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Ask any angry DC fanboy and they’ll tell you that the reason Marvel make loads of money with their MCU movies is a combination of a lack of imagination in Marvel fans, a rigid formula that stifles creativity, pandering, entertainment by numbers and some sort of witchcraft.

There are, of course, morsels of truth in there, but Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson has a different take on the Disney model fundamentally. He says it’s all about the reward, and that it’s not all about money. At least not the way you might think…

He does have a point: despite those accusations of identikit movie-making and a lack of variation in tone, the reality of the MCU is that they’re now making wildly different movies, in different genres and with extremely brave choices as directors. They have a cosmic movie with supernatural elements directed by a horror helmer, an intergalactic roadtrip from a comedy actor, Captain Marvel (god knows what it’ll be, but it’s a major departure) and the provocatively different Guardians Of The Galaxy sequel.

If you look at any of those – even before release – and claim they’re the same as the first Avengers movie, or Iron Man or Captain America, you’re probably lying to yourself. And every one of those brave steps towards broadening the scope of the MCU and expanding the tone into different new worlds is precisely because the „safer“ choices at the start paid off financially.

Without The Avengers making a billion, Ant-Man wouldn’t have been able to make $500m and still be counted as enough of a success to launch a sequel. So while they might rightly be called a business-driven creative studio, that’s not always a bad thing, given that it pays off in more creative dividends further down the line.

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June has been and gone, one of it?s highlights was Emma from Island Living 365 being crowned ?Fresh Voice? at the BIBs awards, very well deserved too. July has arrived and we?re getting ready for a summer of adventures. Personally, our next family adventure is Camp Bestival at the end of the month and we?re all so excited! Baby calls it ?Camp Bestibal? and is constantly ?interviewing? me on my iPhone video about what I am looking forward to the most!

 

As always the awesome posts from our ?Newbies? have been coming thick and fast and here are a small selection of some of my favourites this month. First up, Mouse Moo & Me Too  with #1 Beef Stifado and no this is not a recipe. She has such a funny and engaging writing style and I loved her humorous take on normal life.  It certainly made me feel better about not being Mary Poppins!

 

Five Simple Steps to Becoming a Beta Mummy by The Adventures of Beta Mummy. I LOVE Beta Mummy, maybe because I feel like I?m with my soul mate when I am reading her posts. This hilarious examination of the progression from Alpha Mummy to Beta Mummy, focusing on becomingly progressive worse a being a mum, while drinking significantly more wine! Do you identify?!

 

Being a parent is hard and I think us mums in particular tend to give ourselves a bit of a hard time. Maybe it?s societal pressures or expectations, or maybe we just put the pressure on ourselves. I?m not sure, but I do I know I am so much harder on myself than I would ever be on someone else. So, 10 reasons I rock at being a mum from Patricia from White Camillias was just the tonic I needed. This is such a fabulous post and I think it is important to acknowledge that we ALL rock.                                                                                              

 

The next post is one I actually featured over on my own blog You Baby Me Mummy in our linky #TheList and it?s from Memeandharri.  It?s ok is a post primarily written with new mums in mind, but to be honest I think the message can apply to all of us. I loved the honestly of this post, which I?m sure will have helped those reading who were possibly going through a tough time.

 

Lots of us juggle constantly to get everything on our long to do lists ticked off.  Jo from Panoroma Road shared 5 life hacks for working parents, offering her advice and some great practical tips too.  Hackney Mama continued the working mum theme with The freelancing mum?s guide to getting sh*t done, which was full of really useful tips.

 

Last but by no means least is Kelly from Bringing up Georgia with OMG I am my mum! I know I have had the exact same moments since becoming a mum, quite terrifying! This post is funny because it?s so true! 

 

That?s all for me for this month, I will be back again in August with more awesome Newbie talent. Don?t forget, if you wish to submit a post for consideration, your blog needs to be 18 months old or less. Please email all submissions (specific posts please) to [email protected]. Have a great month!

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We live in an age of travel being part of our everyday life?s, not only are we talking about our daily comute but as part of our career and social down time, we travel so much more. Whether that be a quick jaunt for a business meeting or a city break or an extended stay for a vacation. Travel and all that comes with it, both good and bad, is so much a part of our modern existence.

