Chindie

Turns out that wasn't a body double, apparently.

I'm now watching totally for the entertainment value of watching a moron who didn't know he's a moron play the game. He ends today's episode getting completely confused by a lift. That he'd just used. And that utilises a mechanic that is common in the series and is actually a 'puzzle' in the opening of the game that the game itself takes the piss out of. He then runs around convinced he's somehow gone into the wrong elevator despite having used it literally seconds earlier. I genuinely have concerns for his state of mind.

She's been found. But it would be a decent bet for her to have been found at the bottom of a ravine. She's got significant personal problems and recently appears to have been struggling more than she had been in recent years.

Today on ENB - after being right for the third time in the have in his predictions... 'This game keeps making me look smart!' Edit -I've now come to the conclusion that he is genuinely thick. Opens up a pretty important late game shortcut that leads right next to a very safe bonfire. Decides to completely ignore the existence of that bonfire and runs to an earlier bonfire miles away whilst complaining the bonfire seems a long way away and having no idea where he actually is. Despite having been in that area an hour beforehand.

Australia would nominate a European host.

I'd estimate that about 90% of the beer I've drank in the last 3 years in any pub or bar has been Moretti. It's not bad.

Wouldn't be shocked to discover that was a body double Anywho, another decent episode, we appear to be in the final stages of set up for where the series is going. Reunions, intrigue, minor character death, Danaerys' character development finally approaching some pay off, no Bran... Good stuff.

Australia was invited because they've apparently had the largest audience for Eurovision outside Europe for years.

And done. Summoned for the final bosses. I didn't want to ideally but I wanted to finish it and was in the mood to have it done. Got the ending I'd worked for I believe. Really enjoyed my time with it - there a difficulty hump but it then gives you 10 hours to develop your abilities before it throws a really grim boss at you. I was also happy to see I'm not really bad at the game taking down Aldrich on the first attempt and beating the Pontiff second time out both seem pretty rare I think! I got halfway through Archdragon Peak. Knowing that that boss is optional and not being THAT good at the game I kinda don't want to do it. But there also the nagging feeling it's not done while he's still about. I also didn't do any PvP beyond being invaded. Might have a crack at developing some covenants for a laugh. I won't new game it. But overall... An experience. Brilliant. What I wanted Dark Souls 1 to be every time I started it.

Wasn't Gabby's debut in 2006...? I know Verstappen's young but he's not 10!

As you know AWOL I disagree on most of this so probably not worth running through the same all arguments, but a quick couple of points, not necessarily directed at yourself. Regarding look the common market - I'm fairly sure it's been confirmed that that is off the table - I recall Cameron in an interview a while back saying the referendum was about EU membership, not common market membership, so we would be agreeing to be Norway. Unfortunately I don't seem to be able to find that quote. In respect of other FTAs, I'll link here which has the following conclusion... I also believe there's not much stopping us trading wherever we like even with the EU in place. As said, we're one of Bangladesh's biggest trade partners. You're certainly correct I think the USE argument is spurrious, as explained previously. The reason for all of the additional trappings is because the common market requires overarching institutions and laws to ensure it works. The common market is a very deep agreement, which has benefited it and in turn us, but also has required those additional elements over a 'normal' FTA which can be irritating. You need regulations on many areas across borders to ensure the market is actually common - EU law on sausages for a basic (but rubbish and flawed) example has to be imposed across the area to ensure the playing field is as level as possible - if everyone agrees the standard of welfare for pigs and type of meat that can be used, but the French decide they can increase their profits by breaking the rules, the market starts to suffer. So you have overarching laws etc. It also needs institutions that represent the union internationally to allow it to interact as a block with the wider world. This does give it elements of statehood, simply because the agreement is such that it has 'the trappings of a state'. But it isn't a state. It's members retain sovereignty - this referendum doesn't happen if we are no longer sovereign, the EUs underlying treaties don't have capacity and procedure for exit if it's members lose their sovereignty, and (and this part of the reason the sausage example is crap) members don't ignore the organisation when it suits them if the Union superceded then add states (as significant members did when the financial crisis bit despite the EU telling them not to). I have no doubt at all there are people in the EU that would adore a United European State. I also have no doubt they're going to perpetually disappointed. Finally, regarding Brexit the Movie... Whilst I'm sure the movie will raise points of interest, I'm also fully aware that the director is Martin Durkin, who produced one of the most misleading pieces of shit imaginable in 'the Great Global Warning Swindle'. As said, I'm not out to argue the toss with Awol, neither mind will change so there's no need for a back and forth. Just a few points.

Massively disappointing Eurovision. Nothing worthy of a pisstake, nothing approaching a good song in there, and a dreadful winner. And not much to look at either.

The powers that be will fix it so we win and then vote for remaining in the EU because everyone clearly likes us.

Nothing will ever beat the Polish entry a few years back.

