Thursday 31 December 2009

Happy New Year!

Welcome to the world of tomorrow!

Tuesday 29 December 2009

Avatar

So, I went to see Avatar. Y'know, that movie with those blue aliens. It was most awesome, but more on that later. See, the big thing they have been pushing for this movie is the 3D element. Hollywood likes 3D. You can't pirate a 3D film, and cinemas have an excuse to charge you more money, for the glasses, yet it doesn't cost them any extra. That immediately gets me riled; if I am paying almost double the price, it better be double to awesome. So they like to tell us 3D is amazing, that it is gonna be a revolution in film, (*sigh*), and you know what, it is kinda cool, but not nearly cool enough.

I mean, OK, so I have now seen Up in 3D and Avatar in 3D, and both films, were I given the chance to see them again, I would watch in regular old 2D. There are some nice things about 3D: every now and again you see a 3D shot which has depth, and you feel like you are looking through a window onto the movie set, as opposed to a screen, and that is all kinds of cool. Those shots are sometimes incredible. Then there the 3D people think of when they imagine "3D": y'know, a rocket firing out of the screen and into the audience, or people pointing out of the screen and into the audience. Things coming out at you. Both of those are all kinds of awesome, but truth be told, I am not sure if they actually can make a film much better. And a 3D film, bear in mind, is not constant 3D. It is a 2D film with occasional 3D shots. That is very important to remember.

One reason I just can't love 3D, is the glasses. They mess with your immersion. I get repeatedly brought out of the movie to adjust them - their one size fits all design is suprisingly fine on me for a while, but it still annoys if you wear them for too long. And their coloured lenses deaden the colours on screen, making the film seem darker and blander.

But the biggest problem 3D faces is that I start to ignore it. Yes, every now and again, an establishing shot of the scenery in 3D is very impressive, and yes, every now and again, an action scene is given a nice shot as an arrow, or something, flies out of the screen. But for the most part, I am ignoring 3D, and just trying to watch the movie. That is why I went to see Avatar. That was why I went to see Up. I wanted to watch the film.

I guess what I am trying to say is that 3D is a kinda cool idea, but that, truth be told, I still just want to see my movies in 2D. The glasses are not worth the occasional 3D shot. But most of all, 3D is not an immersive element. When I see a 3D shot, it is distracting me from the movie; for the most time my brain is just trying to ignore the 3D so I can watch the movie. It was worth seeing Avatar in 3D at the cinema, but if I don't think I am gonna seek out a 3D movie again any time soon. I have given it a fair chance, and it just doesn't seem to be better.

Oh, and Avatar. That was really, really, very good. Honestly. Except that it is far too long, has a stupidly over-the-top environmental, spiritual, theme forced upon us, and is the most predictable and under-written story ever put to celluloid. Apart from that, it is one of the most fun films I have seen in a long time.

Thursday 24 December 2009

Tuesday 22 December 2009

Not much to report

Not that much going on at the moment. Holidays, so relaxing.

Thursday 17 December 2009

Excuses

Soz for lack of posts for a while, the Uni term here at Exeter has been coming to an end, and that meant I had a bunch o' essays due, which took up some time. Anyhoo, I'm back now.

Monday 30 November 2009

Why I Hate Dell

OK, so my Dell printer has been of great annoyance for quite a while. Ever since the last one got fried by the crazy electricity of Northernhay, things have not been simple. I phoned Dell got, got a new one delivered, and all that. But the last few months have been driven by a need for printer ink. After a fair bit of searching, I discovered that Dell will only let you buy printer ink directly from them. Which sucks. So, I bought a black ink cartridge, and when it arrived things were looking good.

But no.

The Dell printer wont work without a colour cartridge detected. Even tho' I have no desire to print in colour. And I can't use the old colour cartridge because, for complex reasons, I dont have it anymore.

*sigh*

So, unless someone knows of a workaround, I am gonna have to spend money on a colour ink cartidge. Which sucks.

More on FlashForward

So we have hit the midseason of FlashForward. Y’know, that show where everyone sees themselves exactly what they will be doing in 6 months and gets really worked up over what is going to happen.

Every time I watch, I see just how much this is a post-Lost show. By which, what I mean is that this show is doing everything possible to be like Lost. Mysterious characters with mysterious intentions. More questions than answers. Time-travel confused dialogue. British actors. But the problem is that Lost spent years building the mythos, whilst getting rid of all those viewers that were too retarded, or who couldn’t be bothered to pay attention. You don’t know what lies in the shadow of the statue? No worries, ‘cos Lost is no longer a show for you. The final season of Lost is a payoff for the hardcore. For people who have watched, and importantly, learned from, the show since the beginning. FlashForward does not have that. And so, it is trying to be the new Lost, but for everyone. And that makes it dumb itself down. And that sucks.

Anyway, there was no real point to this babbling stream of consciousness, ‘specially if you watch neither Lost or FlashForward. Having just watched the midseason finale, it seems I shall be a couple of weeks without FlashForward. But having watched a fair bit of it now, it seems to be a decent show. Oh, and by the way, Lost restarts in February.

Friday 27 November 2009

December = Exciting Movies

So, December looks like it will be pretty awesome for movies.

1. Sherlock Holmes - man, if this movies is half as good as it looks it will be so damn cool.

2. Avatar - That movie that Cameron has been making for about ten years about humans exploring a planet liven on by blue aliens.

3. Paranormal Activity - is this new horror movies. I have never been much of a fan of horror films, but the more I hear about this the more awesome it sounds. Of course, I am trying to avoid hearing too much, for fear of spoilerz...

Thursday 26 November 2009

SkiFree was so awesome.

Hopefullly everyone here will have played SkiFree. It was a free PC game from the early '90s, the aim of which was to ski down a mountain, avoiding obstacles. However, the most memorable thing about the game was the abominable snowman who would chase and eat you after your ski fun. No matter what you did, at the end of your run, this yeti would appear and eat you. He was innescapable. XKCD just did a comic about it.

Click the comic to embiggen.

Tuesday 24 November 2009

Paris Hitch-Hike

So, just came back after hitchhiking to Paris. For charity! The opportunity came about, and so I teamed up with Tom Baker to try and make it to Paris.

We started off at 9am on thrusday, with the weather helpfully not rainiing, and made our way to exeter services. We were there for quite a while until we found someone to give us our first hitch. It was a lady who worked for BP. She was driving back to swindon, so she was able to take us as far as swindon servies. We were not there for very long, as we quickly found a guy who was willing to take further down the road. He was, to be honest, quite strange. At one stage he was quietly praying while driving like a madman on the motorway. Then he pulled over to the hard shoulder, telling us how he knew a great spot to hitchhike from. He seemed very impressed that we were doing this for charity, and very enthused about getting us to a prime location. As he was fairly insitent he take us there, we decided to trust him. Turned out, his great place was a petrol station just stones throw from heathrow airport! It had not been part of our plan to get stuck inside london, and it took us quite a while to get back to plan, onto the M25. We were able to convince an off duty minicab driver to give us a lift, and he dropped us at some traffic lights next to a roundabout, which was another not so great spot. We were there for probably just over an hour, before we were picked up by an engineering consultant who had been working on the fuel economy project at heathrow. He was either incredibly well connected or loved to spin tall tales, as virtually every bridge or building we passed he knew the architect of. He said he had hitchhiked in his youth, and gave us a couple of tips. The most useful of which, was that when not at services the most important thing was to have a place where drivers could pull over after seeing you. Which made sense as soon as swe stopped to think about it. He dropped us in a far better spot, just by a laybuy on a road leading to the M25. The problem was we were running out of sunlight, and we were still there when it got dark. This was when things started to look bleakest, as the later it got, the slimmer our chances of getting a lift seemed. And we did not want to be stuck on the side of the road all night. But eventually a van driver pulled over. Not that he had seen us, he had pulled over in order to phone his wife, but since he was going the right way, he was willing to give us a lift. He was a pretty interesting bloke, as he had driven vans all around europe, and he dropped us at some services about 40miles from Dover. This was a far better place to be, as it not only had a place where we could buy some food, but also as we spotted some fellow exeter-paris hitchhikers. We tried our luck at the services petrol station for about an hour, and a buissnessman on his way home gave us a lift the final stretch to Dover.

