Norseman

Anyone make the Nick Cave gig in Edinburgh on the 13th Oct? I tried to get a ticket but no joy.

Looking forward to Psydoll though, always manage to miss them wherever I am but I am a sucker for quirky! Just what Monday nights were meant for. ;0)

I am gutted, I have gained Ch5 and lots ITV 3 and 4 with the recent signal change but 99% of what I watched was on those 2 channels, what a ballbanger...:0(

Especially gutted to be missing the remaining episodes of Life and the new series of Sanctuary.

Been watching Dollhouse on the boxset though and enjoying it, also been plowing through all 3 series of Veronica Mars and finding it surprisingly good.

'Along Came Polly' is one of the better efforts in that kind of genre in my humble judgement. Philip Seymour Hoffman playing basketball is amazing.

I agree, many many worse films in this genre than Along Came Polly and Jennifer Aniston is pretty damn hot in it. Has some decent funny bits as well.

Also Barb Wire is classic B movie sillyness and the only thing I like Pamela Anderson in, might actuallty see if I can hunt the DVD down in some bargain basement.

The Brothers Grimm and Alexander are still the only 2 films I have got close to physically throwing things at the TV while they were on, sooooooo bad.

Finally got round to seeing Rob Zombies Halloween last night, better than I thought it was going to be but strays very much into formula American slasher film in a lot of points. Still think it is one of these remakes too far but in general I enjoyed it, especially the longer build up in the back story.

Sweet zombie Jesus, I have to see this film!

A cracking film, very amusing indeed in a totally bonkers type of way. One of the few recent films I would go back and see again.

3000 Miles to Graceland ~ Quite an old movie that I've always meant to see and that I picked up for 2 quid in Asda. Stars Kevin Costner (no wait, come back!) and Kurt Russell along with Courtney Cox looking rather good and playing a role miles from Monica Friends. Actually quite a good film and the best I've seen Kevin Costner in for an age.

Costner plays a nutjob ex-jailbird who claims to be an illegitimate son of Elvis, Kurt Russell plays his ex-jail mate and they meet up for a casino heist in Las Vegas during an Elvis convention, hence the heist being pulled off by Kevin and Kurt along with David Arquette and Christian Slater in full Elvis garb. Remainder of the film is about the predictably messy aftermath, double-crosses ahoy, etc. I suppose in many ways it's quite formulaic but I thought it was well done and the actors involved do a good job. It's also pretty violent. Certainly worth 2 pounds. 8/10.

A good film and I would agree with the rating and Courtney looks very fetching in her thong in the film! :-)

Cool, good band Downfall and a good fit for Viking Skull.

Anyone yet got an idea of support?

I still play CM2 97/98 to this day, got a fairly new update on it as well as various third parties still support it.

Some of my early fav games were on the Amstrad CPC 464, a very underrated bit of kit, it even had some full shaded polygon 3D titles when wireframe was considered state of the art.

Best CPC titles:

Get Dexter

Elite

Starglider

Starstrike 2

Uridium (faster than the C64 version)

Spindizzy

Doomsday Blues

Fairlight

Head Over Heels

Batman (Ocean 3D game)

Barbarian

Cauldron

Cauldron 2

Knightlore

Alien 8

Marsport

Heavy On The Magick

etc etc

was a major fan of Settlers 1 on the Atari ST and PC as well, very addictive and who can forget Sensible Soccer!

C-5's and C-17's are fairly common at Prestwick and I have seen them occasionally at Edinburgh as well.

Prestwick is a good airport for military transport stop overs, a long runway but very few commercial flights.

Had a gander at Google Earth and there are no 747's in the picture, there are however three USAF C-5 Galaxy transport aircraft.

I believe the USAF 747s are usually used for mid-air refuelling purposes.

No, the only country with modified 747's for inflight refuelling is Iran which has ten of them. The CIA flights were a mix of large bizjets (mostly Gulfstreams) and 737's.

Haven't had a chance to look at the image but will have a gander later as the US Airforce doesn't have any 747's on it's books other than Airforce One and the ABL. Probably camo painted civvies on long charter leases for Middle East troop transport flights as there is a load in use for this purpose.

America do make me laugh, I still remember not that long ago large scale fundraisers on behalf of the IRA in Boston and Chicago in particular. Some of it was pretty shockingly open with a lot of heavyweight backing from some American politicions. There used to be a guy with a bucket outside the hotel I was in stopping people in the street for cash donations for the IRA, mental.

