DIGITISER
  • MAIN PAGE
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Game Reviews
  • FAQ

THE DIGITISER FRIDAY LETTERS PAGE

11/5/2018

44 Comments

 
Picture
Next weekend I'll be in the Midlands at the Retro Revival old games festival. I'm due on stage on Saturday lunchtime, sharing a panel with Iain Lee; that's two Retro Gamer columnists together, discussing old games, Mr Biffo's Found Footage, and Digitiser The Show. That has to be worth a watch.

Do come along if you can. As well as more old games than you can wave a frond at, and many other special guests, TV's Dave Perry will be filming his brand new Games Animal show. 

​Tickets where? Tickets here!

Apologies again for the somewhat quieter week on Digi. Turns out that even I have limits to how much I can realistically achieve, and over the past couple of weeks those limits were tested.

We should be back to a more regular schedule next week. But hey - you can at least hear me talking old games on a filthy two-part Cheap Show special right here. I very much enjoyed being a part of it, and will hopefully be going back for more very soon. Be warned; features mummified creatures and "dirty talk".


If you'd like to appear here, or you've something you'd like me to give some attention to in our occasional Plug Zone, please send your filthy emails to this place here: digitiser2000@gmail.com
SHRINKING VIOLET
As a violet not of the Berlin variety, but instead more of the shrinking kind, imagine my surprise to see that my last week’s letter inspired a mini flurry of “engagement” in last Friday’s comments. I am very grateful for the kind words and insight from everybody. I return with the difficult second album, if you’ll suffer me. 

I don’t really do much social media-ing, although I do have it, and I’m sorry that you’re having an ongoing rough and tumble with various terrible internet factions.

My question as a SM ('social media', not the other thing) novice dear Biffo, is at what point does knowingly publishing something that will be incendiary for certain groups of people, who are already enraged with you, become an act of willing self-harm?

At some point is it better to walk away and disengage? Or is this where the analogy of “if a person shouts at you on the street do you then never leave your home” becomes relevant? I don’t understand much of adult life, especially when experienced digitally, hence my honest question.  
​
Take care of yourself!
Eemus
Blimey. That's a good question. I can only really speak for myself. There have been times when I've tweeted something or written something which I didn't expect to stir up a hornets' nest - my recent Avengers article is an example of one which I didn't consider might be controversial (but was).

And sometimes I do write something - this week's Gervais article, say - which I suspect is probably going to be controversial... but I rarely censor myself, because I think it's more important to be honest and true when it comes to things I feel passionate about. 

I've never written anything that's controversial for the sake of it, or to get hits. I just go with my gut, and sometimes something is bothering me enough for me to write a big, serious piece, and on other days I just want to talk about games, and sometimes I want to write silly stuff.

Ultimately, I'm lucky that shitty comments - or, at least, the ones I've received - don't usually affect me. The people commenting might get personal and call me names, but they're not really aimed at me; they're aiming at an opinion I might have. I'm more than just an opinion about Ricky Gervais, and I'm pretty confident about who I am, for better or worse, so getting abuse online sort of washes over me. It's a cliche, but it really does say more about the person that's writing it than it does about who I am.

​I might bang on about something after the event - for shits and giggles - but it's usually because I'm gobsmacked about the ludicrousness of online discourse, and the extreme levels of vitriol some people display.

I don't tend to engage with it directly, unless somebody is disagreeing in a polite way, because I'm not going to reward aggressive or rude behaviour. Plus, I will listen to an opinion given in a respectful way, because I'm open to the possibility that I might be wrong. 

That said... when I post those sort of articles, I do sometimes feel a bit vulnerable and anxious, in a way that I don't quite understand. It's when I see the hits on the site, and know a lot of people are reading my words in that moment, that I'll have a flicker of self-doubt. I don't really know what it's about, but it's easily solved by closing down the tab displaying the site's live analytics.

So, what I would say is know your limits, know who you are, and know when it's right for you to walk away. Though it's also worth noting that your fear can be worse than the reality; unless you face the thing you're scared of you'll never discover whether it's not as bad as you feel it might be.
PLUS AND THEM
Hey Biffs,
Have you got your ZX Vega+ yet? Is it awesome?
Love
​deKay
xxx
I do not have one, but I would like one. I was poor when they were doing the funding, so missed out on pre-ordering one, but shall be doing so as soon as I can.

Wait. Hang on. Is the Vega the shit one or the good one?
THE GOOD GUYS
First of all, congratulations for getting Digitiser: The Show funded and I'm looking forward to attending the live show.
 