We pride ourselves at Clothes-Make-the-Man that we take on the stress and strain so you don?t have to. As part of this and a negative aspect of travelling generally, who wants to carry around full sized versions of their washbag essentials with them every time they need to jump on a plane?

There are numerous reasons for this, when you are off on a short capper, whether for work or pleasure, we want speed to be on our side to maximise on time and minimise time spent at a luggage carousel in some non-descript airport. Plus, increasingly, airlines are becoming tighter and tighter on their baggage allowance so ever precious ounce counts when it come to packing and there is no place for bulky grooming packaging. But, primarily, flight restrictions mean that each liquid you carry within your washbag on planes must be in its own container and no more than 100ml(3.4 ounces). Many holidaymakers will be familiar with the limitations and hassles of organising toiletries that are travel friendly and standing at security check and having to make that heart wrenching decision of which one to dump. Is it a barely opened bottle of fragrance or a jumbo sized tube of toothpaste that was going to do you for the entire duration of your holiday, remember it?s two weeks not two months.

men-ü offer ultra-concentrate products for skin, body, hair and styling. The products are conveniently packaged for the modern man with handy and all important 100ml pucks, tubes and bottles with locking pumps to provide accurate dosage and less leakage.
For the ultimate in compact men-ü offers travel friendly 15ml ?buddy? tubes (up to 30 applications) available for all the men-ü shave and facial products as well as its latest hair styling product LIQUIFFLEX.
The products fit neatly in the hand and into a man?s travel bag. These buddy tube sets will travel through customs with ease and cover all your skincare needs.

Also, the iconic Fish Salon in Soho have transformed three of their best selling styling products into handy mini sized versions, perfect for travel. The Fishfingers Shape Defining Wax, Fishshape Texturising Cream and Stonefish Matt Texturising Clay are now all available in flight friendly 25ml sizes. So whatever you?re up to this Summer; flying around the world on business trips, a weekend away with someone special or jetting off to Ibiza with friends, you can now take your favourite Fish styling product with you, without weighing down your suitcase.

OK so that?s your hair, skin and body sorted, but what about smelling sweet, a great number of grooming brands now offer their scents in handy miniature sized versions, specifically for travelling and any globetrotting gent knows that maintaining impeccable style whilst travelling is of the utmost importance. Ted Baker have created to compliment the essence of a man?s jet-set aesthetic, three distinguished Travel Tonics that are inspired by three treasured metals. Fusing style with substance, each sophisticated fragrance ensures he always sparks a reaction, wherever in the world he may be. Available in gold, silver or copper each Travel Tonic is slim line and portable, making for a rare and refined addition to any fragrance collection.

One of the most interchangeably fun and irritating parts of being a Star Wars fan is how even the most minor detail can, when coupled with other knowledge, accidentally be a massive spoiler; without realising you put two and two together and figure something out (fun) you may not want to know (irritating).

Here’s one example for you I had in the Star Wars Story Group panel (overall a fine hour, even if it was more a „meet the producers“ than something super informative). At one point Kiri Hart, Lucasfilm’s head of story development, was gushing about Gareth Edwards and delighting in how much of a fan he was, telling a story of how in Tunisia he brought food dye with him so he could have blue milk on set. Cool, right?

But wait a minute, why was Edwards on set in Tunisia, the real world home of Tatooine?

It could be that, as part of his initiation into the Lucasfilm family he went to visit some classic locations, including the still-constructed homestead. But it could be the he was there to shoot something for the film itself. Nothing too major – otherwise we’d have heard about it before, either through the shooting plan or the ever-active rumour mill – but given that Tatooine is the planet where Princess Leia is heading at the behest of her father at the start of A New Hope, it wouldn’t be all that contrived to have it factor in somehow. Perhaps there’s an Obi-Wan tease. Or we’ll see the Imperial contingent making camp. Or Jedda could actually be on the two-sunned rock. And what of those Han Solo cameo rumours? In terms of practicality, it could be that Edwards was simply getting location plates, with other elements to be added in the safety of a closed set.

