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This ramshackle mess is a spin-off feature from the Comedy Central show Reno 911! Imagine Police Academy mixed with Super Troopers shot like a documentary and with any charm or humour removed, and your getting kinda close to how bad this film is.

After a biological-attack at the American Police Convention in Miami leaves (apparently) every police officer in the country in quarantine, the bumbling boys and girls from the Reno Sheriff’s Department are left in charge of the city. Hilarity ensues.

Only it doesn’t – because there is nothing funny about this film. That includes the fat ass jokes, the gay jokes, the wanking jokes and the dead whale jokes. The one thing that even comes close to being humourous (but doesn’t actually get there) is the appearance of Nick Swardson as roller-skating rent boy Terry. However, even Swardson can’t generate a grin after having to sit through the unfunniest film since Schindler’ds List.

Keep. The fuck. Away.

Are you a twat? Then buy it here.

One of the most difficult most annoying jobs of being a journalist is having to listen to promo CDs of unknown bands. As you can imagine, a lot are either bands doing bad rip-offs of other, more commercially successful bands, or seem intent on screaming to the point their vocal chords spectacularly rupture. On average, a lucky journalist gets one CD a year that makes him continue reviewing. Last week, I found that CD.

SixNationState, whose self-titled debut album is released in September, blends infectiously nifty guitar riffs with blissful lyrics to make what can only be described as a perfect debut album. Currently touring around the UK, the bands raw live energy is clearly apparent on the albums more rockier tracks like “Keep Dancing” and “Talking Me Over”, whilst mellow tracks like “We Could Be Happy” and “Don’t Need You Anymore” could be excused as tracks by bands like Blur, The Foo Fighters or even the Kaiser Chiefs.

 If anything, the only criticism I have of this album is that I find it hard to see where the singles will come from, partly because each track is different to the last, meaning that newcomers to the band may get irritated by the, but partly that despite this, most tracks could be singles, and even after a weeks listening, I can’t decide which ones I would release if I was in the position to do so.

SixNationStates debut album is released on 24 September 2007. Procure one from here

There are many unexplained things in the world. Some have obvious explanations (crop circles, stigmata, the Loch Ness monster) while others are more complexing (talking cats, bleeding statues, how your mum always manage to call you at the most inconvenient time), but regardless how small and strange these phenomena are, there is still something about them that makes great conversation.

Over the last few years, the Rough Guide books have been providing a, well, rough guide to a range of broad yet stimulating subjects, from British comedy to poker. Although a good starting place to learn a particular subject, the books tend to merely give lucid facts and stories, most of which anyone who has a passing interested in the subject would probably have already known. The Fortean Times, who helped make this book, clearly know a vast amount about the unknown (a contradiction if I ever heard one), but if you are already interested in the unexplained, then this book will merely serve as a way of highlighting to people your interests. Probably best to only consider purchasing this book if you want to impress a Goth.

Click here to weird yourself out.

Plus! We’ve got four copies of this weighty tome to give away. Isn’t that lovely? Yes it is. To win one, just chuck an email over to competitions@the-void.co.uk telling us about your spookiest encounter. Best four tales of the unexplained win a copy of The Rough Guide to Unexplained Phenomena.

Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels have long since evolved from the affectionate fantasy novel pastiches of their early days, but the last few years have shown a definite desire on the author’s part to draw a line between the initial run and a new direction.

Since 1999’s The Fifth Elephant, Pratchett has, on the whole, been producing longer and more intricate novels with a largely new set of players. Granny Weatherwax and her coven of witches have been relegated to Pratchett’s excellent Tiffany Aching books for younger readers, and the incompetent wizard Rincewind has been, it seems, completely retired. In their place we have been introduced to journalist William de Word (The Truth), military recruit Polly Perks (Monstrous Regiment), and saviour of the Post Office, Moist Von Lipwig, whose story began in 2004’s Going Postal and now continues in Making Money. A further shift in the novels has been in the plotting.

Story arcs across multiple novels now seem to be the norm, where before they could stand alone, and rather than the device of aberrations being introduced to Discworld only to be defeated and forgotten (shopping malls, cinema, rock music), the emphasis now is on innovations with lasting consequences. Ankh Morpork – a fantasy city in the Robert E. Howard mould but one where science co-exists with magic, modern inventions collide with Hammer medievalism, and political correctness requires that the undead be referred to as “differently alive” – has become a constantly evolving character in the books, and Moist’s success as postmaster has lead to Patrician Vetinari’s manoeuvring him into position as head of the city’s banking system.

The introduction of paper money to his fictional society allows Pratchett ample opportunity for musing on monetary systems and fiscal policies, and provides some level of philosophical and political backbone to the novel, in the way that quantum theory underscored Thief of Time, and Thud! abstractly reflected our current tense religious climate.

All of which doesn’t quite convey that Making Money is as funny as any previous entry in the series, and better than many. If you‘re not a fan it obviously won’t convert you, but if you’ve been tapping your fingers due to the longer than usual wait (there hasn’t been a proper new Discworld novel since 2005), this should more than make up for it.    Owen Williams

Buy Making Money here.

Frankie Boyle, star of TV’s ‘Mock The Week’, playing at a theatre near you and charging £15 for the privilege of listening to what is essentially a series of sharp one-liners. Few would deny Boyle’s talent as a performer: his confident manner and acute sense of timing connects him rapidly with his audience, letting him launch with a momentum that carries him right through to the close of the show.

Boyle’s rapport with the audience is the cornerstone of his act, working his material around a series of improvised quips in an adroit fashion but at the end of the performance you’ll be hard pressed to remember any of his gags except the insults. If you’re a fan of the television show he regularly appears on, chances are you’ll have heard some of the gags before. By way of small compensation, Boyle tries playing things close to the bone but there’s no air of unpredictability and what probably seemed like a worthy sharp shock on paper feels a little blunted. Regardless, Boyle rolls with the punches and moves on to his next target when a shot misses effortlessly.

If rapid-fire, old-school banter is your thing, this is probably money well spent but for the rest of you expecting a little more substance and/or value, chances are you’ll come away feeling rather short-changed.