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Jul. 10th, 2013 04:56 pmSo a month ago I broke my arm. Specifically my right arm, and I'm right-handed. Hand and even elbow still work, as I fractured the top of my humerus, stumbling after tripping downhill and hitting a decidedly un-soft earthy verge. As an experience, I really can't recommend it. No cast to sign, weeks of physio exercises and not even a funny story.
And it was the day Iain Banks died.
And it was the day Iain Banks died.
The Conpulsion 2013 Gryphon Figure(s)
May. 5th, 2013 10:07 pmNow on DA and in the hands of Phil who bought the original at auction before all the parts had arrived!
The Conpulsion Closing Ceremony video
Apr. 16th, 2013 12:06 am... is online.
If you want to go specifically to me not thanking nearly enough people but also somehow not swearing like a crazy homeless person, start at 6.30 and play till about 11.10.
If you want to go specifically to me not thanking nearly enough people but also somehow not swearing like a crazy homeless person, start at 6.30 and play till about 11.10.
The Watch House: Everybody Knows
Dec. 22nd, 2012 02:40 pmAn example of an idea that ended up growing in the telling... and a look at an episode of Season 8, were there such a thing.
We open on Milli running full-tilt down a dark alley, sword drawn, out into a square - looking up just as a vampire drops out of a tree and steps back to stop it landing on her. It leaps to its feet and aims a kick at her head, she ducks, grabs its ankle and spins it around, swings her sword as it tries to get back up. BOOM.
Then a light comes on behind her.
Voice: Miss Blackhurst?
Milli: Uh...?
She turns and sees a reporter and cameraman looking at her.
Reporter: Is this latest vampire attack part of a pattern?
Milli: Er...?
--
Cut to a shot from the camera POV, with a BBC News caption underneath:
Millicent Blackhurst, Watcher’s Council
Reporter: What can you tell our viewers about this particular cult?
Milli: Um...?
--
Is this a natural event caused by Harmony outing vampires (and Clem) nudging the setting in a True Blood kinda direction? Or is this some mystical denial-filter-remover?
And either way, who made those Keep Calm And Carry On style posters?
(thanks to Keep Calm And Carry On.)
--
Escher: Well. It would appear that the hidden occult world of the supernatural, er... isn’t.
--
David Dimbleby: Tonight, Question Time comes from Cambridge, centre of the Watcher controversy. The Watchers’ Council has been the self-appointed defender of humanity for centuries. But has their policy of secrecy and denial done more harm than good? With me tonight to discuss this are Sir James Morton from the Ministry of Defence, lecturer on medieval history and senior Watcher Michael Henry Escher, vampire rights activist Victoria Valdermar, Witch Alliance representative Janet Shadowborn, and the Guardian science journalist Alok Jha.
--
(Isn’t she dead? Shhh.)
--
Happy Holidays, all.
We open on Milli running full-tilt down a dark alley, sword drawn, out into a square - looking up just as a vampire drops out of a tree and steps back to stop it landing on her. It leaps to its feet and aims a kick at her head, she ducks, grabs its ankle and spins it around, swings her sword as it tries to get back up. BOOM.
Then a light comes on behind her.
Voice: Miss Blackhurst?
Milli: Uh...?
She turns and sees a reporter and cameraman looking at her.
Reporter: Is this latest vampire attack part of a pattern?
Milli: Er...?
--
Cut to a shot from the camera POV, with a BBC News caption underneath:
Millicent Blackhurst, Watcher’s Council
Reporter: What can you tell our viewers about this particular cult?
Milli: Um...?
--
Is this a natural event caused by Harmony outing vampires (and Clem) nudging the setting in a True Blood kinda direction? Or is this some mystical denial-filter-remover?
And either way, who made those Keep Calm And Carry On style posters?
(thanks to Keep Calm And Carry On.)
--
Escher: Well. It would appear that the hidden occult world of the supernatural, er... isn’t.
--
David Dimbleby: Tonight, Question Time comes from Cambridge, centre of the Watcher controversy. The Watchers’ Council has been the self-appointed defender of humanity for centuries. But has their policy of secrecy and denial done more harm than good? With me tonight to discuss this are Sir James Morton from the Ministry of Defence, lecturer on medieval history and senior Watcher Michael Henry Escher, vampire rights activist Victoria Valdermar, Witch Alliance representative Janet Shadowborn, and the Guardian science journalist Alok Jha.
--
(Isn’t she dead? Shhh.)
--
Happy Holidays, all.
The Hobbit (part one)
Dec. 14th, 2012 04:20 pmAbout ten minutes of extraneous LOTR-connection-building so far, not that much in 2 3/4 hours.
Radagast raises the setting's Weird Level by a click or two.
"The bit with the ladder!" may be the new "the bit on the stairs!"
Riddles In The Dark almost word-for-word.