We got to Dover about 1am, and managed to get some sleep while waiting for the ticket office to re-open the next morning. We woke early for the first ferry across the channel, but it turned out to be incredibly hard to find a lift whilst on the ferry. There were about 6 pairs of us hitchers, all trying to head to Paris, and there just weren't enough people heading that way. So we arrived at Calais with those fair few other hitchers from Exeter, and found another bunch of people who had been in Calais overnight. Turns out Calais is one of the most depressing places on earth. One pair who had gone into town to look for a lift had been shooed back to the port, being told it was not safe. Then it started to rain, and so we decided to get the train to Paris with our felow hitchhikers. It was about 6pm by the time we got to Paris, and we had to make it to our meeting point, which was the Eiffel Tower, in order to meet up with even more exeter hitchikers. By the time we had found that, we then had to turn about and try to find our way to the hotel, which turned out to be harder than we had first thought. But we managed it, and were able to get to our room and get some sleep.

Saturday was spent wandering around the centre of paris. Saw the Arche de Triumph, walked along looking at some of the shops, and went up the the Eiffel Tower. Then, in the evening, we went out to a parisian nightclub, which was good fun, but we were there for a long time, as we needed to wait it out until the metro re-opened so we could get the subway back to the hotel. So it was morning before we made it back to the hotel. After waking on sunday, we went to get some food, before making it onto the coach for the long ride back to Exeter. Slept a bit during that, and made it home on monday. Took a couple of days to recover the sleep that students requier, and now things are settling pretty much back to normal.

Paris was great fun, and hitchhiking turned out to be a pretty awesome experience. Win!

Tuesday 10 November 2009

Searching for Call of Duty

So, I dunno if you have heard, but there is this new videogame out. There has been a bit of fanfare for the new Call of Duty game, Modern Warfare 2. Seems that when you make a sequel to one of the best selling games of all time you want people to know it is coming.

"11.10.09" they chanted, confusing everyone in Britain with their Americanised date stamp, and so I looked forwards to November 10th. So when I found I had 6000 words of essay to give in on the same day I was slightly disheartened. But no problem, I thought, I shall just get my work out of the way, ahead of time.

Turns out that was not the case. Instead of running down to my local videogame retailer for the midnight launch, which I have long awaited, and running home to be one of the first people to play this game, I was stuck, my face lit by the glow of my laptop in a cold house, trying to find intelligible things to say about the 1911 National Health Insurance Act. So I missed out on being one of the first person to play.

But, don't you know, being the first to play had already been broken. Online retailers shipped the game last wednesday, so as not to lose face if customers received the game late I expect, but this meant people were already playing this game last weekend. At the same time, supermarket retailers responded by slashing their prices and selling the game at a loss. From the RRP of £55, you can find the game for as low as £25, if you are willing to sink as low as to shop at ASDA.

But I had pre-ordered this in GAME months ago, in anticipation of a midnight launch. And being the loyal customer I am, I was going to stick to my pre-order and get my double reward points, buying the game for the not unreasonable £45. So I walked into Exeter high street only to find that the GAME store had closed down! And reopened at a new location! A location they seemed to want to keep secret, giving only the toughest of riddle-esque clues as to its location. I kid you not people.

So I had to go and find the new GAME store. This led to a rather uneventful 15 minutes as I stumbled about the Princesshay shopping district, suffering from the cold and hunger, while I tried to find the new location of the Exeter branch of GAME.

But, success! I found it! I was done. There, in the front shelf for all to see, where millions of copies of Call of Duty. So I ran to the desk, and presented my pre-order receipt to the cashier. Who turned aorund, and took a mint condition copy of Call of Duty down from the shelf behind her. She scanned it, I had money in hand... and then she looked at me, and asked if I was over 18.

I was slightly startled. I have not been asked my age when buying a videogame for.... well, since I had braces and was still choosing which GCSEs to study. So I produced my university ID. And was told that just would not do. I remained calm, and logical, like Spock. I asked if she could check the birthdate on my GAME loyalty card. That would not do. Hmm... if I was Spock that Vulcan Nerve Pinch would be useful about now. I offered to show her the birthdate on my debit card. That would not do. It had to be a driving licence. Which I had left, in my drawer, at home. And so I was forced to leave GAME without Call of Duty.

Now, I can understand why they would do this. They don't want to get into trouble for selling little Timmy a videogame with some shooty bits. But I am not little Timmy. I am 6 foot 2. I hadn't shaved this morning, so have stubble under my chin. And so I left, feeling... what is that word that means the opposite of happy?

So I left, a solitary tear trickling down my eye. I gave into hunger. I had not eaten lunch yet, so I stumbled towards the nearby sandwich shop. Then I stumbled homewards, to the internet, to rage against this injustice. Thinking of how, if the world was a better place, I would be skipping home to get shot at in a computer simulation. This is all just not fair...

Friday 30 October 2009

Sherlock Holmes Trailer

I had not been paying much attention to this, but after seeing the trailer, I gotta say it looks mighty awesome. And only about a month 'til it comes out in cinemas! W00t!

Wednesday 28 October 2009

Thoughts on FIFA 10

I just realised it has been a month since the release of FIFA 2010. And having played it a bit, here are a bunch o' random thoughts that have struck me whilst playing
  • The way player shout to each other is so cool. In the actual game you can hear faint cries of “man on” and “pass it!”. So awesome, and actually kinda useful.
  • My God! Cristiano Ronaldo is just so very, very awesome.
  • Using Left Trigger defending is so important! Yaaaay! Something I have being doing for years in PES is now vital!
  • You can turn down commentary volume, but not change commentary frequency. WHY!? I like to have Andy Gray speak occasionally, but not every other second...
  • All the goals feel like goals. Very rarely do you bumble through, after the defence has parted magically, and then only score because the keeper was 10 feet to the left of the goal and still forgot to dive. This was the worst thing about old school PES, and it is so wonderful to have it fixed.
  • Celebrations are not actually that much fun. I want to turn this custom crap off...
  • Refs are better. They let things go; let the game flow. Sometimes far too much tho’, and people get away with preofessional fouls.
  • You have to pay money in the EA Store for foreign language commentary... I am not gonna pay for it, but if it was on the disc or free I would use it every now and again for a change/laugh. Kinda lame that they charge people for it.
  • They call Kuyt – Kite. Just as I was assured we should before he became a 'Pool player.
  • Teams that play with a single striker suck. If you have a guy on his lonesome, it is far harder.
  • When you play in rain, you get raindrops on the lens for set-pieces... and replays! Lovely!
  • When you win a cup or a league, you get no trophy presentation. The commentary declares you the champion, only few players run about, and then you see a title screen saying “champions”. There is no trophy room, no reason really to collect them. In PES you would get a huge buzz from seeing the medal and trophy ceremony, and then that cup would be added to your trophy room for all to see. Here you get nothing, and that is a huge downer. Heck, even in FIFA 1996 you saw fireworks when you won. What happened to my fireworks!?

Sunday 25 October 2009

Thoughts On 'Pool v Utd.

Carragher should have been given a red.

If he had walked, everything would have changed. He cynically, and as last man, took down Mickey Owen. If he had gone, United would have had ten mins to get back at 'Pool, who had already taken of Torres. But he didn't. And then N'gog scored.

Neither Vidic nor Mascherano can really complain about getting two yellows. They were both stupid to commit needless fouls late in the game when already on a card.

Valencia was really good though. He gave United an outlet on the right. Time and time again the ball would be spread wide to him, and he had a great game. He looks like a really nice signing. Still not a patch on Cristiano, but then again, nobody is.

Another man who had a great game was Van der Sar, his double save in the first half was very nice.

But the whole game was changed by one move of exceptional skill by Fernando Torres. Not only was he smart enough to stay onside, but he was quick enough to get in ahead of Ferdinand, strong enough to hold off Rio, and finished with an unstoppable shot. A goal worthy of beating Man utd.

Thursday 22 October 2009

Quiz

So, just got back from the History Society Quiz. It was great fun, and with a score of 80/100, our team came in second! A pretty sweet result, if I do say so myself, and resulting in a sweet box of chocolates as a prize. A couple of thoughts:

1. The Jacket Tom Cruise wore in War of the Worlds looks confusingly like the one he wore in Jerry Maguire. This is a problem in picture rounds.

