Roderick

I just want to chip in on this thread by saying Psychonauts is a really game. Once, I accidentally the whole Psychonauts. On a more profound (!) note (?), it's heartening to see DF continuing support for Psychonauts. I'd love to see more. I'd love to see a sequel. I still think Psychonauts is THE Schafer property that most begs for a sequel. I expressed such in 2005 when it came out and by god, sir, I will express it again!

Hello good sir! It just so happens I reviewed Aliens: Infestation for the upcoming [N]Gamer issue (the Dutch mag, not the British knock-off). It's good! It's pretty good. 'Squad-based' is a little deceptive: you only play with one dude at any time. The permadeath is a superb feature, though you find plenty of other marines willing to join your party throughout the game. It's a very atmospheric title and going through the bowels of the USS Sulaco is definitely a high point. Controls take some getting used to, but are fine. The downsides to this game are really uninspired and lousy boss fights and ultimately a lack of, I'd like to say, ambition. It feels like the designers were contented with making a really nice, middling game, instead of shooting for the stars and trying to reach Metroid greatness. Nevertheless, a solid title on a dying handheld! It also inspired me to rewatch the Alien quadrilogy and I'm having a whale of a time with that.

Was that real meat? That's disgusting on many levels.

Hang in there, Tanu. These are stressful times but they can't last forever. Sunshine is sure to come around sooner or later, once things settle. It's great that you're seeing a psychologist and that you're aiming to take courses. This is the correct thing to do. Take it easy and endure.

That's a quite alarming message. Threatening to turn this into a topic of actual meaning, how does one 'protect their savings'? Take it to the most reliable bank around? Put it in a sock, invest it in gold/treasure bonds? Not that I think everything's going to hell -- I'm pretty sure the Netherlands will be fine. But there are some questions here. This clip is also another reason why the stock market is a horrible institution, albeit perhaps a necessary one to fund huge projects? It's hard to perceive these things if you're not on the inside or an expert.

Sometimes it's insanely hard to be yourself. I had a girlfriend that I just couldn't be normal around. I would always be super jokey and in hindsight I'm thinking 'what the hell?'. I really don't know what happened there. Ennh, it happens. What I'm saying is show up in glittering gold underpants, that shit is hot.

I would've liked this a lot better if it weren't Daffy Duck.

I'm gonna slap you around with that second paragraph if you try doing anything silly like that again >:/ Now who would I be going to for my silly internet pictures if you weren't around? Also I want to hear Speedy's cupid problems. Cherubs can be a pain in the ass!

Glickman writes an interesting thing. It's funny because I am not in this 'box' as they say. I've been fortunate, in a way, to always have seen myself as an outsider and proud of it, so that I've never felt the need to conform to anything. This enables me to perceive my state of being as-is, instead of defining it in masculine or feminin terms. The way I've always seen it is that I am so secure in my gender and sexual orientation that I don't need to prove it in any way. My current working place is interesting to see in that regard, as it is sports the typical high-powered, masculine, sexist, macho culture that I generally find either tiresome or actively aggravating. I can easily see how people are pressured into 'the box' and even though I don't really need it, I regularly guard myself against being swept in with it. I experience, for example, a steady, daily stream of small remarks and ridicule for my behaviour if it isn't conforming enough to other's idea of masculinity. It's not bad, I can deal with it easily, but it would be nice if it wasn't there.

I haven't seen any of the footage and will not do so because I expect to be wholly surprised by everything come 2014 when Diablo 3 hits, but I can still say with 100% accuracy that the game will not autolevel skills, and I highly doubt it will autolevel stats. That is all.

I just saw a new Dutch movie, De Bende van Oss (The Gang of Oss), which premiered just now. This is a fictionalized account of a little-known piece of Dutch history just before the second world war, when the southern city of Oss (then nick-named 'Chicago at the Meuse') was ruled by a gang of rural mobsters. The Hague sends a police force to the city to put things in order, but a bitter strife erupts. I loved seeing this film, but that was heavily tainted by seeing and hearing things about my own country that I never knew more than the gist of, but the themes of which are still highly relevant. In particular the juxtaposition of the 'rural' south and east of my country versus the western provinces that hold political and economic power (Holland). These tensions still run under the skin today, even though they're not as severe as they were in the time the movie is set in. At its root the film is a highly enjoyable, grim tale of (un)organized crime, with a high dose of Dutch culture. Yes, that includes a plethora of sex scenes and some disturbing graphical images. But holy fuck, if you're Dutch you will shit bricks when you see the word crawl at the very end

A while back this one came up, which I think captures the mood somewhat better. lwoSFQb5HVk

Sounds like a ton of fun! My home cinema sucks at bringing anything that's not Hollywood, so I hadn't even heard of it. I have a weak spot for European cinema. There are so many good French movies. Have you seen Bonjour Chez Les Ch'tis from a few years back? Such a good comedy.

A REQUEST! After I discovered The hall of the Crimson King here in this topic, I now have a craving for similar progressive rock concept albums. Does anyone have some tips or -dare I ask- Youtube links? Thenk yuo!

Women have smaller brains than men. It's science.

It is an eternal eyesore to me that Carthage remains undestroyed. Isn't it obvious?

The description of that book, Reamde, reads like the ramblings of a madman, or Idle Thumbs podcastman. MEANWHILE, a young computer engineer gets abducted onto a plane WITH her ex-boyfriend AND a brilliant Hungarian programmer, they're travelling to meet with Chinese secret service, but als the Chinese maffia, AND an Al Qaida terrorist cell!

Someone deleted the spambot above me and ruined my pithy repartee

No, thenk yuo.

I'm having wayyy more fun relistening to old episodes than should be legally allowed. I just went though the episode with Max Ides, the one that came out on... Julides.

This is apparantly an overlooked PSN downloadable that is just too adorable and fun. It's made by Russians and it's a physics-based racing/platforming game with little tanks with gears for wheels. Reviewers and consumers, I believe, didn't really like it because it takes some getting used to the strange controls. But once you've got a feel for it, oh man, this is so much, challenging, fun. Anyone here try it? 3IvQmiYfG2M

I think it's PS3 only. The game tanked hugely apparently and I doubt the developer will port this to anything else anymore. Shame!

You would have to be a complete fool to buy a 3DS at this stage. For goodness sake, wait a year for the Lite version, which is the real version instead of the prototype.

Basically my thoughts about the movie.