The 1% Club
3x11 Episode 11
[Watch all episodes (again) on ITVX.]
Sunday, 31 August 2025
Fiction
The Governess by Stephen Gallagher
I confess I only read this today to ensure I completed the August achievement on the GoodReads 2025 Reading Challenge. But I’m glad I did, because it was an effective little Gothic ghost story.
I’ve got several more of Gallagher’s chapbooks, though perhaps I should save them for future challenge requirements. I’m now more interested in getting hold of other of his novels, though — the Sebastian Becker series advertised at the end of this volume sounds interesting.
I confess I only read this today to ensure I completed the August achievement on the GoodReads 2025 Reading Challenge. But I’m glad I did, because it was an effective little Gothic ghost story.
I’ve got several more of Gallagher’s chapbooks, though perhaps I should save them for future challenge requirements. I’m now more interested in getting hold of other of his novels, though — the Sebastian Becker series advertised at the end of this volume sounds interesting.
Games
New Nintendo 3DS XL
So, as well as my Steam Deck, I also just got one of these. That's the full official name of the console, by the way — it's a second-hand New 3DS XL, not a new New 3DS XL, because they dont make them anymore.
Also much like the Steam Deck yesterday, I spent a hefty chunk of today hacking it and testing out the new features that gave me. Mainly that involved installing games that are no longer officially available (because Nintendo shut the eShop), as well as some games that are ridiculously expensive second-hand but, y'know, there are other ways to get them when you've got a hacked device.
And, again like the Steam Deck, I now have a ludicrous backlog of games to play. Where will I find the time? God knows.
So, as well as my Steam Deck, I also just got one of these. That's the full official name of the console, by the way — it's a second-hand New 3DS XL, not a new New 3DS XL, because they dont make them anymore.
Also much like the Steam Deck yesterday, I spent a hefty chunk of today hacking it and testing out the new features that gave me. Mainly that involved installing games that are no longer officially available (because Nintendo shut the eShop), as well as some games that are ridiculously expensive second-hand but, y'know, there are other ways to get them when you've got a hacked device.
And, again like the Steam Deck, I now have a ludicrous backlog of games to play. Where will I find the time? God knows.
Saturday, 30 August 2025
Films
Project A (1983)
[#71 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]
"What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...?" 2025 #8
[#71 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]
"What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...?" 2025 #8
Games
Steam Deck
This is the thing I alluded torecently* a couple of weeks ago: I won a Steam Deck! The 512GB OLED model, to be precise. And I spent most of today playing with it. Not playing on it — I played bits of various games, but nothing properly — but playing around with getting it set up and stuff.
Because, sure, my Steam library is all easily accessible and installable and whatnot (even if it doesn't all necessarily run, though there are websites to help with that), but I've got so many games from other places (mainly GOG, but others too) that I'd like to be able to play on there that I had to get some other stuff going. Those aren't much more difficult thanks to Heroic Games Launcher (which I mentioned a couple of weeks ago because it's also helped with my Mac. Also, that's how long this has been incoming!)
No, the thing that occupied most of my time was emulation. The Deck is basically just a PC in a console shell, which means it's very customisable, and that means you can run emulators on it. Considering my interest in the Switch 2 had reached a point where I was on the verge of purchasing one and had begun planning what exactly I wanted to buy (the console itself, obviously, but also which peripherals and games), plus the fact I'd already had a go at emulation on my Mac with an eye to playing more, and I was keyed up to get some classic games going — as if I don't have enough natively-playable games to be getting on with! (I do. I really, really do.)
There are various emulation solutions, the two main ones (it seems to me) being EmuDeck and RetroDeck. I'd been umming and ahhing about which to go for, eventually settled on the former, but over the course of today decided the latter was more my speed. And so I've been installing stuff and setting it up and testing out old games.
First up: James Bond adventure Everything or Nothing. Although I'd tried the GameCube version before, I read that the Xbox version was actually the best one, so I tried to get that going. Turns out, EoN doesn't play nicely with Xbox emulators — as in, it's entirely unplayable — so, after trial and error getting to that realisation (if only I'd found that link earlier and realised it was futile), I caved and went back to the 'Cube version. That runs pretty much perfectly.
In a similar vein, I tried GoldenEye 007 Reloaded, the PS3/Xbox 360 port of the GoldenEye remake originally released on Wii (which I owned on that console back in the day but don't think I even got round to starting). It runs, and while it's running it runs well, but then it will suddenly completely freeze up and the app has to be killed and restarted, and you have to pick up from wherever the last checkpoint was. Frustrating. I have tried to see if there are some fixes that can be applied (changing graphic settings, that kind of thing), but everything I turn up is related to getting an Xbox port of the N64 original to play. Grr. I've left it installed, just in case. So far I've tried the Xbox 360 version, because the controller layout matches the Deck (no silly circle/square/whatever PS BS here), but maybe the PS3 one is worth a shot if it's more stable.
Considering they always run such closed ecosystems, it's kinda ironic that the easiest of all was getting Nintendo stuff to run. Legend of Zelda games from both SNES (A Link to the Past) and GameCube (The Wind Waker) ran without a problem, as did the N64's Paper Mario. I also started up a couple of other SNES games — EarthBound and Super Castlevania IV — which also seem fine. Quite why I'm interested in Castlevania right now, I'm not sure, but I also popped on one of the most acclaimed, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night from the original PlayStation, which I got going easily enough. Finally, a couple of PS2 titles — ICO and Shadow of the Colossus — required some more fiddling (in part to set up some recommended graphics settings to ensure they ran well), but weren't too strenuous really. Well, that said, I wouldn't want to be having to faff with that all the time, but for a couple of well-regarded titles I've been on-and-off curious about for a while, I'm hoping it was worth it.
