Hot Heart

Not as if Pegg has been great in stuff without Frost though, either...

Nice, but the Isley Brothers cover is still the best!

Dogs of War Supposedly a sleeper hit of 2014. Sounds really interesting, sort of like a more balanced and straightforward Cosmic Encounter but with a steampunky, renaissancey theme. You have your band of mercenaries, with your unique player power, and you send aid to battles between warring Houses, three a year across a total of four "years" (rounds). You accumulate more money, tactics cards, VP or influence (value based on how strong the House has grown) by choosing which slots you place your captains into and the outcome of the battles. Form and break alliances constantly, be all sneaky sneaky with your troop deployment plans, play the long game; should be great fun.

Yeah, it sounds fun. Nice and simple, with a bit of chaos thrown in (as it's from the makers of Fluxx). I reckon I could find a tabletop game you'd like though.

Don't know if you're aware of this. From here: http://savygamer.co.uk/2015/01/29/metroid-prime-trilogy-wii-u-8-99/

Short Term 12 Great film. In summary, it's an indie about a group home for troubled teens, but so much better than that sounds. Brilliant cast all round, tight writing and lots of moving moments as well as funny ones.

Did you remember the umlaut?

Hey, no worries. Lag wasn't too bad overall, really. Just that bit where I died was kind of odd and sudden. Glad I taught you the proper Phogoth cheese. No need to kill that Shrieker (hell, it's dangerous to do in the Nightfall)

Was waiting for a price drop. 50% off with the 10% PSN discount does very nicely.

Didn't she release it early because it leaked? Sounds like you could 'acquire' the album from somewhere and then purchase legitimately at the first opportunity.

When I was a (stupid) kid, I wondered why there was a Reading University. True story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klz9YGVeRKA

These were both cheap enough, and I have no self control The former, I'm not sure my friends will like (though they've been enjoying other dice-rolly, skirmish games) and they went off the card game; on the plus side, might be able to introduce this to the gaming group. The latter, I just had to own. I've heard it described as 'misunderstood genius' and it's all pretty and full of bits and I'm in a cyberpunk mood and it sounds really thematic and has a bunch of story and...

Some more on that new trailer http://www.businessinsider.com.au/there-are-3-mystery-women-in-the-new-avengers-age-of-ultron-trailer-2015-1

There's a good hour-and-a-half film somewhere in Django Unchained...

Exactly that. I've seen a few of them cherry-picked and misinterpreted, with French people trying to explain the reality of them.

They're called "younglings". GOSH! Yeah, he even has blue during that final duel.

I haven't seen the "white people" stuff, but I am bothered by the pious twats taking satirical cartoons out of context as well. And, yeah, even if it's in poor taste or punching down, that doesn't merit death...

Yeah, I got the vendor Up For Anything (got Payback SOS as a purple package, but that really is terrible) and had to respec it to compensate. Even then, it's still not a patch on what my ol' Shadow Price used to do (especially my randomised one with near SUROS perks). I also got that same AR as my gift but with even worse perks than current... oh, well, just have to keep hoping.

Started playing Shadowrun Returns. Really enjoying it so far. Just the sort of game I'm in the mood for right now.

Figured I'd address this properly now I've spent some more time with the game and can say for certain: whether it was different or not before, vanguard rep is always 2500 for a new level. As for my general thoughts, I don't think the changes were that bad. It will suck even more for lone wolves, but then you'll always want people to play with to get the most out of it anyway; that's what the game's about. Fortunately, I've gotten a regular fireteam (no thanks to you guys!) and we're all pretty decent, so we can do the new Nightfall Strike on a Tuesday then do the Heroic Strike straight after or later in the week, as well as clearing bounties and public events together. I've already levelled up my vanguard three times this week thanks to the XP boost from Nightfall. Forget commendations; it's the mark cap that hurts. My main issue is that all the new auto rifles suuuuuck. I know there's the consensus that ARs are a little too overpowered, particularly in Crucible, so it feels like Bungie have tried to address that by making all the new options low impact, rapid fire, unstable peashooters where the old choices had a balance between the two styles of quick & weak vs. slow & strong. Might have to start levelling up New Monarchy a fuck-tonne as the factions' gear stayed the same besides numbers going up.

Shutter Island Neat thriller. Maybe a tad overlong and the dream sequences look a bit too... crappy, but I suppose that might've been intentional. Either way, it's all well-played and some nice casting choices with Max Von Sydow and Buffalo Bill. Birdman Absurd, tense, entertaining, impressive. A marvellous film about narcissism, desperation, artistic integrity, celebrity and relationships. And all the better because it revolves around a very contained area for nearly the whole runtime in a faux-single long take that actually covers a few days. Though my friend felt anxious, because it flows so easily from one thing to the next and there's a constant 'drum score' throughout. Lots of great performances, particularly from Keaton, but Edward Norton steals every scene he's in. The ending is a bit... eh, but everything else is ace.