The Weekend Again

So according to my Blog statistics I have been doing this for over a month now. I got 597 views in my first month which I am pretty pleased with. To be honest I was only expecting a couple of views a post so to get that many, I am very happy. So thank you. 

So if you didn't notice there was no post on Friday, once again there were some technical issues. It wouldn't save when I was typing so there was nothing to upload. It seems to be all going well again so thankfully I shall be able to post something this weekend.

So the first thing that me and Amy did this weekend was to go and have a look at some animals because we can. We went to the Pets At Home near Maidstone to have a look, we really like hamsters. Problem is that there are worries that the cat will find it and enjoy a tasty treat. If the doors are shut and we get an inescapable cage it would be safe but, oh well. They had some rats as well which were all bundled into a tube and looked pretty cute. Then there were some Degu's which I had heard of but never seen before. They look like really big rats crossed with gerbils, and they were pretty crazy. They were in two separate cages but they were literally mirroring each others actions, running in the wheel and then bouncing around the cage, having a nibble and then back to the wheel. They were £45 for two or £79 for four is because they don't like to be on their own. They are pretty cool but they seem too jumpy for me.

We then went to PC World because I really like looking at a load of things I can't afford. I am very glad that we went in there because as I have mentioned before, I want to start a YouTube channel. There was a capture device in there for £75 but if you go to the website with all the discounts available you can get the best version imported from America for £78. I was maybe thinking of treating myself to that. Only thing is then if I need a new computer to actually capture HD game-play. I guess I shall have to see if it works. The reviews have said that it's a pretty decent device so who knows - I might be a YouTuber soon! Here's the thingy:

http://www.roxio.com/enu/products/game-capture/console/

I car ticked over to 60,000 miles. Momentous occasion! Don't worry parents, I'd pulled over to so Amy could take the picture otherwise it would have gone to 60,001. There.

We also planned a Kinect night with the Mr Tate again and Amy was the only one who used it and that was 100m sprint and a tennis match. Turns out we spent most of the night trying to decide the take away - which you can see above. It was very tasty, a curry from our local curry house. We had a chicken tikka masala, a chicken korma and bhuna because we thought we should get three different ones so we could try them all. We also did our own rice and got two different naan breads, can't remember what it is called but there was meat in one of them. Tasty. 

Back to the normal schedule from tomorrow assuming there are no technical issues again. I know this wasn't necessarily super interesting but this is what I got up to. Thanks for reading. Blog you tomorrow.

Experience

Experience is everywhere. In most games and in real life. Experience is a reflection of how much time you have put into something and therefore usually reflects the benefits you gain from having experience. In Call of Duty games, your experience levels you up and allows you use better equipment as you have earned it - through experience. With Pokemon, the experience you earn through training evolves your creatures and rewards them with better attacks. In games, there is a direct reward to experience relationship which technically increases exponentially until you reach the level cap. All the time you play, you gain your own unmeasurable experience which helps you to be better. An opening paragraph with Pokemon in it? Go me.

The reason I want to talk about experience is because it seems to me that it is not necessarily rewarded in real life settings. Countless jobs these days require experience - even for entry level placements. Entry level to me says somewhere for someone new to the sector to get a foot hold with training allowing them to show their potential while gaining experience. How are you supposed to start anywhere without any experience if you can't get a job without having any experience? I know people with experience in an area of their own desire who cannot get a job - because they don't have qualifications associated with it. Don't get me wrong, some jobs need qualifications - for example, you wouldn't let a black market surgeon jump into a hospital setting. That's a law suit waiting to happen. While a qualification may be good for a job, all they've had is a text book setting with limited variables and possibilities. Put them in a real world situation against someone with 30 years experience and I think it's easy to presume who would do better. Real life doesn't follow a text book, but it can help you to right your own.

RANT OVER.

My friend who has sent me loads of articles on Facebook sent me this article, it was also on the front page of The Sun a couple of days ago.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-21923218
I child got hit in the face with a triangular flapjack - it hurt. BOOM. Banned the triangle and now only square or rectangular ones can be served. I think it's safe to say what the hell? Flapjacks are hard, if you get hit by one it will probably hurt. We always here these silly stories about health and safety gone crazy and I think this falls into that category. This could be solved by telling the children to eat their food not fight with it. It is a disciplinary issue rather than a situation that requires banning. Just glad to know that people that are paid to try and keep us 'safe' have time to do stuff like this.

Me and Amy started watching the odd episode of How I Met Your Mother on E4 as repeats are on all the time. Only problem is that it is eight series in and we had no clue about half of what was going on. So we thought we would see how much it would be to get a box set of all of the DVDs so far and we found this for half price on Amazon. I won't say how much it is but if you want it, I'd check it out. I think the offer is only on until the 31st March so get it quick if you do want it! This came in 3 days from order so its pretty snappy too.

A pigeon? Bet you weren't expecting that. We were in an underground car park and this thing followed us. It wouldn't leave us alone, I wasn't sure if we smelled like bread or something but it definitely had the hots for us. I quite like pigeons myself, I know they are usually referred to as the vermin of the sky but I have no issue. I like how they walk. Coo.

