Author seancarslake

St Francis’ Folly: Is this the greatest ‘Tomb Raider’ level ever?

seancarslake Leave a comment

I can remember the amazing scale and haunting music of this incredible level back in 1996 when I first played ‘Tomb Raider’ on the original PlayStation. Up until then I had never experienced anything like this in a video game, and almost thirty years later I had the pleasure of doing it all over again – with ‘Tomb Raider Trilogy: Remastered’ on PS5.

To complete this area – where one slip from any of the ledges is certain death – Lara Croft has to access four chambers named after mythological figures: – Thor, Atlas, Damocles and Neptune. Each room contains a puzzle – one relevant to each character – that must be solved in order to gain a special key.

The ‘Thor’ room involves lightning and a large hammer – but no Chris Hemsworth. ‘Damocles’ features an array of over-sized swords that drop from the ceiling at random. ‘Neptune’ involves pulling an underwater switch and claiming the key before running out of breath. ‘Atlas’ contains an aggressive gorilla and a rolling boulder trap a la Indiana Jones.

My reflexes aren’t what they were all those years ago, but this older and slower version of myself still managed to complete the level without too much bother.

I’ve already put up a few posts on social media featuring screenshots of my progress through the game, as the work done in remastering this classic is simply blowing me away. Below are a series of captures placing both the updated version and the 1996 original together for a comparison – with snaps from the newer game on top.

As you may be able to tell, the 2024 version of ‘Tomb Raider’ is a shade darker than the original game, which would be my only criticism – as sometimes I have found it hard to explore and see where I am going. Not only that, but it is easy to miss secrets and pickups, especially if they are tucked away in a dark corner. That tiny gripe aside, the effort put into the design of this game is second-to-none – resulting in a visually spectacular adventure.

If I recall correctly, the next couple of levels – ‘The Colosseum’ and ‘The Cistern’ – were also amazing, so I might put together some more screenshots once I have completed those challenges. However, this might take a few weeks as I cannot somersault and flip about whilst shooting lions and gorillas like I could back in the 1990’s.

‘Tomb Raider Trilogy: Remastered’ is available at the PlayStation store or at any good video game retailer for anywhere between $40-$60 Australian dollars.

Vale Wayne Northrop and Drake Hogestyn.

seancarslake Leave a comment

I only heard about the passing of these two actors last night after watching a YouTube video featuring famous people who died in 2024.

Coincidentally, both men played the role of Roman Brady on ‘Days Of Our Lives’, although I believe that Hogestyn was really a character called John Black all along – who was brainwashed into thinking he ‘might’ be Brady when he was first introduced onto the show – correct me if I’m wrong, but we all know how the plots of these soap operas work.

If I’m being honest here, I only remember these characters because my friends and I used to mock this show relentlessly back in the late eighties/early nineties – if only to annoy our mothers who were passionate fans of the serial – with John Black (Hogestyn) perhaps receiving the most ridicule.

I can even recall a friend secretly video-recording an episode of ‘Days’ while his mum was watching, where John Black was entertaining an attractive woman for dinner – yet for some reason had forgotten to wear a shirt. Naturally, when my mate brought the VHS tape around for us all to watch we ended up in hysterics, as Black posed around half-dressed whilst slowly lighting the candles after dimming the room – as well as somehow conjuring up a sumptuous meal – much to the satisfaction of his guest.

But all that aside, I was shocked and saddened when I saw Drake Hogestyn’s face show up on my screen during the obituaries show, and it immediately brought back memories. I then began thinking about some of the other cast members, in particular the ‘real’ Roman Brady – and only a few minutes later Northrop himself was featured on the same video – having passed away only two months after his co-star.

Drake Hogestyn (John Black) died from pancreatic cancer on September 28th, 2024.

Wayne Northrop (Roman Brady) died from Alzheimer’s Disease on November 29th, 2024.

Magazine covers and images courtesy of Soap Opera Times and Soap Opera Digest.

More artwork from the ‘Fighting Fantasy’ book series.

seancarslake Leave a comment

Following on from my article about the first two entries in the series, we now move on to appreciate the art from books three and four: – ‘The Forest of Doom’ and ‘Starship Traveller’.

These were two very different editions, with ‘Forest of Doom’ continuing on with the fantasy/sorcery genre, whilst ‘Starship Traveller’ veered off on a science-fiction trajectory and introduced a more complex system of game play.

‘The Forest of Doom’ was illustrated by Malcolm Barter, and his style is similar to Russ Nicholson – who provided the artwork for the previous two books.

Not only did ‘Starship Traveller’ go in a different direction plot-wise, but the illustrations were also on an alternate wavelength. I’ll be honest here and say that I did not like this change, and never read/played this book as a result.

Examples of the artwork from Peter Andrew Jones are below.

To me, there is something about the sword and sorcery art that gives it an edge – perhaps there is more imagination and menace immersed into the illustrations – who knows?

