Lathany

I recently read the Collected Ghost Stories of M R James. It's apparently considered a landmark collection from "an English author, medievalist scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge" (quote from Wikipedia) who lived from 1862 to 1936. Personally, I thought the stories were really good. I'm not usually a fan of short stories and prefer full-length books, but James has the length right for these. Personal favourites included A Warning to the Curious (on which Boakes' The Lost Crown computer game series is based), The Mezzotint and Number 13. Thoroughly recommended.

There have been a couple of roleplaying games in the last month. Last night's Cthulhu I can't write-up yet as the game will be re-run (but I really enjoyed the session). I also can't say a great deal about the Warhammer 40K session at the end of October as that party are now ahead of the others and know more (including which Chaos God they believe to be involved). However, it did involve an old church site, a crypt and a debate about exactly which officials were corrupt. it's all heading up for a final, joint session in January which should tie up this particular plot arc. Although whether the planet will survive it is another matter.

Finally, we saw the Kempton Fireworks this year (having missed the previous two). Ryan took pictures and some actually came out (like this one).



Because this year was in aid of Help for Heroes the music was superhero-themed. I particularly liked Flash, Hero (from Spiderman) and the Indiana Jones theme. Also, we bought freshly cooked doughnuts which were really yummy. Finally, despite expectations, we did not get rained on.

It has been nearly a month since I last posted. Since then I finished my fortnight of annual leave and then went back to work for three weeks - and to lose my hearing. This has happened more-or-less every summer for the last three years not helped by the fact that I have only one hearing ear. However, after connecting it to hayfever last summer and having been taking antihistamines, I thought I might be safe this year. Sadly not. I was deaf for a week, then eardrops and syringing sorted it out. At least it's over now.

Over the last month, I have fitted in my becoming-annual shopping trip with the Bea that involves much food and shopping. Also, all four of us have been to Kew. Among other things we saw two birds with their young.



I've also played, read and watched a few things.

I'm continuing to play The Secret World on Wednesday with chrisvenus, ao_lai and Alistair. This has involved dungeoning, punning and lore-hunting. I've also played a bit of Torchlight II with bateleur. For soloing, I have played a bit of The Secret World, but also a couple of other things:

• The Cat Lady - This is about suicide, depression and friendships. And cats of course. It's a point-and-click indie horror game where you play Susan Ashworth who starts the game by committing suicide. I wrote a fuller review here. I recommend it (with caveats about it being a horror game and also being about depression).
• Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War - Well, yes, I picked it because it's Warhammer 40K and because Steam had it on special. I've just finished it (before lunch). It's a real-time strategy game involving space marines, chaos and everything. I'm not a big fun of RTS, but I coped well enough with this (difficulty normal). I thought that the plot was OK and I liked that unit types and uses were gradually introduced. However, I was less keen on the fact that you had to play a mission to figure out what you needed for it. In particular, don't get too clever building up to unit limits or you'll discover you're supposed to be building something specific with your remaining points. Overall, I liked it but found it far too short. (Luckily I also bought the expansions in the sale.)

I currently have various Dawn of War Expansions lined up along with Richard and Alice (point-and-click adventure set in a post-apocalypse prison) and Face Noir (point-and-click adventure in the detective "noir" style).

My reading has mosly been re-reading. However, I did read one new book - Frances Hardinge's Cuckoo Song. It is classified as Young Adult genre and I would describe it a dark (or proper) fairytale set in the 1920s. It's a stand-alone story and not a sequel. I always feel uncomfortable writing reviews of the work of people I know, but I will say that I loved this, it's now my favourite one of her books (which was previously A Face Like Glass and before that Verdigris Deep).

We have seen two new films, courtesy of LoveFilms.

• Zero Dark Thirty - This is the first Kathryn Bigelow film I've seen and I wasn't sure what to expect. Overall I enjoyed it and spent much of it trying to work out where I'd seen the actress who played the female support before (answer - as Elizabeth Bennet). The whole thing is based on events between 9-11 and Bin Laden's death and there's been various discussions about how accurate it actually is (probably the biggest difference is that Maya is not one person in real life).
• Elysium - On paper this looked great. Good cast (Matt Damon and Jodie Foster), directed and written by the District 9 man (Neill Blomkamp) and a sci-fi setting. In practice, not so much. It was all a bit preachy and about how sick children are heartbreaking.

