DreamWeaver

Very annoyed that Disney - who are having a bit of a scrap with UK distributors over their new short-wait DVD release dates - have stuffed the movie back to February 2013 this side of the pond.

Still, at least all the Twilight fans should have been removed from the place by then and had their glitter hosed off.

Very much enjoyed it - gave everyone a much wider range of characterisation than your typical Bond. And much as I'll miss the mighty Dame Judi, she is now having trouble reading scripts - so this is her last major role, and what a great send-off.

(Y'all did read the spoiler warnings, didn't you?)

As for Pebble's comment, M hung on just long enough to deny Silva the success he craved, so that's a victory. But in the words of Wellington, "God save us from all such victories..." First time I've ever cried at a Bond film.

Oddly enough, Bond is more relevant than ever precisely because our enemies are no longer arrayed in straight lines. The Bond-staple warlords, mega-criminals and conspiracist corporate zaibatsus, uncontrolled by government, now exist in plain sight. Hell, America nearly elected one a couple of weeks ago, although most Bond villains are more convincingly scripted.

As for terrifying machines of death: the end of the Cold War and the abandonment of large parts of the Soviet military machine have left plenty of interesting odds and ends kicking about. Maybe nothing as sexy as a giant orbital laaaaaser, but a nuclear demolition charge ("satchel bomb", even though they're rather bigger) left in the right place at the right time would be rather more effective. Even stuff like the nuclear batteries used to power tower lights in the old USSR have been found with smugglers, presumably for dirty bombs. Dead is still dead, no matter how unglamourously it happens.

These aren't the kind of threats you can send an army against, except as a deterrent. Intel, infiltration and small-team strikes are the way forward. Precisely what the world of Bond has always been about.

Finally, you witness the power of this FULLY ARMED, LEGGED AND DANGEROUSLY RUGGEDLY HANDSOME NATHAN FILLION!

...and lasers.

Basically, freezeframe EVERYTHING in this episode for in-jokes from everything from BSG to Trek to... and lots and lots of Firefly. Quite liked posters for an action film starring "Kaylee Frye"...

This would be highly relevant to my interests

I foresee two ways out:
CYBERCOULSON: Phil gets resurrected as either an omnipresent,wisecracking AI that can show up anywhere,or part-cyborg (Vision?).

THE STRINGS OF LOVE: Tony casually mentions that Phil was dating a cellist. That could well mean Scarlet Witch - and hilarity might well ensue..

Joss Is Boss... finally people RECOGNISE HIM IN HIS HOUR OF GLORY! AAHAHAHAHAHAAA! ALL HAIL HIS FLUFFY-JUMPERED PURPLE MAJESTY!

...ahem.

It's quite a sane concept. There have been quite a few attempts at super-oriented shows on TV of late - rather annoyed about the demise of No Ordinary Family. SHIELD can sidestep continuity and budgetary problems by setting it around agents and criminals - making it more of an X-Files/MiB affair, with guest shots from the odd super (still hoping for Felicia as Squirrel Girl or Fillion as Starfox. Or even Captain Hammer).

Would be interesting (if expensive) to have guest shots from some of the movie stars too: RDJ'd probably do it for free.

Basically the nanofield was an excuse to do House Of The Dalekzombies. Or The Walking Daleks. Fun idea, anyway, and not so much an excuse to save money as a they can look like we do moment.

Also.. it wasn't EVERY Dalek ever - what happened to the upgraded Apple iDaleks (ooh, pretty colours) from last series?

Well... this sucks.

Given my somewhat frantic work schedule - and a laptop barely clinging to life - I'm going to be going MMO-less for quite a while.

Secret World looks interesting - though in need of some serious work. Perhaps by the time I get a new machine they'll have overhauled combat and crafting.

ST:O Despite accidentally founding one of the early large fleets (The FireFlies: Dr.Amy Weaver, geddit?) and the repetitive combat and frequent bugs of the early days hacked me off badly.

DCUO: despite having a glorious voice cast (Hamill, Conroy, Gina Torres, Adam Baldwin, Dwight Schultz, James Marsters, Adam Baldwin, WHEEAAATOOONN!! and more) and actually pretty good scripting... bugs'n'grind, baby, bugs'n'grind, and a pretty rigid path towards levelling up. Plus very poor social tools.

Marvel Heroes: don't make me laugh. As I told Ryan Penagos himself over the Twitter... "MH may let me play any Marvel Hero. COH lets me be... me."

...and that's what I'm really going to miss. Letting my imagination rip.

To answer the questions:
- yes, use a Belkin lappy tray with builtin fan. Since it's a laptop I actually use on my lap, it's a strange breezy feeling but it works.

- I've cleaned the fans and heatsink every so often with compressed air and occasionally with a cotton bud (and antistat lead) when there's a large buildup of crud.

- the overheat doesn't occur in normal operation, only when playing 3d games (even Facebook 3d games)

Dangitall.