Obviously, as I said earlier, I've only touched on each of these games briefly — enough to establish they run at all, not that they won't break apart / crash / etc when playing them properly. I fully expect the Nintendo systems to all be fine, but who knows if those PlayStation ones (especially the PS2 pair) won't behave like GoldenEye Reloaded when I do more than run around the opening room for two minutes?
Anyway, I'm done with all that setup now (apart from maybe trying the PS3 GoldenEye), so maybe I'll actually get on with playing some of the games. Of course, I also ought to take the time to go back to Gray Matter and Dungeons of Hinterberg — although as the latter is scheduled to leave Luna tomorrow, it makes more sense to just quit now and start over on my Steam Deck. At least that makes it easier to know which game to start with.
* Two weeks! That's for two reasons: firstly, it took quite a while to turn up; and secondly, it came almost a week ago, but I've been too busy to sit down with it until today.
This is the thing I alluded to
Because, sure, my Steam library is all easily accessible and installable and whatnot (even if it doesn't all necessarily run, though there are websites to help with that), but I've got so many games from other places (mainly GOG, but others too) that I'd like to be able to play on there that I had to get some other stuff going. Those aren't much more difficult thanks to Heroic Games Launcher (which I mentioned a couple of weeks ago because it's also helped with my Mac. Also, that's how long this has been incoming!)
No, the thing that occupied most of my time was emulation. The Deck is basically just a PC in a console shell, which means it's very customisable, and that means you can run emulators on it. Considering my interest in the Switch 2 had reached a point where I was on the verge of purchasing one and had begun planning what exactly I wanted to buy (the console itself, obviously, but also which peripherals and games), plus the fact I'd already had a go at emulation on my Mac with an eye to playing more, and I was keyed up to get some classic games going — as if I don't have enough natively-playable games to be getting on with! (I do. I really, really do.)
There are various emulation solutions, the two main ones (it seems to me) being EmuDeck and RetroDeck. I'd been umming and ahhing about which to go for, eventually settled on the former, but over the course of today decided the latter was more my speed. And so I've been installing stuff and setting it up and testing out old games.
First up: James Bond adventure Everything or Nothing. Although I'd tried the GameCube version before, I read that the Xbox version was actually the best one, so I tried to get that going. Turns out, EoN doesn't play nicely with Xbox emulators — as in, it's entirely unplayable — so, after trial and error getting to that realisation (if only I'd found that link earlier and realised it was futile), I caved and went back to the 'Cube version. That runs pretty much perfectly.
In a similar vein, I tried GoldenEye 007 Reloaded, the PS3/Xbox 360 port of the GoldenEye remake originally released on Wii (which I owned on that console back in the day but don't think I even got round to starting). It runs, and while it's running it runs well, but then it will suddenly completely freeze up and the app has to be killed and restarted, and you have to pick up from wherever the last checkpoint was. Frustrating. I have tried to see if there are some fixes that can be applied (changing graphic settings, that kind of thing), but everything I turn up is related to getting an Xbox port of the N64 original to play. Grr. I've left it installed, just in case. So far I've tried the Xbox 360 version, because the controller layout matches the Deck (no silly circle/square/whatever PS BS here), but maybe the PS3 one is worth a shot if it's more stable.
Considering they always run such closed ecosystems, it's kinda ironic that the easiest of all was getting Nintendo stuff to run. Legend of Zelda games from both SNES (A Link to the Past) and GameCube (The Wind Waker) ran without a problem, as did the N64's Paper Mario. I also started up a couple of other SNES games — EarthBound and Super Castlevania IV — which also seem fine. Quite why I'm interested in Castlevania right now, I'm not sure, but I also popped on one of the most acclaimed, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night from the original PlayStation, which I got going easily enough. Finally, a couple of PS2 titles — ICO and Shadow of the Colossus — required some more fiddling (in part to set up some recommended graphics settings to ensure they ran well), but weren't too strenuous really. Well, that said, I wouldn't want to be having to faff with that all the time, but for a couple of well-regarded titles I've been on-and-off curious about for a while, I'm hoping it was worth it.
Obviously, as I said earlier, I've only touched on each of these games briefly — enough to establish they run at all, not that they won't break apart / crash / etc when playing them properly. I fully expect the Nintendo systems to all be fine, but who knows if those PlayStation ones (especially the PS2 pair) won't behave like GoldenEye Reloaded when I do more than run around the opening room for two minutes?
Anyway, I'm done with all that setup now (apart from maybe trying the PS3 GoldenEye), so maybe I'll actually get on with playing some of the games. Of course, I also ought to take the time to go back to Gray Matter and Dungeons of Hinterberg — although as the latter is scheduled to leave Luna tomorrow, it makes more sense to just quit now and start over on my Steam Deck. At least that makes it easier to know which game to start with.
* Two weeks! That's for two reasons: firstly, it took quite a while to turn up; and secondly, it came almost a week ago, but I've been too busy to sit down with it until today.
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
The tiniest of additions this week, with just one new single-film single-disc arrival...
Number of titles in collection: 3,598 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 986 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,612 [up 1]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 455 [no change]
Number of discs in collection: 8,643 [up 1]
Number of films: 4,565 [up 1]
Number of additional cuts: 455 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 10,172 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,266 [no change]
...but I did just spend several hundred pounds (seriously) on preorders for next month, across both multi-film box sets and indulgent single-film sets. It's a drain on my bank balance, for sure, but it won't necessarily result in huge increases here. Ho hum.
