Critical Role
2x96 Family Shatters [2nd half]
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
Monday, 24 March 2025
Sunday, 23 March 2025
Fiction
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
12 The Adventure of the Copper Beeches [the end]
Far from the end of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, of course, but the end of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
12 The Adventure of the Copper Beeches [the end]
Far from the end of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, of course, but the end of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
Comics
Daredevil: Born Again by Frank Miller & David Mazzucchelli
#231 Saved
#232 God and Country
#233 Armageddon [the end]
I didn't intend to binge my way through this, but it was so good I didn't want to stop reading. A deserved classic.
#231 Saved
#232 God and Country
#233 Armageddon [the end]
I didn't intend to binge my way through this, but it was so good I didn't want to stop reading. A deserved classic.
Saturday, 22 March 2025
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
I mentioned last time that this week would be an average one, provided all my preorders for the 24th turned up early, and most of them did. That's six new titles this week, then, but two are upgrades, so it sits at four — and my weekly average for 2024* was 4.5, so there you go.
* calculated as the increase to "number of titles" in the year-end tallies, divided by 52.
Number of titles in collection: 3,490 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 986 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,503 [up 5]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 446 [up 3]
Number of discs in collection: 8,408 [up 9]
Number of films: 4,425 [up 5]
Number of additional cuts: 439 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 9,883 [up 4]
Number of short films: 1,225 [no change]
It's also time once again for a monthly running time update...
Total running time of collection (approx.):
589 days, 5 hours, and 5 minutes.
(Up 1 day, 14 hours, and 18 minutes from last month.)
See you next week, faithful reader, which might be twice the size of this one...
I mentioned last time that this week would be an average one, provided all my preorders for the 24th turned up early, and most of them did. That's six new titles this week, then, but two are upgrades, so it sits at four — and my weekly average for 2024* was 4.5, so there you go.
* calculated as the increase to "number of titles" in the year-end tallies, divided by 52.
Number of titles in collection: 3,490 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 986 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,503 [up 5]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 446 [up 3]
Number of discs in collection: 8,408 [up 9]
Number of films: 4,425 [up 5]
Number of additional cuts: 439 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 9,883 [up 4]
Number of short films: 1,225 [no change]
It's also time once again for a monthly running time update...
Total running time of collection (approx.):
589 days, 5 hours, and 5 minutes.
(Up 1 day, 14 hours, and 18 minutes from last month.)
See you next week, faithful reader, which might be twice the size of this one...
Friday, 21 March 2025
Films
The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
[4th or so watch]
[#32 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]
Continuing my chronological James Bond rewatch — you know, the one I last touched on in 2020 and that’s been going since 2012. Will I complete it before they manage to release a new Bond film? At this point, maybe.
(I also put "four or so" for my watch count last time I saw TMwtGG, but I now think I probably overestimated that.)
[4th or so watch]
[#32 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]
Continuing my chronological James Bond rewatch — you know, the one I last touched on in 2020 and that’s been going since 2012. Will I complete it before they manage to release a new Bond film? At this point, maybe.
(I also put "four or so" for my watch count last time I saw TMwtGG, but I now think I probably overestimated that.)
Games
Dark Tomb: Crypts of Aurelian
I backed the latest instalment of this series of games on Kickstarter, choosing all three editions so far as my reward. They're pocket-sized dungeon crawlers, presented in a neat little tin containing a stack of different types of gameplay cards, a d20, and a variety of cubes to track stats, etc. The presentation is gorgeous by being simple and compact, but also tactile and detailed. Like, I'm sure there are ways this could have been rendered as just a deck of cards, but the die and cubes add something.
It's a 1-5 player game; really 1-4 with a five-player mode. There are three levels, and listed playtime is 15–40 minutes (presumably meant to depend on how many levels you play). I played for 90 minutes... which, in fairness, was five levels' worth: level one once, and level two four times, as I kept failing. It's a fun game, but that was a bit frustrating. Having a couple of attempts, ok, fair enough — if it were too much of a walkover, it's not a game you'd return to (and the game is designed to be replayable, with a choice of characters and each level having a randomised map) — but not making significant headway after four playthroughs... ugh. Either I need to entirely reassess my strategy (possible), or the game isn't that well balanced for one player (maybe this a bit too).
The enemies do have reduced hit points with fewer players, but there's no other compensation for difficulty. To complete a level, you have to reveal the whole map (it starts mostly hidden) and kill all the enemies; on the game's turn, the enemies move towards the nearest player. So, with one player, you've got to get to every hidden square yourself, while all the enemies converge on you. Even with two, you could head in two different directions — I feel a 'divide and conquer' approach would work well with a map where you begin in the middle, like the second level here. Of course, as a single player, there's really nothing to stop me running multiple characters, so I might try that next time.
I backed the latest instalment of this series of games on Kickstarter, choosing all three editions so far as my reward. They're pocket-sized dungeon crawlers, presented in a neat little tin containing a stack of different types of gameplay cards, a d20, and a variety of cubes to track stats, etc. The presentation is gorgeous by being simple and compact, but also tactile and detailed. Like, I'm sure there are ways this could have been rendered as just a deck of cards, but the die and cubes add something.
