Thyroid

I like you, False Dmytro.

Lo and behold, I see this, turn off the laptop, go to watch an episode of Game of Thrones (pretty good so far!) and her name comes-up as co-writer on episode six...which causes me to rush back here and write this useless post. Yes.

You could always start with series one of the new series, which started in 2005 - but that has a lot of really shitty episodes. Here's a list of "recommended" episodes from the reboot that I made last February for a friend, which are of various degrees of good (I've updated the last to keep it up to date to the last episode I've seen):

I'd suggest seeing most of Steven Moffat's episodes (his last two excepted), as well as "Dalek" (series one, episode six). Also, the ration of good-to-average Who has significantly improved in the last two years (The Eleventh Doctor's years). My problem with "Hush" is that it's so shallow. The Gentlemen steal voices, trap them in a convenient box, and use that as their hunting trick. It's a one-way street you can't explore at all. "Blink" dispenses information to keep you on your seat. You have to figure out what's going on until The Doctor arrives midway to deliver some much-needed exposition, before it hurls you back in the deep end. It finally lets you drown in that "Oh shit" moment before, well - you'll have to see it. It's quite something, that one. I think it's only topped by three episodes this past series - the "Astronaut" two-parter and the Neil Gaiman episode.

I don't think Joss Whedon would be a very good Doctor Who writer - not for this era, anyway. A while back I sat down with some very nostalgic friends and watched a few episodes of Buffy, and...well, with all my comparisons to Doctor Who, Buffy came out inferior. I could get into it and compare "Hush" with "Blink" to try and illustrate what I mean, but I'd rather not unless you said "Go ahead".

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"A Good Man Goes to War". I know they weren't one big story, but for the Doctor and his companions, it felt like they had a bit of an arc going - hence, my calling "Goes to War" and "Hitler"* a two-parter. *(Almost wrote "Good Man" and "Hitler" there, but it felt wrong.)

I was bewildered by it on first viewing, and only made it to five minutes. Thought it was awful. Sat down again, watched it - ended-up liking it. I think this past two-parter was Steven Moffat's weakest outing, some very good moments aside, even if it's still enjoyable.

It's easy - you just have to pick up on a writer's "beat". David Simon's usual telling mark is how he makes little statements - so, from season one, episode one, he goes: He uses that a lot. There are other little telling marks, but I only know them because I admire his work so much. Also, I wonder who the other Thumbite is? Could be me. I made that claim before (and have yet to fail, having just seen episode nine).

Haha, I know that came off as really douchey and full of itself, but I'm still really proud of that accomplishment. I pay a lot of attention to writing outside of my own forum posts, and it's nice to know it's paid off somehow. </douche mode>

I just want to gloat for a second here. I've seen up to season two, episode eight of The Wire. After seeing the first episode of season one, I picked up on David Simon's writing "beat" and boasted I could tell whether or not he'd written an episode from the very first scene. Now, I'm proud to announce that I've gotten 20/20 right - no mistakes. Twenty episodes seen after the first, twenty absolutely correct answers. What's more, I can tell whether Ed Burns or George Pelecanos peneed an episode from the pre-credits scene also. Got that right too. Not one mistake, gentlemen. I just thought I'd announce that. Ed Burns has greatly improved as a writer from his first season outing, by the way. George is as good as he ever was. Season two is just as excellent as the first. David Simon's first two episode for season two had elements I disliked, but his later ones - especially episode six, "All Prologue" - have been perfect. Man, there's a million things I could be saying about the show right now but that I'll refrain from. Either way, it's an A+ masterpiece so far, as far as I'm concerned.

Nappi - I'll pick that up on my next visit to the shop. Thanks! Might be because I said I've seen parts of it, and I have. They aired the season where back in 2006 and I used to love the show. Everyone seemed to hate it, though, and - because I was an idiotic eleventh grader - I stopped watching it out of a misplaced desire to fit-in. :

Oh yeah. I mostly went for comedy, but put in some other things too. And hell, I might manage to catch season two of the always-on-my-mind masterpiece The Wire, so this weekend is going to be pretty: 1. lazy 2. exhausting for my TV! So far, seen a bit of Curb (starting early). Like it, even if it's pretty far-fetched. Still...it's funny.

I got everything you guys recommended. Thanks for all the suggestions; I'm sure I'll enjoy it all. I also got Airplane!, Office Space, Henry V (not funny, I know), The Social Network, Control and season one of Curb Your Enthusiasm, which I've seen bits of before and am currently half-watching as season eight airs on Arabic TV (two weeks behind the States, too!).

