RogerBW's Blog

The Weekly Challenge 141: Binary and Tabular 30 November 2021

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved an unusual binary encoding and indexing into a multiplication table. (Note that this is open until 5 December 2021.)

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Protect the Prince, Jennifer Estep 29 November 2021

2019 fantasy, second of its trilogy. Everleigh Blair killed the usurper and took the throne of Bellona… but her problems are not even slightly over.

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Virtual Tabletop on the cheap 28 November 2021 - 2 comments

I don't generally use maps much when I'm role-playing; my games are fairly fluid, such that it's not very clear where things are going to be happening until the session has started, and exact tactical distances don't matter much. But since the pandemic began, particularly because I can't easily sketch something and hand it round the group, I've been experimenting with something a bit more sophisticated.

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Blood Simple 27 November 2021

1984 drama/black comedy, dir. Joel and Ethan Coen, John Getz, Frances McDormand: IMDb / allmovie. Abby was just planning to leave her husband, but then it all got complicated.

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Paul Temple and the Vandyke Affair 26 November 2021

1959 remake of 1950 audio thriller by Francis Durbridge, in 8 parts. A child is kidnapped, her "sitter-in" has vanished and may be responsible, and of course Drugs are lurking in the background.

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A Desolation Called Peace, Arkady Martine 25 November 2021

2021 science fiction, second in a projected series. The huge Teixcalaanli Empire is going to war, thanks largely to the actions of Mahit Dzmare, Ambassador from the independent polity of Lsel Station. But of course a war that might end with extinction that isn't going to stop everyone from playing politics…

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Perl Weekly Challenge 140: Binary and Tabular 24 November 2021

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved an unusual binary encoding and indexing into a multiplication table. (Note that this is open until 28 November 2021.)

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Marlow Tabletop and Board Games 15 November 2021 23 November 2021

This Meetup-based boardgames group continues at the Marlow Donkey.

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The Fiend Queen, Barbara Ann Wright 22 November 2021

2015 fantasy, last of the Katya and Starbride tetralogy. Katya and Starbride are both fighting to depose the Fiend-possessed usurper Roland, but winning that battle won't be the hardest thing either of them has to do.

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Paris, Texas 21 November 2021

1984 drama, dir. Wim Wenders, Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski: IMDb / allmovie. A man stumbles out of the desert, and collapses. Why was he there? What will he do next?

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More Star Trek Ascendancy 20 November 2021 - 2 comments

Second of what I hope will be an ongoing revived series of face-to-face games.

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Past Tense, Nick Marsh 19 November 2021

2010 SF/fantasy, sequel to Soul Purpose. Alan Reece has coped with his experiences as the Conduit, a link between this universe and the space outside it, by trying to ignore them. Unfortunately there are things out there that aren't going to ignore him.

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Perl Weekly Challenge 139: Jort Primes 18 November 2021

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved date calculations and numerical decompositions. (Note that this is open until 21 November 2021.)

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Someone Else's Garden Games (November) 17 November 2021

All right, not actually in the garden now that it's a bit nippy, but in a well-ventilated room with masks…

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Hallowe'en Party 16 November 2021

1993 audio adaptation by Michael Bakewell of Christie's 1969 mystery, in one 90-minute episode. At a Hallowe'en party, a girl says that she once saw a murder, but didn't realise it until later. By the end of the evening she's been drowned in the apple-bobbing tub.

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Marlow Tabletop and Board Games 1 November 2021 15 November 2021

This Meetup-based boardgames group continues at the Marlow Donkey.

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Local Hero 14 November 2021

1983 drama/comedy, dir. Bill Forsyth, Peter Riegert, Denis Lawson; IMDb / allmovie. Young privileged man travels from Houston to Charming Rural Land, and learns an Important Lesson about Life.

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The Man With a Load of Mischief, Martha Grimes 13 November 2021

1981 mystery, first in the Richard Jury series (mostly cosy mystery with police investigator, rather than police procedural). When the second murder happens in the village, the local force calls in Scotland Yard. But several more people will die before it's all resolved.

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Perl Weekly Challenge 138: Split Work 12 November 2021

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved date calculations and numerical decompositions. (Note that this is open until 14 November 2021.)

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Boardgames in Isolation: October (part 2) 11 November 2021

More boardgames played from home (and one face to face).

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The Thing 10 November 2021 - 1 comment

1982 science fiction horror, dir. John Carpenter, Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley: IMDb / allmovie. So the antarctic scientists find an alien spaceship in the ice…

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Halloween Board Games at the Bear, 31 October 2021 09 November 2021

I accidentally found out about this group when doing admin on Meetup for the Marlow one, and since I know one of the people involved…

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Arctic Gambit, Larry Bond and Chris Carlson 08 November 2021

2018 technothriller. Those sneaky Russians have a new terror weapon, and only a pre-emptive attack can prevent World War III.

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The Thing From Another World 07 November 2021 - 4 comments

1951 science fiction, dir. Christian Nyby, Kenneth Tobey, Margaret Sheridan: IMDb / allmovie. So the arctic scientists find an alien spaceship in the ice…

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Marlow Tabletop and Board Games 18 October 2021 06 November 2021

This Meetup-based boardgames group has returned to the Marlow Donkey.

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Perl Weekly Challenge 137: Long Cheryl 05 November 2021

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved date calculations and numeric palindromes. (Note that this is open until 7 November 2021.)

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Return to Star Trek Ascendancy 04 November 2021

So we were just getting started with Star Trek Ascendancy when the pandemic hit… but it finally seemed reasonable to have some people over to play it again.

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Driving the Deep, Suzanne Palmer 03 November 2021

2020 SF, second of its series. Fergus has got back to his found-family, the Shipmakers of Pluto; but when he goes to Earth to tie off one last bit of unfinished business, things suddenly get desperately complicated again.

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Boardgames in Isolation: October (part 1) 02 November 2021

More boardgames played from home. Yeah, this is definitely falling off now that actual face-to-face gaming is becoming a possible thing again.

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October 2021 Trailers 01 November 2021 - 1 comment

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Since I started doing a film review podcast I hate slightly less of everything, but I hate generic film with nothing to say if anything more than before.)

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