@tatra@masto.adeserv.uk

Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · May 24, 2026

Board games, dreams, work Hover or focus to reveal Sensitive

Warning; I am about to describe something I just dreamt about while nappin'. This means my brain has decided this is interesting when, in fact, it may actually be boring and pointless. You have been warned. This dream follows on from another dreamt I had a few weeks ago... I think. I don't remember the details of that dream exactly. I don't even necessarily know if I had it; perhaps that dream is just a construct of _this _ one. All I remember is that there was some new TV show, maybe a Netflix thing, and at some point they'd used a tune that sounded like one from the Sentinels Of The Multiverse video game, and I'd wondered if they'd gotten Jean Marc-Giffin involved in the music production side. So today, I am napping, and dreaming. I am at work (but not actually work), and I guess we're being shown an early look at the latest episode of a yet-unreleased show - that same show, as it transpires. I'm watching it, and it's a superhero show. At some a couple of characters are up in the sky, taking aim with some weapon, and... the design of it all looks very familiar, like one of the cards in Sentinels. Huh; there was some aspect of characters coming in from other universes, maybe there's some kind of crossover, they've licensed them out to be part of this series... And then; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNHhHhOOer4 The camera pulls out, and transitions to the card art, a 1-to-1 framing, as the Sentinels theme plays... it's not just some crossover cameo, it's an official SoTM show! A Netflix bloke comes out to explain about the game to everyone (because I guess this is some kind of marketing event to build up buzz), and I'm trying to tell him "hey, I know that, it's my fave game!" and show how excited I am to everyone, but everyone's just completely ignoring me. Then I head back to the main office room (that previous bit was in some filing-cabinet room, obviously the place for Netflix to demo episode 4 of a new show to a bunch of random office workers) and get told my previous boss has a question for me, and he doesn't, but then he does anyway (he wants to ask me about some crowdfunding thing his team his doing), and then I go over to current boss, and then I remember I'd had the previous dreams about Sentinels that I mentioned above, and then I woke up. Anyway, the point is, I'm pretty sure you can take this as official confirmation that a SOTM show is on the way. Just don't worry that the two characters in that final promo show I mentioned were, with hindsight, Conquest and one of the other Viltrumites from Invincible, I'm sure that's just placeholder art in this pre-reality dream preview of the show.

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · May 24, 2026

Replying to @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk

Board games, positive Hover or focus to reveal Sensitive

I forgot to follow up on this, but; it's all official now! https://greaterthan.games/ GTG is back, the original core team is in their positions as they were before The Incident, the podcasts have already returned, they have announced plans to pick up where they left off with all the Sentinels gubbins (including to make good on the remaining parts of their crowdfunded campaigns... even though they're technically a new company being allowed to use the GTG branding, and don't have the money that those campaigns actually brought in), and they even have new games on the way. We are, officially, so back. #sentinelsofthemultiverse #gtg #greaterthangames

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · May 24, 2026

Hey, so; does anyone know at what point it became standard for pet dogs to be put in walking harnesses instead of using neck collars? I feel like I only really started noticing it maybe a year or so ago, but as soon as I did it was everywhere, feels super rare to see traditional collars on dogs now. (And, good; Harnesses seem much nicer and safer!)

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · May 24, 2026

I have been on holiday!

My partner and I went to sunny London to go see the new run of The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrxKX44qBJ0); decided to make a thing of it, so booked a couple nights in a hotel. My legs are not happy, my feet are downright rebellious, and we had a lovely time.

Day one was check-in, a bit of a wander, and the musical. We haven't really had a whole day in London that wasn't dedicated to the specific reason we went there before (stuff like the zoo), and decided to spend day 2 on the Natural History Museum and Science Museum. We did have some ideas about going to more places but, nope, the NHM took up most of the day by itself - we only wound up with an hour or so at the Science Museum in the end before we had to head back, and later both agreed we wished we'd spent more time there.