2. Which song Bill Murray repeatedly wakes up to in Groundhog Day is really hard to remember. (I Got You Babe.)

3. I have a great memory for Top Cat. I remembered that the policeman was Officer Dibble.

4. An Alligator Pear is an Avacado.

Tuesday 20 October 2009

Still Alive

Soz for lack of posts, things have been pretty busy.

Tuesday 29 September 2009

FlashForward - Pilot


So, there was new show on TV that debuted this week. FlashForward seems to be the show that ABC is clearly designed to be the next Lost, and from the first episode it looks like it may well be. Big unexplained things happen, there is a large ensemble cast with secrets, mysterious figures are seemingly controlling things, unexplained things are explained with more questions. And since Lost is ending next spring, I am perfectly happy to have a new show ready to fill that void.

First of all, the premise. On one normal day, everyone on Earth blacks out. Everyone passes out. This is a bad thing; planes fall from the sky, cars crash, and jugglers drop whatever was being juggled. As people react to these events, they start to remember that while they blacked out they all saw visions. Visions that agree with other people's visions - people they have never met. They all see what they will be doing exactly six months down the line. The FBI sets up an inter-agency taskforce to find patterns and links between people's flashforwards, led by our main protagonist.

Of course, as soon as you start to get into predicting the future in a sci-fi show, you encounter all kinds of problems. If I saw myself in the future wearing a hat, I could just use my "free will" thing to just not wear a hat, surely? Are people who saw their future now unkillable? And all these people who saw sports results... are you telling me that all those sportsmen are just going to let those results come true? And does seeing the future make it the future? If I saw myself in the future writing a book, would not that spur me on to write a book that I would not have bothered starting otherwise? Then can I just tell my publisher, "don't worry, I saw it was a bestseller, no need to edit it." If you are going to open a big can of worms like time-travel, things are goin' to get very complicated very quickly.

Because of course, this is the big one. If I got a flash forwards into a generic point in six months time, I would most likely be doing somethin' of almost no importance. Sleeping, eating, or thinking about eating or slepping most likely. But once I have seen the future, that moment takes on a huge importance, and I would put up a banner and balloons and stuff to welcome past me's consciousness. Do you follow? Seeing the future changes the future. And seeing a specific moment in the furute definitely changes that moment.

Can.... open. Worms.... everywhere.

And, taking more lessons from Lost, as people come around there is a random unexplained animal just wandering about. Not a polar bear, or a horse, but a kangaroo. I do hope this kanagroo was of importance.


That ensemble cast seems to be acceptable. So far they just seemed to be a bunch of random stereotypes, but then, hey, so did Lost's, and look how god damned awesome they turned out. It seems far too early to start talking about these guys yet tho'. Except for Demetri, who was clearly lying about something big. Maybe he is in on the plot and wasn’t unconscious with everyone else. That explains why when Mark woke up, Demetri had gone from the car. And who was that dude at the baseball game?

So, what I guess I am trying to say is that was a pretty damn awesome start to a show, that gave me almost no clue as to whether it will end up as a good show or not. Awesome!

Monday 28 September 2009

My Day

Good thing about this week is I get to wake up slowly. I had time to watch an episode of House with my cheerios, and there was no huge hurry to have my shower. Then I tidied up the publicity posters, an' stuff, for History Society; we want a big push to get freshers in for the Prague Trip in January. After this I realised I was hungry again, and that it was lunchtime. I went downstairs and was goin' to do myself some sausages, when I realised I don't know how to work our gas oven!

See, tho' I have been here in my new house for a week now, I have not had to cook any meals in my own gas oven. Friends' house has an oven, and I would more often cook and eat over there. They also have a gas oven, but they have a button that clicks an' makes a spark (I assume) which lights the gas. Our gas rings are lit by one of those lighters with a long neck, an' I figured the oven was lit in the same way, by putting the lighter-flame to the gas at the back... but then I decided I couldn't be bothered with sausages and so had a sandwich instead.

I had bought an unsliced half-loaf, and had some of that. I didn't find the need to slice my own bread quite so barbaric as expected. Anyhow, once bread had met ham, cheese and pickle, that was that. I also took a swig from some orange juice (no bits means easier washing up) and it was then back to my laptop to take the His Soc posters up to campus for printing.

Thursday 24 September 2009

I ♥ The Poseidon remake

"Now we're not sure exactly what happened here, but our best guess is that we were struck by what is known as a rogue wave. They are rare, they are unpredictable, and they are lethal."


"Thank you, gorgeous!"
"My name.... is Valentine."
"I love that name."


"Conor! How did you get in there?"
"I don't know but the water's really high!"


"You were mayor? You know, I forgot. Big hero. Rescued all those women and children from the fires. Got elected. Man of the people. But you're not the boss anymore. Hm? You quit. Couldn't hack it. If I recall correctly, you couldn't even hang onto your wife. Come on."


[walks to poker table] "We're going downstairs now."
"Ok, have fun... Hey Jen..."
[looks down at her cleavage] "The twins? Dad..."
"Just one more button."

Monday 21 September 2009

Now Back in Exeter

So, I am now back in Exeter.

Thursday 10 September 2009

Holiday Books

So, anyhow, while on Holiday in Italy I read a bunch o’ books.

World War Z

My God, this is brilliant. This is the fictitious account of the Zombie Uprising, told as an oral history. Recorded as a series of interviews from after the Zombie War, we hear first hand stories of how real people dealt with what was occurring, and damn is it spectacular. Because we hear from so many different people, there is a real feeling of how this apocalypse affected individuals, and how societies responded. It is really amazing.

Artemis Fowl VI

Artemis Fowl was one of my favourite books growing up. The basic premise is that a criminal mastermind, who also happens to be a teenager, discovers the existence of fairies, and captures one to hold her to ransom. And it was so very awesome! And so, over the years that one book has become a series of books, the sixth of which came out recently. And so I picked it up for holiday reading. Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox is its full name, the plot of which involves Artemis travelling back in time a few years to rescue the last of a, now extinct, animal. In doing so he competes against a past version of himself, and has a fast paced, humourous adventure along the way. This is great fun. The Artemis Fowl books have always been brilliant to read, tho’ they do suffer sometimes, now for and older me, from being children’s books. That can be forgiven, but I am just not sure that the idea of a time plot was such a great way to go. The way it isolated our heroes, Artemis and Captain Short, meant that the majority of the brilliantly wonderful characters in the series were excluded; seriously, why would they make an Artemis Fowl book with almost no time given for Foaly or Butler!? I was also kinda annoyed that the two big revelations from the last book where swept aside as Artemis travels to the past, and then bringing a villain back from a past book was decidedly underwhelming. Still, it is new Artemis Fowl, and I loved every page of it.

Scott Pilgrim III

Scott Pilgrim is an incredible comic book series, the third of which is still brilliant. In Scott Pilgrim & The Infinite Sadness, Scott must continue his mission to defeat the seven evil ex-boyfriends of his new girlfriend Ramona, in order to keep dating her. Whilst not as good as the first book in the series, the characters continue to develop, leading to a thrilling conclusion, which made me exited to read the next instalment. Oh, and it is still hilarious.

Mort

There is something wonderful about Terry Pratchet, and the way he has created the Discworld. In that world, one of the most interesting characters is DEATH, who turns up for wonderful scenes in moments of extreme peril. So giving an entire book over to DEATH seems like a wonderful idea. Except that developing DEATH does not work quite as well as it should. He may be scene-stealingly brilliant, but as a character he is hard to work with. The story of his apprentice, Mort, while it starts strongly, becomes sadly forgettable by the end. And yet I would still say that the first half of the book is one of Pratchet’s best, just for how incredibly it is written.

Azincourt

OK, so I am only about half way through, but this seems really to be a collection of four short stories by Bernard Cornwell along the same campaign, so it was a decent place to stop for a while. Introducing us to Nick Hook, a man who ends up as a mercenary archer, it has been good so far, really immersive into the world, and giving me a far greater respect for archery, and a great thanks that I live in the modern age, and don’t have to worry about my home town being under siege.

Monday 31 August 2009

Ranking Cheerios.

I have an annoncement.

Honey Cheerios are nicest. Then Weetos, if it feels like that kinda day, followed in order of tastiest by Cheerio originals. Oat Cheerios are yuck.

You may now continue.

Scott Pilgrim

Man, I cannot wait for this movie. The comic was so awesome, and it looks like they totally have the right ideas for making it...

Blog Five - From Comic Book Panel to Screen - Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World from Scott Pilgrim The Movie on Vimeo.

