Raven

Roger Rees - Lord John Marbury in The West Wing. Nuts.

Don't drink the water! (It's got Polar Bear wee in it).

You've obviously never seen the hilarity that ensues when Kimi Räikkönen is being interviewed.

I'm pretty sure I remember some previous threads on World War novels (may just have been the first, but I'm not sure). I tried a quick search earlier, but War is to short and World didn't return anything meaningful!

Well, Doctor Who is only part of my life . . . I do have friends you know, and I do get out . . . So I haven't met the right girl yet, but who knows? I might me... Oh, that's not what you meant. Never mind. Carry on. Nothing to see here . . . *walks away whistling*

I'm probably going to buy the paperback as it is in Waterstone's buy one get one half price offer and I have one of their £10 vouchers all filled in and ready to reclaim. I first heard his name mentioned in the film Sideways, but didn't know anything about him until I picked up a copy of Post Office just over a year ago, which I enjoyed so much I went straight out and bought Factotum and read that through as well. I like the matter-of-fact way he writes and that he doesn't make any excuses about his life, it's just all laid out there for you to draw your own conclusions. I read his novel Pulp earlier this year and didn't enjoy it as much, but I do intend to read some more of his books (I have two more, Women and Tales of Ordinary Madness - another HMV bargain - already sitting on the shelf).

Well, they certainly know how to make a trailer . . . *wibble*

I'm a bit uncertain about the spin-off films (Thanks again, Phantom Menace . . .). If they were stand-alone films set around the time of Episode VII, setting up a wider universe like the Marvel films, I could see the point, but does anyone really need to see Han Solo's back story? Surely that's something for the fans and they can get that through the various novels that have been released over the years? And whomever they get to play him, it won't be Harrison Ford (unless they go down the CGI route, I suppose . . .).

Norwegian Wood is touted as being Murakami's most mainstream novel; it is the book that won him wide acclaim in Japan and led to his leaving the country for a number of years to get out of the limelight. It is also, to my mind, his most atypical. I enjoyed the book when I read it, even though it is a bit grim in places, but I liked the picture of Japanese life that it painted. I found the film version of it a let down, though, because it was just so bleak (what humour there was in the book was completely missing on screen). I've read a number of his novels, and I would suggest you try either After the Quake, which is a collection of short stories that take place around and in the aftermath of the Kobe Earthquake, or After Dark, which is the first of his novels I read and I still mean to re-read at some point. By the way Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage is £3.79 on Kindle at the moment, if anyone is interested!

Well, at least we've won the toss . . .

The book about Station X (Bletchley Park) by Michael Smith is worth reading if you are at all interested in military history or code breaking.

Bad contact lens:

I'm guessin' Dad was a Star Wars fan . . .

^ Yeah, go on then! Leaving ring on ceiling from exceptionally greasy head:

What About the Little Children?: and Work: I made a mistake, this thread should have been called "Corrupt an Emoticon!"

Too much coffee:

Englishman after 10 minutes of Summer Sunshine:

A new game, simply pick an emoticon and give it an alternative meaning! I'll start with an old favourite of mine: Aneurism Winkie:

More accurately, I suppose it is the floating cat head that needs a wee, but I'm guessing you got the gist the first time around.

At the risk of putting you off, definitely worse. I was quite surprised at how graphic some of the content was when I was reading it.

That's the headless cat that needs a wee emoticon. (Welcome!)

It's a pretty good read, but not the best one I've come across in this sub-genre. The "not for the faint-hearted" comments stem from the book being a tad graphic in places (blood and guts, not adult themes!).

^ You can probably get some pills for that.

Antarctica and Russia, actually . . . /pedant

I watched The Day the Earth Caught Fire again last night, seemed apt . . .