Messages

Goaty, that's a wonderful piece. I was handling it just fine until you posted that!

A gut punch. Awful news. Thanks for everything, Carlos.

[Game of Thrones]

The Saturday-morning slap of my shrink-wrapped prog hitting the porch floor has rarely sounded so good. I find myself looking forward to the next episode of Brink like I would to the next episode of Game of Thrones or Discovery. Soooo good.

[Khan]

Okay let's do this. My list:

Khan: Nothing needs to be said. To Star Trek as Empire is to Star Wars.
Search for Spock: Brilliant, underrated, see above.
Insurrection: My favourite TNG movie, a simple morality tale in Star Trek prose.
Generations: Many fine qualities, but not, I think, what everyone was looking for from the first TNG movie.
Undiscovered Country: Bought ticket with great trepidation. Ended up loving it.
Voyage Home: Enjoyable plonk. Can't stand the score though.
Motion Picture: I like this more than most. I remember my dad's loud gasp of amazement when the new Enterprise went to warp speed for the first time. The extended cut is really good too.
First Contact: I rate this lower than most. Looks great, sounds great, lots to enjoy, but I simply can't get over the plot contrivances.
Nemesis: Far from a classic, but does it deserve so much derision?
Final Frontier: Utter crap. Even if the plot is kind of okay, the sub-par VFX (and that's being kind) are unforgivable in a Star Trek film.

Now onto the enjoyable romp of Film IV.

...And the adventure continues...

You're not going to make yourself watch ST V are you? I counsel against it.

[Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.]

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. I've probably only watched this film about three or four times, and certainly not in at least ten years, because I hated the whole Genesis-Spock-rejuvenation angle.

This was my favourite Star Trek for much of the '80's, when I was slightly too young to appreciate the true brilliance of Wrath of Khan. The VFX were incredible. James Horner's score, picking up where his genius work on Khan, was amazing (STII is his best ever work, IMO). It introduced the now-classic klingon Bird of Prey. Loads of tension, action, and great performances from *everyone* (Shatner in particular, probably his best turn as Kirk). The resurrection angle is hard to swallow, but overall, a very under-rated movie IMO.

Skull is wonderful - it only really comes alive with 5-6 players though I find.

This is true. Most of our gaming is with a cadre of four players, and we know each-other so well that Skull can sometimes descend into a psycho-drama with all of us trying desperately to play against type. It's the kind of emergent gameplay that is part of the unique brilliance of tabletop gaming.

[Sky Force Reloaded]

Currently addicted to Sky Force Reloaded on the Switch. Shmups might be the only genre I ever play on that device, but god it's perfect for them.

Do you use a control pad? Only way to play some games I think. GTAIV particularly.

The Switch is basically a giant gamepad, so yeah.

[Legendary: Alien]

Lately we have been playing:

* Legendary: Alien: an Alien-themed deck builder that has you play through all four films. Wildly variable art, but really awesome once you have a table full of people who know how to play these things. Takes frigging ages to set up though.

* Zombicide: Miniatures-heavy zombie-survival skirmish game. Quite cool, but not pacey enough for my liking.

* Imperial Assault: The very best of modern miniatures skirmish. Lean and evocative, but rock hard, and some classes overshadow others.

* Skull: Top-tier bluffing game, simplest of the simples, truly brilliant. Usually goes hand-in-hand with a few games of Coup, Enter the Dungeon, and Sushi Go!, all equally good.

[Anderson]

I see the attraction of a Death-adjacent Anderson strip, and I liked it for what it was, but a story that makes a point of her time in uniform should really have been about her time in uniform. Still, nice to see her kicking ass as a street judge, even if she gets caught like a chump later-on.

[Aliens]

What's the word for when you think someone has already died, and then you find out they've been alive all this time, but now they've really died?

We re-watched Aliens recently. Apone is a legendary character, and what a performance.

Nobody is seriously suggesting a day-one living legend of 2000ad should be ostracised over a single tacky image*, so I interpret the preceding four pages of tangential rhubarb as a collective effort to keep Matty's original, well-intentioned suggestion in the public eye.

Quite so.

[Deadpool 2]

Deadpool 2. Insanely good. Laughed until I was wheezing and had to take a puff of Salbutomol.

Glorious, start to almost finish. Between this and the Meg, I hope poor Dan Abnett is getting enough sleep.

It's certainly cinematic. I can't wait to see JW's take on the Doctor, but my only concern is that the trailers say absolutely nothing about the companions, and they're going to be so crucial to the final quality of the show.

I wasn't the biggest fan of Capaldi's tenure, although I did greatly enjoy many of his episodes, so a change of style isn't exactly a turn-off.