Lifeforce (1985)
[#27 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]
Saturday, 8 March 2025
Games
Roadwarden (demo)
Can't remember what first brought this game to my attention, but I've had the demo waiting for a while now — at one point I nearly played it to decide about a purchase of the full game while it was on sale, but I ran out of time before the offer ended... but then it seems to be permanently on sale anyway, so I haven't had a real motivator besides general interest (and I have tonnes of games waiting to be played at that level).
Still, something made me finally boot it up today, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's a retro-styled text-driven (with some isometric pixel art) RPG. Lots of world building info and lore, which is engrossing. Really feels like an RPG, not just some kind of fighting game with some basic stats skinned over the top, or something. Anyway, I liked it enough that I've bought the full thing without even completing the demo (because it seems to be fairly extensive for a demo (I played for almost an hour and a half and didn't feel like it was about to stop me progressing any further), and I presumed I'd have to re-play everything I've already done in the full game anyway. It will actually let me load my demo save, but it also has a note about a new improvement patch not working on old saves, so I think I will start from scratch.)
Can't remember what first brought this game to my attention, but I've had the demo waiting for a while now — at one point I nearly played it to decide about a purchase of the full game while it was on sale, but I ran out of time before the offer ended... but then it seems to be permanently on sale anyway, so I haven't had a real motivator besides general interest (and I have tonnes of games waiting to be played at that level).
Still, something made me finally boot it up today, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's a retro-styled text-driven (with some isometric pixel art) RPG. Lots of world building info and lore, which is engrossing. Really feels like an RPG, not just some kind of fighting game with some basic stats skinned over the top, or something. Anyway, I liked it enough that I've bought the full thing without even completing the demo (because it seems to be fairly extensive for a demo (I played for almost an hour and a half and didn't feel like it was about to stop me progressing any further), and I presumed I'd have to re-play everything I've already done in the full game anyway. It will actually let me load my demo save, but it also has a note about a new improvement patch not working on old saves, so I think I will start from scratch.)
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
Number of titles in collection: 3,485 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 987 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,498 [up 3]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 442 [up 1]
Number of discs in collection: 8,396 [up 5]
Number of films: 4,420 [up 3]
Number of additional cuts: 439 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 9,871 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,225 [up 1]
See you next week, faithful reader.
Number of titles in collection: 3,485 [up 3]
Of which DVDs: 987 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,498 [up 3]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 442 [up 1]
Number of discs in collection: 8,396 [up 5]
Number of films: 4,420 [up 3]
Number of additional cuts: 439 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 9,871 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,225 [up 1]
See you next week, faithful reader.
Friday, 7 March 2025
Videos
Critical Role
2x90 Bathhouses and Bastions [2nd half]
I love these guys, but jeez, they're bad at politics. Any time they're in front of a ruler or some such, they're so busy trying to make speeches or sound intelligent that they skip over vital information and the arguments they're trying to make ping all over the place. Matt's kindness is almost palpable as he tries to redirect them back to the point, or simply lets the NPCs ignore what they *actually* said in favour of keeping the important parts moving. It's somewhat in character for the Nein, at least, but I'm not convinced it's wholly a character choice.
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
Talks Machina
#137 'Lingering Wounds' & 'Bathhouses and Bastions'
[Watch it (again) on Internet Archive.]
2x90 Bathhouses and Bastions [2nd half]
I love these guys, but jeez, they're bad at politics. Any time they're in front of a ruler or some such, they're so busy trying to make speeches or sound intelligent that they skip over vital information and the arguments they're trying to make ping all over the place. Matt's kindness is almost palpable as he tries to redirect them back to the point, or simply lets the NPCs ignore what they *actually* said in favour of keeping the important parts moving. It's somewhat in character for the Nein, at least, but I'm not convinced it's wholly a character choice.
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
Talks Machina
#137 'Lingering Wounds' & 'Bathhouses and Bastions'
[Watch it (again) on Internet Archive.]
Thursday, 6 March 2025
Videos
Critical Role
2x90 Bathhouses and Bastions [1st half]
Welcome to 2020! I'm sure it's going to be a great year...
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
Critical Role Cooldown
Daggerheart Ep 2: The Menagerie Returns!
[Watch it (again) on Beacon.]
2x90 Bathhouses and Bastions [1st half]
Welcome to 2020! I'm sure it's going to be a great year...
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
Critical Role Cooldown
Daggerheart Ep 2: The Menagerie Returns!
[Watch it (again) on Beacon.]