Thanks for reading my blog today. Hope you enjoyed the rant. I like a rant every now and then. Don't quote me on any of it because rants are generally just your brain leaking out and aren't very credible. Blog you tomorrow!

Silly Stuff

Best way to start a post. With something silly. Makes sense assuming this called silly things. 3 recently released this advert of a dancing pony which went viral and deserves it because its freaking awesome. This video on YouTube is coming up to 6 million views but if we could add on all of the views from the TV, we'd probably be looking at the 100 million mark. The advert ends with 'Silly Stuff. It matters.' It really does. If silly things didn't exist, we'd all be mindless corporate zombies, which would be pretty dull.

The world silly means to have a lack of common sense or judgement. Instantly makes you think that silly things are pointless. Where that may be true, they are pointless, but the benefits that silly things bring us emotionally is invaluable. Dopamine is the happy drug that our brain releases which makes us feel good. Being happy is a natural thing or this stuff wouldn't be in us at all. Being happy can help even more than medicine in some situations. Being positive can make you feel better and quicken recovery. This is why silly things matter - at least to me anyway. 

So lets think about something silly which it is safe to say - wouldn't have made a difference to the world if it didn't happen. First thing that comes to my mind is Felix Baumgartner - that guy who jumped from the edge of the atmosphere. That is arguably silly because his life was at risk if something went wrong. I think it's safe to say that everyone is glad he did it. He set a new world record for free falling and pushed the boundaries of our technology and of what we can do. Silly yet inspirational to many people. This may sound like I'm bashing what he did but I'm really not. The world watched as this man fell from space and walked away as if he had just been for his morning jog. His balls must be the size of medicine balls to jump too.
Here's a link to the Red Bull page with some stuff about Felix.
http://www.redbullstratos.com/the-team/felix-baumgartner/

I really should get some more drawing done. I've done the outline of the top half the drawing from Dead Space 3 and started shading. About another 5 hours and it should be ready. I will do that post I mentioned about before with the sitting by sitting of the drawing. Should be interesting to explain my drawing process. Feel a bit unorthodox as I was told I was always doing it wrong in my art classes.

Cat cat cat cat cat. He scratched the door when he wants to come, he scratches the door when he wants to go out. It's not quite as effective this way around because there is no one on the other side of the door to let him out. Still doesn't stop him. I will try and get a picture of him from the outside. Makes him look really long. Long cat is long.

Thanks for reading today. Silly stuff is good. If you ever catch me in a silly mood, prepare for some really random pointless stuff and me laughing like an idiot. All comes together in harmony. Blog you tomorrow.

By the way, you can make your own pony dance video.

http://www.youtube.com/user/three/theponymixer

Laughter

We all love laughing. It can make you feel better when you're sad, helps you to make friends and it can stop you breathing.. Depends on your laugh. I've often wondered why we laugh and what's the point of it. Turns out, scientists think the main reason for it is to create bonds. In tribes, the tribal leader would classically use more humour than his tribesman. It's supposedly a way to exert your power because if people want to be accepted and you're the leader, they need to laugh along with everyone else. Otherwise they'll be seen as an outcast. That's all well and good but that doesn't really explain why we find jokes, puns and innuendos funny.

To put it simply - we laugh because we have no choice really. When we are told a joke or are having a conversation, without even knowing it our brain creates assumed responses. Brains create little electric currents alongside the responses that will help us to respond and continue in the conversation. The punchline or funny comment is an unknown which our brains did not expect. The little electric charge needs to discharge in some way - and that way is laughter. That's why we don't tend to laugh at things we have already heard the punchline too. It's now in the brain as an expected reaction. Cool stuffs.

Some more stuff here:

http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/laughter2.htm

A quick little snippet about my thoughts on Black Ops II. I am liking it so far, it is all good fun and Treyarch never disappoint me when it comes to story line. They've added a whole new spectrum to the game with customizable level load outs which threw me way off! They also have introduced these missions which run side by side which at the moment are super confusing but I'm sure I will learn them well because I will need to do them to get all the achievements. Achievement Whore, oh yeah. I will do a proper review when I have finished it and had some more experience with the multiplayer. So far I am enjoying that a lot more than the old games, the connections are excellent and the guns seem pretty balanced. The create a class is also much better now, letting you add extra perks etc. at the cost of other balancing factors. Very well thought out.

My cat seems to love cars now. Here he is once again sitting on my Dads car. Doesn't have muddy paws to walk on his car - oh no. My car - hell yeah. Mud it all up.

Sorry it's a bit of a short post today. The idea I wanted to talk about got answered quickly and I didn't have as much as usual but it's okay. Happy to still post something and maybe teach someone something new! Blog you tomorrow.

My Favourite Movies

For those of you who saw my post yesterday, I posted spoke about my top 5 games. Amy then suggested that I do a top 5 film series. I just counted my DVDs and I have a collection of 102 which is strange thinking I have enough to keep me going for about 9 days back to back. Once again, these are in no particular order, they are just the 5 which I feel like I could keep watching over and over again and not get bored. I'll try to include the trailers where I can find them, if it's a series, I shall include the trailer to the first film. Or I will have to spam you with YouTube when you are probably here to read.

