We’re less than three weeks away from the start of Season Four of Game of Thrones. I think it’s time that we get properly excited for GoT over here on The Lowdown Blog. So today, we have HBO’s 15-minute preview video of the upcoming season that features cast interviews and clips from upcoming episodes. This video got me more excited for this season than any of the trailers did.
By the way, there are spoilers in this video. You probably guessed that, though.
Every so often, we look at the most spectacular fails that the internet has to offer. Well today, we look at the most spectacular fails that Facebook has to offer. This week, we have five of the best fails Facebook has to offer.
It’s a slightly shortened version of the links today. For some reason, I just couldn’t find much in the way of interesting stories to link. That’s just the risk you run with regular linkdumps. Some days are better than others.
Anyway, let’s get the links going. Here’s returning favourite Rachel Mortenson.
A Toronto judge says there’s a video of Rob Ford inhaling from a glass pipe. Reporters at City Hall asked Mayor Ford what was in the pipe. Jesus Christ! What do you think he was inhaling? (The Globe and Mail)
Russia is answering American sanctions against prominent Russians with sanctions against America’s political elite. (New York Times)
It wasn’t just international relations hurt by Ed Snowden’s NSA revelations. A number of US tech companies were hurt financially by news that the NSA was accessing their data. (Times of India)
The highly anticipated YA novel adaptation Divergent hits theatres this week. So let’s kick off the ELO with the leading lady from the film Shailene Woodley.
After the jump, Pacific Rim 2 is still happening, new Godzilla stuff to check out, The CW is the new sci-fi central and watch Bradley Cooper prove Louis CK wrong.
As someone who has BioShock on their personal top ten games of all-time list and top three of 2013, I had to go back to play the DLC that marries the two worlds of Rapture and Columbia together. But is Burial at Sea capable of properly combining two memorable stories and two memorable settings into one cohesive whole or does Burial at Sea come off as nothing but BioShock fan service for the sake of nostalgia?
Back in January, we brought a story about EB Games Canada quietly raising prices on almost all of their new releases from $60 to upwards of $70 whether they were on current or last-gen consoles. Last month, Microsoft quietly announced that the price of Xbox One games would increase to $65 each. Now, Sony has announced that the price of the PS4 console in Canada will increase along with the price of games and peripherals.
Well, the Crimean referendum went about as well as everyone expected seeing as it was a giant farce. That wasn’t even the only farcical election of the last week but that’s a different and funnier story.
Anyway, let’s get today’s links on the road. And we kick things off with Miranda Kerr who is the subject of rumours for a couple of obvious reasons.
It seems as though Vlad Putin is drunk on power and that may guide him to make increasingly reckless decisions. (Foreign Policy)
By the way, Ukraine is not backing down from Putin and may be gearing up for war over Crimea. (Kyiv Post)
And the US have followed up the alleged referendum in Crimea by slapping several prominent Russian businessmen / Putin allies with big sanctions. (Business Insider)
After establishing themselves as some of the best storytellers in gaming with Season One of The Walking Dead, Telltale Games certainly didn’t set the world on fire with either Season One’s 400 Days DLC or Season Two premiere All That Remains. While the pieces that made TWD great were there, the heart that made TWD special was missing.
Fortunately, despite having four games on the go right now, Telltale hasn’t bitten off more than it can chew. Episode Two of Season Two is a return to form for The Walking Dead series.
The margin of victory wasn’t two laps. Cars were still running at the finish. There were even enough cars to fill all the points paying positions. None of the doomsday scenarios for the first race of the turbo V6 and ERS era came to fruition.
However, as it was predicted by many people heading into this weekend, the Mercedes team was at the head of the field. It wasn’t Lewis Hamilton who won the race as expected but his teammate Nico Rosberg who took the checkered flag in the first race of 2014.
Well, this was an odd week. A Malaysian airliner has disappeared off the face of the earth and no one knows where it is and whether it actually crashed or not. Things in Crimea could spark a war because neither Russia nor NATO want to back down over this farcical “referendum.” Basically, I’m rebuilding the bunker again. It’s been a while since I mentioned that, hasn’t it?
Anyway, I think Jackie focused on the wrong movie star at the start of his ELO. He has Kristen Bell. I have Scarlett Johansson.
The Crimean referendum is a farce and doesn’t give voters an option to not vote to join Russia. Good luck having anyone besides Russia consider this a legitimate exercise in democracy. (Reuters via Huffington Post)
Former Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych didn’t just up and run away. He planned his departure well in advance. (Kyiv Post)
A former Politico writer explains what it’s like going from covering a Presidential campaign to being thrown into the depths of retail hell. (The Atlantic)
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