A blog by James: Gamer, Father, Geek.

It is no real secret I’m a huge Marvel fan. Nothing against DC or any other label, but there is only so much time and money I have at my disposal so I tend to stick with Marvel. This year I am in luck as there are three Marvel films out! So in order of preference, here are the three Marvel movies out this year:

1. Captain America: The First Avenger

Captain America is probably my favourite Marvel character. I started my reading of Cap with the Ed Brubaker run which has won lots of awards and for good reason. The recent run is a nice mix of WW2 and modern day action, and it looks like the film will be the WW2 origin story, albeit probably a mix of the regular Cap and the Ultimates universe origins. Initially I nerdraged at the prospect of Chris Evans playing Cap. That goofball from Fantastic Four! I thought he was too young too. But since seeing him in costume, I have changed my mind. Sure he’s still a little on the young side but he has severely beefed up for the role and is really looking the part. The film also gains brownie points for the brilliant casting of Hugo Weaving as The Red Skull.

2. Next up is Thor:

I’m only an occasional reader of Thor, but I am interested in the film just to see if they can pull it off. Of all the up and coming Marvel movies I’d have thought Thor would be the most difficult to appeal to people not already fans of the comics. Chris Hemsworth, like Chris Evans, has really beefed up for the role and I barely recognise him from his minor role as the father of James T. Kirk in the recent Star Trek movie. I expect the film will be enjoyable if you switch your brain off and just enjoy a god-like bloke smacking people about with a magical hammer.

3. Lastly is X-Men: First Class:

Now I have not been looking forward to this one. I love X-Men 1 and 2, but X3 was a stinker and Wolverine was very average. The limited info on First Class made it all look a little crap. Odd choices of characters, actors the wrong age, liberties taken with canon. I’d rather they started afresh and went with the Uncanny X-Men lineup of Ice-Man, Beast, Cyclops, Angel and Marvel Girl. However the trailer just released does make it look pretty good so I’ll watch it with an open mind.

So yeah I’m really excited to watch these movies and they’re all released pretty closely to each other. I hope the Cap and Thor movies do well as next year The Avengers movie will be out and with Captain America and Thor traditionally being the main characters (along with Iron Man) of The Avengers, if their solo films didn’t do well it would put The Avengers at an automatic disadvantage. Though with Joss Whedon directing, there is nothing bar death that will stop me seeing that film.

Yes I am a fanboy, so what?

I’m not really here. I’ve been asleep since about 7pm. Arm hurts more than initially thought. Some lovely bruises forming!

Anyway with not much inclination to stay conscious much longer, I just dedicate today’s post to Dr Erdst. Took Hannah to him to check out her persistent cough. All is ok, but I just wanted to say he was the loveliest doctor I’ve ever met. So good with Hannah, very thorough in checking her out and just a nice person. When I was putting Hannah’s coat back on he was drawing a smiley face on a tongue depressor for her to have when we left.

I think all future appointments will be with him where possible!

That’s enough, back to the slumber. Hopefully Hannah will not be getting up at 5am tomorrow like she did today (hence the tiredness).

So I’ve finished the second part of the Night’s Dawn Trilogy, and again very much enjoyed it! Like all good second parts, it ups the scale of events started in the first book, has a satisfying couple of conclusions, furthers other plot lines along nicely and leave a huge cliffhanger at the end.

Now, straight onto the final book! I shall have to slow down slightly as my OU courses have started properly this week. Boo! Half term is just over a week away so hopefully I can do my best to get this book finished. That’s the thing I’ve found with Peter F Hamilton, his multi-book stories really do follow directly on from one another. If you read them back to back as one volume you’d never be able to pin-point where one book ends and another starts.

Well I give it 30 minutes before I’m ready for bed (yes, it’s got to that stage already) so I best cram in all I can.

Today on an SFX blog posting they said Fringe returns on Thursday. The date matched up to what some obscure TV website told me last week. Yay!

So I ask my wife to check on the Sky planner (to record it), and it’s not there. Hmm…

So I check on the TV Guide website and they have it on Sky 2 on Friday at 11, a usual slot for a repeat. Odd, but if it’s there I’ll still record it. Hmm…nope, not there either.

Go onto the Sky website. As per usual it is devoid of much detail other than to say Fringe will return in April. APRIL. APRIL?!?

It is currently early February. Fringe started back up in the US about 3 weeks ago. What the FUCK are you playing at, Sky? I thought this kind of thing was behind us? Many of the top US shows that Sky 1 show are now less than a week behind their US air dates. This is a good thing as it helps stop piracy. If people know they only have to wait a few days, they won’t bother with a download. Some still will and that’s fair enough but for me the download sizes and the fact it’s illegal kinda push me in the direction of waiting.

So now the UK will be 2-3 MONTHS behind the US. I’ve become good at avoiding spoilers but that kind of delay makes it a lot more difficult unless I quit Twitter, which isn’t going to happen any time soon.

I haven’t downloaded a TV show illegally in about 3 years now. This kind of thing really tempts me back. I want to pay and view for what I watch legitimately. If it were on iTunes right now to buy I would do so. But no, for whatever reason I have to wait until April.

In the words of Darth Vader, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

An example of one of the desktops

Struggling to come up with anything to talk about today so thought I’d start a semi-regular (ie use in desperation!) feature where I’ll share a link I think others may enjoy.

Today’s is Pixel Girl Presents. I’m not sure how long I’ve been using this site, probably a good 3 years now. It’s basically a great place for desktop pictures and, if it takes your fancy, icons too. I just use it for the backgrounds though.

The desktops pictures are often cute, quirky and colourful, providing an easy way to make your desktop seem fresh and original. Best of all it’s all free!

Give it a look and pick out a new desktop wallpaper for your electronic device of choice. It’s surprising how much a new desktop can make things look better.