FROM THE SFX OFFICE

Festive cheer, lots of beer and Mario Kart jeers (don’t worry, it’s not all in rhyme) in this week’s journey behind the blast doors

Merry Christmas everyone! What, too early for festive greetings you say? Well, not for team SFX , because on Monday Bath’s sci-fi massive moseyed on down to a local eatery for a spot of yuletide indulgence in the form of delicious Christmas pies. It may have been early but it was a wise move, with traditional pre-Christmas deadline madness looming there’ll be no time for such things as “fun” or “eating” over the coming weeks.

That said, with Comic Heroes editor Jes in Bath for a few days and Jayne Nelson, formerly of this parish, paying our delightful Roman city a visit on Tuesday, the team have been spending their fair share of time in the pub. And there are more tasty Christmas treats floating round the office today than any one human could reasonably consume in a week. The less said about the choice of tracks on the office stereo, however, the better.

Russell, who made good use of the question "Are you Polish?" this week, has been starting work on the next SFX special ("It'll be great!") while glowing somewhat, thanks to nice comments on the forum about his Doctor Who Bookazine . It's selling out fast folks, so to be sure to get hold of it before it’s too late. He’s also excited because Captain America is on the way to his house as we speak, courtesy of Lovefilm "I hope it's better than how I dreamed it last night - it wasn't that great in my dream."

Possibly inspired by our Paranormal Special , Sunday saw Nick strapping on the proton pack and taking a trip to 50 Berkeley Square , reputedly The Most Haunted House In London . Sadly there was no sight of any paranormal activity from the attic room, but he did notice a distinct dip in the temperature. But that may just have been London in December. As you can see from the photographic evidence, he ain't afraid of no ghosts.

This week Ian has been mostly: transcribing Being Human interviews (it makes you feel a lot better when the show’s creator can’t remember whether it’s season three or four); watching “Spock’s Brain” for a back-page tribute; laughing at the eggbox T-Rex in Pertwee Who “Invasion Of The Dinosaurs”; and trying not to think about David Cameron having sex with a pig.

Aside from working hard on a top secret project (keep an eye on the website in the new year), Rob's been busy interviewing writer-man extraordinaire Jack Thorne (of The Fades fame), reading his customary large pile of comics and pondering whether a cup of coffee, if left for a sufficient amount of time, could actually become sentient. On balance, he feels it probably could.

Speaking of top secrets, Jordan’s going on a top secret mission to Toronto next week, where he’ll be [Censored] and [Censored] with [Censored] . With Britain’s frankly rubbish winter meaning the prospects of seeing any snow are looking less and less likely, he’s looking forward to stomping about in the white stuff and touring as many Scott Pilgrim locations as possible before the flight back. He’s particularly looking forward to the flight in fact, as it’ll allow him ample time to hone his skills on Mario Kart 7 , in order to humiliate Jes further during their lunchtime battles (in the interest of balance they drew two tournaments today and Jordan was owned on Balloon Battle mode yesterday). It’ll also do him a world of good to be away from Skyrim for a few days. Particularly as last night he was up till the wee hours rearranging his stash of items in his house into various chests and shelves. Oh dear.

.

Random quote of the week: “I’ll stick a dog’s dick on the end.”

Whose (New) T-shirt? (last week’s answer: they were Dave G’s dinosaurs!)