Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
A little pile of new additions this week, two new releases and a few sales pickups. Plus it's time again for the monthly running time update.
Number of titles in collection: 3,749 [up 6]
Of which DVDs: 959 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,790 [up 6]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 567 [up 1]
Number of discs in collection: 8,993 [up 6]
Number of films: 4,841 [up 6]
Number of additional cuts: 519 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 10,145 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,341 [up 4]
Total running time of collection (approx.):
625 days, 12 hours, and 35 minutes.
(Up 1 day, 11 hours, and 21 minutes from last month.)
See you next week, faithful reader.
Saturday, 10 October 2026
Friday, 9 October 2026
Thursday, 8 October 2026
Fiction
Vampire Hunter D by Hideyuki Kikuchi (translated by Kevin Leahy)
Chapter 1
Oh look, I’m starting another series! This is the first book in the Vampire Hunter D series (would you believe it!), which was adapted into the 1985 anime that I watched recently, which I’ve owned for a while but was inspired to finally put on because before that I’d picked up the whole series of novels as ebooks (well, the whole series that’s been translated into English — there’s an ever-growing pile that hasn’t been, unfortunately). It might seem daft to jump in like that, but… well, it’s the kind of thing I do. Besides, it was a dirt cheap bundle, and as ebooks they don’t take up any real space, so... But I do hope I like them. They seem like my kind of thing.
Chapter 1
Oh look, I’m starting another series! This is the first book in the Vampire Hunter D series (would you believe it!), which was adapted into the 1985 anime that I watched recently, which I’ve owned for a while but was inspired to finally put on because before that I’d picked up the whole series of novels as ebooks (well, the whole series that’s been translated into English — there’s an ever-growing pile that hasn’t been, unfortunately). It might seem daft to jump in like that, but… well, it’s the kind of thing I do. Besides, it was a dirt cheap bundle, and as ebooks they don’t take up any real space, so... But I do hope I like them. They seem like my kind of thing.
Wednesday, 7 October 2026
Fiction
The Legend of Drizzt: The Dark Elf Trilogy Book 1
Homeland by R.A. Salvatore
Chapters 25–29 [the end]
It took me a little while to warm up to this, but I enjoyed it a fair bit in the end. I'm not sure it ever fully transcends certain stereotypes of Fantasy fiction, but it's not a bad tale. Book 2 should be coming in my next delivery from the partwork, so I'll probably dive into it fairly quickly. (Hopefully the trilogy-concluding third volume won't be too far behind, though if they're cycling through all three trilogies they've started in issues 1–3, it won't be until at least the fourth delivery, likely in December.)
Homeland by R.A. Salvatore
Chapters 25–29 [the end]
It took me a little while to warm up to this, but I enjoyed it a fair bit in the end. I'm not sure it ever fully transcends certain stereotypes of Fantasy fiction, but it's not a bad tale. Book 2 should be coming in my next delivery from the partwork, so I'll probably dive into it fairly quickly. (Hopefully the trilogy-concluding third volume won't be too far behind, though if they're cycling through all three trilogies they've started in issues 1–3, it won't be until at least the fourth delivery, likely in December.)
Video Games
Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk...
Like so many random games I buy nowadays, I can't remember how I came across this; but it has Overwhelmingly Positive reviews on Steam and is only 62p in the sale. Made an effort to play it today (not much of an "effort" — it's a visual novel so mostly just clicking through, and it only took 20 minutes) because its sequel (Milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk...) is also Overwhelmingly Positive and only £1.54, and the sale ends tomorrow afternoon. I liked it enough to buy that too.
Like so many random games I buy nowadays, I can't remember how I came across this; but it has Overwhelmingly Positive reviews on Steam and is only 62p in the sale. Made an effort to play it today (not much of an "effort" — it's a visual novel so mostly just clicking through, and it only took 20 minutes) because its sequel (Milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk...) is also Overwhelmingly Positive and only £1.54, and the sale ends tomorrow afternoon. I liked it enough to buy that too.
Tuesday, 6 October 2026
Monday, 5 October 2026
Fiction
The Legend of Drizzt: The Dark Elf Trilogy Book 1
Homeland by R.A. Salvatore
Chapters 17–23
End of Part Four.