Didn't spot Sir Peter, did hear the Wilhelm Scream.
Didn't see it 48fps, can't comment there, looked lovely in regular 2D.
Radagast raises the setting's Weird Level by a click or two.
"The bit with the ladder!" may be the new "the bit on the stairs!"
Riddles In The Dark almost word-for-word.
Didn't spot Sir Peter, did hear the Wilhelm Scream.
Didn't see it 48fps, can't comment there, looked lovely in regular 2D.
For twenty-one years now, the name "Sullivan Dane" for the religious monster-hunter in Vampire: The Masquerade has vaguely bothered me, because British, and never met or heard of anyone British with Sullivan as a first name. Why is he called that?
Then looking at blackhatmatt's new book Dust To Dust this afternoon, I realised (and RMB has now kindly confirmed) that it's a reference to Solomon Kane.
I have never read the stories, but I saw the film when it came out a couple years ago, and have been at least vaguely aware of the character since something like 1986.
So, yeah... I feel real smart right now.
Then looking at blackhatmatt's new book Dust To Dust this afternoon, I realised (and RMB has now kindly confirmed) that it's a reference to Solomon Kane.
I have never read the stories, but I saw the film when it came out a couple years ago, and have been at least vaguely aware of the character since something like 1986.
So, yeah... I feel real smart right now.
(no subject)
Dec. 2nd, 2012 09:37 pmI have returned!
London did have internets, but by the time I found internets I could use without my own shinyphone it was already Saturday night and I was quite tired from Dragonmeeting. (Having Dragonmet?)
London did have internets, but by the time I found internets I could use without my own shinyphone it was already Saturday night and I was quite tired from Dragonmeeting. (Having Dragonmet?)
(no subject)
Nov. 10th, 2012 10:14 pmThe Sleepover
Winner of The Cabin In The Woods short film contest.
That should tell you a fair bit about it.
Winner of The Cabin In The Woods short film contest.
That should tell you a fair bit about it.
The follow-up to the follow-up to Brick, Looper sees Rian Johnson stray out of writing and directing thrillers into a half-thriller half-thoughtful SF movie. Still plenty of slang and inappropriate machismo, but then it slows in pace dramatically, some of the worldbuilding pays off, and it becomes sort of a thinking person’s (time-travel action movie redacted as spoiler).
The worldbuilding is a nice balance of the totally necessary and the there just for style, and while you can make some educated guesses you might not spot which is which to begin with.
Not too sure about the mechanics of time travel, but they're consistent. (I think.)
And the makeup to make Joseph Gordon-Levitt look like a young Bruce Willis is a bit creepy, not entirely consistent, and occasionally makes him look like Wes Bentley.
And it hangs on one big coincidence which could have been avoided. Grrr.
Best original SF film of the year? I guess, maybe. Last year's "best original SF film of the year" was better, I think.
Trailers: Argo, one of those next-couple-months’-movies-in-general roundups including The Hobbit, and not one but two attempts to launch action-hero franchises named after the stars of series of books. (Seriously, guys, if you want to launch a franchise, give the first film a film-specific title or subtitle. Dr. No was called Dr. No, not James Bond.)
The worldbuilding is a nice balance of the totally necessary and the there just for style, and while you can make some educated guesses you might not spot which is which to begin with.
Not too sure about the mechanics of time travel, but they're consistent. (I think.)
And the makeup to make Joseph Gordon-Levitt look like a young Bruce Willis is a bit creepy, not entirely consistent, and occasionally makes him look like Wes Bentley.
And it hangs on one big coincidence which could have been avoided. Grrr.
Best original SF film of the year? I guess, maybe. Last year's "best original SF film of the year" was better, I think.
Trailers: Argo, one of those next-couple-months’-movies-in-general roundups including The Hobbit, and not one but two attempts to launch action-hero franchises named after the stars of series of books. (Seriously, guys, if you want to launch a franchise, give the first film a film-specific title or subtitle. Dr. No was called Dr. No, not James Bond.)
Not bad. Gets its "we're a Bond film, we have to have an insane giant action sequence regardless of what the rest of the film is like" out of its system at the start rather than jamming it in at the end like the last two. The slow prowling establishing shots, some of the music and certain plot elements make me agree with the "influenced by the Nolan Batman films" comments in some reviews. Oddly, the most striking image in the trailer is not actually in the film. The scene it was presumably cut from still counts as a striking image, fortunately.
(no subject)
Oct. 12th, 2012 02:18 pmIt meant waiting an extra couple of weeks, but I now own The Avengers (not Avengers Assemble as it is known here) complete with amusing Whedon commentary and short backup and stuff not on the bloody awful UK discs.
(no subject)
Sep. 17th, 2012 05:36 pmGreetings from new computer! I now have internet, due to having thought to try the non-USB option at the back of my modem.
