Some Video Games Are Better Watched Than Played
I have written about “games we cannot play” several times over the years. By this I mean video games that we lack the skill, coordination and patience to master. For example, I often struggle with video games that are primarily designed for consoles and are therefore intended to be played via a game controller. I also don’t want to have to spend an excess of time (a very subjective thing) to learn how to play a video game. Hence there are games that I am interested in but have accepted that I will never play because I cannot or will not do what is required to play them effectively. However, in this post I want to discuss a tangential point. Games which have the potential to be exceptionally entertaining but that entertainment depends on a lot of factors that exist outside of the game itself. Hence you may never get the experience you desire which is often the one that was marketed.
I have written about “games we cannot play” several times over the years. By this I mean video games that we lack the skill, coordination and patience to master. For example, I often struggle with video games that are primarily designed for consoles and are therefore intended to be played via a game controller. I also don’t want to have to spend an excess of time (a very subjective thing) to learn how to play a video game. Hence there are games that I am interested in but have accepted that I will never play because I cannot or will not do what is required to play them effectively. However, in this post I want to discuss a tangential point. Games which have the potential to be exceptionally entertaining but that entertainment depends on a lot of factors that exist outside of the game itself. Hence you may never get the experience you desire which is often the one that was marketed.
For me, the most recent example of this phenomena came about from watching a YouTube channel that collates “humourous” video game clips. A lot of these came from Hell Let Loose, a 2021 multiplayer tactical first-person shooter developed by Expression Games and Cover 6 Studios and published by Team17. Players fight in iconic battles of the Western, North African and Eastern Fronts of World War II at the platoon level. Voice chat is key to game play and the emphasis is upon realism and system complexity. It is quite different to Battlefield and comparable franchises. The various clips that I watched suggested a game featuring tactical gun battles. Players defending building or flanking defences and overwhelming the enemy. There were great plays featuring tanks, flamethrowers and creeping artillery barrages. People seemed to be having a lot of fun and judging by the voice chat, the community is mature, civil and friendly.
Enthused by what I had seen, I looked around online for a deal and found that I could purchase Hell Let Loose and the majority of its DLC for about £30 or so. However, something told me to wait and do a little more research. After all, this was clearly a game with a lot of systems and therefore it obviously had a steep learning curve. So I started being a lot more selective in my YouTube searches as well as digging around in various subreddits. The extra research was well worth it. In a nutshell, all the things I had seen in video highlights were exactly that. For many new players Hell Let Loose is essentially spawning into a squad, not knowing what class to select or how to play and being ignored by veteran players or simply being on a server devoid of them. The most common experience appears to be trying to get to where you think the action is and getting shot out of nowhere as you run there.
Essentially to get the most out of the game you need to have friends that already play it, are well versed in its systems and who are based on a server that has regular events and is well moderated. It requires a substantial investment of time, just the same as raiding in an MMORPG, or “getting gud” in a battle royale FPS game. You can potentially play for months and never experience the sort of gameplay you’ll see on YouTube. The game offers entertaining possibilities but it does not guarantee them. It is exactly the same with other titles such as For Honor, Chivalry II and Heroes & Generals. In fact this genre usually has a disclaimer along the lines of “game experience may change during online play”. As a result, I’ve learned that some video games are better watched than played. Hell Let Loose is one of these.
Over the course of the last 16 years, the MMORPG Star Trek Online has changed greatly. What started as a disjointed, rushed game with unfinished systems and a lack of overall cohesion has now evolved into streamlined MMO with clearly defined systems and very strong narrative arcs. Let it suffice to say that STO makes very good use of its license and the intellectual property it is built upon. Although new content has been continuously added to STO over time and refinements are regularly rolled out, the developer’s have also removed content from the game in the past, that they feel is substandard or too dated in it presentation. Hence in October 2018 Cryptic took out the following eight missions from the game, with the proviso that they would be updated and replaced at a latter date. Until fairly recently, STO players had given up hope on this ever happening and the episodes being reinstated. Eight years is a long time.
One of the things that I enjoy when playing a new video game is character customisation or character creation. I will spend hours trawling through settings, changing the most minute and consequential aspects of my avatars appearance. I am certain that there is a psychological aspect to this particular game mechanic and that it says something about you as a person. Are your creations shaped just by a need to look good in-game or is there more to it? Are they external manifestations of your sexual preferences or thoughts on body image. Do you treat them as characters from a book that exists in your mind. Do you aspire to recreate the likeness of people you know or admire? Do you strive to make your avatar look like you? Whatever the reasons, it would seem that character creation is something that a lot of gamers enjoy. Hence I am not alone in my borderline obsession. What you look like in-game is equally as important as your character’s name.
I was playing Battlefield 6 recently and was experimenting with the mortar. If you stick with it and take some time to become familiar with its foibles, it can be an effective weapon. It can suppress the enemy, destroy equipment and provide useful cover for your own team. I remember thinking “I wonder if artillery could sustain a game on its own”. Artillery is an interesting feature in Hell Let Loose, although it is a little more complex in its game mechanics. I believe artillery is also available in Wardogs. I therefore spent a while looking online to see if there was a dedicated artillery simulator available or at least a game where it was a key feature. There nearest thing I found was Iron Nest, a dieselpunk heavy artillery game which looks interesting but isn’t quite what I seek. So I parked this idea and moved. Tonight, while perusing YouTube, I stumble across a teaser trailer for a game called Flak Simulator, currently under development by Horseman Interactive. It appears to be exactly what I am looking for.
I recently tried to use DLSS 5 Manager with the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out. Today I undertook a similar experiment with AMD Neural Rendering, which is a broadly comparable product. Both utilities use 3D-Guided Neural Rendering, an AI technology that alters how lighting, reflections, and textures look in a game. Instead of just upscaling the image like older versions, DLSS 5 uses an AI network to instantly "re-render" lighting and material responses over the game's layout, achieving photorealistic details that would normally negatively impact a graphics card's performance. Or to put it in less fancy terms, the game graphics are enhanced and modified, although it is highly subjective as to whether the end results are an improvement. However, as a game such as LOTRO is unlikely to ever receive a major graphical overhaul, tools such as these are the nearest players will get to revised graphics.
The core game code and engine for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, is about 24 years old. LOTRO began originally as Middle-earth Online, developed by Sierra On-Line in 1998. Turbine took over full development of the project in 2003/2004 when their parent company, Vivendi Universal Games, acquired Sierra. The content that had already been developed by Sierra was abandoned and Turbine created a new game using structural elements such as the UI and game engine from their previous release Asheron’s Call 2 from 2002. The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar was officially released in April 2007. Hence, the active public release code is 19 years old. Despite continuous expansion and updates, along with a recent migration to 64-bit architecture, the foundations of LOTRO retains a nearly twenty year old legacy framework. This frequently contributes to modern technical hurdles and engine constraints.
A few years ago, there was a fan created project to provide voice narration of NPC dialogue in the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online. This mainly involved capturing the text in the quest dialogue windows and then sending it to OCR software, before using a text-to-speech program to read it. LOTROVoice as it was known, broadly worked but the creator stopped developing it as it proved troublesome to maintain. However, I recently discovered Khazad Voice TTS which is a separate project that does pretty much the same. I went so far as to install this “immersive AI narrator for LOTRO” after seeing a YouTube video of it being used successfully. Sadly I ran into issues configuring Khazad Voice TTS, because I have two monitors and LOTRO runs on the secondary (by my choice) and not the primary. I couldn’t “lasso” the dialogue windows in LOTRO during the calibration set up, which effectively prevented me from completing the process.
Throughout yesterday and early today, there was an issue logging in to the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online. Upon starting the game launcher, it would attempt to connect to the patch server to download the latest game update. This process would start but then subsequently stall at 33%. The launcher would then attempt to reconnect to the patch server every 60 seconds but could not make any further progress. Some players found that if they left it long enough, it would eventually complete the download and the launcher then progress to the next screen where they could input their username and password. However, for the majority of LOTRO players the problem would simply persists and the launcher would be stuck in a loop. Some players attempted to reinstall the game or use the repair data facility in the launcher but neither of these proved to be successful workarounds. The patch sever needed to be bypassed to resolve the issue.
I’ve been playing Fall Guys since its launch in early 2020, during the start of the pandemic. It is a fun, family friendly multiplayer game which is has proven popular with my grandchildren. Despite the game’s acquisition by Epic, it has maintained a sufficient level of popularity that has seen it ported to all major gaming platforms. Fall Guys is free to play but like most multiplayer games, there is a season pass and an in-game store. However, these monetised aspects are not essential to enjoy the game and the overall marketing of emotes and skins is nowhere near as invasive as it is in Roblox. In fact many of the players I see while in-game have default skins, indicating a regular casual player base. However, although game seems to be maintaining its popularity, it has several bugs that appear to be be persistent. Bugs that the developers claim have been resolved. Some can be addressed by players. Other at present cannot.
I find the concept of in-game radio stations fascinating. They’re an enjoyable aspect of open world video games and I have discovered several artists this way. They’re certainly a big deal as far as Rockstar Games are concerned, because the music selected for GTA VI is another important facet of the overall marketing campaign. So far, between two trailers and the sprawling extended look on Netflix, it has been determined that Tom Petty, the Pointer Sisters, Sexyy Red, Depeche Mode, Phil Collins, Birdman, Lil Wayne and the Bellamy Brothers are all part of the game soundtrack. That’s a very eclectic selection so far. Furthermore, there will be a 34 track album released on physical media (vinyl and CD) in conjunction with Atlantic Records.
Two years ago I wrote a post about fine tuning your graphics in the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online. Apart from installing ReShade and using AMD Adrenalin, the options were somewhat limited, due to the game’s age and multiplayer status. Since then, I’ve been playing LOTRO with the game settings maxed out, a custom ReShade profile to make the colour palette more vivid and Radeon Image Sharpening enabled within the AMD software. The game looks clear, crisp and the draw distance is pretty good for an ageing game but I still wish the graphics could be tweaked further. Hence, I’ve been trawling the internet in a vain attempt to see if I can find any third party utilities that could be used to enhance LOTRO further. During the course of my search I stumbled across DLSS 5 Manager. This is an open-source, intelligent utility and one-click mod installer designed to inject and manage Nvidia's DLSS 5 neural rendering features, ReShade, and OptiScaler into PC games.
Hellraiser (1987) was one of he most innovative and intelligent horror films of the eighties, with its cerebral and sophisticated exploration of pleasure, pain and the supernatural. Sadly what was a great concept for a single film was turned into yet another horror franchise. The resulting series of increasingly inferior sequels ultimately diminished the central idea. However, in recent years several horror “brands” have found a new lease of life via the medium of video games, so the announcement of Hellraiser: Revival last summer piqued my interest. The fact that author Clive Barker was directly involved certainly raised my expectations. However, even though video games have a history of depicting sex and violence, would the medium be able to fully embrace the true nature of Barker’s original novella and original film. Having played through the newly released demo for Hellraiser: Revival, I believe the answer is a yes.
Are video games becoming easier? It’s a perennial subject that is frequently discussed by those who play them. Often the question of whether they have actually become easier is not the focus of the debate, as it seems to be broadly recognised that it is the case. Instead, discussion of this matter tend to drift into the rectitude of this change. Debate’s of this nature are usually awash with subjective opinions and personal preferences which are then put forward as objective facts. It’s not just a question of video games becoming easier, it’s the fact that making them easier is “wrong” and those who want them as such are “not proper gamers” etc. The hours that have been lost to this pointless, tedious debate are uncountable. However, I digress. Let us return to the matter of video games becoming easier, because although fans discuss this a lot and have plenty to say, you don’t often hear from the developers on this subject.
Some video games lend themselves to being set aside and resumed at a later date with zero consequences. These are often casual games with no major goals other than having fun while playing them. Fall Guys is a great example of this. You have a cartoony avatar that participates in zany group races, filled with obstacles. You run, jump, climb but the controls are far from difficult. You may well become skilled but such things are mitigated by the other players as they stumble around. You’re not at the mercy of apex players or “try hards”. It is not a game about winning and mastering techniques. The fun comes from playing it and the unique experience you have each time. I’ve been playing this game, on and off, since it’s launch in 2020 and in that time I have only ever won once (winning requires you to win a series of 4 to six individual races). However, whenever I pick up my controller and play Fall Guys, I have fun and the game lifts my spirits.
I recently completed the main story in Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon. In total I spent about sixty hours playing the game. I began at the start of the year, then took a break for a while but returned to it recently because I wanted to see if I could unlock a specific ending. I did manage to do this. Like so many other RPGs, Tainted Grail: the Fall of Avalon has a central storyline, along with a wealth of side quests, based around factions in specific zones. I think I possibly completed about a two thirds of these. However, once I finished the main story, my interest in the game began to wane. I finally left my character in the last major quest hub in case I wish to return at a future date. I then logged out of the game and uninstalled it from my PC to free up space for whatever I was to play next. In this case its The Sinking City 2. None of this is a negative reflection on Tainted Grail: the Fall of Avalon. I enjoyed the time I spent playing this quirky RPG. I simply had my fill and left to play something else.
On Tuesday 11th April, Aspyr Media rather surprisingly re-released The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, a co-op action-RPG from 2011. This game was delisted in late 2019, possibly due to changing rights ownership or a license expiring. Hence, I was somewhat discombobulated by the return of this title to all major gaming platforms. Mind you, the Embracer Group (through its subsidiary Middle-earth Enterprises) still controls the worldwide commercial and video game licensing rights for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Furthermore they have explicitly stated that they have plans for more games. It would appear this also means re-releasing and updating old favourites. It is also worth noting that they own Aspyr Media, which is also a bit of a giveaway. Let it suffice to say that this re-release and sparked enthusiastic online debate as to whether any other he Lord of the Rings themed games from the same era will receive a similar makeover. Judging by the internet chatter, there’s potentially a market for them.
The next expansion for the MMORG, The Lord of the Rings Online, was announced on the 1st August, via the gaming website MMORPG.The Wolves of Mordor, which will launch later in the year, appears ambitious in scope as it will include two new game systems as well as the obligatory story update. This expansion takes place in Draugardh located in the North East of Mordor, beyond the Plateau of Gorgoroth. It includes the new zones of Heledhris, Parth Rhavas and Nan Ogol. These vary environmentally ranging from the arid, volcanic and semi-tropical. Players will encounter the Daugrim in these regions, Werewolves but not in the modern sense. This is not the lycanthropy of Eastern European legends but in the established Tolkien idiom of fell spirits inhabiting the bodies of Wolves. The region also sees the return of the Woses and players can expect to encounter Elves and scouts from Gondor. As ever with LOTRO expansions, there will be new instances as well as a raid.
This is a post about the power of nostalgia and how sometimes, interacting with something from your past, be it physically or mentally, can produce a very strong and tangible emotional reaction. In some instances, this can be the result of something that you have specifically set out to do. On other occasions you can wander into a sense of nostalgia purely by chance. Today I experienced a very strong sense of nostalgia while watching a YouTube video and then again when I sought to replicate what I had seen. The video showed someone installing Windows 95 on to an old 486 PC from that era. The Window’s start up sound really touched a nerve (but in a good way) and then when the guy in the video launched Space Cadet 3D Pinball, a game that shipped with the operating system, I felt a strong compulsion to track down a copy and install the game myself, thus revisiting something that was an integral part of my life in 1995.
RV There Yet? is possibly the most entertaining game I’ve never played. My vicarious pleasure regarding this title has come exclusively from watching two popular YouTubers, JackFrags and WillFromWork, play through the game over a series of videos. It has been immensely amusing to watch and I have empathised a great deal as the group of four players has struggled with the game’s unpredictable mechanics and their own team’s dynamic. I could go and buy RV There Yet? myself but I doubt if I would ever have a gaming experience anywhere close to what I’ve watched online recently. So in some respects watching these videos has been an interesting alternative as I’ve been entertained, which ultimately is the point of video games. Perhaps there is a deeper philosophical point here that the game developers should reflect upon, as they’ve lost a potential sale. However, that is separate discussion for another day.
I don’t keep up with gaming news as much as I use to but several noteworthy announcement have come to my attention of late. Firstly, there’s an expansion, Songs of the Past, coming for the Witcher III: Wild Hunt in 2027. No doubt this is to pave the way for the Witcher IV. Next, I also found out about Hand of Fate: Horde. I liked this franchise and was saddened to learn that the original studio, Defiant Development, closed. Hence is was a pleasant surprise to see this new game being developed by members of the original studio. The third announcement was regarding Guild Wars 3. A new MMORPG in active development by a major studio is no small feat and is certainly good news for fans of this franchise and the genre per se. However, once you look beyond this news this announcement raises several questions and has certainly given me pause for thought. Let us take a few moments to consider them.
Star Trek Online has many in-game systems that are common to the MMORPG genre. The reputation system is one such example. In STO there are 13 reputation factions. Once a player has reached level 50 they may start progressing through the 6 reputation tiers of each one. Players gain progression through daily projects (20 hours in duration). Hourly projects are also available though they yield less reputation advancement and are limited to three times a day. Hence 20 hour projects are consider by default the most efficient way to gain rep. Projects require 30 Faction Specific Marks (earned via various activities in-game), 15,000 Energy Credits (standard in-game currency) and 2000 Expertise points. The most efficient way to tackle the reputation grind is to build up the necessary resources in advance and then at a designated time each day, start all 13 respective projects. Upon completion projects yield a player bound lockbox containing a random space or ground weapon, a console or Elite Marks which can be used to acquire faction gear.
I was recently perusing my archive of old blog posts, when it struck me how much I’ve written about the MMORPG genre over the years. Naturally, there was far more material from between 2008 and 2012 as that was period when I immersed myself in the genre and was very enthusiastic about it. I was at a point in my life when I had the time to dedicate to such games and I was happy to participate in the social aspect of they offered. I would regularly play through group content and spend time socialising online with fellow guild members. My experience remains a textbook example of how online games can be more than the sum of their parts and that where you are at in your life has a major impact upon your overall enjoyment. As I read though various old posts it became clear that my experiences where specific to this particular part of my life and that they cannot be repeated. My relationship with the genre is very different now and that’s fine.
Creating alts is an integral aspect of the MMORPG genre. Many players will create a character of a specific class or faction, play it for a while, lose interest in it or they may decide that it is just not for them. Fortunately it is no effort at all to simply re-roll a new alt and set off once again. Furthermore, lots of players never reach level cap of the MMORPG that there playing. When the going get’s tough, so to speak, you can either soldier on for another 50 levels or simply create a new alt and return to the comfort of tried and tested content. Alts also give you the chance to secure an accolade or achievement that you previously missed. They are also of great benefit to the genres social aspects. Creating a new alt so you can play along with a friend who is just starting is great fun. Developer’s love them too as it means you’re still playing the game.
I recently took a break from Crimson Desert choosing instead to to play something familiar and easy going. As I’ve been logging into Star Trek Online daily to participate in the anniversary event, I decided to look through my various alts and see how far they had progressed through the game and what resources they had. At present I have twelve alts. My primary Captain was created in 2015 during the original Delta Recruit Event. I had previously played STO intermittently since its release in January 2010 but I never kept any of those characters. Hence this decade old Tactical Federation Captain has been my main focus when playing. The other eleven alts are the result of other recruitment events or whenever I wanted to try something different, such as playing a specific class or faction. I obviously played a lot of STO during the lockdown as several alts date from that period. Several had maximum reputation across all factions.
The action, open world RPG Crimson Desert has been patched five times since it launched on March 19th and there have also been multiple hotfixes. At first glance this isn’t anything unusual. New games have bugs and issues arise once a game is released and played across a much wider variety of hardware than in QA testing. However, if you read the patch notes that accompany these sizeable downloads it quickly becomes apparent that developer’s Pearl Abyss are not just addressing bugs and software glitches. They are actively engaging with their player base and responding to suggestions and requests from that community. Although this is not a unique approach, what is surprising is the speed and quantity in which these player driven changes are happening. There seems to be an active ongoing process to refine the game and eliminate some of its “rough edges” and the players are contributing to this process with their feedback.
According to my Steam statistics, I last played Starfield on 19th December 2023. I bought the game upon its release in September of that year and played in total for 136 hours. Starfield held my interest for three and a half month and I wrote seven blog posts about various aspects of the game. Although there were some engaging aspects to Starfield, I did feel that that the game was somewhat lacking in systems and content, at that point in its lifecycle. I also think that the marketing and player expectations associated with Starfield were overblown and unrealistic. The shadow of Skyrim looms large over all new Bethesda releases and they don’t seem able to quite recapture that magic. Hence, I inevitably drifted away from Starfield and to another game and was effectively “done” with it. I have not played the game since which seems to validate the theory that game are becoming increasingly more ephemeral.
13 days after its release, market analysts estimate that Crimson Desert has already earned $200 million across the four main platforms (PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S). The game is certainly proving popular among gamers with the internet awash with live streams and “let’s play” videos. However, reviews are mixed both among gaming journalists and YouTube influencers. Common complaints about the game include that it is slow to start, the controls are poorly laid out on all platforms and that developer’s Pearl Abyss have done a poor job of explaining most aspects of the game to new players. Although such criticisms are true to a degree, I think these complaints highlight how many gamers are conditioned to expect new titles to follow a specific pattern with regard to pacing, narrative exposition and learning in-game systems. A pattern that Pearl Abyss has chosen to ignore, instead favouring an old school approach.
Early on Crimson Desert, the main quest requires the player to enter a tavern and arm wrestle a particularly strong guard. The arm wrestling match consists of a quick time event. If playing on PC you have to rapidly press the “E” key which turns a power meter from white to red. Then a white dial appears above the meter with a rotating hand. When the hand passes over a segment of the dial that is marked by hatching, the player must press the “R” key. The idea being the meter filling with red is you strength building (or waning) and the “R” key prompt indicates when to try and force your opponent’s arm. You will need to to continuously press the “E” key throughout the arm wrestling match and the “R” key about 4 times to win.
Earlier this week, Nvidia posted a video featuring their latest iteration of DLSS technology (Deep learning super sampling). DLSS 5 is an AI-powered “real-time neural rendering” process and unlike previous versions that focused on improving frame rates through upscaling or frame generation, DLSS 5 uses generative AI to “infuse” frames with photorealistic lighting and material details that the game engine never actually calculated. Let us pause for a moment and consider these words. Material detail that the game engine never actually calculated. Therein lies the rub. If you watch the aforementioned video or peruse the images posted here, it is abundantly clear what the technology does.
Last night, I spent the first 45 minutes after the launch of Crimson Desert, watching the 92GB pre-downloaded game files slowly decompressing and installing. I finally launched the game at about 10:50 PM GMT. I then waited a further 5 minutes while shaders were downloaded. It took me about 15 minutes or so to read through the various game settings and choose those that are optimal for my PC. I suspect even if you have a beast of a computer, you’re still going to have to spend some time tweaking settings. As for those players like myself with a gaming rig that is somewhere in the middle of the game’s specifications, be prepared to do a lot of fine tuning both within Crimson Desert itself and your Windows settings.
Ten Pointless Facts about Me
This post is inspired by Axxuy, who recently replied to an open post by Forking Mad. It’s a simple set of questions and a convenient writing prompt for those occasional slow days. Now some folk can get quite “sniffy” about these sorts of posts. Perhaps they think they’re too insubstantial or too easy or something. Irrespective of whether such assertions are true or not, I would like to point out that one of the most popular posts on Contains Moderate Peril is a similar sort of internet questionnaire, titled “Would You Rather - The Gaming Edition”. Originally posted in late August 2021, it has been read over 18,000 times. Now I’m not advocating shameless “ambulances chasing” and “jumping on bandwagons” but I am reminded of the old adage, “if the shit fits, wear it”. Hence, you’ll find no prejudice against internet questionnaires on this blog. Here are ten pointless facts about me.
This post is inspired by Axxuy, who recently replied to an open post by Forking Mad. It’s a simple set of questions and a convenient writing prompt for those occasional slow days. Now some folk can get quite “sniffy” about these sorts of posts. Perhaps they think they’re too insubstantial or too easy or something. Irrespective of whether such assertions are true or not, I would like to point out that one of the most popular posts on Contains Moderate Peril is a similar sort of internet questionnaire, titled “Would You Rather - The Gaming Edition”. Originally posted in late August 2021, it has been read over 18,000 times. Now I’m not advocating shameless “ambulances chasing” and “jumping on bandwagons” but I am reminded of the old adage, “if the shit fits, wear it”. Hence, you’ll find no prejudice against internet questionnaires on this blog. Here are ten pointless facts about me.
Q: Do you floss your teeth?
A: I use a very specific brand and size of disposable interdental brushes. This is due to my teeth being quite close together and having gum related problems in the past. It is exceedingly important to look after your teeth.
Q: Tea, coffee, or water?
A: Despite being a Brit, I am not a big tea drinker. If it is socially expedient to accept a cup when offered one I will do so. Especially if it is accompanied with biscuits. I drink black coffee in the morning but am not part of the “cult of coffee”. I have a bottle of water on the go, whenever I am sitting at my desk. I also drink Pepsi Max regularly.
Q: Footwear preference?
A: As I am now retired, I only wear formal footwear occasionally. I therefore have several pairs of Oxford shoes for weddings, holidays and court appearances. Most of the time I wear desert boots, my hiking boots and Sketchers slip-ins, depending on time of year and where I am going.
Q: Favourite dessert?
A: Why have one favourite? I like Tiramisu, Profiteroles, Cheesecake, any desserts based upon alcohol and loads more. However, sometimes when in a restaurant, rather than have a dessert after my meal, I’ll opt for a selection of cheeses.
Q: The first thing you do when you wake up?
A: Visit the bathroom and empty my bladder. I am 57. I tend to get up immediately once I’m awake and get showered and dressed. Once I’ve done this I ready for whatever the day has to throw at me.
Q: Age you'd like to stick to?
A: I have enjoyed most of the age groups I’ve passed through. I think I had the most fun in my twenties and thirties. However, I think I felt most content and at peace with myself and life during my forties. My fifties so far have been more sedate and my body hurts from time to time. But the good thing about my current age is that I don’t have to put up with anyones bullshit anymore and I am happy to point this fact out to offenders.
Q: How many hats do you own?
A: One. A knitted beanie hat in green, featuring the logo of The Cool Dudes Walking Club.
Q: Describe the last photo you took
A: A picture of a bottle of wine that we enjoyed while out for a meal. I often use the camera on my phone as a means of remembering things. Products I want to buy again, things that I’m curious about etc. I also photo the electricity meter whenever I’m submitting a reading to our utilities supplier, in case they try something shady.
Q: Worst TV show
A: I am not a fan of reality TV as a genre. We give far too much air time to fools and people that reflect the least credit on us as a species. We no longer venerate knowledge, honesty and integrity. Galactica 1980 was also quite shit.
Q: As a child, what was your aspiration for adulthood?
A: To be an adult, or at least to have access to the things I thought or imagined that adults did. My parents always encouraged me to read and didn’t mind what books I chose. Hence I soon abandoned children’s literature and started to read mainstream fiction. It seemed that adulthood had a lot to offer and I grew impatient with the trappings of a child’s life. When I finally reached adulthood I discovered its realities. I now reflect upon the old adage that “youth is wasted on the young”.
The 25 Questions Food Tag is a popular, light-hearted Q&A widely used by lifestyle and food bloggers. I discovered it while perusing the internet for a new questionnaire, as I’ve done a great deal of substantive writing of late and I wanted to tackle something a lot less involved. As ever, having read through the questions on offer, there is plenty of scope for some interesting answers and a modicum of levity. Food per se, is also a good subject to write about as eating is something we all do. This questionnaire has also made me consider whether writing about food is something I should do more often. Would there be an audience for sharing recipes, for example? I would say that’s “food for thought” but I won’t because puns are annoying. However, I digress. Here for your edifications and my blogging convenience, are my answers to “The 25 Questions Food Tag “.
This movie questionnaire was originally created by Alexander from Cinemaniac Reviews. Sadly, I believe that website is now defunct. However, that doesn’t in anyway invalidate the questionnaire itself which has some very good questions about your relationship with cinema. Some of my answers to the questions posed are about films that I enjoy, as opposed to those that are considered cinematic classics. However, I have answered some questions more seriously than others, especially the one about undeserving recipients of the Best Film Oscar. I struggled with a couple of questions because I no longer go the cinema as frequently as I did 10 years ago. This is mainly due to the fact that a lot of the films I find interesting end up going straight to streaming after very brief theatrical releases. Some do not even get shown in cinemas. Hence I view far more at home. But I digress. On with the questions and answers. Feel free to comment below and share your views.
Usually, during the Blaugust Festival of Blogging event, I like to tackle an internet questionnaire. I do these because they’re fun and they’re a break from standard blog posts. The only problem is that I’ve completed a lot of the more popular ones over the years. You’ll find my previous answers for these below, in the “Related Posts” section. I was certain there still had to be some questionnaires available that I haven’t completed and after searching online, I discovered the Bernard Pivot Questionnaire. It is a set of ten quick questions which French TV host Bernard Pivot would asked his guests at the end of his cultural show Bouillon de culture. He based his list of questions on the older Proust Questionnaire, which itself is derived from Victorian parlour games. Later, TV host James Lipton made a version of the Bernard Pivot Questionnaire famous, on Inside the Actors Studio. So with out further ado, here are my answers to the Bernard Pivot Questionnaire.
The Guardian news website have a recurring feature in their “culture” section called Honest Playlist where they ask various celebrities about their music listening habits. There are a dozen or so stock questions that they use to grill their guest, although they don’t always use the same ones. I think it makes for interesting reading so its a column that I often visit. As I haven’t published a post based upon an internet questionnaire for a while, I thought I poach this particular line of questioning and have a crack at it myself. I have chosen the ten questions that I think are the best and by that I mean, they have the most scope for interesting answers. I didn’t include the one about karaoke because it’s not something I especially like. Each to their own. Feel free to similarly purloin this set of questions and write your own responses. I’m always fascinated by these sort of things.
This post is inspired by Axxuy, who recently replied to an open post by Forking Mad. It’s a simple set of questions and a convenient writing prompt for those occasional slow days. Now some folk can get quite “sniffy” about these sorts of posts. Perhaps they think they’re too insubstantial or too easy or something. Irrespective of whether such assertions are true or not, I would like to point out that one of the most popular posts on Contains Moderate Peril is a similar sort of internet questionnaire, titled “Would You Rather - The Gaming Edition”. Originally posted in late August 2021, it has been read over 18,000 times. Now I’m not advocating shameless “ambulances chasing” and “jumping on bandwagons” but I am reminded of the old adage, “if the shit fits, wear it”. Hence, you’ll find no prejudice against internet questionnaires on this blog. Here are ten pointless facts about me.
If you’re familiar with this blog then you know that I like an internet questionnaire. A little bit of introspection can be quite a useful thing. This particular questionnaire, the “Blog Questions Challenge”, was originally created for users of Bear Blog. However, the questions have subsequently been adapted to make them applicable to other blogging platforms and therefore accessible to a wider audience. I recently discovered this particular questionnaire over at Alvan’s Digital Garden and thought the selection of questions to be interesting. Hence I have decided to tackle them. If you’re a blogger yourself, feel free to follow suit and use this set of questions, as I think that it’s always interesting to know what inspires people to write and what path brought them online.
I spent some time today, looking for a new internet questionnaire as they make for fun and quirky blog posts (by which I mean lazy and easy ones). Sadly, most of the search results that Google found were ones I’ve done already. So I thought why not ask the online AI, ChatGenie, to provide the questions? Surely it can’t be that difficult to come up with some interesting talking points? Well it turns out it is, because the 10 questions that the AI has provided are not especially inspired. However, I did find it amusing how ChatGenie justified itself, explaining where the mirth and hilarity lie in each of its questions. Therefore, here are my answers to what I am officially calling the ChatGenie Questionnaire. Feel free to complete it yourself.
Using his prodigious experience as a chat show host, Stephen Colbert (of the eponymous The Late Show with Stephen Colbert fame) has crafted 15 hard-hitting, probing and perceptive questions, as a means to dissect and analyse his celebrity guests. These include such insightful inquiries as “What is the scariest animal?”, “What do you think happens when we die?” and “Apples or oranges?”. So far these questions have been successfully used by Mr Colbert to interrogate the likes of Keanu Reeves, Jeff Goldblum and Sandra Bullock. Hilarity naturally ensued, or at least by the standard of US network television. I’m not really a fan of the “celebrity talk show” because it doesn’t really exist as such anymore. What we now have instead is the “celebrity with something to sell show” but that gripe is best addressed in a separate blog post.
Great, it’s internet question time once again. Regular readers will already know that I really like these sorts of things. Unlike Sparks, I do have the time to answer questionnaires. Despite the fact that such articles are often considered lightweight writing, I do believe that even the most vacuous line of enquiry can yield an interesting post. This time round I have a diverse set of questions from two very different sources. The first five are courtesy of ChatGPT, which seems just as capable of asking sublimely asinine questions as real people. The next five come from Cosmopolitan. A publication and website that you wouldn’t immediately associate with me. However, out of the various questions available on both sites, I have chosen ten that I think have scope for reasoned debate and interesting answers. Thanks very much to UltrViolet and Hamatti for providing the aforementioned lines of enquiry.
I’m not sure where it came from but I have a page of allegedly philosophical questions bookmarked in Google Chrome. As it’s filed under “blogging” I suspect that these may have been saved as an emergency source of inspiration if I were in need of a writing prompt. Well I’m not exactly brimming with ideas today, so I’ve decided to avail myself of this list. I selected 10 questions randomly and shall now proceed to answer them. I am not claiming that my answers are as philosophical as the questions. I shall no doubt be flippant, sarcastic and possibly a little scathing, but I’ll endeavour to answer the questions properly (if they merit it). As I’ve said before about previous internet questionnaires that I’ve completed, sometimes what at first glance looks like lightweight material can inadvertently lead to some interesting discussions.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m a sucker for an internet questionnaire. Yes, I know such things are considered in some quarters as somewhat lightweight content. But not every blog post needs to be an insightful analysis of crop rotation in the 14th century or a searing indictment of the latest internet outrage. Sometimes answering a few simple questions in a light hearted fashion can be quite illuminating. Plus readers like to get to know something about the bloggers that they follow and internet questionnaires are a means to that. So without further ado, here is a set of questions known as “The Blogger Tag”. I first encountered this over at A Geek Girl's Guide care of Michelle. Do go and check out her take on these. Also feel free to use them yourself, as that is the idea behind answering them.
Ah, there’s nothing like an internet questionnaire to help you out when you’re scratching your head, desperately trying to think of something to write about. I don’t consider Blaugust to be complete unless there’s at least one of these “question and answer” style blog posts doing the rounds. This one is courtesy of Krikket over at Nerd Girl Thoughts. Do go and have a look at their unique take on the various questions. Naithin has also tackled this line of enquiry and you can find his answers at Time to Loot. As ever I tend to deviate from the somewhat binary nature of the questions but that’s the whole point, isn’t it? To open up the scope of the discussion and potentially encourage others to join in. This is why I like these sorts of internet questionnaires and think they contribute much to Blaugust.
Oh look, another internet questionnaire blog post. By now you must be aware of my weakness for these sorts of things (if not then take a look at the links to related posts at the bottom of this article). It would appear that the “never have I ever” format has been adapted and we now have a “have you ever” set of questions specifically aimed at gamers. As usual some of the questions are trivial but others offer scope for quite interesting responses. Etiquette dictates that I credit those who have already participated and answered these questions. They are as follows. Michelle over at A Geek Girl’s Guide. Pix1001 from Shoot The Rookie. Joseph Skyrim’s post can be found at JVT Workshop and pkudude99 share their thoughts at Nomadic Gamers. Do check out their take on the questions as there are some interesting replies. On to the questions and answers.
“The Mystery Blogger Award is an award for amazing bloggers with ingenious posts. Their blog not only captivates; it inspires and motivates. They are one of the best out there, and they deserve every recognition they get. This award is also for bloggers who find fun and inspiration in blogging, and they do it with so much love and passion”. Okoto Enigma
The Rules:
Ensure the award logo is used in your post.
List the rules.
Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
Mention the original creator of the award and provide a link to their site.
Tell your readers 3 things about yourself.
You have to nominate 10 – 20 people.
Notify your nominees by commenting on their blog.
Ask your nominees any 5 questions of your choice.
Share a link to your best post(s).
“The Mystery Blogger Award is an award for amazing bloggers with ingenious posts. Their blog not only captivates; it inspires and motivates. They are one of the best out there, and they deserve every recognition they get. This award is also for bloggers who find fun and inspiration in blogging, and they do it with so much love and passion”. Okoto Enigma
The Rules:
Ensure the award logo is used in your post.
List the rules.
Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
Mention the original creator of the award and provide a link to their site.
Tell your readers 3 things about yourself.
You have to nominate 10 – 20 people.
Notify your nominees by commenting on their blog.
Ask your nominees any 5 questions of your choice.
Share a link to your best post(s).
As some of you may know, I have a weakness for internet questionnaires. Yes, they can be looked upon as self indulgent filler that you post on a day when you’re strapped for inspiration, if you want to be snippy about them. But I find them quite insightful as I like to know about the people whose blogs I read. Sometimes it’s just as much about the person as it is about the blog post. “You are your own brand” and all that. But I digress. I saw this particular questionnaire over at Ace Asunder. Solarayo borrowed it from Quietschisto of RNG, who in turn purloined it from Chrisse of Vamp It Up Manchester who created the questions. There’s a broad spectrum of enquiries and scope for some informative and entertaining answers. So let us begin.
I got tagged by fellow blogger, Magimos, as part of the Real Neat Blogger Awards. Now I’m not entirely sure what that is. It’s one of those things where you get asked a bunch of questions, then get to set some yourself and then tag other people to answer them. I certainly don’t mind answering questions. I’ve already written in previous posts how I’m a sucker for internet surveys. But I’m not keen on tagging people. It’s a little invasive for my liking and I’m a stickler for etiquette. By all means ask people if they’d like to participate but never inflict things on people without consent. To me it’s the same as random people cold calling and trying to sell you stuff. Or religious types, knocking on your front door and asking if you’d like to join a Cthulhu cult. So I’ll just write my responses to Magimos questions and then write a few questions of my own, which I’ll leave for other to reflect upon and answer if they see fit.
Naithin over at Time to Loot has compiled a Blaugust related internet questionnaire. As I’ve made clear in the past, I have a weakness for these sorts of things and will happily indulge the most peculiar enquiries. I’m not really sure why I like to do questionnaires. Perhaps I feel at some level that even the crassest or vacuous of questions can yield a good or at least entertaining answer. Not that I’m saying that Naithin’s questions are any of those things. In fact I think they are quite engaging. The other thing about questionnaires is that I can make a really obscure and impenetrable pop culture reference about the band Sparks. So here are my responses to the all of them in full. An unedited stream of consciousness or load of bollocks, depending upon your perspective. I hope some of the other Blaugust participants also take part. It will be interesting to compare notes, so to speak.
At the beginning of November, I started to answer the various questions set out in The Proust Questionnaire, mainly because at some level I do like the occasional insight that “internet questions” can provide. Although most of my answers are frequently tinged with a degree of levity and at times even scorn, every now and then the right question can provoke a sincere response. So here are my measured replies to the remaining interrogative enquiries, for your consideration and edification. If you do not agree with them or find yourself at odds with my mindset, please address any complaints care of the late Marcel Proust (10th July 1871 - 18th November 1922).
The Proust Questionnaire was popularized by Marcel Proust, the French essayist and novelist, who believed that, in answering the questions, an individual provides an insight into his or her true nature. Whether that is true is debatable, but I do find the internets fondness for Q&A sessions, curiously fascinating. And as this very questionnaire has been recently resurrected by Vanity Fair magazine and has also been utilised on the Ricky Gervais is Deadly Sirius podcast, I though I’d jump on the same bandwagon, as I’m behind in my writing and this is an easy post. As there are thirty-five questions, I thought I’d tackle them over two days. So, without further ado, here are my considered and measured thought on the first seventeen.
Despite having written a blog posts claiming that there’s always something to write about, even I have days when I’m lacking inspiration. Or more to the point lacking in motivation to write. And today is a prime example. I’d much rather be doing something else, but I made a promise to myself to keep the blog content flowing. However, I discovered a selection of questions that have been doing the rounds, via Marathal over at Deez Words and decided to answer them. I’m sure you know the form. They’re a selection of “touchy-feely”, non-threatening questions designed to give the reader a simple thumbnail sketch of your “personality”. So, I thought to myself, “there’s today’s blog post”. I will try my best to answer sensibly and give as relevant answers as I can, but you know me.
Many of my fellow bloggers regularly posts details of what they’ve been reading of late. I must admit that although I received several books and graphic novels as Christmas presents, I’ve yet to start any of them. The bulk of my reading is done via my PC or Tablet and usually tends to be news articles, blog posts and research for my writing. The last book that I physically read was Titus Crow, Volume 3: In the Moons of Borea & Elysia by Brian Lumley and that was last November. So, I’ve decided to get back into reading in the traditional sense and as ever have allotted time in my schedule and set myself goals. As a carer I have numerous appointments to attend throughout the week with my parents. Rather than waste time on my phone perusing twitter and gawping at the internet, I shall use these periods to read.
The Return of Star Wars Battlefront II and Error Code: 721
There has been a resurgence of people playing Star Wars Battlefront II recently. Possibly because the game was discounted on many outlets on May 4th and may be due to the success of Andor season 2. There’s a lot more people streaming it as well as videos on YouTube. Whatever the reason, it is always good to see a deserving game enjoying a renaissance. Star Wars Battlefront II was blighted at launch, back in November 2017 by some egregious business decisions and it took nearly a year for the game to recover from the negative publicity and player animosity. Setting this historical debacle aside for one moment, there was always a handsome and engaging game to be found. One that used the licensed intellectual property well. Which is why I recently reinstalled the game and resumed playing its multiplayer mode.
There has been a resurgence of people playing Star Wars Battlefront II recently. Possibly because the game was discounted on many outlets on May 4th and may be due to the success of Andor season 2. There’s a lot more people streaming it as well as videos on YouTube. Whatever the reason, it is always good to see a deserving game enjoying a renaissance. Star Wars Battlefront II was blighted at launch, back in November 2017 by some egregious business decisions and it took nearly a year for the game to recover from the negative publicity and player animosity. Setting this historical debacle aside for one moment, there was always a handsome and engaging game to be found. One that used the licensed intellectual property well. Which is why I recently reinstalled the game and resumed playing its multiplayer mode.
However, the welcome return of this old favourite has also been accompanied by another not so pleasant reappearance. Namely the dreaded “Error Code:721”. This error code in Star Wars Battlefront II typically indicates a failure to connect to the EA servers. It is a bug that has plagued the game throughout its lifecycle. Furthermore because Star Wars Battlefront II is no longer being actively patched by EA the error code has made its presence felt once again, now that people have resumed playing. While it's often only a temporary server issue often linked to the number of people playing, some users have found success with the following troubleshooting steps to work round the problem.
Check the EA Servers: Wait for a bit to see if the issue is a general server outage.
DirectX12: Ensure DirectX12 is disabled in the game's video settings and that Windows Defender isn't blocking it.
EA App: If playing on PC, try launching the game through the EA app and adding "-dx11" to the advanced launch box.
Persistence: Keep attempting to connect to the game by repeatedly clicking the "Connect" button.
Restart: Rebooting your PC or console might resolve the issue.
Verify Game Files: On PC, you can verify the game files through the EA app to ensure they are not corrupted.
I find that the best way to beat this bug is by hammering the “connect” option and eventually my game client will be flagged as being online. Hopefully if you’re having a similar issue, one of the above suggestions will work for you. As for Star Wars Battlefront II, it is still worth playing. All lootbox mechanics have been removed and cosmetics skins are now unlocked by gameplay milestones. There are a variety of game modes and you can play in either first or third person, depending upon your preference. It should be noted that you can also shoot Ewoks. At present the servers are active and there is no major difficulty finding a multiplayer game. Eight years on the game is still visually stunning and exudes the Star Wars aesthetic. Furthermore, the recent renewed interest in may well create momentum for a Star Wars Battlefront III.
There has been a resurgence of people playing Star Wars Battlefront II recently. Possibly because the game was discounted on many outlets on May 4th and may be due to the success of Andor season 2. There’s a lot more people streaming it as well as videos on YouTube. Whatever the reason, it is always good to see a deserving game enjoying a renaissance. Star Wars Battlefront II was blighted at launch, back in November 2017 by some egregious business decisions and it took nearly a year for the game to recover from the negative publicity and player animosity. Setting this historical debacle aside for one moment, there was always a handsome and engaging game to be found. One that used the licensed intellectual property well. Which is why I recently reinstalled the game and resumed playing its multiplayer mode.
As 2017 draws to a close, it is time once again time to reflect upon the subject of gaming as it has remained a primary form of entertainment for me over the last twelve months. I have enjoyed most of the new titles that I’ve bought this year but not all of them. There’s been some that have failed to please and others that have proven to be flawed. Then there has been my ongoing relationship with the MMO genre as I still have a handful of these games installed on my PC. Let it suffice to say that only one of these titles has managed to maintain my interest. I suspect that the MMO genre per se is in for a year of change in 2018. As for the wider aspects of gaming, I wouldn’t say it has been an especially edifying year for the game industry or the associated fan culture. The “goodwill” based band-aid that has remained in place for the last few years was finally torn off in 2017, exposing a festering self-inflicted wound.
On the eve of the launch of Star Wars Battlefront II last Friday, DICE General Manager Oskar Garbrielson released a statement stating that paid microtransactions were to be disabled in the game for the immediate future. It was a major reverse of policy after several weeks of increasing debate and acrimony about the subject from Star Wars fans and wider gamers. It has now come to light that the decision was due to pressure from the rights holders themselves. Disney Head of Consumer Products and Interactive Media Jimmy Pitaro is apparently the driving force behind this U-turn. Naturally with a major movie release only weeks away and the prospect of huge merchandise sales over the holiday season, no one at Disney wanted to see a media circus that could impact upon their bottom line. What happens in the new year when the controversy has died down and the movie leaves the cinemas, remains to be seen. I suspect we have not seen the back of the loot crate issue but for the meantime the problem has been side-lined.
Having completed my ten-hour Play First Trial of Star Wars Battlefront 2, I wanted to elaborate further upon my initial thoughts of the game. It should be noted that the demo that EA offers via Origin Access, comes with several caveats. Only the first three missions of the campaign are available, although these are sufficient to give to the you a good handle on the game’s various combat mechanics. You play as Imperial Special Forces Agent Iden Versio, the leader of Inferno Squad. The story starts during the Battle of Endor and addresses the fate of the Empire, after the Emperor’s demise. Unlike many games from this genre, the single player campaign is well written and engaging. When this part of the demo ended I found myself wanting to play more and see where the narrative went. Out of the ten hours given for the demo, I spent about three on the campaign. The rest of the time I spent in multiplayer, which is the game’s raison d'être.
Star Wars Battlefront II looks superb, even on an ageing PC such as mine. It absolutely exudes Star Wars ambience, with its aesthetics and sound design. If you are looking for a game that show cases the cutting edge of game graphics, then look no further. However, I cannot praise the game play and mechanics in the same ways as its visuals. Star Wars Battlefront II is hobbled by a progression system that is tied and potentially undermined by its loot crate mechanic. Furthermore, I won’t say “this is a real shame” as if it’s something that just happened by accident because it patently isn’t. The game was design this way. EA elected to block player progression and then provide a means to circumnavigate it, through the spending of additional funds.
I signed up for Origin Access today. For those who do not know, this is a subscription service to the EA Origin platform on the PC. For the nominal sum of £3.99 a monthly subscriber gets to “explore an instant collection of 75+ PC games and play as much as you want. Origin Access members also get to try new EA games before they’re released and save 10% on Origin purchases”. Out of those 75 PC games many are fairly recent titles such as Mass Effect: Andromeda Deluxe Edition, Battlefield 1, Titanfall 2, Unravel and FIFA 17. There are also classic titles such as the Crysis and Dead Space series. However, the reason I decided to sign up to this service is because Origin Access members get trial access Star Wars Battlefront II before the game is released to the wider public. Here is the staggered release schedule for this much awaited title. Subscribers get their hands on the game first, then owners of the Deluxe Edition. Finally, those who bought the base edition get to play. Make of that what you will.
Thoughts on Andor
Season 2 of Andor has received praise from both critics and fans alike. It finally seems to have put to bed the common argument that Star Wars as a franchise has traditionally been light on narrative depth, character development and the exploration of the themes that its main story is predicated upon. Andor shows the realities of opposing authoritarian regimes and exists within shades of grey, rather than purille, binary positions. Many have drawn parallels with the current state of geopolitics, especially that of the United States. I certainly found the second season of Andor to be engaging and thought provoking. I also enjoyed the performances of many of the British actors who by default are cast in all the major Empire roles. I thought Anton Lesser was especially noteworthy as a senior officer in the Imperial Security Bureau.
Season 2 of Andor has received praise from both critics and fans alike. It finally seems to have put to bed the common argument that Star Wars as a franchise has traditionally been light on narrative depth, character development and the exploration of the themes that its main story is predicated upon. Andor shows the realities of opposing authoritarian regimes and exists within shades of grey, rather than purille, binary positions. Many have drawn parallels with the current state of geopolitics, especially that of the United States. I certainly found the second season of Andor to be engaging and thought provoking. I also enjoyed the performances of many of the British actors who by default are cast in all the major Empire roles. I thought Anton Lesser was especially noteworthy as a senior officer in the Imperial Security Bureau.
Setting aside for a moment the praise for Andor, I do think there is a rather interesting fact that has contributed to the show’s mainstream and critical success. For this iteration of Star Wars to be embraced by a wider and possibly more cerebral audience, it appears to have shed many of the science fantasy tropes that have been integral to the franchise’s appeal for decades. Namely, the Jedi Knights, the Sith and the force. Andor leans into the technological aesthetic that is synonymous with Star Wars but ignores the quasi religious presence of the Jedi and the Sith. Their theological battles are conspicuously absent. What you are left with is a clever parable about an authoritarian regime, and the resistance against it. Although very entertaining Andor is far more akin to the BBC show Secret Army from 1977, than being just more Star Wars. There are also shades of John le Carré.
George Lucas dealt in clear archetypes and the medium of high adventure when he conceived and originally wrote Star Wars. I don’t believe he ever intended the source material to be anything more than “modern legends”. A vehicle for traditional morality tales. I do not doubt that he drew upon contemporary sociopolitical events for inspiration but I in no way think that Star Wars was intended to be a indepth exploration of them. Which is why Andor is such a different beast. It is a good show but it is effectively using the aesthetic and lore of Star Wars to pitch to an alternative audience and in a very different way. Just as Christopher Nolan’s Batman films took a stylised property with a broad spectrum of prior interpretations and crashed it headlong into “reality”. Andor is very much Star Wars evolved. However, will that ongoing process eventually be to the detriment of the original content?