As for this release malarky, I am pretty sure the Americans are pleased the appeal documents are being sealed and everything swept under the carpet. There was so much "chaff" and disinformation around this case it got a tad ridiculous and when you throw in the DEA side of things and their investigation in CIA run drug ops from the middle east and it gets even murkier. Libya was a useful bogeyman as the usual bogeymen had their uses at the time. The case was very very shaky and under normal circumstances I would be amazed it would get to trial but someone had to be caught, especially for Joe Public in the States. Interestingly the shooting down of the Iranian airliner and subsequent follow up was very small news in the USA and most of the public there were unaware of the situation and possible link to the Pan Am flight. Speaking to guys who work in the radar business, how an Airbus A300 on a commercial flight path which was in constant contact with local air traffic control can be "mistaken" as an F14 is a joke unless complete incompetence is taken into the equation (not impossible). Even if it had been an F14, what was the issue with the ship, it's not as it it could be attacked (Iranian F14's only had air to air capability and at that time had no data buses or compatible pylons for any kind of surface attack weaponry).

I feel Scotland is being shafted here, caught in the middle of all this and once again America is playing Mr Outraged while as usual has fingers in every murky pie around.

Any idea of who is supporting?

good stuff, they were excellent when they were here with McQueen last time.

The Vivians were really good last time I saw them so I think I will be attending this if I survive Bloodstock.

Saw them with Iron Maiden a few years back and they were a lot better than I was expecting so I will go along to this.

Only got round to watching the first 3 episodes last night as I had recorded them, quality disturbing stuff.

I like a pint of Deuchers so hard to beat the 1.29 price at Justice Mill (not a promo price, available all the time).

At last got round to seeing Transformers 2, enjoyed it in the brain turned off sense, big robots bashing the crap out of each other is always fun. However, the American sense of World geography raises it's ugly head again, do any of these guys have a clue!!!! Don't get me started on the nit picking regarding the military aspects as well, lucky the good old US of A is the only country in the world with armed forces to save everyone though apart from 2 Jordanian Blackhawks (overflying Cairo!!!!!). Obviously the issue of Egypt having one of the largest and most modern armed forces in the world these days is conveintantly side stepped and don't even get me started with the military operation in Shanghai, WTF!!!!!!!

Can't say I have ever had any problems with rudeness in general in either Inverness or Edinburgh though maybe the kind of places I go to/people I frequent with. Actually had way more bad experiences when I worked in glasgow (though not really rudeness issues, just idiots trying to give you a random kicking/stabbing). London was the worst but again you can always find lots of ameniable people. I think though in general cities where there is less of a "local" crowd and much more people in transit/tourists/rushing business folks then it will be a bit colder and less intimate. Aberdeen can be a bit hit or miss but since I moved here from the Dublin area (which can be very rude/cold at times) most folks have been fine but the chav numbers seem to have multiplied hugely in the 4 years I have been here.

Some of the small villages in Scotland can be a total nightmare though and I have had a lot of pub moments like a scene from American Werewolf in London. I find a lot that people can have very "coloured" opinions of Scottish cities dependant on upbring/place of birth/friends etc, what they might tolerate in one they would rant about in another, having a mum from Edinburgh, a dad from Glasgow and split polarised family in both cities can be an eye opener, especially at weddings and funerals! 8-) Football to seems to be a major definer for many and my cousin in Bellshill was very vocal about me going to live with the "sheepy scum" and he wasn't joking either.

Good stuff, what's the score on those of us who have bought advance tickets?

3000 capacity for the Corn Exchange, been to a few gigs there.

I always fancied trying a mixed style martial art, dabbled with Judo (very old school style including hybradised variants) when I was kid and also did a little bit of mixed combat when I was over in Europe and enjoyed it but then girls, beer and work got in the way of most things. To old, fat, slow, injured these days but at least my beer arm still works (sort of apart from the trapped nerve) and I can just about work my DVD remote to watch martial arts films which will be about the closest I get. As I can't even leg it if trouble brews due to a completely goosed knee I have to rely on witty charm and wearing a Motorhead t-shirt.

I seem to end up sitting through lots of cookery type shows as well as Mrs Norsie likes them and I usually end up enjoying them, especially kitchen nightmares. Bizarelly watching masterchef is how the other half got back in touch with a long lost friend as she ended up in the quarter finals of the show.

I have also seen most of the live Kylie DVD's and I really enjoyed live gigs from Pink and Mel C. One of my most watched music videos's is also My Chemical Romances - The Black Parade.