1. Ghostbusters 1-2
These films are my childhood basically. I was obsessed with Ghostbusters, I had loads of toys and I always wanted to play Ghostbusters when it was lunch time at primary school. If I was ill, I'd watch Ghostbusters. If I was bored - I think you can see where I am going with this. Now don't get me wrong, I know it's not amazingly animated and all that compared to standards set by today's cinema but I just love it. Amy bought me a box set with both films on DVD for Christmas and I think it was one of my favourite presents. I've already watched them about 3 times each and it always makes me smile. There's not a thing I don't like about them apart from the fact that they only made 2! There are rumours floating around the internet about Ghostbusters 3 but I'm not sure if that would be a good idea. A lot of younger children haven't even heard of them any more and the original actors wouldn't be able to do as much action as in the previous films. If they remade it - I would probably see it. Wouldn't beat the original though.

2. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
I remember when I saw this film, screen 2 at Odeon Maidstone with my friend. Screen 2 is pretty small and it was a while after release date so we had most of the cinema empty and we were laughing so loud that I think it was a good thing. Adapted from the animated novels, Scott Pilgrim was fighting for the love of Ramona Flowers but had to defeat her seven evil ex's. I wasn't sure what to expect with this film with what started out as quite a quirky love story, turned into a crazy action packed arcade game style film. The thing that makes this film so good is that Scott doesn't find it at all strange that he has to fight all these people to date a girl. How strange the world of cinema is. It has definitely tempted me to have a look at some graphic novels, especially as Waterstones now stocks them as standard where they used to be special requests. The Walking Dead graphic novel looks amazing - by the way.

3. LOTR - Lord Of The Rings
I bought the complete trilogy on DVD for my parents for Christmas as they love it and had to watch it on VHS. I watched all of the films in the cinema with my Dad and it was one of the only films I've known him to not fall asleep in (sorry Dad) even though they are some of the longest we saw. It was pretty intense the relationship which which you managed to create with the characters throughout the series. If you know someone who has got the extended versions, I would recommend you set aside 5 hours of your life and watch them properly. So much got cut from each film because they condensed each book down into one. I got pretty excited when I heard about The Hobbit as I have actually read that book, but now I know that is also being split into 3, I can't help but feel its a money grabbing scheme. The Hobbit is thinner than any of the LOTR books yet it's getting 3 films to itself. I know they have a bigger budget and all that now but that's just how I feel about it.

4. Paranormal Activity 1-4
I saw the first one in a the cinema with a group of 10 friends including me. We were late and we had to sit right at the front in the last seat available. Was quite convenient that there was 10 seats left to be fair as it was the last showing. After the film, some of the girls were shaking and the guys were pretending to shrug it off - I got told that I looked really bored through the whole film even though I loved it. I like how the films are all low budget and filmed with security and hand held cameras. It meant the producers had to implement some really clever effects at first before they could afford more fancy effects in the later movies. Great film to watch as a couple or with a group of friends and the story line is really good. The anticipation created is amazing and you really feel it. They are directed very well and move away from traditional horror conventions where you would usually know what happens. It would appear that a fifth film has been announced according to IMDB and should be released October this year.

5. Indiana Jones 1-4
Strange choice you might think? I remember watching these back in the day where you could record TV onto a video. We had one of them videos with a massive capacity and managed to have all three of the originals on it. The fourth ones release came as a bit of a surprise and a lot of people don't like it. I for one quite enjoy it, it's got a good story and Indiana Jones who was pretty spry for his age. I also liked how they could make fun of how old he was like they know it was a bit strange to bring him back. The only thing that ruined it for me was that there were aliens in it - that just didn't fit with the originals mainly based around religion and ancient magic. None the less, they are all good and it's a film that I would always watch with my parents on a bank holiday or something. I think the second is my favourite but for a lot of people, there are only 3 Indiana Jones movies.

(Couldn't find an original trailer)

So there we have it. Another top 5 which is as controversial as ever. I had some conversations with people after they read my post about my favourite games so I hope to hear what you think.

I might be posting about Black Ops II or Blops 2 as some are calling it as I have just got my hands on it. I know it is a bit late but.. Why not?

Oh look, its another cat picture internet. I was looking out my window a while ago and I thought - there's something on my car. Turns out it was my cat, I can only presume it's because the car was warm because I had just got in. The lovely thing was he had muddy paws and made my car all dirty. Well dirtier than usual.

Thanks for reading today, let me know your favourite films. I might have overseen some and you can slap me with your words. Blog you tomorrow!

Weekend Weekend Weekend

I've never understood why the weekend is called the weekend. For a lot of businesses the week starts on Sunday and ends on Saturday. Just a thought.

So my friend suggested to me to do a top five in terms of my favourite games. I think it's quite safe to say I've played a lot of games in my life time so narrowing it down to five is pretty challenging. I have managed to get five into my head so they'll be the ones I go for, they aren't in any particular order so these are just my favourite five out of them all. Ignore the numbers, they're just there for order. I'll also try to include all the trailers for each game so you can see what they are like if you are interested.

