Later that day on my bus journey home was listening to extended version of Anthrax’s Sound of white noise album which has a rather cool cover of Thin Lizzys Cowboy Song, two occurances

So during a late night game of Ryzom (that had just downloaded, more soon) I finally gave in and stuck on Dedication : The very best of Thin Lizzy, which suited the game rather well.

Sunday night Mr. Dok came around and with Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits and GH: Metallica both of which totally rocked. We rocked out to a awesome selection of different tunes, damn hard at times tho. Of course we finished the evening with a The boys are back in town again.

Continuing this list of linked occurrences I put the radio on while having a bath and happened upon Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds on radio 2. It wasn’t the original but a recently recorded version, but when I turned it on just happened to be at the section “Parson Nathaniel”, which in the original recording was performed by Phil Lynott.

I thought at the time, I should really get a re-mastered version of the musical. So I was well please when I tuned in to the Through the Aftermath podcast and heard a rather fantastic version of the War of the Worlds radio broadcast as performed by Jonathan.

On the weekend 7/8/9th me and Rach headed to the big smoke, after a quite annoying train ride we were pretty much exhausted and after a whistle stop tour around the rather awe inspiring St. Pancras station, we hit the hay quite early. On the Sunday we met up with a large and varied assortment of folks from different places. Much nattering was done and although the pub we had gathered in offered food, our plan was to hit WagaMamas for our nourishment needs. As typical as the weather is in the UK the once sunny skies filled with heavy clouds and our 10 minute journey was undertaken in vast downpours, but the food was rather tasty as promised, so it was worth it.

We took a stroll and visit a Gosh Comics where I picked up a couple of nice titles  and then we continued onto Forbidden Planet. The home of so many shiny things.

It was really nice to put faces to the rabble that normally exist in electron form over the interweb.

Gaming
In the past few weeks there has been a light scattering of Left4Dead with Rachy and more recently Dok, I really do enjoy the game and can’t wait for the expansion to arrive.
Our weekly adventuring team in City of Heroes is fast approaching level 40 and I’m looking forward to the Taskforces and content in the final 10 levels, which I haven’t seen before.
I’m still playing some Dawn of War 2, mostly on campaign mode still, only seeking into multiplayer games occasionally, the game is certainly well thought through and my 2nd run on the campaign is still quite fresh. I think the customisable characters allow for some very different play-styles between games.

I’ve also been playing a couple of Java games as my flu/cold/lergy meant I didn’t feel like playing anything that needed to much concentration.

Films

Well I’ve finally seen Watchmen on Monday just gone. I really enjoyed the film adaptation and thought most of it was as true to the original as could be expected, superseding my exceptions at times. After a post-viewing discussion with Dok I think I nailed down one of  the elements that I felt wasn’t as obvious.  In the film as in the book the threat of nuclear war is made quite clear, but I feel the book illustrates the populations anxiety and the heightened sense of impending doom.

Reading

I’ve not read lot in the last few weeks, Rachy got me Batman : The Killing Joke which I found a wonderfully dark and gripping storyline. Thanks to Rockjaw for suggesting it on the Limited Edition podcast a few episodes back.

Dok was off work last weekend so we got down to some film watching on Saturday evening, with the feature films being Wanted, Hulk and since we were on a comic themed roll X-men.

Wanted was rather better than I had expected, I haven’t read any related material before so I can’t comment on how true to original story line it is. The film was nicely captivating and it didn’t leave much time for clock watching. I quite like the fact that Jolie was rarely the centre of camera attention, a rather nice change I thought.

The Hulk was quite enjoyable with Ed Norton delivering so great acting, the film is quite fast moving and housed a vast selection of battle scenes. All that aside the storyline/plot was still clear and didn’t get too lost. Very enjoyable and sets up nicely for future films to.

Monday seen the release of Ironman on DVD, Dok and myself went to the cinema to watch this, even tho I had seen the film recently it was a pleasure to watch again, definately one to see if you get the chance.

Remember to watch to the end of the credits of both the Marvel films

So as for the rest of things, everything ticks over rather nicely. I’m still adjusting to having daylight in the mornings, even if it is for the next couple of weeks only.

Here is the blurb from the E4 website:

[blockquote]Britain has a big problem. The dead are returning to life and attacking the living. The people they kill get up and kill – and it’s spreading like wildfire. Curiously, there are a few people left in Britain who aren’t worried about any of this – that’s because they’re the remaining contestants in Big Brother. Cocooned in the safety of the Big Brother house, they’re blissfully unaware of the horrific events unfolding outside. Until an eviction night when all hell breaks loose.[/blockquote]

I must admit it does look rather promising and with the added bonus of Kevin Eldon being in the cast will make it a “must watch” for the upcoming winter months.