I recently replayed Fallout 3 and I decided that I would play through the game as a complete git, because I always take the 'Good Karma' route and I realised that this meant I had missed out on all the 'Bad Karma' plot threads. So, I get to the point near the beginning where I can nuke a small town, to immediately get my karma level down low enough for it to make a difference, and... I couldn't do it.
 
I knew all the characters were just a bunch of pixels that were spouting off the same lines that I had heard a dozen times before, but I just couldn't do it. I couldn't stop myself from being nice as I went through the main storyline quests, so I tried to reduce my karma level only enough to recruit one of the 'Neutral Karma' companions.

I thought the easiest way to do that would be to steal random tat from people's houses, but even that was a struggle for me and I ended up just playing through the game the same way that I always do.
 
In contrast to that, I became bored of Skyrim after about 50 hours and ended up... well, eating the people I was meant to take quests from, yet now I keep meaning to go back and properly play through all the quests that I missed. However, I don't know if I can really be bothered to slog through the first half of the game to get to them.
 
So, has there ever been a time when your own "moral compass" (...or lack thereof...) caused you to miss out on some content from a game? Or, are you able to disconnect yourself from what's going on in order to see everything and get your money's worth?
David Spendlove
Oh, I'm with you. I struggle to be entirely bad in games too. Maybe I'll do the occasional evil thing, but yeah... nuking a town feels excessive. There's no taking that back. Even when I used to play Dungeons & Dragons I'd always choose characters whose alignment was "neutral good". So, y'know... centrist, basically. 

Which is weird when I think about it. Like, did you see JK Rowling posted an analysis of Trump's signature, which described him as "an arrogant person, conceited, haughty, who needs to exhibit compliments and recognitions, tyrant tendencies, exhibitionist and phony personality that may become megalomaniac with lack of a critical sense"?

It made me think about my signature, which is sloppy, half-arsed, and rushed, and would be a fair reflection.

(P.S. In terms of the part of your letter you asked us not to publish... don't worry. We're already on it.)
FEUD FOR THOUGHT
Dear Captain Biffo,
​

Well, that was quite the week, wasn’t it? Hope you’re feeling better after your bout of lurgy, and that the Gervaisian hordes are no longer screaming at the gates. 

For what it’s worth, I thought it was a brave and thoughtfully written piece, with a lot more subtlety to its points than the furore would suggest. Don’t stop doing what you’re doing - considering their political leanings, these are exactly the kind of people you’d want to be on the opposing side of.

It’s been an eventful week for me as well, though mercifully in a much more positive way. As you know, I published the feature I’d been writing on the Digi / Mean Machines feud for Super Page 58 that you and others kindly contributed to, and I’ve quite honestly been bowled over by the response.

Profuse thanks to everyone who’s taken the time to message me or retweet it; it was a huge effort to pull together, and the feedback I’ve had since has made it all worthwhile.

I knew from the moment I relaunched the site that it was a topic I wanted to cover properly. As a longtime reader of both Digi and MMS when the feud happened, it felt like a defining moment in Digi’s history.

When MMS started badmouthing you there was a singular moment where what they were saying not only struck me as unfair, but just didn’t ring true either. So I stopped buying MMS literally as a result of their side of things, and became much more ardent a Digi fan in response.

It was all a long time ago, but I think it was an important, galvanising moment for Digi fandom. I remember at uni, not long before I started the site, we had to do presentations on a topic of our choice so we could learn how to use PowerPoint. I spoke about the feud and told the class that you shouldn’t trust official mags, and that Digi were the most reliable source of games journalism going. I felt proud to be a fan, and still am, as stuff like your writing this week has emphasised.

Anyway, it feels great to be adding new content to the site, and there’ll be more when I’m back from my hols in a couple of weeks.

Here’s to a quieter few days for us both!
Chris Bell
I'm glad the Mean Machines piece went down well, Bellston. If you've not read it, please do, because it was a well-researched and well-written piece of work.

Also, I've said it before... but the history of Digitiser would be very different had it not been for Super Page 58 - a fan site that's almost as old as Digitiser itself. I think it, more than anything else, convinced us that what we were doing had worth, and demonstrated to us that people loved it.

​Without it, Digitiser wouldn't have meant as much as it does to me, and I might not be here today trying to make a Digitiser YouTube series...
RETRO 
So, It's been interesting to read your preference for retro games at the moment. I've been in that spot myself for some time now, with a bunch of kids work etc I just have no motivation or time to play sprawling modern games much preferring short blasts on older games.