1. Dark Souls
I've spoke about Dark Souls quite a bit, discretely in my other posts. It is probably the hardest game that I've ever played so it was quite a challenge to get into it. It has complete free roam so you can do whatever you want, whenever you want and however you want. The storyline makes sense and even has optional changes depending on how you want to shape your character. It was also a very challenging game to 100% in terms of achievements but I loved doing them all. They are clever as they also showed you all the different aspects of the game once you've worked them out. That's the biggest flaw, it's not very beginner friendly. You will almost definitely need to look things up to have any clue as to what you are doing. They have also announced a sequel which should be out this year which I am really looking forward to. 

2. Call of Duty: World at War
This was my second Call of Duty game and my favourite of them all. It was the first one with more realistic content in terms of war play. Yes, there was overpowered stuff and things which everyone will always complain about but that's why I loved it. It was also the first CoD with zombies which has really taken off and it possibly one of the best features of Treyarch's version of the game. I have unfortunately gotten rid of it a while ago because barely anyone plays it any more. It's not so much fun playing against the same couple of people every game. The campaign was  brilliant but very frustrating, usually being referred to as the one with grenade spam. 

3. Borderlands 2
It's just so awesome. I never got the first one when it first came out even though I wanted to. I then managed to get it for £15 when it was released as the game of the year edition with all of the downloadable content. Borderlands 2 then came out and I had to wait a while before I got that but since I have, I've loved every second of it. Gearbox released some crazy statistics about the guns, about 2 billion different ones had been generated. Every single gun is slightly different if it is in terms of damage, ammo, accuracy and the rest of it. There are so many bosses and everything is available to do in cooperative so it's always different. There might even be a Borderlands 3 so I would love to see where that goes.

4. Final Fantasy 10
Number ten I hear you say? How can you pick one of them when there are probably about 20 different games? I spent many many hours on this game at my friends house whose idea this top five was. Now we were no experts on this game, but there was so much to it that you had no idea about until you really looked. It's like there was the normal storyline (which was amazing and moving) which you average player would complete and be content with. There is an entirely extra side to the game with enemies which are near impossible to beat. It is also a turn based game which I really like. The two different levelling systems were very well explained and also encourage you to reply the game again so you can remodel your characters. This was before the time of achievements so you could create your own goals which made it feel more satisfying when you beat them.
(Couldn't find an official trailer for this)

5. Ratchet and Clank
See, I couldn't pick a single game out of the series because I spent ages on each game. I must have completed each about 10 times over before I moved on to another game. I never got to play the PS3 game as I don't have one which I was slightly gutted about. There was something about it which was so much fun. I played endlessly even though I knew basically every little nook and cranny. I think I would probably enjoy the storyline a whole lot more if I went back to it now because I would understand it a whole lot better. All the old ones which I played were on the PS2 so I am not sure if they are still about to play. I would assume the PS3 version is just as good so give that a try.
(This is the trailer for the 5th game on the PS3 I think so I have no idea about this one..)

So these are my personal top five. Some more modern and some from my childhood which I still think - I would love to play that again. I would love Square Enix to remake FFX again for a new console with achievements and all that jazz. So if my some chance you are reading this Square Enix and looking for a complete strangers idea for a game - there you go! 

I went to Maidstone yesterday - Saturday depending when you are reading this. I decided to get rid of some of my old games which were just sitting collecting dust. I then got Black Ops 2 finally, Dance Central 2 and the first paranormal activity. Just need the fourth one then I've got them all. It's nice to be able to trade in all your old stuff to walk away with something new and shiny. It's just strange how the value really quickly diminishes on things such as DVDs and games. Guess it depends how much you really want something, a new release DVD will set you back £10. Wait a couple of months and you'll see it for £3 and then kick yourself for spending so much in the first place. 

Close to the end of the post - as you can tell by the picture of my cat. Again. Sorry, the internet loves animals. This one shows a picture of him getting rather excited by his dinner - a sausage. He's always fussing for food and then half the time he doesn't even eat it. The liberty!

Thanks for reading today, hope you have had a nice weekend. Shall blog you tomorrow.

Zombie Nation

Zombies everywhere! That would be scary.

The idea of a zombie originated in the early 1900's in Haiti when a woman who was presumed dead reappeared in a village. Another 'zombie' appeared in 1980 after claiming to have died in 1962. He proved who he was by answering questions about his family that only a father could have known. It was decided that he was a zombie - a resurrected human. The likely thing that happened was that he was misdiagnosed, pronounced dead and then wandered around lost for many years. Medicine was not as developed as it is today, especially in Haiti being cut off from the rest of the world. The idea of humans being resurrected obviously attracted the attention of scientists who wanted to investigate. A scientist known as Wade Davis discovered something called Haitian Zombie Powder created from toxins of puffer fish and toads and some human remains. The toxins had wondrous effects on the human body. Generally, they should kill you. It was obviously shown that not everyone died. The toxins can cause complete paralysis which would make you unresponsive to anything anyone did to try and help you. They also made you appear dead - weakened your pulse and stopped your irises changing due to light. I presume they disposed of the body, eventually they would come back round and boom - zombie. It was often claimed that a 'bokor' or witch doctor brought them back to life. We'll probably find that they poisoned the zombie and then claimed to have given them life. Power hungry people. But then again, we will never know - happened a while ago.
Here's where I got this information:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/strange-creatures/zombie.htm

http://www.imdb.co.uk/title/tt0080057/

So you're probably wondering what the hell I'm going on about zombies for. It's because zombies are everywhere today. Not real ones as far as we know but in games, films and books. They are the classic culprit of the lone survivor story and when added to most games, makes it better. A university in America even has a zombie action plan as part of the school official security measures. There are YouTube channels dedicated to zombie survival guides, about how to make weapons out of household objects and where to go. With the 'zombie' attacks in America last year, I was wondering - is there really any backing to these zombie worries?

