HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
I decided to give Shadow of the Colossus (thank you, firefly99! ♥!) a try yesterday. It is a very beautiful game, and I'm enjoying the running-over-the-landscapey bits, but it turns out that I am absolutely bloody terrified of the colossi. When one turns up, I completely freak out and run to hide behind the nearest walkthrough, which would be pathetic in any game but is especially pathetic in a game consisting more or less entirely of puzzle bosses. You're supposed to work out how to defeat them yourself! That's the entire point!

(I had similar moments when playing Silent Hill 2. 'I don't want to be in this town! Hold my hand, Internet!' When I walked into the huge, dark, empty courtyard in the prison, I panicked, exited immediately and refused to enter again until I'd looked it up online and found out what was in there. Basically, if anything in a videogame genuinely frightens me, I immediately lose all my credibility as a gamer. It is shameful.)

Anyway, I'm about four colossi in, and when I next play the game I am going to try to be a little more brave and a little less walkthrough-dependent. The colossi are really scary, though.


Of course, the terror of the colossi pales next to the terror of going to see Derren Brown in person. Yesterday evening, sos_your_face, reipan, hippyjolteon, sacred_sarcasm, _afterism, cryforthemoon and I went to the Adelphi to see Enigma, his latest stage show.

This isn't going to be much of a reaction post, I'm afraid, because we have been sworn to secrecy and cannot tell you anything of what there transpired. Here are some things I can tell you:

1) Derren Brown is incredibly frightening,
2) Derren Brown is incredibly hot, and
3) these two facts may not be entirely unconnected.

Also, it was excellent and I really enjoyed myself. Derren Brown is hilarious and charismatic and fantastic to watch, whether you're impressed by his tricks or not (I was, for the most part; whilst I could work out how some of it was probably done, some aspects have me entirely stumped). And the very end was a moment of absolute magical genius. And, whilst none of us were called up on stage, some members of our group had interesting experiences.

Much of the evening was spent accusing various members of our group of being Derren Brown. Today, waiting at the train station, sos_your_face and I came to the conclusion that we were, in fact, collectively Derren Brown, each of us representing a different aspect.

sos_your_face: I'm his shortness.
rionaleonhart: Yes, you're his height complex. What am I?
sos_your_face: You're his narcissism. All the writing fanfiction about yourself.
rionaleonhart: (laughs) Yes, if I am Derren Brown, I'm definitely very narcissistic.
sos_your_face: reipan's the part of him that gets really bouncy and excited about things. Who's his creepiness, though?
rionaleonhart: ...that's a good point.
sos_your_face: None of us are really that creepy.
rionaleonhart: This is frustrating! Our Derren Brown is incomplete! We need to find a really creepy person to join our group. (pause) Wait, we didn't meet lasayla, did we?
sos_your_face: We didn't! I bet she's creepy. Obviously she wasn't with us because she was up on the stage.

We're sorry, lasayla. I'm sure you're not really the physical incarnation of Derren Brown's creepiness.