lathany, posts by tag: 2013 - LiveJournal

I've spent the last few days playing Knock-Knock, the new game from Ice-Pick Lodge (the makers of Pathologic and The Void). If anyone is interested, there is a demo on Steam here.

As for other Ice-Pick Lodge games, it's not like anything else. It's both cute and creepy. The game mechanics are about wandering a strange house, hiding and turning on lights. Knock-Knock features a protagonist living alone in the woods who is suffering from insomnia and ghost-like things. As the game progresses, you start to learn its back story which is appropriately creepy and weird. The game is addictive, which is as well as it's also fairly frustrating. It takes ages to work out what you're supposed to be doing (aka how to win). Also, once you have got a better understanding of how to play, it's still frustrating because you can have a good run and then be thwarted by a late level and effectively have to start again.

I haven't yet won the game, but hope eventually to manage (probably next month some time). I would recommend it to anyone who liked Pathologic and The Void. Although I appreciate that this is approximately zero of my f-list.

We got back yesterday from Christmas with the grandparents. This began in Cambridge (bateleur's parents), on the night of bateleur's birthday when we arrived late having been working (and in Ryan's case at school) during the day. We were there until Monday lunchtime.

Saturday: The morning spent wandering around the parks trying not to get too damp. The afternoon in the house and the evening celebrating the birthday and Xmas. Dinner was roast lamb and the crackers had little musical whistles inside along with a music sheet. The idea was that you could play various tunes (including Happy Birthday and Jingle Bells) using the whistles. This was moderately successful, although some tunes were unrecognisable.

Sunday: We spent the morning at Josie's (bateleur's sister) and the afternoon at the Cambridge Arts Theatre watching the pantomime of Robin Hood. The show was rather good, once you accepted the whole "He's behind you!" and other bits of audience participation. In the evening, we watched Straw Dogs. I say we. The film reached the strangled cat and I left for bed.

On Monday lunchtime we travelled to Royston (my parents) and discovered that it was still unclear (there were two ambiguous emails) whether chrestomancy was going to attempt a mad dash in his car to do presents (we discovered on Christmas morning that he thought he had been clear and was not coming).

Monday: A Thai meal in the evening at the rather excellent local Thai.

Tuesday: A walk around Royston in the morning and I made mince pies in the afternoon. Dinner was spaghetti bolognese and said mince pies.

Wednesday: Christmas! I cooked the dinner, we all opened presents and there was Dr Who in the evening (which I wasn't too impressed with. The whole 13th generation bit was pretty contrived. Actually most of it was pretty contrived).

Thursday: We headed for home and Reeve. Who was found asleep on my futon.

I never did post a review before going home for Christmas.

I remember this as being strong and rather nice. However, was drinking it whilst trying to master the Path of Exile controls (I kept exiting the game rather than closing the inventory), so perhaps not the best time to be trying out a new liqueur.

On Friday night (OK, Saturday morning), bateleur arrived home with stories of a ginger liqueur he'd been served by leathellin at her drinks party. Apparently it could be bought in Waitrose.

Today I found a big enough Waitrose (Russell Square) to buy a bottle. A review later.

I think I may have finished my Christmas cards, with one left to post. Also, I think I've finished the present buying, although the wrapping is still in progress.

I have three days left at work. On the one hand I'm wondering how I'll finish everything I'm supposed to be doing and on the other, I'm glad it's only three days. I definitely need a break this year.

I have stopped waiting for The Last Crown and instead purchased a copy of Knock-Knock from Ice-Pick Lodge. This is the company that made Pathologic and The Void, so it's fair to say that Knock-Knock is weird and addictive. However, with insomnia and monsters, it isn't very Christmassy.

I watch Mark Kermode's blog and last summer he recommended a film/documentary called The Battle of the Sexes. It's about the tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs that took place back in 1973 and the events surrounding it.

I was hesitant in suggesting it for our LoveFilms list because whilst Kermode usually has a point, our tastes don't always match. However, I like tennis, so I did add it and it turned up this week. The resulting film was enjoyable and well worth seeing.

Highlights of the actual tennis match occur right at the end of the film and it is (apparently) the most watch match in tennis history. The rest of the film contains the build-up, clips from the earlier match between Briggs and Court, the first professional women's tennis tour (the nine who started with earnings of 1 dollar), the formation of the Women's Tennis Association and, most importantly, King's fight to get women paid the same as men for tennis (this eventually happened at Wimbledon a few years ago).

The video is fascinating. Much of it took me back to my primary school days (the second half of the seventies) when that sort of sexism was still very visible. In many ways, the best thing about this film is that it shows how much has changed. The different commentators are also interesting - I was particularly impressed that Riggs' son had taken part. And as for Billie Jean King? She's awesome. Smart, strong and articulate. I knew she was a brilliant player, but the things she did off-court and the gambles she took - and won - were very courageous.

I would recommend seeing it.

Having done the book sheep, I thought I would do a computer games one.

Here we are: ten computer games that have stayed with me in some way. I took a few minutes, and didn't think too hard -- they aren't necessarily the "right" or "great" works, just the ones that have touched me.

1. Final Fantasy VII. I first met it as a copy borrowed from zandev that I played on holiday in the Lake District. I become complete addicted to it, bought my own and played and re-played it. I loved so much about it - the parallels between Aeris and Sephiroth, the various cut scenes, Seto, the dates (except Barrett) and pretty much everything in it.

