True Detective

With the last two episodes, it's time to actually focus on the mystery.

Episode 7 gets into the mystery, and brings things up to date. It seems without a family, the show has to get into the case. But there still isn't really a full Chambersian influence yet, the Yellow King stuff is just dressing. You could swap out with any other names and get the same things. Certainly no hint of anything supernatural. That all said, although this looks to be just humans being capable of bad things, this is not going to end well.

Episode 8 and... it remains dressing. It's just people being people, and this reaches its rather desultory conclusion. It's hard to say the case is about anything, and certainly there isn't really any feeling of achievement when the final pieces drop. Indeed the last clue/trail is just what needs to happen because of plot, not because of the long lengths of detective work they've been doing. And then in the final moments, the show goes for a human connection again, and gets on firmer, if wishy-washer, ground.

There's decent acting in this show, but nothing crime wise that hasn't been done before, and the Lovecraftian angle is overrated. The only reason to watch is for the characters, but that isn't enough to drag this out over eight episodes.

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Tru Detecti

This show is having trouble expressing what it wants to be about.

Episode 5 has some attempt at cosmic horror, a little different from episode 1. This is wrapping up the 1995 portion of the story, and giving us more about the present day case. There's also a big (for this show) action piece, in which we clearly see people are lying, but they are the heroes, so that's all right, it's all over now... but it isn't.

Episode 6 shows that this show isn't about the crime at all. Which it hasn't been all along, but this episode puts that front and centre. The personal lives of the leads come tumbling down, and the mystery is completely incidental. There could be anything going on, and the detectives would still act the same way. This is where it is "true detectives", because it is truly about the detectives and nothing else matters.

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Tr Detec

And so it rolls on.

Episode 3 is just them going places and talking. What is supposed to be happening here? What is drawing people in? It's only because of the context that I'm still watching, and I can see it has potential, but huge slabs of nothing is happening. Most of the action is around the personal lives of the cops, although there is now the promise of something relating to the case actually about to happen. But I'm not sure I believe it, even when I will see it.

Episode 4 is... did I watch these in the right order? What does this have to do with where episode 3 left off? We do get some advancement of the plot, as such, but it's largely 'in the way filler'. We need to talk to X, well first you need to contact W, and then go to R, and then P, and then Z, and then... really? How is this not padding? Even the character arc of the leads is abruptly advanced. Was this written by someone else sneakily?

At least we're halfway now...

[END]

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T Det

I've heard many people say True Detective is good, and that there's a Lovecraftian connection with the King in Yellow and that, so let's give it a go, with reviewing two episodes at a time... which gives me a nice wee series of posts.

And I'm not going to use the L work again, the King in Yellow is from Robert W Chambers, so Chambersian it is!

Episode 1 reminds me a lot of Hannibal. Similar style, and the first murder victim involves deer antlers. It's a slow build, and I'm sure I lost the connection between some of the plot points at one stage and wondered why they were investigating an older case. Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey do not play compelling characters (in that I don't feel compelled to keep watching them), and if it wasn't for the Chambersian connection I know is coming, I probably wouldn't get past episode 1.

Episode 2 continues the slow build. I hope the entire season (of just eight episodes) isn't just slow burn of the mystery, as that's already getting tiresome. The two leads aren't getting much better, and the characters do not seem to have any sense of subtly. We do finally get a proper name check of the King in Yellow and Carcosa, but a name is about all it is. The previous cliffhanger worked in that it told us why this series is set when it is, but this one is just a very lame reveal.

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DW 8.10

Right at the beginning we have several things which irritate me and will probably never be resolved. Good start, episode! One fairly innocuous one I can mention: since when has the TARDIS has a GPS "you have arrived" announcer? And why will it never come up again?

The whole forest out of nowhere is a more interesting set up than what I thought was going to happen based on the trailer last week. I thought the Doctor was going to take them on a school trip, instead it's a magical mystery tour in the present day... in which a massive reset button is pushed at the end and conveniently no-one will ever remember, despite the number of digital footage and such around.... eh, what? Then again, no-one remembers the Daleks or that there was a huge alien spaceship...

