Twonky

The guild leader is still active bees, I think it's 'bubblenine' but I'm not 100% sure as the guild has changed hands a couple of times since I left. Whoever is guild leader definitely still logs in reasonably regularly because the guild never enters the 'your guild leader is inactive' state. (I know this because one of the regulars from back in the glory days of the guild logs in periodically to see if he can steal it.) We're all still on Doomhammer, Horde side, in the Essence of Mercy guild if you ever fancy joining us In fact a few of us were reminiscing about it the other day, those nights spent raiding ICC and waffling a load of crap in guild chat, looking back it was pretty cool that as an all-Manx guild we did at least manage to get to ICC and take down bosses in there, even though we never managed to kill Lichy himself until we went back with a load of 85s

It was on a special offer for a week or so, you didn't have to do anything special to get it for £15, it was just how much it cost for the duration of the promotion.

ans is quite right in what he says, Blizz have actively and deliberately been moving away from the model of the game as it was back in vanilla and BC, to the 'quality of life' improvements that they introduced in Wrath, even more so in Cata, and as I'm discovering now, even more so again in MoP. (I quit last year just as the pandas were launching so didn't get to appreciate the changes at the time.) It's simple stuff like you don't have to visit a class trainer to get your new abilities, they simply appear on the screen and float down to your action bars. Hunters don't need ammo or to feed their pets, talent trees are gone in favour of the game giving you all the abilities you need for your role automatically, you just have to use them correctly. The quest structure of old 'Kill 20 of these and come back to me', 'Ahhh right now go and kill 20 of these slightly different ones', 'Ahhhh yes now kill your way through another 20 of them just to get to the one special one at the back' - and so on. Whereas before you'd have to effectively repeat the same quest two or three times, now you just have one over-arching quest that delivers the same amount of XP and does it in much more fun ways too. LFG and LFR makes seeing all the instance and raid content easy to do, the hardcore hate it of course but for someone like me who has neither the time or the inclination to play the game as it demanded back in the day, it's absolutely perfect. Health and mana regen are massively improved too, I remember levelling my first mage years ago, the poor fucker had to stop to drink to mana up every third mob, now you can just chain them all day without going OOM, which is a good thing IMO - the game is so vast now that it simply doesn't need the old time wasting stuff in there that adds nothing whatsoever to the game. I've only been back for a month but I'm really enjoying just bobbing on for an hour here or there, there's no real commitment required and no sense of 'YOU CAN'T SEE THIS CONTENT UNLESS YOU DO X, Y AND Z FIFTY TIMES FIRST' any more either - it's just like, y'know, a game.

I quit the game for over a year and have only got back into it in the last month or so. Playing it a lot more chilled out than I used to, haven't even got a Level 90 yet. Can't be arsed with questing at all these days so just do everything through instances. The good thing is that the Panda expansion is over a year old so it's not a dreadful struggle to get geared enough to jump straight into instances. (In fact endgame Cata gear is good enough for the starter Panda dungeons.) A fair few of Shill's guild can still be found on Doomhammer in the Essence of Mercy clan. (That's where I am.)

One simply asks K.I.T.T. to do one of those turbo boost jump things.

Personally speaking I find it a hassle when the mountain road is closed as the trip to Douglas over the coast is a low slower than the mountain route. (Plus there's the fact that the coast route takes in a lot of shittily maintained roads which in my car makes for quite an uncomfortable journey, whereas the mountain is excellently maintained.) I appreciate that closures are often necessary but if they're closing it because 'the weather is bad' then I have an issue with that, it's up to drivers to adjust to the conditions, and not the authorities to decide we're not up to the task IMO.

So it was literally just closed yesterday because the weather up there was bad? Shouldn't it just be a case of people driving appropriately for the conditions? Always seemed to work well enough for me in the past....

Honestly Ms Bees, if you're capable of using your opposable thumbs, you're capable of doing LFR. I've been in LFR groups where the worst players in the group were clearly AFK and/or fondling themselves to the exclusion of actually pressing any buttons. I get the vibe that LFR difficulty is based on around 50% of the group having any idea of how to play their class and being able to follow basic raid orders. I've had Deathwing go down in some pretty ropey groups, just give it a try!

Surely you can at least get in on LFR? It's not ideal perhaps but at least it's a way to see the content. Have to say though that were it not for me doing my pally (levelled 15-84 entirely in instances as tank) I'd have probably dropped the game a little while ago. And now I can't be arsed to ding 85 with him Probably just wait for SUPER PANDAS now I think, and DIablo 3 isn't far off. Until then there's always blackjack and hookers.

What's the interest in playing a beta? It's a broken unfinished game, but will still ruin the surprise of playing it for real when it's released properly.....

Eh? I have no idea what you're going on about Ms Bees. We generally have a Battlefield+WoW night once per week, Friday or Saturday until late, all are welcome I did see you in Shoprite the other day though, but you were at the checkouts and I was browsing the pogger bins, so I didn't say hello. You had a nice summery dress on.

I thought 'In Time' was alright TBH, Timberlake can act when the mood takes him (he's excellent in 'Alpha Dog'), and he was pretty good as the lead for In Time IMO. The film as a whole is an impressive rabid-anti-capitalist howl of anger, and I liked it on that basis alone.

TANGO AND CASH was last night's 'entertainment'. Yes the Stallone and Kurt Russell thing from 1989, which I probably haven't watched for twenty years or so, and which I remembered as being pretty good. FUCKING LOAD OF BOLLOCKS! It just about kept me watching to the end, but that was mostly just to stare agog at the parade of late 80s shittery. And a young Teri Hatcher, of course.

