Made of Ghosts

Peep Show took a plummet after series 3 - S4E1 is pretty good though so I generally think of episode 2 as the shark jump point, that episode is absolutely painful to watch. There are a few decent ones after that but generally only one or two per series. Not sure if it was down to poor decision making or just a general decline in writing quality, but maybe it was a mistake to get Mark and Sophie together? They probably couldn’t have strung out the will-they-won’t-they situation for much longer, but the show did feel very rudderless without it.

In drag presumably.

Rocket Robot On Wheels was better anyway.

Do me do me

Heh that is indeed one of the pieces I read.

Very mixed feelings on this - ultimately negative I think but with a lot of caveats. The opening is really gratuitously horrifying in a way I really disliked - it mirrors a very similar sequence in Hereditary that made me feel a similar way. Very effective filmmaking but I don't think there was any need for it. Odd thing to say about a horror film, I know. The central relationship is so well realised that it's actually kind of uncomfortable to watch (in a good way this time). Christian in particular is very well written, a complete arsehole in a hundred minor ways. Ari Aster is incredibly good at building an uneasy mood just from the tiniest things, an off-kilter camera angle, a weird bit of acting, etc. I felt a lot of tension and dread throughout the film but it didn't really build or pay off, it just sort of bubbled. I imagine a lot of people will find this interesting and unusual but I just got frustrated. I wasn't ever bored but a lot of scenes dragged on aimlessly and without any sense of ebb and flow. I also felt like the weird undercurrent of humour was very at odds with everything else. The funny-creepy imagery in the final sequence is almost bonkers enough to make it worthwhile though.

I got the currys £2 stylus too and it works fine. Not the most precise thing in the world but it doesn’t need to be for something grid-based like this.

We wouldn’t have “I Wish I Was James Bond” by Scouting For Girls and I can’t countenance such a horrible dystopia even in fiction.

The new interface is fucking me up. Feels really cramped. Are people using styluses?

I’m not too bothered about toning down the quirks - the “shake” thing for example was cute but not that practical, I’m not mad if they’ve made things a bit simpler in that area. Touch controls only in handheld though? I can’t think of a single possible reason why they’ve done that.

In terms of story, craft, humour, originality, character etc etc this is on a par with the other three. I guess I didn’t enjoy it quite as much just because it’s the fourth one and I’m kinda checked out of the series at this point, but setting that aside, there’s really nothing much to criticise. Maybe a few too many “we need to get to here or we’ll be left behind!” crisis/peril moments towards the end, it got a little fatiguing, but it’s insane how much new stuff they’ve found to say with the same old characters and scenarios. Key and Peele’s repeated “plan” had me absolutely cackling. Great character designs too, they look exactly like those crappy off-brand toys you get at the funfair.

Splatoon combining weaponry, area control and fast travel into a single mechanic (ie ink).

1/4

Odyssey went in on the SM64 nostalgia, maybe it’ll be that.

I don’t get the DIY dungeon thing, you just put pre-existing rooms together? How is that going to be interesting?