Homeland by R.A. Salvatore
Chapters 17–23
End of Part Four.
Sunday, 4 October 2026
Fiction
The Legend of Drizzt: The Dark Elf Trilogy Book 1
Homeland by R.A. Salvatore
Chapters 14–16
End of Part Three.
Homeland by R.A. Salvatore
Chapters 14–16
End of Part Three.
Video Games
Aperture Desk Job
Nearly two weeks after it arrived, I finally actually played something on my Steam Machine. And I started the same way as on my Deck: with Aperture Desk Job. Despite all Valve's talk of the Steam Controller having input parity with the Deck, this shows it's not true: it shows the wrong command for taking a screenshot (it timed out and auto-completed before I could remember the button combination); there's a bit that requires a microphone (the Controller doesn't have one and, again, it autocompletes in silence); there's a bit where you have to sign your name that I guess used the touchscreen on Deck but says to use the mouse with the Controller, only the trackpads don't work like they should (I'm not even sure how I managed to force my way past that bit in the end); and the gyro only works if you enable a user-created control scheme, not the official one from Valve themselves.
Bright Memory
I picked this because it's also short, listed as being an hour or less. Took me an hour-and-a-half. It's really my first experience of more modern-style combat in games, which involves dodging and using multipe types of attack with timed refresh, rather than just running around and shooting. I tried the latter a lot at first, and died a lot. Once I got the hang of dodging all the time I didn't die again to combat, only struggling with some awkward platforming sections (I maintain that first-person platforming is dumb), but I was still mostly button-mashing rather than really using my attacks in a planned way. Still, only my first hour-or-so with this style, so maybe I'll get used to it. I mean, I guess I'll have to, as I think a lot of more recent games are more like that, which is why some people complain about the older-style combat in games like Skyrim. I quite enjoyed it in the end, though its story is nonsensical (I'd say nonexistent, but I think it thinks it has one), and it kind of just stops and tells you you need to play the sequel. I do already have that, so I guess I'll try it at some point.
Nearly two weeks after it arrived, I finally actually played something on my Steam Machine. And I started the same way as on my Deck: with Aperture Desk Job. Despite all Valve's talk of the Steam Controller having input parity with the Deck, this shows it's not true: it shows the wrong command for taking a screenshot (it timed out and auto-completed before I could remember the button combination); there's a bit that requires a microphone (the Controller doesn't have one and, again, it autocompletes in silence); there's a bit where you have to sign your name that I guess used the touchscreen on Deck but says to use the mouse with the Controller, only the trackpads don't work like they should (I'm not even sure how I managed to force my way past that bit in the end); and the gyro only works if you enable a user-created control scheme, not the official one from Valve themselves.
Bright Memory
I picked this because it's also short, listed as being an hour or less. Took me an hour-and-a-half. It's really my first experience of more modern-style combat in games, which involves dodging and using multipe types of attack with timed refresh, rather than just running around and shooting. I tried the latter a lot at first, and died a lot. Once I got the hang of dodging all the time I didn't die again to combat, only struggling with some awkward platforming sections (I maintain that first-person platforming is dumb), but I was still mostly button-mashing rather than really using my attacks in a planned way. Still, only my first hour-or-so with this style, so maybe I'll get used to it. I mean, I guess I'll have to, as I think a lot of more recent games are more like that, which is why some people complain about the older-style combat in games like Skyrim. I quite enjoyed it in the end, though its story is nonsensical (I'd say nonexistent, but I think it thinks it has one), and it kind of just stops and tells you you need to play the sequel. I do already have that, so I guess I'll try it at some point.
Articles
‘Goodbye Whoniverse. God, that was fun!’: Russell T Davies on writing the end of Doctor Who
by Russell T Davies (from the Guardian)
More details about what went down as RTD2 came to an end, which is interesting.
by Russell T Davies (from the Guardian)
More details about what went down as RTD2 came to an end, which is interesting.
this week on 100Films.co.uk
Another month has passed us by, and so 100Films.co.uk pops up with a review of my September film viewing...
...as well as some of the things I didn't view...
More next month.
...as well as some of the things I didn't view...
More next month.
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