Next? We might see another couple of films, or we might move straight to season 3 of The Wire next.

Finally, the two games I've played in.

• Star Wars - Um, this seems a while ago now. We travelled to the Jedi Academy planet and talked to people. The more we learned, the more likely it seemed that we were Sith. We then travelled to the Sith Academy planet (as you do) to visit the grave we had been told about. This seemed more familiar and the grave turned out to be rather more dangerous than we had anticipated. Or, specifically, its occupant did. Things we learned included that there was definitely one other person present at the Crystal-shattering who deliberately disrupted the ritual and presumably left us for dead. Also, Mary now owns a planet.
• 100 Secrets - Again, a fortnight ago. This involved us faffing in the way that players do when they aren't sure what to do next. Neddra has started to develop teleport (20cms, but that's important when it can be the thickness of a wall). Oh yes, and someone tried to kill us with the iron filing monster after we tried to contact General Alex. We left town when Rose received an assassination request for someone she liked. We then headed to Owl's Crossing via my home city and Rose's father's station (he'd left for Sarenland). We also visited the Eyestone. Plus we met the Sun and the Moon being carried around on the end of fishing lines by little people. Arriving at Owl's Crossing we discovered that the ruling family were elsewhere.

Next up is my Warhammer 40K game next weekend for which I need to do All The Prep.

Well, it's pretty quiet at the moment, although only until the duo return tomorrow. In their absence we've had some late mornings (not having to get up for the school bus) and visited Kew (cake, snowdrops and an orchid display). February in general has been quiet socially which, as work has been mad, was very welcome. My only busy weekend was last weekend which featured Folded Edge on the Saturday and a visit to Cambridge on the Sunday.

Folded Edge was a fairly thoughtful session, for us anyway. We landed at our planned destination (which, by our standards, is a small triumph) and then stayed there all session. We saw Treasure's father (or, at least, Sen, Treasure and I did), Sen had a meal with a contact whilst no-one shot at him (again, unusual) and we mostly solved the ghost ship problem. Mainly by figuring out more about white space. Also, the crew finally had That Conversation About The War - overdue since the prelude. I guess I could sum this one up as the session where no-one tried to kill us.

My train reading covered one new book before I returned to re-reading Brookmyres. The book in question was Pariah by Dan Abnett set in the Warhammer 40K universe. It's first of the Bequin trilogy (aka Ravenor vs Eisenhorn). It was pretty good overall, although I spent the first two-thirds feeling that someone was re-writing history. I'm looking forward to the other two when they come out.

I'm still waiting for Jonathan Boakes to release Blackenrock, but in the meantime I've been introduced to Funcon's (Tørnquist) The Secret World. My first MMO, it was suggested by a combination of chrisvenus, ao_lai and Alistair J to fill our Wednesday evenings which we previously uses to play Diablo III, Diablo II and Titan Quest. I found it hard to get into (probably not helped by having never touched a MMO before), frustrating in places (bugs and problems with lots of people attempting the same mission) and very addictive. I'm now both soloing and playing a party character and both belong to the Templars faction. TSW is based on the idea that there is another face of the world attached to the normal one where magic and stuff happens. I'm currently kicking around Kingsmouth ignoring Lovecraft references and beating up zombies. In short - I'd recommend it.

After some months (years?) of considering it, bateleur and I added The Wire to our Lovefilms list (we always wanted to see it, but it was a question of whether to buy or rent). Two discs (five episodes) in and it's very good. I'll write a review at the end of season one.

Oh yeah, and if anyone wants to see Reeve in the newspaper, he's at the top here.

Nicked from borusa.

"In your LJ post, list 10 books that have stayed with you in some way. Don't take but a few minutes, and don't think too hard -- they don't have to be the "right" or "great" works, just the ones that have touched you."

1. Power of Three - Diana Wynne Jones. I am a huge fan of DWJ and almost every DWJ book is special to me, but this one is my favourite. It was a book I read and re-read all the way through secondary school and I just loved it and was (and am) very fond of the central character Gair and the friends he made.

2. Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien. Well, yes. I met it early enough that it was my first epic fantasy adult fiction. Enough said.

3. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen. I had terrible trouble reading this at first, but I really wanted to like it because I have caught the 1980 TV series and fell in love with it. I didn't understand it, mind, or not all the subtlety, but I then wanted to love the book. Perseverance paid off.

4. Paladin of Souls - Lois McMaster Bujold. Tricky to pick my favourite of hers (Memory, Diplomatic Immunity and Curse of Chalion are all runners) but I think Paladin has it because of Ista. The central character has a wonderful take on the world from having spent much of her life being thought mad.

5. Sparkling Cyanide - Agatha Christie. This is my favourite Christie because of its structure - the six suspects at the start and because it makes sense when you put it together. Again, it helped that I saw the TV movie first.

6. Space Hostages - Nicholas Fisk. This went on a two-week holiday when I was about twelve and I read it and re-read it. It's got the kids in charge theme and also a lot about bullies. And I love the ending.

7. The Art of Murder - Jose Carlos Somoza. This was a blind pick I made for a bookclub on the basis that I liked the author's previous book (The Athenian Murders); it was a lucky gamble. This book has some real horror in it, but the world of humans-as-art worked so well and I liked the series of murders and how it was solved.

8. King of Shadows - Susan Cooper. A close second is The Dark is Rising but I find King more emotional and engrossing. It helps that I like A Midsummer Night's Dream and I cry every time I read it.

9. The Colour Purple - Alice Walker. This was a book I met for the first time through my Open University degree and fell in love with it. I like Celie a lot and just some of the phrases. One of them goes something like "I never met God in a church, just a bunch of folks hanging around, kinda hoping he'd show." In contrast with much of my list, I loathed the film and thought it was sickly and completely out of character with the book.

10. The Ice King - Michael Scott Rohan. I can see a lot of flaws in this book these days. The middle aged guy who has every attractive young woman in the book (OK, two) throwing themselves at him. The "split the party" theme. But, at the end of the day, it's still got Viking gods and atmosphere. Plus it made excellent background to a couple of roleplaying games.

Honourable mention to Enid Blyton who sent me looking for caves as a child, Prachett because he was Xmas every year, Brookmyre for video game fans made fiction heroes, L M Montgommery for sweet but witty, CS Lewis for everything but the moralising and Dan Abnett who hooked me on WH40K.

I have spent the last week resting and also dealing with various little bits and pieces that I had been putting off. Such as contacting the tax office, writing a character for bateleur's 100 Secrets game and ordering a new sofa for the lounge. On Friday, I took Bea shopping in Oxford Street and out for lunch. I don't spend much time with Bea in general (as I am parent who commutes to work in London), so it was a day out for the two of us and it went very well.

The resting part of my week included finishing Ni No Kuni. I've written a long review for GameFAQs, but the shortish version is that it's gorgeous with a decent story and interesting gameplay. However, it's a bit too grindy for my liking. Definitely one of the best JRPGs around though. I particularly liked the plot advancement as you move from one goal to another across the game and understand a great deal about the world in the process. I also liked the side-quests and hunts - they made the grinding less arduous.

I have finished the fourth and fifth Le Carré books and I am now waiting for the sixth to arrive.

• The Looking Glass War - This was a spy story in, what I suspect is, Le Carré's normal style. I didn't enjoy it very much. It's depressing from start to finish and there is very little Smiley.
• A Small Town In Germany - This was much better. Still about spies, but much more mystery and "thriller" to it. Still no Smiley, but the protagonist - Alan Turner - was very interesting and relentless.

We have seen a couple of films since Gone - both were recommendations and based in history.

• A Royal Affair - A Danish film set in the 18th century, at the court of the mentally ill King Christian VII of Denmark. This was a fairly accurate retelling (as far as I can judge) and was well-acted, interesting, unsurprisingly tragic and had some wonderful lines (such as a quotation from Hamlet). I'd recommend it for anyone unless they loathe subtitles. Actually the worst thing about it was the subtitles as there were some white on white moments.
• Ip Man - This film was much more loosely based on events and is about Ip Man, a Chinese martial artist whose students included Bruce Lee. It's fun and the story is fairly traditional, although in a twentieth century setting. There's no Bruce Lee, though, so don't watch it for him (it's set too early).

