Absolutely amazing. I remembered this being my favourite for a long time when I was a kid, and I can see why. This is such a massive step up from the previous books in the series. Pyramids had something to say about tradition and dogma, this has something to say about human beings. The characters have significantly more depth to them, and the plot threads are followed in more detail and tie together brilliantly.
This month’s book club pick. I loved most of this, but wish it spent less time lecturing me and gave some more nuance to the characters. I don’t really need convincing about it’s themes, and I think the message might have come across as more powerful if I was allowed to think about what was happening rather than being told how I should feel about it all the time.
I hadn’t played this in a very long time. I remembered feeling a bit let down after Sonic 2, and I think that probably still stands. It’s a great game, but the levels are too long and the ending is a bit anti-climactic. I managed to get all the chaos emeralds tough, the bonus levels get very hard!
I didn’t really know much about the KLF other than some of the hits and that they burnt a million quid. I was expecting this to just be a simple musical biography, it is a lot more interesting than that.
This is the second book I’ve read this year that features pyramids being built very quickly due to time being controlled (after Echoes of the Great Song). I don’t know if that’s a thing, or a coincidence.
The pacing felt much too slow. There are points where something exciting is supposed to be happening and the author spends paragraphs detailing where people are sitting and what clothes they’re wearing.
99% detailing all the current failings of the UK political and economic situation, 1% asking a few questions about what might be done.
I got Arcade Paradise from a Humble Bundle this year, and just got around to playing it. I had never heard of the game before and had no idea what it was like. The game is a first person business simulation where you’re running a laundromat that happens to have some arcade machines in the back room. At first you’re just trying to keep up with emptying coin machines and the loads of laundry coming in, but as you get more money you can invest in more arcade machines.
This felt brutally honest at points. I’m really surprised at some of the stories he tells.
I played Chants of Sennaar on Steam Deck after buying it on a whim. It’s a wonderful adventure game about communication. There are multiple groups of people in the world each of which speak a different language, you can’t understand any of them and none of the groups can speak to each other.
This was a lot. So many ideas that just keep coming. It’s absolutely ridiculous, and really quite silly throughout. I thought it was great.
A lot more hopeful than Politics on the edge!
This is a very depressing read. Stewart clearly has a deep love of the UK and it’s institutions, but describes his experiences of how its politics have been completely hollowed out. All the incentives are wrong, power is not truly in the hands of either the people that claim to have it or should have it. People are only interested in their position, and no one seems interested in the actual improvement of people’s lives. It ends with the rise of Boris Johnson and populism arriving in the UK.
If half of this book is true Billie Holiday had an extraordinary life. I’m guessing William Dufty is the author, but her voice shines through this.
I’m pretty tired of hangovers and ending up drinking more than the couple of drinks I meant to when heading out. This is a pretty convincing argument that you’re not really getting anything out of alcohol.