Tuesday 30 December 2008

Most Anticipated Film

2008 was a great movie year, with a huge amount of fun had at the cinema. This new year, which I have been calling 2009, look set to be similarly great. Here are the films I am looking forward to the most:

1. Star Trek
I am a huge fan of J.J Abrams, and when he comes along and makes the new Star Trek movie, with a new cast and a fresh outlook, I get excited. After watching the astounding trailer, I. Cannot. Wait.

2. Watchmen
I have been reading the comic, and it is incredible. When this film arrives, it could be mind-blowing.

3. Transformers 2
When I first watched Transformers I was dissapointed. When I saw it a second time I got the point, and realised how much fun it was. Nobody makes a Michael Bay movie like Michael Bay.

Friday 26 December 2008

Christmas...

I am so full I can hardly type...

Thursday 25 December 2008

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all!

May a great time with presents, food and family be had.

Tuesday 23 December 2008

A T-Rex Cannot...

PCGamer recently ran a joke, based upon why it would be unfortunate to be a T-Rex on account of having such short arms. Arms of such a diminutive nature would surely be a dissadvantage in the modernw world, and as such mankind is superior to a T-Rex, in that they cannot do so many things. This joke has had me thinking, and so here I type, writing down all the things I imagine a T-Rex would have trouble with. Incfedibly, this list is, almost entirely, my own work! Huzzah!

A T-Rex Cannot:

001. Cope with the crushing loneliness of existence...
002. Stop laughing at that water-skiing squirrel...
003. Catch that pidgeon - now!
004. Put on a hat
005. Arm-Wrestle
006. Reach the shark repellent bat-spray.
007. Perform Seppuku.
008. Draw Brian’s Guide.
009. Put in headphones.
010. Use semaphore flags.
011. Ride a horse.
012. Stop the music.
013. Steeple their fingers and say “excellent.”
014.Perform the Haka with the All Blacks.
015. Fire a arrow with a longbow.
016. Reach for the sky.
017. Give a cracker to their shoulder-parrot, Polly.
018. Attach their braces to their trousers.
019. Use a knife-wrench.
010. Do the Safety Dance.
011. Be fired. He quits.
012. Wield a Bat’leth.
013. Wave away pungent odours efficiently.
014. Save the Princess. She is in another castle.
015. Accept Serenity as Canon.
016. Put in contact lenses.
017. Swat a fly that has landed on the tip of their nose.
018. Save Emperor Uriel Septim VII.
019. Drink Shots.
020. Pick up Desdemona’s handkerchief.
021. Catch the Golden Snitch with ease.
022. Play a DS.
023. Catch ‘em all.
024. Perform a tracheotomy.
025. Defend themselves against ear-poison attack while asleep.
026. Speak into their hand-held dictaphone.
027. Stop the rain from fallin’.
028. Button their shirt.
029. Chose ‘tween Captains Kirk and Picard.
030. Bounce on a space hopper.
031. Tie their tie.
032. Adjust the sliding transporter controls on the Enterprise.
033. Salute.
034. Hammer a nail.
035. Do the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs.
036. Effectively contribute to a Mexican Wave.
037. Pick items off the highest shelves in supermarkets.
038. Brandish a yellow card dramatically during a football match.
039. Brandish a red card dramatically during a football match.
040. Do the rolex sweep.
041. Manoeuvre the submarine periscope.
042. Retrieve a tennis ball that has rolled under a car.
043. Do the YMCA
044. Put in their own cufflinks.
045. Pinch a nosebleed.
046. Defend against the Corbomite Manoeuvre.
047. Apply Mascara.
048. Remove Mascara.
049. Simultaneously pat their head and rub their stomachs.
050. Pat their head - at all.
051. Pick Apples.
052. Catch me. I’m the Gingerbreadman!
053. Mime being trapped in a glass box.
054. Tip their hat to a passin’ lady.
055. Covertly speak into a wrist-microphone.
056. Apply Lipstick.
057. Apply Lip balm.
058. Play a violin.
059. Play the world’s smallest violin.
060. Fit to the proportions of Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man.
061. Participate in either half of the Swanee-Kazoo round on I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue.
062. Put this Babel fish in their ear.
063. Trim their nose-hairs.
064. Proudly hold high the ‘V for Victory’.
065. Put on a wrist-watch.
066. Wolf-Whistle.
067. Bring back Pushing Daisies.
068. Accurately represent the size of a fish that got away.
069. A Kamehameha.
070. Style hair.
071. Play the cello.
072. Dry their tears.
073. Twirl a mustache.
074. Cover for Atlas.
075. Floss their teeth.

076. Throw a pokéball like Ash.
077. Perform a Vulcan mind-meld.
078. Take the midnight train going anywhere.
079. Use Binoculars.
080. Fit the Star Wars prequels with the original canon.
081. Handle the truth.
082. Put on their own clown make-up.
083. Hold a shell to their ear and hear the sea.
084. Shop at Tesco (guide-dogs only)
085. Adjust a microscope during use.
086. Play an ocarina.
087. Play a harmonica.
088. Reach the hip holster of their six-shooter.
089. Pull the parachute rip-cord.
090. Understand this thing you humans call "love".
091. Throw a lasso around the moon and pull it down.

092. Juggle
093. Open a jar
094. Tie their shoe-laces
095. High-Five
096. Brush their teeth
097. Realise a life-long ambition of becoming a world-famous trapeze artist.
098. Apply Shampoo
099. Rinse Shampoo
100. Repeat

Sunday 21 December 2008

24: Redemption

I have to say, I had forgotten how much fun 24 can be. Watchin' Jack Bauer getting caught up in circumstances beyond his control is incredibly tense and makes for one enjoyable tv-movie. As a stand-alone movie, Redemption may have been unremarkable. To be fair, it had a small amount of politics just to remind us that is what will make up the filler of the new season, and some action and torture to remind us that is what Jack wll be forced, by circumstance, towards, but that was about it. As a movie, it was really quite unnecceary. The plot was not one we really needed to see - there was no reason for Jack to go to Africa, and it all seemed rather forced. All this, just to get us set for the new season, with Jack awaiting trial for crimes he had commited in order to save the nation, and what loooks like a conspiracy that the president's son has become involved in. But set us up it did, and now I am excited.

One nitpick. After season 4, Jack went on the run. He had to stay low, to avoid the Chinese. After season 5, he was sent to a Chinese jail, were he stayed until the begining on season 6, after which he fled the USA and has toured less developed countries, such as India and Sangala. According to my calculations, it will be about 8 years since Jack left CTU. Surely, after that length of time, he would be out of the loop of the who's-who of terrorism. But, I guess, after all the plotlines that 24 has been through, this would be a rather small thing for me to be picking up on...

Only a few more weeks, and then 24 is back. But dont forget, those weeks of waiting take place in real time.

Friday 12 December 2008

My Two Most Hated People in TV

I love television. I think that is a fair assessment. In this industry, there are a huge number of incredibly talented people making some wonderful shows, people who I wish all the best for and cannot wait to see what they do next. Sadly, not everyone in the industry is like this. Some of them are complete assholes, ruining once great, or potentially great shows. Two, especially, stick out in my mind. I hate them.

Tim Kring.

This man is an utter imbecile. The first season of Heroes was genius. It took superhero conventions,and established them in a world of normality. It was show of people struggling to find out who they truly are, as we all are, but with superpowers thrown in as a bonus. It mixed the trials of life with the extraordinary to be both relatable and exciting. It was an incredible show.

But Kring had a principle, of “writing based on the idea of what happens next, and not knowing where you’re going, intrigued by the idea of writing kind of blindly towards an ending." In some cases this is not the wrong approach. The majority of shows start production before scripts are completed. However, generally the writers and producers have some idea of what is going to happen. This way they create story arcs and can use subtle prolepsis to create a universe for their show. Kring does not do this. He stumbles around.

Kring has no respect for the audience. When he is not actively insulting them, he is making absurd statments about how the new medium of TV on demand has killed serialised dramas, a suggesting which just makes no sense. He spends long periods introducing plot lines or characters before dropping them unceremoiously, with no sense of conclusion. Heroes now has no flow, each episode mangles what went before, strangling the canon, and making, quite simply, absolutly no sense as a narrative arc. We have gone from the achingly slow season two and arrived at a rocket paced mess that makes no sense. There is no continuity. Characters are, for the third time, repeatring their stories from season one, or are being forced into uncharacteristic directions for no good reason. He has now decided that a high tempo will replace good writing.

Kring has killed Heroes. He took one of the greatest shows I have ever seen, and solidly and consistently destroyed it, hacking away at everything that was once great. For this I despise the man. I hate him.

Salvation?

Kring originally designed the cast of Heroes to be constantly changing. He intended for a completely new cast to come around frequently, introducing new stories and new threads. Instead, the Network Executives at NBC forced Kring to keep the same cast, writing stories for characters that were never intended to have multiple story arcs, and so repetition ensued. The Writers strike did not help, lobotomising everything he was building towards with season two. But, nonetheless, he has taken one of the greatest television series I have ever seen, on a constant downward spiral. I hate you Tim Kring. You have ruined Heroes.

Russell T. Davies.

This man cannot write a decent script to save his life. Every episode of Doctor Who that he has been in charge of has been gripped by his horiffic inability to write tension, plot or dialog. After seeing the public pandering to this berk, this man has an OBE, I am sickened. Every stupid cliche imaginable, with no purpose or direction. Horribly repetitive and annoying characters, in a show devoid of internal logic.

But the reason I hate him is not because Doctor Who is so often utter drivel. That could be expected. I hate him because, every now and again, Doctor Who is amazing. Talented writers such as Paul Cornell or Steven Moffat come in and produce incredible episodes, that are genuinly interesting and tense, and then we go back to more of the horrendous crap shoved at us by Russell T.

