Swords in the Mist by Fritz Leiber
III. Their Mistress, the Sea
Wednesday, 25 February 2026
Video Games
Bael's Rock: A Text Adventure
4. The Duel of Wits
5. The Windows Sky-High
So far I've persisted until finishing a chapter each day, but I got stuck on Chapter 5 and didn't want to lean on the walkthrough too much (I've already had to resort to it a couple of times when I thought I knew what to do (and I was right) but couldn't work out what text to enter to make it happen).
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition
Monument Valley
Got this puzzle game free on Epic a little while ago; started playing it now because the Steam version is in a bundle with its DLC and I thought that might be better, but I needed to know if I liked it enough to pay for it. It's quite clever, but also clearly not made to be played with a controller — I believe it was originally a touchscreen phone game, and it feels like it. I could use the Deck's touchscreen, but I don't want to get finger smears all over it that'll annoy me when I play regular games. Might try installing it on my Mac and playing with mouse. Anyway, I doubt I'll be buying it — the free version, while less than ideal (getting it to run took more fiddling than it should have), will suffice for what it is.
4. The Duel of Wits
5. The Windows Sky-High
So far I've persisted until finishing a chapter each day, but I got stuck on Chapter 5 and didn't want to lean on the walkthrough too much (I've already had to resort to it a couple of times when I thought I knew what to do (and I was right) but couldn't work out what text to enter to make it happen).
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition
Monument Valley
Got this puzzle game free on Epic a little while ago; started playing it now because the Steam version is in a bundle with its DLC and I thought that might be better, but I needed to know if I liked it enough to pay for it. It's quite clever, but also clearly not made to be played with a controller — I believe it was originally a touchscreen phone game, and it feels like it. I could use the Deck's touchscreen, but I don't want to get finger smears all over it that'll annoy me when I play regular games. Might try installing it on my Mac and playing with mouse. Anyway, I doubt I'll be buying it — the free version, while less than ideal (getting it to run took more fiddling than it should have), will suffice for what it is.
Tuesday, 24 February 2026
Fiction
Swords in the Mist by Fritz Leiber
II. Lean Times in Lankhmar
I’ve enjoyed all the Lankhmar stories, to one degree or another (I’ve not read a bad one yet, but some are, of course, better than others), but I think this may be the greatest of all. So far, at least.
II. Lean Times in Lankhmar
I’ve enjoyed all the Lankhmar stories, to one degree or another (I’ve not read a bad one yet, but some are, of course, better than others), but I think this may be the greatest of all. So far, at least.
Monday, 23 February 2026
Video Games
Bael's Rock: A Text Adventure
1. The Ghosts of the Desert
2. The Trial of Hope
Picked this up during Steam's recent typing-related sale and decided to play it on my Steam Deck. Playing a typing game on the Steam Deck may sound a little ridiculous... and it is. But I kinda wanted to see if it would work, and... technically it does, but typing using the onscreen keyboard is a little slow. As you only need to do simple commands ("examine door", that kind of thing) it's ok, although you can't see the text entry box while you're writing, so that's a pain. But as the game has no Mac version, the Deck remains my best way to play this. Which is daft, but there you go.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition
Started this up today without a real goal in mind; thought I might just read all those notes that were dumped in my inventory by the Anniversary Edition and start the quests. Well, in the end I played for an hour... and actually did stuff! Started some of those quests. Progressed a few. Even finished some — gasp!
1. The Ghosts of the Desert
2. The Trial of Hope
Picked this up during Steam's recent typing-related sale and decided to play it on my Steam Deck. Playing a typing game on the Steam Deck may sound a little ridiculous... and it is. But I kinda wanted to see if it would work, and... technically it does, but typing using the onscreen keyboard is a little slow. As you only need to do simple commands ("examine door", that kind of thing) it's ok, although you can't see the text entry box while you're writing, so that's a pain. But as the game has no Mac version, the Deck remains my best way to play this. Which is daft, but there you go.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition
Started this up today without a real goal in mind; thought I might just read all those notes that were dumped in my inventory by the Anniversary Edition and start the quests. Well, in the end I played for an hour... and actually did stuff! Started some of those quests. Progressed a few. Even finished some — gasp!