See you next week for the start of that, faithful reader.
The tiniest of additions this week, with just one new single-film single-disc arrival...
Number of titles in collection: 3,598 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 986 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,612 [up 1]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 455 [no change]
Number of discs in collection: 8,643 [up 1]
Number of films: 4,565 [up 1]
Number of additional cuts: 455 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 10,172 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,266 [no change]
...but I did just spend several hundred pounds (seriously) on preorders for next month, across both multi-film box sets and indulgent single-film sets. It's a drain on my bank balance, for sure, but it won't necessarily result in huge increases here. Ho hum.
See you next week for the start of that, faithful reader.
Friday, 29 August 2025
Thursday, 28 August 2025
Films
The Thursday Murder Club (2025)
[#70 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]
Can't believe it's been two years since I read the novel. Where does time go?!
[#70 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]
Can't believe it's been two years since I read the novel. Where does time go?!
Wednesday, 27 August 2025
TV
Friends
9x20 The One with the Soap Opera Party [6th or so watch]
Only Murders in the Building
4x09 Escape from Planet Klongo
4x10 My Best Friend's Wedding [season finale]
9x20 The One with the Soap Opera Party [6th or so watch]
Only Murders in the Building
4x09 Escape from Planet Klongo
4x10 My Best Friend's Wedding [season finale]
Tuesday, 26 August 2025
Games
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Trick-Taking Game
Just finishing the game we started yesterday.
Just finishing the game we started yesterday.
Monday, 25 August 2025
Games
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle
Game 4 (of 7)
Enjoying this, but the games (much like the books) get long the further you progress. And so we also returned to...
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Trick-Taking Game
Game 4 (of 7)
Enjoying this, but the games (much like the books) get long the further you progress. And so we also returned to...
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Trick-Taking Game
Sunday, 24 August 2025
TV
Friends
9x15 The One with the Mugging [6th or so watch]
Only Murders in the Building
4x04 The Stunt Man
4x05 Adaptation
Richard Osman's House of Games
8x40 Week 8: Friday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]
9x15 The One with the Mugging [6th or so watch]
Only Murders in the Building
4x04 The Stunt Man
4x05 Adaptation
Richard Osman's House of Games
8x40 Week 8: Friday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]
Articles
Nintendo’s Virtual Boy Isn’t Underrated—But Who Knows What It Could’ve Turned Into?
by Marc Normandin (from Endless Mode)
I'd heard of the Virtual Boy, but didn't really know anything about it beyond the fact a console with that name existed, so this was a fascinating history lesson — and also gave me ideas about something that might be worth doing with the 3DS I recently ordered...
by Marc Normandin (from Endless Mode)
I'd heard of the Virtual Boy, but didn't really know anything about it beyond the fact a console with that name existed, so this was a fascinating history lesson — and also gave me ideas about something that might be worth doing with the 3DS I recently ordered...
Saturday, 23 August 2025
TV
Friends
9x13 The One Where Monica Sings [6th or so watch]
9x14 The One with the Blind Dates [6th or so watch]
Only Murders in the Building
4x03 Two for the Road
Richard Osman's House of Games
8x38 Week 8: Wednesday
8x39 Week 8: Thursday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]
9x13 The One Where Monica Sings [6th or so watch]
9x14 The One with the Blind Dates [6th or so watch]
Only Murders in the Building
4x03 Two for the Road
Richard Osman's House of Games
8x38 Week 8: Wednesday
8x39 Week 8: Thursday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
All new release additions this week, three that came out this week and one (an upgrade) that is out on Monday.
I've been trying to avoid sales recently, partly to save a bit of cash but also just to stop my collection growing so crazily (at least until I can sort out better storage). Of course, I'm liable to cave at any moment if there's a really good deal or something.
Number of titles in collection: 3,597 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 986 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,611 [up 3]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 455 [up 3]
Number of discs in collection: 8,642 [up 7]
Number of films: 4,564 [up 6]
Number of additional cuts: 455 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 10,172 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,266 [no change]
See you next week, faithful reader.
All new release additions this week, three that came out this week and one (an upgrade) that is out on Monday.
I've been trying to avoid sales recently, partly to save a bit of cash but also just to stop my collection growing so crazily (at least until I can sort out better storage). Of course, I'm liable to cave at any moment if there's a really good deal or something.
Number of titles in collection: 3,597 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 986 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,611 [up 3]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 455 [up 3]
Number of discs in collection: 8,642 [up 7]
Number of films: 4,564 [up 6]
Number of additional cuts: 455 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 10,172 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,266 [no change]
See you next week, faithful reader.
Friday, 22 August 2025
TV
Friends
9x11 The One Where Rachel Goes Back to Work [6th or so watch]
9x12 The One with Phoebe's Rats [6th or so watch]
Only Murders in the Building
4x01 Once Upon a Time in the West
4x02 Gates of Heaven
When I finished season three on 20th August last year, I wrote that I'd "probably watch [season four] in about a year's time". Well, here it is!
Richard Osman's House of Games
8x36 Week 8: Monday
8x37 Week 8: Tuesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]
9x11 The One Where Rachel Goes Back to Work [6th or so watch]
9x12 The One with Phoebe's Rats [6th or so watch]
Only Murders in the Building
4x01 Once Upon a Time in the West
4x02 Gates of Heaven
When I finished season three on 20th August last year, I wrote that I'd "probably watch [season four] in about a year's time". Well, here it is!
