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Dungeon Master's Guide (Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition)
8.3
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The Dungeon Master’s Guide provides the inspiration and the guidance you need to spark your...
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Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
8.6
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This complete, standalone, fantasy roleplaying game takes your fantasy campaigns to new heights of...
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Leila (5 KP) rated Black Mirror in TV
Feb 3, 2019 (Updated Feb 3, 2019)
If you're looking for a mini-movie that will leave you wondering if technology is really worth the risk, this series is jam-packed full of them.
Each episode is a standalone, a great concept allowing each story to be told in entirety unconstrained by time requirements or character involvement. Episodes range from an hour and a half to just forty minutes, but no episode feels lacking and no episode feels too "fluffed"; you may leave wanting more but never unsatisfied.
Episode one of season one isn't for everyone and I urge you to look past it and discover those episodes that are for you. There are a wide variety of topics covered and some are cruder than others but never just to be crude, it is always with a purpose. Same goes for any violence or language, all is with a purpose and doesn't seem gratuitous. The "Playtest" episode is probably the most jump-scare frightening, but even then, not without purpose, serving a crucial part in how the story unfolds.
While you don't have to watch them in order, I do recommend you wait to watch "Black Museum" until you have watch all of the first four seasons, in order to get the most of the Easter Eggs hidden throughout the episode. You will also find that there are some episodes that will casually mention things from previous episodes, or have a recurring song you can't help but remember from a previous story. It's these little details that make Black Mirror a great anthology, with a story for everyone just waiting to be told.
Each episode is a standalone, a great concept allowing each story to be told in entirety unconstrained by time requirements or character involvement. Episodes range from an hour and a half to just forty minutes, but no episode feels lacking and no episode feels too "fluffed"; you may leave wanting more but never unsatisfied.
Episode one of season one isn't for everyone and I urge you to look past it and discover those episodes that are for you. There are a wide variety of topics covered and some are cruder than others but never just to be crude, it is always with a purpose. Same goes for any violence or language, all is with a purpose and doesn't seem gratuitous. The "Playtest" episode is probably the most jump-scare frightening, but even then, not without purpose, serving a crucial part in how the story unfolds.
While you don't have to watch them in order, I do recommend you wait to watch "Black Museum" until you have watch all of the first four seasons, in order to get the most of the Easter Eggs hidden throughout the episode. You will also find that there are some episodes that will casually mention things from previous episodes, or have a recurring song you can't help but remember from a previous story. It's these little details that make Black Mirror a great anthology, with a story for everyone just waiting to be told.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Bestiary 5: 5: Bestiary
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Inside Bestiary 5 lurk hundreds of new monsters ready for use in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game....
Black Mirror - Season 3
8.7
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TV Season
Black Mirror is a British science fictiontelevision anthology series created by Charlie...
Ross (3282 KP) rated Black Mirror - Season 3 in TV
Feb 8, 2018
The third series of Black Mirror (the first made for Netflix) sees another 6 standalone episodes offering a frightening glimpse at the future use of technology.
Nosedive looks at people's obsession with likes and ratings and that each interaction becomes either tooth-achingly sweet to secure that rating, or a desperate attempt to get that good rating from someone higher than you. While I liked the premise, I thought this episode was a little too long.
Playtest sees Pokémon Go type AR go wild, as a young American backpacker desperate for money agrees to test a new brain implant that allows people to experience horror games as if they were real. A well executed thriller of an episode.
Shut Up & Dance looks at blackmailing/revenge porn and shows the lengths people will go to to avoid their secrets being revealed, as a young boy afraid that footage of his one-handed solo adventures being shown to his friends and family ends up on something of a treasure hunt with Jerome off of Robson & Jerome (who has lost that loving feeling and started seeing an escort). The story is very gripping and well shot.
San Junipero was a surprisingly uplifting, heartwarming episode. I won't spoil the reveal too much but it is the rare occasion where Black Mirror shows the good side of technology taken to extremes. Absolutely beautiful.
Men Against Fire was a clever episode looking at the uses of brain augmentations in the armed forces and how they can be used and abused in warfare. An apparent zombie apocalypse scenario is turned on its head and shows the Black Mirror take on such technology.
The final episode, Hated in the Nation is a look at online trolling and bullying and how this can be taken to extremes. it shows that even when people know there are real consequences for the victims, because it is largely anonymous they will carry on doing it. Quite a long episode but gripping and keeps the viewer guessing throughout.
Nosedive looks at people's obsession with likes and ratings and that each interaction becomes either tooth-achingly sweet to secure that rating, or a desperate attempt to get that good rating from someone higher than you. While I liked the premise, I thought this episode was a little too long.
Playtest sees Pokémon Go type AR go wild, as a young American backpacker desperate for money agrees to test a new brain implant that allows people to experience horror games as if they were real. A well executed thriller of an episode.
