Dune: Part Two (2024)
[#17 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2024]
Friday, 1 March 2024
Videos
Critical Role
2x01 Curious Beginnings [1st half]
Yes, I have decided to dive in to the phenomenon that is Critical Role. (If you’ve never heard of it, or have but don’t really know what it is, I’ll spare you my introduction and let you read up for yourself.) (I’ll also spare you my usual long-winded explanation of how I first heard of it and what made me decide to start now.)
What I will say is a bit on why I decided to start here, the beginning of Campaign Two. There’s a lot of episodes of this show, and most run four hours or longer. In total, Campaign One clocks in at 450 hours, Campaign Two hits 565 hours, and there are a few spinoffs and one-shots too. Therefore, I thought I’d start with the currently-running Campaign Three and try to catch up to real-time. Then I realised that campaign is already 85 episodes in, which adds up to almost 352 hours of viewing. Even if you watched one hour a day every day, it would take almost a whole year to watch what’s already happened — by which time there’d be another 160+ hours. Plus, it seems like there’s been some debate and/or controversy about the quality of this campaign compared to previous ones.
All of which made me decide just to dive into the past and start with Campaign Two, which is one of the most-recommended jumping-on points. I just have to accept that, if I like it and keep going, it’s going to be a very (very) long time before I’m caught up…
Oh, and, as I said, the episodes are like four hours long. Ain't doin' all that in one sitting (yet).
[Watch it (again) on YouTube.]
2x01 Curious Beginnings [1st half]
Yes, I have decided to dive in to the phenomenon that is Critical Role. (If you’ve never heard of it, or have but don’t really know what it is, I’ll spare you my introduction and let you read up for yourself.) (I’ll also spare you my usual long-winded explanation of how I first heard of it and what made me decide to start now.)
What I will say is a bit on why I decided to start here, the beginning of Campaign Two. There’s a lot of episodes of this show, and most run four hours or longer. In total, Campaign One clocks in at 450 hours, Campaign Two hits 565 hours, and there are a few spinoffs and one-shots too. Therefore, I thought I’d start with the currently-running Campaign Three and try to catch up to real-time. Then I realised that campaign is already 85 episodes in, which adds up to almost 352 hours of viewing. Even if you watched one hour a day every day, it would take almost a whole year to watch what’s already happened — by which time there’d be another 160+ hours. Plus, it seems like there’s been some debate and/or controversy about the quality of this campaign compared to previous ones.
All of which made me decide just to dive into the past and start with Campaign Two, which is one of the most-recommended jumping-on points. I just have to accept that, if I like it and keep going, it’s going to be a very (very) long time before I’m caught up…
Oh, and, as I said, the episodes are like four hours long. Ain't doin' all that in one sitting (yet).
[Watch it (again) on YouTube.]
Thursday, 29 February 2024
Films
Wild Tales (2014)
[#16 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2024]
"What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...?" 2024 #2
[#16 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2024]
"What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...?" 2024 #2
Monday, 26 February 2024
Games
The Leaf Riders of Wrenwood
20–26 February 2024
Once again, intended to catch up with this on Sunday but failed, so am doing it today instead. I think I need to put more of an effort into playing it daily.
20–26 February 2024
Once again, intended to catch up with this on Sunday but failed, so am doing it today instead. I think I need to put more of an effort into playing it daily.
Sunday, 25 February 2024
Films
Dune: Part One 3D (2021)
[2nd watch]
[#14 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2024]
+ several featurettes from the Blu-ray's special features
[2nd watch]
[#14 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2024]
+ several featurettes from the Blu-ray's special features
Podcasts
The Rest Is Entertainment
1x16 The secrets of 'blurb quotes' on books and who is to blame when a guest goes rogue?
1x18 What has happened to sketch shows and what doesn't Richard like on TV?
Stumbled across this on YouTube, in fact (I guess it's a promo tool / extra means of 'reach' nowadays to post videos of your podcast on YT), but I don't know why I haven't heard of it sooner because it's right up my street: behind the scenes insights into the entertainment (mainly TV, film, and publishing) industries. (Turns out it only started in December, so I'm not that out of the loop. Just three months. There's a good review from the Guardian of the first episode that nails why it works.)
