I've been hanging off that cliff for a while now, so it's probably time to treat myself / waste more precious time watching and rating another classic run of episodes, probably. I hope Jean-Luc's okay.
Wednesday, 30 July 2025
Monday, 28 July 2025
Alrightreads: Ghoulies
1992 / Ebook / 24 pages
***
Studying up on atmospheric bullshit to mix up our next visit.
1991 / Ebook / 64 pages
**
It's no In a Dark, Dark Room, but at least I found one safe scare to pass on.
2024 / Ebook / 256 pages
****
I don't know who the TikTok-based curator is, as I'm nearly 40, but unsubstantiated accounts of weird experiences/dreams are basically my favourite things to read on the internet.
2004 / Paperback / 208 pages
***
More tall tales from an incredulous curator boosted by the gimmick of being set in places I've seen on road signs.
2023 / Audiobook / 315 pages
***
The author-presenter's personal experiences are the main draw, but since they're so fleeting, most of the book is just the novelisation of more engaging podcasts.
Saturday, 26 July 2025
Alrightreads: Small press curios
1940 / Audiobook / 124 pages
***
Vintage action psi-fi, if you don't get enough xenophobic politics in your 21st-century utopia.
2020 / Audiobook / 124 pages
***
Lostlike amnesiac odyssey.
2017 / Ebook / 128 pages
***
In case you didn't hear them repeated often enough on his podcast, or mistakenly think half a decade is enough of a gap, why not try this relentless litany of random inquisitiveness and other familiar observations going back to the 1990s.
2013-17 (collected 2017) / Ebook / 104 pages
***
Parables of decrepitude and painful living death. Maybe I should read cheerier things?
Faves: 'Among the Living and the Dead,' 'Summer Dusk, Winter Moon'
2009 / Ebook / 128 pages
**
Trad and subverted ghost stories in the non-atmospheric present.
Thursday, 24 July 2025
Alrightgames: Chess
Chess
****
My five-year-old's never been very enthusiastic about draughts, which I thought was the junior stage she should get to grips with before introducing the more confusing characters to the board, but she found this diverse cast much more appealing and picked up the movements quickly, if not the strategy and general arseholery as of yet. I'll enjoy this brief time where I look comparatively competent.
Tuesday, 22 July 2025
Alrightgames: Monster High 348 Cartoon Puzzle
Monster High 348 Cartoon Puzzle
***
It's been a long time since she had a new jigsaw, but she still gets them out occasionally for want of better ideas, so here are nine, or three, or one huge one, depending on how bored you are and how many toys Dad's confiscated. The quality control of children's puzzles remains consistent with the same character appearing in the same picture twice.
Sunday, 20 July 2025
Alrightgames: Red Dwarf – Beat the Geek
2006 / Video trivia game / 1-2 players
**
I may not be fast, but I get there in the end. I evidently wasn't especially interested in playing the Red Dwarf DVD trivia game even back when I could play DVDs, but mild curiosity saw me eventually vicariously play along via someone else's much poorer performance on YouTube before getting bored after a few minutes. The new Holly material's a bit cringey and there's little entertainment to be had, but it's at least better than listening to an album by Olivia Newton-John.
Friday, 18 July 2025
Alrightgames: Aerion expansions
2019 / Solo/cooperative dice game expansions / 1-2 players
Another Oniverse game that's heavily reliant on expansions for rounding out the experience, it recaptured the feeling from Onirim of delving to increasingly perilous depths, especially when you pile them on cumulatively. While you're always at the mercy of the dice, there are enough tricks to learn that make it winnable most of the time. It helped that I enjoy playing it so often.
The Flagship ****
A slight but essential complication, keep them coming. Having to finish another ship isn't a notable hassle, and the special abilities are probably overcompensation, but the rulebook recognises this and suggests hard modes for most of these, if that's a problem you're facing.
The Hourglasses ***
Another job to think about, but also lots more handy discard opportunities that again probably makes things easier. One idea across 36 cards isn't that interesting though, and this could have just been part of the base game.
The Stone Clouds ****
Quirkier than the boring Hourglasses, these fiddly tokens and annoying cards only seemed to make things harder at first, with no payoff – until I realised how they fit around the ship tokens and my comprehension similarly unlocked. The challenge is the point, and beating it is a buzz. It's slightly disappointing that each batch of birdies didn't get unique artwork though (see also the next two expansions).
The Piers ***
Getting yourself increasingly into debt for bad investments adds an unhealthy dose of relatable stress to your after-work activity, but like the Stone Clouds, it's extra satisfying to beat.
The Hammer Bird Eggs ***
These stubborn chicks initially just seemed to get in the way until I realised how handy they can be for swapping out dud cards (or trying to, at least). Potentially game-saving when you need a specific card to come up, potentially game-ending if they flood the display, though that hasn't come up yet.
The Hellkite ****
It took a few games of losing to the big bad to realise I should prioritise the offensive to break down the barriers and start getting the sweet rewards, but then some other appendage gets neglected instead. If you're mixing everything in, there are so many combinations and calculations to keep track of every roll that you're bound to miss some optimal actions when they come up, but it's good to have the options.
