Chindie

There was some talk doing the rounds a month ago about the original script for this knocking around and proving that Damon Lindelof basically ruined it. IIRC the story was another writer had done the script and while, generally, the same plot, it had the makings of a far better film. The studio then gave that script to 'flavour of the month/has pictures of everyone in Hollywood doing Naughty Things' Damon, who absolutely butchered it in his token style, and we got served up Prometheus by Ridley Scott, who isn't and never will be a script man.

The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey had it's premier the other night, it's heavily embargoed but a few fawning comments have come out. A list of places in the UK showing in it's full, 3d, 48fps version has also popped up and er... well, if you want to see it in 48fps, there about 10 places in the entire country you can. And IIRC, 2 of them are in Derby. Closest to Brum is in Dudley. I'm tempted to make the trek into the Black Country just to see what the fuss was about.

They're very careful to say it's an 'LED backlit' set in the specs mind . Calling it an LED TV is just convenient.

The bonus from the job I did over the summer that I've spent the last 2 months trying to actually get hold of seems like it's finally going to wing it's way to me. Hurrah!

Someone got run over just by my work in the city centre today

The rumours surrounding an Apple TV of some sort have started to pick up a little, ala the rumours of a iPad mini. They're going to do it eventually, whether it's any time soon is another story. Anywho... If you do go for an LED TV (and they have their plus points - they tend to have slightly better picture quality than your basic LCD, and they're nicely slim) bear in mind a couple of things. First and most importantly, the speakers will be shite. They tend to be bad on any flat panel (good audio is rare) but LEDs are universally awful, they simply haven't got the space for a decent set in such a thin frame. And secondly, they often suffer from backlight bleed, which if you notice it can be annoying. In your price range you'll be looking at edge lit sets, which can be particularly bad for bleed. If you don't notice it, though, you won't care.

We may as well just come out and start inviting bids, it's painfully obvious we're keen to cash in.

HMV's rubbish delivery standards. I preordered a bluray ages ago, it was despatched on Wednesday, and released today. No show. An item preordered should arrive on release, otherwise there's basically no point as I'm not actually saving any money on walking into a store instead. Loads of other retailers manage it, I've no idea why HMV can't.

Might be a bit of a weird Christmas this year for us. Nobody wants anything and everyone seems happy with that situation. My brother has just had a baby so has that excuse to not buy anything for anyone anyway (and thus doesn't want anything), my sister is skint and my parents aren't arsed, and neither am I. So far I think only my nephew has anything, and thats because we've been instructed to buy Lego. So I've got him a couple of the Marvel Superhero sets.

Rafa has apparently said that Cole is out the door this summer along with Lampard.

Pardew is a clearing in the woods, and spent all last season pinching himself that he'd fallen into a team where nothing could go wrong. That never lasts though and this season, when a good manager makes his worth known making up for the problems with smart decisions, he's left predictably wanting.

I guess this is kinda the go to domestic politics thread, so what do we make of Rotherham Council taking foster kids off of a UKIP couple?

Hammill has pretty much had a career in voice acting, to be honest, and done alright out of it. He's more or less the favoured voice artist for the Joker now (although he no longer wants to do that). I can't see any of the old actors turning out for the new Star Wars stuff though - it'd be a cheap gimmick, they're all past it (and Fisher is mental and coked up to hell and hates Star Wars... as does Hammill IIRC, and Ford these days looks like he'd rather be back in the wood shop, making his own coffin). On the Star Wars thing, I was listening to a podcast yesterday which mentioned that the apparent plan for Episodes 7 through 12 was revealed somewhere, and as I expected, the plan was basically a list of episodes with no outline, and 'Conclusion' written next to 12... Simply reaffirms my belief that there never was any actual plan and he simply cobbled it all together. In fairness, it's obvious.

**** is derived from Anglo Saxon vocabulary.

It was so windy in the city centre at lunchtime my tie was blown undone

Woohoo! I can enjoy a rare Bombcast! Excellent news.

I may give the Bombcast a reprieve and listen this week purely for that reason. I'll just skip over Klepek sucking off Zombi-U (which he will, because it's horror). Giant Bomb basically doesn't give a shit about Nintendo consoles anymore, it holds them in contempt. They only just give the DS and 3DS any credit, and even then there's an element of ironic enjoyment of them. In fairness, it's hard to blame them, Nintendo has **** up a lot in recent years, especially for long term fans.

All the stuff thats come out before now about Only God Forgives has me very excited. As for Drive, turn the sound up when you watch too - the soundtrack is one of the best and most appropriate I can recall.

General feeling on it is players that would consider themselves Hitman purists hate it because it's been simplified and chopped down. But it seems to be doing well with other reviewers who don't care so much about the series unique features and style.

Games tester is meant to be one of the most miserable jobs going.

I'd quite enjoy the paradox (perhaps irony) of just when states become less important, all the little secessionist groups get their wish and get states.

Dara O'Briains science show on BBC has just encouraged people to post on twitter with '#shouldpandasdie'

There is an argument that the Wii U is actually a terrible name for branding, especially when put in context with how they've chosen to market it. It's lead a lot of the casual demographic to think the Wii U is just a new controller for the Wii.

The TV catchup apps on the 360, iPlayer aside, require a Gold subscription IIRC. Not sure whether ITV Player is on there, 4OD and Demand5 definitely are, and there are a couple of other (slightly crappy) video apps besides. I'm not sure what the case is with Sky Player.

Started my new job today as well. I'm knackered, don't want to do anything but feel like the short amount of free time tonight should have me do something.