Sunday, 22 February 2026
TV
Richard Osman's House of Games
9x66 Week 14: Monday
9x67 Week 14: Tuesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]
The Rookie
7x07 The Mickey
9x66 Week 14: Monday
9x67 Week 14: Tuesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]
The Rookie
7x07 The Mickey
Saturday, 21 February 2026
TV
How I Met Your Mother
1x15 Game Night [2nd watch]
Poker Face
2x04 The Taste of Human Blood
Richard Osman's House of Games
9x64 Week 13: Thursday
9x65 Week 13: Friday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]
The Rookie
7x06 The Gala
1x15 Game Night [2nd watch]
Poker Face
2x04 The Taste of Human Blood
Richard Osman's House of Games
9x64 Week 13: Thursday
9x65 Week 13: Friday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]
The Rookie
7x06 The Gala
Video Games
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition
Played for over 3 hours today. Still feel like I only got 'a few things' done. I crossed the 170-hour mark, too. Kinda hilarious to think I once balked at the idea it would take me at least 27 hours to complete this.
Played for over 3 hours today. Still feel like I only got 'a few things' done. I crossed the 170-hour mark, too. Kinda hilarious to think I once balked at the idea it would take me at least 27 hours to complete this.
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
Two new 4K releases this week: Arrow's edition of Excalibur, which replaces the HMV-exclusive Blu-ray, and Predator: Badlands. I feel like I've had a lot less stuff on preorder this year than usual, but there's still a regular trickle dropping in.
Number of titles in collection: 3,667 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 974 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,693 [up 1]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 508 [up 2]
Number of discs in collection: 8,806 [up 3]
Number of films: 4,706 [up 1]
Number of additional cuts: 484 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 10,163 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,282 [no change]
See you next week, faithful reader.
Two new 4K releases this week: Arrow's edition of Excalibur, which replaces the HMV-exclusive Blu-ray, and Predator: Badlands. I feel like I've had a lot less stuff on preorder this year than usual, but there's still a regular trickle dropping in.
Number of titles in collection: 3,667 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 974 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,693 [up 1]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 508 [up 2]
Number of discs in collection: 8,806 [up 3]
Number of films: 4,706 [up 1]
Number of additional cuts: 484 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 10,163 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,282 [no change]
See you next week, faithful reader.
Friday, 20 February 2026
TV
How I Met Your Mother
1x14 Zip, Zip, Zip [2nd watch]
Richard Osman's House of Games
9x61 Week 13: Monday
9x62 Week 13: Tuesday
9x63 Week 13: Wednesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]
The Rookie
7x05 Til Death
1x14 Zip, Zip, Zip [2nd watch]
Richard Osman's House of Games
9x61 Week 13: Monday
9x62 Week 13: Tuesday
9x63 Week 13: Wednesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]
The Rookie
7x05 Til Death
Video Games
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition
So, turns out I haven't actually been playing the Anniversary Edition since Monday due to some quirk of how it installs, but (after wasting a bunch of time fiddling today) I now am. First thing I did was buy a backpack — 75 extra carry weight, y'all! Second thing was bump into a courier who gave me a veritable pile of notes to kick off quest. Fun times!
So, turns out I haven't actually been playing the Anniversary Edition since Monday due to some quirk of how it installs, but (after wasting a bunch of time fiddling today) I now am. First thing I did was buy a backpack — 75 extra carry weight, y'all! Second thing was bump into a courier who gave me a veritable pile of notes to kick off quest. Fun times!
Thursday, 19 February 2026
TV
How I Met Your Mother
1x13 Drumroll, Please [2nd watch]
Richard Osman's House of Games
9x59 Week 12: Thursday
9x60 Week 12: Friday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]
1x13 Drumroll, Please [2nd watch]
Richard Osman's House of Games
9x59 Week 12: Thursday
9x60 Week 12: Friday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]
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