Grazza

That's awful, Paj. I'm glad you're alright. Was it a "good" pizza restaurant? It might sound paranoid, but I'm really careful about where I eat.

Fudge Pants Socks

Agree, although I liked the fact it didn't have any graphic violence in it. It's not that I thought it was perfect, I just enjoyed it more than some of the more acclaimed comic book films, like Batman. As for the recovery thing, he did fly quite high into the atmosphere, thus getting away from the Kryptonite island and recharging via the sun. He then flew back very quickly and purposely, severing it with his laser vision, so he was able to get under it and lift it before it had time to weaken him. It made enough sense to me.

That's a good point. Paper Mario is all very well, but it's not quite as enjoyable as seeing animated sprites. What is the style of Paper Mario or Wario Land: the Shake Dimension called - "hand drawn" or something like that? You mention 16-bit... I'm not being pedantic, but look at how good the 32-bit games were (like Guardian Heroes) and imagine if that exact style was updated utilising the power of today's machines. I'm sure we all want a 2D Metroid. Wouldn't it be good if it actually used sprites? 2.5D would be good enough, but proper, sprite-based 2D could make it a classic.

This was my biggest problem with the DS - most of the 3D games didn't have clear graphics. All the biggest visual feasts on it were contained in 2D games like Etrian Odyssey and Phoenix Wright.

I was extremely impressed with Superman Returns. The whole "Where was Superman during 9/11?" theme was very potent. You were gutted he wasn't there to save the day, but you couldn't help be chuffed he was back anyway. The plane scene was brilliant and it's always good when he loses his powers via Kryptonite then gets them back and bashes the villains! Oh, and I loved the return of John Williams' music.

I thought you were going to mention Galactus. Oh well, I like them. And Jessica Alba has got a good wiggle.

They're brilliant, aren't they?

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I'm still loving Dragon Quest IX (excellent value), especially since I found the Metal King Slimes. Actually, now I think of it, don't the downloadable Quests last a year or so? If that's the case, I'm going to keep my DSi XL until I've done everything in DQIX on it.

Quite frankly, if you're unemployed or retired, I think it'd be all too easy to never see a person you know again. It's different for our generation, because we've got the internet, but in all honesty most of my pals along the way have been from school, then college, then work. Apart from a very few true friends, people really just make the most of the people they regularly see (ie. at work) then, I've noticed, find it very easy to forget about people. Sorry to be glum - You do pick up some really good people on the way.

I sort of agree. I was very confused when I saw Spider-Man because it strayed quite far from the comics, and yet it was still done very well. Now CGI is easier/cheaper, they should make a truly great Spider-Man TV series. The villains could return now and then, just like the comics, and they should look exactly like they do on the page. Want to know what my very favourite comic book films are? [spoiler=]Fantastic Four 1 + 2. I don't care what the critics say, they are bloomin' entertaining and accurate too. They make me laugh, they get me excited and they're a visual feast.

Whereas Spider-Man has to make a quick decision (and does something really clever - well, I couldn't work out what he was going to do anyway!), the situation is much less straightforward for Batman. I don't want to bash the individual scenes though because, now you remind me of it, yes, that was gripping. At the end of the day, I do not dislike this film, I just found it strangely flat.

In that it's a very long film and I get the sense that its fans would enjoy just soaking up the atmosphere... which is not necessarily a bad thing, but I wasn't impressed with the actual storytelling. It could learn a great deal from the Spider-Man films, in that one scene follows on from the other, causes the next to happen, and there is emotional investment in it. I don't mean I like the sentimental bits, I just care when Spider-Man has to choose whether to save the cable car or Mary Jane, when he's finding it hard to stop the train and when the Sandman and Venom are ganging up on him. It just gets me going! With The Dark Knight, I felt the entire film just showed the city under the control of the Joker, with no real development, and then a fight at the end. The only scene that gripped me was when the people on the boats had to choose whether to destroy the other one.

Some chavs are nice. This scumbag, though, should be locked up and the key thrown away. It doesn't matter what chairdriver's friend said, there is no justification for headbutting someone unless you genuinely need to defend yourself (which he didn't, obviously). I know chairdriver's friend didn't say the most polite thing in the world, but you do not attack someone for saying something rude. Scumbags learn at school, through lack of discipline, that it's OK to attack people, and it's not. Ever. Lock him away.

Now, I've got my DSi XL, I really want Dragon Quest VI and DQM 2 as well.

Agree. Regarding X-Men, I didn't like the first one but, it's a bit like Harry Potter - once I got used to how they were doing it I very much enjoyed 2 + 3. Some comic book films I found disappointing: Hulk - I'd spent years hoping for a good Hulk film, and this was not it... The Incredible Hulk - ...trouble is, neither was this. Batman: the Dark Knight - is it really a good story or is it just an indulgent fantasy?

Maybe they aren't good at keeping it secret. Maybe it does constantly get leaked, but no one believes it. I'm half sure that if Barack Obama announced tomorrow that aliens were visiting, most people would pretend he hadn't said anything and just talk about football. There are certainly lots of alien stories recently. This from the Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/8038639/Mission-to-search-for-alien-life-in-outer-atmosphere.html

OK, OK, but they'd be known to Earth authorities. I meant "sceptical that UFOs were anything beyond current Earth technology".