2. The Last Crown. Another all time favourite. I relished the atmosphere, the ghost hunts and the occasional bits of humour.

3. The Hobbit. I never completed this, but it was the first big game we owned on the ZX Spectrum. These days I might not have the patience, but back in the day it was wonderful.

4. Doom. One of the few FPS games that I've played. One of the fewer that I've become hooked on and finished.

5. Dozer. I never finished Dozer, although I did get a long way through it. It was the first game I played where I knew the games designer. Also, it's one of the few with really good puzzles.

6. Worms. The version on the Amiga - small, pink, different... as the tag line went. Grenades, Bazookas and the endless fun of naming teams.

7. Pathologic. I also loved The Void, but I think Pathologic was my bigger obsession. A game about a vicious plague and I adored it. Morbid, weird and with a suited rat singing down a well.

8. Master of Magic. Also known as the Fort Jackson game. This has different music depending on whether you were first, second, third or fourth at that point in the game (in the computer's estimation). You could play all different types of wizards based on the spellbooks you chose. Although it was difficult not to chose all the life for Incarnation and summon Torin the Chosen. I beat this game once on the hardest difficulty and finally stopped after that.

9. Twisted Metal: World Tour. bateleur and I played endless hours of this. I think I completed every character except Sweettooth. I particularly liked Grasshopper for the idea and the ending (although a mistake to use the special on New York). It was an awesome two-player game.

10. Baldur's Gate 2. Loved the story, played it endlessly over and over. Liked the romances. I enjoyed Dragon Age too, but BG2 was my first and made a greater impression. I still have the map on my wall.

Honourable mention to Valkyria Chronicles for the tank, Lemmings for "Wets go!", Disruptor for the B movie and varied missions, Little Big Planet for excellent team-up play and Stephen Fry, Diablos for Wednesdays, Portal for the puzzles and the black humour and Monkey Island for the staple remover.

Nicked from borusa.

"In your LJ post, list 10 books that have stayed with you in some way. Don't take but a few minutes, and don't think too hard -- they don't have to be the "right" or "great" works, just the ones that have touched you."

1. Power of Three - Diana Wynne Jones. I am a huge fan of DWJ and almost every DWJ book is special to me, but this one is my favourite. It was a book I read and re-read all the way through secondary school and I just loved it and was (and am) very fond of the central character Gair and the friends he made.

2. Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien. Well, yes. I met it early enough that it was my first epic fantasy adult fiction. Enough said.

3. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen. I had terrible trouble reading this at first, but I really wanted to like it because I have caught the 1980 TV series and fell in love with it. I didn't understand it, mind, or not all the subtlety, but I then wanted to love the book. Perseverance paid off.

4. Paladin of Souls - Lois McMaster Bujold. Tricky to pick my favourite of hers (Memory, Diplomatic Immunity and Curse of Chalion are all runners) but I think Paladin has it because of Ista. The central character has a wonderful take on the world from having spent much of her life being thought mad.

5. Sparkling Cyanide - Agatha Christie. This is my favourite Christie because of its structure - the six suspects at the start and because it makes sense when you put it together. Again, it helped that I saw the TV movie first.

6. Space Hostages - Nicholas Fisk. This went on a two-week holiday when I was about twelve and I read it and re-read it. It's got the kids in charge theme and also a lot about bullies. And I love the ending.

7. The Art of Murder - Jose Carlos Somoza. This was a blind pick I made for a bookclub on the basis that I liked the author's previous book (The Athenian Murders); it was a lucky gamble. This book has some real horror in it, but the world of humans-as-art worked so well and I liked the series of murders and how it was solved.

8. King of Shadows - Susan Cooper. A close second is The Dark is Rising but I find King more emotional and engrossing. It helps that I like A Midsummer Night's Dream and I cry every time I read it.

9. The Colour Purple - Alice Walker. This was a book I met for the first time through my Open University degree and fell in love with it. I like Celie a lot and just some of the phrases. One of them goes something like "I never met God in a church, just a bunch of folks hanging around, kinda hoping he'd show." In contrast with much of my list, I loathed the film and thought it was sickly and completely out of character with the book.

10. The Ice King - Michael Scott Rohan. I can see a lot of flaws in this book these days. The middle aged guy who has every attractive young woman in the book (OK, two) throwing themselves at him. The "split the party" theme. But, at the end of the day, it's still got Viking gods and atmosphere. Plus it made excellent background to a couple of roleplaying games.

Honourable mention to Enid Blyton who sent me looking for caves as a child, Prachett because he was Xmas every year, Brookmyre for video game fans made fiction heroes, L M Montgommery for sweet but witty, CS Lewis for everything but the moralising and Dan Abnett who hooked me on WH40K.

I've picked up my first cold of the winter. Last night, I could feel a sore throat starting and today I've been snuffling and generally feeling blocked up. I'm not very happy.

Reeve, on the other hand, is benefiting from this. I'm quiet, I'm sitting next to the radiator and I have a warm lap. The only problem for him is that the twins have been taking the opportunity to stroke him.

Yesterday I put the tree up. Bea was slightly sad that I hadn't got her and Ryan to help, but cheered up when we did the smaller tree together. Here's a picture of the bigger one.