Both the museums had an interesting fictional crossover things going on; the NHM had a Pokemon shop, but decorated with boards and videos showing images about the fictional ecology of that world. I'm kinda torn on that, but I think I like the idea of it being a "gateway" for kids, to build that concept of analysing and measuring and comparing creatures, maybe seeing the real world in a similar way. The science museum had a bunch of displays dotted around showing off props from the show... "Oh, you're interested in medical science? Look at this hypospray!". This felt less "inspirational" than the Pokemon one, a bit more cash-in (much as it was cool to see B-4s head in an area tying it to the concept of robotics and AI), but also I did buy a Star Trek t-shirt from the pop-up shop there. And I have only talked about the tie-ins here, not the actual museum contents, I suppose. None of us are free from sin.

One sticking point that second day was that there was some football event, with the result that Trafalgar Square was absolutely smothered in football people chanting and letting off flares and basically making the whole area loud and busy pretty much all day... and our hotel was just off Trafalgar Square. My partner didn't feel particularly safe, so we had to make a few diversions in the day.

I did not eat enough. When we ate, it was good (shout out to Soom, we both had a great time there), but I spent a good bit of our trip not feeling terribly hungry despite all the walking we were doing; I suspect it was a combination of the heat, and the many, many drinks we were having. I was especially tired on our final day, and I think that was part of it; no fuel in the engine. But; that was OK! We got a few souvenirs for people, went to Camden Town and through some of the markets.

This trip wouldn't have been possible in the way it was even just a year ago, and I'm grateful I'm in a place I could bring my partner on a trip like this and not worry. We met a lot of nice people, ate and drank a lot of nice things, got some nice gifts for ourselves and friends. 10/10, would obliterate our feet again.

Anyway, if you don't mind, I need to go learn how to walk on my hands. Bye!

(P.S., every time I go to London, I forget that the tube is just about the best thing ever. I've said it before, I'm sure I'll say it again; it feels like real-life Fast Travel.)

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · May 20, 2026

I wonder how many NFTs now have a link pointing to a dead website? Thousands paid for a JPG that now doesn't even exist?

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · May 17, 2026

Been getting back in to Elite Dangerous! I have a goal; to get a well-kitted-out Caspian Explorer (a fairly new ship that looks a bit like a combaination between Star Trek's Defiant, Voyager and NX-01 Enterprise).

Managed to get the Caspian after a focused day of trading yesterday. Next step; off to become best buds with an engineer, and figure out that whole system, then... I think Guardian upgrades are a thing? I am *so* behind on how anything works in this game these days :D

#Elite #EliteDangerous

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · May 15, 2026

Firefox just keeps freezing up when playing videos as of about a week ago, and... Don't make me go back to Chrome. Please, don't make me. I am trying, I really am, but... Please.

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · May 04, 2026

C'mon.

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · May 01, 2026

I asked work for a high frame rate monitor, "to be a bit easier on the eyes". I was expecting just a standard 20-odd inch flatscreen.

They sent me this. Holy shit, + what the fuck.