There has been a resurgence of people playing Star Wars Battlefront II recently. Possibly because the game was discounted on many outlets on May 4th and may be due to the success of Andor season 2. There’s a lot more people streaming it as well as videos on YouTube. Whatever the reason, it is always good to see a deserving game enjoying a renaissance. Star Wars Battlefront II was blighted at launch, back in November 2017 by some egregious business decisions and it took nearly a year for the game to recover from the negative publicity and player animosity. Setting this historical debacle aside for one moment, there was always a handsome and engaging game to be found. One that used the licensed intellectual property well. Which is why I recently reinstalled the game and resumed playing its multiplayer mode.
Season 2 of Andor has received praise from both critics and fans alike. It finally seems to have put to bed the common argument that Star Wars as a franchise has traditionally been light on narrative depth, character development and the exploration of the themes that its main story is predicated upon. Andor shows the realities of opposing authoritarian regimes and exists within shades of grey, rather than purille, binary positions. Many have drawn parallels with the current state of geopolitics, especially that of the United States. I certainly found the second season of Andor to be engaging and thought provoking. I also enjoyed the performances of many of the British actors who by default are cast in all the major Empire roles. I thought Anton Lesser was especially noteworthy as a senior officer in the Imperial Security Bureau.
We all knew it had to happen sooner or later. According to reports, Lucasfilm is planning to reduce its Star Wars related output on Disney+. Specifically, from 2025 there will be only one live-action television series per year. For comparison, Disney+ commissioned three shows in 2022 and two shows in both 2023 and 2024. It should be noted that this reduced output doesn’t include animated shows. It would appear that senior management at Disney have finally figured out something most of us have known for a while. That saturating the market with content based upon a specific intellectual property, is ultimately detrimental to its popularity and financial viability. To use an old adage “familiarity breeds contempt”. At present, hardcore fans are “unhappy” with the way the IP is being developed, while casual fans are somewhat burned out by the excess of content and its varying quality.
Andor is not like other entries in the Star Wars canon. It explores the human, social and political consequences of rebelling against an oppressive, totalitarian regime. The writing is intelligent and well observed, choosing to focus on the average citizens of the Empire and the nature of their daily lives. Andor also explores the ineffectual politicians and the way the senate are self serving and ultimately impotent. The Emperor is remote and instead we see how Imperial colonialism works at a grassroots level. It is an all too familiar depiction, born out of historical fact, such as Vichy France during World War II. Petty thugs and aspiring psychopaths happily align themselves with their Imperial overlords and actively oppress their own people. As for the Empire, and in particular the ISB (Imperial Security Bureau) it is rife with infighting, personal fiefdoms and all the flaws of similar institutions from the real world.
I recently watched the first trailer for the new Obi-Wan Kenobi television show that is premiering on Disney + in May. I am interested in this latest instalment in the Star Wars franchise and curious as to whether Liam Neeson will make an appearance. I also watched a 20 minute fan video in which they “analysed” the entire trailer. They discussed the content of this 2 minute preview and then did a great deal of speculating about potential themes and characters that may feature in the show. They were clearly enthusiastic about what they had seen and were very knowledgeable about the subject. This resonated with me, as I like to be well versed about the things I enjoy. However, it is worth remembering that fandom can tip into obsession and gatekeeping. Hence I feel there is a subject to explore here.
As of today, the final episode of The Book of Boba Fett has aired on Disney + and this spinoff show from The Mandalorian has finished its first season. It has been a curious seven part story and not at all what I was expecting. Initially focusing upon the trials and tribulations of the iconic Bounty Hunter Boba Fett as he fights for Jabba the Hutt’s former territory, the story creatively explained what happened to him after he was swallowed by the Sarlacc. However, the plot took an unexpected turn focusing upon the fate of Din Djarin and Grogu from The Mandalorian, before the climatic final instalment. It’s certainly been an entertaining ride but the show’s somewhat eclectic nature has been a little confusing. Having a dedicated story about Boba Fett and then undermining it by focusing upon other iconic characters seems somewhat contradictory. Thankfully, the final episode put both shows back on track.
In my youth, I took my fandom very seriously. I would brook no criticism of the various objects of my affection. I would robustly defend them in lengthy forum comments, filled with the sort of detail and lack of self awareness that only an ardent fan can bring to bear. Nowadays, it’s a different story altogether (insert Airplane gag here). I still enjoy Thunderbirds, Star Trek, The Lord of the Rings but I do not consider them unassailable, sacred cows. If other’s scorn them, that is their prerogative. Age not only brings you more keys and things that require charging, it also grants the realisation that it doesn’t matter what others think. Furthermore, reboots, reimaginings and revivals cannot harm your memories or “ruin your childhood”. Has Gus Van Sant’s ill conceived 1998 remake of Psycho harmed in any way Hitchcock’s classic original. Any answer other than “no” is at the least spurious and at worst naval gazing bullshit, served on a platter of hyperbole and attention seeking.
Over the years, I have had what I would describe as an ever diminishing relationship with Star Wars as a franchise. I grew up with the original trilogy, seeing them all when they were originally released. Those three films were a wonderful, self-contained story. I also broadly enjoyed aspects of the Expanded Universe, as it was confined to other mediums such as books or comics. Hence it was an optional extra, as it were. Sadly, over the years, the additional film trilogies proved to be inferior products that suffered under the weight of their own ever expanding lore. The fetishisation of the hardware, actions scenes and overall aesthetic by both the filmmakers and the fans, came at the expense of good narrative content and character development. The one film that tried to take the franchise in a more mature and thoughtful direction, The Last Jedi, proved controversial and divisive. Overall it was the animated TV show Rebels that best showed an understanding of the franchise.
Two years ago The Last Jedi was released to mixed reviews. A vocal percentage of fans complained bitterly about various aspects of the movie. Some of their assertions such as the episodic pacing of parts of the story had merit. While other criticisms regarding diversity and gender categorically did not. However, Disney were cognisant of the fact that Star Wars fans were not universally enthralled by the movie although it turned a healthy profit. And then the following Easter Solo “underperformed” at the box office and journalists started talking about how the franchise had overreached itself and was in decline. Alarm bells obviously went off at board level and something had to be done. It would appear that The Rise of Skywalker is very much a movie designed to put the franchise back on track and wrap up the narrative proceedings of the last 42 years. However, there is a cost in offering such a colossal “fan service”. The latest instalment starts at a breakneck pace and continues in that idiom for over two hours. Action scenes, canonical references and homages are piled on, one after another. But narratively things are somewhat thin, recycling ideas and concepts from earlier movies. Some of the plot devices are never explained and therefore seem somewhat contrived. The Rise of Skywalker is most certainly entertaining. But it requires its core audience to be forgiving and to a degree complicit in its indulgences and failings.
I will try and keep this post as brief as possible because rants and tirades aren’t as funny as many writers think they are. Rather than “frothing at the mouth” I think a more accurate description of my feelings can be summed up just by a deep sigh and a shake of the head. So, where to begin? Well during the course of the day, several memes, humorous quips and oblique references appeared in my Twitter timeline featuring the phrase “Maclunkey”. As the joke didn’t immediately become apparent and I couldn’t reference the phrase (I initially thought it was about the band Mclusky) I took to Google to find out what this was all about. I like to keep abreast as to what are the current talking points online and I don’t want to be that old guy who doesn’t understand “the kids of today” or “that there interweb”. Fortunately, a brief internet search provided a clear answer. I shall now attempt to distil the relevant facts for the benefit of those who are still in the dark.
Peter Mayhew was working as an Orderly in the radiology department of King's College Hospital, London in 1976 when he was “discovered” by George Lucas. Lucas was looking to find someone suitably tall to play the Wookie Chewbacca in Star Wars. Legend has it that Mayhew simply stood up from his seat to great Lucas and immediately clinched the part. The rest they say is history. Peter Mayhew went on to play the role in another five movies, and despite not gaining the immediate fame of regular actors, became a firm favourite among fans at conventions. He was also held in very high regard by his professional acting peers. As for the role of Chewbacca, he made it his own and approached the character seriously and with genuine love. Despite a lack of conventional dialogue, Mayhew imbued Chewbacca with a personality and a distinctive sense of style. No mean achievement for a man who never intended for any of this to happen.
I was perusing the net recently and came across a story about how a Star Wars fan film that had built up a head of steam online, has been slapped with a copyright strike from Disney. Nothing unusual there as the company is virtually legendary with respect to its litigious proclivities. However, someone over a Lucasfilm interceded and got the strike lifted, because the fan film creator had allegedly sought prior permission and supposedly received it. George Lucas has always maintained an equitable attitude towards fan usage of the Star Wars IP, something he tried to impress upon Disney when he sold the rights to them back in 2012. But it is very difficult to have a balanced discussion about George Lucas as the man is such a paradox. On one hand he is possibly one of the greatest contributors to twentieth century pop culture and has influenced a generation of film makers, writers and fans. On the other he is the man who single headedly has managed to queer his own pitch, with the way he has continuously tinkered with his body of work and appended it with supplemental material that many deemed substandard or to the detriment of the original. He is also still vilified in some quarters for his business arrangement with Disney.
Naïve (adjective): (of a person or action) showing a lack of experience, wisdom, or judgement. I have chosen this word over delusional, foolish or puerile in an attempt to keep this post measured and level headed. Because this is a discussion about fandom and it’s a subject that is seldom driven by cool, even handed, mature reflection. Fandom is about passion, strong emotional connections and a sense of community. These can be and often are positive things. Yet fandom can also be about myopia, zealotry and gate-keeping. Something that that is supposed to bring people together can degenerate into a “them and us” scenario. Just another binary, tribal, world view that screams at anyone or anything that is not “the same”. And in recent years, due to the internet and social media, fandom has now developed an erroneous sense of ownership. By loving something and venerating it, you (allegedly) have an inherent stake in it and a right to say how it evolves. Which leads me neatly on to “Remake the Last Jedi” movement and the staggering naivety that underpins it.
Star Wars Begins is a detailed documentary by film maker Jamie Benning that explores the creation of what is now considered to be the most iconic movie of the seventies; namely Star Wars. It features a wealth of deleted scenes, alternate takes, behind-the-scenes footage, bloopers, original on set audio recordings and a great deal of commentary by the original cast and crew. As far as I’m concerned, it is the most thorough and in-depth analysis of Star Wars I have yet to see. Frankly it beats hands down, any of the officially sanctioned documentaries that have appeared over the year on the various DVD and Blu-ray releases of the trilogy.
Certain groups just lend themselves to ridicule from the media and in popular culture in general, irrespective of whether they deserve it or not. Star Wars fans are a prime example of this. Their love of the lore, predilection for cosplay and hunger for collectables at first glance makes them an easy target. Film maker Mark Edlitz, takes a decidedly different approach in his documentary Jedi Junkies. Instead of finger-pointing and making cheap jokes, Jedi Junkies puts a very human face on a group of enthusiasts, showing their passion to be in essence, no different to that of sports fans or other more mainstream hobbies and pastimes.
Star Wars has always been about high adventure. The franchise has been outstanding in its creative vision, as well as eminently enjoyable but it has never been as deep as some of the themes and ideas that it has touched upon. George Lucas tried to provide a more complex narrative with his prequels, but it became lost in the clumsy screenplays. Instead of creating political intrigue and complexity, it all seemed somewhat incoherent and naive. Finally, Star Wars: The Last Jedi manages to achieve something that we saw briefly in Episode V. Thematic depth. The latest movie takes a franchise that has primarily been about spectacle as well as entertainment and re-invigorates it with a far greater narrative scope. There are real performances from Mark Hamill and Adam Driver, as well as complex philosophical musings on weighty themes. Finally, Star Wars like a fine wine, has matured and can now provide fans with a more substantial and nuanced story. Simply put, Star Wars has grown up and hence forward it can be more than just a space opera.
On the eve of the launch of Star Wars Battlefront II last Friday, DICE General Manager Oskar Garbrielson released a statement stating that paid microtransactions were to be disabled in the game for the immediate future. It was a major reverse of policy after several weeks of increasing debate and acrimony about the subject from Star Wars fans and wider gamers. It has now come to light that the decision was due to pressure from the rights holders themselves. Disney Head of Consumer Products and Interactive Media Jimmy Pitaro is apparently the driving force behind this U-turn. Naturally with a major movie release only weeks away and the prospect of huge merchandise sales over the holiday season, no one at Disney wanted to see a media circus that could impact upon their bottom line. What happens in the new year when the controversy has died down and the movie leaves the cinemas, remains to be seen. I suspect we have not seen the back of the loot crate issue but for the meantime the problem has been side-lined.
Back in 2008, I discovered a fan edit of George A. Romero’s iconic Dawn of The Dead and was very impressed with the way that enthusiasts can now re-edit and re-imagine any film of their choice, using commonly available tools. I subsequently spent some time looking into this entire sub-genre further and found that one of the most popular franchises to be fan edited was naturally Star Wars. One of the first fans edits of this kind I watched was a "Grindhouse" version of A New Hope that had been retitled The War of The Stars. It was fun and tried to be different but overall it was simply an amusing diversion. Something that could viewed as a in joke among fans. Not all of the fan edits out there are particularly good and as a genre it can be very uneven. Yet through word of mouth it became quite apparent that one particular Star Wars fan edit seemed to be getting a great deal of attention and praise from both the fan and wider community. Namely Star Wars Revisited by Adywan.
Having completed my ten-hour Play First Trial of Star Wars Battlefront 2, I wanted to elaborate further upon my initial thoughts of the game. It should be noted that the demo that EA offers via Origin Access, comes with several caveats. Only the first three missions of the campaign are available, although these are sufficient to give to the you a good handle on the game’s various combat mechanics. You play as Imperial Special Forces Agent Iden Versio, the leader of Inferno Squad. The story starts during the Battle of Endor and addresses the fate of the Empire, after the Emperor’s demise. Unlike many games from this genre, the single player campaign is well written and engaging. When this part of the demo ended I found myself wanting to play more and see where the narrative went. Out of the ten hours given for the demo, I spent about three on the campaign. The rest of the time I spent in multiplayer, which is the game’s raison d'être.
Star Wars Battlefront II looks superb, even on an ageing PC such as mine. It absolutely exudes Star Wars ambience, with its aesthetics and sound design. If you are looking for a game that show cases the cutting edge of game graphics, then look no further. However, I cannot praise the game play and mechanics in the same ways as its visuals. Star Wars Battlefront II is hobbled by a progression system that is tied and potentially undermined by its loot crate mechanic. Furthermore, I won’t say “this is a real shame” as if it’s something that just happened by accident because it patently isn’t. The game was design this way. EA elected to block player progression and then provide a means to circumnavigate it, through the spending of additional funds.
Over the years I have been a participant in several fan based communities. These have ranged from running film clubs, to creating and publishing fanzines in the pre-internet days. More recently this has included running websites, blogging and creating podcasts. It’s a curious thing the way fandom is cyclical and one’s involvement with such communities seems to ebb and flow. It’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot of late. Several of the You Tube channels I enjoy have reduced their output or stopped due, to changes in advertising policy and monetisation. The Newbie Blogger Initiative failed to manifest itself this year and many of my immediate colleagues in blogging and podcasting have also begun to fade away or moved on to pastures new. The sad thing is, the true value of many community contributors is never really realised until after they’ve gone.
After watching Rogue One earlier today, I was suitably impressed. Once again Disney have used all the knowledge they've amassed from successfully running major franchises and applied it here, resulting in a finely tuned and polished entry into the Star Wars pantheon. The concept of standalone movies released in-between instalments of the classic story has now proven viable opens up a wealth of possibilities. Rogue One works well narratively and provides the spectacle that fans expect from the series. The continuity and attention to detail is outstanding continuously keeping viewers on their toes. Furthermore, the story itself is credible, dovetailing nicely into the lore.
Contrary to my expectation Star Wars: The Force Awakens is an extremely entertaining and enjoyable movie. It manages to balance the needs of all interested parties. Fans get epic battles, iconic hardware and dependable performances from established and cherished characters. The new cast dovetail into the story with ease and are engaging. The torch is past from old to new seamlessly. There is humour, pathos and genuine tragedy to be found in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and it’s there because all involved clearly love and respect the franchise but also understand what makes good cinema. Fandom tempered by professional film making. The two do not have to be mutually exclusive.
A reoccurring theme in both my writing and podcasting at present is how age changes one’s personal perspective. This is something that particularly manifests itself with regard to gaming. A decade ago I would have been extremely enthusiastic about a title such as Star Wars Battlefront. I would have pre-ordered the most lavish version available, then waxed lyrical about the beta test and thrown myself wholeheartedly in to the game upon its release. Despite the fact that I’m notoriously poor at the FPS genre, I would have sunk hours in to such a game and done my up most to convince myself and others that I’d had a good time.
The seventies were a very curious time, especially in the UK. The post war world with its sensibilities, culture and etiquette was slowly slipping away. Sadly the future had not quite lived up to its scientific and cultural potential. Political, industrial and economic turmoil were rife. Even as a child I was aware that all was not right with the world. Then Star Wars was released and very quickly became a cultural phenomenon. I embraced it like many others and took it to my heart. It offered not only spectacle but a boundless galaxy filled with stories and possibilities, which captivated a child’s imagination. It had not only a strong sense of morality but a wider philosophical subtext. It provided a modern mythology just as George Lucas intended. Its optimism was in some ways an antidote to the prevailing cynicism of the times.
Semantic Bleaching
Last week, I was in a department store with Mrs P and my Grandson, when we stumbled across a range of toys called Fugglers. They are effectively a range of child friendly monster plushies, rather than genuinely terrifying mutation action figures. The manufacturers spuriously claim that the franchise name is a compound word of funny and ugly. However, anyone conversant with contemporary slang will immediately think of the phrase “fugly” which means fucking ugly. I’m sure the manufacturers of Fugglers have made it clear that their product is not in any way drawing upon this phrase, but only a fool would believe such a disingenuous stance. The name has obviously been chosen because it courts controversy by default. Yay marketing etc.
Last week, I was in a department store with Mrs P and my Grandson, when we stumbled across a range of toys called Fugglers. They are effectively a range of child friendly monster plushies, rather than genuinely terrifying mutation action figures. The manufacturers spuriously claim that the franchise name is a compound word of funny and ugly. However, anyone conversant with contemporary slang will immediately think of the phrase “fugly” which means fucking ugly. I’m sure the manufacturers of Fugglers have made it clear that their product is not in any way drawing upon this phrase, but only a fool would believe such a disingenuous stance. The name has obviously been chosen because it courts controversy by default. Yay marketing etc.
Setting aside any debate over Fugglers, I am far more interested in the cultural phenomenon of taking an existing term that has a specific meaning to one generation and co-opting and repurposing it for another. For example, the word “pimp” has undergone such a transformation over the last twenty years or so. I grew up with the term meaning “a man who controls prostitutes and arranges clients for them, taking a percentage of their earnings in return”. Broadly speaking pimps were bad guys. I immediately think of Albert Popwell in the film Magnum Force, pouring drain cleaner down a womens throat because the “bitch was holding out on him”. Today, my granddaughters will happily tell me that they’ve pimped their bedroom, by which they mean they’ve decorated it in a flamboyant fashion.
“Hello Mr. Green”
Overtime, the meaning of words can change. This organic process is oblivious to our own personal likes and dislikes. Such is the nature of language. Today, I learned while listening to the podcast Strong Message Here, that this process of repurposing words and claiming to remove the stigma of any prior definition is called “semantic bleaching”. It is something that happens often enough that it now has a formal term. However, the labelling and quantifying of this process doesn’t not necessarily make it a good thing. I’m sure there will be those who think that Fugglers and other examples of semantic bleaching are just “a bit of fun” and that it’s not a “big deal”. It can also be argued that this is another facet of the trivialisation of language, the erosion of a shared reality and the infantilisation of society. Yay people etc.
Today, I met up with some friends in central London. People I’ve known since 1984. Some even longer. I met these particular friends when I went to Orpington College of Further Education to do my A Level exams. We were all sixteen at the time or there about. Orpington College was very different from a conventional school, because it offered a selection of academic courses for students from varying age groups. Hence the environment was the polar opposite to what I had previously experienced. My old school had been very formal with a very traditional approach to teaching and the relationship between pupil and teacher. At Orpington College there was no uniform, so you wore what you wanted. The atmosphere was far more informal and less constrained by rules. Lecturers addressed you by your first name and your academic achievement was very much in your own hands. The only thing that wasn’t tolerated was being disruptive and preventing others from learning.
I recently stopped taking beta blockers after a consultation with my Doctor. Seven weeks on and I feel substantially better without them. I strongly advocate prescription reviews, as often the medication you’re taking does not necessarily need to be taken indefinitely. That was certainly the case with me and beta blockers. At the end of my last consultation, my GP asked me to keep a daily record of my blood pressure for a month. I could either do this at home or come into the surgery where there is a suitable device that is free to use. Fortunately I inherited an old but functional OMRON blood pressure monitor from my parents, so I was able to take readings each morning myself. It was while doing this for a month that it struck me; what exactly does all the data that I’m making note of mean exactly? What do systolic and diastolic mean and what is the difference between them? Also, where my readings good or bad?
I made a throwaway quip yesterday on social media about reaction videos on YouTube. I was specifically complaining about those made about music videos and how there is a growing trend among “content creators” to mute the audio and obscure the video of the very material they are reacting to. This is due to concerns over a copyright strike by the rights holders of the original content and the threat of potential demonetisation to those making the reaction video. What you are left with is 5 minutes of a rather tiresome, charisma vacuum watching a blurred video while listening to “elevator music”. What a world we live in. Why even bother posting such content? If there is any value to be found in reaction videos, then surely it lies in the shared experience of both the person in the video reacting and their viewers?
When I last wrote about the thorny subject of weight loss, I weighed 188 lbs (13 stone 6 lbs or 85.3 kg). That was in Spring 2022. Let it suffice to say the the optimistic health plan I subsequently embarked upon fell apart like a cheap suit, solely due to me not committing to it in any meaningful way. Since then my weight has slowly and steadily increased. I will avoid any long and tortuous explanations and quasi-justifications. I like my food and lots of it. The fact that my lifestyle has contributed to my ill health, is something that I have willingly tolerated. The pleasure outweighed the consequences. However, in early August a tipping point was finally reached. It wasn’t a theatrical epiphany or anything that can be framed dramatically. I simply woke up one morning and said to myself, “I am tired of constantly feeling like shit”.
When I was a child, I quickly learned never to say within earshot of my parents that I was bored. It was quickly met with a response along the lines of “an intelligent mind is never bored” or more worryingly “if you’ve got nothing to do, I’ll find you something” which meant a chore or Herculean task. Being a child of the seventies and due to my parents fundamentalist approach to declarations of boredom, I quickly discovered numerous ways to occupy myself. The default solution was a book or comic. I always liked reading as a child and had plenty of books to choose from. I also had numerous of comics as an alternative to a hefty tome. I would also draw and paint. My father use to work during the summer holidays as a design draftsman and as a result, we always had plenty of paper in our house. Then of course there were toys and such like. Hence I learned the art of keeping myself busy.
When I first started this series of posts back in 2023, they were originally intended to provide a useful overview into UK (mainly British) slang. US slang is ubiquitous globally due to the pervasive nature of American culture. Hence most people have a good grasp of its nuances. However, the proverbial door does not swing both ways. Hence most people will watch British TV dramas or read popular novels and can be quite bamboozled by some of the phrases that are used. That is what I was trying to address. However, over time this entire enterprise now reads like a some sort of Guy Ritchie film with Colin as the anti-hero. That notwithstanding, hopefully the list of slang phrases below will prove useful to know, if you ever visit the UK or tour around London. As ever I have given an example of their respective use. Feel free to ask questions if anything needs clarifying, or you wish to leave a comment with examples of you’re own national and regional slang.
As I write this post, the temperature in Greater London is 33°C (91.4°F). This has become a regular occurrence since the middle of May onwards. High temperatures are fine when you’re on holiday mainly because you’re off work and at your leisure. You don’t have to perform the usual daily task that life requires of you such as work, shop, cook, clean etc. Furthermore, if you’re on vacation you’ll probably be staying at a resort or hotel that is fully air conditioned and you’re dressed accordingly. However, if you’re still performing you’re daily routine such as commuting to work and spending time in an office that wasn’t built with such external temperatures in mind, then 33°C is frankly a pain in the ass. Oh and if you’re one of those people who always respond to discussions such as this with “well I live in Riyadh and it’s 40°C here”, please sod off. You live in a desert which is dumb to begin with. Plus this is not a commensurate comparison. Temperatures are rising in the UK. It’s always hot in Saudi Arabia.
If you visit the websites for such UK tabloid newspapers as the Daily Express or the Daily Mail you will no doubt encounter prominent stories about Megan Markle, Nigel Farage and “immigrants”. If these two august institutions are short of column inches, they’ll run a piece about how some former celebrity has had the unmitigated gall and temerity to get old. I mean WTF? How dare they do what human beings are genetically disposed to do. It’s outrageous. Similarly, head over to the Unherd website and you’ll find foam flecked tirades regarding spurious points of contention over dubious subjects. Often the topic being harangued is incredibly niche and I’ve never heard of it before or even considered it being a thing. These sort of talking points are not about informing, debating and most certainly aren’t about thinking. They exist to provoke reactions.
Before we start, let me explain to those readers outside of the UK, the significance of a Dairy Milk Freddo chocolate bar and its relevance to this post. The “Freddo” is an 18g (0.63 oz) chocolate bar, in the shape of an anthropomorphic frog. When it was re-launched by Cadbury in 1990 (it had previously been manufactured by an Australian confectionery company in the seventies), it was priced at 10p (£0.10). It remained at that price until 2005 when a 1p to 2p increase began to occur each year. By 2016 Freddos were retailing at 25p. However, the following year the price “lept” to 30p with an increase that was double its usual yearly rise. This led to public outrage across social media. Since then the price of a Freddo has waxed and waned. Tesco supermarket reduced the price back to 10p as part of their centenary celebrations. The post COVID price in 2022 hit 49p. At present, the average price of a Freddo in the UK is somewhere around 35p.
Over the last 10 years, I’ve written several blog posts about my personal working experiences and my career, such as it was. I touched upon working specifically in IT and how that industry changed over time, both technically and in the way that other people perceived it. I have also given my thoughts on the social dynamics of the modern work environment and the way we interact with our colleagues and employers. That is another area that has changed dramatically. Naturally my retirement from full time work has been written about, as it is such a radical change in one’s life. Especially if you’re the sort of person who is clearly defined by their job, which I personally was not. This time, I want to share a few thoughts I have about what I miss about “going to work” and “having a job”. I’m not sure if “miss” is the right word. Perhaps it is more a question of things being absent. Either way, there are some aspects of being employed that I use to enjoy or at least found beneficial that I now no longer experience.
UK Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer has resigned and intends to leave office before the parliamentary summer recess. By then Andy Burnham will more than likely be voted leader of the Labour Party and by default will become the new Prime Minister. Due to the current size of the incumbent Government’s majority, there is no pressing reason for a General Election that the UK’s right wing tabloid press is currently calling for. Whether this provides the Government with the reset they’re hoping for when Parliament reconvenes in autumn remains to be seen. With seven Prime Ministers coming and going in a decade, there are some serious questions to be asked about the current state of UK politics. However, the mechanics of contemporary politics, the decline of clearly defined ideologies and the people that seek elected office to be our leaders are only half of the problem. The other major impediment to the UK’s democracy functioning properly is the electorate.
The UK Government has formerly announced its intention to ban under-16s from using social media. This is due to increasing public pressure that “something must be done” about the perceived iniquities of many online platforms. However, as with most complex social problems of this nature, no one has any clear or practical ideas as to what that “something” is. It remains a nebulous, non-specific panacea and clearly someone else’s job to identify and implement. As ever, why choose a nuanced and multifaceted solution to a complex problem, when it is far easier and politically expedient to just “ban” something. The former requires effort and a degree of thinking. If such an approach fails it also means that those who came up with it now carry the can. The latter dumps the problem in the lap of various third parties, who can then be conveniently blamed when the ill conceived policy fails.
Every Thursday, Mrs P volunteers at a food bank that is run from a local church; Avery Hill Christian Fellowship. Today there was a shortage of staff so I agreed to help out. It proved to be an equitable arrangement as she collated the various orders and I packed the bags and took them to the respective clients. The food bank itself is organised and administered by the Trussell Trust, a UK based NGO and charity providing emergency food and support to people locked in poverty. It is open for 2 to 3 hours a week depending upon demand. During today’s session we served just six people. Some weeks its can be triple that amount. Upon closure, a member of staff from the Trussel Trust did a stock take and collated a list of what was needed. This is provided by various local church communities via parishioners donations, as well as local supermarkets who have an arrangement with the trust to provide surplus stock or good approaching the end of their sales window.
There are approximately 4000 parks and green spaces in Greater London. Bexley Borough alone has over 100. Public parks and green spaces are vital to modern cities, providing essential health, environmental and social benefits. They boost physical and mental wellbeing by reducing stress and providing a place for exercise. Furthermore they enhance urban sustainability, mitigate heat, and provide a sustainable environment for a wildlife. Parks are often a venue for social activities and events and as such are an important part of the local community. Going to the park has always been a part of my life. I live next to Old Farm Park in Sidcup and have made use of this recreational space throughout my life. I used visit with my parents in the seventies, when I was a child. Thirty years later my son, father in-law and I would fly kites there. Now I take my grandchildren to Old Farm Park as it now has a playground.
Being a 58 year old man, I welcome any undertaking which can potentially improve my health. One such thing is proactive screening and testing. The UK National Health Service has started doing a lot more of this in recent years, mainly because diagnosing a problem and treating it early is far more efficient and cost effective than retroactive action. Hence this policy and my age is why I was recently sent a NHS Bowel Cancer Test Kit via the post. This screening service takes place every two years for people aged 50 to 74 in the UK. The kit is very quick and simple to use. A sample of your stool is sent via a prepaid return envelope for testing and the entire process is free of charge. Upon receipt, the laboratory test determines whether there is any blood present in your stool, which is a potential indicator of bowel cancer. If detected, an early diagnosis greatly improves any subsequent treatment outcomes.
I like learning things. I always have. During my middle school years I thought I was a mediocre student and often I wouldn’t apply myself. According to an old school report this was because I was “too busy indulging in Tomfoolery”. Then I had the positive experience of meeting an exceptional teacher. Their lessons were the highlight of the week as they had an ability to make the subject matter, Classical History, utterly compelling and relevant. The teacher in question also treated us like adults and the class benefitted from only having five pupils. This really brought home to me that a lot of disinterest and underachievement in education is linked to the paucity of some teachers. One bad teacher can undermine the good work that all the others can do. Perhaps it has improved nowadays?
I’ve had an interest in the paranormal since I was a child. My mother always got books out of the library about ghosts and UFO phenomenon, so in some respects I was influenced by her reading habits. As a child such tales were by default interesting and any potentially scary element naturally made them more enjoyable. However, my father being an academic had taught me to question everything, so I felt fairly evenly equipped when exploring these subjects. Further to this point, over the years I have learned that humans have a very unique perspective on the world. We are hard wired to see patterns, regardless of whether they’re there or not. Our senses can also be fooled and often are. Perhaps the most important aspect of our nature that impacts upon any analysis we make into the paranormal is our penchant for creating stories. Hence unusual experiences can be subconsciously misremembered and “retconned” to form more precise narratives.
I have lived in Sidcup, in South East London, for most of my life. The first two schools that I went to were local and within 15 minutes walking distance. My Doctor’s Surgery and Dentist are only a few streets away, as is the barbershop that I’ve frequented since 1970. I now have my haircut by the son of the original barber. My point being that Sidcup has everything that residents immediately need. There’s a local hospital, good public transport networks and a broad range of shopping and restaurant facilities. It also has several parks with lakes, sport facilities and children’s play areas. It is a microcosm of the concept of suburbia with its residents commuting into Central London or out into Kent for work. People move here to raise families and end up staying. My parents lived here for 62 years.
Our household is currently trying to reduce our monthly overheads in response to the ever increasing cost of living. April is not that far away and a great many service providers will increase their rates and tariff as the new financial year begins. Then there is the ongoing effects, both direct and indirect, of inflation to consider. Although the UK inflation rate is dropping, currently sitting at 3.4% in December 2025, food inflation remains higher at 4.5%. Being based in the UK, salaries and billed services tend to be administered monthly. You get paid usually at the end of the months and bills can turn up at any point, depending upon when you started a service. Any payments coming from central government, such as state pension or other benefits, are paid every 4 weeks. This means that there are 13 payments in a year. I thought it pertinent to clarify this point as other countries, such as the USA, favour a fortnightly financial cycle. Hence as a household we work around a monthly budget.
I try not to let the failings of contemporary capitalism get to me but such a mindset is very hard to maintain. From time to time it does just piss you off and you know damn well that there’s nothing you can do about it. So to begin this tale, at the end of November, our Indesit washer/dryer gave up the ghost after a valiant twelve year lifespan. As a result of this household appliance’s stirling work, it was decided to buy another from the same manufacturer. Their website informed me that the model that had just broken was no longer being produced. However, it recommended two newer appliances that had comparable specifications and more importantly the same size. This washer/dryer had to fit into a fitted kitchen unit. To cut a long story short, a model was chosen, purchased, delivered within 48 hours and installed. The broken predecessor was subsequently taken away. The wonders of modern consumer culture!
I was in a pub last night, catching up with friends before Christmas, when I noticed on the wall something I haven’t seen in a pub for a very long time. A jukebox. In my experiences most of the pubs I go to take one of the following two approaches to background music. They either have a sound system and exclusively manage any music via personally curated playlists from behind the bar. Or they have no music at all. The Wetherspoons chain of pubs broadly follow the latter policy and actively use it as a marketing point. Quiet pubs for clientele that just want to talk can be popular. Hence finding an accessible jukebox was a blast from the past. During the late eighties and early nineties, I regularly visited my local pub and often used the jukebox there, which at the time, was operated by an ever changing store of CDs. The jukebox I encountered last night was digital.
Today is my 58th birthday. It would appear that I have existed for nearly six decades. Put another way, I am over half a century old. All of which has given me pause for thought with regard to the passage of time. A phrase that is often bandied about, but what exactly does it mean? As I understand it, the “passage of time” refers to our perception of the flow of time and how we experience its movement. This is something distinct and different from objective time as measured by clocks. Our subjective experience of time can vary due to multiple factors. Two common examples are how time can feel like it's flying by when we're having fun and enjoying something or dragging its feet when you’re enduring something dull. Other factors are whether we are applying ourselves to a task, concentrating and general activity. Such focus can make time pass quickly.
When Mrs P and I moved into our current home, over twenty years ago, we were both working full time. As the garden was poorly maintained and neither of us had any horticultural skills, we decided to employ a gardener. At the time it was a practical solution to the issue of garden maintenance and remains so today. Hence it is a service we continue to use, although our personal health is now the main reason we pay a gardener.
In July the UK Government introduced the Online Safety Act which requires age checks for accessing sexually explicit content online. As a result of this, Pornhub, the 19th most visited site on the internet, has reported a 77% decline in UK traffic. Furthermore, according to the UK regulatory body, OFCOM (The Office of Communications), overall visits to pornographic websites from the UK have fallen by 33%. Naturally, those who championed this legislation are claiming a moral and political victory. However, once you consider what these facts actually mean, they paint a somewhat different and potentially more worrying picture. It would be staggeringly naïve to think that UK visitors to Pornhub have ceased visiting such sites due to the age verification requirements. The more likely explanation is that UK porn consumers are now using VPNs to circumnavigate these restrictions and that this traffic to Pornhub is now recorded as coming from elsewhere.
Formal education in the UK is a structured process, starting at early years learning and continuing through to higher education at university. Some aspects of the educational system are mandatory, whereas others are optional. At present, children in the UK must start full-time education from the age of 5 and remain until the age of 16. After this age, they are no longer required to attend school per se but must remain in some other form of education or training, such as a vocational college or an apprenticeship. Many students remain at school until 18, as there are specific exams to be obtained that are required for a subsequent university placement. Here is a breakdown of the current process as it exists in the UK.
I don’t know if you have noticed that there are quite a lot of companies that have names taken from Tolkien’s Legendarium. At first glance, this seems innocuous enough. Tolkien’s writings grew in popularity over the seventies and eighties but since the release of the film trilogy at the start of the twenty-first century, his work has become more well known and been assimilated into our wider pop culture. Hence, it seems quite logical that a startup tech company, for example, would choose a name from his writings. No doubt the founders grew up reading The Lord of the Rings and are fans. That all seems plausible. However if you take a further look, it gets somewhat more complex. Here are four companies that have Tolkien based names.
Last Wednesday, I woke up with what I thought to be a crick in my neck on the left hand side. I assumed this was simply due to sleeping awkwardly and so I self medicated with some non-prescription pain relief and judicious use of a heat pad. Unfortunately, the problem has persisted and in the last 24 hours it has become much worse. I awoke this morning at about 5:00 AM and as I sat up in bed, an intense pain ran up the left side of my neck and behind my ear. It took several attempts for me to get out of bed because if I turned my head in either direction or inclined my chin, the pain would again run up the side of my neck. Sitting down, getting up and raising my arms caused similar results. While dressing, I attempted to pull a t-shirt over my head. The pain in my neck on this occasion was so severe that I yelled out loud and nearly blacked out.
I am a non-driver. If you wish to know the specifics of how this situation came about, feel free to read the post I wrote about it back in early 2018. To be succinct, I don’t drive, I’ve never learned how and have never owned a car. I don’t feel that I’ve missed out. In fact I feel quite the opposite. I think I’ve dodged a major hassle and expense in life. Mrs P, my significant other, is the designated driver of our household. She owns a car, insures it and maintains it. She also mainly pays for the petrol, whereas I pick up the tab for other things such as lunch or hotels when we travel. All I have to do is make like Iggy Pop if we go anywhere. The most I am ever called upon to do is navigate using Google maps and Android Auto. Fortunately, Mrs P enjoys driving. Always has done. Hence I look upon this situation as an extremely fortunate and equitable arrangement.
I am getting old. I shall be 58 in December. Now, as soon as you say something like that these days, some folk will get uncomfortable and say things like “age is relative” or “you’re as old as you feel”. Well I don’t measure my age in geological terms, so it’s not relative and I’m not feeling anyone especially young at the moment, so both schools or thoughts can sod off. I am getting old by the yardstick we measure human life by, namely years. I have specific, age related health issues and I just don’t feel as energised as I did a decade ago. There are minor signs, such as deciding to go to bed earlier and taking longer to get dressed after taking a shower. I’m not at death’s door but I am slowing up physically. It would also appear that my reactions are also slowing down as I tend to get massacred in any FPS I play these days. So far, my mental faculties seem to be holding up. However, that is the one thing I worry about the most. The potential loss of cognitive abilities scares the shit out of me.
Foots Cray Reuse and Recycling Centre is the fancy name of our local dump. A few decades ago, this was no more than a scrap yard. The rubbish and bric-a-brac left by the public was sorted and scavenged for resaleable scrap. Everything that was left was subsequently sent to landfill or incineration. Much has changed. Today it is the embodiment of the modern recycling ethos. The recycling centre is a well managed, carefully segregated site providing safe disposal of a wide variety of household and garden waste. Wood, metal and hardcore are recycled and there is similar provision for a multitude of electrical goods. Plastics, oils, paint, batteries can be safely disposed of. I have yet to find a home item that they do not have provision to dispose of. The Foots Cray Reuse and Recycling Centre has won awards for the service it provides and is considered one of the best facilities of its kind in the South East of the country.
LOTRO: Rebuilding Kinships
I wrote a while ago that a lot of kinships from the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, would probably not survive the recent server migration. MMOs are social endeavours by nature, often with strong emotional ties but a lot of kinships (or guilds) have already fallen into decline, simply due to gaming entropy. Hence the migration has seen players leave existing kinships to move to the superior 64-bit servers, resulting in a lot of people who may be potentially looking for a new home. This is exactly what happened to me. I opted to move to Meriadoc server promptly, at the cost of leaving a kinship I have been a member of since 2009. However, the move presented me with an opportunity to remedy this problem myself. I subsequently set up my own kinship and decided to make it available to others.
I wrote a while ago that a lot of kinships from the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, would probably not survive the recent server migration. MMOs are social endeavours by nature, often with strong emotional ties but a lot of kinships (or guilds) have already fallen into decline, simply due to gaming entropy. Hence the migration has seen players leave existing kinships to move to the superior 64-bit servers, resulting in a lot of people who may be potentially looking for a new home. This is exactly what happened to me. I opted to move to Meriadoc server promptly, at the cost of leaving a kinship I have been a member of since 2009. However, the move presented me with an opportunity to remedy this problem myself. I subsequently set up my own kinship and decided to make it available to others.
It should be noted that the Contains Moderate Peril kinship is primarily intended to be a rallying point, rather than a fully functional social entity. Somewhere to hang out in-game as it were. However, if people want to organise activities and group content, that’s fine by me. So far, several of my old kinmates from Laurelin server have joined while they attempt to round up other wayward members. They may move on in time, which is fine. They may also choose to stay, which is also fine. As I’m sure there is a growing diaspora of 32-bit refugees at present in LOTRO, I thought it would be a good idea to extend an open invitation to any players looking for an intermediate kinship. At the very least Contains Moderate Peril kinship can offer some company as well as a cool kin name under your in-game title.
If any of this appeals to you and you’d like to join the Contains Moderate Peril kinship, add the following names to your LOTRO friends list. Tercano on Peregrin server and Xusia on Meriadoc server. I’m afraid I don’t have any specific hours that I play. I tend to log into LOTRO whenever the fancy takes me. Hence if you see me online then just send me a direct message and I’ll add you to the kinship on the fly. The server migration certainly seems to have reinvigorated The Lord of the Rings Online despite some of the problems that arose. I see a lot of posts on the official forums and reddit regarding new and returning players. Rather than drifting around Standing Stone Games’ virtual Middle-earth aimlessly, why not join our kinship, so you can meander about with like minded company.
One of the things that I enjoy when playing a new video game is character customisation or character creation. I will spend hours trawling through settings, changing the most minute and consequential aspects of my avatars appearance. I am certain that there is a psychological aspect to this particular game mechanic and that it says something about you as a person. Are your creations shaped just by a need to look good in-game or is there more to it? Are they external manifestations of your sexual preferences or thoughts on body image. Do you treat them as characters from a book that exists in your mind. Do you aspire to recreate the likeness of people you know or admire? Do you strive to make your avatar look like you? Whatever the reasons, it would seem that character creation is something that a lot of gamers enjoy. Hence I am not alone in my borderline obsession. What you look like in-game is equally as important as your character’s name.
I recently tried to use DLSS 5 Manager with the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out. Today I undertook a similar experiment with AMD Neural Rendering, which is a broadly comparable product. Both utilities use 3D-Guided Neural Rendering, an AI technology that alters how lighting, reflections, and textures look in a game. Instead of just upscaling the image like older versions, DLSS 5 uses an AI network to instantly "re-render" lighting and material responses over the game's layout, achieving photorealistic details that would normally negatively impact a graphics card's performance. Or to put it in less fancy terms, the game graphics are enhanced and modified, although it is highly subjective as to whether the end results are an improvement. However, as a game such as LOTRO is unlikely to ever receive a major graphical overhaul, tools such as these are the nearest players will get to revised graphics.
The core game code and engine for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, is about 24 years old. LOTRO began originally as Middle-earth Online, developed by Sierra On-Line in 1998. Turbine took over full development of the project in 2003/2004 when their parent company, Vivendi Universal Games, acquired Sierra. The content that had already been developed by Sierra was abandoned and Turbine created a new game using structural elements such as the UI and game engine from their previous release Asheron’s Call 2 from 2002. The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar was officially released in April 2007. Hence, the active public release code is 19 years old. Despite continuous expansion and updates, along with a recent migration to 64-bit architecture, the foundations of LOTRO retains a nearly twenty year old legacy framework. This frequently contributes to modern technical hurdles and engine constraints.
A few years ago, there was a fan created project to provide voice narration of NPC dialogue in the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online. This mainly involved capturing the text in the quest dialogue windows and then sending it to OCR software, before using a text-to-speech program to read it. LOTROVoice as it was known, broadly worked but the creator stopped developing it as it proved troublesome to maintain. However, I recently discovered Khazad Voice TTS which is a separate project that does pretty much the same. I went so far as to install this “immersive AI narrator for LOTRO” after seeing a YouTube video of it being used successfully. Sadly I ran into issues configuring Khazad Voice TTS, because I have two monitors and LOTRO runs on the secondary (by my choice) and not the primary. I couldn’t “lasso” the dialogue windows in LOTRO during the calibration set up, which effectively prevented me from completing the process.
Throughout yesterday and early today, there was an issue logging in to the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online. Upon starting the game launcher, it would attempt to connect to the patch server to download the latest game update. This process would start but then subsequently stall at 33%. The launcher would then attempt to reconnect to the patch server every 60 seconds but could not make any further progress. Some players found that if they left it long enough, it would eventually complete the download and the launcher then progress to the next screen where they could input their username and password. However, for the majority of LOTRO players the problem would simply persists and the launcher would be stuck in a loop. Some players attempted to reinstall the game or use the repair data facility in the launcher but neither of these proved to be successful workarounds. The patch sever needed to be bypassed to resolve the issue.
Two years ago I wrote a post about fine tuning your graphics in the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online. Apart from installing ReShade and using AMD Adrenalin, the options were somewhat limited, due to the game’s age and multiplayer status. Since then, I’ve been playing LOTRO with the game settings maxed out, a custom ReShade profile to make the colour palette more vivid and Radeon Image Sharpening enabled within the AMD software. The game looks clear, crisp and the draw distance is pretty good for an ageing game but I still wish the graphics could be tweaked further. Hence, I’ve been trawling the internet in a vain attempt to see if I can find any third party utilities that could be used to enhance LOTRO further. During the course of my search I stumbled across DLSS 5 Manager. This is an open-source, intelligent utility and one-click mod installer designed to inject and manage Nvidia's DLSS 5 neural rendering features, ReShade, and OptiScaler into PC games.
Are video games becoming easier? It’s a perennial subject that is frequently discussed by those who play them. Often the question of whether they have actually become easier is not the focus of the debate, as it seems to be broadly recognised that it is the case. Instead, discussion of this matter tend to drift into the rectitude of this change. Debate’s of this nature are usually awash with subjective opinions and personal preferences which are then put forward as objective facts. It’s not just a question of video games becoming easier, it’s the fact that making them easier is “wrong” and those who want them as such are “not proper gamers” etc. The hours that have been lost to this pointless, tedious debate are uncountable. However, I digress. Let us return to the matter of video games becoming easier, because although fans discuss this a lot and have plenty to say, you don’t often hear from the developers on this subject.
The next expansion for the MMORG, The Lord of the Rings Online, was announced on the 1st August, via the gaming website MMORPG.The Wolves of Mordor, which will launch later in the year, appears ambitious in scope as it will include two new game systems as well as the obligatory story update. This expansion takes place in Draugardh located in the North East of Mordor, beyond the Plateau of Gorgoroth. It includes the new zones of Heledhris, Parth Rhavas and Nan Ogol. These vary environmentally ranging from the arid, volcanic and semi-tropical. Players will encounter the Daugrim in these regions, Werewolves but not in the modern sense. This is not the lycanthropy of Eastern European legends but in the established Tolkien idiom of fell spirits inhabiting the bodies of Wolves. The region also sees the return of the Woses and players can expect to encounter Elves and scouts from Gondor. As ever with LOTRO expansions, there will be new instances as well as a raid.
I was recently perusing my archive of old blog posts, when it struck me how much I’ve written about the MMORPG genre over the years. Naturally, there was far more material from between 2008 and 2012 as that was period when I immersed myself in the genre and was very enthusiastic about it. I was at a point in my life when I had the time to dedicate to such games and I was happy to participate in the social aspect of they offered. I would regularly play through group content and spend time socialising online with fellow guild members. My experience remains a textbook example of how online games can be more than the sum of their parts and that where you are at in your life has a major impact upon your overall enjoyment. As I read though various old posts it became clear that my experiences where specific to this particular part of my life and that they cannot be repeated. My relationship with the genre is very different now and that’s fine.
Video games as a genre are extremely poor at explaining themselves. When you buy a new game you’ll often find little or no information regarding the basic systems and mechanics. The industry assumes that their customers are by default familiar with the fundamentals of playing a modern video game. Hence if a game has a tutorial, it is often based around videos rather than detailed verbal instructions. You are are briefly shown a clip of a specific move being successfully undertaken but it is seldom shown in a wider context. The industry also expects the fan community to take on the role of curating and disseminating information about its games. The move away from forums and bespoke websites to Discord highlights this. Discord is a primarily a real time communication tool and not good at maintaining a historical data archive. If you want an answer to a specific gaming question, you’ll more than likely find it on YouTube in a video made by a fellow gamer.
According to the recent “letter to the players”, Standing Stone Games will be adding a new zone to the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online in the second quarter of this year. Possibly around May or June. Having spent the last three expansions in the South of Middle-earth exploring the tropical Umbar and the deserts of Harad, I would certainly welcome a change of location. I have gradually warmed to these zones over the last eighteen months but I do find them so incongruous. They are so radically different to the European style content that has been the mainstay of the game for so long. Tolkien’s source text has plenty of detail regarding Eriador and Rhovanion. Information regarding Harad is scarce, hence it has afforded the developers a great deal of artistic freedom. Although exceedingly well realised these tropical zones have taken a while for me to get used to.
I’m not sure exactly when it started but I’ve recently noticed a graphical bug within the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online. This problem often occurs within caves or in areas where there are a lot of rocky surfaces. Hence it has become very apparent in the latest two expansions, set in Umbar and Harad. This graphical glitch causes some surface textures to appear to flash from light to dark intermittently. The resulting strobe effect is hard to ignore and very distracting. Fortunately, a quick online search showed that this is not a problem unique to my installation of LOTRO and is a known problem. Furthermore, there is a very simple workaround, which is to go into the Advanced Graphics setting and uncheck “Per Pixel Lighting”, which immediately remedies the problem. I have no idea why this has recently started to happen but at least it can be resolved.
The latest expansion for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, Kingdoms of Harad, launched on December 3rd. With this release the level cap was raised from 150 to 160. It should also be noted that the cap for virtue traits was also raised from 96 to 100. Naturally these changes meant that there is a requirement to replace all armour and jewellery once the new cap is reached. Similarly Legendary Items have to be reforged and any traceries upgraded or replaced. If you follow the Epic Story it will lead you from quest hub to quest hub. The main quest rewards, along with those from side quests will provide adequate gear as you slowly progress towards the new level cap. The new raids, instances and missions/delvings then provide a means to acquire higher quality level 160 gear. LOTRO and indeed, many other MMOs are consistent in this methodology.
