bob

Awe yiss. Seeing as it's unlikely I'll be buying a PS5 anytime soon, I can finally play this game on my laptop. Can't wait!

Here's hoping he can squeeze in a visit to barber at some point too. That haircut is atrocious.

Continuing my re-watch of all the X-Men films with - The Wolverine (2013) Yeah, so this one I forgot about, and I can see why. It's very forgettable. I really don't see why they keep making solo films about Wolverine. I get that he's a fan favourite, but I really don't think he's interesting enough to carry a film on his own, let alone 3. This one they really needed some more exposition early on, especially regarding the villains. It was never really stated how they steal powers, they just do apparently. And the Snake woman was very underdeveloped - I get that she was hired by the Japanese guy, but other than that, why was she so evil? She seems to stick around and fight at the end even when it wasn't really stated why she was so invested. I think this is definitely the worst of the 3 Wolverine solo films, and possibly my least favourite of all of the films total. X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) I didn't think one was that bad. It has some terrible lines in it - and it's weird how they tried to make Mystique the inspirational leader of the X-Men, but i guess it does make sense given her actions in Days of Future Past that younger mutants would look up to her. I remember at the time thinking how stupid Apocalypse looked, but my opinions of his design has softened a little bit. It must be hard trying to make live action, comic accurate versions of characters that don't look stupid. I really like how his voice was sort of made up of multiple voices all on top of each other? Made sense since he had transferred his consciousness through many people, and it gave him a powerful, commanding air which was pretty cool. I don't really like that his powers were a bit nebulous - you were never really sure what he could do. I suppose it makes sense that he would have multiple powers, but i don't like it when they don't really lay out his abilities and keep it vague. Makes it hard to know how powerful he actually is. One thing I love about the Fox X-Men films is that most of them (the ensemble ones) all keep using the X-Men main theme all the way through. It's such a badass theme that is instantly recognisable - I love that they haven't tried to change it up, and I really hope that if they make an MCU one, they'll keep the main theme the same (they won't, but I can hope). The worst part about MCU Spidey is that they got rid of the Elfman theme. Logan (2017) Oh look it's another film about Wolverine! For a change, they decided to actually make a good one this time. I enjoyed this one - the subplot of Charles Xavier having Alzheimer's/dementia was an interesting way to go. The whole theme of what happens to cool super-heroes when they get old and decrepit was one that was worth exploring - I kind of wish they'd had a few more X-Men turn up. Cyclops with macular degeneration? Mystique unable to control her shapeshifting? Storm just fucking cranky and miserable and just causing rain wherever she goes? That would be fun to explore. The rest of the film was pretty good. I only have a few issues with it. The way they seemed to imply that the Wolverine clone was some sort of Cyborg (with cameras in his head), but then they just didn't explore that any further. Also, the new mutant kids were set up to be these insane weapons bred from birth to be fighting machines, but it was only really Laura who was any good in a fight. I kind of hope that there would be this awesome scene at the end of the kids fighting the soldiers at the end, but most of the other children were fairly useless. Only one real film left now - and one that i remember so little of, i genuinely can't tell if i've seen it before. I think I have because I have a vague recollection of Magneto attacking a helicopter in somewhere like Vietnam, but haven't seen that scene yet. I could be getting it mixed up with something else though.

I've been playing through the trilogy on PS4, and have only had one moment when the game broke (it didn't load a scene when it should have). I think I just saved and turned it off and on, and it worked again. Other than that it's been pretty smooth sailing.

What does everyone think about the new Champ League format? I was a bit surprised because I'd not seen that much fanfare about it, which was weird because it seems like a huge change. I think I like the look of it though. It seems like you'll get many more varied matchups earlier on, and now exciting games, but I don't know how it'll change the competition. I'm sure people will be arguing for years that the new format is 'easier' and any win going forward won't count as much etc etc.

I will usually try and learn some basics of the language for wherever I'm going on holiday that year, so this year I did a bit of Spanish (we went to my both Menorca and Fuengirola). It's fun learning a new language, but my main complaint with Duolingo is that you never learn much useful stuff for going on holiday. Yes, I can ask my brother about his new red trousers, but they don't teach you how to say 'hello', 'please', 'thank you' etc sometimes. I wish you had more control over which modules you could learn.