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Apr 25, 2026

Chaotic day, slightly ranty Hover or focus to reveal Sensitive

Blimey. OK, so; the plan today was simple. Meet up with my partner, have a nice relaxing day out in the sunshine, see some animals, stay hydrated, go home happy. And then. First; OK, posted this earlier, but random tram bullshit. "Oh, you have an app proving you're a student? That app doesn't prove you're a student. Get off the tram. Sign up for this other app that proves you're a student, or we'll fine you. PS a documentary crew is recording this." That gets resolved, but throws my partner in a loop; she is pissed, and it takes a while (and a convenient caterpillar) to get her back into a good headspace. But we take out time, do our best, see many birds, eat ice cream, we get there. We even meet a friendly parrot! Just hanging out at a cafe! It keeps saying "Hello", it's great! We getting towards leaving, just sat down for a bit before we go, and she's having a great time showing me the pictures of animals she's taken on the walk. And then; there is the cyclist. She doesn't notice him at all, she's focused on the pictures, but I do; he sits opposite, in this public park with lots of families, and starts rolling a spliff. Now, no shade to those who partake, we're not prudes or narcs, but it's also not our thing and we don't like second-hand exposure. But; maybe he's just rolling. I don't want to be an ass, but also, if he's going to spark up, we're out of there. So now I'm keeping an eye on him to figure out what he's doing, and trying to stay interested in the bird pictures, and trying to subtly draw my partner's attention to him so that she understands what's happening, but she's very happy and hyper-focused on the pictures, and I don't want to break that, and she's talking very fast and I don't want to interrupt her, and even if I spoke I can't think of a way to say something to her without him thinking I'm being confrontational... And then, he finishes rolling, and pulls out a lighter, and I'm out of time for a subtle solution. I have to interrupt her to say we should probably go, and then he's clarifying that he's not going to smoke right there (then why tf the lighter, my dude?), and she's packing her bag and not talking, and ahhhhhhh. So then there's a period of disregulation and reregulation and discussion and explanation and apologies, and we're fine, we're both fine, we're both good communicators and good at explaining ourselves and listening and understanding and looking out for each other and we're fine but, oooh, not the bookend to the park visit we wanted. But, OK, tram back (this time without being asked for our papers or being filmed by documentary crew), walk back to her flat, and sit outside for more nature-watching and some drinks and basically to have a nice bit at the end of the date. And then a bunch of peeps have locked themselves out of their flat. They find this long ladder left by some constructions workers, and it's "just" long enough to reach their balcony. Problem is, the strongest of them went up to get back in, and one of the other two is just staying out of the way and not helping, leaving the third to try and get this heavy, unwieldy, very long ladder down by himself. And he nearly brains me with it. I have to step in, and co-ordinate with him to get the ladder back down to the ground safely so we can put it back where they found it. And then, AND THEN, on my way back home after I say goodbye to my partner, there's an arsehole vaping on the tram. Grr. I don't think I've had a more chaotic day in a long time.

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Apr 25, 2026

UK transport bullshit Hover or focus to reveal Sensitive

Got pulled off a tram today because I my ID for the type of ticket I bought wasn't accepted by them. Had to download and sign up for a completely new app, to provide the exact same information, to demonstrate that actually my ticket waa right and avoid a fine (that they refused to call a fine). Oh, and this was being filmed for a documentary about transport peeps, so there's a chance a doc is going to come out in it inaccurately implying I'm a fair-dodger. 🙃

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Apr 25, 2026

I am very much enjoying The Pitt. It's good, if you like medical stuff, you should watch it.

I was going to post about how I think they did a very, very clever thing in S1 towards the end of the show's 12-hour shift (one of the show's gimmick's is that the entire season covers one shift "24"-style, with each ~hour-long episode covering an hour in real-time), but I realised I couldn't really talk about it without completely wrecking it. So I'll just say that, again, if you like medical stuff - The Pitt, it's really good.

Maybe I'll drop another post later with some heavy spoiler warnings.

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Apr 23, 2026

Making a brunch hotdog

(It is just a hotdog, that I am going to have for brunch)

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Apr 13, 2026

Board games, positive Hover or focus to reveal Sensitive

Yes. Yes, yes, yes. I don't know if I'm spoken about this much on this account, but; I like board games, and especially Sentinels Of The Multiverse; massive fan. The Sentinels games are a labour of love by 3 people; Adam Rebottaro, Christopher Badell, and Paul Bender, the founders of Greater Than Games. That suffered a blow roughly a year ago now; Greater Than Games was shut down basically overnight by their parent company (Flat River Group) when Trump first started throwing all those tariffs around, everyone fired except the three founders. FRG did eventually follow through on getting the last expansion (which was mid-printing at the time) out to backers, but apart from that everything's been up in the air. We knew that the GTG founders had parted ways with FRG late last year, and that FRG was trying to get out of the tabletop game industry altogether, but that was that. Radio silence by all involved. A popular digital version of the original game had been made by Handelabra Games, and a sequel, based on the new edition, had been crowdfunded, but pretty much everything had gone silent on that for the last year too. GTG, and Sentinels, seemed like they may be dead. Today, a new update came out on that game: Handelabra have bought the Sentinels Comics IP, and the Greater Than Games brand. They've confirmed that they are a digital games company first and foremost... but have alluded to knowing people who are a good fit for the continuing the board game side. That almost certainly means Christopher, Adam, and Paul are going to be back, making games and continuing to head up this universe. This is... basically the best news possible, and I am super happy! The Sentinels have been rescued! The creators are returning! Yus!

