Wot I have read…

Earth, Air, Fire and Custard by Tom Holt

This is more of the same from Tom Holt based as it in his familiar and much explored world of modern magic at the shadowy company of J W Wells. I found this similar in nature to the other stories where ‘odd’ and ‘amusing’ incidents befall our hapless hero until the overly complex plot is revealed and the complex web of loose ends are all tied up.

‘J.W. Wells seems to be a respectable establishment, but the company paying Paul Carpenter’s salary is in fact a deeply sinister organisation with a mighty peculiar management team.

Paul thought he was getting the hang of it (particularly when he fell head over heels for his strangely alluring colleague Sophie), but death is never far away when you work at J. W. Wells. Unlike the stapler – that’s always going AWOL. Our love struck hero is about to discover that custard is definitely in the eye of the beholder. And that it really stings.’

Snow Fun…

We have had a cold snap in the last few weeks with snow sweeping across most of the country and temperatures dropping to around freezing for days at a time. We have been quite lucky where we are to miss the worst of it which seems to have landed on the west and north. In the UK we are relatively fortunate when it comes to cold weather due to the warming Gulf Stream and so we generally miss out on the level of snow and extremes of temperature that countries of similar latitude in North America or on the Continent get during winter. However as a result we are not as prepared for what snow we do get; airports and railways do not have the same investment in snow clearing machines and not many cars have snow tires or snow chains.

I took advantage of the ability to work from home to avoid having to struggle on the roads. Having a rear wheel drive automatic is a disadvantage in snow and ice and so my car remained where it was for several days until it warmed up and melted enough for me to get off the untreated local roads and out onto the clear main road.

Sue took to Shank’s Pony and walked into the town where she caught the train to work.

We ventured out during the weekend to explore the winter wonderland and saw many more people than usual out and about enjoying the snow. We took several long walks which all ended up at a pub for a warm up and fortifying tipple.

Old School Gaming…

Zombies!!!

This is a fun game where you compete against your fellow human players to be the first to reach the helicopter and be evacuated from a zombie infested town. One of the fun elements of the game is the expanding map that brings new opportunities to collect ammo and life along with additional zombie danger. Cards can help you or hinder the other players as you battle through the hordes. Variants on the game include alternative areas such as a Mall, and different game objectives to mix it up.

Dreadball

This is a new game that came out of the kick starter investment program and is a two player game where you play a futuristic game called Dreadball. Initially it looks a little like BloodBowl which in itself is loosely based on American Football. The differences are though that there are three score zones and a variety of different rules. The teams are also familiar with humans, dwarves, scaven like rat folk, and orcish characters, but this might just be to attract games familiar with these stereotypes as I understand there will be some truly original races coming along in later issues.

Tactics differ depending on the race you are playing and who you face. For example I was playing slow but tough dwarves verses Martin’s also tough orcs and in the end we spent more time trying to kill each other rather than scoring goals, whereas James’s with the agile and fast rats faced Kevin’s human team in what turned out to be a high scoring game.

I find these sort of games difficult as I have a problem focusing on the long play and get frustrated when I throw away an opportunity.

X-Wing miniatures game

This is a dogfight game set in the Star Wars universe and the starter set gives you one X-Wing and two Tie Fighters along with the counters, dice and rules. We played the quick game version that has a cut down set of rules and is good to get you started, which is just as well as the full set of rules does add quite a lot more detail to the game adding levels of complexity and customisation that geeks like us could quite enjoy playing with. It is an expandable game where you can buy additional models to expand your fleet and you can alter the game to give you different objectives and expand the longevity of the game.

Wot we have seen…

We don’t go to the movies as much as we used to and I guess this is somewhat due to the rise of the digital media and the accessibility to more choice in the comfort of your own home, but we have been enticed out to see a couple of recent blockbusters:

Les Miserables

Sue went with her sister and mother to see this at a lovely local independent cinema and thoroughly enjoyed it weeping all the way through it. I did not fancy it myself but I had seen the stage show many years before and was not that fussed about that either.

Hobbit

Sue and I went together to see this at the local cinema just before Christmas mid week when they have a two-for-one deal there and at a local Italian restaurant if you are on a particular mobile phone network. We enjoyed the film a great deal, even Sue who does not have the same interest as I do in the fantasy genre, and we thought it was a well paced story in keeping with the other LOTR films.

Skyfall

Again Sue and went to this at the local cinema and it was a first for Sue who has not had much interest in the Bond phenomenon other than catching glimpses of the odd re-run on TV at Christmas times. She was pleasantly pleased with the film and we both enjoyed the action and humour. I thought it was not quite a ‘standard’ Bond film, but then there have been a few diversions from the earlier film’s paths in recent times, perhaps to try and capture more of the audience that might otherwise be attracted to other action movie options.

On the TV we have spent much of the winter catching up on recordings we have made:

Borgen

We have been enjoying this Danish political drama and as the second series started here we quickly ploughed through our recordings of the first one. You do lose a little in translation I am sure with the subtitles but we still felt drawn into the characters and stories and enjoyed them revelling in the subtle cultural differences that cropped up that gave us an insight into another country’s point of view on issues that our own government struggles with.

 

Utopia

This not one for Sue and as of yet I have only seen the first episode, but I am hooked on the quirky almost surreal story that seems to be being set up. As with all good conspiracy stories the audience does not know what is going on along with many of the key characters, but it has something to do with a graphic novel of the programmes name, a sinister all powerful secret organisation, a handful of odd ball out casts, an enigmatic heroic figure. The story plays on the fear of many that we might be being manipulated be some unseen force and the accompanying website with its ‘game’ where you analyse how much of a trail you lay for those who might want to track you down, only increases these fears.

There is a plethora of period dramas out at the moment that may be riding on the back of the success of Downton Abbey and of these we have been watching Call the Midwife and Mr Selfridge. Ripper Street is another new detective series based 6 months after the Ripper murders and is quite exciting and atmospheric. A gentler proposition is the Blandings based on the PG Wodehouse stories and has a lighter and more comfortable feel to it.

I continue to enjoy The Big Bang Theory as I am sure I can see many of my friends in the characters played. I also enjoy Misfits, an odd supernatural dark comedy about trouble makers with not-so-super powers. Another supernatural dark comedy set to return soon is Being Human which has had its ups and downs of the last few series but I am still looking forward to it now that Vampire Diaries has taken a break and the teenage angst and remarkable body count has left our screens for a while.

A new show we have started to watch is The New Normal about a gay couple and their surrogate that has a very un-PC grandmother and a quirky daughter of her own.

The second series of Suits the legal comedy is just about to start and we continue to enjoy the lighter police procedural comedy Death in Paradise, which is likened to Midsummer Murders in the sunshine.

Just Like That…

We went to the first talk of the year at the WestcottLocal History Group which was on the subject of magic and music halls given by Robin Maddy from the Magic Circle. It was a very entertaining evening with the talk interspersed with live magic tricks.