3CR816

Same here. He's good at identifying records you might like ("I have some new Suicide vinyl in..." yoink) without being pushy about them and I don't think I've ever bought anything for its marked price. It's obviously not great for new releases, but I've got a lot of my collection from The Cavern.

That sounds awful, unless it's refering to the guy that crashed his van into toxic waste in RoboCop. If so, go ahead, lads! Sounds like something I might sign up for. I assume that you would have to have a niche or specialism to get the most out of it, though?

Celebration Rock by Japandroids really took me by surprise. It's awesome, knife's edge rock n' roll from start to finish (with a slightly wonky cover thrown in). Its sincerity works really well for it. No "rawk" irony, no posturing. Just dudes in ripped jeans singing about girls and highways and drinking. Attack on Memory by Cloud Nothings worked similarly, but was more bleak and post-hardcore-y. Drokk: Music From Mega-City One by Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury probably should have been something I listened to once while reading Judge Dredd, but I can't stop coming back to it. It's like John Carpenter broke out a bunch of vintage synths and went to town on them. It's also really great to listen to this while walking through a shopping centre and pretending you're in a bad future city and tanoys are all like "fat citizens must report for conversion to fuel at 1300. Failure to comply will be answered with forced disintegration" and there are cops in gas masks everywhere. The Money Store by Death Grips is like the music the rebels who wear military wear and bandanas would listen to in the bad future. They would have a secret base inside an old sewer or something. I think the amount of hype around Death Grips made 'No Love Deep Web' slightly disappointing in comparison, however. Kill for Love by Chromatics is brilliant too. It sounds like a haunted disco once the lights go up. Also good: Errors, Grimes, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Mind Spiders, Santigold, Symmetry*, Beak, Bob Mould Disappointing: Sleigh Bells clearly didn't have more than one album's worth of material in them. Prince Rama's 'Top Ten Hits for the End of the World' had a cool concept but was pretty poor. The new Crystal Castles is forgettable, but I'm one of those morons who like them more when they're shouty and silly. Stuff from 2011 I caught up on that I liked: Jay-Z and Kanye West, Justice, Veronica Falls, Office of Future Plans *came out late last year, but the vinyl I ordered didn't come out until June or something.

I've never really heard of promo comic stuff ever really being worth much (as any survivor of the SuperPro/ R.O.M. Spaceknight crash of 1987 will tell you), but yeah, it might be of interest to sports fans rather than comic fans. You should make them fight for it. Jocks v. nerds. The jocks can use their brawn and the nerds can craft ingenious tricks and traps. At the end, the comic is destroyed but the nerds and jocks have earned each others trust and respect and saved Beta House. Freeze frame as the head nerd and head jock custard pie each other's faces.

I want to find it hard to believe that more than one person picked up that game and thought "Oh, a budget title based on a half-forgotten TV show, probably only released to cash in on the quality movie starring Johnny Knoxville and Jessica Simpson! Aye, think I'll skip Ico and buy this instead!" But then again, I used to work in the exciting world of games retail and find it all too easy to believe.

"Min" sounds really unnatural coming from me. Anyway, if I remember correctly he's Texan and has some kind of military background. Black Ops. Navy SEALS. Not really Black Ops or Nave SEALS.

You're right that pirating was endemic on the Dreamcast, so I'm not actually sure! It could still read CDs, obviously. Good explanation here: http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/110324-dreamcast-gd-roms-and-piracy/

That's not strictly true, they were released on GD-Roms which were larger than CDs. The console was kind of ropey, but it deserves its cult status. Sega used to be ace at slightly quirky arcade games. Also, if you don't like Shenmue 1 & 2 you don't like wearing an ace jacket and listening to the Afterburner soundtrack on the way to catch the bus, which Shenmue offered a perfect simulation of.

The bagpipe guy is married to my cousin. I've only met him a couple of times including the wedding, so I don't think he remembers me. Any time I've waved at him or given him the 'awright' nod, he just stares at me, but he was nice enough. I also can't remember his name and he's too old to get away with calling 'man' or 'dude' instead. I'm too old to be doing that anyway, but not old enough for 'son' yet.

Forced joviality in offices/supermarkets etc is far, far worse than just letting people be miserable in their own, private way.

Breaking consumer goods and then returning them - That's pretty 'Project Mahyem'. It's not blowing up banks, but it's a start.

He did but he just saw Brad Pitt.

Dave Mustaine needs some mouth control.

Yeah, it's pretty great, especially with the sun out and everything. I agree I can take or leave the cover version on there.

They seem to have forgone any hip-hop influence that was in the first one completely for tired, ironic 'rawk' posturing and it just all sounds a bit thin and hollow. The first album always felt really playful to me, but the formula is stretched too thin. A lot of people like the second album, but I certainly don't think it would change the mind of someone who didn't like the first one. I can totally believe they'd still be a good live act though!