Microsoft / Muckysoft / Micro$oft is rolling out it's Copilot AI assistant... and it doesn't matter if you like it or even agree with it, or not... You'll get it shoved down your throat, no matter what.
Did you know that Notepad (!) has Copilot support? Did you know it's ON by default?!? M$, what the hell is wrong with you?!?!?
(Go into settings and turn it off. Also uninstall the Copilot app. Fuck M$.)
First of all, this is a little cynical, so my apologies for that.
Nevertheless, if you step away and study the subject from a distance then you'll find some interesting commonalities between many of the books in this well-selling (sub)genre.
Here are several of the tropes I identified thus far...
There's something about the work by Tony DiTerlizzi that just speaks to me. He was the original artist behind the artwork of PlaneScape.
I think (not even sure, it was too long ago) this is a poor re-composition I did myself. Which reminds me of a great team of real people I once worked with. I miss you, people. You were the best.
Let's add another D&D product review.
This isn't the Marvel based TV show, but the TSR Dungeons & Dragons book from 2000, and it details some (hidden) factions in the Forgotten Realms setting.
TSR, the (in)famous creators of the AD&D role playing game (then boutght by WOTC, Hasbro, and becoming perhaps even more (in)famous for their poor handling of the OGL) also publish books based on their games. One of those is Elfshadow by Elaine Cunningham. It's set in the Forgotten Realms, but no prior knowledge is required.
The Verdict: It's not bad. Expect regular 'sword and sorcery'.
Dapper / TellTales! #6
TSR, WOTC, and now HASBRO all seem to struggle a bit when it comes to marketing, and sometimes they release books that simply make no sense.
Take, for example, How Not to get Eaten by Owlbears.
This is part of my 'recovery effort' from the old NightLive website.
Years ago I did review a number of TSR / WOTC products, so I've dusted off the old review scheme. You'll run into some TSR / WOTC / Hasbro reviews from now on...
Unfortunately, dslreports.com is no more. Are there any alternatives?
I did find https://www.waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat which is a little less clear, but seems to work.
(And yes, I know that QOS is not the right way to address bufferbloat, but it may be the only option available to many of us.)
First you see a dragon. Then you're watching some royal intrigues for 35 minutes, and only then the action starts.
Which doesn't make Damsel a complete disaster, but it helps to know what to expect.
Summer Glau has a pendant for Sci-Fi 'nerdish' shows. Unfortunately, they're not all successful, but apparently her choice in roles matches my taste in television...
And yet another space opera / military sci-fi series. Shades of Honor Harrington, and that's fine. Captain Grim leads the crew of his older but still powerful boat through a conflict between multiple sides, Consortium, Caliphate, Guild, Alliance...
Another space opera / military sci-fi series. Main protagonist might be a little too much of an anti hero in the 6th book, but it’s quite readable.
Series starts with greedy corporations that unload endless debts on wannabe students, then moves on to an interstellar conflict between several races.
Entertaining set of 3 (now 4) novels, in which a post-apocalyptic junkyard owner becomes a kind of queen bee, driven by biotech, and assisted (hampered?) by gen-engineered cats, after aliens overcame earth’s finest.
The Verdict: great read. Looking forward to book 4!
Supposed to be somewhat ‘lesbian scifi’ but - except for one scene that wasn’t even that explicit - these read as a fast paced nerd-becomes-heroine set of short stories. Does suffer a little from the Mary Sue effect.
Synopsis: dirtside engineer knows how to create sentient robots, and falls in love with a copper-without-impulse-control from the floating cities above.
The Verdict: perfectly readable, light SciFi.
Short story that got expanded into three short novels, about a girl who lost her memory and starts living on a cemetery.
It's an easy read - nothing too exceptional - with perhaps a somewhat unexpected plot twist near the end, where the whole story adopts a supernatural element.
The verdict: a decent, entertaining read.
Are you ready yet to become a millionaire?
If you are 20 years old, and you have 300 dollars to spare every month, then you are one hell of a lucky person.
If you're 59 and going on 60, it ain't that easy...
I had high hopes for season 2 of Arcane... Season 1 was brilliant, an emotional roller coaster, great animation, and a good story to carry it all. How could season 2 be any less?
Well... it turned out it could be. Worse, that is.
Koop je online, zorg dan dat je koopt van een betrouwbare (toe)leverancier. Er zijn heel veel spelers welke rotzooi verkopen, of onbetrouwbaar zijn.
Ik beperk me dan ook vooral tot de grotere / betrouwbare namen, maar dat betekent niet dat alle (kleine) shops slecht zijn!
Elke keer wanneer Amazon (Amazon.nl, om precies te zijn) met een trotse melding komt dat je 'al je digitale producten nu op Amazon.nl' kunt kopen krijg ik hoofdpijn. Omdat ik weet dat daarmee gelijk de prijzen omhoog gaan, en het toch niet werkt...