I still keep buying new games though, it's like some kind of frivolous muscle memory, recently picked up Nier Automata played it for a bit (couple of hours), seems good, that's gone in the draw now, can't imagine I'll play it again. The same thing can be said for Zelda BOTOW and countless other games. I've resisted buying God of War as I know it will just have the same fate.

Another thing which stops me playing for more than an hour or two, I feel this deep seated sense of guilt. You know, I've only got so much time on this earth I should really be spending my time more productively.

Anyway I digress. Retro games. I've been playing Castlevania on the Famicon recently, ten minutes here and there, it's a lot of fun also got one of those portable PC Engines, it's amazing. If i'd had one when I was younger It would of blown my mind, Tatsujin on the toilet, magic.

Which leads me on to another thing, the retro thing can become a bit of an obsession. I've been doing it for a while now, I've amassed a lot of crap and I've totally run out of space, and yet I still keep getting more crap. Case in point, I recently bought an obscure Japanese computer (FM Towns) from Japan, the delivery cost is eye watering. It's a computer!  Where the hell am I going to put it? 

Anyway good luck with all the show stuff, I shall be at that revival show again so I look forward to your talk!
Phil
For the first time in my life, my home is full of old gaming hardware, which I've been picking up for Digitiser The Show. I never understood the appeal of collecting before now, but I totally get it. I'm discovering there's a real thrill to finding some piece of obscure hardware for a decent price, and digging up some of the weirder games systems that were released. I'm also looking forward to being at Revival next week and seeing what else I can pick up.

And after that I'll have to stop or we won't be able to afford cameras or sound. 
CHICKEN ROYALE
Played any Fortnite or PUBG, Mr B? I tried Fortnite this week, as a sort of knee-jerk to the critical mass of stuff I’ve been reading about these Battle Royale games.

I ponced about a bit and then got ventilated by someone dressed as a pink bear, after they built a big pile of shit in front of me in the blink of an eye. That was enough for me. I think my ageing nervous system / PC hardware mean I will never again git gud.
Richard Morrison
I've not played either of those games, but the whole "git gud" thing puts me off. Which is a shame, because I really like the idea of them in theory, and Fortnite in particular looks like something I'd enjoy. It's all academic though. I don't have the energy or time to play anything at the moment. 
THE 50 Q'S OF WHYTE
1. What was, in your opinion, the best piece of gaming hardware that flopped commercially?

2. Have you ever genuinely believed a game to be a classic at them time bit later found it hard to remember why you enjoyed it at all (not due to the age of the game)?

3. As (I think) my question last week wasn't especially clear, do you think re-casting the actors playing games characters is not treated as seriously as re-casting a TV/Film actor would be? If so, is this I'm part because games are not respected as much as an art form or is it more the lack of a visual link to the actor/actress?

Even though I'm hardly the first person to say it, and it's an old game now, but The Witcher 3 has probably my favourite voice acting of any game. There are some fantastic British accents in there that are very rarely heard in media.
John Whyte
1. Hmm. Vectrex. Thanks to being given one recently, I can confirm that it's everything I ever suspected it was. It's that built-in screen which really does it for me. It tickles that same sweet spot which makes me love the Switch.

2. Yes! Pretty much any ZX Spectrum game. They're so bloody broken and hard. All of them. Every single one. 

3. I think it's the visual link really. You're basically recasting a voice actor. I'm sure they'd argue otherwise, but they're much more interchangeable. Also, it's rare in gaming to get a Nolan North/Nathan Drake situation where a character and a performer are synonymous.
44 Comments
DEAN
11/5/2018 09:51:21 am

Another great letter from Eemus!

I'm not a fan of social media.

My main problem with it is that there's a way that people behave on those places, even when they're being nice, that just makes me feel alienated - even by people that I know very well and really like!

I have no interest in seeing pictures of people on holiday, hearing updates about their new jobs or indeed any of that kind of stuff; it's just a load of boring old bollocks right - not even 'casually interested'! In real life I can dial out and think about what I'm having for tea or something which I found funny or anyfuckingthing else but you don't have the liberty to do that when you're actually reading through that kind of mundane stuff.

I don't like bandwagons and when this kind of stuff does the rounds it makes me want to vomit from every available orifice. The Rage Against the Machine song for Christmas No.1 is a great example - I quite like the band - at least I did as a kid - and have nothing against them but I didn't like the idea of 'playing my part' and the reasons for that I freely admit say something about me - I'm not a team player or something probably.