Shut Up & Dance looks at blackmailing/revenge porn and shows the lengths people will go to to avoid their secrets being revealed, as a young boy afraid that footage of his one-handed solo adventures being shown to his friends and family ends up on something of a treasure hunt with Jerome off of Robson & Jerome (who has lost that loving feeling and started seeing an escort). The story is very gripping and well shot.
San Junipero was a surprisingly uplifting, heartwarming episode. I won't spoil the reveal too much but it is the rare occasion where Black Mirror shows the good side of technology taken to extremes. Absolutely beautiful.
Men Against Fire was a clever episode looking at the uses of brain augmentations in the armed forces and how they can be used and abused in warfare. An apparent zombie apocalypse scenario is turned on its head and shows the Black Mirror take on such technology.
The final episode, Hated in the Nation is a look at online trolling and bullying and how this can be taken to extremes. it shows that even when people know there are real consequences for the victims, because it is largely anonymous they will carry on doing it. Quite a long episode but gripping and keeps the viewer guessing throughout.
Kirk Bage (1775 KP) rated Black Mirror - Season 3 in TV
Mar 3, 2020
Nosedive - 8
We had to wait almost another 2 years for the Netflix investment to show a product, and in time for Halloween 2016 we got the super-glossy re-boot of Nosedive, with a big name up front and lots of anticipation. The tone was instantly more playful; less British, more inclusive to a world audience. It tackled with a wry humour the universal phenomenon of popularity and everything being rated, most notably, people themselves. In a future world of sunshine and pastel shades it has become the norm to rate every interaction, from buying coffee to buying a house, in the hope of becoming one of the beautiful people rated above a 4.5. It cleverly questions the motivations for that desire, and the pitfalls of false behaviour and the manipulation from an elite standpoint. It isn’t necessary to imagine this future, as we are virtually there already, and all this episode does is heighten the idea to hyperbolic proportions. Rated down by many viewers because it is “annoying”, but that is entirely the point: the whole thing makes you want to scream!
Playtest - 6.5
Also available for Halloween (as was the whole season, in standard Netflix style) came a chance to explore what really scares us! And… they blew it. Sure, the idea that gaming and VR becomes so photo realistic it seems entirely real isn’t far away. But, making it personal to a very annoying character dissolves all tension quite early on. Some mild jump scares aside, this has to go down as a missed opportunity. Notable only for the re-occurance of the White Bear symbol.
Shut Up and Dance - 7
This is the one most likely to make you think, hmm, that is too far! An uncomfortable episode, not only because of the subject matter and ultimate revelation, but because of the intense nastiness that pervades it. No doubt that tension is intentional, and therefore effective to a degree, but for me it crosses the line of entertainment and becomes simply nasty. Being unafraid to tackle controversial subjects is to be applauded, but the execution has to be note perfect, or the risk is the backlash this episode received. A cautionary tale about surveillance, data theft, blackmail and our personal online responsibility. Not a bad piece, just a slight misjudgment on tone and delivery.
San Junipero - 9.5
Just when critics were sharpening their pens that Netflix had ruined the potential of Black Mirror in its first phase, comes an almost perfect piece of TV that is literally heavenly! Everything about San Junipero is a work of art! Another “blind” episode that takes a while to unravel; the pacing and realisation of which is so beautifully judged that, from a writing point of view, this has to be seen as the pinnacle of the show to date. Mackenzie Davis is extraordinary as the vulnerable, shy and naive Yorkie, looking for a connection in an 80s nightclub, filled with nostalgia and cultural memes galore. The music alone is not only sing aloud perfect, but chosen for storytelling reasons so clever it raises goosebumps! The relationship between Yorkie and Kelly, an equally great Gugu Mbatha-Raw, is filled with chemistry and nuance, drawing us in to a place so deep that when the penny drops on what is really going on it draws a gasp and then possibly tears – I know it did for me! The mechanics of the technology that would make this story possible does raise a lot of questions, but in the end it is better to accept it as an allegory for love, life and our ideas of “eternity”. Don’t look too deeply at the how, but marvel at the why, and this could be the best hour of TV you will ever see! So rewatchable, rich and rewarding; the only reason not to make this a feature length big budget film is that how could it possibly be improved?
Men Against Fire - 7
Revisiting yet again the technology of a brain implant that affects our vision of the world, literally and figuratively, this episode explores indoctrination and brainwashing, with the underlying themes of racism and basic human compassion. It is a fine analogy of how the media and governments would have us think of immigrants and the “dangers” of anything “not us”. A tad obvious, and doesn’t really go anywhere new once the twist is revealed. Visually quite stunning, but not as strong as other episodes that cover similar ground.
