Chris

He is Welsh though, right? He was the voice of Edward Kenway in Assassin's Creed 4 (who was Welsh).

Hi you lot. I think the prevailing feeling here is cautiously optimistic. Which is how I also feel, naturally. It looks like they're incorporating a version of Astra, which means we could get a version of Newcastle, which piques my interest. That and the mention of his soul being bound for hell makes me hope they'll have a crack at doing the Critical Mass storyline. Which further leads me to hope they'll try and adapt and incorporate some of the better arcs of Hellblazer interspersed with whatever their ongoing take on it is.

This is shit. I don't see why they can't just have Hellblazer continue parallel to all that shit, like Marvel does with their MAX line. I don't see why Hellblazer needs to be taken away just to legitimize the New 52 version. About three quarters of the new 52 stuff should be cancelled first.

Is it just me, or does anyone else reckon the Gangers look a bit like Matt Smith?

 

It's because he has no eyebrows.

I think Francis Lawrence just has a few mental disconnects here and there. Which probably explain Constantine and I Am Legend in the first place.

No thanks.

Seriously? The Constantine movie has a "cult following" ? Did I miss something?

It's been what, 10 years since they started the Ultimate line in order to bring in new readers who are afraid of being bogged down by continuity?

Maybe they should just close the book on the Ultimate Universe and start a whole new one.

It'll be good. Hickman's got the chops to pull of something grand I reckon, based on Ultimate Thor, (and all his other stuff).

The Ultimate Universe has been pretty shit since Ultimatum.

(I still think Ultimate Spider-Man is good though)

re: Wolvy's spoiler.

I wonder if Moffat would bring it back to something like that, I mean a character from a one-off episode which is completely detached from the current overarching storyline. Doesn't make much sense to me.

Yeah, but Liam Neeson started off as Ducard, so I wouldn't be surprised to see Cottilard turn out to be Talia.

I don't really have a problem with John being in the DCU, I'm not even that bothered by who writes him, just so long as he is used as little as possible. Just a story here and there, and rarely from his point of view. He should just be stepping in here and there and messing with people's heads, and maybe nailing Zatanna every now and then.

I think that they're already messing up straight out the gate with this "Search for Swamp Thing" being written from his perspective. Also handing it off to Vankin might be a bit of a worry. But I guess like most of us here I just want to see the man written by someone we know would be decent. With that in mind I voted for Paul Cornell.

I think whether or not JC gets used to great effect in the DCU is going to fall more to the editors than to the writers.

I've been away myself for a while. I was just wondering if James was still kicking around the place.

I just finished reading Chuck Palahniuk's Survivor, and I have to say I really didn't rate it.

I don't have that much access to too many books in PNG, so I borrowed one A Game of Thrones off my British roommate and it was interesting enough to get me reading the next one.

I've been getting some books sent over to me in PNG so other ones coming up on the list are Vonnegut's Timequake and No Country For Old Men. I might hold off reading that one until I'm mentally prepared though, because I read The Road a while back, and that was pretty fucking grim.

What do you do with the cane toads?

They get removed. Then they pee on the person who removes them. Such is their love for archaeology.

Right. Pics:

Here's some archaeology.

Here's a cane toad. We cover the pits every night, but sometimes they become inhabited.

Here's a place where you can buy a bunch of souvenirs. Some of these masks are fucking huge. Like as big as you are tall huge.

Some locals hunting walabies.

Most of the village houses in PNG are supported on stilts protruding out of the sea.

It's a chandelier of dick sheaths!

The immediate environment of the site I just finished.

A stone axe what I found.

Hey all, it's been a while.

I basically wrapped up my MA about three months ago, and got a job for six months as an archaeologist in Papua New Guinea.

I am subcontracted through an Australian university who are ultimately contracted by one of those big oil companies(there's a few more layers in the hierachy between them).

My setup is pretty cool: an apartment with a lounge, couches, widescreen TV, water cooler kitchen, Queen sized beds. The place we’re staying is a massive construction camp on an artificial island, and this is where all the construction workers, engineers, security guards, archaeologists and other consultants all live. It's also a port.

Working in the field isn’t that difficult, it’s not too hot (29-32°), but the humidity is what gets you. We’re pretty well hydrated though. We work with some of the local people, which is interesting, as they’ve been living in the area for thousands of years and have a fair idea about what is going on in the archaeology as it comes out. Basically we dig at a really meticulous pace, and then the American safety inspectors (One of whom would look totally at home on American Chopper) come along and comment on how slow we’re digging, make some jokes about it, but then say that’s totally cool, because they wouldn’t have the patience for it.

The stuff we're mainly finding is pottery, stone artefacts and lots of shell. One of the Brits on the project has found a skeleton so that's getting dug up right now. We're under quite a bit of pressure from the BigOilCorporation to crank this out, so we're doing our best to dig fast.

I'm staying through from now until late March next year (assuming the project doesn't get squashed), but I've got someone in Australia picking up a PS3 (with Resident Evil 5 and hopefully Tekken 6 at some point), so I'm thinking I can last the distance.

Hope you're all well. I'll be around a bit more these days I'd say.

It just didn't ring true to me that the whole fleet would go along with Lee's "Hey! Let's just fly all our ships into the sun and become hunter-gatherers" idea.

The bits with Tigh drunk, and yelling out "YEEEAHH!" were great though.

The "It was god" explanation really disappointed me.

Also, as an archaeologist, the whole fleet turning up and getting it on with early hominins really bothered me.

Most of all what really pised me off was the "SCIENCE WILL ULTIMATELY FUCK US" message, and the robot montage.

Appreciate the commitment to beer, Pål.

Here's me from a while back at Curio Bay, South Island, Nu Zilla.

My sympathies, Chris

Thanks Red, I'm doing okay though.

My now ex-girlfriend left to do a Phd in Australia, because she was doing Thailand stuff. There was a bit of back and forth about me going too, but one of the reasons I stayed (among major student loan debt and family commitments) is because my place is here, and I want to keep studying New Zealand prehistory.

Recent developments, Chris?

Quite recent.

I have a "No more Anthropologists" rule now. But that's more to buck a trend than because of this specific relationship.

Archaeology in New Zealand.

I love it. A lot of people, even in New Zealand don't think it could be interesting because we've got such a short period of prehistory (1300ish-1750s). Initially when I started university I was the same. Thinking about the overseas stuff like Mesoamerica and Easter Island. While part of my dissertation did focus on Easter Island monuments, during the course of my MA I've become much more interested in New Zealand. Mainly because of the stone tool angle, but also because New Zealand represents one of the last areas of human colonisation. I'm not talking about British expansion, but actual, solid settlement on a land that no other human beings had ever set foot. I think that's special.

My now ex-girlfriend left to do a Phd in Australia, because she was doing Thailand stuff. There was a bit of back and forth about me going too, but one of the reasons I stayed (among major student loan debt and family commitments) is because my place is here, and I want to keep studying New Zealand prehistory.

Bye bye Gaeta.

I like Green Lantern!

I heard a theory somewhere