Raithe

Of course, I did mean to say I half expect that to be an April Fool's joke.. but just that it was being reported in the British newspaper's today rather then last week... Although that could just mean they picked up the story by accident...

On the movie trivia news...

Hm, after a bit over 15 hours of gameplay, I finished off Arkham Asylum, with my completionist pushing me to finish off the Riddles as well (but not bother with the challenge maps). I think I might make it the full trifecta and re-install Arkham City and have a run through of that....

Ouch. At least it was recognised and things halted there. Now you can put it past you and move on for fresh horizons... while pondering on which sharp sticks to prepare in case you meet the buggers in a dark alley somewhere...

I have to admit I'm mixed. The soundtrack was pretty damn good, and it was..interesting to see a Hollywood interpretation of the classic story. It's a shame they decided to go back and shoot some more /re-edit it to make it more 'Keannu" based. Although the bit that did make me snicker was the synchronised seppuku at the end.

Since I wrapped up all the story and case files stuff on Batman Origins.. I decided to have a minor bout of semi-nostalgia and re-play Arkham Asylum to see how that feels nowadays.

Just to wrap up the Frozen Overload... http://youtu.be/GEZKeD_-IWY

Hm, a little concerned over a friend. Her 15 year old daughter got approached in the mall by a modelling agency. Apparently, it is one of the more legit agencies in the US and they were doing a mall recruitment process - target rich environment of pretty girls I gather. She got a call back, and they wanted to sign her. And apparently her mother's ex who had taken her to the call back appointment lost the ability to say "no" and signed the contract for her. Of course, because she has no experience in the business, they want her to take classes (at least 10 weeks of) before they'll get her work. They're paying "half" of the costs, but expect her to come up with the other half. Something about that just flares up some of my paranoia. Her mother's a bit concerned, but it is a legit and recognised modelling agency, but she's also pissed off at the ex for not saying they should take a day or two to think it over first. Anyone know if that's a standard practice of modelling agencies? What are the big danger signs to look out for, or the positive signs? I don't want to push the paranoia since the kid is practically walking on air at the moment... But I do want to help make sure I can give some helpful advice to them.

Well, it kind of naturally flows into the next two movies of the Hunger Games which are going to have all the same damn problems...

Game of Thrones.. if it were a 70's sitcom.. http://youtu.be/KEursnYll7w

Oh the initial Hunger Games isn't too bad. I find the concept of the districts and the way everything rolls along to be a bit dodgy, but I'm fine with suspension of disbelief for what you get. My issues are more when you go onto the next two books. Things start to just get very messy, and I found the finale pretty much a throwaway mess of character turns, dodgy reasoning, and clutch-it storytelling.

Wrapped up Batman Origins. Well, the storyline, all the Case Files, all the Most Wanted. Let my ocd run wild with the Enigma datapacks and picked all those up. Got all the medals for the Combat Training..but I'm not bothering with the challenge maps and such. Kind of feel the whole Initiation dlc that came with it sucks. It's not really a story as it were, just a couple of snapshots around a series of Extended challenge maps, that annoy because you fail at any point and you have to restart from the beginning again.

To help balance out all the guns..

Saw Divergent. Yet another one of those YA book trilogies with a strong female protagonist that's being turned into a set of movies. I actually quite liked this one, think it makes a lot more sense and has more coherency then the Hunger Games. On movie related news.. Luc Besson is back with what looks like could be an entertaining one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcLERVsu1O8& Even if it does use that annoying "humans only use 10% of their brains" crap line.

Having one of those evenings where a fairly pleasant day swung into lots of irritation, when what should have been several 5 minute tasks turned into 30-40 minute marathons because everything and it's maker decided to go wrong and screw up rather then let me get them done swiftly and efficiently.

How I Met Your Mother - the series finale. I would say that was pretty well done. It ran the gamut of emotions , the comedy, the sadness, the bittersweet timing, then blending back to comedy without really missing a beat.

Spent a chunk of the weekend playing Batman Origins. My partial ocd kicked in on a chunk of it. I ended up spending about 2 hours with the "Press Tab to level up" message flashing, because I'd already picked the abilities I had access to, and needed to stop getting distracted and do the main mission to unlock more. For some reason I really can't get the Blade dodge to work right.

You should give the Nero Wolfe Mysteries a look see if you enjoy Timothy Hutton.

Have you managed to watch The Philadelphia Story yet? I persuaded a friend to sit down and watch it the other week and she was amazed. Jimmy Stewart's drunk acting is still stand out even with Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant swanning around.

Since Steam was doing the 75% off all Batman.. I decided to pick up Batman Origins and idle a few hours here and there on it...

On a look back at the "war" on D&D by parental groups in the early 80's... "It was never a fair fight between fundamentalist Christianity and D&D. One was a dangerous system full of dark mysticism and threats to warp a young mind beyond repair, and the other was a tabletop RPG."

Heh. Wired - Homeopathic Remedy Recalled Because it Contains Actual Medicine

Okay.. let's see.. for the reading matter: Elizabeth Moon - Vatta's War (5 books) John Ringo - Troy Rising series (3 books so far) David Weber - In Fury Born (for the more space opera side) or Honor Harrington (if you want extensive series with a lot of technical detail and sort of doing French Revolution / Napoleonic War in Spaaaace) If you want a touch of humour with your sci-fi.. Robert Asprin's "Phule" series. If you like elegant language and banter, Steve Miller & Sharon Lee's Liaden Universe books (well-loved by Anne McCaffrey, and described as "Star Wars meets Pride & Prejudice") If you like the more philosophical and "deep" sci-fi types, look at L.E. Modesitt. Jr. He pretty much does as much fantasy as sci-fi, but can be quite engaging.

The final season of Babylon 5 has it's ups and downs. Some bits are stretched out, some bits are crushed in , but it has some answers to questions that are hanging around, and frankly you have to watch the final episode. The cameo appearance of JMS as the mechanic literally turning the lights off on the station "20 years on" is a really nice touch.