Penelope Black

The Aussie men's and women's cricket teams are both in action this arvo/eve. Yay!

BEER OF THE WEEK

Undecided on this'un. Will conduct further research during the aforesaid matches.

"WHO" AUDIO OF THE WEEK

While we didn't need another Cybermen origin, "G/O/T/C" may be the best yet.

BONUS RANDOM TRPG REMINISCENCE

Does anyone like PC-party-versus-rival-NPC-party fights? For the DM, they're a pain to run compared to normal monster encounters. For the players, you're facing a group that, in my experience, will have been designed from scratch with deadly synergies in mind, i.e. you're probs gonna lose. When I ran module A3 as a lad, my players *hated* the showdown with the slavers, who are basically an evil adventuring party and tough AF.

SPEAKING OF MONSTERS...

Check out this modified (understatement) Rolls-Royce from a Chinese car show.

Heart Strings XXI

Going and going, it's the DGN equivalent of "Treehouse Of Horror" :-)

1. Self-explanatory.

2. Harriet Slater as Ellen MacKenzie in "Outlander: Blood Of My Blood".

3. Rebecca Romijn as Number One in the "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" episode "Once La'an A Time".

4. Sarah from the "Final Fantasy" TCG.

5. Shin Min-A as Navier in "The Remarried Empress".

6. Vex from "Vox Machina" by Veneroso Figures.

7. Self-explanatory. Praise be to the goddess ZS.

Hopefully there's some hope

Older blog entries don't seem to be accessible at the moment. Dunno why. I've been busy getting over a chest cold, battling sleeplessness and doing another work handover.

That "Strange Buildings" book from a post back is fab. Delicious deduction and literary rug pulls. Am also enjoying French MMA reality show "The Arena" [Netsy]. And "Dice A Million" from two posts back, which is proving to be deep, with heaps of strategic options.

The Rugby League World Cup kicks off *next* Thursday! Keen as a bean.

COMIC COVER OF THE WEEK

"Generation X-23 #9" by Partha Pratim. I don't love the colour palette, but the creativity does it for me. Gal-pal road trip rudely interrupted by some bastard villain ripping the roof off the car!

SONGS OF THE WEEK

* "Cry Out Loud" by Roy Kim (South Korea) - typically stirring track from my fave Korean singer.

* "Stoner Mentality" by The Paradox (US) - flawless fun pop that makes me wanna blaze a doobie, haha.

* "Same Old Game" by Aaron Frazer (US) - '60s-style soul destined for a period-film soundtrack.

RANDOM TRPG REMINISCENCE OF THE WEEK

Things we used instead of metal miniatures in our teenage "D&D" games: erasers, pencil sharpeners and other items of stationery; little ripped pieces of paper with penned initials; Cheetos, M&Ms, nuts, lollies, etc.; LEGO figures, especially knights; plastic army men; cardboard standees; our youthful imaginations!!! :-)

River pool

Peasants revolt against a sadistic warlord with the help of a crash-landed alien warrior rather than a wandering gunslinger or samurai. Dash of OK CGI. Cast tries hard. Nothing about it makes sense when analysed :-)

CURRENT PAPER READING

Jumping in with #3 in the globally popular, gimmicky mystery series - whose tales incorporate loads of floorplans and other diagrams - from a weirdo author who only appears masked and using a voice changer. 

Save it for the next war

Bought "Dice A Million" in the Steam sale. It's fun to roll dice and other things. Only been to the third stage so far and haven't pulled off any truly degenerate combos. In fact, I can't even say I fully understand the game yet. But, yeah, it's fun to roll dice and other things.

Boot sector

Took a while to get going and, let's be honest, it was the "Leon" formula again. But I dug the initial island-lighthouse setting (had a great uncle who was a lighthouse keeper). And when the trouble began, things rapidly escalated to 11. Statham can do these revenge thrillers in his sleep, wee lassie a quality actress in the making, Bill Nighy a nice inclusion, everyone else fine. So...expertly cooked action in a mild conspiracy sauce. Dear old Dad woulda loved it.

Factoid means false

COMIC COVER OF THE WEEK

By Martin Morazzo. Poster-worthy.

SONGS OF THE WEEK

* "Voodoo Doll" by Wooah (South Korea)

* "Gold" by The Hardkiss (Ukraine)

* "Hortus Regis Alti" by Lindsey Stirling (US)

* Finally, a user named Parmigian uploaded a 1972 video of Daniel Kachamba (Malawi) demonstrating his "Putugizi" guitar-strumming technique. It's amazing.

RANDOM TRPG REMINISCENCE OF THE WEEK

Unless they're into "Dungeon Crawl Classics", with it's 0th-level "funnels", I suspect most modern RPG-ers will have never played more than a single character at a time. It was pretty common BITD, especially if the module stated that the inclusion of a certain class was essential for success - and said class didn't match those of our chosen heroes. Then the DM would would go, "Someone needs to run a [cleric/thief/druid/whatever] as well." Cue: collective groans. If none of us had a suitable adventurer in our binder, we'd grab a pregen from the list typically found in the module appendix or from a supplement like "The Shady Dragon Inn", or we'd generate a bare-bones character and add the details as the game went along. You'd favour your main, but occasionally come to like the secondary, especially if they turned out to be pivotal to the plot. They might even earn the right to be transferred to a proper character sheet :-)

Possibility space

This local actioner is a hidden gem. Well, semi-precious stone. While the villain is ridiculously OP and the team brought in to protect the leading lady and her kid are friggin' useless, the rural Aussie setting, relentless pace and odd backstory set it apart from many foreign sniper yarns. Radha Mitchell makes a believable badass and the actress who plays her rebellious teen daughter does a beaut job, too. Assuming the budget wasn't already stretched to the limit, I'd have upped the number of baddies to give the goodies more of a chance to shine. That's my main complaint. And maybe ditched the gross "bullet trajectory" scene.

False 9

A strong cast of Woodley, Crowe, Mortensen, etc. and an unusual approach - focusing on his formative college years - made for engaging viewing. Eons ago, I read a couple of cheap paperbacks and a few internet sites, then wrote a very straightforward true-crime article on the dude for a mag. This fillum contained details I didn't know or at least hadn't remembered. (Or which the makers invented!) It was a tad sympathetic for my liking. One aspect of the story as told had me flashing back to the Neil La Bute play "The Shape Of Things", although the situations are ultimately quite different. Anyway, see it for the atmos and the acting.

Wholesomely bewitching

Unlikeable, ineffectual main character stumbles through glorified ghost house, then layers of reality, until you're on the verge of nodding off when the end credits mercifully roll. Or was that just my experience? :-)

CURRENT PAPER READING

CURRENT AUDIOBOOK ON MY DAILY WALKS