Here's a link to an article on The Sun's website about the attacks (caution, not such a lovely picture of one of the victims)

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4390934/Rise-of-the-zombie-flesh-eaters.html

With these attacks that occurred last year, it's safe to say that something made these people act this way. Doctors obviously decided that these people were not in the right state of mind and acted out in reaction to something that was in their heads. With this new craze of zombie culture, that might be the only thing which they thought of. Then we have these zombie attacks. All speculations obviously because I have no clue how a brain works. 

For a zombie to be a zombie as we see in films and games, it would have to be a reanimated corpse. Classically, it is always blamed on some sort of virus infecting the body. So we are looking at a virus that can live in a lifeless body that can also reanimate our bodies. And make us really hungry and cannibalistic. I really honestly don't think it's possible. Some illnesses can make us act different but to influence a deceased person seems really far fetched to me. The only way I could see this happening is through human engineering, and if that ever happens what has the world come to? It's scary what we can do these days with genetics, apparently we are starting to grow meat as the worlds population beats the supply.

Here are some links to articles which claim a zombie outbreak could happen. Interesting stuff. Plus they explain it a lot better than I do - bit too confusing for me.

http://www.cracked.com/article_15643_5-scientific-reasons-zombie-apocalypse-could-actually-happen.html

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2012/10/30/heres-how-the-zombie-apocalypse-is-hypothetically-possible/

http://www.wherethefairieslive.com/2012_03_01_archive.html

So this is a the bit where I talk about something you wanted me to talk about. I mentioned yeserday a friend which has sent me a load of good articles, I've picked one of them today. Its about.. *drum role*.. Man flu! From my personal experience, I've never had a problem with a sniffle. I get a cold and I carry on regardless. If it's a particularly bad one I will take a little breather but stuff needs doing. It's quite strange this whole idea of man flu to me as everyone in my family is the same, they'll just carry on. Generally, people will always complain about men collapsing into bed with man flu. Interestingly, this article showed that off the people asked, women are 16% more likely to take time out for a cold. It doesn't really mean anything. Everyone is different and a cold will hit everyone in a different way. Where it may not bother me, it could make someone else feel like the pits of the Earth. I'd just say do whatever gets you better so you can then get on with something else. Maybe working towards your next cold?

Here's the article!

http://extras.uk.msn.com/advertorials/berocca/feature-default/man-flu-does-it-really-exist

My cats back. He's so fat. Well I did catch him cleaning himself. He likes to sit right in front of the free view box so that the control doesn't work. The central heating pipe runs right under there so it is a very warm place to lay. Lazy thing.

Thanks for reading. Very random subject today but I would like to think that I am not the only one thinking about it. I guess I will find out. Blog you later.

The Fame Game and Stuff

Sorry that there was no post yesterday, just couldn't get it to work for whatever reason! Oh well, it's working all fine and dandy now so I can get back to it.

It was a shame because I actually had something I've always wondered about. I was watching the celebrity challenge thing for Comic Relief and they were asking all the children what they wanted to be when they were older. They said things like teachers and doctors. In England, a lot of children usually reply with a footballer or a singer, something in the public eye. Or a penguin, I wanted to be a penguin. The under privileged children generally have no access to TV or radio, newspapers and magazines so I would assume they have no real desire to be famous. All we hear about over here is famous people doing this that and the other living the high life and partying. This all seems like fun and games but behind the scenes, it's tough as hell.

When you're famous, people expect certain things from you like behaviour and looks. When you get caught doing something that a 'normal' person would do which isn't necessarily a good thing, you get shunned. If you don't have the perfect body or even a wardrobe malfunction - you end up getting made fun of in The Sun. I've never had the real desire to be famous and seeing all these things makes me think I probably would never want to be. Unless it was on YouTube, it's just my voice the trolls would throttle. It just seems quite unfair to me that these people may genuinely shape their lives around what we expect to stay popular. Plus you must have a very strong mind to deal with it all. There have been a lot of celebrity meltdowns in the past. Just makes me think if people really know what they're getting into when they head down this path. So many celebrities have ended up loosing jobs and careers due to the pressures which come with fame. Many turn to drink and drugs.

http://www.nme.com/filmandtv/news/first-transformers-4-plot-details-revealed/298402

So, as you know I have been asking for people to send me their ideas for this little bit of the post. My friend Tom is a massive transformers fan, he even has a tattoo of the autobots symbol on his arm. He also has a hamster called Galvatron which is the name of the bad guy in the new up and coming Transformers 4: Rise of Galvatron. He suggested that I talked about transformers so I thought I would chuck out some information about the new film and what I think will happen with it. The top hit that came up when I Googled transformers 4 was the NME website. It is still being directed by Michael Bay so we can still expect the same type of film. The biggest change for me would be that Shia LaBeouf has dropped out of the films to move onto other things. Marl Wahlberg has been confirmed for the movie which I would assume to be the new lead alongside a fairly unknown actor in the shape of Jake Reynor. Mark has said that he plans to bring his own twist to the film series so it is nothing like the first three, this is also believed to be the beginning of another trilogy of films - so there's something to look forward to.