There's been a fair amount of roleplaying since I last posted:

• Folded Edge - Again, there's been a fair amount already said, mainly by lanfykins (here). We had something of a law-abiding session. We arranged for my would-be assassin to be arrested, took a trip to Danté during which Maravian had some bad piloting draws (although Hex eventually took over and so we didn't fly into the sun) and then went on to Ariel (I think) where we rescued the two remaining hostages of ten from an incredibly grim situation. There are hints that we may eventually be bound for Khepri (the prison planet), but Reagan still has hopes of avoiding this.
• Lost Souls - As the re-runs are over, I can now talk about this. However, I suspect it's not as funny to read about as it was to play. It was supposed to be - and mostly was - a somewhat dark and depressing tale about the afterlife. We (wildrogue, bateleur, Alistair and I - leathellin bailed at the eleventh hour, possibly wisely) played characters who had died in a train crash and found themselves on The Plains, hoping eventually to be worthy of Heaven. However, when wandering we met an Angel who sent us back to Earth to recover a being that should not be there. Easier said than done. We were ghosting about in 1999, a few days before the solar eclipse, wondering how we were going to find and catch the bad guy given that possessing people was considered A Really Bad Thing (which only bad guys would do). The answer appeared to be given to us when we spotted a possessed seagull above us. We reckoned that (a) this was our bad guy and (b) this solved our problems. Four more seagulls were quickly obtained and possessed, flying was a doddle and so we just needed to make contact - thus we managed a four seagull pileup and a show-down in the seagull brain as we plummeted towards the sea. Of course, the seagull turned out to be possessed by a mere follower and the actual bad guy was in a pregnant woman elsewhere. However, we eventually caught the bad guy - a major sinner/magician from Hell - and three of us returned (we hope that the fourth one gets back eventually). We had made an important step towards redemption. Oh, and in case anyone cares, we did regain control of the seagull and stopped it from drowning.
• Star Wars - Session three involved light sabers. And a(nother) space battle. Not to mention an unfortunate critical fail and lots of bad rolls from me.

Next week I plan to see at least two museums. And do more lazing about.

I think I last wrote an update post back in early March. Since then the weather has improved, although not as much as I would like, and I've finally reached the end of busy period.

We have seen a few films, including a couple of my favourites so far this year.

• The Box - Nice concept, pity that the film was twice as long as it needed to be. Cameron Diaz and James Marsden were OK, although I felt Diaz was miscast and the film went further into sci-fi territory than it needed to.( Spoilers )
• End Of Watch - This was a very watchable story about the pair of police officers (Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña) shot in a documentary style. It seemed to be true to life (not that I know anything about the LAPD) and the acting was good.( Spoilers )
  Overall I liked it a lot, but I didn't love it.
• Dredd - This I did love. I've never read any of the comics, but it's pretty clear what the style and atmosphere is supposed to be.( Spoilers )
  If they make the other two-thirds of the planned trilogy, then I'd be keen to see them. Sadly, this wasn't a commercial hit so I doubt they will.
• The Lives Of Others - If you can handle subtitles, then I would recommend this highly. It's set in the 80s in East Germany and it's about an agent spying on a writer. It's beautifully acted with a good story and believable characters.( Spoilers )
• Heat (1995) - This is the 1995 version with Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Val Kilmer (not the Burt Reynolds one which they are remaking with Jason Statham and Milo Ventimiglia (Heroes)). Having been impressed with the previous two films, this didn't do anything for me. It looks fantastic on paper - excellent cast, excellent reviews, good theme - and yet just didn't grab me. I thinkbateleur put his finger on it when he said it wanted to be Pulp Fiction and so tried to do half a dozen different genres.( Spoilers )
  Anyhow, it's a good film, the critics loved it. Just lost on me.

I've read two new books on the train - both the next in a series I've been following for a while.

