RogerBW's Blog

The Weekly Challenge 158: Prime Cuban Additives 31 March 2022

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved subsets of primes. (Note that this is open until 3 April 2022.)

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Five Little Pigs 30 March 2022

1994 audio adaptation by Michael Bakewell of Christie's 1942 mystery, in a single 90-minute episode. Amyas Crale's widow went to prison for poisoning him, and died there; now their daughter plans to marry, but worries about the possibility of a hereditary murderousness, and asks Poirot to investigate.

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Abandoned in Death, J. D. Robb 29 March 2022

2022 SF/mystery; 54th novel of J. D. Robb's In Death series (SF police procedurals). The woman's body, throat slit, is dumped on a playground bench, neatly dressed and made up but decades out of style. And the note reads Bad Mommy.

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Atomica 28 March 2022

2017 SF horror, dir. Dagen Merrill, Sarah Habel, Dominic Monaghan: IMDb / allmovie. Something's amiss at a nuclear power plant… of the future.

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The Romance of the Secret Service Fund, Fred M. White 27 March 2022

1900 anthology of short stories (first published in Pearson's Magazine), dealing with Newton Moore, top agent of the British Secret Service. (The "Fund" part is never explained, though it seems to have been in general use at the time; I think the idea may have been that Britain wouldn't want an actual secret service like those filthy foreigners, but could have a fund to pay for occasional distasteful but necessary actions.)

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P-51 Dragon Fighter 26 March 2022 - 7 comments

2014 fantasy, dir. Mark Atkins, Scott Martin, Ross Brooks: IMDb / allmovie. In the Second World War, the Nazis have got dragons. That's about it really.

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The Tide of Victory, David Drake and Eric Flint 25 March 2022

2001 alternate-history war story, fifth of six books. Belisarius and his allies take the war to the Malwa, invading the subcontinent and pushing them back into their heartland.

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The Weekly Challenge 157: Pythagoras in Brazil 24 March 2022

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved a variety of means and more number theory. (Note that this is open until 27 March 2022.)

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Unforgiven 23 March 2022

1992 western, dir. and starring Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman: IMDb / allmovie. William Munny was a bad man, until his wife reformed him. But she's dead.

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Boardgames at Home 22 March 2022

Back together (cautiously, tested and well-ventilated as usual) for a day of games at home.

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The Heads of Cerberus, Francis Stevens 21 March 2022

1919 dystopian science fiction. Three friends accidentally inhale a strange dust, and find themselves in a Philadelphia… of the future!

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Terminator 2: Judgment Day 20 March 2022 - 6 comments

1991 science fiction, dir. James Cameron, Linda Hamilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger: IMDb / allmovie. Two more soldiers from the future, and a different target to kill or protect.

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Who Is Aldrich Kemp? 19 March 2022

2022 spy-jinks audio drama by Julian Simpson. Clara Page is an agent set to track down the Themis Group, a criminal conspiracy so powerful nobody's even heard of it.

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Innocent Blood, P. D. James 18 March 2022

1980 thriller, a stand-alone novel. Philippa Palfrey, who's always known she was adopted, makes use of a change in the law to discover the identities of her biological parents – who turn out to be a notorious rapist and murderess.

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The Weekly Challenge 156: Weirdly Pernicious or Perniciously Weird? 17 March 2022

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved more number-theory definitions. (Note that this is open until 20 March 2022.)

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The Doom of London, F. White 16 March 2022

1903 anthology of short stories (first published in Pearson's Magazine), in which various catastrophes are visited upon London.

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The Terminator 15 March 2022

1984 science fiction, dir. James Cameron, Linda Hamilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger: IMDb / allmovie. Two soldiers from the future fight to kill, or save, the mother of the revolution.

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Polaris Rising, Jessie Mihalik 14 March 2022

2019 SF/romance. Ada von Hasenberg, younger daughter of one of the three Houses that together rule human space, has been on the run for two years from an arranged marriage. She's finally been caught… but then they made the mistake of putting her in a cell with the man-monster.

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Thelma & Louise (1991) 13 March 2022

1991 drama, dir. Ridley Scott, Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis; IMDb / allmovie. It was just supposed to be a weekend trip to a cabin in the mountains…

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Marlow Tabletop and Board Games 21 February 2022 12 March 2022

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

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Hardware, Linda Barnes 11 March 2022

1995 mystery, sixth in the Carlotta Carlyle series (neo-noir private investigation). She may not have a client but, when shenanigans affect the cab company she drives for part-time, Carlotta can't help but get involved.

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The Weekly Challenge 155: Pisano's Fortune 10 March 2022

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved more number theory problems. (Note that this is open until 13 March 2022.)

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Back to the Future Part III 09 March 2022

1990 science fiction/comedy, dir. Robert Zemeckis, Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd: IMDb / allmovie. You're just not thinking fourth dimensionally!

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Tourmalin's Time Cheques, F. Anstey 08 March 2022

1891 fantasy (perhaps 1885). Tourmalin, bored on a long sea voyage, discovers the Anglo-Australian Joint Stock Time Bank, into which he can deposit his unwanted time, only to reclaim and spend it later.

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Valentine's Eve Board Games at the Bear, 13 February 2021 07 March 2022 - 1 comment

I avoided the crowded pub over Christmas, but went back to this group for their next meeting.

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Back to the Future Part II 06 March 2022

1989 science fiction/comedy, dir. Robert Zemeckis, Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd: IMDb / allmovie. We've got to do something about your kids!

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Chasing Tinsel, Ellie Ashe 05 March 2022

2014 action/mystery novella. Miranda's working at the mall to get some money together for Christmas presents for her friends while pining over her not-quite-a-boyfriend-yet. Then things happen.

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Paul Temple and the Margo Mystery 04 March 2022

1961 audio thriller by Francis Durbridge, in 8 parts. While Paul's away on a lecture tour, his wife Steve is briefly kidnapped as a warning about… something… and left in her car is a coat with the unusual label "Margo".

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The Weekly Challenge 154: Missing Padovan 03 March 2022

I’ve been doing the Weekly Challenges. The latest involved permutations and primality testing. (Note that this is open until 6 March 2022.)

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Nothing to Hide, James Oswald 02 March 2022

2019 contemporary thriller. After the events of the last book, DC Constance Fairchild is on suspension and hounded by the press. But she's a born copper, so when a man turns up by her bins, mutilated and barely alive, she can't keep out of it…

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February 2022 Trailers 01 March 2022

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…)

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