Chindie

Aye decent result for her there. She had a good final 100, the previous lengths she was looking well out of it.

Adlington said herself earlier she didn't expect much of this race and was feeling tired.

I think the biggest flaw in the coverage so far on the Beebs part has been Gary Lineker's desperate, and failing, attempts to develop a bit of banter with the studio guests and other hosts. His one to ones with Ian Thorpe have been particularly grim. I dunno if it's just that Thorpe himself is a particularly awkward persona but there isn't one iota of chemistry between them. He just keeps trying to do the cheeky chappy MOTD esque stuff and it's not working at all. Speaking of Ian Thorpe actually, he does seem a bit... off... during all of this. I swear he was about to cry last night, you could see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice that he was choked up when his record was broken. And got very defensive when Lineker suggested he'd retired from the pool. I know he wanted to try to get back to competing at top level and was a bit disappointed he couldn't compete here, but he really seems pissed off/emotional all the time.

Still got the Witcher on the go but it's taken a slight back burner role since I've got less time on my hands at the mo, and because I got a bit of a bargain. I've wanted to play Marvel Ultimate Alliance for ages, but it's always maintained it's value (seemingly because it was quite rare) and also, since the Avengers, has actually gone up in price even more. A second hand copy (6 years old now and no longer in production - hell, the license isn't even held anymore by the same companies) goes for over £20, usually closer to £30. So I was delighted to get a copy for £11. . It's erm... it shows it's age and the production values are terrible, it comes from that brief era from early in this console life cycle where companies where developing across the generations and so 360 titles were often just upscaled PS2 titles, which is exactly what this is really. It also has numerous bugs and glitches - I unlocked Dr. Strange and then didn't have him appear in my hero selection screen, for instance, leading to a redo of that whole section to get it to unlock again. And it's a rather simple affair, but I really like it. You spark it up for an hour, do a 'dungeon', save and and walk away. And all along the thing chucks obscure bits of Marvel universe and lore at you and leaves you grinning. Cheesy, ropey... fun. Bit annoying that, since the license is gone, the DLC is no longer available and never will be again, so a few choice characters are off the menu, but hey ho. I'll be stepping back to the Witcher when MUA is out of the way. Quite savouring it. MUA seems to have a bit of a length to it (plus being an achievement hunter it's got a few of those to grind away at) and some other unlockables so the Witcher might have to wait rather longer than I might have expected.

Thinking about it I wasn't too enthused with them wheeling out Ali for this either.

I largely enjoyed it. It had some weaker moments - started slowly, the musical section/average British Saturday night dragged terribly despite some great tunes, and of course wheeling out McCartney to **** up. The industrial revolution section stole the show, it had the best spectacle of the entire thing and hung together best of sections. The Bond and Bean skits worked better than I'd have expected them too as well. And of course, great music throughout till McCartney ruined it. I did think the entire show suffered from 'needing the commentary team to explain it' syndrome - a lot of things in it don't play to large swathes of a British audience without explanation, let alone a global one. For example the NHS section's nod to Great Ormond Street Hospital had my mate (who isn't thick) without the foggiest until the commentators pointed out what it was. You can do the same thing for moment after moment in the whole show. I didn't have a **** clue who Branagh was supposed to be until Huw Edwards explained he was 'Isembaird' Brunel. I'm convinced without explanation the Glastonbury Tor thing would be gotten by a percentage of the audience in single figures globally. And JK Rowling shouldn't have been let near it. Her ego has been massaged enough by now, and we've plenty enough classic childrens literature without reminding people to line Warner Brother's (and Rowlings) pockets a little bit more. Her (and Voldemorts) appearance actually put me off the whole thing for a while.

I think I'm fairly determined to rattle through all of Banks SF before I try anything else particularly, now. I've invest enough in the Culture series I may as well finish it. ...hence why I just ordered the first book (but strangely considered not the best starting point for the series), Consider Phlebas, off Amazon :oops:.

Incidentally, where is all this talk of a 4 hour cut coming from? I swear I consumed every bit of info on this in the build-up (and relayed most of it back here...) and I never heard anything of a 4 hour cut. There was talk that the original end of filming rough cut, before final editing, stood at roughly 3 hours... which I was concerned about considering Nolan's history with poor pacing in his longer films, and lead to briggaman here saying he would happily watch a 4 hour Nolan Batman if he had to (he could have said any number really, 5, 6...10?). I think this might have confused a few people. At best, you could maybe see a 3 hour cut, but chances are Nolan binned what he felt he needed to and the theatrical cut, at 2hrs44, is the cut of TDKR and there'll be no deleted scenes/extended cut.