On one hand, this is a nice tight story in which we get to focus on just a few characters and developed. On the other hand... WHERE IS EVERYBODY? Yes, they get told to stay inside, but rubbish! Any opportunity for people to get out and loot will be taken, let alone people just getting out and enjoying the new surroundings. Then again, we are talking about a planet which 100% voted to kill a new moon creature. The Doctor Who New Series Earth sucks.

This is all because the story isn't about the forest (and I totally picked that the forest was a good thing early in the story), it's about Danny and Clara and the relationship with the Doctor. With the kids providing colour commentary. And being annoying. Yeah, those are some damn irritating kids, and I'm sure we will be subjected to them again. And no-one minds they know about the TARDIS and such now? Anywoo, once again Danny and Clara and that's nice character development... but it's repeated character development. This is just Danny finding out about the Doctor again, we've been there. And, to be honest, The Caretaker did it better.

This story took a while to grow (sic) on me, but once I got into the groove of it, I did settle back and enjoy it. It's not a brilliant episode, but it's better than many others this season.

Next week: The beginning of the End. Again.

[END]

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OlderBoy

We turn now to the American remake, because god forbid the idea of Hollywood coming up with their own ideas.

The plot is largely the same as the Korean version, except... and this is a big except...

I don't know if this is because the American writers didn't get it, or they thought Americans wouldn't get it / be able to put up with it. The original is two hours, this is one hour forty-five, and the missing section is basically: the emotional core. The characters, in the original, have time to develop the emotional link, and we think there is something there. Here, it's just "they are together, because they are man and woman and this is how movies work". There's nothing. And the villain of the piece doesn't get any real fun, and doesn't get to fully establish himself either. It feels a lot less personal here than in the original, and that just pisses me off.

Josh Brolin is fine, but everyone else is largely one-note, because of this drive of the plot to be about the action and miss the point of the story. And yes, they re-do the corridor sequence, but of course make it longer because this is the remake. I can see that being the one piece of this movie that people will talk about as they do the original.

If this is all you see, fine, but check out the original for the actual movie.

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OldestBoy

I've heard about this Korean movie, so let's give it a go. It gets... weird.

A man is heading slowly on his way home, via the police station because he's kinda over drunk. His friend gets him out, but then the man disappears. He's locked up in a room for fifteen years, then suddenly he's released. And so begins his revenge streak to find out what happened to him. And along the way, he finds a woman to love. The reasons why are slowly unveiled, and in the last half hour... I am so not going to reveal any of that, except to say I didn't see that coming, and admire the movie for going there.

One of the main reasons I heard about this was the corridor fight, which is a side on view we have while the man fights his way past a crew of guys, in one long uncut shot. There's a lot going on there (although you can spot various moments where the blows aren't quite hitting, and a few moments where they give various actors time to catch their breath). It's a decent sequence, although I suspect there are a lot better sequences out of Korea these days.

The acting is decent, with the actor playing Woo-jin Lee (the nominal villain) probably having the best parts. Min-Sik Choi as the "hero" Dae-su Oh has a lot to do both physical and mental, and I can't imagine it was easy.

This is a part of a trilogy? Hmm, I might try to find the other two some day then. In the meantime, there's something else I have to watch...

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Cthulhu Dissected

A while ago I picked up a copy of Dissecting Cthulhu from the YSDC store, and just recently read it. And it was quite good.

This is a collection of previously published essays about Lovecraft and his work, and other people who picked it up. There are many essays pointing out that the "Cthulhu Mythos" was created by August Derleth, which is a nail hammered many times.

Another point is Lovecraft's inspiring places. There's one article that points out the many bad things Will Murray does.. and this is followed with a Will Murray article about some other place!

Fortunately, there are a few articles talking about Lovecraft's work and ethos. There are also articles treating the mythos entities as researchable things, which goes against the ethos.

This is an interesting read, but the conflicting essays are a little annoying. That said, that is what happens when you are dissecting Cthulhu...

[END]

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Open and Out

Okay, I probably need to take a break because I spend far too much time trying to catch up with current shows that get around to writing up blog entries, so we gets simple posts like this, which is basically a youtube vid with commentary.

Supernatural had a rocky start, and then, it has been pointed out, that it's been treading the same plot for the past few seasons. But I like it and will continue to watch it.

One aspect I particularly like is the opening credits. They change every season, and they fit the theme of the season. But the best part... they are only around five seconds. With lots of long opening sequences, with shots of various actors and panning shots to show off effects and... nope, not with Supernatural. Quick shock shot, then back to the show.