It is customary in a post such as this to list the various games that I’ve played over the last twelve months and share my thoughts on them. Wider analysis of the video game industry is also de rigeur. Unfortunately, I don’t really feel disposed to do either of those two things. My thoughts on the games I’ve played have already been published and can easily be accessed via the links at the bottom of this post. As for the video game industry, it suffers the same flaws as music, TV and cinema. There is creativity and innovation out there but it is often drowned out by mainstream products which are demonstrably inferior due to their inherent mediocrity. As for the business side of things, we once again clearly see the failings of the corporate management class. Sadly, they do not face the consequences of the mistakes that they make.
Today Standing Stone Games began beta testing Update 46.1 for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online. The current preview on the Bullroarer test server is mainly for the new instance cluster that comes with the Kingdoms of Harad expansion which launched a few weeks ago. However, it would appear that this latest preview has another feature or note. One that should please LOTRO players. Contrary to what a lot of people thought, myself included, SSG have been working on a scaling UI for 2K and 4K monitors and the results are now available for testing from today Monday 15th through to Friday 19th December. Until now the main workaround to the lack of UI scaling has been to use either Nvidia or AMD graphics software to upscale the game from 1920 x 1080, or a third party app such as LosslessScaling. Having an official solution is a far better option.
Kingdoms of Harad, the 13th expansion for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, was released today. Highlighting developer’s Standing Stone Games continuing commitment to this eighteen year old game. As 2025 draws to a close, I thought it would be prudent to reflect upon the current state of LOTRO and to consider what may come next year. Two words that I associated with this MMO are stable and consistent. The playerbase is loyal and dependable. Player numbers never greatly decline nor do they notably expand. LOTRO fills a very specific gaming niche and one of the reasons it retains its players is that there is no suitable alternative game. Although there is not a great deal of data in the public domain, it is generally accepted that LOTRO has an older player demographic and that many are consummate Tolkien fans.
The MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online runs on a broad spectrum of PCs. From archaic laptops to high end gaming rigs, although it may require a bit of tweaking. At present, the optimal way to play the MMO is at a resolution of 1920x1080 (FHD) with the graphics setting maxed out. The graphics are sharp and the UI is readable. However, a growing number of gamers are now using 2K and 4K monitors. You can play LOTRO at higher resolutions such as 2560×1440 (QHD) and 3840x2160 (UHD) and the game looks great. However, the UI does not scale and so is very small on 2K and 4K monitors. The skill icons on the quickslots (shortcut bars) and the in-game text become difficult to see at these resolutions, which deters some players from using them. It is a known issue that Standing Stone Games are attempting to address but it is unlikely to be resolved any time soon.
I recently read a post on Massively Overpowered about skills rotation in the MMORPG genre. I found the subsequent discussion in the comments fascinating. Mainly because I have never used a fixed rotation of skills in any of the MMORPGs that I play. I understand the reasoning behind such things and why some players want to optimise their combat performance. Using one’s skills in a specific order to maximise damage and manage their subsequent cooldown has a logical appeal. In Star Trek Online, some players go so far as to create keybinds for their rotations and assign it to a specific hotkey, which is then continuously pressed throughout combat. However, rotations are a blunt tool that lack flexibility, often being geared towards dealing with a single target or using an area of effect skill against a larger group. They may not be the optimal approach to combat when things do not go to plan.
Tolkien enthusiasts may recollect Athlon Games, a subsidiary of Leyou Technologies, announcing that it was developing a new MMORPG, based upon The Lord of the Rings, back in September 2018. The following summer, it was revealed that Amazon Game Studios was the partner developer for the project. In late 2020, Leyou Technologies (a Hong Kong-based company), was acquired by the Chinese conglomerate Tencent. This triggered a contract clause with the license holder, Middle-earth Enterprises, allowing them to terminate the existing arrangement if a new deal could not be met. Amazon and Tencent were unable to agree upon how to proceed with the project, leading Amazon to withdraw from negotiations. The project was subsequently scrapped. No details or images of the MMO have been released.
After a six month migration period, Standing Stone Games formally closed all their legacy 32-bit game servers for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, on the 31st August 2025. Despite this planned closure being widely discussed via the game’s official forums, professional video game websites and fan blogs, many LOTRO players were unaware of this deadline. Hence many were unable to migrate their respective alts to the new 64-bit servers. Naturally those affected by these closures were upset, especially those with longstanding characters who didn’t relish the prospect of starting from scratch with a new alt. Thankfully, SSG have been true to their word and as of today, have re-opened these “dark worlds” to character transfers. If you have an alt trapped on one of the older game worlds, then now is the time to use the transfer wizard and move them to a new active game world.
MMORPG announced earlier today and it was subsequently confirmed by Standing Stone games, that the new expansion for The Lord of the Rings Online will be Kingdoms of Harad and that it will launch later in the year. The expansion will see the conclusion of the epic Song of Waves and Wind storyline and the level cap raised from 150 to 160. There will be a new region to explore, Mûr Ghala, comprising four zones. Adagîm, Idagâl, An Shêru and Kighân. The latter contains the main trading hub of Zajâna. Players will travel into the region with Gandalf the White, along with allies of the Kindred of Coins and Mizadi as they seek to counter the regional power struggle brought about by the fall of Sauron. Canonically, this takes place three months after the destruction of the ring, hence King Elessar and Eomer are busy with domestic affairs in their respective kingdoms.
Skirmishes were added to the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, in 2009 with the release of the Siege of Mirkwood expansion. Skirmishes are a repeatable and scalable combat system that allows players to access various instances for solo or group play from anywhere in the in-game world. Players can choose a Skirmish Soldier from a variety of classes to accompany them and provide healing, tank or additional DPS. On paper it’s a great system which is why many other MMOs offer something similar. I recently decided to tinker with my Skirmish Soldier build on my main character to see if I could optimise their performance. As my primary alt is a Lore-master, for the last few years I have had a Warrior as their Skirmish Soldier, to take some of the aggro from attacking mobs. I used the excellent guide by FibroJedi and swapped over a few Training and Personal Traits.
On 2nd August 2025, I was playing the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, on my primary character, a level cap Lore-master. I decided to continue with one of the Allegiance Quest lines, specifically Durin’s Folk. I played through several quests and earned the appropriate tokens that advance the Allegiance system. I then handed these in to the NPC in the Hall Under the Mountain, expecting the next quest in the series “Chapter 3: Gimli’s Request” to be unlocked. An item appeared in my inventory that I then clicked on, which should have bestowed the quest. Unfortunately, nothing happened. Furthermore, the item vanished from my bag and therefore I could not attempt to click it again. I checked the LOTRO Wiki and then looked around the Hall Under the Mountain to see if any NPC had a ring icon above their head. As they did not, I surmised that this was a software glitch and logged a support ticket with Standing Stone Games.
Let’s start with a quote from a classic Walter Hill film, The Warriors. “Can you count, suckers?” says Sirus. The gang leader was referring to the number of Police in New York City at the time. Whereas, for the purpose of this post, I am referencing how many Delving Writs a player needs to acquire 6 pieces of level cap armour in LOTRO. Because, next to the gear you get from endgame instances and raids, Delving gear is a good alternative.. It is marginally better than the items you can get from lootboxes. Hence, Delving armour is a good source of high end gear for the solo player. Through the miracle of mathematics, the number of Delving writs required to acquire a full set of this armour is 9,000. At first glance, that seems like a lot. If you then do some further research to put the number in context, you realise it is indeed a lot and a substantial undertaking.
I am currently enjoying a renewed interest in the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online since I migrated all my characters from the old 32-bit servers to the new 64-bit replacements. I’ve created a new High Elf Lore-master on Peregrin server and am currently levelling them in a targeted play through of the Epic Story, supplemented by curated side quests. While playing recently, I realised the game UI on this alt wasn’t as I usually have it laid out. So I checked through the various documents on my PC and found a text file I had created many years ago that had a few hints and tips written down. I’ve added a few more and decided to share them as a blog post. I’m sure veteran players will be familiar with many of them but a lot of them are worth repeating. They may prove useful to those new to LOTRO or returning to the game after a long hiatus.
In mid-March, while the server migration debacle raged, I created a new alt for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, on Peregrin server. The idea was to play casually through content focusing on enjoyment, rather than worrying about progression. I was to level at a pace that suited me and had no specific plans to develop my alt in any particular way. I have been playing LOTRO since 2008 and have a primary level-cap character that has been my main focus over the years. Hence I have previously experienced all story content from all the expansions and am therefore very familiar with what the game has to offer. Which is why I thought I’d do things differently this time. So I started my new Lore-master in Mossward in Swanfleet, the new starting area added to the game in 2022.
In massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), alts (short for alternate characters), are new characters created by a player in addition to their primary character (often called the “main”). Alts are often encouraged by developers as a means to keep players engaged with their game(s). Sometimes an MMO will actively reward the creation of alts either with access to exclusive content, or with additional skills or items previously unlocked by primary characters. As the myth that an MMO really begins at endgame still persists in gaming culture, some games sell boosts that will instantly raise the level of an alt to that of the current level cap. Creating alts is such a key aspect of the MMO genre, that some games will sell additional character slots, so that players can create further alts beyond the default amount allowed. There are many reasons why players create alts. Let us consider some.
I wrote a while ago that a lot of kinships from the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, would probably not survive the recent server migration. MMOs are social endeavours by nature, often with strong emotional ties but a lot of kinships (or guilds) have already fallen into decline, simply due to gaming entropy. Hence the migration has seen players leave existing kinships to move to the superior 64-bit servers, resulting in a lot of people who may be potentially looking for a new home. This is exactly what happened to me. I opted to move to Meriadoc server promptly, at the cost of leaving a kinship I have been a member of since 2009. However, the move presented me with an opportunity to remedy this problem myself. I subsequently set up my own kinship and decided to make it available to others.
The dust appears to have settled for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, after last month’s server transfer debacle. Despite the technical issues arising and subsequent delays to the migration timetable as well as the procurement of in-game housing, LOTRO seems to be enjoying a minor resurgence. Many former players are returning to the game and moving retired alts to new servers, due to the superior performance. The migration issues have also brought a lot of attention to this 18 year old game and it would appear there are many new players trying this Tolkien themed MMO. I was pleasantly surprised to see that a further two 64-bit servers, Grond (EU) and Sting (US), are to be added to the game to meet demand. As I predicted in my previous posts, LOTRO has a habit of bouncing back due to its unique niche in the gaming ecosystem.
It has not been a good week for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online and its developer Standing Stone Games. The migration from legacy 32-bit servers to 64-bit servers has not gone smoothly. The transfer queue was overwhelmed by the sheer number of accounts and it has taken far longer than expected to process the backlog of requests. Today has been the fifth day of waiting to see if my 3 main characters from Laurelin server have successfully migrated to their new home on Meriadoc. When I checked this morning, the transfer wizard indicated that my characters were back where they originally came from. I therefore considered repeating the entire process. However, around midday, Community Manager Cordovan indicated that SSG had caught up with transfer requests made around 8:00 AM EST on Sunday 9th March. So I decided to be patient and wait a little longer.
Warzone: Verdansk Spoilt in Less Than a Month
When the Battle Royale Call of Duty: Warzone launched on March 10th 2020, the Verdansk map was one of the key elements of the game’s success. The subsequent lockdown due to the global pandemic was also a major shot in the arm for the game, with so many gamers being home. The Verdansk map along with the gameplay mechanics of the game at the time were a perfect combination and so Warzone was “just so”. It allowed both skilled and unskilled players to play together, without one group dominating the other. Gunfights could be intense but there were periods of downtime when traversing the map. Players also couldn’t continuously respawn if defeated, so there was a requirement to play with a degree of caution and strategy. I enjoyed the game immensely despite not being the biggest fan of PVP based gaming. It was a broadly equitable experience but sadly it didn’t remain that way.
When the Battle Royale Call of Duty: Warzone launched on March 10th 2020, the Verdansk map was one of the key elements of the game’s success. The subsequent lockdown due to the global pandemic was also a major shot in the arm for the game, with so many gamers being home. The Verdansk map along with the gameplay mechanics of the game at the time were a perfect combination and so Warzone was “just so”. It allowed both skilled and unskilled players to play together, without one group dominating the other. Gunfights could be intense but there were periods of downtime when traversing the map. Players also couldn’t continuously respawn if defeated, so there was a requirement to play with a degree of caution and strategy. I enjoyed the game immensely despite not being the biggest fan of PVP based gaming. It was a broadly equitable experience but sadly it didn’t remain that way.
I won’t cover old ground. Warzone has been a dog’s dinner in all its various iterations since the halcyon days of Verdansk. Its faults and flaws are well known and hence there has been a decline in players over time. Which is why the developers decided to bring back the Verdansk map in the hope of turning the tide of the game’s fortune. As you would expect there was a lot of excitement and scepticism regarding this announcement. Would this simply be the old map with the current game mechanics in place or would the developers strive to adjust all aspects of Warzone to make it more akin to the 2020 experience? Well to cut a long story short, Verdansk returned to Warzone on April 3, 2025, as part of Season 3 of Black Ops 6 and to everyone's amazement it was as near a return to the state of play that existed in 2020 that the developers could manage.
It is hard for me to impress upon casual readers the significance of this development. It genuinely felt that the powers that be had actually listened to the player base and considered their requests. Gone were the redeployment drones and the constant opportunities to quickly move around the maps. Weapons choice and vehicles suddenly mattered again and the insane pace of the game was slowed down. Even the omni-movement system was tweaked. Getting “downed” and sent to the Gulag suddenly had consequences once more. Overall the game changes meant that both experienced and casual players had sufficient factors working in their favour. After watching some videos I reinstalled Warzone and was pleasantly surprised at how it felt like “the good old days”. You could play, have fun but also time to think, as opposed to being in an unrelenting pressure cooker.
But (and there is always a but when it comes to Call of Duty), despite all the positive player feedback, Black Ops 6 Season 3 Reloaded was released on May 1st, 2025 and pretty much undid all the previous good work. Bugs, weapon imbalance and a massive influx of cheaters have effectively derailed the return of Verdansk. There is a major lag issue that some players are using to their advantage and armour plates are simply not registering. The game’s hit box system is also messed up, removing any degree of certainty when a player decides to fire their weapon. Server stability continues to be problematic with disconnects and data desynchronisation. Simply put, this update has diminished the game and effectively given a reason for returning players to leave once again. Perhaps the saddest aspect of this sorry tale is that no one is really that surprised and the return of Verdansk has failed in less than a month.
Warzone added a new “casual mode” to its Battle Royale at the start of Season 4. This reduced the number of real players in-game and substituted them with AI bots. The ratio is approximately one fifth real players, four fifths bots. This new mode for Battle Royale solos, duos and quads was well received, especially among the mainstream players who are more focused on fun than progression. Veteran players who still wanted the challenge of playing against real players were free to continue playing the traditional BR modes. Hence all parties were pleased as they were both being catered for. However, and there is always a “however” when it comes to Call of Duty, the developers saw fit to remove the standard solo Battle Royale mode, leaving just the Battle Royale Casual mode with AI bots. Subsequently, a lot of players were perplexed and annoyed, as taking away choice is seldom good customer service. As a result of subsequent backlash, the mode was added back to the game mid-season.
When the Battle Royale Call of Duty: Warzone launched on March 10th 2020, the Verdansk map was one of the key elements of the game’s success. The subsequent lockdown due to the global pandemic was also a major shot in the arm for the game, with so many gamers being home. The Verdansk map along with the gameplay mechanics of the game at the time were a perfect combination and so Warzone was “just so”. It allowed both skilled and unskilled players to play together, without one group dominating the other. Gunfights could be intense but there were periods of downtime when traversing the map. Players also couldn’t continuously respawn if defeated, so there was a requirement to play with a degree of caution and strategy. I enjoyed the game immensely despite not being the biggest fan of PVP based gaming. It was a broadly equitable experience but sadly it didn’t remain that way.
I decided to play Call of Duty today as I wanted some undemanding entertainment. I was not surprised when the game client began an update, as I have not played for about three months. Hence, there was obviously new content to install. However, when I saw the size of the download, I knew this was more than just a season update. I therefore checked the Battle.net client and discovered that the game was installing Black Ops 6, the latest version of Call of Duty that is released on 25th October. A game I have decided not to buy for a multitude of reasons. Fortunately, you can modify your game installation on the fly, so I unchecked a few boxes and the download stopped. However, I was annoyed by the hubris of this “download by default” policy, so I decided to uninstall my existing installation of Modern Warfare 3 as it is no longer a mainstay of my gaming activities.
For those who are not familiar with this latest niche piece of “gaming outrage”, it regards the extraction shooter Warzone 2.0 DMZ, which is part of the Call of Duty franchise. When you enter the game (either solo or in a squad), you use gear that you have previously collected. A key part of the game is looting and upgrading your weapon, bullet proof vest (there are 3 tiers) and sundry support items. If you die, then you lose all the equipment you are currently carrying. With this in mind, Activision have recently added two purchasable gear bundles to the game store. One comes with a medium size backpack by default. The other comes with a 2 plate vest (tier 2) and two weapons that only have a 15 minute cooldown. This does offer a degree of convenience. Furthermore, the second bundle is tied to the Ghost operator skin, who within the game’s canon is an iconic figure. Hence there has been a great deal of debate over the rectitude of these bundles.
I don’t mind buying an occasional bundle from the store in DMZ, although it is often the weapon blueprint that determines my choice. Today I bought Overgrown 2, which includes the Ghillie Monster operator skin, to see if it offered any significant advantage. However, as I am not what you would call a “top tier” player, my subsequent experience and anecdotal evidence is hardly compelling. If you go prone in the desert, a shrubbery or among general herbidacious flora then it does offer a degree of camouflage. However, in suburban areas and the outlying villages of Al Mazrah, you look like a Wookie on a daytrip and I can’t see any advantage. So upon reflection, two questions spring to mind. Firstly, do any of the skins currently available in the game offer any tangible benefits? If not is it just a question of operator skins are 100% cosmetic and just about tickling a players fancy and getting them to put their hand in their pockets.
Here we are again with another summary of my gaming activities in recent months. Or in this case since last September. It’s been a while but I’ve been on a blogging hiatus until recently. However, I’ve kept myself busy gaming wise and often I find the hunt for news video games, just as entertaining as I do playing them. Perhaps that could be a future blog post. Back to the matter in hand. Gaming wise, pretty much all things related to the MMORPG genre are currently on the back burner. I’ll give specifics later but I am taking a break from these for the present. I am currently looking at trying games outside my usual comfort zone and also trying to test whether you can or cannot teach an old dog new tricks. Fortunately, the answer appears to be yes you can. Enough summation, on to the specifics.
I like an analogy as a literary device, so here’s one for you. Video games are like parties. How so? In the following ways. They quite never live up to your expectations. The best ones are the ones you never go to, according to the “anecdotes” you’re told afterwards. And there’s always someone crying and throwing up at 2:00 AM. Okay, the last one isn’t quite relevant but the overall sentiment of the first two is sound. The reason I have used this visual metaphor is because both parties and multiplayer video games sell themselves on the alleged quality of their respective social dynamic. They supposedly offer you fun with your friends and a unique, memorable experience. However, the reality is a lot more lacklustre. Warzone 2.0 DMZ is a prime example. What enjoyment there is to be had in playing this game is offset by the iniquities of many of its players as they race to the proverbial bottom.
September has been and gone and the nights are now drawing in. Usually this time of year is ideal for gaming but sadly I’ve had a lot on over the last 30 days and as a result there’s been precious little time for gaming or indeed writing. Such is life. When I did have some leisure time, MMOs were the easiest way to get a quick gaming fix, as per usual. Standing Stone Games announced that the next expansion for The Lord of the Rings Online would be released in November and that a revision of the Legendary Item system would be coming prior to that. Hence I took a look at the beta builds on the Bullroarer test server and then started prepping my various alts on the live servers, to get ready for this major change. I also managed to complete the latest event in Star Trek Online. However, beyond these straightforward tasks I didn’t really get to do much more.
Video games can offer a great opportunity for personal growth. If you are the sort of player who likes to prove themselves and continuously test one’s mettle, then some titles can provide the challenge required to be the best of the best. Hence many games are competitive, have league tables and other formal structures for measuring success. It is one of the reasons why esports have become so popular. But this desire to excel and master a particular play style extends beyond competitive games. For some players part of a games allure is understanding the numbers and stats that drive the game mechanics. Because these are often the key to optimising your build and maximising DPS output. Hence you will find skilled and learned players in a variety of games across multiple genres. Although they are often motivated for different reasons, they all strive to be elite players.
I originally climbed aboard the Call of Duty bandwagon in 2009 when Modern Warfare 2 came out. I enjoyed the campaign and the multiplayer so much I promptly bought the first instalment. I then stuck with the franchise up until 2013. I didn’t especially like Ghosts, although I enjoyed the option to play as a dog which was different. Overall I was somewhat tired of the FPS genre from then on and so didn’t keep up with any further releases. For me the best iteration of the game was Black Ops in 2010. The campaign had a densely plotted story and the multiplayer was extremely polished. The multiplayer maps were well conceived allowing for fluid and engaging gameplay. Six years on and I recently got an itch to play Call of Duty again. The soft reboot of the franchise with Modern warfare in November 2019 promised a return to basics. The recent inclusion of a battle royale mode with the release of Warzone finally clinched the deal. So I bought a discounted version of the standard game recently and dived back in.
I have enjoyed Sniper Elite 4 and all of the sundry DLC immensely since its release in Spring. The game presents an interesting alternative to the traditional shooter with its stealth based level design. The latest instalment, Obliteration (the third part of an ongoing story), is set in an empty Bavarian town and has an intricate map with an authentic period feel. It offers opportunities for both long range sniping and close quarters stealth kills. Overall, I have found that the franchise provides engaging and complex gameplay, as well as satisfying the players baser need for blood and violence. However, playing this and other similar titles got me thinking. It would appear that World War II, one of the defining periods of the last century that still has ramifications today, is in certain quarters now simply a setting, a plot device or a Hitchcockian MacGuffin. Is the broader subtext of this major event now irrelevant to a generation of players because they have no immediate connection to this period in history? If that is the case, exactly when does it become acceptable for something of this magnitude, to be trivialised in this manner (if that is indeed the case).
I took advantage of the current summer sales and pre-ordered the next instalment of Call of Duty, succinctly named WWII, due to be released in Autumn. After straying far from the established model, it’s nice to see CoD returning to its roots. The Second World War is a tried and tested formula and will no doubt be well received by fans of the franchise. As I have said before, COD is not a revolutionary product and as far as I know has never claimed to be. It provides a standard formula with sufficient variation, which is commercially viable and demonstrably popular. Those gamers that constantly rail against these games are on a hiding to nothing. You might as well complain about pop music being mainstream and accessible.
When Technology Fails
I had a novel experience (at least for me) this morning. I went to the cashpoint (that’s an ATM for those outside the UK) at my local supermarket, only to find it out of service. I had an imminent haircut appointment and no cash to pay my barber, who doesn’t take card payments. Fortunately, the supermarket did “cashback” so I bought a loaf of bread and some milk, paid £23 for them and was given £20 in cash. It’s a useful facility that I have never used until today. Usually I just make sure that I have a float of cash available but today the cashpoint being unavailable threw a spanner in the works. If the store did not do “cashback” then I would have had to reschedule my haircut. This minor hiccup got me thinking about our dependence on technology in our daily lives. A point that was further brought home, as my barber told me he had recently visited Spain and was affected by the national power outage.
I had a novel experience (at least for me) this morning. I went to the cashpoint (that’s an ATM for those outside the UK) at my local supermarket, only to find it out of service. I had an imminent haircut appointment and no cash to pay my barber, who doesn’t take card payments. Fortunately, the supermarket did “cashback” so I bought a loaf of bread and some milk, paid £23 for them and was given £20 in cash. It’s a useful facility that I have never used until today. Usually I just make sure that I have a float of cash available but today the cashpoint being unavailable threw a spanner in the works. If the store did not do “cashback” then I would have had to reschedule my haircut. This minor hiccup got me thinking about our dependence on technology in our daily lives. A point that was further brought home, as my barber told me he had recently visited Spain and was affected by the national power outage.
If you weren’t aware, on Monday April 28th, at 12:33 PM, a blackout caused widespread disruption across Spain and Portugal. Although the exact cause is still unclear, the incident occurred when approximately 15 gigawatts of electricity generation capacity, representing 60% of Spain's power demand at that moment, was lost within a mere five seconds. This outage resulted in millions being left without electricity, affecting trains, traffic signals, ATMs, phone services, and internet connectivity throughout the Iberian Peninsula. By Tuesday morning, nearly all electrical services in Spain and Portugal had been restored, yet inquiries into the underlying cause have continued. Just take a moment to consider the ramifications of such a blackout and the impact it would have on your life, if such a thing happened to you.
Let us not forget the faulty patch that was released last July by cybersecurity vendor Crowdstrike, that crippled countless Microsoft Windows computers across the globe. Like the power outage in Spain, it shutdown everything from airline travel and financial institutions to hospitals and businesses online. Crowdstrike quickly deployed a fix, but the recovery from the outage took considerable time, as Crowdstrike’s solution needed to be applied manually on a per-machine basis. I was going for a meal with my sister that day and had booked a table in advance. The restaurant was very shrewd and called me along with every other customer as soon as the outage hit their payment system, to inform me that they were dealing exclusively with cash payment that day. Fortunately my “belt and braces” approach to money saved me any inconvenience.
Legitimate technical problems notwithstanding, we have to be cognisant these days of the very real threat that cyber terrorism poses, utilizing technology to cause harm, inspire fear, and potentially disrupt critical infrastructure. Most countries have already experienced cyberattacks for political or ideological purposes. So far such attacks have been contained and hence have not had as much media attention as perhaps they should. However, it seems inevitable that a major attack is due, especially in the current global political climate. As and when it does occur I suspect that the UK population is ill equipped to deal with the consequences. Not that there is much one can do anyway. Beyond keeping a supply of cash and maintaining a stockpile of essential items. All of which raises the question about our societal dependence on technology. Sadly such a debate will only occur after something catastrophic happens.
Recently, the remote control for my Media Player developed a fault. I was watching a film, when for no apparent reasons, the video jumped ahead about twenty minutes and then get stuck in a playback loop of a few seconds duration. At first I thought it was a glitch with the particular .mkv file I was watching but then the problem started happening on both video and YouTube content. I then noticed that when the fault occurred, the backlight on the remote came on and shimmered as it a button was being pressed continuously. Removing the batteries from the remote control for 30 seconds and the replacing them would then restore functionality. This indicated to me that the fault lay with the remote control and not the media player itself. I therefore decided to take the remote control apart to see if I could see any obvious problems. I did not, so I cleaned it and re-assembled it. Sadly the fault persisted, so I decided to replace the remote control.
Until fairly recently, I have maintained a somewhat casual approach to the system maintenance of my PC. “Casual” in this context is a subjective term. What I consider to be “casual” others may think to be robust or even rigorous. But I digress. I regularly undertake minor housekeeping such a clearing my web browser data, removing temporary or unwanted files and updating software. I also make sure that only essential services and programs start when I turn on my PC. I keep an orderly desktop and an intuitive filing system. However, I do very little with respect to maintaining the hardware inside my PC. I clean inside the case a couple of times a year and ensure that the fans are free from dust contamination but that’s about it. I have no idea if the installed RAM is running optimally or whether the processor is operating within the appropriate heat threshold. Does the thermal paste between it and the heat sink need replacing? Are all the cores enabled?
Last year, when I was looking for some suitable video editing software, I found that people would often recommended DaVinci Resolve. It is indeed an outstanding tool but totally beyond my needs. It is also a beast to run and occupies a substantial percentage of real estate on your SSD, so I dismissed this option for practical reasons. Let it suffice to say that finding a suitable product that met my requirements was quite difficult. Video editors often seem to be either quick and easy tools for clipping content on the fly, such as Bandicut (which is great for exactly that purpose) or huge, professional quality behemoths, used by people who work in the appropriate industry. DaVinci Resolve is a textbook example of this. It begs the question what products occupy the middle ground, assuming they exist.
Going forward, if I write any more posts about my use of AI, I am not going to add the following caveat. I will do it once more here, so everyone knows where we all stand. I am fully aware that AI has already taken jobs and will continue to do so. I also know that data centres are not environmentally friendly. As for the evil corporate billionaires that get rich from the situation, that also has not come as a surprise to me. I also believe that the AI market needs regulating and there should be legislation in place to ensure that AI is never directly linked to important government and civil infrastructure. That being said, I am not going to stop using AI at a domestic level over notions of ethical purity. All of the above criticisms can broadly be applied to the industrial revolution and society came to terms with that and survived it. The same goes for the computer revolution. Things change and we adapt. Plus, if you really wanted to protest and lobby against AI, the best time to do this was two decades ago.
One of things I dislike with a passion about modern software is that you cannot cleanly uninstall it from your PC. Removing an unwanted or problematic program just leaves metaphorical muddy footprints throughout your PC. It makes my SSD feel like a crime scene with virtual brain matter spattered across the soft furnishings. Sadly, this is the price you pay for having a modern operating system with a registry, shared dependencies and a liking for temporary files and caches. It all makes me feel very nostalgic for the halcyon days of DOS, with self-contained programs sitting in a solitary folders. Often libraries and drivers lived in specific system paths or the same folder, avoiding conflicts. You could just delete stuff and it sodded off. You didn’t need two priests and holy water. Happy days.
Thinking Out Loud is a recurring post where I write about thoughts and ideas that have recently occurred to me. As ever the intention is not to develop these ideas into full blown blog posts, although they often the could be. Instead I just collate a few sentences to express my point and leave it at that. The idea being that if anyone else wants to pick up the conversation they can do so in the comments section below. On this occasion the various points are all technology based. I’ve been busy of late with several projects, such as building a new website and creating some widgets specifically for it. Like most technical projects things don’t often go as planned and problems occur unexpectedly. Hence, I thought why not make a themed instalment of Thinking Out Loud this time round? It’s something that I may well do this again in the future. As ever, feel free to make your thoughts known.
I turned on my laptop this morning for the first time in 4 months. I knew it was that long because I hadn’t connected the laptop to the new Netgear router that I bought at the end of April. Unsurprisingly, as I haven’t used this device for a while there were multiple Windows updates to be installed. This process took over an hour, so while the various updates were being downloaded and installed, I turned my attention to my Amazon Echo Dot which loiters in the corner of our lounge, doing very little to justify its existence. At present this device is mainly used as a glorified timer for cooking, which seems a bit of a waste given it’s alleged capabilities. Hence, I decided to see if I could increase its functionality while waiting for Windows to do its update thing. More on this later. Let us for the meantime return to the small matter of the operating system updates. Once they were completed, I immediately installed Chris Titus Tech’s Windows Utility and started removing unnecessary features and bloat, as well as disabling invasive services.
Before we begin, let me clearly state that this is not a comprehensive installation guide for installing Steam OS on your PC. Mainly because the variety of hardware that can be present in any PC makes each installation a somewhat bespoke affair. Hence I have decided to provide a list of bullet points of the various steps and issues I encountered during my installation, last week. Consider it advance warning of things you may encounter if you install this operating system. As ever, if this is something that you are intending to do, I would advise allowing yourself a suitable amount of time so you can accommodate any issues should they arise. It is entirely possible that this may be a two hour job for the technically literate running the most generic or commonplace hardware. However, I suspect that a lot of people undertaking this project will run into variations of the same problems that I encountered.
I am intrigued by the growth of the IndieWeb, owning your domain and static websites. I certainly agree with the notion of not relying on big corporations and I have an ongoing project to divest my dependency on software produced by major market players. However, although I own my own domain, my website is hosted by Squarespace. I’ve not really had any problems with them over the last 11 years and I would describe our business relationship as equitable. However, the monthly subscription price has increased over time and is likely to keep on doing so. It has crossed my mind as to whether there is a suitable alternative. However, if I were to migrate Contains Moderate Peril elsewhere I suspect it would be logistically complex and problematic.
I like learning new skills and starting projects. I regularly undertake such things with varying results. However, if they don’t work out that’s not a problem. You have to try something to see if you like it. I’ll add “within sensible parameters” as a caveat to the last statement. And it’s perfectly fine to discover that something isn’t for you. I like certain genres of video games, music, films and books. I am comfortable wearing certain types of clothes and not others. I’m picky about colours. I’ll even go so far as to say that I won’t drink out of any mug that’s just lying around. If I don’t like the joke, logo or overall aesthetic of it, I ain’t using it. However, I digress. Let’s get things back on track and talk about projects. This year I have wound down several websites and have decided not to move forward with making YouTube videos. I have focused my energy on improving my website and adding functionality. I am also trying to broaden the scope of my writing.
It’s funny how it is often the little things that become the proverbial straw that breaks the Camel’s back. I have been struggling for a while with the overall performance and functionality of my Windows 11 PC. The operating system is bloated, slow and buggy. It all too often commits that unpardonable sin of trying to do my thinking for me and enables some stupid feature by default. Despite having good specifications, my PC takes too long to boot up for my liking and is becoming too much of a wild card with regard to whether it will co-operate or not when I try and undertake a simple task. As someone who is very particular in their PC habits, IE I see my PC as a tool that I use on the terms that suit me. Hence, I find the faux enthusiasm that accompanies each uncalled for “improvement” that results in me losing agency, singularly antagonising. Then a minor issue arose recently that escalated into a thorn in my flesh and I decided that it was time that something must be done.
This is a post about the power of nostalgia and how sometimes, interacting with something from your past, be it physically or mentally, can produce a very strong and tangible emotional reaction. In some instances, this can be the result of something that you have specifically set out to do. On other occasions you can wander into a sense of nostalgia purely by chance. Today I experienced a very strong sense of nostalgia while watching a YouTube video and then again when I sought to replicate what I had seen. The video showed someone installing Windows 95 on to an old 486 PC from that era. The Window’s start up sound really touched a nerve (but in a good way) and then when the guy in the video launched Space Cadet 3D Pinball, a game that shipped with the operating system, I felt a strong compulsion to track down a copy and install the game myself, thus revisiting something that was an integral part of my life in 1995.
For the last few months I have being using Google Gemini. I subscribed so I could access a wider spectrum of services and evaluate it effectively. I also wanted to dispel some of the hysteria that accompanies any conversation about Large Language Models and Artificial Intelligence. The results were initially interesting and Google Gemini proved useful when researching material for blog posts. It is good at providing summaries about well documented subjects. I wrote a post about food banks recently and it distilled a lot of data into a manageable amount, which was ideal for my article. Google Gemini has also produced some visual basic scripting and simple batch files that have allowed me to automate processes on my PC. Such as changing the default monitor, or screen resolution at the click of an icon. However, I found this AI struggled with in-depth software troubleshooting and that its ability to create images varies greatly depending on the subject.
The UK Government has formerly announced its intention to ban under-16s from using social media. This is due to increasing public pressure that “something must be done” about the perceived iniquities of many online platforms. However, as with most complex social problems of this nature, no one has any clear or practical ideas as to what that “something” is. It remains a nebulous, non-specific panacea and clearly someone else’s job to identify and implement. As ever, why choose a nuanced and multifaceted solution to a complex problem, when it is far easier and politically expedient to just “ban” something. The former requires effort and a degree of thinking. If such an approach fails it also means that those who came up with it now carry the can. The latter dumps the problem in the lap of various third parties, who can then be conveniently blamed when the ill conceived policy fails.
Yesterday we changed internet service providers. We moved from EE (formerly BT) to Plusnet. The transition went surprisingly well, mainly due to the existing infrastructure remaining the same. We’ve had fibre to the premises (FTTP) since 2022 so this was essentially an administrative change. The previous ISP terminated their service at 1:30 AM in the morning, while I was playing Star Trek Online. By 6:30 AM I received a message from Plusnet that the new service was live. It took about an hour to configure the new Netgear Nighthawk RS100 router (I bought my own) and get all our household devices attached to the new network. The connection is running at exactly the same speed and stability as it had under the previous supplier. At present a 1Gbps connection is sufficient for our needs. The main factor that has driven this change is cost. We are currently paying £28 per month for internet access which is a competitive price in the UK.
In 1990 I was working at the DWP (Department for Work and Pensions). I had just taken the role of Computer Support Officer where I administered user access to the mainframe and provided first line support to staff using the terminals. That summer the office moved to a PC based network and the project was undertaken by the newly formed Siemens Nixdorf company. To cut a long story short I befriended one of the contract engineers and over the next 9 months he became an unofficial mentor to me. Technically he was only supposed to train me in the most basic of fashions but he liked the fact that I was always asking questions and effectively ended up schooling me in PC and server architecture, network administration and the associated protocols. For me this was the best way to learn. It was not a case of coming to grips with theory in a classroom environment. It was learning by doing and having direct and exclusive access to a source of knowledge and experience.
My Windows 11 PC is a cobbled together mess of upgrades, customisations and workarounds. It seems okay at first glance, mainly because my desktop is well organised and I don’t allow too many apps to start on boot up. But beneath this superficial veneer of efficiency and optimisation is a bloated mess. Every Windows update adds yet more spurious features which slows performance and tries to harvest your data. Windows is no longer a user friendly operating system that you buy and use without impediment. It is now a sprawling live service that actively gets in the way of your productivity so that it can make a buck off your inconvenience. There was a time when you could quickly learn its processes and foibles, so you could customise it into the tool you needed. Nowadays I have to continuously use third party tools to get Windows to do many of the things I want, or to access functionality that Microsoft has obtusely decided to restrict.
As the New Year is still young, I have embarked upon several new projects that I’ve been planning since Autumn last year. These undertakings have gone beyond the planning stage and are currently being implemented. The fun thing about the phrase “implemented” in this context is that it implies that it is by far the easiest and most straightforward part of the process. The initial brainstorming of ideas has been completed. A cogent and detailed plan has been written. The costing of materials and time required have been determined. These are the hard parts. All that remains is to “just do it”. It should be a piece of piss (a British phrase indicating that something is easy). It virtually “implements” itself. However, that is a load of bollocks. Because there is always scope for something to go wrong. It may well start as something minor and innocuous but it all too often ends in a “problem cascade”.
This time last year I made a decision to replace Microsoft Office or Office 365 as it is currently known. Mainly because I only use Outlook out of the entire suite of software. This project stalled because I couldn't easily import my existing email archive into Mozilla Thunderbird. Hence the status quo has been perpetuated. However, there is an ongoing cost associated with this software as well as some wider considerations about ethics and privacy which is why I have returned to this matter. Although this time I wish to replace not only Office 365 but all the other "production tools" I use to write and browse the internet. I have managed to make some progress towards this goal but it has been hard to adapt. Mainly because I had everything set up to my liking. Although alternatives are available, they're never exactly alike and require a lot of fine tuning to be deemed satisfactory.
Last summer I wrote a post about my experiences using various screen capture software. At the time I was using Bandicam which suited all my needs. I had configured the software to launch at Windows start-up and had a hotkey assigned to capture images from my primary monitor. Hence I could quickly grab a screenshot from my desktop or when playing a game. However, this changed in November 2025, when I bought two new monitors. Both of which supported HDR (High Dynamic Range). Although they provide superior picture quality, HDR has a knock-on effect on Bandicam. Screen capture images and video look over exposed. Hence I had to stop using the software and find an alternative. Fortunately the same company has been developing an alternative product with HDR support; Bandi Camera. So I swapped to this software. The screenshots were far better but the functionality of the app was lacking.
Our home has a 1 Gbps “fibre to the premises” internet connection. It has proven reliable since it was installed in June 2022. Our internet service provider EE (part of the BT group) are neither the best of worst suppliers. The monthly cost is not especially competitive and so we may be looking to move providers next Easter. However, that is a matter for the future. For the present there is a more immediate issue. Starting on Friday 21st November, our internet connection has started randomly dropping. Furthermore, both the Wi-Fi extender in the lounge and the wireless printer in my office have become disconnected from the network. It was as if their details had been erased from the router. I suspected that a recent firmware upgrade may be the culprit although EE denies it. However there are posts online from other customers with similar technical issues.
A couple of times a year, Mrs P asks me to copy onto her laptop, all the pictures that I’ve taken over recent months, as well as those that have been shared with us via WhatsApp. She then diligently whittles them down into a manageable amount which we then print off and put in our photo album. Yes we’re of the generation that still likes to print off hard copies of photos and from time to time look at them nostalgically. We have several albums with photographs in chronological order and numerous frames placed around the house, filled with pictures of family. The bulk of the photos are 4x6 inches (10x15 cm). We use an online photo printing service for the majority of our pictures and visit a local store with a self-service photographic department to print off specific pictures for bespoke frames. The original photos, now neatly organised, are backed up and archived.
I take a lot of screen captures of video games and Windows apps, usually for blog posts. I use both Bandicam and Windows Snipping Tool to do this and have set up various hotkeys to make the process easy. Of late, the screen captures that I’ve taken have all suffered from washed out colours, regardless what tool I used to take them. I checked to see if both these apps needed to be updated but they are running the latest versions. Hence I was initially stumped as to why this problem had started happening. After some thought, I deduced that the only new elements in my PC hardware were my two new monitors. Both of which support HDR. Google Gemini quickly informed me that this was a known issue and taking screen captures from an HDR enabled device resulted in an excessively bright image that looked over exposed.
I recently bought two new monitors and a stand for my PC tower case. Today I thought I’d take the opportunity to disconnect every peripheral, clear my desk and then after a thorough clean, reassemble everything ensuring good cable management. I even went so far as to buy a new power extension lead so I could reorganise where everything was plugged in and therefore be able to isolate specific hardware. It seemed such a simple, straightforward task on paper. The reality was much different. It took me over three hours to sort out, mainly due to the fact that I don’t “bend” so well these days. During this Herculean task, my watch kept on notifying me that my heart rate was “high”. However, I regularly took breaks and fortified myself with gin for medicinal reasons. I am pleased with the results of this task.
I use two monitors with my PC, as I find having the additional screen “real estate” invaluable when writing or playing games. Both monitors that I’ve been using up to now are somewhat old and they are not exactly the same size or resolution, although both are FHD. I have previously written about the problems I’ve had trying to get certain games and programs to display on specific monitors and the lengths I’ve had to go to to resolve this issue. To cut a long story short, I recently decided to replace both monitors with larger models with a higher resolution. Mainly because my eyesight is not what it used to be. I see best when working with a bright screen that can produce clear text. New monitors would also address my ongoing screen output problem. Hence, I set myself a reasonable budget and began researching appropriate replacements.
In July the UK Government introduced the Online Safety Act which requires age checks for accessing sexually explicit content online. As a result of this, Pornhub, the 19th most visited site on the internet, has reported a 77% decline in UK traffic. Furthermore, according to the UK regulatory body, OFCOM (The Office of Communications), overall visits to pornographic websites from the UK have fallen by 33%. Naturally, those who championed this legislation are claiming a moral and political victory. However, once you consider what these facts actually mean, they paint a somewhat different and potentially more worrying picture. It would be staggeringly naïve to think that UK visitors to Pornhub have ceased visiting such sites due to the age verification requirements. The more likely explanation is that UK porn consumers are now using VPNs to circumnavigate these restrictions and that this traffic to Pornhub is now recorded as coming from elsewhere.
It may be a case of preaching to the Choir but dust contamination in your PC causes overheating, decreased performance, and potential hardware failure. This mainly occurs due to dust restricting airflow, impeding components such as heat sinks and creating short circuits from conductive particles. Fluff builds up and restricts cooling fans, forcing them to work harder. Heat build can lead to issues like system crashes, lagging, and even permanent damage to the motherboard and CPU. Over time, it can shorten the lifespan of the computer and in severe cases, poses a fire hazard. When I used to work in IT contracting, I used to see the effects of dust contamination all the time. PC placed on carpet tiles or on top of desks and surrounded by other objects. I remember one PC replacement project I was working on where we found an old PC with a dead mouse in it. It was desiccated by the heat.
Usually I don’t have a problem with internet access when Mrs P and I are travelling. My phone data plan is sufficient for Google Maps and social media usage. Once we reach our hotel, it’s just a question of connecting to the free Wi-Fi or if need be, buying upgraded access. It’s seldom that expensive. When I went on holiday to Croatia this summer, I bought a bespoke data plan before arriving that granted me extra internet access. Our hotel in Makarska also had very robust internet access. Hence, regardless of being out and about or by the pool, I never had any issues getting online. The ubiquity of internet access means we often take it for granted. I seldom go to places in the UK or abroad that don’t have advanced IT infrastructure. Until this week.
Back in January, I was very pleased because I had finally found some open source software, DisplayMagician, which allowed me to quickly and easily alter my display profile and run specific games and applications on my second monitor. Prior to this I would find that some programs just wouldn’t stay put, once they were dragged or otherwise cajoled to display on the monitor of my choice. They would continuously snap back to the primary display, regardless of my actions. DisplayMagician solved this issue and did so with aplomb. Or it did, until last weekend when I upgraded my PC from Windows 10 to 11. Then it stopped working. I therefore did some digging online and it became apparent that this is a known issue that is currently being addressed by its creator, Terry McDonald.
As part of our increasing dependency upon software, we have also grown accustomed to its associated foibles, especially the negative ones. Today, I upgraded my blog from Squarespace 7.0 to 7.1 and my PC operating system from Windows 10 to 11. I started early in the morning and ensured that all my personal data was backed up. My default expectation was that both processes would go wrong in some way, shape or form. Let’s take a moment to consider this mindset, which is born out of experience. It is now taken as read that whatever you upgrade, be it an app on your phone or a program on your PC, that it’s going to be problematic. It won’t be a seamless transition and you’ll end up having to do some sort of troubleshooting. Despite our lives becoming more dependent on such software, the quality of these products seems to be deteriorating. What a sorry state of affairs.
Emmetts Garden
Emmetts Garden is an Edwardian estate situated on Ide Hill, close to Sevenoaks in Kent, UK. After a long and interesting history it is currently under the stewardship of the National Trust. Originally open farmland, the existing house was constructed in1860. The term “emmett” is a local dialect for ant, referencing the large anthills that populated the area until the 1950s. In 1890, the estate was acquired by Frederic Lubbock, a banker with a keen interest in horticulture. His elder brother, John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury, was a renowned authority on ants, which may have influenced Frederic's decision to purchase the estate. Today Emmetts Garden is open to the public and features several “hortus conclusus” (walled gardens) and a hillside trail that is famous for its Bluebells in the spring.
Emmetts Garden is an Edwardian estate situated on Ide Hill, close to Sevenoaks in Kent, UK. After a long and interesting history it is currently under the stewardship of the National Trust. Originally open farmland, the existing house was constructed in1860. The term “emmett” is a local dialect for ant, referencing the large anthills that populated the area until the 1950s. In 1890, the estate was acquired by Frederic Lubbock, a banker with a keen interest in horticulture. His elder brother, John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury, was a renowned authority on ants, which may have influenced Frederic's decision to purchase the estate. Today Emmetts Garden is open to the public and features several “hortus conclusus” (walled gardens) and a hillside trail that is famous for its Bluebells in the spring.
The gardens were first designed between 1893 and 1895, inspired by Lubbock's associate William Robinson. They are laid out in the fashionable Edwardian style popularized by Gertrude Jekyll. A shrub garden was added later, between 1900 and 1908. Following Lubbock's passing in 1927, the estate was taken over by American geologist Charles Watson Boise, who made several modifications to the house and gardens while preserving their original character. In 1964, Boise bequeathed Emmetts to the National Trust, which has since worked to uphold the botanical diversity cultivated by both men. Many of the mature trees and shrubs planted by Lubbock were lost in the Great Storm of 1987, but the storm also allowed more light into the gardens, prompting the National Trust to implement a thoughtful replanting initiative.
The grounds spans approximately six acres (around 2.5 hectares) and is situated on a prominent 600-foot (180 m) sandstone ridge, providing stunning views of the Weald and the North Downs. It primarily features an arboretum filled with trees and shrubs, including a remarkable 100-foot (30 m) Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) that survived the storm. Additionally, there is a rose garden adjacent to the Victorian house but this is not accessible to the public. Overall, Emmetts Garden is an excellent site for a spring walk. Those visitors seeking a leisurely pace can stroll around the walled gardens and enjoy the wide variety of plants. Walkers who desire a more robust challenge can take the hillside trail and if done in April will be rewarded by the Bluebells in bloom and an excellent view over Toys Hill.
Today I visited the Inside Aardman: Wallace & Gromit and Friends exhibition at the Young V&A Museum at Bethnal Green. The exhibition which celebrates 50 years of Aardman Animations, provides visitors with a unique, behind the scenes view of the art of stop-motion animation. It also explores how Aardman’s iconic characters and worlds are designed, crafted and brought to life. From the initial concept artwork to the final visual effects, this event demonstrates the methods and techniques employed by Aardman. The exhibition features early scripts, sketch artists initial concept art, models, sets and numerous famous puppets. Furthermore this event is firmly pitched at children and families, with a wealth of interactive activities demonstrating the various techniques on display. The curators of the exhibition have also made it clear that they wish to encourage future generation to consider a career in the creative arts.
The Imperial War Museum serves as a national museum for Britain. Its main location is in London, complemented by five additional branches across England. Established in 1917 as the Imperial War Museum, its original purpose was to document the civil and military efforts and sacrifices made by the United Kingdom and its Empire during the First World War. Over time, the museum’s scope has broadened to encompass all conflicts involving British or Commonwealth forces since 1914. As of 2012, the museum’s mission is to provide and encourage the study and understanding of the history of modern warfare as well as the “wartime experience”. The IWM as it is now known has its headquarters and primary site is located at Southwark in Central London. The museum is funded by government grants, charitable donations and revenue generated through commercial activity such as retailing, licensing and publishing. General admission is free to IWM London.
Castle Farm is a family business located near the village of Shoreham in West Kent. The Alexander Family have been farming in the Darenth Valley since 1892 when James Alexander transported 17 milking cows from Ayrshire in Scotland and took up residence in this south-eastern part of England. Castle Farm is a busy, working farm comprising of 1,100 acres. It produces such crops as wheat, barley, rapeseed, hops, apples, pumpkins and lavender. It is also home to a grass-fed herd of beef cattle. However, in recent years it has become well know internationally for its lavender crop. Castle Farm began its lavender enterprise in 1998, producing the essential oils associated with the flower. It is now the largest lavender farm in the UK, growing over 110 acres of the flower. Furthermore, it has become quite a tourist attraction with the farm staff running tours during Summer and the height of lavender season.