Richard Osman's House of Games
8x36 Week 8: Monday
8x37 Week 8: Tuesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]
Thursday, 21 August 2025
Monday, 18 August 2025
Sunday, 17 August 2025
Saturday, 16 August 2025
TV
Age of Umbra
1x06 The Unforgiving City [1st half]
[Watch it (again) on YouTube or Beacon.]
But before that...
Critical Role Cooldown
Age of Umbra Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on Beacon.]
1x06 The Unforgiving City [1st half]
[Watch it (again) on YouTube or Beacon.]
But before that...
Critical Role Cooldown
Age of Umbra Episode 5
[Watch it (again) on Beacon.]
Fiction
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
7 The Adventure of the Three Gables
And here is the other single-star Holmes story, and the one that also comes bottom of the poll-of-polls I've referenced in the past. They're both late-era tales, collected in the final volume of short stories — that volume seems to be regarded as the weakest overall, although the Pocket Essentials guide still gives half its stories 4+ stars.
But this is entirely deserving of its low standing. It's not entirely without merit — there's the odd good line — but it's also pretty racist (not in a cruel way, but horrendously casually); and even if you're someone who can accept that as being "of its time", much of the writing is weak or outright poor (I can't quite tell if Holmes is behaving out of character, or if Doyle's conception of Holmes's behaviour just changed a lot down the decades).
The villain's convoluted plot is also thoroughly daft considering the goal they were trying to achieve. That said, it's the kind of dumb decision people make in real-life that comes across as dumb in fiction because we're not making ill-informed decisions in the heat of the moment. But really, as Holmes seems to think highly of the mastermind's intellect, you'd expect them to have come up with a sensible course of action.
As for my goals, that's the two very worst canon stories out of the way. I'll have to think about where to go next — possibly to divisive stories: there are a couple that came at the bottom of the poll-of-polls but Pocket Essentials gives four stars; and, vice versa, one they give two stars is =13th in the poll, and was also in Conan Doyle's personal top ten. Intriguing.
7 The Adventure of the Three Gables
And here is the other single-star Holmes story, and the one that also comes bottom of the poll-of-polls I've referenced in the past. They're both late-era tales, collected in the final volume of short stories — that volume seems to be regarded as the weakest overall, although the Pocket Essentials guide still gives half its stories 4+ stars.
But this is entirely deserving of its low standing. It's not entirely without merit — there's the odd good line — but it's also pretty racist (not in a cruel way, but horrendously casually); and even if you're someone who can accept that as being "of its time", much of the writing is weak or outright poor (I can't quite tell if Holmes is behaving out of character, or if Doyle's conception of Holmes's behaviour just changed a lot down the decades).
The villain's convoluted plot is also thoroughly daft considering the goal they were trying to achieve. That said, it's the kind of dumb decision people make in real-life that comes across as dumb in fiction because we're not making ill-informed decisions in the heat of the moment. But really, as Holmes seems to think highly of the mastermind's intellect, you'd expect them to have come up with a sensible course of action.
As for my goals, that's the two very worst canon stories out of the way. I'll have to think about where to go next — possibly to divisive stories: there are a couple that came at the bottom of the poll-of-polls but Pocket Essentials gives four stars; and, vice versa, one they give two stars is =13th in the poll, and was also in Conan Doyle's personal top ten. Intriguing.
Games
Dungeons of Hinterberg
Sat down to play this thinking I was resuming outside a dungeon, would complete that, maybe play for half-an-hour or so (that's how long they mostly take, people say), and then I'd do other stuff. Well, I was wrong about the resumption point, which led to decision-making and exploring, which meant it was almost an hour before I was at the entrance to a dungeon. After almost two-and-a-half hours, I finally decided I should do something else. This is getting to be a pattern.
I am not knowledgeable or experienced enough to know if this is a "great game", but I'm certainly enjoying the heck out of it.
Sat down to play this thinking I was resuming outside a dungeon, would complete that, maybe play for half-an-hour or so (that's how long they mostly take, people say), and then I'd do other stuff. Well, I was wrong about the resumption point, which led to decision-making and exploring, which meant it was almost an hour before I was at the entrance to a dungeon. After almost two-and-a-half hours, I finally decided I should do something else. This is getting to be a pattern.
I am not knowledgeable or experienced enough to know if this is a "great game", but I'm certainly enjoying the heck out of it.
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
Just one new addition this week, which turned up today ahead of its release on Monday. There's a bunch of other stuff coming out around about now that I'm interested in, but I haven't got round to ordering it yet — I've been spending too much time (and money) on computer games. More on why that is... soon.*
Number of titles in collection: 3,594 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 986 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,608 [up 1]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 452 [up 1]
Number of discs in collection: 8,635 [up 2]
Number of films: 4,558 [up 1]
Number of additional cuts: 454 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 10,172 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,266 [no change]
See you next week, faithful reader.
* Not that I think anyone (a) reads this, or (b) cares, but hey, maybe future-me will stumble across these in five, ten, twenty, or more years and get a kick out of re-reading it.
Just one new addition this week, which turned up today ahead of its release on Monday. There's a bunch of other stuff coming out around about now that I'm interested in, but I haven't got round to ordering it yet — I've been spending too much time (and money) on computer games. More on why that is... soon.*
Number of titles in collection: 3,594 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 986 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,608 [up 1]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 452 [up 1]
Number of discs in collection: 8,635 [up 2]
Number of films: 4,558 [up 1]
Number of additional cuts: 454 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 10,172 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,266 [no change]
See you next week, faithful reader.
* Not that I think anyone (a) reads this, or (b) cares, but hey, maybe future-me will stumble across these in five, ten, twenty, or more years and get a kick out of re-reading it.
