vivdunstan

I mentioned over a month ago that I'd started rewatching Daredevil seasons 1-3, ready for the new Daredevil Born Again series. Which is a continuation to a large extent. I made some progress back then, but then stalled for a month. Yesterday I resumed, rewatching at speed episodes 5-13 of season 1, and so far episodes 1-10 of season 2. At this rate I expect to have rewatched or watched all 3 seasons before next week's new series launch.

To be fair I'm not watching the full episodes, skipping a lot of the lengthy fight scenes, and also skipping some of the more lengthy verbose bits. Typically I can get through a nearly hour long episode in 20 minutes. Even 15 minutes sometimes. Which has let me get through it quickly, in very limited awake time.

However I will need to pay more attention to most of season 3. I only watched the first few episodes of that originally. So I will want to take a bit more time watching that. But I still expect to get through the lot before the March 5th launch of Daredevil Born Again.

It's interesting rewatching even at speed. So many iconic moments. It also feels that season 1 was a more coherent whole than season 2, even if the additions of the Punisher and Elektra are generally successful.

I'm also struck by how long a lot of the fight scenes are, that I can largely skip this time, at least through to a certain point in season 3. And it doesn't look as though Born Again is going to tone down the brutality.

It's also apparent how good and effective the supporting cast is. Even if many of them are eventually killed off one way or another. And the plotting is strong too.

Anyway yes, Daredevil Born Again coming to Disney+ on 5th March. And I should have rewatched Daredevil's previous 3 seasons in time. Even if in my confusion I keep thinking they're still on Netflix, not on Disney+.

One thing I was pleased about today is that I was wheeling myself well around the Kimono exhibition in between Martin pushing me. Definitely better than when I was at Tartan a year ago. I’m often very weak in my arms or otherwise struggling to control them. But this morning my arms and also hand grip were good. I was also coping well with a very packed and busy room. Though sitting down helped with that! Now in bed and going back to sleep!

So phenomenally sedated at the moment - this has been going on for many weeks in the latest bout, but recurring for many years, if not decades. It's like I've taken a strong tranquilliser. And as if there's a curtain shutting down in my brain. I finally struggle up for dinner, very sleepy, then back to bed after. Thank goodness I don't have much to do! I do have a game to finish off for IFComp in the next few weeks. But that is final polishing. I started coding early for very good reason ... But yup, could do without this.

And yes, we know why this happens to me, with my progressive neurological disease and also recurring post Covid vaccine neuro flares. Throwing more treatment at it doesn't seem to help. It's just where I am, and it's getting worse. But hey, lucky to be here after 30 years of this. Just don't want to sleep all the time ...

Struggled enormously to wake at 4.30pm - still very heavily sedated from my latest post Covid vaccine neuro flare. But currently - miraculously! - awake enough to fix a couple of key bugs in my IFComp text adventure game. I have a couple more weeks to work on it before the final round of playtesting. Still have one big structural change to make, as well as many small things (I'm about halfway through my to do list). But pleased with tonight's brief work. Which I have also tested as much as I can re the new code. Lots of running around locations in the game, trying to beat a time issue, and also observe what happens in different places and different situations.

Looking ahead to the next week, when among much sleeping (thanks not neuro illness!) I hope to get my IFComp 2024 text game ready or almost ready to go out to playtesters. Who I will also then look to recruit. I adore writing parser interactive fiction. But it definitely needs good playtesting help!

I'm aiming to enter a text adventure / interactive fiction game in this year's IFComp. Which is running a month earlier than usual. Games must be completed and ready for the competition by late August. For a parser text adventure game that will also have to include sufficient playtesting and bug fixing time.

I've been very ill the last few weeks, not least with Covid round 3, so everything is behind. But I've just - while about to drop off to sleep again! - had a brainstorm re the later part of the game, which I need to code next. I can see the way forward. So I'm going to try to concentrate on coding that in the coming month.

Today the Spring Thing festival of interactive fiction opened, with lots more new games to play. I have entered this competition in the past. It's a lovely annual event each year in the IF calendar. Normally I'd try to review as many entries as possible, and take part in judging. But I think this year I need to focus on completing my own game for IFComp. I am also time and energy challenged right now to review anything. But it's nice to know SpringThing continues.

I’ve two fiction books well on the go that I’m hugely enjoying - The House in the Cerulean Sea and the first Redwall book - but I’ve been unable to read them for a couple of weeks now. Just totally exhausted at bed time. And during the day I’m generally asleep too. And a 3 month long neurological illness flare likely starting in a week. So I’m not sure if I’ll finish any more books by the end of this calendar year. Fortunately I reached my 50 books reading challenge goal a month ago (and haven’t finished a book since). It’s amazing I can still read at all for fun, given how much I struggle with print now, and how much I sleep. Thank goodness for eBooks with gargantuan font options! But even that’s not helping enough right now.

Had hoped to watch the D&D film this weekend, but I’m way too sleepy. Martin woke me with difficulty at 4.30pm. Then after dinner I had to go back to sleep 8.30-11. But managed some stuff after, including watching the first Sandman bonus episode (there’s technically one bonus episode 11, but it’s 2 separate stories, one after the other). This adapts the cats story in the original comics in animated form. I was really looking forward to this, though also rather dreading it because of something that happens in the story. But the TV version was well done, with good animation and voice acting. Also some nice familiar voices. We will watch the Calliope story next week. Which again I am keen to see, but at the same time dreading in some respects even more.

Goals for this coming week: get some chromatic button accordion practice in, listen to more SHARP book history conference talks, and work on some academic papers. Fingers crossed, in between inevitably much sleep.