A song about cake and other things

[lathany]

I'm so looking forward to my holiday at the end of this month. I've started to feel rather run-down and tired. It's mostly because, whilst I've taken time off earlier in the year, it's always been to do something (such as Bea's dance show). The prospect of lying in a heap for a fortnight really appeals. Apart from anything else, I might get to finish Dirge or play The Void.

As per usual, my update-by-bullet-point:

• Heroes Emmy Nomination - A surprise, yes, but the category may be less of one: "Outstanding Art Direction For A Single-Camera Series". It's for Brave New World and I think it is well deserved. Heroes' problems were all in the writing - plot in particular, but also some of the dialogue. I doubt it'll win though. In other Heroes news, the movie is now looking less likely. So season four may be it.
• Gaunt's Ghosts - Now I've started on this Warhammer 40K fiction lark, I don't want to stop. I've moved on to the first Gaunt's Ghosts omnibus (apparently book 1 - The Founding - is the most popular 40K fiction) and enjoyed that too. Of the trilogy, the second book is a bit too flashback-to-short-story-per-Ghost but the first one is great if you like the good old "underdogs come through" stuff. The third book had a slow start, but I eventually got into it.
• Films - These were The Holiday and Starship Troopers. I have the same general comments about both of them, fun and enjoyable, but somewhat lacking in plot and not something I'd rewatch. The Holiday IMO isn't as good as 27 Dresses as it seems a bit aimless in places and Jack Black is a bad fit (particularly with the rest of the cast). That said, the interactions between Eli Wallach and Kate Winslett's characters were great. Starship Troopers had Denise Richards playing - what I seriously hope was supposed to be - one of the most annoying and smug characters I've ever seen on-screen. Consequently, I liked Dizzy on default alone (aka the other female character). It's not a bad premise, but again rather aimless and without a real conclusion.
• Portal - Can't believe I've not met Portal before now. But Steam were giving it away free and bateleur suggested I loaded it up. It's utterly awesome. I can see why even Zero Punctuation was stuck for criticism. Good puzzles, good pace, awesome black humour. And I just about coped with the motion sickness as I finished the end of level 18.
• Meteor - Last, but most important of all, I've finally kicked off my new roleplaying game. And, so far, so good. I love both the parties and I'm pleased at how differently things are progressing in different parts of the same world. lanfykins, bateleur, chrisvenus and AJ are stuck in the House of the Heretic hoping that the tomes in the library are going to save them whilst ao_lai, chrestomancy and quisalan are battling with divine clashes and a little matter of amnesia aided by bateleur's DPC. I'm hoping it continues to go to plan.