Wednesday, 5 March 2025
Videos
Critical Role
The Menagerie Returns! [2nd half]
Cliffhanger ending! Good thing there's a third one.
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
The Menagerie Returns! [2nd half]
Cliffhanger ending! Good thing there's a third one.
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
Tuesday, 4 March 2025
Videos
Critical Role
The Menagerie Returns! [1st half]
Watch the Menagerie level up to L4 on YouTube or Beacon (if you like basically just hanging out with the CR cast for 25 minutes), which is where they start this second adventure. (I watched the first almost six months ago — where does time go?!)
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
The Menagerie Returns! [1st half]
Watch the Menagerie level up to L4 on YouTube or Beacon (if you like basically just hanging out with the CR cast for 25 minutes), which is where they start this second adventure. (I watched the first almost six months ago — where does time go?!)
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
Monday, 3 March 2025
TV
The 97th Annual Academy Awards
aka the Oscars — the actual ceremony this time. I thought it was fine — nothing bad happened; nothing really great or surprising. Conan was an adequate host: some jokes landed, some didn't; nothing really bombed, but nothing really shone.
[Watch it (again) on ITVX.]
Friends
6x03 The One with Ross's Denial [5th or so watch]
6x04 The One Where Joey Loses His Insurance [5th or so watch]
6x05 The One with Joey's Porsche [5th or so watch]
aka the Oscars — the actual ceremony this time. I thought it was fine — nothing bad happened; nothing really great or surprising. Conan was an adequate host: some jokes landed, some didn't; nothing really bombed, but nothing really shone.
[Watch it (again) on ITVX.]
Friends
6x03 The One with Ross's Denial [5th or so watch]
6x04 The One Where Joey Loses His Insurance [5th or so watch]
6x05 The One with Joey's Porsche [5th or so watch]
Sunday, 2 March 2025
TV
The 97th Annual Academy Awards
aka the Oscars... though not the ceremony itself, because that starts at midnight, but an hour-and-a-half of build-up on UK TV.
[Watch a selection of Oscars-related programmes and films on ITVX.]
Friends
6x01 The One After Vegas [5th or so watch]
6x02 The One Where Ross Hugs Rachel [5th or so watch]
Towards Zero
Part 1 (of 3)
Part 2 (of 3)
Part 3 (of 3)
[Watch the whole series (again) on iPlayer.]
aka the Oscars... though not the ceremony itself, because that starts at midnight, but an hour-and-a-half of build-up on UK TV.
[Watch a selection of Oscars-related programmes and films on ITVX.]
Friends
6x01 The One After Vegas [5th or so watch]
6x02 The One Where Ross Hugs Rachel [5th or so watch]
Towards Zero
Part 1 (of 3)
Part 2 (of 3)
Part 3 (of 3)
[Watch the whole series (again) on iPlayer.]
Saturday, 1 March 2025
Films
Hooray for Hollywood (1982)
[#25 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]
Never Back Losers (1961)
[#23 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]
Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962)
[#24 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]
[#25 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]
Never Back Losers (1961)
[#23 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]
Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962)
[#24 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]
Videos
No actual videos watched today, but I wanted to mark the occasion nonetheless, because today is the first anniversary* of my getting into Critical Role. In that time, I've watched 356 hours of Campaign 2, 105 hours of Talks Machina, multiple Daggerheart-based one-shots and related levelling-up videos, and untold hours of clips and other bits & pieces on YouTube that I don't log on here because, c'mon, that would be insane (even more insane than the entire exercise of this blog is in the first place).
As I mentioned last time I actually watched an episode, I've still got a long way to go until I'm caught up (over 200 more hours of C2 itself, never mind Talks, one-shots, and miniseries that I want to watch) — but with Campaign 4 on the horizon, it may not be too long before I just jump ahead to 'live' so I don't feel so out of touch.
* Something I regret about that inaugural post: "I’ll spare you my usual long-winded explanation of how I first heard of it and what made me decide to start now." It seemed smart at the time, but I've long since forgotten what exactly drove me to start watching it (and how much I'd heard of it before), and I wish I could remember. Thwarted myself there.
As I mentioned last time I actually watched an episode, I've still got a long way to go until I'm caught up (over 200 more hours of C2 itself, never mind Talks, one-shots, and miniseries that I want to watch) — but with Campaign 4 on the horizon, it may not be too long before I just jump ahead to 'live' so I don't feel so out of touch.
