Comment: #BetterBatmanThanAffleck

Words: Glen Byford // Photo: imgur.com

We geeks sure do like to get riled up. News is delivered to us via the Internet, and then we vent via the Internet, making sure everyone that may be privy to our streams or comments will certainly know exactly what is on our minds. Ben Affleck as Batman in the forthcoming 'Man Of Steel 2' has proved no different.

Comment: BAFTA 2012 Film Awards

Words: Saam Das

Last night saw the 65th instalment of the BAFTA's film awards and consequently resulted in my Twitter feed lighting up with almost exactly the same tweets for several hours - "X has won Y #BAFTA". Riveting. I shall restrain myself before I launch further into a full blown tirade of the inane banality of constant live-tweeting. Instead, let's discuss the awards and its big winner, 'The Artist'.

Comment: The Great Vinyl Hunt

Words: Geraint Ellis (guest contributor from The Midweek Mixtape)

On my ninth birthday, I got a Sony Walkman. The shiny black discus became my sole and trusted accomplice – everywhere I went, battling through the rain and gloom, that little machine whirred and overheated and filled my ears with the snarl of Oasis, the gentle thrashing of Sum 41 and, once or twice, the factory produced pop of Blue. It devoured batteries in milliseconds and ruined every CD I owned, but in return it let me listen to music everywhere I went, and that made everything just perfect.

Comment: A Brief Analysis Of The Mercury Music Prize 2011

Words: Simon Opie

You'll have heard by now that PJ Harvey has won the 2011 Mercury Music Prize, with 'Let England Shake'. The Mercury has a long and somewhat controversial history since it was first won in 1992 by Primal Scream – from U2, Simply Red and others - for 'Screamadelica' (and yes the Scream were young and emerging back then).

Comment: Henry Cavill Cast As Superman

Words: Saam Das

So Andy Murray might not have quite pulled off winning his first Grand Slam but the source of British pride today can be the casting of Henry Cavill as Superman, in Zack Snyder's forthcoming adaptation.

Despite the castings/success of the likes of Christian Bale as Batman and Aaron Johnson as Kick-Ass, certain Americans are still getting annoyed by the non-American casting. Here's some "ownage" from Scott E Weinberg though.

WORD.

Comment: 2011 Golden Globe Award Winners

Words: Saam Das

I'm not one of those people who stay up until the middle of the night to watch awards shows. I'm one of those people who stay up until the middle of the night ROFL-ing my way through Damn You Auto Correct. But seeing as I did a little write up about the nominations for the 2011 Golden Globes, I might as well discuss the winners. And losers.

But first, a note about Ricky Gervais hosting. Having not seen the awards, I can only go by the courageously humourous clip below but it seems that he really went for it so I applaud him for trying to inject some excitement into an otherwise banal environment. Maybe it was a bit "mean-spirited" but it's refreshing to see someone not playing it safe and take on the adored elite. Respect, Mr Gervais, respect.

'The Social Network' was the big "winner" at the Globes, coming away with four awards, while 'The Fighter' and 'The Kids Are All Right' both came away with a brace.

Comment: (In Defence Of) The BBC Sound Of 2011 Poll

Words: Saam Das

Today saw the announcement of Jessie J as the BBC Sound Of 2011. I rarely engage in the debates that rage regarding these type of polls but having been kindly offered to take part in last year's edition, I feel a bit more qualified to talk about the BBC poll so I thought I'd throw some of my thoughts into the mix.

Firstly though, some brief notes on the process seeing as it might illuminate certain things. In November, the BBC contacts over a hundred people they deem as "tastemakers" in the music industry. Or apparently "pundits" this year. These chosen few are sent to a special form where they must enter their three choices for the Sound Of poll. Now, there are strict rules - the artists must not have had a UK top 20 single or album, been involved in another popular group/reality TV shows, and you can't vote for an artist you've worked with or intend to work with.

I chose The Joy Formidable, Two Door Cinema Club and The Drums for the 2010 poll. The latter two actually managed to make it onto the 15-strong longlist. The Drums even made the top 5 shortlist. Considering 218 acts were voted for, I was quite pleased. Alternatively, I guess you could see me as being a bit of a "sheep" in the industry.

Comment: Merry Christmas!

Words: Saam Das
Photo: fanpop.com

Good evening, everyone. And more importantly, merry Christmas all! Or if you must be offended by what is now an overwhelmingly secular day, then I simply wish you a happy holiday!

I want to thank all the writers who've contributed to the site this year. It's been a big change over the past year as I expanded the blog into film and television and without the writers who've kindly come in to give me a hand, I'm genuinely unsure whether this blog would still exist. So thank you Simon, Paul, Kieran, Ced, Alicia, Sid, Matthew, Jake, Josh, Rajan and Emily. For putting up with my nagging, at the very least. Thanks too to guest bloggers like Nina Bhadreshwar, Glen Hunchbakk and Rob from Little Comets. And anyone else I've accidentally forgotten. Hopefully we'll have many more contributions next year from inside the FG family or otherwise. Drop me an email if you'd like to join in the fun.

I also want to thank every one of you who reads this for coming to visit us this year - we basically doubled the number of hits we had and are now well on our way to half a million pageviews. I hope you've enjoyed at least some of the writing on the site, even if you've respectfully disagreed with the reviewer's opinions.

With all that said, have ten decent holiday tunes (in no particular order) that have been recorded this year after the jump. Have a brilliant day everyone and thank you all again.