Couple of old Screenwipe clips on reality TV I rediscovered.

Firstly a clip from Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe, dealing with the old BB racism thing, its his almost poetic, yet wonderfully abusive descriptions he pulls out, '...and Jade's mother, played by Dot Cotton reflected in a dented kettle, and Jack, a man so slow that he has to whistle before he goes to the toilet, so he knows which end to shit out of'.

Then a demonstration of how reality TV can be manipulated through editing, from the same show, and then, something I may have posted before, but it is so beyond ridiculous, that more people need to see it. Its the legendary 'hip hopera' from R Kelly, and well, see it for yourself, and then wonder why no-one at any stage of production asked ' Why? '.

Streetfighter the movie - The later years

Found this little gem while browsing, if you have fond memories of Streetfighter II, should provoke a smile at least, sure it's not Hollywood production values, but its pretty good I reckon.

Streetfighter! ( note the links are with the first part at the bottom...so work your way up! )

Also, while you're there, check out their trailer for 'Minesweeper - The Movie'

The IT Crowd returns - now with 38% less subtlety! Oh, and a quick rant about TV exports

I have to say, I caught the first episode of series 2 of the IT Crowd.

While I loved the first series and it was excellent, I think the writer and the cast have really nailed things this time, and despite the techy stylings and settings, Graham Linehan has stuck to what he excels at, old style farce and the traditional British comedy of embarrassment. You can still feel an undertone of 'Father Ted' watching it.

Its amazing to see the plots unfold, purely because the main characters are so socially inept that they can't just say 'erm, I'm not supposed to be here...' (and sadly, I can truly empathise with them, heh).

Well, seems I've missed a couple, so I've got some catching up to do!

Really tho, if you get the chance, go see it!

Also, while researching, I found that this is heading to America, and filming actually started in February of this year. They are keeping Moss, but everyone else is being replaced by younger and prettier people, in case the sight of some teeth that were not set using a spirit level offends the mythical american viewership.

It really is quite scary, I mean the lack of respect the British TV companies have, and the low regard they have for their average viewer's intelligence. It still amazes me that QI got to a second series, never mind a fifth! But then that is why you get QI on the BBC, as on ITV or CH4, I believe the usual ads for Pot Noodle, Lambrini, and Heat magazine would maybe not be too effective in the middle of QI.

Having said that, at least we're not America, where if you haven't spent three mortgages on plastic surgery, you're not allowed near a TV screen. I still remember the horrors of the US 'Red Dwarf' pilot, where they replaced Craig Charles as the beer swilling, curry spilling slob of the universe with a charming, white, chisel jawed actor straight out of acting school. As for replacing Holly with Jane Leeves from 'Frasier' (and I LIKE Frasier, I really do, and I like Jane Leeves in it!), someone said rather truthfully, 'how can an english actress fail so comprehensively to do an english accent?'.

Come on guys in US TV stations, just TRY running a few more British shows 'as is', I think a fair percentage of your viewer may actually be able to translate the strange voices into american, and a few might even understand some of the 'humor' (Yes, when it comes to US execs, there really is no 'u' in 'humour') (Yes I know, stop being pedantic!).

Still, there's hope, and maybe the US version could be an 'Office' and not a 'Red Dwarf'.

So WOW , and the guild, and the 'Lich King' expansion.

We're slowly getting to a position where we can start touching on the last expansion's content, and what happens? They announce the next expansion!

We're never gonna see half of this stuff, heh. To Be honest tho, a lot of guilds have seen everything there is to see in the last expansion and if Blizzard don't keep expanding the world, people will just get bored and leave, so I can't blame them.

'Lich King' will be raising the 'level cap' (highest possible level) to 80 from the current 70, and introducing a new continent, which should make things interesting, along with a whole bunch of other stuff.

I, personally have my highest character at 68, a holy priest. She's pretty hopeless on her own, but she'll bolster any group hugely, and I tend to prefer playing support roles, even if it means I progress slower than some others.

I have one of each class on the go now, so while I'm no expert I can at least answer questions on most subjects.

On another note, I put together a guild event which was interesting...

I got in touch with a couple of people on the opposite 'side' and bought them a pet rabbit each, and just asked them to stay in one area while questing for a while, and keep the rabbit following them.

Then after the guild meeting, made some teams and sent my guild into enemy territory to spy, and locate the alliance guys and report to me with their names.

I told them the information they needed was on the guild site at http://sunkentemplepilots.googlepages.com/wanted

Swiftly knocked up some 'wanted' posters, then went back and changed the names of the picture files from the character names. (nearly made it WAY too easy, heh).

It wasnt a complete success to be honest, but it was fun, and makes a change from the usual stuff going on. I'll try a similar thing soon, except I'll add a few rules to encourage a bit more teamwork.

Guitar Hero III Track List revealed - and it could be the greatest ever (for me)

I'll be amazed if anyone even notices this, as I haven't posted anything for like 4 months, and I sense I'm probably going to fill about 4 pages in a flurry of hero worship.

Due at the end of October, and anyone that knows me knows I've loved the first 2 in the series, although I found the 80's expansion somewhat weak, comparatively (although still excellent).

There has just been another big release of tracks due to be in the third game, and anyone of mine or Fink's age and into metal should love it!

Black Magic Woman - Santana
Cult of Personality - Living Colour
Even Flow - Pearl Jam
The Number of the Beast - Iron Maiden
One - Metallica
Paint It Black - The Rolling Stones
Paranoid - Black Sabbath
Raining_Blood - Slayer
Sabotage - Beastie Boys
School's Out - Alice Cooper
She Bangs the Drums - The Stone Roses
Suck My Kiss - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Welcome to the Jungle - Guns 'N' Roses

Of course, with the last few games, I've liked 5 or 6 tracks, then on actually playing the game realised I know and love about 90% of the track listing, but I only knew tracks like 'that ridiculously fast one from Pulp Fiction' and not Dick Dale - Mirislou, and 'That tune from 'Top Gear, off the telly', and not The Allman Brothers Band - Jessica.

There's 45 in total, but they are the highlights for me so far, I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping they don't trim down the PS2 version, as GH 1 and 2 managed 50+ tracks no problem, so it will be a cynical move of 'Halo 2 for Vista' proportions if they choose to make the PS2 version a weaker one (although I can understand them leaving out online play, downloadable content etc.
Just gimme the rock dammit!

It seems the game franchise is finally being taken 'seriously' if that is the right word by both the bands and the music industry, not only are they attracting bigger and more influential bands, but over half are supplying master tracks to use in game, instead of Harmonix needing to record an in-house cover version. Although in my opinion, Harmonix did an excellent job of their covers, of course people will prefer the original! Hell some bands have visited Harmonix and re-recorded their track for use in the game, as Primus did for GH2.

Also, they're adding Boss Battles, against the likes of GNR's Slash, and some other 'mystery' guitarists, and adding some evil power ups to a multiplayer mode.

This will also come with a wireless controller for all systems, with the Wii version having a space to insert the wiimote, and all guitars having a removable neck for travel/storage purposes, so I'll be sorely tempted to go for a copy with a second guitar now!