It certainly demonstrates a use for the BB house during the off-peak session, I wonder what other uses they will dream up for it in the future.

Dok pointed out that there is an American version of Spaced going to be made.

Here are some extracts from Edgar Wrights journal post over on MySpace:

“Aside from all the legal aspects to my involvement, any self respecting fan of the show knows that along with Simon, Jess and Nira Park, I put my heart and soul into that series. So the implication in the trades by Wonderland and Granada USA that we may be involved in this new version absolutely pains me. “

“my beef with the trade announcement is more a matter of principle. I'm told after the fact that the makers of McSpaced had wanted to get us involved, but were told they couldn't pay us to be consultants (great!).

Either way, to not even make a courtesy call prior to making that announcement just a little rude. (And let's not even get started on the fact that Jessica's name was all but erased from the press releases.)

So forgive me for calling out Peter Johnson and co. at Wonderland (who I've never met, obviously) on this one, but if you truly are the huge fans of our work that you profess to be, then would it not have been smart to get in touch before you trumpeted our potential involvement in this?”

My annoyance over the fact that Granada America want to remake the series pales in comparison with the obvious fact that they completely lied about having Pegg and Wright onboard. After their hits with Shaun and Fuzz, was it an attempt to draw peoples interest in the project? Or maybe they are just another bunch of money grabbing gits.

Sadly it seems that none of the original writers or director have any control over the rights to the series, so unless minds are changed this will go ahead.

“McSpaced is rubbish”

He is befriended by Gus who ropes him into a blackmailing scheme, a simple plan or so it seems. With a dodgy alibi and a top FBI agent in town things can only go from bad to worse.

I found this film very funny and reminded me slightly of Fargo, with it's dry humour and dark comedy elements. Simon Pegg plays the part of an American semi-convincingly while you are drwan into the plot from the start.

if you are a fan of this genre of film you'll most likely enjoy this film. It was released on DVD the 14th of April, so why not give it a whirl.

The battle, between the Persian Empire – numbering between 100,000 to about a million Persians, (the numbers vary greatly depending on the source material) – and 1000 Greek soldiers, lead by the eponymous 300 Spartans, has gone down in history as THE example of courage in the face of overwhelming odds. On the first day of the battle, the Greek historian Ctesias tells us that 10,000 Persians were “cut to pieces” while the Spartans only lost 2 or 3 men!
Review coming soon!

The film features a rather nameful cast including: Claire Danes, Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Ian McKellen to name a few.

The film is based on the Neil's novel and the screen play writen by Jane Goldman AKA Mrs. Jonathan Ross and Matthew Vaughn (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels/ Snatch/ L4yer Cake) who is also the director on the project. Filming was shot in

How to describe stardust …
A fairy-tale for adults would be a good start, it's about a guy named Tristran Thorn, who untakes a quest to retrieve a fallen star for the girl he loves. Venturing into the forbidden lands that lay beyond the walls of his village is just the start of his journey as he is not the only one seeking the star.

An in his own words about the film …
[quote=Mr Gaiman]
I've been trying to think of what to compare it to, but it's leaving me a bit blank — it exists half-way between The Princess Bride and Pirates of the Caribbean, and there's nothing I've seen quite like it out there in the world before.
[/quote]

Film website : http://www.stardustmovie.com/ hopefully to host a trailer soon.

Hot Fuzz was utterly wonderful, a smooth blend of stupidity and humour, with a dash of seriousness.
Once again, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost take to the silver screen and captivate the audiance with a title of suspend and mystery.

One thing to note: don’t expect Shaun of the Dead, this isn’t a zombie film or love film, it’s an action film filled with small pisstakes along the way.

I’d advise anyone that find the Pegg/Wright combo funny to see this, you’ll not be dissapointed.

Starring a wonderful cast inlcuding : Timothy Dalton, Edward Woodward, Billie Whitelaw and Anne Reid

BBC Special Feature
Hot Fuzz Website

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During the intermission/fag break, Dok managed to point out Sean Hughes who breifly appeared at the top of the stairs and minutes later he spied the ever busy Edgar Wright (said to be working on a film based on a superhero) walking past.A big thank you to Ricci for find and sorting out the tickets, it was a brilliant evening.