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Apr 12, 2026

Replying to @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk

Metroid Prime 4, mild spoilers Hover or focus to reveal Sensitive

...umm.

OK, more direct spoilers for Metroid Prime 4 here I guess.

After Samus wisely decided to ditch Miles (which unfortunately did not stop him from calling... First time I've ever turned speech volume in a game off), the next few hours are, unexpectedly, a legally-accurate simulation of the process of getting to ride a motorbike.

You don't just get a motorbike and off you pop, no. After turning on the motorbike factory, I have had to;

Get an appropriate outfit for wearing a bike
Make sure I was properly registered as the motorbike's owner
Take a series of practical motorbike-riding tests
Wait to get my official certificate confirming that I have passed said practical tests.

No, seriously; you have to do all of these things, in a really quite lengthy, completely mandatory, entirely-linear section of the game (it's taken me a couple of hours so far, and I still haven't gotten my certificate). This isn't a bit, this is a literal, direct explanation of my primary in-game tasks for the past 2-3 hours..

...I haven't heard what the MP4 discourse has been like. Do people enjoy it? Did it review well? Because I'm assuming that I'm just coming towards the end of a rather lengthy tutorial/intro, and that the game's going to open up very soon (presumably when the testing centre supervisor has been able to confirm I passed and get me my certification, which I stress again is not a joke), but... Man, I may lost patience soon if not. It's a Metroid game, let me explore, please!

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Apr 12, 2026

Metroid Prime 4, mild spoilers Hover or focus to reveal Sensitive

Didn't realise Metroid Prime 4 had released for the original Switch until I saw it in a shop on sale yesterday (thought it was just on Switch 2), so just an hour or so in, and... People who've played this; is Miles going to be following me round and commenting on everything for the rest of the game? This feels like how everyone makes out Navi acted in Ocarina Of Time, just with a wider vocabulary. I haven't been so immediately, viscerally turned off by a side character in... I don't know how long, maybe ever. I was tired of him about 3 minutes after meeting him. For people who HAVEN'T played it; OK, right, you know the bit at the start of Breath Of The Wild where you climb out into the sunlight for the first time, and the camera pulls out to give you a shot of the stunning world stretched out below you, while the wind blows and gentle piano music comes in for just a moment, and it's so cool and pretty and tranquil and breathtakingly awesome? Metroid Prime 4 has a bit like that, except more like "You can probably climb up that wall! I'll follow you, don't worry about me! It's so bright up there, I think this is the way out! Be careful of that ledge! Wow, that's so beautiful! I never seen anything that looked like this before! Let's go down this path! Oh no, there's moblins! Quick Link, take care of them, I'll take cover! Just let me know when they're gone, OK?" If you're still not sure what I'm getting at, watch this video to get a similar effect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0Vf079W3MU

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Apr 04, 2026

Accidental innuendo (funny) Hover or focus to reveal Sensitive

I made a mistake. So, my partner and I went to meet up with a couple of friends of ours (as in, two friends who are a couple) with their young kid. We met up in a place where there were lots of other parents and their young children. One of them was talking to us about the difficult balance she has in how she dresses, where she wants to dress in a "normal" way so she can seem friendly and approachable to other parents and make friends, but also she wants to dress in the way that she likes more for herself, more black clothing and, as she put it, edgy. We were encouraging her. I was, I want to be clear, only trying to encourage her. She said she couldn't dress that way. First, I said "Who said? Dress as edgy as you like!" Then, I said "Be the edge you want to see in the world." And then, friends, then. To our friend. Next to my partner. In front of a lot of other parents and, remember, the many small children OF parents. I said; "If you edge, they will come."