The film picks up just after the end of the third film and most of the transformers, autobot and deceptacon alike have left the Earth. Power hungry business men with their mad scientists are trying to learn all they can from technology left behind to try and advance the human race. Obviously we aren't ready for anything like that so hell will probably break loose. Also, Galvatron sets his sights on Earth. It sounds like the autobots will return later in the film to protect the Earth again. I also think we may be looking at some sort of fake transformer which is controlled by human AI. To me it sort of sounds like a spin off as we already know all of the background and history, but the introduction of new cast and the assumed exclusion of the autobots from the early film almost make it feel like another transformer one. This will probably depend on what role Wahlberg and Reynor will take, if they are part of the special forces team who were on level terms with the transformers or if they were just idle citizens. I will probably try and see it because all the other films have been good so far, Bay is a great director and CGI has only gotten better so any combat scenes will be epic!
Here are some links to IMDB pages about the two new main roles and the director incase you want to check out anything else they've done:
Mark Wahlberg
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000242/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
Jack Reynor
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2930503/
Michael Bay
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000881/?ref_=sr_1
Also the link to the NME page
http://www.nme.com/filmandtv/news/first-transformers-4-plot-details-revealed/298402

This seems to have become the animal section. And not to disappoint but here is a picture of a very unhappy Lola dog. Animals do love to role around in mud. But we then do not like them to role around muddy inside the house. This is what happens.

I would also like to thank a friend who has been sending me lots of interesting articles which I can talk about. I'm not sure if he would mind his name being mentioned so for now he can be called.. Billy Bob. Expect to see these articles included in the next couple of days posts!

I am planning a special post for when I manage to finish the Dead Space image. I am taking a picture at the end of each drawing session which I am doing so that you can see how it is coming along. It's going pretty well so far, there's a hell of a lot of detail so it might take a while longer. If you would like to see what image I am attempting again, here is the link:
http://www.creativeuncut.com/gallery-24/ds3-legionary-suit.html

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed! Send me anything you want me to talk about whether it be an article or just something you'd like me to do some research on. Blog you tomorrow!

The Second Time Round

I think that replay value is a very important when a writer or developer creates something. TV programs and movies I would say have a much easier boat than games in this area. Many shops and online places have an abundance of DVDs, Blurays and even videos for us oldies. TV programs are only around for so long, usually only being on once. Then maybe on a plus one channel or on demand which will eventually disappear after 30 days. Films will be advertised and shown in cinemas for about a month. Then that's it until it comes out on DVD for you to buy and watch again. Films can take up to a year to get onto the shelves and I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same for TV programs. After that amount of time, you can go back to it and watch it again quite happily. What I have found is that I am happy to hold onto a DVD knowing I will probably watch it in the future again or someone I know might want to watch it. When it comes to games, this isn't the case.

Ageless comedy. Unfortunately for me it's Amy's..

When buying a game, you don't have a lot of ideas to go off of. You see a trailer, you might watch someone else play it or try it out at a friends. Once you've got it, that's your first impression. The game is then what you make of it. Once you've finished it, what is going to make you keep playing it? Sure there's the argument of multiplayer being the continuation of the game but what about the single player story which the developers probably spent the majority of time on. The Call of Duty games have a massive following, I used to be part of that craze but I can honestly say I've lost interest. The online game is just as repetitive as me playing through the story-line every day. What keeps me playing games is achievements. I feel awarded for unlocking these challenges and being awarded points for it. But once I have finished all of these challenges - what is then holding me to the game? Games where you can create your own game depending on choices you make appeal the most to me. Games such as Skyrim where your character can branch off to anywhere you desire. The game with the largest replay factor for me is Dark Souls. The complete open free roam of the world and the unlimited choices of character equipment makes every play through different. I still play it now.

A bit of an old picture now, but this is a picture of my sisters dog Lola at Christmas. She has had a little outfit every Christmas and this year it was a reindeer. Last year it was a little Santa outfit which I will try find a picture of because it's quite funny. She seems fine with anything popped on her head or the coats on her back. Doggy socks and shoes on the other hand - hates them.

So I posted on Facebook and Twitter for an idea to include in my post. Today Amy suggested I talk about food poisoning which was nice assuming we were cooking chicken at the time. I don't think I have ever had food poisoning. The closest I've come to it is probably when I drank a tin of cider which had been open for a day or two. Thought it would be fine but turns out it wasn't! I couldn't get to sleep with my tummy feeling all bubbly until I was sick. I now stay away from the drink in question which I won't mention because I don't want to give it bad press as it is a nice drink.

A picture similar to this has made it's way onto pages like Fail Blog and other Facebook groups but I actually drove past and saw this myself. The irony of it is quite beautiful. Don't worry, the red stuff on the floor is radiator fluid not blood so its all good.

Thanks for reading my blog today. Send me your ideas as I would very much like to include a story from your ideas. Blog you later!