Friday, 15 August 2025
TV
Age of Umbra
1x05 Ages of Pain [2nd half 2nd hour]
The fact that it's taken me all week to get through this one episode is ridiculous. Bloody day job actually taking up my working hours... And even now, I finished the episode so late that its Cooldown will be listed tomorrow.
[Watch it (again) on YouTube or Beacon.]
1x05 Ages of Pain [2nd half 2nd hour]
The fact that it's taken me all week to get through this one episode is ridiculous. Bloody day job actually taking up my working hours... And even now, I finished the episode so late that its Cooldown will be listed tomorrow.
[Watch it (again) on YouTube or Beacon.]
Thursday, 14 August 2025
Games
Dungeons of Hinterberg
Intended to pop into Hinterberg for maybe half-an-hour — do a dungeon, some social stuff, keep my hand in as it's been a few days... Ended up playing for two hours.
I'm slightly worried about two things. One, that I'm not going to finish it before it stops being free on Luna, and then, what, I'll have to buy it and start over, probably? And two, that all the easiness settings I've got turned on here are going to ruin it for me when I try to play another similar game that doesn't let me coast through on, effectively, "story mode". Or maybe all games have these kinds of scaling these days? I'll probably find out at some point. But it works for me, because I'm much more interested in the exploration and character interactions and puzzle solving than the combat. I still like bashing a few buttons from time to time, but I'm glad it can't kill me and ruin my progress left, right and centre.
Intended to pop into Hinterberg for maybe half-an-hour — do a dungeon, some social stuff, keep my hand in as it's been a few days... Ended up playing for two hours.
I'm slightly worried about two things. One, that I'm not going to finish it before it stops being free on Luna, and then, what, I'll have to buy it and start over, probably? And two, that all the easiness settings I've got turned on here are going to ruin it for me when I try to play another similar game that doesn't let me coast through on, effectively, "story mode". Or maybe all games have these kinds of scaling these days? I'll probably find out at some point. But it works for me, because I'm much more interested in the exploration and character interactions and puzzle solving than the combat. I still like bashing a few buttons from time to time, but I'm glad it can't kill me and ruin my progress left, right and centre.
Wednesday, 13 August 2025
Games
Gray Matter
I should be picking this back up properly, but I only played about five minutes today. That's because I've found a new way to run non-Mac games on my Mac, and I used this to test it out. It's definitely superior: I'm pretty sure the game looked better (a lot of it is pre-rendered backgrounds, but the characters are 3D models, and they immediately looked less jagged now), but most importantly the sound played properly (it had a constant repetitive glitch on my previous version) and it worked immediately (I had to faff around for hours before). Hurrah for Heroic Games Launcher. I also think it's going to give me access to games I had no way to get at before (namely, stuff I've got free from Prime Gaming but squirreled away in the Amazon Games app), so that's super... though it's not as if I don't have a big enough backlog as it is.
I should be picking this back up properly, but I only played about five minutes today. That's because I've found a new way to run non-Mac games on my Mac, and I used this to test it out. It's definitely superior: I'm pretty sure the game looked better (a lot of it is pre-rendered backgrounds, but the characters are 3D models, and they immediately looked less jagged now), but most importantly the sound played properly (it had a constant repetitive glitch on my previous version) and it worked immediately (I had to faff around for hours before). Hurrah for Heroic Games Launcher. I also think it's going to give me access to games I had no way to get at before (namely, stuff I've got free from Prime Gaming but squirreled away in the Amazon Games app), so that's super... though it's not as if I don't have a big enough backlog as it is.
Monday, 11 August 2025
TV
Age of Umbra
1x05 Ages of Pain [1st half]
Back to Age of Umbies for a bit. Heck, I'm not going to finish C2 before C4 anyway, so I may as well try to finish this miniseries at least.
[Watch it (again) on YouTube or Beacon.]
1x05 Ages of Pain [1st half]
Back to Age of Umbies for a bit. Heck, I'm not going to finish C2 before C4 anyway, so I may as well try to finish this miniseries at least.
[Watch it (again) on YouTube or Beacon.]
Sunday, 10 August 2025
Fiction
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
1 The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone
I've been reading the Sherlock Holmes short stories in order of publication recently — that was because I'd read a good chunk of each of the first two collected volumes (Adventures and Memoirs) but not finished either, and getting those polished off meant I could count them towards my GoodReads challenge tally. I could just keep going and do the same with the remaining three volumes, but I've barely started any of those so it's less about "finishing them off" as it is simply reading them.
So, instead, I've decided to go back to my previous methodology for a bit: using a ranking to see which stories are great/good/poor and choosing accordingly. My main guide is The Pocket Essential Sherlock Holmes, from which I have unread stories at evey rating level (i.e. 1–5 out of 5); but whereas in the past I used this to read the best of the best, now I'm going to focus on the lower-rated ones, the idea being that I'll eventually end my first-time reads with better-regarded stories.
Mazarin Stone is one of only two 1-star stories, according to Pocket Essentials. It ranks low on fan polls, too. And it is pretty bad: much of it is a pathetic circular argument between Holmes and the villain; as well as being argumentatively repetitive, the quality of the dialogue isn't very good; there's not really any mystery to be solved; a central conceit is recycled from an older story; and the twist denouement is insultingly implausible. It's based on a stage play, and apparently on stage the lights went out to facilitate the switcheroo, but in this adaptation, Holmes just... pulls it off without anyone noticing. It doesn't hold up.
