On an unexpectedly wet day, I visited a tekeli.li forumite in London for outdoor gaming again.
2007 lesbian noir crime; third and last in Griffith's series about Aud Torvingen. Aud travels to Seattle to meet her mother, who's making a rare trip to the USA with her new husband. There's also a question of an underperforming commercial property…
1973 noir-esque, dir. Robert Altman, Elliott Gould, Nina Van Pallandt: IMDb / allmovie. So one night the private eye's buddy asks him for a lift…
I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved regular numbers and geometrical squareness testing. (Note that this is open until 1 August 2021.)
More boardgames played from home.
1946 noir, dir. Howard Hawks, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall: IMDb / allmovie. The general hires the private eye to deal with his daughter's blackmailer…
1984 SF, first of a series. In the 27th century, the economic benefits of war are realised without danger to the warring countries themselves, by sending soldiers into the past to join in historical conflicts: referees count the killed and wounded. But time travel is never simple…
1941 noir, dir. John Huston, Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor: IMDb / allmovie. So for a third time the dame hires the private eye to find her sister, who ran off with a man…
1985 audio adaptation of Christie's 1928 mystery, in six half-hour episodes. The heiress was murdered on the train on which her estranged husband was also travelling; of course her jewels were missing, and everyone suspects her parasite of a lover. Poirot, equally of course, is not so sure.
I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved a progressive average and additive compositions. (Note that this is open until 25 July 2021.)
On what turned out to be the hottest weekend of the year so far, several friends came over for games.
1936 noir comedy, dir. William Dieterle, Warren William, Bette Davis: IMDb / allmovie. So once more the dame hires the private eye to find her sister, who ran off with a man… Vtt Men On Her Mind, The Man in the Black Hat, Hard Luck Dame.
2018 fantasy/SF, sequel to Archivist Wasp. The Catchkeep-priest has been overthrown, and the former acolytes and Archivist are an uneasy part of the post-apocalyptic community of Sweetwater. But bad things are coming…
1931 noir, dir. Roy del Ruth, Ricardo Cortez, Bebe Daniels: IMDb / allmovie. So the dame hires the private eye to find her sister, who ran off with a man… Vtt Woman of the World, All Women, Dangerous Female.
2012 crime. It's the spring of 1981, and Sean Duffy is a Catholic detective in the RUC. He finds evidence of what might be Northern Ireland's first serial killer, not to mention a dodgy-looking suicide, but all too many things just don't add up.
1974 thriller. A huge shark seems to have taken up residence off the tourist beaches at Amity, Long Island…
1946 children's fantasy. In 1842, newly-orphaned Maria Merryweather leaves London to live with her only relative, somewhere in the West Country. Everything seems idyllic, except…
I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved more binary manipulation and a traditional problem. (Note that this is open until 18 July 2021.)
2008 military SF, sixth of the Kris Longknife books. Kris is sent to the back of beyond, in another vain attempt to keep her out of trouble. Good thing she has a pocket warship and quite a few Marines.
UK Games Expo is happening on the first weekend of August. I'm really glad I'm not committed to going.
1974 noir, dir. Roman Polański, Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway: IMDb / allmovie. They never just want you to follow their erring husband… Spoilers.
2018 historical fantasy, second of a trilogy. The five monstrous daughters/creations of mad scientists have made a life for themselves in London; but their old governess Miss Murray wants their help in Vienna with Lucinda van Helsing and the secretive Société des Alchimistes…
Another thing of mine is on Kickstarter. Buy now! Or something.
This Meetup-based boardgames group remains on-line for the moment; as usual we got together on Jitsi and then played some games on BGA.
I’ve been doing the Perl Weekly Challenges. The latest involved more binary manipulation and analogue clocks. (Note that this is open until 11 July 2021.)
2018 romantic mystery, third in the Mercy Kilpatrick series. One snowy night, Mercy nearly runs over a child seeking help for her dying grandmother. Who, it becomes clear, has been murdered.
1967 crime, dir. Arthur Penn, Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway: IMDb / allmovie. Bored girl meets bad man. Death ensues.
2012 science fiction, third of its series. "Boss" goes into abandoned ancient bases in search of clues to the present location of a nomadic fleet; her former employee "Squishy" is back working in the Empire's stealth technology project, as the only way of shutting it down once and for all.
I’ve been doing the Perl Weekly Challenges. The latest involved fake binary manipulation and an unusual number sequence. (Note that this is open until 4 July 2021.)
Some trailers I've seen recently, and my thoughts on them. (Links are to youtube. Opinions are thoroughly personal. I still hate everything.)