• Death Masks (Dresden Files) - I didn't like this as much as Summer Knight, but still enjoyed it.( Spoilers )
• Sir Thursday (Keys to the Kingdom) - I quite liked this. This series is starting to have a bit of a formula to it, although Nix isn't too bad for it.( Spoilers )

I'm playing a number of computer games, but I think the only one I've finished is Haunted Halls (Fears from Childhood). This was a game where I knew what I was getting. Big Fish horror (ie. not much horror). It's sort of like Sudoku - you know what the puzzles will be.

What else? Ah yes, Alistair has now launched his roleplaying game and it turns out to be Star Wars. Which fortunately we all love and can quote. We're trying not to play Sith.

Today I was on leave and Ryan had an Inset day. So we pottered off to take pictures and eat cake. It was bit chilly when the sun was in, but otherwise good.

( Five photos under the cut. )

I had a meeting in Belfast last week which meant staying overnight away from home and flights in and out of Heathrow (security checks and things). Although my hotel was based out in the East, I didn't see any of the protests. I stayed in the same place as last time and collected yet another suited rubber duck for Ryan. Confusingly, despite the duck, there was no bath. However, my room did have a wonderful shower.

The long journeys provided plenty of reading time and I finished the last part of Cryoburn before moving on to Summer Knight (Dresden).

• Cryoburn - Lois McMaster Bujold - A readable, solid entry to the Miles series, although not as good as Memory or Diplomatic Immunity.The main plot is interesting, but I felt it wasn't as good as some of the previous ones. Too few of the characters are fully described and it's hard to care about them. Miles solves it with his usual skill, but I would have appreciated fewer (or no) references to the fact he does it in a hyperactive way, it seemed that someone was commenting on Miles' approach in every other paragraph (bored now!). In part, this was because less of the book is told from his point of view than usual as both Roic and a new character take centre stage. I'm not a great Mark fan, so I was somewhat disappointed that he showed up (and unconvinced it was necessary). Finally, I didn't enjoy the ending, but accept that it was about time.
• Summer Knight - Jim Butcher - Enjoyable, solid Dresden which I liked better than Fool Moon. After the depressing ending to the previous book, I particularly liked this one for finally stopping the trend of ending Harry in a worse place than where he had started from. Also, I liked the hints at grand plot for the series and Harry's destiny. I wish they had resolved some of the loose ends from the start though.

On Friday night, bateleur and I watched Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. I enjoyed it and liked the comic book bits and also the computer fights bits. The main character was rather unlikeable (I hope deliberately!), but his room-mate was awesome and the whole thing was light and fun.

Tonight there may be snow - although the Met Office appears to be backing away from this for our bit of the country.

bateleur was roleplaying on the south coast this weekend, so I have been on twins duty. This has become easier with every year they get older. Friday night was just their tea and bedtime. Yesterday featured the cakeshop, some Ryan-Mummy Terraria and then family-minus-bateleur dinner (prawn and pea risotto). Today Ryan and I headed over to the local hall where, about every four months, I give blood. Apparently it was my eighteenth donation (I hadn't counted, but that sounds right) and, for once, there was no problem with my iron count (usually the first test fails and the second one shows me just over the line and able to give). Ryan took photos for his newsbook (just of me) and shared my packet of biscuits at the end. Bea stayed home and read (she's started my Diana Wynne Jones collection).

It has not been that long since I last posted, but I'm gearing up for my usual December (which is when I try to post every day with the titles being advent windows) so I thought I would produce a post.