This turgid mess, advertised for months, was best exemplified in last years christmas special. That was, without a doubt, one of the worst things I have ever seen on Doctor Who. Closely followed by every Russel T. Davies penned season opener or finale. And now this man is gone, replaced, and we will just have to see, in a few years time, if someone else can do better with this show. I just wish people would stop building it up into something it isn't. It is a horrible show, with occasional grand episodes.

Salvation?

Russell is, at heart, a publicist. He was able to resurrect a TV show that had an unpopular public image, and create a huge buzz. He returned a TV icon to screen successfully, using some incredibly clever marketing. He used teased shots of re-imagined villains to create interest, and re-invented the nature of Saturday afternoon television. Mimicry is the highest form of flattery, and with shows like Merlin, Robin Hood and Primeval making the rounds, it is clear that Davies had been hugely successful at what he set out to do. And I have been spoiled. A few good episodes, and suddenly, I am expecting gold from a mildly distracting show written as kitsch nonsense for children at Saturday teatime. Maybe he should be forgiven. But he isn't.

Friday 28 November 2008

A Rich Man in Ebay

I am bored, and so am going to alleviate my boredom by pretending to be a Millionaire browsing Ebay. The rules are simple, look for the most expensive item on Ebay, and wonder about how awesome it would be if I was rich enough to buy it on a whim. Of course, I am not looking at Ebay motors, or for any Real Estate.

Books: The Origin of the Species, by Darwin, 1st Edition, one of the most influential books in the history of scientific thought... £39,999. Harry Potter, signed 1st Edition, one of my favourite books of all time, £19,950.

Sport: BAR/Honda F1 display car, has not an engine, but can be sat in and everything. £29,950. Another F1 item, Lewis Hamilton's signed overalls from the Monaco GP '08, £20,000. What about Football? £6,000 for Rivelino's shirt from Brazil v England match during the World Cup in 1970.

Film & TV: Now, this is where I know rich, Future Me is gonna blow money. A signed (left) boxing glove from Rocky, £1,499. A full sized Terminator arm prop, £499. Then the big one - Oh. My. God. Star Wars Stormtrooper Armour. Full size. You. Can. Wear. It.

Clothes & Jewellery: A antique watch from 1670. Still keeps the time. £50,000. A Vera Wang Ivory wedding Dress for £8,000 is the most expensive piece of listed clothing. A Hermes Birkin Crocodile skin Handbag, £40,000 or a Crystal Skull, £13,000. Then we find the really big stuff. A pearl and gold necklace, this thing is fancy, and it is £120,000. And then... 'King Barack', the original painting by Michael Angelo, £9,000,000.

Well, that killed some time. And put me over £10,500,000 in debt. But who needs money when I can be sitting in my display F1 car, dressed as a stormtrooper reading Harry Potter, (er.. I mean Darwin..) occasionally glancing up to my Michael Angelo painting or my Terminator Arm wearing a Rocky Glove? Who needs food when I has that?

Arrested Development

I have been watching this comedy show, Arrested Development, and I have to say it is mighty funny.

The premise of the show is that our main charcter is the only normal guy in a family of crazies, who is forced to take over as the head of the family buisness when his father is jailed. This premise cannot possibly explain how aesome this show is. It is both wonderfully relatable and absurd, just the way things should.

The best bit so far? Michael's brother-in-law, Tobias, is talked into breaking into a blind lawyer's house in order to steal evidence incriminating their jailed father. However, the lawyer returns, and it is only cat-like reflexes that keep Tobias from being discovered. Complexly, the lawyer is not blind, but is only pretending to be in order to garner sympathy form the judge, but cannot admit to this, and so beigns a hilarious cat and mouse game, where she repeatedtly tries to catch Tobias, without revealing she can see him the entire time.

Urgent Weather Update!

It has stopped Raining. Now it is just cold.

We don't even have snow to liven things up.

Sunday 16 November 2008

Fun in Area 51

Today, I started playing Area 51. This particular videogame was made free to download, so I figured, 'what the heck'. After spending the quick tutorial making sure I could crouch with C, as should be law, and didn't need to use ctrl, (double-ctrl opens google toolbar for some crappy reason, and if ctrl is melee, and you are being attacked by zombie-mutant-monsters,and you panic and bash ctrl, then the game crashes to desktop so you can use google - that is not good.), I found it to be a good game. It runs well, has a decent story, very cinematic. The teammate AI is a bit simplistic, and they insist on running in your line of fire, but that idiocy reminds me of TF2. I was having fun.

Then this bit pissed me off. You are told to go "SCAN THE COMPUTER" for intel on delta squad, who are missing as delta squads all around the world are want to do. So I go to the computer and use my scanner. YOUR CHARACTER IS THE SCANNER GUY. This is very important, you have a special scanner on your arm, much like Cortez in Timesplitters, but more important. Your role in the team is the scanner-guy. You have a whole tutorial on the scanner. This is not the first time I have been told to scan something. So I go and scan the computer. I doesn't work, it just scans the air, (mostly nitrogen) so I try again. And again. And again. From different angles - I crouch below, jump on top, try from near, try from far, NOTHING WORKS! So I get pissed, and go to gamefaqs. This always makes me feel cheap, using the internet for answers when I am lost. They tell me to run back to the start of the level and explore a room that was on fire, search the body of a dead scientist for a keycard, return to where I was, achieve a crappy jumping puzzle for another keycard, open a double key carded room, get ambused by more zombie-mutant-monsters, fend then off with limited ammo, and get the shotgun. Whoop. I have a shotgun. But that does not help me SCAN THE COMPUTER!

ARGGH!

Turns out, that in this game, USE is not E, it is Tab. Tab to use iten? Huh? And you are not supposed to "scan" the computer, even though this instruction is repeated every 30 seconds in those excact words, you are supposed to USE the computer to get the intel.

I just wasted 30mins on the second level where I was supposed to go over to a PC and press USE.

Monday 10 November 2008

Internet - Part 2

Wireless Internet

I just thought you might be interested in a new reson why I love my laptop.

I am writing this sitting in bed.

From my bed, I can connect to the wireless network.

The possibilities are endless. All I need now is something to dispense food, and I will be set.

This is awesome.

Thursday 30 October 2008

Rain

It is raining outside.

This must be the most boring blog entry of all time.

Football Manger Demo

This Sunday, the incredibly addictive football manager simulation, the aptly named, Football Manager 2009, releases it's demo.

Goodbye World, I won't be seeing you for some time...

Wednesday 29 October 2008

Number 7

The number 7 is broken on my mobile. Well, not so much broken, as in the process of break-ing. It is slowly becoming less and less responsive. This makes texting, or dialling, very difficult, as the number 7 also functions as the letters P, Q, R and the all important S.

That means, that if I were texting this entry, I would have been forced to stop, scream, and angrily prod my phone...

44 times.

That is a lot - enough to be a serious hinderence.

Sunday 19 October 2008

The News Quiz

Now that I am at University, I am living a life without a TV. This is hard. Filling the void somewhat are a new batch of podcasts that I am listening to. The best of these is BBC Radio 4's The News Quiz.

A satirical panel game, the news quiz takes elements of the news and some brilliant comedians poke fun at these stories. It works brilliantly on Radio, using the medium to poke fun. It is not filled with soundbites of politicians, but with these comidians both explaining the news story and having a laugh.

Last week included the criminal who robbed a car, and was caught because he had his name and date of birth totooed onto his neck. It was hilarious.

Food

Living off a diet of Pasta and Orange Juice is OK right?

What if the Orange Juice has bits?

UPDATE: Well, it turns out that OJ with Bits makes for far more washing up than without bits. S'now it is Pasta and Orange Juice.. without bits. Still OK... right?

Sunday 5 October 2008

Ballpoint Pen

The Customer Review section on Amazon.co.uk is often very useful, and will often give you insight into what it is that you are interested in buying.

However, once in a while an item comes along that fits into the review culture, and humour is the winner. The most recnt of these to be stumbled upon by me, is the BiC Crystal Ballpoint Pen, Medium Point, Black, sold singly.



For those without the time to read all the reviews, a very small sample of some of the finest point are:

Good

Writes on paper
Mightier than the Sword
Useful as cooking utensil

Bad

Not left-handed accessable
Can only produce images in black and white
Poor taste in mouth
Requiers expertise to operate
Not "Crystal", infact some petroleum-based polymer

Tuesday 30 September 2008

La Revolution.

Why must I always post 6 times a month? It never was a concious decision, it just sort of happened. I just cannot break the cycle. This is why I am hurridly typing this now.

It is a curse.

But I guess it could be worse. Being cursed to be the only sane person who does not think that Doctor Who is the hilghlisht of post-renaissance culture, but is infact a very unreliable sideshow in mainstream television, that would suck.

Luckily there are others of my kind. We are force to hide by a totalitarian regime, dictated by the close ties between government and the media, in the form of this TV Licence, that completely undermines free speech!

When you realise how much you have to pay to watch the BBC it really pisses you off that they cannot afford international football.

Viva la Revolution!

Monday 29 September 2008

Scarf Sizes

It was not until I attempyed to buy a scarf that I realised how horibbly wrong the wrong scarf size choice can be. It took me about half-an-hour.

Good thing I was only buying a plain black one. Colours are a whole different problem.

Friday 26 September 2008

Belt Sizes

Why is it that, no matter how hard I look, I have never found a belt with the perfect holes that suit me. Either I have to cope with an uncomfortably tight fourth hole lifestyle, or my jeans are just a bit too lose on the third.