The Riddler trophies in City become more like puzzles than they were in Asylum, a couple requiring thinking logically through exactly what your gadgets can do. I really wish there had been more of the trivia ones in City. City multiplies the number of trophies massively but then pares back the trivia ones to almost insignificance. Still... got them all... :oops:

I see what you mean, and I would have liked that ending too only if they hadn't dropped the other two obvious hints that he survived

Finished Stonemouth the other night. Not one of Banks best, but alright. Kind of thing he could write in his sleep, and ultimately just doesn't feel 'special'.

Why do they belong as 'kids comics'? You might not understand/like the medium, but genuinely good pieces of work have come from Batman comics 'trying to be taken seriously'. If anything, the 'serious' character is the character now.

Why shouldn't they? Because they assume that because I didn't say no, I said yes. The principle of the thing is shocking. My body is mine. I will decide what happens to it. Not anyone else, even after I am gone. It's fundamentally different to the child being denied a blood transfusion. If an adult wants to roll the dice and refuse a transfusion, they're fools but their choice, so be it. A child is unlikely to be able to make that decision knowing the consequences. It's down to the individual being able to make a considered choice. The child is either unable, or incapable of doing that, to deny it a life is evil. If I choose to not donate my property, that is my call. The state deciding that me not saying no is me saying yes, is a different and wholly wrong matter. The individual is master of his fate, and in the event that the individual is unable to make a considered choice, the right thing is to maintain life and give then the chance to be masters of their own fate.

The Shining is on one of the ITV channels tonight actually. Still one of the most disturbing and unsettling films I've ever seen. It's not really scary, it's just intensely uneasy to watch.

Organ donation should be opt in. Those organs are not anyone elses to give away. The state should not be allowed to make the assumption that it can do as it likes with it's citizens bodies. I may or may not opt in to a donor scheme. I would definitely opt out of a forced scheme on principle alone. Not really religious though. As for Jehovah's Witnesses denying children life saving blood transfusions - evil. It's the kind of thing that should be a crime, denying a child a life for no good reason.

I don't give a **** about the man, but I'm lead to believe the 'dressed as Bane and did himself up to look like the Joker' is nonsense. The Joker doesn't have red hair and Bane doesn't wear a gas mask (though a man intending to use tear gas on a crowd might...). Just another angle for a media desperate for grim angle to add to the story imo.

I'm not that up on my Dredd, I'd like to read more but, you know, money, shelf space, the longing to eventually have a woman in my bedroom again... I can't remember which ones I've read now, but I do recall hearing the same edition suggested time and again - America. Everyone rates it. If you really buy into Dredd I believe they're releasing the complete Dredd series in a series of collections - from the very beginning. 2000ad generally has an issue with being dated IIRC, the early stuff is very 'of it's time' and you only need to see a few images to get that. It's an acquired taste but very, very British. They're actually doing the 'complete' collections with most of the major 2000ad characters it seems actually - that's a good way to make yourself poor Thats a dangerous blackhole to head into by the way, trying to get the entirety of the story with the big Marvel events is crazy stuff - as said, something like Civil War has so many little preludes and perspectives in the run in to it (and aftermath) that you'd end up parting with a lot of money in the end.