Saturday 29 August 2009

Back from Holiday

And I just got back from Italy. It was good.

Friday 14 August 2009

Wednesday 12 August 2009

Predicted - England’s World Cup Squad

With less than a year to go until the World Cup in South Africa, I am gonna give this prediction business a go. Fabio Capello will get to chose his 23 man squad, and these are the guys I think he is gonna go with. Of course, injuries will naturally mean at least a couple of these don’t make it, and I expect Fabio to have a more enlightened idea of his squad than I do. As such, I aim to get 20/23 right.

1 – David James is clearly our first choice keeper at the moment, and I just don’t see that changing anytime soon. Well, I would love it if we could just get over ourselves and pick Almunia, but I don’t predict that to happen.

2 – Ben Foster has enough potential to fit into Man United’s plans this season and looks secure as England’s second choice.

3 – Rob Green will be our third keeper. He’s West Ham’s first choice, and he has a good record. I have always felt it is unnecessary to take three keepers to the World Cup. While I can see the reasons why you don’t want unexpected injuries or suspensions to leave you without a keeper, I think it is a gamble worth taking. But Fabio will play it safe, take three keepers, and one of those will be Green.

4 – Rio Ferdinand is the best English centre back by a mile.

5 – John Terry may be slowing down in his later years, but he does seem to have some leadership qualities which make him pretty well respected.

6 – Glen Johnson was deemed worth £17m so will probably play a lot for Liverpool this year, and end up with that place as England’s first choice right back.

7 – Ashley Cole.

8 – Joleon Lescott makes a good enough impression at Everton, and since King cannot play regularly, he will be there.

9 – Wes Brown will come back from injury any day now and walk into the squad.

10 – Leighton Baines will be on the plane just because he is better than Bridge.

11 – Michael Carrick when he has time to turn and set himself he is one of the best passers in the game. There is a reason why Sir Alex paid top money for him, and continues to play him in the middle of his title winning team.

12 – Frank Lampard seems to be quite good when he plays for Chelsea.

13 – Steven Gerrard seems to be quite good when he plays for Liverpool.

14 – Gareth Barry even though I think Barry has been overrated because he is consistent, it is that consistency which will mean Fabio trusts him. Hargreaves is better, but since his legs no longer seem to work, he probably will miss out.

15 – Joe Cole was our best player of the last World Cup, and when he comes back to full fitness he will play a key role in Fabio’s team.

16 – Aaron Lennon will be our choice for the right. This is the toughest to call, but I think he will, just, edge ahead of Walcott and SWP to be in the squad.

17 – Milner is loved by Stuart Pearce, and Pearce has the ear of Fabio Capello.

18 – Stewart Downing.

19 – David Beckham gives us something no other player can.

20 – Wayne Rooney will score for fun.

21 – Emile Heskey is just so liked by all of his strike partners and by Fabio that he will keep out, incorrectly in my opinion, Carlton Cole.

22 – Jermain Defoe will play well enough to keep out Owen, providing Owen is even fit at the time.

23 – Peter Crouch. Beacuse he said he retire the Robot until we win the world cup final.

Friday 7 August 2009

Proof I am an Idiot.

OK, so about a week ago I decided to order a couple o' books of the internet. Reading for the plane and stuff when on holiday. So I order the books, fill in the address, pay for it, and wait for the mail every day to see what comes.

'Bout a week passes and still no books. I check the internet, see that they were dispatched, and look at the dispatch details. "Huh," I say to myself, "that address is odd."

Seems I managed to fill in my Uni halls address, where I no longer live, instead of my home. Doh!

Good news is I emailed my old halls, and they were fine about it, said it happens a lot, an' they were gonna forward my books to me.

Still, proof I am an idiot.

Friday 31 July 2009

Weather Update.

Let history record that there was half an hour in July 2009 when it didn't rain. Clearly it's torrential again now.

Thursday 30 July 2009

Formulating Opinion...

So...

I am not sure what to think. I mean, first of all, it hardly looks faithful to the book. Secondly, I am not sure if I like that stop motion animation. In fact, I was hardly going to mention the trailer at all.

But then..

"I don't have a bandit hat... but I modified this tube sock."

Still, I guess that, all in all it still just looks like a kids movie. It looks like they have taken some of the better bits and made a nice trailer. But still, when it comes around in a few years on TV I will probably watch.

Wednesday 29 July 2009

Sir Alex Speaks

"Obviously Cristiano is a big loss in terms of the goals he gave us, but we will just have to find the goals from somewhere else.

Usually you look to score about 100 goals in all competitions, so we are aiming for that again. If we are going to win the league again or do well in Europe we certainly need players to step up. Going back a few years, we could always be guaranted goals from Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and David Beckham, who always pitched in.

I will be looking to Carrick, Park, Nani, Valencia - even Danny Welbeck and Federico Macheda - to contribute 40 goals between them."

So... no pressure then.

Tuesday 21 July 2009

Wednesday 15 July 2009

Retrospective - Good News

You may remember how a few months ago I heard the great news that we were going to have a hot summer. It was "unlikely" there would be a repeat of the wet summer of last year, and instead we were going to have a warmer drier summer. This news made me hopeful.

Well, I just looked outside the window. It is raining. It has been raining for the last few weeks.

Damn my optimism!

Monday 6 July 2009

Competition Win

As you should know, The Hangover was a hilarious movie. One day, while browsing the internet, I found a The Hangover movie competition, and so decided to enter my name. I put it from my mind, thinking I had no chance of winning. See, I never win competitions.

But I did win!

I woke up one morning to find on my doorstep a wondrous Hangover Survival Kit. Contained within is an eye-cooler, a toothbrush and some toothpaste, some mints and refreshing wipes. Oh, and a tiny bottle of tabasco sauce.

Awesome!

Monday 29 June 2009

Home

So I have now finished my first year at University - moved out of Student Halls. I am back in London for the next few months.

Oh, and it is insanely hot at the moment.

Sunday 28 June 2009

Contact Lenses

Anyways, I recently decided to take up the opticians on their offer of a free trial on contact lenses. I normally don't even think about my glasses while I am wearing them, but sometimes it would be far easier to be spectacle-free. When playing football for example, or whilst out for the evening. Also, glasses have a habit of getting blurry in the rain, so contact lenses would be practical in many ways.

So, as I was saying, a few weeks ago I decided to try contact lenses. The biggest problem is that I hate anything having anything close to my eye - and the idea of putting things in my eye definitely seemed unappealing. So when I went in for the trial, and was shown how to put them in, the biggest barrier was that everytime my finger, with a lens balanced on my fingertip, got close, I would blink. It took me quite a few goes to get the hang of it. About half an hour passed before I managed to get the first one in, but as soon as I had the technique for one - and found that it did not hurt in the slightest - I was able to put the second one in with half the attempts. Happily, contact lenses want to sit on your eye, and so getting them in position is no trouble at all. And taking them out is no bother either. Additionally, they are incredibly painless! I can easily forget about them when they are in. I had feared they would be uncomfortable, but this has not turned out to be the case at all.

For those of you who don't know, the technique for contact lenses is this: to put them in, you balance the lens on you index finger, and holding you eyelid out of the way with the other hand, touch the lens to your pupil. You then gently blink and it slides into position naturally. To take a lens out you slide it with your finger to the edge of your eye, which allows you to simply pluck it out. Simple! And I can now do these first time! Yay!

Since the trial was such a success I signed up for 10 (pairs) a month, of single-use daily disposables; I am happy with how this entire adventure has worked out.

Saturday 27 June 2009

Northernhay House Review

So I have just finished my first year at Exeter University, and moved out of student halls. I was put in Northernhay House, a privately owned self-catered accommodation. Being self-catered has some huge perks: you can eat whenever you want, meaning you don’t have to get up ridiculously early for breakfast or have to be home at a certain time for dinner. You also get to eat whatever you want, which is nice. Tho' if you are in catered halls, you get all your meals cooked for you, which is an extra worry taken care of. But the worst thing about being self-catered is how communal dining is such a more social experience.

The best, and worst, thing about Northernhay is the location. It is not on Campus like many halls, but instead it is right behind the high street. This is fantastic in many ways, being only a few yards from shops and bars and clubs and cinemas and everything is wonderful. It means that you can go to the high street on a whim. The only drawback is that does give it a fair walk to campus, about 20mins to the bottom of the hill, and puts it even further away from all the other student halls. Also it can sometimes be unbearably loud with traffic, if you have a window on the side of the building I was on.