Actually, the only Harry Potter film I found disappointing was the first one, because films can't live up to books you've already visualised. After that, I knew what they were getting at. In fact, the films influenced how I visualised books 5-7. More disappointing '90s films: Men in Black Independence Day Jurassic Park 2 (just plain bad) Thought they'd be brilliant, but there were a bit of a nothing, really.

Yes indeed, I love his dry wit. Now I've seen all three of them, I enjoyed the aliens one the most (because I admit that's what I'm most interested in) and found the time travel one to be an excellent programme, but it hurt my head. Last night's, though, was terrifying and apocalyptic! It does make me wonder, especially the widely-reported stories, such as the UN Ambassador, the Vatican and the Earth-like planet, because if the authorities wanted to get us used to something, they'd make sure it was widely-reported. Also, it seems like every time I sign out of email, there's a UFO story. It does make me wonder if someone's trying to tell us something. In the '90s I was actually sceptical about UFOs, as I assumed they were all secret aircraft. However, I've been particularly interested in the wave of claims I've heard in the last few years, including declassified MoD files (incidentally, it's remarkable that this year's were the last ever. Incredibly, the MoD will no longer have a UFO Desk or release the reports. Suspicious in itself, I think...) Something quite incredible happened last week. Although not widely-reported, I find these claims incredible. Everyone involved and all the incidents are well-known and go back decades, so it can't be written-off as a hoax. For whatever reason, someone, somewhere wants us to believe USAF personnel saw UFOs they believed to be extra-terrestrial. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1315479/Aliens-interfered-weapons-UFOs-deactivating-nuclear-missiles.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/ufo/8026971/Aliens-have-deactivated-British-and-US-nuclear-missiles-say-US-military-pilots.html The Nazca lines can be explained, I think, by the ancients thinking spirits would be able to see the drawings from above. Furthermore, I disagree with those who would say Stonehenge, the Pyramids and the Easter Island statues were beyond the technology of those who built them - we know how all of them were built. However, it's an interesting theory and I don't totally write it off. After all, seen on a big scale, there is no reason aliens couldn't have visited us thousands of years ago - if interstellar travel is possible, that is.

I too very much enjoyed The Matrix 2 + 3 and Spider-Man 3, but I didn't have high expectations for any of them. Personally, it's been a long time since I was excited for a film, and I actually feel a bit bad about saying this, but I'd have to say Jurassic Park. There was so much hype, I was a teenager and I'd always loved dinosaurs, so I expected it to be really brilliant. When I watched it though it was sort of a non-event, only appreciated on later viewings. Stan Winston's brilliant dinosaur models were the star of the show though.

They probably do realise it causes panic, yes! I can only think this reason - fear - is the explanation for people scoffing at UFO reports so much. I'm not saying UFOs are alien (after all, I don't know what's in them or even if they're actually manned craft), but highly qualified people continue to make extraordinary claims about UFOs they've seen (including last week), and the masses prefer to either ignore it completely or write it off as some sort of hoax, despite that explanation not fitting.

I do believe eventually energy will not be an issue. There is a theory of "Perpetual Motion" - the basic idea is opposing magnets create constant energy - but no one can do it successfully. It's funny, because it seems like something that could be solved, but it hasn't happened yet. As for the Theory of Relativity, I believe aliens would have to visit us before we know if it's an unsurpassable barrier or not. Einstein was a genius amongst men, but it's not inconceivable that a being with multiple times the brain capacity of a human would solve it. If it can't be solved, aliens will never be able to visit us (or us them). If it can be solved, I don't see why it wasn't solved millions of years ago by an advanced civilisation, and thus they could have been visiting us since the Earth was formed.

Och, hate is a strong word! With Minish Cap, I thought it was totally and utterly average. I wasn't a big fan of the Kinstones, the segmented world map or even the "shrinking" idea, but most of all I was unimpressed with the graphics. They were an attempt to recreate Wind Waker's graphics and character designs, but without polygons or cel-shading they didn't stand a chance. They would have been better of with Link to the Past graphics (like Four Swords Adventure - that was great). Now Spirit Tracks, on the other hand, I found to be utterly brilliant.

I know, but free speech is free speech. As long as they're not harassing anyone or inciting violence, they should not be silenced. Example: a preacher standing on the street shouting at individual gay people is wrong; a preacher explaining why he believes what he believes is not "right" but it should still be legal. Another example: some people were fearful of Nick Griffin appearing on Question Time. Instead of gaining support, though, people saw how abhorrent some of the things he had associated himself with were, and the BNP did terribly in the election. At the end of the day, free speech is all important and there's no room for political correctness. Now bullying, on the other hand, we should clamp down on like a ton of bricks, but it doesn't actually matter why someone bullies someone - it's the crime that counts, not the motive. Believe me, you're preaching to the converted. I think homophobes are incredibly stupid and illogical. I do challenge them, which I bet not many people do. There was a girl I fancied at work until she said she hated gay people. I then realised how judgemental and simple minded she must be - not attractive.