I find selfies risible - again, you see just how sheep-like people really are when they're all going for 'that' look - duck-face is a good one - I mean, how can people not realise how silly that makes them look?!
And my scorn quickly turns to pity when you see people actively trying to take the most flattering shot they possibly can - and their insecurity saddens me and who wants to use their freetime on a downer?!

But the big kahuna - when there's a disagreement. This should be the most exciting aspect - witnessing a fight or whatever but it really does take a toll on your soul - I want to have a laugh not watch some idiots get all upset over a load of trifling shite.

Going back to the selfies one for a sec - so do you smile like an inane idiot or pout like a wannabe Katie Price?

I smile in photos except for the ones taken at theme parks that I know I'm not going to buy - I play a game with my kids to see who can pull the funniest face in those and one time I taught them the 'Napoleon Dynamite' face - you know the one - the look of stultifying ignorance!
Anyway we all pulled it (except for my cool wife) and it was brilliant!
.... not that I bought it.

Aaaaaaaand speaking of photos - have you seen those family photo things that they set-up in malls and such? You know the ones - typically a family of four all kind of just chilling out together on a sheepskin rug and possibly all of them are barefoot?

Brilliant!



Reply
DEAN fan
11/5/2018 11:36:17 am

Top rant!

Reply
DEAN
12/5/2018 02:21:03 pm

Thank you, thank you - I'm here all weekend!

Mrtankthreat
12/5/2018 11:41:37 am

I was just saying on another forum I'm on that I think the whole campaigning to get a particular song to number one is the stupidest form of protest. There's another one at the moment to get Green Day's American Idiot top of the charts while Trump is in town. Yeah, that'll show him.

Reply
DEAN
12/5/2018 02:18:00 pm

Mrtankthreat - I just had some Tayto crisps - in a yellow bag and they were cheese & onion flavoured.

Shite.

I'd take an out of date bag of blue Walkers over them any time!

That's right, sir - I just through down a gauntlet clasping a handful of your rubbish crisps.

DEAN
11/5/2018 10:01:02 am

Does YOUR hand-writing reveal THE TRUTH about YOUR personality?

I don't know but it could, right?!

Mine is dreadful and sometimes I'm not even sure what it says.

My signature is a masterpiece, though - it's r-e-a-l-l-y long and I enjoy spilling out of the box on forms and whatnot - I relish it so much in fact that I even go so far as to write over whatever text may be nearby.

But, as with most things such as these - it's all in an effort to find humour in even the dullest of places.

What mine says about me? A terribly bored optimist.

Reply
ZXGuesser
11/5/2018 02:13:12 pm

You are Queen Elizabeth I AICMFP

Reply
DEAN
12/5/2018 08:25:30 pm


https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/story_large/public/thumbnails/image/2016/09/09/17/fiver-3-0.gif

Daniel Property
11/5/2018 10:13:51 am

I do find the whole handwriting theories v interesting, my mum's uncle was a water balif, a right horrible git but yet his handwriting was a sight to be hold.

Reply
Neptunium
11/5/2018 10:53:09 am

Re: Phil's letter, I've been spending more time playing not-quite-yet-retro stuff than I have new stuff. I've got a backlog of Switch games already, but I can't tear myself away from the 3DS and Wii at the moment. The Wii I've blown open with hax0rization and I'm playing all kinds of weird shit in addition to the "classics" and I've come to the opinion that the Wii has been unfairly judged as a shovelware monster, there are some fairly classic games on there and it probably hosts the finest repository of lightgun titles EVAR.

The 3DS is end of life but to me it's brand new, and I'm almost tempted to say it's Nintendo's finest ever console. I can't even put my finger on why. I love that it's bursting full of mental ideas like Streetpass that could come from no-one else but Nintendo - an attempt to gamify walking and going out in public. If anything it makes me lament how boring the current generation of consoles are.

Reply
Roger Duncans
11/5/2018 11:39:49 am

Is every Nintendo fan letter the same?

Reply
Spiney O’Sullivan
11/5/2018 06:47:58 pm

Yes, but only because they’re all correct, and because Nintendo is criminally underrated and underloved.

You see, it’s a scientific fact that Nintendo invented the human capacity for joy and the concept of fun, and nobody else in the history of gaming has ever strived to make anything fun. That’s why the videogame market crash happened: kids realised that all videogames up to that point were actually just actuarial training software with Pac-Man cunningly plastered onto the cover. Even Space Invaders was comprised mostly of calculating the likelihood of paying out on different insurance policies.