Northernhay also suffers from being privately owned. The free internet we were promised at the beginning of the year turned into paid internet and the promised parcel collection service was stopped. The building also suffered from electrical problems while I was staying there, meaning we lost power for days - and no power meant everything in the kitchen was offline, there were no lights, no water, and no heat, for a long stretch of a cold winter. This sucked. But I guess then there is an upside to being privately owned, that you are left alone for much of the time.

My room in Northernhay was actually quite nice. It had a shared bathroom, but that was never a problem, and it was only a single bed, but then that is normal is most places. It had a nice and big desk, with a decent chair, and a large cupboard. The room had an odd shaped wall that prevented me from putting my bed flat against the wall, which was inconvenient, but I got used to it. The room was actually pretty big, and once I had everything set up, it was a really nice place to be. Tho' I should mention, Northernhay has incredibly thin walls. You do hear almost every word of anything the person in the next room says.

Anyway, Northernhay was not brilliant. There were big electrical problems while I was there, the long walk to campus was inconvenient, and opening the window was unbearable due to the noise of traffic. But then again, being so close to the city centre was wonderful, plus it was nicer than some of the other halls I saw, and my room was larger than expected. I enjoyed my stay there, and I will miss it, despite its flaws.

Monday 22 June 2009

Beach

Went to the beach today. Exmouth is only about 15mins on the train, and is like, £1.50 return. And the sand is fantastic! Still a pain as it get in hair/room/bed/food/eyes/nose/ears/etc, but worth it when the weather is this good. Today was brilliant, it got just the right level of hot and sunny without being sweltering. Sat around most of the time while there; also got burger and chips from cute ice cream lady, with the coldest lemon fanta ever, and played some beach cricket - which is entirely unlike regular cricket as their is no intention to run, or really to get people out. Since there is no bounce on the sand, the bowler has to go underarm, so the batsman can just whack it and watch the fielders go for spectacular dives and catches 'most every time. Yay!

Saturday 13 June 2009

Exams Over!

Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!

Sunday 31 May 2009

My Day - Part Two

So anyway, after playing football in the scorching heat all afternoon, my legs were dead, and I could really not be bothered with the long walk home straight away. So I stopped off in the Birks Grange TV Room, and settled down to watch whatever was on, which turned out to be the final of Britain’s Got Talent. Having seen none of this before, all the acts were new to me. First up was a street dance group called Flawless, who jumped about a bit in time of a Michael Jackson mix-tape. Their performance was fine, it felt very short, but it was not really a display of any talent, and not really a good performance, so in the end it was kinda “meh”.

See it was here that I got the point of Britain’s Got Talent. It is about celebrating people who are amateurs. It is about finding people from nowhere who are actually decent performers with a skill. That is why I judged every finalists based on that – if they were a good performance, and if they had any skill.

Next up was a Welsh twelve-year old singing. He was incredibly forgettable. He was followed by the bookies second favourite, a body-popping dancer named Aidan. He was crap! He did nothing exceptionally talented in his dancing, and his choice of song was poor. He danced to “low” by Flo Rida, and made no attempt to get low, even when the lyrics specifically say “get low, low, low, low, low, low, low.” Poor Effort.

After them, we had an advert break, which told us of the new album by Pol Pot. Turns out that the mass murdering African dictator is now disguised as an operatic singer! Ha ha, yes, I know, I am ‘bout three years late with a joke on previous winner Paul Potts name. Still made me laugh.

So now we had the act which I thought was best, Two Grand, a singing duet featuring a grandfather and granddaughter. The granddaughter actually was a very good singer. The grandfather was not much good, but he didn’t have a very ambitious part in the act, so it did not make much difference. Problem was they where rather twee, so I guess that hurt their popularity.

Then there was a 10 year old girl who was fine, but not exceptional. Then a 17 year-old singer who I wanted to punch. Then there was by far the best performance, a father and son comedy dancing act, which featured two large Cypriots doing some comedy Irish dancing, which was hilarious. There was also the most boring saxophonist ever, who just looked like an average street busker. Turns out he is an average street busker! Shock! And the judges proclaimed them all as incredible performances.

This was what I really did not like about Britain’s got talent. It is full of this smarmy jingoism, this cry of “let us do this for Great Britain! We are the best! Look, these nobodies from some suburban dump are as talented as the professionals that people pay huge amounts of money to go and see! These singers deserve world acclaim and huge record deals, and these dancers have choreography that should be on Broadway, and they are all average British people! Britain! Great Britain! They get to dance for the Queen! Queen of Britiain! Britain! Great Britain!”

The honest truth is that this show should be celebrating something entirely different. It should be celebrating the personalised twists of these performers. How they are talented enough to both have a skill and to construct an incredible performance upon that; to be original. Judges coming out and proclaiming that each of the finalists has an ability so special that they deserve world acclaim, just left me feeling empty. No, sadly an amateur act thrown together in the 48 hours since the semi-final, will not be as good as a professional standard performance that has been in rehearsal for months. Pretending the two are on par just causes people who are put off by this sort of staged over excitement, ie, most normal people, to ignore the show, when some off the people were actually quite good.

Anyway, after having that complex thought during an advert break, the show continued. Susan Boyle came on, and sang the same song she sang the first time, and looked very spaced out. She was not that great. There is not much to say really.

Then there was Diversity, a street dancing group, who both managed a good performance and to show their talent. They were both humorous and talented. Best of an average bunch, turns out they won.

Then there was an advert for America’s Got Talent, starting next week. And I walked home.

My Day - Part One

Today, it was hot. Incredibly hot. So, there was only one thing to do in heat like that – play in the History Society’s 11-a-side end of season game. I lined up at right-back, and it was a pretty fun game. We managed to win 3-1 in the end, and that score-line does not do our domination justice.

Best moment of the match came at a corner for the enemy. I was standing on the near post, and as the cross came in, it was one of their guys who jumped up and got a header in. And it was I who was on the post. Keeping my arms out of the way, I jumped in, putty myself ‘tween ball and goal, and stopping it on the line. Yaaay! Go me!

Course, no one managed to play the full 90mins as it was so hot. The second half was slightly quieter, as everyone was tiring in the incredible heat. But, still, it was great fun to play in a full sized 11-a-side match.

Wednesday 27 May 2009

Champions League Final

Sometimes you lose. Getting beaten by the best team in the world is no disgrace, especially in your second consecutive Champions League Final, in a season where you won the league, having strolled it since January.

The scoreline made it look worse that it was. United had set up to attack. The first goal was going to be decisive, and Barca scored early. And, once Barca score, they become a nightmare to play against.

Still a wonderful season for United. Maybe we needed defeat to pick us up for next year, give us our hunger back.

Wednesday 20 May 2009

Posts

Soz for lack of posts... revision time and all.

Wednesday 6 May 2009

Thoughts On The Champions League

So, that is it. Manchester United will play Barcelona on May 27th. Man, that should be a good game. So, what do I think?

1. I am so much more excited for United v Barca. Why? 'Cos Chelsea are tougher opposition! They battle, they work, they can play. Barca are determined to score their "perfect goal" and have real trouble against top quality opposition. When Barca scored, I felt a weight off my shoulders, like United really were one step closer to lifting the trophy again.

2. Can't be fun to be a Chelsea fan. Six years a row they have been in the semi-finals, only once they make the final, and there they were a spot-kick away from victory, only to drop it. I do actually sympathise.

3. I really do think United are going to win. OK, partially I am biased, but mainly 'cos Barca have to play without their entire first choice back line! No room for the suspended Alves, suspended Abidal, or Gabriel Milito still out with his torn cruciate ligament, and the injured Marquez. Oh, and Caceres is pants. Dodgy at the back? Against United! Looking good.

4. But I don't want to get too over-confident. Barca are an incredible team. 100 goals in 34 league games! Last week, they beat Real Madrid 6-1! They are definitely the best team outside England. Potentially a cracking final.

5. Ronaldo is the best player in the world. Some people don't like his personality. Some don't like his style. Some people say he is lazy. I don't care. He is the player I love to watch, whenever he gets the ball, I believe. And when he turns up, when he gets going, he wins games. He wins titles.

