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Someone was kind enough to tell me how to open a second media player while the first one was still running so I could copy screens from media files to the clipboard, but it's dropped out of my head!  Usually I have to be drunk to forget things - grrr!

Anyway, can someone fill in the blanks again?  I remember it entails opening the 'run' menu from the start bar, but that's all - plus I can't remember how to open the clipboard!  I've foolishly tried to find out via google, but it's like the Borg or something - I haven't a clue who they write these things for.  It's like they're explaining it to each other, and normal folks ain't welcome...  Bizarre.


Um... can anyone help me?
Again?

As mentioned last week, I get my prog later in the week than the subscribers.  Another seperate review thread isn't some kind of us and them thing, just a chance for me to get a review in after the first thread goes off-topic and drops the whole review element sometime on wednesday.
Or something.

Anyhoo...

Cover - Always good to see Burns' stuff.  It's starting to take on a very organic feel lately - he seems to paint out all his linework during the colouring/painting process.  I'm not sure what I make of it so far.  He's still a great artist, but I always thought his linework was fantastic on its own, and I'm uncertain if I prefer this method, or his old one, of producing colour work.

Dredd - Brashill is improving with age as an artist, but I reckon he's still a bit too cartoony for my taste, but the paint is great.  The story seems to be going towards a nice big Dredd-massacre, but the little flashes of precognition hint at a minor twist in the tale.  Still impeccable Wagner storytelling.

Second City Blues - Well, the art's certainly improved some.  Still not overly-engaging storyline yet, though.  At least the sport element has actually started, although it remains to be seen if that's a good or bad thing.  Average.

Slaine - Pat's not right-wing at all, is he?  "Of course she's talking bollocks, Slaine - she's a woman!"  I thought this was a bit stretched, to be honest - probably for the best if you've got Langley on good form and Pat just padding out the pages with storytelling by numbers.  It's plodding a bit, and seems to be harking back to past glories too much, but still looks the nuts.

Cabalistics INC - Backstory ahoy!  At least we know where the bit at the start was going now.  One story seems to dovetail into another while the team is split up.  Is it by accident or design, though?  Solid stuff.

Dante - Always good to see Burns in full flow - I like an artist who isn't shy with the red paint.  It's strange that the knockabout humour isn't quite as missed as you'd think it would be in a strip like this, but Morrison is more than capable of putting together a good tale.  There's more to come, but it reads like the end of a chapter, and I'm not sure if it just seems rushed.  Still good, though.

I can't tell you how much I loved the American remake of The Ring, but now they've only gone and topped the untoppable with a sequel!
When the mists of time swirled about me, obscuring the future as they are wont to do, I was catching the bus to college - yes, I, too, was a student* once - when I overheard a girl talking about the film she'd seen in the cinema the night before - "It was called Seven, hi, and it was about Brad Pitt, and his wife got her head cut off and put in a box."
If they made films JUST FOR HER, then this would be one of them.



*Or as I like to call them nowadays, cunts.

Link: http://www.apple.com/trailers/dreamworks/the_ring_two/trailer/" target="_blank">The Ring Two trailer.

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one tired of being late to the reviews on account of not getting my progs until thursday or friday, by which point it's all been said by the subs who get their progs on the monday.  To this end, I'm giving my tuppence worth in a separate thread, so I can pretend I'm bringing something new to the table, and not just giving the same old opinions everyone else did on the other thread.  Bitter?  ME?

Dredd - I assumed that the main character was one of the (curiously absent) Psis, and this was going to explain what the Psi division was up to during Total War, but it seems to be going somewhere else - unless it's a red herring by Wagner.  Good opening episode, though, with Dredd only glimpsed in passing for the most part - it's too early to tell what's going on, however, and Brashill's art has a cleaner look to it than I remember - even if it still seems to lean towards caricatures rather than characters.  A good start.

