Jaws 3-D (1983)
[#23 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2026]
In 3D, of course.
Saturday, 9 May 2026
Video Games
Buffet Knight: Decadent Full Course
Got completely stuck on this for a bit. I ended up wandering around for ages, trying to find the way forward — it looked like there was nowhere else on the map I could get to, no one else I could talk to, nothing else I could complete... I ended up skimming through a playthrough I found on YouTube that showed me I'd overlooked a single passageway that led to an area I'd not been yet, which unlocked exactly what I needed to do next. Oopsie! And phew — thank goodness for the internet.
Though it also highlights the 'danger' when playing smaller indie games like this. With something like Skyrim, which is phenomenally popular and has a decade-and-a-half of people playing it, there's an overabundance of guides and tips and help out there. But a small title like this, which only has a handful of reviews on Steam even, I couldn't find any guides, couldn't guarantee someone else who'd played it would answer if I posted on a forum or whatever, and was lucky that video existed. Let's hope I don't get so stuck again, then.
Got completely stuck on this for a bit. I ended up wandering around for ages, trying to find the way forward — it looked like there was nowhere else on the map I could get to, no one else I could talk to, nothing else I could complete... I ended up skimming through a playthrough I found on YouTube that showed me I'd overlooked a single passageway that led to an area I'd not been yet, which unlocked exactly what I needed to do next. Oopsie! And phew — thank goodness for the internet.
Though it also highlights the 'danger' when playing smaller indie games like this. With something like Skyrim, which is phenomenally popular and has a decade-and-a-half of people playing it, there's an overabundance of guides and tips and help out there. But a small title like this, which only has a handful of reviews on Steam even, I couldn't find any guides, couldn't guarantee someone else who'd played it would answer if I posted on a forum or whatever, and was lucky that video existed. Let's hope I don't get so stuck again, then.
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
Five new additions this week, including a pair of 4K upgrades from All the Anime, Wolf Children and Summer Wars, but only one replaces my previous copy for now. The latter I own in a box set with The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, which AtA are supposedly going to be releasing a matching set of later, so I'll hang on to my current copy for now. (I say that as if I instantly sell them — I have hundreds of DVDs and Blu-rays that I've 'replaced' but not sold on yet. I really should get on that.)
Number of titles in collection: 3,689 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 965 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,724 [up 4]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 527 [up 3]
Number of discs in collection: 8,855 [up 10]
Number of films: 4,743 [up 6]
Number of additional cuts: 493 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes: 10,134 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,293 [no change]
See you next week, faithful reader.
Five new additions this week, including a pair of 4K upgrades from All the Anime, Wolf Children and Summer Wars, but only one replaces my previous copy for now. The latter I own in a box set with The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, which AtA are supposedly going to be releasing a matching set of later, so I'll hang on to my current copy for now. (I say that as if I instantly sell them — I have hundreds of DVDs and Blu-rays that I've 'replaced' but not sold on yet. I really should get on that.)
Number of titles in collection: 3,689 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 965 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,724 [up 4]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 527 [up 3]
Number of discs in collection: 8,855 [up 10]
Number of films: 4,743 [up 6]
Number of additional cuts: 493 [up 3]
Number of TV episodes: 10,134 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,293 [no change]
See you next week, faithful reader.
Friday, 8 May 2026
Fiction
Swords Against Wizardry by Fritz Leiber
II. Stardock pp.52–65
It's a little ridiculous how many teeny-tiny pieces I've broken this single story down into over the past two weeks (started because I didn't have time to read the whole thing one evening but wanted to read some, and then just kinda continued from there). There are four more novella-length stories in the Lankhmar canon and (barring them having chapter breaks of their own) this isn't a division I intend to repeat... although, despite being classed as a similar length, two are actually 50% longer and one is over 2½ times as long, so maybe I shouldn't be so certain.
II. Stardock pp.52–65
It's a little ridiculous how many teeny-tiny pieces I've broken this single story down into over the past two weeks (started because I didn't have time to read the whole thing one evening but wanted to read some, and then just kinda continued from there). There are four more novella-length stories in the Lankhmar canon and (barring them having chapter breaks of their own) this isn't a division I intend to repeat... although, despite being classed as a similar length, two are actually 50% longer and one is over 2½ times as long, so maybe I shouldn't be so certain.
