THIS... IS... SPARTA!

Alright, so I finally got round to seeing 300. And, of course, it KICKS ASS. No idea who the lead is but, he's a pretty damn fun actor to watch. There's not much to be said about it, just watch it instead. It was on TV Links last time I looked... I'll paste the link in a minute. It's got sword, shields, blood, gore, VIOLENCE, spartans, shouting, arrows, boobs, violence again... All the classic ingrediants of a hard-boiled modern day action flick... But frank miller helped with it, which makes it alot better for some mystical reason. Anywho, check it out.

Oh, that link.
http://tv-links.co.uk/
Free TV shows, movies etc. Yes, it's legal, or it wouldnt be online... Christ.

A short mention to varied notes

Right, I'm going to start using this blog more starting August. Beforehand, I'll list some things that have happened that I couldnt be bothered writing down fully.

- Went paintballing with Ollie (who's birthday it was), Harry and Jack. Then stayed up until some absurd time around 4 in the morning playing the Nintendo 64, then went to the park the next day and met...
- Naomi, who's awesome. I have to throw that in as I just walked her home not long ago at about 11:30 at night.
- Saw Shrek 3, it was good, not as much so as the first or second but worth it.
- Saw the Simpson's movie, it was great. Screw the haters.
- Finished Zelda oracle of seasons. If anyone cares, I love you.
- Halfway through Resident Evil 4. Eep!

That's about it.. I think. Bye!

London.

Hello, world.

First off, let me apologise. I haven't updated since May and to the... three or four of you that care, this was slightly agitating. Lots of stuff has happened in this recent few weeks, so let me kick off with what was probably the biggest.

LONDON



Yes, for the first time in my bland life, I visited our "glorious" capital. And on the whole, the trip was brilliant.



I went because my cultural cousin Suzy got married to new family member Ian; if ever I happen to mention "my cousin's magazine", that would be theirs - check it out at http://www.nudemagazine.co.uk/. Oh, don't be phased by the title, there's no wobbly bits involved... Well, not many. Anyway. Yeah, me and mum and my sister Josie Jo sat for two and a half hours on a train getting there which was surprisingly fine, and in addition my american auntie and cousin came over too, although we didn't see them ON the train. When we got there the first thing we did was h- actually, the first thing was rush to the toilet. Secondly, we hailed a traditional London cab down which was pretty fun... Please Don't ask me why, I feel like such a tourist.



The cab took us to the wrong hotel, so we walked a little more to the correct one which was pretty damn nice - they had an ice cream vendor there with Ben & Jerrie's, and to get it out the machine used a sucky-in-claw-grabber-thingy. The beds were VERY squishy but that didn't phase us too much. Also, it had a swanky talking lift that made you feel like a king every time you heard "Going up".



After settling in, we went to an italian restraunt for dinner. There we met the bride and groom but the wedding wasn't until the next day so, it was... Umm... Legal. The food was like sex, in food terms. I swear, I ate it all in about ten minutes. I even took PHOTOS of it. If you've ever been to Pizza Express, think that but much nicer. Anyway, enough drooling. When we'd finished we stayed outside, which was also the outside of a bar. There was a nice italian band playing but after they'd had their change toss they vanished. Me and sam ran around for a few hours playing catch and all that before eventually getting a taxi back to the hotel.



The next day was... The big day. Now, this wasn't a conventional wedding; instead of the same old white dress Suzy showed a stunningly awesome Red and black polkadot dress, and I can't remember what Ian was wearing. Instead of a big white cake they had a FANTASTIC wedding-on-the-moon themed one, but if truth be told, there wasn't enough icing in the world to make Suzy's chest it's right size, and nothing small enough to rake off the tiny amounts of excess hair on Ian's head. Other than that it looked fantastic. So the wedding was held in this round government room, with microphones! Oh, lordy, yes! Alfie, who is now walking, by the way, made his way onto one of the buttons so before the ceremony we heard a rather loud GAGOOGURGLEBAHGINGING. So yeah, the exchanging took place, with quite a funny moment of Suzy's; "Do you, Suzanne Prince, take Ia-" "I DO!" typical to be honest. *Chuckle*

Later there was another pretty damn nice nice meal, a very eccentric children's park, then an afterparty that lasted long into the night, including card games, yours truly transforming into an Afro-ninja, speeches, music, dancing, food... It was all good. Taxi. Hotel. TV. Sleep.

The next day! was touriest day. And it rained. Peh! That didn't put us off.
I can't recall too well as I had a bit of a headache from the night before. Here's what we DID do.

- Go to Hamleys. It's heaven. 6 floor of toys. I boguht 2 games. Epic win.
- See the gay pride march, it was actually so awesome! Half-naked young women!! (and men, though...)
- Eat at Pizza Hut. Yum.
- See the big version of me, it wasn't as big as you'd think but still mighty.