One that hasn't been suggested on the Batman front is No-Man's Land. It has some influence on TDKR film. Year One, Long Halloween, Killing Joke and The Dark Knight Returns are must reads. Knightfall is a big arc if you read it from star to end, that you'll love if you liked the character of Bane in TDKR, it being his origin in the comics and still his most famous storyline. Hush is very good if you want to read a story that is pretty modern and introduces a new villain to the Batman canon. Earth One is also supposedly a very cool reinterpretation of the origin of Batman, messing with a few of the details and playing it a bit differently. The first storyline DC did with Batman as part of 'the New 52', the Court of Owls, has had people raving too - unfortunately I think it's only just ended so won't have a collected edition yet I don't think. Away from Batman, Watchmen is a must. It's a very clever work that genuinely has layers of understanding and interpretation. You kinda either buy the ending or not but it's not really the point. Civil War is a good read for a big scale Marvel romp, the only issue you may run into with that is at times it feels like you've missed something - because you have. Civil War was an enormous storyline in Marvel's canon and it's buildup and side stories ran through all the different comic lines Marvel had at the time. Reading Civil War alone gives you a cool story (I mean, it's hard not to enjoy seeing basically the entire main Marvel universe go toe to toe under the banner of Cap or Iron Man, and it has some very cool moments and scenes. And some ludicrous ones - but it's all part of the fun. It also has loads of characters in it you probably don't even know are characters), but it feels a little like it comes out of nowhere. In actuality they built it up for months and ended up releasing numerous collections of the build up and side stories, so when you type Marvel Civil War into Amazon you'll get about 20 different results. I'd still recommend reading the main Civil War release though. If you get on with Civil War look at Secret Invasion (which features the Skrulls, an evil alien race of shapeshifters infiltrating every level of society, even the ranks of superheros, to take over the planet) and maybe Siege (which is the culmination of a long story arc involving Norman Osborn becoming a truly enormous adversary for... well, everyone through a complex plan). Siege suffers from the same problem Civil War has but more so - they spent aaaaaaaaaages building up to that issue and it's a big long running arc if you go back to the very origins of the story. If you like Iron Man Extremis is a good more recent arc and will give you some nods towards the next film. It also helped inspire the original film. Away from the obvious, the Sandman series is worth a look if you fancy something a bit more... artsy and out there. And Judge Dredd is worth a mooch. The recent Brian Michael Bendis run of Moonknight is either just about to be, or just has been, released as a collected edition I think and I heard nothing but good things about that run. Moonknight is a really niche Marvel hero and Bendis played around with the character, leading to some interesting results. I'll see if any others come to mind... If you do want to start reading comics and graphic novels I recommend checking out wiki or a comic book site (ComicVine is decent) and searching for a character that interests you and seeing what their big story arcs have been - they're always referenced when chatting about these characters and the best/most popular arcs are almost always available as a TPB (trade paperback - basically a collection edition/graphic novel). See what arcs pop up and take your fancy and whack it into Amazon, usually it'll have had a collected edition, particularly if it's a release from the past 20, 25 years.

It's fairly clear that the world would not miss Jerry Newcombe. What a despicable example of humanity.

Anybody get the Superman teaser at their Dark Knight Rises screening? Theres 2 versions doing the rounds, one with a Kevin Costner voice over as a Pa Kent, and another with Russell Crowe as Jor-El, Superman's father. It's a really good teaser, if a slightly curious one for what will be a huge blockbuster. Zach Snyder's making it so it was never in doubt that'd look good, all of his films do, but the combination of the music and the very Malick-y cinematography, and the weighty voice over work makes it almost moving. Which is crazy. Although given that the music is the elegiac music from LOTR when Gandalf dies it's somewhat to be expected. I prefer the Crowe voice over version myself but both make for a really, really good teaser. I don't like Superman and this has actually made me interested... You will give the people an ideal to strive towards. They will race behind you. They will stumble, they will fall. But in time, they will join you in the sun. In time, you will help them accomplish wonders - Crowe version. You're not just anyone. One day you're gonna have to make a choice. You have to decide what kind of man you want to grow up to be, whoever that man is, good character or bad... is gonna change the world. - Costner version.

Oh and what the **** is wrong with people these days? We went to a different cinema last night (ODEON New Street) and while it wasn't the really **** annoying kids, honestly... how **** hard is to sit down, shut the **** up and turn your **** phone off for a couple of hours? The screening was packed and we ended up sat in the middle of a row with a gang of lads trying their hardest to look shifty and out for trouble, and a couple who looked like something out of what I imagine the Only Way is Essex is like. The lads would not **** shut up, and if I never hear the message alert tone from a iPhone or Blackberry again it'll be too soon. I mean, we've paid our money go enjoy a film, not to listen to wannabe gangsters flap their wispy top lip and regale us all with how **** funny they are (more laughs in abortion clinics), nor did I want the film to have an additional score by way of tinny speakers alerting some clearing in the woods that Sharon's added the photos from Marbella. Oh and I also didn't need the auditorium lit up like Blackpool Pleasure Beach from the assorted Retina screens for the entire **** running time. Nor can I possibly understand why people don't get what a 12A is. There was a 6 year old in that showing last night. I really needed to have the screen blocked every half hour because the kid needed a piss. On the plus side the regular pissing blocked my retinas from being burned out by the collected force of people receiving tags and tweets that really had to be checked that very moment. On the downside, right at the moment where the film really starts to kick in, the child returned from pissing to loudly announce 'WHERES BATMAN?!', at a frequency and volume that I believe could have drawn answers from Sydney. I know its a Batman film, but it's a 12. It isn't a kids film. Leave the kids at home. It won't have so far to go to piss and will annoy far fewer people. Honestly, I don't understand why people are unable to take consideration for other people in a cinema. If you're so desperately required to look at your phone, or have a chat, or can't understand what an age rating is, don't go to the cinema.

