If you're a member of WoSblog's highly secretive Alert Viewers Society, you might recall that WoSblog recently visited the intriguing city of Gloucester, and in passing mentioned the presence – on the menu of the Varsity Bar pub chain – of an item by the name of the Dirty Dog's Dinner.
It didn't seem fair, though, that WoSblog's beloved viewers should be expected to simply picture it in their minds. So here it is.
Anyone who's been reading WoS or WoSblog for any amount of time will probably already have noticed that I have very little time for videogames that want to tell stories.
There are plenty of fields of culture available already for people who want to be told stories. Books, films, comics, TV, theatre and even music are all ideally suited to story-telling, and frequently do a brilliant job of it. You wouldn't hire a footballer to come round and do your plumbing, so why would you look to videogames for storytelling?
Chatting to a chum yesterday, something they said gave me cause to recall a feature from Amiga Power in which former full-time members of the AP team recounted their experiences on leaving the mag for the “real” world.
Sadly the issue in question (AP54, October 1995) is one of those that still hasn’t been scanned for the Amiga Magazine Rack, and only a fragment of it is available in the WoS Archive, so I had to go and get the actual magazine off my shelves, like some sort of caveman.
We're almost done with the politics stuff, viewers. Normal WoSblog service will be resumed shortly, but first I thought I might as well share with you an email I received this morning.
Back on Monday, when uncertainty still ruled as to who'd be forming the next government, the website 38 Degrees invited its users to send emergency emails to Labour MPs, urging them not to block any potential "progressive alliance" by vowing to vote against electoral reform, as many threatened to.
The momentum behind a Lib-Lab coalition seems at the time of writing to be slipping away, as one braindead Labour MP or grandee after another comes out to argue against it in front of an eager media. If Labour's 1983 election manifesto was the longest suicide note in history, today's collected BBC News interviews could be among the shortest.
Because here's what happens if Labour retards like David Blunkett, John Reid, Tom Harris and Wee Dougie Alexander scupper this agreement.
1. That the Tories hadn’t offered the Lib Dems anything on electoral reform. The sudden, desperate and resentful least-possible offer of a referendum on the absolutely useless AV (which does almost nothing for the Lib Dems) was a panic reaction to Brown’s game-changing resignation.
At least, it’s statistically probable that you do. The majority – 53% – of votes cast by the British electorate last Thursday were worthless, because they were cast for candidates who didn’t win, and are therefore simply thrown in the bin by the First Past The Post electoral system.
So if you were one of the thousands of people locked out of polling stations across the country on Thursday night, don’t fret too much. Your vote would probably have been completely ignored anyway.
Because the aim was a hung parliament, and we got just about the hung-est parliament possible. The Tories need the Lib Dems to form a majority, Labour needs nearly everyone to form a majority, and the smallest parties could yet have the crucial say. Wow, that's hung. But what now?
I haven't been to bed yet. I may be cranky. But with over 90% of results in, it's not really possible to draw any conclusions from last night's election other than (a) almost everyone in Britain is a pathetic, brainless cretin, and (b) everything about our "democracy" is a sick black joke at our expense.
With just two days until an election that could mark either one of the greatest days in British political history or one of the blackest, we're all a bit nervous about the future. But one thing that's great for easing tension is free cash, and that's what appears to be on offer from Stan James this week.
The terrifying image above is Ladbrokes' predicted map of the UK come Friday morning. (You can find much more detail on it here.) It makes a few questionable assertions and contradicts itself in a number of places (eg Glasgow East), but where's the money?
