Messages

1

Books & Comics / Re: Whats everyone reading?

« on: 13 April, 2021, 09:11:59 AM »

A coda on the Covenant books: I enjoyed the first two trilogies from the 70s/80s, but the more recent ones from the last decade were, quite simply, unreadable gibberish to me. I'm not talking plot or characters - I literally could not understand the words on the page.

The only other book to have that effect was Trainspotting, with its phonetically spelled dialect. (I read about 15 pages before I realised it the opening featured one character, as it kept talking about "us"). And I'm Scottish. A Weegie, true, but that just makes me less posh.

I tried reading the new series and found it VERY hard going.  I know the first ones weren't what could be classed as the easiest reading but they were legible, the new one I couldn't get through.

I stuck it out. Runes of the Earth was pretty great, but I was exhausted by the end of the sequence.

2

Books & Comics / Re: Whats everyone reading?

« on: 12 April, 2021, 08:56:09 PM »

I would have been reading Covenant around 11 or 12, coming off the back of my first go throughs of LotR and Earthsea and in my nascent D&D phase, at around the time the Second Chronicles were coming out. Pivotal rape aside, I loved the first three... However I never stopped loathing Covenant himself, which may be why I've never re-read them

As a teen reading them, i was too stupid to realise the implications of this. That's put me off re-reading them too. And possibly TV execs no matter how eager they are for the next Game Of Thrones...

GoT made us root for monsters, I suppose. I see no way to live with Covenant's crime if you're not deeply immersed in his unbelief, and I see no way to do that in a big budget fantasy series. But then, I'm no screenwriter.

3

Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: 12 April, 2021, 09:06:54 AM »

PALM SPRINGS

A Groundhog Day update, with him from Brooklyn 99 and her from Bridesmaids as sassy alcohol fuelled reprobates stuck in a beautiful hellhole. And him who plays JJ Jameson in the Spiderman films as their grumpy sometimes killer.

Is it a rom-com? I suppose, maybe, but it's also as nihilistic as a teenage goth.

I enjoyed it.

Fun movie--very good performance from the two leads I thought. Not sure where you're getting your Bridesmaids connection from?

4

Games / Re: Last game played...

« on: 10 April, 2021, 04:14:11 PM »

I don't know if any of you are familiar with a little film from the 70s about a spaceship that accidentally picks up a hostile monster, but they made a game based on it.

Started Alien: Isolation and bloody hell it's good. It feels like you're on the Nostromo hiding from the xeno.

I've said it before: possibly the best game I've ever played. Definitely in the top 5. Turn the lights down, turn the sound up. Enjoy.

5

Classifieds / Re: Signed Nick Percival Judge Death A3 print for cancer research UK

« on: 08 April, 2021, 12:03:20 PM »

That lucky second-place bidder was me! Very cool, zombemybabynow.

6

Books & Comics / Re: Whats everyone reading?

« on: 02 April, 2021, 05:31:22 PM »

Covenant has been a long ambition to complete.  Especially when I realised that I hadn't actually ever read the 2nd Chronicles.  Worth it though.  Donaldson creates a fascinating if disturbing world.  The flaws in his core characters are often acute.  There is no simplistic solution.  Final Chronicles lined up now.

I'll be interested in your view of the Final Chrons.

I'm in the midst of a Gap re-read as it happens. Almost impossible to put down, Donaldson at his best.

7

Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: 02 April, 2021, 05:21:06 PM »

You guys are paying the £15 or whatever it is to see these things? How does that sit in your households?

I simply can't persuade Mrs. Wedgeski that £15 is a rental fee worth paying, even for the new newness.

8

Classifieds / Re: Signed Nick Percival Judge Death A3 print for cancer research UK

« on: 31 March, 2021, 11:05:15 AM »

Anyone want to take a rando guess at how much these will go for?

9

Prog / Re: Prog 2223 - The Root Of All Evil

« on: 25 March, 2021, 04:32:05 PM »

It was nice to see that—and his positive words about Matt Smith. But he also branded Rebellion as “profit first and creativity second”, which is quite something. If Rebellion only cared about profit, it wouldn’t take any risks, and that slew of specials and niche reprint—a chunk of which is Mills’s work—definitely sits in the ‘risk’ category.

I just can't get on his side when he lobs out jabs like that. Is there a Rebellion-hating audience he's trying to pander to with those kinds of comments?

10

Creative Common / Re: Interesting Dredd Concept.

« on: 25 March, 2021, 11:33:43 AM »

That's very good. To my mind this is the aesthetic of modern video game design. You see these kinds of concepts all over AAA game pre-production.

11

Film & TV / Re: Star Trek: Enterprise

« on: 23 March, 2021, 09:22:54 AM »

On the whole, it's bloody awful, a C-grade episode of TNG or Voyager exploded into an entire series. All that said, they took some risks in series 3 and it paid off, with some really great episodes and a surprisingly enjoyable arc. I'd wikipedia the first two seasons, watch all of 3, and personally I'd forget that 4 ever existed if it wasn't for the episodes with a certain Andorian antagonist.

12

Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: 22 March, 2021, 11:20:59 AM »

LIFE on Netflix.
So, a bit like the film itself, really.

Yeah, not great, but I did think the alien was pretty cool.

13

Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: 17 March, 2021, 02:49:55 PM »

Maybe you can try Dragonslayer next to complete the set?

I've not heard of that one, but sure, I'll give it a go

Before CG dragons came to dominate, this film had, hands down, the greatest dragon seen in motion pictures (it gets its hero shot in the last act, so keep watching).

14

Off Topic / Re: Y'know what really grinds my gears?

« on: 16 March, 2021, 04:14:06 PM »

NFTs.

Just thinking about the whole thing is enough to make me start hyperventialting.

This future we're living in is unfathomably stupid.

Similar. On the one hand, artists are being paid, which I like. On the other hand, it's dumb.

15

Film & TV / Re: Last movie watched...

« on: 15 March, 2021, 11:09:43 AM »

Thinking back, I can see why you thought it exploitative though, although it didn't really register at the time.

12 year-old me wouldn't have known the meaning of the word! I loved the villain, fancied Molly Ringwald, thought the effects were pretty good, and we had a thing for Mad Max in our house, so anything in that vein was a-okay. Having watched it again recently, its problems couldn't be more obvious, yet I still enjoyed it.