• To The Moon - This is an indie PC game which I got as part of the Indie Royale package with The Blackwell Deception. It has caused a great deal of controversy over the question of whether it is a game. Having played it, I'd go with "not really" although I would also enthusiastically recommend it. This is because it is an excellent story which is something of a cross between Total Recall, Memento and The Butterfly Effect, but with indie-standard (ie. cartoony) graphics rather than special effects and headline actors. The premise is that a dying man wants his wish to go to the moon granted and a couple of scientists are contracted to fulfill this. The rest is wonderful. The main problem is the "gameplay". The put-the-memories-together puzzle is fine, but it's just one simple puzzle that you do rather a lot. What other gameplay bits exist feel incredibly tacked-on. However, so long as you aren't looking for the "game" bit, then this is beautiful and heartrending.
• MicMacs - The full French title is MicMacs à tire-larigot ('Non-stop shenanigans'). Its director/writer is also the director/writer of Amélie and the two films have a similar feel to them. However, I didn't think MicMacs was quite as good as Amélie which was my joint favourite film of those I had first seen in 2009. With MicMacs, I didn't like the lead nearly as much and I felt that while the premise was good (a bunch of misfits take on two giants from the arms trade), many of those misfits did not really add their expertise into the resulting scenarios except by forced circumstances (eg. the Human Cannonball guy) and instead the contortionist was the answer to most problems.
• The Wise Man's Fear - My favourite book of 2010 was The Name of the Wind, a fantasy book that was the first of a trilogy and I really loved it. The Wise Man's Fear is the second book, also really interesting, a really gripping read and... well, too much like the first book. The problem is that the main plot is still moving along at a snail's pace (I can't help feeling that this isn't going to be a trilogy just on the basis of what's left to tell) and events I expected to appear in the first book (because most of the series is a retelling of someone's life and you know some of the punchlines and roughly when they appear) still have not emerged in the second one. So, still a good read, but a little frustrating that it hasn't advanced things more.

Tomorrow I planning to meet some former work colleagues for a drink and lots of chat. We usually have our late year meet-up in December and exchange Xmas cards, but I reckon it's a little too early this time.

Many thanks to everyone who posted about the Troxy. It was indeed small enough that the station coped with the crowds and we got back to Waterloo for the last train but one.

Garbage were utterly awesome. They played for just under two hours, mainly their older hits but with a few tracks from their new album (three or four, I think). Shirley Manson was very good - both singing and addressing the audience. My favourites included Bad Boyfriend, Stupid Girl and Only Happy When It Rains. I think they played almost all their hits - The World Is Not Enough was included, although Bleed Like Me was not.

I have been very busy roleplaying of late:

• Ghost Hunting At The British Museum - My one-off game involved six characters being sent on a ghost hunting expedition in the British Museum by a mysterious corporation. The second run-through (the first was at KrysCon) has been completed and was successful. Best of all, the resulting game was very different. It is the most prep-intensive game I have ever run and I will probably not sink that much time into a game again, but I wanted to try it and I think it was worth it (plus I really enjoyed my research at the British Museum). It was a series of puzzles - namely how to get rid of individual ghosts - all building towards a larger puzzle (which, among other things, involved a vortex stretching between heaven and hell (the Dark Fall) and time travel). The concept was, very loosely, based on the computer game Dark Fall series, although playing those games would not have helped the players solve the plot. I felt that the six characters worked and were generally different to each other. There were three ghost hunters: the most experienced (quisalan / wildrogue), the one who was suspicious about the company (zandev / chrestomancy) and the one with their very own ghost (leathellin / TheHattedOne). There were also three others: the company employee (chrisvenus / ao_lai), the museum employee (smiorgan / lanfykins) and the student who could see ghosts everywhere since a road accident where a pedestrian died (huggyrei / bateleur). There were a number of amusing coincidences - for example, precisely one case got smashed in both games and it was the same case smashed by the same character (zandev / chrestomancy) for no reason I could understand. There were also an awful lot of differences; mainly resulting from the characters' reactions to the corporation, to the ghosts and to the time-travel element. ao_lai won the angst award in the second game, while huggyrei got it in the first. The first party all decided to take up the employment offer, while the second party were looking to Bring Down the Company as a lifetime goal. All-in-all, I really enjoyed both runs and many thanks to all the players.
• Meteor - There has been another pair of Meteor games and some interesting developments. This time, the party in the north had a comparatively quiet game which one of the party spent wondering whether they were the bad guys due to the circumstances and the weapon they had recently acquired (although there was also a God vs character single combat). Meanwhile, the party in the south spent most of the session trying to escape the battle/bloodbath which resulted in an impressive number of dead gods. I think it's safe to say that the Prayer to the Eight needs updating.
• Revolution - Incoming: one burning village. Enough said.