THE BEAVER was this evening's film. Yes I know it writes itself, MEL GIBSON PERFORMS IN JODIE FOSTER'S BEAVER! But you know what, it's a pretty damned good film. Mel may be as crazy as a box of old frogs, but the man can still damn well act (and direct as well, although Jodie directed this), and he carries the whole film by the sheer weight of his presence and commitment. Ends up going to some very sad places, it's almost a companion piece for Lars And The Real Girl in some regards, but stands on its own right as well. Recommended - 7/10

You know the phrase 'a man of excellent taste'? THAT'S NOT YOU! * * In all fairness each to their own of course And Hobo With A Shotgun is a solid explotiation flick!

Emotionally stunted American teenagers might like it, I suppose.

IT'S RUBBISH!

THE MACHINIST last night, came out back in 2004 but I've never seen it before, and wasn't really drawn to it since I'm not a big fan of Christian Bale. However, got to hand it to the man he gives a stunning performance in this film, including physically, as he lost a massive amount of weight as part of playing his character. (His gauntness is genuinely quite shocking and really adds to the intense sense of darkness and dread that permeates the film.) Don't want to say too much as it'd be easy to be spoilerific, and having had a look at the trailer that gives too much away. In fact, I'd say the less you know about this film going into it the better. Just watch it would be my recommendation! (NOTE - It's not gruesome or violent particularly, it's only a Cert 15, but it is very dark and brooding and ultimately not a feelgood film, so not one to watch if you're after some 'special cuddling' as the credits roll.)

I vetted that trailer beforehand and concluded that it was a proper 'old fashioned' trailer, that just gives a flavour, a sense of the film, without actually giving anything away. As such I deemed it suitable for incorporation into my post

Last night's film was BLUE VALENTINE, sort of appropriate for Valentine's Day except it's a harrowing, upsetting, unflinchingly desperate portrayal of the end of a marriage. Well regarded at the usual haunts (imdb, rottentomatoes, metacritic), I was drawn to it 'cause it has Ryan Gosling in it (DRIVE, LARS AND THE REAL GIRL, THE IDES OF MARCH), he's fast becoming one of my favourite actors, and he doesn't disappoint here either. It juxtaposes the early blooming of the protagonists' relationship and marriage with its final few days when it all finally comes to end (these aren't spoilers, there's no 'twist' in what the film is about), and at times it's dreadfully upsetting. Very highly recommended. Was originally given the 'kiss of death' NC-17 rating in the USA by the MPAA (senseless violence appears to be fine with them, bit of sexy stuff not so much so), which was lowered to an R on appeal. There are sex scenes in there but they're contextualised and relevant. Few quotes from rottentomatoes:

I would honestly advise people to steer clear of trailers full stop these days, they're often 2-3 minutes long and in many cases are basically a synopsis of the entire film, including plot development, twists, major events etc. I've got into the habit of watching a film's trailer AFTER I've seen the film itself, and time after time I'm like, 'Bloody hell I'm glad I didn't see that before I saw the film.'

The Director's Cut is a far better version, and has the correct bleak ending on it, the theatrical cut's ending really grates a bit IMO. Quality film overall.

LARS AND THE REAL GIRL last night. Had this sat on the shelf for ages (since it came out on DVD in fact) and have just never got around to watching it, partly because I thought the basic premise of the whole film was daft. However, my interest was reignited upon discovering that Ryan Gosling (him out of DRIVE) was the main star, so I whacked it on. And what do you know? It's really good, very funny, very moving, very emotional, perfectly pitched from start to finish, and it does indeed manage to take what sounds like a ridiculous premise for a 'proper' film and turn it into an engaging film that ticks all the boxes. Unreservedly recommended!

Last night's film was WARRIOR. Crikey, what a bag of shit! Can't believe how well it's generally been reviewed. There are spoilers below, but don't worry, on a technical level you can't really spoil a bag of shit, can you? The cast did well with what was an unremarkable, predictable, plodding script. Tom Hardy certainly looked convincing enough, Nick Nolte gave a decent if somewhat clichéd turn, and the other main guy was alright too. But the basic thrust of the film appeared to be that to fix any and all personal problems, you just need to fucking club people in the head until the problem is resolved. So it's lucky that the two brothers were very accomplished at kicking and punching and what have you. The fight scenes were reasonably well done but completely OTT and ridiculous, no more 'real' than Rocky goading Dolph Lungdren into smacking him around the head with twenty punches on the trot, one of which would have killed him, all the way back in Rocky IV. In fact, the original Rocky is a FAAAARRRRR better film than Warrior, and on balance I'd say the most recent Rocky Balboa reboot is too. In terms of entertainment, Rockys II and III are preferable, it's only the awful Rocky V that I'd take Warrior over. I can't quite put my finger on what annoyed me the most about Warrior, there was just some sort of American violence brutal capitalist thread running through it, the whole YOU MUST BEAT PEOPLE INTO SUBMISSION OR YOU'LL LOSE THE HOUSE vibe I found quite offensive on a moral level. Plus they spent so long developing Tom Hardy's character only to have it all resolved with VIOLENCE, VIOLENCE is the answer. A man desperately traumatised by violence is FIXED BY VIOLENCE meted out by his own brother. YES! Also it was far too long. Overall I give it 4/10 and it falls into the 'I want that time back category'.

TUCKER AND DALE VERSUS EVIL Quality film, really good fun, genuinely likeable main characters, plenty of laughs - me and the missus thoroughly enjoyed it. Delightfully compact and bijou at just 85 minutes long.