Well, at least that's that out of the way. My plan is working. Next up: a story that seems to be pretty roundly regarded as the worst of the worst...
Bit of a footnote: the Wikipedia page for Case-Book lists this as story 3 in the book, because it cites the order they were presented in the first British collected edition. My copy uses the order the stories were original published in magazines, as does Pocket Essentials, so I've decided to number based on that.
1 The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone
I've been reading the Sherlock Holmes short stories in order of publication recently — that was because I'd read a good chunk of each of the first two collected volumes (Adventures and Memoirs) but not finished either, and getting those polished off meant I could count them towards my GoodReads challenge tally. I could just keep going and do the same with the remaining three volumes, but I've barely started any of those so it's less about "finishing them off" as it is simply reading them.
So, instead, I've decided to go back to my previous methodology for a bit: using a ranking to see which stories are great/good/poor and choosing accordingly. My main guide is The Pocket Essential Sherlock Holmes, from which I have unread stories at evey rating level (i.e. 1–5 out of 5); but whereas in the past I used this to read the best of the best, now I'm going to focus on the lower-rated ones, the idea being that I'll eventually end my first-time reads with better-regarded stories.
Mazarin Stone is one of only two 1-star stories, according to Pocket Essentials. It ranks low on fan polls, too. And it is pretty bad: much of it is a pathetic circular argument between Holmes and the villain; as well as being argumentatively repetitive, the quality of the dialogue isn't very good; there's not really any mystery to be solved; a central conceit is recycled from an older story; and the twist denouement is insultingly implausible. It's based on a stage play, and apparently on stage the lights went out to facilitate the switcheroo, but in this adaptation, Holmes just... pulls it off without anyone noticing. It doesn't hold up.
Well, at least that's that out of the way. My plan is working. Next up: a story that seems to be pretty roundly regarded as the worst of the worst...
Bit of a footnote: the Wikipedia page for Case-Book lists this as story 3 in the book, because it cites the order they were presented in the first British collected edition. My copy uses the order the stories were original published in magazines, as does Pocket Essentials, so I've decided to number based on that.
Games
Dungeons of Hinterberg
Another hour or so today. Did another dungeon, but I kinda enjoy the town stuff more. Maybe this speaks to the kind of games I'd like to play in the future (though having the puzzle-y action-y dungeon stuff does also make for variety, so...)
Another hour or so today. Did another dungeon, but I kinda enjoy the town stuff more. Maybe this speaks to the kind of games I'd like to play in the future (though having the puzzle-y action-y dungeon stuff does also make for variety, so...)
Saturday, 9 August 2025
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
Seven new titles this week, including the delayed Arrow 4K UHD release of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which replaces both the previous 4K release I'd imported from the States, and — by completing the "Dollars" trilogy in 4K — also supplants my old box set. As always with such things, it does some slightly funny things to the numbers, albeit masked by the six other brand-new acquisitions.
Number of titles in collection: 3,593 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 986 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,607 [up 5]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 451 [no change]
Number of discs in collection: 8,633 [up 7]
Number of films: 4,557 [up 4]
Number of additional cuts: 454 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes: 10,172 [up 12]
Number of short films: 1,266 [up 7]
And all of that was just in time for the monthly running time update...
Total running time of collection (approx.):
605 days, 3 hours, and 20 minutes.
(Up 1 day, 22 hours, and 3 minutes from last month.)
See you next week, faithful reader.
Seven new titles this week, including the delayed Arrow 4K UHD release of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which replaces both the previous 4K release I'd imported from the States, and — by completing the "Dollars" trilogy in 4K — also supplants my old box set. As always with such things, it does some slightly funny things to the numbers, albeit masked by the six other brand-new acquisitions.
Number of titles in collection: 3,593 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 986 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,607 [up 5]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 451 [no change]
Number of discs in collection: 8,633 [up 7]
Number of films: 4,557 [up 4]
Number of additional cuts: 454 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes: 10,172 [up 12]
Number of short films: 1,266 [up 7]
And all of that was just in time for the monthly running time update...
Total running time of collection (approx.):
605 days, 3 hours, and 20 minutes.
(Up 1 day, 22 hours, and 3 minutes from last month.)
See you next week, faithful reader.
Friday, 8 August 2025
TV
Critical Role
2x111 New Homes and Old Friends [3rd hour]
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
Talks Machina
#147 Discussing Up to 'New Homes and Old Friends' (with Liam & Ashley)
#148 Discussing up to 'New Homes and Old Friends' (with Marisha & Taliesin)
"We're all kinda used to talking to each other on Zoom so much that this is, sorta, just like one of those things, except that, um, this one lives on the internet forever." Well, it would have done… Except, of course, it still does, just in different, less official places, so I guess he was still correct. (Similarly, when Liam jokes about a restraining order... oof! I swear half the reason they took these down is not just because BWF's present, but because of all the jokes they make about how bad he is.)
Anyway: two episodes — whaaaat? Yeah, at this point Talks was supposed to be fortnightly (i.e. one after every other episode of CR), but, for reasons I haven't been able to unearth, between episodes 111 and 112 there were two episodes of Talks (I guess CR had to take an unexpected longer break? Maybe they mention it at the start of 112, because they didn't at the end of 111). Plus, from this point they seem to have abandoned the idea that episodes of the chat show are about an hour long. So, whereas pre-Covid there would've been c. one hour of Talks between episodes 111 and 112, in our reality there were three-and-a-quarter hours. And I watched it all today. Fun times.
[Watch #147 and #148 (again) on Internet Archive.]
