Thyroid

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Posts posted by Thyroid

  1. Posted

    Same here. I'm sure it had its problems. I'm sure if I'd paused it and walked away I would have seen major issues with it, but while it was on, it totally worked for me. I liked how it called back to the first episode, too. It was all very clever.

    I had some problems:

    - The show needs to treat Molly Hooper better. For two series', they have yet to show her real compassion. To me, she's the unexpected hit of the show; I love that character. She seems really sweet. I was half-hoping she'd knock out Sherlock in the lab.

    -

    Why did the little girl scream at Sherlock? And how do you convince a pair of children to eat so much chocolate after you kidnap them?

    - The occasional "Huh?" moment.

    It was strange how that one assassin just fessed up (though they explained it), got shot, and...nothing. You'd expect sniper bullets to bring-in something heavier than just the police

    .

    As you said, though, they did a great job of updating the story. I loved most of it. Steve Thompson's previous work never impressed me much (he managed to write such a bland Doctor Who episode), but he did a good job here. I partially credit that to Toby Haynes's typically-confident and stylish directing, as well as excellent performances for all.

    Have we seen the last of Moriarty? I wonder...

    Me too, though I'd be interested in seeing them change-up the game a bit.

  2. Posted

    My god. Steve Thompson wrote a good script. OK, sure, it had faults, but I liked it.

    Lovely series. I did not see

    the suicides

    coming at all.

    Brett is easily better in the role than Cumberbatch or Robert Downey Jr.

    Nah. I like his take a lot, but he wasn't the ideal casting. He was quite excellent, and I grew-up on the Granada series, but I think Cumberbatch takes the cake.

  3. Posted

    I noticed many of them are free on iTunes/Kindle, maybe I should make it a project and post about it?

    Anything pre-1923, Sherlock Holmes included, is free of copyright and available to read online, and in some countries books even after that period are copyright-free.

    I hope you enjoy! :)

  4. Posted

    Hey so I started ignoring her, and turns out one of my best friends made out with her the day after we spoke. Of course he knows how I feel. I now feel absolutely shite.

    I'd take that as an opportunity to lessen my social circle by one or two people. :) I'm sorry you feel like shit, but you're better then them. Drop 'em. Who gives two shits about them now that they did what they did?

    Go do something else. Get away from it all. Process it in your own time. But don't get betrayed and let them feel superior to you. They decide to be assholes to you? Sucks to be them. Don't let them have the pleasure of your company, or the time of your day.

    Act like how you'd want to remember yourself acting in a few years, and not like how you imagine would get you what you want now.

  5. Posted

    Someday Jake will do something and not apologize, call it dumb, wonder if anyone cares, or throw in a "whatever" or four. I often want to give you a thumbs-up for moral support. Here. Take it. Take three. :tup::tup::tup:

    There's a lot of good stuff there. This especially.

    This, however, is broken. Or super minimalist. Not sure.

  6. Posted

    I should probably get back to reading Bone, but currently I'm looking for something that's honest-to-god text that I can read on my phone at night that will make me feel better about life before I sleep.

    I may give Speedy's Wodehouse recommendation a try.

    Apparently, most of Wodehouse is pretty funny and light-hearted. The little Terry Pratchett I've read was funny, and great for light relief. I hear Christopher Moore is great.

    A Confederacy of Dunces is the funniest novel I've ever read, but it's not going to make you feel better about life. The main character isn't the most pleasant man on Earth. But Christ, is it funny.

  7. Posted

    Modern adapters have run with that, just like they've run with everything else Conan Doyale gave them: Moriarty (mentioned once, if I'm not mistaken), Irene Adler (also mentioned once), Mycroft (barely mentioned), etc.

    Moriarty is a central character in "The Final Problem," is mentioned in The Valley of Fear, and his right-hand man is the central antagonist in "The Adventure of the Empty House".

    Irene is, of course, the star of "A Scandal in Bohemia".

    Mycroft appears several times, and is well-defined as a character. The one very interesting thing the recent BBC modern-day adaptation added was that it implied Sherlock is the way he is because he's trying to be like his older brother. Unlike Mycroft, however, he does not manage to be completely logical and without emotion.

    I'd say Jeremy Brett's interpretation was closest to the book, while also being highly entertaining. Very recommended.

    I recently discovered the BBC radio dramas with Clive Merrison. They're quite good too.

  8. Posted

    What would be the point of the games press without the overenthusiastic previews, eh?

    They gave the "brilliant" game a 2/10 and also called it an "abomination".

    Fuck IGN, and fuck most media outlets for their bullshit.

  9. Posted

    After that it's 50 hours of running around with the same canned NPC barks until the end when there are a few lines from the end boss and a short cut scene.

    The LGNPC mod does wonders for that.

    I'm like 15 hours into the game now. Heeeya.

    I really liked the opening idea for the story: A bandit decides to hold the corrupt King's daughter for ransom, only to discover, when he finally breaks into the castle, that she's trying to escape, and immediately asks for assistance in doing so before he can get a word in.

    Seemed like a great dynamic for a fantasy tale: Strong and capable princess sets out to take down a corrupt regime that she's supposedly part of, taking a group of bandits who were going to kidnap her, and turning them into Big Damn Heroes.

