Home Alone

So Lisa's buggered off to Wales for 4 nights. Which leaves just me and the cat left to fend for ourselves!! She went yesterday and I already miss Lisa loads - just don't know what to do with myself. But that being said I can always find things to distract myself - I've got loads of little tweaks to do with the BV album mixing, I'm learning how to use Final Cut properly (God it's sooo fuckin in-depth and professional! FACTOID: The Coen Brothers used Final Cut to edit and colourize one of my favourite films - No Country For Old Men)



I've also got The Force Unleashed to play - which is totally frickin awesome! Absolutely love the storyline in this. If you're a Star Wars fan (which I clearly am) then you have to check this out because the story is mindblowing!



Last night I finished off watching series 3 of Battlestar Galactica. Woah, what a finale?!?!?! Battlestar is, IMHO, probably one of the the best sci-fi shows in the history of all TV ever - it's sooooo realistic and dark and the characters are deep and ... and... I could go on but I won't!

Before Lisa left we popped into ASDA to grab a few things and just as you walk in they had boxes and boxes of Carlsberg and Kronenberg (18 bottles) for a fiver each!! So we grabbed a box of each - there were loads of freshers there buying them by the trolley load! So, all in all, I've got loads to keep me occupied, 36 bottles of beer in the fridge and a chippy/chinese/indian take-aways just round the corner .... I think I'll survive!! :)

Grand Theft Auto IV

Not much to say here - you know what it's all about, you know you have to own it. I've had it since Friday and I just have to say it's way better than I could ever have hoped. Fantastic!

Portal

Well, as you can imagine I've been busy with my lovely new console (PS3). Discovered a new gem called Portal. It's part of the Orange Box which has Half Life 2, Half Life Episodes 1 and 2, Team Fortress 2 and, of course, Portal. I bought it cos I'd heard a lot about Portal from the Totally Rad Show and really wanted to try it as it sounded interesting. Believe me it's MORE than interesting... it's fuckin AMAZING! I've not played a game that gripped me like that for a loooooong time.



For those of you that don't know what Portal is here's a excerpt from the wikipedia entry...

Portal is a single-player first-person action/puzzle video game developed by Valve. The game consists of a series of puzzles which must be solved by teleporting the player’s character and other simple objects using a single handheld device, with the goal of getting to an objective point.

It has a really dark sense of humour. If you have a next gen console I seriously recomend you BUY IT!! Here's one of my favourite levels - Level 9

Playstation 3 RULES!!!

I've just got myself a new PS3! It's such a good machine. Really user friendly. I'm not anti-Xbox360 though, just want to make myself clear on that, but I just found that the user interface on the PS3 has a better feel than the clunky and confusing Xbox360 ... and yes I have tried navigating the menus. Also, I was really un-impressed with Halo3. When I played it it just felt like Halo2 but with a slightly better shine! Xbox360 has an add-on to enable you to watch HD-DVD's, so I'd have to pay extra to watch films on a now defunct video format!!! PS3 has Blu-Ray built in! PS3 has wireless internet so I connected it up to my network, it automatically updated my system software for me - I can now watch DivX movies on my PS3. Basically, this machine ticks all my boxes and Xbox360 just didn't! Also, no Ring of Death for me!

The 50 Greatest Arcade Cabinet Designs in Video Game History

Check this out. From After Burner to Tron, this in-depth list covers over 3 decades of arcade games and ranks them based on the artwork and overall quality of the cabinets themselves rather than the actual games. See if your favorite arcade cabinet designs made the cut.

Click me to see the top 50 | digg story

Lots of exciting stuff...

There's a lot of stuff I'm excited about at the moment. Just stuff that's either coming up or stuff that's just happened. Obviously my main excited thing was moving in with Lisa. The rest are as follows...

Star Trek XI
They're currently in pre-production stages of the new Star Trek movie. In case you didn't know, this movie goes back BEFORE the ORIGINAL Star Trek and will likely covers things like Spock and Kirk at the Space Academy. Recently they've done a casting call for extras. Would love to be in America right now!!
Click here for more Extras info

iPhone
I'm sure that most of you would've heard about the iPhone and that it's just come out over here in the UK. I want one sooo bad - can't wait for January 19th.. that's when I can upgrade my phone!

Super Mario Galaxy
Coming out on the 19th!! Check this clip...

...say no more.

Wanted trailer
Next up, a trailer has been going round on the internet for a film called Wanted. It stars James McAvoy (from Channel 4's Shameless), Angelina Jolie (in over-the-top clack eye make-up!), Morgan Freeman and Terence Stamp. The trailer looks good... a bit Matrix-esque but I've got a feeling it's gonna be a bit tame. Hope not. There's some amzing thought out visuals such as climbing up and falling train carriage and the bit where Jolie pulls a skid in that red car and bumps McAvoy's character into the car. It's also another in a long line of comicbook-to-screen adaptions that seem to be the in thing at the moment.


