Designer1

Still gets a regular airing. Still massively influential to many artists over the years. Still sublime today

That is brilliant. Loved the bit with the prostitute.

As I can't use the ’like’ button, I'll just go with ’This’. **** love Xmas.

I'm a big fan of birthdays, I always try to organise at least a day or two doing something special. I've been known to book 3 or 4 days off specifically and i've never, ever worked a birthday. I'm of the opinion that if you can't celebrate being here, what can you celebrate? Although I know i'm in the minority (especially with others who are 40+)

I wanted it to look as close to the original as possible to be honest. And I had to look through quite a few of Rob's photos to get the one I wanted so have some pity

First couple of hours are fun but it gets tiresome pretty quickly. Missed opportunity.

Played well, defended well. More creativity needed but on the whole steady progress and a well earned point.

I'd give Hara Kiri a watch too Mike, genuinely think you'd enjoy it.

Great shout

Absolutely god damn superb. Perfect companion piece to his (Takashi Miike's) 13 Assassins. A much less action, more character driven story with top performances all round. Hard to argue with the 'modern day Akira Kurosawa' comparisons that his recent work has been getting. Highly emotive, highly creative, highly recommended.

I'd like to think that regardless of views on the Monarchy, most people would share that sentiment.

Picked up Far Cry 3 on PC last night. Looks bloody gorgeous, but i've only just got through the 'tutorial' section at the start so can't really comment too much on the gameplay. Did I mention it looks bloody gorgeous?

Yes it is.

So, what are your favourites? I would go with: Guild Wars 2 (PC) - Excellent MMO which I'll be returning to again and again. Dark Souls (PC) - Quite simply one of the best games of the last decade, stunning. Prototype 2 (PS3) - Simply because of the totally OTT fun factor. Day Z (PC) - Best.Mod.Ever. But, number one for me (and I don't give a f**k that it's an expansion)... WoW: Mists of Pandaria (PC) - After all the moaning and fanboy qq about dumbing down and the Panda's being a joke (I was firmly in the group who hated the idea of them) it's actually the best thing that Blizzard have done since The Burning Crusade. Rich storylines, gorgeous looking environments and a gear system that finally got people out in the world again. Biggest disappointment for me would be Diablo 3 (PC) - Such a wasted opportunity.

Black Music LP? It's on Spotify. Didn't know Richard Fearless was involved, i'll give it a whirl.

Bugger, that reminds me. My old Stourbridge mucker Clint Mansell has done some quality soundtrack work. Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan, The Wrestler etc and yeah Moon was great too.

Dirty Harry (Most of Schifrin's stuff is superb, but Scorpios Theme beats all) Once Upon a Time in the West / America (Morricone has to be in there, the pure brilliance and sense of humour in his scores is incredible) Assault on Precinct 13 (in fact most early Carpenter) Haywire and Out of Site (David Holmes continues to morph himself into a new age Schifrin) Psycho, Cape Fear, Taxi Driver (Bernard Herrmann)

Still need to give that another listen, first impression left me a bit cold.

Really? Quite a few well known artists on there mate. Surely Richard Hawley and Sigur Ros?

It's been a really, really good year so it's difficult to even limit to 20, but here goes (in no particular order): Swans - The Seer Egyptian Hip Hop - Good Don't Sleep Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend! Paul Banks - Banks My Dying Bride - A Map for all our Failures Menomena - Moms Grizzly Bear - Shields Sigur Ros - Valtari The Heavy - The Glorious Dead High on Fire - De Vermis Mysteriis Baroness - Yellow and Green Japandroids - Celebration Rock Beach House - Bloom Nachtmystium - Silencing Machine Ministry - Relapse We Are Augustines - Rise Ye Sunken Ships Gojira - L'Enfant Sauvage Hawk Eyes - Ideas Richard Hawley - Standing at the Sky's Edge Alabama Shakes - Boys and Girls Really good year.

Don't make me Ang Lee.

Dark souls on PC. I thought the PS3 version was superb, but playing it at 1920 x 1080 with a PS3 Controller is such a great experience. Easily in my top five games of the decade.

Just back from End of Watch - Absolutely superb imo. Looking forward to seeing Sightseers tomorrow.