Welcome to Monday

My blog did indeed reach 500 views yesterday. I would like to thank you all for taking the time to click on my page and have a read.

Today I had a chat with someone I know, we went to primary school together and the same university for a while and he asked me - how many people do you think would turn up to a school reunion? He said that whoever organised it would probably be quite disappointed and predicted a poor outcome. I have to say I agree because from primary school, a lot of people are lost in the mix of secondary schools. It is quite hard to keep track of everyone you used to know, especially being quite young at the time. Yes, Facebook does make this a lot easier but I think it's quite safe to say that I have people from my primary school on my friends list but I haven't spoken with them. Mainly because I would have no clue to how to start a conversation with someone after 10 years to have a quick catch up. There's a lot of ground to cover in 10 years. Despite all of this, I would say I would be up for going to a reunion. It would be nice to see everyone again and grown up and all of the old teachers.

I love reading. It is one of my main hobbies and most likely the reason I've always wanted to write my own book. This picture is of one of my bookshelves which is cluttered with other stuff but it was the most full so I picked that to show you. Through Darren Shan I have also discovered a love of horror books which has lead me into horror films. I also thank his books for helping me make a friend as I discussed his books with said friend as he also enjoyed them. All of the turned around books are by Stephen King who is often considered the 'king' of written horror. Every book shop I go into has a shelf devoted to him. I also enjoy science fiction and fantasy books. I have read all the Harry Potter's which have so much more in them than the films but I'll let that go. I have read the Twilight Saga as well - I know, shock horror. Once again, they are better than the films. The reason I started talking about books is because I wanted to ask about eReaders. They are very good and hold a lot of books but they don't feel right to me. I value holding a book in my hand and reading the pages rather than spending even more time staring at a screen. If someone offered a Kindle Fire HD I would kindly take it from them but I still think I would prefer to read a book. I'm going to tinker with the page and see if I can add a poll or something on the side so let me know if you prefer a book or an eReader.

I thought I would swing away from a cat picture today and post this picture of my recently deceased rabbit. You can see from the glaze in his eye that he was blind. Despite that he knew his way around his little custom built hutch probably better than you know you way around your home. Although I have found I can walk around quite safely in the dark until something is out of place. He is know at the back of our garden in bunny heaven, because that place is real you know. Was kind of hoping he could hop into the Guinness Book of World Records for being the oldest bunny a live. Needed another couple of years to get close but it would have been nice. Turns out vets can work out the exact age of your bunny - clever sods.

Thanks for taking the time to read today's post. Leave your response in a comment and participate in the poll on the left (if I get it to work). Blog ya tomorrow.

500 Page Views?

I'm thinking that with this post that my page will pass about 500 views. Yay! This is from about 23 posts not including the ones I copied over from my gaming blog which I decided to remove to plonk it all into one. I know it might not seem like a lot for two weeks worth buy I am rather pleased with it. Hopefully you all continue to read and enjoy and who knows where my page might go.

This weekend has been petty chillaxed. A little Tesco visit yesterday to make use of Amy's vouchers which included a free creme egg which I very much appreciated! Also, the lowest priced petrol which I have seen for a while - 134.9p per liter - and even then that isn't exactly easy on the wallet. All the local stations in Borough Green are up at 140.9! The government taking tax, the station taking costs of selling, the costs of the refining and the costs of the mining.. But the government is always going to want more. My Dad had a little rant the other day about how MP's can justify having a paid house in London so they don't need to commute when your every day worker would. Interesting.

I also saw the trailer for Jack the Giant Slayer. It looks amazing. They seem to be remaking all the stories that we heard in our childhoods but.. Awesome. Makes me wonder which is the real version of the story. Who knows, we might not know any real stories at this rate just child friendly versions. Here's the trailer for you to have a look and the link if that doesn't work. Never chucked a YouTube video in so.. The link is just in case.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng9rjC8MOgU

But seeing that trailer made me want to see Snow White and the Huntsman which was already out on DVD and luckily my sister has it. Shall be watching that at some point. Wonder how many expressions she will have in that film.

I watch a lot of videos from a group of YouTubers called the Yogscast who have quite a large of about 4 million subscribers. They do a lot of charity stuff doing live streams and other things raising over £270,000 for Oxfam. They've also done some recording at BBC studies for a video on their channel and yesterday I saw that they managed to get Jonathon Ross on for an interview. Turns out he is an avid gamer and has recently set up his own gaming studio which has just released its first game for free on mobile platforms. It's called Catcha Catcha Aliens which is quite a simple game but very well polished for a first release. Here's a link to it.

http://hotsauceinteractive.co.uk/app/catcha-catcha-aliens/

Also found another free game which is app of the week. I'm not sure when that changes and I think it'll be a paid app when it changes. It's made by the same people who created Doodle Fit. It's called Little Things Forever and its a puzzle game where you have to find lots of little pictures within one larger picture. Here's a link to that.
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/little-things-forever/id520762327?mt=8

And as of recently, what post is complete without a picture of a cat? So here is one of my cat being really really greedy who already has an entire chair to himself which we cover to keep the hair off of the chair. So where does he sit?

That's all for today. Thanks for reading. Hope you had a good weekend and I will blog you tomorrow.

Am I in the game?

