Messages

I have yet to be faced with a monumentally serious transgression by someone I really admire though. Were that to happen, I might find it more difficult to process.

This sums up my position as well.

Welcome aboard!

I've been playing this all weekend on PC VR. Wobbly legs aside, it's one of the best gaming experiences I've had in years. Anyone who fondly remembers Lucasarts X-Wing/Tie Fighter/X-Wing Alliance will get a huge buzz out of this game, which is essentially a belt-and-braces remaster of the old classics with much better graphics and audio.

Sure, the characters are slightly less interesting, and sure, the whole thing is more gung-ho expanded universe than it is classic Skywalker Saga, but do not be put off. She's got it where it counts, kid.

[Lovecraft Country]

Currently simul-watching Lovecraft Country (really, really great after a slightly dodgy start) and The Boys S2 (loving every second, although the gore is at the limit of what I can stomach).

Metroid Fusion was my first experience of 2D Metroid. I loved every second of it!

Anecdote: My eldest is 14, one of his friends since day one of primary school recently announced that they were a boy, and changed their name and pronouns accordingly. It's still weird for the missus and myself, having known him and his parents for a decade, since he was knee-high wearing party dresses and ribbons, but it took our kids about 10 minutes to adjust (helped greatly by the fact that the school just rolled in behind it). Our  confusion matters not one jot. In my own lifetime I went from thinking being called gay in the playground was the worst and most pitiable thing imaginable, to having a gay Best Man. Things change, thank feck, but it's seldom easy for ageing bastards to accept, and our geriatric poison can easily get passed on.

Thanks for this, it improved my day greatly.

I've been default-working-from-home since April, with occasional visits to the office for work that simply can't be done outside.

I'll be honest, I love it. But as others have said, I'm in a privileged position. Both my wife and I already have dedicated personal rooms in the house so it was easy to re-purpose those into mixed office spaces. Both of us working from home means we get to see each-other for lunch, and the lack of a commute (albeit only 20 mins each way) means that personal time is maximised in a way it never has been.

I'd be quite happy to never again see the inside of an office. I'm confident that whatever I lose in productivity by being in such a comfortable space (which I think is a thing), I gain by not being constantly exposed to distracting chatter, movement, and spur-of-the-moment interruptions and interactions.

Really enjoyed Stickleback; despite a nagging sense of deja vu - I know the Moriarty fight scene is in the original stories, but I knew I'd seen it in a comic before.  ([spoiler]League of Extraordinary Gentlemen[/spoiler], that is.)  I actually prefer the strip now we know who the main man really is - it adds a whole new layer of interest.

It's Game of Shadows that popped into my head when I read that.

With the amount of money this stuff costs, if people aren't watching it, it's going to go away. Frankly I'm pleased we even got a season 1 of this.

I'm amazed by how Wagner's Dredd remains so distinctive. As an opener to an amazing issue of the Meg, it was quite something.

I'm not hugely educated in the modern history of 2000AD...should we expect this to be a novelty one-off? Is Wagner even writing full time these days?

[Dredd]

First prog back after returning to print from digital. So nice to have the prog back in my hands!

Dredd -- I'm not sure I can add more to what has already been said. Framed as an alien invasion this had the scope to be something special but squeezing something so massive into such a small space did a lot of harm, especially with the myth-tapping apocalypse villains. That said, it picked up nicely once the team hit East Meg, and the end was satisfactory, which for Dredd still means it was a good read. Honestly, I would have preferred Dredd to have been in that final incarnation the whole way through the story, and for the others to have been chasing a means to save him and/or undo the damage he was inflicting. Married up with a cool internal struggle, perhaps linked to Dredd's history with East Meg...? Dunno, sounds interesting to me.

I agree. I just renewed my combi sub and this month's Meg is amazing.

I'm reminded of the 'Shut Up & Sit Down' review of the Dune boardgame where Quinns said: "If you've not read the Dune novels then I fully recommend the first half of the first book."

'Blade Runner 2049' didn't massively connect with the movie-going public, and I have an irrational feeling the same thing will happen here. That said, everything looks solid.

The great Stargate SG-1 reaches Season 6, aka The Season No One Wanted To Be In.

Michael Shanks has nicked off (I mean, Daniel Jackson has 'ascended', obviously) and been replaced with Corin Nemec's Jonas Quinn, whose entire USP appears to be being bland and smiley.

If my memory of the rumour mill at the time bears up, Richard Dean Anderson had to be talked out of quitting the show having (not unreasonably, TBH) decided that he didn't want to spend forty weeks of the year freezing his arse off in a quarry in Canada while pyrotechnics go off around him.

Unfortunately, the show's solution is to contrive reasons to sideline or incapacitate Jack O'Neill and for him to then spend entire episodes griping from the sidelines like a kid who doesn't want to be on class. On the few occasions he gets the full attention of the hare at I've, he's a grade-A shithead.its kinda sad to watch this show limp on like this...

We just reached S6 in our latest re-watch as well (hit series link on Sky sometime last Autumn and decided we should probably work through them). I thought they did a reasonable job with re-introducing Quinn, although, as you say, he has to save the whole team from certain death *at least once* before O'Neill considers him part of the team.

Honestly I don't ever remember the show "limping on". It always had strong episodes, right up until the end. But, it has been a few years since we watched them all like this, and the number of bland filler eps is certainly on the increase...

So the question ultimately becomes: how much would you be willing to pay for a joint sub? 25% of the digital sub price? 50%? Less? More?

Off-hand, I'd be looking for 50%, which would make it £15 (which is ironically the current total cost given the topical discount on the digital sub, but I don't know how long that will last)

I've got to hand it to Rebellion, £11 is still amazing value for a month of Progs. I feel like a bit of an ingrate quibbling over a few quid a month, but I do think there needs to be *some* discount for what is effectively a double subscription.