A curmudgeon writes.
So I guess it’s time for a gaming update. I haven’t written about what I’ve been playing for a while because I just can’t seem to gather the impetus to do so.
The next couple of weeks are going to be hectic as fuck – the house is almost completed and we’ll be moving within the next fortnight – so I guess now’s as good a time as any to cover the missing bits. So let’s do this!
(I understand if you don’t want to, frankly.)
Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars.
A book on the problems that problems sleeping could have. Does that sound good to you? I mean, the author has given TED talks, been hired by Google and has done the media rounds since this has been published, all on the strength of his scholarly interest in the effects of the Land of Nod.
A book on sleep. Written by a scientist. It’s pretty lucky that it isn’t a big snooze, then, isn’t it?
*pause for laughter*
All right then. Continue reading “Book review: Why We Sleep”
The Allingham Minibus by Margery Allingham.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars.
Before I picked up this iteration of The Allingham Minibus – a work that’s been around in varying versions since the 1970s – I’d never read any of Margery Allingham’s work. I knew little of her, save that she was considered one of the Queens of Crime, alongside Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and Ngaio Marsh. I expected, given her contemporaries, that I’d have a quaint read ahead, of clockwork mysteries and tea and crumpets before bedtime.
Thankfully, that presumption was false. The 18 tales gathered together in this collection (the name of which admittedly made me think of a Tarago packed with story denizens) are of a distinctly stranger bent. Continue reading “Book review: The Allingham Minibus”
Tar Heel Lightnin’: How Secret Stills and Fast Cars Made North Carolina the Moonshine Capital of the World by Daniel S. Pierce.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars.
I wouldn’t have thought a state-specific recounting of the historical importance of a spirit well-known for poisoning and/or blinding a percentage of its consumers would be something I’d be eager to read. I would’ve thought such a work would be a little too esoteric – I’m neither a moonshine aficionado, nor an NC native – for me, but I’m happy to say that I was wrong on this count. Tar Heel Lightnin’ is a lot less dry (fitting, I guess) than I’d suspected a scholarly work on the subject might be.
(That said, most scholarly works don’t usually include a hefty tranche on the dodgy history of early NASCAR racing. But maybe they should.)
Continue reading “Book review: Tar Heel Lightnin’”
Infinite Ground by Martin MacInnes.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars.
So what’d happen if you were in a restaurant, right? And then you got up from the table, went to the bathroom and then never came back.
Would you be missed? Would people know where to look? More importantly, would people know how to look?
This is, in a fashion, the thrust of Martin MacInnes’ first novel, Infinite Ground. It’s a detective story – more or less – but that’s a bit like saying that Gravity’s Rainbow is a war story. There’s a bit more to it.
Continue reading “Book review: Infinite Ground”
Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars.
I studied economics for a couple of years in high school. I did not study it particularly well, nor did I remember very much.
The sum total of my economic knowledge is the term stagflation, and I only remember this because it sounds like antlers with a boner. That, and the fact that Ross Gittins wore Dunlop KT26s when he delivered my year’s economic update before the HSC. Two facts, you’ll agree, that stand me in good stead for understanding the economy as a whole.
This is the background with which I read Freakonomics, a collection of chapters loosely corralled together under the guise of making data answer interesting questions (such as why sumo wrestlers might cheat) instead of boring ones (involving GDP and the like).
Continue reading “Book review: Freakonomics”
We’ve just come back from some time away – not a huge amount of time, but some – in one of Unyoked‘s cabins.
Was it good? Overall, yes, but with a sprinkling of hmmm to add to the escape’s piquancy. Continue reading “Unyoked with Miguel”
Deadman Wonderland, Vol. 6 by Jinsei Kataoka and Kazuma Kondou.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars.
Well, it’d seem I’m cutting through these collections the way prison-toilet wine cuts through intestinal lining. Time for some thoughts on another hilarious collection of lost moments from a horrific human research facility masquerading as a prison.
Y’know, with DEATH GAMES. Continue reading “Book review: Deadman Wonderland, Vol. 6”
Deadman Wonderland, Vol. 5 by Jinsei Kataoka and Kazuma Kondou.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars.
It’s always a good sign when a collection begins with the potential execution of a main character.
It’s not so good when you then remember there’s about another hundred volumes of the story to go, so chances that they’ll be successfully poleaxed are probably slim. Continue reading “Book review: Deadman Wonderland, Vol. 5”
I’ve a slightly longer post brewing about the games I’ve been playing over the past couple of months. They’ve been longer and fairly involved, so I’ve been dragging my heels on getting something out there. But I just completed a game I chose at random from my collection, which turned out to be about seven hours worth of Good Times (well, mostly) and featured a whole lot of cyberpunk hoo-ha and stylish graphic nonsense, created by a very small team.
TLDR? I’ve been hanging out with an AI that has boxy hair and an alarming habit of exploding. Continue reading “Fumiko! (2017)”
Yeah nah. 