Riverhill Himalayan Gardens are set in the grounds of Riverhill House, a Grade II listed Queen Anne manor house located on the southern edge of Sevenoaks in Kent, England. Riverhill is well known for its stunning and historic gardens as well as its sweeping vistas over the Weald of Kent. The estate has been the residence of the Rogers family since 1840 who currently operate the gardens as a tourist attraction, along with the house and associated facilities as a wedding venue. Visitors can enjoy a walled garden, rose walk and maze as well as other attractions. There is also an excellent trail around the grounds culminating in a view from the top of the hill over the estate. Riverhill Himalayan Gardens, as a supporter of the Surrey Sculpture Society, regularly showcases a selection of sculptures and art pieces throughout its grounds. All are available for purchase if you have deep pockets.
The Hunterian Museum is a museum of anatomical specimens in London, located in the prestigious building of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. The museum is made up primarily of a collection from the 18th century Scottish surgeon John Hunter. Over the years it has since been subsequently supplemented by Odontological material curated by A. E. W. Miles and various natural history exhibits from Richard Owen. In May 2023, the Hunterian Museum reopened following a five-year redevelopment of the Royal College of Surgeons of England’s headquarters at Lincoln’s Inn Fields. The £4.6 million museum project features the exhibition of more than 2,000 anatomical specimens from Hunter’s original collection. In addition to these there are instruments, equipment, models, paintings, and archival materials that document the evolution of surgery from ancient eras to contemporary robot-assisted procedures. The Museum boasts the largest public display of human anatomy in England.
The Crystal Palace Dinosaurs are a collection of sculptures depicting dinosaurs and other extinct species located in Crystal Palace Park, in the London borough of Bromley. These sculptures were originally commissioned in 1852 for display at the Crystal Palace following its relocation from the Great Exhibition held in Hyde Park. They were revealed to the public in 1854 and are the first speculative dinosaur sculptures ever created. Although the models are now considered inaccurate by contemporary standards, they were designed and crafted by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins under the scientific guidance of Sir Richard Owen, reflecting the prevailing scientific understanding of the time. The sculptures were designated as Grade II listed buildings in 1973 and underwent extensive restoration in 2002. In 2007 they were elevated to Grade I listed status. As of spring 2026 the dinosaurs are again being renovated as part of a £5 million regeneration of the park.
The benefits of international travel are numerous. These include stress relief, mental health benefits and a chance to escape the drudgery of work. Then there are the cultural aspects that you can immerse yourself in. Going abroad also allows you to learn new language skills as you awkwardly ask for directions. International travel is a chance to make lasting memories and it often gives the traveller a greater appreciation of their own home. At the very least the beer is always better abroad and that is the very definition of “broadening your horizons”. Yet despite all these positive points, there is one unavoidable hassle when comes with travelling abroad. The fact that the country or countries that you’re visiting will invariably use a different electrical plug and socket standard. In an age where a lot of the stuff you bring along with you on holiday needs charging, this can be a very stressful problem to solve.
I thoroughly enjoyed our holiday in Croatia last year and it did much to restore my confidence in travelling. Previously my views on visiting other countries had been greatly influenced by the films Raid on Entebbe and Midnight Express. As January was such a bleak month here in the UK, Mrs P and I decided we couldn’t wait until summer for another holiday and so decided to book something for the end of March. So we visited our local Travel Agents and decided upon a river cruise. We’ve been interested in these since we saw a travel show with Susan Calman. River cruises are a horse of a different colour, compared to sea cruises. They’re a great way to visit cities of note, often bringing you right into the heart of them. River cruise ships are a lot smaller with less passengers than ocean faring vessels. They also attract quite different travellers. Let it suffice to say that a sea cruise doesn’t offer the cultural experience that I am looking for.
There are approximately 4000 parks and green spaces in Greater London. Bexley Borough alone has over 100. Public parks and green spaces are vital to modern cities, providing essential health, environmental and social benefits. They boost physical and mental wellbeing by reducing stress and providing a place for exercise. Furthermore they enhance urban sustainability, mitigate heat, and provide a sustainable environment for a wildlife. Parks are often a venue for social activities and events and as such are an important part of the local community. Going to the park has always been a part of my life. I live next to Old Farm Park in Sidcup and have made use of this recreational space throughout my life. I used visit with my parents in the seventies, when I was a child. Thirty years later my son, father in-law and I would fly kites there. Now I take my grandchildren to Old Farm Park as it now has a playground.
There is no shortage of interesting and good quality museums in London. In many respects tourists and visitors are spoilt for choice. More often than not, it is the most well known institutions such as the British Museum or Victoria and Albert Museum that gain the most attention. However, there are many hidden gems to discover if you take the time to look further. A prime example being The British Optical Association Museum which I had the pleasure of visiting today. The museum’s function is to promote the optometry profession and raise public awareness of its past and ongoing role within society. The museum has a well conserved collection of exhibits and provides a venue for presentations, learning and research services. There is also an excellent tour hosted by museum curator Neil Handley (PhD, AMA, FRSA) in which he gives a concise, interesting and at times a witty overview of the history of optometry in the UK and its current role.
The artillery battery at Capel-le-Ferne was built between 1941 and 1942, following the fall of France, on the orders of Winston Churchill. Located between Dover and Folkestone, the battery consisted of three 8-inch high-performance guns, provided by the Royal Navy. The battery was intended to provide anti-shipping defence in the English Channel. The site was manned by men of the 520 Coast Regiment Royal Artillery. Over the course of World War II, the battery expanded in size, eventually encompassing multiple Nissen huts, several roads and 19 military buildings. Anti aircraft defence was provided by two 40mm Bofors guns. Over the course of the war, the Capel Battery engaged enemy shipping on four separate occasions and also took part in fifteen practice shoots. In 1944, due to the decreased threat, the battery was placed in “care and maintenance”. The guns were removed in 1952 and the building demolished in the early 1980s
There are an estimated 2,500 museums in the UK. This number has grown significantly over time, more than tripling between 1960 and 2017. While it is laudable that so many of these institutions exist, they do not all receive equal interest or publicity. Some museums dominate in their respective fields and drown out others that have a similar theme. With this in mind, I was unaware of the Kent Battle of Britain Museum until a friend recently brought it to my attention. After yesterday’s visit my initial thoughts are what a treasure trove it is. According to the museum’s website it is the world’s largest Battle of Britain collection of memorabilia. This includes planes, uniforms, weapons and related artefacts from over 700 crashed aircraft. Furthermore, the museum tells the story of this battle without bias, choosing to highlight both the historical and the human aspects of the conflict. It is often very poignant.
Stonehenge is so much more than just a neolithic, historical structure of note. It is of great spiritual importance to many, representing ceremonial practices and ancient worship. It is also seen as a conduit to a wider connection to the cosmos. It is after all a celestial calendar, according to one of the theories regarding its purpose. It also has a strong significance in pop culture. Hence, due to its history, symbolism, religious connotations and overall sense of mystery it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a globally recognised symbol of ancient Britain. As such, it has always been somewhere that I have wished to visit. Today, as we were relatively nearby in Ringwood and the weather was pleasant, Mrs P and I decided to go to Salisbury and see this iconic structure for ourselves.
I enjoy visiting the coast. I always have. I find the sight and sounds of the sea very calming and thought provoking. There is something about seeing the ocean stretch out to the horizon and its implied enormity, that gives you a sense of perspective. The UK is a seafaring nation and therefore it is an integral part of our history and national identity. Hence a strong nautical theme and a sense of its importance has bled through into our popular culture. It is therefore quite common for people to have a positive attitude towards the sea and its associated leisure activities. I like to visit the coast at various times of the year and walk along the beach, just listening to the waves, lost in my own thoughts. This is not a hard thing to do in the UK, as no one lives further than 70 miles (113 kilometers) from the coast.
Knole is a country house in England and a former archbishop’s palace that is currently owned by the National Trust. It is located within Knole Park, a 1,000-acre (400-hectare) estate that lies to the south-east of Sevenoaks in west Kent. The existing structure of the house dates back to the mid-15th century, although there were significant expansions in the 16th and particularly in the early 17th centuries. Its Grade I listing signifies its combination of late-medieval to Stuart architectural styles. This is especially evident in its central façade and state rooms. In 2019, a comprehensive conservation initiative titled “Inspired by Knole” was completed to restore and enhance the buildings’ structures. This was beneficial to the preservation of its significant collections. The adjacent deer park has also endured since 1600.
Mrs P and I travelled to Croatia on Friday 13th June for our summer holiday. We spent one week in Makarska, which is located on the Dalmatian coast. My last international holiday was to Malta in 2004. Since then we have done a lot of travelling in the UK and Mrs P has vacationed abroad with other family members. However, she stated last September that she wanted to go “somewhere warm” for our next holiday. So this trip was booked and has been “something to look forward to”, or a source of stress slowly inching closer, depending upon your perspective. In many respects this holiday has been a big deal for me. I don’t enjoy travelling at all with all its accompanying logistical, bureaucratic and “people” issues. However, I have no problem with being elsewhere. I eagerly await teleportation technology to become commonplace. Once I arrived at our hotel, I quickly switched to holiday mode and I am happy to confirm that I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Emmetts Garden is an Edwardian estate situated on Ide Hill, close to Sevenoaks in Kent, UK. After a long and interesting history it is currently under the stewardship of the National Trust. Originally open farmland, the existing house was constructed in1860. The term “emmett” is a local dialect for ant, referencing the large anthills that populated the area until the 1950s. In 1890, the estate was acquired by Frederic Lubbock, a banker with a keen interest in horticulture. His elder brother, John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury, was a renowned authority on ants, which may have influenced Frederic's decision to purchase the estate. Today Emmetts Garden is open to the public and features several “hortus conclusus” (walled gardens) and a hillside trail that is famous for its Bluebells in the spring.
Damerham is a quaint rural village and civil parish located in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It is close to the market town of Fordingbridge. Damerham is distinguished by significant Neolithic and Bronze Age burial mounds. Historically, it was home to an Anglo-Saxon religious community and was referenced in the will of Alfred the Great, as it was at that time part of the royal estate. At the time of the Domesday Book in 1086, Damerham was recognized as a prominent settlement under the ownership of Glastonbury Abbey. It was mainly farms and agrarian small holdings. Today, the village still features a riverside mill and the church of Saint George date’s back to the Norman period. There is a church hall that hosts numerous local, seasonal events.
Bodiam Castle is a 14th-century moated castle located near Robertsbridge in East Sussex, England. It was built in 1385 by Sir Edward Dalyngrigge, a former knight of King Edward III. The castle’s primary purpose was to defend the local area against possible French invasion during the Hundred Years' War. Bodiam Castle has a quadrangular design and does not have a keep. All the various chambers and rooms were built adjacent to the outer defensive walls. The four corners and main entrance have towers, all of which feature crenellations. A substantial moat surrounds the castle, which served as a home for the Dalyngrigge family, as well as a seat of power to the manor of Bodiam. The castle remained within the Dalyngrigge family until the line became extinct. It remained a place of strategic importance during the War of the Roses and the English Civil War. It is currently owned and maintained by The National Trust.
Today I went on an impromptu visit to Brompton Cemetery in West London. Established in 1837, the West of London and Westminster Cemetery (as it was originally known) is a private cemetery initially created as a business venture to capitalise upon the shortage of cemeteries within London. It also sought to cater to the prevailing culture of opulent Victorian funeral rites. However, after proving non profitable, the cemetery was bought by the UK government. It was subsequently incorporated into Crown Property and managed by The Royal Parks. It is one of Britain’s oldest and most distinguished garden cemeteries. There are currently 35,000 monuments, ranging from simple headstones to impressive mausolea. It is home to more than 205,000 resting places. The cemetery is also a haven for flora and fauna, providing a substantial semi rural environment amid urban central London.
Christmas Tree Farm is a petting zoo, outside the village of Downe in the county of Kent. Despite its rural setting, it is actually only 15 miles from London, making it an ideal visit, as part of a day. The farm is home to a wide selection of domestic farm animals (and a few more exotic ones), all of which can be fed, stroked and lavished with attention by visitors. During the winter months, Christmas Tree Farm hosts Santa’s Grotto and as the name suggests is the place to find the perfect Christmas tree for your home. Entry prices are very reasonable, costing £6 per adult and £4 for children aged between 2 and 16 years old. Buckets of animal feed of varying size are also available for a small fee. There is a leisurely trail around the farm where the various animals are housed in pens and out buildings. There is also a Tea Garden where refreshments are available.
In 1939 legislation was passed in the UK so that all employees had one week’s annual paid holiday per year. By the 1950s this had become two weeks and by the 1980s most people had at least 4 weeks of annual holiday. On top of this paid leave allocation, the UK currently has 8 bank holidays which provides further time off for employees. This culture of increasing amounts of annual leave also broadly coincided with air travel becoming more accessible. The first UK passenger jet service began in 1952. However, its cost excluded most people. However, as larger airliners with increased range became available, cheaper foreign holidays became more and more economically viable. European holidays became a reality in the 1960s and 1970s. By the 1980s long-distance holidays to other continents became ubiquitous and the package holiday became king. It is also worth noting that the Channel Tunnel opened in 1994, making car travel from Britain to Europe easier and more popular.
Today I had the pleasure of visiting the Whitstable Museum (or to give its full name Whitstable Community Museum and Gallery). This is a fine example of a local heritage centre that curates and displays artefacts and records that reflect the history and culture of the surrounding area. The museum located in Whitstable, Kent, is home to one of the world's oldest steam engines, as well as historical diving equipment that was developed locally. The history of the local oyster trade which has been an integral part of the community for centuries is also a key feature. Established in 1985, the museum was reopened in 2015 following a major refurbishment. There is also an art gallery featuring the paintings by local artists and artworks on loan from an international network of galleries.
Eltham Palace, located in South East London, was the childhood home of King Henry VIII in 1499. It was later used as a royal nursery for the infant Princess Elizabeth, born on 7th September 1533. It sports sumptuous grounds and ornamental gardens and was famous for its game hunting during the Tudor and Elizabethan periods. In the 1930s’ the property was owned by the Courtauld family, who built a sumptuous Art Deco style mansion and redeveloped the grounds. Today the entire property is owned and managed by English Heritage who have extensively restored much of the estate. It is therefore very fitting that this illustrious venue annually plays host to the Legendary Medieval Joust, during the summer months. Two days of historical pageantry, re-enactments and events for the entire family to enjoy. I last attended in 2015, so it was a welcome pleasure to return again yesterday.
Morph’s Epic Art Adventure in London is a step-free art trail and tourist attraction featuring the iconic animated character Morph. It is hosted by charitable organisation Whizz-Kidz, global event producers Wild in Art and Aardman. The trail features 56 super-sized sculptures of the much-loved children’s TV character, which are set among various iconic London landmarks including St Pauls, Tate Modern, Tower of London, Shakespeare’s Globe and Borough Market. It is a free public art trail and tourist attraction, designed by a variety of artists to excite and inspire people of all ages, whilst increasing public awareness about the need for young wheelchair users to be mobile, enabled and included in society. Morph’s Epic Art Adventure in London runs from June 19th until August 20th 2023.
Regardless of whether you deem the IFS Cloud Cable Car a white elephant, a political folly or just a mistake in terms of tourism, it cannot be denied that the view it provides over South East London is impressive. At a height of 90 metres (300 feet), on a bright and sunny day you can see from City Airport to Canary Wharf. Located at Greenwich Peninsula, the IFS Cloud Cable Car (as it is now called) opened in June 2012. It was initially promoted as a viable form of public transport across the Thames, linking North Greenwich and Royal Victoria stations. In October 2012, nearly 100,000 journeys were made. However, after the London Olympics, passenger rates fell and since then IFS Cloud Cable Car has become more of a tourist attraction, rather than an integral means of commuting.
To my surprise I found myself out and about today undertaking another day trip. This time we headed back to the sea and visited Whitstable, a town on the north coast of Kent adjoining the Greater Thames Estuary. It’s 5 miles (8 kilometres) north of Canterbury and 2 miles (3 kilometres) west of Herne Bay. The town was originally recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, under the name Witenestaple, meaning "the meeting place of the white post", a reference to a local landmark. By the late middle ages Whitstable had become a centre of Thames Estuary fishing, specifically for oysters. Today, the main activities at the harbour are fishing and processing, cargo handling and boat maintenance. The town has shingle/sandy beaches adjacent to the harbour, where swimming and water sports are popular. Whitstable Castle is situated on the border of Whitstable and off the coast is Kentish Flats offshore wind farm, consisting of 30 wind turbines.
Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in the county of Kent, 30 miles (50 kilometres) southeast of central London. It is situated on the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald. The local sandstone geology is synonymous with a rugged landscape due to erosion and weathering. The town itself was a spa during the Restoration and became a very fashionable resort in the middle of the 18th century. Socialites such as Beau Nash helped make the resort popular when the Pantiles and its chalybeate spring, began attracting visitors who came to “take the waters”. Despite the decline in spa towns after sea bathing grew in popularity, Royal Tunbridge Wells has remained a tourist resort. Today, much of the area's income is generated by tourism. The town has an equitable temperate maritime climate.
With January already behind us, Mrs P and I decided it was high time we took our first day trip of 2022. So yesterday I spent some time looking online at details of various National Trust sites within an hour or so drive from our home. I also looked at similar places of historical note that are run by other bodies. Sadly, many are either partially or totally closed for the present. It would appear that from January to March many of these sorts of tourist attractions spend time repairing, refurbishing and preparing for forthcoming events. Grounds also have to be maintained. Hence, we were somewhat lacking in choice for suitable destinations. However, as the weather forecast was mild, today we opted to visit the village of Chiddingstone so we could walk in the grounds of the local castle and along the various footpaths in the area.
For me, staying in a hotel is always an adventure, as it mainly happens when I’m taking a holiday or a short weekend break. I suspect that travelling habitually for business reasons probably puts a different complexion on the process. It may well dictate what sort of hotels you stay in. More than likely functionality, location and cost trump other more self indulgent factors such as aesthetic and ambience. Mercifully, travel has never been a major part of my working life and so hotels are still a source of excitement as they’re associated with fine meals, interesting scenery and good company. However, such hotels tend to come at a price as they’re catering more for tourism rather than business travel and therefore stays are not a regular occurrence. However, I had the pleasure of a short visit this weekend.
Thoughts on Blogging Part 22
Back in March 2019 I wrote a blog post about the operating costs of running this website. I went into detail with regard to hosting and domain costs, as well as the other software and hardware used to write posts and at that point produce a podcast. Let it suffice to say that five years on, those costs have all increased. If we’re just looking at maintaining a blog simply in terms of hosting and the domain registration, it costs about £20 a month to run Contains Moderate Peril. Theoretically, if I want to reduce those costs I could dispense with a specific domain name and use a free blogging service. However, I feel that such a compromise comes with its own set of problems, such as advertising and a lack of control (to a degree) over your content. I therefore choose to pay to mitigate these concerns. If I then wish to do more, such as produce a podcast, create videos for YouTube or live stream, then those costs increase.
Back in March 2019 I wrote a blog post about the operating costs of running this website. I went into detail with regard to hosting and domain costs, as well as the other software and hardware used to write posts and at that point produce a podcast. Let it suffice to say that five years on, those costs have all increased. If we’re just looking at maintaining a blog simply in terms of hosting and the domain registration, it costs about £20 a month to run Contains Moderate Peril. Theoretically, if I want to reduce those costs I could dispense with a specific domain name and use a free blogging service. However, I feel that such a compromise comes with its own set of problems, such as advertising and a lack of control (to a degree) over your content. I therefore choose to pay to mitigate these concerns. If I then wish to do more, such as produce a podcast, create videos for YouTube or live stream, then those costs increase.
Now there’s nothing unusual about a hobby having a cost. If you fish, play golf or even spot trains, then you’ll end up spending money in the pursuit of your interest. However, blogging and content creation online is often about being part of or indeed creating a community. There is often a strong social dynamic running through what you do and motivating you. One of the major aspects of online culture during the early days of the internet was a sense of community and creating resources that were accessible to others. Sadly, that ethos seems to be in retreat and the internet is far more transactional these days, with content being commodified. Although the democratisation of media still exists, increasing online operating costs will slowly begin to exclude people. Such a thing may seem at first glance, inconsequential, but if you consider the matter it is not such a good prospect.
However, equality of access is ultimately a different blog post to the one I am writing. Of late my thoughts about blogging and wider content creation have mainly been about scheduling versus available time. I began the year with aspirations to write more often and also produce some video content. I was even considering a weekly 30 minute podcast, hosted just by me. None of that has come to pass because other issues have come up and there just aren’t enough hours in the day. It irks me to a degree but not as much as it did a decade ago. You ultimately do what you can do and be content with it. Another matter that concerns me is the template that Contains Moderate Peril currently uses. It is ten years old and beginning to look its age. However, replacing it would mean having to manually adjust 1,930 plus posts. Sooner or later that is a nettle that needs to be grasped.
Finally, although I am not going to stop blogging, I am continuously reminded that I can get more eyes on my posts via other platforms. I’ve mentioned before about how posts on Reddit provide detailed metrics and that a well received article can get thousands of views in an hour. Recently, I wrote a review via Google for a local restaurant and posted a few accompanying photos. I subsequently received notification via my phone that over 25,000 people had read that review. I appreciate that to a degree this is a bit like comparing apples with oranges but I would love to write a blog post on my own site that generated those sorts of numbers. But that’s not how blogs work. They have to be discovered and give the reader a reason to stick around. Reddit already has an audience, gathered in one place. Ready and waiting to consume material.
On Friday 26th June, I had another random spike in internet traffic to Contains Moderate Peril. The statistical package that comes with my Squarespace account recorded over 13k visits in less than 24 hours, which is not typical (although I wish it was). However, all of these visits to my blog arrived via the default homepage and spent between 1 and 2 minutes there. Hence, it was obvious that this was not human traffic, as there was no evidence of any searches being made of content that is available on my site, nor of the “visitors” clicking on any of the links on the top menu and viewing other posts. This was undoubtedly AI traffic arriving at the designated homepage and simply parsing the site. I had a similar spate of this sort of web traffic last November. The only difference on that occasion is that the traffic all came from China. This time round it hailed from the US. I suspect that this is something that will happen more often as companies set their AI loose on the net for what is effectively training.
Today I started the slow process of auditing every post that has been published on Contains Moderate Peril since 1st August 2016. The goal is to correct any obvious typos and replace all existing images with larger ones. The Squarespace software upgrade I applied to the website at the end of last year has finally allowed me to establish a standard format that I am happy with. Hence the ongoing audit is the perfect opportunity to apply these style rules to all posts. There are also some technical issues and matters regarding functionality that need to be addressed. I need to determine how to embed YouTube videos in such a way that they automatically scale to fit whatever device is viewing them. Another area which needs improving is the website search facility. This needs refinement so that enquiries can be more specific. Older posts also need to be more accessible, although I am still researching how best to achieve this.
It’s nearly two and half months since the Blaugust: Festival of Blogging event ended. During that time I’ve maintained a fairly regular writing schedule and I post every two days or so. Furthermore, I finally dragged my blog template, kicking and screaming, into the modern era. I tweaked a few pages and updated the content of the “about” page. The next task is to start going through all previous posts and replacing older, low resolution images with larger, more appropriate ones. This process also presents an opportunity to ensure that all posts follow a uniform style. IE Are appropriately categorised, have links to related posts at the bottom and are SEO optimised. This will be a lengthy task so I think the best approach will be to tackle two or three posts a day. Hopefully this will raise the profile of older content, which generates the lion’s hare of traffic to this site.
Back in March 2019 I wrote a blog post about the operating costs of running this website. I went into detail with regard to hosting and domain costs, as well as the other software and hardware used to write posts and at that point produce a podcast. Let it suffice to say that five years on, those costs have all increased. If we’re just looking at maintaining a blog simply in terms of hosting and the domain registration, it costs about £20 a month to run Contains Moderate Peril. Theoretically, if I want to reduce those costs I could dispense with a specific domain name and use a free blogging service. However, I feel that such a compromise comes with its own set of problems, such as advertising and a lack of control (to a degree) over your content. I therefore choose to pay to mitigate these concerns. If I then wish to do more, such as produce a podcast, create videos for YouTube or live stream, then those costs increase.
When you initially start blogging, your aspirations tend to be very straightforward. Choose a title, find a niche and get into the habit of writing. Simple tasks that can still take a while to master. Once your blog is established and has endured for a while, you may not have any further long term goals other than to just keep going. However, if you feel that you want to achieve more then you have to tackle a new set of problems. There is a great deal of “advice” in the public domain about growing and monetising your blog. A lot of it is questionable but there are some approaches that do work. However, these require you to write to a specific process, chasing the ever changing whims of your potential readership. You have to compromise. And for many bloggers, that is the deal breaker.
I spent some time in July, making some changes to Contains Moderate Peril. I replaced the branding and made some alterations to the “about” page to ensure that it was up to date and relevant. Not that anyone reads it as I still regularly receive enquiries about guest posts. Something I no longer do. Today, I made some further changes as it is my long term goal to grow the audience for this site. Hence I want to try and make it easier for visitors to find the content they seek and offer them related material. To facilitate this, I have added some additional menu options to the blog homepage. These act as filters, presenting specifically themed content for readers. Hence there is a “movie” button that lists all film reviews and similarly one for “video games”. There are also links for two specific video games, The Lord of the Rings Online and Star trek Online, as website statistics show that these are popular subjects.
I’ve been writing online for 17 years. During that time a modest audience has read my posts and occasionally commented on them, which is the accepted dynamic of blogging. Some of my posts are ephemeral. Others, such as film reviews, have greater longevity. Naturally I want people to read my output and I’ve noticed that the film reviews seem to generate a fair amount of traffic. After consulting my website analytics package, it would appear that the majority of readers find my reviews by searching Google. Promoting my writing via social media does very little. Another issue is that readers tend to read the post they found via their search and then leave. Despite there being links at the bottom of the post to similar material. Currently, my blog does not have an effective means of searching older posts. The landing page has only 20 posts listed. There are approximately 2,500 archived.
As a blogger we are often told by our peers not to obsess over website traffic and statistics in general. There is a degree of sense in this. We should be primarily focused on writing, maintaining an equitable schedule and staying motivated. Stats can have a negative effect on the latter. However, one cannot ignore the subject either. As a writer, at some point you do want people to actually read your material, or else what is the point? I have therefore always kept an eye on traffic and have attempted to grow my readership overtime. The results have been varied. In my experience, you do slowly build up an audience by being persistent with your writing. But you also have to promote your work, which is a job in itself. It’s also something that not everyone is comfortable with. “Therein lies the rub” as the expression goes. How do you attract readers without compromising your own standards?
I was sitting in my office over the weekend, half-heartedly typing up a blog post about table manners and dining etiquette, when I paused and lapsed into a state of self examination and introspection.
“Isn’t Contains Moderate Peril supposed to be about gaming, movies and popular culture”? “Yes”, I replied to myself via my inner monologue.
“So what the hell am I doing writing about table manners, then?” my inner contrarian retorted.
“Well it is part of our culture, although I wouldn’t argue that it is a defining aspect of the zeitgeist at present” my conciliatory alter ego responded.
“Frankly, I’m getting bored with all of this per se” a third voice stated. It was at this point, I stopped arguing with various facets of my id and went to the pub.
March has been a challenging month for several reasons and as a result I’ve written very little. Furthermore, the recently revived podcast has also ground to a halt after just six episodes due to scheduling issues that are beyond myself and Brian’s control. At the end of February, Google made changes to their search algorithm which have had a major impact upon traffic to Contains Moderate Peril. Visits are down by over 20%. I’ll make no bones about the fact that this has really pissed me off. Several years of growth has been unceremoniously swept away at the drop of a hat. So all this, plus the rapidly changing situation regarding my Mother’s care, has found me ill disposed towards writing. To be clear, I’m not talking about writer’s block. I have plenty of ideas and a folder full of draft posts. I just haven’t wanted to write because I feel that I’m just spitting in the wind.
At the time of writing we are halfway through the Blaugust 2021 Festival of Blogging event. Whenever the subject of personal blogging is raised, there are those who immediately declare that “blogging is dead”. According to Google, out of 1.7 billion websites that currently exist worldwide, 500 million or so of those are blogs of some kind. These generate over 2 million blog posts daily. So I wouldn’t say that blogging per se is done and dusted. However it certainly has evolved considerably over the last 15 years. At the start of the current century blogging was a novel activity providing the means of keeping a personal journal online. Inevitably, popularity and ubiquity led to commercialisation and a necessity to monetise. There was a period of time when clicks, traffic and advertising could generate popularity as well as an income. But other forms of social media offering greater immediacy eventually usurped this potential. Now blogging is seen as more of a niche market activity or corporate tool.
By the time that August rolls around this year, I will have been actively blogging and generally sharing my writing online for 14 years. Prior to that, back in the eighties, I was involved in the production of several fanzines. That was indeed a labour of love and although I was happy to write the content, the work involved in physically creating the actual pages was tough. The printing costs were also an early lesson in how writing is not an immediate path to fame and fortune. All things considered, writing has been a major aspect of my life for as long as I can remember. I used to enjoy writing stories as a child and then as I got older I discovered the pleasure of a well constructed essay. I was fortunate to have three very good English teachers during my time at school, who were passionate about their job and very encouraging.
I mentioned not so long ago the possibility of a website revamp. I was concerned that the general layout of the blog was not optimal and that readers couldn’t easily find old material. In the past I even went as far as to write a guide to navigating through Contains Moderate Peril and using the categories to find old posts. Well I got a few emails and Twitter DMs about this and it would appear that folk like things just as they are. So I have reviewed my position and decided to leave things as they are at present. I did a little digging though my website stats, both from Squarespace and Google Analytics and it would appear the summary blocks at the bottom of each post are used and that the bounce rate for my site is not exactly as it first appears. Seems that readers do peruse other articles and the search facility is being used more often, especially for finding film reviews. So if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Due to the ongoing Global Pandemic, many people are now finding themselves working from home or having to stay in for health or childcare reasons. Hence there has been a marked increase in online leisure activities. Steam has been hit by a record number of concurrent users and Netflix and Amazon prime have both seen an increased demand upon their respective streaming services. If you’re not commuting then you are freeing up a substantial amount of hours each week. This potential abundance of “free time” along with a practical need to channel your energy into something to prevent yourself from going “stir crazy”, presents some interesting opportunities. Many people who have previously expressed an interest in writing and content creation now have the leeway to do so. Naturally, as a writing enthusiast and a long time blogger, I am happy to encourage such activities.
The New Year is often a time for revised plans, renewed ambitions and a desire to get back on the proverbial horse when it comes to content creation. More often than not, many of these lofty ambitions wither on the vine or fall victim to our propensity for indolence. Which is why I think it is prudent to ensure that any goals that you set for yourself are realistic and attainable. If for example, you have just started blogging, then it is wiser to focus on developing and maintaining a writing schedule, rather than trying to get a million page views in your first month. Impossible goals lead to disappointment which can then crush your optimism. Measured, targeted achievements, obtained over a credible time period may not seem so satisfying but they get the job done. Which is why I have given a great deal of thought to my own blogging goals for 2020. I am not going to alter or replace the blog template, nor am I going to embark upon too many side projects such a streaming or creating video content. Although I’d like to do such things I cannot sustain them or cope with the volume of work they will create. This year I am just going to try to create as much written content as possible and focus on expanding brand awareness.
The end of Blaugust Festival of Blogging 2019 presents the perfect opportunity to write another entry in my “Thoughts on Blogging” series. According to the Blaugust schedule this is the “lessoned learned week”, although I’m not too keen on that specific phrase. It sounds too much like the sort of bogus, sombre platitudes that politicians trot out in the wake of some national tragedy. But such is the nature of semantics and such is the curious fashion in which my mind works. So rather than worry of the wording, I’ll just simply reflect upon the past month and consider what it means for my writing, both present and future. Because I do believe that over the last month, I have had a minor epiphany with regard to my relationship with blogging.
The last three months have been problematic from a writing perspective and my productivity and motivation have both suffered. I struggle to find appropriate time to sit down and apply myself to writing and when I do, I seldom have the correct mindset to stay focused for long. Yet due to the back catalogue of content available on Contains Moderate Peril, there is still regular traffic coming to the site. Ironically, despite my low productivity, I have started receiving an increase in blog related marketing and have received numerous emails regarding “collaboration”, “featured posts” and “SEO optimisation”. All of which I have no interest in. However, the point remains, I’m not writing as much as I used to and I miss it. The same can be said for podcasting but that’s a tougher problem to fix. It is more labour intensive than writing, so the logical thing to do is to focus on the former and not the latter to fix.
I wasn’t expecting to write another entry in the Thoughts on Blogging series so soon, but something came up that grabbed my attention and got me thinking. A simple question that’s often asked about blogging and one that has many layers to it, as well as numerous answers. A new blogger who recently joined the Blaugust discord server asked for help “getting traffic to their blog”. An enquiry that gave me (and possibly others) pause for thought. Because we all to a degree want to attract traffic to our blogs. But I also think bloggers are too coy about this this subject. We’ll say things like “I write for myself” or “it’s not about the numbers” and although I agree with these points, building an audience is important. Let’s be honest, it can be somewhat disheartening after writing a lengthy post about a subject close to you heart, for it to fall flat and not attract any traffic. As discussed before, often it is the casual blog posts written in a hurry, that can be the most popular and the articles you’re most proud of can go unnoticed. So let us be honest. I think most bloggers want to grow an audience and enjoy the sense of accomplishment that it provides.
I decided to take a short break from blogging last week. I have a lot on at present and the only time I’ve had available to write has been in the late evening. I prefer to write in the morning as I’m more focused and motivated. Plus I haven’t really had a lot of positive things to say of late about the two primary subjects of this website. Broadly speaking there’s not a lot of going on in the video games industry that enthuses me. Similarly, the current crop of film releases have hardly distinguished themselves. At present when I do get writing ideas, they tend to be obscure niche market subjects or commentary on social issues. For example, I’m thinking of writing a post about my continuing enjoyment of the Japanese TV show Takeshi’s Castle. I’m also forming my thoughts for an article about how society’s relationship with wildlife may be “broken”. Stuff that is interesting to me but may not be ideal material for readers of Contains Moderate Peril.
As January comes to an end, I am pleased that I have so far managed to maintain a daily writing schedule. I hope that I can continue in this vein throughout February. As ever the actual process of sitting and writing has proven a somewhat mixed bag so far this year. Some days the word simply spill out of me and a blog post potentially writes itself. On others, composing just three coherent paragraphs is like pulling teeth and much time is spent procrastinating and getting side tracked. But a mixture of self-discipline and a degree of pride have helped oil the creative wheels and kept the content flowing. Whether any of it is any good is for others to decided. However, it was nice to find one of my posts quoted in an article over at Massively Overpowered. It means that at least someone is reading my work and pondering upon the points therein. Writing is after all a means of communication and sharing ideas so it is rewarding to know that you’re not just yelling into the wind all the time.
This week, a rather high profile sub-reddit associated with the Star Trek Online community, changed its status to “private” as a means of protesting against the state of the game and the way developers Cryptic are handling things. That matter was surprisingly resolved within 24 hours after an olive branch was extended from the STO community manager on reddit. However, it is not the protest itself nor the state of the game that I wish to focus upon, but the importance of /r/stobuilds as a shared community resource. A lot of STO players enjoy optimising their builds and tweaking their loadout and this site it the place to go to share such information. There is also a group of hardcore players that dig deep into the games data and comprehensively crunch number and generate useful information. Hence if a resource such as this was taken offline for longer period of time, it would have a tangible impact upon players and the wider community.
Spending time in the company of others who have similar interests and passions can be an invaluable shot in the arm and a great source of motivation. For example, I recently joined a Facebook group associated with The Evolution of Horror Podcast. It’s an absolute pleasure to be able to pick over the bones of a movie such as The Wicker Man and explore its finer points. You don’t have to adjust your level of conversation for fear of boring people, or dial back your enthusiasm due to concerns of being labelled a nerd or fanboy. Finding these online havens where you feel comfortable are invaluable, regardless of whether your passion is sport, knitting, Lepidoptery or Phrenology. Remember this point. I shall be returning to it shortly.
I read a post over at Tobold’s Blog recently that got me thinking about blogging, popularity, and the ebb and flow of our passions. The reason being is that Tobold, like many other long-term bloggers, has seen a decline in his audience over recent years. He certainly wasn’t carping about it, just simply observing the correlation between reducing your written output, the decline in popularity of his original subject matter and the number of visitors coming to his site. He also made a keen observation that blogging is not necessarily “where it’s at” with regard to cultivating an audience. If you are producing content specifically to grow and maintain a following, then You Tube and Twitch are better platforms for that. Especially if your content is part of the wider gaming scene. For better or for worse, I now associate gaming commentary with visual mediums rather than blogging. Yes, there is still long from criticism being produced but it’s aimed at a niche gaming audience. One that I would guess is older.
I usually write a post early on in the New Year in which I list the various goals I’m focusing on over the next twelve months. To date I have not done this because I am still trying to work out what I can and cannot accommodate within my current schedule. As a carer I’m kept very busy, but my weekly routine does offers windows of opportunity for writing. However, free time is a finite commodity, so I have to really cut my proverbial coat according to my cloth this year. Therefore, I’ve decided to pursue the following projects. I will continue to regularly post on Contains Moderate Peril as I enjoy having my own platform and certainly feel that I still have a lot to write about. Also, the audience is steadily growing, and I think it would be counter productive to fly in the face of such a development. I was also given the opportunity to write for MMOGames recently and have decided to accept this invitation. Writing to deadlines and deferring to editors, is an invaluable learning experience. Plus, it presents my writing to a wider audience which is great for brand awareness and other awful marketing terms.
There wasn’t a Newbie Blogger Initiative this year and I was saddened by that. I’ll make no bones about the fact that I liked this yearly event and the way for a few months after it, you’d see a lot of interesting new blogs spring up, filled with optimism and passion. But, what’s done is done, and life goes on. It’s up to others to pick up that particular torch and run with it, if they wish to see the event to return. I also miss a lot of my colleagues and peers’ blogs and the comradery that stemmed from the associated community. Again, this is a natural and inevitable attrition process, caused by that thing known as “life”. So, to combat my current melancholic malaise, I thought I’d collate a few of my thoughts about writing online and set them down in a semi-regular post, the same way as I do about podcasting.
Yet More Games We Cannot Play
Despite being over 5 years old, there still seems to be an active community playing Battlefield V. Having recently watched some multiplayer videos on YouTube, I decided to buy the game and have a go. Mainly because I had a hankering to fly a BF-109. Mercifully, this enterprise only cost me £5 because as you’ve probably guessed by the title of this post, things didn't go well. Although not as complex as a flight simulator, the controls for flying a plane in Battlefield V are involved. The main obstacle for me is turning the plane, which requires using both thumbsticks on the Xbox controller that I use. I tend to oversteer and lose control of the plane. I’m sure the problem can be overcome with practice but therein lies the rub. It would take a great deal of time and patience. Weeks, maybe months. I’m not going to invest in such an undertaking for something that is just a transient amusement.
Despite being over 5 years old, there still seems to be an active community playing Battlefield V. Having recently watched some multiplayer videos on YouTube, I decided to buy the game and have a go. Mainly because I had a hankering to fly a BF-109. Mercifully, this enterprise only cost me £5 because as you’ve probably guessed by the title of this post, things didn't go well. Although not as complex as a flight simulator, the controls for flying a plane in Battlefield V are involved. The main obstacle for me is turning the plane, which requires using both thumbsticks on the Xbox controller that I use. I tend to oversteer and lose control of the plane. I’m sure the problem can be overcome with practice but therein lies the rub. It would take a great deal of time and patience. Weeks, maybe months. I’m not going to invest in such an undertaking for something that is just a transient amusement.
This is a shame because flying around, blowing shit up in a BF-109 looks a lot of fun and really cool but the reality of gaming is that we can’t be good at everything and some titles are simply beyond our reach to master or more often than not, simply require effort beyond that we’re prepared to make. Sometimes a game can elude us because of one or two simple mechanics. Things that can fundamentally alter the overall game experience for some players, tipping the balance from challenging but rewarding to a massive pain in the ass. One of the reasons I didn’t buy the latest iteration of Call of Duty was because of the omni-movement system. For me it added an excessive layer of complexity and was something else that benefitted gamers with more nimble fingers and faster reactions. The Skill Based Match Making was also a pain, with inconsistent grouping and player manipulation.
However, a problematic mechanic doesn’t necessarily exclude you from a game forever. For example I really enjoyed the second and third instalments of The Witcher franchise but simply couldn’t cope with the combat system in the first game. It seemed to me to be staggeringly unintuitive and quickly became a source of annoyance. I ended up watching someone else play through the game on YouTube, so I could see the story completed, rather than do it myself. However, the game is currently getting remade and it would appear that the combat systems in the remake will be brought in line with that of the later iterations of The Witcher. If this is the case, then the game will finally be accessible to me, which would be nice. Yet I am old enough and wise enough to realise that the list of games I cannot play will continue to grow over time. Mainly due to me.
Despite being over 5 years old, there still seems to be an active community playing Battlefield V. Having recently watched some multiplayer videos on YouTube, I decided to buy the game and have a go. Mainly because I had a hankering to fly a BF-109. Mercifully, this enterprise only cost me £5 because as you’ve probably guessed by the title of this post, things didn't go well. Although not as complex as a flight simulator, the controls for flying a plane in Battlefield V are involved. The main obstacle for me is turning the plane, which requires using both thumbsticks on the Xbox controller that I use. I tend to oversteer and lose control of the plane. I’m sure the problem can be overcome with practice but therein lies the rub. It would take a great deal of time and patience. Weeks, maybe months. I’m not going to invest in such an undertaking for something that is just a transient amusement.
Nearly six years ago, I wrote a post about games that I wanted to play but couldn’t due to my inherent lack of skill and coordination. Since then I have also written about several games that I would like to enjoy but can’t, because they’re multiplayer and I do not know anyone else that plays them. I have also pointed out in subsequent posts that my personal experience of some games is nothing like that shown in the promotional videos. This is often due to the two aforementioned reasons. C’est la vie. Such is the nature of video games. Some you can play, others you can’t. Fortunately the latter doesn’t happen that often and by and large, I get by just fine. However, recently the phenomenon of “games we cannot play” has raised its ugly head once again. So I thought I’d share my latest thoughts on the matter.
I have written in the past about how certain games can be very appealing conceptually but the reality is quite different. Often the fundamental disappointment doesn't lie with the game itself but with our inability to play them. For me the Battlefield franchise is a prime example of this and more recently For Honor. The trailers for these games are frenetic, focusing on action and spectacle. The associated marketing certainly sells the idea of “awesome action”. Sadly, my personal experience of Battlefield has usually been running across an inordinately large map, only to arrive at the hot spot to get one-shotted. As for the planes, helicopters and vehicles; I can't fly them or drive them effectively so team mates tend to abandon me. I can only describe my experience in For Honor as being a flesh piñata for other players. The fun experience depicted in the advertising was as elusive as a good, odd numbered Star Trek movie.
LOTRO: Moving on From the Server Migration
The dust appears to have settled for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, after last month’s server transfer debacle. Despite the technical issues arising and subsequent delays to the migration timetable as well as the procurement of in-game housing, LOTRO seems to be enjoying a minor resurgence. Many former players are returning to the game and moving retired alts to new servers, due to the superior performance. The migration issues have also brought a lot of attention to this 18 year old game and it would appear there are many new players trying this Tolkien themed MMO. I was pleasantly surprised to see that a further two 64-bit servers, Grond (EU) and Sting (US), are to be added to the game to meet demand. As I predicted in my previous posts, LOTRO has a habit of bouncing back due to its unique niche in the gaming ecosystem.
The dust appears to have settled for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, after last month’s server transfer debacle. Despite the technical issues arising and subsequent delays to the migration timetable as well as the procurement of in-game housing, LOTRO seems to be enjoying a minor resurgence. Many former players are returning to the game and moving retired alts to new servers, due to the superior performance. The migration issues have also brought a lot of attention to this 18 year old game and it would appear there are many new players trying this Tolkien themed MMO. I was pleasantly surprised to see that a further two 64-bit servers, Grond (EU) and Sting (US), are to be added to the game to meet demand. As I predicted in my previous posts, LOTRO has a habit of bouncing back due to its unique niche in the gaming ecosystem.
There was also a recent update to the 2025 LOTRO roadmap. Lead systems designer Alan “Orion” Maki provided a breakdown of the game’s current priorities. The 18th anniversary festival is to be revised to include mission scaling and new rewards. Update 44: Crown of Hamat is due this month and will include new story quests, missions and a 6-player instance. The raid, Temple of Utug-bûr, has been delayed. The reputation perk system for VIP players is also included in the update. In Q3, the Hunter and Burglar classes will be updated, along with the Birding and Fishing hobbies. In Q4, there will be a new expansion for the game. This will include four new zones, a new raid and yet another increase to level cap from 150 to 160. There is also a wealth of updates to the kinship system as well as the temporarily removed deed log revision. Just remember that all of these can be subject to change for “reasons”.
With regard to my own ongoing LOTRO experience, I am finding Meriadoc server to be a very agreeable place. Having successfully moved my primary character there, the performance improvement is clearly notable. I have experienced no tangible lag while traversing the virtual world. Locations such as Minas Tirith which used to be notorious for rubberbanding are now stable and manageable. It is also interesting to see a lot more players out and about in all zones. It is a timely reminder that this is a multiplayer game. On my previous server Laurelin, I could go for days in some zones without seeing another player. Another plus point on Meriadoc is that it didn’t take long for the in-game economy to take off. I also created a new alt on Peregrin server, so I have a character to take to the various events that will no doubt find a home there.
All things considered, LOTRO does appear to be back to business as usual. If SSG can resolve the housing issue and ensure that players who have recently migrated can re-acquire their house of choice, then I’m sure that the status quo that has prevailed for so long will return. The revised roadmap has plenty of new content scheduled which is reassuring to the playerbase. The game is far from stagnant. SSG also has a habit of quietly tinkering with legacy issues in the background, while developing the bread and butter content of the game. They tend to take as much time as they need to get the job done and sensibly play their cards close to their chest. Hence there is still hope that issues such as UI scaling will be addressed in the long term and that the group finder will be overhauled. Let’s see how the rest of 2025 pans out.
One of the things that I enjoy when playing a new video game is character customisation or character creation. I will spend hours trawling through settings, changing the most minute and consequential aspects of my avatars appearance. I am certain that there is a psychological aspect to this particular game mechanic and that it says something about you as a person. Are your creations shaped just by a need to look good in-game or is there more to it? Are they external manifestations of your sexual preferences or thoughts on body image. Do you treat them as characters from a book that exists in your mind. Do you aspire to recreate the likeness of people you know or admire? Do you strive to make your avatar look like you? Whatever the reasons, it would seem that character creation is something that a lot of gamers enjoy. Hence I am not alone in my borderline obsession. What you look like in-game is equally as important as your character’s name.
I recently tried to use DLSS 5 Manager with the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out. Today I undertook a similar experiment with AMD Neural Rendering, which is a broadly comparable product. Both utilities use 3D-Guided Neural Rendering, an AI technology that alters how lighting, reflections, and textures look in a game. Instead of just upscaling the image like older versions, DLSS 5 uses an AI network to instantly "re-render" lighting and material responses over the game's layout, achieving photorealistic details that would normally negatively impact a graphics card's performance. Or to put it in less fancy terms, the game graphics are enhanced and modified, although it is highly subjective as to whether the end results are an improvement. However, as a game such as LOTRO is unlikely to ever receive a major graphical overhaul, tools such as these are the nearest players will get to revised graphics.
The core game code and engine for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, is about 24 years old. LOTRO began originally as Middle-earth Online, developed by Sierra On-Line in 1998. Turbine took over full development of the project in 2003/2004 when their parent company, Vivendi Universal Games, acquired Sierra. The content that had already been developed by Sierra was abandoned and Turbine created a new game using structural elements such as the UI and game engine from their previous release Asheron’s Call 2 from 2002. The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar was officially released in April 2007. Hence, the active public release code is 19 years old. Despite continuous expansion and updates, along with a recent migration to 64-bit architecture, the foundations of LOTRO retains a nearly twenty year old legacy framework. This frequently contributes to modern technical hurdles and engine constraints.
A few years ago, there was a fan created project to provide voice narration of NPC dialogue in the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online. This mainly involved capturing the text in the quest dialogue windows and then sending it to OCR software, before using a text-to-speech program to read it. LOTROVoice as it was known, broadly worked but the creator stopped developing it as it proved troublesome to maintain. However, I recently discovered Khazad Voice TTS which is a separate project that does pretty much the same. I went so far as to install this “immersive AI narrator for LOTRO” after seeing a YouTube video of it being used successfully. Sadly I ran into issues configuring Khazad Voice TTS, because I have two monitors and LOTRO runs on the secondary (by my choice) and not the primary. I couldn’t “lasso” the dialogue windows in LOTRO during the calibration set up, which effectively prevented me from completing the process.
Throughout yesterday and early today, there was an issue logging in to the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online. Upon starting the game launcher, it would attempt to connect to the patch server to download the latest game update. This process would start but then subsequently stall at 33%. The launcher would then attempt to reconnect to the patch server every 60 seconds but could not make any further progress. Some players found that if they left it long enough, it would eventually complete the download and the launcher then progress to the next screen where they could input their username and password. However, for the majority of LOTRO players the problem would simply persists and the launcher would be stuck in a loop. Some players attempted to reinstall the game or use the repair data facility in the launcher but neither of these proved to be successful workarounds. The patch sever needed to be bypassed to resolve the issue.
Two years ago I wrote a post about fine tuning your graphics in the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online. Apart from installing ReShade and using AMD Adrenalin, the options were somewhat limited, due to the game’s age and multiplayer status. Since then, I’ve been playing LOTRO with the game settings maxed out, a custom ReShade profile to make the colour palette more vivid and Radeon Image Sharpening enabled within the AMD software. The game looks clear, crisp and the draw distance is pretty good for an ageing game but I still wish the graphics could be tweaked further. Hence, I’ve been trawling the internet in a vain attempt to see if I can find any third party utilities that could be used to enhance LOTRO further. During the course of my search I stumbled across DLSS 5 Manager. This is an open-source, intelligent utility and one-click mod installer designed to inject and manage Nvidia's DLSS 5 neural rendering features, ReShade, and OptiScaler into PC games.
Are video games becoming easier? It’s a perennial subject that is frequently discussed by those who play them. Often the question of whether they have actually become easier is not the focus of the debate, as it seems to be broadly recognised that it is the case. Instead, discussion of this matter tend to drift into the rectitude of this change. Debate’s of this nature are usually awash with subjective opinions and personal preferences which are then put forward as objective facts. It’s not just a question of video games becoming easier, it’s the fact that making them easier is “wrong” and those who want them as such are “not proper gamers” etc. The hours that have been lost to this pointless, tedious debate are uncountable. However, I digress. Let us return to the matter of video games becoming easier, because although fans discuss this a lot and have plenty to say, you don’t often hear from the developers on this subject.
