Scurra
@scurra.com
Cruciverbalist with a side-order of boardgame design. He/Him.
It was a delightful chat. Great to hear mention of Truckers which was an absolute classic (I laboriously taped it week-by-week but alas the tape is long gone now) and the reminders of even weirder things like Jamie and the Magic Torch. Terrific stuff.
November 26, 2025 at 10:13 AM
It was a delightful chat. Great to hear mention of Truckers which was an absolute classic (I laboriously taped it week-by-week but alas the tape is long gone now) and the reminders of even weirder things like Jamie and the Magic Torch. Terrific stuff.
Hmmm. Never had Key Lime Pie. Which is why I think Lemon Meringue is the #1. I obviously need to investigate this.
November 25, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Hmmm. Never had Key Lime Pie. Which is why I think Lemon Meringue is the #1. I obviously need to investigate this.
Yeah, that's one of the few things I will give credit to the sequel trilogy for. The first six movies are clearly about Anakin (sorry, five of the first six. The Vader in 'Star Wars' isn't the later Anakin at that point. A hill I will die on.) But the sequels give Luke the story he deserves.
November 24, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Yeah, that's one of the few things I will give credit to the sequel trilogy for. The first six movies are clearly about Anakin (sorry, five of the first six. The Vader in 'Star Wars' isn't the later Anakin at that point. A hill I will die on.) But the sequels give Luke the story he deserves.
Another reason why nuking the internet from orbit may not, in fact, be the right solution. (It obviously is, but this sort of counter-evidence becomes harder to refute.) Fantastic thread all around.
November 24, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Another reason why nuking the internet from orbit may not, in fact, be the right solution. (It obviously is, but this sort of counter-evidence becomes harder to refute.) Fantastic thread all around.
Congratulations to you both. And a terrific picture, thanks.
November 23, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Congratulations to you both. And a terrific picture, thanks.
Especially when the first two were Livingstone and Johnson, who were already significant media figures (for good and ill), which meant there was less networking involved to get stories about them.
November 23, 2025 at 2:12 AM
Especially when the first two were Livingstone and Johnson, who were already significant media figures (for good and ill), which meant there was less networking involved to get stories about them.
Yeah, I always assumed there were people going "but it will ruin the view"
November 22, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Yeah, I always assumed there were people going "but it will ruin the view"
Hey, it's two guys who clearly both deeply love New York City. They obviously disagree on everything else, but they can absolutely bond over that. Ten minutes of letting Trump reminisce, with Mamdani pulling some obscure stuff out, and it was likely all over.
November 21, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Hey, it's two guys who clearly both deeply love New York City. They obviously disagree on everything else, but they can absolutely bond over that. Ten minutes of letting Trump reminisce, with Mamdani pulling some obscure stuff out, and it was likely all over.
Nah, it's just two guys who deeply love New York City. They clearly disagree about everything except that one fact - and that's more than enough in this specific case.
November 21, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Nah, it's just two guys who deeply love New York City. They clearly disagree about everything except that one fact - and that's more than enough in this specific case.
Today was also a very good lesson in why you need to understand the strength of *both* arguments before you can make a reasonable judgement about outcomes.
November 21, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Today was also a very good lesson in why you need to understand the strength of *both* arguments before you can make a reasonable judgement about outcomes.
Just wanted to say thank you for drawing my attention to this. Went this evening; it was properly jaw-dropping in places considering that the tech wasn't especially ambitious. The sort of large art-project that makes the most of the space.
November 20, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Just wanted to say thank you for drawing my attention to this. Went this evening; it was properly jaw-dropping in places considering that the tech wasn't especially ambitious. The sort of large art-project that makes the most of the space.
They make the absolute best play-testers though (speaking with my "board game designer" hat on) as they can see how to break your game easily.
But no, never play them with them for 'fun'. 🙂
But no, never play them with them for 'fun'. 🙂
November 19, 2025 at 11:59 AM
They make the absolute best play-testers though (speaking with my "board game designer" hat on) as they can see how to break your game easily.
But no, never play them with them for 'fun'. 🙂
But no, never play them with them for 'fun'. 🙂
Or, worse, that the spin will work, like it did with the Mueller Report (which is, what, a thousand pages saying "he did it, he did it" but which is now largely memory-holed.)
Although this one feels more like JFK files - we already know everything and nobody will be persuaded either way.
