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[Gone Girl]

Gone Girl, not sure why it took me so long to get round to this one as usually Fincher or Reznor's name on something makes it an immediate watch for me! Thought it was great, I really didn't know what to expect from moment to moment and my wife (who had already read the book) said she very much enjoyed seeing me react to the shocks. Another fantastic Reznor score as well, never obtrusive unless it needs to be, but always bubbling away perfectly. The couple of musical 'set-piece' moments were really well executed.

And then we watched Big Trouble In Little China, which I'd seen many, many times as a kid and she'd only half-watched once a few years ago. We had a total riot, laughing throughout and brimming with excitement. It's such an amazingly fun movie and hasn't lost any of its mad charm. Kurt Russell is incredible in it (seriously amazing how many truly, truly iconic performances he pulled off under Carpenter), and I think I'd forgotten the impact Kim Cattrall in it had on me as a youngster but that all came flooding back.

Amazing.

I think this week's episode may have been my favourite so far, a few real laughs and the opening Saint of Killers sequence was particularly well done. I don't seem to know anyone who is watching it though which is a worry, it's not been renewed for a second season just yet and I really, really want it to be!

I only know of one person who is voting Leave, and in any conversation about it you'll hear her mention several times that she isn't racist (nobody said she was) and that she has 'other reasons', but at no point have these other reasons ever become clear. I find it very peculiar that someone would feel strongly enough about the issue to vote leave, but wouldn't have the conviction to tell anyone why.

Episodes 3&4 have felt a little less manic but there's still some pretty big stuff going on in each episode. We're only 4 episodes in and if you think about all the elements they've introduced it's actually not moving very slowly at all. There was a line last night from Cassidy that struck me as being a nod to comic readers wanting them to get on the move ('C'mon Jesse, roadtrip! You know that's where this is going!'), but I think it's doing a good job of easing things in fairly steadily.

I've never really gotten the criticism of Better Call Saul (which I love) being slow either, I know people who complain that nothing happened in an episode because there maybe wasn't a big plot revelation or what they would class as story progression, when the sheer amount of character development that is happening in every episode of that show is pretty amazing. I guess to some folk that's a whole load of talking and 'nothing happening', but there's tons happening. When a colleague comes in the morning after an episode and complains that 'nothing happened in Better Call Saul last night' I always just wonder if they're watching the wrong show, because the minutia of the characters and interactions are what that show is all about, and if that's not floating your boat then it probably isn't the show for you. I guess Breaking Bad had more weekly shocks so perhaps that's what they're after, but BCS is a whole other beast.

Each to their own I guess (and I'm not implying that Preacher has the same level of deep dive character development as BCS, just saw that show mentioned and wanted to throw my tuppence in!).

Had one of those 'alarm clock invading my dream' experiences last night. Had a dream I was watching a Colin Farrell movie where he was some sort of detective (I've never seen True Detective) and was investigating a house, he was looking in a creepy looking cupboard under the stairs when a loud persistent beeping startled him. He spun round to look at the 'camera' and then the film started skipping in time with the beeping, so every time it beeped Colin Farrell's face was spinning round.

Think I watched that loop for a while before the waking part of my brain realized it was my alarm clock and it was time to grudgingly get up. I was really getting into that film too, although now have no idea what it was about.

[Mass Effect Andromeda]

Watched the MS conference and a bunch of other trailers separately, lots of good things to get excited about.

The absolute highlight for me was seeing more Mass Effect Andromeda. I know they didn't show very much but it was one of the few trailers that had me making little excited noises while I watched. Love Mass Effect, really want this.

Other highlights - We Happy Few looks brilliant, Dead Rising 4 will be a riot (and my wee bro is working on it so was nice to see it getting some cheers!), Inside (although the trailer itself didn't show much, some gameplay videos were released and it looks like another Limbo, which is a great thing) and Recore looks to have a lot of character and some fun ideas so is definitely on my watchlist.

Have to say, that being a huge Gears of War nut (and already having 4 pre-ordered) I thought the section they showed of that was a bit underwhelming. The lead character seems very bland and the whole demo was very heavily scripted and a bit dull. Hopefully the main game has more opportunity for the kind of frenzied madness that makes those games so intense, the environmental effects did look very cool and could go a long way to making fights really unpredictable, so here's hoping.

Sea of Thieves looks like it could be fun with the right players, so that'll be dependent on my mates getting it too! Thought Scalebound looked a bit ropey, and that was one I'd been really curious about. Early days hopefully, just looked a bit messy.

Prey was a nice surprise, thought that was buried. I did like the original so this could be cool (shame to see the bounty hunter in space angle ditched though).

