I liked the new Doctor and the new companion(s), but found the stories a bit ... lame. Bring on Torchwood.
Numb3rs is best when a character says "think of..." and starts describing a bad analogy to a mathematical problem. I don't know why we keep watching it.
The last season (6) of House was pretty good. It didn't take long for House to fall into a rut (problem, try stuff, fail a bit, amazing recovery!), but finally dragging House's addictions into the open made it slightly more interesting.
NCIS Season 7... meh. I like the characters, but they're stuck in rubbish rubbish scripts. Not sure I'll bother for Season 8.
League of Gentlemen was fantastic(ly weird). Psychoville somehow wasn't at all.
Slightly disappointed by Being Human Season 2. Not sure why... I think the coming vampire apocalypse sounded imminent, planned, hair-trigger... but Season 2 focused to much on the werewolves and ghosts. It's also wound-up way too randomly fast and easy.
Deadwood is sucking us in. Damn it.
The Prisoner US mini-series is far too deliberate. Thankfully it is short. I look forward to seeing how they end it.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force has how many seasons after 5? Wow...
Completely in love with Twin Peaks. Will be unhappy to see it go. Season One is pure gold, well paced, perfect in most ways. Season Two has its dull moments, but some episodes, especially the one where Laura's killer is finally revealed, is stunning.
We stupidly watching Skins Season 4 on SBS instead of downloading the UK version. As such we got the "international" version with the replaced music. Watching Skins without the original music is like watching a Faith No More concert with the music replaced by a bad Bee Gees cover band. Pointless and strange.
The Wire makes all other TV look like the crap you find on your shoe.
Akercocke continue to surprise me. I don't know why I like their weird mix of thrash and doom metal with occasional random bad 80's singing but I do.
Europe had one good song. I heard a live set of theirs once and was kind of surprised but their best-of betrays their dullness.
Aphrodite's Child's 666 is not "genius" but is truly strange and has some great sections.
Very surprised by Imani Coppola's "The Black & White Album". Better Hip-hop/rap not-quite-parody than Regurgitator or The Lonely Island every dreamed up.
The Beach Boys were so far ahead of their time it frightens me.
I do in fact love Billy Joel.
I do not at all like Phil Collins. His best song fades-out just when it gets good.
Disappointed in the latest Soulfly, despite most reviews I've read saying it is better than the last two albums, I prefer them.
Orange Tulip Conspiracy's self titled and Miasma & The Carousel of Headless Horses' "Perils" are both fun instrumentals, but require a full album listen, which takes time.
I love VAST for having the balls to sell his own stuff in MP3 on his own website, but his music hasn't been much for the last decade. The Bang Band Sixxx EP at least had some of the soul of the first couple of albums.
I found out why I have never got into Anthrax, despite managing to enjoy the other three of the "big four"... they're a bit dull. I give them huge high-fives for the rap/metal stuff they did in the 90s but "I'm The Man '91" is dreadfull but "Bring The Noise" is pretty good (for the time). It wasn't as much fun live though.
Dio is amazing, or at least, "Holy Diver" is. How I've missed this album in the last 10 years I don't know, especially since a friend of mine introduced me (at least in concept) to him in '99. I wish I'd picked up the thread. Brilliant. I'm also very very happy I didn't get a best-of and picked up a whole album instead.
Ozzy Osbourne consistently surprises me with how well he can sing. His latest album "Scream" is really pretty good hard-rock-pop music. I was less surprised when I listened to half of the best-of ("Essential"). His solo career has always been quite pop-rock.
Clutch were amazing at Soundwave 2010, and their last two albums are great, but the Classic Rock Magazine recommended "Blast Tyrant" left me cold. Something about the production I suppose. I guess it depends on what you start with?
Dream Evil's "The Book Of Heavy Metal" is brilliant, but the rest of the album is a bit ballody for my liking.
Apocalyptica's new album "7th Symphony" is great. The instrumental stuff is great, as is the track with Gojira's Joe Duplantier. "Not Strong Enough" is a little too man-rock/uhn-jah for my liking, "End of Me" (with that dude from Bush) is OK, and "Broken Pieces" tries to be annoyingly Schweppervescence but comes out OK.
For some reason I decided against Porcupine Tree's "Fear of a Blank Planet" when it first came on my radar, but when Classic Rock Magazine suggested it again I finally caved in. It's pretty good, but the singer somehow gets on my nerves... It weirdly reminds me of Muse but I can't put my finger on why... perhaps it is the obvious "wish we were Pink Floyd" vibe.
I have a list of "to listen" tracks picked up from reading blogs and magazines that I usually satisfy with YouTube. On that list was Avantasia and for some reason I wrote next to it "yes yes yes". I can't imagine why, they're so sickly sweet they make me ill. Like the lovey-dovey side of Dream Theater turned up to 100. It must have been the mood I was in.