2x111 New Homes and Old Friends [3rd hour]
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
Talks Machina
#147 Discussing Up to 'New Homes and Old Friends' (with Liam & Ashley)
#148 Discussing up to 'New Homes and Old Friends' (with Marisha & Taliesin)
"We're all kinda used to talking to each other on Zoom so much that this is, sorta, just like one of those things, except that, um, this one lives on the internet forever." Well, it would have done… Except, of course, it still does, just in different, less official places, so I guess he was still correct. (Similarly, when Liam jokes about a restraining order... oof! I swear half the reason they took these down is not just because BWF's present, but because of all the jokes they make about how bad he is.)
Anyway: two episodes — whaaaat? Yeah, at this point Talks was supposed to be fortnightly (i.e. one after every other episode of CR), but, for reasons I haven't been able to unearth, between episodes 111 and 112 there were two episodes of Talks (I guess CR had to take an unexpected longer break? Maybe they mention it at the start of 112, because they didn't at the end of 111). Plus, from this point they seem to have abandoned the idea that episodes of the chat show are about an hour long. So, whereas pre-Covid there would've been c. one hour of Talks between episodes 111 and 112, in our reality there were three-and-a-quarter hours. And I watched it all today. Fun times.
[Watch #147 and #148 (again) on Internet Archive.]
Thursday, 7 August 2025
TV
Critical Role
2x111 New Homes and Old Friends [2nd hour]
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
2x111 New Homes and Old Friends [2nd hour]
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
Games
Dungeons of Hinterberg
Got new batteries, played for two-and-a-half hours — yeah, I guess I'm enjoying it.
I say "guess" because in all that time I only actually played one dungeon, and the rest of the time indulged in exploring the overworld and town of Hinterberg. That's definitely part of the game too, but I guess it's also my point-and-click-adventure nature coming out: I mostly want to look around the locales and talk to people, not just solve button-pushing puzzles and fight monsters (although there are still semi-random fights outside of the dungeons, some of which would have proved fatal if I didn't have those difficulty-lowering options on — all games should have that for people like me!) I guess I'll go back into the actual dungeons at some point, still.
Got new batteries, played for two-and-a-half hours — yeah, I guess I'm enjoying it.
I say "guess" because in all that time I only actually played one dungeon, and the rest of the time indulged in exploring the overworld and town of Hinterberg. That's definitely part of the game too, but I guess it's also my point-and-click-adventure nature coming out: I mostly want to look around the locales and talk to people, not just solve button-pushing puzzles and fight monsters (although there are still semi-random fights outside of the dungeons, some of which would have proved fatal if I didn't have those difficulty-lowering options on — all games should have that for people like me!) I guess I'll go back into the actual dungeons at some point, still.
Wednesday, 6 August 2025
TV
Critical Role
2x111 New Homes and Old Friends [1st half]
“Well, that’s the easiest hour I’ve ever had to Dungeon Master.”
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
2x111 New Homes and Old Friends [1st half]
“Well, that’s the easiest hour I’ve ever had to Dungeon Master.”
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
Games
Dungeons of Hinterberg
Because what I really needed was to start playing another game. Also: so many games I’ve bought and ought to get round to, but I keep going for free ones! Well, I say “free”: it’s free to Amazon Prime members (which I do pay for) via Luna, where it’s time-limited (until the start of next month), so we’ll see if I like it enough to stick at it and complete it by then.
I will say: I played for a little over an hour, and only stopped because my Luna controller ran out of batteries (and the spares I put in were actually flat), so that’s got to be a good sign. Especially as I’m not the greatest at this kind of game, in part because I’ve never really played a lot of them (and certainly not recently), but I gave this a go because I liked the art style and the setting/story piqued my interest.
Fortunately for me, it has a “story mode” which makes fights easier and means you can’t actually die (other than by running off a cliff or something, at which point it reloads where you left off), both of which are big plus points for me. I guess some people object to easy modes and the like because it’s not as challenging, but I don’t actually play games to be challenged — I find them entertaining in other ways — so nowadays I’m happy to plump for an easy setting. (Unless it’s a point-and-click adventure where a higher difficulty adds puzzles or something. That’s different.)
Because what I really needed was to start playing another game. Also: so many games I’ve bought and ought to get round to, but I keep going for free ones! Well, I say “free”: it’s free to Amazon Prime members (which I do pay for) via Luna, where it’s time-limited (until the start of next month), so we’ll see if I like it enough to stick at it and complete it by then.
I will say: I played for a little over an hour, and only stopped because my Luna controller ran out of batteries (and the spares I put in were actually flat), so that’s got to be a good sign. Especially as I’m not the greatest at this kind of game, in part because I’ve never really played a lot of them (and certainly not recently), but I gave this a go because I liked the art style and the setting/story piqued my interest.
Fortunately for me, it has a “story mode” which makes fights easier and means you can’t actually die (other than by running off a cliff or something, at which point it reloads where you left off), both of which are big plus points for me. I guess some people object to easy modes and the like because it’s not as challenging, but I don’t actually play games to be challenged — I find them entertaining in other ways — so nowadays I’m happy to plump for an easy setting. (Unless it’s a point-and-click adventure where a higher difficulty adds puzzles or something. That’s different.)
Tuesday, 5 August 2025
TV
Critical Role
2x110 Dinner with the Devil [2nd half]
“I wish for you, in the future, to find someone who will mourn you when you are gone.” Gotta be one of the coldest putdowns in the history of... everything.
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
2x110 Dinner with the Devil [2nd half]
“I wish for you, in the future, to find someone who will mourn you when you are gone.” Gotta be one of the coldest putdowns in the history of... everything.