6. I feel a huge amount of sympathy for Fletcher. Incorrectly sent off, and now he misses the biggest game. And he is a great example of Sir Alex getting things right. He stuck with him, and now he is coming in as one of the most reliable player in the United squad.

Tuesday 5 May 2009

Suggested Captions

A woman in California recently woke up to discover an Alligator on her front garden. I have a couple of suggested captions for the accompanying picture.



1. Captain Hook knew, even in witness protection, he would never be safe...

2. I am just gonna poke it with this stick...

3. The Keep Off The Grass sign was always obeyed.

4. “Ssssh! They can’t see me if I keep... very... still.”

5. A far better trick than a plastic spider on a string...

6. The free gift with Extreme Pets Monthly was rather over the top.

7. We are gonna need a bigger stick...

8. “As an Alligator, am I still allowed to cry Crocodile tears?”

9. Far more effective than a Dog at keeping door-to-door salesmen at bay.

10. Step 1 – Alligator; Step 2 - ?; Step 3 – Profit!

Tuesday 28 April 2009

Good News!

So, the long term weather predictions are out! And the great news is we look like we are in for a hot summer. I welcome this news heartily; the last hot summer we had we 2006, which was brilliant - end of GCSEs, lots of Football with the World Cup. That was great.

"Forecasters said near or below-average rainfall this year made it "unlikely" there would be a repeat of the wet summers of 2007 and 2008, as they issued their long-range forecasts for June, July and August. The Met Office said the conditions behind the brighter forecast were due to warmer sea temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. "There are indications that through the summer this year the seas of the Pacific are going to warm up a bit and that leads to high pressure developing over Europe that brings warmer, drier conditions."

Huzzah!

Will I Watch Wolverine?

So, Wolverine is out in the Cinema. I kinda wanna see it - I mean, the adverts on TV have been pretty cool. And while X-Men 3 was a total dud, the first two were fun. Maybe I should check some reviews before deciding...

And, so, some reviews are out, and they do not look good... Empire say "While not a disaster, this isn't the claws-out, rampaging adventure we hoped for." The NY Daily News gave it one star, saying the "whole thing reeks of a lack of enthusiasm". Maybe it is not great, but maybe it would be alright as a popcorn movie, something to rent or check out when it come on TV? EW back me up on this thought, they do speak of "some moments of fun."

Nevermind. I can just miss this one out for now and put all my excitment into the new Star Trek. W00T!

UPDATE - I watched it. Meh. Reviews were kinda right. Star Trek looks incredible.

Sunday 26 April 2009

Busy

Very. Busy. These next few days. Will blog later.

Sunday 19 April 2009

Best of Twitter

So, after looking about on twitter, here are but a few of the best updates from other people, deserving of being shared with you. There are many more, but I want to go watch Lost.

Pentadact - My new mouthwash is delicious. It can't possibly be doing anything.

Pentadact - Bag of Maltesers: lovely. Bag of Revels, in which the first five randomly selected items all turn out to be Maltesers: ninth circle of hell.

bonzrat - Oh no. The cat has learned how to stand on the power button on my PC. The war for my attention has been won.

bonzrat - I do miss the days when Battlestar was just about spaceships shooting each other and robot sleeper agents, not all this crappy mythology and religious dogma.

TheInkTank - An Honest Synopsis. STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE: Religious extremist terrorists destroy government installation, killing thousands.

CcSteff - I consider low-fat cheese to be the gravest personal insult.

adamisacson - Saying, "That's what happens when a hunter does the gathering" will not help your wife understand how you just blew $260 on groceries. And still forgot milk.

Theoban - I think I've been using my iPod Touch too much. I just tried to close Firefox by pawing at the X on the screen.

botherer - I haven't hold-punched anything for years. I miss hole-punching. Stapling is just not as fulfilling.

botherer - Holding the cat up to the clock fails to convince him how long he has to wait until he gets fed.

botherer - I heard post come through the front door, and keep checking Gmail to find it. Please help.

Friday 17 April 2009

Holiday

Back from Holiday. Nice time. Now have one week left in London and then back to work...

Tuesday 31 March 2009

International Lying Day

Okay, so it is International Lying Day, the one day of the year when all news or information you read becomes untrustworthy to the point of pointlessness.

Here shall be updates of the best April Fools Jokes as I find them:

1. Alan Shearer appointed Newcastle Manager. Ha ha ha. Yes, right. Alan Shearer, who has been linked constantly with the Newcastle job for simply ages, but has been sensible enough not to kill his own career with such a suicidal appointment, has finally given in? Almost had me guys. A headline not repeated yet on Sky Sports News or Football365? Very funny BBC. Wait? This is true!? AAH!?

2. New Star Wars Trilogy Announced. Over on the Movie Blog it was announced that George Lucas had announced a new trilogy of Star Wars films, set 100 years after Return of the Jedi.

3. Guradian to publish all stories on Twitter. The Guardian Newspaper announced they were to tweet all their stories. Given away as a joke for definite when they anounce later that the print newspaper will fade away as a result.

4. North and South Korea prepare for an eruption of hostilities in Seoul. This is due to their quest for World Domination. War is set to break out according to Wikipedia.

5. In tonight's football, England will tonight have to sit through a six-and-a-half minute national anthem, the world's longest, sung by the Ukrainian team. This is from the Sun, and could actually be true considering how long we had to wait for some teams during the World Cup...

I am sure there are more about... but this bores me. I am off to make a sandwich. Hmmm... I have Ham. I have Cheese. This shall be toasted and then have Branston Pickle on top.

"Branston Pickle? You must be joking!"

I never joke about Branston Pickle.

Monday 30 March 2009

The Perfect Answer Phone Message

Pretty sure a microwave isn't supposed to make that noise. I wonder what th-- CRUSH KILL DESTROY ALL HUMANS!

Sunday 29 March 2009

Corner Yogurt

Seriously, what is the point?

The first thing I do with a corner yogurt is pour the "corner" part into the yogurt part, thus voiding the corner aspect.

Still yummy.

Saturday 28 March 2009

DST

1. Stupid Daylight Savings Time... stealing one hour of my precious sleep...

2. Stupid Daylight Savings Time... making a mockery of the entire system of having a clock...

Friday 27 March 2009

Battlestar Galactica - The Finale

Well, the show is finished. At first I was just tuning in to the space battles, but then I started to get hooked on the themes. For a show primarily based on the last humans fighting killer robots, there sure were a lot of themes. Torture, Politics, Power, Terrorism, Justice, Rights - hell, there was a lot of morality in there.

See, some of the best episodes of any TV show that I have ever watched came from Galactica. With the Pegasus and New Caprica storylines, I was enthralled. Those were simply incredible. Looking back on it, as a whole, it was a fantastic show. Not flawless, not perfect, but brilliant despite, nay because, of it.

Problem was the finale. When I watched it, I liked it. Problem is, that after a thinking about it for a few days, its plot failings keep rising in my mind.

'Twas a disappointing end. The "answers" just confirmed what we already knew, and not in a good way. Imagine if the answer of Lost was indeed "purgatory", how disappointed would everyone be... still, it was a valiant attempt. Just a shame they never lived up to the superb earlier episodes; to the build-up they had given it.

I can empathise that the writers had no idea where they were going, that they had written themselves into too many corners, and that is a huge shame. Once again, this is a series where I try to forget the finale, the answers, when remembering the early episodes.

SPOILER

See, I liked it when it was a gritty sci-fi action show that set out to plausibly show people reacting in 'realistic' feeling ways to the extreme circumstances they found themselves in, using the familiar old premise from the original BSG show. Finding out I was watching the kind of show which has literal angels, and where God is the final answer to all the questions raised over the series, was an incredible letdown.

Don't get me wrong, the finale was good TV - it just doesn't fit with what I wanted from the ending of Galactica. Oh well...

Monday 16 March 2009

Quiet Evenin'

I have an Ice Lolly. Life is good.

Saturday 28 February 2009

Goal!

Was playing in the History Society 6-a-Side team last week. Normally I get used as one of the defenders, or an impact sub in the middle, but today, due to injuries and the like, I was implemented as the lone striker. So the game was going OK, but I was unused to being up top, and find myself better at slotting other people in, so I ended up playing mostly as a Cantona, or a Berbatov, if you will. Y'know, coming back to get the ball and then slotting other people in. This worked pretty well, for I was the guy who slotted in another guy with a perfectly timed and weighted pass for our first goal. I also was quite good at pulling away an' making space. There was one cross that came along the ground, when I was free in the middle, which I hit early, (shoulda taken a touch) and while I ended up hitting it accurately, 'twas sadly quite soft, towards the corner of the net, which the 'keeper was able to tip around. My shooting felt slightly rusty. I also was breaking in my new boots, which I am much happier with. More control than with Reebok classics, ya see.

