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Dear Everyone,

I hope I find you well. The reason I’m writing is because I’m becoming increasingly concerned that the world we find ourselves in is going insane. I don’t say this in a judgemental or condescending way, it’s just that I’ve noticed some disturbing trends at the moment. Please allow me to offer a few examples.

The image above is a frighteningly genuine new invention called Bowser Beer for dogs. The beer doesn’t contain any hops, carbonation or alcohol, and it comes in two flavours: chicken or beef. Basically, it’s meat water. It’s not beer, it’s got no resemblance to beer, and even if it did, why would a dog want to get drunk? They’re already slow witted, overly affectionate creatures who dribble more than is acceptable.

My second concern is the aforepictured Bill Murray colouring book, “Thrill Murray”. While I am ostensibly in favour of anything designed to thrill myself or any other Murrays out there, I can’t help but think that if someone purchased me this item I would struggle to appear anything but mildly confused as to why it exists.

The image doesn’t do it justice. This woman has decided that the best way to commemorate the Olympics is to “design a sculpture that sings differently to everyone who approaches it”. At least, that’s what she claims. What she’s actually done is piled up a lot of stones, shoved some speakers and motion sensors into it, and called it art. Seriously, watch THIS VIDEO of her describing it. Go ahead. I don’t mind waiting. Watch it.

…

WHAT?!

Today is a very exciting day… if you’re Chinese. For today is the start of the year of the Dragon, which is unassailably cool and the only one of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac that is legendary. Both Sam and myself were born in the year of the Dragon, and as you can see we’ve made nothing but success of our lives!

(May not necessarily be me or Sam)

A couple of years ago I mistakenly bumbled into a Chinese restaurant with a few friends, completely unaware that we were arriving without a reservation on the eve of Chinese new year. Even after waiting 20 minutes and getting a table, we remained blissfully oblivious to the fact that anything out of the ordinary was happening until a 12-man-long Dragon came charging into the room accompanied by another 12 men beating out pounding rhythms on various drums.

We watch with bemused bewilderment as the Dragon danced between tables and girls started handing presents out to all the guests, ourselves included. For 15 minutes we bore witness to a wonderful display of colours, music, dancing and celebration and then, quick as a flash, it was all gone and we were back to being in a Chinese restaurant.

(May not necessarily be me or Sam)

On a side note, ever wondered why the Chinese zodiac contains just those animals? The legend is that they were all fighting over who would be first so the Chinese Gods made them race across a river to determine a winner. The rat and cat wondered how they were going to get across because of their small stature, so they jumped on the back of the ox. Halfway across, the rat pushed the cat off the ox and just before the ox reached the shore the rat jumped ahead of him, which is why the rat is the first animal of the zodiac. The cat finished so late that he was not granted a year at all, and vowed to be the rat’s enemy forever. The full legend is available here.

For the last two years the Golden Globes has provided us with some of Ricky Gervais’s finest moments, cutting Hollywood superstars down to size with his decidedly British brand of comedy insults. Having been invited back again this year, we were all expecting more of the same, and I for one was very keen to check the videos of last night when I woke up this morning to see who had fallen into his firing line this time.

For the first time since beginning his run as the host of the Globes, Gervais fell somewhat flat. Compared to his previous two appearances he exchanged his trademark brand of political incorrectness for bigger laughs from his Hollywood audience, poking fun at people with a blunted knife where last year he had ruthlessly wielded a rapier.

While Gervais may have faltered, George Clooney rose out of nowhere to claim Best Actor in a Drama for the film that won Best Drama, The Descendants. A year ago Clooney had fallen off the radar somewhat, still a big name but not really appearing to do anything of note, and now he’s garnering accolades by the bucket load for November’s sleeper hit.

From home, Downton Abbey was victorious in Best Mini-Series, and Britain ruled the Best Actor/Actress in a TV Movie category with Idris Elba and Kate Winslet both deserving winners for Luther and Mildred Pierce respectively.

As usual, however, the final talking point would appear to be Ricky Gervais; although his opening speech fell a bit flat, his dropping of the F-bomb later on in the show has had the American media fawning over how controversial he is once again. Controversial or not, it’s a brave man who’d bet against him hosting it again next year.

Here at Gadget HQ, Sam and myself have the same hero. He’s about 1 metre tall, blue and goes by the name of Sonic the Hedgehog. He was one of the first video games either of us ever played, and is firmly stuck in our memories as the greatest computer character of all time thanks to his Mega Drive days. But now, 20 years after his début, he’s back… and the world has gone Sonic mad!

That's one big balloon!

Last week, our American cousins Macy’s thanksgiving day parade was led by a giant Sonic balloon for the first time since 1993, and I think you’ll agree that it looked pretty damn awesome! Sonic’s place at the head of the parade is a huge indication of just how popular and enduring he’s proved to be.

Despite being absent from the office, Sam still found time to fill in this Sonic quiz, scoring a mightily impressive 7/9. I fell a tiny bit short with 6/9, and Mandy just missed out on joint second with a respectable 5/9.

The reason for this Sonic rebirth is largely down to the forthcoming game Sonic Generations, which looks like it’s going to breathe new life into a series that has seen its best days fall by the wayside a long time ago. Taking place over three different time-zones (Classic, Dreamcast and Modern), classic Sonic and modern Sonic join forces to take down the evil Dr. Robotnik in a game that has been universally praised for making Sonic relevant again.

To say that we’re excited about this game would be a colossal understatement, as the return of classic Sonic is something that we’ve both been dreaming of for years, and to celebrate we’re selling these awesome RC Sonic cars, based on the Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing game that preceded Sonic Generations. We can’t wait to get our grubby paws on them!