After the ends-credit sequence from Deadpool, I found myself wanting to watch through all the X-men films again, so that's what i've been doing. I will preface these opinions with the info that I have never read an X-men comic, or watched the cartoons or anything. X-Men (2000) This one always used to be one of my favourite films. I think however, that there is a fair amount of nostalgia behind those feelings. Watching it back now, and it hasn't aged as well as other films in the franchise. It is far more camp than the other films, and there are a lot more vague unexplained things in it (like Magneto just happens to have a magic machine that converts humans to mutants, powered by his own magnetism? Where did that come from, did he invent it? It's never explained.) It suffers from a lot of the hangovers from the crap superhero films of the 80s and 90s too. Like the incredibly cliched evil villain lair that Magneto is chilling in - a big cave high up on some cliffs? Still, I enjoyed it a lot, and would mark it quite high up in the rankings. X-Men 2 (2003) Was my one of my favourite films as a kid, and still is now. I think it has aged incredibly well, and is probably in the top 10 Marvel films even now. Love it! X-Men 3 - The Last Stand (2006) I think that critics were a bit unfair on this film when it came out. I really don't think it is that bad, and looking back, I think it might actually be slightly better than X-men 1. The San Francisco bridge scene is just awesome. X-men Origins: Wolverine (2009) To be honest, before I started watching, i had forgotten that there were three Wolverine solo films. I didn't even realise until halfway through this one that The Wolverine was a separate film. I kept wondering when they were going to start the plot about him moving to Japan and fighting samurai. I get why this one was poorly received though. Right up until they reveal Deadpool, it's not that bad, but yeah they really went in a weird direction with that character. I think i see why they never made any other Origin films with other characters though (other than repeatedly making Wolverine ones). The X-men work best as a cast of multiple characters. On their own, they're a bit boring. X-men: First Class (2011) This one is great! I love the 1960's setting, and obviously McAvoy and Fassbender have a really great chemistry onscreen. Magneto hunting nazis at the beginning is great as well. However, the main thing that really de-railed any repeat viewing of this, is trying not to focus on how weird Fassbender's accent is, and how it gets gradually worse throughout the film, until at the end he's just talking with a straight up Irish accent, and nobody notices or cares...how did nobody on set say anything? X-men: Days of Future Past (2014) This one is also really good. I think it has one of the better plots considering it manages to interweave all of the old and new cast in a pretty cool way. I feel like there must be something in the X-men license that says if you make a film with Magneto in it, he has to lift something huge at some point in the film, because without fail he always starts lifting! In this one, he just picks up a stadium and plonks it over the white house. It's not really that necessary, but I suppose it is quite impressive. That's all i've seen for now. I'll make my way through the four remaining films, and post my thoughts when i'm done.

Politics is supposed to be boring. When it starts getting mixed up with entertainment, you get gameshow hosts being elected and other populist rubbish. Boris was very entertaining, but absolutely dogshit at everything else. Truss Vs Lettuce was entertaining, but it crashed the economy because she's incompetent, and now we're all paying for it.

The community notes for that tweet seem to suggest otherwise.

Why would this news matter to people who have an Xbox? They still get the game... There's no reason Xbox or PS users should be excited about exclusives of any kind - they are anti-consumer and only a good thing for the companies themselves.

It's not the sort of game that interests me, so I've never sought it out. I feel like I've got the gist of it from watching a video.

I got quite excited for the title, but I haven't actually played any of those games.

Just posting this music - the soundtrack to one of the best moments of the film. I damn near squealed with excitement. Such a badass entrance too.

I wonder how many of that crowd had actually seen the film.

Just got back from seeing Deadpool 3. Loved it. Yes, it was mostly nostalgia, cameos and references up the wahzoo, but I don't care - I fucking love nostalgia. I'll add more when I'm sure that spoiler tags are working.

I would, but the commute is just a bit too long for me. Good luck everyone else!

She's having the baby right now? Or she's having a baby in general and you're there for a check-up?

All systems fully functioning at work, which is annoying. Global IT outage, and I'm stuck working like a schmuck. I don't carry cash around at all. Occasionally I'll have a tenner in my wallet, which stays in there for months and months because I never used it, only to suddenly come in handy when I need cash for something. Then I forget to replace it. I currently have 10 euros in there from my holiday a month or two ago, and that's it. My father in law doesn't even carry his wallet around any more - he just has his phone. A couple of times somewhere hadn't accepted Apple Pay and he's been stuck unable to pay.

Did nobody at Netflix think through the name of this documentary at all? Biles Rising!?

I've got so many gaps, it might be quicker to just list the games I have played. I never played any NES games. Or SNES games. Or any Megadrive games. Or pretty much anything older than the N64. I've never played a Sonic game. I've never played a Metal Gear Solid game. I've never played a Tomb Raider game. I've never played a Final Fantasy game. I've never played a Gran Turismo game. I've never played a Soulslike. I've never played a 2D beatemup. I've never played a JRPG. Given the amount of time I have for gaming these days, I don't think any of these are going to change, but you never know.

What's your subReddit?

I think I'd definitely pick Stroopwafel over the Surströmming. Don't see the appeal of eating rotten fish at all. Never had soufflé, but isn't it just a mousse? Not sure, but can't see it being better than a nice stroopwafel.

I think they realised that the character was very popular during Wanda and tried to jump on that wave. Kathryn Hahn is certainly a good actress, but I'm not sure if she can carry a while show. I guess we'll see!

Why don't we just add tags to all the threads with "Nintendo", "PS4", "retro" etc, so people can just filter all the threads in one go and see what they want.

My constituency got a large Labour majority. Happy for my MP because he seems like a genuinely nice guy who wants to help people. Scary that Reform got more than 3 million votes, but then I guess a lot of those are just displaced Tory voters. Crazy that Lib Dems only got 2.5 million and got 50+ more seats than Reform.