It's a 1-5 player game; really 1-4 with a five-player mode. There are three levels, and listed playtime is 15–40 minutes (presumably meant to depend on how many levels you play). I played for 90 minutes... which, in fairness, was five levels' worth: level one once, and level two four times, as I kept failing. It's a fun game, but that was a bit frustrating. Having a couple of attempts, ok, fair enough — if it were too much of a walkover, it's not a game you'd return to (and the game is designed to be replayable, with a choice of characters and each level having a randomised map) — but not making significant headway after four playthroughs... ugh. Either I need to entirely reassess my strategy (possible), or the game isn't that well balanced for one player (maybe this a bit too).
The enemies do have reduced hit points with fewer players, but there's no other compensation for difficulty. To complete a level, you have to reveal the whole map (it starts mostly hidden) and kill all the enemies; on the game's turn, the enemies move towards the nearest player. So, with one player, you've got to get to every hidden square yourself, while all the enemies converge on you. Even with two, you could head in two different directions — I feel a 'divide and conquer' approach would work well with a map where you begin in the middle, like the second level here. Of course, as a single player, there's really nothing to stop me running multiple characters, so I might try that next time.
Videos
Critical Role
2x95 Blessing in Disguise [2nd half]
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
2x95 Blessing in Disguise [2nd half]
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
Thursday, 20 March 2025
Films
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916)
[#31 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]
Blindspot 2025 #3
[#31 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]
Blindspot 2025 #3
Comics
Daredevil: Born Again by Frank Miller & David Mazzucchelli
#227 Apocalypse
I’ve been intending to read this classic Daredevil storyline for a while — I bought my copy before the character rights had even reverted to Marvel, meaning the entirety of Daredevil: The TV Series’s conception, production, popularity, cancellation, and Disney+ revival (which, of course, borrows its subtitle from here) has occurred since this was put on my shelf. Yes, that’s ridiculous. Even worse: there are dozens, possibly hundreds, of other books that it’s just as true for. (Comics in particular: I bought this as part of Hachette’s The Ultimate Marvel Graphic Novel Collection, from which I own 50 volumes, and before this I’d read… one. I’m terrible.)
Anyway, it's off to a strong start. They sure did make comics bleak in the ’80s!
#227 Apocalypse
I’ve been intending to read this classic Daredevil storyline for a while — I bought my copy before the character rights had even reverted to Marvel, meaning the entirety of Daredevil: The TV Series’s conception, production, popularity, cancellation, and Disney+ revival (which, of course, borrows its subtitle from here) has occurred since this was put on my shelf. Yes, that’s ridiculous. Even worse: there are dozens, possibly hundreds, of other books that it’s just as true for. (Comics in particular: I bought this as part of Hachette’s The Ultimate Marvel Graphic Novel Collection, from which I own 50 volumes, and before this I’d read… one. I’m terrible.)
Anyway, it's off to a strong start. They sure did make comics bleak in the ’80s!
Videos
Critical Role
2x95 Blessing in Disguise [1st half]
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
2x95 Blessing in Disguise [1st half]
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
Wednesday, 19 March 2025
Tuesday, 18 March 2025
Videos
Critical Role
2x94 With Great Power... [2nd half]
With this episode, I'm two-thirds of the way through Campaign 2. It took me 6 months to reach one-third, and another 6½ to reach two-thirds, which suggests a fairly consistent pace overall (I slowed down towards the end of last year, explaining why it's taken slightly longer, but I've picked up again in 2025). So, assuming that continues, I should finish Campaign 2 around September or October. Will that be before they start Campaign 4? Seems doubtful, but (for various reasons) I do think it's going to be a while away yet, so maaaaybe. That said, do I even need to finish C2 before starting C4? With Campaign 3 being such a major "end of an era" piece, C4 is certain to be some kind of fresh start, so perhaps I'll just watch it alongside finishing C2. I'm sure I can manage to follow multiple campaigns at once. Whatever — it's all just speculation for now; I'll make a decision when the time arrives.
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
2x94 With Great Power... [2nd half]
With this episode, I'm two-thirds of the way through Campaign 2. It took me 6 months to reach one-third, and another 6½ to reach two-thirds, which suggests a fairly consistent pace overall (I slowed down towards the end of last year, explaining why it's taken slightly longer, but I've picked up again in 2025). So, assuming that continues, I should finish Campaign 2 around September or October. Will that be before they start Campaign 4? Seems doubtful, but (for various reasons) I do think it's going to be a while away yet, so maaaaybe. That said, do I even need to finish C2 before starting C4? With Campaign 3 being such a major "end of an era" piece, C4 is certain to be some kind of fresh start, so perhaps I'll just watch it alongside finishing C2. I'm sure I can manage to follow multiple campaigns at once. Whatever — it's all just speculation for now; I'll make a decision when the time arrives.
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
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