patrick
@marginalgloss.bsky.social
There is a very loud amusement park right in front of my present lodgings.
Gentle reminder that whatever you think of the BBC you can watch Manhunter on iPlayer right now and it is still one of the best-looking films ever made.
November 10, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Gentle reminder that whatever you think of the BBC you can watch Manhunter on iPlayer right now and it is still one of the best-looking films ever made.
Played a bit of The Invincible, a game which caught my attention for being a direct adaptation of a 1964 novel by Stanislaw Lem. Slow, semi-engrossing, quite technical, often a little bit dull - feels exactly like reading hard sf at times. It's also often very beautiful.
October 25, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Played a bit of The Invincible, a game which caught my attention for being a direct adaptation of a 1964 novel by Stanislaw Lem. Slow, semi-engrossing, quite technical, often a little bit dull - feels exactly like reading hard sf at times. It's also often very beautiful.
Stayed last night alone in this unexpectedly striking lakeside Premier Inn, just outside Milton Keynes, which feels like an unused level from the first Alan Wake.
October 6, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Stayed last night alone in this unexpectedly striking lakeside Premier Inn, just outside Milton Keynes, which feels like an unused level from the first Alan Wake.
also something so strong in this film about the child just offscreen, who might also be the child inside, casting a long shadow over everything without actually really appearing; something which is absolutely everywhere in his films once you start to notice it.
October 4, 2025 at 9:55 PM
also something so strong in this film about the child just offscreen, who might also be the child inside, casting a long shadow over everything without actually really appearing; something which is absolutely everywhere in his films once you start to notice it.
Latest in uncanny reading coincidences: sitting in my local Picturehouse waiting for a screening of The 39 Steps, rereading The Last Samurai, & here it is, about Robert Donat, almost at the foot of the page.
September 28, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Latest in uncanny reading coincidences: sitting in my local Picturehouse waiting for a screening of The 39 Steps, rereading The Last Samurai, & here it is, about Robert Donat, almost at the foot of the page.
Enjoying our holiday in Cornwall but sometimes you will stumble across a little theme park built up around an abandoned mine system - almost as deep as the Shard is tall - which was once the site of a horrifying industrial disaster. A thoroughly British day out.
August 26, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Enjoying our holiday in Cornwall but sometimes you will stumble across a little theme park built up around an abandoned mine system - almost as deep as the Shard is tall - which was once the site of a horrifying industrial disaster. A thoroughly British day out.
For various reasons we ended up at the Pavilions shopping centre in Uxbridge - an uncannily well-preserved 70s/80s mall which, unlike many of its contemporaries, still seems to be doing pretty well. Essays have probably been written about this deeply postmodern covered market section.
August 21, 2025 at 11:35 AM
For various reasons we ended up at the Pavilions shopping centre in Uxbridge - an uncannily well-preserved 70s/80s mall which, unlike many of its contemporaries, still seems to be doing pretty well. Essays have probably been written about this deeply postmodern covered market section.
Sometimes the environmental storytelling around here is a bit too on the nose.
August 13, 2025 at 10:34 AM
Sometimes the environmental storytelling around here is a bit too on the nose.
Going back to the fridge for more Cyberpunk 2077, in spite of having spent an unprintable number of hours on my first run. Night City might be my happy place, I think. Maybe I can save everyone this time.
August 13, 2025 at 5:37 AM
Going back to the fridge for more Cyberpunk 2077, in spite of having spent an unprintable number of hours on my first run. Night City might be my happy place, I think. Maybe I can save everyone this time.
Finished NORCO. A beautiful, weird, sweet thing.
August 10, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Finished NORCO. A beautiful, weird, sweet thing.
And some days the witching hour is just what it sounds like.
August 10, 2025 at 9:21 PM
And some days the witching hour is just what it sounds like.
Some days you just have to take any break you can.
August 10, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Some days you just have to take any break you can.
First run in almost two weeks in the rain today; aided considerably by this album, which pretty much never stops piling on riffs open.spotify.com/track/1DUIZJ...
August 4, 2025 at 1:16 PM
First run in almost two weeks in the rain today; aided considerably by this album, which pretty much never stops piling on riffs open.spotify.com/track/1DUIZJ...
Played a bit of NORCO, which is clearly excellent, and which immediately presents itself as my kind of cosy game.
August 1, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Played a bit of NORCO, which is clearly excellent, and which immediately presents itself as my kind of cosy game.
The horse radio Laura Dern listens to in their horrid hotel room, one of my new favourite items of David Lynch furnishings.
July 19, 2025 at 10:36 PM
The horse radio Laura Dern listens to in their horrid hotel room, one of my new favourite items of David Lynch furnishings.
Replaying The Last of Us and I still find the Sam and Henry chapter quite devastating, in part because of how effectively (if unsubtly) the environments layer on the theme of a lost childhood from the moment you meet them.
July 18, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Replaying The Last of Us and I still find the Sam and Henry chapter quite devastating, in part because of how effectively (if unsubtly) the environments layer on the theme of a lost childhood from the moment you meet them.
Finally get to turn on the tennis today and what the hell is this Grigor
July 7, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Finally get to turn on the tennis today and what the hell is this Grigor
Got my first win last night; doing a little better now, though the depths of the meta still clearly eluding me.
July 6, 2025 at 7:52 AM
Got my first win last night; doing a little better now, though the depths of the meta still clearly eluding me.
Heading back from a great day at Wimbledon. This is probably a boring opinion but it is one of my favourite things and you should totally go if you ever get the chance.
July 4, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Heading back from a great day at Wimbledon. This is probably a boring opinion but it is one of my favourite things and you should totally go if you ever get the chance.
Did not particularly intend to set a new personal best this cloudless morning (circa 20 to 25c?) but it just felt incredibly good to be out there. Only five minutes walking at either end!
June 30, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Did not particularly intend to set a new personal best this cloudless morning (circa 20 to 25c?) but it just felt incredibly good to be out there. Only five minutes walking at either end!
Finally had a look at Balatro over the weekend and had that classic feeling of "hey I think I did quite well!" for my first run, before taking an (appalled) look at what a properly good Balatro score looks like. Clearly an incredible game but the sheer depth of it is vertiginous.
June 23, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Finally had a look at Balatro over the weekend and had that classic feeling of "hey I think I did quite well!" for my first run, before taking an (appalled) look at what a properly good Balatro score looks like. Clearly an incredible game but the sheer depth of it is vertiginous.
Unsettled by this succulent having suddenly deployed a massive proboscis that points straight at my face while I'm doing the washing up.
June 6, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Unsettled by this succulent having suddenly deployed a massive proboscis that points straight at my face while I'm doing the washing up.
Sometimes I'm good at making pizza
May 31, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Sometimes I'm good at making pizza
It also has these benches with engraved plaques listing a series of millennium promises, presumably made by local residents. They are...quite varied. I wonder if Chris Neave followed through on his one.
May 22, 2025 at 3:26 PM
It also has these benches with engraved plaques listing a series of millennium promises, presumably made by local residents. They are...quite varied. I wonder if Chris Neave followed through on his one.