Cinderella's Shady Trail

As a gamer now for over three decades...hold on, let me say that again, gamer for over three decades gulp! *reaches for the Botox* It is fair to say that I have played more than my fair share of videogames. Ever since rescuing Xenon princess Roz in Zorgon's Revenge on the Oric 1 inbetween my half hearted attempts at homework, I was addicted (and despite what Daily Mail scribes would have you believe, videogames have never done me any harm).
During that time, I must have spent a gazillion hours shooting zombies, raiding toms and solving bizarre puzzles (cheers Silent Hill). And so its natural that from spending so much time with your pixelated hero/villain, a bond is forged. A bond which makes turning a successful game into an equally successful movie very difficult, and rarely is a director enough of an alchemist to pull it off. Indeed from all the game to film releases, it is only the Resident Evil movies that have held my interest (and even this is because I find them entertaining in their own right and not because they are equal to the cool of the videogames).
So when I heard about The Last of Us movie that is evidently in the works, my little 'ol heart, that heart which has shared many a nervous jump with Joel and Ellie, was not exactly thrilled. And who can blame me? I still shudder when anyone mentions Street Fighter and Kylie Minogue in the same sentence. And less said of Uwe Boll the better.
All the best men know. Even the genius that is Hideo Kojima, who is a major movie fan, will admit deep down to being a tad wary of turning his beloved Metal Gear Solid into a motion picture because he knows like the rest of us know, 9/10 films of games are garbage. Just drop the aforementioned Mr Boll's name into a conversation with Kojima san, you'll get the picture (or not if you happen to be Uwe Boll). Why do you think a MGS movie has not been made yet? Despite being offered multi million deals? Hideo understands man.
Like I said, we gamers forge a special bond with characters over many hours of play, and seeing those "magic moments" reduced to a 2 hour romp ruins it. Take games like Skyrim and Fallout 3 for example. How many hours do we spend in the company of our newly created badass? It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say 200+ hours. You go through many different challenges together, notching up a heroes portion of triumph (and deaths), and all personal to you the gamer. Were someone to come along and turn Skyrim into a fantasy film it would fail, and fail hard because none of your private victories would feature. All those little things you see/hear/feel as you clutch your controller and add up to make a unique overall experience is gone, replaced with a directors vision which so often feels like huge disappointment. No more hero than a bit part player relegated to the side lines, and to be blunt, it f**king SUCKS! Its almost like the movie is invading "our" space. (Similar to books but games go even deeper as they put YOU in the action).
So forgive my failure to get all hard and excited (ooer!) over another game-to-film cash grab, but history shows we videgame fans are always better off sticking with the game. We have too much time invested to see it be reduced a film extra.

Young Heels

Here come the girls. Girls, girls. Girl power! This is the face of the Prime Ministers cabinet reshuffle, and if he thinks its going to win him more votes, and another crack at running the country after the next General Election, he needs his bumps felt. Preferably with a mallet. Its a PR stunt and its as transparent as the lacy negligee I'd like to see Est
Well yes...ahem, nearly got carried away there but you get the picture. This reshuffle is simply a wheeze by the Conservatives, a paper attempt to make them look like hip young Dons of equality.
Trouble is, after reading comments under the news articles and hearing radio callers all morning, this political caper is dead in its feet. Its newly high heeled feet. When will Cameron and his type realise that for the most part we Brits DON'T CARE about gender, as long as the person in the job is capable? You can tick all the 'populist' boxes you want but truth is, skill and experience are a winning combination and should always be put before something trivial as gender. And replacing a warhorse with a pretty, young filly to appeal to voters is pure folly, and will be sussed out in a flash. A half baked stunt which is doomed to failure.
We don't need this. Good lord, the Conservative party is the first party to give Britain its first ever female Prime Minister in Margaret Thatcher. A woman who as history knows as the Iron Lady, was respected (and feared) by all. One of our greatest leaders (of course being politics, this will be debated ad ininitum). And we still remember Boudicca too. She might have kicked ass hundreds of years ago but time's keen wand cannot fade the names of great and fearsome leaders.
We Brits KNOW about girl power. Proper girl power and we shouldnt be conned by the governments latest trick.