Raithe

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.

For the feel good piece.. USA Today - Flat Stanley home safe after a decade in a soldier's wallet

Well, for the midweek bundle..

Forbes - Google, DuckDuckGo, and the Regulation of Privacy

Reign of Assassins. Wuxia film, co-directed by Chao-Bin Su and John Wu. Set in ancient China, Michelle Yeoh playing the deadly assassin who abandoned her old life in an attempt to live a normal life, live, love and just not be evil... Only to have her old "gang" turn up to disrupt things in a quest to find the remains of a mystical Buddhist monk. That nice mix of human story, romance, tragedy, a little mystery, wrapped up around some very nicely choreographed and styled fight sequences and some great music. Sure, it's a little predictable if you know the style of film, but it's still pretty darn engaging with its twists and turns before the conclusion.

Heh. Here's one that Hurl might appreciate..

The Spoon Theory

http://youtu.be/jxtMPN0tkDc

Not so much for the funny.. But the 'awwww' and cuteness overload it'll hit some people with.. http://youtu.be/OeJu_cHsuHw

It's one of those things that appeals to a certain aspect of the mmo crowd. Personal "House". That you can decorate. That you can spend in-game credits on finding stuff for, that you can have yet another reason to run flashpoints/ops for so that drops happen, that you can get crafting schematics to churn out décor for your personal interior design style.... I'm with the crowd that would say it would have made more sense to provide some ability to make your starship more personalised rather then some completely new area.. but ah well.

Oh for the fun and games to follow.. Guardian - US Tech Gians Knew of NSA Data Collection

http://youtu.be/R7GeKLE0x3s