Tuesday 23 September 2008

Pineapple Express vs Tropic Thunder

So, this past week I have seen two comedy films. As needs to be done, I will now compare them whilst simultaneously reviewing them. That is right - Simultaneous.

Pineapple Express

This film tries to be a stoner action-comedy, and frankly it fails. I have never seen a stoner comedy that has made me a fan of the genre, and this didn't change that. The plot was crap, just awful, but it did not ever serve to produce good moments of action. The action was just boring.

So comedy? Not so much. There were very few jokes in this film, with many scenes dragging on pretentiously. Almost all of the side-characters were pointless and just terrible to watch. The gangs were pathetic, and this was a huge problem for the film, and the inclusion of Seth Rogen's character to have a girlfriend was just a bad choice. He would be more interesting and associable without a girlfriend. The fact that she was still in high-school was just an odd choice, and the fact she was miles out of Rogan's league didn't help. This left us with just the two main characters, who actually save the film with their relationship, and a guy who I deeply hate, Danny McBride. I hate him as a screen presence, he just sucks up all my laughter and goodwill in every scene he is in. So, casting was not great apart from the leads. The film had nowhere to go, plotwise, with no character development or laughs or action.

Plus, this film focuses solely on characters getting kicked in the balls. By that I do not mean, "once or twice", I mean that at least a dozen times, a character in a fight would get kicked in the crotch. This was so overused that it just pissed me off by the end.

Tropic Thunder

I went into this looking for laughs and I found none. Creating a parody of the Vietnam war film genre just does not resonate with me. I just do not care about that sub-genre either. Creating a parody of the acting process has much more potential than this showed. And again, almost every character was pointless. By that I do not mean, some characters did not advance the plot but where funny, I mean, almost all the characters were not funny, or helpful, or dramatic. They just stole screen time.

Ben Stiller did exactly the same performance we have seen before, but this time it was devoid of humour. Jack Black was terrible. Really bad and unfunny, and the other two nameless guys we absent for almost the whole film. Again, Danny McBride showed up and was a humungous black whole of terrible. That leaves Robert Downey jr, who created one of the most overrated comedy characters I have ever seen. He was mildly amusing, but not hilarious in anyway. Tom Cruise showed up in very heavy make-up, swore a lot and danced to music. That was less funny than expected. So, again, not much comedy.

Plus, this film had a really xenophobic edge to it. It was not humorous, it was uncomfortable. Hearing mild racism against the British, Australians or African-Americans does not great humour make.

Conclusion

They both were huge disappointments, but Pineapple Express was more enjoyable. Go see that, you may find some enjoyment there. Tropic Thunder was not terrible, just a waste of what it could have been.

Tuesday 16 September 2008

Alias

I recently picked up the first two seasons of Alias in the summer sales, and I have been having a good time watching those recently. It is a fine show, with lots of double-agent tension and cliff-hangers.

However, the reason I have been looking forwards to watching more of this is due to one episode. Quite possibly, the greatest single episode of any show I have ever watched. Alias, series 2, episode 13, "Phase One".

This is not really a stand-alone episode that I could recommend to anyone. Instead it is the climax of almost evrything the show has been so far, and twisting the concept so completely that it takes everything into a new direction. It is tense, and dramatic, and full of action, and left me with an indescribably huge buzz.

I have not heard the best fo things about the shows third season, but having enjoyed the first two so much, I think I may have to go ahead and watch it anyway.

Monday 15 September 2008

General Update

Sorry about the lack of posting. It would be a lie to say I have been busy, what with the extra long summer break between college and uni, but I have been to preoccupied to blog. Well, now I have a backlog of nonesensical ramblings to spout, so here goes.

Friday 29 August 2008

Walking.

What are you meant to do when you are behind a group of people who are walking only slightly slower than you, but you still want to overtake? I refused to ignore the situation, and decided to overtake them by walking in the road. A car quickly put a stop to this plan. If this had been the cause for my death, that one car that quickly came and chased me back onto the pavement, I would have been pissed. Luckily I was saved from one of the most pointless deaths ever, by giving up, and slotting back in behind the only slightly slower group.

True story.

Saturday 23 August 2008

XKCD

XKCD rules. A free online webcomic, which is hilarious. It is also often very true to life. This perfectly sums up my summer holidays.

Friday 15 August 2008

Results Day

I was scared. I think that is a safe, possibly even understated, summary.

I had only one choice, there was only one university I liked, that I had visited, that offered the course I wanted. Exeter University wanted me to get an A in History, which would be hard for I had only gotten a B last year, an A in English, which was safe due to my good previous results, and therefore insecure due to overconfidence, and an A doing intensive politics, two years in one, which no-one has ever got at Richmond College.

My options were limited. If I, realistically, failed top get 3As, I could go through the mayhem of clearing, getting a course I did not really want at a Uni I did know, take a gap year where I stay at home and get a boring job, or go to Portsmouth Uni, a fine, but not top, University. I could see all these failed lives stretching out from this one moment. All my fault, I sat the exams, I day-dreamt in class, I did less work that I could have.

Therefore, scared. Unable to sleep terrified, could also be applicable. Unable to move, due to dread, is not much of a stretch. Like I am about to jump out of a plane, and remember I have knitted my own parachute. Out of wet spaghetti. Hopefully by now you can grasp my fear.

So I met up with some friends early in the morning, and we sat on the bus. This bit was tense. It seems that the idea they have for results day is that you queue a lot. You queue to get into the building, then queue to get your name, then queue to get your results. This means that when you finally get your results you are so shocked at the queuing to have ended, it takes a moment for you to process that you are now free to wander, in a queue-less environment.

So, my results. I got an A in English. This I was confident in, for I got 90/90 in my Hamlet exam last year, and 117/120 in my Poetry & Prose in January, but as I said before, confidence can mean fail. Luckily, I got my first A.

History. I messed up my exam on the Russian revolution last year, so I needed some strong results this year to build me up. I got my A. Two for Two! Making me happier, in advanced extension history, I got myself a Merit, which I am amazingly pleased with, for that was a hard exam.

But now for the tense bit. Intensive politics, studying both my first and second year at once, which no student has ever got an A before. well, now one has. I got my third A. My results for the first half were brilliant.

So, Three As. I am off to Exeter, and I am feeling great. Things are going well all around. Michael and Jon also have great results, getting into their Universities, Jon to Cambridge. So did most of the other people I met, Ross is in to Brunel. To make things even better, we celebrated with one last Creamichoc from the vending machines, and Jon got double change! Free Creamichoc!

So I came home, all buzzin'. Phoned family members, who all were mighty pleased. Then, off to James' house for a barbeque. Saw people I had not seen in ages, ate burgers, and got drunk. played drunk football, and came home. This was one of the best days ever.

In one emotion - relief. I get to go to Exeter. Wack-O!

Wednesday 13 August 2008

Stargate Continuum

Stargate used to be a fun show, but everything ends and so did it. However, it did not die! Instead, two straight-to-TV movies have been made, to test the fanbase for a full feature length movie. As you may recall, the first of the came out a several months ago, and was a wonderful end to a good show, wrapping up all the loose ends. Sadly, this ends everything on a whimper.

The plotline of this involves the last villain remaining changing history, and (some) of our heroes being the only ones who know the old timeline and try to restore it. But do they have the right to change history, yada yada yada...

I have a huge sense of déjà vu, because this is a story that the writers would produce every few months for the series, and after the first dozen times of alternate timeline you start to get a bit bored. I am not going to pretend that SG1 was always a classic show, almost every other episode would be terrible, and this follows that trend. The action was poor, there were no funny lines, no sense of tension or adventure, nothing that made the show great in the first place. Just an excuse to bring back all the people who had died, because, guess what, in an alternate timeline, all those villains are still alive! Alive with very fleeting cameos!

I guess I might be being a bit hard, maybe it was not as bad as I feel. But it did nothing for long term fans, and it was in no way inclusive to people who had not watched the show before. The problem is that I have been waiting for this for a year-and-a-half. Not eagerly waiting, but expectant, hoping that with this much time to produce and edit, the end product would be shining example of a fine show. However, this was a poor finish, and that is a shame.

And one week after this is released, the sister-show, Stargate Atlantis, is announced to not be picked up for a sixth season. This movie killed Stargate, and it was badly made and badly written. That is a bad result.

Driving Theory Test

To cut a long story short, I passed with flying colours.

Now for the long story. I have, in the last month or so, started to have a go at learning to drive. The stuff that I thought would be hard, not hitting other cars for example, is easy. The stuff that is hard is the stuff that looked easy. Stopping in the right place at traffic lights for example, without braking in too judderish a fashion, and being able to move off at the right time, without stalling. That looked easy when my Dad did it.

Anyhoo, the sensible thing to do seemed to be to get the driving theory out of the way, and then focus on the lessons once I was done with that. So I spent the flight home looking over the highway code, and the few days since I got back looking at the past questions, in order to be ready for this exam.

But I was depressed. The hazard perception section of the test is one of the worst point-and-click reaction tests ever designed. It does not function properly, and I knew it would make me fail. That was not a good confidence boost.

So anyway, tearing my hair out, I sat on the tube and went all the way out to Uxbridge, where the testing centre is. I passed Wembley stadium on the way, which is one of my favourite buildings ever. While on the tube I looked over past questions, and this is the most important bit of the revision. Those past questions saved me!

So I got there, and it was cold. I found my way to the testing centre without getting lost, which I think is a grand achievement. I went in, waited in a line, and was sent to a computer, where they used a touch screen to get me to answer multiple choice questions. Now, you get given a lot of time, so I took it slow. This was a good decision.

The hazard perception part sucked. But I passed. The belief that saved me was, "if in doubt, click."

