Jesse

I quite liked it, I don't think there will be a big storyline moment there above what they've already done. Their tag team act is massively over atm, I figure this is just a fun way to have them doing the tag routine and the DOUBLE CLOTHESLINE for the fans in the pre-show who want to see the act before they come out for the drama of the main event.

This minor annoyance is myself. We're doing a long distance move this week (Basingstoke to Manchester) and I've been so busy/stressed with work that I'm paying someone else to handle the whole thing for me, including packing my flat. You'd think that would be a lovely, stress-free experience but it's the day before they turn up to start packing and I've spent the entire day worrying that I should do more to prep for them. I've spent a load of money to not be stressed, why am I stressed that I'll upset(?) the people I've hired?!

Pretty sure I bought that t-shirt from Fleetwood Market when I was 15

Yeah, I'm sure Season 3 will be better being based on that, but I don't think it will contain a reveal that will undo all the things everyone didn't like about series 2 and show that Neil Gaiman was being a bad writer on purpose instead of just whiffing on this one.

I'm adjacent to the fandom, but it doesn't seem like it's gone over too well with some of the Tumblr lot either.
 

5 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

finished season 2 of Good Omens last night.

Thank God for Tennant and Sheen, because it didn't have much else going for it. The plot was paper-thin, the supporting cast mostly lacked any of the charm of the first series, and I wasn't feeling Jon Hamm playing the Angel Gabriel as Dougie Jones from Twin Peaks: The Return at all. It felt like what it was - a bridge to get to the more substantial story planned for series 3 - and like some particularly ill-plotted fanfiction. 

It's hit the real classic of the genre of a 15,000 word Tumblr post explaining why it was actually written bad on purpose and it'll all be a big reveal in Season 3. One step removed from the secret Sherlock episode that was definitely airing.

A thing to note that afaict Baldur's Gate 3 co-op is properly unlimited. Afaict you're able to just fuck off completely and be doing something else, so it is essentially running two instances of the game with all the associated load that comes with that. Definitely a challnge to get that functionin well enough on Series S to pass cert (which is where I'd assume the problem is, that they can get it to 'work' but not enough to pass.

Divinity Original Sin 2 had a really nice dynamic split-screen where if you were close you'd share a single screen and as you moved away from each other it would separate into split screen, it's a shame they don't have that in BG3.

I'd say there's an equivalent to that David, which is the amount of gofundme requests I've been seeing go round has increased this year. Amplified no doubt because of the adjacency I have to a few charities (through work, I'm not a saint) but it does seem to have ramped up as things got tighter

Shows how much a few studios have been dominating the cinemas in recent years that having two big films out at the same time is such an exciting prospect

In respect to what you're saying David, the ratings are what they use to price advertising for those slots. More eyeballs watching on TNT is more they can charge to put your ad inside it. It's obviously more complex than that - advertisers looking for specific demos, or types of content they want/don't want to be put next to, cost of content vs rating (not worth spending twice as much for content in that slot if you only get a boost of 30% to your ad sales etc).

Then in defence of what David is saying - they are a terrible metric for judging anything's popularity, or even as an outsider trying to judge what the ratings mean to the studio given so much else that falls into that we have no way of knowing about. Generally, if they're still giving them money and keeping the same amount of content or asking for more it seems like things are going good. Staring at the ratings and trying to figure out what that means to Warner Bros without any additional insider information is about as useful as getting your divining rod out.

As someone who ran an event on the pitch at Coventry's RICOH I can say that it's really easy and there's no follow-on issues for the stadium or the club.
https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport/football/football-news/computer-game-festival-wont-use-8110684

It's one of the reasons my viewership has really waned over the years, to the point I read more of your write-ups than I watch of the events. Maybe it works out better in the short-term on a P&L sheet but it leads to the UFC so rarely feeling like a special event, that if I can't be arsed watching one that's fine because the next 10 will all feel the same.

