NHLiptak

This is my favorite video game. I'm 53, and it's Christmastime '22.

Success at this game requires an understanding of the following: when animals leave the pen and enter play, they travel AWAY FROM Zeke, using Zeke's location and the point halfway around the board in determining their initial direction as they "land" in play.

Once you've mastered control of this dynamic, scores can multiply quickly. Jump all 15 animals at once? That's 30,000,000 points. (I've done it once on my Ultracade). Jump 10 animals in one go for a quick 1,000,000.

No cheating during the platform stages: yes, you can multiply your score by hopping up and down among the top levels. Instead, work on recognizing the platform patterns if and when you reach the "Invisible" level.

Earn extra keepers jumping animals and enclosures (they're actually cages) to reach Zelda (not THAT Zelda, but this version appeared first!) and continue play.

Re-pen lions worth 30- to 70,000 points apiece, and your score can indeed turn the machine over. However, your final score is remembered and can be recorded along with your initials, should you become an all-time keeper.

Gameplay is never the same. Lions -- and all animals, for that matter -- run at different speeds, even if a level is interrupted with Zeke's death. Besides, there's no telling how an animal will leave the pen and where an animal will enter play.

Unless, of course, you learn to control that, too ...

Why do I watch Red Rock? Why do I look forward to the next episode? Well, this show is crisply paced and it's fairly well acted. Ultimately, I have to like (at least one of) the characters, and I have to root for someone. Here, Red Rock is solid. From Garda Cleere to Det. Tyrell to Supt. McKay, Red Rock features regular folks -- they all have issues, just like I do -- whom I'd want as neighbors here in New England, folks I'd be honored to sit down and share a pint with in Ireland.

Of course, there's evil in Red Rock, and the police, plus some of the other townspeople, do battle in back alleys and hallways, on street corners and mobile phones, sometimes with criminals and sometimes with each other.

It's the details -- looks of anguish or triumph, phrases packed with anger or angst, with big, broad troubles like murder and pedophilia sharing the canvas -- that make this drama pop. For a soap opera, it surely seems real to me, so I care.

Well done. There's room for growth to be sure, but I want to see more. (nearly 8 out of 10)

My wife, 41, and I, 45, love Gavin and Stacey, largely due to the fine writing and interesting character development of the show's supporting players, Ruth Jones and James Corden. Catastrophe, on the other hand, stays with its leads -- thank goodness -- through an abbreviated six-episode opening season, and we're both hooked.

Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney star in this frank and funny look at two generally kind-hearted adults in London. One's a frustrated Irish school teacher; the other's a knuckle-headed American ad executive. They hook up, then team up, after Horgan's Sharon Morris is knocked up by Delaney's Rob Norris during a week-long sex slog.

That this odd, endearing couple is surrounded and supported almost completely by assholes is just part of their troubles, and it's a flaw that must be addressed if this Catastrophe is going to grow. Indeed, it's almost solely to the daffy duo's credit, both on screen and as co-writers, that the show avoids the mean-spirited ditch lurking around each episode's next twisted turn.

The serious events Sharon and Rob stumble through -- often based on the personal experiences of 45-year-old Horgan and 38-year-old Delaney - - are handled delicately or bluntly as warranted. But it's the honesty of the leads, who riotously portray two human beings with big mouths and big hearts, that's so attractive.

We look forward to their next Catastrophe.