There’s no other real evidence to back this up, of course, so it’s riffing speculation for now. We did see a rocky/desert-esque planet in a sound-less clip shown at Celebration, although that may be a little too close to the originals for comfort.

Whatever the case, Hart’s statement definitely opens up this possibility (even if it is likely nothing). What’s your take? Let us know down in the comments.

Star Wars: Rogue One is in cinemas from 16th December.

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If you’re not watching Star Wars Rebels, you probably will be soon; they constantly seem to be upping their game. The panel for the Disney XD was an unexpected delight of Star Wars Celebration, with so many cool reveals that the only way it could be more fan pleasing is if Dave Filloni and co. actually transported the crowd on the Celebration Stage to the galaxy pre-A New Hope.

The panel itself was hilarious, with FIlloni, Tiya Sicar (Sabine) and Sam Witwer (Maul and Palpatine) incredibly quick witted and fielding every question from host Warwick Davis with a perfect balance of humour and tease, while the clips they showed off made clear the show has visually matured.

But the highlight was a new trailer that showed so, so, so much. There’s origins of Wedge Antillies, who in the new canon is a former TIE pilot (similar to Biggs then), the introduction of the Bendu (a word that comes from the early name for Jedi), a spiritual being that exists between the Light and Dark Side of the Force (furthering the show’s alteration of the mythology), a ship oddly like Dash Rendar’s Outrider (from Shadows Of The Empire), and Maul mixing a Jedi and Sith holocron (something that’s loaded with symbolism, although the undoubtable biggest was Thrawn.

Yes, as has long been rumoured, Grand Admiral Thrawn is coming to Rebels, played by Lars Mikkelsen (Mads‘ brother), as a major, tactical antagonist to the band. And it’ll hardly be surprising to learn that the Stage exploded at the sight of the Chiss Imperial, almost as loud as it was for the reveal of a certain Dark Lord yesterday. Even more exciting, however, TImothy Zahn (who wrote Heir To The Empire, which introduced and established Thrawn) appeared on video to announce he was writing a new book with the character, titled Thrawn, that will coincide with the show.

Of course, this will technically be a different Thrawn – Heir To The Empire is now non-canon, so this is more an adaptation and open for interpretation. To whit, not in the series are the Ysalamiri, Thrawn’s Force-blocking lizards, nor Mara Jade; a fan asked if Luke’s wife would appear, something that got a resounding no. Excitingly, with other points Filloni was less definite; he left open the possibility of Maz Kanata appearing, coyly stating it was something he’d already considered at the end. Now that would be awesome.

Star Wars Rebels is back on 30th November 2016.

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Like just almost any year in gaming, 2016 has so far had both its big surprises (Resident Evil’s radical reboot) and totally predictable happenings (Uncharted 4 was great…who knew?).

The second half of any given gaming year almost always tends to be more exciting, as developers prep their latest titles and hardware for the inevitable Christmas rush, where most of their annual revenue is made.

So, what does the remainder of 2016 hold? What will win Game of the Year? Will those mysterious big-hitters live up to the hype? What big gaming crazes will see us heading into 2017? The possibilities are endless, and these predictions are just a few stabs in the dark at what might make some of the year’s biggest industry headlines. As for the rest? We’ll have to wait and see.

Here are 10 gaming predictions for the rest of 2016…

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It’s already extremely hard not to be jealous of anyone who manages to get to go to Comic Con in San Diego. For all the scrums and queues, the exclusive content (and access to exclusive toys and merch) at the event make it a very real mecca for geeks.

And now Doctor Strange has joined the fun. With a Funko Pop Vinyl of the Sorceror Supreme already announced as being released there months ahead of its full release, Marvel have also revealed an exclusive poster for attendees.

The beautiful poster above – made by artist Ryan Meinerding – will be given out by Marvel to fans in attendance. It’s not a revelatory image, by any means, but it’s a stunning one all the same.

Benedict Cumberbatch will be joined in Marvel’s next movie by Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tilda Swinton, Mads Mikkelsen, Rachel McAdams, and Benedict Wong when the film opens on November 4th.

