The classic ideal of British science fiction, Doctor Who, has been around since the 1960s. It became such a fundamental part of pop culture that when it was revived in 2005 after a lengthy absence, it wasn’t considered niche anymore. It was full-on Saturday night entertainment for all the family.
Which is why it’s so disappointing that the current show is a crude, poorly-written mess that’s so slathered full of misogynistic hate that I am legitimately surprised anyone even agrees to act in it.
The latest edition of Dungeons & Dragons was released to a vague fanfare earlier this week, and honestly it’s a baffling piece of work. This is not the point where I explain that I cut my teeth on D&D at an early age, in fact I was fairly late to the whole “roleplaying” thing, which is quite odd for a dyed-in-the-wool nerd like myself.
Let me begin by saying I was a big fan of the Guardians of the Galaxy comic book. The Annihilation storyline brought me into “cosmic Marvel” in a big way, and I was hooked on space heroes for a long time afterwards. That there was going to be a Guardians of the Galaxy movie was something I never expected to hear, and I have to admit, I was pretty psyched.
The other day I got the chance to try out Hobbit Tales from Cubicle 7, a card-based game that isn’t really card-based at all. Sure, it uses cards, but the real meat of the game comes from the players. The cards you get are story elements, settings and twists in the tale, and you have to take the hand you are dealt and come up with a story that fits as much as it entertains.
You might be starting to see why this game appealed to me.
So, this time around I was a little late to join in the party. The name of the party was “everybody see this movie” and everybody certainly did. In fact, it’s entirely likely that by the time this gets posted to my website, the movie won’t be in the cinemas any more. If you missed your chance to see Mad Max: Fury Road on the big screen, and have still managed to avoid spoilers, then don’t fret about this review.
I received Planet Coaster as a sort of early Christmas present, because I had seen some of it in action and would not shut up talking about it. Years ago, I was a big fan of the 1999 classic RollerCoaster Tycoon, listening to all the tiny people sending me complaints about how long they’ve had to queue for the haunted house. Planet Coaster is all that in glorious, stylised 3D, and I have fallen for it in a big way.
Let me start off by saying that I did not particularly like the new Star Trek movies. I had a soft spot for the neo-retro sort of look, but style can’t compensate for substance – or lack thereof. Which meant I was a little cautious about approaching the new Star Wars movie, not simply because of the same director, but because of the general way that Hollywood has been doing legacy movies.
I am so, so relieved that I had absolutely nothing to worry about.
I’m a huge nerd and I love space exploration, so it’s no huge surprise that I saw The Martian this week — but my delight at semi-realistic NASA missions is not the only reason. I’m showing my support for a fellow self-publisher, Andy Weir, who made it big with his book-turned-Hollywood-blockbuster, and it gives me vast quantities of hope about my own career.
When I was a kid, I watched a lot of cartoons. These days, I still watch a lot of cartoons (mainly because they’re bright, happy parcels of media that cheer me up immensely), but I’ve become a little more discerning. Granted, there were still things I wouldn’t watch when I was ten, but the bar was significantly lower then than it is now.