These two episodes seemed particularly interesting (hence why they're the ones I listened to) because they're answering listeners' questions, so they cover multiple topics that people wonder about, including me. Some stuff covered I already knew, but some stuff I learnt more about. Great. I've subscribed now.
1x16 The secrets of 'blurb quotes' on books and who is to blame when a guest goes rogue?
1x18 What has happened to sketch shows and what doesn't Richard like on TV?
Stumbled across this on YouTube, in fact (I guess it's a promo tool / extra means of 'reach' nowadays to post videos of your podcast on YT), but I don't know why I haven't heard of it sooner because it's right up my street: behind the scenes insights into the entertainment (mainly TV, film, and publishing) industries. (Turns out it only started in December, so I'm not that out of the loop. Just three months. There's a good review from the Guardian of the first episode that nails why it works.)
These two episodes seemed particularly interesting (hence why they're the ones I listened to) because they're answering listeners' questions, so they cover multiple topics that people wonder about, including me. Some stuff covered I already knew, but some stuff I learnt more about. Great. I've subscribed now.
this week on 100Films.co.uk
1 new review was published to 100Films.co.uk this week...
The Kid Detective (2020)
More next Sunday.
The Kid Detective (2020)
everything I expected it to be and more. It’s a successfully amusing extrapolation of its premise. It kind of has to be a comedy, because the basic idea is too silly to take seriously in the ‘real world’, and it manages that without tipping over into farce. But, somewhat remarkably, it’s also a solid mystery in its own right, with a surprisingly moving conclusion. It’s a balancing act that shows the validity of comedy-drama (aka dramedy) as a tone.Read more here.
More next Sunday.
Saturday, 24 February 2024
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
A few additions this week, all of them brand new releases, which is always fun. Well, except for my bank balance. Indeed, my preorder list is looking the lightest it has for many, many months right now — not because nothing's coming out, but because so much has come out that I need to replenish my funds before I can order more!
Number of titles in collection: 3,244 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,016 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,228 [up 4]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 329 [no change]
Number of discs in collection: 7,885 [up 5]
Number of films: 3,987 [up 5]
Number of additional cuts: 357 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 9,678 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,128 [no change]
It's also that time of the month again already: a running time update!
Total running time of collection (approx.):
555 days, 2 hours, and 3 minutes.
(Up 1 day, 4 hours, and 9 minutes from last month.)
See you next week, faithful reader.
A few additions this week, all of them brand new releases, which is always fun. Well, except for my bank balance. Indeed, my preorder list is looking the lightest it has for many, many months right now — not because nothing's coming out, but because so much has come out that I need to replenish my funds before I can order more!
Number of titles in collection: 3,244 [up 4]
Of which DVDs: 1,016 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,228 [up 4]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 329 [no change]
Number of discs in collection: 7,885 [up 5]
Number of films: 3,987 [up 5]
Number of additional cuts: 357 [up 1]
Number of TV episodes: 9,678 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,128 [no change]
It's also that time of the month again already: a running time update!
Total running time of collection (approx.):
555 days, 2 hours, and 3 minutes.
(Up 1 day, 4 hours, and 9 minutes from last month.)
See you next week, faithful reader.
Friday, 23 February 2024
Videos
Shuffle Up & Play
4 Rhystic Studies Can Only Afford A Pauper Deck
[Watch it (again) on YouTube.]
Spice8Rack
The Game Design GENIUS of Un-Sets & the Silver Border
[Watch it (again) on YouTube.]
I often struggle to find time to even watch a short feature film, or even TV shows, but I can do almost three hours of Magic the Gathering videos on YouTube? Well, there are reasons for that (don't tell my day job about this...)
