Seeing all the Doctor Who discussion on the forum, I thought some of our DVD Verdict readers might like an introduction to one of the Doctor's predecessors -- explorer Jet Morgan.

If you go to the BBC 7 online -- www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7 -- and check out the Saturday "Listen Again" feature, you can hear a classic episode of Journey Into Space.

Each season is a 20-episode serial. The first couple of episodes have already been aired, but it should be easy enough to follow. In "World in Peril," Jet and his team have returned from Mars, only to find out that Mars is invading Earth.

I've broken my four year streak of not paying to see (what look like) bad movies yesterday -- and it's all someone else's fault. I went to the movies to see Zodiac this weekend and the cashier mistakenly rang me up for...I can't believe this...Norbit! AHHH! My e-movie integrity has been shattered!

On a lighter note, I liked Zodiac quite a bit. The only real flaw for me was that it could've been shorter. I may write a little more about it on another day. That's all my first blog entry(ever, not just on this site). I like the idea of trying to keep this up, that way and can get all those nagging thoughts out of my head that sometimes prevent me from writing. Anyway, have a nice week everybody.

So, on Friday night my wife and I invented a drinking game tied to the film 'I Robot' - it's easy, just take a drink anytime anyone says the word robot, or the word appears on the screen. Guaranteed to have you feeling no pain in about twenty minutes!

There’s been a lot of talk in recent years how countries like Korea and Mexico have been experiencing a “new wave” of filmmaking by producing a lot of exciting movies in recent years. While all that’s been going on, the Scandinavian countries have been quietly experiencing a “new wave” of their own, with a number of cutting edge films coming out of the lands of snow and blondes. The Palm Springs International Film Festival this year features a whole series of new Scandinavian flicks, so I knew I had to check one out. My geekishness won out over my film criticness, however, so I gravitated toward a supernatural thriller rather than a highbrow relationship drama. But when the supernatural thriller in question is Cecilie, there’s no problem.

Cecilie (Sonja Richter) is a young married woman ready to get back into her teaching career after a long leave of absence. All seems well at first, but she starts having strange nightmares and visions that are disrupting her job and her marriage. It’s then revealed that this isn’t the first time, and that Cecilie has had these frightening visions before. Driven to learn the meaning behind her nightmares, with the help of a think-outside-the-box psychiatrist, Cecilie now has to unravel clues to a murder that happened years ago, so history does not repeat itself.

Although Cecilie doesn’t add a lot to the horror genre, it certainly does a lot of things right. There was one shot early on that had me groaning because of how reminiscent it was of The Ring. I was all, “Great, I flew all the way to Palm Springs just to sit through yet another J-horror rip-off.” Sure enough, the look of the film is that sort of grayish-blue color seen in so many recent fright flicks, and it benefits more from a dark and gloomy atmosphere than it does from gore or monsters. But, as I kept watching, I became more and more engrossed in the storyline, I cared about the characters, and I really felt the suspense as the plot raced toward its climax at the end.

That’s what’s so great about Cecilie: it might use the conventions of the horror genre, but it tells its own story. So, although it’s familiar, it’s not a blatant rip-off or retread of what has gone on before--which, sadly, is what we keep getting from Hollywood. Cecilie is a real crowd pleaser. It has creepy nightmares, an interesting and well-thought-out mystery to be solved, and even some sexiness to satisfy the lowest common denominator. It might not be anything new--this is the type of plot they do every week on Medium--but it’s a satisfying spookfest with a great story. Check it out if you’re able to.

I don’t believe I’m about to admit this to the entire world, but here goes: while at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, I went on one of those bus tours that takes you around to the stars’ homes. If I were to sum up the entire tour in a single word, it’d be “hokey.”

People in Palm Springs rarely refer to it as “Palm Springs.” Instead, almost everybody just calls it “the Desert.” Driving into town, the Desert is not exactly what I’d call “pretty.” This isn’t the nice sweeping dunes of Lawrence of Arabia. Instead, it’s more of grungy, grey-brown, brush covered desert, like something out of, let’s say, Tremors. The city itself is much nicer, of course. Not only are there big ol’ palm trees everywhere, but the city passed an ordinance years ago outlawing large outdoor advertising. As a result, the whole place gets to show off some nice architecture without gigantic signs and billboards cluttering up the main streets. I can see why so many old-timey celebrities were drawn to the place. Speaking of celebrities, let’s move on to some of the goofy stuff from the tour.

My tour guide was also a part-time member of the Dixieland Band at Disneyland, and was the closest thing to an actual celebrity I met while there.

Ten minutes into the tour and the first “celebrity home” we saw was game show host Monty Hall’s mother’s house. This didn’t fill me with much hope, but, fortunately, there were other stars’ homes that were, shall we say, a little more high profile.

The Desert’s two favorite sons are, by far, Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope. There was more info about these two guys on the tour than anyone else. In neighboring Cathedral City, we drove by the former Sinatra compound, made up of several buildings' worth of living space and partying space. Sinatra allegedly had the entire interior of one house painted bright orange, including ceilings, furniture, doors, doorknobs, and everything else, complimented with orange shag carpeting in every room. Why’d he do this? Because he’s Sinatra and he did it his way!

Bob Hope owned several homes in the Desert, living in a smaller one, and reserving the bigger ones for his parties. Turns out Hope made his fortune not from entertainment but from real estate. He had the foresight to buy up huge properties in the Desert long before rich folks started moving out there. I guess movies and comedy were just something he did on the side when not making shrewd land deals.

There are a lot of stories out there about Sinatra being all short-tempered, and I’m not saying that those aren’t true, but he also did a lot of charitable things for the town. The most notable of these is a park designed for use by the blind, which he financed with a blind friend in mind. The park has all kinds of displays in Braille, along with a special audio message from Sinatra himself, welcoming everyone to the park. With all that in mind, I guess it would be pretty insensitive of me to wonder why one path going through the park is lined with cacti on both sides.

An ordinary-looking trailer park proved itself to be a notable locale, as it’s where Bing Crosby and Jack Benny both lived in their later years. This begs the question: What in the heck were Bing Crosby and Jack Benny doing living in a freakin' trailer park?

Marylin Monroe’s house is very cool and classy-looking, which you'd expect from her. It’s also just a few blocks down from the home President John F. Kennedy stayed during his visits to the Desert. My tour guide said the two of them used to pass each other while jogging in the morning. Yeah, I’m sure they did.

Liz Taylor’s house is not only gigantic with an elaborately landscaped back yard, but folks can rent it out for several thousand dollars a day for parties. So you better not let your 9-year-old daughter find out about this place, or she'll be begging you to have her next birthday there.

Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn have a very nice house, and guess what? Their next door neighbor is Madonna. Tell me that’s not a sitcom waiting to happen.

The guy who did the voice of the Shadow on the old 1930s radio show is not only still around, but he has a little plaque outside his home bearing the famous line, “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!” I do believe that was the coolest thing I saw on the tour.

While driving past Hedy Lamarr’s house, where her grandchildren live today, I learned that not only did she have quite the real-life adventure escaping Nazi Germany to make it to Hollywood, but she’s also credited as the inventor of a radio guidance system for WWII torpedoes! Where’s that biopic?!?

Vincent Price has a house in the Desert, but, sadly, it’s not a dark gloomy castle. It does, however, have the distinction of being the longest house in the city. So, that's something, at least.

These were the highlights for me. In case you're wondering why I'm not providing the full listing of all the houses I saw, it's because I really don't care that much. It was just something to do.