Blade Runner Final Cut
Ridley Scott wanted to re-shoot a few scene's for his classic film Blade Runner. I'm sure everyone's heard about this film so I'll skip the synopsis. Basically, in view of all the latest High Def TVs being the way forward and that older films are being converted to HDDVD and BluRay, Ridley became increasingly aware of some scenes that are 'passable' on VHS but become blindingly obvious on High-Def ultra realism... namely the scene with the stripper replicant crashing through shop glass. It was obviously a stuntman in a bad wig! There are also some originally unused footage that has been restored. It should be available to buy soon and I can't wait to see one of my favourite films of all time in the way it was originally intended.

Aliens vs Predator - Requiem
A trailer has been out for a while on this one - but recently a whole 3 minutes of one of the key scene's has been released just in time for Halloween. You can see them HERE. They are pretty graphic and with strong language so a short age verification will need to be done. Fingers crossed it will be a million times better that the first Aliens vs Predator mess of a film.


I've also been getting into podcasts recently. Namely Totally Rad Show, Smodcast and Web Drifter. The Totally Rad Show podcast is a video podcast featuring Diggnation's Alex Albrecht and is basically about films, video games and comics. Smodcast is an audio podcast with Kevin Smith and some friends. It's totally addictive listening. Web Drifter is kinda like a Louis Theroux type video podcast in that the shows host, Martin Sargent, will be traveling across America taking you behind some of the most fascinating, shocking, and groundbreaking sites on Internet.

Kim and Paul's Wedding

Saturday morning we got up real early. Had a LOT to fill in this day. First I had to do a quick run to my mums to do the usual Saturday chores. Then off to Castlepoint - Lisa needed passport photos for Uni enrolment, I needed a new shirt for Kim/Paul's wedding, we both needed food and a wedding card. We tried to get some confetti but couldn't find any anywhere!

Kim's wedding - I was really nervous and it wasn't even my wedding, Paul was as cool as cucumber (must've been the pint he had beforehand!) The vicar looked like Brian Blessed ... but without the signature booming voice - he had a timid high voice with a lisp. The funniest bit was the organist! He must've been at the communion wine cos he kept playing bum notes. Jo sang a lovely song - made Kim blub.

After the service and all the photo's had been taken we went to The Bell for a few pints and some food (me, Lisa, Scott, Lots, Mat, Claire, Andy and son) There was a weird atmos in there for us though. It must've been cos we were all suited and booted! The thing that pissed me off the most was that I'm probably more local than any of the other people in the pub as I live across the road!

After the nosh Andy and son went home, the rest of us went back to mine for more booze and Wii. Claire and Mat had never played before but are now hooked. After a while, we realised we should be at the wedding reception. It was being held at the Tudor Grange. We ordered a couple of taxis - was told they'll be about 10 minutes. We stood out in the rain for about 35 mins before one turned up, we let the girls get that one. The other never arrived so we flagged down a random taxi. Got to the Tudor Grange hotel but missed the speaches and cutting of the cake - Thanks for never arriving to pick us up, Star Taxis (the only time they let me down!)

Saw the 'first dance' and the emotional 'proud dad dances with her daughter' bit. All the girls were all welling up. Time to hit the bar. After a couple of jars we did a bit of random dancing to cheesy 80's hits. Paul's Brother, Stuart insulted Claire and brought her to tears. Paul and Dave sorted that out - she got an apology.

Kim threw the bouquet from the balcony, Dunno who caught it but Glen found it and rushed to give it to Kirsty. I think that's a proposal in disguise! Details are fading cos I was pretty drunk but all in all, good times were had by all!

Here's a couple of vid clips...

Lisa's Birthday

It was Lisa's Birthday on Thursday 21st. I had the day off work so we could spend the day together. I bought her a pink iPod Shuffle - she loved it! She couldn't wait to wake up on Thursday so I let her open it on Wednesday night after midnight. Everytime she looks at it she forgets how small it is!

Also on Thursday, Simone Hudsbith finally gave birth to her first child - Amelie Jane Hudsbith. Congrats to her and Gary. So that's two people I know's birthday's that fall on the Summer Solstice. Speaking of which I woulda liked to have gone this year but the nasty weatherman told us it was gonna rain... but it didn't. Nevermind, we had a great day anyway.