Usually others only have short openings when they are under a time squeeze, but we could do with more shows that actually care about getting to the content.

[END]

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Reign of Winter

A convenient raven turns up with a 5,000gp diamond in its claw. After some bargaining, it is swapped for various items the party has, and now they have a nice diamond... which they eventually get around to casting on a Raise Dead.

Nanoc is back! [I like to play my characters "all the way down", and since Nanoc wasn't completely gone, back he is!]

After spending some days resting and recuperating, we get back into it and try to find where the bad guys are. This leads us to looking down the passageway with all the runes that nearly killed us before (and did kill Liddac!). Mage and Felgard decide to head down... and we split the party!

They go down the runes, Mage nearly dies, but they make it to the end and re-enter the field with the old crone, who tells them off for returning. And they find the chap from the previous encounter who invisibled and ran away. Pressing on, they go exploring more.

Meanwhile, the rest of us go the other way, and find ourselves back in a room not that far from the entrance. We sit a while, then go through a room with a petrified forest before ending up back in the room.

After poking around, Mage and the Bard find a room with two Frost Giants guarding a door. Bravely they attack using fire, then run away.

We go down another passage, to find a Frost Giant and a young pregnant maiden in flagrante delicto. That doesn't stop us attacking, and the three of us take down the Giant without too much of a problem. And then the maiden touches Nanoc and makes him go weak [Losing Strength is my new Being Cursed]. So then they bravely and nobly kill the pregnant woman... who turns into a hag creature thing, but still. Without wanting to wander around more, we settle in for the night.

Mage and the bard do hit and run tactics to kill the giants, and that works well. But where will they go next, and will the party ever regather?

[END]

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Melody of Berlin

It was a two-fer this week!

Melody of the World (1929): This is an assembled film of images from around the world, in black and white with sound! The music is well set to the images, and the images themselves are paired up to show off how similar some human (and animal) activities are. Although some of the moment were, I thought, a stretch, for example elephants picking things up and people picking up a canoe. This is more likely an example of convergent evolution than common ancestor (although there's probably some of that too). I was also reminded of the Qatsi trilogy in the blending of themes and images, and I should get around to watching that again sometime. Still, well done.

Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927): Another film by Walter Ruttmann (as the above one was), and again we have the mixture of images (although this is a silent film with later composed score) giving us the impression of music as the images play off either other. There's a nice flow and beat as we start with the waking of the city, following people through the day, and then the night life. It's nicely done, and I kind of wish there was natural sound in it, but we have the above film for that.

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DW 8.09

Does this count as a Doctor-less episode? Not really, although it would have been a fairly simple day for Peter Capaldi. Overall, I liked it.

We start with an interesting premise of people sucked into the walls, and of the TARDIS shrinking. (Easier prop management? Although I'm sure Jenna wasn't particularly excited about hiding in it.) And then the Doctor is trapped... which, while potential, doesn't really impact on him not being around. It's more of an opportunity to get Clara to experience what it means to be the Doctor. And yet... we don't really get a full sense of what it means to be the Doctor as Clara doesn't really have a lot of tough decisions to make.

Decent performances all around, I liked Chris Fairbank's prickliness. Good performances from our two leads as well, and we'll see where the Clara / Danny relationship goes.

Although I only just watched it, I can't say there is anything more amazing I want to talk about. High rating episode, but could easily be seen as filler. And yes, I spotted the Pixar reference. (Not sure if the other train is a reference to something.)

Next week: Oh, school trip gone wrong. That's never happened before.

[END]

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Why so Serial?

We all like Batman, so who doesn't want to see more Batman? Batman, Batman, Batman.

In particular, the 1949 15 part serial Batman and Robin, as screened in theatres. So this meant that each episode, around 17 minutes each, ended with a dramatic cliff hanger, often involving actual cliffs! Only to resolved by finding out the heroes escaped just before the dramatic explosion seen last week. Ah, the 'get 'em in again next week' ol' cinema serials.

This particular adventure involves a character known as The Wizard. Who can remotely control cars. And he has his own gang. Against them are Batman and Robin, two people clearly dressing up in costumes with no gadgets to speak of. And with the fighting ability of a stunned koala. Also featured daring reporter Vicki Vale. It's a basic story, but definitely set up for a serial, and for the times, and would only pause current day Batman for about five minutes.

