Ben X

No one getting this? Only today left! Save yourself £3! (Unless you realise it's so awesome you MUST donate.)

Yeah, until very recently it was going to be a film, but that seems to have been superceded: http://tvovermind.zap2it.com/cable/hbo/american-gods/hbo-adaptation-neil-gaimans-american-gods-seasons/61495 100 Bullets is also getting adapted, which is why I'm catching up with it. Adaps often motivate my reading choices!

(YELPS, DUCKS HEAD BACK OUT OF THREAD.) Aww, you only quoted the last bit as if to imply that you ducked back out because of my presence, not the continued lack of safety. You feminists are all menBen-haters.

Good, so we're all agreed that feminism is BAD because it is actually sexist. Oh, hi subbes.

Gibbage being free this weekend is a video game deal!

I've just started Neil Gaiman's American Gods in anticipation of the tv adap, and am enjoying it very much so far even though barely anything has happened. (Zero spoilers please.)

I'm very conflicted, because on the one hand I agree with everything Sal is saying and appreciate her calm, clear debating style. On the other hand, she dissed my "bigger tits" running joke.

Predictable yet gladdening. Anyone else potentially around for it?

Gibbage is free all weekend! You may have a little trouble getting it to run in the higher graphics modes, due to unfutureproofed res choices, but once you grasp the controls, it really is brilliant two-player keyboard-huddle fun. http://www.sizefivegames.com/2011/08/05/gibbage-free-to-play-this-weekend/

While you're at it, she needs bigger tits.

Surely this has all been found before?

That comic also suggests that everyone on the internet uses "sexist" incorrectly, which is quite accurate. Here's the best remaining picture of my ex-housemate who did regional weather and news: http://web.archive.org/web/20090806231202/http://www.geocities.com/cbangliaeastbabes/tn_carlaprater_003.jpg and a thread dedicated to her friend Wendy: http://currentbuns.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=weatpics&thread=1295&page=1 http://img214.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=88286_wendy_050809_002_122_1095lo.JPG They used to have proper fan pages dedicated to them on geocities, but they're gone now

Oh, I meant "less planned than Lost", btw. I got Lost-fixated and missed the fact you said the more general "more planned than most shows I've been watching". Yeah, it does feel like they know where they're going, but with the option to mix it up along the way.

I like the ones Steve Purcell puts on his Sam And Max background characters - "BORN TO WRESTLE DINOSAURS UNTIL JESUS COMES BACK OR I DIE", that sort of thing.

I fucking love Fringe! It feels less planned to me, at least not so far in advance, but that's not hampering my enjoyment of it. I just pray it doesn't lose itself in its spiderweb plotting like Alias did, but it's made it through 3 seasons without showing signs of doing so.

Even B5 came a cropper with season 5, though (JMS knew it wasn't very likely he'd get his planned fifth season and so rushed to wrap up a load of stuff early, and then when it DID get recommissioned he had a lot less left to do than planned). I don't want to get into a big Lost argument, but I think it was also a lot more planned out than some give it credit for. They did have at least a general idea of where it was going the whole way through, although it was admittedly vague for at least the first half of the first season, and you can see them setting stuff up seasons in advance. JJ Abrams did that TED talk (which was linked to on this site a loooong time ago, I think), but he wasn't the show runner and so I don't think that one talk can be taken as The Lost Ethos. I found the questions/answers ratio/dripfeed mostly perfect, and the first ep of season 2 that turned Nachimir off is a great example of that for me: answering this burning question (what's in the hatch?) with something utterly unexpected that opens up a load more questions (which also all got answered in time). The pre-titles shock-reveal is masterful. Lost didn't by any means manage to pull off a perfect six-season structure, but it did incredibly well, and as Thunder points out, it wasn't all about the mystery. I'll finish off by linking to a great site where a fan addresses all the 'unanswered' questions by pointing out how the series gave us everything we needed to figure them out: http://lostanswers.tumblr.com

It's not going to be that kind of honeymoon, Rodi.

I knew it!

You're too kind, Thunder, it was nothing, really, my pleasure.

*COUGH COUGH*

Well, I didn't say it was difficult to beat me to it...

Yeah, it was pretty good. I recommend trying your hardest to see it with an adult/respectful audience, because my enjoyment of it must have been halved by all the kids laughing whenever anything vaguely strange or uncomfortable or unexpected or tense or quiet happened, and the constant bubbling of whispered chitchat for the rest of the time. The structure is pretty fucked and a lot of moments are hopelessly fumbled but generally it's cool, with directorial flair (takes a few cues from LOTR) and has a nicely different feel to the rest of the films now it's full-out Harry Vs Voldemort.

You guys always beat me to posting this stuff! I think you've caught up with pretty much all the details I know, though, from the press release. Just to confirm: I AM NOT INVOLVED IN THIS PROJECT. I'm not a permanent Size 5 employee, I just co-designed the Dan and Ben games (and did "additional design" on Gibbage). Perhaps if everyone buys The Swindle then Dan will be able to hire me permanently to ride around his huge new production offices on an electric micro-scooter shouting nob jokes out. However, being Dan's best mate and closely affiliated with Size Five, I can tell you that it looks gorgeous in motion and should be great fun. Oh, and yeah, it looks similar to Privates because that game was based closely on Dan's concept art and Dan's doing the art himself on The Swindle. [EDIT: official Swindle thread]

Is it Disney? I hoped that fat hawaiian-shirt Pixar man would insist on hand-drawn rather than 3D, like with Princess And The Frog.

Left Faith = original Right Faith = horrible internetz Adventuress = just right subbes = chesty