The upshot of this is that Nintendo spotted a gap in the market for games that weren’t about insurance and filled it by changing Super Mario from a claims adjuster to a plumber, thereby inventing “fun” and bringing the industry back from the brink of death. And nobody ever gives them any credit for it. Ever.

Col. Asdasd
12/5/2018 08:47:12 am

I'm kind of in the same boat. I have a shameful backlog across all systems, except the switch which I'm keeping on top of because - whisper it - there still aren't all that many games (if you don't count the eshop, which has the opposite problem - it's bulging with so many indie games I'm afraid to even look at it.)

Meanwhile the system that gets most love is my 3DS. Portability is a massive advantage. Playing through Etrian Odyssey at the moment which is great. I'd never want to play a dungeon crawler at my PC or on the sofa but it somehow fits a portable perfectly. And there's tonnes of these weird niche games on the system. I don't know if I'll ever be done with the thing.

Reply
Nick
12/5/2018 12:31:43 pm

I'm on a bit of a Wiidiscoverey too at the moment after picking up a big bundle of games cheap on Ebay. I only played the Galaxy and Zelda games at the time of release (and Wii Sports obviously) so it’s been quite fun. I still don’t really like motion controls but there are some quality games amongst the dross. House of the Dead Overkill is bloomin marvellous.

Reply
Mark M
11/5/2018 11:16:25 am

Re: David's letter - I'm pretty much the same and always tend to opt for the "Good Karma" route. I could never nuke Megaton, either. The only exception to this rule is Skyrim where I feel the need to steal stuff I really want. Stick a bucket over the merchant's head and they'll never know, right? :)

I think my goody-two-shoes moral compass has ruined some games for me; I'm pretty sure Dishonored 2 would have been much more fun playing as a raging, murdering psychopath.

Reply
Every game of Civ ever
11/5/2018 11:51:02 am

'Here we are, Japan: the warlords, the tyrants. This is the game where I will finally win via WORLD DOMINATION'

Many hours later

'Japan has won by cultural victory'

Reply
MENTALIST
11/5/2018 12:10:58 pm

I am usually inclined to play games with good karma (although I DID spin up a Nuke Megaton character, just to see what had happened. I like what they did with Moira).

The main exception was Mass Effect. I did one mission about people demanding back the bodies of their relatives that were being investigated scientifically, for the sake of the war effort. I took the long view for the good of humanity, and they gave me bad karma i return, which infuriated me. So at that point I thought "Right, fuck you, Bioware's moral compass, I'll just be a badass", and resolved to be as evil as I could from then on in order to spite them.

Reply
FatDave
11/5/2018 06:28:00 pm

Mass Effect 3 sorted that one out where you could go either end of the nice/nasty meter and either way would fill up the meter that allowed you to make the greyed out nice/nasty decisions.

Monkey Head
13/5/2018 12:24:21 pm

As a kid I had no qualms about being bad one on games, I even quite enjoyed it, as an adult though I just can't do it. The one that stands out for me is the Call of Duty level where you kill the hostages in the airport. I always just took the option to skip it. I dropped playing GTA early into the series because it just didn't feel right attacking people I didn't think deserved it so I'd end up just driving round listening to the radio.

Reply
sonicshrimp
14/5/2018 07:17:23 am

I have the handwriting of a dyspraxic hooven beast being forced to produce calligraphy....blindfolded.....using a branch

In my primary school you weren't allowed to use a pen until you 'graduated'from pencil class. I actually never graduated and by year 6 I was just allowed to use one.

Ironically, this forced delay from pencil graduation and the ensuing shame and deep felt sense of inadequacy is why my handwriting can now be used to predict sociopathic tendencies! Hilarious!

Reply
MrPSB
11/5/2018 12:30:28 pm

Fannies

Reply
sonicshrimp
11/5/2018 02:41:42 pm

I can now finally admit that I DID nuke the town in fallout 3. I too wanted to try and be bad, having not managed it it in previous games. It backfired! Every single townsfolk type person you met from then on (for a good long while) immediately tried to kill you for being 'That guy who nuked to town.
Not. Worth. It.

Reply
RichardM
11/5/2018 03:35:08 pm

I vaguely remember playing through KOTOR 2 as a well bad Sith, and enjoying it because all the Dark Side powers were more fun.

Reply
Jerry Sunblock
11/5/2018 06:48:06 pm

Ha,yeah, i totally agree,100%. I recently re-watched the Witches of the Grinneygog, when i first watched it, maybe about 35 years ago, i was scared stiff but now all these years later i was fine.

