News –19.MAY.13

COMMUNITY GETS SEASON 5

It really couldn’t have been a more down to the wire decision, but NBC have decided to renew sitcom Community for a fifth season. It’s been quite a year for the show, with actor Chevy Chase and ex-show-runner and creator Dan Harmon leaving after quite a dispute. Perhaps because of this, the show continued to have low ratings this year, but it didn’t look so bad compared to the rest of NBC’s struggling schedule (including The Office and 30 Rock). Despite all of this, yesterday (Friday 10th May) Community was renewed for a fifth 13-episode season. Just minutes after the announcement, US fans trended #LongLiveCommunity on social networking site Twitter.
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DAN HARMON COULD RETURN TO COMMUNITY

While on the subject, a new report has suggested series creator Dan Harmon could potentially return to his position of show-runner for Community. I wouldn’t get too excited yet, as no official news has been announced, but www.deadline.com speculates about the possibilities of his return. Now that season 4 has ended, emotions have calmed down between Harmon and Chase (who left this year), so there is certainly a good chance, especially if this is Community’s final season (which hasn’t been announced, but is pretty likely). Deadline are a good source of reliable information, so their information must be coming from someone in-the-know, but for now it’s just a wait and see moment.
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STAR WARS EPISODE VII FILMED IN UK

Star Wars producer LucasFilm says the latest instalment is to be made in the UK. The seventh movie in the series is due to start production next year, and the release date is scheduled to be 2015. “Star Wars is finally going back to its roots, where it started all those years ago in 1976”, says actor Warwick Davis who played an Ewok in 1983’s Return of the Jedi. LucasFilm has not confirmed exactly where the film is going to be shot, but fan website JediNews has speculated that Pinewood Studios may be one of their sites. The Sun also reported that scenes would be shot in the Highlands and the Isle of Skye.
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EMERGENCY IN SPACE

On the 8th May 2013, two astronauts living and working on the international space station (ISS) reported to ground control about seeing flakes flying from part of the craft that NASA later discovered was an ammonia leak on board the space craft. The ground control then went in to hyperactivity and managed to organise a space walk within 3 days and on 11th May, 2 astronauts headed out on a space walk to fix the problem which was eventually solved after 4½ hours.

OKAY GLASS…

Google’s brand new product to be released to the market at the end of the year has been announced as a pair of glasses...
These glasses have a special feature though... They not only include changeable lenses, but a computer system built into the glasses allowing the user to do things such as take a photo or search for something online by using the trigger phrase 'okay glass'. Quite remarkable!

Gaming Update - 5 May 2013

BATMAN ARKHAM ORIGINS

Information from www.batmanarkhamorigins.com: Arkham Origins will feature an expanded Gotham City and introduces an original prequel storyline occurring several years before the events of Batman: Arkham Asylum. Taking place before the rise of Gotham's most dangerous villains and assassins, the game showcases a young, raw, unrefined Batman as he faces a defining moment in his career as a crime fighter that sets his path towards becoming the Dark Knight. As the story unfolds, witness identities being formed, and relationships being forged.

This all sounds very exciting, but fans of the series are having their doubts as UK developer 'Rocksteady' stated they will not be returning for Arkham Origins. The third in the award-winning series will also not feature original Batman voice-actor Kevin Conroy, as DC are trying to make the younger Batman sound as realistic as possible.

TERRARIA 1.2 NEWS

Could the 1.2 update for Terraria on PC be one of the most anticipated indie updates of all time? After February 2012, Andrew Spinks (creator) announced that Terraria 1.1 would be the final update for the game, though still the largest. This upset a lot of devoted fans as 1.1 is hardly much of a game, so when Spinks announced he was going to resurrect the game in March 2013, the anticipation scale began to skyrocket. Not only is the game getting a new update, it is getting the biggest update the game has ever seen, and yes that includes 1.1. Along with new items, biomes and mobs, Spinks has promised players they will have to create multiple worlds and replay the game multiple times to see everything. With that said, it has obviously been confirmed that the game's 5 world limit will be increased, along with the character limit. For a list of full updates (so far), click HERE.

