RogerBW's Blog

The Artist 31 January 2023

2011 drama, dir. Michel Hazanavicius, Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo; IMDb / allmovie. George Valentin is a star of the silver screen, but the talkies are coming…

[more]
Artifact Space, Miles Cameron 30 January 2023

2021 SF, first of a series. Marca Nbaro has committed various forms of fraud to get aboard one of the nine treading Greatships that link human worlds (and the enigmatic aliens). This turns out to be a very good thing.

[more]
The Weekly Challenge 201: Penny Numbers 29 January 2023

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved an array search and a mathematical classic. (Note that this is open until 29 January 2023.)

[more]
Stabcon 2023 28 January 2023 - 2 comments

Back to Stabcon! Stockport barely managed to rain on me at all this time.

[more]
Enough to Kill a Horse, Elizabeth Ferrars 27 January 2023

1955 murder mystery. Fanny Lynam throws a party to celebrate the engagement of her younger half-brother, and makes her special lobster patties. That will turn out to have been a mistake.

[more]
Casablanca 26 January 2023

1942 wartime romance and comedy, dir. Michael Curtiz, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman: IMDb / allmovie. As refugees from Nazi-occupied Europe collect in Casablanca on the way to Lisbon and freedom, everybody comes to Rick's Café Americain.

[more]
Can't Escape Love, Alyssa Cole 25 January 2023

2019 romance novella, in the Reluctant Royals series. Regina Hobbs was always the "good" daughter in her parents' eyes, and having to use a wheelchair hasn't changed that, but she has built things on her own too…

[more]
Multiplied Dice 24 January 2023 - 5 comments

Here's a core game mechanic with no game wrapped round it. It might be useful for someone, or I may use it myself some day. Have fun.

[more]
Lie Down With the Devil, Linda Barnes 23 January 2023

2008 thriller, twelfth and last in the Carlotta Carlyle series (neo-noir private investigation). Getting back into PI work after her absence at short notice, Carlotta takes on a prospective bride who wants the groom checked up on. But it's all much more complex than it looks.

[more]
The Weekly Challenge 200: Seven Slices 22 January 2023

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved array searching and an emulated seven-segment display. (Note that this is open until the end of today.)

[more]
Royal Blood, Rhys Bowen 21 January 2023 - 2 comments

2010 mystery/thriller, fourth in its series. Georgiana Rannoch, 34th in line to the throne, is sent to the wedding of Maria Theresa of Romania to Prince Nicholas of Bulgaria (after all she was at school with "Fatty Matty").

[more]
Searching For the Fleet, Kristine Kathryn Rusch 20 January 2023

2018 science fiction, seventh in the Diving Universe series. Cooper the captain and Vash the engineer deal with isolation from their original time in a variety of ways.

[more]
Boxing Day Boardgames 2022 19 January 2023 - 2 comments

For the seventh year (having skipped 2020), a bunch of us without family commitments got together for boardgames.

[more]
Spider's Bite, Jennifer Estep 18 January 2023 - 2 comments

2010 urban fantasy, first of a 19-book series. In a magical world, Gin Blanco is an assassin for hire, until the job goes bad.

[more]
Answers for the Princess Charlotte General Knowledge Paper 2022 17 January 2023

Here are the answers to last year's quiz.

[more]
What Distant Deeps, David Drake 16 January 2023

2010 military SF, eighth of this ongoing series. There's an election coming up, so famous commander Daniel Leary should be got away from the capital of the Republic before he accidentally endorses someone. But backwater postings never stay backwaters for long.

[more]
The Weekly Challenge 199: Good N-lets 15 January 2023

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved filtering pairs and triplets out of a list. (Note that this ends today.)

[more]
Never Let Me Go (2010) 14 January 2023 - 4 comments

2010 SF romance, dir. Mark Romanek, Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley: IMDb / allmovie. The generic love triangle plays out over a dark background. Spoilers.