I am not being overly critical of the designs from ‘Starship Traveller’ as they are stylish and futuristic, but I just find the artwork from ‘The Forest of Doom’ – as well as ‘The Warlock of Firetop Mountain’ and ‘The Citadel of Chaos’ – vastly superior.

Cover art and illustrations courtesy of Fighting Fantasy and Puffin Books.

The longest – and most bizarre – staring contest ever!

seancarslake Leave a comment

In the lead-up to Sunday’s big heavyweight fight, the two combatants – Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk – engaged in the longest stare-down I have ever seen.

That is quite an achievement, as I have followed boxing for over forty years, and have not seen anything like this before.

Experts and commentators alike were perplexed by the duration of this psychological battle, where neither man was prepared to give an inch – until concerned event organisers and members of their entourages stepped in before anything stupid could happen.

I have added a link below – courtesy of TNT Sports Boxing YouTube Channel – where the strange scene can be watched in its entirety.

Usyk v Fury II is expected to begin at around 9am Sunday morning. (Australian time)

Photos and video courtesy of TNT Sports Boxing.

The Parramatta Light Rail is here – at long last!

seancarslake Leave a comment

In what can truly be described as a Christmas miracle, the first passenger services commenced this morning – bringing a five-year period of confusion and delays to a sudden end.

Although I have been an outspoken critic of how long it took to complete this important project, my mission for today was to be one of the first people to ride on the new service and give an honest and fair assessment.

I will get straight to the point: – This was an excellent experience!

The stations were simple yet slick and stylish – and all the Opal tap-on machines were working – with plenty of staff around to answer any questions. Trams were running on time, with one arriving every seven minutes on average as per the timetable.

As a proud Parramatta local – it’s a big ‘thumbs up’ from me!

For those not familiar with this new tram line, it runs from Westmead to Carlingford (in the Western Suburbs of Sydney) – through the Parramatta CBD – as outlined in the map below.

To wrap up this glowing report on the Parramatta Light Rail, I did create two videos of my inaugural ride on the new trams and they can be watched via the YouTube links below.

I tried Randonautica for the first time.

seancarslake Leave a comment

Having watched some disturbing YouTube videos about the Randonautica app, I couldn’t help myself and decided to try it out first-hand.

Selecting a small radius on the map around Parramatta in Western Sydney, the app managed to give me three random locations to investigate.

The first marker was situated within the boundaries of Parramatta Park, on the opposite side of the river from the stadium.

Accessing the park via a pedestrian bridge, I then followed the map on my phone until the target was within only a few metres.

Unfortunately there was nothing obvious or out of place when I reached the spot, and I came to the conclusion that the anomaly was most likely a tree stump. Perhaps there was something unusual attached to this location at some point?

I did create a short YouTube video about this adventure into Parramatta Park, which gives a decent insight as to how Randonautica works and can be watched via the link below.

My second and third missions took me to two different addresses in Parramatta.

As the map above indicates, one was on the fence of two private properties on Victoria Road – most likely the garage or shed underneath the marker, and shown in the photo below.

The other was an address on nearby Morton Street, and seemingly once again on the boundary of two private properties.

Of course, the footpaths outside these addresses were the closest I was able to go, but the Morton Street marker did appear to be on the nature strip adjacent to the house, but again there was nothing there that was either mysterious or noteworthy.

My YouTube video of these adventures is in the link below.

My overall impression of Randonautica is that at the very least the concept is intriguing. To be fair, I only operated within a very limited radius (only 1 to 2 km) and I am certain that if I expand on that at a later date then I might come across something of interest.

Watch this space!

‘The Ultimate Warrior’ – a 1975 post-apocalyptic classic!

seancarslake Leave a comment

Starring the legendary Yul Brynner and Max Von Sydow, ‘The Ultimate Warrior’ is set in a futuristic New York City after a series of epidemics have decimated the world’s population.

The story revolves around a mysterious warrior named Carson (Brynner) who is offered a place to live inside a safe compound by their leader Baron (Von Sydow) in return for him escorting some of the occupants to a safe haven outside of the city.

The movie is straight-forward enough and follows the typical plot and formula of other similar films of that era. It’s not one of the better known sci-fi efforts from this decade, but certainly stands up in terms of set design and cinematography.

There are lots of action scenes – particularly fighting – as the title suggests, with an ageing Brynner holding his own. I should also point out that the main antagonist in the film, ‘Carrot’ is played by William Smith – the gravelly-voiced bad guy starring in a number of movies and TV shows over the years.

This film may have slipped under the radar of most sci-fi fans, as it would have been overshadowed by some of the more famous movies released during the same period. However, it did make $9 million at the box office from a budget of around $800,000 – which is a pretty good return and perhaps an indication of Brynner’s star power.