It all started because I saw a small clip of the first video (YouTube has a name for those TikTok-esque short excerpts, I'm sure, but I have no idea what it is), then decided to watch the whole thing; and after it was over, I ended up looking up one of the player's own channels, which led to the second video. Frankly, I never expected to watch all of it at that length (I'm not that into Magic), but I did, and I ended up ordering another Magic set because of it. So idle YouTubing cost me almost £35. Thanks, YouTube.
4 Rhystic Studies Can Only Afford A Pauper Deck
[Watch it (again) on YouTube.]
Spice8Rack
The Game Design GENIUS of Un-Sets & the Silver Border
[Watch it (again) on YouTube.]
I often struggle to find time to even watch a short feature film, or even TV shows, but I can do almost three hours of Magic the Gathering videos on YouTube? Well, there are reasons for that (don't tell my day job about this...)
It all started because I saw a small clip of the first video (YouTube has a name for those TikTok-esque short excerpts, I'm sure, but I have no idea what it is), then decided to watch the whole thing; and after it was over, I ended up looking up one of the player's own channels, which led to the second video. Frankly, I never expected to watch all of it at that length (I'm not that into Magic), but I did, and I ended up ordering another Magic set because of it. So idle YouTubing cost me almost £35. Thanks, YouTube.
Thursday, 22 February 2024
Films
Official Secrets (2019)
[2nd watch]
...sort of. Like Sully and Crazy Rich Asians last year, I came upon this on TV and half-watched a significant chunk of it; not really enough to properly count as a rewatch, but too much to ignore.
[2nd watch]
...sort of. Like Sully and Crazy Rich Asians last year, I came upon this on TV and half-watched a significant chunk of it; not really enough to properly count as a rewatch, but too much to ignore.
Wednesday, 21 February 2024
TV
Blackadder II
2x01 Bells [2nd watch]
As I wrote when I started series 1, I first saw Blackadder in the late '90s, starting with series 2... and I suspect that's when I last saw it too, because surely any future rewatch would've included series 1? Hence only "2nd watch" here, despite this all feeling pretty familiar. It's also hilarious — my memory didn't cheat; and series 1 is definitely the lesser. Looking forward to rewatching the rest, plus a couple of special episodes I've also never seen.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
World's Most Dangerous Roads
5x01 Italy
Stumbled across this on TV and got sucked in. Assumed it was an old repeat (because I vaguely remember the series from its original run on the BBC, which was back in the early 2010s, and didn't know Dave had made more last year), but turns out it's basically new (this was a repeat, but it only premiered on Sunday). Not that I'm going to start watching the whole series, but this was quite engrossing and interesting.
[Watch it (again) on UKTV Play.]
2x01 Bells [2nd watch]
As I wrote when I started series 1, I first saw Blackadder in the late '90s, starting with series 2... and I suspect that's when I last saw it too, because surely any future rewatch would've included series 1? Hence only "2nd watch" here, despite this all feeling pretty familiar. It's also hilarious — my memory didn't cheat; and series 1 is definitely the lesser. Looking forward to rewatching the rest, plus a couple of special episodes I've also never seen.
[Watch it (again) on iPlayer.]
World's Most Dangerous Roads
5x01 Italy
Stumbled across this on TV and got sucked in. Assumed it was an old repeat (because I vaguely remember the series from its original run on the BBC, which was back in the early 2010s, and didn't know Dave had made more last year), but turns out it's basically new (this was a repeat, but it only premiered on Sunday). Not that I'm going to start watching the whole series, but this was quite engrossing and interesting.
[Watch it (again) on UKTV Play.]
Non-Fiction
The Art of Brevity by Grant Faulkner
Foreword by Megan Giddings
Introduction
Another non-fiction book! This one is subtitled Crafting the Very Short Story, which makes it sound like a writing craft book, though in the introduction Faulkner insists it isn't really. But it also has writing exercises in every chapter, so it also kinda is.
Foreword by Megan Giddings
Introduction
Another non-fiction book! This one is subtitled Crafting the Very Short Story, which makes it sound like a writing craft book, though in the introduction Faulkner insists it isn't really. But it also has writing exercises in every chapter, so it also kinda is.
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