FatDave
11/5/2018 06:24:39 pm

Seems a shame to feel guilty about playing games and considering it a waste of time. You'd not say that about reading, or watching a film or even watching the horror that is modern TV, it feels like gaming is still considered a frivolous waste of time and a "lesser" form of entertainment. And Nier Automata is a strange and unsettling game with the most bizarre structure where most of the game is hidden behind the second and third playthroughs.

Reply
Robobob
11/5/2018 06:43:44 pm

2 tickets to Optimus Prime's Ragtime Thyme Crimes, please.

Reply
Weems
11/5/2018 06:46:01 pm

Come on, Biffs - graphology is a big load of arse, it's about as useful as palm reading when it comes to telling a person's personality. The most you could tell by a scrawled signature is that the person's either in a hurry or doesn't do calligraphy as a hobby.

Also, that description of Trump would ironically describe JK Rowling in many respects... arrogant megalomaniac who requires constant validation from her followers in order to mask personal insecurities... namely the fact that she was bullied as a kid and now bullies everyone who disagrees with her opinions.

Reply
Spiney O’Sullivan
11/5/2018 06:56:17 pm

I prefer phrenology, myself.

But then, the angle of my cranial ridges do tell you that I’m inclined towards gullibility...

Reply
Col. Asdasd
12/5/2018 08:50:46 am

Speaking of phrenology, is Sherlock Holmes the original Mary Sue? Ie boringly overpowered, instantaneously admired by everyone he meets and incapable of failure or flaws except boring ones that arise from being too awesome.

Spiney O'Sullivan
12/5/2018 03:31:58 pm

I'm reading a Sherlock Holmes collection right now, and yes, pretty much.

The thing is that in some ways the stories are more about the plots than the characters, and Holmes is simply a very convenient way of explaining complicated schemes neatly while keeping within the limits of the short story format. You can skip a lot of the investigation that might need to be done when Holmes can solve half the case by the time the client leaves his office, then spend about 4 more pages confirming his suspicions.

It's kind of why the Cumberbatch version was so good (even if it has worn out its welcome). Sherlock is impressive but basically inhuman, and at least the Watson in Sherlock isn't quite as accepting of it. This is good, since Watson is our viewpoint into Holmes' world and his take on Holmes is meant to be ours.

Compare and contrast Freeman Watson's grumpiness toward Holmes with one story I read last night in which Watson was surprised and very grateful that Holmes was upset about him getting shot. Freeman's Watson might be surprised, but he'd probably be less fawning about it and more like "we've known each other for this long, you had damn well better be worried about me".

(On a gaming note, Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments on the current generation of consoles is quite good, by the way)

Col. Asdasd
13/5/2018 10:10:10 am

That's interesting. I've not seen Nu Sherlock, but I did watch a couple of series of House and that had a similar dynamic - the Holmes-inspired Dr. House's brilliance made him arrogant and narcissistic, and Wilson (nee Watson) was his friend in spite rather than because of it.

I hadn't considered that Holmes is the way he is because it serves the format of the story. I'm not sure that makes me like him any more, but he might get less in the way of enjoying the stories. The mysteries themselves are usually pretty good.

Spiney O’Sullivan
13/5/2018 05:19:24 pm

You’re in the best place to watch new Sherlock, actually, as you can now see it with the worst of the hype and anger cycles over and done with. That entire scene became absolutely horrendous.

But then, hype always ruins things for me. Feeling obligated to see something and have an opinion on it (ideally the right opinion, as decreed by whoever’s yelling loudest) is exhausting, and why I’ve basically peeled away from most things that have active “fandoms”. Marvel, Star Wars, Doctor Who, Rick and Morty, all of them feel like too much effort to be involved with now. Thanks, Internet.

I actually sort of felt the same way about the games hype cycle, which is why I’m a year or so behind on games. At least I can form my own opinions now without any pressure to do so. (Incidentally, the first Watch_Dogs, which I just finished, is surprisingly decent if you want a gritty and unpleasant current-day-cyberpunkish adventure full of environmental puzzles.)

Mr Biffo
11/5/2018 08:40:11 pm

I did always consider graphology to be rubbish, but actually... I started thinking about it the other day, and I'm not sure it is entirely, given that everything we do or say is some reflection of us. My signature is definitely a reflection of me.