But I didn't watch it by myself, as such. Instead I saw all the episodes with the aid of Rifftrax. They just recently finished the series, as part of their once-a-week Riffs. (Shorts are a lot easier than full movies.) If they are sensible, they'll offer a package deal, but the whole lot is easy enough to get. Go for it!

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Mudbloods

Mudbloods is a movie about Quidditch that's just been released... and I forgot I had a copy of this ready for me to watch because I Kickstartered this.

This movie mainly follows the Quidditch team at UCLA and their team performance of the year (of 2011) and their action at the New York Quidditch Cup. Outside of the context of this being a game from a fantasy series, this is actually fairly full on contact sport (with one particular nasty injury happening), and co-ed, unlike a lot of other sports out there. Actually, I'm reminded a lot of touch rugby, except these people are running around one handed.

Okay, let's talk about a large aspect. They are running around on brooms, basically holding them between their legs, giving them only one had free. And yes, that does look rather silly. And phallic. And the Snitch is a guy who has a ball in a sock around his waist that the Seekers have to grab. This is what happens when you need to adapt a fantasy game. And admittedly, after a while, you do just see people running around, scoring goals and throws balls at each other, not too dissimilar to other sports.

The main characters we follow are Alex, the man who put the Quidditch competition together. Tom, the captain of the UCLA team. And Katie, a Harry Potter fan who has a lot of HP merchandise. They are nice people, and realistic about this. These people aren't going to be superstars of the world, but neither are they unhappy with their place in life.

Aside from it being Quidditch, this could be many other sport movies. But it is Quidditch, so there's that.

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A whole lot of Toot

They say (whoever they are) that you learn something new every day. For instance, the other day, I learnt that the Mount Vic Tunnel is haunted.

Ya what now?

It seems that back when the tunnel was constructed, one man killed his significant other and buried her body. And now her ghost haunts the tunnel. But don't worry, you can ward it off by tooting. And that's why people toot inside the tunnel.

Yep. That's why. No other reason.

For example, people like being annoying and the toots echo nicely in the tunnel. And that's a popular tunnel at night, especially when drunk, when tooting might be the thing to do. Just like in the Terrace Motorway Tunnel, only people don't talk about that being haunted.

Never mind that I never heard of that story and my family have tooted in there all the time.

So no. Just no. Move along, preferably with respecting the noise level, but there's no ghost to see here.


[END]

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Smash and Grab

I got a large backload of documentaries to watch, and so am likely to click on random files, not remembering what they are, and watching something. For example, The Story of the Pink Panthers.

The Pink Panthers, in this case, is a group of jewellery robbers that operate in Europe, They started in Yugoslavia and after events in that country turned sour, they spread out into Europe, and we follow their story from those beginning to some of their jobs, and through how they happen. It starts with the woman casing the joint (so be suspicious of all women), to the men coming in later and grabbing things (speed is important here), then the courier taking the diamonds and jewels to a contact, who would then refine the diamonds and (mainly) sell them to Americans.

This movie makes this sound almost simple. Just go into a jewellery store, nick stuff, and done. Although there's more to it than that, and the police / Interpol are cracking down on them and have caught quite a few... although there are always more, people willing to try risk for quick and easy money. And I'd be lying if I couldn't see the appeal... although I have no talent for it (although I would say that, wouldn't I?).

Because this involves discussions with actual Pink Panthers members, while a lot of this is actual footage of people reenacting things, of discussions with police members, the scenes with the robbers tend to have a more animated take, with basic representations. And yet, they are well done, and go get a good sense of the emotion conveyed (though use of the eyes, and changing postures).

Quite enjoyable, although the take away message shouldn't be "go on, give this a go".

[END]

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Reign of Winter

We are still on the walk, with no rest. Opening a door, we find a dark corridor, so down the passage we go.

We find a room with a skin covered tent and zombie panthers and an annoying creature that goes invisible! The panthers aren't that much of a problem, we all put those down easily. The invisible guy turns up once, and we thwack him about, but then back to invisibility. That is severely annoying.