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Mar 30, 2026

Food, KFC, pickles Hover or focus to reveal Sensitive

No. KFC. Pickle menu. Biggest fast food disappointment in a while. I haven't seen any adverts, only knew about it from a friend telling me it was a thing they were doing. First, the burger. Now, look, I know it's a classic joke how the food in fast food places never looks as good as it does on the menu, but for the big chain it's usually just poorly presented; you're usually at least getting more-or-less what was shown. The picture shows mounds of pickles. The actual burger had roughly the same amount that comes on a McDonalds cheeseburger. Boo. The frickles. I would've liked to try them. They did not have them on the menu at my KFC. Booooo. But, the big one. The Pickle Pepsi Max. Hey, that's pretty cool, right? Pepsi do all those different flavours, Cheer and Vanilla and the like, and they've partnered with KFC to do a Pickle-flavour variant for this pickle menu thing, and... I mean,, that's so bizarre sounding, I had to try it. Would've preferred it with regular Pepsi, but so be it. It's a regular Pepsi Max, but they also give you a dip-size tub with pickle juice and a couple of pickle slices in. You just... pour it in. No. No, you cannot sell me a shot of pickle juice and call it "Pickle Pepsi Max", that... may actually be illegal, or trademark infringement, or something. This isn't a professionally crafted flavour profile from the company who's beverage you're applying the name to, it's the worst DIY cocktail of all time. It tasted fine. Like slightly salty cola. I do not recommend the KFC pickle menu.

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Mar 27, 2026

Just came across someone who has apparently taken a screenshot of just their email signature, then replaced their sig with the picture of that sig. That means it now: 1) Looks slightly worse 2) Takes more data to transmit 3) Has icons and links that do not work 4) Looks wrong for people with a different background colour than they have 5) Breaks for anyone who has images turned off 6) Doesn't work for anyone using screen readers 7) Isn't easily modifiable I can't actually think of any benefit, at all. No idea why they've done it.

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Mar 12, 2026

Now Requiem is out, and Village is 5 years old, I feel like I can discuss this. Sometimes in fiction, something happens that seems very silly, a real jump-the-shark moment. And sometimes, when that happens, it's actually setup; it's communicating something you just don't have context for yet, and when that information is revealed later on, that reframes that "silly" moment. It's been a long-running joke in Resident Evil how any wound can be healed by just eating some herbs, but it's never really felt like it's all that immersion-breaking. In early games it was perfectly normal design, and since then it's just been a part of the series and we just accept it. A few in-game notes aside, we can treat it as a gameplay convention rather than something actually happening as presented in the universe of the games. Then in RE: Village, Ethan gets his hand chopped off, picks up one of the jars of mysterious healing fluid, douses it on his stump, shoves the hand back into place, and... it's fine, it heals up immediately, he just carries on now. This is in a cutscene, it's definitely happening, for real, in-universe. In the moment, it's very silly. It's like the devs decided; hey, in RE people can heal from anything with random healing items, let's just go for it, make it a cutscene, hahaha. It's tonally dissonant. I know at least one person who basically got completely turned off the game at that point. But. Keep playing. Follow the story. Get to the end. And... it's reframed. That moment was one of many hints, a setup for a later payoff. You aren't playing as Ethan, and in fact you haven't been playing as Ethan since, it seems, part-way through the previous game. You're playing as one of the mold people that these games are filled with. Like them, you're shaped as a person. Like them, you retain some of who you were. Like them, you can heal from wounds that would kill a human, because you're not a human; you're a mound of mold in the form of the person it killed. Your path through the game always led to Ethan's end, and that's OK, because you weren't really playing as Ethan anymore. It was the idea of Ethan, holding on just long enough to save the people he cared about even after his own death. It's poignant, and tragic, and bittersweet, and one of the most emotionally-affecting stories the Resident Evil games have ever had. And if you turned off at "oh come on, you can't just put your hand back on, that's silly", didn't stop to think maybe there was some reason why they did that, you missed it. Sometimes, fiction is just genuinely bad. Sometimes... if you give it some trust, you'll realise it was good, and just doing something very clever that you couldn't see in the moment. Anyway, that's why you should go watch all of Steven Universe, even if the cookie cat song in episode one seems really childish. Bye!

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Mar 06, 2026

Replying to @cassolotl__dup_28883@eldritch.cafe

@cassolotl See also: *every other device*. Including my phone, give me a physical keyboard dammit!

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Mar 03, 2026

One hour until my birthday livestream begins! Twitch.tv/TatraT815

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Mar 02, 2026

Replying to on eldritch.cafe

@cassolotl@eldritch.cafe Studio Ghibli vs Steven Universe, eight off the bat? Ooooh, that's going to be brutal

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Feb 24, 2026

Look, I'm just saying that I don't think the research has been done yet, so we don't have enough data to definitively state that there ain't no party like an S Club party.

