Chindie

I dearly want Gerrard tears by the end of this so **** do the words removed now!

Game over.

I've only seen one campaign sign on anyone's windows or on their lawn, a bloody huge UKIP one yesterday but I think that would possibly have been a different constituency, just. I was hoping to get a bunch of leaflets from all the parties and get a nice fire going, with a bottle in hand on a lovely evening. Sadly seemingly not to be...

Amused me anyway. Has anyone actually had much canvassing and campaigning done by any of their local candidates? I've had a leaflet from Labour and that's the lot. Benefits of being in a safe seat I guess, nobody bothers.

New Jersey, actually: This reminds me of a friend who insisted, in the UK, that 'the North' was everything outside of a small bubble encompassing Kent and Greater London.

It's going to be disappointing. And I bet it doesn't look anything like that when you pick it up at the back end of the year.

It's a good Mortal Kombat, perhaps mechanically the best (it's a far far faster game than 9) adding variations and some extras from Injustice. It's not flawless though. There's an overarching feeling of additional content and more and more features there to make you want to pay more. The Kombat Pass is OK, although the characters added aren't great. Goro is DLC, the Krypt has been made difficult and long winded to encourage you to buy the unlock everything add on, theres a 30 'easy fatalities' consumable add on, there's skins galore, and then you play game and notice loads of old traditional characters actually feature in game bit aren't playable, despite having full move sets and animations etc. Given how much else they want to nickel and dime, you'd be hard pressed not to expect all these characters to be paid DLC in the beat future. The game itself looks and plays well, has the now expected excellent story mode (though a weaker story) and numerous other modes, the variations mix things up... There's a bunch of new characters, and I'd be lying if I said many of them are hits. D'Vorah is an early stand out, Kotal Khan is either crap or OK depending on variation, the same is true of all the 'kid' characters, Ferra/Torr is a decent character wrapped in an incredibly irritating suit... Etc etc. They'd have been better off binning half of them and bringing back some of the old favourites. I think the inevitable Komplete Edition next year is actually going to be a good buy. As it is it's a hobbled great. Very good gameplay coupled to hideous paid extra content out of it's arse and lacklustre editions to it's roster.

Going by Batman's suit this is exactly how it goes from what i remember? He builds himself a massive tank type suit i think. Seemingly so. The armored suit in the teaser is very obviously inspired by his armoured suit from the graphic novel when he takes on Superman. However, it shouldn't be able to follow the text perfectly, as there's no kryptonite (apparently) in this movie universe, and Batman won't have the help he has from another Justice League member, or shouldn't at least.

It's not unprecedented in the comics. Batman and Superman have fought and worked together countless times over the years, most famously in the Dark Knight Returns which saw then pitched very much as enemies (briefly, an old retired Batman sees Gotham going to hell, and feels a nagging compulsion to to be Batman again, he comes out of retirement, old and hulking and angry, is particularly vicious. Superman is called in by the government to stop him, they fight). That's the story this is heavily influenced by, apparently. The problem is they're using this to set up a universe, and they don't seem to have thought it through very well. They also have probably the wrong tone, and probably the wrong director, and sadly what they're trying to set up isn't that compelling. It'll end up feeling like exactly what it is at this point - a cynical grab at some Avengers dollar.

We should be heading for a minority government. What I think we'll end up with, albeit perhaps not for long, is a bastardised rainbow coalition as all the posturing and bravado goes out of the window after the election as they get the merest sniff of power, sorry 'for the good of the country'. There's no chance of an old school national government as the Tories and Labour have too much to lose by working together and losing each other as the great bogeyman to blame whenever the wheels fall off. Working together will just highlight there's not a fag paper between them in real terms. Its going to be a bloody car crash in slow motion for months. Or arguably, a continuation of the car crash we've had for 5 years.

It's very much a teaser. And I don't think it sets the world on fire, coming across a little po-faced (as all DC movies seem to these days). There are lines in there that are meant to be badass, I think, bit instead just don't work - 'Tell me, do you bleed?... You will!' being the case in point... Already quite low expectations tempered. And that's as someone who actually quite liked Man of Steel and enjoys the Dark Knight Returns for all it's overblown right wing revenge fantasy nonsense. It's going to be a mess, Warner Bros trying to do Marvel at their own game but without the conviction to do it organically, instead hanging all the leg work off a film with their only 2 bankers front and centre.