Don't worry, I wrote down all your recommendations for my next visit to the DVD shop! So thank you, Thunderpeel! I've actually seen The Big Lebowski several times, and yes: it is indeed a very funny movie. As are all Coen Brothers films, or at least the bunch I've seen. Also, we talked about Life of Brian, once, you and I. I like it, but I don't think it stacks up against, say, Spinal Tap.

Can anyone recommend a really funny movie? I could use it. If it helps with the recommendations, some favourites of mine include This Is Spın̈al Tap, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, anything by the Coens and Withnail & I. I also love the UK version of The Office, Extras and all the classic stuff, like Fawlty Towers.

Finished A Feast for Crows. It wasn't the page-turner A Storm of Swords was, but it was good. Very addictive in parts. Hardly as bad as some people make it out to be. Loved all the character development, and a few surprising plot-twists. So far, Storm, which combined so much action and momentum with character development, is the best of the series, but this one is good too. It was sad in parts.

You ought to finish The Devil's Playhouse. It's a little bit inconsistent, but it's Telltale's best and is surprisingly emotional.

I always finish episodes. Sometimes it takes me more than one sitting, and in one case - Sam and Max: The Devil's Playhouse - I took a six month long break between different episodes, but in the end it gets done. Which is more than I can say for 90% of games I start.

I thought the game was flawed in a lot of important ways, but I do agree that it's something else. I didn't like it as much as you did, but I'd much rather take a flawed labour of love over polished but sterile work any day. It's been two years since I played Brutal Legend, but I'll list five things that stick to my mind till now... 5. The battle where Enslaved's "Frost" plays was incredible. 4. Emperor Doviculus is, hands-down, the creepiest, sexiest and most horrible antagonist I've seen in a video game. It's too bad he gets so little screentime. 3. Chopping off heads and hands. It's just immensely satisfying to hit a demon and have his head spinning off. 2. The lore. I loved the backstory to Brutal Legend, with the titans and the fire beast. 1. Kabbage Boy (the "lame emo band", though I always took them for nu-rock). Cheater point number 6: The soundtrack. Both by Peter McConnell and the licensed stuff.Best line: I haven't played Hit the Road in some years, so you may be right. I'll have to re-play it to remember how I felt about it on first playthrough, I'm afraid. But you're probably right. To a large extent, I agree.

Well, there's a few differences. Phat's room is hardly usable. There's little to no interaction there, and I do believe the book on his stomach - one of very few things you can click - comes into play. The bigfoots (bigfeet?) are all in the background, if I remember correctly, and interact little. The Governor of England was in the foreground, which is a non-verbal way of saying "Hey! Me! Look at me!" (it's the antithesis of pixel hunting). Not only that, but he did deliver exposition we'd already gathered from a flying newspaper, and had multiple dialogue trees with no story momentum - the former indicating he was part of a puzzle (adventure games tend to do that), the latter hinting he was part of the puzzle, but not the overall story (the opposite of Phat!). I suspected that I needed to get in his house to obtain whatever item to use on the metal pole, because I was stuck on that for a while. (Turns out you can't solve it till the end of the game.) Overall, though, that's my only real nitpick. I really enjoyed that game. :tup: I'm looking forward to playing Time Gentlemen, Please! in the near future.

I just finished Ben There, Dan That, which was pretty great. It's so lighthearted and fun, and makes me wish for more things in a similar vein. It's also quite funny. I had a shitty day, but by the end of Ben There, Dan That all was forgotten. I played it through in one sitting and finished it with a smile on my face. That's a pretty big compliment. It's not perfect (there's at least one character with no puzzle use whatsoever and who's just there for needless exposition), but I just really liked it. Some lines in there were killer. Overall, if you need some lighthearted adventure game goodness, play Ben There, Dan That. I can't even decide what the best line in the game was.

The basic gist I got out of various interviews over the years was the experience drained him. They'd be sitting in the room and Wolpaw would hear the jokes he'd written over and over again, and no-one would laugh. He sat there, continually testing Psychonauts, and it was deathly silence. It wasn't something Schafer experienced since he had his own office. He couldn't take it anymore and in December 2004, he left after Chet Faliszek encouraged him to come to Valve. They're both on amiable terms, though. I know that Wolpaw visited DF before Brutal Legend was finished and saw it in development. As far as I know, they're still good friends.

Nah, it's OK. It's perfectly normal to feel a bit disheartened or scared. It's a sign you're not stupid.

Glad to hear you're OK, Thunderpeel. Hope everyone else in England here is OK too. 2011: the Year of the Riots.