Reply
Nick
12/5/2018 06:58:52 am

Everything we say and do but perhaps not the way we do it. The uppy downy bits and the swiggly wiggly bits say nothing about a person. It's bobbins, homeopathy for writers. We don't need to look at Trump's signature to see the inner bellend.

I get slightly grumpy about this stuff. The whole looking at one facet of a person and extrapolating a entire personality or education profile. It's reductive pseudopsychology advocated by charlatans and implemented, sometimes damagingly so, by the ignorant.

Sorry about the ranting.

DEAN
12/5/2018 10:13:44 am

I'm not so sure, Nick.

There are many ways of constructing a sentence to make the same point but how we do it does say something about us beyond the point that we're trying to make, right?

And when we make a mark we are expressing ourselves and any act of self-expression has to reflect some aspect of who we are.

I don't think it's bollocks at all.

I also think it could be a useful way of identifying people with certain disorders - ADHD and OCD come to mind.

So lets say you had never met these 3 people and all you had to go on was a sample of their handwriting. One's small and very neat and tidy, another is very flamboyant and the largest of the three and the final one looks like a note written by your Dr.

Would you not start imagining what those people are like? Rightly or wrongly... you would, right? Would you be shocked to discover you were right? Sweetly surprised possibly but not shocked, right? You'd only be shocked if you were completely wrong, I reckoneth!

Nick
12/5/2018 12:24:00 pm

The construction of a sentence yes. Mine often reflect my own pomposity. But not the act of hand writing itself.

I dislike any of these tests (handwriting, learning style etc.) because they are so easily abused to pigeon hole and label. They play into the minds of people who think everything and everybody can be and should be quantifiable.

I once applied for a job which had a written exercise as part of the interview process. Not so unusual, an inbox test (I think their called) is pretty common. They told me it was not test ability but rather to assess if my personality would fit in. I told them it wouldn't and left.

I get where you’re coming from. And you’re right on the hypothetical situation. I would make judgements and be surprised if I was wrong. But that doesn’t mean me or anybody else should be making meaningful decisions from them. Unless, of course, it is dyslexia or similar.

Speaking of which, my wife is an ex teacher and now a lecturer in the sociology of education. She identified my dyslexia soon after we first met by watching me read with a hangover. The hangover amplifies your movements and she could see my head moving tracking the lines on the page. She did a couple of quick ad hoc tests and got it bang on. Dyslexia and a change in handedness during primary school.

DEAN
12/5/2018 02:13:40 pm

Fair enough then!

Hey, I admire you for having the integrity to walk out of that interview!
Stuff like that would wind me up too - as do IQ tests. They seem so awfully conceited and might as well be called wanker tests. Irritating Qunt Test. Thrush or bacterial vaginosis?

I'm very interested in your change of handedness! Could you explain that in more detail please?

Nick
12/5/2018 03:59:46 pm

IQ tests wind me up too. Not as much as people who feel the need to tell you their IQ though. Qunts indeed.

The job was nonsense, maybe if I’d been unemployed at the time I wouldn’t have been so hasty.

The change of handedness is a strange one. I started school after they stopped routinely forcing left handed people to write right handed (it did happen to my dad). I appear to have done it to myself. Perhaps through a need to conform with how everyone else was learning, perhaps thinking it was the only way to hold a pen. I was never forced to change I just don’t appear to have considered left hand writing as an option. For the first three or four years of primary school I lagged way behind everybody else in reading and writing before catching up almost instantly. Apparently that’s quite common, as soon as your brain sorts out all the tricks it needs to do everything falls into place.

It’s left me completely bloody cack handed. I can't catch a ball to save my life.

Sorry if this has all come across as a bit moany.

DEAN
12/5/2018 08:06:31 pm

Cheers for that, man.

My father's a southpaw too.

I'm fairly ambidextrous and by that I mean I'm pretty cackhanded either way!

But I do this thing that my wife first noticed about me - I stir anti-clockwise (which apparently normal folk just don't do) and always try and turn keys the wrong way - no matter what I'm trying to do I always get it wrong 1st time.

May be relevant... dunno.

Oh yes, the IQ willywavers! That's really what I meant!

Okay, just for fun - would you rather have an enormous IQ, an obscene amount of money or a dirty great willy?

I think the problem with being really clever is that everyone else would just frustrate the living hell out of you.

Loads of money would be, at least on the surface of it, a complete no-brainer but wouldn't you end up a bit like Alexander the Great? I mean you could sit and look through the new Argos catalogue and have anything you wanted and not even have to wait until Christmas... Young Alex could just get himself an AT-AT AND a Batcave AND a digitial watch that played the James Bond theme tune and none of it would seem special. Poor little bugger.