Wandering on (we can't do anything about the invisible guy) and find a cauldron. And an air elemental. The elemental wasn't that much of a problem (it gets stunned with a first attack, and then a later attack), so that just leaves the cauldron. And herbs. And a Nanoc who doesn't realise that 'no' is a better option. Still, the potions were nice, so that worked out find.

Moving yet more on, we encounter a group of Shadows. With a really annoying ability to damage our Strength attributes, although mine is quite high. The majority of the shadows aren't a problem, a few hits, and down they go, but the Greater Shadow is more annoying and the one I am facing. I hit, it hits, I get damaged, this goes on...

And then my Strength goes to below zero. And down I go. Then back up again as a Shade, but that doesn't last long. The party moves on, and finally finds a place to rest and gather their wits... I mean experience. And get another level, which gives the cleric access to Raise Dead.

So the question now becomes: does Nanoc get raised?

[END]

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The List Laght

Okay, this had an interesting premise. And yet...

Something happened, and one party of people who survived is seven strangers in a hospital area, surviving against creatures from outside. And then we follow them as they wander around, and have character based breakdowns, and a huge amount of nothing happens for the bulk of the movie, until the ending in which things might be revealed and nothing surprising happens because the movie has already revealed its pretentious ambitions.

When one character talks to a particular character that no-one else mentions or interacts with, I'm suspicious. And so I could tell a lot of what was coming before revelations, and while I'll admit I didn't see the exact 'truth', it wasn't any form of shock. And this isn't because it was telegraphed heavily, it's more because it just wasn't trying anything surprising.

Leading the way, we have Ed Quinn, whom I last saw on Eureka, and he's looking good. We also have Molly Hagan from Herman's Head (no, I'm not over it) and Jeff Fahey from lots of other things. The effects aren't worth talking about, because it's just seven people in one location and we don't see any monsters or anything. I wouldn't be surprised to find this had a very short shooting time frame.

Another movie to put on the 'meh' list.

[END]

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DW 8.08

So, we are all expecting a solo Doctor adventure, because of the brilliant character moment in which Clara stormed off... oh, that only lasted two minutes.

Let's count it off. The 'Clara mad at the Doctor' aspect - wasted. The 'Orient Express in Space' aspect - wasted. The 'Creepy Mummy' - wasted. None of those aspects were crucial to the story, they were just window dressing. The core idea of "strange thing causing death" is interested... and has been done before, but this really suggests it's going to hook into the greater arc (or, considering Moffat, next years arc?).

But we do come to a point about the Doctor being grumpy. This is his thing now, and people don't seem to like it. Certainly, it's not the person-centric Doctor we've seen before, but we could do with some pragmatism. On the other hand, does this make him not the Doctor? Even Eccleston gave some sense of interest in the little people. This Doctor just sees them as resources to use on the way to saving them. I can't really see this aspect continuing too much longer, or who will claim to be a fan of the Capaldi Doctor? It's going to turn people off.

On the other hand, can we have more John Sessions please? His voice is great, but we definitely want more. And hopefully Gus will return, so yay, look forward to that. And there are plenty of other people that people will recognise. (I was suspicious of Perkins because for a while no-one else interacted with him.)

The last scene in the TARDIS undermines the whole episode emotional arc, so thanks for killing that.

Next week: A filler episode, but this looks to have definite potential.

[END]

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The Mirrugh

As I've said before, horror movies featuring mirrors are an easy click for me. And it's amazing how badly they get done.

Boyfriend, girlfriend and mate live in an apartment, and they get themselves a "haunted mirror" so they can film strange things happening and win the James Randi Paranormal Challenge (pro-tip: it doesn't work like that). Then nothing much happens aside from boyfriend sleep walking. And then nothing definitely happens. Then boyfriend goes out at night stalking, cut to... nothing happening. And then girlfriend freaks out and mate fails to be useful. The End.

This is one of them found footage movies, and it goes for the slow build for the entire movie, before a last few minutes of attempting to ramp up the excitement. (I'm also looking at you, Insidious.) But long before any hint of excitement, the audience has fallen asleep.

This is a simple movie, in which there are basically three actors and one location. And the biggest effects (as given away on the poster) are missing eyes. That's about it. Paranormal Activity did that, but as I've said before, only the first one of those movies was any good, and this doesn't disprove that idea.

Skipping this movie doesn't ignore it enough.