    It is a good idea, but the problem is that the game forgets this part of the way through and turns princess Garnet/Dagger into a hapless, clumsy damsel. Assuming we ignore logic and are fine with the ending

    (where the queen runs down to the crowd to hug her beloved former kidnapper and current love interest, who happens to be the chosen destructor from another planet)

    , the game simply loses its idea of fun and starts itself seriously. At one point,

    she gets so consumed by grief she stops talking

    .

    However, like you said, the game does start out really cutesy and fun. The way they brought all the characters together to begin their journey was an especially nice touch.

    I know I'm in a minority here, but I love Final Fantasy games. I've played a good portion of them through to completion, although not IX. To me they're Bugs Bunny to Zelda's Mickey Mouse.

    I suppose I've always loved the idea more than the games themselves - there's something in the beautiful preludes that hints at a mystical, mythological adventure of supreme importance that the games themselves have often failed to deliver on. I have, however, bought a sizeable number of them, and plan on finishing them all (I, II, IV, VII, VIII, IX, X, XII, XIII, and Tactics; I'm planning on getting III, V and VI at some point). There's something about the earnest clumsiness those games have that keeps bringing me back to them, despite my reservations.

    "You don't like cutesy anime? You don't like silly character moments in your stories? You don't like whimsical, magical world's where everything isn't explained? Tough. We LOVE those things."

    I mostly like them too - I just kind of wish the game didn't get so serious halfway through. Whatever, I guess. There was still a charm there, with the music, art and exaggerated animation, and on the whole I did end-up liking the game. It does have one of my favourite game soundtracks. For and

    .

    Your comments about FFVIII worry me a bit, but I'm sure I'll find something to like in that one too. :)

  10. Posted

    Funny. Until I had to RMA my laptop, that's EXACTLY the way I'd been playing Skyrim. I installed Morrowind on my significantly less powerful desktop and had been thinking of booting it up. Maybe I should give it a shot.

    You should. It's great. However, you should install the necessary patches and maybe even some mods - you don't have to go with the graphical tweaks (though that certainly helps loads), but at least go with the stuff that updates the game's resolution, etc.

    I ended-up using the Morrowind Graphics Extender, the Morrowind Overhaul, and then some mods of my friend's to add some spice to the game. You have to be a bit picky about mods, but most are helpful (some, like "Animated Morrowind", take a toll on your FPS, but add some life to the game; not that you need it, mind).

    There's also the Morroblivion pack, but I haven't looked at that. It alters the game too much, and I don't think it lets you choose mods the way the MGE and MGO do.

    I'll gladly lend you any help you need to get the game running properly. You do need to at least install the patches so it doesn't crash like a drunken pilot's first trip on a Boeing.

  11. Posted

    Yeah, DQ has a reputation for being fairly difficult. Whatever. I own the eighth one and plan on playing it soon. 2012 will be my year of RPGs.

    Ahahaha. Can't fault you for erratic playing habits, at any rate.

    Everyone tells me that the way I play games is unusual. I just tend to chase around whatever interests me. *shrug*: Hee. 12 hours into Morrowind, and I haven't even touched the main quest.

    at a certain point I was just done with dungeon running and the quality of the story was no longer enough to pull me through. I'd still say give it a shot if you're in the mood for more RPG-ing after all this.

    I watched my brother play through the game this summer. It wasn't for me, despite the compelling serial killer story (I love a good mystery); I did, however, enjoy parts of it. For instance, the game has more than one ending, depending on whether or not you remember a certain thing at the end. :)

  12. Posted

    Wow! 40 hours seem quite low for a JRPG!:eek:

    I was surprised too. This with a load of grinding on top.

    However, I did miss some large bits. Didn't see a single chocobo, for example. Ah well, I got what I wanted out of it! Moved onto the next thing...

    Morrowind.

  13. Posted

    I finished Final Fantasy IX maybe a week or so ago. 40 hours, spread over a little under a year.

    Overall, I'd say it was pretty to look at, enjoyable, and ultimately stupid. I don't think I have a lot of positive to say about the story or the storytelling, though I did enjoy some bits. Whatever. I'd describe the game as a "nostalgic RPG". It works best if you want to go back and try a PS1 JRPG for the sake of it. It feels like it was made for nostalgics, if that makes sense - though this marks the first time I've ever seen an RPG to some sort of completion, and consequently the first time I ever finish a Final Fantasy game, it feels like a retrospective of all the PS1-era RPGs.

    Decent game. I recommend giving it a shot if you can.

  14. Posted

    I found the episode very enjoyable, but it's weaker than the first one. I'd figured out the entire case 40 minutes into the episode - the only thing

    I couldn't fit in was the meat, and that proved to be a red herring

    .

    Next week's episode should prove interesting. It's being penned by Stephen Thompson, who wrote last year's pirate episode for Doctor Who, and that was poor; his Sherlock episode, "The Blind Banker", was rather bland too. I hope this proves good.

  15. Posted

    The way it was seemingly intended was that

    she is gay and Sherlock saves her at the end

    , and it doesn't seem to me that it was intended to be looked at in any greater depth than that.

