This messageboard must be a God send to you , Matt ......

I often dream about falling from extreme heights but never getting to the thud at the bottom. Various bad dreams about family and friends being in danger are pretty standard I imagine.

I do have a recurring dream where I'm having a stand-up row with the super-bitch who broke my heart when I was 18. It involves me shouting various pent-up accusations and obscenities. I also do a lot of energetic finger-pointing. It's not really a bad dream, more a frustrating one.

"A spot of bother" by Mark Haddon who many will remember for "The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime".

He must have nicked that latter title from Ron Davies. The git.

Anyway, I just finished W.P. Kinsella's Shoeless Joe-a truly fantastic and original piece of literature. It almost makes you want to go to Iowa. Almost.

Just saw The Bourne Ultimatum. It's better than the previous installments in every way. It really is that good.

I've just got back from Mexico and saw Shooters, Wild Hogs and Blades of Glory on the flights.

Shooters is pretty good if silly. Wild Hogs is acceptable and Blades of Glory is incredibly silly but rather funny, with some excellent set pieces. But is really silly

And Jenna Fischer (meek sister of the nutter ice dancing duo) is incredibly hot.

Drives me bloody mad, is it 'Estuary English' ? Radio One presenters who say 'Birminnum' or 'Nottinnum'. Didn't becomes 'Di unt'.

Must be my age.

Oh yes I hate it too. That fool Colin Murray is bloody everywhere, spreading the Northern Irish penchant for saying things like 'I hada seen', 'I had went', 'woulda saw' and 'I done' around like wildfire. The man is a moron yet still he gets work.

Watched Rush Hour 3 Yesterday, stortyline wern't that good but Chris Tucker was awesome once again. A must see!

I've heard different.

It focuses on everything that makes a small town like Odessa what it is, be it good or bad.

Anyone played The Darkness yet? I got a used copy from eBay yesterday and it's really good so far.

Agreed. It is a game that just doesn't quite do it, although I haven't finished it yet as I don't really feel like putting in the effort.

I was very impressed in the prologue where you have to flee through the warehouse with the massive Akrid chasing you but after that it began to sag. As I say, the graphics are astounding but everything else is a little flat. Another massive flaw is the lack of save-points throughout the enormous levels. If you've had enough of failing at one particularly difficult juncture or your 360 decides it can't read the disk anymore, you have to start all over from the beginning.

On another note, I've just started playing Call of Duty 3 and I'm hugely pleased with it-fast paced, chaotic and visually stunning.

It's ok matt...we won't judge you for liking them.

I don't particularly like them. Only to the extent that I outlined above.

Anyway, Linkin Park's qualities (or lack thereof) are irrelevant here. The main point is that The Strokes suck and are fuelled by the hype of publications such as the monstrous NME.

The first Linkin Park album blows. The Reanimation follow-up was excellent. The second studio album was ok while their collaborations with Jay-Z and Mike Shinoda's Fort Minor side project are very, very good. I didn't bother with the newest album since the first release was a piece of sh*t.

The strokes absolutely p**s on linkin park!

'The Strokes are absolutely p!ss' is what you mean surely?

I just finished Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger. It's a brilliant study of small town America and the obsessions and lives of the people who live in places like Odessa, Texas.

I've now moved onto Shoeless Joe (Field of Dreams is the film of the book) by W.P. Kinsella.

Just completed Splinter Cell: Double Agent (though it isn't technically a 'new' game). I thought it was good but I'm still gobsmacked that the developers have, after four attempts now, failed to iron out the kinks that have plagued the Splinter Cell series. From the sterile, crappy enemy AI to the pyro-effects straight from the PS2 and annoying first person view when holding a weapon, one would think that a platform as powerful as the 360 would support slicker, more innovative gameplay (which it clearly does with other titles).

I also finished Lost Planet: Extreme Conitions last night and while it was possibly the best looking game I've ever played (indeed the graphics blow even Gears of War out of the water) it left me strangely cold (excuse the pun). In addition to the visuals, the gameplay is enjoyable but the plot makes no sense whatsoever. Thus you are simply playing a series of levels and missions without any idea why and consequently it becomes quite boring about half way through. Oh and the final boss is ridiculously difficult to defeat.

Still, Halo 3 is out next month...

The Bourne Ultimatum-crap apparently.

Oh and check out this sweet one-sheet.

I'm very excited about

What sort of work do you do?

Just back from Transformers. It's absolutely stonking blockbuster entertainment, a must-see for kids and adults alike. In addition to the absolutely jaw-dropping visuals there are myriad jokes that keep the tone very tongue in cheek.

Does it depict realistic grenade fuse times?

Still, can't stress enough to those going to read LoTR this summer, IF ITS IN ITALICS SKIP IT.

Although i'll now expect Cheeky Begbie to jump up and down on my head because I'm missing some pseudo intellectual greatness about the pointless poems or songs?

Oh completely. All that elvish chanting, poetry and singing is @#/? and adds nothing to the story. In fact avoid the Tom Bombadil chapter also.

This looks like fun - click

It should be. The first one can only be described as awesome.

If you think that's bad, I'm headed to Moliere on Saturday at my old university's film theatre. It's some French film about their equivalent of Shakespeare. Doesn't it sound like a real corker...? The only consolation is that my lady friend is gorgeous (and possessed of a Law & French degree hence the choice of film) but that just about makes up for it.