Recent viewing

It's not fair to compare the other four titles below to "Master Cheng" (Finland, 2019), which is a beautiful, beautiful movie. Real food for the soul. It depicts a gentle clash of cultures in which hurt and loneliness are sometimes healed in unexpected ways.

[Seen on: Disney+, Netflix, SBS On Demand, Kanopy, Netflix.]

Random horrible childhood memory

My mate had to let a younger kid beat him up in front of a group of people.

The kid's older bro' was close by. He was significantly larger and stronger than anyone else present; a footy player who already had man strength. And my buddy knew if he fought back, he'd cop a far nastier hiding from the brother.

Of course, when it was done and my mate was on the ground crying, the older bro' walked over and teased him about "losing" a fight to a kid 2-3 years his junior.

Children require so much guidance not to become monsters. 

A bloke with whom I used to car pool told me an *even worse* story than this about getting caught skateboarding on his own, out of range of possible adult assistance, by two young thugs. I could tell he was still upset by the experience.

Critical-hit system

In my late teens, we used a potentially deadly critical-hit system for our home games of "D&D" 2E.

If you rolled a 20, you rerolled on the following table:

1-10 - Full normal damage

11-14 - Double damage

15-17 - Triple damage

18-19 - Quadruple damage

20 - Quintuple damage.

Regular monsters didn't get to use the table, but boss monsters, NPCs and any other creatures with levels in a character class did.

I *believe* we had a corresponding critical-miss system. That hasn't lodged in my brain. It may've looked something like this...

If you roll a 1, reroll on the following table:

1-10 - Miss only

11-14 - Miss and drop weapon

15-17 - Miss and fall over

18-19 - Miss and hit self

20 - Miss and damage/break weapon (depending on the weapon).

Missed turns

We all wonder about the roads not taken, especially when it comes to employment and shifting cities.

Back in '99, I received an offer to teach English in (rural) Japan around the same time as an offer of a trial on a men's magazine in Sydney. I went with Option B and spent the next 18 years or so in publishing.

Funnily enough, one of my sisters ended up going down the ESL route not long after that and has lived in the Land Of The Rising Sun ever since.

There was a period where I was looking for a radical change from mags and I considered teaching in South Korea. I didn't purse it beyond some guidebook reading and conversational language learning.

I'm probably too old to become any sort of professional teacher now, which I feel is a shame because a little wisdom has finally penetrated my skull. Admittedly, I have less energy, but I also know how to conserve it. 

I wonder... We all do, don't we?

Recent viewing

Watch "For Madmen Only" to learn about Del Close, the daring, drug-fuelled, self-mythologising improv pioneer who trained many of the top North-American comedy actors of yesterday and today.

"Game Night" didn't suck.

"Logan's Run" was a big nostalgia hit (it'd been 30-odd years since my last viewing) and remains a decent piece of sci-fi cinema.

"Shin Godzilla" is, quite simply, the ultimate Gojira film. Thanks to RS repeatedly reminding me that the new "Ultraman" is by the same team, I'm now heaps keen for that.

"Turning Red" won me over - super slick, but with real heart.

[Seen on: Kanopy, Netflix, Netflix, Kanopy, Disney+.]

Six of the best: Europop

 1. "Vi Mot Varlden" - Veronica Maggio [Sweden]

So many VM tracks I could have chosen. She is a superstar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGUbe0bhOys

2. "Un Autre Que Moi" - Fishbach [France]

None cooler.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XtVRJV3DlM

3. "Blijven Slapen" - Snelle & Maan [Holland]

An incredible earworm and fun trip of a clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3Kx-b8QSaw

4. "Stor Mand" - Tobias Rahim & Andreas Odbjerg [Denmark]

The best song of 2021. If you search YT, they've done live versions together and apart. There's even one where they deliberately murder it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfmWPfqyYyY

5. "Liike On Laake" - JVG [Finland]

Monster jam. Love the dancing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-jHaJ9Imo4

6. "Eight" - Lilu45 [Ukraine]

Geez, it was tough limiting this list to six acts. Could have done half a dozen Frenchies alone. I reckon it's a good mix, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KegkhXa7b98

Recent viewing

"Conan" was rewatch. Had been years. Better than I recalled.

"Ornette" a poor film only saved by the music.

"Reprise" the type of drama that forces you to think. The pick of these.

"Sisters" worth it.

"Unlocked" OK, if predictable.

[Seen on: Disney+, Kanopy, SBS On Demand, Kanopy, Netflix.]

"Wordle"

Like a lot of you I'm sure, I do a "Wordle" puzzle every day. I've never solved it first try. Second try is my best.

I used to always enter TERMS for my initial guess, just because those are all commonly used letters. Then I switched to entering whatever random word popped into my head. Sometimes, I make a series of themed guesses, as an added challenge. LUNCH, MEALS, etc.

Previously, once I uncovered letters, I would keep using them. But I eventually realised that, unless you are already close to solving the puzzle, this only limits your chances of uncovering further letters.

I like "Wordle". Not as much as the "'New York Times' Spelling Bee" (another daily habit), but I like it.

For the smarties who've never had to use the full six guesses, when you finally solve it, the automated response is, "Phew!" :-)