Yep, TSV time again. We're up to #58, and if we continue at the rate of one per month, we'll be right on the heels of the actual issues in a year...
But anyway, lots of stuff in this issue, Scott Gray talks about the DWM strip Happy Deathday, which was in one the recent DWM collections. Peter Adamson and Alistair Hughes begin their epic journey going Beyond the Sofa, which is of course classic reading (watch out for the cat's input!). And then there's the Doctor Who take on the Locked Room Mystery.
Of course, the most important piece in this issue was already online, namely Sherlock Holmes and the Case of Dr. Who, an examination of the Sherlock Holmes references in Andy Lane's All Consuming Fire. That piece took a while to put together, with lots of looking up references in books (I really wish I had a copy of The Encyclopaedia Sherlockiana) and trying to work out if Andy actually made an oblique reference or just put stuff from... that place... The only change I might make now is to be stronger on the Spontaneous Human Combustion angle, which while I'm still fond of, is complete rubbish. Eh. Anyway, I'm still quite proud of what I put together and hope others find it useful.
And here are Alden's and Paul's comments.
[END]
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
Sherlock Holmes and the Case of TSV #58
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
That tune o' Fire and Ice
There is a new RPG out A Song of Fire and Ice, based on the George R. R. Martin books. Now, I haven't read the books, but I put my hand up for a recent go at using the quick-start rules and being a player in the sample adventure (Nicholas Rivers for those who care).
The rules are not standard. Roll a pool of dice, dropping dice depending on it you had bonus dice or penalty dice (generally we had bonus dice, so generally did well). Combat was very quick (which may be a good thing), but similar rules are put into social combat ("numbers around the role-playing" to a degree, but the role-playing is still significant)... It takes a moment to get your head around it, but in most cases it isn't a problem. (That said, we glossed over working out full damage and such which involves high level maths (like subtraction and stuff).)
All up, yep, it was fun. The rules, as such, aren't really specific to the system, in that (at least in the quick start rules) there's no special skills or anything that couldn't be any general medieval/fantasy setting. The setting is, of course, highly specific. Although we didn't get into it, there is the promise of a lot of political machinations, but I must confess that that doesn't really interest me. (As such, a brief one-off is interesting, but a more extended campaign isn't for me.)
From the players there, those who were fans of the books got far more out of it than I did. I'm sure there will be players who want to get into it for just the game potential, but knowing the books is going to be the default position of the players.
[END]
Saturday, 12 July 2008
That's very specific
Just near where I live is a very intriguing sign. Not the sort of thing you'd expect to see as you walk about, and while minimalist, it gets the interest.
What? What is Red? What is this? Answer below the fold (assuming you're not seeing this on an RSS feed, in which case there is no fold).
Red is a shop that takes a theme and runs with it. Red clothing, red jewelry, red handbags, red necklaces, red... anything, really.
Can our economy support such a place? They're still there at the moment, so the answer is: currently, yes.
If you want to visit it, it's at the corner of Owen and Constable streets in Newtown, open Fridays and Saturdays.
[END]
Friday, 11 July 2008
SNS: Remember Me
Episode 2 of Season 3 is Remember Me by John Dorney.
Steel: "Kiss me quick". How very droll.
Sapphire: I thought you might appreciate it.
After the reset button is pressed at the end of the previous audio (although... there is that voice... calling out "Can you hear me?"...), we're back with Sapphire and Steel investigating yet another strange happening. And while we all expect Sapphire and Steel to win, what if they can't remember where they are, what they're doing, and who they are fighting?
There is an interesting take on memory in this story, raising questions around what is reality? vs what is remembered? Unfortunately, John Dorney doesn't answer them very well (the explanation and powers of the Big Bad is especially dubious), but then for him they are only just a reason to talk about his intended topic: forgotten comedians. Indeed, most of Part 3 is all about shining a light on what could be almost any comedian's dark real life (and the complete lack of humour that really was), but... well... John's a lot more interested in that than I am. Me, I prefer the more intriguing memory-stuff. Pity.
And speaking of Part 3, I'm not saying there was padding in this story, but given the framing memory narrative, the big scenes concerning his true idea do come across as indulgent, and could largely have been dropped without adversely impacting the story overall. (And I could say the same thing about Kate's character, who is basically a retread of Eric that we are supposed to root for because... she's young? she's a she? Not sure, to be honest.) The first two Parts pace fine, but the final two could either be compressed or rewritten entirely.
Not that any of this is a problem with the cast. Sam Kelly embodies the role of Eric as only Sam Kelly brilliantly can (and I've recently seen some of his earlier work watching the Porridge series), while Joannah Tincey as Kate has a hard line to walk between been worn down and being likable. I'm sure David Horovitch enjoyed his part, getting to stretch his actor chops by taking on so many different characters (no behind-the-scenes (yet) to reveal more on that). However, am I beginning to detect a certain... ennui in the main cast? David Warner's picture is of him looking grouchy, and Steel certainly was that in the audio, and even Susannah Harker's pictures looking "yep, here again". (Just as well they didn't do much in the first play, and there's one coming up with just Silver and Gold.)
A decent enough try, but the tricky questions are avoided in favour of telling a different story. Still, an enjoyable enough tale for two hours.
[END]
Thursday, 10 July 2008
Security flaw: a working computer
Windows updates are great things. Where else can you get random "security patches" that fix things you have no idea were wrong and have no control over in any way shape or form.
Take KB951748 for example. Huh? Something about DNS problems... Can't say I ever noticed any problems, and everything's been working fine for me so far. (But I'm willing to cut them some slack, who knows how many times my computer's been hacked without my knowledge?)
So, fine, patch downloaded and installed...
Hang on... where'd my internet go? I can't connect to anything, not even my D-Link hub! (At least that test stopped me from thinking of hassling my ISP.) Both of my computers are down, and the last thing I did was install an update... perhaps there's a link?
Certainly, when I uninstalled it, I got the internet back (and thus, able to make this post). Fortunately, the power of the internet was able to come to my aid once more in finding out if it was just me. And nope, it wasn't.
The problem is around ZoneAlarm. I use ZoneAlarm. Good product. Free. But apparently when Microsoft decided to update some files, ZoneAlarm didn't realise and fell over.
There look to be some fixes, such as clean reinstall of ZA, setting ZA to medium security setting, or simply ignoring the latest patch... But have tried the clean install and not happening. Oh well, hopefully they'll get it all sorted out within some useful timeframe...
EDIT: A press release by ZoneAlarm contains links to working files.
[END]
Wednesday, 9 July 2008
Skeptic pron!
The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe (podcast) is slowly getting it's A into G and producing videos. So far they've only compiled small vids but they do have bigger plans. This one is about an exciting, and of course real!, ghost photo:
Also, they discuss the alien video... Keep an eye on their channel.
[END]