[more]
Strange Practice, Vivian Shaw 13 January 2023 - 1 comment

2017 urban fantasy, first of its series. Dr Greta Helsing is a doctor to monsters: vampires, ghouls, mummies, and stranger things. And now a sect of murderous monks is attacking them all…

[more]
Marlow Board Games 19 December 2022 12 January 2023

This Meetup-based boardgames group continues to meet in the Britannia.

[more]
Heart of the World, Linda Barnes 11 January 2023

2006 thriller, eleventh in the Carlotta Carlyle series (neo-noir private investigation). Carlotta's "little sister" Paolina is missing.

[more]
Advent of Code 2022 10 January 2023 - 3 comments

I did Advent of Code again, and had a really good time. Spoilers.

[more]
Daring, Mike Shepherd 09 January 2023

2011 military SF, ninth of the Kris Longknife books. Kris leads an expedition in search of an alien menace.

[more]
The Weekly Challenge 198: Count Max 08 January 2023

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved analysing a list and counting primes. (Note that this is open until the end of today.)

[more]
District 9 07 January 2023 - 2 comments

2009 horror, dir. Neil Blomkamp, Sharlto Copley, David James; IMDb / allmovie. The people who don't look like us have to be moved on.

[more]
The Fat Lady's Ghost, Charlotte Macleod 06 January 2023

1968 mystery. Corin Johansen moves to Boston to be a designer, and finds her rented room is cheaper if she agrees to use the kitchen… There's a ghost, you see.

[more]
December 2022 Trailers 05 January 2023 - 1 comment

Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. Calibration: I want a trailer to tell me what's different about this film; the marketers want it to tell me why it's like all the others…)

[more]
Blandings Castle and Elsewhere, P. G. Wodehouse 04 January 2023 - 3 comments

1935 comedy anthology, containing six stories of Lord Emsworth, and six others.

[more]
2022 in boardgames 03 January 2023

In 2022 I managed to play significant numbers of games across an actual table again.

[more]
2022 in Books 02 January 2023

In 2022 I read 164 books, up again at last (some long drives meant I started to get through audio books again too).

[more]
Roger's 2022 in 50 Words 01 January 2023 - 5 comments

A friend likes to sum up his year in a set number of words, and I copy this fine idea. "Think of it as a short and un-boastful summary of the year, which nobody is expected to understand all of."

[more]
Search
Archive
Tags 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 3d printing action advent of code aeronautics aikakirja anecdote animation anime army astronomy audio audio tech aviation base commerce battletech beer boardgaming book of the week bookmonth chain of command children chris chronicle church of no redeeming virtues cold war comedy computing contemporary cornish smuggler cosmic encounter coup covid-19 crime cthulhu eternal cycling dead of winter doctor who documentary drama driving drone ecchi economics en garde espionage essen 2015 essen 2016 essen 2017 essen 2018 essen 2019 essen 2022 essen 2023 existential risk falklands war fandom fanfic fantasy feminism film firefly first world war flash point flight simulation food garmin drive gazebo genesys geocaching geodata gin gkp gurps gurps 101 gus harpoon historical history horror hugo 2014 hugo 2015 hugo 2016 hugo 2017 hugo 2018 hugo 2019 hugo 2020 hugo 2022 hugo-nebula reread in brief avoid instrumented life javascript julian simpson julie enfield kickstarter kotlin learn to play leaving earth linux liquor lovecraftiana lua mecha men with beards mpd museum music mystery naval noir non-fiction one for the brow opera parody paul temple perl perl weekly challenge photography podcast politics postscript powers prediction privacy project woolsack pyracantha python quantum rail raku ranting raspberry pi reading reading boardgames social real life restaurant reviews romance rpg a day rpgs ruby rust scala science fiction scythe second world war security shipwreck simutrans smartphone south atlantic war squaddies stationery steampunk stuarts suburbia superheroes suspense television the resistance the weekly challenge thirsty meeples thriller tin soldier torg toys trailers travel type 26 type 31 type 45 vietnam war war wargaming weather wives and sweethearts writing about writing x-wing young adult
Special All book reviews, All film reviews
Produced by aikakirja v0.1