The next expansion for the MMORG, The Lord of the Rings Online, was announced on the 1st August, via the gaming website MMORPG.The Wolves of Mordor, which will launch later in the year, appears ambitious in scope as it will include two new game systems as well as the obligatory story update. This expansion takes place in Draugardh located in the North East of Mordor, beyond the Plateau of Gorgoroth. It includes the new zones of Heledhris, Parth Rhavas and Nan Ogol. These vary environmentally ranging from the arid, volcanic and semi-tropical. Players will encounter the Daugrim in these regions, Werewolves but not in the modern sense. This is not the lycanthropy of Eastern European legends but in the established Tolkien idiom of fell spirits inhabiting the bodies of Wolves. The region also sees the return of the Woses and players can expect to encounter Elves and scouts from Gondor. As ever with LOTRO expansions, there will be new instances as well as a raid.
I was recently perusing my archive of old blog posts, when it struck me how much I’ve written about the MMORPG genre over the years. Naturally, there was far more material from between 2008 and 2012 as that was period when I immersed myself in the genre and was very enthusiastic about it. I was at a point in my life when I had the time to dedicate to such games and I was happy to participate in the social aspect of they offered. I would regularly play through group content and spend time socialising online with fellow guild members. My experience remains a textbook example of how online games can be more than the sum of their parts and that where you are at in your life has a major impact upon your overall enjoyment. As I read though various old posts it became clear that my experiences where specific to this particular part of my life and that they cannot be repeated. My relationship with the genre is very different now and that’s fine.
Video games as a genre are extremely poor at explaining themselves. When you buy a new game you’ll often find little or no information regarding the basic systems and mechanics. The industry assumes that their customers are by default familiar with the fundamentals of playing a modern video game. Hence if a game has a tutorial, it is often based around videos rather than detailed verbal instructions. You are are briefly shown a clip of a specific move being successfully undertaken but it is seldom shown in a wider context. The industry also expects the fan community to take on the role of curating and disseminating information about its games. The move away from forums and bespoke websites to Discord highlights this. Discord is a primarily a real time communication tool and not good at maintaining a historical data archive. If you want an answer to a specific gaming question, you’ll more than likely find it on YouTube in a video made by a fellow gamer.
According to the recent “letter to the players”, Standing Stone Games will be adding a new zone to the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online in the second quarter of this year. Possibly around May or June. Having spent the last three expansions in the South of Middle-earth exploring the tropical Umbar and the deserts of Harad, I would certainly welcome a change of location. I have gradually warmed to these zones over the last eighteen months but I do find them so incongruous. They are so radically different to the European style content that has been the mainstay of the game for so long. Tolkien’s source text has plenty of detail regarding Eriador and Rhovanion. Information regarding Harad is scarce, hence it has afforded the developers a great deal of artistic freedom. Although exceedingly well realised these tropical zones have taken a while for me to get used to.
I’m not sure exactly when it started but I’ve recently noticed a graphical bug within the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online. This problem often occurs within caves or in areas where there are a lot of rocky surfaces. Hence it has become very apparent in the latest two expansions, set in Umbar and Harad. This graphical glitch causes some surface textures to appear to flash from light to dark intermittently. The resulting strobe effect is hard to ignore and very distracting. Fortunately, a quick online search showed that this is not a problem unique to my installation of LOTRO and is a known problem. Furthermore, there is a very simple workaround, which is to go into the Advanced Graphics setting and uncheck “Per Pixel Lighting”, which immediately remedies the problem. I have no idea why this has recently started to happen but at least it can be resolved.
The latest expansion for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, Kingdoms of Harad, launched on December 3rd. With this release the level cap was raised from 150 to 160. It should also be noted that the cap for virtue traits was also raised from 96 to 100. Naturally these changes meant that there is a requirement to replace all armour and jewellery once the new cap is reached. Similarly Legendary Items have to be reforged and any traceries upgraded or replaced. If you follow the Epic Story it will lead you from quest hub to quest hub. The main quest rewards, along with those from side quests will provide adequate gear as you slowly progress towards the new level cap. The new raids, instances and missions/delvings then provide a means to acquire higher quality level 160 gear. LOTRO and indeed, many other MMOs are consistent in this methodology.
It is customary in a post such as this to list the various games that I’ve played over the last twelve months and share my thoughts on them. Wider analysis of the video game industry is also de rigeur. Unfortunately, I don’t really feel disposed to do either of those two things. My thoughts on the games I’ve played have already been published and can easily be accessed via the links at the bottom of this post. As for the video game industry, it suffers the same flaws as music, TV and cinema. There is creativity and innovation out there but it is often drowned out by mainstream products which are demonstrably inferior due to their inherent mediocrity. As for the business side of things, we once again clearly see the failings of the corporate management class. Sadly, they do not face the consequences of the mistakes that they make.
Today Standing Stone Games began beta testing Update 46.1 for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online. The current preview on the Bullroarer test server is mainly for the new instance cluster that comes with the Kingdoms of Harad expansion which launched a few weeks ago. However, it would appear that this latest preview has another feature or note. One that should please LOTRO players. Contrary to what a lot of people thought, myself included, SSG have been working on a scaling UI for 2K and 4K monitors and the results are now available for testing from today Monday 15th through to Friday 19th December. Until now the main workaround to the lack of UI scaling has been to use either Nvidia or AMD graphics software to upscale the game from 1920 x 1080, or a third party app such as LosslessScaling. Having an official solution is a far better option.
Kingdoms of Harad, the 13th expansion for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, was released today. Highlighting developer’s Standing Stone Games continuing commitment to this eighteen year old game. As 2025 draws to a close, I thought it would be prudent to reflect upon the current state of LOTRO and to consider what may come next year. Two words that I associated with this MMO are stable and consistent. The playerbase is loyal and dependable. Player numbers never greatly decline nor do they notably expand. LOTRO fills a very specific gaming niche and one of the reasons it retains its players is that there is no suitable alternative game. Although there is not a great deal of data in the public domain, it is generally accepted that LOTRO has an older player demographic and that many are consummate Tolkien fans.
The MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online runs on a broad spectrum of PCs. From archaic laptops to high end gaming rigs, although it may require a bit of tweaking. At present, the optimal way to play the MMO is at a resolution of 1920x1080 (FHD) with the graphics setting maxed out. The graphics are sharp and the UI is readable. However, a growing number of gamers are now using 2K and 4K monitors. You can play LOTRO at higher resolutions such as 2560×1440 (QHD) and 3840x2160 (UHD) and the game looks great. However, the UI does not scale and so is very small on 2K and 4K monitors. The skill icons on the quickslots (shortcut bars) and the in-game text become difficult to see at these resolutions, which deters some players from using them. It is a known issue that Standing Stone Games are attempting to address but it is unlikely to be resolved any time soon.
I recently read a post on Massively Overpowered about skills rotation in the MMORPG genre. I found the subsequent discussion in the comments fascinating. Mainly because I have never used a fixed rotation of skills in any of the MMORPGs that I play. I understand the reasoning behind such things and why some players want to optimise their combat performance. Using one’s skills in a specific order to maximise damage and manage their subsequent cooldown has a logical appeal. In Star Trek Online, some players go so far as to create keybinds for their rotations and assign it to a specific hotkey, which is then continuously pressed throughout combat. However, rotations are a blunt tool that lack flexibility, often being geared towards dealing with a single target or using an area of effect skill against a larger group. They may not be the optimal approach to combat when things do not go to plan.
Tolkien enthusiasts may recollect Athlon Games, a subsidiary of Leyou Technologies, announcing that it was developing a new MMORPG, based upon The Lord of the Rings, back in September 2018. The following summer, it was revealed that Amazon Game Studios was the partner developer for the project. In late 2020, Leyou Technologies (a Hong Kong-based company), was acquired by the Chinese conglomerate Tencent. This triggered a contract clause with the license holder, Middle-earth Enterprises, allowing them to terminate the existing arrangement if a new deal could not be met. Amazon and Tencent were unable to agree upon how to proceed with the project, leading Amazon to withdraw from negotiations. The project was subsequently scrapped. No details or images of the MMO have been released.
After a six month migration period, Standing Stone Games formally closed all their legacy 32-bit game servers for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, on the 31st August 2025. Despite this planned closure being widely discussed via the game’s official forums, professional video game websites and fan blogs, many LOTRO players were unaware of this deadline. Hence many were unable to migrate their respective alts to the new 64-bit servers. Naturally those affected by these closures were upset, especially those with longstanding characters who didn’t relish the prospect of starting from scratch with a new alt. Thankfully, SSG have been true to their word and as of today, have re-opened these “dark worlds” to character transfers. If you have an alt trapped on one of the older game worlds, then now is the time to use the transfer wizard and move them to a new active game world.
MMORPG announced earlier today and it was subsequently confirmed by Standing Stone games, that the new expansion for The Lord of the Rings Online will be Kingdoms of Harad and that it will launch later in the year. The expansion will see the conclusion of the epic Song of Waves and Wind storyline and the level cap raised from 150 to 160. There will be a new region to explore, Mûr Ghala, comprising four zones. Adagîm, Idagâl, An Shêru and Kighân. The latter contains the main trading hub of Zajâna. Players will travel into the region with Gandalf the White, along with allies of the Kindred of Coins and Mizadi as they seek to counter the regional power struggle brought about by the fall of Sauron. Canonically, this takes place three months after the destruction of the ring, hence King Elessar and Eomer are busy with domestic affairs in their respective kingdoms.
Skirmishes were added to the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, in 2009 with the release of the Siege of Mirkwood expansion. Skirmishes are a repeatable and scalable combat system that allows players to access various instances for solo or group play from anywhere in the in-game world. Players can choose a Skirmish Soldier from a variety of classes to accompany them and provide healing, tank or additional DPS. On paper it’s a great system which is why many other MMOs offer something similar. I recently decided to tinker with my Skirmish Soldier build on my main character to see if I could optimise their performance. As my primary alt is a Lore-master, for the last few years I have had a Warrior as their Skirmish Soldier, to take some of the aggro from attacking mobs. I used the excellent guide by FibroJedi and swapped over a few Training and Personal Traits.
On 2nd August 2025, I was playing the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, on my primary character, a level cap Lore-master. I decided to continue with one of the Allegiance Quest lines, specifically Durin’s Folk. I played through several quests and earned the appropriate tokens that advance the Allegiance system. I then handed these in to the NPC in the Hall Under the Mountain, expecting the next quest in the series “Chapter 3: Gimli’s Request” to be unlocked. An item appeared in my inventory that I then clicked on, which should have bestowed the quest. Unfortunately, nothing happened. Furthermore, the item vanished from my bag and therefore I could not attempt to click it again. I checked the LOTRO Wiki and then looked around the Hall Under the Mountain to see if any NPC had a ring icon above their head. As they did not, I surmised that this was a software glitch and logged a support ticket with Standing Stone Games.
Let’s start with a quote from a classic Walter Hill film, The Warriors. “Can you count, suckers?” says Sirus. The gang leader was referring to the number of Police in New York City at the time. Whereas, for the purpose of this post, I am referencing how many Delving Writs a player needs to acquire 6 pieces of level cap armour in LOTRO. Because, next to the gear you get from endgame instances and raids, Delving gear is a good alternative.. It is marginally better than the items you can get from lootboxes. Hence, Delving armour is a good source of high end gear for the solo player. Through the miracle of mathematics, the number of Delving writs required to acquire a full set of this armour is 9,000. At first glance, that seems like a lot. If you then do some further research to put the number in context, you realise it is indeed a lot and a substantial undertaking.
I am currently enjoying a renewed interest in the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online since I migrated all my characters from the old 32-bit servers to the new 64-bit replacements. I’ve created a new High Elf Lore-master on Peregrin server and am currently levelling them in a targeted play through of the Epic Story, supplemented by curated side quests. While playing recently, I realised the game UI on this alt wasn’t as I usually have it laid out. So I checked through the various documents on my PC and found a text file I had created many years ago that had a few hints and tips written down. I’ve added a few more and decided to share them as a blog post. I’m sure veteran players will be familiar with many of them but a lot of them are worth repeating. They may prove useful to those new to LOTRO or returning to the game after a long hiatus.
In mid-March, while the server migration debacle raged, I created a new alt for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, on Peregrin server. The idea was to play casually through content focusing on enjoyment, rather than worrying about progression. I was to level at a pace that suited me and had no specific plans to develop my alt in any particular way. I have been playing LOTRO since 2008 and have a primary level-cap character that has been my main focus over the years. Hence I have previously experienced all story content from all the expansions and am therefore very familiar with what the game has to offer. Which is why I thought I’d do things differently this time. So I started my new Lore-master in Mossward in Swanfleet, the new starting area added to the game in 2022.
In massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), alts (short for alternate characters), are new characters created by a player in addition to their primary character (often called the “main”). Alts are often encouraged by developers as a means to keep players engaged with their game(s). Sometimes an MMO will actively reward the creation of alts either with access to exclusive content, or with additional skills or items previously unlocked by primary characters. As the myth that an MMO really begins at endgame still persists in gaming culture, some games sell boosts that will instantly raise the level of an alt to that of the current level cap. Creating alts is such a key aspect of the MMO genre, that some games will sell additional character slots, so that players can create further alts beyond the default amount allowed. There are many reasons why players create alts. Let us consider some.
I wrote a while ago that a lot of kinships from the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online, would probably not survive the recent server migration. MMOs are social endeavours by nature, often with strong emotional ties but a lot of kinships (or guilds) have already fallen into decline, simply due to gaming entropy. Hence the migration has seen players leave existing kinships to move to the superior 64-bit servers, resulting in a lot of people who may be potentially looking for a new home. This is exactly what happened to me. I opted to move to Meriadoc server promptly, at the cost of leaving a kinship I have been a member of since 2009. However, the move presented me with an opportunity to remedy this problem myself. I subsequently set up my own kinship and decided to make it available to others.
The dust appears to have settled for the MMORPG The Lord of the Rings Online, after last month’s server transfer debacle. Despite the technical issues arising and subsequent delays to the migration timetable as well as the procurement of in-game housing, LOTRO seems to be enjoying a minor resurgence. Many former players are returning to the game and moving retired alts to new servers, due to the superior performance. The migration issues have also brought a lot of attention to this 18 year old game and it would appear there are many new players trying this Tolkien themed MMO. I was pleasantly surprised to see that a further two 64-bit servers, Grond (EU) and Sting (US), are to be added to the game to meet demand. As I predicted in my previous posts, LOTRO has a habit of bouncing back due to its unique niche in the gaming ecosystem.
It has not been a good week for the MMORPG, The Lord of the Rings Online and its developer Standing Stone Games. The migration from legacy 32-bit servers to 64-bit servers has not gone smoothly. The transfer queue was overwhelmed by the sheer number of accounts and it has taken far longer than expected to process the backlog of requests. Today has been the fifth day of waiting to see if my 3 main characters from Laurelin server have successfully migrated to their new home on Meriadoc. When I checked this morning, the transfer wizard indicated that my characters were back where they originally came from. I therefore considered repeating the entire process. However, around midday, Community Manager Cordovan indicated that SSG had caught up with transfer requests made around 8:00 AM EST on Sunday 9th March. So I decided to be patient and wait a little longer.
Atomfall: Getting the Ending You Want
Spoiler Alert: The following post discusses the various endings available in Atomfall. About 15 or so hours into Atomfall, the various plot elements started to become a lot clearer to me and I realised that several key characters were all offering differing escape options. Naturally, each outcome came with a quid pro quo requirement. Hence, there was a choice to make as to which ending I wanted to pursue, assuming that some outcomes were narratively or ethically better than others. At this point I had avoided many plot spoilers, so had no clear idea as to what specific endings were available. So I made a decision based purely upon the information that each of these characters gave me and chose to implement Dr. Holder’s solution to the Oberon problem. It seemed the most honest and pragmatic outcome, plus it caused the least amount of collateral damage.
Spoiler Alert: The following post discusses the various endings available in Atomfall.
About 15 or so hours into Atomfall, the various plot elements started to become a lot clearer to me and I realised that several key characters were all offering differing escape options. Naturally, each outcome came with a quid pro quo requirement. Hence, there was a choice to make as to which ending I wanted to pursue, assuming that some outcomes were narratively or ethically better than others. At this point I had avoided many plot spoilers, so had no clear idea as to what specific endings were available. So I made a decision based purely upon the information that each of these characters gave me and chose to implement Dr. Holder’s solution to the Oberon problem. It seemed the most honest and pragmatic outcome, plus it caused the least amount of collateral damage.
Having carried out his plan, I began to make my way back from the Oberon Dig Site. Just prior to entering the Central Processor, I ran through a control room with a red phone. This started ringing which caused me a minor dilemma. I wasn’t sure whether to answer it or ignore it and return to Dr. Holder. However as I had already answered several of these mystery phone calls, my curiosity got the better of me so I answered the phone. The Voice on the Phone subsequently congratulated me on successfully dealing with Oberon and told me to return to the bunker where I started my journey. I immediately thought that by answering this phone, I had effectively blown any chance of completing the Dr. Holder ending. There were no longer any open leads relating to him in my journal. So I dutifully returned to the bunker and got the appropriate Voice on the Phone ending.
Although I was broadly okay with this ending, I was curious as to how answering the phone had altered events sufficiently to deny me the Dr. Holder ending. So I loaded a save game that I had made just before returning to the original bunker and noticed that the Joyce Tanner ending was still showing in my journal. So I went back to the Interchange and found a voice log from Tanner left in Data Store Charlie. This gave me coordinates to meet her in Casterfell Woods. So I travelled to the assigned location and found her waiting with a helicopter. She was not pleased that I had chosen to poison Oberon without getting a sample. However, she thought that the formula for the poison would be a comparable bargaining chip Hence she told me to go back to the Interchange and get the formula. She also told me to kill Holder so there was no longer any potential competition.
Upon returning to the Interchange, I struggled to find a way to reach Dr. Holder, as the destruction of Oberon had collapsed a lot of the tunnels and blocked multiple doorways. However, I found that if I entered via the Slatten Dale entrance, there were ladders going down to several unfinished tunnels that lead to both the Medical and Robotics departments. I subsequently found Dr. Holder in the Medical Tunnels and was able to complete the original ending that I was pursuing. Having successfully resolved this matter, I loaded the previously mentioned save game again and travelled to Wyndham Village to find Captain Sims, so I could pursue his potential ending. However, when I arrived there was an incursion by the Druid cult and a battle was in progress. Sims was gone. I was unable to complete the other two possible endings as I had shot Mother Jago while exiting the Oberon Dig Site and because Dr. Holder had already shot Dr. Garrow.
I am very impressed with Atomfall and the fact that despite things appearing to go awry, I was still provided with options very late in the game and able to complete the ending I wanted. I suspect that the developers Rebellion have given a lot of thought to the fact that players do not always follow the most linear paths and have therefore built a lot of flexibility into their branching narrative tree. As a result of this experience, I am tempted to play through Atomfall once again to test exactly how accommodating the game can be. There is still a significant amount of the quarantine zone that I haven’t thoroughly explored. I shall also keep an eye on the game’s subreddit, to see if any other players have had a comparable experience to mine and taken a very scenic route to the ending that they desired.
I recently completed the main story in Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon. In total I spent about sixty hours playing the game. I began at the start of the year, then took a break for a while but returned to it recently because I wanted to see if I could unlock a specific ending. I did manage to do this. Like so many other RPGs, Tainted Grail: the Fall of Avalon has a central storyline, along with a wealth of side quests, based around factions in specific zones. I think I possibly completed about a two thirds of these. However, once I finished the main story, my interest in the game began to wane. I finally left my character in the last major quest hub in case I wish to return at a future date. I then logged out of the game and uninstalled it from my PC to free up space for whatever I was to play next. In this case its The Sinking City 2. None of this is a negative reflection on Tainted Grail: the Fall of Avalon. I enjoyed the time I spent playing this quirky RPG. I simply had my fill and left to play something else.
The action, open world RPG Crimson Desert has been patched five times since it launched on March 19th and there have also been multiple hotfixes. At first glance this isn’t anything unusual. New games have bugs and issues arise once a game is released and played across a much wider variety of hardware than in QA testing. However, if you read the patch notes that accompany these sizeable downloads it quickly becomes apparent that developer’s Pearl Abyss are not just addressing bugs and software glitches. They are actively engaging with their player base and responding to suggestions and requests from that community. Although this is not a unique approach, what is surprising is the speed and quantity in which these player driven changes are happening. There seems to be an active ongoing process to refine the game and eliminate some of its “rough edges” and the players are contributing to this process with their feedback.
According to my Steam statistics, I last played Starfield on 19th December 2023. I bought the game upon its release in September of that year and played in total for 136 hours. Starfield held my interest for three and a half month and I wrote seven blog posts about various aspects of the game. Although there were some engaging aspects to Starfield, I did feel that that the game was somewhat lacking in systems and content, at that point in its lifecycle. I also think that the marketing and player expectations associated with Starfield were overblown and unrealistic. The shadow of Skyrim looms large over all new Bethesda releases and they don’t seem able to quite recapture that magic. Hence, I inevitably drifted away from Starfield and to another game and was effectively “done” with it. I have not played the game since which seems to validate the theory that game are becoming increasingly more ephemeral.
13 days after its release, market analysts estimate that Crimson Desert has already earned $200 million across the four main platforms (PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S). The game is certainly proving popular among gamers with the internet awash with live streams and “let’s play” videos. However, reviews are mixed both among gaming journalists and YouTube influencers. Common complaints about the game include that it is slow to start, the controls are poorly laid out on all platforms and that developer’s Pearl Abyss have done a poor job of explaining most aspects of the game to new players. Although such criticisms are true to a degree, I think these complaints highlight how many gamers are conditioned to expect new titles to follow a specific pattern with regard to pacing, narrative exposition and learning in-game systems. A pattern that Pearl Abyss has chosen to ignore, instead favouring an old school approach.
Last night, I spent the first 45 minutes after the launch of Crimson Desert, watching the 92GB pre-downloaded game files slowly decompressing and installing. I finally launched the game at about 10:50 PM GMT. I then waited a further 5 minutes while shaders were downloaded. It took me about 15 minutes or so to read through the various game settings and choose those that are optimal for my PC. I suspect even if you have a beast of a computer, you’re still going to have to spend some time tweaking settings. As for those players like myself with a gaming rig that is somewhere in the middle of the game’s specifications, be prepared to do a lot of fine tuning both within Crimson Desert itself and your Windows settings.
Video games as a genre are extremely poor at explaining themselves. When you buy a new game you’ll often find little or no information regarding the basic systems and mechanics. The industry assumes that their customers are by default familiar with the fundamentals of playing a modern video game. Hence if a game has a tutorial, it is often based around videos rather than detailed verbal instructions. You are are briefly shown a clip of a specific move being successfully undertaken but it is seldom shown in a wider context. The industry also expects the fan community to take on the role of curating and disseminating information about its games. The move away from forums and bespoke websites to Discord highlights this. Discord is a primarily a real time communication tool and not good at maintaining a historical data archive. If you want an answer to a specific gaming question, you’ll more than likely find it on YouTube in a video made by a fellow gamer.
I decided to pursue a magic and spellcasting build in the RPG Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon after the story prologue. During the opening section of the game, the player is presented with a sufficient range of weapons to determine which type suits them best, although you can change at any time during the game. For me, casting spells feels right and is fun. Plus I have fond memories of the magic system in Two Worlds II and Skyrim. So once I started playing through the first zone, I started putting attribute and skill points into the appropriate trees to bolster my spells strengths and frequency. I also chose gear that would bolster those statistics further. The results have been surprising, as magic and spellcasting is not presented in the usual “glass cannon” style you find in some other RPGs. Here it offers robust DPS output and with the right gear and spell combination, a strong degree of survivability.
I first played The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in June 2013. This was over 18 months after the game’s initial release and the base game and DLC were bundled together in a “Legendary” edition. Although a seasoned gamer at the time, familiar with the RPG genre with such titles as Mass Effect and Grand Theft Auto IV, I had not played a game from this franchise before. It only took a few hours of gameplay to realise that this was a special title. The scope of the story, the art design and the size of the world were immediately notable. Tamriel was immersive in a way I had not experienced with other titles. Often simply traversing the terrain and watching the dawn break while the game soundtrack swelled, was sufficient to hold my attention. I instantly picked up on the voice acting of Christopher Plummer and Max Von Sydow. All of which indicated that this was a gaming landmark.
I recently started playing through the RPG Disco Elysium for a second time. I did not complete the game last time I played in February and March but go about two thirds of the way through the story. As far as solving the central crime, I had established an accurate cause of death for the murder victim and broadly understood the events leading to their death. The main reason I did not complete the game was because I was playing on the Nintendo Switch and found it increasingly difficult to read the text on the small screen. The loading times were also excruciatingly slow. Playing the game while “docked” helped the former but not the latter issue. Hence I bought the PC version of Disco Elysium: The Final Cut for just £5 and started again from the beginning.
The Red Strain is the second DLC for the RPG Atomfall. It provides another interesting side story that is adjacent to that of the main game. Set in the new region of Stafell Crag, the player finds a secret installation called Test Site Moriah, run by C.O.R.E. (Co-ordinated Orbital Research Establishment). C.O.R.E. have seniority over B.A.R.D. (British Atomic Research Department) and have taken much of their research and used it for their own experiments. This includes the Red Strain, a genetically modified version of the Blue Infection. However, this has escaped containment and spread throughout the entire site. Once again the player must explore the zone, looking for leads and collecting resources, while trying to piece together what has happened. As in the previous DLC and main game, not every NPC that you meet in The Red Strain can be trusted.
Wicked Isle DLC for the RPG Atomfall was released on 3rd June, two months after the base game launched. As with its predecessor there are no specific missions, the DLC requires the player to explore the environment to pick up leads. These ultimately provide a coherent story but the clues may not necessarily be obtained in the correct order. Hence, again there is a requirement for players to look, listen and think. Referring to the in-game notebook is beneficial for narrative clarification. As well as a new story, Wicked Isle DLC also has new weapons, items and skills. This includes a Blunderbuss shotgun which inflicts huge damage but has a limited range, as well as a cutlass and some ritualistic weapons. There is also an upgraded metal detector along with the Decomposition skill, which causes enemies to rapidly dissolve into fungal spores after a takedown. This means that dead NPCs cannot be discovered.
Spoiler Alert: The following post discusses the various endings available in Atomfall. About 15 or so hours into Atomfall, the various plot elements started to become a lot clearer to me and I realised that several key characters were all offering differing escape options. Naturally, each outcome came with a quid pro quo requirement. Hence, there was a choice to make as to which ending I wanted to pursue, assuming that some outcomes were narratively or ethically better than others. At this point I had avoided many plot spoilers, so had no clear idea as to what specific endings were available. So I made a decision based purely upon the information that each of these characters gave me and chose to implement Dr. Holder’s solution to the Oberon problem. It seemed the most honest and pragmatic outcome, plus it caused the least amount of collateral damage.
By default, I’m not always drawn to first person games. I see their merits in genres such as shooters but in an RPG, I prefer a third person perspective. So I was somewhat ambivalent towards Atomfall when I first saw promotional videos for the game. However, its uniquely British setting and period ambience piqued my interest. I also enjoy the Sniper Elite series which developers Rebellion also produce. So I recently bought the deluxe version of the game and began my play through. I made sure that I didn’t do too much research beforehand, because it was clear that the complexities of the plot are a major selling point of the game. Twenty two gaming hours later, I had completed two of six possible endings. Despite discovering a wealth of “leads” and diligently scouring the four main zones of Atomfall, I still feel there is much left to find and explore. Hence I have begun a second playthrough.
I’m a late convert to the church of Disco Elysium. Over 4 years late, although that can be a good thing in some respects. Pretty much everything that can be said about the game probably has been said already and I’ve missed it all. When purchasing the game, I knew there was a positive buzz around this RPG and it had something to do with its philosophical nature. Beyond that I wasn’t aware of the game's subtleties. I was just looking for something that I could play on my Nintendo Switch that wasn’t Mario. As Disco Elysium is a dialogue driven RPG, based upon choices rather than action, I thought buying the game on this platform was a good choice. So I started playing late on a Thursday night. 10 days later I am still utterly riveted, although this is one of the most emotionally gruelling gaming experiences of my life.
Do you know what you're doing? For clarification, this question is regarding video games and not how you run your life. The latter would make for an interesting discussion but that is not what I am asking. On this occasion the question is to establish whether you are the sort of player who strives to understand the mechanics of a video game? Do you make it your business to become au fait with all the statistics and the formulas behind them? Do you keep a spreadsheet filled with data pertaining to your gear or build? Do you fully comprehend the consequences of swapping out an item and seeing a particular statistic increase or decrease. Does all of this inherently appeal to you and contribute to overall the enjoyment you get from a game? If the answer is yes, then bravo. I kind of admire your dedication to this aspect of gaming. Because I tend to switch off when it comes to min-maxing.
One of the defining qualities of a truly great game is how long it can hold your interest and keep you engaged. For example I bought the Game of the Year version of Skyrim about 14 months after its initial release. Hence I had access to all the games content that I dutifully played through. However, I also fully explored the world map, completed all side quests, crafted, furnished several houses and continued to travel the in-game world and killing foes long after I had completed all the traditional content. I did the same with Red Dead Redemption 2 as this also offered a compelling and immersive world. Games such as these have a quality beyond just the functional. I would happily traverse the mountains in Skyrim and watch the sunset, revelling in the ambient music. Similarly, I would often just ride the train in RDR2 and watch the world go by. When I finally stopped playing both games for newer titles, I felt a sense of sadness when I bid them goodbye.
I struggle with certain types of game mechanics in RPGs and MMOs. Especially those involving crafting, building or any other form of gated, time based, resource dependent creation. Outposts in Starfield is a textbook example of this. I love the notion of having a fancy base on some remote planet, with all the necessary facilities for my starship and crew. I also like, in principle, the idea of being able to customise it so that it looks exactly how I want it. However, the reality is always very different. Building an outpost in Starfield is slow and the UI that you have to use is ponderous. You have to sink a great deal of time and effort into building one and ultimately, beyond the cosmetic, your completed outpost offers very few benefits. Which raises the question as to why I’ve spent so much time recently, watching YouTube videos about constructing outposts?
I like the concept of companions in video games. They can offer tactical support in combat, be assigned research or crafting jobs and often provide beneficial buffs and such like. There’s also the option for “romance” if you wish. More importantly, companions can sometimes offer unique quest lines. Extra content is always welcome. Starfield, being a Bethesda game, offers all of these with its companion system. However, as ever there is also a downside. Companions can get in the way during combat or wander off and cause aggro when it is not required. They will also judge your decisions which can be problematic, and they sometimes never stop talking. Sometimes, it can be useful to have a companion with you. But on other occasions it’s a pain in the ass. Hence, your style of gameplay should dictate how you use them.
These posts are all written after playing a lengthy session of Starfield. Often some of the points raised are clarified later. So, it would be remiss of me not to revise a comment I made previously about scanning when surveying a planet. It turns out that there is a surveying skill that you can invest points into that improve the efficiency of the process. Let it suffice to say that it does make things easier. Now that’s out of the way, I want to focus upon the necessity to replace your ship as soon as possible in Starfield. The Frontier, which is the first vessel you’re given access to in the game, has a lot of character but it doesn’t have much else. It is lacking in damage output and is therefore a bit of a liability in space combat, even after you’ve unlocked targeting in the skills tree. I therefore made it a priority to replace it as soon as possible.
It is quite easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of things to do in Starfield. You can be walking through the plaza in New Atlantis, pass a pair of NPCs talking about something and the next thing you know you have a new mission to complete. As with most video games, there is a hierarchy of importance when it comes to the various tasks you are asked to undertake. Players may feel obliged to focus upon the main story during their initial first six hours or so. Such a strategy usually provides players with an overview of the game’s mechanics as well as providing some essential items such as gear. But it can feel a little smothering to have content continuously added to your mission journal. Especially if you’re the sort of player that likes to impose structure upon your gaming and likes to undertake tasks in an orderly and methodical fashion.
I pre-installed Starfield, via Steam, on Wednesday 30th August. Early access started in the UK at 1:00 AM today. However, I didn’t get around to playing until about 10:00 AM this morning. It took about an hour or so to unpack the pre-installed game. It currently occupies a little over 116GB of space. As I wasn’t sure how well my PC would handle Starfield, I decided to use my second monitor to play the game at a resolution of 1920x1080 (16:9). I have an Nvidia GTX 1660 Super GPU. Initially, I turned all the graphics to “high” and set the game to render at full resolution. Initially the game seemed to run well. I got through the initial story which takes place in a mine. I also got to the character customisation, which in true Bethesda style takes place after the story has progressed for a while. However, the moment I entered space in my ship, the game started running poorly. The graphics stuttered and the audio desynced.
I have already written about the hype associated with the forthcoming RPG Starfield and my thoughts on that particular issue have not changed. However, regardless of the iniquities of the marketing industry and the unrealistic expectations of some gamers, Starfield is a significant release from an established developer with a proven track record. Hence there is a great deal of interest in this game due to the scope of its content and breadth of vision. Plus many of Bethesda’s competitors will be watching the launch on September 6th very closely, especially those with similar products in development. Whatever your perspective on the game, there’s going to be a lot of interest in it, so I’ve decided to document my experiences with Starfield.
Throughout history, there’s always some asshole who confuses their own personal opinion for some undeniable, unassailable, universal truth. This misconception often ends in tragedy. Sadly it is the doom of men (especially Colin) that they forget. Hence, life continues to be regularly assailed by the following cycle. An asshole talks bollocks and advocates an erroneous position or philosophical stance that is unsustainable in the face of reality. A shit storm ensues. The asshole’s position is utterly and unequivocally demolished by facts and data. Everyone else then has to pick up the pieces, while the asshole, due to a lack of critical thinking and emotional literacy, still thinks that they’re right and that “they’re the victim”. This scenario manifests itself in many aspects of day-to-day life. Domestic politics, your places of employment etc. It is also an integral part of gaming culture and a core tenet of Gamers (™).
I have written in the past about games that have proved popular or critically successful that pass you by. You simply weren’t aware of them or their success at the time of their release. You missed all the marketing and hype. It’s easily enough done as there’s so much white noise associated with gaming these days. You subsequently stumble across these popular games later and much to your surprise, discover their merits long after everyone else has. I have also written about what it is like to be the proverbial “odd one out” by not being part of a major gaming group. Not playing World of Warcraft is a prime example of this phenomenon. Exploring both these subjects inevitably leads to discussions about hype, gaming consensus and FOMO. This time I want to talk about a game that has recently gained a great deal of traction in the gaming community and has also caused a great deal of debate. A game that some of its more enthusiastic supporters are calling a new “industry standard”.
Hype.
Noun: Extravagant or intensive publicity or promotion.” His first album hit the stores amid a storm of hype”.
Verb: Promote or publicise (a product or idea) intensively, often exaggerating its benefits.
“An industry quick to hype its products”,
Until recently I have gone out of my way to avoid any promotional material regarding Starfield, the forthcoming RPG from Bethesda Game Studios. However, as the September 6th release date is approaching, I finally decided to watch the following YouTube video in order to make a measured judgement about exactly what the game has to offer. Let it suffice to say that if you take the video at face value, then Starfield is potentially a revolutionary video game. However, upon mature reflection and sober consideration, I have chosen not to take the claims made in the video as gospel. As far as I’m concerned this is not regular marketing, as it goes beyond the scope of briefing potential buyers about the product. Instead I would define the videos as pure and unabashed hype, as specified in the two definitions at the start of this post. And hype is a very problematic phenomenon.
I started playing Red Dead Redemption 2 on the PC upon its release in late 2019. Although I enjoyed it, I was distracted by other matters at the time and so I drifted away in early 2020. To cut a long story short, I recently picked up exactly where I left off, because I felt the need for a big, narrative driven, RPG gaming experience. Red Dead Redemption 2 certainly meets those requirements. A few days ago I finished the main story and having played through sufficient side quests and challenges, decided to call it quits. Since then I have been musing on both the game itself and the experience I had while playing through it. Simply put, I consider Red Dead Redemption 2 to be a genre milestone and one of the most significant and impressive examples of video games that I have experienced over the course of my life, along with the likes of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and The Witcher III: Wild Hunt.
Before I begin, this post comes with a massive caveat. In fact let’s go so far as to say it is a massive, highly polished and lavishly tooled caveat. There are gamers out there that play video games to challenge themselves and to be the best. Some do it for bragging rights. Others just do it for their own self satisfaction. This is fine. You do you. As long as your gameplay and gaming philosophy doesn’t impact anyone else negatively, then that’s fine. Let me state for the record that I am not that kind of gamer and this post is aimed very much at the average person who plays for entertainment, fun and to unwind. You know, the majority of people who play video games. So any responses to this post that fall into the “git gud” school of thought are irrelevant and can politely “go forth and multiply. Now we have established our frame of reference, let us proceed.
I’m sure I’ve mentioned this issue before in previous video game related posts. But I don’t think I’ve devoted an entire article to the matter, which is what I’m going to do today. So to provide some context, I logged into The Elder Scrolls Online today as I’m fast approaching that point in the year where I spend a few months subscribing to the game. Due to some recent patch, once again all my Champion Points have been refunded. Judging by the change in graphics, it may be that the entire Champion Point system has been updated. Whatever the reason, I have to re-allocate 501points into three skill trees. I wasn’t au fait with the last system, so I followed a build I found online. Now that it has changed, I’ll have to find a new one and copy it. Until I do, my character will be gimped. Shame the game doesn’t offer a selection of generic builds that can be easily implemented at the press of a button.
Again this is more a case of two months in gaming. Furthermore although I was quite active in July, I was less so in August as the Blaugust 2021 Festival of Blogging event consumed the lion share of my leisure time. The majority of my gaming time is usually mid to late evening. Although Mrs P and I do many activities together, there are times when she will want to watch something I don’t, be engrossed in a book or out with friends. These occasions present sizable windows of time to focus upon a video game, which is especially useful for the MMORPG and RPG genres. However, I often have to choose whether to use this time exclusively for gaming or some other recreational activities such as writing. Another foible of my video game time management is trying to arrange things so I can undertake recurring, daily quests in a game early in the morning. I will often tackle such content in Star Trek Online, as soon as I get up.
You’re strutting around in your favourite MMORPG, dressed to the nines in your finest outfit. You recently acquired The Tabard of Marginal Statistical Improvement after finally beating that particularly difficult raid boss. As you stroll into the auction house with the confident air of someone who knows they’re looking damn good, you keep an eye on the chat window anticipating comments and praise from other players. You stop in front of an NPC and stand their basking in presumed public adulation and revelling in your own self satisfaction. Suddenly another player appears on the periphery of your monitor and catches your attention. Oh calamity, their avatar looks virtually identical to your. Same fez, monocle and handlebar moustache. They’re also wearing The Tabard of Marginal Statistical Improvement, except theirs is in electric pink. Oh the humiliation. Oh the humanity. Oh Vienna. You log off in tears, your ego crushed, a victim of a game with insufficient character customisation and diversity.
Atomfall
By default, I’m not always drawn to first person games. I see their merits in genres such as shooters but in an RPG, I prefer a third person perspective. So I was somewhat ambivalent towards Atomfall when I first saw promotional videos for the game. However, its uniquely British setting and period ambience piqued my interest. I also enjoy the Sniper Elite series which developers Rebellion also produce. So I recently bought the deluxe version of the game and began my play through. I made sure that I didn’t do too much research beforehand, because it was clear that the complexities of the plot are a major selling point of the game. Twenty two gaming hours later, I had completed two of six possible endings. Despite discovering a wealth of “leads” and diligently scouring the four main zones of Atomfall, I still feel there is much left to find and explore. Hence I have begun a second playthrough.
By default, I’m not always drawn to first person games. I see their merits in genres such as shooters but in an RPG, I prefer a third person perspective. So I was somewhat ambivalent towards Atomfall when I first saw promotional videos for the game. However, its uniquely British setting and period ambience piqued my interest. I also enjoy the Sniper Elite series which developers Rebellion also produce. So I recently bought the deluxe version of the game and began my play through. I made sure that I didn’t do too much research beforehand, because it was clear that the complexities of the plot are a major selling point of the game. Twenty two gaming hours later, I had completed two of six possible endings. Despite discovering a wealth of “leads” and diligently scouring the four main zones of Atomfall, I still feel there is much left to find and explore. Hence I have begun a second playthrough.
Set in 1962, five years after the fire at the Windscale nuclear plant, Atomfall takes place in a quarantine zone in Cumbria. Although under martial law by a military unit known as “the protocol”, the quarantine zone has fallen into a state of anarchy. Some citizens have become outlaws, while a sinister druidic cult has also emerged. Resources are scarce and strange flora and fauna have started to appear. You play as an unidentified amnesiac, who awakes in a bunker and is promptly charged with escaping the quarantine zone. Rather than being given traditional “quests/missions” with clear markers on the map, the player is provided with leads picked up from notes, letters, audio logs or dialogue with NPCs. It is then up to them to pursue these by exploring the world and slowly populating the in-game map. Atomfall also has elements from the survival game genre, as the player has to manage their health and heart rate.
Atomfall is a narrative driven experience which requires the player to look, listen and think. Combat is predominantly melee, as ammunition and firearms are scarce. Stealth and avoiding a fight is often the best approach. Combat is a slow and deliberately cumbersome process. A one on one fracas is manageable but if you aggro multiple NPCs then the situation can quickly escape your control. Hence if you don’t like reading and prefer fast paced action, then Atomfall may not be for you. If you like dialogue and making choices, then the game is a far more attractive proposition. The early hours of your playthrough will provide you with a multitude of disconnected facts and it takes a while before you start piecing the story together. Then there is the issue of who you should trust. There always seems to be consequences for siding with a faction. However, you’re not always boxed in by your choices and if you see fit, you can avoid making any for most of the game.
The main strength of Atomfall lies in its setting and atmosphere. Rebellion’s recreation of the Lake District, a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site, is visually striking. The game is also steeped in UK science fiction and popular culture references of the time. If you’ve ever read any books by John Wyndham, then Atomfall feels very akin to his style. In fact the main village in the game is called Wyndham village as a homage. The game also riffs on the writings of Nigel Kneale and has a strong Quatermass vibe. If you grew up watching Doctor Who from the Pertwee and Baker eras, you’ll find a great deal of the thematic and visual ambience of that show in the game. There are also a wealth of easter eggs, ranging from the obvious to the subtle. All of which greatly adds to the game’s character. The voice acting is solid and does not shy away from period and regional slang.
Atomfall works best when you approach it with a flexible strategy. Talk to NPCs, consider their requirements against your own, then make decisions when you feel you have enough information. Don’t immediately spend your skill points, as some are far more useful than others, depending on how you’re playing. Although you are free to kill everyone and everything, stealth and conflict avoidance pay dividends. Be very careful when entering bunkers as thralls and infected are formidable foes. If you find the leads bewildering, re-read them in your journal as the game then puts them in some semblance of order. Stay on the right side of traders. Go with your gut if you think a NPC is being unsound. But most of all, just revel in the environment. It is incredibly well realised and it is worth stopping every now and then and just taking it in.
As and when you reach your particular ending for Atomfall, you may not find everything narratively cut and dried. The plot as it presently stands, is explained but there remain a great deal of unanswered questions and things to ponder. Hence, some players may find this disappointing. However, if you are thorough in your exploration of the in-game world and attentive to NPC dialogue, you’ll find quite a lot of clues for the forthcoming DLC for the game. I certainly think that Atomfall has sufficient novelty and style to keep me engaged a while longer and bring me back for a follow up story. The game’s success seems to have surprised quite a lot of people, including the developers. It’s nice to see that pursuing a niche style and culturally specific idiom is not an impediment to sales or critical praise.
I recently completed the main story in Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon. In total I spent about sixty hours playing the game. I began at the start of the year, then took a break for a while but returned to it recently because I wanted to see if I could unlock a specific ending. I did manage to do this. Like so many other RPGs, Tainted Grail: the Fall of Avalon has a central storyline, along with a wealth of side quests, based around factions in specific zones. I think I possibly completed about a two thirds of these. However, once I finished the main story, my interest in the game began to wane. I finally left my character in the last major quest hub in case I wish to return at a future date. I then logged out of the game and uninstalled it from my PC to free up space for whatever I was to play next. In this case its The Sinking City 2. None of this is a negative reflection on Tainted Grail: the Fall of Avalon. I enjoyed the time I spent playing this quirky RPG. I simply had my fill and left to play something else.
The action, open world RPG Crimson Desert has been patched five times since it launched on March 19th and there have also been multiple hotfixes. At first glance this isn’t anything unusual. New games have bugs and issues arise once a game is released and played across a much wider variety of hardware than in QA testing. However, if you read the patch notes that accompany these sizeable downloads it quickly becomes apparent that developer’s Pearl Abyss are not just addressing bugs and software glitches. They are actively engaging with their player base and responding to suggestions and requests from that community. Although this is not a unique approach, what is surprising is the speed and quantity in which these player driven changes are happening. There seems to be an active ongoing process to refine the game and eliminate some of its “rough edges” and the players are contributing to this process with their feedback.
According to my Steam statistics, I last played Starfield on 19th December 2023. I bought the game upon its release in September of that year and played in total for 136 hours. Starfield held my interest for three and a half month and I wrote seven blog posts about various aspects of the game. Although there were some engaging aspects to Starfield, I did feel that that the game was somewhat lacking in systems and content, at that point in its lifecycle. I also think that the marketing and player expectations associated with Starfield were overblown and unrealistic. The shadow of Skyrim looms large over all new Bethesda releases and they don’t seem able to quite recapture that magic. Hence, I inevitably drifted away from Starfield and to another game and was effectively “done” with it. I have not played the game since which seems to validate the theory that game are becoming increasingly more ephemeral.
13 days after its release, market analysts estimate that Crimson Desert has already earned $200 million across the four main platforms (PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S). The game is certainly proving popular among gamers with the internet awash with live streams and “let’s play” videos. However, reviews are mixed both among gaming journalists and YouTube influencers. Common complaints about the game include that it is slow to start, the controls are poorly laid out on all platforms and that developer’s Pearl Abyss have done a poor job of explaining most aspects of the game to new players. Although such criticisms are true to a degree, I think these complaints highlight how many gamers are conditioned to expect new titles to follow a specific pattern with regard to pacing, narrative exposition and learning in-game systems. A pattern that Pearl Abyss has chosen to ignore, instead favouring an old school approach.
Last night, I spent the first 45 minutes after the launch of Crimson Desert, watching the 92GB pre-downloaded game files slowly decompressing and installing. I finally launched the game at about 10:50 PM GMT. I then waited a further 5 minutes while shaders were downloaded. It took me about 15 minutes or so to read through the various game settings and choose those that are optimal for my PC. I suspect even if you have a beast of a computer, you’re still going to have to spend some time tweaking settings. As for those players like myself with a gaming rig that is somewhere in the middle of the game’s specifications, be prepared to do a lot of fine tuning both within Crimson Desert itself and your Windows settings.
Video games as a genre are extremely poor at explaining themselves. When you buy a new game you’ll often find little or no information regarding the basic systems and mechanics. The industry assumes that their customers are by default familiar with the fundamentals of playing a modern video game. Hence if a game has a tutorial, it is often based around videos rather than detailed verbal instructions. You are are briefly shown a clip of a specific move being successfully undertaken but it is seldom shown in a wider context. The industry also expects the fan community to take on the role of curating and disseminating information about its games. The move away from forums and bespoke websites to Discord highlights this. Discord is a primarily a real time communication tool and not good at maintaining a historical data archive. If you want an answer to a specific gaming question, you’ll more than likely find it on YouTube in a video made by a fellow gamer.
I decided to pursue a magic and spellcasting build in the RPG Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon after the story prologue. During the opening section of the game, the player is presented with a sufficient range of weapons to determine which type suits them best, although you can change at any time during the game. For me, casting spells feels right and is fun. Plus I have fond memories of the magic system in Two Worlds II and Skyrim. So once I started playing through the first zone, I started putting attribute and skill points into the appropriate trees to bolster my spells strengths and frequency. I also chose gear that would bolster those statistics further. The results have been surprising, as magic and spellcasting is not presented in the usual “glass cannon” style you find in some other RPGs. Here it offers robust DPS output and with the right gear and spell combination, a strong degree of survivability.
I first played The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in June 2013. This was over 18 months after the game’s initial release and the base game and DLC were bundled together in a “Legendary” edition. Although a seasoned gamer at the time, familiar with the RPG genre with such titles as Mass Effect and Grand Theft Auto IV, I had not played a game from this franchise before. It only took a few hours of gameplay to realise that this was a special title. The scope of the story, the art design and the size of the world were immediately notable. Tamriel was immersive in a way I had not experienced with other titles. Often simply traversing the terrain and watching the dawn break while the game soundtrack swelled, was sufficient to hold my attention. I instantly picked up on the voice acting of Christopher Plummer and Max Von Sydow. All of which indicated that this was a gaming landmark.
I recently started playing through the RPG Disco Elysium for a second time. I did not complete the game last time I played in February and March but go about two thirds of the way through the story. As far as solving the central crime, I had established an accurate cause of death for the murder victim and broadly understood the events leading to their death. The main reason I did not complete the game was because I was playing on the Nintendo Switch and found it increasingly difficult to read the text on the small screen. The loading times were also excruciatingly slow. Playing the game while “docked” helped the former but not the latter issue. Hence I bought the PC version of Disco Elysium: The Final Cut for just £5 and started again from the beginning.
The Red Strain is the second DLC for the RPG Atomfall. It provides another interesting side story that is adjacent to that of the main game. Set in the new region of Stafell Crag, the player finds a secret installation called Test Site Moriah, run by C.O.R.E. (Co-ordinated Orbital Research Establishment). C.O.R.E. have seniority over B.A.R.D. (British Atomic Research Department) and have taken much of their research and used it for their own experiments. This includes the Red Strain, a genetically modified version of the Blue Infection. However, this has escaped containment and spread throughout the entire site. Once again the player must explore the zone, looking for leads and collecting resources, while trying to piece together what has happened. As in the previous DLC and main game, not every NPC that you meet in The Red Strain can be trusted.
Wicked Isle DLC for the RPG Atomfall was released on 3rd June, two months after the base game launched. As with its predecessor there are no specific missions, the DLC requires the player to explore the environment to pick up leads. These ultimately provide a coherent story but the clues may not necessarily be obtained in the correct order. Hence, again there is a requirement for players to look, listen and think. Referring to the in-game notebook is beneficial for narrative clarification. As well as a new story, Wicked Isle DLC also has new weapons, items and skills. This includes a Blunderbuss shotgun which inflicts huge damage but has a limited range, as well as a cutlass and some ritualistic weapons. There is also an upgraded metal detector along with the Decomposition skill, which causes enemies to rapidly dissolve into fungal spores after a takedown. This means that dead NPCs cannot be discovered.