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Feb 22, 2026

So it's almost my birthday, that means means it's almost time for my annual birthday gaming livestream. I mostly know what I want to do this time... but not quite. The idea is something like; I stream myself playing Duck Tales for the Gameboy... Except, any time I die, I have to complete a full run of Super Mario Land before I can continue... Except, any time I die in _that_, I have to successfully beat Gameboy Tetris, Game B, Level 9, High 5 before I can continue. I'm pretty confident of those last two layers... while I'm very out of practice at Tetris I'll definitely be able to do 9/5 once I've de-rusted, and SML is both easy enough I shouldn't have to Tetris too often, and short enough that I can get back to the "outer" layer before too long. But; I've never played GB Duck Tales, and I don't know if it's the right choice. I want something that's got a play time of maybe an hour or two generally, is hard enough I'm likely to die once or twice without being so hard it'll likely be too much more than that, and for preference, where if I *do* hit a wall, I'm not risking a complete restart if I die too much. Link's Awakening and Metroid 2 are too long, Kirby is too short and easy, Pokemon is... doable if I follow a speedrun guide, probably, but that's not really what I'm after. I guess it doesn't *have* to be a Gameboy game, but the other games are, so it feels right?

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Feb 19, 2026

LB - That Discworld Humble Bundle is, as far as I can see, US only. But: I changed my Humble region to US, used a VPN ser for us, and was able to buy it. That done, the books are available (via Kobo) without any ongoing VPN/region shenanigans.

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Feb 17, 2026

What I really like about my Amiga is the way that the floppy drive is kinda broken but, and this is the fun bit, _in a completely different way each day_. Sunday: works fine, except won't detect when a disk is added or removed, so you need to reboot for each disk swop. Monday: detects disk swops, but reads all disks as being write-protected, but only when booting from one of the two hard drives I'm swopping between. Tuesday: general read errors, lots of bad sector warnings on each disk. (The same disc I was using before and, spoiler alert, all read fine today) Today: Disks are correctly detected on remove/insert, read/write correctly, aren't showing as write-protected when enabled... But trying to copy certain files, to certain disks, the Amiga immediately crashes to a black screen and needs rebooting. When I say immediately, it's before the drive even starts to spin up or seek, the mokent I drag the files into the floppy. And reproducible: the same files will cause it every time. But switching disk, they work fine. (Oh, and one time, instead of the black screen lockup, instead the files did copy, but the screen got all garbled and yellow-tinted and flickery.) I wonder what new interesting behaviour the drive will treat me to tomorrow?

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Feb 15, 2026

Word of warning: "Command & Conquer Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge" is _not_ a lewd anime visual novel.

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Feb 09, 2026

Replying to @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk

I finished Outer Worlds 2! (Mild spoilers below) It's good. I like how much it twisted things mechanically from Outer Worlds 1. I have a couple of criticisms... I already talked about the restrictive skills... but the big one is that there isn't a Parvati. Parvati's side quests in Outer Worlds 1 was absolutely delightful, and also a bit of a statement on the game as a whole. The places you are in all suck, but through your efforts, joy can be found, for everyone. It was heart-warming. Outer Worlds 2 doesn't have a Parvati. The companion missions are all mechanically fine, as quests they're alright, but as characterisation... Every one is about taking someone who worked for a faction that their world view aligns with, and stripping that away. What they thought they believed was wrong, the real path is the one they forge for themselves. (By doing what the protagonist wants.) There's nothing wrong with that, as such... but the fact it's the same for *everyone*, regardless of what their factions views actually are, is both a bit boring, and potentially a bit troubling. The game is telling us that the problem isn't what you believe, it's believing, all by itself. There are no rules worth following, no worldview worth keeping; the right thing is always to do what feels right, then and there. Which is, in fact, what your character is explicitly legally empowered to do; turns out, there *is* a factional worldview that's right, and it's yours. What a coincidence. Please don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the game... once I'd modded it to give me more skill points. It kept me going to the end, a rarity for me with this kind of game. They're apparently not planning an Outer World 3 because this one had a poor reception, and that's a shame to me.