Not enough lens flare for a JJ Abrams joint.

Daredevil.

My only issue so far with Daredevil's fight scenes are that its often a little too obvious punches are being pulled. They don't sell the hits terribly well and often it's a bit too clear there's not been a connection. But the ambition, and standard besides the above, is fantastic, a cut above the usual fare.

I've not had much experience of the game post update, I noticed the changes so quickly I couldn't stand it. It's particularly blatant about it as well. The game quickly becomes a chore to play unless you want to keep pumping in cash. Given that this fundamentally altered a game I had paid for, changing it's nature post purchase into something I no longer felt able to enjoy due to the developers greed (who subsequently made feeble attempts to justify it), I shan't give any other title by him a second of my time, and would urge others do the same.

No. I feel unwell anyway. Dodgy stomach, fatigued. I was sick as I left the building actually. The tiredness just put the tin hat on it. I've not slept terribly well recently, whether that's all down to recent events or just partly I don't know. Taking nothing away from how much I dislike the job, I genuinely wasn't in great shape today. Still not really. I need to have a chat with my manager to get an idea of exactly where I stand with things and then can make a slightly more informed decision on my future.

New Star Soccer is a shadow of the game or was. It's become a heavily IAP motivated mess. It's a shame as it was superb.

Desperate Dan could take Iron Man with one hand tied behind his back. Iron Man raises stakes with Bleeding Edge armour, wins everything as massively OP.

It's probably an indication of my current mindset that I'm taking it as an omen of doom.

My journey into work this morning. I got having had a crap nights sleep, feeling drained, fatigued, and pissed off. I also feel more than a little unwell. I thought about just writing the day off but because I'll feel even worse of I do that, I decided I'd go in. I was a few minutes off normal schedule, nothing major. Left the house, got half way to bus stop, realised I didn't have something with me. Go home, get thing, leave again. By this point I've missed my usual bus which means my journey is now likely to hit traffic considerably more than usual, which doesn't enthuse me as I'm still feeling shit. Bus is then late. I finally get on, sit down and settle in for a longer journey. I then check my pockets for my headphones and notice I can't feel my work pass or work phone. The phone isn't a big deal, the pass most definitely is. Get off, walk back, notice a bus coming to a stop that well get me home quicker. Run. Get to the bus's door, driver shuts it and pulls away. word removed. Walk home, grab pass and phone, finally hey journey going again. Hit every traffic light (usually repeatedly). Run into jams at every possible stage. Drive past the bus I'd originally got on broken down a third into my journey. An ambulance caused all the traffic ahead of us to seemingly forget how to manoeuvre a car out of the way of an emergency vehicle. Still, just about got here on time. And still feeling shit but now with added extremely frayed patience and bubbling below surface rage. Things can only get better...

I'm now about 6 episodes in, so I don't know how the Kingpin develops in the back half of the series, but what we've seen so far isn't an interpretation of the character that I recognise. There's elements of the character as he's usually been portrayed as a Daredevil villain (a crimelord on the rise, physically imposing with a violent temper), albeit toned down to more realistic levels, but the slight child-like innocence and the hints towards social awkwardness are new to me. I think it works, at the moment anyway, and it gives the character another angle, otherwise he is just a fat gangster with a mean streak. Edit - I've seen lots of talk that the series is riddled with references to the wider MCU (Ulrich's office has newspaper front pages that make reference to the Battle of New York, and to the Incredible Hulk destroying Harlem), but perhaps more interestingly there's supposed to be lots of nods to the other Defenders characters, particularly Iron Fist. Can't say I've spotted any yet but is nice to see a reference to a character I still can't believe is going to come to our screens.

Marvel's Antman. That's looking far better than it has any right to, given not only the standard of character they're dealing with but also the turmoil the whole thing has been in throughout production. It's still going to be a weird post credits scene of a film though, it's part of Phase 2 in the MCU but comes after Phase 2's closer, Age of Ultron.