After a few recent overheating incidents, my Lenovo BSOD'd on me tonight and temporarily disconnected its hard drive. Much as I need CoH to relax, I need this machine to work (and, incidentally, therefore, eat.)

It's going to take me a few months to get together the cash to replace it,given current circumstances, but I will - WILL - be back.

Can anyone recommend a half-decent,reasonably priced, extremely reliable and durable gaming *laptop* - as I can't afford to run two machines and will need to work on site? This one's lasted me since March 2010...

Those of us who are fans of the otterly brilliant Benedict Cumberbatch would indeed "enjoy him reading the phonebook" and adding suitable degrees of snark, menace and vicissitude.

But given a properly written bad guy...

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Star-...Guy-31434.html

We know (thanks to @SimonPegg) that it's not Khan, unless Simon is mischievously messing with our brains. The makeup seen on the story gives him a slightly... well slightly more aquiline, dare I say it, Vulcan appearance.

But who?

When reported by the Star, the Scum or other british "red-top" papers, "insider account" means "I had to write 10 column inches to get paid inside-r a 30 minute deadline", and should be dismissed as hogwash.

See also:
"friends close to [insert D-list celebrity]" (translation: we couldn't hack their phones so we made it up)

"those in the [D-list celebrity']'s camp" (we couldn't hack their agent's phone, so we got them drunk, and then made it up - they won't remember what they said anyway)

Given the strange reverse timeline arc, she could easily be a new (or former) incarnation of River Song/Melody Pond...

Also, changes to a Timelord's regeneration are at best unpredictable (note first thing Tennant and Smith do is check the number of fingers and toes, and curse that they've never been ginger.) Considering that regeneration is triggered by painful-type death and seems to be a pretty frightening experience for all concerned, it would take a supreme effort of will to carry through any major changes.

While not wanting to spoiler anything:
1. What Khasei said.
2. Ridley is back at the top of his game.
3. Ridley has also become a bit (more) of a trickster in his old age. PAY ATTENTION.
4. While this is set in Alien's 'verse, refs to the other movies may (or may not…) be there purely to mess with the audience. Judge it on its own merits and don't keep trying to second-guess things.
5. Be afraid. Be…quite afraid.

…because we do stuff like this. <3
http://ask-the-mighty-thor.tumblr.co...t-such-a-thing

In short,we care. Also,seriously considering joining First Church Of Thor On Midgard, and not just to legally get Thursdays off.

I too will wait to see what the forensic examiner has to say. Probably something like:

"Well, it looks like he bit off..."
*puts on shades, looks to sky, looks back to camera*
"...more than he can chew..."

SFX: YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!

No Squirrel Girl. I am disappoint.

Lady Liberators movie would be interesting though...

I don't often join internet trends... but when I do, I join ones that have:

- Zombie apocalypses... and who doesn't love a good zombie apocalypse?
- Sherilyn (Twin Peaks) Fenn being badass
- Lee (Catwoman '66) Meriwether being generally awesome
- Pauley (NCIS) Perrette providing music
- a pretty good script (thus far)

...and other such benefits. Here's the link to Project:Phoenix...

http://www.indiegogo.com/projectphoenix

More to the point, I decided - just for once - to actually put my hard-earned money where my mouth is for one of these things.

You may have endured me ranting/whining about my recent misadventures in Hollyweird. But I only stuck with it that long because I believed - still truly believe - that collaborative filmmaking, from funding to scripting to filming to edit to FX to promo to distribution, CAN work. WILL work, at least for smaller films.

An example: say I've raised a few bob through my funding programme and I'm ready to go. I need to film a zombie scene that's at least theoretically in San Francisco, but can't afford to go. I could:

- find one of my Fans to shoot establishing shots for me, and drop them into a project bin
- find another Fan (or a fan of the first Fan) who's good on After Effects to composite it
- find there's a whole bunch of Fans willing to flashmob Union Square as zombies

The editing tech for that is out there, though it just needs to be brought together with the funding mechanisms and group filesharing tech.

Even just as a fundamental alternative to relying on the kind of leechxecutives I ran into to beat the drum for funding - a fair chunk of which you'll never see - I think it's a fundamentally fairer and more honest way of doing business.

At least it would be: like any new hippy neighbourhood, the sharks have already moved in. One film-funding site (who shall remain nameless) not only charges a percentage of funding raised at the front end, but forces you to use their own video sharing service at jaw-dropping $,$$$ rates... and then can charge an unspecified percentage of all future profits in return for their nebulous promotional services.

So basically, in return for paying for an overpriced Kickstarter, you get the privilege of having known and feared leechxecutives rip you off, use you for their own glory if you do well, ignore you if you don't, and keep a percentage lien on your property...forever. Yeah, that seems like a good idea.

Rant over,and now to the question: whaddya think of Project:Phoenix - and would you ever sign up to be a Kickstarter?