The I filled in a questionnaire pleasantly, for good luck, and was given my results. The first words were "congratulations", and that was all I needed. And so I got myself a burger and a magazine and was happy. Now all I can do is pray that my new found success carries on into my A-Level results.

Gulp.

Monday 11 August 2008

Tunisia

That was a fun holiday. It was nice to spend some time with family, which led to many humourous anecdotes, such as upward swimming and magnetic dinner knives.

I was free. Free, to not have to worry about any other stuff, like the football or the TV. That said, I did miss the TV, and every day I was itching to find out what was happening in the football transfer-market.

Also, Tunisia is hot.

Sunday 27 July 2008

Off on Holdiay

I leave for Tunisia tonight. I will have to bear the horrors of modern airports, a trial to make the final holiday seem all the more glorious. Packing is not much fun, for I always forget a ton of stuff.

I recently have seen both the new Batman and Wall.E. They are both incredible films, which I plan to review when I return. They really are very, very good.

Pigeons

The is something about Pigeons that I find funny. They are a hated race. I love the wood-pigeon couple who live in the tree at the bottom of my garden. They are hildarious. I love the way Pigeons walk, with bobbing heads, and the way that they jump up ledges and curbs, a kind of gracious, yet clumsy, pigeon-hop.

Pigeons are not perfect. They do leave a bit of a mess behind sometimes, and I have been told that they cary disease. These facts stop me from truly liking pigeons.

But I do feel a large amount of sympathy, for in London, around one in three pigeons is suffering from some kind of injury. Deformed, or mutildated feet most often. Poor pigeons. But after limping along, with pain in every step, they spread wings and fly. I wish I could fly, but that is a whole other post...

Monday 21 July 2008

Blog Format

It is quite annoying that the format of my own blog bunches my own posts into a small horizontal space, making them appear off-puttingly long.

Thursday 17 July 2008

Cristiano Ronaldo

Nothing makes me want to watch football as much as the close-season. In a few weeks I will be desperate, watching the intertoto cup and unimportant friendlies between clubs that I would never bother with under normal circumstances.

Usually the summer is filled with transfer talk, and this is an interesting excitement to fill the void with. This summer however, has had very few transfers take place. Hleb only just moved to Barcelona, and that has been on the verge of completion for months. The same can be said all over the world, Ronaldinho finally moving, Nasri finally going to Arsenal. These are all quite boring, and not very suspenseful.

But Cristiano Ronaldo is the greatest player in the world and I am a Manchester United fan. Many fans are annoyed at Ronaldo, but I accept his position, or wanting to be in the strongest position to make his own decision, and still want him to return to play for us. Some people have been belittling his success, saying that he only does well at United 'cos he is given free roam, and supported by Rooney, Teves and Scholes.

The fact of the matter is that Ronaldo scored over 40 goals for United last season. He was the star in a team that won the Champions League, and I love him for that. But Cristiano is a Real Madrid fan, he has been since he was a child, and he wants to play for them some day. It is not his intention to play his whole career in England.

But why would he go this summer? Madrid are not ready for him, signing him now would destabilise the team they are building. They are not in the Champions League next year, and do not look strong enough to push for the Spanish League against Barcelona. At the same time this is Sir Alex Ferguson's dénouement, his last great team before retirement. Now is not the time for a transfer.

But Ronaldo thinks of the future, and wants to be in the strongest bargaining position between the clubs, and that is why he has acted as he has. I still don’t believe he will make the move this summer, even though he will doubtlessly so this eventually.

And Why Would United sell? Manchester United are not a club to sell players on anyone else's terms. They do not need the money. Infact, losing Ronaldo may be a big blow to the club, in merchandise and marketing, but possibly also in prize money, and so selling Ronaldo would cost money. It would certainly cost prestige. So Sir Alex has no reason to sell.

And so I think Ronaldo will stay put. He will return from injury, and return to United. In a few summers, he will go to Madrid, and Sir Alex will retire, but until that day, years from now, I cannot see another outcome.

UPDATE - well, it looks like I was right. According to football365.com, Sir Alex Ferguson has met with Cristiano Ronaldo and insists the winger will not be sold to Real Madrid. Ferguson said, "I can say he'll be a Manchester United player next season. That's our stance - he won't be sold."

Summer Rain

Does the weather actually pay the slightest attention to what time of year it is?

Yes, it does. That is a stupid question. But nonetheless, it is incredibly annoying to be on my summer holidays and for it to rain 'most everyday.

Friday 4 July 2008

Hancock - Review

I attempted to see this film with no idea of the reviews, so that I could form my own opinion. Sadly this was not too be, and I am aware of the kicking this film has received from critics. They hated it. At first I argued with them. But they were right.

This movie is made up of two short films. Not literally, but that is the way it plays out. The first arc, the one shown in the trailers, lasts about 40 minutes, and I should say now that it is amazing. The opening half of this film is exactly what I wanted to see. Will Smith played the character perfectly, his abilities were powerful but not overly so, and his personal problems made him an endearing character. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Then that plot ends. Will Smith has superpowers, but he is a drunk. He is not a traditional superhero. Everyone hates him, and he goes to prison to reform himself. He goes through personal changes, and comes out a hero. This takes half an hour. This is great. This, if fleshed out a bit and with a strong ending, is the film I wanted to see.

But this is not Hancock. Everything after this point goes downhill. And amazingly so. There is a twist that creates a bull-shit mythology, and destroys almost all of the character relations. I felt my enjoyment slip, as Hancock, as a movie, fell apart. And then it end, for this is a very short film. A very short film, that booth looses it message and any resemblance of entertainment.

The humour was quite funny, but not enough to make this a comedy. The action was brilliant, but based upon the same premise. Super-Will Smith beats up idiotic criminals. The plot holes are immense, and just get bigger. There are no real bad guys, and way they act defies all logic.

I cannot stress how much fun I had at the beginning of this film. I had avoided reviews, and I loved it. Then it skipped everything I wanted to see in one montage, and destroyed all enjoyment I had. The dénouement came after a half-hour, and the film that emerged after that was cringingly bad.

But I will watch this again. No matter what comes after, the opening of this film is wroth going to see. When it is cheap on DVD, or shown on T, I will tune in. But I will only watch the first half. This could have been amazing, but the film they chose to make was not the one I wanted to see. What I wanted, they skipped. So much promise. Shame.

Monday 30 June 2008

Hancock - Preview

I am off to see Hancock in a few days time, and I am quite excited. Ever since I first saw the trailer this has looked like it will be a fun film. Will Smith with superpowers, with cool effects. That should be fun.

Deliberately, I have tried to avoid film reviews. This is because I am very impressionable. If everyone tells me something is awesome, when I check it out, I stand a better chance of liking it. If I hear something is not so good, that puts me in a bad state of mind. So I have avoided Hacock reviews like the plauge.

Big problem. Every person who I mention Hancock to responds: "Oh. That got some bad reviews, didn't it?"

And thus my plan to form my own opinion is already failing.

Sunday 29 June 2008

SiN Emergence review

I recently picked up the first episode of the videgame series SiN. Sadly, SiN was cancelled for unnconeccted reasons and only the first episode exists. Once I had finished playing, the urge to review what I had bought struck me.

"Not that long ago, everyone was abuzz about episodic gaming. About how this was the future. The first big attempt at this was SiN: Emergence, the first episode in a new series. Sadly, the developers, Ritual, were bought out and SiN appears to be dead. Only the first glimpse into this series is available for the world.

SiN is a FPS that draws immediate parallels with the Half Life Series; episodic, on Steam, all first person with no cutscenes. It even has a similar loading bar. But the difference is that while Half Life is perfectly crafted, SiN is pure entertainment. The enemies and weapons are few, and can become repetitive. This is not a flawless game. Nonetheless, its weapons feel meaty, and it is well paced. You will be entertained, through well chosen humour, diversity and tougher sections. Difficulty is something targeted by the game, dynamically shifting throughout, to maximise fun. Hardly noticeable, but that is the point. The game does not break your immersion. Music, speech and sound effects all play a role in this, keeping you involved in this sort game. You sit down, and you play, a pleasure until the end.

The problem with SiN is that it has no end. The final boss is finished with a teaser for the next episode, giving more questions. Who will survive? What is really going on? The potential for the rest of the series leaves me eager for more.

And so all that can be done is to enjoy. Enjoy an underrated great. Don’t be put off because there is no sequel, but enjoy it because it is fun. And hope, that one day, the essence of SiN is continued."

Dollhouse

Those of you who read my words on Doctor Horrible will see I referenced another upcoming Joss Whedon project, Dollhouse. This is the seperate post that it deserves.

"In Dollhouse, Eliza Dushku plays a young woman named Echo, a member of a group of people known as "Actives" or "Dolls" who volunteered for the work in the Dollhouse. They give up five years of their lives, and at the end they receive a large sum of money and no memory of anything they did for the Dollhouse. The Dolls have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas, including memory, muscle memory, skills, and language, for different assignments. They're then hired out for particular jobs, crimes, fantasies, and occasional good deeds. On missions, Actives are monitored by Handlers. In between tasks, they are mind-wiped into a child-like state and live in a futuristic laboratory, a hidden facility nicknamed "The Dollhouse". The story follows Echo, who begins, in her mind-wiped state, to become self-aware."

This sounds awesome, with a huge potential scope. I am excited, and so should you be. The trailer can be seen below, and boy does it look good.

Friday 27 June 2008

Doctor Horrible

Joss Whedon always manages to impress me. He is the genius behind the greatest TV show ever, Firefly. His latest project is a musical that will be shown in three parts online.

Staring the brilliant Nathan Fillion, it features a failing supervillain, Neil Patrick Harris, and his attemts to get the girl, played by Felicia Day.

