Chindie

Lucius Fox TV spot And another TV spot Some small new clips in there.

Thats more or less where I was all along for it - it's part of the canon there will be nods to the universe but it's not going to end with Alien fully set up. I do however, think the xenomorph will appear. I've read nothing to say that it does appear, and I've been careful with the reviews I've read (I've not touched the Grauniads review because they've got form for just blurting out the entire plot), so I've nothing to base that belief on, but I'm just sure the xenomorph has to be in it at the end. I'd bank on the final shot being theSpace Jockey with a xenomorph popping out of it's chest, and I will be shocked if it isn't seen at all. It definitely will appear, even if it's just a cameo, in Prometheus, imo.

Empire don't sound too enthused with Rapace or her character. Which interests me as I'm convinced, based purely on the Millenium/Dragon Tattoo series, that she's really not all that as an actress. And the stuff in the lead up to Prometheus didn't convince me otherwise either. I want to see whether she is any cop or not, andthis could be the film to do it.

It's Skyrim, but MOAR!

Louise Mensch has become even more insufferable over the last few days on this. She apparently has whitewash on her vocal cords for how much she's trying to defend the government from increasingly worrisome findings.

CD Projeckt have a reputations for looking after their customers - Witcher 2's post release content was provided for free to players after it's original PC release, and some of it was pretty hefty updates and additions to the game. Their new release, Cyberpunk... is well... cyberpunk. Think William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy. High tech nearfuture settings, with a grotty underworld belly and so on. From what I know of the Witcher, it should suit them well as a setting for a new IP.

3/5 from Empire. Paper thin characters and a bad script. But I've also read rave reactions. And strangely theres no consensus on how much of a prequel to Alien to it is. Some claim it's undeniably an Alien prequel, others are saying it's not really a prequel. Your mileage may vary, I guess. Still hyped.

The Telegraph review (4/5) states what a lot of people expected - it's not really a direct prequel, it answers a few question, and leaves rather more unanswered. Also suggests it's not without flaw, by a long way. Temper expectations. It's not going to be a bad film, but if you're expecting something that leads directly into Alien, or something that is a flawless new standard in sci fi, you're in for disappointment it seems.

To be fair, they do look shopped...

IF those are real, the home kit is unoffensive but manages to look cheap even in a photo, and the away is hideous. And cheap looking. Although strangely the badge looks better when colourway'd, imo.

I've been listening to a few tracks on youtube since I posted that. I know that with Sigur Rós it's often very much an album experience so I can't draw too many conclusions but of the few tracks I've listened to, only Varúð strikes me as something really special (and it is bloody good, even stood alone). The rest has felt a little... dull. They seem to have more of the ambient about them than I've come to expect of Sigur Rós usually. And I've nothing against ambient, I rather like the genre... but I expect a little more of Sigur Rós. I'm surprised to hear you weren't as sold on Takk, it's held by a lot of people as their best album now I noticed. I liked it (a lot) but I still reckon Agaetis and ( ) are stronger all round. Which makes me all the more interested in hearing the whole of the new album given that you feel it closer to those albums than the post Takk stuff... I wasn't that sold on ...endalaust in the long term. It's a messy album, has some spectacular moments but on reflection it ponders about too much and lacks a little cohesion. As good as, say, Ara Batur is, it's a highlight of an album that doesn't stand next to something like Untitled #1 or Vidrar vel til loftarasa on their respective albums. I think I need to listen to this new album, then.

Would you believe me if I told you that pun was somewhat intended?