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
Monday, 4 August 2025
TV
Critical Role
2x110 Dinner with the Devil [1st half]
Following the announcement at the weekend, there's just 59 days until the start of Campaign IV. Once upon a time, me completing C2 by the start of October wouldn't have seemed impossible; but I've been a bit sluggish the last couple of months, including allowing time for Age of Umbra (and I've still got half of that to go) — at this point, I'd have to watch something like 2½ hours every single day to get through what I need to in time for the beginning of C4... and then I'd probably be left bereft because I'd bump right down to one episode a week! So, there may well be some intermingling come October.
(Not that literally anyone cares about this but me. But then, I don't believe anyone but me looks at this site, so it's ok.)
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
Friends
9x09 The One with Rachel's Phone Number [6th or so watch]
2x110 Dinner with the Devil [1st half]
Following the announcement at the weekend, there's just 59 days until the start of Campaign IV. Once upon a time, me completing C2 by the start of October wouldn't have seemed impossible; but I've been a bit sluggish the last couple of months, including allowing time for Age of Umbra (and I've still got half of that to go) — at this point, I'd have to watch something like 2½ hours every single day to get through what I need to in time for the beginning of C4... and then I'd probably be left bereft because I'd bump right down to one episode a week! So, there may well be some intermingling come October.
(Not that literally anyone cares about this but me. But then, I don't believe anyone but me looks at this site, so it's ok.)
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
Friends
9x09 The One with Rachel's Phone Number [6th or so watch]
Sunday, 3 August 2025
this week on 100Films.co.uk
Another month is over. What, already?! Yes, already! It feels like only the other day I was sharing the June reviews on 100Films.co.uk — in fact, I thought it was just last month that they'd been split across two weeks, but that was May's! — and now we have the July ones.
As usual, they begin with the overview of the whole month...
...and continue/conclude with a selection of my "failures"...
More next... Sunday? Probably not. Next month? For sure.
As usual, they begin with the overview of the whole month...
...and continue/conclude with a selection of my "failures"...
More next... Sunday? Probably not. Next month? For sure.
Saturday, 2 August 2025
TV
Friends
9x05 The One with Phoebe's Birthday Dinner [6th or so watch]
9x06 The One with the Male Nanny [6th or so watch]
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
2x08 Shadow and Flame [season finale]
Richard Osman's House of Games
8x33 Week 7: Wednesday
8x34 Week 7: Thursday
8x35 Week 7: Friday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]
9x05 The One with Phoebe's Birthday Dinner [6th or so watch]
9x06 The One with the Male Nanny [6th or so watch]
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
2x08 Shadow and Flame [season finale]
Richard Osman's House of Games
8x33 Week 7: Wednesday
8x34 Week 7: Thursday
8x35 Week 7: Friday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
Four brand-new titles this week — yes, I managed to avoid any sale purchases!
...apart from the stuff I've purchased in sales that should turn up next week, that is. Ah well.
Three of the four are 4K (yay!), and two are upgrades — one directly, so it replaces my older BD, but the other is Hearts of Darkness, the Apocalypse Now making-of that's included in the Apocalypse Now release. A new standalone 4K edition seemed indulgent for that reason but, in addition to the feature being restored in 4K, it comes with a copy of Eleanor Coppola's behind-the-scenes book Notes, and on disc there's a fairly large selection of special features, including (I believe) Eleanor's complete documentary filmography. Neat. On the bright side, it does replace an old DVD copy I was also hanging on to for special features, so that's a bonus.
Number of titles in collection: 3,588 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 986 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,602 [up 3]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 451 [up 3]
Number of discs in collection: 8,626 [up 6]
Number of films: 4,553 [up 3]
Number of additional cuts: 451 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 10,160 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,259 [up 9]
See you next week, faithful reader.
Four brand-new titles this week — yes, I managed to avoid any sale purchases!
...apart from the stuff I've purchased in sales that should turn up next week, that is. Ah well.
Three of the four are 4K (yay!), and two are upgrades — one directly, so it replaces my older BD, but the other is Hearts of Darkness, the Apocalypse Now making-of that's included in the Apocalypse Now release. A new standalone 4K edition seemed indulgent for that reason but, in addition to the feature being restored in 4K, it comes with a copy of Eleanor Coppola's behind-the-scenes book Notes, and on disc there's a fairly large selection of special features, including (I believe) Eleanor's complete documentary filmography. Neat. On the bright side, it does replace an old DVD copy I was also hanging on to for special features, so that's a bonus.
Number of titles in collection: 3,588 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 986 [down 1]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,602 [up 3]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 451 [up 3]
Number of discs in collection: 8,626 [up 6]
Number of films: 4,553 [up 3]
Number of additional cuts: 451 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 10,160 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,259 [up 9]
See you next week, faithful reader.
Friday, 1 August 2025
TV
Friends
9x03 The One with the Pediatrician [6th or so watch]
9x04 The One with the Sharks [6th or so watch]
Richard Osman's House of Games
8x31 Week 7: Monday
8x32 Week 7: Tuesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]
9x03 The One with the Pediatrician [6th or so watch]
9x04 The One with the Sharks [6th or so watch]
Richard Osman's House of Games
8x31 Week 7: Monday
8x32 Week 7: Tuesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]
Games
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Trick-Taking Game
Continuing our post-'campaign' game. It works pretty well; it's certainly welcome that the game remains playable without having to totally reset it and just play through 'story mode' again.
Continuing our post-'campaign' game. It works pretty well; it's certainly welcome that the game remains playable without having to totally reset it and just play through 'story mode' again.
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