If you don't mind somewhat breaking the game (well... exploiting it a little in a manner that can affect the economy) and have a decent amount of cash and a few hours to waste, you can get smithing to advance really easily by churning out iron daggers. They're the simplest item to smith and the materials are everywhere. Keep making daggers and flogging them. You can buy iron/ore and leather from blacksmiths if you run out, so all you have to do is keep churning out the daggers. It'll affect the economy of the blacksmith you sell them to a little and it's tedious as ****, but it's the easiest way to get smithing up, particularly earlier in the game. Dante's dwarven bow suggestion will work as well but it involves going through dwarven ruins, which is time consuming, and dwarven metal items are some of the heaviest in the game which makes collecting it even more tedious.

It stands up better on a second watch as expected. It does appear that the audio mix is ****. The soundtrack is completely overdone, it drowns out numerous scenes and the dialogue feels dialed back. Apart from Bane who is far, far too loud - it's honestly like he's using a megaphone, and worse because you obviously can't see his face it almost feels like you're watching a poorly dubbed foreign language film when he speaks. Some spoiler-y stuff follows... Bane doesn't have a back story in this. The film leads you to believe that it's telling you Bane's origins but, as the twist towards the end reveals, you're being taught Talia's back story. By the end of the film, all we know about Bane is that he was a prisoner in the pit, and took it on himself to protect the child born there, was injured (somehow) as she escaped, was begrudgingly taken in by Ra's thanks to his daughter's pleas and then was excommunicated by Ra's as Bane's existance reminded him of the Bane of losing his love. We don't know much about Bane's past that does not relate to Talia. We didn't know about the Joker's origin in TDK, but because he's such a... well, character... we don't really care, we actually somewhat enjoy the mystery behind him (the Joker even plays it up - 'You wanna know how I got these scars?'). Bane does not - he's an intense physical presence but he's not the character the Joker was, and the interest imo lies in what drives him. Apparently we have to make do with 'He really loves Talia and will help her in her mission'. The film's game with Bane's back story actually plays a trick on anyone who knows the comic's original interpretation of Bane. In those Bane was a child born in a horrific prison, so as you watch TDKR you know the story and are taken in by what you expect to be a fairly straight interpretation of the canon Bane origin. I do wonder how someone who doesn't know the characters/plots that this has will take some of the twists and turns it has. I put up my guess at the plot and, asides from the (largely on reflection **** pointless additional complexity) of Daggett trying to take over Wayne Enterprises and bankrupt Bruce, and less using the symbolism of Batman to break the city, I was largely bang on, and it meant I was one step ahead of the film for the entire run. The Talia reveal was obvious (and rushed), the end of Bruce Wayne's Batman and John Blake taking up the cowl was guessable months ago... I wonder if the uninitiated will be more wowed by those moments... and I also wonder if they will 'get' that Bane breaks Batman's back before the film tells them 15 minutes later that his back is ****, because the scene itself just doesn't have the power of the famous scene in the comics. Bane in this kinda just drops him onto his knee. In all honesty some of the punches have more weight behind them, and I criticise the film for how it portrays them even. The ending also strikes me as a cop-out. Nolan seems to have played at some ambiguity but then shied away from it. It's clear he wanted to kill off Bruce, but then got cold feet and they fudge together a 'did he, didn't he' ending where the film places 3 clear nods towards 'he didn't'. Also I can see the Robin nod setting the geeks into a rage. 'HIS NAMES DICK GRAYSON ARGH!'. Oh and Blake working out that Wayne was Batman, because of the look in his eye, should give everyone in the audience a look in their eye - a rolly one. End of spoiler-y stuff It's an entertaining watch, it's the most blockbuster-y of Nolan's Batman films and it's flawed as ****... but it's still good.

Seeing it yesterday I just walked in and bought at the desk, but bear in mind that was for a 1pm showing at a usually fairly quiet cinema. Had the annoying kids not turned up I'd have had most of the cinema to myself. For the showing tonight we've booked as a precaution. I don't think you've got anything to lose booking - you want to see the film, if you book you're sure you'll see it when you want (assuming theres tickets left). I think it's unlikely it'll sell out, but you never know.

One of the worst things they do is publicise these things like they do. When these things happen the news goes mad with glee, they sensationalise it in the extreme. They will advertise the culprit, get his photo out there, his name, turn it into a story about a gunman. It serves to encourage it. The only people that should know that mans name are the investigators. It shouldn't be publicised. His picture shouldn't be revealed.