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Feb 05, 2026

The Amiga fixing continues! The keyboard was fscked, but I got a replacement membrane, fitted that today, and it's all sorted. The mouse is... not great, I cleaned it out and it helped a bit but the left button still works far less often than it doesn't, which is kinda crucial, so got an Amiga trackball on the way. Replacement HDD technically works, but relies on software I haven't been able to sort without a fully working keyboard and mouse; soon! And the floppy drive was... flaky, so I've swopped it for the marginally-less-flay one in the A600 I have. And, connecting the old HDD up, that seems to be working well as well, for now. So; plan is, get the trackball, format some blank discs, and copy as much as I can off the old HDD to the new one. I doubt I have enough floppies, so there'll probably be an annoying amount of back-and-forth, swopping HDDs around; so be it. First thing to copy over is the software I need to get the full capacity of the new HDD available. Once everything's over, I whack the old HDD in the A600 (not sure if I have an IDE cable for that), just as a backup. Then, I use an emulator to put a bunch of extra software on the new drive, slam that back in the Amiga, and... it's done, fully armed and operational. Phew!

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Feb 05, 2026

Replying to @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk

#Columbo I just remembered that Leslie Neilsen showed up before, in the Season 1 episode "Lady In Waiting"! It's *probably* not the same character, but I enjoy the idea that after his gf became a murderer he decided he'd be better at it, quit being a lawyer, assumed a new identity, and became a super-spy.

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Feb 05, 2026

Replying to on masto.adeserv.uk

Ahh, ha HA! It gets worse! He DID leave a message something! He even used a method I mentioned in a a pre-post version of that last post - lighting a match, and using the carbon on it as a make-shift pencil! And then, because they'd realised the issue and to avoid the episode having Columbo's first scene be "you did it, you're under arrest", *the victim hid the note*! The victim! Hid the evidence! Of his murder! Deliberately! Her plan relied on just hoping he didn't have anything to write with, and when he did, that he would hide the note himself! I looked up reviews, and I think people generally feel fondly about this episode, but IMO the murder at the root of it is the worst-written I've come across so far.

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Feb 02, 2026

Replying to on masto.adeserv.uk

I did start playing Outer World 2, btw! Having a good time with it, although I find the new Skill system a bit overly restrictive for my tastes. (If I come across one more glitchy door than I can only open by putting a bunch of points into Engineering, grrr...) Anyway, the most important thing I have to say is that Grand Plan Wireless is none-stop bangers. I've spent the past couple weeks hearing "Prove it, prove it, yes you must prove it" and "It's irrational, irrational, the numbers are mish-mashable!" and "Looooove does not com-pute" and "Check your proof. Check them twice. Having an error... is never nice." as the constant background music in my head, 24/7, and I am not sad about that.

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Jan 31, 2026

Replying to @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk

OK, I've had a sleep now, and; umm, yeah, I stand by it; I really enjoyed that film (and so did everyone I went with,) going to be unpacking it for a while. I've seen a few reviews which describe it as some synonym of "boring", and... I do wonder if it's a matter of misplaced expectations. Maybe they heard "Youtuber movie" and expecting a 2 hour prank video with meme sounds, or something, rather than a slow-burn bottle movie about a guy in a tiny poorly-made submarine exploring a creepy blood ocean, I don't know. So, just in case, let me manage expectations; you're not going to see Markiplier blowing up monsters with a rocket launcher. There isn't going to be a fist fight on top of a high-speed train. You're going to see a guy at the bottom of the ocean trying to survive against all odds, and it's going to get spooky. If that sounds fun to you, I'd say give it a watch.

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Jan 30, 2026

Just been to see Iron Lung, and... Yeah, yeah, alright! I think it could have communicated itself a bit better, there were times, especially towards the end, where I was very confused about what was happening (both moment-to-moment and in terms of the whole plot), but overall, really enjoyed it. Made good use of the premise, lots of great camera-work (some wonderful macro shots), the sountrack was great. Definitely grabbing it when it becomes available digitally.

