Critical Role
2x58 Wood and Steel [2nd half]
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, or Twitch, or Beacon.]
Saturday, 21 September 2024
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
Six additions this week, all new releases that are officially out on Monday. Those include three films from Japan (including the latest Miyazaki), two from Italy, and a box set of five from the UK. Half of them are Radiance titles — I always want basically everything Radiance puts out, and sometimes I have to force myself to find places to cut back (their last cycle of releases), and other times I can only give in and buy them all. (I'd save some money if I waited for sales and offers, but I'd also miss out on titles because their limited editions don't always last until they're on offer. I find it next to impossible to predict which will be speedy sell-outs and which will linger.)
Number of titles in collection: 3,378 [up 6]
Of which DVDs: 998 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,380 [up 6]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 390 [up 1]
Number of discs in collection: 8,129 [up 8]
Number of films: 4,173 [up 10]
Number of additional cuts: 397 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 9,800 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,165 [up 2]
See you next week, faithful reader.
Six additions this week, all new releases that are officially out on Monday. Those include three films from Japan (including the latest Miyazaki), two from Italy, and a box set of five from the UK. Half of them are Radiance titles — I always want basically everything Radiance puts out, and sometimes I have to force myself to find places to cut back (their last cycle of releases), and other times I can only give in and buy them all. (I'd save some money if I waited for sales and offers, but I'd also miss out on titles because their limited editions don't always last until they're on offer. I find it next to impossible to predict which will be speedy sell-outs and which will linger.)
Number of titles in collection: 3,378 [up 6]
Of which DVDs: 998 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,380 [up 6]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 390 [up 1]
Number of discs in collection: 8,129 [up 8]
Number of films: 4,173 [up 10]
Number of additional cuts: 397 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 9,800 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,165 [up 2]
See you next week, faithful reader.
Friday, 20 September 2024
TV
X-Men
3x16 The Dark Phoenix, Part III The Dark Phoenix
3x17 The Dark Phoenix, Part IV The Fate of the Phoenix
3x16 The Dark Phoenix, Part III The Dark Phoenix
3x17 The Dark Phoenix, Part IV The Fate of the Phoenix
Music
Yesterwynde
by Nightwish
It's almost four-and-a-half years since the last Nightwish album — as I wrote back then, I'll always buy a new one, though how many times I'll listen to it is another matter. For example, the one before last I've still only listened to twice in full, though a pair of standout tracks have received almost 350 plays between them. The last one, though... three times in full (four times for CD1, but only three for the multipart 'single piece' on CD2), and no standout tracks, apparently. But the last time I listened to any of it was back in May 2020, the month after it came out, so I ought to give it another go.
Anyway, for now, back to the new one — which, based on another bit of trivia I observed last time, is the first Nightwish album in 24 years where none of the tracks are over ten minutes long! One is nine-and-a-half, though, and most are over five minutes (which, I dunno, doesn't sound long in isolation, but apparently radio-friendly music is getting shorter and shorter; Eurovision still caps tracks at three minutes; and 'back in the day' Queen were warned Bohemian Rhapsody wouldn't get any play because it was over five minutes — so, y'know, it's still moderately long as songs go).
Anyway, first impressions are that it's broadly typical Nightwish fare, for good or ill — no tracks particularly stood out to me, but none were remarkably terrible either (and, to be honest, Nightwish have often offered an immediately-spotted slightly-embarrassing dud or two per album before now, so it's nice there's nothing of that nature).
by Nightwish
It's almost four-and-a-half years since the last Nightwish album — as I wrote back then, I'll always buy a new one, though how many times I'll listen to it is another matter. For example, the one before last I've still only listened to twice in full, though a pair of standout tracks have received almost 350 plays between them. The last one, though... three times in full (four times for CD1, but only three for the multipart 'single piece' on CD2), and no standout tracks, apparently. But the last time I listened to any of it was back in May 2020, the month after it came out, so I ought to give it another go.
Anyway, for now, back to the new one — which, based on another bit of trivia I observed last time, is the first Nightwish album in 24 years where none of the tracks are over ten minutes long! One is nine-and-a-half, though, and most are over five minutes (which, I dunno, doesn't sound long in isolation, but apparently radio-friendly music is getting shorter and shorter; Eurovision still caps tracks at three minutes; and 'back in the day' Queen were warned Bohemian Rhapsody wouldn't get any play because it was over five minutes — so, y'know, it's still moderately long as songs go).