So anyway, things were going good; I had myself that assist. Then they won a corner, and so I ended up back near the half-way line with their last defender, making sure they couldn't slot it back to him. Anyhow, their corner was poorly taken, intercepted, and cleared up ahead of me. I turned quicker than their guy, and I was able to get to it first, but he was right behind me. I knew if I tried the shot first time it would probably be saved, and that he could jump in if I pushed it further on my right foot. So, what I did, I am quite proud of.

You know that 90° almost half a cruyff-turn-flick that Ronaldo has made famous, where you knock it behind one leg to turn 90°? Y'know, only not quite well as Ronaldo. Well, having rolled the ball with me for my first touch, I did that with my second. First time I have ever done it in a match! So now I am heading back inside, with the ball on my stronger left, and the defender behind me, putting pressure on my from the back. The keeper starts to come out, making sure I cannot slot it at the near post, so I hits it hard, and low, across the keeper and into the net. Cue wild celbratin'.

My first goal of the spring season, so naturally, I am quite chuffed.

Football Manger 2009

It is the final game of the season, away to City. I must win to take the title, so I go on the offensive. I tinker with my tactics, playing quick, short passes, with lots of movement, players interchanging positions. Using all my knowledge, I push my wingers out wide to stretch the play and create space, relying on their crosses to get the win. During the match I am hit by injuries, and have a penalty saved, but in the final minutes I score from a corner. I leap from my chair, fists pumping with glee at my success. I have won!

But wait. Stop. Reload. It is the final game of the season, away to City. I must win, so I go defensive. Tactics of time-wasting, tackling hard, direct play. My masterstroke, I push up my back line, compressing the play, giving them no space. After injuries and dodgy refereeing, in the final moments my striker runs onto a long hoofed clearance. I sit back in my chair. I have won.

Football Manager ‘09 tries to do new things, and fails spectacularly. The revised transfers are deeply flawed, press conferences are an interminable bore, and this new 3D engine is not the promised revolution. But worst of all I have lost the feeling that I am in control. I no longer sense that my tactics are what drive matches. I am nonger the manager. With newcomers already alienated, it is only the die-hard fans like myself that have a vested interested in the series; and with their push for FM Live and a 3D engine, Sports Interactive have fatally disturbed this iteration of the franchise. While I have faith they will fix the series, this buggy, broken game falls flat of its face.

Thursday 26 February 2009

Headaches

Why the hell is the human body so frickin' prone to getting headaches!?

On a side note, NEVER let curiosity type a benign pain into wikipedia. I am now convinced that I am going to die.

Thursday 12 February 2009

Empire: Total War

Playing videogames as a student is hard. Away from home, with very little money, I don't have much to play with. Living such a spartan existence, devoid of any modern console, is heartbreaking. I have my laptop, a trustworthy but not especially powerful creatue, and that is all. Making matters worse, my gaming PC at home is reaching the end of it's life, with almost all modern releases too demanding for it. No Fallout, no Far Cry, no Tomb Raider and no Dawn of War II for me.

Of course, it is not all bad. I am now old enough to stock up on all the classics I missed throgh ignorance and youth from the last generation. Great PS2 games that I can now go back at play, finding second hand for pennies. And it is not all ancient second hand games, for Valve do their part to try and make sure their games are playable for everyone, so that when I visit home I can while away hours facing down the zombie apocalypse with friends. And I still hold out some sembelance of hope that some upcoming games such as Starcraft will run on the PC at home, with the same hope applicable for The Sims. But there is only one game that I pray runs.

Empire: Total War. A strategy game with such wild ambitions it goes beyond my imagination. Attemptiong to encompass the warfare, revolution, and international diplomacy of the 19th century. A game where you send your pawns moving about a global chess-board before taking command of them in real-time, assembling the ranks of infantry, before harrassing the enemy flanks with cavalry and cutting them off with a well time naval engagement. I am so, very, very excited.

And yet, my confidence is broken. Will the demands of another modern game be more than my PC can bare. Will I have another box sitting on the self, waiting for the day that the technology I own makes it playable? Or will I find a game to sink hours into, to get lost inside, one which even runs off my laptop? I find out in March, and I have both fears and hopes for the answer.

Friday 6 February 2009

A Very Long Story About My Life. And Snow.

Being back at Uni means that the 6-a-Side football season has restarted, and so I decided to treat myself to some new boots. Figured that getting some astroturfs may help my game, instead of wearing my regular trainers every week. This was a solid plan, except that the new trainers have a have bit on the heel, which rubs against my foot, and is quite painful. Nonetheless, I feel I put in a solid performance this week Anyway, they will hopefully soften with time.

So, after football, I was walking back and it was freezing. There was a chill wind. Did I mention it is cold? Well, we are currently in the middle of a massive snow-storm right across the UK, the biggest for a decade. The eastern side has been worst hit, My brother has gotten days off school, which never happened for me, with the huge amounts of snow in London. We have not had as much here, but still a considerable amount. Enough for snowball fights and for the ground to be slippy enough for everyone to fall about the place all the time. But when it is not snowing, it is freezing. Really, very, very cold. So, to shelter from the cold I stopped off in the £1 shop on the way back from football, and they had big multi-packs of Doritos crisps, which I purchased, and ate with some dip I had in the fridge. Now, I need to mention at this stage that I had an essay to write, due the next day, which I had not yet properly started. Writing this took most of my attention, and without noticing I had eaten about a half-dozen packs of crisps.

Having made some headway with my essay, and figuring that a good night’s sleep would be more helpful than staying up all night, I went to bed. Naturally, all the crisps I had eaten came back to bite me, and I woke up in the middle of the night with an incredible headache. You remember how parents used to say that if you eat too many sweets you will get sick? Turns out that was not a lie, not evil paternal propaganda, but can actually happen! I was shocked! In headache form! As writhing in agony while attempting to get some sleep was not working for me, I got up and put on my laptop, took a paracetamol, and settled down to watch Firefly in bed. If there is one thing to cure me, it is watching an episode of Firefly while in bed. This worked, for Firefly is the greatest TV show ever, and I was able to get comfortable and go back to sleep.

Waking up early, (for a history student,) I got back to my essay, which was due in at 4pm. Naturally, it was about 3pm when I had finished writing. So I trudged up through the slush on the ground to use one of the printers on campus, and then hand in my essay. When there I met Phil, who was doing the same thing, and having given in our essays we decided to celebrate the end of work by going to get a pizza from one of the restaurants on campus. This pizza was incredible. Serving as a better anecdote however would be the hot chocolates we bought for the walk back. I took a rather large gulp from my beverage, and discovered it to be incredibly hot, burning my tongue. Anyway, after splitting with Phil, I continued back to Northernhay, taking the long route through the shops. Bought some milk, before arriving back in my room to get changed.

See, the History Society was having a pub crawl before heading to a club as a celebration of the end of exams and essays. The theme was “Nations”, which meant many people were wearing football shirts. I had been planning to go as Spain, but I failed in my bids to get a Spanish shirt off Ebay, so I fell back on wearing my England one instead. Heading down to the Lemmy, the rain had stopped, and getting there I hung out and chatted to some fellow history peeps. It was at this stage I met Jason, who may be a guy who’s found a place for next year, one whom I may be renting a house with next year. As you can tell, it is still a pretty vague plan. Anyway, it was at this stage that the “snow” really started to pelt down. I put that in quotation marks, as it was not so much snow as huge lumps of freezing cold rain. Anyway, at this point the idea of a pub crawl seemed less attractive to everyone and so we ended up going a few hundred yards to the campus pub, where drinks where dunk while playing table football. I was involved in an incredibly tense match, after slipping 5-1 down I managed to get things back to 8-8, before succumbing to a 10-8 defeat. This was, as the most fitting adjective would describe it, fun. So, by this stage the snow did not look like subsiding, and so we made a move to go through it to another pub, this one nearer to our final destination, a club, Arena.