Simone's not the only one to have a new addition to the family. Me and Lisa got ourselves a kitten. She's a little bit older at 6 Months (she was born on the 29th January 2007 - 9 days after my birthday!) and she's a mental bundle of loveable fluff. Completely dizzy and has mad spells - but on the flipside she comes looking for cuddles. Perfect.

Last night me and Lisa sent out a round robin text go get some people to come out for a pint at the Malt & Hops to celebrate Lisa's birthday. It was a bit last minute - we were expecting rain - so it was a small affair. Rachel turned up first. We hit the pool table for a couple of games. Then Kate and Glen turned up - they got the taxi. Had a few more games of pool. We were just getting into the swing of things and ready for some serious drinking when they called time at the bar! No fair. So me and Lisa went back to Lisa's flat with Glen and Kate to have a couple more drinks and introduce them to our new cat and watch a bit of Rambo II on the tele. Top night.

Photoblog 1 - Weekend at Charlies...

On the weekend of 17th Feb me and Lisa trekked up to Newbury to stay at Charlie's for the night. We hadn't seen them in a while and originally were going to go to a relative's Christening but Eastender-style friends/family feuds got in the way! So instead we went up there and got pissed on about 3 bottles of wine. The medication for my tooth had finished the day before so I had the all clear to drink booze! We started drinking at about 5:00 in the afternoon and carried on til about 1am. We all got hooked on the Wii. It's so true about how the Wii has converted non-gamers to it's charms. It's not overly complicated, it's not mindlessly violent, it's just simple fun. No really ... it is! If you haven't tried one yet get yourslef round someone's house who does. Get lots of wine or beer in and order a pizza cos you're guarenteed to a good 4 or 5 hours of solid fun!


Fudge - the cutest cat EVER!


James pretending to be a dog!


Charlie drinking like a lady


Showing Claire how to play Golf on the Wii


This was all I can see from where I was sat!

Floppy Disks are dead?

I've just read a news article on the BBCNews site saying that PC World are no longer going to stock 3.5" Floppy Disks. You can see why though. What with the internet and people needing to store larger sized files the humble old floppy can no longer cope as a file transer or file back-up device. And it's an all too familiar sight to see a pile of floppies sat inactive on a dusty corner of at least 3 people's desk in the office. But I've got to say that I'll kinda miss that blue square of data storage.

I even remember having my first EVER floppy. It was a demo disk on the cover of Issue 13 of Amiga Format and had a demo of a game called Cadaver on it. I didn't even own an Amiga at this time. I knew that my Dad had promised to get me one for Chirstmas so I started collecting the magazines. I think I read that magazine from cover to cover several times and sat there looking at my new disk at all angles. How very very sad of me!

But they did represent the cutting edge of technology at that time. I remember the clunk clunk clunk kkrkrkkrkrkkr rkkrrkrkrkkr noises of Commodore's wonky 3.5" drives (yep I had 2 drives on my machine!), echoing now like voices from a lost Jerusalem. By which I mean a lost age of rampant piracy, boot sector viruses and gurus, meditating. Pictured is the BSOD-like nightmare presented to Amiga users when floppy read operations failed (among many other things.) Ahhh good times...

Hate Sprouts?

As you know, it's December. Therefore it's nearly Christmas. THEREFORE it's nearly that time of the year when we eat sprouts! Now, I love sprouts... didn't used to, mind. I used to hate them. I thought they tasted of sick! But now, I don't know why but I actually find them quite tasty. Maybe it's cos I've grown up a bit - I dunno. Anyway, today I was emailed this game where you squash sprouts and try to avoid them getting to your plate! Those sprout haters out there among you will love it. Enjoy!...

...in other news...

Lisa's had a hair cut, yes it's a Pob!...




There was a fire behind the house at the end of the car-park at work. Somebody called the fire brigade but neglected to tell them that the fire wasn't actually here at work but in the road behind. 2 fire engines turned up!...





Lisa, Scott and myself went Christmas shopping in Southampton. They had one of those German markets like they have in Bournmouth. We stopped at the German bar to have a nice hot drink (I forget what it's called - sounds like blue-vine I think!) It was nice...




Me and Scott got talking about Tracy Emin and about how stupid some of her art was. Ooooh wow - a messy bed! Yawn! We decided to throw together some random articles onto a frame and call it art. It's called Headphonenumberpill...




On the Tuesday 28th November it was Lisa's Dad's birthday. Happy 61th Charlie!! We went to Ask for a meal. Me and Scott were saying how if you were really dumb you could have the following conversation for eternity...

Man 1: "So where did you go for your meal?"
Man 2: "Ask!"
Man 1: "Ok, I will. Where did you go for your meal?"
Man 2: "Ask!"
Man 1: "Huh? I just did! Where did you go for your meal?"
Man 2: "Ask!"