Spoiler Alert: The following post discusses the various endings available in Atomfall. About 15 or so hours into Atomfall, the various plot elements started to become a lot clearer to me and I realised that several key characters were all offering differing escape options. Naturally, each outcome came with a quid pro quo requirement. Hence, there was a choice to make as to which ending I wanted to pursue, assuming that some outcomes were narratively or ethically better than others. At this point I had avoided many plot spoilers, so had no clear idea as to what specific endings were available. So I made a decision based purely upon the information that each of these characters gave me and chose to implement Dr. Holder’s solution to the Oberon problem. It seemed the most honest and pragmatic outcome, plus it caused the least amount of collateral damage.
By default, I’m not always drawn to first person games. I see their merits in genres such as shooters but in an RPG, I prefer a third person perspective. So I was somewhat ambivalent towards Atomfall when I first saw promotional videos for the game. However, its uniquely British setting and period ambience piqued my interest. I also enjoy the Sniper Elite series which developers Rebellion also produce. So I recently bought the deluxe version of the game and began my play through. I made sure that I didn’t do too much research beforehand, because it was clear that the complexities of the plot are a major selling point of the game. Twenty two gaming hours later, I had completed two of six possible endings. Despite discovering a wealth of “leads” and diligently scouring the four main zones of Atomfall, I still feel there is much left to find and explore. Hence I have begun a second playthrough.
I’m a late convert to the church of Disco Elysium. Over 4 years late, although that can be a good thing in some respects. Pretty much everything that can be said about the game probably has been said already and I’ve missed it all. When purchasing the game, I knew there was a positive buzz around this RPG and it had something to do with its philosophical nature. Beyond that I wasn’t aware of the game's subtleties. I was just looking for something that I could play on my Nintendo Switch that wasn’t Mario. As Disco Elysium is a dialogue driven RPG, based upon choices rather than action, I thought buying the game on this platform was a good choice. So I started playing late on a Thursday night. 10 days later I am still utterly riveted, although this is one of the most emotionally gruelling gaming experiences of my life.
Do you know what you're doing? For clarification, this question is regarding video games and not how you run your life. The latter would make for an interesting discussion but that is not what I am asking. On this occasion the question is to establish whether you are the sort of player who strives to understand the mechanics of a video game? Do you make it your business to become au fait with all the statistics and the formulas behind them? Do you keep a spreadsheet filled with data pertaining to your gear or build? Do you fully comprehend the consequences of swapping out an item and seeing a particular statistic increase or decrease. Does all of this inherently appeal to you and contribute to overall the enjoyment you get from a game? If the answer is yes, then bravo. I kind of admire your dedication to this aspect of gaming. Because I tend to switch off when it comes to min-maxing.
One of the defining qualities of a truly great game is how long it can hold your interest and keep you engaged. For example I bought the Game of the Year version of Skyrim about 14 months after its initial release. Hence I had access to all the games content that I dutifully played through. However, I also fully explored the world map, completed all side quests, crafted, furnished several houses and continued to travel the in-game world and killing foes long after I had completed all the traditional content. I did the same with Red Dead Redemption 2 as this also offered a compelling and immersive world. Games such as these have a quality beyond just the functional. I would happily traverse the mountains in Skyrim and watch the sunset, revelling in the ambient music. Similarly, I would often just ride the train in RDR2 and watch the world go by. When I finally stopped playing both games for newer titles, I felt a sense of sadness when I bid them goodbye.
I struggle with certain types of game mechanics in RPGs and MMOs. Especially those involving crafting, building or any other form of gated, time based, resource dependent creation. Outposts in Starfield is a textbook example of this. I love the notion of having a fancy base on some remote planet, with all the necessary facilities for my starship and crew. I also like, in principle, the idea of being able to customise it so that it looks exactly how I want it. However, the reality is always very different. Building an outpost in Starfield is slow and the UI that you have to use is ponderous. You have to sink a great deal of time and effort into building one and ultimately, beyond the cosmetic, your completed outpost offers very few benefits. Which raises the question as to why I’ve spent so much time recently, watching YouTube videos about constructing outposts?
I like the concept of companions in video games. They can offer tactical support in combat, be assigned research or crafting jobs and often provide beneficial buffs and such like. There’s also the option for “romance” if you wish. More importantly, companions can sometimes offer unique quest lines. Extra content is always welcome. Starfield, being a Bethesda game, offers all of these with its companion system. However, as ever there is also a downside. Companions can get in the way during combat or wander off and cause aggro when it is not required. They will also judge your decisions which can be problematic, and they sometimes never stop talking. Sometimes, it can be useful to have a companion with you. But on other occasions it’s a pain in the ass. Hence, your style of gameplay should dictate how you use them.
These posts are all written after playing a lengthy session of Starfield. Often some of the points raised are clarified later. So, it would be remiss of me not to revise a comment I made previously about scanning when surveying a planet. It turns out that there is a surveying skill that you can invest points into that improve the efficiency of the process. Let it suffice to say that it does make things easier. Now that’s out of the way, I want to focus upon the necessity to replace your ship as soon as possible in Starfield. The Frontier, which is the first vessel you’re given access to in the game, has a lot of character but it doesn’t have much else. It is lacking in damage output and is therefore a bit of a liability in space combat, even after you’ve unlocked targeting in the skills tree. I therefore made it a priority to replace it as soon as possible.
It is quite easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of things to do in Starfield. You can be walking through the plaza in New Atlantis, pass a pair of NPCs talking about something and the next thing you know you have a new mission to complete. As with most video games, there is a hierarchy of importance when it comes to the various tasks you are asked to undertake. Players may feel obliged to focus upon the main story during their initial first six hours or so. Such a strategy usually provides players with an overview of the game’s mechanics as well as providing some essential items such as gear. But it can feel a little smothering to have content continuously added to your mission journal. Especially if you’re the sort of player that likes to impose structure upon your gaming and likes to undertake tasks in an orderly and methodical fashion.
I pre-installed Starfield, via Steam, on Wednesday 30th August. Early access started in the UK at 1:00 AM today. However, I didn’t get around to playing until about 10:00 AM this morning. It took about an hour or so to unpack the pre-installed game. It currently occupies a little over 116GB of space. As I wasn’t sure how well my PC would handle Starfield, I decided to use my second monitor to play the game at a resolution of 1920x1080 (16:9). I have an Nvidia GTX 1660 Super GPU. Initially, I turned all the graphics to “high” and set the game to render at full resolution. Initially the game seemed to run well. I got through the initial story which takes place in a mine. I also got to the character customisation, which in true Bethesda style takes place after the story has progressed for a while. However, the moment I entered space in my ship, the game started running poorly. The graphics stuttered and the audio desynced.
I have already written about the hype associated with the forthcoming RPG Starfield and my thoughts on that particular issue have not changed. However, regardless of the iniquities of the marketing industry and the unrealistic expectations of some gamers, Starfield is a significant release from an established developer with a proven track record. Hence there is a great deal of interest in this game due to the scope of its content and breadth of vision. Plus many of Bethesda’s competitors will be watching the launch on September 6th very closely, especially those with similar products in development. Whatever your perspective on the game, there’s going to be a lot of interest in it, so I’ve decided to document my experiences with Starfield.
Throughout history, there’s always some asshole who confuses their own personal opinion for some undeniable, unassailable, universal truth. This misconception often ends in tragedy. Sadly it is the doom of men (especially Colin) that they forget. Hence, life continues to be regularly assailed by the following cycle. An asshole talks bollocks and advocates an erroneous position or philosophical stance that is unsustainable in the face of reality. A shit storm ensues. The asshole’s position is utterly and unequivocally demolished by facts and data. Everyone else then has to pick up the pieces, while the asshole, due to a lack of critical thinking and emotional literacy, still thinks that they’re right and that “they’re the victim”. This scenario manifests itself in many aspects of day-to-day life. Domestic politics, your places of employment etc. It is also an integral part of gaming culture and a core tenet of Gamers (™).
I have written in the past about games that have proved popular or critically successful that pass you by. You simply weren’t aware of them or their success at the time of their release. You missed all the marketing and hype. It’s easily enough done as there’s so much white noise associated with gaming these days. You subsequently stumble across these popular games later and much to your surprise, discover their merits long after everyone else has. I have also written about what it is like to be the proverbial “odd one out” by not being part of a major gaming group. Not playing World of Warcraft is a prime example of this phenomenon. Exploring both these subjects inevitably leads to discussions about hype, gaming consensus and FOMO. This time I want to talk about a game that has recently gained a great deal of traction in the gaming community and has also caused a great deal of debate. A game that some of its more enthusiastic supporters are calling a new “industry standard”.
Hype.
Noun: Extravagant or intensive publicity or promotion.” His first album hit the stores amid a storm of hype”.
Verb: Promote or publicise (a product or idea) intensively, often exaggerating its benefits.
“An industry quick to hype its products”,
Until recently I have gone out of my way to avoid any promotional material regarding Starfield, the forthcoming RPG from Bethesda Game Studios. However, as the September 6th release date is approaching, I finally decided to watch the following YouTube video in order to make a measured judgement about exactly what the game has to offer. Let it suffice to say that if you take the video at face value, then Starfield is potentially a revolutionary video game. However, upon mature reflection and sober consideration, I have chosen not to take the claims made in the video as gospel. As far as I’m concerned this is not regular marketing, as it goes beyond the scope of briefing potential buyers about the product. Instead I would define the videos as pure and unabashed hype, as specified in the two definitions at the start of this post. And hype is a very problematic phenomenon.
I started playing Red Dead Redemption 2 on the PC upon its release in late 2019. Although I enjoyed it, I was distracted by other matters at the time and so I drifted away in early 2020. To cut a long story short, I recently picked up exactly where I left off, because I felt the need for a big, narrative driven, RPG gaming experience. Red Dead Redemption 2 certainly meets those requirements. A few days ago I finished the main story and having played through sufficient side quests and challenges, decided to call it quits. Since then I have been musing on both the game itself and the experience I had while playing through it. Simply put, I consider Red Dead Redemption 2 to be a genre milestone and one of the most significant and impressive examples of video games that I have experienced over the course of my life, along with the likes of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and The Witcher III: Wild Hunt.
Before I begin, this post comes with a massive caveat. In fact let’s go so far as to say it is a massive, highly polished and lavishly tooled caveat. There are gamers out there that play video games to challenge themselves and to be the best. Some do it for bragging rights. Others just do it for their own self satisfaction. This is fine. You do you. As long as your gameplay and gaming philosophy doesn’t impact anyone else negatively, then that’s fine. Let me state for the record that I am not that kind of gamer and this post is aimed very much at the average person who plays for entertainment, fun and to unwind. You know, the majority of people who play video games. So any responses to this post that fall into the “git gud” school of thought are irrelevant and can politely “go forth and multiply. Now we have established our frame of reference, let us proceed.
I’m sure I’ve mentioned this issue before in previous video game related posts. But I don’t think I’ve devoted an entire article to the matter, which is what I’m going to do today. So to provide some context, I logged into The Elder Scrolls Online today as I’m fast approaching that point in the year where I spend a few months subscribing to the game. Due to some recent patch, once again all my Champion Points have been refunded. Judging by the change in graphics, it may be that the entire Champion Point system has been updated. Whatever the reason, I have to re-allocate 501points into three skill trees. I wasn’t au fait with the last system, so I followed a build I found online. Now that it has changed, I’ll have to find a new one and copy it. Until I do, my character will be gimped. Shame the game doesn’t offer a selection of generic builds that can be easily implemented at the press of a button.
Again this is more a case of two months in gaming. Furthermore although I was quite active in July, I was less so in August as the Blaugust 2021 Festival of Blogging event consumed the lion share of my leisure time. The majority of my gaming time is usually mid to late evening. Although Mrs P and I do many activities together, there are times when she will want to watch something I don’t, be engrossed in a book or out with friends. These occasions present sizable windows of time to focus upon a video game, which is especially useful for the MMORPG and RPG genres. However, I often have to choose whether to use this time exclusively for gaming or some other recreational activities such as writing. Another foible of my video game time management is trying to arrange things so I can undertake recurring, daily quests in a game early in the morning. I will often tackle such content in Star Trek Online, as soon as I get up.
You’re strutting around in your favourite MMORPG, dressed to the nines in your finest outfit. You recently acquired The Tabard of Marginal Statistical Improvement after finally beating that particularly difficult raid boss. As you stroll into the auction house with the confident air of someone who knows they’re looking damn good, you keep an eye on the chat window anticipating comments and praise from other players. You stop in front of an NPC and stand their basking in presumed public adulation and revelling in your own self satisfaction. Suddenly another player appears on the periphery of your monitor and catches your attention. Oh calamity, their avatar looks virtually identical to your. Same fez, monocle and handlebar moustache. They’re also wearing The Tabard of Marginal Statistical Improvement, except theirs is in electric pink. Oh the humiliation. Oh the humanity. Oh Vienna. You log off in tears, your ego crushed, a victim of a game with insufficient character customisation and diversity.
Flow (2024)
With the proliferation of lore driven, franchise movies in recent years, a culture of analysis has developed online. Hence you will find a lot of YouTube videos that claim to “explain” the ending of specific films or provide clarification of their respective themes and subtexts. While critical debate and discussion about cinema is welcome, I think it is a mistake to always look for a specific meaning in cinema. Even clearly narrative films can be ambiguous. Art is ultimately a very subjective field of expression open to personal interpretation. Which brings me neatly to Flow, an animated feature film which tells a compelling story but raises more questions than it answers. It leaves the viewer to fill in a lot of the blanks themselves and the film is all the better for this approach. Flow is an extraordinary example of animation and a fascinating example of innovative, thought provoking filmmaking. Quite the rarity these days.
With the proliferation of lore driven, franchise movies in recent years, a culture of analysis has developed online. Hence you will find a lot of YouTube videos that claim to “explain” the ending of specific films or provide clarification of their respective themes and subtexts. While critical debate and discussion about cinema is welcome, I think it is a mistake to always look for a specific meaning in cinema. Even clearly narrative films can be ambiguous. Art is ultimately a very subjective field of expression open to personal interpretation. Which brings me neatly to Flow, an animated feature film which tells a compelling story but raises more questions than it answers. It leaves the viewer to fill in a lot of the blanks themselves and the film is all the better for this approach. Flow is an extraordinary example of animation and a fascinating example of innovative, thought provoking filmmaking. Quite the rarity these days.
In a forest, a black cat looks at their reflection in a puddle. A rabbit runs past being chased by a mixed pack of domestic dogs. The cat returns to an abandoned house, through a garden filled with wooden cat sculptures. A massive wooden cat statue overlooks the house from a hill. The house appears to be the former home of an artist. The next day the cat returns to the forest and is caught in a stampede of deer. A flash flood ensues and the cat manages to climb a tree branch and reach dry land. Returning to the house the cat is followed by a friendly labrador, who is part of the pack the cat saw previously. Both animals become aware that the water is rising and seek shelter. The labrador joins its pack in a oarless row boat, while the cat climbs to the top of the giant cat statue. Overwhelmed by the water the cat finds safety in a drifting sailboat, which contains a capybara.
Flow begins with a simple premise. A cat is adrift in a sailboat with a capybara during what appears to be an ecological apocalypse. Over the course of the film other animals seek safety onboard. The friendly labrador returns, there is also a kleptomaniac lemur and an enigmatic secretary bird. The animals squabble at times but cooperate, initially out of necessity and ultimately due to companionship. There is no dialogue and the story is not excessively didactic, although a lot of the imagery presented may appear symbolic and open to interpretation. The visual style is intriguing with the animators opting to use open-source software Blender and utilising a cel shaded aesthetic. Underpinning the onscreen journey is an enigmatic synths score that at times is reminiscent of the work of Vangelis and John Carpenter. The film is a succinct 84 minutes. No screen time is wasted but neither are events rushed.
If you have been raised exclusively on Disney animation, you will find Flow to be the antithesis of your expectations. Instead of being a product of a vast, monolithic commercial entertainment corporation, filtered through focus groups and market research, Flow is a labour of love and primarily an artistic endeavour. Written, directed and produced by Gints Zilbalodis, who also co-wrote the score and was the film’s cinematographer, Flow took over five years to make, gaining financial support and international distribution along the way. As a film it works on many levels. At its simplest, it is a timeless adventure in which a group of animals survive adversity through mutual help. As a work of art, Flow is open to a variety of interpretations. None of which are right or wrong. Some will see the film as a clear ecological warning, where others may see it as a faith based parable. It certainly raises many philosophical questions.
Sometimes, it is perfectly fine for a film to just “be”. After watching Flow and considering it, I’m not even sure what genre it is. However, although I spent some time reflecting upon some possible explanations to events and imagery in the film, I decided to abandon them. I prefer let the way the film made me feel, be its defining point. Flow is a unique production, unclouded and unspoilt by obvious contemporary commercial consideration. It is a beautiful, thought provoking piece of animation, proving yet again that the medium is not just a vehicle for children’s entertainment. It is profound and quite moving. Scarce qualities in filmmaking these days. If you look at viewer reviews on iMDb you will see a clear divide in opinion. Literalists may struggle with Flow. Such is their want. Those open to an experience driven more by feelings may fare better.
I recently found a DVD boxset of Return to the Planet of the Apes in a charity shop which I bought for £4, which is a ridiculously cheap price. I considered it an interesting find because it was a Region 1, US copy. However, that is not so unusual these days as most DVD players are now region free and Amazon (UK) sells media from all over the world. As for the show in question, I vaguely remember Return to the Planet of the Apes being shown on UK network TV when I was a child, probably circa 1976. Back then it would usually take a year or so before US shows made it onto UK television. From a commercial perspective, the entire Planet of the Apes franchise was beginning to run out of steam. I was 8 years old at the time so had missed most of the film releases. However, I enjoyed the live action TV show hence an animated follow up had obvious appeal to a child of my age.
It is not unusual for Disney to change film titles when marketing them outside of the US. In 2016 they renamed the animated feature film Zootopia to Zootropolis in the UK and Europe to avoid trademark conflicts with other existing businesses. For example there is a Danish zoo which already holds the “Zootopia” name. Similarly, in Germany there is a children’s book which caused copyright conflict, which led to the film being released under the title Zoomania. Such changes, although practical for legal reasons, can sometimes cause a degree of confusion. Especially as there are numerous, low budget productions companies that go out of their way to produce similarly titled “mockbusters” whenever there are big, tentpole, releases. So for clarity, Zootopia 2 has been released in the UK as Zootropolis 2.
With the proliferation of lore driven, franchise movies in recent years, a culture of analysis has developed online. Hence you will find a lot of YouTube videos that claim to “explain” the ending of specific films or provide clarification of their respective themes and subtexts. While critical debate and discussion about cinema is welcome, I think it is a mistake to always look for a specific meaning in cinema. Even clearly narrative films can be ambiguous. Art is ultimately a very subjective field of expression open to personal interpretation. Which brings me neatly to Flow, an animated feature film which tells a compelling story but raises more questions than it answers. It leaves the viewer to fill in a lot of the blanks themselves and the film is all the better for this approach. Flow is an extraordinary example of animation and a fascinating example of innovative, thought provoking filmmaking. Quite the rarity these days.
For those unfamiliar with Dav Pilkey’s graphic novel character Dog Man, he’s a half-dog, half-human police officer. This comic chimaera is the result of a surgical procedure carried out after Officer Knight and his trusty dog Greg are blown up while defusing a bomb. Greg’s head is grafted to Officer Knight's body. Post surgery, Dog Man (Peter Hastings) remains an officer of the law and continues to track his nemesis, Petey (Pete Davidson), an orange cat and criminal genius. However, despite positive media coverage and a high arrest rate, Dog Man incurs the ire of his Chief (Lil Rel Howery) who is jealous of his success. Furthermore, Dog Man becomes depressed due to the loss of his owner, girlfriend and former home. Meanwhile, Petey decides to clone himself in an attempt to find a worthy assistant and also plots to resurrect a deceased super villain, Flippy, who is an evil telekinetic fish.
I have always found it curious that there haven't been more feature films set in Middle-earth, after the success of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. However, a little research shows a very complex set of rights regarding Tolkien’s work, with different material being controlled and administered by different bodies. Hence, the market has not been saturated with officially licensed material. Thus, when The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim was announced to be in production, it aroused a great deal of curiosity both among fans and those with an interest in the wider film industry. To base an entire feature film on something that is effectively just a few paragraphs in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings is quite intriguing. The producers claimed it afforded them greater artistic freedom not to be constrained by an excess of lore. Industry pundits theorised that the film was being produced solely to ensure that wider rights were retained.
Whenever I feel that mainstream filmmaking is becoming increasingly bland and I grow despondent with it, along comes an animated film to prove that there is still greatness and art to be found through the medium of cinema. Robot Dreams begins as a tale of loneliness and then quickly becomes a eulogy to friendship and participating in life. The story then turns things on its head as it explores loss and finally concludes with a profoundly beautiful resolution, as it muses upon accepting change and new friends. Robot Dreams succeeds where so many other films fail by being honest, candid and sincere. Hence the emotions expressed by what is essentially a simple story are genuine and palpable. The film’s lack of dialogue is a blessing, with music doing a great deal of the narrative heavy lifting. This allows audiences to focus on the main characters without unnecessary distraction. The animation is uncomplicated but very specific in its style and setting. It utterly suits the tale being told.
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio is a bold and inventive take on Carlo Collodi's classic story of the puppet that aspires to be a “real boy”. As you would expect from the director, it is a far cry from Disney’s 1940 version, taking a more bleak and sinister tone. Despite songs and exuberant set pieces, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio is an exploration of grief, death and even fascism. The screenplay by Guillermo del Toro and Patrick McHale also tackles the complexities of the relationship between parent and child. It is a remarkable example of stop motion animation and is visually very striking. However, it is a somewhat niche market adaptation and is not exactly easily accessible to children or the furiously hard of thinking. It comes as no surprise that this cinematic venture was green lit by Netflix, which appears to be the new home of the experimental, rather than a mainstream studio.
George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead is a true genre milestone that is praised not only by horror film fans but mainstream critics alike. If you are interested in watching an intelligent, well researched and entertaining documentary about the film’s provenance and cultural impact then I thoroughly recommend Birth of the Living Dead (2013) by Rob Kuhn. It tells you pretty much all you need to know about why this classic film is so important. As for Night of the Living Dead itself, it still holds up well after 53 years. It is the immediacy and relatability of the premise and overall story that still makes the film relevant. The zombies are purely a “MacGuffin” and the real focus of the plot is how people behave under pressure in life threatening situations. It’s a film about how we can react to the same situation differently and how cultural baggage and the need for people to be “right”, hinders co-operation and thwarts progress.
It would appear that there is a Minions 2, although it’s release around the world has been staggered due to the pandemic. So I thought I’d revisit the original movie for a second viewing. Spin-off movies can be a risky venture. Side characters may work well in a supporting role within a successful movie but may not necessarily find an audience in their own vehicle. However this is most definitely not the case with Minions. The movie is ninety one minutes of exquisitely crafted cinema. From the opening Universal fanfare (which the Minions sing-a-long to) to the post credit rendition of Revolution, the film is consistently funny and perfectly paced. The production design and overall aesthetic is beautifully realised and the central characters of Kevin, Stuart and Bob are thoroughly engaging. Actually, forget "engaging ''. They are genuinely loveable. Directors Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda barely put a foot wrong.
Although I have a passing interest in the franchise per se, I'm not a consummate fan of all things Batman. Hence a lot of content passes me by or I catch up with it years later. So it came as a great surprise when I discovered Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders; a 2016 release in the ever growing catalogue of DC themed direct to DVD animated films. The movie is a de facto continuation of the sixties TV series, with the original actors reprising their roles (where possible). The cast includes Adam West as Batman, Burt Ward as Robin and Julie Newmar as Catwoman. Due to the death of actors Cesar Romero, Burgess Meredith and Frank Gorshin the voices for The Joker, The Penguin and The Riddler have been provided by Jeff Bergman, William Salyers and Wally Wingert. All of whom do their best to recreate the tone and idiom of the original artists.
There are three key elements to Disney’s 2009 3D computer-animated adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Firstly, director Robert Zemeckis clearly seeks authenticity and hence includes a lot of original dialogue from the novel, as well as a bleaker depiction of the period. Secondly, he uses the digital production tools at his disposal to create sweeping vistas of 19th century London as well as highly stylised caricatures of the central characters. Thirdly, as this is a Disney production, there is an occasional lapse visual humour and levity that is required by their business model. Sadly all of these aspects of the production make for strange bedfellows that are at odds with each other. The result is a visually sumptuous film that loses its way as it lurches between bleak drama, odd humour and CGI driven spectacle.
Upon its theatrical release, Mickey’s Christmas Carol was the first animated film to star Mickey Mouse for thirty years. It was therefore accompanied with a large amount of hype and a wave of nostalgia. The US marketing stated “He’s Back. Mickey Mouse in his first new motion picture” which was somewhat misleading, as the actual animated film was just 26 minutes long. It was shown theatrically along with a re-release of The Rescuers in the US and The Jungle Book in the UK and other territories, in late December 1983. And despite his name being in the title, Mickey doesn’t have a lot of screen time as he plays Bob Cratchit. This is very much a vehicle for Scrooge McDuck as Ebenezer Scrooge. Overall, it’s a succinct distillation of the plot of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, filled with cameo appearances by classic Disney characters. Naturally it is replete with the humour and sentiment that is inherent in the process known colloquially as Disneyfication. However, does this mitigate the book’s message?
At first glance, there is not much to distinguish this low budget production by Burbank Films Australia, from any of the other adaptations that were ubiquitous during the seventies and eighties. However, attentive viewers will discover a few details that lift this particular version above the mundane. Firstly, this is the second animated adaptation to feature the voice acting of Ron Haddrick as Ebenezer Scrooge. He had previously voiced the character in Air Programs International's shorter version of A Christmas Carol in 1969, thirteen years earlier. Secondly, despite the modest production values, there are a few additional scenes taken from the source text by Dickens, that don’t usually make it most film and TV adaptations. It is these minor embellishments that compensate for the simplicity of the animation (during the opening scene, some background characters do not move).
Scoob! is one of several movies that was slated for a theatrical release this summer but ended up being premiering on VOD instead due to the global pandemic. As a result, it is difficult to ascertain exactly how successful this animated film has been. A lot of trade newspapers have indicated that rentals have been high and that the film has proven more popular than Tom Hardy’s new movie Capone. Some industry sources have estimated a gross of $100,000,000 in a two week period. I suspect that the current lockdown has provided a market of children craving new entertainment and parents happy to pay for 90 minutes of peace and quiet. Hence Scoob! appears to have been in the right place at the right time. Whether that popular success would have happened if the movie had been released theatrically is another matter.
The first I found out about Top Cat: The Movie was when I received an email from an events company that was handling promotional screenings, prior to the film’s UK release in the summer of 2012. For some reason I missed the usual pre-production publicity that comes with the rebooting of a popular franchise. One of the benefits of this was that I didn't have time to fret or fuss about this reimagining of an integral part of my childhood. I must admit I was flummoxed that this 50-year-old franchise was subject to a makeover and was even more discombobulated to find out that the original show was a massive hit in Mexico and had garnered a huge cult following. This was why Warner Bros. subcontracted this production to Mexico's Anima and Argentina's Illusion studios. Subsequently Don Gato y Su Pandilla (Top Cat and His Gang) opened on 16th September 2011 in Mexico to weekend box office returns of 41m pesos ($2.9m). It subsequently became the highest-grossing independent animated films released in the United States that year.
It’s interesting that so many adaptations of Charles Dickens’ iconic seasonal story are brought to us via the medium of animation. Naturally, this is a far more economical means of depicting the story with its period detail and supernatural elements, compared to a live action production. However, for an animated version of A Christmas Carol to work successfully, it needs three things. An innovative and striking production design, robust voice acting and a screenplay that keeps the core themes while offering significance difference compared to prior adaptations. You’ll find all of these elements in Richard Williams’ 1971 animated short. Sadly they’re conspicuously absent from the 1997 version. Despite the presence such talents as Tim Curry, Ed Asner and Whoopi Goldberg, this is a distinctly arbitrary animated film. Considering that the screenplay was written by Jymn Magon who has years of experience working for Disney, I had hoped this would be better endeavour.
There’s a degree of hubris implicit in such a definitive title. At the very least the inference is that this is a notable adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic book. And at first glance, it is perfectly reasonable to assume just that. Jimmy Murakami was an animator of note with such unique movies as The Snowman and When the Wind Blows to his credit. Hence it is reasonable to expect a similar quirky and experimental treatment of this well know yuletide story. However, what audiences actually get is a rather bold adaptation that substantially embellishes upon the established narrative. Veering between sinister and borderline psychedelic imagery, this is a very inconsistent version that tries to be too many things at once. Just as you think you’ve got a handle on the film approach it takes an abrupt turn in the opposite direction. Comedy, drama and even power ballads are thrown into the mix. Sadly, all these elements do not hang well together.
The Hobbit (1977) is a curious beast. It’s a made for television animated film, which despite its budgetary constraints, strives to comprehensively adapted one of the most beloved children’s books of the last century. I remember reading an article about this television adaptation of The Hobbit, in Starburst Magazine during the late seventies. There were rumours that this Rankin/Bass production, which had already premièred on US network television, would gain a European cinema release. This was presumably to cash in on the success of Ralph Bakshi's animated feature film adaptation of The Lord of The Rings. However, this never happened to my knowledge. In fact, The Hobbit was not commercially available in the UK until 2001, when Warner Bros. released it on DVD to capitalise on the success of Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring.
Over the last few years I’ve reviewed several adaptations of Charles Dickens seasonal story A Christmas Carol. As I stated previously one of the stories greatest strength is that it lends itself perfectly to multiple interpretations. I recently had the good fortune to rediscover the animated version from 1969 by Air Programs International. I remember seeing this animated short as a child but could not recollect sufficient details to allow me to track it down via the IMDB. Then by complete chance, I stumbled across it again on You Tube while doing some research.
I have a great deal of affection for Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, not only because it’s a fine piece of literature but because it lends itself so well to dramatisation. I therefore have a keen interests in all the respective adaptation, of which there are many. Over the years there has been a trend to focus excessively on the sentimental aspect of the plot, resulting in a rather nauseating Disneyfication of the story. Although the redemption of the main protagonist is central to the narrative, the poverty and deprivations of the time are still very pertinent themes, especially in today's economic climate. I was therefore very gratified to rediscover the 1971 version of Charles Dickens' classic story which was originally shown on ABC. This short 25 minute animated feature realises the story superbly, capturing the tone of the book and accurately reflecting the darker aspects. Remember that A Christmas Carol is fundamentally a ghost story.
"Awful April" and the UK Cost of Living
Sunday 6th April is the start of a new financial year, here in the UK. According to data from numerous financial and economic institutions, an estimated million plus households will be facing annual increases of £400 to £500 as the proverbial “cost of living” goes up. Everything from Council Tax to Mobile and Broadband costs are being increased. Future cost hikes are expected in our energy and water utilities. As bills start going up across the country today, average wages remain stagnant. Middle-income and poorer households have been worst hit by this wage related issue. Hence the tabloid press have labelled the start of the new financial year as “Awful April”. Hyperbole aside, this is a very real issue which due to its complex, global causes, doesn’t have a quick fix solution.
Sunday 6th April is the start of a new financial year, here in the UK. According to data from numerous financial and economic institutions, an estimated million plus households will be facing annual increases of £400 to £500 as the proverbial “cost of living” goes up. Everything from Council Tax to Mobile and Broadband costs are being increased. Future cost hikes are expected in our energy and water utilities. As bills start going up across the country today, average wages remain stagnant. Middle-income and poorer households have been worst hit by this wage related issue. Hence the tabloid press have labelled the start of the new financial year as “Awful April”. Hyperbole aside, this is a very real issue which due to its complex, global causes, doesn’t have a quick fix solution.
Here a some of the increases the UK public face:
The majority (88%) of households in England will face a maximum increase in council tax of 4.99% which adds an average of £109 to a typical band D bill. Due to some councils facing severe financial hardship Bradford, Newham, Birmingham, Somerset, plus Windsor and Maidenhead have been granted permission to raise council tax above the current 4.99% cap.
Average energy bills are expected to rise to £1849 annually. Energy regulator Ofgem has increased the price cap for the third time, resulting in an extra £9.25 per month. Fixed-rate deals will see no change in cost until their term expires.
Water bills are expected to rise by 26%, which is £123 annually. Last March, private water firms in England reported a £1.7 billion pre-tax profit. Yet the public still endure an expensive service, regular leaks and sewage discharges into the UK waterways and coastal areas.
As of April 1st, 2025, food inflation in the UK continues to rise, with food prices overall 2.4% higher than last March. This itself was up from 2.1% in February, according to the British Retail Consortium-NIQ shop price index.
There are also scheduled increases in the cost of UK vehicle tax, TV license, mobile and broadband services and many other consumer industries.
These factors combined with the prospects of a global trade war and other geopolitical problems, mean that the economic prospects for the next financial year are far from good. The dour economic outlook makes it increasingly difficult for the UK government to rebuild the country’s crumbling public services and hamper wider plans to grow the economy. As for the public, wage stagnation coupled with the freezing of income tax thresholds until April 2028, will mean that many households will struggle financially. Shortfalls in disposable income frequently leads to daily expenditure being paid for by credit card. As of April 2024, UK households held an average of £2,487 in credit card debt, with total outstanding credit card debt reaching £70.1 billion. This is a 7.02% increase year-over-year.
Wealth and poverty can be relative things. For example, does choosing not to get into debt to finance a family holiday make you poor or just financially prudent? Can you be poor with an annual salary over £100,000 a year? As ever in life, simple or binary answers tend to be spurious and inaccurate. Nuance, complexity and context are required to reach a greater understanding. However, there comes a point when the realities of increasing monthly costs upon a household budget is no longer debateable. I do not consider my own financial situation to be dire, however the recent increases in the cost of living, especially with regard to food inflation have been clearly noticed and felt. As it is unlikely that any major changes or assistance are going to be forthcoming from the state, I suspect many of us will be looking at our own personal budgets and determining what costs can be reduced in the months to come. “Awful April” may well become a much longer affliction.
If you visit the websites for such UK tabloid newspapers as the Daily Express or the Daily Mail you will no doubt encounter prominent stories about Megan Markle, Nigel Farage and “immigrants”. If these two august institutions are short of column inches, they’ll run a piece about how some former celebrity has had the unmitigated gall and temerity to get old. I mean WTF? How dare they do what human beings are genetically disposed to do. It’s outrageous. Similarly, head over to the Unherd website and you’ll find foam flecked tirades regarding spurious points of contention over dubious subjects. Often the topic being harangued is incredibly niche and I’ve never heard of it before or even considered it being a thing. These sort of talking points are not about informing, debating and most certainly aren’t about thinking. They exist to provoke reactions.
Yesterday afternoon, Nigel Farage the Member of Parliament for Clacton and leader of the Reform Party, held a press conference in which he declared that he would be resigning his seat and thus triggering a by-election. He cited the following list of grievances that have led to him making this decision. That the Parliamentary standards investigations were being politicised, the media and other parties were conducting a coordinated campaign against him and that he had endured years of threats and physical attacks. He further asserted that his family’s privacy and safety had been breached as well. He finished by alleging that the political system was repeatedly changing rules to obstruct Reform and that he was the most attacked politician in the UK. Rather than be judged by the legacy media and the “establishment”, he would rather put the issue of his political integrity to the electorate of Clacton. He even offered to pay for the cost of the by-election.
UK Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer has resigned and intends to leave office before the parliamentary summer recess. By then Andy Burnham will more than likely be voted leader of the Labour Party and by default will become the new Prime Minister. Due to the current size of the incumbent Government’s majority, there is no pressing reason for a General Election that the UK’s right wing tabloid press is currently calling for. Whether this provides the Government with the reset they’re hoping for when Parliament reconvenes in autumn remains to be seen. With seven Prime Ministers coming and going in a decade, there are some serious questions to be asked about the current state of UK politics. However, the mechanics of contemporary politics, the decline of clearly defined ideologies and the people that seek elected office to be our leaders are only half of the problem. The other major impediment to the UK’s democracy functioning properly is the electorate.
Andy Burnham successfully won the Makerfield by-election yesterday, returning him to the House of Commons as a member of Parliament after holding the position of Mayor of Manchester for the past nine years. Prior to this, Burnham was Labour MP for Leigh from 2001 and 2017. He served in both the Tony Blair and Gordon Brown administrations and has held such senior governmental posts as Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Secretary of State for Health. His return to Parliamentary politics is likely to result in a leadership challenge to incumbent Prime Minister Keir Starmer. When speaking after winning yesterday’s by-election Burnham spoke of “a final chance for change” the current trajectory of the present Labour Government. However, I don’t wish to focus on any of this at present. I am far more interested in the above picture, taken as the results were announced and what it says about UK politics.
The UK Government has formerly announced its intention to ban under-16s from using social media. This is due to increasing public pressure that “something must be done” about the perceived iniquities of many online platforms. However, as with most complex social problems of this nature, no one has any clear or practical ideas as to what that “something” is. It remains a nebulous, non-specific panacea and clearly someone else’s job to identify and implement. As ever, why choose a nuanced and multifaceted solution to a complex problem, when it is far easier and politically expedient to just “ban” something. The former requires effort and a degree of thinking. If such an approach fails it also means that those who came up with it now carry the can. The latter dumps the problem in the lap of various third parties, who can then be conveniently blamed when the ill conceived policy fails.
Every Thursday, Mrs P volunteers at a food bank that is run from a local church; Avery Hill Christian Fellowship. Today there was a shortage of staff so I agreed to help out. It proved to be an equitable arrangement as she collated the various orders and I packed the bags and took them to the respective clients. The food bank itself is organised and administered by the Trussell Trust, a UK based NGO and charity providing emergency food and support to people locked in poverty. It is open for 2 to 3 hours a week depending upon demand. During today’s session we served just six people. Some weeks its can be triple that amount. Upon closure, a member of staff from the Trussel Trust did a stock take and collated a list of what was needed. This is provided by various local church communities via parishioners donations, as well as local supermarkets who have an arrangement with the trust to provide surplus stock or good approaching the end of their sales window.
Under the First Past the Post electoral system, the candidate(s) receiving the highest number of votes in each constituency are elected. This system is used in the UK during general elections and in some local elections, such as those recently conducted in England. An alternative approach is the system of proportional representation, which aims to allocate seats in a manner that reflects the popularity of various parties. Both the Scottish Parliament and the Senedd in Wales employ systems of Proportional Representation. Historically, first-past-the-post has been seen as advantageous for the Conservative and Labour parties. It poses challenges for smaller parties whose votes are distributed evenly across different regions, making it difficult for them to secure seats. This dynamic effectively prevents potential competitors to the Conservatives and Labour from succeeding electorally. Consequently, due to this situation, voters may hesitate to support these smaller parties from the outset.
There are local elections being held across the UK today. Voters in Scotland and Wales will elect representatives to their respective national parliaments, while in England the voting is for local councils and regional mayors. These are the first major elections to be held in the UK since the 2024 General Election which saw the Conservative government of fourteen years, fall to the Labour Party. Midterm elections are often a litmus test for how the electorate think the national government are performing although local issues are also a major factor. The consensus among political journalists and commentators is that the incumbent government is polling extremely poorly and will subsequently face a backlash. In recent years the UK has seen a decline in traditional two party voting with Reform UK and the Greens gaining significant traction among the electorate. Hence today’s elections may well see both these parties make significant gains.
Our household is currently trying to reduce our monthly overheads in response to the ever increasing cost of living. April is not that far away and a great many service providers will increase their rates and tariff as the new financial year begins. Then there is the ongoing effects, both direct and indirect, of inflation to consider. Although the UK inflation rate is dropping, currently sitting at 3.4% in December 2025, food inflation remains higher at 4.5%. Being based in the UK, salaries and billed services tend to be administered monthly. You get paid usually at the end of the months and bills can turn up at any point, depending upon when you started a service. Any payments coming from central government, such as state pension or other benefits, are paid every 4 weeks. This means that there are 13 payments in a year. I thought it pertinent to clarify this point as other countries, such as the USA, favour a fortnightly financial cycle. Hence as a household we work around a monthly budget.
I don’t know if you have noticed that there are quite a lot of companies that have names taken from Tolkien’s Legendarium. At first glance, this seems innocuous enough. Tolkien’s writings grew in popularity over the seventies and eighties but since the release of the film trilogy at the start of the twenty-first century, his work has become more well known and been assimilated into our wider pop culture. Hence, it seems quite logical that a startup tech company, for example, would choose a name from his writings. No doubt the founders grew up reading The Lord of the Rings and are fans. That all seems plausible. However if you take a further look, it gets somewhat more complex. Here are four companies that have Tolkien based names.
“Managed decline” is a phrase that refers to the processes associated with the end of a specific lifecycle, with the goal of minimizing costs or other forms of loss. The concept originated in business where it referred to the management of companies and industries. More recently it is used in wider contexts. The concept gained prominence with regard to urban policy, particularly in the UK during the eighties when several major cities suffered economic and political collapse. Of late, the term has been applied to the UK, encompassing a systematic weakening of the economy, social structures, and cultural values, as well as its global political and diplomatic force. In each case, managed decline involves making strategic choices about resource allocation and accepting the consequences of those decisions. It is a complex issue with ethical and practical considerations, often sparking debate about the best way to address decline and reverse the process.
I still maintain a legacy presence on Twitter/X and I follow my local MP (member of Parliament) Louie French. It’s not something I especially relish as I am not a supporter of the Conservative party (or any other) and I did not vote for him in the last election. I just like to know what he is up to as he is the political representative for our constituency. As the Conservatives are out of power at present, to all intent and purposes, Mr French is a backbench MP although he has a minor position as Shadow Parliamentary Undersecretary (Culture, Media and Sport). However, with that being said he is hardly a key member of the shadow cabinet. Hence he focuses on constituency work and that which is generated by his shadow posting. He will also lend his voice, when required, to any major policy decision or statement made by his party.
Sunday 6th April is the start of a new financial year, here in the UK. According to data from numerous financial and economic institutions, an estimated million plus households will be facing annual increases of £400 to £500 as the proverbial “cost of living” goes up. Everything from Council Tax to Mobile and Broadband costs are being increased. Future cost hikes are expected in our energy and water utilities. As bills start going up across the country today, average wages remain stagnant. Middle-income and poorer households have been worst hit by this wage related issue. Hence the tabloid press have labelled the start of the new financial year as “Awful April”. Hyperbole aside, this is a very real issue which due to its complex, global causes, doesn’t have a quick fix solution.
I consider myself to be a grounded, rational individual. I am not excessively emotional. I like facts, data and reason as opposed to hyperbole, rhetoric and bluster. That being said, I am aware that the world is an imperfect place. Opinions are often not based upon empirical fact but personal perspective. Hence many people experience reality differently to me. They are driven by their feelings and other factors. However, despite these differences in philosophy, for most of my life the world has remained functional and over time slowly improved in subtle ways. Deference to expertise, a sense of community and basic pragmatism meant that people broadly pulled in the same direction. Of course there has always been dissent but it has been within a stable system. However, of late I feel that this era is now finally over. Things are no longer stable. We live in an uncertain world.
Newspapers were an integral part of UK culture in the seventies. During the week, they were delivered prior to going to work, so you would peruse them over breakfast. Alternatively you would buy one en route to your place of employment and read it on the bus or train. In a world before 24 hour, rolling news, they were the primary means of keeping the public abreast of events and as such, enjoyed a substantial audience. On occasions a newspaper story could make or break a political career or launch a crusading campaign to address a social ill. Newspapers were a force to be reckoned with and therefore a significant part of the socio-political landscape. However, due to a strong union presence within the workforce, the UKs newspapers often lagged behind other industries with regard to the technology.
The First Past the Post (FPTP) electoral system used in the United Kingdom, as well as in several other countries such as the US and India, has both advantages and disadvantages. However, despite being a simple and straightforward system it has been abandoned by many democracies in favour of more proportional and equitable methods. The primary criticism against FPTP is that it allows a minority of the electorate to return a majority government. Since 1935, there have been majority governments 90% of the time, but not one of them had the support of a majority of voters. At present, the current UK government has a majority of seats with just 43.6% of the votes. In the 2019 election they gained an extra 48 seats despite an increase of only 1.2% of the vote share.
Politicians have a distinct way of talking when being interviewed or giving a press conference. It is often characterised by a strategic use of language, centred around rhetorical devices, persuasion techniques and a careful framing of messages. Direct answers to questions are usually avoided, with tangential responses being preferred. Opinions and specific perspectives are frequently presented as facts. There is also a propensity to focus on “problems” and apportioning blame, rather than “solutions”. It’s important to note that the use of language in politics is a complex and dynamic process influenced by various factors, including cultural context, media dynamics, and the evolving political landscape. Different politicians may employ different communication strategies based on their individual styles and objectives. Here are some key aspects of how politicians use language:
The United Kingdom is one of the few democratic countries in the world that does not have a single, written constitution. Others include Canada, New Zealand and Israel. To date, its constitution is a combination of written and unwritten sources, including statutes, common law, conventions and somewhat esoterically, royal prerogatives. The reason for this is predominantly historical. Since 1688, Britain has not experienced a revolution or regime change, which often leads to a constitutional initiative, such as the American or the French Revolution. Britain’s constitution has evolved slowly over time under relative stability and as such, it has never been deemed necessary to list the fundamental laws and principles of the country's political system.
On Friday 15th September the former actor and comedian turned internet social commentator, Russell Brand, released a video on his YouTube channel addressing allegations about his personal life, ahead of a forthcoming UK current affairs documentary. Brand vehemently denied what he described as “very serious criminal allegations”. The following day Channel Four broadcast “Russell Brand: In Plain Sight”. During the course of the program Brand was accused by one woman of rape and by three others of sexual assaults, and emotional abuse between 2006 and 2013. During the course of the week, further claims have been made against him and that his “predatory” behaviour was an open secret within the TV industry. Furthermore, women would warn each other in advance if they had any dealing with him. All of which has played out against a mixture of broadsheet analysis, tabloid hyperbole, performative politics and internet bluster.
For those who live outside of the UK, let me categorically state that Brexit has broken British politics. Prior to 2016, national politics still broadly functioned along traditional party political lines, with income and class substantially determining voter allegiance. The big three cities (London, Birmingham and Liverpool) maintained their liberal dispositions and Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales were dominated by their regional politics. Brexit changed all this creating fault lines that fell outside of the existing political status quo. Opinions differed based upon where you lived, how politically literate you were and even education. Your party political allegiance no longer indicated what stance you took on this matter. Furthermore, the discourse around this complex subject was quickly debased into a bipartisan culture war that was toxic and dangerous.
Okay, keep up as there’s a lot of ground to cover. The UK government is currently suffering in the opinion polls and after 13 years in office, is facing potential oblivion at the next general election. In an attempt to shore up support among the party faithful, the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, is currently pursuing a hardline with regard to immigration. According to Ipsos, as a political issue about 29% of the electorate consider immigration to be a major problem. The remainder either think current levels are manageable or have no substantive view on the matter. However, as a “culture war” issue that can be weaponized by the tabloid press, which often has direct links to the Conservative Party in the UK, immigration is a hill to die upon. Hence you will find a lot of rhetoric that is anti-immigration and any contrary view is tarred with trite pejorative terms such as “lefty”, “liberal” and “woke”.
Last April, the Election Act 2022 became law within the UK. The Act introduced a requirement for all those voting in-person to produce photo identification when attending a polling station. This is the first time that such an ID has been required. Prior to this, voters could either bring their polling card to verify their identity at the polling station, or confirm their registered address from the electoral roll with staff. Now a UK driving licence or passport are considered the primary means of identity. A list of additional photo identification that has been deemed acceptable, is available on the UK government website. For those members of the electorate who do not have any of the qualifying ID, there is a Voter Authority Certificate available, which can be applied for online. This photo ID is linked to the applicants National Insurance Number. For further impartial information on photo ID and registering to vote, visit the The Electoral Commission website.
I am writing this post from the perspective of a UK citizen, but the sentiments expressed are applicable to anyone who lives in a country where you have democratically elected local political representation. IE someone who is supposed to advocate on behalf of your community or for you personally as the duly elected political representative. Here in the UK, the country is divided into 650 constituencies, each returning one Member of Parliament. Irrespective of whether you voted for your MP or whether you support the political party that they belong to, they are obliged to represent you and advocate on your behalf, if you request it. Such is the relationship in principle between constituents and MPs in the UK. It is important to be aware that your local MP is not a delegate whose sole purpose is to represent majority constituency views. Under the UK political system, an MP makes decisions on behalf of constituents and can take a position counter to local opinion, if they feel that is in the best interest of the constituency.
It is difficult to write about the state of UK politics with any degree of intellectual rigour when the entire situation has become so utterly farcical. My initial reaction to the recent departure of Liz Truss after just 45 days in office, was to laugh with abject scorn and derision. She was destined to fail due to utter lack of ability. However, there is still the outstanding matter of the country lacking a credible and functional government to address inflation, the cost of living crisis and resolve all the issues stemming from Brexit. There are problematic national and international events taking place that need addressing. A united, pragmatic and empathetic government is required to solve both these short term and long term needs. Sadly, the governing party is riven with opposing factions and there is no commonly held policy or underlying ideology. The PM may well have changed but the underlying flaws remain.
Conservative Party has been in government in the UK since 2010. During that time there have been three Prime Ministers. Today we moved onto the fourth. After Boris Johnson resigned on 7th July, the nation has had to endure a tedious two month process in which the Conservative Party elects a new leader. That person then becomes the PM by default. Many readers unfamiliar with the UK political system may be surprised that a change of leader has not led to a General Election. That is because the Conservative Party still holds a parliamentary majority of 71 elected Members of Parliament. Hence it is still constitutionally quite able to govern, despite Boris Johnson being forced from office. Therefore party members vote for a new party leader who gets the top job by default. Remember that in the UK, the Prime Minister is not the head of state and does not have the executive powers of a President.
I try to keep my thoughts on political matters to a minimum here at Contains Moderate Peril, mainly because UK politics and the current state of discourse associated with it has become an absolute shit show in recent years. Brexit broke traditional politics and has made matters far more tribal and partisan. The two main parties have declined from having clear ideologies, identities and manifestos, to becoming either a lobby group for the specific demographic group that supports them, or a conflicted, divided and schizoid shadow of its former self. I’ll let you work out which is which. Politics is no longer about governing a nation for the benefit of all its citizens. Now you simply pick a side and join the ongoing culture war against everyone and everything else. This rotten system produces rotten leaders. Hence, when Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson became Prime Minister in December 2019, it was clear that the nation was taking a major risk on such a man. His failings as a politician and a person are a matter of public record for anyone who has the eyes to see them.