Second City Blues - I was a bit disappointed here.  A whole episode of a future-sport strip, and no-one extremes it to the max or busts a bitching/fly/flash move at any point.  There's some bit with a big space-slug type of thing, where it looks like the writer has taken a few cues from Chris Claremont's approach to writing ethnic-minority female roles, but it might be something sci-fi, rather than just some kid getting an anal probe by a Venusian paedophile... like, er... I don't know, maybe she just got measured up for a porno-hologram.  Or something.
This looked like being a really funny strip before I actually read it.  I know it's only early days yet, but the era of the 26-part story is long gone, so it should really have made more of an impact by now.  It's great to slag stuff like this off before it starts proper, but there's always a palpable sense of disappointment when the slagging proves justified.  Disappointing, yes, but the premise doesn't let it down - just the execution.
The art's not great, either.

Slaine - Bad dialogue, nice art.  Not as good as it used to be.
I read this, but it just fell out of my brain immediatly afterwards.  It's okay, I suppose, but nice art doesn't guarantee the reader's interest.  Plus, and I'm probably in a minority of one here, the digital art just seems too much at times.  There's no depth or emotion to it, and I miss the organic look of paints.  Probably just me.

Cabalistics INC - Only the opening episode, but I suppose it's a good thing I was happy enough with the set-up for a larger tale, as that Rennie looks like a right nutter.  There's a story thread at the start that needs to grow yet, but the Ozzy/Axel Rose thing looks pretty self-explanatory.  Demons and stuff coming up, I bet.

Nikolai Dante - I never realised how much I liked this strip until I read Morrison's 'Authority' run.  It was just so bloody appalling that I couldn't believe it was the same writer - at which point, I realised that Dante, although variable in quality over longer stories, was always - at the very least - entertaining.  There aren't any revelations in this episode, as it's pretty much just confirming backstory that most readers had already figured out (the hostage kids, a deal with the tattooed bint, Dante's betrayal of his mum), although it's good that I'm not entirely sure where Robbie Morrison is going with the Dante/Dante's mum storyline.  Good stuff.

Droid Life - I love the absurdist tendancy in this cartoon, it's a great little space-filler, and far more worthy of it's place in the comic than below-par stuff like Second City Blues.

Letters page - I'm confused - has Floyd stopped writing letters to Tharg or what?

I know I'm early, but all the best, anyhow.  Yes, even to Jared.

Happy New Year, all!

Does anyone know how I can take screen-captures of video files (MP3s or Quicktime files, for instance)?  Or from DVDs I play through the pc DVD drive?

Link: http://www.ebaumsworld.com/santabadger.html" target="_blank">AFRICAN SNAKE!

Link: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5149592909" target="_blank">Why?

Just thought I'd get the ball rolling on the catalogue of life-affirming achievements/sad and ignoble failures I'll make in the new year.  It's a bit early, but I want to get them down now, so that I can make an early start on most of them.
I will succeed in each and every one!  You'll see!


1 - Start being a bit more of a c*nt.

Odd one this, but bear with me - last night, I was crossing from one cycle lane to another (across the opening to a housing estate), when someone attempts to nip in before I can get halfway across the road, thus saving himself about three quarters of a second of travelling time.  Lights on bike, two streetlamps by the entrance of the estate, and cars going past with their headlamps quite clearly illuminating the few centimeters of the area with no light - it's unlikely he didn't see me.  If he actually took the bother to look at all.
Anyway, I go arse over tit after he clips me, then I get up, realise there's nothing wrong with me, bar a gammy leg where I fell on it, think "that was a close one", and then walk over to the car, ask if he's all right (he looked like he was shitting himself), if he wants to check if his car's okay ("Naw, I'm sure the car's fine."), then cycle home.  Where I discover there's a sizeable bit of skin missing from my leg.  I'm still not too worried, though - it could be worse.
All the same, I feel that perhaps I should be a bit more worried that I'm not angry about it.  Must be more aggressive!  Not act like a doormat or it'll bite me in the ass!  ETC...

2 - get our band (ie, the guitarist) to pull the bloody finger out.  Someone has to - now I'm all aggressive, it may as well be me.

3 - get some art finished, as opposed to starting it, then getting distracted, then starting something else.

4 - lose some weight.  The old favourite.  Every year, it's the same.  If I didn't have this on a new year's resolution list, it just wouldn't *be* a new year's resolution list.


I probably need more, but I'm aiming for success this year.  Like every other year.  But this year, I will succeed.
Oh yes.

