Ben X

And perhaps Red Dwarf (series 1-6 only), as that was another one Voyager was seen to be inspired by. I'm surprised by all the Voyager love, having never seen it I was under the impression that it was universally tolerated at best.

A lovely article by Will Porter on this phenomenon: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/04/30/gaming-made-me-coverdiscs/

That wasn't very politic of you, Hermie.

And in that parallel universe you would have won this debate.

Yeah, we had this conversation straight after seeing Thor, didn't we? I think one only gets fatigue of a persona or repeated performance when it gets used in bad movies. So, RDJ doing the same shtick in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Zodiac and Iron Man (to be fair, he turned in a variety of performances before that) is fine. Trying to carry Sherlock Holmes with it immediately flipped my fatigue switch. Same thing happened with Jack Black, Owen Wilson, Woody Allen etc. Also, I'd disagree on that being the only thing Iron Man had going for it. I liked the support players (including two genuinely likeable robotic sidekicks), the dialogue, effects, cinematography, a couple of the action scenes, the unashamed emotional streak (bad phrasing alert). It did have a bit of a dull climactic battle, though, and there are slow sections there (although those do get better on a second viewing!).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/apr/27/charlie-brooker-wedding-go-home

You watched Thor AND Source Code twice? How come? I've been drinking since ten, and am surrounded by girls talking about weddings, so I'll keep going with this debate even though we're not diametrically opposed here. I agree. I still think this is unfair. I think other actors could have played a reckless, charismatic millionaire just as well. It would have been a different film, and perhaps not as good, but I don't really see the point of your argument. Iron Man has this really good central performance in it. That's a positive. If you took Woody Allen out of Annie Hall it would be different. Thor has a lead that could be swapped out without affecting the film. I'd say that's a bad thing. Oh, and I'm not sure I agree with you re. Big Lebowski either. For one thing, they wrote that role for Bridges.

Oh, and additional on Winnie The Pooh: A couple of nice songs by Zooey Deschanel!

I don't think that's a fair criticism - take out the main character and there's not a lot left? You could say that of a lot of films - they don't all have to be ensembles. Even something with loads of brilliant characters like The Big Lebowski - if you take out The Dude, all the other characters wouldn't really work. Not sure about story - they're both pretty flimsy. Agreed on characters but only just - no one's really well-defined, but I found SC's protagonist less of a plot mechanism. I'd say dialogue was on a par. And, y'know, SC didn't have that much to say about the human condition. I think you could eke out a similarly deep thematic reading of either film just by dint of their plot devices. It gave it more of a go than Limitless, granted, but I don't think it said that much more. I did enjoy both films (yeah, Limitless a lot more, now I think about it) - more than Thor, but less than Iron Man - but I'll never watch them again or recommend them.

Another bonus is that it's socially acceptable to start drinking at 10am today.

I bet one of the cars drives up the back of a diplodocus and ramps off its neck.

No, wait, Gibbage.

I think Pong is the most influential game of all time.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/04/29/bad-lieutenant-hector-badge-of-carnage/

You watched it TWICE? Oh, man. I'm surprised you even put it on-par with Iron Man - I thought everything about the latter was done better. Seriously, you could cut out all but five characters in Thor and not miss anything. Probably improve it a lot, actually. (Thinking about it, Iron Man pretty much did that already, maybe that's why I prefer it - it's a lot tighter.) Not sure on Limitless vs Source Code. Source Code had more thought put into it, but Limitless was more fun.

Yeah, I think it's about 50/50 in England - the old people care, the women just like big weddings, and no one else gives a shit.

Scream (it all be)4. Not very good, especially because the original characters don't get much to do and the new ones are dull. The franchise just has nothing left to say or do. Source Code was okay, but basically a Twilight Zone ep dragged out too long. Genius , though. Winnie The Pooh was nicely done but very slight. Could have been done for telly.

Where the hell is the Black Mesa mod, that's what I'm waiting for (plus a new computer to play it on, obv).

Thor? Flawed bore more (like). Nice production design, but the attempts at character-driven plot fail due to lack of characters.

Portal runs on my laptop! It's all jaggedy and shit, but it runs smoothly! God bless Valve! (I got Dan's copy now, so yours can go elsewhere, thanks TP.) Back on-topic: "So you're telling me if he was a butler, he'd be a big, giant..." "Exactly."

yh-rnEZ7Dzw

Sounds like a piss-poor captain.

Aw, thanks dude. Dan offered me a copy of Portal the other day, actually. I've got to register with Steam and download the demo to see if it works (I doubt it will, not sure if Half-Life 1 would run on this laptop). EDIT: that being said, I bagsy your copy of Portal in case Dan has given his away already.

I don't play many any more, as I can't afford it! I pretty much only play the free indie games and old adventures that my laptop can manage.

Toonstruck is now playable through scummvm's latest daily builds! You may want to wait until the next official stable version (v3, I think), but it's working perfectly for me so far. Oh, glorious Toonstruck! I just have to hope that the timed puzzles aren't borked.