Until this morning I didn't even know this existed, and I still only know the basics of what it is. It looks like great fun, and so I cannot wait for Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

The other Whedon project is on it's way in January, and is called Dollhouse. That deserves a post unto itself.

Check out the teaser below.


Teaser from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.

Monday 23 June 2008

Nintendo Wii

My mother recently decided she wanted a Nintendo Wii. She liked the look of Wii Fit, and so she ordered one of Amazon, and now it is here. Many people will already be aware of the console that you play by waving a stick, and I know I am slightly behind the times in being able to play one now, but I am still quite excited.

I have played a Wii a lot before, round at my friends house, and so I already know how much fun it is. Sadly, having played it a lot before means that the novelty value has worn off, and this is the bit that if fuelled solely by novelty. Wii Sports is a nice free technology-demo, and so I enjoyed playing golf and ten-pin bowling in my living room.

Wii Fit is unique. You stand on a balance mat, which measures your centre of gravity, and instructs you on numerous balance games and muscle workouts. It is enjoyable, and it gives you a sense of success when playing. This is cool, but can also get boring after a while. especially as the game spends a lot of the time insulting you.

And so that is the Wii. I will be off soon to buy Mario Galaxy, and I am hugely excited.

End of Exams

Well, that is the end of my summer exams, and with that my college education has ended. It came about rather quietly, sneaking up without much notice. One week I was in normal lessons, the next everyone was saying goodbye, and the next few were spent on the odd exams.

To be fair, I am slightly worried about the lack of revision I did. I did some, and it was extremely useful, but I still know that I could have done more, and it would have helped me if I had.

Anyhoo, now I have to wait a month to see how I did. One peice of paper that will define my future, and I had the power to decide how it read. That is a depressing thought.

Wednesday 28 May 2008

Lack of Posts.

Sorry about the lack of posts. It looks set to carry on as such for the next few weeks, 'cos I have got exams. Wish me luck!

England v USA

That was so boring. There is literally nothing to take from that game.

Played football today, in the park. It rained. That didn't stop me, but it did ruin a perfectly fine cheap top.

Monday 19 May 2008

Searching for TV tickets...

My summer holidays stretch invitingly before me, once I have escaped the fear of exams. I have a few theories on how to kill my time, one of which does excite me very much. It suddenly occurred to me that all these television shows that are "filmed in-front of a live studio audience" must require people to be in that “live studio audience”. Upon enquiry it appears that these tickets are freely available, as long as you apply in the right places at the right time, long in advance, to see shows filmed at odd times on weekdays. This suits me fine. One problem is that the tickets do not guarantee entry, the right is reserved for you to be turned away on the day. But I can deal with that later, and they are free tickets.

This does seem to be a difficult process, requiring dedication and focus, but if the result is tickets to go and see QI or Top Gear live, that would be awesome.

There will be updates when I know more...

Sunday 11 May 2008

Iron Man - Review

So, Iron Man is finally out, and the review is finally here. I don’t know if you can remember my thoughts on the Iron Man trailer, all the way back in February, but I made a few crucial points back then, a few things I felt Iron Man needed to avoid. My first point was to keep the origin story plotline to a minimum. The second suggestion was to make the villain interesting and therefore the resulting conflict dramatic.

Iron Man failed to heed either of these suggestions. It is all origin story, and the conflict between hero and villain is disengaging for the audience to the extent that we really just don’t care at all. The villain is terrible, and the actual heroic of Iron Man are kept to a minimum. All he does is deal with his own self-important morality crisis and then defend his own life. He does not even get a kitten out of a tree once. He is really not mush of a “hero”.

The good news is that Iron Man is still awesome.

And I claim that is because of my third point: make a hero who is both super-strong and still super relatable. This is based upon one key principle, Robert Downey Jr.

The casting as a whole is superb, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges do good jobs at supporting the tone of the film, even if their characters are a bit flat. Special kudos must go to Robert Downey Jr, who turns a potentially disastrous character into a watchable, relatable hero. His delivery is perfect, he carries scenes on his own.

He is perfectly supported by the effects work. Iron Man truly looks like he is flying. He truly looks like he can do what he does, and the division between computer effects and a man in a suit are brilliantly done.

Unless, that is, you decide to pay real close attention. Under scrutiny, you can see some flaws. My advice, don’t watch properly. Just let it float on over you. One good point I should add is that Iron Man does a good job of showing the audience what is going on, something becoming rare in a post-Bourne world. Yes, Transformers, I am looking at you.

Iron Man stays away from the traditional love story that most superheroes films focus on. Iron Man also stays away from the traditional Bad-Guy-needs-to-be-stopped-from-doing-evil story that typifies the genre. There is not even a natural disaster on an accident that needs to be averted. There is a small amount of love, and there is a small amount of evil that only serves to make the last half hour of the film quite disappointing.

What Iron Man does do is split itself neatly into three segments. In the first, the main character, Tony Stark, is captured by terrorists who want him to build them a superweapon, and he embarks on a plan to escape. After these first 40 minutes (exactly), the second period is spent with Stark working out the mechanics of building a working suit. The final fragment involves Stark using his new suit to try and stop another suit inhabited by the oh-so-obviously evil baddy. This division works well, but it does give the impression that you are watching three short films, that are only loosely interconnected. There is no feeling of true continuity to the feel and tone of the film. And then the film ends just when it has found it’s feet.

Making matters worse is the pathetic predictability of the whole film. Every scene plays out almost exactly as you would suspect. This is a traditional superhero film. It is quite well done, but if you are not a fan of the genre this will not be the film to convert you.

This brings me to my main point. The morality of the film is questionable, the view of death and of violence I found disturbing. I know I shouldn't find a popcorn film like this troubling in any way, but the choice to place much of the film in the middle-east, with terrorists, did not sit well with me, personally.

Nonetheless, Iron Man is brilliant for what it is. It is well made, well acted, and the action is well done. But that is all it is. "well" sums up all aspects of this film. I left the cinema feeling content, but the more I thought about what I had seen the less impressed I was.

What pissed me off most was the feeling that I had just waited months to see the beginning of a story. Iron Man is setting up a sequel, and I hate it for this, because as soon as Iron Man is ready to go, we stop.

Ironically, this may read like a bad review, but Iron Man is actually quite enjoyable. I would recommend going to see it. Luckily for you, you already know if you want to see Iron Man or not, it is so formulaic and so traditional. My first impression was that it was Awesome. It is Awesome. It is just not as awesome as I had hoped. But then, I was hoping for it to be the best thing ever.

I am not too happy with this review. I don’t feel I did the film justice. It is, actually really good. I am just bitter, because it falls for every trap I hoped it would be smart enough to avoid. That aside, Robert Downey Jr portrays the best main character in a superhero film, and the film is an enjoyable way to pass a few hours. And from this point on, I will build up in my own heart the hype for the nest film.

In three words? Predictable. Anti-climatic. Formulaic.

Tuesday 6 May 2008

Hancock Trailer

One of the wonderful things about the release of Iron Man, apart from the film itself, is the importance of the month of May to film distributers. You see, the more people who go and see these early summer blockbusters, the more people will see the trailers for the big end-of-summer blockbusters. This is brilliant, because with Iron Man we get to see some new trailers for some of the biggest films of the summer. And I am always excited by trailers.

There were many that I got to see for the first time. A new Dark Knight trailer, a new Hulk trailer and a new Indiana Jones trailer all got me buzzing with anticipation, but they are all films that I have already been very excited about. Luckily for me there was a new trailer, for a film that seemed to have slipped in under my radar. This is remarkable for a script that has been around Hollywood for years, that is heavy on special effects and stars Will Smith, and, Oh God, was it an awesome trailer.

Trailers suffer in general from providing you the impression that you have seen the whole film, and are not excited by the prospect of going to the cinema. Making a trailer is an art, and it can be screwed up. This was a brilliant trailer, because it provided the premise for the film, but left my imagination to build up the content, while being amazed by some brilliant effects work. Luckily, it was helped by my love of Will Smith.

For those of you who remember my Iron Man excitement, you may be able to pick up that I love the idea of superheroes. These films constantly disappoint, with X3 one massive example. They are often flawed. But I based my “Iron Man will rule!” argument of two theories; the character and the ability. Spiderman was relatable, and this is a good thing. Superman was strong, and this was awesome. A relatable and strong character, based around Will Smith, who has proved he can carry a film while using his comedy to build character, as in I am Legend, coupled with super strength and flight, and potentially more, makes this an exiting prospect.

Finally - have you seen how awesome Hancock looks! He flies! I believe he can fly! He throws a beached Whale back into the sea! If Smith can pull this off, based upon a great script, solid direction and convincing effects, then it will be amazing!

July 2nd cannot come soon enough!

Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady

Crap, there goes my master plan. Love and World Domintion will need to be comletely re-thought...

Wednesday 30 April 2008

18th Birthday

I have just turned 18. To celebrate I get to vote in tomorrows London election. This has made a bit of an impression on me, and left me a bit, well, both optimistic and melancholy about the future. I can sumarize my main thoughts, as a kind of plan, which sort of goes as follows, in order of importance.

1. I need to take my exams a bit more seriously. I need 3 As for Exeter University. Eeeeek! Therefore, I need a back-up plan in case this fails.

2. I need to sort out my finances, so I can afford to pay for stuff when I need to pay for stuff.

3. I need to get some kind of employment. Partially, just to see what it is like.

4. I need to learn to drive. At some stage. I have all the stuff, I have just not been bothered to organise it yet.

This next year will be a success if these are all completed. This could be hard...

Sunday 27 April 2008

Pushing Daisies

Every now and again I find a new television show that I really love. Now, I have found Pushing Daisies.

