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Philip Baker Hall

https://www.snopes.com/ap/2022/06/13/philip-baker-hall-of-hard-eight-seinfeld-dies-at-90/

It's the dreams you've to worry abut for the rest of your life, Pops. The dreams.

This is no joke. I still dream I am about to sit an accountancy exam. An exam I sat and passed 27 years ago, but have no idea how I did it.

But it's not really the dream you need to worry about. It's the dread when you wake and think "shit, do I have an exam today?"

That is, no crap, an actual thing - I did my degree and then a post-grad a long time ago. Each year I have 6-12 exams in November. The first year after I finished the post-grad, I woke up one early November night in cold sweats because I hadn't studied.
And then spent about five minutes having a panic as I tried to figure out what I was having first.
Took a while to climb down from the panic that night.

The following November I woke up to the same panic. Rolled over, thought 'you're back again, you bastard' and went back to sleep.

Update on my car lock thingy. Went back to work on Friday for the first time in a month or so. Parked at my usual spot & there is my lock cover. Looks like some tw@ was indeed trying to break in.

I now have a new parking spot, more expensive but in a high traffic area.

[Wartales]

Wartales
If you love RPG's, medieval stories, sandbox and turn based combat? Absolutely brilliant game, picked it up cheap on a Steam sale, have been playing all weekend.
Can't recommend this enough.
Nothing like watching your brute crush three enemy with one swipe of his giant hammer!

I took an extra day off work and called round every KIA garage in the area working out if they could take us and if they had room to have a car sitting until they could.

But no KIA dealer in that radius could fit us in until mid April.

After years of mortgage, kids and other unavoidable expenses, I finally got my dream car last year - a Kia Stinger. A few weeks ago the lock cover on the drivers door came off (either knocked off or someone tried to break in). No major, first service coming up in a few weeks so I request a new one.

Turn up the the KIA service centre and get told that I should be at the other service centre - 45 minutes away. Rather than driver across town and back (twice), I rebooked it, but had to wait another three weeks for a slot.

Dropped it off at the right one yesterday and when I came to pick it up, the lock cover hadn't been replaced - it takes 8-10 weeks to come from Korea. No flights between Korean and New Zealand anymore, dontchaknow?

So I've got an ongoing source of irritation - a beautiful car that looks like I bought it from a dodgy guy behind the pub.

Oh and a rattling issue that I logged before the service - needs a new part, which is 8-10 weeks away because, y'know...

I play a fair bit of RPG's - the Elder Scrolls series, Fallout etc and thought I'd give Elden Ring a try...

Went in with low expectations and warnings from friends...

Created a character and played the first ten minutes...

Nope. Uninstall, delete saves and get a refund. Not a fan of that at all.

I like a good RPG, but I have not time for difficult for the sake of difficult.

Am four book in with Harry Turtledove's Confederate States (Timeline 191) series.
For alt-history fans, this is one of the best series out there - a what-if the Confederate States had won the American civil war. The series spans the late 1900's, the Great War and WWII. Highly recommended - a gripping story that covers generations and, in spite of some characters who survive the entire series, Turtledove subscribes to GRR Martin's credo that anyone can die*.

Also of note by Turtledove: Joe Steel - an alt history where Joseph Stalin grows up in the USA and become president.


*often in a bloody manner. Only one, maybe two, central characters who die do so of natural causes.

I totally missed the cameo - not spoilering that in case other people want to catch it to. When does it happen?

As I recall it -
[spoiler]
Just about a minute into the credits, there a scene where a mysterious woman in a blue cloak & cowl is walking past a cafe. Something happens (I forget what) to cause a massive pole to come crashing down towards some of the people outside the cafe. The mysterious woman reaches up and using her obviously supernatural strength, stops the pole from crushing anyone.
"Wow! How did you do that, Mysterious Woman?" asks a patron/victim/survivor/patsy.
"It's something I learned, something something*, in my home country. By the way my name is Mysterious Name from Themyscira." says the Mysterious Woman who turns to the camera to reveal herself to be Lynda Carter ^(TM)
Cue shocked gasps retching and disappointment from the audience who have had their collective childhood put into a blender and then used as an enema.
Roll further credits.

*It was word for word what Wonder Woman said she she thumped that creepy dude in the park earlier in the movie. I'd remember what it was but I've been flushing the memory of this movie out of my mind with tequila and home made cough syrup.
[/spoiler]

The opening scene was great, a strong, action filled sequence that would surely carry on through the rest of the film...

And then the next scene promptly shat the bed.

[spoiler]I watched the mall scene with something like incredulity and whispered to my wife "is this a kids holiday movie?"
If you had created a generic super heroine and make a Hallmark Xmas movie about her saving precocious kids from comically inept bad adults it could not have been worse that this. As that scene ended, I just had a sinking feeling that surely the rest of the movie cannot be as bad as that.
But it was.

The whole premise of people wishing for things was bad enough, but then to have the climax of the movie being everyone in the entire world then giving up their deepest wishes in order to save the day? FUUUUCK!!!!
I watched this movie on Boxing Day, still pissed that I paid money for it.
Also - Jimmy Steve and his reaction to things in the 'future' - funny the first time, but then that joke got run into the ground again and again.

And finally, the crowning turd in the cornflakes - Lynda Carter's cameo at the end. FFS, what a waste....

End Spoiler, End Rant.
[/spoiler]

It was a joke, then?

No.

So this new law is called "CHIS"? A bunch of clenched dicks running around, so that makes sense...

Well, part one of my ironic Xmas wish has come true... 

I'm not saying what part two is but fingers crossed for The Orange Trumpkin making number 208,192!

[Train to Busan]

Just watched Train to Busan.

Hands down the best zombie movie I've seen in a long time. Avoids those lazy jump scares & tired tropes and has genuine adrenaline-fueled zombie action. 10/10 brains.

Will watch Peninsula next weekend after a cool down.

In the meantime, I'm off to play Zombie Army 4 - for unrelated reasons.

[add or remove programs]

Hi Doc,
A couple of thoughts:
1. Try uninstalling NWN by itself through the windows 'add or remove programs' screen -
    Type in 'program' in the search bar and then 'add or remove programs' should come up as an option, click on that and then find NWN in the menu and uninstall it.
2. Go to the steam install directory and manually delete the Neverwinter Nights folder (if it is still there) - this is the directory (if you installed to the C: drive)
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\
    If you installed it to another drive e.g. D: use this - D:\Steam\steamapps\common  (change the D for whatever drive you did install it to)
3. Reinstall NWN via steam
4. If it is still not working, uninstall Nexus Mod Manager

Give that a go and let me know. If none of that works, let me know the windows version and what you are seeing when you try to run NWN & I'll see if I can work it out.

Sorry I can't pop over, I am literally on the other side of the world!

Cheers!

BTW the second yt video is full 1080p so that is the one to watch.

More concept art & stills -
https://jc_work.artstation.com/projects/1n5egZ

Fully aware that I am replying to my own posts (slow Sat morning in Kiwilandia) - didn't there used to an edit button?

And after a very cursory search on the Youtubes -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qA9Wk1hwVM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83vUWG0W9FA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv-MuRLYtKY