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Jan 30, 2026

#Columbo I always find portrayals of stage magic in films/TV fascinating, because it always falls into one of two categories. First; it was written by, or in consultation with, an actual stage magician (or perhaps just ripping off a routine the writer saw), maybe even withy tricks performed by an actual magician, and it's... fine, completely OK. Or, second; no actual magician was ever involved in the writing, and the result is a routine that is either completely or interesting, or suggests the magician has actual magical powers. Usually both. S05E05 is a case (pun intended) of the latter. The magician in this episode has exactly two kinds of trick. First; apparition. He lifts up his cloak or puts a cover on something, and then reveals something there that wasn't there before. It's the first kind of trick you think of when you think of stereotypical stage magic, and it's all he does. And in real life, it would mostly be unconvincing and not terribly interesting, partly because of the sheer repetition, and partly because it's so obvious. "Oh, he stood on at the back of the stage, right in front of where the stage curtains meet, and raised his cloak for a bit, and then when he put the cloak down a woman was there. How did he do it?!?" (Shows that didn't consult with an actual magician tend to favour this kind of trick, because it's easy to understand, and easy to set up; just use a camera cut to hide where you brought the object into the scene, or have an assistant under a table to slide the object up onto it while the cover is in the way, that sort of thing.) His second trick is the second type of trick you think of when you think of stage magic, which is being locked in a water tank and escaping without drowning. But I want to go back to that first trick, because at some points in the episode he's performing it in a crowded restaurant, with patrons looking at all sides. And that gives rise to situations like his standing between a couple, raising his cloak up at the edge of the table, and then lowering it to reveal a vase of flowers, to everyone's astonishment. Now, as viewers, we know probably they had some assistant hiding under the table, like I mentioned above, OK. But in universe, there's a problem; nearly half of the patrons were in positions where the cloak wouldn't block the view, including the couple next to him. They could see whatever was going on back there, and they were astonished. Only one explanation seems likely; he literally summoned a vase of flowers in front of them, in full view. It phases in like it had been teleported by the Enterprise. This episode of Columbo includes an actual magician with actual magical powers, hiding them behind a veneer of stage magic. It's the one secret of a suspect Columbo never uncovers, or even becomes aware of. (Presumably, I haven't finished the ep yet.) ...Or the writers messed up because they didn't consult a stage magician, one or the other.

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Jan 29, 2026

What I have learnt, these past few weeks, if that if there is one thing that unites all Amiga users, it's an allergy to uploading videos showing how to open up their devices. Every vid I've found is some variant of "today, I'm going to fix this mouse. [Jump cut to the mouse being completely disassembled] First, we..." No! First, we find and unscrew the screws! So where are they? Are they under the pads? The sticker? Do I remove the coverings, or just stab a hole through them? Actually, are they screws, or tabs? Your vid is 7 minutes long, you can take the extra 30 seconds to show that sweet screwdriver action!

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Jan 29, 2026

Replying to @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk

OK, yeah, this is already an inadvertent comedy. So the two are at a fairground, and decide to go to one to a a rifle range. Leslie aims first and starts shooting, and then Patrick brings up his rifle as well. I think what it's *meant* to show is both of them shooting the little target ducks and never missing. Except. When Leslie aims first, we see him pulling the trigger, hear the shots, see the ducks falling down. Then we cut round and see Patrick taking aim... but we don't actually see him pull the trigger. Then we cut back to the ducks, still falling at the same rate, still hearing shots at the same speed. So, due to a quirk of editing, what this actually suggests is that Patrick keeps aiming at ducks, but Leslie keeps knocking them down right before he can fire. It's brilliant, I hope the rest of the episode is this funny.

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Jan 29, 2026

#Columbo OK. OK. Wait. OK. Hang on. S05 E05, and; this episode has Leslie Neilsen, AND Patrick McGoohan? And Patrick is playing a secret agent who is clearly referencing his character in The Prisoner, complete with his "Be seeing your" catchphrase? There is no way I'm going to be able to take this episode seriously. Any time Leslie says something seriously, my brain's just going to assume it's a joke I haven't gotten yet.

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Tatra @tatra@masto.adeserv.uk · Nov 03, 2025

Replying to @JimPropp@mathstodon.xyz

@JimPropp@mathstodon.xyz It's a model for demonstrating the dangers of a trip hazard at the top of the stairs.

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