My totally scientific of picking names at random coupled to ones I like the sound of, has given me Godsmejudge Rocky Creek Spring Heeled (entirely because I listened to a podcast yesterday which went on about Spring Heeled Jack) Super Duty Rebel Rebellion £1 E/W on the lot, probably about as likely to see a return as I would if I played the Lottery tonight.

I don't see him in Civil War. Civil War won't be much like the comic at all, IMO, sadly. They'll take the major story beats and include those (probably with Black Panther taking the Spiderman role) but that's not going to be mass brawls of heroes, sadly. It'll be a much smaller film. I'll be surprised if the Defenders appear before Infinity War on screen. And even that isn't certain IMO. Daredevil bodes well for the other series though. I'm not a fan of Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage is 2 steps from vaguely racist caricature, but Iron Fist can be an interesting and very different hero for them, and if they match the Daredevil standard to date, they're on to a winner.

Three episodes of Daredevil down. It's pretty good. Cox is a decent Murdock and Daredevil. There's some subtlety to his Murdock, a man by day who exhibits cold control of the devil inside him. His Daredevil has a ferocity and elegance. Rosario Dawson is good as Night Nurse but hasn't, thus far, had much to do. The rest of the cast at this point hops between decent and a bit ropey. Foggy is a particular issue. It's a bit of a thankless character to play, in essence comic relief as well as a foil for Murdock, but Elden Henson is delivering half of his lines with absolutely no charisma, conviction or believability. It bares more than a passing resemblance to child's play performance at times. Leland and Wesley 3 episodes in are playing 2 dimensional characters with tongue firmly in cheek and hurling ham at the scenery whilst chewing on it, though in fairness Wesley at least carries some professional menace, a man in a sharp suit orchestrating things but with the threat of violence behind the tie. The issues with the cast aren't helped by some clunky exposition laden dialogue. There are some absolute thumpers in the script early doors. Foggy 15 mins into the first episode may as well break the fourth wall and just turn to the audience to explain his and Matt's relationship, while in Urichs first scene a relationship is established by having 2 old acquaintances tell each other what their relationship is. It's a bizarre scene that with only small changes becomes far more convincing. The plot is fairly straight forward so far, and doesn't skimp on action. Murdock and Nelson have newly founded their law firm, Murdock by night turns vigilante and beats/tortures/generally harms suspects in an attempt to influence the case or just dole out a more animal justice. The wider plot ties quite neatly (albeit more or less superficially) to the aftermath of the Avengers. It's not award winning stuff but it's generally well done and engaging. The 3 episodes have shone particularly, though, with the action. The series opens with an action scene that recalls (a little too closely, perhaps) Batman Begins first true Batman appearance, but with a much more flashy and choreographed fight. It sets the tone nicely. Episode 2 has a showpiece fight scene that is clearly inspired by the Raid movies, albeit notably televisual. I can't recall any other series that has such an ambitious brawl in it, with some clever camera tricks adding to the flair. It's not all perfect, there are a fair few whiffed moves (notably some very obviously pulled punches), and, and this could just be me in my tired state at the moment, the dark setting and fast elaborate moves appropriate to Daredevil make the fights occasionally difficult to follow. It isn't so much 'what the **** is going on?' as 'how did he hit him there again?'. There was a lot of talk of this being a darker, more violent endeavour for Marvel, and that's certainly the case. Even in these early episodes there has been gore and body horror - bone protruding through flesh, limb breaks, stabbings, some basic but fundamentally grim torture... It's not playing to the same audience as Agents of Shield. It's grimier, more exploititive. There's some nice cinematography too. The picture is very dark, but there are some striking images, again particularly around the action scenes. There's even a good simple take on portraying Murdock's heightened senses. It bodes well for the remaining 10 episodes, and even where there are flaws (the ropier performances, occasionally ham fisted dialogue, etc), the fundamental enjoyable nature of the show shines through it. Its certainly better than a number of its contemporaries. Worth watching a couple of episodes and seeing if its for you even if you have no interest in any of the other MCU stuff.