Although this one feels more like JFK files - we already know everything and nobody will be persuaded either way.
November 18, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Or, worse, that the spin will work, like it did with the Mueller Report (which is, what, a thousand pages saying "he did it, he did it" but which is now largely memory-holed.)
Although this one feels more like JFK files - we already know everything and nobody will be persuaded either way.
Although this one feels more like JFK files - we already know everything and nobody will be persuaded either way.
Oh, but we did. I genuinely think one of the reasons the JKR fallout was so toxic was because there was a robust faux-academic fandom that was having a great time pulling all the threads deeply (I was a part of it) in a way that even other fandoms renowned for that (e.g. Who) never quite reached.
November 18, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Oh, but we did. I genuinely think one of the reasons the JKR fallout was so toxic was because there was a robust faux-academic fandom that was having a great time pulling all the threads deeply (I was a part of it) in a way that even other fandoms renowned for that (e.g. Who) never quite reached.
Please don't do that. It takes *ages* to get the tentacles out of the keyboard. 🙂
November 18, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Please don't do that. It takes *ages* to get the tentacles out of the keyboard. 🙂
And that's assuming that all the objections it generates are actually real? If a long document is submitted with, say, eight reasons for objecting but two of them don't apply here, somebody somewhere has to figure that out. Obviously that's not a new phenomenon, just hyperscaled.
November 18, 2025 at 10:53 AM
And that's assuming that all the objections it generates are actually real? If a long document is submitted with, say, eight reasons for objecting but two of them don't apply here, somebody somewhere has to figure that out. Obviously that's not a new phenomenon, just hyperscaled.
What, you write about comics?
November 18, 2025 at 12:06 AM
What, you write about comics?
I know. I know you know I know.
November 17, 2025 at 9:25 PM
I know. I know you know I know.
I would date this to the arrival of 24-hr tv news channels, especially in the US. The 90s slowly moved us from being a world of actual reportage to become wholly a world of speculative opinion. (I know there were many other things that assisted!) Then social media arrived and cemented that.
November 17, 2025 at 1:16 PM
I would date this to the arrival of 24-hr tv news channels, especially in the US. The 90s slowly moved us from being a world of actual reportage to become wholly a world of speculative opinion. (I know there were many other things that assisted!) Then social media arrived and cemented that.
I would say "at least it's a reading list", but these days I assume they just ask a chatbot to summarise it for them. The days of actually reading an argument seem long gone. 😞
November 16, 2025 at 8:58 PM
I would say "at least it's a reading list", but these days I assume they just ask a chatbot to summarise it for them. The days of actually reading an argument seem long gone. 😞
A while ago, a Chinese Premier (I think it was Hu) said something like: Western Media Democracies were screwed because the politicians could no longer take medium term decisions, let alone long term ones. I'm not sure they can take short term decisions any more either.
November 16, 2025 at 10:34 AM
A while ago, a Chinese Premier (I think it was Hu) said something like: Western Media Democracies were screwed because the politicians could no longer take medium term decisions, let alone long term ones. I'm not sure they can take short term decisions any more either.
Every time the 'discourse' about British food happens online, I always think that I'd happily put up our cheese against everyone in the world and we'd always do well. Glad to hear that's holding up.
November 13, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Every time the 'discourse' about British food happens online, I always think that I'd happily put up our cheese against everyone in the world and we'd always do well. Glad to hear that's holding up.
Alas, I recall *The Better World of Reginald Perrin*. I know how it would be doomed to go. (I wish they'd put it on iPlayer.)
November 13, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Alas, I recall *The Better World of Reginald Perrin*. I know how it would be doomed to go. (I wish they'd put it on iPlayer.)
As William Goldman memorably put it (about the film industry) decades ago, "Nobody Knows Anything".
November 12, 2025 at 9:47 AM
As William Goldman memorably put it (about the film industry) decades ago, "Nobody Knows Anything".
Well, yes, there's that too. Bond is far more akin to Robin Hood, King Arthur or Sherlock Holmes in that he is reinvented *within his space* over and over; continuity be damned. (This differs from Doctor Who, I think, who is always *outside* the genre and struggles when confined within it.)
November 11, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Well, yes, there's that too. Bond is far more akin to Robin Hood, King Arthur or Sherlock Holmes in that he is reinvented *within his space* over and over; continuity be damned. (This differs from Doctor Who, I think, who is always *outside* the genre and struggles when confined within it.)