DanJW

Yes, I had my doubts but she did turn out surprisingly well. I don't have much joy at the thought of Catherine Tate being a permanent assistant though.

You're so wrong, on almost every count. You've probably only come to this opinion because it's what spaff told you to think. Go read Year 1.

I sort of might like LOOM when they are good.

I'd watch the series first, if you can wait that long. I will have to borrow the first book off you when you're done (BTW this doesn't mean you can ignore the Earthsea series that I lent you. You are honour-bound to read those immediately). I got mostly useful things that I haven't been able to afford myself: an new electric razor, a monstrous electric toothbrush, clothing. But Nick did get me The Sandman: Preludes and Noctournes, which is fantastic.Someone also got me Wizard's First Rule. I don't know anything about it really and haven't read any Terry Goodkind before. I shall post a verdict when I've read it.

Oh man, the sea-vampires. I remember being scared by that episode. I think Tennant is a great Doctor, but the xmas specials never do much for me. I know exactly what you mean about the automatons, Wrestle. My favourite episodes are the ones that owe more to Quatermass. In fact the New Doctor Who stuff often has me feeling slightly torn. It's like the writers are on the edge of something brilliant, but then they fall back into typical BBC hokiness and cliché. I've said before how I think english TV sci-fi is lagging behind the rest of the world somewhat, and New Doctor Who personifies that mixed feeling of hope and frustration.

Well, I've done my last minute shopping. Strangely the crowds don't seem to bother me any more, possibly because the I feel the way described above all year round

Aww, shame. It was looking to be be a pretty good adaptation

Apparently it is word of the year: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7142257.stm But where does it come from? Most of the suggestions in the article are laughable. When I first heard the word about ten years ago, I was told that it derived from Unix hacker speak, namely "r00t!" for the root drive. When someone managed to access the root they would announce it in triumph. Maybe you are closer to the truth. Tell us. Also worth discussing, is what this net/gamer term means for geek culture. Does being word of the year mean more mainstream acceptance? Or does this announcement mean that "w00t" has had its day and will soon become completely uncool?

Yeah that voice sample was awful. But from whatshisname said, this teaser was never made for public viewing, it was made as an internal xmas party motivational type thing. Lots of games companies do this, I've seen quite a few - they have a video or something at the end of the year as a kind of pat on the back for everyone. I'm not sure how this particular one will have affected staff morale at 3D Realms though...

Could these things be connected? I sense a dark past here, involving one man's incessant thinking out loud and hence driving his family to seek violent solutions.

Most people liked them, and with good reason. They're good movies. Sure, not everyone will like them, but then that's life.

I agree that it is still bloated, but at least it is much more enjoyable to experience. Props to the dialogue writers and voice actors.

I named my Shepherd "Frau". As in Frau Shepherd. She's a bit of a nazi you see. Pretty fair review. He's right about RPG fans probably liking the dialogue, because I do.

So the second movie will be fanfic. Great. edit: shame that the Golden Compass isn't doing great in the US. I liked the His Dark Materials books and think they have a lot mre to say than Harry Potter. Is the poor response due to the church outcry in some way?

Ah, produce, my mistake. OK, but where are they going to be pulling this "in-between" movie from? There's some stuff in the appendices and perhaps in Unfinished Tales, but not enough for a movie. Basically they are going to be writing a new Middle-Earth story, and that's probably a bit dangerous.

Which begs the question: just who is he instructing to "shake it, baby"?

Yes I did

It was good. Up until the third act, when you die and then come back to a world of silliness. Anyway, expressive characters not withstanding, hopefully they'll remember to include more gameply in this next game. Oh, and N0wak, your image broke

There's all this talk about how the Crysis devs wanted "no design" just photorealism. I'm sorry but that's bull. Things like weapons, the suit that you wear, the HUD, the enemy soldiers, the vehicles, the buildings.... all this needs to be designed, nevermind the alien bollocks. In a live action movie, an immense amount of preproduction goes into designing things (just look at WETA workshop). If you want photorealism, fine, but you'll still have to design stuff.

I kind of like Statutary Grape, for some reason. The Colour Fred is good too. But yes, the prize must go to Those Fucking Unicorns!

Yes you should.

While doing a random search to jog my memory, I found this little gem: :tup:

Interesting that it's a nother Showtime production. Oooh, I quite like the Dead Like Me opening:

Dexter probably has the best opening credits ever. I'm really hoping the show makes it onto a major TV channel over here soon (as opposed to the third-rate backwater that is FX), so I can make everyone I know watch it. Hmm, there's gotta be some more good title sequences. Let me have a think.

To be utterly harsh at this point, I was slightly disappointed that this next film would feature the Joker. Batman vs Joker has become an utter cliché, and unless they do something really surprising with it, I think it's going to tread a lot of old ground. What's the third film going to be about, Penguin and Catwoman? Still, seeing how much I liked Batman Begins, I can't help but be a little hopeful about Dark Knight.