YouTube Review: OfficialNerdCubed

There are lots of YouTubers out there who post gaming commentaries, yet none do so with as much humour and wit as Dan Hardcastle (more commonly known as ‘NerdCubed’ or more simply ‘Nerd³’). His ‘Nerd³ Plays…’ series is extremely clever, as he doesn’t string out the game into dozens of videos to create a walkthrough, he simply shortens one play session of the game into a single 20-60 minute video. This means we get to watch all of the hilarious, witty moments at once, instead of waiting through a bundle of boring ones. Something else I like about him is his urge to play some unknown, yet brilliant games (see Nerd³ Plays… DLC Quest). Something all of his fans adore is his ability to make any terrible game funny, and that is a huge part of why he became so popular (he is currently riding on a huge 678,000 subscribers) – he plays a lot of ‘Simulator’ games. These are made by small companies with small budgets and are usually pretty badly designed and animated. This manages to gain him millions of his views because we just love to laugh along with him. With it being Friday, it seems fitting to mention another of his series’ – Three Free Games Friday. In this, he plays 3 free games (usually Flash Games) which he finds interesting, and talks along with it. This gives fans the ability to play the games that he enjoys without having to spend valuable cash on them. Recently, his Dad started a channel following the popularity of Dan’s series ‘Father and Son-Days’ (that pun illustrates his maturity, which is why we love him). Apparently, people like to see a father with an Essex accent struggle to play video games because that account alone has already gained 115,000 subscribers within just 6 days of posting his first video. Dan’s other series’ include ‘Permadeath’ (in which he plays a game until he dies once, then it ends) and ‘Nerd³ Completes’ (in which he does a complete walkthrough of the game, though edited to maintain humour). Overall, Daniel Hardcastle is one of the funniest YouTube commentators out there, and his low subscriber count (compared to millions some get) could be due to the controversy over what he likes (PS3 over Xbox, dislikes popular games such as Halo and Skyrim) but as long as the content is good, why should that matter? I personally agree with Dan over the previous points, which might just be why I prefer him over a lot of other gamers. Oh, and he also owns a Vlog channel in which he talks about his life every once in a while, and abuses his roommate, Wot. Links to some of his content below!

HIS GAMING CHANNEL (OfficialNerdCubed)
HIS VLOG CHANNEL (OfficiallyNerdCubed)
Nerd³ Plays… Cleverbot
Nerd³ Plays… Bully
Nerd³ Plays… Just Cause 2
Nerd³ Plays... Farming Simulator 2011

The Custard Cream vs. The Bourbon

Ahhh, the humble Custard Cream.... The leader of the biscuit status, with every bite a mystery. The apparent need for chocolate in a lot of people has meant the unruly demise of the custard cream to its brother: the Bourbon Biscuit. Really?

What are your views? (The views of many people may differ and thanks to our English teacher for the inspiration).

Olympic Torch Run, Robin Gibb Dies, Suicide Bombings in Yemen, Death of the ASBO? [22/May/12]

Olympic Torch Route

The Olympic torch has been set off and the route is being shown on the official Olympic website. The torch is being relayed all around the UK so check out the website to find out when it passes by you!

Interactive Map

Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb Dies At 62

After a long battle with cancer, Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb has died at age 62. Millions of people have paid their respects, even if just on Twitter. Bruno Mars, Duran Duran and Dannii Minogue are just some of the stars who have gave kind words to the singer.

Suicide Bombings Kill 96 Yemeni Soldiers

During a rehearsal for a military parade, a Yemeni soldier detonated a bomb hidden in his uniform. 96 were killed and at least 200 injured. The soldier was supposedly targeting Yemen’s defence minister, Maj. Gen. Mohammed Nasser Ahmed. He was unhurt.

ASBO's To Be Ditched?

Theresa May says we need to get rid of ASBO’s completely. She referred to them as gimmicks and we must try something more effective. Police officers can now give them different punishments, such as making them fix the damage they’ve caused, etc..

Any requests? Send in your news stories or videos for the Linkathon to superojproject@gmail.com ~ The OJ Team

Summer is on its way

Look how light it is at 9pm. You can tell it's May!

Linkathon [1 May 12] Crash Course, Razorlight and The Super Amazing Project

1) A great series by the Vlogbrothers Hank and John Green. Episode One:

Episode One of Crash Course World History

2) The music video for America by the amazing Razorlight:

Copyright Mercury Records 2006

3) Danisnotonfire and AmazingPhil present onto you The Super Amazing Project. Season Two finale below:

Season 2 finale for Dan and Phil’s Super Amazing Project!