Thyroid

Not necessarily. Mysterious Affair at Styles and Murder of Roger Ackroyd were both Poirots with good endings; I'd even say the ending to Ackroyd was fantastic. I don't get why people here are expecting Poirot to explain the significance of everything you read about. That's the fun part: you can either ignore all clues together, suspect people and be surprised, or try and piece the clues together and come-up with your own theory. Poirot just happens to be doing the same, and may throw red herrings out on occasion. That link from last page has my skim-of-the-surface opinions on most of the Christies I've read, and I can say that most of the Poirots are fair game. It's a shame you had to start with what is the absolute worst of the lot.

Product description: "The discovery of another habitable world might spell salvation to the three bitterly competing power blocs of the resource-starved 21st century; but when their representatives arrive on Jem, with its multiple intelligent species, they discover instead the perfect situation into which to export their rivalries." This sounds pretty good. Thanks! I like The Lost. I seem to remember it being my least favorite of the bunch of Ketchum books I've read, but I think it still has enough positives for me to recommend it to anyone looking for a fun, quick read, if one not exactly slathered with literary richness. I have Triage and The Girl Next Door; I think I should read those.

Here's what I wrote on Poirot Investigates so long ago: "Just bad. Plain old BAD. Some short stories that make no sense, that aren't any good, and that are just so goddam boring. Avoid." You can get my opinions on other Christies from that list. Orient Express is much better, by the way, but the whodunit crime novel has this tendency to point-out clues but not, you know, explain their significance. You see them, and so does Poirot; he makes the connections, whereas sometimes you don't. Christie occasionally has a mid-book revelation where Poirot explains all the clues thus far (used spectacularly in Roger Ackroyd), but can't make one or two elements fit. Generally, she's a pretty good crime writer, a lousy any-other-thing writer, but she's pleasant to read and some of them are real page-turners. And no, Miss Marple isn't as cocky, though she has very old-fashioned ideals that can sometimes annoy me (I remember Murder at the Vicarage having a "A women couldn't have done this; women aren't strong enough" moment that ticked me off).

I saw the first episode of State of Play a few weeks ago, and the second episode yesterday. I ended-up deciding to buy the DVD off Amazon UK (£3.44). I recommend it, based on the little I've seen. It's taut, suspenseful, intelligent. The casting is spot-on, the script is superb - and how could it not be with Paul Abbott on board? - and, based off the first five minutes of each, seems to be better directed than Hollywood's adaptation. (Fuck Hollywood, by the way, by which I mean all the ways you can fuck 'em. Can't they make ANY original movies these days? It's all remake, sequel or adaptation.) I haven't yet gotten around to seeing The Wire, either, but I think I'll finally amend that particular sin soon.

I prefer "Langdell regrets 'Edge' lawsuits, apologizes". The guy's a dick, but that's not a crime.

I'm almost done with Terry Pratchett's Monstrous Regiment. I really like it; never tried anything similar before. Today I received a batch of books as a present, put them on the shelf, and realized something: I may actually have 100 books I haven't read yet. It's not my fault, not really: people just keep giving me used books! So, I promised myself I wouldn't buy another one (unless it was really rare and was going for exceptionally cheap) until I'd read every single one. Going to be an endeavour of one or two years. I've got everything from Dickens to China Mieville to tackle, but I'm pretty stoked. Nothing like a good book. It's translated, so you can't really fault the author. I read Naguib Mahfouz's The Thief and the Dogs in Arabic, and then again in English. It was an interesting experience. The tone of it is there, but so much of the beauty - the way he used puns or clever Arabic wordplay - flies away in the translation. My Russian friend says the same thing about Dr. Zhivago. My point is that it's a little bit weird to highlight a writer's prose as being of a certain something when it's translated.

Suh-weet. Any you recommend in particular?

I have another weird request (edited to remove the 4am-ism from the post). Anyone know any science-fiction where a bunch of explorers descend on a planet or something? Or are trapped in an impossible situation and need to survive? Anything with astronauts descending to meet some hungry horror, basically, or working together to survive.

I finished A Game of Thrones a couple of days ago. Its silly moments aside, it's pretty good. At times, it's as unputdownable a fantasy novel as you're going get. It's a little on the dark side, though, so keep that in mind before indulging.

Stockholm. Anyone know fun things to do in Stockholm? I can't believe there's no one from Sweden and/or Stockholm on these forums.

A lot of the trailer just confused me, but just thought I'd say I love the subtlety of some of the animation, especially some of the facial animation and expressions of the lead character. 4:32 was a good example.

STFU, hipster fag. Nah, it's a good book, and anyone who says you're a pretentious douche for reading it needs to get off the hipster cunt bicycle. Leo Tolstoy to Douglas Adams, who cares as long as they write well and the book ain't a pile of highly glossed-over junk? Moby-Dick is, maybe objectively, the best piece of prose I've ever gazed on, and so anyone who dislikes you for reading it should wash the sand out of their asshole. I rant, but I rant like a sane man.

Shame about the cover. Would it cost too much money to make and package a decent box? It's not like it's hard to come-up with ideas, either. See: - De Chirico-inspired painting depicting Ico and Yorda escaping the castle, but instead of the bridge they run on top of one of the mammoth-like colossi. - Silhouette (the "Smoke Men" of Ico) that blends Ico with The Wanderer. Hard to imagine, but easy to do once you see it. (I see it.) He's against bloom lighting. - Picture of a Colossus carrying Ico castle on top of its back as it travels across the Forbidden Lands. Hints at Greek mythology. Some potential there. Anything with a weird art style that is a little true to the games could be good. This, for example, would look good on a cover if it were colored to look like it was done on glass, or on a Church window. Anyways. </blahblahblah>

I'm off to Stockholm for a week. Anyone know any fun stuff to do in Stockholm?

People should read this. On the risks of being an indie in the world of big boys.

This song makes me think The Vaselines hooked up a few times during their recording sessions. It's also pretty funny. I love The Vaselines. wh4JuFZttts And here's a popular local band. People like 'em. qOwqY0hTrl0

Indie games' video games' latest triumph. Half the really interesting games are coming to Wii and Wiiware. The other half is on XBLA and PSN, and I can't buy 'em. Why? Because I love these small, weird, experimental games. Therefore my life as a gamer sucks donkey. Anyways, anyone here whose life DOESN'T suck donkey play this? What did you think? Discuss in 500 or more words, for a max of 30 points.

3 people are working on it.

Mm. Depends on how it's used. In-game screenshot:

Ron Gilbert's role in Hothead, I guess: he oversees things? I dunno. Tim Schafer was the same on Psychonauts, I believe. Though I'm not a fan of Kasavin, whose tastes tend to be more traditional than mine. Hmm.

Max is naked. I guess that's the closest you'll come to a naked bunny without infringement. Of the others, I nominate Heavy to go el natural.

Hee. I searched, but I'm starting to think that maybe I'm not that awake at 4 am. Anyways, will try it out. Woohoo! *rubs hands*

I love you.

Here.

Heh, I'm just hoping it's not a card game. Probably a card game, but I hope not.