Aye. I wanted Band of Brothers (DVD) in steel when it came out but it was only steel in Blu-Ray and paper/cardboard in DVD. But then when the initial sales calmed, they released it steel in DVD and now I have it. Plus I have the Bourne Trilogy in it too. Vehh cool. Can't remember it being an option pre-Blu-Ray. Not quite the case. The Band of Brothers boxset was originally released, on DVD, in a tin box as well as the cardboard box, the tin box eventually vanished and you could only get the cardboard one in most stores (much to my annoyance when I finally bought it...). When they rereleased it as a bluray edition they re-did it in the tin and you can find that most places. I believe they've also released it in a cardboard sleeve in a boxset with the Pacific... but I'm not sure. I've got the BoB blu-ray tin, and very nice it is too. The Pacific one sits nicely next to it on my shelf . But they aren't steelbooks. Steelbooks are a very specific type of case, very different to the BoB tin. More confusingly there are about 3 different types of case that are very very similar to steelbooks but don't hold as much value to collectors.

Pat Murphy on 5Live reckons Rodgers to Liverpool is only a matter of compensation agreements from being confirmed, and also suggests that there'll be no DOF role above him. So looks like Swansea will be wanting a new manager. I hear theres a Scot recently available...

New Sigur Rós album Valtari is out. Not heard it myself yet (and that may be the case for quite some time), but it's getting farily lukewarm reception - it's more of the same and that trick appears to be running out of steam. Certainly, if it's anything like the last album, that doesn't surprise me. Nothing wrong with it, but I still play more songs from Von, Agaetis Byrjun, () and Takk than I do anything from the last one with the stupidly long name.

Google image search'll do it. Not a pretty sight mind.

There are pictures out there of the scene and a picture of the victim afterwards - I recommend not looking them up.

I'd like to think I wouldn't be able to walk past someone knowing chances are they will die. I know what my mind is like and it would haunt me. There's also something... bizarre I guess, to me, about a bunch of rich bastards paying 10 grand to climb it. It cheapens it somehow, buying an achievement. I also wonder how many are actually prepared to do it - I guess 50 years of going up it has made it a little easier but it still must be one of the hardest things a person could possibly do, but I wonder if the people queuing up to pay are thinking about that.

Games can come in steelbook cases too. The 'collector' angle has only really come about with the blurays though, and far more films are available as steels on bluray than on DVD, and with games they only tend to be available with special edition releases.

I sincerely hope the Mirror is true to form and this turns out to be wrong.

OK. It's a fine movie, although it perhaps wears its neo-noir influences a little blatantly. Kiss Me Deadly, Bullitt, Taxi Driver, Chinatown, L.A. Confidential all spring to mind, and at times the (admittedly impressive) style struggles to disguise a pretty hackneyed plot. But damn, it looks good and sounds good, and it's the sort of film I enjoy. Four stars out of five. What you expected? Not quite but not too far away. I expected a reasonably muted reaction that complained that it's influences were worn on it's sleeve too much and failed to live up to them, and that ultimately it wasn't much special. Basically, you were more positive than I expected I've made a prediction for your Tintin reaction as well...

To be honest I'm still not quite convinced that Rodgers will take it. If he does... well, I suppose you have to say he's got some balls. The van Gaal aspect is apparently more or less a given now however it seems. Even 5Lives reporter earlier one was saying it's seeming to be a near inevitability. It just seems like a terrible idea. Undoubtedly the man knows how to make a side successful. He also will turn everyone inside a mile of him against him in the process - he's just a clearing in the woods. This is a man who, when his players questioned if he had the balls to do something (I forget the exact details), he dropped his trousers and pointed out just what balls he had to ease their doubts. I don't think anyone could work under him for any length of time.

Well the current word appears to be that van Gaal is going to come in as a director of football or something and, apparently, Rodgers coming in to be head coach. If that happens, van Gaal will either not be at the club or will be manager inside... lets be optimistic, 18 months. Probably more like less than a year. Van Gaal is notoriously a complete word removed and impossible to work with, he pisses off everyone he works with.

No, the 'twists and turns' MM was on about, can be read equally as 'I don't bloody know and neither does whoever feeds me my info, or they'd rather not tell me'. Unfortunately that doesn't play on the forums, so expect twists and turns! I'm not ITK, at all, but I can say that I've been told that we can expect something to happen, sometime.

I heard it from Peter Beardsley. ...you're on good form at the moment, BOF.