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Survival Horror Bingo

Ever notice how survival games have the same tropes occur over and over? Try playing the bingo game then! Because I'm a fan of LRR, let me point you to the Let's Nope Bingo, with instructions on how to create your own bingo cards.

Here is one such example:

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Fermat's Last Theorem

I was reading a science text from just 25 years ago, and the writer referred to Fermat's Last Theorem as an example, and pointed out it was unsolved. Just 25 years ago, this theorem had been stumping the world.

[And let's get the pedantic note out of the way. It wasn't Fermat's, he said he came across it. It wasn't his last one, just the last one we dealt with. And it wasn't a theorem, it was a conjecture. And most likely he didn't have a solution either. The accepted wisdom is that he used a 'proof by descent' method which works for a lot of numbers, but not all of them.]

It was 'solved' (as a byproduct of other research) in 1994, so we should be celebrating 20 years of FTL being a solved problem now. But we aren't. (That I am aware of.) And I want one of the t-shirts.

But reading that in that book seemed odd. This is a solved problem now. How could any text refer to it as unknown? It's one of those moments when you realise that common knowledge isn't that common, and just how recently we've made progress. Disconcerting.

And more amusingly, the solution to this proves that the Star Trek universe can't exist.

[END]

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Spac Statio 1976

This is supposed to be a "comedy". However I could tell from the trailer that this wouldn't be that great. And I was right.

It's a Space Station! With the future presented as if it was 1976! Only... well, the trappings are definitely 1976, with the bad dress sense, the constant drinking and smoking, and the awful hairstyles. But the story itself is timeless and could have been set in any setting. That's not so much the problem, timeless stories, whatever. No, the problem is that it is immensely boring.

I watched this, as I do, at double speed. And it still felt like a chore to get through. Absolutely nothing felt like a surprise, nothing felt like it was a fresh take on anything, nothing felt like this was a story worth telling.

The premise of a "current modern take on a 70s take on a science fiction future" had potential. But this wasn't the movie for it.

[END]

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Tin Man, The Adventures Of

While I was down in Queenstown, at the airport, I had a last minute buying decision. There was a series of prints, all featuring a character called Tin Man, in various amusing one panel features, a lot being life affirming. And then I saw a book of them, and done! (Not cheap, and there's one here available online.)

Tin Man was created by Tony Cribb, a chap from down in Christchurch. Tin Man is a rather likeable character, simple and yet one of those things that no-one else has thought of. You can see a set of prints over here. And just search the web for more.

One of my favourite ones:

[END]

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The Man Who Fell To Earth

Ponderous movie time, with The Man Who Fell to Earth, staring a coked up David Bowie.

Newton falls to earth and sets up a nice life using his advanced knowledge to create useful inventions. But then he meets a woman, and slowly his life goes to pot. And then he slowly falls to the truth of America (ie corruption and greed) and is consumed by the system. Go 'Murca!

This didn't need to be two and a half hours, by the halfway point I was more than ready for it to be over, and it was only halfway! And it felt like the director just put in some shots because they were arty and cool and meaningful (in a way that doesn't actually mean that much). I couldn't keep my concentration up.

David Bowie is fine enough in this. Rip Torn is just... a decent performance, but not outstanding. Candy Clark goes from likeable to annoying. The production was mostly good, and the special effects were very 70s.

Overall, can't say this was a great movie to me.

And because it was Bowie, I kept having this run though my head:

[END]

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DW 8.07

The introduction made me worried they were going to pull another 42, but fortunately not. Instead, they just went for dull.

Oh look, large astronomical body is in fact an egg for a creature... where have I seen that before? Aside from many science fiction stories. Meh. The big deal here is that it's the Moon, and that we are supposed to care because of Earth. Except I don't. I would have left my lights on.

And no-one noticed the Moon contains a lifeform? Really? Yeah, that makes sense. And, fortunately, it managed to lay another Moon (so in some billion years another creature will hatch?).

The best character moment of the episode was at the end... and I'm wondering if Peter or Steven wrote that? Which means this was another wasted guest slot in the form of Hermoine Norris. And the other cast out of the main crew is also irrelevant. Although I am including Ellis George as the main cast here. I do also wonder if she was supposed to be in this script and was added quickly or not? [This was originally a Matt Smith script.]

Anyway, not an exciting episode all round.

Next week: a historical journey that's been retasked to take place in space? I've never encountered that before!

