Roderick

Dear Princess Celestia, Considering my own recent toils I'm probably the least qualified person to speak here, but the one thing I learned is that with relationships, complications are never a good thing. It might be better to wait until either this blows over and things become clear and unclouded, or migrate away from this and find love somewhere where it feels right in every way. Build a relationship on solid foundations, not on lingering side-feelings and complicated dual relationships. Yours, Twilight Sparkle

For more German accent humor (probably only funny to Dutch people), here's some Tampert. For those not in the know: it's from Dutch comedy group Jiskefet, it's a spoof of a German detective series and deliberately acted in the most awkward, stilted German possible. QN40ayFkOls

Is this game still being made? Even without Boost?

Ok, ElMuerte, are you ready for this? I though Kevin *****'s German accent in First Class was weird and unnatural too. It just so happened I went to the cinema with an East-Berlin native and she thought it was perfectly natural. The most likely explanation is that the accent is actually good, but it's an East-German accent that we Dutchmen are unfamiliar with because he only hear the Western side.

The way he pronounces 'intermission' reminds me of Julian Barratt, which is a good thing. (This isn't goodbye. This is GREATbye.)

Congrats! I know by experience how fucked up it is in the Netherlands to get proper housing, so good on you.

Tycho urged me to download this, so I'm giving it a look-see to-night.

Nope... SOILER

I have on my iPhone a free ebookreader. Can I perhaps through magic get these books on there? No biggie if it's a no, I've been avidly collecting the books in the game, but it'd be fun.

I do agree that it's a wonderful opportunity for some really strong writing. Written stories within games have a pitifully short track record. Lost Odyssey on the Xbox 360 did some really fun things, as did Fragile Dreams on the Wii.

I recently read A Hypothetical Treachery in Skyrim and it was great. I never saw that one in Oblivion, so I assumed it was new to Skyrim.

Is it that poorly written, though? I think it's merely bland, most of the time, purely serviceable to the game. You shouldn't try to raise it to any standard of literature, that's not what it's about. They're ingame items, no different than the kettles lying around.

Elder Scrolls books are great. Not greatly written, but it's great they're there. They bring so much interesting stuff to the world, and some of them are really nice. The whole story of Barenziah is a nice fairytale fantasy.

Err, yeah, come back at that time. The question is a little too vague to discuss meaningfully, in what way is the combat terrible? Combat has never been, and will probably never be, an Elder Scrolls game's strong suit, but that's not why you play it. Oblivion is a fun, classic fantasy romp. Skyrim brings a very detailed and cool Nordic/Viking environment to that and improves subtly and agressively on many things I thought Oblivion was rather weak at. The quests are pretty cool, actually. Loads of them are fetch quests, but there are plenty that have fun backstories or epic ties to unique caverns and events. Play Morrowind too, though. You skipped from Daggerfall to Oblivion, which is like skipping The Empire Strikes Back when watching Star Wars. It's the best one.

Dis just see the Sherlock episode and man it was great! After two meh-ish episodes whose only purpose in the larger continuity was to establish that Holmes was garnering fame (which could've been fully handled by the first five minutes of Reichenbach showing exactly that), this one brought the goods. Fun layering of plots within plots, a real sense of danger and grandeur and a killer ending reminiscent of .

They were very nice pics, and a great story too. But oops, I didn't know there was another photo thread, one possibly newer than this one? I did a search and this came up.

TIME FOR RESURRECTION TIME Here's me to-day visiting the Efteling, the Netherlands' gloriously unique fairytale theme park in a world of franchises. The Efteling builds a big new thing every few years, expanding the park with expensive and cool productions. Yet, for my money, nothing will ever beat the Fata Morgana dark-ride from 1986. This 25-year-old ride in which you sit in a slow-moving boat going through lusciously designed and animated Arabian landscapes morphing from exotic to lustrious to cruel and frightening scenes is nothing short of magical. For all its simplicity, it is truly like entering a dream. There's nothing else like it. If you're inclined to see it right now, here's a Youtube vid: . But mind that it by no means offers any of the real attraction of sitting in that boat. If you're in the neighbourhood, I strongly recommend visiting the Efteling and checking it out for yourself, if you're into unique and atmospheric rides.

The above four. Sorry they're all I've seen from him! (And yes I counted the Phoenix Wright movie which hasn't come out yet with it to show my conviction that it'll rock.)

Miike has been doing more than schlock for years now. He's called a 'chameleon' in cinema for a very good reason. He'll make crazy Power Ranger spoofs like Zebraman, then go to honest samurai epics like 13 Assassins and Harakiri, and he just made the Phoenix Wright movie. I'm no fan of horror, so I'm glad he's so versatile.

YES. Go watch it, it's good. Takashi Miike is on a roll. 13 Assassins is fun and exciting and feels like a classic samurai epic infused with a pinch of Miike's brand of shock cinema. That reminds me, I should check out his remake of Harakiri (in 3D, no less).

Dude, if you want to rant along in a PM about that, maybe get it off your chest, my inbox is available.

Zatoichi The Last Confession: the first Zatoichi movie I saw. Despite this it wasn't hard to follow since Zatoichi is a well-known figure from Japanese cinema: a blind gambler/masseur (and expert swordsman, obv.) travelling throughout the land fighting tyrannical yakuza. The fun part is that Zatoichi, because of his blindness, has a very distinctive fighting style, is continually underestimated by his enemies and then proceeds to kick their asses. Zatoichi (played before by celebrities like Kitano Takeshi) is played this time by Shingo Katori, who is usually found on Japanese TV grinningly performing weird characters or singing in boy band SMAP. Katori earlier admirably played Isami Kondo in the NHK Taiga drama Shinsengumi!. Here he once again acts expressively but also convincingly. Zatoichi The Last is in the end no great movie: the plot is too inconsequential and the big moments aren't used to their best effect. Even so the film offers picturesque images of snow-covered Japanese villages and plenty of scenes with flashing katana's. For that alone it's a fun watch for admirers of such things.

A mayonegg.

That advertising article embarrasses the fuck out of me! There, it's out there! Otherwise, good to see wonky blasts from the past(s). I miss fact of the day, specifically I miss Alexey Pajitnov's dolphin electroshock therapy game.

This really isn't rocket surgery: create an overarching plot threading every event together. Some scheme by Moriarty other than "create mayhem", at the end of which there is a great upheaval and the rules of engagement change. I want a sense of mystery and complicated plots within plots, not the inconsequential detectiving we've gotten so far. I'm glad for Holmes that he's humanising, but that's not enough for me. It might be for you.