Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Craig Oxbrow's LiveJournal:

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Sunday, May 27th, 2012
12:32 am	Humperdinck was never going to win Eurovision due to the Florin and Guilder voting bloc. Current Mood: silly (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 24th, 2012
10:34 am	The Watch House - now in Lego LEGO Monster Fighters Playing the classic horror crossover for laughs, as well as for toys. I particularly like that the villainous plot was actually attempted in Vampire: The Masquerade back in the day. And Lord Vampyre's clearly annoyed bride. (And just did the math on the parts I'd need to make TWH characters... about ten to twelve quid each.) Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)
Saturday, May 19th, 2012
12:06 am	The Raid has been touted as the best action movie of the year (by Empire, with a five star review) and... well, probably, if you define "action" as excluding superheroes or fantasy or SF. In action terms it's very impressive, but it's no Hard Boiled and it's no Die Hard as they compare it. At no point do I really care about anybody. And I know it's a martial arts showcase, but some of the kicking scenes feel very forced, especially to the end, compared to the mix of gun battles, hand-to-hand and other combat earlier one. So do a couple of the plot points, which in a film with so little plot is something of an issue. Still, better than my last trip to the flicks. Trailers: Prometheus (the no-dialogue like-the-classic-Alien-trailer one, thankfully for the spoiler-averse) and some other stuff I promptly forgot. (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 17th, 2012
9:37 pm	Dark Shadows Well, I had a free ticket. ... Oh, alright. It looked nice. And there were some funny things in it. It's just that all but about two of them were in the trailer. (Which is an improvement for the writer, whose books have all their jokes in the title.) Current Mood: blah (Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 16th, 2012
12:48 am	The Hunger Games A very book-y sort of setting, pretty low-key as well as downbeat, a few spectacular visual moments like the arrival but about ordinary people as they deal with a bad situation. A wildly, seriously moustache-twirlingly evil bad situation. It's made pretty obvious that not only are the Hunger Games barbaric throwbacks, so is the hunger itself and the poverty of the districts. All the complexity comes from the sympathetic characters, step back and they're either working for or at least going along with the Games. I'm guessing we'll get a more Spartacus plot next. That's certainly what I want to see happening to the Capitol. Interestingly spare use of music, hardly any at all that wasn't sourced, just a few emotive and I think one action cue. The only thing we had to Google afterwards was the three-finger hand signal, everything else was explained to non-reading plebeians successfully. Trailers: The WFRP Version Of Snow White, and The Dictator and What To Expect When You're Expecting which seem less clearly relevant. And apparently there's a Top Cat movie coming out in two weeks. This I did not know. Current Mood: thoughtful (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 9th, 2012
4:07 pm	Joss Whedon takes a moment to thank WHEDONesque peeps and suchlike for being there before The Scavengers. Some jokes inevitably get into the post. Current Mood: touched (Comment on this)
Monday, May 7th, 2012
12:13 am	Yes, it's Episode XIX. No, I don't know what VII to XVIII were about. So I'm running this. It's Star Wars a couple centuries after the movies (and not Legacy) with new heroes, new villains, and new gigantic impractical superweapons. It will, I hope, be fun. Current Mood: dorky (Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 1st, 2012
11:44 pm	R/R: Coffee House Of The Damned To create a modern vampire: Giant homogenised franchises where if you stand outside one you can see another one along the street. Ubiquitous, unnoticed... until it's too late. Current Mood: silly (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, April 30th, 2012
11:54 pm	This is Joss Whedon Interview, Avengers clips, look around his house, and even a few seconds from Much Ado About Nothing. In case you're wondering who this guy is. Current Mood: geeky (Comment on this)
Saturday, April 28th, 2012
7:22 pm	Joss being funny in Guardian Q&A What is your guiltiest pleasure? Killing drifters. Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)
