I really should be getting stuck into the next book we’re looking at on the Podcast but, instead I find myself drawn to my iPhone to check on my Words With Friends games. I only intend to take a minute or two to check, but then I find myself trying to puzzle out a word that will fit on the board for maximum points and far more than two minutes have passed.
Words With Friends is a Scrabble-like game app for the iPhone by Zynga. I currently have 7 games on the go. I’d rate my skill level as average, as I win slightly more than I lose, but there is one person I’ve never beaten (and am currently being thrashed by more than 100 points!), and one I beat only rarely.
It’s funny how I seem to get great scoring words in the games with the people who are closer to my playing level, and not so much with those who are far more advanced. For example in some of the games against the more advanced players I’ll be stuck with all vowels or all consonants. But maybe I just notice that more because I’m losing.
The game does let you have some bizarre words. I have been thrashed by words I have never heard of before, and I’m sure aren’t able to be used in a sentence. Still, it’s fun and gives an added dimension to the game if you know you may be able to fluke a cool high scoring word.
The game does have a tendency to freeze very occasionally. It usually repairs itself, however on one memorable occasion I was just about to beat one of my tougher opponents when the game chucked a wobbly and crashed only for us to lose our game completely! The funny thing is a few days later the game appeared in our game over list saying that my opponent had resigned (he hadn’t) and where there usually is a grey tile this one has a bright red tile with a NO symbol on it!
Overall I give Words with Friends 4 Lukes
Here is the first official image of Tom Hardy as Bane in The Dark Night Rises.
The movie’s official site has been gradually revealing the image, but a genius from the Arkham City message board has found the whole image and it looks like the time Hardy’s been putting in at the gym has been well spent!
Hardy, best known from Star Trek: Nemesis & Inception, looks really menacing, and despite the mask and Venom-enhanced physique, looks totally believable in Nolan’s reality-based aesthetic of the films.
The Dark Knight Rises’ US release date is 20 July 2012.
Welcome to the inaugural instalment of Dust Jacket, Nerd Culture Podcast’s biweekly review of the greatest Sci-Fi novels of all time. I’m your host, Richo. I’m joined by Luke Walker, the world’s harshest critic.
For our first review we’re turning our eye to Non-Stop, the 1958 novel by acclaimed British novelist Brian Aldiss.
The environment of Non-Stop is a Generation Ship, a starship travelling across such vast distances that whole generations will pass before it reaches its final destination. Something has plunged the ship into barbarism; the history of the vessel has been lost in time and buried in fable and metaphor, and most of the inhabitants have lost the knowledge that they’re even on a ship. The inhabitants gather in primitive tribes that roam the decks and corridors of the starship, meting out a harsh, simple existence and fending off the myriad threats that surround them.
One such inhabitant is Roy Complain, a hunter from the Greene Tribe dissatisfied with his lot in life. This dissatisfaction makes him open to manipulation by Marapper, who recruits him and several other followers on a journey to “Forwards”, the front section of the ship, where the priest believes he will find the “Control Room”, which will enable him to seize control of the ship.
A perilous journey ensues, each step revealing more of the nature, history and mystery of the generation ship. Slowly, Complain unravels the secrets of his world and those that inhabit it. Along the way he encounters mutants, scavengers, intelligent rats and giants, and even finds love in the form of Aur Vyann, an inhabitant of the more culturally advanced Forwards.
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