A real bonafide biggun is obviously the smartest choice. I'm thinking like a can of Pledge or Mr Sheen (either is good) in size. But I think the deal breaker would be how it'd slop around in urinals getting other peoples' pubes and hepC piss all over it. In fact, the more I think about it, a whopper would just ruin everything and leave you with an incontinent partner.

I'm going to say money. With enough money I could have my own swimming pool and Slash playing the theme from The Godfather every time I have something sincere to say for some reason.

Nick
13/5/2018 12:56:59 pm

Blimey. Good one. Erm… Money

If I was to show my working.

IQ. I don’t know. I’m not sure I buy IQ as an accurate indicator of intelligence. I’ve met some very intelligent people who are bloody daft. I was at a wedding of a friend who was senior tutor of a Cambridge College. I was sat next to an elderly anthropologist who spent the entire meal telling me that on a one to one level Idi Amin was a hilarious, lovely bloke that like a joke. He may have done some bad things but was always impeccably nice to him. Weird eh?

The big un. Nah. I was going to comment on your medical tale a couple of weeks ago but then got shy.
Sod it!
I had a similar problem and trip to the doctors last summer. Turned out to be an antibiotic resistant infection. Well sort of antibiotic resistant, it seems the NHS keep back from prescription an old fashioned primitive antibiotic with potentially nasty side effects to try and blast these things with, figuring that as its not been routinely used for years they may not have out evolved it.
Anyoo, during the two week course of treatment including a night in hospital I can safely say that more people saw my gentleman’s area than my entire proceeding life. Nurses, doctors, student doctors, scanning people, all embarrassment gone. At the final ultrasound scan with the consultant, scanning nurse, student doctor and trainee scanning nurse (and wife) all in the room staring intently at me on a bed with my trousers half down I received the biggest complement of life.

“well that’s spectacularly normal”

Not just normal, spectacularly normal, couldn’t be more normal. Brilliant!

Money. I think I harbour the illusion that I wouldn’t be like the others with loads of cash. That I wouldn’t be smug and flash, that I would be normal and happy and able to delay gratification. Perhaps not but I’d like the chance to find out. That James Bond watch sounds sweet. I think it’s like that Dorothy Parker quote:

“I’ve never been a millionaire but I know I’d just be darling at it”

If there was a fourth choice, I would really like to be musical. I’ve tried to learn various instruments over the years and have been terrible at all of them. I can’t even clap in time. At gigs people have turned around to point and laugh. I would love to be able to play the piano.

Clockwise stirrer me.

DEAN
13/5/2018 06:43:02 pm

WOW

That is the absolute mother of all dick tales!

Briiliant, mate, and thanks for being daring enough to share it - and yes, I'd have grabbed that compliment with both hands (matron).

also cackhanded link
12/5/2018 07:01:48 pm

I enjoyed this discussion and it reminded me of this: https://www.theallusionist.org/allusionist/graphology,
Which you may or may not enjoy. Worth listening for Helen Zaltzmans great voice.

Reply
Nick
13/5/2018 12:42:16 pm

Cheers. I like her brother. I'll give it a listen.

Reply
Chris Wyatt
25/6/2018 06:24:22 pm

Mr Biffo,

I have been following the ZX Vega Plus since conception, and the project has been a high-profile disaster.

They still haven't shown much (any?) evidence that these things have gone into production.

Actually it's looking very much like a scandal of epic proportions.

It's looking like it may not get released, and even if it does, it will probably be overpriced and naff.

Wait for it to be released, and wait for the reviews. That said, if it does end up getting a limited release and the company folds, it could be an interesting little collector's item, so I wouldn't want to tell anyone to NOT BUY IT!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    This section will not be visible in live published website. Below are your current settings:


    Current Number Of Columns are = 2

    Expand Posts Area =

    Gap/Space Between Posts = 12px

    Blog Post Style = card

    Use of custom card colors instead of default colors = 1

    Blog Post Card Background Color = current color

    Blog Post Card Shadow Color = current color

    Blog Post Card Border Color = current color

    Publish the website and visit your blog page to see the results

    Picture
    Support Me on Ko-fi
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    RSS Feed Widget
    Picture

    Picture
    Tweets by @mrbiffo
    Picture
    Follow us on The Facebook

    Picture

    Archives

    December 2022
    May 2022
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    November 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014


    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • MAIN PAGE
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Game Reviews
  • FAQ