THE CRUNCH - A Little Deduction...

The game is afoot!
We are still a year away from the third series of BBC's Sherlock, but we already have some clues as to what the show's next season will entail; Rat, Wedding and Bow.
So I've been doing a little detective work of my own, trawling through the original Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories, and this is my final report on the case.

Rat
This is probably the hardest of the three words to figure, as none of the original Sherlock Holmes stories include a Rat. Doyle uses dogs, snakes and even seaweed as murder weapons, but on no story does a rat bare any relevance.
Of course, there are a few obscure references. In The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire, Holmes refers to another case involving "the giant rat of Sumatra". Could this tangent be the source of the first episode?
Or, it could be possible that this will be a completely new story. In series 1 we had The Blind Banker, which wasn't linked to any particular short story or novel. Maybe we're going to see a return to this form. But this seems unlikely considering we know that the story will be based at least partly on The Adventure of the Empty House.
To be honest, I'm bluffing. This clue has got me completely stumped.

Wedding
Ah ha! This ones a bit easier. There are three main stories that stand out for weddings:
In A Case of Identity, a wedding is aborted at the last minute when the groom mysteriously disappears. In The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor it is the bride who disappears, this time after the ceremony. And in The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist, a woman is nearly forced to make her vows.
While any of these could be the source for the second episode, I think there is a much more likely candidate.
Each series has had one episode based on one of Doyle's epic novels. Series 1 opened with A Study In Pink (An interpretation of A Study In Scarlet) and in Series 2 we were treated to The Hounds of Baskerville (inspired by The Hound of the Baskervilles). So, I'm hedging my bets on an adaptation of The Sign Of Four, the story in which Watson meets his future wife and becomes engaged.
Steven Moffat has said ever since the first series of Sherlock that he has wanted to explore Watson's marriage and his emigration from 221B. This theme has already been explored satirically and successfully by Guy Richie's film adaptation Sherlock Holmes 2: A Game Of Shadows, and could this have prompted the Moff to bring this story arc to his modern-day interpretation?

Bow
The obvious piece of Sherlock Holmes history that this points to is Doyle's penultimate short story collection, His Last Bow, at the end of which Holmes retires from detective-work all together. Moffat has already confirmed that this series will end in another cliff-hanger that will top the fall of Series 2. Maybe Holmes' retirement is linked to this cliff-hanger in some way.
His Last Bow is also the title of one of the short stories from this anthology. Unlike most of the other Sherlock Holmes stories, it is written in the 3rd person, and not from the point of view of John Watson. Bow is also unlike other Sherlock Holmes stories in that it is a spy story, and not a murder mystery. Could the season finale revolve around an espionage story more suited James Bond or Jason Bourne?

Those are my predictions for the next series of Sherlock. What do you guys make of the clues? Let us know in the comments.
Tom :)

THE CRUNCH - Inspiring A Generation

Over the last few weeks we have enjoyed some of the best sporting entertainment on the planet from London 2012's Olympic Games. And we've managed to nearly avoid it entirely on this blog. So I'm gonna make up for that now.

London 2012 started out by highlighting it's mission statement - "Inspire A Generation" - very directly in the opening ceremony. Now it faces the tough task of following up this legacy. But how can it do this without belly-flopping?

First thing, we need more sports coverage on the BBC, and less football. The lesser-known sports that we have grown to love need to broadcasted and better advertised.. We can't wait another four years for another moment like this. I want to see the diving world championship, an international basketball league. I want to see the walking race world cup!

Second thing, the athletes need to understand they're now huge role-models, don't act like footballers! The names of Jessica Ennis, Usain Bolt, Mo Farah and the like are now firmly planted in our memories. And if we are to be inspired, these are the people we will aspire to be like. Now's the time for the athletes to forget training for a few months and focus on school-visits and community service schemes. For kids to have personal contact with an Olympian will make all the difference to the legacy project.

Third and final thing, we need to get involved ourselves. We need to change our attitudes towards sport so we are more open to exercise. Whether this change is just cycling to the shops instead of taking the car, or going for a half hour run each morning doesn't matter, so long as you not only feel fitter, but enjoy it. We won't all be the next Chris Hoy or Steve Redgrave, but we can certainly be inspired by them.