[END]

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Westy Boy escapes his time

Aw, shame. Ewen Gilmour is no longer with us. I liked his comedy a lot, and he introduced me to the concept of Westie and Bogan.

I was looking on Youtube for videos of his stand up acts, which I do remember seeing on TV, so certainly there should be something online... but nope. All I could find was his recent stuff where he's talking about visiting the doctor as all older comedians seem to do these days. While still funny, it's not his classic Westie stuff. Sigh.


Hopefully we'll soon see a release of his more classic material.

The title of this post comes from Jan Hellriegel's Westy Girls.

[END]

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The Bridge

Another game, one I've started playing. I'm far better at puzzle genres than say... TotalBiscuit. Why did I say him? Because he did a video on it, despite being a confessed not professional at this style of game.



...that all said, I haven't gotten any further than he has. Although plenty of other people have.

[END]

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Neverending Nightmares

There's a new game on Steam, but, more importantly, it's a game I Kickstartered! (And yes, my name is in the credits.)

The style is a black and white weird house you are walking through, with coloured items being what you can interact with. The atmosphere is rather tense, for the most part, and the cut scenes are definitely creepy.

However, there are long sections when you are just walking around with nothing happening. One could say this is for your imagination to build up expectation, but longer nothing happens, the more I'm getting just bored. (There was one jump scare that got me.)

And the action moments, when you are fighting enemies, is... well, annoying, to be honest. The first enemy you encounter after finding a wardrobe, and it is so obvious that you are supposed to hide in the wardrobe that when the enemies do turn up (and they do look unsettling), you already know how to defeat them. And the second set of enemies aren't much better, and there was one section I ran into that just kept killing me over and over and it was just frustrating more than scary. I'm still not sure what I did that enabled me to get past it.

I did get to the ending after 90 minutes... and found it was just one of three. I probably will go back and try to get the others (although I'm not sure where they branch off), but... I'm just not that engaged to jump back in immediately.

A decent enough game, but the weakest parts are the game parts themselves.

[END]

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Minecraft in my eyes

Oddly, while I have no interest in playing Minecraft, I have seen a movie about it... and I like to watch it.

I supposed it's part of my fascination with seeing people craft things with care and attention and patience, and I don't really have any of those things. (Says the man who makes latch hook rugs.)

One of my favourite moments of care and attention is from Toy Story 2 with the old guy who cleans Woody. If anyone knows of documentaries that focus on that aspect of work, let me know.

So, Minecraft, it's all up to the player to create, and there's no way I would have the patience for it. Punching trees to get wood, then get a pick axe, then cut stone, then create bricks and... oh, I'm bored already. Skip to the end, please!

And yet, I am capable of watching others do it. Maybe because I can watch in double speed? But yeah, it's oddly soothing.

On the other hand, animated movies/skits made in Minecraft can die in a fire...

[END]

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Reign of Winter

[I'm having trouble remembering what we just did... this section of the game isn't incredibly varied.]

We left our death pit and went up to a wall of unmortared brick. Well, if they are unmortared, then there shouldn't be a problem pushing them out of the way. *Grunt* Okay, the wall is pretty solid, but *grunt* hey I opened the door. In that I pushed it through the wall until it fell over, but still.

Inside the next room we find a small sort of living area. A woman comes out, and says that she's been held prisoner here all this time. That's terrible! Obviously the magic we're detecting that's around her neck is keeping her here and not at all helping her in her evil cleric ness. Wait, did I say evil cleric? Evil cleric that brought down fogs and led to an annoying fight of not being able to find her? Yeah, that evil cleric. And it indeed took a while of stumbling around to get anywhere with killing her. But still, we managed to put her down. Now, just her sisters to worry about.

After poking around, we go to a field and converse with the young maiden of the triumvirate again, who tells us about the problem of the Centaurs and the Frost Giants and Demons that have come in. Oh yeah, I vaguely remember them! She pointed out we needed to head to the crone version, and off we go.

There is another room we are aware of containing dead things, so we head in to deal to some undead. No, but dead was meant tortured animals by fae creatures. Well, we ain't having none of that. And, to be honest, they weren't much cop in the fighting stakes.

Now, there is another way out of here, so do we try that or back out and sleep after doing something for five minutes...?

[END]

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