To the Stars!: Stellarion >
Wednesday, 16 July 2025
Alrightgames: Aerion
Aerion
2019 / Solo/cooperative dice/card game / 1-2 players
*****
Surprisingly my favourite in the niche of dice-based Oniverse games, and beating One Deck Dungeon for elaborate Yahtzee, this dice-finagling exercise looked to be one of the less appealing in the series and most likely resales in theory, but it charmed me in play as I literally helped dreams take flight. Then I couldn't put it down for a month.
It's customarily reliant on its expansions to add depth and replayability, at least a couple of which should probably be part of the base game from the start, before things get weird.
Monday, 14 July 2025
Babyliography CCXIX
2017 / School book / 16 pages
**
Is it Henny Penny? Is it Chicken Licken? No, it's some rabbit.
2018 (collected 2021) / Paperback / 176 pages
***
Lucky book 13, interchangeable with most of them.
2015 / Paperback / 100 pages
***
Another uneven batch, but Pinkie Pie's lesson is self-control is one for the ages.
2018 / Library book / 32 pages
***
Repeatedly borrowed from school and library, she likes the story, I like all the little details. One of the better picture books out there.
2024 / Library book / 32 pages
***
Flatly stating that a god didn't make the ocean is a fair balance to what she's imbibing in unofficially Christian school assemblies. Otherwise, this was still a bit complex as an ELI5.
Friday, 11 July 2025
Babyliography CCXVIII
2004 / School book / 32 pages
**
The Prince Caspian of overrated picture books.
1981 / Library book / 30 pages (a couple ripped out)
*
Posh sod is exempt from learning lessons.
2018 / Library book / 64 pages
***
Going back to the start of a series usually means it makes more sense.
2022 / School book / 16 pages
***
Ramping up to Phase 4, she had a crack at reading a page in her mind and unlocked a new permanent skill. Good dogs!
1995 / Paperback / 60 pages
***
Like Dr Seuss, I failed to get the appeal of this frivolous children's poet until reading it aloud to someone in single figures. Fingers crossed we come across the hall of lost things in real life to get her doll's accessories back.
Tuesday, 8 July 2025
Babyliography CCXVII
2022 / School book / 16 pages
**
She wants to read as well as Savannah does, so we're reading her phonics books three times a week as instructed all along rather than getting them out of the way for unicorns. This was an atmospheric journey, so I didn't mind taking it again.
2012 / School book / 24 pages
**
A few tweaks, but I squashed the theory going around Reception that the frog dies before metamorphosing.
1981 / Library book / 32 pages
*
Another 'flawed' personality pressured into conforming. We discussed why this wasn't good.
2021 / School book / 16 pages
**
The non-fiction ones are our favourites, even when they're inaccurate about the colour of beetroot.
2013 / Library book / 80 pages
***
Some dumb changes for the sake of it, but she zipped through them.
Saturday, 5 July 2025
Aimee's art review
Albrecht Altdorfer, The Battle of Alexander at Issus (1529)
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"I like this one. All the people, the message in the sky and the sun and the moon, it's very detailed. It's my favourite one."
Tsuguhara Foujita, Girl in the Park (1957)
"I like this one because it's bright and detailed."
Sam Francis, Around the Blues (1962)
"I don't like that one, it's rubbish."
Agnolo Bronzino, An Allegory of Venus and Cupid (1545)
"This is rude, because they're naked. There's a bottom there, a bottom there, there's even a willy. It's rude. I like it!"
Josef Albers, Homage to the Square (1964)
"The best thing about it is nothing. The worst thing about it is that it's just totally yellow. That's the worst one."
Wednesday, 2 July 2025
More songs by Aimee
The artist's second EP of song lyrics and stock photo selections following her 2024 debut.
You have to always remember
How I shine
Gloves Endless Song
I'll Always Have Your Back
That I'll have your back
Forever
But didn't you know
That I'm sticking together with you
Some day we might be apart
But I don't think we will
Because we're together
I'll always have your back
No matter what
Because we're together
Forever
But didn't you know
That I'm sticking together with you
Forever
I'll always have your back
No matter what
Because we're together
Forever
Didn't you know
That we're sticking together
I'll always have your back
No matter what
Because we're together
Forever
Together Forever
Shine though it's dark
You and me
You and me
That's a good reason why you love me
That's a good reason why you make me smile
And that is what I did with you
That is the reason why I have long hair like you
That is the reason I have black hair
Ohh ohh
Look at me, look at you, we're together now
Together all of us
We're all together, forever
Always be together, no matter what
I know we're together forever
You never worry about me being apart
I'll never forget you're me, you're in my heart
You were the reason that you made me fly in my dreams
The Money Song
[A half-hour financial epic improvised live at the playground and on the walk home, only a few fragments were recorded for posterity]
The money so-o-ong
Mo-o-o-o, mo-ney
Mo-o-o-o, mo-ney
Mo-o-o-on, ey-ey
Mo-o-o-on, ey-ey
You can do a painting job
You did the painting really well
And you get paid
You get the money today
Money, it's easy to get
You plant the crop
You plant the potatoes
You plant anything
Or you can do a different job
Like in the cafe
Be a babysitter
Whatever
And you'll get money, money
You'll get lots of money
Right in your day
You can get a coin
Put it in the locker, if you have one
My friend always has something in common
So let's pray for the day and shine bright with each other
So we can see the money, the mone-e-e-ey
[Scene: Wearing a pair of gloves on a hot summer day]
I'm definitely not taking my gloves off
Even though it's hot
I've got a secret, in my head...
Fine.
[Takes the gloves off]
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