Video Games
Buffet Knight: Decadent Full Course
It's funny that the general narrative around video game prices is they're so expensive nowadays. Yeah, sure — if you're buying a AAA title when it's brand-new, and/or if you're locked into an ecosystem like the Nintendo Switch. On PC, however, almost everything's dirt cheap, especially if you're buying indie titles or waiting for sales and bundles. That's led me into the habit of just buying stuff. I mean, you can't go wrong if a game's only a quid or two, right? Even if you don't like it (or, even more likely, don't get round to playing it), it's pocket change.
Nonetheless, for some reason I decided to play the demo of this rather than just purchase it... and have really enjoyed it, so I'm gonna buy it. And because I've started it (and already sunk an hour-and-a-half into it, and only about finished the content in the demo in that time — it's a very generous trial!), I might just keep going with it — whereas if I'd outright bought it, I'd probably have just added it to my backlog. Funny old world, eh.
It's funny that the general narrative around video game prices is they're so expensive nowadays. Yeah, sure — if you're buying a AAA title when it's brand-new, and/or if you're locked into an ecosystem like the Nintendo Switch. On PC, however, almost everything's dirt cheap, especially if you're buying indie titles or waiting for sales and bundles. That's led me into the habit of just buying stuff. I mean, you can't go wrong if a game's only a quid or two, right? Even if you don't like it (or, even more likely, don't get round to playing it), it's pocket change.
Nonetheless, for some reason I decided to play the demo of this rather than just purchase it... and have really enjoyed it, so I'm gonna buy it. And because I've started it (and already sunk an hour-and-a-half into it, and only about finished the content in the demo in that time — it's a very generous trial!), I might just keep going with it — whereas if I'd outright bought it, I'd probably have just added it to my backlog. Funny old world, eh.
Thursday, 7 May 2026
Wednesday, 6 May 2026
Video Games
Bubumbu
Played the entire game again to mop up all achievements. First time was on my desktop Mac, this time on Steam Deck — if anything, I enjoyed playing it with trackpads more than with a mouse... although my thumb felt surprisingly tired afterwards.
(Also, you'll be pleased to hear that Bond reward turned up in my IOI account today. I've uninstalled Hitman again already, probably forever this time.)
Played the entire game again to mop up all achievements. First time was on my desktop Mac, this time on Steam Deck — if anything, I enjoyed playing it with trackpads more than with a mouse... although my thumb felt surprisingly tired afterwards.
(Also, you'll be pleased to hear that Bond reward turned up in my IOI account today. I've uninstalled Hitman again already, probably forever this time.)
Tuesday, 5 May 2026
Video Games
Hitman: World of Assassination
After my disastrous first attempt at this game, I never thought I'd be back; but, long story short, there's a free Bond tie-in level that, if you play it, unlocks a bonus in the forthcoming James Bond game, and I'm told all you have to do is "play it" in the sense of "start it" (as opposed to "complete it") to unlock the bonus — so I did that.
The content isn't in my account yet, but I guess it takes time to sync up — hopefully that's all it is, anyway, because I don't want to have to work out how to actually complete the level or something. I did also give the game a go again... in the sense that I actually finished the tutorial this time, before heading into the relevant content, where I wandered around a bit, realised I had no real idea what I was doing, got into a shootout, and kept firing 'til I got killed, because fuck this.
I hope the Bond game isn't too much like Hitman, because this isn't really my kinda fun.
After my disastrous first attempt at this game, I never thought I'd be back; but, long story short, there's a free Bond tie-in level that, if you play it, unlocks a bonus in the forthcoming James Bond game, and I'm told all you have to do is "play it" in the sense of "start it" (as opposed to "complete it") to unlock the bonus — so I did that.
The content isn't in my account yet, but I guess it takes time to sync up — hopefully that's all it is, anyway, because I don't want to have to work out how to actually complete the level or something. I did also give the game a go again... in the sense that I actually finished the tutorial this time, before heading into the relevant content, where I wandered around a bit, realised I had no real idea what I was doing, got into a shootout, and kept firing 'til I got killed, because fuck this.
I hope the Bond game isn't too much like Hitman, because this isn't really my kinda fun.
Monday, 4 May 2026
Sunday, 3 May 2026
TV
Richard Osman's House of Games
4x26 Week 6: Monday
4x27 Week 6: Tuesday
Having caught up, it's back to some old episodes I missed at the time and fortunately downloaded (because they've not been on iPlayer for ages).
Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady
Part 1 (of 2)
Part 2 (of 2)
4x26 Week 6: Monday
4x27 Week 6: Tuesday
Having caught up, it's back to some old episodes I missed at the time and fortunately downloaded (because they've not been on iPlayer for ages).
Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady
Part 1 (of 2)
Part 2 (of 2)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)