The newest American import to be shown on British television, I love this show. It is a comedic love story, with intertwined murder investigating, and the crux that the two main characters can never touch. It is blessed by a mix of surreal realism, a well written script, perfect performances, superbly assisted by Jim Dale's narration, and a wonderfully life-affirming tone.

This show is brilliant. I love it. I feel blessed that I will get to watch my four favourite TV shows all together; Heroes having just started on the BBC, Battlestar Galactica on Sky, Lost returning in a few short weeks, and now Pushing Daisies.

ITV, however, I hate. They are the ones broadcasting Pushing Daisies, but due to terrible scheduling, only 8 weeks were allowed during which to show 9 episodes, and so ITV decided to miss the second episode of the series. They did not broadcast it.

This sent me spiralling into a world of online downloads, something I have been avoiding for various reason, mainly a mix of morality and cautious mistrust of the internet.

However, I was determined to watch the second episode of this delightful show before continuing with the third, which sits still in my Sky+ box. It took me a while to discover what to do, a long time to download, a while to transfer to my second PC, which has a better monitor, and a while to find a media player that would work, but finally I found a way to watch it.

I am so glad I did, for if this is the quality of the episode they decided to leave out, then my heart skips a beat to think of how great the rest of the series must be.

This is a brilliant show. I love it.

Sunday 20 April 2008

Back from Devon

I have just returned from a wonderful week in Devon, so sorry for the lack of posting. I went with my parents, brother, aunt, uncle and cousins, and had a grand time.


Passed the time very pleasantly and now I return refreshed. Of couse, a lot of stuff happened, but not much that is interesting to the world at large.

Naturally, I will now spend my weekend catching up on television, football and college work.

Tuesday 8 April 2008

Liverpool 4 - Arsenal 2

My faith in the Champions League has returned! I may not be an Arsenal fan, I may not be a Liverpool fan, but that was still a tense finish. Brilliant to see such a great game, one that was end to end, with both temas going all out. Nice to be reminded of why I love the beautiful game.

Monday 7 April 2008

Dr Who

Oh well. The time of year has come again. Dr - bleeding – Who.

This has got to be one of the most overrated television shows ever. Every year we get months of build up, people filled with adoration for Russell T Davis. The Christmas episode was useless, but the last season was not too bad. Sure, there have been mistakes, but there are a lot of shows that I put up with that have dud episodes.

I am not going to review this new episode, which was turgid and boring, and which is as formulaic the old ones, but not as terrible as I had feared. Instead I have a few points on Dr Who that I would like to point out in general.

1. The award for the most overused plot device ever - the Sonic Screwdriver. Every single tight situation where cunning might be useful, and they switch to the screwdriver. (Incidentally the best aspect of the Doctor's personality is his cunning.) Any part of the plot that doesn't add up? Use the Screwdriver to get out of it. It's painful. It’s lazy. And they seem to be pleased with themselves evertime they think of it.

2. I understand that this show needs to appeal to all age-ranges, but that does not mean make it suitable for the lowest possible age range, and mass market it to "families", meaning adults will feel it is acceptable to watch. Toy story - good for all ages. The Simpsons - good for all ages. Dr Who is most often (see 3) written by three years olds, by three year olds. Mass appeal does not make lazy writing necessary, it just, sadly, seems to make it acceptable.

3. This is the exception that I need to write about. The one good point. Anyone who wants to see what Dr Who could be like, go and watch the episode from last series, Blink. Steven Moffat, you are the greatest scriptwriter the BBC can call on, you saved Dr Who, and actually made it into a brilliant piece of Science Fiction. You actually proved what Dr Who can be. For that I am eternally grateful, and really pissed off at Russell T Davis for not doing a better job. This has been referred to as a Dr Who-lite episode, according to Wikipedia, because the Doctor is barely in it. This is why it rules! The Doctor is allowed to use his ingenuity off-screen to help our heroes, and it uses time as a mechanism for his brilliance. This is the only point I have in favour of the Doctor. I have seen one episode that proved how good it can be. And it really is good.

4. Average CGI does not impress me. Even awesome CGI alone does not necessarily impress me. CGI is a means to an end. Just throwing it at me and hoping that I, as a viewer, can make something of it is not a good production strategy. Get over yourselves, and use that larger-than-average effects budget in a way that does not dramatically disengage me form the action.

5. This is the most important point of all, but one that is almost always overlooked. He is a time-lord! He can travel in time! WHY DOESN'T HE THEN!?! Almost all episodes could be easily solved if he arrived on earth a few days before he did! Usually, this would have saved lives! He picks the date of his arrival! He picks the time! So why does he choose to arrive late? Sometimes the Tardis makes a mistake, and this drops him into a tricky situation, or sometimes he doesn’t know what he is dealing with until too late, and yes, they do need tricky situations so as to make a TV show. But most of the time he can simply go back in time and set up supplies or mechanisms to help him out. Why ignore time travel as a mechanism for the plot, and just fall back on the "stupid alien & screwdriver" mechanic? I am not suggesting replacing one Deus Ex Machina with another, but at least vary it a bit. Why ignore the best possibility of the Doctor?

In conclusion, Dr Who is almost always overhyped, is almost always badly acted, is almost always badly scripted and is almost always badly produced. Almost always it is a waste of time, money and effort. But every now and again, the potential for the Doctor shines though, and in those moments you know that what you do have is special. Here’s hoping we get one of those again.

Saturday 5 April 2008

Visiting Stamford Bridge

Last Sunday I was one of the 39,994 people who paid a visit to Stamford Bridge to watch Chelsea play Middlesbrough, in a Premier League game. It was the first time I have ever visited a Premier League match, and the first time in years I have been to a game. It was amazing.

I am not a Chelsea fan, but I felt like one. When Carvalho nods in the first goal, and everyone around me went wild, I felt a magnificent tingly sensation that I have never felt before. It was so liberating, to be able to look wherever I wanted to, to see what I could see, without replays, living the game in the moment. It was so humanising, to be able to see these players in real life, to watch how they play.

The seats we had were truly incredible. I don’t not really have a yard-stick to judge them by, but I understand that being in the front row of the third tier, almost level with the centre circle, is amazing.

I have never felt like this before. Never before have I been able to watch what the keepers do when no-one else is around, what the captain really does, to freely see how players run off the ball. The most interesting moment was watching an injury in the first half. I never knew that physio's ran so fast! They really sprint!

It was an exhilarating experience, and I now have a new goal in life: to go and see England play a proper competitive international at Wembley, and to go see Manchester United play at Old Trafford.

Saturday 29 March 2008

Stargate SG-1: The Ark of Truth

I love Stargate. It is not perfect, I will admit. It is prone to errors in judgement, and often suffers from bad episodes. Nonetheless, ever since the revamp, with the new Ori storyline, and the new characters, things have been very good.

For those who don’t know, Stargate SG-1 was good, not so great, great, crap, and then brilliant, more-or-less in that order, over 10 seasons and 214 episodes. It's time on TV over, even with a successful spin-off Atlantis, the makers of Stargate had still not finished their story, and they decided that their best plan was to create a dvd-movie to finish this off, and so this new incarnation revolves around that crusade in the name of evil gods that we were in the middle of when the TV show ended. This was shown, as a two-hour special on Sky One, this Easter just past. It is know as:

Stargate SG-1: The Ark of Truth.

Of course, in true SG-1 style, this is all about our heroes chasing a McGuffin with which to save the world, here by convincing all the followers of the false gods the Ori, that they are indeed false gods, and their crusade against all unbelievers is immoral. This is the titular “Ark” that will show them “Truth”. As it is, this is a great plotline, which does of course develop with many twists and turns. It is also problematic, because it alienates new viewers by being very much the conclusion to a story that some of us will be very familiar with, more so than others. If you have not watched SG-1 before, while this is a good showcase of what Stargate is, but I would recommend starting elsewhere, for much of it will not make sense. If you have been watching SG-1, this is the story that you have been waiting for.

This is because this is awesome, a true finale to the Ori plotline. It keeps a large amount of the humour that typifies the show, with self referential nods and jokes at science fiction staples, whilst keeping many of the things that have run throughout the show intact. The effects work is top notch, but not overused, and the tension builds in junction with the dual plots, which are well interwoven, timed and acted, especially because the relationships between the characters are brilliant. They fact that I have been waiting for this for so long does not hinder the end product, it fulfils everything that you could want the finale to do. It ties up the loose ends without closing the book entirely, or destroying many of the themes that are part of SG-1 lore, as many series finales tend to do, with Buffy and Serenity springing immediately to mind as key culprits.

The fact that there are bad points does not detract from the overall awesomeness of the entertainment, and they all draw from one point. Stargate is much better at creating plotlines, and setting up events than it is at finishing them off. The best episodes of Stargate always end as a set up something that will come later, or are entirely unrelated to the grander plot. Episodes that are finales, in every sense of the word, are always underplaying their potential; it is imposable for them not to. That is why the series did not tie up the loose ends, because that it not what Stargate is best at. The set up, the drama, is best before the end, and as such this is not a movie I would rewatch again and again. Once I have seen it once I am happy.

Importantly, the inclusion of the IOA and their plan is a masterstroke of a decision, which those who have seen this will understand, for it is amazing, even if it breaks SG-cannon slightly, it still works, and it really does make the film, even if it does slightly marginalise the huge crusade that is destroying our galaxy.

But there are some problems. Firstly, the extra money seems to have been given straight to the cameramen, who have spent all their time panning around characters, wobbly-cam at the ready, zooming in on every face in a very overdone style. Secondly, because this film cannot realise all of its enormous potential, some of the set-pieces are sacrificed.