...but I freely admit that I'm at a loss to tell you how.  possibly if someone shouted 'nnnnnnoooooooooooooooo!' in the trailer, just before some loud music and a montage of all the flashy bits from the film.
He has a big machinegun in it, that's all I'm saying.

Link: http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/constantine/trailer/" target="_blank">Constantine trailer.

Don't know why I'm asking...

Link: http://www.slccglobelink.com/news/2004/10/28/Entertainment/mother.Of.The.Matrix.Victorious-785067.shtml" target="_blank">coughcoughBUSTEDcough

I won't even bother pointing out the lack of logic here.

Link: http://www.eyeonanime.co.uk/site/screenshots/dm01.jpg" target="_blank">Book burning - that's all I'm saying.

Or rather, another chance for Channel 4 to parade another bunch of attention-seeking whores past a camera, despite the fact that no-one IN THE ENTIRE WORLD gives a toss what Jamie Theakston thought of the 1980's, or what Johnathan Ross' brother liked about Thunderbirds.  Yep, it's another 'list of' show.
I only mention it because I want to encourage everyone to vote for Overfiend, mainly to see how the 'celebrities' explain why they like that one.

Oh, and when you've done that (pleasepleaseplease), why not vote for the others - Futurama and Spirited Away for starters.

Link: http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/G/greatest/cartoons/vote.html" target="_blank">Stuff your ballot

Apologies if the Citroen C4 'dancing robot' car ad has come up in another thread, but I was listening to some mates get really excited about it last night as we all got drunk(er), and I found myself feeling sorry for those guys who spent months designing and animating that breakdancing Shockwave animation that was doing the rounds on the internet a while ago.
While the ad itself is pretty impressive, I have to wonder where you draw the line between homage and outright theft.  The original animation might have been based on something else, but there's no doubt in my mind that the Shockwave one is the basis of the Citroen C4 ad.
I could be completely wrong, mind - it's been known to happen - but is it just me, or is advertising becoming a medium based entirely on theft?  Everything I see on telly adverts is just a variation on something else, and when something even *vaguely* original comes along, it's such a shock to the viewer that it becomes a talking point in itself.

All of which doesn't change the fact that the original animation was much more impressive because it didn't take a squad of top animators charging through the nose (an ironic turn of phrase, considering where all that advertising revenue is going), and IT featured a proper transformer, not some half-assed overly-industrial looking jobby knocked up for the purposes of the ad.

Link: http://www.wilenkin.com/transformers/Video_player_06_content.html" target="_blank">Miles better

IT'S A SLANDER!  A LIE, I TELL YOU!

Link: http://folkart.net/folk-art-pattern-packs/pam-gonnason/professor-bear.html" target="_blank">IT'S A SLANDER!  A LIE, I TELL YOU!

The link below is to an online article that might be of use to anyone thinking of signing up to the site.
Disappointingly, the knowing future-laureate/nobel prize for literature recipient who wrote the piece doesn't seem to have aknowledged the cleverest kind of posting tactic in the entire world - using an animal of some description as your avatar in an attempt to convey your natural gift of comedic genius to all and sundry - BAH!

Link: http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=61" target="_blank">Recognise anyone?

16 today, if memory serves me right.  And it's International Talk Like A Pirate Day today, so he's doubly blessed.

Happy birthday, Max!  Yeaaaarrr!  Avast!
And that.

I'm probably the only one who gives a toss, but I can't wait for this one.  It has every Godzilla monster in it, even the American Godzilla.  If the link works, blink and you'll miss the half-pint asexual King Kong wannabe getting twatted aside by the real deal, almost as an afterthought...

Link: http://aintitcool.com/gfw003.mpg" target="_blank">Godzilla Final Wars

There seems to be huge gaping holes in my appreciation of modern pop culture, but through no fault of my own.
I'd sooner chew off my own ass than sit through an episode of Hollyoaks, Eastenders, Only Fools and Horses, Royle Family, Emmerdale, Orange County, Ally McBeal...
And I just don't get Stephen King novels.
At all.

Come on, admit it, there's got to be something which is popular with everyone else, but for the life of you, you JUST DON'T GET IT...