Roderick

Just realized I've been here for nigh on seven years now. That's insane. I've gotten presents from people here I've never seen in my life, and shared good advice and support. This is home on the internet.

I'm watching the Children of Dune miniseries on DVD and I have to say... I just can't get over how strange it is that Dune became so popular. That has nothing to do with it's quality, which is high (though the adaptation I'm watching now is so haphazard as to be indecipherable if you haven't read the books first, I wonder if anyone who hasn't could ever understand any of it), but everything to do with how fucking weird Dune is. It's such a bizarre thing, even for scifi! The weird arab influences, the philosophies that you can hardly identify with (seeing the future, being trapped in a destiny, being a godlike prophet or indeed god), the weirdness of how these people operate (every bit of dialogue means something else, everything is a plot), the whole thing. I love Dune for it, it's excellent and unique, but how the hell could this have gotten such, relative, mainstream acceptance and popularity? It's such an anomaly. Baffle me this, Batman.

Having read the thread now: I liked Stephen Merchant. I think he's funny, but then I'm not bombarded by his schtick, only knowing him from Extras and the podcast with Ricky Gervais. Even so, I really love his patter and was delighted when I heard him performing in the game (I knew nothing of voice actors before playing). The loading screens were very disappointing and broke up the game world. It felt less coherent, which diminishes the effort the team put into making the facility 'believable' (as spoken about in the developer's commentary). I've started doing a developer's commentary run, rushing through the game, and I can already say it's extremely fun to do it a second time, full speed.

Just finished Portal 2 and would like to give my opinion on it before reading everything here and discovering that everything has already be thoroughly discussed thus embarrassing me. Portal 2: it was wholesome and good. It felt like a genuine full length game and more importantly, it didn't outstay its welcome as was the fear emanating from the realization that Portal was so perfect with its 4 hour length. Portal 2 pads that with a lot more story, 'characters' and variation in -if not types of gameplay- at least diversity of props and surroundings. There are some lesser points, though. One of which is that it's fairly easy overall, in my experience a lot easier than the original. Especially the first six chapters are easily blown through, and only in the last two were there some delicious head-scratchy moments. I wouldn't have minded a lot more insidious plottings, but I think the sting has been removed from most of the game for fear of not everyone being able to finish it. You know, I can live with that. I like that Valve managed to build on the Portal world in interesting ways without diminishing the original, deliberately scarce, lore. I will now read what everyone else has already said, and be humbled.

That's neated.

that's neat.

It's really weird that they buried Osama at sea so haphazardly and without any sort of investigation. I desperately don't want to be a conspiracy theorist, but the US are making it damn difficult.

Gimme a break, it's been at least seven years since I last played Toonstruck, I used to be able to recite the whole dialogue By all means, sir, shove off. Neat.

" 'Best King of Cutopia?' " "Oh yes! That one was quite a honor. It was awarded by the king himself!" Love the Footman. That's neat.

That's neat, though.

I for one am glad. Osama was a dangerous lunatic with a lot of money and influence. It would have been better if he were taken alive and tried, but his removal from our world is a good thing.

I loved this episode back in the nineties.

Voyager is the series I saw most of, purely because it happened to be on television all the time when I grew up. It's a fun Star Trek with in many ways the classic vibe of a space ship full of people in uncharted waters. As far as I know, the series keeps building up over the seven or so seasons, and ends in a pretty satisfying finale. Some people prefer the more serious and heavier Deep Space Nine, but that's really a matter of taste. Voyager captures the wonder of space exploration, it's a romantic soap with lots of adventure, Borg, and root-cooking cooks. Also a captain with a voice like a cheese grater Be warned that it is a typical status quo show though: to our current tastes with all the giant arcs and throbbing mysteries in moderns series, that might be a little stale. Or it might not. You know.

Well, if enough people vote 'no' then the real world UK version of AV will certainly be 'offed'.

It's obviously a charming event, though I don't see why anyone outside of the UK would give a toss, nor why anyone would be going apeshit over it.

I've thought about it some more and now I think AV wouldn't work in the Netherlands. That system only works if you have any sort of winner takes all scenario. The Netherlands doesn't. Every political party that gets a certain percentage of votes is awarded seats in the house of commons accordingly, and then a coalition must be made to achieve a majority of seats in order for a government to be constructed. AV would mess up that balance grandly. It would be highly unfair for all the parties that didn't become the biggest one, as they'd lose the (few) precious seats that belong to them by right of votes. Even a single seat party has political influence. We are not winner takes all, we are discourse, compromise and cooperate. AV falters in that system, unfortunately.

Holy shit democracy needs that upgrade.

I was so excited when the Autobots took back Cybertron in the distant year of 2006.

Free Excitebike is nice, if it isn't just for Japan. Also, Miffy, I took my 3DS to the theatre yesterday but no one else did, not even the projectionist. Shame! There's a likely venue for exchanging Mii's. Oh well. Tomorrow there's a small games festival here. Bound to be some over there!

Bip-bo-bip-bo-bippety-boo!

I don't like fighters or racing games, so Samurai Warriors is pretty much my only option. Besides that, it's pretty good. Well, it's a Samurai Warriors of course, so it's a repetitive hack 'n slasher. But it packages the game really nicely and I'm having a blast. So far I've picked up a dozen or so Mii's while commuting or walking in the city. I'm not disappointed.

I've become an uncle My brother's wife gave birth to a beautiful girl named Emily. I'm filled with pride.

I'm not sure I get what you're saying. You feel like everyone understands you perfectly? Or...?

I can't play fighting games, my hands just ache too much from the stress and strain of having to press all those buttons so fast, but I do enjoy watching it. And boy, is Mortal Kombat fun. Is it a good fighting game? I do not know. But it beats the shit out of Streetfighter and Marvel vs Capcom in sheer entertainment as a spectator. The x-ray moves are gruesome to behold, and the story is ridiculous and entertaining. Just the opening bits with Johnny Cage are pretty priceless. I don't think it's meant to be taken serious. I find it amusing when games like MK (and Soul Calibur, Bayonetta, whatever) try to exploit the sexuality of females. The result is invariably a huge turn-off for me, as the women always look like laughable hookers.

Man, Shanghai Knights was good. Such a great, funny movie, just like its predecessor. Do not allow Jackie Chan access to a ladder and a wheelbarrow, because he will fuck you up.