Oh and Titanfall 2 will be a day one purchase for me, first game was one of the few multiplayer games that I got really hooked on and this time there's single player so that's nice. They set up a really cool universe but then didn't explain anything, so will be good to go a bit deeper into that.

Oh, and I'm curious about Watchdogs 2, because I seem to be one of the few people who thought the first one was actually pretty good fun.

Also the cross-platform play and play anywhere initiatives Microsoft announced are very cool, and I'll be getting that Project Scorpio for sure.

Fresh after seeing her play with Puscifer (which was fantastic and strange and brilliant), just twigged that Carina Round is doing a solo UK tour so will be seeing her in Glasgow. Should be great, Tuts so a nice small venue.

Thanks folks, here's hoping it comes to nothing. If things work the way Cosh explained then hopefully it will fizzle out - after all there isn't any 'evidence' as such, just one group's word against the other, and of course their story paints it in a different light! As James said, it's hard to believe this is the only time they've gone off the handle like that so that might come to light and make a difference. Never nice to be reminded that some people really, really are nasty, and makes me angry to think that it's causing that much stress to loved ones.

Thanks again for the replies, was freaking out a bit and it's helped.

Thanks, it helps to hear that. This board is always good for putting things in perspective!

It's caused a fair bit of distress (and I'm sure my dad probably thinks he's going to jail or something!) so it's reassuring to know it might not be as scary as it sounds. It's just mad really that something that silly can escalate like that, hopefully like you say nothing will come of it.

Seeing Filter this month, who I love. They've been making some rumblings that suggest it'll be the last tour for a few years (and they don't make it to the UK very often at the best of times) so hoping for a belter.

This might be a bit lengthy so apologies...

Just found out my dad got into a bit of a fracas with a couple of guys while out walking the dog with my sister. It's a small town and Jack is a tiny wee well behaved dog so we generally just put him on a leash near the main road.

Apparently on this occasion he took a few steps down someone's driveway and the owner went completely nuts, him and his son screaming about how if they didn't get the dog on a leash they'd kill it and kill them. The guy was squaring up to my dad chest to chest while his son yelled 'hit him dad!', my dad (terrified) shouted at him to back off, my sister tried to step in and was pushed out the way by the son, she pushed back and the son started yelling about assault.

It ended with my dad and sis walking away while they shouted that if they ever saw her or the dog again they'd kill them both.

Feeling pretty shaken up, she called the police who came round and took statements, then went to visit the guys in question...then returned and charged my sister with assault and my dad with breach of the peace.

Apparently the version of events they're going with is that my sister attacked the son unprovoked, my dad was shouting and threatening and tried to headbutt the other guy (there's no way this happened, my dad is 70 and was terrified), and they were just trying to calm them down. The guy got his wife to give a statement as a witness (she wasn't there), and that seems to have tipped it.

My dad is really shaken up and upset about it all. I don't even know what happens when you get charged with something like that, but the idea that there are people out there who think that a rational response to a dog sniffing your hedge is to pick a fight with a 70 year old man and his daughter is mad.

Sorry for the ramble, pretty upset about it all and for how my paw and sis must be feeling so had to vent.

The only DC comic I read these days is Batman (the Scott Snyder, New 52 Batman), so I had a look at this Rebirth stuff on Comixology and couldn't figure out what I should be buying.

Wikipedia has this list:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC_Rebirth#.22Batman.22

You want all star "promise its not miller this time" batman thats gonna be snyders new batman title

Thanks, that'll help!

Really enjoyed Quantum Break, I'd taken a couple of days off work for its release because I love Remedy games so much, and for me it didn't disappoint. Might even have been more fun on the second playthrough once I really knew how to dominate a room with the various powers.

Right now I'm playing some Fallout 4 DLC (the Far Harbour stuff, really liking it), and playing through Doom 2. Can't remember if I ever finished it back in the day so feel like I should, and with all the hype about the new game it seemed a good time! I do keep getting lost, the mazey level design now seems really tough to find your way around. Could be years of handholding that's dulled my skills for that though.

The only DC comic I read these days is Batman (the Scott Snyder, New 52 Batman), so I had a look at this Rebirth stuff on Comixology and couldn't figure out what I should be buying.

Confusingly there looked to be a comic called BATMAN REBIRTH, and another separate title called something very similar (DC REBIRTH BATMAN maybe?).

Anyone know what the difference is and which one I should be reading if I just want to keep reading the main Batman canon?

I've never been a fan, but on hearing the new single the first thing that came to mind was it sounds like it could be a new single by (fictional ban in the TV show Lost) Drive Shaft. So, not great then.