Venusian sunrise

Was researching and writing a policy most of yesterday. Did manage to finish that season of "Wheeler Dealers" I mentioned. And this LEGO kit. The three little objects at the front are slides that go into the top of the telescope. It contains a light and can (weakly) project images onto the wall. You can turn a dial to make the orrery revolve. The alternate builds are a microscope and a UFO.

"Write drunk, edit sober"

Neither a worthwhile fighty historical adventure nor an effective "Elseworlds"-style Batman yarn. Tedious and predictable, yet also confused. Give it a miss.

Hardly uproarious, but I just find the dude super likable. His bumbling, wide-eyed, wannabe-hip comic persona has a special charm. The water gag ruled.

Palm trees are loud

7/10 for the importance of the subject matter. Overly stagey and bombastic. Overly massappeal-Hollywood, in other words. Didn't buy the main character or his decline in the epilogue. Brilliant performance from Russell Crowe, as per. Geez, that bloke can act.

Surely one of the oddest BF audios. Athens and Sparta. Tyrants and playwrights. Zombies and alien tourists. A giant beetle and a mystical mask. I think it will require a second listen to get this story straight in my head.

Great man, great piece of cinema. 8/10. If you don't know DH, it's worth reading his Wikipedia entry - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dag_Hammarskj%C3%B6ld

Ovda Wi'ik

COMIC COVER OF THE WEEK

By Fernando Blanco. How moody and brooding is this image? Growing up, a pal had two siblings around his age and three who were much younger. Once, the young'uns ran away from home together, leaving items on a local beach to create a nasty false impression. They were soon found and I never heard of any further attempts at flight. Just a crazy childhood notion.

SONG OF THE WEEK

"Mindwanderer" by Italian metallurgists Konquest. 

Te-RIFF-ic!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ-og6BpRqA

Commended >>> "Crater" by US alt-rock legends Sparta (who I was introduced to many years ago by LA, RIP), "Ida" by Dutch pianist Joep Beving, and the cover of Joy Division's "Transmission" by the father'n'son from "Bob's Burgers".

BEER OF THE WEEK

Strong but balanced. Really nice flavour. The grassiness is offset with...a hint of fruit? Ambrosia? E.T.'s weewee?

NEW (TO ME) PODCAST OF THE WEEK

True crime viewed from within a fam, and with a lot of reflection on immigrant experiences. So uniquely weird and considerately told, I had to binge all five episodes.

Blurb:

"For decades, M. simply disliked [their cousin] Allen. They saw him as a fool, a pompous 'international businessman' who bragged about shady deals and drove fancy cars while living in Eastern Europe and Africa. But one day Allen suddenly shows up at their father’s home in Cape Cod with his mother and five-year-old son. He says he has separated from his wife, whom he has left behind in Moscow. M. suspects this could be a kidnapping, but their family seems to disagree. Then, finally, Allen does something so bad that even M.’s family can’t ignore it." 

Awkward orchid, tingly bunny

Played "Gloomhaven" with the lads. The scenario was an escort mission, featuring a plant-man NPC designed to run into trouble. If he'd died, we'd have instantly failed. That almost happened at the very start, then we healed the foolhardy bugger up and kept him safe until the boss monster in the final room of the "dungeon" (actually a series of forest groves) was slain. A fun challenge.

Digital sport declined

A mate was telling me how he used to compete against his father at "Tetris". It made me envious - even the part about his dad's masterful trash talk.

The only videogame I ever got my own father to play was golf title "Leader Board" on the Commodore 64. Thanks to a lifelong passion for the real game, his club selection and shot direction/strength were spot on, to the point where his involvement felt like a cheat code.

Alas, after a single spirited session, he declared, "Nah, I'll get too addicted to this," walked away and never played it - or any other videogame - again.

--

Viewing: "Wheeler Dealers - World Tour" S2, "Ancient Justice" (history), "Truthseekers" (also history).

Stay in your space lane

After enjoying the audiobook of Matt Dinniman's "Dungeon Crawler Carl" novel so much, I had to buy TTRPG "Xcrawl Classics", which is thematically v. similar. I had to buy it all.

While we're on the topic, here's a list of things that sprang to mind while I was listening to "D/C/Carl". Why? Because I like making lists. One or two inclusions may surprise you.

* "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy"

* "Solo Leveling"

* The Denis Leary song "Asshole" (mainly due to the narrator's delivery of the darkly humorous portions)

* "Mad" magazine (or perhaps downmarket imitator "Cracked" would be more appropriate)

* Something with sassy talking animals in a swords'n'sorcery milieu - "Spellsinger"?

* "Beavis & Butthead", AND

* Fan fiction.