Hated in the Nation - 8.5
With a running time of 89 minutes, this is essentially what happens when Black Mirror pushes an idea to feature length. Allowing more time for character development does make a difference, and the tension build in this fine concept for a thriller also benefits from a few extra minutes. The ever reliable Kelly MacDonald is the cornerstone of a strong cast, on the hunt for the mind behind a series of killings by killer bee drones, targeted at a democratically elected “most hated” person every day, based on a public vote. An exploration of media vilification and how easy it can be to manipulate our idea of someone’s identity and judge their actions and even personalities based on one wrong thing they may have said or done. The episode is a who-dunnit? A why-doit? And, framed, with the backdrop of the inquest surrounding events, both a good cop movie and a courtroom drama. Charlie Brooker has hinted that some of these characters may return at some point. I’m all for it.
We had to wait almost another 2 years for the Netflix investment to show a product, and in time for Halloween 2016 we got the super-glossy re-boot of Nosedive, with a big name up front and lots of anticipation. The tone was instantly more playful; less British, more inclusive to a world audience. It tackled with a wry humour the universal phenomenon of popularity and everything being rated, most notably, people themselves. In a future world of sunshine and pastel shades it has become the norm to rate every interaction, from buying coffee to buying a house, in the hope of becoming one of the beautiful people rated above a 4.5. It cleverly questions the motivations for that desire, and the pitfalls of false behaviour and the manipulation from an elite standpoint. It isn’t necessary to imagine this future, as we are virtually there already, and all this episode does is heighten the idea to hyperbolic proportions. Rated down by many viewers because it is “annoying”, but that is entirely the point: the whole thing makes you want to scream!
Playtest - 6.5
Also available for Halloween (as was the whole season, in standard Netflix style) came a chance to explore what really scares us! And… they blew it. Sure, the idea that gaming and VR becomes so photo realistic it seems entirely real isn’t far away. But, making it personal to a very annoying character dissolves all tension quite early on. Some mild jump scares aside, this has to go down as a missed opportunity. Notable only for the re-occurance of the White Bear symbol.
Shut Up and Dance - 7
This is the one most likely to make you think, hmm, that is too far! An uncomfortable episode, not only because of the subject matter and ultimate revelation, but because of the intense nastiness that pervades it. No doubt that tension is intentional, and therefore effective to a degree, but for me it crosses the line of entertainment and becomes simply nasty. Being unafraid to tackle controversial subjects is to be applauded, but the execution has to be note perfect, or the risk is the backlash this episode received. A cautionary tale about surveillance, data theft, blackmail and our personal online responsibility. Not a bad piece, just a slight misjudgment on tone and delivery.
San Junipero - 9.5
Just when critics were sharpening their pens that Netflix had ruined the potential of Black Mirror in its first phase, comes an almost perfect piece of TV that is literally heavenly! Everything about San Junipero is a work of art! Another “blind” episode that takes a while to unravel; the pacing and realisation of which is so beautifully judged that, from a writing point of view, this has to be seen as the pinnacle of the show to date. Mackenzie Davis is extraordinary as the vulnerable, shy and naive Yorkie, looking for a connection in an 80s nightclub, filled with nostalgia and cultural memes galore. The music alone is not only sing aloud perfect, but chosen for storytelling reasons so clever it raises goosebumps! The relationship between Yorkie and Kelly, an equally great Gugu Mbatha-Raw, is filled with chemistry and nuance, drawing us in to a place so deep that when the penny drops on what is really going on it draws a gasp and then possibly tears – I know it did for me! The mechanics of the technology that would make this story possible does raise a lot of questions, but in the end it is better to accept it as an allegory for love, life and our ideas of “eternity”. Don’t look too deeply at the how, but marvel at the why, and this could be the best hour of TV you will ever see! So rewatchable, rich and rewarding; the only reason not to make this a feature length big budget film is that how could it possibly be improved?
Men Against Fire - 7
Revisiting yet again the technology of a brain implant that affects our vision of the world, literally and figuratively, this episode explores indoctrination and brainwashing, with the underlying themes of racism and basic human compassion. It is a fine analogy of how the media and governments would have us think of immigrants and the “dangers” of anything “not us”. A tad obvious, and doesn’t really go anywhere new once the twist is revealed. Visually quite stunning, but not as strong as other episodes that cover similar ground.
Hated in the Nation - 8.5
With a running time of 89 minutes, this is essentially what happens when Black Mirror pushes an idea to feature length. Allowing more time for character development does make a difference, and the tension build in this fine concept for a thriller also benefits from a few extra minutes. The ever reliable Kelly MacDonald is the cornerstone of a strong cast, on the hunt for the mind behind a series of killings by killer bee drones, targeted at a democratically elected “most hated” person every day, based on a public vote. An exploration of media vilification and how easy it can be to manipulate our idea of someone’s identity and judge their actions and even personalities based on one wrong thing they may have said or done. The episode is a who-dunnit? A why-doit? And, framed, with the backdrop of the inquest surrounding events, both a good cop movie and a courtroom drama. Charlie Brooker has hinted that some of these characters may return at some point. I’m all for it.