An example, which is a spoiler, but one that does not matter in the slightest, a massive evil fleet approaches Earth. Instead of a huge-battle-where-Earth-fights-aggressors-and-is-saved-at-the-last-moment, the film leaves this alone, and focuses elsewhere. This set-piece is not realised, and this is repeated as the same for many other scenes. There is no time for the slower moments when everything conversation must either start “remember the time when…” and serve as exposition, or “our only hope is to…” and ramp up the tension. This cannot live up to expectations because it has to do so much. And yet, it still does. It matched my expectations, it is a magnificent finale, exactly what the series, and the fans, deserve.

The fact that this is a movie, that it comes over a year after the series ended and has to tie up all the loose ends, is problematic. It means that, not only do we need closure on a long-standing issue, but we need to be reminded of what that issue was. Who characters are, what they have done, why they need to be stopped or helped, an audience needs to be reminded of this, and only then can the answer be given. This is a very time consuming process, which does at some points drag away the tension.

Most of all, there is one problem with Stargate which always comes to mind, and may be more of a criticism in general than a particular fault of this film. It is especially apparent after watching Battlestar Galactica. SG-1 always approach a big issue, a controversial one, that has no “correct” moral answer, but instead of challenging our perceptions, as in BSG, they back away hurriedly and avoid the issue like the bubonic plague. For example, here it is the nature of religion, which they avoid, and the nature of fanatical interpretation of sacred texts, which they also avoid. I also find it morally questionable that they have, in the previous season, wiped out an entire race of beings, in if they are evil false gods, with another McGuffin, in an act of genocide, and seem quite proud of their actions. Fine, they saved humanity by doing so, but I would like it if a few of the characters approached the issue head on, and tackled it as it should be. Naturally, if you didn’t spot any of this, it if because it is only alluded to. I understand the reasons the writers avoid these debates, of how they could corrupt the tone of the piece, but it annoying the way in which they always pull away from, what I feel, could be the most interesting of punches, and the hollow feeling it leaves some aspects of the show.

To conclude, this is a brilliant movie of Stargate. The tension is high, without compromising the characters and their interactions with each other. This is exactly what I had hoped for, even if it does suffer from the long-standing problems that Stargate has always suffered from, and that concluding a long story is always hard. This cannot be as fulfilling as when the writers are developing a story to be finished later, but this is still a brilliant finish to the Ori plot, it does everything you could want of it, and does it well. However, I do not know how much enjoyment anyone who is not a full Stargate fan will be able to gain from this. I love Stargate, and was paying attention to all that happened in the last two years. If you didn’t watch those, chances are you will be left feeling unconnected to the plotline here, as more time is spent of reminding the audience of what is past than of developing the characters, something unnecessary for a full television series, but that may have been appreciated by new-comers to the move.

Bring on Continuum, the second film due in early summer, a more self-contained movie, a time-travelling adventure featuring Jack O’Neil!

If Ark of Truth is just the first example, it bodes very well for things to come.

Friday 28 March 2008

Haircut

I know nothing about my hair. There has never been a lesson at school, or a TV infomercial, or anything. What are split ends? How much shampoo should I use? What colour is it? Really dark blond or light brown?

Today I got my haircut. This involved making guesses at most things the barber asked. To make matter worse, I wear glasses. Whenever he says, "does this look long enough?” I always say, "Yeh". This is because I cannot quite see. Luckily, It worked out OK.

I am really surprised that this has not yet backfired on me.

Thursday 27 March 2008

France 1 - 0 England

The bubble has burst. England, in one of the most pathetically boring matches ever played, have lost to France, and that was only due to a penalty. We have no good full-backs, a midfield that cannot play with each other, cannot pass and leave massive holes, and no strikers. Not a single true striker, they are all injured, crap, play wide or come deep. This leaves the England side impotent, and open to exploitation by any reasonable opposition. This is why we failed to qualify. Even if we had, can we really believe that this team would have gotten much farther than the group stage? Cappelo needs to work wonders, and he has only two years to do it.

Good news though! David Beckham, one of my favourite players, received his hundredth cap. He also reminded everyone of why he was bad, by stealing the position of the right-back, and being able to do little spectacular in a game with no free-kicks. But, nonetheless, good for him.

We need a miracle.

Tuesday 18 March 2008

Football Predictions - End of 2007/08

There are eight games remaining for the Barclays Premier League, with one of the tightest and hopefully most fascinating finish to a title race for a while.

It appears to me that the biggest decider is going to be the head-to-heads between the big teams, with Chelsea playing Arsenal and Manchester United at Stamford Bridge, Arsenal and Liverpool at the Emirates, and Man Utd playing Liverpool at Old Trafford. However, these games are so big, that none of the teams can afford to lose these, and as such they will most likely be tense, but dull affairs, ending in a draw. The title depends on these games, for any loss of points will surely be made to count by the other teams.

On a similar line, many of the teams still have to play others pushing for European Qualification, and as such Everton and Villa could play a key role. It also seems important that the big teams pick up these easy points during a hectic schedule. I think it will be Manchester United’s year again. Chelsea don’t look confident enough, Liverpool to far behind, and Arsenal are in a rut.

The importance of the FA cup usually effects this, but since all of the big four are out, this is different this year. Portsmouth are the only top-flight team left, so i feel it has got to be them. Meanwhile, it is the Champions League where the big four will be focusing all their strength. Chelsea and United should make it into the Semi-finals, as should Barcelona. Joining them, I foresee, will be Liverpool, deadly in Europe and with little to play for domestically, who will throw everything against Arsenal. This is where it gets tricky. We are, almost, guaranteed an English Team in the final. Could we have an all English final? I don’t see it as an impossibility. However, I predict Man Utd, to see off Roma and then fail against Barcelona, who will go on to once again prove that even with three English semi-finalists, we don't have a European champion.

Oh, and just to keep up the tension, even though I feel he deserves it, David Beckham will be unfit to claim is One-Hundredth England International cap on March 26th against France, but will make a token appearance. And do awesomely! We will beat the French, Michael Owen will score, and Fabio Cappello will have regained the English spirit for the World Cup Qualifiers.

But we will see how this goes before I put my stake on for the European Championship this summer.

Prediction: Man Utd for the Premiership, Barcelona for the Champions League, and Portsmouth for the FA Cup.

Wednesday 12 March 2008

Juno & No Country for Old Men

I have just sen two very good films. The reason why I have just seen two, is that I need to take a few weeks to decide if I want to see a film or not, and usually by that time it has almost stopped showing. Thus it was that I ended up seeing both Juno and No Country for Old Men within 24 hours.

Juno - This is a very heartfelt film. Really, it it extremely well acted, written and directed. Special kudos must go to Ellen Page, for really selling her character and her motivations. The tone and mood is just right, not too dark, and not too happy ever after-ish either. I would much recomend this film. Unfortunatly, it is not perfect. The script is dependant on an understanding of many of the references throughout, most often confusingly to me about music. Having a conversation that is based around the music that two characters like is fine, but when this is a recurring scene and it means absolutly nothing to me, I started to lose my connection. But i did not get bored, it kept me entertained, and I left the cinema feeling that wonderful mix of bliss and life-affirming fear.

No Country for Old Men - I can see why this won so many awards. The direction is superb, creating a feel for the atmosphere that is brilliantly supported by the cast. The only problem I had was that there did not seem to be a singular "lead", and I felt rather left in the dark at some stages. However, I am sure this was deliberate. This is a slow movie, best described as an action film, with a much more meaningful purpose, and therefore missing our on many of the actin-setpeices that would be part of a more popcorn style. Not that this is too artistic, I still understood it. It is definetly worth a look, it is just not as groundbreaking as some of the reviews led me to believe. If anything, it is more of an old fashioned style of film, but this is not a bad thing.

Choice: I prefer Juno. No Country is the better film, but Juno such a heartfelt comedy which still manages to include drama that I have to recomend it, even over such a high class of competition.

Thursday 6 March 2008

Hidden Mobile Phones

I was in an awkward situation today. There I am standing on a crowded bus, and this large, middle-aged bloke suddenly yelled into my face if I wanted to "ave a beer this even'n".

I responded that I had a prior engagement, politely turning him down, only for him to give me a threatening look. He followed this up with an, even louder, "Are you bein' funny?!"

It was at this stage that I realised he was yelling into one of those headsets that people use, connected to their modile phones, and then sureptitiously tucked into their collars. It appears that he was not adressing me. I was, of course relived, and slightly embarassed. This embarassment was made worse by the fact that I was stuck less than a foot away from him for the next half hour.

Friday 29 February 2008

Iron Man Trailer

So we get an extra day this month, this being a leap year and all. To celebrate we get a new Iron Man Trailer to watch. Woooo!

First, let us get the pessimism out of the way. Superhero movies have consistently let me down. Take X3, amazing trailer with a disappointing final product. Last summer let me down. Look at Spiderman 3, amazing potential with a disappointing final product. There are so many ways in which this could go wrong. The first Act could suck, for almost all origin stories do. The Final act could suck, because almost all final fights are, ironically, anticlimactic. The middle could suck, due to a vagueness of baddies and motive. The direction could suck, the acting could suck, the special effects could suck. This could fail in so many ways.

Now for the hope. The idea of Iron man is awesome. The most important feature of a superhero is their heroics. Think what you will of Superman, if I was in a situation where I was about to die, I believe that he could, and would, save me. A certain level of ability needs to be reached. The second most important feature is fragility. A hero needs to have problems, some moral choice or reason behind their actions. This is why Spiderman 2 was so brilliant, it was about Peter Parker. Robert Downey Junior can pull this off. If he can be unstoppable and troubled, then this film should be brilliant.

Secondly - have you seen how awesome that suit looks! It flies! I believe it flies! It has rockets that come out of his forearms! If they can pull this off, then it will be amazing!