Too many ICON Meals

Yeah, it's definitely an overwhelming thing to start with especially when you're looking at a complete army and all the individual unit rules at the same time as learning the core structure of a match. I'm a big fan of their smaller scale games like Kill Team as an entry point (even as kid I started with Necromunda before the mass army stuff) but since you've already got the box it's worth just scaling it down to small for yourself for a start.

I'm also mad jealous because that box looks lush, I've always been a Tyranid fan (my first army as a kid) and the new models are gorgeous.

I haven't played it yet because it's a new edition but by and large 40k looks a lot more complex than it is because it has a lot of 'phases' and a shitload of information per unit.

The best way to learn the turn phases is to walk through a couple of rounds with a few units, maybe a squad and a 'warlord' each. Your first few games there'll be a bunch of looking up stats and re-checking interactions, but I find in play so much is standardised (for example, bolt rifles always work the same) that it sticks in the mind pretty quickly. There are some genuinely complex armies out there but usually the big box edition has two fairly simple armies.

There's a 10minute vid here that covers how to get started and how the phases work, anything more complex you can add in as you get more comfortable and scale up.

I think there's an impulse to see something get a lot of praise and want to find that same thing in the thing you specifically love. So I think some of this comes from the big threads for like Hangman/Omega and The Fiend; but also this is a significant chunk of pop culture consumption now. I really like the new Spider-Verse movie and a good third of the TikToks I'm being forcefed about it now are someone 'explaining' all the secret genius things you didn't notice in the background, or in the previous movie. A good chunk of them are dispelled with a minute's thought but that impulse is kinda the flavour du jour for interpreting and enjoying media right now.

3 hours ago, RedRooster said:

Oh, I don’t know - even with that, the different animation styles just blew me away. Visually, this is leagues above the already-brilliant first movie for me. I think the original told a better story, but I still loved everything about this, it was just brilliant. Easily the most enjoyable film I’ve seen this year so far, it’s so much fun.

Yeah, I think the difference for me was that I had no idea what I was getting into with the first, whereas I had expectations for this one. You're right that it feels like another leap for that creative team, especially

Saw SPider-Verse 2 tonight and it's so, so good. Not as breathtaking as the first, because you know what you're in for, but still an absolute delight to watch. A creative team that, as a package, feels like it's firing on all cylinders and nailing stakes, quippy comedy, and visuals in a way that should make the people in charge of shitting out these MCU movies ashamed. Definitely some recency bias having just got in from my first cinema experience this year, but it's so good to see a fun movie with characters from my childhood again.

Those have started appearing just now if you haven't had a look in a bit @waters44

Yeah I feel the same. I've been watching GDQ since 2013 and I've kind of fallen off the last few years as the online stuff has lacked the energy of previous ones. I watch plenty of speedrun streams, appreciate GDQ for that communal vibe that just doesn't come across without the hall & couch (and honestly, the better audio production).

46 minutes ago, waters44 said:

I see SGDQ 2023 has started but there’s nothing on YouTube. Does anyone know if the runs will end up there at some point? I thought they usually uploaded each run once it finished in a playlist so you could watch in chronological order

Yeah, with these in-person shows taking more manpower to kick off and get running smooth it normally takes them a couple of days to start spinning it up but they will cut each run out and upload it as its own video and into a playlist on YouTube. I'd expect the first videos to be going up later today and for them to slowly trickle in as they work through them.

Aw man, that's terrible news about Lost Soul Pizza. Have some lovely times of pre-PROGRESS meals with friends there a few years back.

Hope this goes well and they're able to get it up and going again.

Dragon's Dogma 2 was the pop for me, I adore that first game and I'm excited to see where they go with a second.

Torn here because the answer is obviously Crank, but his indignance about the Face/Off machine in Spy pops into my head and makes me laugh at least once a month. Absolutely incredible.

Wembley is a big venue, but they've been running live events for four years now. It's not like they've only been running the local masonic guildhall, their highest attendance is what 20k at one of the US stadiums? So imagine it will be the same principle and management structure, just with a bunch more manpower support in conjunction with the venue/LiveNation

Is that Eyepatch Wolf?