The title for this post is a quote from The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. I’ve used it as a verbal cue to try and give readers an overview of the point I’m striving to convey. Because I want to talk about modern life in western civilization, specifically its complexity and increasing uncertainty. If you’re extremely wealthy you can mitigate these two points but I’m working on the premise that most of the people who read Contains Moderate Peril are not. The blogging community, of which I am a participant, is a diverse group but from what I’ve observed it’s not populated by millionaires. In fact most of the people I know, both online and in person, are just holding down a job, trying to keep a roof over their head and pay the bills. Often they’re doing the job they do in default of anything else and they’re at the very least ambivalent towards it. The pandemic has also brought home how fragile so-called “normality” is. Modern politics are also volatile and life in general just doesn’t seem as certain as it was twenty years ago.
The Conservative Party successfully held onto their “safe seat” of Old Bexley and Sidcup in yesterday’s closely watched by-election. However their overall majority was reduced by more than half amid a very low voter turnout. Conservative councillor Louie French becomes the country’s newest MP after winning 11,189 votes, more than 50 per cent of those cast, in the seat previously held by the former cabinet minister James Brokenshire. Mr Brokenshire died in October from lung cancer aged 53. The closest challenger was Labour’s Daniel Francis, who secured 6,711 as the Tory majority fell from nearly 19,000 to 4,478, the equivalent of a vote share swing of 10 per cent to Labour. Turnout in the constituency was just 34%, down from the almost 70% who voted in the 2019 general election.
Political events in the constituency of Old Bexley and Sidcup have moved forward in the last few weeks, following on from the death of incumbent MP James Brokenshire on 8th of October. Although no formal announcement has yet been made regarding the date of the forthcoming by-election, the major political parties have started announcing the names of their respective candidates. There were initial concerns among some constituents that this safe Conservative Party seat may have been used as a means of parachuting in a candidate favoured by central office, rather than one determined by the local Conservative Association. Fortunately, that has not been the case. The UK Government currently enjoys a parliamentary majority of 79 seats and is therefore not in any urgent need of fast pathing further political allies.
Last week James Brokenshire, MP for the constituency of Old Bexley and Sidcup, died of lung cancer at the age of 53. He had held this parliamentary seat since 2010 and maintained a strong majority throughout the 2015, 2017 and 2019 general elections. Hence the constituency of Old Bexley and Sidcup is considered a “safe seat” for the Conservative Party. In fact it has only ever returned MPs from that party since its creation in 1983. As a result of Mr Brokenshire’s death, there will now be a by-election held in the constituency of Old Bexley and Sidcup to return a new MP to parliament. What makes this local election a little more interesting than usual, is that it will not be taking place against a wider ongoing national election. Therefore, there is scope that local issues may well play a greater part in the electioneering of all participating parties.
A Working Man (2025)
Levon Cade (Jason Staham) is a former Royal Marine Commando who has retired from military service and now works as the leader of a construction team in Chicago. He has a close relationship with Joe and Carla Garcia (Michael Peña and Noemi Gonzalez ) who run the company and considers them as family. Outside of work, Levon is involved in a bitter custody battle for his daughter, against her maternal grandfather, who blames Levon for his daughter’s suicide. When Garcia's teenage daughter Jenny (Arianna Rivas) goes missing, Levon reluctantly agrees to help her parents and get her back. Beginning his search at the nightclub where Jenny was last seen, he soon discovers that she was abducted by Russian traffickers. Furthermore, the culprit is Dimi Kolisnyk (Maximilian Osinski), the wayward son of a senior ranking gangster.
Levon Cade (Jason Staham) is a former Royal Marine Commando who has retired from military service and now works as the leader of a construction team in Chicago. He has a close relationship with Joe and Carla Garcia (Michael Peña and Noemi Gonzalez ) who run the company and considers them as family. Outside of work, Levon is involved in a bitter custody battle for his daughter, against her maternal grandfather, who blames Levon for his daughter’s suicide. When Garcia's teenage daughter Jenny (Arianna Rivas) goes missing, Levon reluctantly agrees to help her parents and get her back. Beginning his search at the nightclub where Jenny was last seen, he soon discovers that she was abducted by Russian traffickers. Furthermore, the culprit is Dimi Kolisnyk (Maximilian Osinski), the wayward son of a senior ranking gangster.
A Working Man is based upon the novel Levon's Trade by Chuck Dixon. The screenplay is by Sylvester Stallone and David Ayer who also directed the film. Stallone had originally intended the basic scenario of the book to be the basis of a television series but it was repurposed as a feature film. It was deemed a more marketable property due to the number of sequels written by the original author. Whether these ever see the light of day remains to be seen and is dependent upon the box office performance of A Working Man. The film has the solid production values associated with a medium budget feature film and a cast of dependable character actors in supporting roles. The action scenes are well conceived, realised but somewhat stylised. Firearms knock people off their feets and villains take multiple blows to the head before going down. Everything that you expect from the genre and the star is front and centre. Yet there is something missing.
A Working Man has a few interesting ideas, such as the lead character performing his own, amateur investigation. Ayer adds a few flamboyant touches, such as the leader of a drug dealing motorcycle gang who sits on a chrome throne made of exhaust pipes and fairings. There are also quite a lot of subplots for a film of this nature, with various elements of the Russian mafia working at odds with each other. Sadly, the main plot line about Jenny Garcia’s kidnapping founders as she decides to fight back and not to be a victim. By the climax of the film it has almost become an afterthought. Overall, A Working Man drags under the weight of a plot which pitches several ideas and then abandons them. Statham, as ever, does much of the heavy lifting through his screen presence and personality. However, compared to Ayer’s previous film The Beekeeper, this one fails to assert its difference, despite trying hard to do so. The word “adequate” springs to mind.
Mainstream films are easy to recommend to people. They’re usually formulaic, work within clear parameters and they’re not controversial. Most people, when viewing such film on someone else’s suggestion, are left with a fairly simply choice. Did they like it or not? Whatever the outcome, no feathers are ruffled. No one looks at you askance afterwards and says “why the hell did you think I’d like that piece of shit”? If something like this happens, then you have clearly not recommended a mainstream film. Perhaps you’ve suggested something that’s a little more of an acquired taste. Something niche, from a very specific sub-genre. Which brings me neatly to Blazing Magnum AKA Strange Shadows in an Empty Room (1976). The US title gives the impression that this film is a hard boiled cop thriller, like so many others that followed in the wake of Dirty Harry. But there’s a clue in the European title. Yes, this movie has more than just a whiff of a giallo about it.
Jason Statham is an exemplar of the US mantra of “staying in your lane”. He makes action movies and occasionally strays into action comedies. His formula broadly works and is sufficiently lucrative to keep Mr. Statham employed. Therefore, if you watch a film in which he stars, you have a fairly good idea of what you’ll be getting. Of late, the criteria for his action vehicles have become more succinct. Jason Statham will play an innocuous character, such as a construction foreman or a bee keeper. Something terrible will subsequently befall another character who Mr. Statham has an emotional connection with in some capacity. He will subsequently hunt down those responsible and meet out death and violence. At some point the villain of the story will enquire as to how this innocuous person is so lethal. Research will then show that our Jason is in fact an ex-police officer/special forces operative/international assassin. There’s then a showdown and the villain dies. Job done.
The Light at the Edge of the World presented itself as an action movie upon its release in 1971. Based upon a story by Jules Verne, the Spanish American co-production was driven by its star Kirk Douglas, who curiously hired British director Kevin Billington to helm the project. This tale of a lighthouse keeper fighting a war of attrition against a group of pirates that have captured his island, was market as an adventure film ostensibly in the idiom of the authors previous works and as a pirate movie. MGM bought the rights to distribute the film in the UK on the misunderstanding that it was a family friendly production. It was not and remains so. They subsequently had to cut 15 minutes of violence and torture as well as an undercurrent of sexual assault to secure a suitable rating. Conversely, the US distributors received an arbitrary PG rating, despite the fact this is one of a handful of films that honestly depicts pirates as murderers, rapists and worse.
It’s an established action film trope. The fire team comprised of ex-military personnel, move in on their target. Only to have the tables turned by someone they don’t deem a threat. What makes it different in The Last Stand of Ellen Cole is a throwaway line of dialogue. The bested operative lies bleeding on the floor and the protagonists stands over them ready to finish them off. “Don’t, I have a cat” they feebly plead. For me that was the icing on the cake. The movie had already established it was taking the “same old, same old” and doing something different. Something fun, if taken in the right spirit. This scene tipped the balance and I embraced this film because it was being honest about what it is. This is a modern B movie that decides to give a very specific sub-genre a makeover. Furthermore, its clearly done with an affectionate wink, which is very different to sly wink. This isn’t deliberate self-knowing irony. Its just a film doing something different and possibly silly but it genuinely wants to have fun with it.
Stephen King’s dystopian story, The Running Man, was previously adapted very loosely in 1987, as a vehicle for Arnold Schwarzenegger. That version focused mainly on the “Battle Royale” element of the story and leaned heavily into Arnie’s personality, rather than the politics of the book. It also wasn’t well received by the author. Edgar Wright’s remake follows the source text a lot more closely and is far more interested in its political themes and wider social commentary. Furthermore, this version re-establishes the everyman quality of the hero of Ben Richards, rather than him being the muscle bound, ex-military hero as per Mr. Schwarzenegger’s prior interpretation. This time round, The Running Man uses a lot of the visual and narrative tropes of contemporary reality TV, making this forty three year old story very relevant to today’s viewers and couching the film in a style that is recognisable and accessible.
After the success of Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981, filmmakers scrambled to find existing intellectual properties that they could use for similar films. Hence archaic heroes such as Alan Quatermain were hastily given a modern makeover and thrust into generic movies, in a vague attempt to replicate Steven Spielberg’s successful formula. Which brings us neatly on to James Charles Bigglesworth AKA “Biggles”, a fictional pilot and adventurer from a series of books written by W. E. Johns between 1932 and 1968. Several attempts had been made in the past to bring this character to the silver screen, including one by Disney but they all failed. However, the commercial and critical success of Indiana Jones provided sufficient impetus to greenlight a new film. However, due to some curious production choices, when Biggles was finally released it was far from just a period set, action movie.
Setting aside the hubris of remaking a film such as Red Dawn, the 2012 reboot had a troubled production. Shot over the course of late 2009, on location in Michigan, MGM intended to release the film in September 2010. However, the studio’s financial problems became unsustainable over the course of that year and the film was shelved, while a financial solution was sought. Furthermore, while Red Dawn was in post production, there was a major economic shift within Hollywood due to the increasing importance of the Chinese market. This was a significant problem for MGM because the new version of Red Dawn had the Chinese invading the USA instead of Russia. Hence there were reshoots and the need for additional visual effects, so that the Chinese could be replaced with North Koreans. MGM eventually went bankrupt and the distribution rights to Red Dawn were sold off. The film was eventually released in 2012.
When I first saw the promotional trailer for Gangster Squad back in 2012, prior to its release, I wasn't especially impressed. I simply thought the film was another attempt to re-invent the gangster genre for a generation who were not especially familiar with it. I wasn't exactly overwhelmed with director Ruben Fleischer's resume either. I didn't particularly like Zombieland and haven't seen 30 Minutes Or Less. Then came the tragic mass shootings in Aurora, Colorado which led to the movie being delayed so that the original ending, which featured a shoot-out in a movie theatre, could be replaced. Hence when I finally watched this film recently, I wasn't expecting a movie up to the standards of say Once Upon A Time In America or Miller’s Crossing and it would seem that I was right do so. Gangster Squad is not especially noteworthy in any respect.
Levon Cade (Jason Staham) is a former Royal Marine Commando who has retired from military service and now works as the leader of a construction team in Chicago. He has a close relationship with Joe and Carla Garcia (Michael Peña and Noemi Gonzalez ) who run the company and considers them as family. Outside of work, Levon is involved in a bitter custody battle for his daughter, against her maternal grandfather, who blames Levon for his daughter’s suicide. When Garcia's teenage daughter Jenny (Arianna Rivas) goes missing, Levon reluctantly agrees to help her parents and get her back. Beginning his search at the nightclub where Jenny was last seen, he soon discovers that she was abducted by Russian traffickers. Furthermore, the culprit is Dimi Kolisnyk (Maximilian Osinski), the wayward son of a senior ranking gangster.
PC Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is an exemplary Police Officer, with a strict adherence to the letter of the law. As a result of making the rest of the London Metropolitan Police look bad, he is transferred to the rural town of Sandford, Gloucestershire. On arrival, Angel finds that the local Inspector, Frank Butterman (Jim Broadbent), takes a far more laissez-faire approach to policing. His colleagues are incompetent and he is further hampered by the Neighbourhood Watch Alliance (NWA), who prioritise low crime statistics over law enforcement due to their desire to win the title of “Village of the Year”. Furthermore, Angel is partnered with the Inspector’s son, Constable Danny Butterman (Nick Frost), who is infatuated with “buddy cop” movies and is in awe of Angel’s London experience. “Have you ever fired two guns while jumping through the air?” However, a sudden spate of grisly accidents lead Angel to believe that there's more to the seemingly tranquil and picture-perfect community than meets the eye.
As a collection of history's worst tyrants and criminal masterminds gather to plot a war to wipe out millions, one man must race against time to stop them. Discover the origins of the very first independent intelligence agency in The King's Man. Based on the Comic Book “The Secret Service” by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons. 20th Century Studios
Matthew Vaughn’s The King’s Man is an inconsistent film, both narratively and tonally. It veers between serious themes and stylised, hyperbolic action. At times it does quite a good job of exploring such complex subjects as global politics, mechanised warfare and colonialism. Sadly it then wrenches the viewer out of these cerebral reveries as it lapses into the sort of over the top action sequences that were notable in the two earlier films. It’s a shame because The King’s Man gets so many other aspects of the production right. The casting is very interesting, especially Ralph Fiennes as the “pacifist” Duke of Oxford. He is actually a very good fit for the action genre. Djimon Hounsou and Gemma Arterton are given little backstory beyond being respectively the faithful manservant and the family nanny but both are notable due to their own inherent acting chops and personal charisma. Rhys Ifans obviously has a great time as Grigori Rasputin, ensuring all the man’s vices are robustly depicted.
On paper, a video games franchise such as Assassin’s Creed lends itself perfectly to a cinematic adaptation. The parkour action scenes, the historical settings and the contemporary conspiracy theory themes are all elements that should play well with a modern youth audience. Hence with the backing of a major studio such as Twentieth Century Fox and a budget of $125 million, the 2016 movie should have been a guaranteed box office hit. The casting of Michael Fassbender, an actor who is comfortable with serious roles and big Hollywood franchises, should have carried this film comfortably over the finishing line. Director Justin Kurzel, who had found critical success with his adaptation of MacBeth a year previously, must have looked like a safe pair of hands to handle such a project. Sadly, that was not the case. Assassin’s Creed is not the sum of its parts, in fact many elements appear to be pulling in opposite directions. The resulting feature film is staggeringly dull, soulless and a chore to watch. A testament to how modern big budget franchise movies have become a production line, with all the art stripped from them.
300: Rise of an Empire is a curious beast, being neither a sequel nor a prequel. It is infact a tale that takes place simultaneously with those of the original movie. While Gerard Butler is busy making a last stand at the Battle of Thermopylae, fellow warrior and politician Themistokles, played by the singularly uncharismatic Sullivan Stapleton, leads a similar army of buffed Greeks against the Persian fleet. Once again we have a movie that is the epitome of style over substance, complete with a sound design that challenges what can physically be endured by human hearing. They say the first casualty of war is innocence but in this type of movie it's closely followed by historical accuracy and authentic depictions of ethnicity. 300: Rise of an Empire is a cinematic assault upon the senses but not in a good way like Mad Max: Fury Road.
Back in September 2017, Liam Neeson stated in an interview with Sky News that he was retiring from the action genre, due to his age. He felt that audiences would question his credibility in such roles. After the release of The Commuter (2018) and Cold Pursuit (2019) Mr Neeson appeared to return to human dramas and films that focus on performance rather than punching man and beast. Ordinary Love and Made in Italy, both released in 2019, demonstrate the actor’s versatility and skill. People seem to forget that he is a thespian who was initially known for his character driven roles in films such as The Mission (1986), Rob Roy (1995 and Michael Collins (1996). It was only in 2008 that he reinvented himself as an action hero. It’s all a far cry from Schindler’s List and his performance that earned him an academy award nomination. The reason I mention all of this is because The Ice Road is the third action movie I’ve seen in 2021 that stars Liam Neeson.
One of the stand out tropes of the modern action film is that the stakes are always cranked right up to 11. Terrorists, biological weapons and nuclear bombs are common threats in such movies with a hero or heroes trying to save the world from death and destruction or worse. However, back in the sixties and seventies, things were a little more straight forward and in some respects more credible. Take When Eight Bells Toll, released in 1971, for example. British Treasury secret agent Phillip Calvert investigates the theft of £8,000,000 in gold bullion by a gang of international smugglers. In the context of the times this was no small beer however it’s somewhat mundane compared to fighting super villains and their space lasers. Frankly I prefer these low key plot devices as they can make a film a little more plausible within the confines of the genre. A concept that is often forgotten today.
Forensic accountant Owen Casserly (Jake Weber) flees his home with his teenage son Connor (Finn Little) when he discovers he has been targeted by a pair of assassins (Nicholas Hoult and Aidan Gillen) who have been hired to stop him giving evidence in a major corruption case. Connor witnesses the murder of his father after their car is run off the road. Entrusted with important written evidence, he escapes into the dense forests of the Montana wilderness pursued by the killers. Seeking help he runs into smokejumper Hannah Faber (Angelina Jolie) who is stationed at a remote fire lookout tower. Hannah suffers from PTSD from a previous forest fire in which she was unable to save three young boys. Hannah attempts to lead Connor through the forest to safety. Meanwhile the assassins set fire to the forest to divert the attention of the authorities and cover their tracks.
I must admit that I did not have particularly high hopes for Paul W S Anderson's remake of the 1975 Roger Corman produced cult classic. Anderson’s work varies greatly. Event Horizon and Soldier are solid genre films but I still have not fully come to terms with Alien vs. Predator. Jason Statham is also a name that divides the public, with solid material such as The Transporter and unfathomable tosh like Revolver. But despite these considerations, Death Race is in fact quite a surprise and does not follow the path that so many remakes do. It takes the basic themes and concept associated with the original and tries to do something different with them. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel nor is it a genre milestone. But it does offer a different spin on things, have some engaging action scenes and provide some dumb but enjoyable entertainment. When combined with snacks and some beer this is a passable way to kill 111 minutes.
I did not watch Zero Dark Thirty upon its initial release, due to the politics surrounding it. I wanted to be able to view it free from bipartisan debate. Eight years on I believe this now achievable and although debate still exists it is now more measured and less strident. Zero Dark Thirty is certainly a compelling movie. It plays as a docudrama, providing an in-depth study of the US intelligence services hunt for Osama Bin Laden. It cannot be faulted on a technical level and the performances are very strong. It does not adopt a celebratory or triumphalist tone in its approach to the story. Director Kathryn Bigelow endeavours to keep the proceedings focused upon the intricacies of an intelligence driven manhunt. There is little or no tubthumping, jingoism. The decision to find Bin Laden is shown as a political and military exercise of foreign policy. The film solely focuses on the story from a US perspective but that is perfectly acceptable as it is not intended to be an exploration of geo-politics.
Firestorm was originally written as a vehicle for Sylvester Stallone, however when the production company Savoy Pictures went bankrupt the screenplay was bought by Twentieth Fox and the scope of the movie reduced to suit a lower budget. It’s broadly similar to Cliffhanger in so far as the lead character is a specialist in a certain field who runs afoul of criminals in a perilous environment. Whereas Cliffhanger is set in the Rocky Mountains, Firestorm takes place in the forests of Northern Wyoming. After the script was revised four times, the finished screenplay was given a final “polish” by Graham Yost who has considerable experience with the action movie genre. As stallone was no longer associated with the project and the production had been repurposed to be less extravagant, the movie was assigned to former NFL star Howie Long. Long had already appeared in the John Woo movie Broken Arrow (1996) and the Firestorm was seen as a means to give him a star vehicle.
The original French movies District 13 and its sequel District 13: Ultimatum, conceived and produced by Luc Besson, were enjoyable variations of the Escape from New York theme. Their charm lay in their European pedigree and the skilful use of parkour. The two leads, David Belle and Cyril Raffaelli, were eminently suited to the minimalist roles and the screenplays were fun. Half of these movies appeal was the fact that they were not mainstream US products. Brick Mansions is the Hollywood remake of District 13, as well as being Paul Walkers’ final movie. Sadly, this film is far from a fitting epitaph, being devoid of any charisma or innovations. It is blandly shot , poorly edited and has been stripped of everything that made the original entertaining.
Arnold Schwarzenegger's return to the big screen after his political career has been uneven to say the least. His cameos in The Expendables and The Expendables 2 were well received, with their self referential charm and age related irony. Yet his first major movie The Last Stand, although competent, failed to find an audience. Escape Plan fared better at the box office but did not put Arnie back on the A list. Effectively there's a large percentage of the contemporary cinematic audience who were born after his heyday and are simply not overt fans of his work. His core audience is more than likely of the age group that consume most of their film entertainment at home. Which may explain why Sabotage tanked in the US upon release on March 28th 2014. It was the worst opening box office of Arnie's career. He used to break first day opening records.
Sequels and reboots are hardly a new concept and have been a part of Hollywood culture since the 1930s. The success of the Universal Horror movies from that era being a prime example of direct follow ups and retconned movies. However, there is one fundamental rule that distinguishes a good sequel from a bad one. You should never mitigate, undermine or make irrelevant the events of the previous movie, just to provide your new film with a raison d'être. For example, the events of Aliens do not contradict or trivialise those that happened in Alien. In fact with that franchise there is a very clear logical progression between the two movies. The same is true for Mad Max and Mad Max 2 or Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. The key is to progress a story, enhance it or explore things from an alternative angle and bring something new to the cinematic table. Sadly this philosophy is all too often lost on corporate film making. Which means that many sequels are just tedious replays of prior films. Terminator: Dark Fate falls squarely into this category.
The enduring appeal of the character John Rambo in First Blood comes from the fact that he is a traumatised ex- service man who keeps himself to himself as he drifts from job to job, trying to come to terms with his wartime experiences. His poor treatment at the hands of a small-town Sheriff is a succinct metaphor for the social and political indifference that Vietnam veterans were shown upon their return to the US. He’s a man with a code in a world that no longer has any use for him. His simple and honest patriotism is not returned and he is in fact viewed with shame by many from the nation he loves. Furthermore, the first movie does not paint him as a cold-blooded killer. Despite provocation he is not the first person to shoot to kill. Rambo is in many ways a victim. A broken man, who society has asked to do unspeakable things. Now society wants nothing to do with him and fears the “monster” they created. Although clearly an action movie, First Blood had narrative depth and a flawed but sympathetic protagonist. 37 years and four movies later, such dramatic themes have long left the franchise. The central character is indeed a caricature of its former self.
It was hardly surprising that the movie adaptation of Chris Kyle's autobiography American Sniper, would cause controversy. The Iraq war, US Foreign Policy and national pride are seldom subjects that are discussed in a calm and measured fashion. And then there are the personal politics of director Clint Eastwood to consider. Hence there were claims from some quarters upon the movie’s release, that it was Islamophobic and counter claims that criticisms of the late Chris Kyle were unpatriotic. There still remain issues regarding the authenticity of events depicted in the source text and subsequently the movies screenplay by Jason Hall. Yet none of these factors have in anyway impacted upon the film's box office returns which currently stands at $247,900,417 worldwide.
Do I really need to present you with some sort of plot synopsis for Transporter 3? No, I didn’t think so. More of the same as Frank Martin (Jason Statham) and his police chum, Inspector Tarconi (Francois Berleand) become embroiled in yet another high-octane escapade. There's fights, car stunts, exotic international locations and a strong sense of humour. This time, the disposable love interest is a Ukrainian girl named Valentina (Natalya Rudakova) who fulfils her role succinctly. The film benefits by being set back in Europe, after the mistake of basing Transporter 2 in the US. This time, the story takes us to such locations as Budapest and Odessa. The international film crew once again bring a veneer of panache to the production that is conspicuously absent in US action movies. For a modest budget fil, Transporter 3 it looks very good. Again the proceedings are given a boost by a pertinent soundtrack by Alexandre Azaria and a selection of European “tunes”.
Jason Bourne originally graced our screens for the first time seventeen years ago. The Bourne Identity was a gritty, minimalist take on the espionage genre and a welcome change from the excesses of the Pierce Brosnan Bond era. The story arc was sustained over three movies and ended efficiently and succinctly. After which Matt Damon moved on, as did the director of two of the movies, Paul Greengrass. Which leaves us with The Bourne Legacy; the tangential sequel that arrived in 2012. A film that exists because the money men and bean counters hate to pass up on a franchise until it has been squeezed utterly dry. Hence, they commissioned the writer of the series, Tony Gilroy, to come up with a screenplay and direct a spinoff movie. Jeremy Renner was cast in the lead role. Yet despite narrative and production continuity, The Bourne Legacy was not a Jason Bourne movie with the star appeal of Matt Damon. Although the film turned a profit, it had the lowest box office returns out of the entire franchise.
During the eighties there was a clear league table of action movie stars. By the mid-nineties this system fell into decline and the Hollywood lacked any clearly defined exponents of the genre. A decade later, due to the success of Luc Besson’s Transporter films, Jason Statham became a bankable box office star in this field. When you look at Statham's early work in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels it is hard to envisage the "mockney geezer" as an international action star. Yet he has successfully stepped into the role and enjoys a large following. I enjoy his work as he has a likeable on-screen persona. My 88-year-old Mum likes him to because "he wears nice suits". The action genre seldom reaches such a diverse demographic.
Before we start, I recollect that one well known UK critic described Safe House as sub-Tony Scott, upon its release. Now I’ve always been conflicted over Scott’s back catalogue, as I’ve always found his movies to be hampered by their own unique style. The subtleties of his characters and depth of his themes are all too often drowned out by his frenetic style and fast paced editing. Therefore a comment such as this really sets off alarm bells for me. Having recently watched The Equalizer 2, I wanted a further fix of Denzel Washington in a similar action vehicle. As Safe House was available on Netflix UK, I decided to kill a couple of hours and see what actually constitutes as “sub-Tony Scott”.
13 Assassins is one of Takashi Miike's most restrained and mature movies. Set in Feudal Japan and based on true events, a venerable clan suffers under the reign of the cruel young Lord Naritsugu (Goro Inagaki), who commits atrocities at will. Unable to break their oaths, the samurai are torn between duty and shame. Some of the masters in the clan even go so far as to commit Seppuku in protest. Unable to endure the status quo, a plan is formed to gather a small team of the deadliest samurai and assassinate Lord Naritsugu while he is travelling between clan territories. The responsibility falls upon Shinzaemon Shimada (Koji Yakusho) to take on this potentially fatal task. The matter is further complicated by Lord Naritsugu’s personal bodyguard (and Shimada’s former rival) master samurai Hanbei (Masachika Ichimura), who is a force to be reckoned with.
Adapted from the novel by Wilbur Smith, Shout at the Devil is the sort of big budget, sprawling, period set high adventure movie that has fallen out of vogue in recent decades. Its main attraction are its stars, location and robust action scenes. Crafted by former Bond director and long-time editor Peter Hunt, this is a full on, no nonsense character driven drama of the kind that were common place during the seventies. Sometimes the enormity of these sorts of productions meant that something suffered by omission. Be it a weak script, excessive set pieces or too many cameos by an all-star cast. Shout at the Devil broadly manages to avoid such pitfalls. There is however a notable tonal shift in the story about halfway through the film, which does take events in a different direction.
The Monkey (2025)
Osgood Perkins has a distinct visual style and tone to his films. It is why his previous film, Longlegs, was such a welcome change from standard genre outings. It was atmospheric both visually and tonally, demonstrating a keen understanding of horror cinema. Hence he is the perfect director to helm this adaptation of a Stephen King short story. The plot is greatly expanded and the screenplay takes a lot of liberties with the source material but the main themes of your past being inescapable and the power of guilt remain front and centre. Due to the extreme and bizarre nature of much of the onscreen deaths, the film wisely has a strong streak of gallows humour running through it which is extremely well handled. Comedy can often be used to defuse or mitigate violence which can be narratively dishonest (think Fred Krueger). Here it adds to the cruel and capricious nature of the random deaths.
Osgood Perkins has a distinct visual style and tone to his films. It is why his previous film, Longlegs, was such a welcome change from standard genre outings. It was atmospheric both visually and tonally, demonstrating a keen understanding of horror cinema. Hence he is the perfect director to helm this adaptation of a Stephen King short story. The plot is greatly expanded and the screenplay takes a lot of liberties with the source material but the main themes of your past being inescapable and the power of guilt remain front and centre. Due to the extreme and bizarre nature of much of the onscreen deaths, the film wisely has a strong streak of gallows humour running through it which is extremely well handled. Comedy can often be used to defuse or mitigate violence which can be narratively dishonest (think Fred Krueger). Here it adds to the cruel and capricious nature of the random deaths.
In 1999, airline pilot Petey Shelburn (Adam Scott) attempts to dispose of a drum-playing toy monkey at an antiques shop. He warns the proprietor that the automaton is evil and a death always occurs after it plays its drums. The monkey subsequently spontaneously plays its drum resulting in a bizarre accident where the shop owner is disemboweled by a harpoon gun. Shortly after this incident, Petey goes missing, leaving his wife, Lois, to raise their identical twin sons, Hal and Bill. The twins later find the monkey in a closet filled with their father’s mementos. They turn the key and again the monkey plays its drum. Later that evening the twin’s babysitter is killed in a freak accident at a hibachi restaurant. Further tragedies blight the twins lives, leaving them marginalised and estranged. 25 years later, despite being thrown down a well, the Monkey returns to dog the twins’ adult lives.
If you look beyond the over the top set pieces and wry humour, The Monkey attempts to explore various schools of thought surrounding the subject of death. It reflects upon the deterministic nature of our mortality and questions the relevance of human agency. The titular simian automaton is both scary and possibly symbolic. Is it an avatar of death itself? A biblically themed cameo at the film’s climax seems to imply such. Theo James gives two solid performances as the adult twin brothers and the film has several intriguingly quirky characters to enjoy. The gore is turned up to eleven and is both gross and amusing. Overall Osgood Perkins’ dark and droll approach to The Monkey is possibly for the best. If the story had been presented and explored in a more serious manner, it may well have been too po-faced or dour. Instead the film reacts to the absurdity of its antagonists’ random homicides in the only way it can. Namely, with ironic laughter.
College Professor Peter Proud (Michael Sarrazin) has a recurring dream about a man swimming on a lake late at night. A woman named Marcia (Margot Kidder) paddles a small boat out to meet him. As the man tries to climb aboard, Marcia hits him with an oar and he drowns. Perplexed and disturbed, Peter approaches Doctor Sam Goodman (Paul Hecht) who is conducting research into sleep at the College. He conducts several tests which prove that Peter’s experiences are not registering as dreams. The Doctor suggests that they’re hallucinations but Peter theorises that they may be memories of a past life. A chance viewing of a TV documentary about Massachusetts, triggers further memories, so Peter decides to go an investigate. He subsequently learns that the man in his visions is a former Tennis coach, Jeff Curtis, who died in the late 1940s under mysterious circumstances. Is Peter the reincarnation of this man? If so, didn’t he have a daughter, Ann (Jennifer O’Neil). Furthermore is Marcia, Ann’s mother, still alive?
In the year 1860, Baron Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) faces execution by guillotine for the murders perpetrated by the creature he created. With the assistance of a hunchback named Karl (Oscar Quitak) he avoids death by beheading the priest who came to give him the last rites. The priest’s body is then mistakenly buried by the authorities. Three years later, Victor, now using the name Doctor Stein, has established himself as a prosperous physician in Karlsbrück, serving both affluent patients and the poor at a paupers’ hospital. Hans Kleve (Francis Matthews), a junior member of the medical council, recognises Victor and being an admirer, seeks to become his apprentice. Victor and Hans then undertake an experiment to transplant Karl’s living brain into a new, more refined body, rather than a grotesque monstrosity the Baron has previously made. Karl is eager to have a new healthy body, especially after encountering Margaret Conrad (Eunice Gayson), the charming new assistant at the hospital.
Exit 8 is a sophisticated and claustrophobic psychological thriller directed by Genki Kawamura, which skilfully transforms a minimalist indie walking-simulator game into a cinematic existential enigma. This overtly metaphorical film renders the repetitive nature and drudgery of modern working life into a physical environment in which the lead character is trapped and must find a way out. A random, brutal maze filled with an atmosphere of indifference to the lab rats that find themselves trapped within. Or is it their personal guilt that has put them there? Genki Kawamura’s psychological mystery draws inspiration from the Japanese video game of the same name, as well as from the cyclical nature of Groundhog Day and endless corridors of the Overlook Hotel in Kubrick’s The Shining. Although there are jump scares and some ghoulish imagery, this is not a horror vehicle. Instead this is a disquieting psychological drama with a strong sense of morality.
In 1968 the dilapidated freighter Corita hastily leaves Freetown to avoid a customs inspection. Captain Lansen (Eric Porter) has a cargo of dangerous explosives which he is smuggling so he can finally retire. His ship’s passengers also have reasons for leaving in a hurry. Dr. Webster (Nigel Stock), together with his daughter Unity (Suzanna leigh), is relocating due to his indiscretions with patients and illegal operations. Alcoholic pianist Harry Tyler (Tony Beckley) is aimlessly drifting from port to port. Eva Peters (Hildegard Knef) is fleeing from her husband with stolen bearer bonds which she intend to use to buy back her son from his evil clutches Caracas. Ricaldi (Ben Carruthers), a questionable lawyer, is pursuing Eva to retrieve the stolen bonds. First officer Hemmings (Neil McCallum) suggests that the ship should return to Freetown after an imminent Hurricane warning. The Captain asks the passengers and they are unanimous that they do not wish to return. However a mutinous crew, the bad weather and the instability of the explosives force everyone to abandon ship. The survivors find themselves adrift in a lifeboat surrounded by a strange carnivorous seaweed.
David Koepp is no stranger to genre cinema, having written the screenplay for such films as Jurassic Park, Spider-man and War of the Worlds. Where these titles are big budget, major studio productions, Cold Storage is a far more modest production with a smaller scope. Adapted from his own novel, the screenplay is by David Koepp and the film is directed by British film-maker Jonny Campbell. At first glance, Cold Storage seems a somewhat derivative science fiction horror film with a relatively modest budget, financed through a convoluted US and French co-production. Lurid green and red colours feature heavily in the marketing artwork and it is easy, after a cursory look, to write the film off as cheap, generic, direct-to-streaming filler. However, Cold Storage is prime example of why you should not judge a book by it’s cover, or in this case, a film by its posters and online advertising. It is in fact an amusing and fun endeavour that can fill an evening.
Despite being considered by many as an original story, The Abominable Snowman (1957) is in fact a remake of a made for television play, The Creature, that was originally broadcast in the UK in 1955. Hammer Films would often purchase the rights of popular TV programs and subsequently re-work them for mainstream, international cinema. Larger production budgets and fewer censorship restrictions allowed them to make their cinematic interpretations more lurid, thus commercially viable. Hence The Quatermass Xperiment, Quatermass II and Quatermass and the Pit were all given a big screen makeover and were commercially successful. The Abominable Snowman was written by acclaimed writer Nigel Kneale, who also wrote the original television drama and the aforementioned Quatermass trilogy. Although ostensibly marketed as a horror film this production is actually an interesting blend of psychological thriller and science fiction.
The Haunted Dolls House is a short film based on a story by M.R. James about a unique antique that is subject to supernatural phenomenon. Adapted by Stephen Gray and David Lilley, this is the third of three short films based upon James’ work that the pair have made. It stars Steven Dolton as Mr. Dillet, a collector of antique dolls houses, who acquires a bargain only to discover that it harbours a ghostly secret. Made on an extremely modest budget over the course of 2012 this clever, innovative and rather sinister adaptation is a fine example of short film creativity. It manages to offer a unique visual depiction of M.R. James’ classic story whilst capturing the unsettling quality of the author’s work. Like so many independently made short films it is clearly a labour of love, made with modest resources. It succinctly captures the spirit of the author’s work and is both innovative and rewarding.
A lot of people may know Luke Evans from the live action version of Beauty and the Beast or Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy. With his matinee idol good looks, charming Welsh demeanour and his “smoky” tenor singing voice, he projects a sense of old school stardom. Which brings us to No One Lives; a film which is a radical departure from his previous work. His performance is disconcerting to say the least and the film is somewhat unhinged. Directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, who made an interesting adaptation of Clive Barker’s The Midnight Meat Train, this cinematic outing is similarly replete with robust shocks and gore. There are some interesting ideas about the nature of violence, Stockholm Syndrome and whether one should deny or embrace one’s nature. However, these are ultimately minor asides. Philosophical musings in between bouts of surprisingly striking unpleasantness.
In the near future, Kepler 822, a research and drilling facility located at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, suffers a sudden and catastrophic structural failure. There are only six survivors. Mechanical engineer Norah Price (Kristen Stewart), Captain Lucien (Vincent Cassel), biologist Emily Haversham (Jessica Henwick), engineer Liam Smith (John Gallagher Jr.) and crew members Rodrigo (Mamoudou Athie) and Paul (T.J. Miller). As all the functional escape pods have been used and they are unable to contact the surface, the Captain suggests using pressurized suits to walk one mile across the ocean floor to the Roebuck 641 drill installation. There they will find more escape pods. However, it soon becomes apparent that the disaster was not caused by an undersea earthquake and that they are not alone as they make their journey.
In Buenos Aires, Clara (Natalia Señorales) hears voices emanating from the plughole in her kitchen sink. The voices seem to be plotting against her. Her husband Juan (Agustín Rittano) says the sounds are coming from next door. That night, Juan finds Clara’s dead body levitating in their bathroom, slamming against the wall by an invisible force. Meanwhile their neighbour, Walter (Demián Salomón), is experiencing supernatural occurrences while he tries to sleep. An invisible force repeatedly shakes his bed. After using a video camera to film these events, he sees a tall, cadaverous figure emerging from under the bed, standing over him as he sleeps. Across the road, Alicia (Julieta Vallina) is grieving for her recently deceased son, who was run over outside Walter’s house. Alicia's ex-boyfriend, police commissioner Funes (Maximiliano Ghione) calls Jano (Norberto Gonzalo), a paranormal investigator and the pair soon discover more supernatural occurrences in the area.
Black Sabbath (AKA I tre volti della paura) is a 1963 horror anthology film directed by Mario Bava. Although an Italian production, the film was co-financed by American International Pictures and as such was conceived to appeal to US audiences. Hence, the English dialogue edit of the film which was released in America differs significantly to the original Italian version. Despite the presence of the legendary Boris Karloff and the popularity of both anthology and gothic horror at the time,the film was only a modest success at the US box office and did not do well in Italy. However, in more recent years there has been a critical reappraisal of Black Sabbath, especially the Italian dialogue version. Many aspects of the film which are standard genre tropes today, were in fact novel at the time. Also despite the production mainly being studio bound, the film oozes style and has a striking visual aesthetic.
During 1836, in the town of Darkness Falls, Maine, an elderly widow Matilda Dixon is adored by the town’s children as she gives them a gold coin whenever they lose a tooth. One day, after a house fire, Matilda is left burned and sensitive to sunlight, so she starts wearing a china mask. When two children are reported missing, Matilda is blamed by some locals, dragged from her home and hung. She curses the town, stating that whenever a child loses their last tooth, she would come for it. If the child looks at her, she will kill them. The missing children are subsequently found, so the citizens cover up their unjust lynching. In 1990, young Kyle Walsh awakes one night to find Matilda Walsh standing over him. Kyle’s mother is killed and he is blamed for her death and institutionalised. 12 years later, Kyle (Channey Kley) is released and tries to warn the town of the imminent danger when lightning disables the power supply. He is ignored by all until the deaths begin.
Osgood Perkins has a distinct visual style and tone to his films. It is why his previous film, Longlegs, was such a welcome change from standard genre outings. It was atmospheric both visually and tonally, demonstrating a keen understanding of horror cinema. Hence he is the perfect director to helm this adaptation of a Stephen King short story. The plot is greatly expanded and the screenplay takes a lot of liberties with the source material but the main themes of your past being inescapable and the power of guilt remain front and centre. Due to the extreme and bizarre nature of much of the onscreen deaths, the film wisely has a strong streak of gallows humour running through it which is extremely well handled. Comedy can often be used to defuse or mitigate violence which can be narratively dishonest (think Fred Krueger). Here it adds to the cruel and capricious nature of the random deaths.
When reviewing Sting, one critic stated that the small scale setting and thus, low stakes (IE only a few peoples lives are at risk), made the film not especially memorable. I consider this to be a somewhat spurious criticism. It is the very fact that Sting takes place in such a commonplace environment, with the main characters being everyday people that makes it different. There is a clear focus on well defined characters and their backstory. Unlike so many contemporary films, I actually gave a damn about the protagonists in Sting. An integral aspect of the horror genre is the ability to take a well known and familiar trope and provide a different and absorbing spin on it .It would appear that some audiences have been belaboured over the head by so many overblown and bombastic blockbusters, that the very notion of depicting small, localised and intimate events in a film, seems to bamboozle them.
Some films are made with the intention of starting a franchise, others evolve into one after a surprise box office success and lucrative sequels. Alien (1979) falls into the latter category. A mid-budget science fiction horror film that was well crafted and then benefited immensely by being released at just the right time. Sadly, many franchises become derailed and enter into a death spiral due to competing artistic visions, cynical studio politics and cinematic ignorance. This has certainly afflicted all subsequent Alien films after James Cameron’s magnificent Aliens (1986). Sometimes, a franchise can correct its course and do something fresh with the source material. Prey (2022) is a fine example of this with director Dan Trachtenberg bringing fresh vigour and intelligence back to the Predator movies. I believe that was the intention with Alien Romulus (2024). Sadly, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter is a popular entry among fans of the franchise. This is mainly due to the return of makeup artist, Tom Savini, who creates several notable death scenes and a bravura ending for Jason Voorhees. There is also an attempt by writer Barney Cohen to have a more involving story compared to previous entries in the series. Director Joseph Zito, who previously directed the above average slasher movie The Prowler AKA Rosemary’s Killer (1981), brings a harder edge to the proceedings, making Jason more menacing than in the previous instalment. As ever, the film was dismissed by the critics but performed well at the box office. Producer Frank Mancuso Jr fully intended for this film to be a definitive end to the series, as he was becoming increasingly concerned that his association with the franchise was having a negative impact upon his career.
Set directly after the events of the previous film, Friday the 13th Part III is again about a group of friends staying near Crystal Lake who encounter Jason Voorhees as he embarks upon another killing spree. Shot in 3D the film has a less sleazy tone than its predecessors although the formula remains the same. The set pieces and death scenes are more elaborate and less clinical, taking advantage of the 3D picture format. The film marks the first appearance of Jason's signature hockey mask, which subsequently became a trademark of both the character and the franchise. Originally conceived to be an end to the series of films, Friday the 13th Part III performed extremely well at the box office, earning $36.7 million on a budget of $2.2 million. As a result, the franchise was given a stay of execution and a further sequel was commissioned.
Originally, Friday the 13th Part 2 was intended to be an anthology film based on the superstition associated with the date. However, after the popularity of the original film's surprise ending, the producers opted to continue the story and mythology surrounding Camp Crystal Lake. This eventually became the parameters which all future films would broadly work within. Friday the 13th Part 2 is a more polished production than the first movie, benefitting from twice the budget of the original. The quick turnaround meant that Paramount Pictures could continue to capitalise on the popularity of the slasher genre. However, there was growing social pushback against these types of films, from Christian lobby groups and other “concerned parties”. Hence, Friday the 13th Part 2 ran into problems with the MPAA ratings board and cuts were imposed. Something that would continuously plague the franchise over the years.
Writing any kind of review for the original Friday the 13th movie seems somewhat redundant, as it has been analysed and written about numerous times before. If you’re interested in the film’s production as well as its subsequent impact on US cinema at the time, then there is an excellent summary on Wikipedia. Having recently rewatched the entire franchise, courtesy of the Shout Factory’s Friday the 13th Collection Deluxe Edition, I have a few thoughts I’d like to share. The picture quality of all the films is very good, offering a lot more visual information compared to previous releases. The amount of “extras” included in the box set is prodigious. I suspect that these are the best versions that we’re ever likely to see. Fans hoping that one day all the cut footage will be found and re-integrated into each film are likely to remain disappointed. Some material has surfaced but sadly a lot of deleted and extended scenes have been destroyed.
George A. Romero's Day Of The Dead (1985) is a bleak and remorseless masterpiece. The final entry in his “Dead Trilogy”, its central theme is that in a world on the brink of destruction, man is still the biggest threat to his own existence. It is well scripted, clinically accurate in its observations on human nature and thought provoking, despite having its budget cut just weeks before production commenced. 40 years later it is revered as a genre milestone and is considered one of Romero’s finest works. Sadly, the 2008 “remake” directed by Steve Miner, who has a background in slasher and exploitation movies, takes a contrasting approach, to say the least. It certainly has very little to do with Romero’s film and one can’t help but assume that it is nothing more than a cynical cash in. Setting aside comparisons with the original, this is not in any way a standout zombie film in its own right.
Although I was unaware of it, there was a guerrilla marketing campaign for Longlegs which was focused on the internet rather than traditional television adverts. Hence the film gained a lot of interest prior to its release and as well as some some disproportionate expectations. Then immediately after its theatrical debut, the matter was further compounded by a possible excess of gushing praise as the film was “over reviewed”. Therefore I maintained a degree of scepticism about Longlegs and tempered my expectations prior to watching it. Any film that is hailed as the next Silence of the Lambs, featuring a “traumatising” performance by Nicholas Cage needs to be keenly scrutinised so that its cinematic merits can be carefully separated from the surrounding hyperbole. After viewing I found Longlegs to be a finely honed, atmospheric and precisely targeted horror thriller but not the genre milestone that some would claim.
As a rule, it is always a challenge to end a trilogy of films successfully. Writing a satisfying denouement to a standalone movie is hard enough. To be able to conclude all pertinent story arcs and themes that have been sustained over three feature films, to everyone’s liking is far harder to achieve. In the case of The Final Conflict (1981), the last instalment of The Omen trilogy, writer Andrew Birkin does manage to resolve all of the external, internal and philosophical stakes, which are the fundamental components of a cinematic screenplay. Unfortunately, it is done in an incredibly underwhelming manner, which left audiences feeling cheated. The last time good defeated evil evil in such an unspectacular fashion was in Hammer’s To the Devil a Daughter (1976). This is why, in spite of solid production values, The Final Conflict is the least popular of the films about the Antichrist, Damien Thorn.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch is a film that often provokes a strong reaction from genre fans. This is mainly due to it not having any direct connection to the previous two films. The absence of Michael Myers in such a franchise was a serious mistake and the subsequent poor box office returns endorsed this. Yet if this film had been released as a separate product it may not have performed so poorly. After re-examining Halloween III: Season of the Witch there are many aspects of interest. Despite a troubled production, the film is an intriguing anomaly that tried to be different during a decade where the established horror formula was “stalk n' slash”. It does have a very bleak tone and some consider it to be mean spirited as the cast are killed off one by one. Perhaps theme of child sacrifice caused audiences to balk?
Ghostwatch is a controversial British horror “mockumentary” produced by the BBC that was first broadcast on October 31st 1992. Written by Stephen Volk and produced by Ruth Baumgarten it is now considered a milestone in UK broadcasting. This was mainly due to the strong reaction it provoked from the public, many of whom failed to grasp that it was a drama. At the time it raised serious questions about responsible programming and caused a furore in the British press. It has curiously never been shown since by the BBC. Ghostwatch remains a talking point to this day and is a text book example of the power of television as well as the publics enduring belief in the supernatural.
Event Horizon is a curious movie hybrid, mixing plot elements from classic sci-fi and horror genres. It has been labelled “Hellraiser in Space” by some lazy critics, although I think there's far more to it than that. Perhaps a more apt description would be a Gothic horror story set in space. The movie has garnered a cult reputation since its release in 1997, mainly due to its graphic imagery and troubled production history. It does indeed have some quite shocking sequences but the lightning editing does not show as much as some would think. Paramount forced director Paul W S Anderson to reduce the original one hundred and thirty minute running time down to a more manageable ninety, after unfavourable test screenings. Much of the violence was allegedly removed as a result of that process. Sadly nothing survives of the removed material other than a VHS workprint. Hence a restored director’s cut is therefore unlikely.
The peace of tranquillity of Santa Ynes, Utah, is shattered when the town becomes the focus of several hit and run deaths, by a mysterious and apparently driverless, black car. After the Sheriff (John Marley) is run down, it is down to Captain Wade Parent (James Brolin) and his deputies to protect the town from this sinister threat. Is the car simply a driven by a mad man or is there a more supernatural explanation? When the car menaces a local school marching band, the teachers and students take refuge in the nearby cemetery. Does the cars inability to enter consecrated ground provide a clue to its otherworldly origins and offer a potential solution? As the death count increases and the population becomes more fearful, the Captain and his team of deputies form a desperate plan to see if they can lure the car into a trap.
The key to success in the horror genre is to try and find an innovative new angle on tried and tested themes and tropes. The Night Flier is an often-overlooked gem, that takes a unique perspective on vampirism and features strong performances as well as an intelligent and thoughtful screenplay. It builds a sense of foreboding during it’s first two acts and teases audiences with some unpleasant prosthetic effects, courtesy of KNB EFX Group. The climax of the movie is both thought provoking and suitably unpleasant. Furthermore, The Night Flier even manages to make a coherent criticism of tabloid culture and morals of those journalists working in the industry. It’s a damn shame that this modest but well-crafted genre movie didn’t get the attention it deserved when it was initially released in 1997.
Dr. Terror's House of Horrors was the first portmanteau horror movie by Amicus Productions. The small British studio was founded by producers and screenwriters Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg. As the horror genre grew in popularity due to the success of Hammer films, Amicus saw the potential in the portmanteau format. Subotsky in particular held Ealing Studios 1945 classic Dead of Night in very high regard. Although only a modest budget movie, Dr. Terror's House of Horrors proved to be financially successful and led to a series of similarly structured films over the next decade. These included Torture Garden (1967), The House That Dripped Blood (1970), Asylum (1972), Tales from the Crypt (1972), The Vault of Horror (1973), From Beyond the Grave (1974),
Ghost Story is a deliberately superficial adaptation of the novel by Peter Straub. If you’ve read the book and are expecting a verbatim retelling of the plot, then you will be disappointed. It’s complex narrative structure and the abundance of characters do not immediately lend themselves to mainstream film making. However, if you like tales of the supernatural and solid performances from Hollywood legends, then this may well be for you. John Irvin has always been a workman like director and has therefore often been overlooked. Films such as Hamburger Hill and When Trumpets Fade show a great deal of focus and a clear understanding of the mechanics of cinema.
