Nick's Blog
And the award for best blog goes to...
08/3/2010 @ 16:14
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I didn't watch the Oscars last night as I was far more tempted to watch "In The Loop" than to watch a list of thank yous and tears.
I did catch the results on the news and my, how the BBCs stock has fallen over the years. In the past, they would get interviews with winners and big stars but this time they had a hard time even collaring the scriptwriters of An Education for one. And when the on the spot reporter says "and there, in the background, you might be able to make out Alec Baldwin....here he comes...let's see if we can get a response from him.......no, he's gone" you know the Beeb are just the really poor kid allowed to sniff the dessert tray as it's wheeled past them. And because it was the "proper" BBC and the breakfast news, they kept referring to Inglorious Basterds as just plain Inglorious as if none of us ever saw the gazillions of posters for the movie up and down the country when it was on release.
Anyway, I'm glad Avatar didn't win because if it had it would have really dragged the awards down to the level of the Eurovision Song Contest in terms of credibility. As for the acting wins, it seemed like "OK, it's your turn to win" even though I'm a huge Jeff Bridges fan. Not an outstanding year in terms of the quality of the movies nominated but I think the best of an OK bunch won.
Rest In Blog
01/3/2010 @ 14:46
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Two of my friends died last week; Les Hedges and John Golden. I knew both from my geeky little hobby of wargaming and role playing games for many years and on another site I paid tribute to them and I thought it only fitting to do the same here.
"I'd like to pay a tribute to both John and Les Hedges, who died last week and who were both members of FGC at various times.
Both guys were fantastic gamers, especially RPGs but both had interests in board and miniature wargaming. These were guys who really created characters, not just a bunch of statistics designed to win fights. They would play almost any game, no matter how sloppy a rules system it was, as long as they could create an inventive character for it.
Les was like having Orson Welles in your group: Big, loud, opinionated but also very generous and encouraging. His characters were always full of personality and background and he would take risks by having some of them refuse to carry weapons but instead rely on charm and skills. D&D Forgotten Realms was his favourite game but he was brilliant at Traveller as well.
John's characters were quieter by comparison but no less well thought out. He preferred historical or hard sci-fi games especially Traveller, Privateers and Gentlemen and Call of Cthulhu. He wasn't afraid to give one of his characters a fatal flaw; some aspect of their past that would one day come back to haunt them.
When putting together a gaming group, I would always like to include one or other of them because I knew they would give so much to the game. At Les' funeral yesterday, everyone was talking about how inspirational he was as a player and friend. And that was another thing about them; they were both great company away from the gaming table.
Losing both in a week feels like being punched hard in the stomach. I'm going to miss them both."
