Little Brother, Push, 7th Sea and Tas

It's been nearly two months since I wrote an update, so this is long overdue.

My train reading has mostly been re-reading, in part because I find it relaxing. However, there have been a couple of new things on my list, remarkably similar to each other:

• Halting State by Charles Stross - This is my first Stross book and I enjoyed it. It's geeky, about a robbery in a computer game, has surveillance conspiracy theory stuff coming out of its ears and it nicely ties all the threads together.
• Little Brother by Cory Doctorow - This is geeky, has surveillance conspiracy theory stuff coming out of its ears and has a computer game involved (although that doesn't get robbed). I found it a heavier read than the Stross because I felt so constantly on edge on behalf of the protagonist. However, overall I think it's the better story of the two (if not by much).

On the TV front, I've mostly been watching the second series of Twin Peaks for the first time. I appreciate that everyone on my f-list saw it years ago, but I'm going to review it anyway. I enjoyed it in general, but definitely preferred some storylines to others. The Laura Palmer stuff was always gripping, and the W-E follow-up on the grand plot almost as much, but many of the minor plots fell flat. I could have done without pretty much everything involving James, whose only saving grace appeared to be that he wasn't in the Nadine-thinks-she's-in-high-school plot. I liked Shelley and wished she had some better plots to work in, liked Catherine and Josie, liked Audrey, but didn't like Annie (or her plot). I enjoyed all the Lodge stuff and would have liked to see more. Finally, parts seemed very slow - it reminded me a bit of undyingking's comments about Soap, that it probably didn't feel slow to the people who watched it at the time and it's part of TV generally speeding up its stories. I now want to see the movie and know it's a prequel. As an aside, I noticed that bits of Claire's theme from Heroes sound suspiciously like the Laura Palmer theme (I own both soundtracks).

I've continued to watch offerings from LOVEFiLM, it's been quite a while since I saw the inside of a cinema.

• The History Boys - very "English" - in the way I identify with England dramatics but not my own life, quite fun, easy to watch and apparently has the same cast as the stage version. It's possibly a shame that we saw it just after Closer because you can tell in both cases that they were plays.
• Source Code - A sort of serious version of Groundhog Day which is still watchable despite the continuity errors (and we're not talking about the science). Fast and thriller, very watchable. My main complaint is that they did the most vanilla thing possible with the concept.
• Push - I loved Push. A lot. Kind of a cross between Heroes and The Butterfly Effect (with just a touch of Blade Runner). It isn't time-travel, but it's got all the elements for time travel. Vastly under-rated.

Taking up rather more of my time than the films are the computer games.

• The Void - This took me six months and several re-starts to finish. It's from the people who did Pathologic. It's weird, bleak, beautiful and really hard. It's about drawing glyphs, building up resources and fights. It's sadly also about nude women, but the game part was good enough that I managed to mostly ignore that aspect. Recommended if you liked Pathologic (although I think that was just me...)
• Portal Co-Op - This was great; we used the PC and the PS3 and really enjoyed it. The puzzles are mostly interesting and it has a tiny bit of plot. Recommended if you haven't tried it and like co-op games (particularly if the price comes down).

Of course, my main occupation has been roleplaying.

• 7th Sea - I've never met 7th Sea before, but now I'm in a game, I'm enjoying it. It seems like a good system and I was rather sorry to hear it was out of print. The plot's fun and I've now met an intelligent crow and the King of Cats. Plus swam in a lake that's really, really cursed.
• Meteor - The two parties finally met and kind-of got along. Now they-re separate again and trying to figure out what to do while a bunch of gods fight each other. I'm enjoying running this, but will have to put it down when I plan my Con game for next year.

What else have I done? Well, bateleur and I had a meal at the Turkish restaurant near Waterloo called Tas, which was really, really nice (and whose website appears to be down). I had prawns for a starter, then moussaka and then a liqueur coffee. We want to go back and try some of the other dishes. It's good food, good value and I recommend it to anyone who goes near Waterloo station.

And I think that's my lot. I'll try not to leave as long next time.