It doesn't have the atmosphere of the original games, but I'm not sure how you would do that today and maintain something inspired by the original gameplay. Doom 3 tried to get something approaching the original atmosphere but didn't play like Doom. This plays like people remember Doom playing albeit with modern tweaks (having played some original Doom recently a lot of it isn't what people seem to remember Doom being, it isn't that fast). This is genuinely good. My only reservation at the moment is the 'gore kills' getting stale. They're a pretty fundamental gameplay element but there's not a great deal of variety. It's also really fast, which is a bit of an adjustment. But so far, it's brilliant.

Come back to this after a week or so off tonight. Have got to the Princes and yeah, I'm too tired to hack that tonight. Kinda want to clear it now before I dive to heavy into Doom.

This is a bit good.

I'm still on my path to have earnt enough to buy a nice watch (my daily wear at the mo is a nice, but unfortunately quartz, Christoper Ward). But I do like to admire the stuff here more often than not. Unfortunately though I really can't see the appeal of the Royal Oak... Seems I might be in a minority though thankfully!

No-one can guarentee you anything. As far as the economy goes the Leave angle has largely been 'You'll get the same as you do now'. That's with some wishful thinking that by leaving the EU but maintaining our participation with the common market, we wouldn't suffer in some way - despite the fact we'd be talking to the EU in the same terms Norway does (but with a completely different economy to Norway, so you can't take their comparative success as a guide to us), still paying into the pot but with no seat at the table, but allowed to buy and sell to the people at the table... They also argue it'll open up us to deal with the wider world. Which we already do - we're one of the biggest trading partners of Bangladesh, it turns out, right now, for instance. Economically, you're probably better off staying in. Finance likes stability, the EU is a known quantity, so money likes it. Leaving brings uncertainty, and for a while there would at least be a wobble while things were thought through and everyone worked out exactly how and what Britain is removed from the EU.

It's a shame the Belarus act didn't make it to the final - it was probably the first and only time you could potentially see a naked man mauled by wolves on live TV.

Yep try to boot the sword master. As Ginko says he often dodges close to the cliff edge and a well timed kick will do him in. Run to the shrine after, rest at the bonfire and truth to where he was and his gear will be there. If you don't get lucky, I understand the long sword the knight starts with is perfectly viable long into the game. Also, armour isn't as important as you might think it is initially. The gear the Knight starts with is pretty much the best gear you'll find throughout the game for the balance of stats it has to my knowledge, but increasingly it appears to not really matter that much. I've switched out elements to take advantage of elemental buffs but I've no idea if the edge that may have given is psychological or did truly make a difference. Try to keep your equip load under 70% as per usual.

Suffice to say I'm not convinced that any writer of fantasy novels is going to waste thousands of pages because he needs the dragons to get big . Even accepting for GRRM's ludicrously overindulgent and slovenly prose. Its a fantasy world, if the end goal is just make the dragons get big have a character rock up with MiracleDragonGrow potion and get it over with. Or just say dragons mature quick. Like, say direwolves seem to... The length of time pissing about with Danaerys doing sod all is obviously developing her character - she's (apparently/supposedly) gone from naive kid to a ruler, able to wield power and control groups, and surrounded herself with advisors and learnt how to rule, stripped away some of her idealism and replaced it with the rod of iron... It's not giving the dragons time to mature. That's a convenient side effect, and a nice allegory from her own growing capabilities.

That's the one. I've genuinely not found a weapon that touches it. It might make a couple of fights slightly more difficult but I'm useless with a great sword and it's more powerful than any straight sword I've seen. I've also heard the Estoc is overpowered but that's a very different style. There's also a hidden covenant in the second area which you access in a very unusual way. You need to sneak up on a certain enemy before a certain event. I managed to find this by accident and it doesn't really matter if you don't want to PVP, but it's a cool moment otherwise.

Defeat the sword master to the left of Firelink Shrine. It's a difficult fight but he drops a sword that, if you plan to go for a dex build, and you get used to it, appears capable of beating the entire game as you upgrade it. I've used it from the get go and I'm only a few hours from the end. Very shortly after you defeat the first 'proper' boss, there is an interesting NPC it's easy to miss on the broken bridge, who ultimately opens up a few interesting events and characters if you manage to do things correctly for the rest of the game. The game is very generous with weapons in the opening hours so dig around the environments immediately post Firelink. You'll uncover a lot of gear amongst other interesting things.

I'd love the Culture Secretary to sit down and explain what he means by the requirement for the BBC to produce 'distinctive content'. I genuinely don't think any Western broadcaster could produce 'distinctive content' if their lives depended on it. And the only reason any other broadcaster could is due entirely to the sheer difference in cultural background. And I'm not sure many people will see the value for their licence fee when the BBC starts turning out innovative ideas from Japan, for instance. Like locking a man in a room for months and seeing what happens for comedy.