bobo bunny on The Idiot Rodeo: “And who are you suggesting we vote for?” Dec 15, 21:10
bobo bunny on The Idiot Rodeo: “As the saying goes – never interrupt your enemy when they are making a mistake. The SNP government have lurched…” Dec 15, 21:08
Captain Caveman on Let’s make this simple: ““Honesty, drive, determination, competence, and above all, a solid grounding in reality” That’s one hell of a checklist for most…” Dec 15, 19:59
Charles (not the R3 one) on The Idiot Rodeo: “Tommo was, in my opinion, exactly correct when he wrote : “These people are obsessives – toilets seem to figure…” Dec 15, 19:38
Hatey McHateface on Let’s make this simple: “@Aidan One heck of a lot of “ordinary”, “normal” Scots would welcome the chance to vote for a party of…” Dec 15, 19:00
Hatey McHateface on The Idiot Rodeo: ““got a genuine logical argument against Scottish independence I can rip tae shreds?” Sure. There’s yersel. A genuine contender for…” Dec 15, 18:45
Hatey McHateface on The Idiot Rodeo: “@Stuart, leave Oor Northy alane. If he wisnae oan here, posting his repetitive mince/shite combos, he’d be oot oan the…” Dec 15, 18:25
Northcode on The Idiot Rodeo: “I’m thinking “rip to pieces” would have been a better expression to round off my last comment… “tear to shreds”…” Dec 15, 18:03
James on The Idiot Rodeo: “As expected. Another 90 minute patriot.” Dec 15, 17:45
Northcode on The Idiot Rodeo: “Ach! I I meant to post my last comment here. Oh, well… I’ll just have to post it again -…” Dec 15, 17:42
agentx on The Idiot Rodeo: “Northcode is really having a bad day – he has replied to the wrong post now.” Dec 15, 17:30
Northcode on The Idiot Rodeo: ““Will it come on 10 stone tablets?” Knaw, it’s aw digital – it disnae weigh onythin’ at aw… idiot (dae…” Dec 15, 17:20
Mark Beggan on The Idiot Rodeo: “That’s ok. We never read the first one either.” Dec 15, 16:47
Tommo on The Idiot Rodeo: “Is there not an odd similarity between the above ‘ooot for indy’ nonsense so well eviscerated and the ‘judgement’ in…” Dec 15, 16:39
Dan on Let’s make this simple: “Ooh, there’s excellent potential here. After the summer of dung beetle battles, we could now piss away even more time…” Dec 15, 16:23
Stuart on The Idiot Rodeo: “PAPER ONE IN THE 10 PART BAIRD SERIES! 10 parts, I cannae wait! Will it come on 10 stone tablets?…” Dec 15, 15:53
diabloandco on The Idiot Rodeo: “OT RSPCA heavily advertising their appeal , please remember that we have the SSPCA and they need anything we can…” Dec 15, 15:51
sog on The Idiot Rodeo: “The NHS Fife legal team may have dug deeply. One off-colour joke was all they presented.” Dec 15, 14:17
sog on The Idiot Rodeo: “It saddens me that the Greens are following the same downward path.” Dec 15, 13:16
sog on The Idiot Rodeo: “I worked in Engineering. Post-9/11 I read a report, I think by the NY City, on the sequence of events,…” Dec 15, 13:14
Northcode on The Idiot Rodeo: “Oops! Just realised I’ve posted this that last comment already… apologies.” Dec 15, 12:58
Northcode on The Idiot Rodeo: “Alf Baird posted an excellent (I think so, anyway… and that’s all that really matters) comment yesterday. I feel it’s…” Dec 15, 12:35
Northcode on The Idiot Rodeo: “Here’s a spare and random thought I had about some stuff… NORTHCODE’S SPARE AND RANDOM THOUGHT BEGINS… There is no…” Dec 15, 12:12
SilentMajority on The Idiot Rodeo: “Does our ‘government’ awaken each morning, and go through a rendition of “Eeny-meeny-miny-moe!” to decide which opinion to support today…’are…” Dec 15, 11:35
Aidan on Let’s make this simple: “What is the “cunning plan” that you refer to here? As far as I can see, and perhaps there’s something…” Dec 15, 11:24
Alf Baird on How Far To Go, How Far: “Sovereign Scots voted in successive majorities of SNP ‘nationalists’ to withdraw Scotland from the UK charade and to prevent an…” Dec 15, 11:12
McDuff on The Idiot Rodeo: “It says a lot about the 34 female SNP MSPs the vast majority choosing to remain strangely silent on an…” Dec 15, 11:12
Northcode on The Idiot Rodeo: “Morning all… I hope you all have a good Monday day. I tried to post a fascinating pile of mince…” Dec 15, 11:08
Cynicus on The Idiot Rodeo: “I heard on the radio a short time ago, one afficionado of Love Street declare: “there is now only one…” Dec 15, 10:47
Mike D on The Idiot Rodeo: “Only if she is squeeky clean, and the westminster spooks have no dirt on her.” Dec 15, 08:25