If you enjoyed films such as ‘Soylent Green’ and ‘Escape from New York’ – with some knife fighting and red paint splashed about – then ‘The Ultimate Warrior’ is well worth checking out.

Screenshots courtesy of Warner Bros and Columbia Pictures.

I finally watched ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’

seancarslake Leave a comment

Having heard that this sequel took a sharp turn away from the brilliant 2019 film, I decided to stay away from the cinema and wait until it was available to stream before watching it.

Now that I have seen ‘Joker II’, to say that it deviates from the winning formula of the first film is an understatement. It wasn’t the disaster that some are claiming it to be; the mood and style were still there, the song and dance routines gave the audience a clever insight into the mental state of the main characters, and it was well designed and directed.

However, this is not what the average fan wanted to see.

Without spoiling anything for those who still want to see this movie, all I will say is that for the first twenty minutes it looked like we were in for a film similar to the first one – but then the musical numbers kicked in. Quite simply, there were way too many!

There were good moments in the film that were more in line with the original ‘Joker’, but these were few and far between – with the standout for me being the courtroom scene between Arthur and Gary Puddles – and needless to say, all the performances in the movie were solid.

But the flaws easily outweighed the positives, and I was very disappointed in this movie.

I loved the first film and must have watched it four or five times – in fact, I could put it on right now and be glued to the screen from start to end. Watching the sequel had the opposite effect on me, and I could not digest it all in one sitting – it took me four sessions to complete over a couple of days. This is important to note, as one of the reasons why the first film did so well at the box office was through people returning to the cinema to watch it a second time.

For the record, I gave this film two stars (out of five) on Rotten Tomatoes.

All screenshots courtesy of Warner Bros

Artwork from the ‘Fighting Fantasy’ book series.

seancarslake Leave a comment

‘Fighting Fantasy’ is a series of books that was first released in the early 1980’s and were written (mostly) by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. I loved reading these (or playing them) back when I was in school, and can recall just how awesome the opening ten to twelve books were – so much so that I can still remember the plots and characters.

The illustrations scattered throughout the pages would bring to life many scenes within the adventures, and were drawn in a style that created a both a sense of dread and wonder. Although the artwork for every book in this series was first class, I always felt that the pictures in the first two publications – ‘The Warlock of Firetop Mountain’ and ‘Citadel of Chaos’ – created by Russ Nicholson had a little something extra about them.

I will post a follow-up article about the other artists involved in the series at a later date and showcase their excellent work, but for now the focus shall be on Nicholson’s illustrations.

These are from ‘The Warlock of Firetop Mountain’.

And the pictures below are from ‘The Citadel of Chaos’.

Fighting Fantasy books can be purchased online, with sellers such as Amazon offering a brand-new boxed set of the first dozen books. Of course, there are many second-hand titles available through eBay, but the books are now forty years old and probably played through many times – and are therefore a little worse for wear.

Russ Nicholson sadly passed away in 2023, and will be remembered for his legendary fantasy art that can be appreciated across many projects including ‘White Dwarf’ and ‘Warhammer’.

All images courtesy of Fighting Fantasy, Puffin Books and Russ Nicholson.

Van Diemen’s Land artwork by John Glover

seancarslake Leave a comment

John Glover was born in England in 1767 and migrated to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) in 1831. Glover was already an established painter before moving to Tasmania, and would go on to create some of his most famous works during his later years there.

Glover’s paintings can be found in a number of museums and art galleries across Australia. There is an annual art competition named in his honour that takes place in the Tasmanian town of Evandale, near to where he lived, as well as a statue of the artist in one of the local parks.

I have highlighted four of his most famous works; a couple of which should be familiar to anyone from the Apple Isle.

‘Hobart Town taken from the garden where I used to live.’ (1832) – State Library of NSW.

This is the modern day view of Glover’s home – known as Stanwell Hall – situated on Melville Street, West Hobart. It is the building with the flag flying and you can still see the sandstone walls, although it has undergone some renovations over the years.

‘A view of the artist’s house and garden, in Mills Plains, Van Diemen’s Land.’ (1835) – Art Gallery of South Australia.

Here is a recent photo of Glover’s homestead at Deddington, Tasmania.

‘Natives on the Ouse River, Van Diemen’s Land.’ (1838) – Art Gallery of NSW.
‘Mount Wellington and Hobart Town from Kangaroo Point.‘ (1831-33) – National Gallery of Australia.

This location at Bellerive is near to where Glover would have found his inspiration. Any local would tell you that his interpretation of Mount Wellington (kunanyi) is slightly exaggerated and it seems he has taken some liberty with elevation as well – but these factors make this painting all the more impressive.

There is a lot more information about John Glover available online, including a decent Wikipedia biography and a website for ‘Glover Country’ in Deddington, Tasmania.

See links below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Glover_(artist)

https://www.glovercountry.com.au/

Photos courtesy of Wikipedia, Google Maps and other online sources.