The Ruins is similar to both The Mist and Cloverfield , which were released around the same time, in so far that it is rather bleak and unrelenting movie. And like the aforementioned films, its strength lies in the manner in which it tackles the subject of people facing their own death in a credible fashion. In The Ruins the protagonists when faced with the prospect of their own demise quickly descend in to panic and resolutely refuse to face facts. Although these are negative themes that may not be to everyone’s tastes, they make The Ruins both gripping and genuinely scary.
TV in the UK Part 2
If you don’t want to pay for streaming services, or premium digital satellite and cable content, then your choice in the UK is somewhat limited. You can receive all “free to air channels”, IE the ones that have advertising, via the digital terrestrial platform Freeview. Most UK televisions have Freeview access built in. Alternatively, the same selection of channels are available via the digital satellite platform Freesat. You can also buy either Freeview or Freesat digital video recorders and require only a rooftop aerial or satellite dish respectively to access these platforms. Most DVRs come with additional IPTV functionality built in along with the most popular streaming apps, so additional subscription services can be added if the viewer so desires. Freeview and Freesat carry a mixture of high definition and standard definition channels. Internet based services offer 4K content.
Freeview and Freesat provide digital terrestrial TV access in the UK
If you don’t want to pay for streaming services, or premium digital satellite and cable content, then your choice in the UK is somewhat limited. You can receive all “free to air channels”, IE the ones that have advertising, via the digital terrestrial platform Freeview. Most UK televisions have Freeview access built in. Alternatively, the same selection of channels are available via the digital satellite platform Freesat. You can also buy either Freeview or Freesat digital video recorders and require only a rooftop aerial or satellite dish respectively to access these platforms. Most DVRs come with additional IPTV functionality built in along with the most popular streaming apps, so additional subscription services can be added if the viewer so desires. Freeview and Freesat carry a mixture of high definition and standard definition channels. Internet based services offer 4K content.
Until recently, our household has used Freeview, along with some additional IPTV channels and streaming apps for our television requirements. However, it has not been especially good value for money. The DVR that is supplied by our broadband provider, performs poorly and the extra channels we pay for are only in standard definition. So we have chosen not to renew our contract. We have moved over to Freesat, which broadly offers the same channels as Freeview, although more are in HD. Beyond the initial hardware costs, Freesat incurs no further charges. I recently changed my cell phone contract and received a year’s subscription to Netflix. As a regular Amazon Prime customer, we also have access to Prime Video. For the present these services are to be our main source of television content. We regularly avail ourselves on free trials, discount codes and other promotional opportunities so we can access other platforms. Thus we do not face “TV poverty”.
Freesat 4K Recordable TV Box
I spent some time researching what TV services are available in the UK, prior to changing from Freeview to Freesat. What I learned was quite discouraging. Television has changed its business model, just like the music industry and those changes are not beneficial to the customer. The dominance of streaming services has led to a decline in DVR production. Streaming services run on a subscription model, whereas digital terrestrial and satellite services rely on a hybrid of advertising and paid for content. TV is now a compartmentalised industry and although there is still a substantial audience in the UK, it is spread over a wider variety of platforms. Hence advertising reaches a smaller audience. DVRs further compound the problems, allowing viewers to bypass adverts. Thus there are less new DVRs coming to market, because user control of content is not good for business.
There is also a broader decline in physical media sales, again because streaming services appear to negate the need for it. Sadly, the reality is about removing customer choice and placing control in the hands of the vendor. Disney is reducing the availability of a lot of its classic content on physical media to drive customers to its streaming service. However, a lot of material from Disney’s back catalogue remains absent from its streaming service and a lot of content is being altered to make it compliant with what Disney consider to be “modern sensibilities”. Looking at streaming services from a wider perspective, a lot of content is licensed from third parties, to supplement original material. This means that content can come and go quickly once licensing arrangements expire. At one point, Netflix in the UK had access to all respective Star Trek shows. An arrangement that ended once Paramount Plus launched.
Apps available on Freesat
We are now living in an age where the entertainment industry (along with others) have decided that ownership or at least paying once to access material is not an adequate business model. Streaming, be it audio or video content, addresses this offering a service where the customer pays continuously for continuing access but has no direct control beyond that. Choice is very much dependent upon what the streaming platforms currently have licensed and there is always scope for material to be removed from access when licensing arrangements change or end. Due to a finite customer base being divided among an ever increasing group of vendors, subscription services are proving an “inadequate” revenue stream. Hence we are now seeing advertising being introduced on lower tiers of subscription. If the customer objects they can pay to remove it.
Due to the cost of producing content for streaming services, many platforms are now opting to release material in a weekly schedule to maximise audience retention and return on investment. Hence, we are currently experiencing a return to “appointment television”, although for a much more compartmentalised audience. Shows such as Reacher and Severance are released weekly and immediately become the focus of intense online debate on subreddits and the like. For those who think this is in some way a return to the viewing habits of the seventies, it comes with a substantial loss of agency. Adverts are forced upon viewers, where they could in the past be bypassed via a VCR. Furthermore, if you wish to avoid spoilers then you have to eschew all social media until you have watched the program in question. Once again it would seem that “choice” and “progress” are not as beneficial as they first appear.
It curious how one’s viewing habits change over time. I increasingly find myself watching and enjoying TV shows today, that I would have balked at 25 years ago. I also find that a lot of the so-called premium shows that are critically acclaimed and discussed at great length in subreddits and blog posts, hold no interest for me. This is not because they’re bad because they’re patently not. I am just overly familiar with television, the same way I am with cinema. I often spot plot devices and twists before they are revealed. I also find that many of the tropes and conceits common to TV have become boring. For example, I enjoy Reacher but the stories never place him in genuine jeopardy. It’s not as if his character is going to be killed off. So his adventures become fun but arbitrary. I also find the way stories are stretched over too many episodes and the obligatory cliffhanger ending predictable. Hence, I watch far less TV than I used to and I look for shows that engage with me in new ways.
I’ve been an Amazon Prime subscriber for year. For our household the greatest value that the service offers has always been the free delivery of your orders. Every week I will buy something from Amazon which is then quickly and efficiently delivered to our door. Prime Video which is also part of the subscription, has always been an after thought. That is not to say that we don’t use the service, because we do. It is simply not a determining factor as to whether we continue to subscribe or not. Mrs P and I enjoy such shows as Reacher, Cross and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power but Prime Video is not our main source of streaming entertainment. That being said, there is always something to be found on Prime. There are plenty of older shows and an adequate back catalogue of films. Then there is the fact the Prime Video as a platform can accommodate additional streaming subscriptions to services such as Shudder and Paramount +. Hence Prime Video is best described as not essential but useful.
Whenever certain TV shows gain popularity and become internet talking points, it simultaneously piques my interest while also invoking my scepticism. Popularity is not always indicative of quality. I can think of numerous UK TV shows that attract big audiences that do not appeal to me whatsoever. However, sometimes it can be enjoyable to watch something that is in the public eye and to participate in the “buzz” associated with that show. I watch Strictly Come Dancing each year for this reason and because watching people learn a skill is entertaining. However, this post is about another show. Namely The Celebrity Traitors which has just begun its second season on the BBC.
It has become a popular TV formula to find two celebrities or television personalities and put them into an informal documentary style show. While the pair nominally undertake the task at hand, the emergent banter between the two is the alleged television gold. Hence we had Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing which became a big hit. Then there’s shows such as Extraordinary Escapes with Sandi Toksvig and Perfect Pub Walks with Bill Bailey where the presenter is joined by a different celebrity guest each episode. Again it is the off topic chats that make these shows interesting variations on pure documentaries. All of which brings me nicely to Sam & Ade Go Birding. I missed this show when it was first broadcast in the UK in April this year. I caught five minutes of a repeat recently while channel hopping and was so intrigued by the premise, I immediately went to the appropriate on demand player and watched the first episode. Over the next two evenings I watched the remaining two instalments. All of which was a wonderful change of pace from the frenetic and boisterous enthusiasm of mainstream entertainment. Two guys go bird watching. One is an expert, the other isn’t. Banter ensues along with some superb wildlife photography. This is calming, tranquil and relaxing viewing.
Star Trek is slightly older than me by 14 months. I was born on December 18th 1967. Star Trek was first broadcast in the US on 8th September 1966. Hence this show has always been part of the prevailing pop culture that surrounded me, as I grew up. I first began watching Star Trek as a young child in the early seventies. It would be repeated on the BBC in the early evening on Fridays and it became a family ritual to sit down together and watch it. As a seven or eight year old, it left a great impression upon me and was in many ways, the television highlight of the week. Star Trek along with Doctor Who certainly started my interest in science fiction. Star Trek was also one of the first shows that introduced me to tie-in marketing. I remember seeing in a toy shop, near to my school at the time, a Dinky Klingon Battle Cruiser and was flabbergasted that such a thing existed. I immediately coveted it but sadly never obtained one.
Thoughts on TV shows and my current viewing habits.
This so-called recurring post is certainly becoming quite irregular, as It’s been over a year since I wrote the last instalment of The Idiot Box. I noted back then how I was watching less television and to be frank that hasn’t really changed. Although there are plenty of well written and entertaining shows out there, too often choosing to watch one effectively places you in an opened ended social contract. For example, I watched the first season of The Agency, which is a superior espionage drama. It ended with the main story completed and a few plot lines open for another season. A second season has just been released and I have learned from a blog post by Wilhelm Arcturus, that this season ends on a cliffhanger. Oh dear. Do I really want to get on another TV show treadmill? Nope. I like TV shows that have self-contained seasons. So I guess I’ll be skipping The Agency. Shame. I liked the Jack Black cover of a U2 song that they use on the title credits.
I recently found a DVD boxset of Return to the Planet of the Apes in a charity shop which I bought for £4, which is a ridiculously cheap price. I considered it an interesting find because it was a Region 1, US copy. However, that is not so unusual these days as most DVD players are now region free and Amazon (UK) sells media from all over the world. As for the show in question, I vaguely remember Return to the Planet of the Apes being shown on UK network TV when I was a child, probably circa 1976. Back then it would usually take a year or so before US shows made it onto UK television. From a commercial perspective, the entire Planet of the Apes franchise was beginning to run out of steam. I was 8 years old at the time so had missed most of the film releases. However, I enjoyed the live action TV show hence an animated follow up had obvious appeal to a child of my age.
I have not watched as much TV as I usually do, this year. Mainly because I have become a little weary of the ways contemporary TV is produced, especially with regards to streaming shows. Due to the costs, shows such as Star Trek: Strange New Worlds only have 10 episodes per season. Simply put, the season begins to hit its stride and then is abruptly over. This problem (if you see it as such) is then further compounded by there being a significant wait between seasons. In the case of STSNW it was two years between season two and season three. Not all shows fall foul of this. Apple TV produces two seasons of the excellent espionage drama Slow Horses at a time, ensuring a prompt release schedule. However, even this has issues. Due to the complexity of the plots of many contemporary TV shows, something that is a marketing point, some viewers cannot remember the plot after a twelve month hiatus. Network TV shows seldom have these issues with each season being 20 plus episodes long and story arcs that are seldom as complex.
Strictly Come Dancing remains the BBC’s flagship light entertainment show for Autumn. Despite controversy and scandal, the show bounced back last year and firmly re-established itself as the “feel good, family show” it has always claimed to be. Blind comedian Chris McCausland becoming the 2024 champion certainly validated the show’s commitment to diversity and inclusion and helped place Strictly (as it is known to its fans) back on its cultural pedestal. I’m sure those involved in the production of the show breathed a sigh of relief when the season ended on such a positive note, eclipsing the negative press that had been ever present last summer. Second chances and opportunities for a “course correction” are few and far between these days. Especially when you have elements of the UK press waiting with bated breath and hoping that you’ll fail.
Treasure Island In Outer Space is a curious Italian television production from 1987 starring Anthony Quinn and Ernest Borgnine. It also features numerous international actors better known for their work in cult and exploitation films, such as Bobby Rhodes, David Warbeck and John Morghan. Directed by Antonio Margheriti (AKA Anthony Dawson), famous for such films as Killer Fish (a cash in on Piranha) and The Last Hunter (a Vietnam exploitation epic), Treasure Island In Outer Space is a faithful adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel. The screenplay by Renato Castellani and Lucio De Caro draws heavily from the source text, maintaining character names and original dialogue. However in updating the material to a futuristic setting, the script is littered with the worst kind of eighties sci-fi clichés. We are subjected to sonic trains, anti-gravity rays and the usual buzzword driven faux science.
Thoughts on TV shows and my current viewing habits.
I last wrote a blog post in this series back in February 2022. Then for various reasons, I stopped. Possibly because my relationship with TV has changed in recent years. It’s fair to say at present that viewers are spoilt for choice. There are lots of very good shows around. Conversely, there is also a lot of bland, generic, filler as well. I appreciate that not every television series has to be an industry milestone and there are times when I’m content to watch undemanding content. However, I am very protective of how I spend my leisure time at present. I am not prepared to sink 6 or 8 hours into a show that is just “okay”. Hence I’m becoming very particular about what I watch. If something isn’t working for me in any fashion then I just abandon it and am happy to do so.
The seventies was an interesting time for UK genre television. Despite small budgets and often low key visual effects, there was no shortage of good ideas and creativity. Sapphire & Steel is a prime example of a show couched in a high concept, produced on a shoestring. It also credits its audiences with some degree of intelligence. Rather than spoon feeding the narrative in a didactic manner, it hints and implies, then leaves the rest to its viewers imagination. Created by Peter J. Hammond, a veteran TV writer, Sapphire & Steel centres on a pair of interdimensional operatives named Sapphire and Steel. They are two of a number of elements that assume human form. Over the course of three seasons little is revealed about the pair but they appear whenever there is any anomalous temporal activity. Time itself is portrayed as a sentient and malignant force that seeks to make incursions into the present reality, through weaknesses in the fabric of space.
Season 2 of Andor has received praise from both critics and fans alike. It finally seems to have put to bed the common argument that Star Wars as a franchise has traditionally been light on narrative depth, character development and the exploration of the themes that its main story is predicated upon. Andor shows the realities of opposing authoritarian regimes and exists within shades of grey, rather than purille, binary positions. Many have drawn parallels with the current state of geopolitics, especially that of the United States. I certainly found the second season of Andor to be engaging and thought provoking. I also enjoyed the performances of many of the British actors who by default are cast in all the major Empire roles. I thought Anton Lesser was especially noteworthy as a senior officer in the Imperial Security Bureau.
If you don’t want to pay for streaming services, or premium digital satellite and cable content, then your choice in the UK is somewhat limited. You can receive all “free to air channels”, IE the ones that have advertising, via the digital terrestrial platform Freeview. Most UK televisions have Freeview access built in. Alternatively, the same selection of channels are available via the digital satellite platform Freesat. You can also buy either Freeview or Freesat digital video recorders and require only a rooftop aerial or satellite dish respectively to access these platforms. Most DVRs come with additional IPTV functionality built in along with the most popular streaming apps, so additional subscription services can be added if the viewer so desires. Freeview and Freesat carry a mixture of high definition and standard definition channels. Internet based services offer 4K content.
When I started writing this post it was intended to be about changing from one UK TV provider to another. However, I became concerned that there was a need to provide some sort of historical context, because I wasn’t sure whether all readers would be familiar with how television is provided here. The next thing I know, I’ve written a potted history of public and commercial broadcasting in the UK and the resulting post has become somewhat lengthy. So I have decided to split the text into two halves. The first being a summary of how the provision of television has changed in the UK over the course of the last fifty plus years. The second focuses more upon changes to the TV industry’s business model, consumer habits and the present status quo.
It is fair to say that we live in an age where we do not lack quality TV. There are numerous shows that have garnered critical acclaim or a strong word of mouth following that are deemed “must see” viewing. No doubt you, like myself, have a long “to do” list of programs that you need to “get round to watching” on top of those shows which are staples of your viewing regime. If you didn’t have enough programmes already to catch up with, we all have friends and family telling us about a “great show” that’s on a platform we don’t subscribe to, that we really need to see. It is quite extraordinary and a far cry from my youth when the UK simply had three terrestrial channels until satellite TV became popular in the late eighties. To paraphrase the former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan “we’ve never had it so good”.
Music by John Williams is a documentary celebration of the famous composer and his illustrious body of work. It provides some interesting biographical background information as to how the man was born into a family of talented musicians. It then traces his rise from pianist for hire to the most well known film composer today. Along the way, anyone who is anyone in film and music appears to heap justifiable praise upon him and his body of work. It also features a continuous medley of John Williams’ greatest hits, as it catalogues his work in broadly chronological order. Music by John Williams is an upbeat and positive love letter to the composer and exactly what you would expect, when you consider that the documentary was produced by his friends and peers.
Tonight’s results for week 5 of Strictly Come Dancing (season 22) have once again demonstrated that this show is more than just a dancing competition to UK viewers. If it were just a case of determining who are the best dancers, then JB Gill would not have been in the dance off. The judges may well see things exclusively in such terms but the public clearly do not. I last wrote about this phenomenon in 2019 and I think it appropriate to raise the subject again as this season of Strictly seems to be bucking past trends and I suspect we may be in for further upsets in the run up to the season finale. Broadly speaking, the public usually tends to vote in a manner similar to the official leaderboard. Hence, those who score the lowest usually end up in the dance off. Occasionally an underdog will be championed and kept on the show but that trend seems to have lost its novelty in recent years. This season appears to be quite different.
I make no bones about the fact that I watch Strictly Come Dancing every year. For those who live outside of the UK, this is the original version of the dancing reality show that you probably know as Dancing With the Stars in your country. It is still a big deal in the UK as far as TV ratings go, getting audiences on average of 6.6 million viewers. There are many aspects of the show that are textbook examples of prime time, popular entertainment but I like it because the “celebrities” that take part are ultimately learning a skill that is genuinely difficult. The latest season of Strictly, as it is known to its fans, is especially interesting as the BBC had a major PR problem earlier in the year, where several previous participants made allegations of bullying and abuse about their pro-dancer partners. An investigation is still ongoing and in the meantime, the two professional dancers that were named have withdrawn from the show. Hence everyone involved with the latest season are all on message, stating that it’s “all about having fun”.
Watching TV was a far more communal activity in my youth. Families sat and watched specific shows or sports together. “Appointment TV” had its benefits not only for TV ratings but for advertising revenue. Although audiences may have grown over the years, they have also become more fragmented and compartmentalised. Smaller market shares have therefore made advertising far more pervasive. Even big streaming platforms are feeling the squeeze with declining subscribers and therefore introducing advertising on lower tier tariffs. Many catch up services also rely on advertising. However, viewers can always pay a fee if they wish to dispense with it. Another foible of modern digital television is poor picture quality Many smaller digital channels broadcast in standard definition. The source material has often been converted between different picture formats and has been cropped to suit a 16:9 screen. This results in low definition picture quality, with weak colours and a lot of digital artefacts.
I recently visited my local branch of the British Heart Foundation. This is a chain of UK charity shops that sell previously owned furniture and electrical goods, all of which are certified to be in good working order. It’s one of the few places where you’ll still find old school CRT televisions. These mainly come from house clearances. On this occasion, a particularly bulky model from the early 2000s was on display and despite its age, it still had a good, clear picture. I spoke to a member of staff and apparently these TVs are still popular with gamers who buy them for use with retro video games consoles. I felt especially nostalgic for this particular ageing Sony TV, because Mrs P and I had once owned a similar model. We bought it from a local department store (which no longer exists) and I remember it took two robust gentlemen to deliver it and install it.
We all knew it had to happen sooner or later. According to reports, Lucasfilm is planning to reduce its Star Wars related output on Disney+. Specifically, from 2025 there will be only one live-action television series per year. For comparison, Disney+ commissioned three shows in 2022 and two shows in both 2023 and 2024. It should be noted that this reduced output doesn’t include animated shows. It would appear that senior management at Disney have finally figured out something most of us have known for a while. That saturating the market with content based upon a specific intellectual property, is ultimately detrimental to its popularity and financial viability. To use an old adage “familiarity breeds contempt”. At present, hardcore fans are “unhappy” with the way the IP is being developed, while casual fans are somewhat burned out by the excess of content and its varying quality.
Two years ago, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premiered on Amazon Prime to mixed reviews and a tedious and predictable internet brouhaha. I have no interest in that debacle as I consider it spurious, to say the least. Representation is a commercial imperative for any big budget television production. As for any deviation from the established canon, that’s due to the show being an “adaptation” of Tolkien’s work. At no point were viewers promised a literal interpretation of the source text. Therefore I am only interested in legitimate critiques of the show based upon its production, writing and acting. As far as I’m concerned, the first season was broadly entertaining and had outstanding production values. Overall I enjoyed The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power as an exciting and inventive take on Tolkien’s legendarium. Hence, I have been looking forward to the second season, which began today.
Ghostwatch is a controversial British horror “mockumentary” produced by the BBC that was first broadcast on October 31st 1992. Written by Stephen Volk and produced by Ruth Baumgarten it is now considered a milestone in UK broadcasting. This was mainly due to the strong reaction it provoked from the public, many of whom failed to grasp that it was a drama. At the time it raised serious questions about responsible programming and caused a furore in the British press. It has curiously never been shown since by the BBC. Ghostwatch remains a talking point to this day and is a text book example of the power of television as well as the publics enduring belief in the supernatural.
Ronald Erle Grainer (11 August 1922 – 21 February 1981) was a prolific Australian composer who is best remembered for his work in the United Kingdom during the sixties and seventies. He wrote numerous notable scores and theme music for several iconic television shows such as Doctor Who, Steptoe and Son and Tales of the Unexpected. He also composed the soundtrack for several major motion pictures such as Some People (1962), The Assassination Bureau (1969) and The Omega Man (1971). Grainer relocated to London from Australia in 1952 but it was not until 1960 that he gained critical success after writing the music for the popular TV show Maigret. He subsequently received an Ivor Novello award for “Outstanding Composition for Film, TV or Radio”.
Anyone who writes regularly, sooner or later will have the following epiphany. The realisation that the post you consider your best work seldom finds an audience. Furthermore, the most inconsequential, disposable things that you have written on a whim, will often end up being the one article that gets a big response. It can be very frustrating but it is a reality of writing. It is with that idea in mind, I wish to move on to the matter of “Walter Watches”. In late March 2019, I took a picture of Walter sitting in his chair, watching a classic episode of The Twilight Zone. I subsequently Tweeted this image along with a descriptive caption. This gained a number of “likes” and retweets, so a day later I posted another. This time Walter was watching the film Krull (1983) and I added a humorous caption. Let’s just say I got more of a response for that one Tweet than I had for anything else I had posted over the previous nine years when promoting a blog post.
I was seven when The Six Million Dollar Man was first broadcast in the UK in late 1974. As a young and impressionable child, who was already fascinated by Doctor Who, Star Trek (TOS) and the films of Ray Harryhausen, this show was essential weekly viewing. I believe for the first couple of seasons, we sat and watched it as an entire family. Television was less sophisticated back then and dominated by sitcoms, police procedurals and traditional dramas. So a weekly show blending the espionage genre with science fiction themes was revolutionary. It also inspired a generation of school kids to run around the playground in “slow motion” and give themselves hernias as they attempted to lift heavy objects. And don’t get me started on the range of Steve Austin toys. One had a “bionic eye” which meant it had a lens in the front of the action figure’s face and you could look through the back of his head like a telescope. What a time to be alive!
Despite being an analysis of the past there is a portentous air about Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s Prohibition. A fascinating five-and-a-half-hour documentary produced for PBS in 2011. The history of this disastrous experiment, the banning of alcoholic beverages, is a textbook example of how the transactional nature of US politics can be effectively used upon “wedge” issues. Prohibition follows the format and style of Burns previous documentaries such as the Civil War (1990) and The War (2007) with the wider subject broken down and analysed according to protagonists, events and the political background. Specific historical figures and key players are followed throughout the documentary’s narrative, giving viewers a sense of focus. Hence we meet the hatchet-wielding Carrie Nation, Wayne Wheeler from the Anti-Saloon League and media savvy gangsters like Al Capone. It is interesting to note that some themes continue from Burns’ previous work, such as the political and cultural conflict between native-born Americans and European immigrants. The rural heartlands versus the big cities.
Andor is not like other entries in the Star Wars canon. It explores the human, social and political consequences of rebelling against an oppressive, totalitarian regime. The writing is intelligent and well observed, choosing to focus on the average citizens of the Empire and the nature of their daily lives. Andor also explores the ineffectual politicians and the way the senate are self serving and ultimately impotent. The Emperor is remote and instead we see how Imperial colonialism works at a grassroots level. It is an all too familiar depiction, born out of historical fact, such as Vichy France during World War II. Petty thugs and aspiring psychopaths happily align themselves with their Imperial overlords and actively oppress their own people. As for the Empire, and in particular the ISB (Imperial Security Bureau) it is rife with infighting, personal fiefdoms and all the flaws of similar institutions from the real world.
Having watched the first two episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, I wish to express my thoughts on what I’ve seen and my overall impressions so far. I do not think it would be fair to frame this post as a review as the two episodes only constitute 25% of the show’s total content. A formal review of the first season seems more appropriate when I have seen it in its entirety. Before I begin commenting on specific points about the two premier episodes, I wish to point out that I have no problem with “representation” and have expressed my thoughts on this matter in a previous post. It also covers the matter of “adaptation” and how complex texts can at times require augmenting to be made accessible to wider audiences. Hence those viewers who want 100% canonical purity are unrealistic in their expectations. Objections based in racism and sexism can simply be ignored. NB I shall endeavour to keep my thoughts spoiler free.
TV in the UK Part 1
When I started writing this post it was intended to be about changing from one UK TV provider to another. However, I became concerned that there was a need to provide some sort of historical context, because I wasn’t sure whether all readers would be familiar with how television is provided here. The next thing I know, I’ve written a potted history of public and commercial broadcasting in the UK and the resulting post has become somewhat lengthy. So I have decided to split the text into two halves. The first being a summary of how the provision of television has changed in the UK over the course of the last fifty plus years. The second focuses more upon changes to the TV industry’s business model, consumer habits and the present status quo.
Philips CRT TV circa 1980
When I started writing this post it was intended to be about changing from one UK TV provider to another. However, I became concerned that there was a need to provide some sort of historical context, because I wasn’t sure whether all readers would be familiar with how television is provided here. The next thing I know, I’ve written a potted history of public and commercial broadcasting in the UK and the resulting post has become somewhat lengthy. So I have decided to split the text into two halves. The first being a summary of how the provision of television has changed in the UK over the course of the last fifty plus years. The second focuses more upon changes to the TV industry’s business model, consumer habits and the present status quo.
In the seventies and eighties, television in the UK was a singularly uncomplicated affair. You would buy a TV, connect it to a rooftop or indoor aerial/antenna and set the channel buttons to the four analogue stations that were broadcasting at the time. You then watched your favourite programmes at the time that they were broadcast and discussed them the following day at either school or work. Hence the viewing figures for popular shows were large with popular soap operas such as East Enders and sitcoms like Only Fools and Horses regularly achieving audiences of over 20,000,000. Over a third of the population at the time. Although video cassette recorders became ubiquitous during the eighties, the culture of “appointment TV” (IE watching stuff when it was shown), persisted. Analogue terrestrial television, introduced in the UK in 1936, remained the predominant source of TV in homes until 2012.
UK analogue aerial and satellite dish circa the mid-eighties
During the eighties, changes in TV regulation saw the emergence of analogue satellite and cable services. However, cable was not readily available in rural and most suburban areas due to the logistics of installing the infrastructure. Similarly, satellite TV required a dish which added to the set up costs for new customers. Plus due to the prevailing UK class culture of the time, there was a great deal of snobbery regarding “unsightly dishes” and commercial television programming that was perceived as “low rent”. However, in the early 2000s (noughties), the UK was getting ready to decommission analogue terrestrial TV broadcasting and replace it with a digital terrestrial service. Hence a lot of new commercial television services began to appear as the public became more comfortable with the business model of paying a subscription for quality programmes, rather than free TV paid by advertising.
The noughties were a time of major change for UK television. Many new commercial services, such as OnDigital (digital terrestrial) and NTL (digital cable) came to market and ultimately failed. However, other industry changes proved successful, such as the transition from 4:3 to 16:9 aspect ratio and from standard definition to high definition. Tests are currently underway for ultra high definition digital terrestrial broadcasts and 4K streaming content is becoming more widespread. There was a period of a few decades, when Sky was king and digital satellite TV was the dominant premium service in the UK with a fifth of the population as customers. The provision of major sporting events and franchises, especially premier league football, was a major factor in Sky’s success. However, over time other services have begun to compete and steadily eroded
A selection of UK streaming services
In 2025, we find ourselves in a TV market dominated by streaming services. Major streaming providers have the budgets to produce high quality shows and the remaining UK broadcasters dependent on advertising revenue, struggle to compete. The main problem with streaming services, is that if you want to keep abreast of all the most popular shows then you have to subscribe to 4 or 5 services. Sport in the UK is still mainly carried on digital satellite (and now streaming) via Sky, so if you want access to that as well you’re going to have to subscribe to their services as well. The monthly cost of all of these is somewhere north of £75, which is no small beer and a reason why so many people share logon credentials for streaming services. Subsequently, there is now a societal divide regarding TV access. “TV poverty” has emerged as a term describing those excluded from premium content due to its cost.
It curious how one’s viewing habits change over time. I increasingly find myself watching and enjoying TV shows today, that I would have balked at 25 years ago. I also find that a lot of the so-called premium shows that are critically acclaimed and discussed at great length in subreddits and blog posts, hold no interest for me. This is not because they’re bad because they’re patently not. I am just overly familiar with television, the same way I am with cinema. I often spot plot devices and twists before they are revealed. I also find that many of the tropes and conceits common to TV have become boring. For example, I enjoy Reacher but the stories never place him in genuine jeopardy. It’s not as if his character is going to be killed off. So his adventures become fun but arbitrary. I also find the way stories are stretched over too many episodes and the obligatory cliffhanger ending predictable. Hence, I watch far less TV than I used to and I look for shows that engage with me in new ways.
I’ve been an Amazon Prime subscriber for year. For our household the greatest value that the service offers has always been the free delivery of your orders. Every week I will buy something from Amazon which is then quickly and efficiently delivered to our door. Prime Video which is also part of the subscription, has always been an after thought. That is not to say that we don’t use the service, because we do. It is simply not a determining factor as to whether we continue to subscribe or not. Mrs P and I enjoy such shows as Reacher, Cross and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power but Prime Video is not our main source of streaming entertainment. That being said, there is always something to be found on Prime. There are plenty of older shows and an adequate back catalogue of films. Then there is the fact the Prime Video as a platform can accommodate additional streaming subscriptions to services such as Shudder and Paramount +. Hence Prime Video is best described as not essential but useful.
Whenever certain TV shows gain popularity and become internet talking points, it simultaneously piques my interest while also invoking my scepticism. Popularity is not always indicative of quality. I can think of numerous UK TV shows that attract big audiences that do not appeal to me whatsoever. However, sometimes it can be enjoyable to watch something that is in the public eye and to participate in the “buzz” associated with that show. I watch Strictly Come Dancing each year for this reason and because watching people learn a skill is entertaining. However, this post is about another show. Namely The Celebrity Traitors which has just begun its second season on the BBC.
It has become a popular TV formula to find two celebrities or television personalities and put them into an informal documentary style show. While the pair nominally undertake the task at hand, the emergent banter between the two is the alleged television gold. Hence we had Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing which became a big hit. Then there’s shows such as Extraordinary Escapes with Sandi Toksvig and Perfect Pub Walks with Bill Bailey where the presenter is joined by a different celebrity guest each episode. Again it is the off topic chats that make these shows interesting variations on pure documentaries. All of which brings me nicely to Sam & Ade Go Birding. I missed this show when it was first broadcast in the UK in April this year. I caught five minutes of a repeat recently while channel hopping and was so intrigued by the premise, I immediately went to the appropriate on demand player and watched the first episode. Over the next two evenings I watched the remaining two instalments. All of which was a wonderful change of pace from the frenetic and boisterous enthusiasm of mainstream entertainment. Two guys go bird watching. One is an expert, the other isn’t. Banter ensues along with some superb wildlife photography. This is calming, tranquil and relaxing viewing.
Star Trek is slightly older than me by 14 months. I was born on December 18th 1967. Star Trek was first broadcast in the US on 8th September 1966. Hence this show has always been part of the prevailing pop culture that surrounded me, as I grew up. I first began watching Star Trek as a young child in the early seventies. It would be repeated on the BBC in the early evening on Fridays and it became a family ritual to sit down together and watch it. As a seven or eight year old, it left a great impression upon me and was in many ways, the television highlight of the week. Star Trek along with Doctor Who certainly started my interest in science fiction. Star Trek was also one of the first shows that introduced me to tie-in marketing. I remember seeing in a toy shop, near to my school at the time, a Dinky Klingon Battle Cruiser and was flabbergasted that such a thing existed. I immediately coveted it but sadly never obtained one.
Thoughts on TV shows and my current viewing habits.
This so-called recurring post is certainly becoming quite irregular, as It’s been over a year since I wrote the last instalment of The Idiot Box. I noted back then how I was watching less television and to be frank that hasn’t really changed. Although there are plenty of well written and entertaining shows out there, too often choosing to watch one effectively places you in an opened ended social contract. For example, I watched the first season of The Agency, which is a superior espionage drama. It ended with the main story completed and a few plot lines open for another season. A second season has just been released and I have learned from a blog post by Wilhelm Arcturus, that this season ends on a cliffhanger. Oh dear. Do I really want to get on another TV show treadmill? Nope. I like TV shows that have self-contained seasons. So I guess I’ll be skipping The Agency. Shame. I liked the Jack Black cover of a U2 song that they use on the title credits.
I recently found a DVD boxset of Return to the Planet of the Apes in a charity shop which I bought for £4, which is a ridiculously cheap price. I considered it an interesting find because it was a Region 1, US copy. However, that is not so unusual these days as most DVD players are now region free and Amazon (UK) sells media from all over the world. As for the show in question, I vaguely remember Return to the Planet of the Apes being shown on UK network TV when I was a child, probably circa 1976. Back then it would usually take a year or so before US shows made it onto UK television. From a commercial perspective, the entire Planet of the Apes franchise was beginning to run out of steam. I was 8 years old at the time so had missed most of the film releases. However, I enjoyed the live action TV show hence an animated follow up had obvious appeal to a child of my age.
I have not watched as much TV as I usually do, this year. Mainly because I have become a little weary of the ways contemporary TV is produced, especially with regards to streaming shows. Due to the costs, shows such as Star Trek: Strange New Worlds only have 10 episodes per season. Simply put, the season begins to hit its stride and then is abruptly over. This problem (if you see it as such) is then further compounded by there being a significant wait between seasons. In the case of STSNW it was two years between season two and season three. Not all shows fall foul of this. Apple TV produces two seasons of the excellent espionage drama Slow Horses at a time, ensuring a prompt release schedule. However, even this has issues. Due to the complexity of the plots of many contemporary TV shows, something that is a marketing point, some viewers cannot remember the plot after a twelve month hiatus. Network TV shows seldom have these issues with each season being 20 plus episodes long and story arcs that are seldom as complex.
Strictly Come Dancing remains the BBC’s flagship light entertainment show for Autumn. Despite controversy and scandal, the show bounced back last year and firmly re-established itself as the “feel good, family show” it has always claimed to be. Blind comedian Chris McCausland becoming the 2024 champion certainly validated the show’s commitment to diversity and inclusion and helped place Strictly (as it is known to its fans) back on its cultural pedestal. I’m sure those involved in the production of the show breathed a sigh of relief when the season ended on such a positive note, eclipsing the negative press that had been ever present last summer. Second chances and opportunities for a “course correction” are few and far between these days. Especially when you have elements of the UK press waiting with bated breath and hoping that you’ll fail.
Treasure Island In Outer Space is a curious Italian television production from 1987 starring Anthony Quinn and Ernest Borgnine. It also features numerous international actors better known for their work in cult and exploitation films, such as Bobby Rhodes, David Warbeck and John Morghan. Directed by Antonio Margheriti (AKA Anthony Dawson), famous for such films as Killer Fish (a cash in on Piranha) and The Last Hunter (a Vietnam exploitation epic), Treasure Island In Outer Space is a faithful adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel. The screenplay by Renato Castellani and Lucio De Caro draws heavily from the source text, maintaining character names and original dialogue. However in updating the material to a futuristic setting, the script is littered with the worst kind of eighties sci-fi clichés. We are subjected to sonic trains, anti-gravity rays and the usual buzzword driven faux science.
Thoughts on TV shows and my current viewing habits.
I last wrote a blog post in this series back in February 2022. Then for various reasons, I stopped. Possibly because my relationship with TV has changed in recent years. It’s fair to say at present that viewers are spoilt for choice. There are lots of very good shows around. Conversely, there is also a lot of bland, generic, filler as well. I appreciate that not every television series has to be an industry milestone and there are times when I’m content to watch undemanding content. However, I am very protective of how I spend my leisure time at present. I am not prepared to sink 6 or 8 hours into a show that is just “okay”. Hence I’m becoming very particular about what I watch. If something isn’t working for me in any fashion then I just abandon it and am happy to do so.
The seventies was an interesting time for UK genre television. Despite small budgets and often low key visual effects, there was no shortage of good ideas and creativity. Sapphire & Steel is a prime example of a show couched in a high concept, produced on a shoestring. It also credits its audiences with some degree of intelligence. Rather than spoon feeding the narrative in a didactic manner, it hints and implies, then leaves the rest to its viewers imagination. Created by Peter J. Hammond, a veteran TV writer, Sapphire & Steel centres on a pair of interdimensional operatives named Sapphire and Steel. They are two of a number of elements that assume human form. Over the course of three seasons little is revealed about the pair but they appear whenever there is any anomalous temporal activity. Time itself is portrayed as a sentient and malignant force that seeks to make incursions into the present reality, through weaknesses in the fabric of space.
Season 2 of Andor has received praise from both critics and fans alike. It finally seems to have put to bed the common argument that Star Wars as a franchise has traditionally been light on narrative depth, character development and the exploration of the themes that its main story is predicated upon. Andor shows the realities of opposing authoritarian regimes and exists within shades of grey, rather than purille, binary positions. Many have drawn parallels with the current state of geopolitics, especially that of the United States. I certainly found the second season of Andor to be engaging and thought provoking. I also enjoyed the performances of many of the British actors who by default are cast in all the major Empire roles. I thought Anton Lesser was especially noteworthy as a senior officer in the Imperial Security Bureau.
If you don’t want to pay for streaming services, or premium digital satellite and cable content, then your choice in the UK is somewhat limited. You can receive all “free to air channels”, IE the ones that have advertising, via the digital terrestrial platform Freeview. Most UK televisions have Freeview access built in. Alternatively, the same selection of channels are available via the digital satellite platform Freesat. You can also buy either Freeview or Freesat digital video recorders and require only a rooftop aerial or satellite dish respectively to access these platforms. Most DVRs come with additional IPTV functionality built in along with the most popular streaming apps, so additional subscription services can be added if the viewer so desires. Freeview and Freesat carry a mixture of high definition and standard definition channels. Internet based services offer 4K content.
When I started writing this post it was intended to be about changing from one UK TV provider to another. However, I became concerned that there was a need to provide some sort of historical context, because I wasn’t sure whether all readers would be familiar with how television is provided here. The next thing I know, I’ve written a potted history of public and commercial broadcasting in the UK and the resulting post has become somewhat lengthy. So I have decided to split the text into two halves. The first being a summary of how the provision of television has changed in the UK over the course of the last fifty plus years. The second focuses more upon changes to the TV industry’s business model, consumer habits and the present status quo.
It is fair to say that we live in an age where we do not lack quality TV. There are numerous shows that have garnered critical acclaim or a strong word of mouth following that are deemed “must see” viewing. No doubt you, like myself, have a long “to do” list of programs that you need to “get round to watching” on top of those shows which are staples of your viewing regime. If you didn’t have enough programmes already to catch up with, we all have friends and family telling us about a “great show” that’s on a platform we don’t subscribe to, that we really need to see. It is quite extraordinary and a far cry from my youth when the UK simply had three terrestrial channels until satellite TV became popular in the late eighties. To paraphrase the former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan “we’ve never had it so good”.
Music by John Williams is a documentary celebration of the famous composer and his illustrious body of work. It provides some interesting biographical background information as to how the man was born into a family of talented musicians. It then traces his rise from pianist for hire to the most well known film composer today. Along the way, anyone who is anyone in film and music appears to heap justifiable praise upon him and his body of work. It also features a continuous medley of John Williams’ greatest hits, as it catalogues his work in broadly chronological order. Music by John Williams is an upbeat and positive love letter to the composer and exactly what you would expect, when you consider that the documentary was produced by his friends and peers.
Tonight’s results for week 5 of Strictly Come Dancing (season 22) have once again demonstrated that this show is more than just a dancing competition to UK viewers. If it were just a case of determining who are the best dancers, then JB Gill would not have been in the dance off. The judges may well see things exclusively in such terms but the public clearly do not. I last wrote about this phenomenon in 2019 and I think it appropriate to raise the subject again as this season of Strictly seems to be bucking past trends and I suspect we may be in for further upsets in the run up to the season finale. Broadly speaking, the public usually tends to vote in a manner similar to the official leaderboard. Hence, those who score the lowest usually end up in the dance off. Occasionally an underdog will be championed and kept on the show but that trend seems to have lost its novelty in recent years. This season appears to be quite different.
I make no bones about the fact that I watch Strictly Come Dancing every year. For those who live outside of the UK, this is the original version of the dancing reality show that you probably know as Dancing With the Stars in your country. It is still a big deal in the UK as far as TV ratings go, getting audiences on average of 6.6 million viewers. There are many aspects of the show that are textbook examples of prime time, popular entertainment but I like it because the “celebrities” that take part are ultimately learning a skill that is genuinely difficult. The latest season of Strictly, as it is known to its fans, is especially interesting as the BBC had a major PR problem earlier in the year, where several previous participants made allegations of bullying and abuse about their pro-dancer partners. An investigation is still ongoing and in the meantime, the two professional dancers that were named have withdrawn from the show. Hence everyone involved with the latest season are all on message, stating that it’s “all about having fun”.
Watching TV was a far more communal activity in my youth. Families sat and watched specific shows or sports together. “Appointment TV” had its benefits not only for TV ratings but for advertising revenue. Although audiences may have grown over the years, they have also become more fragmented and compartmentalised. Smaller market shares have therefore made advertising far more pervasive. Even big streaming platforms are feeling the squeeze with declining subscribers and therefore introducing advertising on lower tier tariffs. Many catch up services also rely on advertising. However, viewers can always pay a fee if they wish to dispense with it. Another foible of modern digital television is poor picture quality Many smaller digital channels broadcast in standard definition. The source material has often been converted between different picture formats and has been cropped to suit a 16:9 screen. This results in low definition picture quality, with weak colours and a lot of digital artefacts.
I recently visited my local branch of the British Heart Foundation. This is a chain of UK charity shops that sell previously owned furniture and electrical goods, all of which are certified to be in good working order. It’s one of the few places where you’ll still find old school CRT televisions. These mainly come from house clearances. On this occasion, a particularly bulky model from the early 2000s was on display and despite its age, it still had a good, clear picture. I spoke to a member of staff and apparently these TVs are still popular with gamers who buy them for use with retro video games consoles. I felt especially nostalgic for this particular ageing Sony TV, because Mrs P and I had once owned a similar model. We bought it from a local department store (which no longer exists) and I remember it took two robust gentlemen to deliver it and install it.
We all knew it had to happen sooner or later. According to reports, Lucasfilm is planning to reduce its Star Wars related output on Disney+. Specifically, from 2025 there will be only one live-action television series per year. For comparison, Disney+ commissioned three shows in 2022 and two shows in both 2023 and 2024. It should be noted that this reduced output doesn’t include animated shows. It would appear that senior management at Disney have finally figured out something most of us have known for a while. That saturating the market with content based upon a specific intellectual property, is ultimately detrimental to its popularity and financial viability. To use an old adage “familiarity breeds contempt”. At present, hardcore fans are “unhappy” with the way the IP is being developed, while casual fans are somewhat burned out by the excess of content and its varying quality.
Two years ago, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premiered on Amazon Prime to mixed reviews and a tedious and predictable internet brouhaha. I have no interest in that debacle as I consider it spurious, to say the least. Representation is a commercial imperative for any big budget television production. As for any deviation from the established canon, that’s due to the show being an “adaptation” of Tolkien’s work. At no point were viewers promised a literal interpretation of the source text. Therefore I am only interested in legitimate critiques of the show based upon its production, writing and acting. As far as I’m concerned, the first season was broadly entertaining and had outstanding production values. Overall I enjoyed The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power as an exciting and inventive take on Tolkien’s legendarium. Hence, I have been looking forward to the second season, which began today.
Ghostwatch is a controversial British horror “mockumentary” produced by the BBC that was first broadcast on October 31st 1992. Written by Stephen Volk and produced by Ruth Baumgarten it is now considered a milestone in UK broadcasting. This was mainly due to the strong reaction it provoked from the public, many of whom failed to grasp that it was a drama. At the time it raised serious questions about responsible programming and caused a furore in the British press. It has curiously never been shown since by the BBC. Ghostwatch remains a talking point to this day and is a text book example of the power of television as well as the publics enduring belief in the supernatural.
Ronald Erle Grainer (11 August 1922 – 21 February 1981) was a prolific Australian composer who is best remembered for his work in the United Kingdom during the sixties and seventies. He wrote numerous notable scores and theme music for several iconic television shows such as Doctor Who, Steptoe and Son and Tales of the Unexpected. He also composed the soundtrack for several major motion pictures such as Some People (1962), The Assassination Bureau (1969) and The Omega Man (1971). Grainer relocated to London from Australia in 1952 but it was not until 1960 that he gained critical success after writing the music for the popular TV show Maigret. He subsequently received an Ivor Novello award for “Outstanding Composition for Film, TV or Radio”.
Anyone who writes regularly, sooner or later will have the following epiphany. The realisation that the post you consider your best work seldom finds an audience. Furthermore, the most inconsequential, disposable things that you have written on a whim, will often end up being the one article that gets a big response. It can be very frustrating but it is a reality of writing. It is with that idea in mind, I wish to move on to the matter of “Walter Watches”. In late March 2019, I took a picture of Walter sitting in his chair, watching a classic episode of The Twilight Zone. I subsequently Tweeted this image along with a descriptive caption. This gained a number of “likes” and retweets, so a day later I posted another. This time Walter was watching the film Krull (1983) and I added a humorous caption. Let’s just say I got more of a response for that one Tweet than I had for anything else I had posted over the previous nine years when promoting a blog post.
I was seven when The Six Million Dollar Man was first broadcast in the UK in late 1974. As a young and impressionable child, who was already fascinated by Doctor Who, Star Trek (TOS) and the films of Ray Harryhausen, this show was essential weekly viewing. I believe for the first couple of seasons, we sat and watched it as an entire family. Television was less sophisticated back then and dominated by sitcoms, police procedurals and traditional dramas. So a weekly show blending the espionage genre with science fiction themes was revolutionary. It also inspired a generation of school kids to run around the playground in “slow motion” and give themselves hernias as they attempted to lift heavy objects. And don’t get me started on the range of Steve Austin toys. One had a “bionic eye” which meant it had a lens in the front of the action figure’s face and you could look through the back of his head like a telescope. What a time to be alive!
Despite being an analysis of the past there is a portentous air about Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s Prohibition. A fascinating five-and-a-half-hour documentary produced for PBS in 2011. The history of this disastrous experiment, the banning of alcoholic beverages, is a textbook example of how the transactional nature of US politics can be effectively used upon “wedge” issues. Prohibition follows the format and style of Burns previous documentaries such as the Civil War (1990) and The War (2007) with the wider subject broken down and analysed according to protagonists, events and the political background. Specific historical figures and key players are followed throughout the documentary’s narrative, giving viewers a sense of focus. Hence we meet the hatchet-wielding Carrie Nation, Wayne Wheeler from the Anti-Saloon League and media savvy gangsters like Al Capone. It is interesting to note that some themes continue from Burns’ previous work, such as the political and cultural conflict between native-born Americans and European immigrants. The rural heartlands versus the big cities.
Andor is not like other entries in the Star Wars canon. It explores the human, social and political consequences of rebelling against an oppressive, totalitarian regime. The writing is intelligent and well observed, choosing to focus on the average citizens of the Empire and the nature of their daily lives. Andor also explores the ineffectual politicians and the way the senate are self serving and ultimately impotent. The Emperor is remote and instead we see how Imperial colonialism works at a grassroots level. It is an all too familiar depiction, born out of historical fact, such as Vichy France during World War II. Petty thugs and aspiring psychopaths happily align themselves with their Imperial overlords and actively oppress their own people. As for the Empire, and in particular the ISB (Imperial Security Bureau) it is rife with infighting, personal fiefdoms and all the flaws of similar institutions from the real world.
Having watched the first two episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, I wish to express my thoughts on what I’ve seen and my overall impressions so far. I do not think it would be fair to frame this post as a review as the two episodes only constitute 25% of the show’s total content. A formal review of the first season seems more appropriate when I have seen it in its entirety. Before I begin commenting on specific points about the two premier episodes, I wish to point out that I have no problem with “representation” and have expressed my thoughts on this matter in a previous post. It also covers the matter of “adaptation” and how complex texts can at times require augmenting to be made accessible to wider audiences. Hence those viewers who want 100% canonical purity are unrealistic in their expectations. Objections based in racism and sexism can simply be ignored. NB I shall endeavour to keep my thoughts spoiler free.
I started playing MMOs in late 2008 by which time the genre was clearly established and dominated by one particular title, World of Warcraft. I chose to play The Lord of the Rings Online, mainly because of my love for the intellectual property the game is based upon. I still play LOTRO today. However, I was very aware of popularity and significance of WoW at the time. It pretty much set the rules for how you design a MMO and it did much to move on from the previous gameplay parameters set by such titles as Ultima Online and EverQuest. It was also the MMO that every other developer was trying to beat. Another compelling factor regarding WoW is that everyone I knew at the time was either actively playing it or had done so at some point. It was for many gamers, the go-to title for socialising. Finally around early 2010, I tried a free trail of WoW to “see what all the fuss was about”. Simply put, I felt that it wasn’t for me.