On my train journeys, I have read The Ring of Solomon (The Bartimaeus Sequence) by Jonathan Stroud (a prequel) and really enjoyed it. Having read it, I realise I have missed Bartimaeus and I am now re-reading the original trilogy. Ring of Solomon is nicely self-contained and I liked the unfolding of the story and the characters involved.

In the last month, we have seen two offerings from LoveFilms (13 Assassins and Of Gods and Men):

• 13 Assassins - I am not quite sure where this recommendation came from, possibly a work colleague. It is set in ancient Japan and is about how 13 Samurai (OK, 12 and a random) try to take out 200 guards and their VIP. It is an odd mixture of realism/horror (the early scenes) and cinematic fights/bloodbath (the later scenes). I quite liked it, but felt the meshing of styles did not quite work. The film received excellent ratings, but I do not quite agree.
• Of Gods and Men - This was Kermode's number two film of 2010 (I think). He heaped a great deal of praise upon it, so we watched it. What I had not appreciated was that it is a "true life" tale - a film type I do not really like. The result? Great acting, interesting setting but... that irritating lack of resolution that too many true story films have.

On the video game front, I finally went back to The Void and completed the hard ending - the nameless sister. I appreciate that no-one else on my friends list has played this, so I will just say I was very pleased to do it and I will now put the game down and not return to it. I next plan to play Dark Fall: Lost Souls.

Since I last posted a long entry, two months ago, work has become less busy, the weather has improved and I've spent a lot of lunchtimes at the British Museum. Outside of the working day, I still have more things I want to do than time to do them in, but I think that's unlikely to change any time soon. My Meteor groups are heading for end game territory and I think they will finish - very roughly - at the end of this year. As a player, I'm in Candlewick and also the local gaming group (Dogs has just finished and another round of Revolution is about to begin).

We've continued to see a couple of films a month (mild spoilers):

• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Swedish version) - The Swedish title translates as "Men who hate women" and, frankly, that's a much better title for summing up the film. It's very violent and very focused on these men who hate women. I found it interesting to watch (it's a murder mystery) and enjoyed it, but I'm not so sure I want to read the book or see the sequels.
• Cell 211 - This was a thriller set in a jail where the prisoners took over (consequently I think there was only one female character). Tense and atmospheric with interesting characters and a good main character. Well worth seeing.
• Paprika - Anime film about using dreams to help people and the other effects. Needless to say it's weird, but enjoyable.
• Attack the Block - I'd heard very mixed reviews for this and was apprehensive about it beforehand. However, it turned out to be totally brilliant and it's easily my favourite film so far this year. Sci-fi, comedy, action and horror with some good characters (I liked Pest). It's set in and around a tower block in London and it was nice to see a British sci-fi film.
• Ronin - A crime-thriller film about a team of former agents of a mix of countries who are being paid to seize a briefcase. It stars Robert De Niro, Jean Reno and Natascha McElhone among others - who all give good performances. It's got a couple of insane car chases (we realised our own car type was one of those used!) and a lot of shooting people (who then die - this isn't The A Team). However, it was good without being excellent. I think what was missing was that the plot - when you got to the bottom of it - was fairly straightforward. And a key question remained unanswered (admittedly, deliberately).

I've read a couple more new books on the train:

• The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko - Good vs Evil with Balance and a lot of one-upmanship all round. It's a good read and I now want to read the others in the series. However, I did find that a little went a long way and it's the sort of series I would want to go through slowly (plus the boss always being one step ahead was irritating).
• The Vesuvius Club: A Lucifer Box Novel by Mark Gatiss - A comic historical spy thriller, this is a difficult book to describe. Entertaining and with a central mystery. Much enjoyed, if slightly over-the-top at the end.

Finally, We've been watching The Killing. It's like a cross between 24 and Prime Suspect and is Danish (with subtitles). The main characters are great - all believable while being different from any other characters I have seen. The plot is good. However, it did suffer from wanting to not finish the main plot until the end of the series and had a bit of a feel of them planning the episodes as they went along rather than at the start. Overall - not quite excellent, but rather better than most other TV right now.

I'll try not to leave it for so long next time.