And we didn't:

- Go on the eye, too foggy.
- Iron any mermaids (?)
- Join IN with the pride march.

Overrall, classic weekend. Photos and words that'll keep me reminded. That, and Gitaroo man lives!

---------- END OF LONDON SEGMENT ----------

The Mighty May Update

It's not every day that I give up lounging around furiously tapping at my keypad and munching on Jaffa Cakes, but today I ended up lounging around at Sarah's house instead, furiously patting the dog and munching on onion rings with ten others. It was her birthday so, here's her little mention.

I've been lazy recently and forgot to update after I went to see Zodiac, so I'll give that a newly formatted review in a moment along with the glorious Half-Life 2: Episode 1 on PC.95%
"Masterful"
--------------------------------------------------
Zodiac
It was him! No, wait...

Put simply, Zodiac isn't what you expect to see. If you're looking for a modern day, fairly simple slasher flick with a very slightly unique angle, you're looking in the wrong place. Zodiac is in fact a tangle of interesting developments and twists that holds fairly firmly and doesn't let go for around two and a half hours, which, arguably is a rather long time for today's standards yet it's two and a half hours that'll keep you suspended in thought.

The film's protagonist, played by Jake Gyllenhaal (The Day After Tomorrow) is a local newspaper's cartoonist who soon becomes so wound up in the whole mystery that he eventually devotes most of his life to solving the crime, and we only truly find out until the very last moment of the film. The acting is pretty damn well played and the writing lacks in some areas but is otherwise convincing. There's some comedy thrown in amongst the web of lies and constant chasing, and it works to effect.

However, make sure you watch it at home; the length is quite frustrating when your bladder's bursting. Also, I'd only recommend it to people with patience and relatively broad minds.

72%
"Curious"
--------------------------------------------------

Half-Life 2: Episode One
Ruddy hell, it's back!

There's only one thing to say about the Half-Life saga. It RULES. And Episode One is no exception.
Ok, excessive formatting and ranting about how great it is over. Actually, it's not over. I love Episode one. I decided that as a end of term treat I'd buy it via Steam for a drastically reduced and reasonable price of £5. I downloaded it, plugged in and I didn't let go for around four hours, the length of the full game on average. It starts with the result of the aftermath of the main game, with one of Earth's enslaved city's main power core malfunctioning thanks to the game's lead protagonist and player, Gordon Freeman, leader of the rebel re- Oh, why am I bothering. The story is too hugely inventive and masterfully crafted for me to explain, but A fine gentleman by the name of Chan K has compiled the entire saga's storyline here.

The game is a rip-roaring rampage of rebellion and waging war that never ceases to amaze; at one point, I'm navigating a beautifully crafted monolith of a citadel, the next I'm running through darkened suburban car parks infested with raging zombies, and then later I'm taking down a war of the worlds style three spider tanks (striders) solely with an RPG. You are assisted by the scarily human-like Alyx, daughter of Eli Vance, yo- I'm sorry, I'm doing it again. I just love the story so much, it drives me to blabber on and on. The graphics looks stunning even if they're running on my fairly simple PC, the whole system feels wonderful and I was drawn in all the way; I don't think I can actually wait for for Episode two but at release prices, I'm going to have to wait until it was lowered like this.

95%
"Masterful"
--------------------------------------------------

Whew, that's alot of reviewing out of my system... I could have said alot more about each but It's quarter past eleven and I'm watching the fifty films to see before I die, which has inspired me to create my own list. Except I've narrowed it down just a tad. So here's my five films you should see and probably haven't.

5. Braindead
It's gotta be said, this film isn't for the faint of heart; at it's time it was the goriest movie ever created if you ignore underground cult shockers like the Guinea Pig series. It's one bad ass horror B movie.

4. Shallow Grave
Can't stress enough how this is the perfect thriller; money, eccentric characters, a dead body, a twist ending... Perfection of mystery for me.

3. The Thing
Ok, so It was quite popular. But alot of my generation havn't seen it and it still remains one of my favourite films, most notably because of the bafflingly effective technology... No CGI here, all anamatronic monsters.

2. The Warriors
Classic cult 70's film about street gangs that is beautifully choreographed and should be viewed by all.

1. Without a doubt the best film of 2006 and my favourite film of all time, Children of Men is an instant classic that I'll never forget.


God, I'm chirpy today. Well, that's all from me for now. Peace out.

Webslinging, and a baby birthday

A double whammy update today, generally revolving around my weekend after SATs, which went pretty darn well to be honest.