What moment of the Olympics do you think was the most inspirational? Let us know in the comments.
Tom :)

THE CRUNCH - New Drug That Means You Wont Need To Breath

I found this video from sourcefed and found it interesting...

THE CRUNCH - 5 Things We Want In Sherlock

A couple of weeks back, we wrote an article with a list of 7 things we wanted to see next year for Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary. You can view that article here. Since that article was so popular, I decided to write another one. Here are 5 things I'd want to see in the next series of Sherlock...

Oh, and a quick warning, if you plan on reading the original Sir Arthur Conan Doyle books (which I recommend), this article does contain spoilers.

Moran is arrested

1. The Gun
Mark Gatiss has confirmed that the first episode of the new series will be based on Conan Doyle's The Adventure of the Empty House. In the short story, we learn that Moriarty's men had been building a very special weapon, a gun that can fire nearly silently. This seemed revolutionary for the time, although now seems a bit dull now that we have developed silencers. But the idea of a secret weapon is very exciting, especially if it's being developed outside of the authorities by Moriarty's league. So in a modern setting what could this weapon be? Nuclear missiles? Lazers? If you have any ideas, let us know in the comments.

Sherlock diguised as a security guard

2. Disguises
Throughout all the Sherlock Holmes books, the great detective uses various disguises to spy on criminals and blend in with eye-witnesses. This hasn't really been exploited in the TV series yet, except for a brief, almost unnecessary, moment in the series 1 finale The Great Game, in which Sherlock breaks into an art gallery disguised as a security guard. I think there is alot of fun to be had here, especially considering that even Watson didn't recognize Holmes in the books when he was in disguise.

Tom Hardy in Inception

3. Charles Milverton
In The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton, Conan Doyle introduces us to a character that Holmes describes as "The worst man in London". Quite high praise, considering Moriarty. Milverton is a suave and sophistcated con-man and black mailer, and I think there's alot more potential for a recurring enemy than there is with Colonel Sebastian Moran, who in the books is Moriarty's right hand man. Moran on screen would be too similar to Andrew Scott's Moriarty, who we've only just lost. Milverton on the other hand, is very different in character. So who could play this slimey aristocrat? For me, two actors spring to mind. One is Inception's Tom Hardy. The other is Being Human's Damien Maloney. Hardy is unlikely to play the role after his current successes in big films such as Prometheus and the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises, so Maloney seems a safer bet.

4. Stanley Hopkins

Marshall Lancaster in Life On Mars

In the books, Inspector Hopkins is a young and excitable Scotland Yard detective who sees Holmes as a mentor and tries to employ his methods in his own investigations. He never does succeed however, and calls in the consulting detective on a number of occasions. He's a very funny character, and would be great to see in the TV series. But where could Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, two writers very much grounded in Doctor Who, find a young and excitable actor? *Cough* Matt Smith *cough*. Understandably, they may want to avoid the crossover, so another possibility could be Life On Mars's Marshall Lancaster.

5. The Sign of Four
Finally, I've picked out my favourite Sherlock Holmes story. The Sign Of Four is the second Sherlock Holmes novel and is part murder mystery, part treasure hunt, part adventure epic. What could be more suited to the current TV show, where we have seen Sherlock and John track down Chinese smugglers? Best of all, the whole story culminates in a boat chase down the Thames. Imagine modernising that!

So there's my list. What would you like to see in the next series of Sherlock? Let us know in the comments.
That's also all for this week on Crash Hub. Hope to see you again on Monday.
Tom :)

THE CRUNCH - Windows Tablet and Phone

This week windows released there new tablets and phone:
Many people say this is the IPad Killer!
As standard they both have front and rear-facing cameras, an SD slot, along with some neat tricks: a magnesium casing protection, DisplayPort out, Gorilla Glass, a kickstand and a subtle groove around the entirety of the device. They will have a 16:9 "ClearType" 1920 x1080 display. ClearType is aiming for Retina connection. It is 208 pixels per inch which is slightly less then the Ipads 264. Microsoft also claims they will have the best Wi-Fi reception of any tablet, with 2x2 MIMO antennae (wireless antennae that are harder to block while you're holding it).