....... you get the picture! Speaking of pictures...

And now, headlines without pictures.
Lisa get's vertigo again! Is off work for a while to recover. Is seeing a specialist soon.

Kim invited us up to stay for the first weekend in December, but only if Lisa's feeling better. Lisa looked like she was getting better and then it's got worse again!

Our band is having some very constructive practices. It's finally looking like our work is starting to take shape. We have new tunes to fill gaps and old ones that looked like they'd be impossible to play live are starting to work!

Torchwood is getting better, gorier and scarier.

I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here is boring/annoying this year.

X-Factor is addictive just because the public are messing with the voting system! I mean are people seriously voting for Ray and The MacDonald Brothers because they are good? I think not! People are just voting for them to mess with the judges heads and money. The winners have to have a record contract. I mean, Ray is an annoying little shit that looks like he's been raised by wolves! And the MacDonald Brothers look like those creepy porcelain dolls that have come to life in some sort of horror movie! MAKE IT STOP!!




Oh and Me and Scott have rediscovered our worms!

Nintendo Wii

Lisa has put the deposit down for my Christmas present!! It's a Nintendo Wii. I honest can't wait and am so excited. At the moment I'm not interested in the Xbox 360 or the Playstation 3 because they're both extremely expensive and being corporate bullys. Both of them are employing a non standard technology to store the games on (Blu-Ray and HD-DVD) - it reminds me of the old VHS vs BETA days when video's first came out.

Let's look at the pricings for both using play.com: Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

As you can see, the 360 is retailing here at £279.99 with game and 20Gb hard-drive. The PS3 comes in at £549 with a 60Gb hard-drive, NO GAME. Now, the 360 has been out for over a year now so the price has come right down to a reasonable price for a new-ish console but in order to appreciate the games fully you need a HDTV... so that's gonna be another £400+ on top of that!! Same with the PS3. Also, I've seen comparison screenshots for the same game on both consoles and the PS3 looks so much better ... but it's much more expensive.

But that said, the original Playstation was £499 when that first came out and that too was a huge leap in console technology. I didn't get my first Playstation until about 2 years after it came out. I'll probably do the same here. In the meantime, though, the Nintendo Wii is a great console that doesn't demand you have the latest TV to play it. It's not a 'next generation' console like the other behemoths, it's more of an 'in-between generation' console. Besides, it's gonna have Mario and Zelda on it! Check the vid...

Now, in case you were wondering why the people in the video were flailing their arms around like novice gamers the Wii has a very unique control system with it. It can detect motion! So, if you're playing a game where you have a sword you can swing your arms around to swing the sword. This is a huge innovation with gaming technology, much more than just higher resolution graphics and the ability to throw billions of polygons around the screen in a fraction of a second.

Nah, I'm really happy with my present. I haven't had a Nintendo since the day's of the Super Nintendo. I missed out on owning an N64 and the GameCube - played them both and loved them but never actually owned one myself. I can't wait for Xmas.

Quiet times

I know I've not posted anything sinse November 1st, but to be brutally honest, Not a lot has happened. I've just been trying to save money these last couple of weeks - y'know tryin to get the ol' bank balance back in the black. Which ultimately means not going out and not buying DVD's, Games, Music, Magazines.... basically ANY type of media. I've been trying to keep food shopping and clothes shopping down. By that I mean not buying sandwiches during lunch everyday and make my own food where-ever possible. And why do I always think it neccesary to buy new clothes every month?.... saying that I have bought some new clothes but only a scarf and a beanie - last year's scarf shrank in the wash.

Since the last entry we've had fireworks/bonfire night. Me and Lisa went to Poole Quay to see some. It was pretty good fun, lots of festivities such as kiddies rides, bands and DJ's, jugglers, stilt walkers and lots of food and booze. Not much to say about this except the fireworks were pretty and there were massive queues at the bar. You woulda thought the pubs woulda put more staff on seeing as it's November 5th. Bad pub management all round! (also, the firworks didn't look as impressive as they do on the official link above. In fact they've super-imposed those fireworks in - they're not even in the right place!)

Also, we went to see The Prestige at the ABC Cinema last week using some free cinema tickets that my mum gave me a couple of months ago. The film was absolutely amazing and I thoroughly recommend you go see it. It's got lots of drama and intrigue and keeps you guessing right up to the end... although, being the clever soul that I am I worked it out about 30 mins before the end but hey, there were still some surprise bits at the end. I've got a feeling that it will be a love-it-or-hate-it type film. I'm in the love-it camp! I good movie for smart people - a confusing one for the dumber half of the population. Extra information for the fact finders: the film was directed by the same director as Momento and Batman Returns. Below is the trailer...