SATURDAY

Well, I was up early, so I spent most of the morning jumping between Sky TV and MSN. i was at dad's, by the way. I'd arranged to meet Zoe, Hannah, Alice and later Jack at the train station at 4, so when the time came Jack called round and we head off. Wasn't too long before all five of us were on the train, which is always good fun, hooking legs around each other and all that general malarky. I'm not suggesting it was a lesbian fumbling session, just alot fun. Anyway. We got there and were planning to get pizza first and catch a later showing, but there was one on at the time, so we dashed for popcorn and then inside, just in time for the opening credits. Now might be a good time for a review!

------------------------------------------------

Spider - Man 3
Like juggling bad dudes with web-covered hands

The first two movies were great. The third is no exception.
Since we were a little late in the first thing I saw was the opening title, which is always an opening less frustratingly pointless than most action films. It begins with a montage of the first two films alongside opening credits, which is handy for those like me that saw the other two films quite a while ago.

The story is, well, what would you expect? A superhero, a general superhero plot, a superhero's fiance, and not one, but three super villains. You've got Flint Marko, AKA Sandman, the guy who actually shot Ben Parker, Peter's uncle. Whilst on the run, he sort of, bonds with sand in an experiment at some secret place. then you have the New Goblin, Harry, who's father was killed by Pete in the first film. Although he swears revenge, he's Peter's best friend, and a blow to the head gives him temporary amnesia... Hi jinks follow.

Lastly but, in my opinion, the best of the three, is the almighty Venom. Eddie Brock is shunned off the Daily Bugle department after Pete blows the cover of one of his fake photographs. An alien symbiote that bonds with Parker's suit earlier in the film latches onto Eddie when he tails Parker, who is tearing off the suit. Brock transforms into Venom, large teeth, eyes and tongue, and teams up with sandman. The final battle ensues and I'm not giving away any more details.

The camera work is a brilliant demonstration of modern day ingenuity, with Spidey having his own personal cameraman tailing his Web-Slinging antics all the way through NY. The dialogue isn't the greatest but it suffices, and though one of the scenes is dreadfully corny, It still makes for great viewing. Whether you're a fan of Spider - Man in general like me, or just want to see a film for all the family, I recommend the third to most people.

84% - "Ka-pow!"

Story - 8/10

Acting - 7/10

Dialogue - 6/10

Music - 8/10

Value - 7/10

------------------------------------------------

Ok, so it was a great film, made better by me and Jack laughing everytime the russian landlord or his mole - carrying daughter came on screen... Hysterics and cries of "EI HHHAVE MOLE "erupted.

Pizza followed. Between the five of us, we spent about six pounds each on a large pizza, a medium pizza, wedges, breaded mushrooms, nachos, another starter I can't remember, 4 drinks, and 4 desserts between us. not bad, eh? It was about 10 o'clock by the time we were out and at the train station, and the way back was even funnier than the way there... Lots more leg fights and diving about.

SUNDAY (TODAY)

Today is Alfie's birthday! He's my baby cousin who tomorow is a whole one year old. He got a brilliant Elmo chair, a swing and lots of other goodies. Just thought I'd throw in a quick mention for him.

Well, that's all for now. I'm updating the site a bit. Oh, and if you search on google "alternateview myspace" You get my blog link. Yahoo!

- BG '07 out.

Reviews: Sand, tombs and the IRA

HELLO.
I thought I'd bring myself to do another update as I promised you some reviews.

Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time
.nuf fo stol syawlA

I'll admit now, before the big delivery last week I'd never played a Prince of Persia game, except the original, and that put me off for life. But after remembering laying Tomb Raider: Legend a while back, and how I'd heard they were similar, I gave PoP a shot.

... I was impressed. The graphical level isn't hugely important for SoT as it's quite an old game now, with two sequels. The storyline can sometimes be tricky to remember but It's basically a royal Arabian scandal gone horribly wrong, with sand demons and the lot. The game sees you swinging, crawling, jumping, ducking, dodging and diving past traps and enemies alongside a slightly useless companion... Your typical platform/adventure game then. I'm currently about 35% of the way through the game and I noticed a few cool features.

The dagger of time, I think, is a nifty little tool that transforms battles from a dull slice-and-dice-athon to a matrix style swordclanger. When you die, you can (usually) reverse time so that you can change the outcome and live to see another swarm of sand mummies. You can also freeze enemies in sand, before diving over them and slicing them straight in half, which is always a rare delight.

However, the game's not without it's downsides. The sidekick that comes in a little later on, Farah, can be extremely annoying. I'll find myself happily carving enemies, and the next minute I have to restart because she's too thick too run away from them. Her bow adds virtually no benefit to combat either. The camera angles can also be a little tricky sometimes and result in death from spiky pits, but a quick time reverse and that's all O.K

How about value? Magnificent. I picked this up in a triple pack of all three games, for £10. That's just £3.00 odd for a rip roaring tale of bravery and swinging on poles. