Dropbear take the hindmost

Enjoyed every word of this heavy 350-page hardcover celebration of official "D&D" settings throughout the decades. OK, my interest waned slightly during the Eberron and Nine Hells sections, but those words were still pretty good. Written as if told by the legendary Greyhawk mage Mordenkainen, the book is a nostalgic, elucidating, unifying and inspiring (in a gaming sense) journey that on several occasions prompted me to do extra research on the side. It's chockers with art spanning the history of "D&D", and actually puts dedicated art collections to shame.

Stunning photography - especially the aerial footage - and an unsettling soundtrack drive this meditation on stone-based architecture since ancient times. What survives, what doesn't and how it fits into the natural landscape. From fallen temples to bombed-out apartment buildings, and not forgetting the vast terraced canyons left by mining operations. Interspersed through the documentary are scenes of an architect constructing a "magic circle" of stones in his backyard, the space inside to remain untouched by humans as a seeming offering to Mother Earth.

NEW ANIME YAY OR NAY

After watching the opening episodes...

* "Kill Blue": Yay. As a result of experimental science that might as well be sorcery, a master assassin is unwittingly turned into a shrimpy teenager, then goes undercover at a high school where the heiress to the pharmeceutical company behind the bullshit technology may hold the key to changing him back.

* "Daemons Of The Shadow Realm": Nay. Can't be bothered summarising. It's a mish-mash. Don't believe the hype.

* "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - Steel Ball Run": Nay (and also neigh). Big-money horse race across the US in the Wild West era. I know plenty of peeps adore the various "JoJo's" arcs, and I do like some character designs, e.g. Jolene Cujoh of whom I have a figure, but I always bounce off the stories.

Ned Shimmelfinney

THE 7% SOLUTION

Bold flavour. Potent without being harsh. Part-way through, I'd solved a crime for Scotland Yard.

DAD WOULDA LOVED

Toppest-notch gun-fu and other mindless violence. Ana DA is a doll. Hope she does a sequel. The cult village evoked media from "The Prisoner" to "Resident Evil 8".

Fur coat over birthday suit

Credit to the actors: they portray these tech billionaires as so unlikable, I had to fight the desire to switch off the fillum for 30 minutes, maybe 45. The four "friends" reuniting for a poker weekend at a remote superhome are exceedingly vain, greedy, callous, petty and with just enough learning to delude themselves that they are always blameless and their position on any topic is valid. That last trait comes in handy when reports begin arriving that the outside world is descending into chaos (shades of 2024's "Rumours"), due largely to A.I.-assisted misinformation from one guy's social-media platform. Indeed, rather than attempting to solve the problems, the scumbags are soon brainstorming how to exploit them - with no sacrifice too great. To say events then spiral into the farcical would be to deny the believability of the absurd pronouncements and abhorrent behaviour of these tech moguls. I'm not sure the term black comedy works, either, since there's nothing funny about the harm such people have done/are doing to society. It's rare I'll recommend a movie with no likable characters, but here we are.

Ovaltine is mined on Arrakis

Basic-bitch RPG "Dragon Ruins" [Steam] could have been done on the C64. You explore an underground maze and whenever you meet monsters, they and your party auto-battle until only one side remains (or you opt to run away). Back in the starting area, you can pay to level up a character who has earnt sufficient XP for the next level, pay to level up their gear, or buy medicine or a teleporter. That's it. I'm not sure the character classes do anything. For all that, the game loop is addictive. How long will you keep pushing your luck in the dungeon, bagging precious gold, before you return to safety, spend yer hard-earned dough on improvements and save your progress? The next random encounter could be one weak critter or a group of half a dozen tough bastards you've never met before. TPKs penalise you a certain number of days before the adventuring band is resurrected, so there may be an overall time limit. Either that or the ultimate goal is to clear the maze in as few days as possible. I should probably read the instructions :-)

Bare metal

The nudie mag for robots!

Seen on a battered old hatchback: "MY OTHER CAR IS A SNAIL".

Seen on a demotivational poster: "Learn from your mistakes...so you can make even better mistakes!"

Ahem.

--

Bought this 2010 paperback from a secondhand shop. The premise was so wacky, I had to give it a go. Turned out to be a quick-ish, satisfying-ish read, apart from a handful of chapters devoted to the recollections/ravings of lamer/loonier characters. There was one twist I absolutely did not anticipate. I wonder if it inspired the 2017 comic "Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees".

Publisher blurb:

"Film noir-slick meets teddybear-sweet. A highly acclaimed, dark and edgy debut with stuffed animals...

"Eric Bear thinks he has escaped his violent past, but when crime boss Nicholas Dove threatens Eric's beloved wife Emma Rabbit, Eric has no choice but to do what the gangster asks: find a way to remove Dove's name from the Death List. 

"Problem is, no-one knows if the Death List really exists. Nevertheless, Eric gathers his old team together - sadistic male prostitute Sam Gazelle, sweet but dangerous Tom-Tom Crow and wily Snake Marek - and they set off to find the elusive list.

"What Eric learns will forever change the way he thinks about his life, his family and his town."

Wuberg Motiga

COMIC COVER OF THE WEEK

There were two I preferred, except they were reprints. This bottom-heavy Steve Mannion cov reminds me of vintage tattoo art. Y'know, Sailor Jerry-type gear.

SONG OF THE WEEK...THAT I MISSED HEARING FIVE MONTHS AGO

"Bare Rolig" by Katinka (Denmark). Pop with depth.

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

Commended >>> "I Wanna Rock" by DJ Fong Fong feat. Mart One (France x2). I also seriously dig the music in the sensational 40-year-retrospective PC demo from Razor1911 (Norway).

NEW BREW OF THE WEEK

SPY ACTIONER OF THE WEEK/YEAR

Attic of opportunity

In my early teens, I sat a maths exam to try to win a scholarship to an elite boarding school. My buddy M., known more for banter than mathematical acumen, insisted on joining me in the attempt. On the plus side, his parents drove us to the venue, so my oldies copped a break. As for the test...there were some questions I could answer confidently, some I could only partially solve and some that left me stumped. After the examination, they asked everyone to wait around while they marked the papers. Then, a select few lads (and their chaperones) were invited to stay, while the rest of us were thanked for coming and told we could go home. Obviously, those boys whose names were called had scored the highest and would be further tested and/or interviewed until the scholarship was decided. M. and I simply hadn't made the grade. This was confirmed when we discussed our answers - or lack of. But that didn't stop my chancer of a pal, a day or two later, claiming a representative from the school had phoned him personally to say he'd "only just missed out". You don't have to be a maths genius to calculate the likelihood of such a scenario.

Heart Strings XVIII

Instead of repeating the damning criticisms I made about new 'toon "Maul: Shadow Lord" to RS1 and BS, or the lukewarm review of Oz scifi flick "Occupation: Rainfall" that I gave PG, I present the latest instalment in this babes-with-bows series begun back in 2015.

1. Figure of Atalanta from the anime "Fate/Apocrypha".

2. Chou Tzuyu from K-pop group Twice.

3. Cosplayer Sara Moni as Dani Moonstar from the comic "New Mutants".

4. & 5. Maisy Dunne in the clip for the song "Headlights" by the band In Color.

6. Mystery lass at London Fashion Week in 1964. (Mum wouldn't be living and working there, and into the whole Carnaby St scene, until four years later.)

7. Illo of Scarlett by Harvey Tolibao from the "G.I. Joe" TTRPG...which is excellent, by the way.