Walking down with Stu and Jason, and a whole mess of other people from history, in the snow, was great fun. Getting to this next pub, I played a game on the pool table, had some more drinks, and watched a bit of the Spanish football on the TV. After this it was on to Arena, where we met up with some more people, before dancing the night away. The DJ was pretty good, he played quite a bit of older songs from the mid-90s, which were fun; a bit of Blink 182 and Sum 41 always goes down a treat as everyone knows the words.

With the club closing soon, we tried to beat the rush and head to get our coats before everyone else, but the queue was still huge. Finally escaping to the outdoors, we found the snow had eased off a bit. We also found that we were hungry. Some of the weaker people escaped off in a taxi, but Joe Davis, Stu, Jason, and I followed Phil off in search of his favourite late night burger stand. I say favourite, as he was not interested in the nearest burger stand, that would be too simple. I have to say, in the end he was quite right, the Burger was brilliant. A quarter-pounder with cheese, bacon and salad. Awesome! Carried on walking back with the guys in the deserted road, since the pavements were treacherous with the semi-frozen sludge, got to the roundabout before turning off to head back towards home. Wrapped my scarf around my chin and nose to try and stay warm, ‘cos the temperature had suddenly dropped even colder. Naturally, a giant lorry passed through a enormous half-snow half-water puddle as I walked by, and I got splashed. Soaked, in actual fact. The rain-snow hybrid was coming down heavier from the sky now, and by the time I got into Northernhay I was completely drenched, but actually in quite a good mood having had a great night out. And I was slightly too drunk to care if I was cold and wet.

So, I warmed up by taking a hot shower, before throwing an episode of Arrested Development up on my laptop, putting on my headphones and watching from in bed. And that is the story of my student life during the Great Snow of ’09.

Sunday 1 February 2009

My Greatest Hope...

My new ambition in life is to have the occur for me. It is my dream...

Wednesday 28 January 2009

Awesome Stuff

So, in the last month I have been checking up on some very awesome stuff, briefly reviewed in order of their awesomeness here.

Scott Pilgrim

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life is the first volume of a comic about a young slacker, unemployed and in a band, who starts noticing a rollerblading delivery girl, and must defeat her evil ex-boyfriends before they can date. Naturally, it is much better than a one sentence synopsis would indicate. Simple, black and white panelling gives room for some really strong characters with some really excellent lines. It is short, you can breeze through it in 'bout an hour, but is really is incredible. So much so, I am already re-reading it.

In Bruges

Two Irish hitmen are sent to hide out In Bruges ("It's in Belgium") after a hit. This becomes a set up for an incredible movie, a wonderful black comedy with some exceptional performances, some real great characters. Lot of swearing, but not unnecessarily so. Definitely worth watching, as it really is a brilliant film.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

So, the fifty-billionth Apatow comedy of the last twelve months is about a guy who has just been dumped by his long term girlfriend, and ends up going on the same holiday as his Ex. And so we have Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Thing is, that while this is quite funny, and has some sweet moments, it is just not as good as you would hope. The plot is too formulaic and not as effecting as you would hope, and the jokes are not as hilarious as you would wish. So the film is stuck in limbo, not connecting emotionally or being outrageously funny. It is good, actually it is funny and sweet and enjoyable, but it is not a great memorable comedy to search for. Then again, Russell Brand is hilarious.

30 Rock

Ever since Friends ended I have been looking for a new sitcom. Probably even before that, since Friends had been crap for it's last few seasons. There have been hilariously funny shows, (I love watching Arrested Development or Scrubs,) but not many brilliant sitcoms. After liking, but not loving, Big Bang Theory, I decided to check out 30 Rock, the critically loved, multi-award winning sitcom from Tina Fey. And my response? Meh.

The premise is that Liz Lemon is the head writer on a SNL style sketch show, under new management. With an insane new lead, and her interfering boss Alec Baldwin, she must cope with managing the show and keeping her boss happy, while trying find love, an' all dat.

I have to say, this reminded me of some Ugly Betty meets Studio 60 crossover. Firstly, the lead character is a 30-something woman, and many of the things she worries about are really quite girly. Add to this that the show about writing and creating a TV sketch show, a premise that is not as funny as they seem to think, and the show becomes slightly harder to like, as a premise, than say... a show about two young physicists.

Nonetheless, it is funny. There are reliably a couple of good solid laughs per episode, and if this picks up it may become hilarious. I will surely check out the second series, but it is just not as funny as I had been hoping, and my search for a new sitcom continues. Next up on my serach for a new sitcom, How I Met Your Mother. Now that excites me. A lot.

Millipede Sympathy.

So anyways, I decided to buy some football boots. This is a big deal, something I have been considering for a while. Something I have failed to do on many occasions. The trainers I currently own are not that suited for football, they are the wrong shape and have little grip. But they are super comfortable. So I decided to head off to the local Sports Direct January sale, and see what I could find.

First of all I had to decide what type of boot I wanted. Since I would be using them mainly for 6-a-Side on a Rubber Crumb pitch or for playing on hard grass next summer, I didn't really need to get studs. In fact, studs would be bad choice. I also discounted blades as being unnecessary, for similar reasons to studs. And I cannot buy blades anyway, since they are banned for Manchester United players, and I would not want that to be what stops Sir Alex from giving me a call the next time he is looking for some amazing young payer.

So no studs, no blades, but something that gives me a bit more grip. Astroturfs it is. So I kept searching, and finally I found the right type of boot. After finding the right size of Black Diadoras, I bought them and took them home. They are snazzy, black with white trim.

I tried them out in the match this afternoon, which went quite well thank you very much, and they seemed quite comfortable. Infact, I started to like them. So I walked home. That was when they started to hurt. One part of the ankle support really digs in when walking down steep hills, and Exeter Uni is built on one steep hill. This really, really hurt.

I now have a terrific blister, about the size of a penny, on my right ankle. Ouchies!

Tuesday 27 January 2009

United FTW!

Winning 5-0 tonight means that United have set a new Premier League record, of 11 games without conceding a goal. World Club Champions. Into the League Cup final. Top of the League, and looking competitive in both the FA Cup and the Champions League.

This looks set to be a fun few months. Yay!

Tuesday 20 January 2009

One Year Today!

Well, it is officially the One Year Anniversary of mah Blog.

This is a proud day, a happy achievement.

Hooray!

Tuesday 13 January 2009

Yes Man

So, I went to see the new Jim Carrey comedy, Yes Man, at the cinema. The plot is that, basically, Jim Carrey play a middle aged guy, who is conviced to say "Yes" to everything. This leads to wacky comedy, and romance, and an enjoyable, encouraging film. But, instead of reviewing the thing, I am gonna give ya a few short points for what the film did good and what the film did not do as good as the things it did good.

Good:

1. The surounding cast are all made up of people you have seen somewhere else, and liked. The romance is more enjoyable when the girl is likable. You care more about Jim Carrey's friends when you like them. This was a good thing, and made the film far more enjoyable.

2. Uh... it had... um... I guess I sorta liked it despite it's flaws. 'Cos to be honest, I liked it. Some of the scenes made you feel good, I s'pose.

Bad.

1. Jim Carrey was poor casting. Instead of the guy who can play serious roles, we have the guy who runs about a bit and pulls some faces. It doesn't kill the movie, but it stops it being as enjoyable as it should be, 'cos I cannot connect with my protagonist. Even worse, it seems to lessen the people around him. His friends become two-dimensional, and his girl becomes even more so. Infact, this point streches on as they got the relationship wrong. The film was just put together slightly wrong, and that is a big shame.

2. They sold the plot wrong. Instead it just become an excuse for Jim Carrey to have no control over what happens. Instead of being convinced to try new things and push myself as a person, I get some crap about how I can never say no, and have to watch Carrey do stupid things 'cos someone asked if he would. They just had a good idea, and seemed to be half-way to making it, before tey went in a totally different direction.

3. They insulted Marx for a cheap gag and inferred he was a terrorist. Fine, you wanna make a terroism joke, go for a terrorist. Dont target one of the most important political thinkers. It just pisses me off.

4. Making him the guy who approves or rejects loans, but recklessly cannot say no to anyone, and thus approves all loans, during a time when we are in a major economic crisis on the back of reckless lending, kinda puts a dent in this whole theory that saying "yes" to everything is a wonderful principle.

Thursday 1 January 2009

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

I am very excited about what the next twelve months may bring.