Anyway, first impressions are that it's broadly typical Nightwish fare, for good or ill — no tracks particularly stood out to me, but none were remarkably terrible either (and, to be honest, Nightwish have often offered an immediately-spotted slightly-embarrassing dud or two per album before now, so it's nice there's nothing of that nature).
Thursday, 19 September 2024
TV
X-Men
3x14 Dark Phoenix, Part I Dazzled
3x15 Dark Phoenix, Part II The Inner Circle
I'm finding this to be superior to the original Phoenix arc, even with "kiddie TV show" changes (they had to rename the Hellfire Club to the Inner Circle).
3x14 Dark Phoenix, Part I Dazzled
3x15 Dark Phoenix, Part II The Inner Circle
I'm finding this to be superior to the original Phoenix arc, even with "kiddie TV show" changes (they had to rename the Hellfire Club to the Inner Circle).
Videos
Critical Role
2x57 In Love and War [2nd half]
"Chemistry's good, baby, but killin's better."
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, or Twitch, or Beacon.]
Talks Machina
#106 'In Love and War'
[Watch it (again) on Internet Archive.]
2x57 In Love and War [2nd half]
"Chemistry's good, baby, but killin's better."
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, or Twitch, or Beacon.]
Talks Machina
#106 'In Love and War'
[Watch it (again) on Internet Archive.]
Wednesday, 18 September 2024
Videos
Critical Role
2x57 In Love and War [1st half]
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, or Twitch, or Beacon.]
Talks Machina
#105 'The Favor'
[Watch it (again) on Internet Archive.]
2x57 In Love and War [1st half]
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, or Twitch, or Beacon.]
Talks Machina
#105 'The Favor'
[Watch it (again) on Internet Archive.]
Tuesday, 17 September 2024
Monday, 16 September 2024
Sunday, 15 September 2024
Audio Drama
Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor Adventures
The Stuff of Legend Part 1
The Stuff of Legend Part 2
This is the Big Finish 25th anniversary production that was performed live in London this weekend (twice yesterday, twice today — an expanded number of performances because of demand). Obviously I didn't go, but they released the studio-recorded version simultaneously for those who preordered it, so I thought I'd give it a listen in... solidarity? Not quite the right concept, but anyway.
The Stuff of Legend Part 1
The Stuff of Legend Part 2
This is the Big Finish 25th anniversary production that was performed live in London this weekend (twice yesterday, twice today — an expanded number of performances because of demand). Obviously I didn't go, but they released the studio-recorded version simultaneously for those who preordered it, so I thought I'd give it a listen in... solidarity? Not quite the right concept, but anyway.
Comics
2000 AD #2390
The Uncanny X-Men #1 by Gail Simone & David Marquez
The next part in the "From the Ashes" X-relaunch is volume 6 of Uncanny. (Random point: this comic is always referred to as just Uncanny X-Men, including by Marvel themselves, but there's a The at the front of the title; it's right there on all the covers. Hardly a big deal, I know, but it's still kinda weird that even the official listings by the publisher don't acknowledge that, when they're the ones who put it there.)
Anyway, these issues have the same problem faced by so many in-continuity relaunches: having to acknowledge the previous events that were so affecting they caused enough change to provoke a renumbering, while also trying to keep things simple and appealing enough for new readers. The two I've read so far have handled that reasonably well — it's clear Stuff Has Happened, but I still enjoyed what I read.
That said: absolute beginners would be completely lost — you still need some idea of who the X-Men and the main characters are to even attempt these books. Indeed, this one feels aimed specifically at fans of the animated series, as it stars most of the fan-favourite characters from that show. I don't know if that was deliberate, but with X-Men '97 launching recently too, it does feel like a conscious choice.
The Uncanny X-Men #1 by Gail Simone & David Marquez
The next part in the "From the Ashes" X-relaunch is volume 6 of Uncanny. (Random point: this comic is always referred to as just Uncanny X-Men, including by Marvel themselves, but there's a The at the front of the title; it's right there on all the covers. Hardly a big deal, I know, but it's still kinda weird that even the official listings by the publisher don't acknowledge that, when they're the ones who put it there.)
Anyway, these issues have the same problem faced by so many in-continuity relaunches: having to acknowledge the previous events that were so affecting they caused enough change to provoke a renumbering, while also trying to keep things simple and appealing enough for new readers. The two I've read so far have handled that reasonably well — it's clear Stuff Has Happened, but I still enjoyed what I read.