Surface RT: This focuses on low power and being thin and small and cheap...er. It has an ARM processor (this is like a phone chip) and will run windows RT not Windows 8. It is 9.3mm thick which is thinner then the Ipad and 1.5 pounds (680g). It will be available in 32 or 64 GB of storage.

Surface Pro: This will run a Ivy Bridge Core i5 x86 processor have a USB 3.0 port and other ultrabook-y specs. It'll be a little thicker (13.5mm), a little heavier and be available with either 64 or 128 GB of storage. But most importantly it runs Windows 8 all of it. It will support semantic zoom and it will provide a perfectly superflat frame for the perfectly superflat Metro UI. And it will run the desktop meaning that you can put all your normal applications on it ie. photoshop. It will also have apps that go on the startup menu if your not familiar see my post on windows 8 here. It will probobly cost about the same as an Ipad.


The final big selling point of these tablets is that they can be paired with a magnetic super thin cover. That has a keyboard and mulitouch trackpad that apparently...WORKS, WELL. 


And just the other day they announced the Windows phone:
This will be dual-core. It will support 3 resolutions: WVGA at 800x480px, True 720p at 1280x720px and WXGA at 1280x768px.

Kieron :O

THE CRUNCH - Doctor Who 50th

Ealier this week, the current Doctor posted the above on Facebook. So we thought we'd answer. We've both decided on our three things we'd want to see when the show turn 50 next year...

Tom's List
1. Russell T Davies
No offence Steven Moffat, but since the takeover in 2010, Doctor Who just hasn't had the same feel it had following the 2005 re-boot. The traditional format has been messed around too much (this message also goes to the makers of the new James Bond movies). There's no denying that Moffat can write fantastic Who scripts - The Empty Child was the best episode in Series 1 - but he just hasn't recently. For a good celebratory episode next year, it needs to be at least co-written by Davies.

2. 2005 Daleks

Not the new corny Teletubby ones that look like free-bees out of a cereal packet. The really cool ones from the re-boot, the worn, "used-future" look. The slightly shorter ones that looked like they'd been pulled out of a chimney. The ones who had the supreme brains to create their own pig slaves and nearly re-create their entire race, not the new ones who got fooled by a jammy dodger. You get my drift.

3. The Master - As Played By John Simm
The Master is definately the best baddie we've had since 2005. John Simm pitched this part perfectly. And for some reason, he's only appeared in four episodes over the last six series' and the Daleks and Cybermen have been in...alot. This is the most important on the list, WE WANT THE MASTER!

Kieron's List
4. The Repeat 
The Doctor goes to a point and place from a previous doctor had to stop some big evil thing, the older the better. And tries not to get involved as he can't be seen by his old self or change his history. We see a classic villain from years ago run behind and around them. A twist could be added where the doctor accidentally screws it up and has to fix it before his old self finds out.

5. Dinosaurs Paradox

Cause a paradox where dinosaurs weren't made extinct and evolved to become the most intelegent species on earth meaning that humans never existed. However time rewrites itself meaning his companion fades into a more lizard like appearance. The new most intelligent species in the present day is much more advanced. Doctors companion doesn't know any different and the doctor has to convince her to help him write the problem. Or it could be that Silurians are these people.

6. TARDIS Damage
The TARDIS is damaged so it slows down and speeds up time randomly but not to the doctor or his companion. Shush this is the best picture I could find for slowing down time!


Tom & Kieron
7. Life On Being Sherlock Who
An Avengers like dream team with the best BBC characters: Sherlock, Hal, Tom and Alex, Gene Hunt and of course The Doctor. With Mycroft as the Nick Fury guy. Maybe The Doctor gets Gene from the past and he can see Alex because he has died loads!