This is a great trailer. I want to see this film, and it is coming very soon - May 2nd. I. Cannot. Wait.

Sunday 24 February 2008

Injured Eduardo

Eduardo Da Silva, the Croatian International, has undergone surgery for a double compound fracture of his leg. The horrific injury came about as a result of a tackle during the Birmingham v Arsenal game, and it looks as if the Arsenal Striker will not play again this season, and may possibly be out for much longer.

This is however, only the start of this blog entry, as my real focus comes about due to the television coverage of the incident. The game was a lunchtime kickoff on Sky Sports, who refrained form showing the tackle that caused the injury. Match of the Day would later show it during the late evening broadcast, but would cut it from the repeat on Sunday morning. This injury was horrific, but was it really bad enough to not be shown on television?

Broadcasters are instructed not to show certain things. One of the clearest examples concerns streakers, who are not shown as they are seeking publicity, and the hope is that not showing them will give them less incentive to streak. Also, it is before the watershed, and there may be some complaints from sensitive viewers. This is an understandable policy.

However, this injury was not an unconnected event, this is a part of the game. This tackle led to a red card, and without seeing the incident it is difficult to judge whether this was deserved or not. The injury was a part of the match, and an unfortunate event nonetheless, there is a feeling that it should be shown. The arguments against this, the gruesome nature of the injury, and the privacy that some may feel the player deserves, are very much rational points.

My feelings are muddled. Should we be shown this, gruesome, terrible injury on daytime television? And if not, is it wrong to want to see what happened?

Thursday 21 February 2008

Berlin Trip

Fear not, I have returned! Well, I returned on monday, but I have only just recovered. I had a great time, even if it was freezingly cold this time of year. Berlin is a magnificent city; the streets are massive, which is amazing when compared with london. All of the people are friendly, especially when you need help after getting lost in the suburbs. I got to see lots of Nazi stuff, and lots of Cold War stuff, which are both very frightening because of the efficiency of everything. Great city, great trip.

Wednesday 13 February 2008

Alltalk vs Teamspeak

The Alltalk debate is one that I have been mulling over for the past few weeks. It all comes about as a result of the Javaserver, the place where I play the majority of my Team Fortress 2 games. In the old days there was the PCGamer server, which would always be slow to update, and often crash for days at a time, disappearing after every update. I loved it. It was the first time I had found a server to play on where I started to recognise the people, in that specific online-gaming way, who played it with me. It was great. It had teamspeak. Then time progressed things along, and the Javaserver was born. Most of the people moved from PCG to Javasever, and I was content. But something was very different, and it was unnerving. It was Alltalk.

The idea behind Alltalk is written in the name. If you use a microphone, and talk, then all on the server will hear you. With Teamspeak, only your team will hear you. This massively affects the words you say. With Teamspeak, glorious tactics emerge. With Alltalk, banter with the enemy enlivens the game. I still can’t decide which is better.

There is a downside to Alltalk, it can get quite loud. Some people insist on screaming at every kill and at every death. I don’t like loud; it’s just the way I am. There is also a downside to Teamspeak, it can be very isolated. You are divided from half of the players, which is not so good at creating such a friendly atmosphere.

Is there a compromise? I don’t see how. Having both Teamspeak and Alltalk would lead to much hilarious confusion, as people shout their tactics to the enemy. Is it even possible, to have both enabled at once? Can I assign two buttons in TF2? Should I have researched this before I started writing?

These are the things that I think about on public transport. One fact emerges form all this however: TF2 rules, and I hope all TF2-ers never leave.

Tuesday 12 February 2008

Umbrellas - Round 2

Just found the perfect argument concerning umbrellas, so i'm gonna to link it here.

It is one of the older entries in John Walker's blog, which I discovered by accident.
http://botherer.cream.org/?p=209

"The moment the tiniest droplet of rain is titrated from a cloud, up swoosh these ridiculously huge, and hugely dangerous weapons, endangering anyone who has managed the self-awareness to recognise that they are waterproof. Dodging the genuinely harmful metal spikes that begin spinning down all sides of the streets is like something from a Tomb Raider game, except without the medpacks and calming slaughter of endangered species. If someone were weilding anything else of that size and lethality, they would be immediately arrested."

Sunday 3 February 2008

Cloverfield

This is a blog entry about Cloverfield. I saw this film on the opening Saturday, in a freezing cold cinema, with painful seats, because roadworks had made me and my friends too late to watch it at the good cinema. It took us all afternoon to get to the good cinema, in traffic, and back to where we started, to then go to a cinema which I hate. Luckily, this film is even more immersing and convincing is even more convincing if you are in pain, need the toilet and can not fell your fingertips.

The film - I have never seen anything like it. Literally, in all the films I have watched, I have never walked out of a cinema feeling like this film made me feel. The characters suck. Really, they are just silly. But that is important to the film. They need to be average, because then you believe that this could be happening to ordinary people. If they were extraordinary, then the film would not be as good as it is. The first quarter-hour needs to be boring as hell, because it sets up these people. This film understands that it works better if these people are normal. Sadly they soon go off to do their own thing... but still without becoming the super-people from most other monster films. Sadly, I would be hard-pressed to remember the names of almost any of the characters, even though this, I feel, may have been deliberate.

I must also say how superb the camera work is. It looks amateur, but provides just enough of the action, while keeping the just enough hidden. The amount of planning that must have gone into it is amazing. Mostly this is all done as panning shot, with the camera wandering around the scenes, held by one of the characters. A special note must go to the effects, which are also tremendous, they blend seamlessly as good effects should.

This film is short, and this is a good thing; it suits the style. However, it does take a good twenty-minutes to get going, and this can leave the ending feeling a bit abrupt.

There is another problem, and that is the balance between answers and questions. Personally, I believe that the monster should never be clearly seen. Yet, some people will be very annoyed at the way the monster is never explained. The dialog on the whole is rather dull, but it is not a talking film. The excellent cinematography creates emotions in the audience that are unlike any film I have ever seen before.

Go and see it - This is well worth the entrance fee, even if it is different to the blockbusters we are so often treated to by Hollywood.

Thursday 31 January 2008

Umbrellas

Today it rained. Not that heavily, just a small shower. Nothing special.

But there is one thing I hate about the rain; it makes people put up their umbrellas, and they are prone to being inconsiderate with them. I am quite tall. Many umbrella-wielders are short. Their umbrellas hit me in the head. This hurts.

So please people. Take care with unbrellas.

Sunday 27 January 2008

New Poll

On the first of April I will post a blog entry that has been voted for by you...
So what do you want to hear?

Technology

We, as a species, have made some great inventions and discoveries over our brief time on this planet. The written word, antibiotics and standing on our hind legs all come to mind. But we have also made some real big mistakes. One of the biggest comes from our arrogance and self-importance. It is the invention that I hate. It actually makes me physically sick. It is the Automatic Door.

Automatic doors seemed like such a good idea, as anyone who has ever watched Star Trek will testify. They open - for you! They sense your presence, and they should be just so cool!

But this is wrong. This is wrong because the automatic door never works properly. They are always broken, opening when they shouldn't because of a strong breeze, or remaining closed while you stand infront of them. They just dont work.

This is even more annoying to me, because the door is the perfect invention. I dont want to simplify this; doors have evolved over time, with the intoduction of hinges, pivots and door-frames. During the renaissance, doors began to be used for effect, creating ambience in a room. Doors have, over the centuries, evolved. But the electronic door is a monstrosity.

Opening a door requiers minimal effort. Attempting to force my way through a broken automatic door requiers more effort. They dont work. They are allways broken.

Inventions do need to evolve. Take, for example, the simlest invention: The Wheel. The wheel has grown up. One wheel can give you a wheelbarrow, or a unicycle. Combining a wheel with another gives you stability, combining it with a combustion engine allows you to travel faster, combining it with brakes allows you to stop, combining it with suspension gives you a better ride. The wheel has evolved, so far as to to the point of introducing tyres and tyre pressure, one of the most complicated sciences imaginable. It led the way to a whole new batch of inventors and inventions.

The door didn't. It could be adapted, used in new ways and perfected. But it didn't need this radical overhall, it didn't need to become something new. It is what it is, and I prefer what it is.

Inventions change. Things evolve over time. But sometimes this is not a good thing. Sometimes it is. The automatic door is not yet perfect, and until it is, I will hate it. Does this make me a bad person?

Sunday 20 January 2008

The PCGamer podcast and me

I am a fan of podcasts. They make public transport bearable, and they are the reason why I have sunk so much time into Football Manager.

I have listened to the PCGamer podcast for a long time indeed. The British one is my favorite, but since they are not so involved in this story I will leave them out here..

PCG USA have been going for nearly 120 podcasts, and every week they have listener questions. These listeners all send in mp3s of their voices, and then the PCGers reply, on air, to them. About a week ago, I decided to send in a question of my own...

A thought had struck me concerning levels in videogames. Building on from Portal, I figured that the coolest setting for a shootout in an FPS would be a mirror-maze.

A great idea? I thought so, so asked those PCGers if it was possable, and they answered my question. They discussed it. That is why I love this story, because it is a great example of how people connect. I was able to share an idea with people on the other side of the Atlantic, who then shared, and built on my idea to the rest of the world of podcasts.

Use this inspiration. Do great deeds, share great thoughts. This is what we made all this technology and civilisation for. This is my epiphany.

This can be heard in PCG USA podcast #115, 40min aprox.

The Second Comment

And as quick as that it may be over...

I have been spotted by a smart talent scout. The best stuff from here will also be available over with Java and Hidden.

I will still update here mainly, so this is not the end. Merely, another beggining.

I like begginings..

visit - http://jhbloghammer.blogspot.com/