopes for the film. Thankfully, I wasn't disappointed. I thought Downey Jr was superb as Stark- he managed to make a flawed character chariasmatic: you felt you could actually like this character although he was self centred. I enjoyed the humour and the way we saw the evolution of the suit. I thought Bridges was great and Paltrow made a great Pepper Potts. I didn't have the patience to wait through the credits as I was too hungry. If you haven't seen the film yet, I recommend that you wait for the end: there is a nic