Raithe

Star Trek into Darkness. We get what we expect from a J.J. Abrams film. Great Visuals (with lots of lens flare). Solid acting (with some odd dialogue). Insensible plot with glaring holes. Cumberbatch pretty much steals any scene he's in. Hell, his intense stare at Kirk through some glass as he's piloting that gunship thing probably out-acts half the rest of them. For the way they wrote his character, he pulls it off incredibly well. Focused, intent, dangerous, arrogantly confident and supremely capable. Unfortunately, for me that writing also lost out on a few other things. (Not to put any spoilers out) But frankly, where was the force of presence that could inspire men and women to follow him? Where was the guiding charisma that could pull people into his field and let him lead them on? I recognise they were highly focused on him in that "solo" role, so I can semi-understand why they didn't really have it shining out. But it should still be there in how he is with the crew on the Enterprise when he interacts with them. Heh, although I really liked how one reviewer put it - "Seeing Benedict steal all those scenes makes me realise what a good actor Martin Freeman is, for being able to hold equal screen time with him on Sherlock and not letting him dominate." The whole "Kirk regress, and let's do the same character arc and growth from the first film again" was a little pointless. Actually, I know we have this whole image of Kirk being this incredibly wild and rebellious, break the rules officer.. But if you watch the original series, he wasn't. Apart from the Kobyashu Maru test, he was pretty much a "follow orders" guy up until he has to go bring Spock back from the dead.. He might flex them a bit, but he never really went wild and broke them. For the other consideration (sorry, my mind is running on weird Trek trains now), but as the commanding officer he couldn't really nail any of the women under his command, and he was always on those "5 year missions". Of course he'd flirt with most of the women he met who weren't under his command. Plus, pretty much all the women he did seduce in the show.. he did it to save his ship, save his crew, or get information from said woman in an effort to do one of the two mentioned things. He really wasn't that great a womaniser..

Heh, Posthuman Studios ran a kickstarter for some Eclipse Phase rpg related matter, asking for $14,000 to develop out the Transhuman Player's Guide.. and ended up with a bit over $100,000. They put in a couple of stretch goals that included "pay the freelancers 15% more".

And the simple truths..

Urf. Well I think the worst of this week's horrible flu is over and is slowly departing... Just feel incredibly drained and need to get some energy back this weekend. That and hope my sleep cycle isn't too twisted up from the nights stuck awake and the days stuck dozing in and out.. Enjoying the fresh cup of tea and trying to figure out what needs dealing with on this sunny weekend.

To jump back to what I said earlier: Although to be fair, a cub scout leader and mother of two actually did engage the attackers in conversation in an attempt to talk them down.. Technically she jumped in to check the pulse of the soldier, not realising the attackers were still there, then when she stood up found herself face to face and ended up confronting them in a nice verbal exchange... And according to a fair few reports, other people actually stood in the way of the body to prevent the attackers from further slicing it up. Sure, they might not have jumped in to wrestle the guys with knives and a revolver.. But they still apparently did shield the body.

Condolences Astiaks. Yeah, I'm still dragging along with all the fun icks at the moment. Trying to do a focused moment to catch up on news and stuff fromt he past day or two. I might be laid up but I haven't been able to read a single book or even catch up on tv viewing. Just got those aches, icks, that rather annoying sensation that when I turn my head it takes a few seconds for my brain to follow, and the shivvery chills while still sweatsoaking the bedsheets. Although someone did decide to take the mobility buggy up to the village rather then get me up to run errands, and someone else ran through a bunch of laundry, so ah well.

Although to be fair, a cub scout leader and mother of two actually did engage the attackers in conversation in an attempt to talk them down.. Technically she jumped in to check the pulse of the soldier, not realising the attackers were still there, then when she stood up found herself face to face and ended up confronting them in a nice verbal exchange... And according to a fair few reports, other people actually stood in the way of the body to prevent the attackers from further slicing it up. Sure, they might not have jumped in to wrestle the guys with knives and a revolver.. But they still apparently did shield the body.

Currently dosing myself with some Beecham's flu plus medicine, and potentially overdosing on some incredibly sugary maple flapjack bites... Possibly not a cunning idea.

Although to add to the joys of the day.. one of the dogs has diarrhea, and mom's just managed to catch her hand on the heating element inside the oven. Nothing too serious, but that smell of slightly burnt flesh adds wonders to the kitchen.