And that's it for another week here at Crash Hub. Next week we will of course have all the usual. Also, over the weekend, we will be uploading episode guides of Primeval Series 5, Doctor Who Series 7 and Sherlock Series 3.
Tom :) and Kieron :O

THE CRUNCH - Unknown Musicians

To be successful in the music industry today requires minimal skill and maximum luck. This has created a very commercial environment; music is written to please the masses, and not to push boundaries and celebrate talent. As a result of this, alot of exciting and promising musicians are left at the back to support cobwebs and eventually fade away, when they should be the fresh headliners that everyone aspires to be like.
So, today in this edition of The Crunch, I'm going to share with you my three favourite unknowns; the artists that should be respected, but haven't hit the big time because of commercialism.

Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews
Trombone Shorty is a native of the jazz capital New Orleans, but he is no traditional standard-churner. Shorty takes the best bits of funk and jazz, and blends them in an exciting way with modern hip-hop and pop music. He has released seven studio records to date, but only made the big time in 2010 with the album Backatown, which was nominated for a Grammy. Shorty followed this success up the next year with the album For True, which featured guest musicians Kid Rock, Ledisi and Jeff Beck.
Suggested listening? It has to be "Do To Me" from For True.

To visit Trombone Shorty's website, click here.

Seth Lakeman
While being a very big name on the British folk scene, it can hardly be said that Seth Lakeman is getting all the credit he deserves. The singer/songwriter/guitarist/violinist started out very much grounded in traditional folk music, but has more recently incorporated elements of rock into his work that add a new grit to his celtic sound. So far he has released six records, my favourite of which is Poor Man's Heaven from 2008. For this album, Lakeman worked around a coastal theme, reinventing Cornish and Devonshire legends in a "rock-shanty" style.
Suggested listening? I'm going to go with the opening track from this album, "The Hurlers".

To visit Seth Lakeman's website, click here.

Jamie N Commons
And finally, the least famous of them all. I first heard of Jamie N Commons by reading a very short article on him in Q magazine, which highlighted a number of rising stars. To pin a genre on him, he is a blues artist, but his music is a lot more complex than what this style is normally associated with. Commons is yet to release an album, but his recent singles are very exciting and show a lot of promise.
Suggested listening? It's a tough choice, but I'm going with his most recent single, "Devil In Me".

To visit Jamie N Common's website, click here.

And that's this weeks Crunch, and your Crash Hub fill for this week. Be sure to pay us a visit again on Monday when I'll have music news from the last week and a review of the soundtrack from Harry Potter 7 part 1.
Tom :)

THE CRUNCH - Windows 8 Preview

The Crunch is thing that we do on Fridays where we talk about stuff that is interesting but doesn't fit the pattern:

Windows 8 is the next operating system made by windows even though it is the 10th they have made!!! "So why is it called Windows 8?" I hear you ask. Well this is because some of them were so terrible they would just prefer they never existed. And yes worst then Vista, they included that one! So hopefully Windows 8 will be good although first impressions are "urg horrible rectangles" and "that is a really dull logo" (see above). So yeah, it is a big change and in my view the colour scheme and graphics look horrible, it is what would be made by a GCSE IT (of which I sat an exam today, it went well, thanks for asking) student, blindfolded. However it does work practically, Windows 8 will boot up faster then you can say, "Why is there no start button?". Yes that fast, I mean no loading at all, none, from no power.

Its insane.

Also once on the desktop it looks the same as Windows 7 except with some really cool new features in the documents and task manager.

Now it is designed mainly for a tablet so the apps on the main blocky start menu don't work that well on the desktop but all the features and design look perfect for a tablet, really easy and simple to use. I mentioned that there is no start button, that is because the blocky thing is the start menu and I personally like the layout and I think the blocks and the colours I will begin to like, probably it is just change I don't like. It has some nice features such as uninstalling an application straight from the menu, no need to go through control panel.

So word is it will be releasing sometime in October this year and I kinda like it, hopefully it wont end up with the same jokes that vista got ("We're going to die" for example from Moss in the IT crowd for example). In the mean time you can download this preview or watch their release video at this link: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-8/release-preview

So that was today's "Crunch", tell us what you think in the comments.
And check back on Monday when Tom will be giving you the latest news in the world of music.


Kieron :O