Friday, April 27th, 2012
1:25 am	Avengers Awesome-ble Joss Whedon's The Avengers (Assemble) was the most fun had at the movies in months, possibly years. Best superhero team movie yet made (good as they are, even the first two X-Men movies are really Wolverine movies). The problem for Marvel now will be topping it. Can't wait to see what comes next. (TWH casting - Jenny Agutter as one of the grimly pragmatic Watchers' SHIELD Council.) It's also a pitch-perfect example of giving everybody spotlight time. It's a great Captain America sequel, a great Iron Man episode, a great Black Widow movie - everybody gets something vital to do in the final battle in particular, and good scenes throughout, and their own confrontation with Loki. Current Mood: delighted (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, April 21st, 2012
8:25 pm	What would your game have looked like twenty years earlier? And inevitably I think about The Watch House. It never got its historical flashback episode about the Watcher PCs' parents, but this is an even dafter idea. So naturally I ran straight at it. Yes, I should be game prepping. Shut up. Current Mood: silly (2 Comments |Comment on this)
8:17 pm	One downside of getting The Cabin In The Woods last week and The Avengers (Assemble) next week... I'll want another new Whedon movie in three week's time. Current Mood: geeky (Comment on this)
Friday, April 20th, 2012
9:12 pm	Dracula, Vampire, Vampires, Vampire Slayers My piece on the Vampire: The Masquerade 20th anniversary retrospective. Dracula, and the uses of him and other vampires in RPGs. And there was a plan for Matt to run Buffy at or around GEAS over summer, but he's now thinking in other directions. So naturally I stick my hand up and say "I could run Buffy while you run something else." I haven't done it for more than a one-shot since the heady days of TWH and at least two of the target audience haven't actually watched the show, although they liked Firefly, so I feel like I'll be guiding them around a great and much-loved gallery without a map. So, er... anybody got an idea to spare? Current Mood: geeky (4 Comments |Comment on this)
1:34 am	The Cabin In The Woods It's probably okay to talk about The Cabin In The Woods by now. But I'll put a link in here just in case... Link goes to unhidden bit Trailers: Silent House (English-language remake) and The Pact (full-length remake of a creepy short that ends abruptly) are both "poltergeists are scary again?". Amanda Seyfried Is The Punisher. (Well, okay, actually the plot hook for Gone looks quite interesting.) The Dictator?! Guy Pearce's Other SF Movie This Summer - Not The Good One. Jason Statham In What Appears To Be A Remake Of Mercury Rising. And The Avengers baby! The older trailer, still with the international title. Huh. Current Mood: dorky (Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 11th, 2012
5:56 pm	Coming in 2013... if I'm asked. I already have a new idea for a novelty film titles round for another pub quiz. You have been warned, Conpulsion attendees... (Actually I can think of a few easy ones for it.) Current Mood: evil (Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 10th, 2012
5:23 pm	Buffy Vs. The Black Widow Among other questions Joss answers here. Current Mood: geeky (Comment on this)
Sunday, April 8th, 2012
11:47 pm	That's Conpulsion done for another year. For those who want to experience 3/8 of the Conpulsion Pub Quiz by me in the safety of their own homes, go here. For those who don't, I still appreciate the traffic. And thanks to Simon for presenting and Cat for aiding and scoring and making it run. Current Mood: geeky (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, April 5th, 2012
8:30 pm	Conpulsion Charity Auction (Saturday evening) I shall be bringing a handmade sculpt of the Gryphon logo on a slate tile and an original Vampire The Masquerade portfolio donated and signed by Tim Bradstreet. You will be bringing your wallet. A'ight? Current Mood: creative (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, March 29th, 2012
12:46 am	The Pirates! In A Cinema Near You Now! The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists! is very silly and rather charming. Seeing the models moving around in 3D is cute too. And so many sight gags in the background that will be unreadably little even on Blu-Ray. Go see. Trailers: Streetdance 2, Ice Age 4(?) and Hotel Transylvania. Current Mood: amused (1 Comment |Comment on this)