So I've been going on about this idea of making my face in game for about a week and I actually got around to trying it out today. Turns out it is really hard, my face isn't very friendly in terms of the customization tools used to create a custom character. I tried it out in Skyrim, Mass Effect 3, Fallout and Dark Souls. All have very different and unique customization processes. If they were all mashed together into one then I'm pretty sure you could get a good representation of your own face. As they are now.. Well you'll see.

So first I went for Skyrim because all of the Elder Scrolls games have had customization as the game is basically whatever you can make of it. The game provided you with different preset features and then the ability to move them around on your characters face. You can change the skin colour, hair colour and obviously hairstyles. The only thing which made it harder is that the game is set in a medieval setting so a lot of the features are those from an older time period. I think you'll agree it really doesn't look like me all that much.

I next tried Fallout New Vegas because Bethesda made Skyrim as well so I assumed I would be getting much the same experience. Turns out that Fallout has basically only a single choice of each facial feature. All you can do is change the dimensions and locations on the face. It's very limiting to not have other preset shapes to manipulate but I would say this one is a better representation as you can choose an age as well. Still pretty awful.

Next I went for Mass Effect 3. A game heavily based on what you want to experience from the game. I also discovered that there are three game modes on it that I didn't know about. Action - allows you to skip most of the story line and just kill stuff. RPG - classic Mass Effect. Story - easy combat with emphasis on the story. I imported my character from ME2 so I can't remember if I got the choice to change that or not. This also didn't turn out so well because obviously the character is supposed to be ex military. This means that they'd be big and butch with neat hair and features etc. I'm not like that so.. This is what I got.

Last of all I went for Dark Souls. It's a game that not many people have heard of, it's really big in Japan. Compared to more standard games, this one is exceptionally hard which is probably why it's not so popular but I enjoy it. I was very surprised at the level of customization available. All this game has ever done is surprise me with how good it is. You can keep going deeper into the facial features with there being multiple options for each feature. Once again it was just a single uniform feature to mess around with but there's still a lot of different things to be done with it. Once again not a very close representation of me at all. Also I'm really not sure why there are pointy bits missing out of my cheeks. Yeah.

So I think the answer to the question - Am I in the game? - is no. Unless you have a very simple pixel friendly face then I don't think it's possible to get a good representation of your own face. I'm pretty sure the customization was put in to make a character you would be happy to play as rather than having no choice. Or to make someone completely bizarre that will most likely never exist. Oh well, I gave it a go. Turns out that I could make my cat in the game. My cat. Again. 

Well, they took me a couple of hours to make fiddling around. This post then took me about an hour as well. For the rest of the day I think I shall grab some lunch as my tummy is grumbling. Then I think I will watch Gladiator which everyone must see at least once in their life. I bought it ages ago when all of the Universal 100th Anniversary boxes were released. It has since sat in my DVD pile in its cardboard slip, still wrapped in plastic. Time to change that! I'm also thinking of doing some drawing at the same time. Get some more of that done. Then I have work from 4pm - 10pm. Then it's the weekend. WEEKEND!

Thanks for reading. Send me ideas of what you want to read about. Blog ya later.

iPhone gaming

There are loads and loads of games on the app store. I think in all the time I've had my phone, it's safe to say I may have played a hundred or so different ones. Only a couple have ever survived on my phone for more than a couple of days. Jet Pack Joyride, Minesweeper, Draw Something, FallDown!, and Doodle Fit. The Simpsons Tapped Out also made a long appearance of a couple of months until the game wiped itself with the Christmas update. Was not starting that all again.. Over the last couple of days I've found myself glued to my phone playing games. I have posted about two of them over the last couple of days, D.O.T and Knights of Pen and Paper. I would have at first said D.O.T would be my favorite of the two but as it has an online background meaning you are limited to time constraints. Knights of Pen and Paper has so many more dynamics to is that I never mentioned yesterday because I discovered them today. There's blacksmiths, real world item upgrades to boost the fantasy world, there are quests and a real story line uncommon to iPhone games. There's also a classic pen and paper game idea involved through dice rolls determining luck. I'm such a nerd.

I'm really enjoying using my old laptop. Something I missed while using the tiny 10" netbook screen was being able to have two windows open side by side. Like now for example, I'm typing this and watching some YouTube videos. Good stuffs. 17" for the win. 


I'm planning to make my face in games tomorrow as well so that idea will be done finally! I think I shall also make some more headway on that Dead Space drawing.

Me and pixelamy were talking today and we managed to get onto the subject of how strange language is. Because we are that intellectual. Speaking is so strange because all it really is is a sound that we then process to mean something. Like these words you are reading could be scrawled down by an animal accidentally but mean something to us humans when we look at them. It is quite boggling to think about because almost 7 billion people on this planet communicate by making sounds. Different sounds meaning different things to everyone. My brain hurts just thinking about it.

My picture for the day is once again about my cat. Because he is awesome. He really loves it when you pull his ears back and make him look strange as hell. I always think it looks painful but as soon as you stop he fusses and fusses until you do it again. All he does is eat and sleep and demands attention for the bits in between. Lazy thing doesn't even chase birds any more.

Thanks for reading. Hit me up with some ideas of things you'd like me to talk about. Blog ya later.