Chindie

Hadn't expected him to go so soon. Didn't live to see his final book on the shelves, but at least he got the finished copies. Very sad news.

Random fact, I used to work with a guy who knew Vaughan Lee from doing martial arts training with him, mostly kung fu. He was surprised he went into the mma game, let's say.

A goal. I'm increasingly keen on having my own 'patch', the benefits or otherwise are less pressing, beyond the fact that renting does seem like wasting cash. It's a long way off, barring miracles at bare minimum 2 years I think, but that goal is there and that's what I'm working towards as the long term aim.

A friend of mine, who is a huge fan of the books and actually knows some of the cast reckons tomorrow's episode could be a corker too. Can't say I believe her as the 10th episode of every GOT series has been a quieter reflection on what just happened.

I must admit pretty much everything work related i'm doing at the moment is pretty much contributing to an overall goal of having property ownership.

I wonder if it's too late for them to reconsider. there's no doubt they've seen the backlash Microsoft have faced. If Sony came out with nothing but a direct upgrade to the PS3, they'd absolutely destroy the Xbone. EA and co might not like it, but what are they going to do, refuse to put out games on the console with most of the marketshare? Not bloody likely. They'll have done the deals and made the decision and solidified the systems by now - it's too late to u-turn. And I don't think they would anyway - it's not like Sony themselves won't be happy at a similar system either. I do think EA and co would be able to put enough pressure on Sony to not u-turn if they could consider it, though. These publishers know they can put the console manufacturers into positions that are uncomfortable for them, the relationship/balance of power is a lot more even than ever now, since EA and Activision in particular have come to have such popular franchises that spin so much cash. But thats by the by. There can be no u-turn, Sony's console will have similar DRM/anti consumer stuff. They make some sops to the consumer by making it slightly less draconian than MS, but it'll be there. And EA and Activision will use it to it's fullest extent. E3 this week, we'll see quite how the pisstake goes, from all parties. One thing is certain - Microsoft need just about the best E3 ever to get word of mouth in the gaming community back on side, because at this moment in time the thing is slightly less popular New Coke.

None of this is new. The employed forum poster shills have been about for a good few years, and so have the 'whoopers' at conferences - theres been numerous reports at e3 conferences over the last few years of specific parts of the audience cheering for everything. It's all a bit... dirty somehow. The forum poster stuff is particularly grim, it's an underhand form of viral marketing attempting to control the 'message' outside of the usual market spheres. I only mentioned it in this case because it appears to have been particularly widespread in the last few days from Microsoft - GAF appears to have had a cull, and Reddit has apparently has been spiked with it particularly too. Microsoft appear to have cottoned onto the fact that word of mouth in the 'community' for their new console is poisonous.

There's no way Sony won't have the same plans. This is an industry thing, not a Microsoft thing alone. EA and co are desperate to **** the consumer. So Sony will have to follow suit.

Really? Or could it just be fan boys? There are people i know that have no problem with all the stuff about Xbox One. The marketing skills usually have email addresses that give them away so couple that to the nature of their posts and you can spot them easily. They instantly stay posting completely pro stuff that reads suspiciously like marketing stuff and prey much only post on that subject. Fanboys tend not to write match up. On the plus side it's given us some cracking GAF gifs...

Microsoft have gone the warpath with 'reputation management companies' on forums. They've paid s company to flood gaming forums with users being very pro Xbox One. Neogaf are banning them snarpish.

Coffee isn't coffee unless it's ground, then brewed, within exactly 36 minutes of being harvested, at 87°c by a South American peasant. The only exception to this indisputable rule of the universe is if it's brewed in a empty bean can, over an open fire, in Arkansas in 1875, out in the wild, by a cowboy.

I only support Aston Villa, but I favour a couple of other teams in other leagues. Wolfsburg (a VW thing) Aberystwyth Town (went to uni there) I largely hate all other sides.

New.

Can't stop listening to Reach for the Dead. Looking forward to the album.

the book is terrific because of the way it's written, it's not a story per se but a journal detailing events following a zombie outbreak. Sounds like the film studio, bought the rights to the book, signed up Brad Pitt and threw the book away, keeping only the title. It'll be awful and another book fallen foul to film execs! Pitt bought the rights when the book was released and the studio then used it as more of an inspiration than a direct adaptation. The film is massively over budget, they actually had to go back and film a different ending amongst other issues, but it's getting half decent word of mouth surprisingly. It should be a recipe for disaster (especially as Lindelhof is involved I think) but it looks like they've gotten away with it... It's being released at a bad time though, small in the middle of some blockbuster releases with better word of mouth already...

Unfortunately, they are. It has Marky Mark in it!

Definitely! The most recent trailer is great. This already looks like it'll erase the bad memories of Superman Returns from my mind. I'm strangely looking forward to it. I don't like Superman, and I'm not convinced that Snyder is that good of a director (I say that as someone who genuinely likes Watchmen, and quite enjoyed 300. He's just not very good), but it does look good. That may be the problem though - Snyder, for all his flaws, knows how to make things look great. All of his movies are eye catching, and distinct, and they've all tended to have very good trailers because of that. I have my worries about how much he can extend his eye for a movie to his brain, because he wants a little bit for everything else. Even Watchmen you got the feeling he'd taken the frames from the comic and shoved them on screen, brilliantly, but hadn't understood it. All that said, I'll be seeing and tentatively hoping I walk out having liked a Superman movie. Which will basically require making him interesting. Because he isn't. The most interesting thing about Supes is how he shaves.

Del Toro has joined the Guardians of the Galaxy cast, in an as yet unnamed role but is one they expect to recur given that they've given him a multi film deal. I would say Nova... but he's too old for that, surely. Or I'm over thinking it and they've cast him as Thanos, in which case they best get the mocap suit out. Guardians continues to be intriguing, and it's cast needs to just keep swelling until all of Hollywood is in it.

I simply won't be buying one. Kinect bullshit. Anti-consumer bullshit. Underpowered. Don't particularly care for any of Microsoft's franchises, Forza apart, and thats not enough to keep me there. And so on... I don't have any need to purchase one. And in fairness, the same can be said of the PS4. I'm out of the console game methinks.

Recent converts tend to be... overzealous... as they lack grounding and ties to the faith in the same way someone born into it does, so in effect they 'try harder' and become obviously a member of the faith/more stringently a believer. And of course theres a fair old whack of self verification there - at one and the same time making it obvious what group you're part of as well as reassuring yourself of the decision, training yourself into that path mentally and making that 'who you are'. The film Four Lions plays with the idea a fair bit - in a bunch of Islamist wannabe terrorists, the most 'hardcore' of the lot is a white guy called Barry... The conspiracy theory side of things is interesting - the particularly 'faithful' seem to have a predilection for conspiracy (presumably the same thing that makes you believe fairy tales also makes you believe tragic bullshit), and especially so in the Islamic side of things recently. It's an offshoot of the belief of being persecuted, methinks.

As already suggested, GOT this week is **** incredible.

9th episode of the series in GOT is always a corker. Can't wait to get home.

No, but I've heard nothing but good things. You can get it for under 10 quid on PC too.

RRP rise is inevitable, how that actually translates to retail is another matter. I think there'll be a small rise, simply because they need to bleed the consumer just a little more.

Itf seems like the sex scandal is more than just a salacious bit of infidelity gossip. It appears it might have genuine importance. Regardless, toppling Cameron is wishful thinking.