ThunderPeel2001

So it looks like the robots have finally made their first move, and they're going after the elderly and infirm, first. Those heartless bastards. Well I'M not waiting for them to get to me! Down with the machines! *throws laptop out the window*

Hmm. Good question. I'll get back to you.

I really liked the opening idea for the story: A bandit decides to hold the corrupt King's daughter for ransom, only to discover, when he finally breaks into the castle, that she's trying to escape, and immediately asks for assistance in doing so before he can get a word in. Seemed like a great dynamic for a fantasy tale: Strong and capable princess sets out to take down a corrupt regime that she's supposedly part of, taking a group of bandits who were going to kidnap her, and turning them into Big Damn Heroes. I know I'm in a minority here, but I love Final Fantasy games. I've played a good portion of them through to completion, although not IX. To me they're Bugs Bunny to Zelda's Mickey Mouse. You're right about it returning to its roots, too. After the huge success of FVII in the west, FFVIII was designed to tackle the complaints that the West had about it, and hopefully be even bigger than its predecessor: It was too Japanese for Westerners (cartoony, weird, cutesy, silly, etc, don't go down well here). So VIII was extremely Westernized, going against the long history of the games: Everyone looked VERY human, and not at all cartoony. The plot and characters were far more serious and dour than they've ever been in the FF series. After VIII wasn't the earth-shattering success in the West, it seems like there was a reaction to having had to change the series for hopes of a bigger audience, and so they went right back to making something they wanted to, the West be damned. I've no idea if that's the actual reason for the sudden shift away from the "realistic" and over-serious VIII, but IX felt both like a two-finger salute to the West, and joyous expression of Japanese sensibilities to me. "You don't like cutesy anime? You don't like silly character moments in your stories? You don't like whimsical, magical world's where everything isn't explained? Tough. We LOVE those things."

That totally makes me think of The Venture Bros, for some reason.

Yeah, me too. Wikipedia says it was a deliberate jokey "fake out" to the audience, as Holmes's absence from Baskerville was apparently due to Conan-Doyle becoming sick of the character. I actually thought it made the book quite interesting, and thought they could have done something better along the same lines, but there you go.

Other than scented candles, massage oil, and a Kenny G CD, I don't need any preparation at all.

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Ok!

Paypal: Rapidly becoming the twattiest company on the planet

Hurrah for cool people making the world a better place

The sandwich shop, Pret, go out and give away their sandwiches to the homeless at the end of the day. It's pretty disgusting how much we all throw away. A friend worked at B&Q and told me how conflicted he felt when he had to go out and destroy perfectly good furniture to make space for the new stuff, while making sure that nobody could come along and get something for free. Hurrah for capitalism

I swear every time I see your Santa hat it's getting lower over your avatar's eyes. Obviously not, but it's about the third time I've thought it.

I pretty much enjoyed Sherlock. I thought they did a reasonably good job of coming up with something new surrounding Baskervilles. They keep taking steps to making Sherlock more human, which i like (can't say I was a fan of the weird revelation that he's a sociopath -- still don't know what to make of that, really, and it seems the writers don't either). The series isn't perfect, but they do a decent job of reinventing Holmes and stretching an hour long story to 90 mins.

Apple took games seriously once, and they've been trying to pretend it never happened since.

Yep. Characters are never introduced like, "His suit was immaculate, apart from the small traces of a reddish mud found only in a certain province of South Africa." Although undoubtedly Holmes would later say he recognized the mud's origins. It's a little frustrating, but it can still be rewarding if you're following all the pieces, I think. I believe someone said here that Agatha Christie does give all the information to her readers?

And nails. What else?

Yeah, that's exactly the Holmes experience as laid out by Conan Doyle. You'd never be able to "keep up" with Holmes, it was just about him solving the clues.

Not to me, I thought it was pretty amazing.

That was a really interesting read, SiN

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I give your post 81.5%

Damn. I read this and laughed and then noticed it was in the "Plug your shit" thread. Nice one, TG!

Did you forget your "beating dead horse" bit?

I totally agree that it seems beyond impractical, but as Nappi says, I don't think that was the writers' intention -- I believe we were supposed to buy it. Maybe they'll do a short where they'll explain how he did it. Speaking of which, 90mins seems far too long for an episode of a TV show. I think the original hour-long format would have been a better idea.

Wow! Maybe they just do it to freak out the tourists.