    Ah well. If we all agreed the world would be boring.

    I also saw The Room yesterday, it was entirely bewildering. I don't know how real it was. It was like a movie-length episode of Darkplace or something.

    I usually hate movies that turn out badly. I feel like I'm hurting the feelings of the people involved by laughing. However, I saw The Room with a couple of friends at 3 am one time and I couldn't stop. It's so surreal.

    The sex scene at the beginning may have ruined sex for me. I can't do it now without devolving into fits of laughter. I mean, sex was always funny to me (what? It's funny if you think about it), but now that stupid song gets stuck in my head every time and I completely lose it. Oh man. Fuck The Room, unless you're watching it at 3 am with some friends. :buyme:

  16. Posted

    There is some "I went to the village to confirm my suspicion" stuff going on in Christie's books as well. I guess they are more fair than Sherlock Holmes cases, but I still wouldn't stop reading before the conclusion to try to figure it out myself.

    Well, I've done it, and figured out the culprit sometimes. I worked-out Murder on the Orient Express and Peril at End House. Murder of Roger Ackroyd I almost had, but decided that that person couldn't actually be the killer. Turns out I had the right culprit. Oh well.

  17. Posted

    I believe someone said here that Agatha Christie does give all the information to her readers?

    Yes. Her works vary from great (Peril at End House, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd) to poor (The Big Four, The Mystery of the Blue Train), but she always plays fair.

  18. Posted

    I was confused - was she actually meant to be gay or not? I didn't think it was sexist so much, but the fact she was gay and HE TURNED HER was just too stupid for words. They could've made her straight or bisexual or something if they wanted her to fall in love with Holmes... It felt like they only made her be a lesbian so they could make her character succumb to someones fantasy of wanting to "turn" a lesbian.

    Doubtful. The showrunner is gay.

    I'm going to assume she isn't really gay. After all, why would a wealthy, lesbian dominatrix agree to be hired by male clients? It's most likely a lie, and one you could explain.

  20. Posted

    Yes, there is one in particular that stands out. I guess I should probably watch the whole episode before making up my mind, but I'd like to think it wasn't sexist, simply because I enjoyed what I saw quite a bit, and thought it was might be perhaps the best bit of Holmes I've ever seen.

    Well, as someone who does take issue with sexism and who has had to see enough of it in Arabic society to hate the idea forever: the episode wasn't, to me, sexist. I like to think I'm open-minded about things. I'm fairly sure I'm right about this one.

    As Orvidos said, people see what they want to see. I take what is given to me and analyze it. *shrug*

    Love the show. Already pre-ordered series 2.

  22. Posted

    Yeah that was my one gripe; I was disappointed when she was introduced as

    a dominatrix

    . It has become such a cliché whenever a writer wants a morally ambiguous, strong yet alluring woman or is both a love/sex interest and an antagonist. Obviously she has to be some kind of

    pseudo sex-worker

    ! However as the episode went on I felt that they justified it in term of the plot.

    It also makes sense in terms of character development and analysis.

    A large percentage of the episode was about Sherlock's sexuality, and it makes sense to have him face-off against someone who is so relaxed sexually. Watson's dialogue to Irene's job, it's all about Sherlock. Here you have two highly intelligent people with the same talents facing off. She beats him, and he beats her. He falls for her, and she, to her surprise, for him. They both make the exact same mistake: fall for the other person. The only reason he makes her beg is so that he feels superior to her, but in the end can't help himself and saves her life

    .

    Very good writing, if you ask me. Some of the comments on the Guardian article BBX linked to are very interesting, and are well worth a read.

    Furthermore, the season cliffhanger was resolved in

    the laziest manner imaginable

    .

    I respectfully disagree.

    Moriarty, after finding himself in such a perilous situation, suddenly learns that Irene has something potentially dangerous from an MOD employee. Realizing he'll need Sherlock to live, he lets them go.

  23. Posted

    The comments on that article are pretty great. Thanks, BBX.

    Nah, Cumberbatch is the voice of Smaug in the film. More amusing though, Barry Humphries is the Great Goblin.

    Ah, right. I mixed-up between him and James Nesbitt. Cumberbatch does have the voice, so it should be interesting to see.

  24. Posted

    I just watched it myself; and yes it bloody was!

    Same here. Loved how tight the script was, the last 30 seconds exempted (was a bit much, that one). Some psuedo-feminists are probably going to go bonkers over

    the depiction of Irene (she technically loses to Sherlock, even though she beats him too; she's naked for a bit, etc)

    , but whatever. I love how the writing doesn't waste a moment: it explores characters and keeps the story moving fast. It's stuffed with killer lines.

    Series 6 of Doctor Who contained Steven Moffat's only two genuinely bad scripts (especially, I think, "Let's Kill Hitler"), but this managed to renew my faith in the man.

  25. Posted

    I need to find the time to hit a gym also.

    I went and did this. Fuck it, I'm starting early. Felt like a badly out of shape and completely breathless champ, but I still got to pump my fist.

    GIT ON IT.

    eaIvk1cSyG8