* Something I regret about that inaugural post: "I’ll spare you my usual long-winded explanation of how I first heard of it and what made me decide to start now." It seemed smart at the time, but I've long since forgotten what exactly drove me to start watching it (and how much I'd heard of it before), and I wish I could remember. Thwarted myself there.
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
Fun times with maths this week: six new titles arrived, including a DVD-to-4K upgrade, a BD-to-4K upgrade, and a classic Doctor Who season set that upgrades a Blu-ray and a DVD, but is questionable about two other DVDs. Here's how that panned out...
Number of titles in collection: 3,482 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 987 [down 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,495 [up 4]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 441 [up 5]
Number of discs in collection: 8,391 [up 9]
Number of films: 4,417 [up 3]
Number of additional cuts: 439 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 9,871 [up 13]
Number of short films: 1,224 [no change]
See you next week, faithful reader.
Fun times with maths this week: six new titles arrived, including a DVD-to-4K upgrade, a BD-to-4K upgrade, and a classic Doctor Who season set that upgrades a Blu-ray and a DVD, but is questionable about two other DVDs. Here's how that panned out...
Number of titles in collection: 3,482 [up 2]
Of which DVDs: 987 [down 2]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,495 [up 4]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 441 [up 5]
Number of discs in collection: 8,391 [up 9]
Number of films: 4,417 [up 3]
Number of additional cuts: 439 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 9,871 [up 13]
Number of short films: 1,224 [no change]
See you next week, faithful reader.
Friday, 28 February 2025
TV
Friends
5x22 The One with Joey's Big Break [5th or so watch]
5x23 The One in Vegas Part 1 [5th or so watch]
5x24 The One in Vegas Part 2 [season finale; 5th or so watch]
5x22 The One with Joey's Big Break [5th or so watch]
5x23 The One in Vegas Part 1 [5th or so watch]
5x24 The One in Vegas Part 2 [season finale; 5th or so watch]
Thursday, 27 February 2025
Videos
Daggerheart First Look: Worldbuilding with Critical Role - Live from PAX Unplugged
Funny to call this a "first look" when it came after the massive open beta and multiple CR Daggerheart streams, but there you go — it's kind of an introduction, though kind of assume viewers already have some knowledge of the basics of the system. Anyway, it's quite a fun mini-adventure (the panel lasts about 90 minutes, including some intro to the game and character building).
[Watch it (again) on YouTube.]
Funny to call this a "first look" when it came after the massive open beta and multiple CR Daggerheart streams, but there you go — it's kind of an introduction, though kind of assume viewers already have some knowledge of the basics of the system. Anyway, it's quite a fun mini-adventure (the panel lasts about 90 minutes, including some intro to the game and character building).
[Watch it (again) on YouTube.]
Wednesday, 26 February 2025
Videos
Critical Role
2x89 Lingering Wounds [2nd half]
The final episode of 2019 — which is noteworthy because it more-or-less coincides with the end of my first year of watching Critical Role! I started out 6 years & 2 months behind, and have now caught up to 5 years & 2 months behind. Catching up one year in one year sounds like nothing, but it means I've actually caught up on two years (because if I'd only watched one year in one year, I'd still be the same amount behind). If I carry on at that rate, I'll be caught up fully in... 2030. Yeesh. Or I could just jump on to Campaign 4 when it starts (or as soon as I finish C2, whatever). I can always start on Campaign 1 and/or 3 when brand-new content isn't coming out often enough to satiate me.
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
2x89 Lingering Wounds [2nd half]
The final episode of 2019 — which is noteworthy because it more-or-less coincides with the end of my first year of watching Critical Role! I started out 6 years & 2 months behind, and have now caught up to 5 years & 2 months behind. Catching up one year in one year sounds like nothing, but it means I've actually caught up on two years (because if I'd only watched one year in one year, I'd still be the same amount behind). If I carry on at that rate, I'll be caught up fully in... 2030. Yeesh. Or I could just jump on to Campaign 4 when it starts (or as soon as I finish C2, whatever). I can always start on Campaign 1 and/or 3 when brand-new content isn't coming out often enough to satiate me.
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Monday, 24 February 2025
Videos
Critical Role
2x88 Unwanted Reunions
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
Talks Machina
#136 'Unwanted Reunions'
[Watch it (again) on Internet Archive.]
2x88 Unwanted Reunions
[Watch it (again) on YouTube, Twitch, or Beacon.]
Talks Machina
#136 'Unwanted Reunions'
[Watch it (again) on Internet Archive.]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)