Dammit man. We need a proper array of pint-sized mugs to take our tea. Plus if I make sure I've got some clean mugs in a row, I don't have to stress about feeling incredibly crappy tomorrow and not being able to find a clean mug when I require tea...

Gettings lots of hydration and working the ibruprufen, going to see if I can actually get anything done today. Although first up is some basic home tasks and clearing some laundry and making sure there are enough clean cups for tea drinking...

As much as I like redheads, I don't think I'm quite capable of handling a flexible ginger appropriately at the moment....

Well I think I can say, that with the raised temperature yet suffering chills and shivvers, and the half-hour I just spent with my guts in rebellion.. It quite possibly is the blush of flu.

Well I wandered into something a little traditional.. http://youtu.be/yYkg6styqfM

Followed by the wait to strike down on the first pedant to correct the spelling on the course?

I wasn't so stressed by them making Moriarty female, on a certain level it made sense and works with the whole "spider in a web pulling strings" metaphor, and concealing identity behind other people and even then having everyone think you're the wrong sex is great for hiding in plain sight. What annoyed me was the Irene Adler = Moriarty. Adler was always meant to be "The Woman" in Holmes life. The one who was able to keep him on his toes and still ambiguous on which side of the law she was on without being extreme. She was smart, capable and challenged Holmes and the general perceptions of the time. On the flip side, Moriarty was Holmes turned to the dark side. Equal brilliance, but manipulative, the counterbalance to that deductive reasoning. They both sought the game between them for matching wits and not having to deal with someone of "lesser abilities". By turning Adler into Moriarty, or rather a fake persona created by Moriarty, you lose out on those elements of Adler, and pushing it so Moriarty has that kind-of-in-love aspect shifts out the balance of the game-playing between M & Sherlock.

Condolences TN. Loss and grief hits everyone in a different way, I think that's why there are so many different platitudes that flow around during those times. Still have remnants of yesterday's headache grinding away, along with a few other aches and icks. Almost has that onset "flu" type feel, but not quite. Had a cup of tea, been out for a short walk in the fresh air, sorting out some of those odds and ends that need to be dealt with at home. Got to establish a To-Do list for this week and make some attempt at plowing through it, along with trying out the EuroTalk Learn Mexican-Spanish software that arrived over the weekend. A little random pondering on John Hurt's appearance on Doctor Who in the background... can't make up my mind if he was meant to represent the "Final" Doctor or the Doctor during the Time War...

Congrats Hurlshot. Hm, kind of made it out of bed some point past 11am. Okay, closer to noon. Made a couple of cups of tea, pondering on whether to take some ibruprufen and head back to bed for the afternoon. Found out nobody had emptied the dishwasher in the past couple of days so dealt with that before the side gets too stacked up. Sipping cuppa in a darkened room, while trying not to overly think too much. Actually might try watching Doctor Who before any decisions get mae.

Still feeling cruddy. Only made worse today by a general malaise and "ugh" feeling of down/depression. Decided to pretty much say feck it all and ignore the world today. Then of course my sister and mother get into something, no idea what, so they're just sniping at and doing stuff to irritate the other. I can't be arsed to mediate it today, so I'm ignoring that as well.

Not that anyone's told me.. But then maybe they've just been politely not mentioning it.. Hm, on a totally random thing, I think the quote for the day comes from a friend "I'm not saying that the sex was good, I'm saying even the neighbours had to smoke a cigarete after".

For some reason I have a sore throat and thumping head. I kind of feel as if I spent the night smoking half a dozen cigards and throwing back even more glasses of rough whisky. Unfortunatley, I did neither. So I have no clue what's brought this on. Cup of tea and figuring out what I'm capable of poking at this morning..

Heh, for a "party game" not a computer game, but still... Kickstarter - The Princess Bride: Prepare to Die

Seems as if BruceVC already has a copy so if you are still interested Raithe, I can send you the steam activation code. Groovy. I'd appreciate it then mute688.

dang it, beaten to it..

Yeah. I think I'm in the same boat. My current rig is pretty much 6 years old. I mean, it was state of the bleeding art when I got it (and yeah, expensive as get out), so it's still keeping up. Quad core 2.4Ghz, etc... But principle systems are getting a little worn, so if I get some decent money in I really should think about a complete overhaul..