gaggle64

I'll take 5 & 14 please Carol.

Is 5 still needing picked? I'll take that if it is. I'll also sign up to any alliance that wants me.

Oh crap, somebody warn the villagers!

But the point is it's a fantasy for men. Not women, men. I don't think women find it empowering to be resigned to the background in so much popular culture, with tits and ass on display as much as possible. Croft may have some female fans though designed with a male audience in mind - but are those female fans there (assuming they still are) because she's a sex object for men or because she's one of a still very small number of female heroines in video games? In a lot of popular fiction men get to be muscular, well armed, maybe with a face full of gnarly scars and deep in the action. Women get to walk around looking like a stripper in impractical costumes with immaculate makeup, usually in the background. It's not empowerment - if it was, the men would be probably prancing around in speedos & hotpants with hairless skinny bodies and genitals on proud display at every possible moment. The costumes in the recent Batman games are a good example of this: If a waif Batman ran about half-unzipped like Catwoman, would men still want to play the game? Would they still admire the character? How about the Joker standing with hips cocked in Harley's revealing fetish gear? Or even Ivy's crotch plate? What if Batman dressed revealingly but was one of a small number of male heroes in comics & video games? Would that make it more or less tolerable for male comic and game fans?

I've never really suffered directly from the gender divide but there are still few things I hate more in this world - because it's so blatantly commercial, because it flies so obviously in the face of reality and because it seems to be mostly designed to feed the prejudices of idiots. It's really interesting when you read back and find the pink/blue trope doesn't occur until the early 50s. I also feel like it's something the clearly carries through into the adult world (men = football, women = yoghurt) and leads to the hideous sexualisation of women in media, assuming they're even ever portrayed. Female Shep is the superior option but I think Male Shep's become a bit underrated too. Which reminds me - on the subject of gender relations - the person (I'm guessing male) who designed this needs to be castrated. Slowly and painfully.

This probably says more about my perverse mind then anything else, but for a second there I thought those were for something very unrelated to motor maintenance.

Hey, you ever tried fighting a sofa? Those fuckers got weight but they can really move when they need to...

Merry Christmas every one! Now for PARTY TIME!!!

If anyone hasn't already seen it, Bronson is on Film 4 at 11:20. Go watch it.

Damn that's tough Serebii, best strength to your whole family.

Buried my grandfather today, it was a lovely service. His brother told us about his short-lived boxing career - the best boxer Eton had ever produced he went to box for Oxford but got his nose broke sparring with a guy who was going for the Welterweight British Empire title. Two days later he was boxing for qualification in Oxford/Cambridge championships and his jaw was broken in the fight - he still won but couldn't compete in the championship with a broken jaw. He was also a guard at the Nuremberg trials, survived 2 massive heart attacks in his 30s & 50s, founded a cathedral in old Rhodesia, published several books and accidentally won the national Anglican golf tournament, among other things. My grandfather was sort of awesome. Back home now, just found out I'm getting £1100 back from the tax man due to overpayment over the last 2 years. Merry Xmas to me.

Hugs all round I think - joining to form the Hugzord. Anyone else want in on this, just pile in.

I'm gonna be a bit worried for Kimi next year - a hell of a lot has changed in the last couple of years, it might be half a season before he finds his feet even with his talents. Shame Bruno & Petrov are out on their tod (though Petrov may be going to Marussia, possibly knocking out Glock), both have proven themselves worth of another season on the grid. Both Buemi & Algesuari may be getting dropped by Torro Rosso and Trulli may get dropped by Caterham as well as the 2nd seat at Williams and bth Force India seats yet to be made official. Looks like there's going to be quite a lot of horse trading over the next few weeks. Also, Lotus better have enough room in the budget for ice cream.

A very mixed bag this year but all the losses are from the old guard in need of retirement. I'll be moving a good lot onto the front bench but survival will be a tough prospect again next season.

According to a text sent at 2am which I didn't receive until after waking a little before 10am, my grandfather passed away peacefully in the very early hours of this morning. Not sure how to feel exactly. So far all I've done is spent a few minutes laughing that as a hardboiled anti-European he manged to keep going until after Cameron had told the EU to go stuff itself. I'm sure it pleased him and it has a symmetry I find genuinely amusing.

I'm game for a friendly if anyone wants one.

For budgies? Anything is worthwhile for budgies.

New trailer with the briefest piece of gameplay - nothing massively spoilery story-wise but best not watch if you're waiting to go in totally virgin, so to speak. Those Thresher Maws aren't taking anyone's shit.

So, Battlefield the RTS? Yeah, I could go for some of that.

Watched The Happening, all the way through. That M Night Shamalan is still allowed to make movies is one of the great mysteries of our age. There's a chase scene with wind for god's sake. The worst part? South Park did it first - except South Park knew how ridiculous the whole concept was - Sahamamamamlamalam clearly did not.

One day I'm hoping somebody makes an all-star RTS game in Smash Bros. style where players pit rival hordes of zombies from all the different franchises against one another.