That said: absolute beginners would be completely lost — you still need some idea of who the X-Men and the main characters are to even attempt these books. Indeed, this one feels aimed specifically at fans of the animated series, as it stars most of the fan-favourite characters from that show. I don't know if that was deliberate, but with X-Men '97 launching recently too, it does feel like a conscious choice.
Games
Fighting Fantasy
Shadow of the Giants by Ian Livingstone
Continuing my second attempt — and, this time, completing it. I didn't actually expect to finish: I'd been waiting for a good place to pause, and suddenly I found myself in the finale and I thought I might as well finish. All in, it took me about two-and-a-half hours to complete. I know I missed some sections (there's a whole optional fight with a dragon, for example), but I guess that's in the nature of these types of books — you don't see everything in one go-through (well, I could've, but I didn't).
What does continue to slightly bug me is how I only won because I happened to make the correct arbitrary choice in some moments. I looked at some alternate pathways later, and some of them end your adventure prematurely 'just because'. Again, I get that it's a limitation of the format (otherwise the books would probably spiral out of control to hundreds or thousands of pages), but if you don't have space to write a convincing alternative pathway, maybe don't bother?
Example: at one point you're meant to team up with another character as you head out on a mission. I did, and so was able to complete the book. What if you don't team up with him? Can you still complete it, but it's more challenging? No. Can you have a crack at it but, ultimately, you need his support? No. Instead, with in a choice or two, the book has your character either do something stupid or encounter a random event that kills you. To me, that's not playing fair. You're punished and lose because the book doesn't have time/room to provide an alternative pathway, not thanks to the consequences of your actions. No wonder they emphasise the "one true path" thing — the only way you can spin that as fair is via some fate-esque "you must make all the right choices at key moments to bring the good outcome" ideology.
That said, it's still fun — it just makes me think it's less "cheating" and more "how you have to play to succeed" to do that thing where you remember paragraph numbers and flip back a bit if you get an unfavourable outcome. After all, if the book isn't playing fair with you, why should you play fair with it?
Shadow of the Giants by Ian Livingstone
Continuing my second attempt — and, this time, completing it. I didn't actually expect to finish: I'd been waiting for a good place to pause, and suddenly I found myself in the finale and I thought I might as well finish. All in, it took me about two-and-a-half hours to complete. I know I missed some sections (there's a whole optional fight with a dragon, for example), but I guess that's in the nature of these types of books — you don't see everything in one go-through (well, I could've, but I didn't).
What does continue to slightly bug me is how I only won because I happened to make the correct arbitrary choice in some moments. I looked at some alternate pathways later, and some of them end your adventure prematurely 'just because'. Again, I get that it's a limitation of the format (otherwise the books would probably spiral out of control to hundreds or thousands of pages), but if you don't have space to write a convincing alternative pathway, maybe don't bother?
Example: at one point you're meant to team up with another character as you head out on a mission. I did, and so was able to complete the book. What if you don't team up with him? Can you still complete it, but it's more challenging? No. Can you have a crack at it but, ultimately, you need his support? No. Instead, with in a choice or two, the book has your character either do something stupid or encounter a random event that kills you. To me, that's not playing fair. You're punished and lose because the book doesn't have time/room to provide an alternative pathway, not thanks to the consequences of your actions. No wonder they emphasise the "one true path" thing — the only way you can spin that as fair is via some fate-esque "you must make all the right choices at key moments to bring the good outcome" ideology.
That said, it's still fun — it just makes me think it's less "cheating" and more "how you have to play to succeed" to do that thing where you remember paragraph numbers and flip back a bit if you get an unfavourable outcome. After all, if the book isn't playing fair with you, why should you play fair with it?
Videos
Critical Role
2x55 Duplicity [2nd half]
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, or Twitch, or Beacon.]
Talks Machina
#104 'Duplicity'
[Watch it (again) on Internet Archive.]
2x55 Duplicity [2nd half]
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, or Twitch, or Beacon.]
Talks Machina
#104 'Duplicity'
[Watch it (again) on Internet Archive.]
this week on 100Films.co.uk
Oh my God, it's finally happened — for the first time since May, a new review was published to 100Films.co.uk this week! And it was of something I watched recently too, which is a first since April. And it was...
The Swordsman of All Swordsmen (1968)
More next Sunday? You never know!
The Swordsman of All Swordsmen (1968)
The film runs a tight 85 minutes, and in that time manages to pack in seven sword fights and still find room for some honour-based moral conflict. The action comes thick and fast (that’s an average of a fresh duel starting every 12 minutes, maths fans) but remains thrilling throughout.Read more here.
More next Sunday? You never know!
Saturday, 14 September 2024
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