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In the constant pursuit of exposure and mainstream popularity, difficulty and video games have become more and more estranged from one another. Whilst the arcade origins of the medium meant insanely hard A.I. would only result in more coins being expended to overcome the challenge, these days people are more likely to trade your game in, complain about it online, not feel like they’ve gotten their money’s worth or worse, not buy it at all, simply because they aren’t confident they’ll even make a dent.

That said… pish on the entire idea. Video games were forged in the fires of challenge – of sweaty, passionate honour, dammit. We played and completed the likes of Mega Man and Battletoads not because of some story-based reason or an achievement-pop, but because we knew we had to.

If us ‚real gamers‘ don’t routinely test our mettle with the most egregious concoctions of challenging code, who will?

Exactly. So do your duty – pick up the pad, look the following titles square in the eyes and roar a mighty roar. You may get knocked back, you may feel yourself questioning your very existence, but the feeling of making it through and adding another notch to your belt?

There’s nothing like it.

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14. Alien Isolation

Creative Assembly

Consequently, although I’ve alluded to the charms and rewards of overcoming more arcady experiences, Alien Isolation is a true test of patience and mental endurance. Taking place across a number of environments where the objective is to get from A to B avoiding a hulking Xenomorph that patrols the halls at random (yes, random) you’ll die an untold amount of times just trying to figure out what it can and can’t pick up on.

Hurried footsteps? Yes. The closing of a door? Yes. Brushing against the side of the environment for a second on your way to grab an essential item? Oh, hell yes, there’ll be acid blood covering the screen before you can say, „When did I last save?!“

And therein lies the rub – as a way to enforce just how much you really, really do not want to die in this game, all progress including cutscenes watched and items retrieved is completely wiped if you die in between checkpoints.

It works on the lower difficulties when the Xeno isn’t so receptive to the sound of your nails growing, but on Hard or the patched-in Nightmare difficulty, well, just try playing without wishing for the sweet release of death yourself.

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Sebastian Vettel?s 26-lap stint in the Austrian Grand Prix was ?not the issue? behind his tyre blow-out, according to Pirelli.

In an interview with the official Formula One website Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery indicated Vettel?s puncture was related to damage caused by the kerbs at the Red Bull Ring.

?There were also four cars? suspension that broke ?out of the blue? and they were also due to very high loadings on the suspension,? he said. ?And, of course, the tyre is part of the suspension, so it is very likely that whatever is loading the suspension was loading the tyre as well.?

?The difference to other places in Austria was also the kerbing that was put in place to discourage drivers from exceeding track limits ? and there has been quite some discussion over them recently.?

?We have seen in Silverstone that one of Lewis Hamilton?s lap times was cancelled because of exceeding track limits and I think it is a very wise thing from the FIA to start enforcing it, as it was not followed in the way it should have been.?

Vettel said he had no warning his tyre was about to fail before the puncture. ?It was a longer stint that Sebastian was doing compared to the majority of other teams, but that really wasn?t the issue,? said Hembery.

?It was more related to external factors. That is something that we have understood, Ferrari has understood and that we have explained to the FIA. I think we all will have a better understanding moving forward.?

?If the FIA sticks to the plan of enforcing track limits and we see more and more of such kerbing, then we will develop a test to simulate that to see how aggressive you can be in that scenario.?

Pirelli previously blamed debris for Vettel?s puncture.

2016 Austrian Grand Prix

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The total number of films made under the Walt Disney Pictures banner is absolutely staggering. Since the 1930s the company has released well in excess of two-hundred films, ranging from animated features to live-action projects, hybrids of the two and even documentaries.

With so much going on at Disney at any one time, it’s understandable that not every project sees the light of day. While the vast majority of these are likely cancelled before they even enter pre-production, there are those that make it further than others, seeming possible up until the moment they’re canned.

With that said, one of the most common reasons these films are cancelled is because of the fear they won’t appeal to a general audience, which makes them some of the most unique and interesting Disney films ever conceived.

As for whether or not they do appeal, that’s for you to decide. Here are eight fascinating Disney movies that were never made.

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