Anne Summers

I totally get that. And I like I said, I always have the feature switched on which zooms out and gives you an overview of the whole page, after you've viewed the last panel. I probably wouldn't want to use guided reading at all if it didn't do that. But the panels aren't always the same size (they are resized on the screen in guided reading mode, from what I can tell in line with the different sizes of panels used in the original comics). It really is a different way of reading comics, rather than one that's intrinsically better or worse. But it's definitely super-convenient. Maybe it helps that I'm the sort of person who has always naturally had less regard for the medium than the message. I far prefer digital purchases to owning physical media. When I was a journalist, I readily embraced the move from print to digital, unlike a lot of my colleagues who got hung up on the fact they wouldn't see their so many of their stories laid out in physical newspaper print in front of them, any more.

Are there readers other than Comixology and Kindle that let you use it?

Yeah, I assume it's all hand-coded, don't see how it could work any other way. I guess it wouldn't take that long - literally just need someone to read each issue and number the panels in order.

Have you tried guided reading mode on Kindle or Comixology? Where it shows you each individual panel one at a time? (in the correct order of course, using hand-coded metadata). I totally get that it might not be for everyone but it's been revolutionary for me - not being able to read in bed with the light on at the moment, as the baby doesn't seem to sleep well unless it's dark. I never found reading comics on a tablet completely comfortable, but on my phone in guided mode, the screen size is just the right size to display a panel, given the distance I hold it from my face, when I'm using it. The text is very comfortably readable at that size, and it's great for seeing the artwork in detail. After using it for ages I went back to reading some old TPBs and found the process uncomfortable compared to my phone - having to hold the whole book open in my hand - or adjust my viewing angle, or the position of the book, due light reflecting off glossy paper, or panels close to the page join being harder to see. None of those are an issue with reading in guided mode. You can also set it so that after you read the last panel of each page, it shows the whole page, so you can still appreciate comics which use an entire page to good effect. Like I said, I can totally appreciate that it won't be for everyone, but it's so good I've even found myself buying comics I already own in other physical or digital formats again, just so I can read them in a new way.

I thought the dictator wasn't too bad. This series ... I didn't like the prison guy. The ultra-liberal gave me a few good laughs (telling the residents group that the giant mosque planned for their neighbourhood was sponsored by the Clinton Foundation) but the wheelchair conspiracy theory guy was the best and the only character who really stands up alongside his older roster.

I literally mentioned Starship Troopers in the first post!

A few of my films which didn't quite make it to my "all-time classics list" have been mentioned a few times on other people's - Last Crusade, Roger Rabbit... so I guess I will upgrade them on my list. Although I'm not 100% convinced about Roger Rabbit. Haven't seen it for a long time though, is it really that great? I only left Last Crusade off because I've always felt it was a notch below Raiders. It's definitely in my own personal all-time-favourites list. But I didn't know if there was consensus on it. Obviously any list of "all time classics" will be subjective to some extent, but when I was putting together my list I was trying to think of films that pretty much everyone would agree was one of the best of all time.

I saw Roger Rabbit too... Not counting it as an all-time classic though (imo of course). I remembered another one - Trainspotting.

Oh shit yeah, Fight Club and Jurassic Park too - guess they might count!

Just tried thinking , and to my surprise the only one I can think of that's generally considered to be a bona fide, all-time classic is Pulp Fiction. Maybe just because I'm slightly too young to have seen a lot of the great movies of the 80s - I seem to have seen a lot of sequels to classics though - Back To The Future 2, Gremlins 2, Last Crusade, Terminator 2, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, Army of Darkness... Seen a fair few others that I really like, of course, but don't think they quite live up to "all time classic" status - Lock Stock, Starship Trooper, American Beauty, Return to Oz (first film I watched at the cinema), Pirates of the Caribbean, Oh Brother Where Art Thou - just a few off the top of my head. Maybe I'm just setting my standards for what would be generally considered an "all time classic" too high, and some of those would actually qualify.

My first thoughts are that it isn't an issue - because there isn't a big western-Asian diaspora who are in need of mainstream media representation in, say, China or Singapore, like there is a big Asian-American diaspora or even Asian-British. I am sure that will change due to ongoing globalisation means more people of western decent emigrating and raising children in Asian cultures. Not sure how it relates, but the Asian soap operas that my partner is addicted to seem to feature mostly actors who are racially mixed, being half western and half Asian. And all the characters dress in very westernised ways, rather than wearing traditional SE Asian dress. Don't know if it means anything, just an observation.

I actually can't remember the last time I bought a game and it turned out to be shit. Probably back in my Spectrum or Amiga days. I buy new releases sparingly these days, and the quality of feedback available thanks to the internet, metacritic, rllmuk, etc, means I find it hard to imagine I would be in a situation where I would buy a complete dud. In the Spectrum / Amiga days, sure - just about any arcade conversion or film license that got hyped by magazines but turned out to be an unplayable mess. Double Dragon, Terminator 2, Outrun - all games I put down good money for and was disappointed when they loaded up. More recently there have been games I have bought that haven't quite clicked for me, despite overwhelming positive experiences from everyone else - Horizon: Zero Dawn being the best example I can think of right now. Once I'd got over the amazing visuals (being the first game I played on my 4K tv meant that took a while) I found it a bit repetitive - but I can certainly see it's a fantastic game, just not quite right for me, so I gave up on it eventually and went onto things I enjoyed more.

We've just published an article by Will Freeman about the retro DNA of Fortnite which some of you might find interesting. https://www.antstream.com/single-post/2018/08/16/The-DNA-of-Fortnite

That's the one ! Cheers!

Pretty sure it was originally a budget game, and I think it was more likely Mastertronic than Codemasters - might not have been either though ... It started with a space ship landing on a planet surface, and then your man got out - and he had to work his was downwards through a series of vertically scrolling caves. It WASN'T Jason's Gem! The caves had a load of monsters which I am pretty sure killed you if you made contact with them. Just a few screens down, it stopped at an apparent dead end - and there was a large diamond/crystal, which I assumed was what I was supposed to be going after. But there didn't seem to be an obvious way of collecting it, or progressing any further, and this is as far as I ever got! Anyone know the game I'm talking about?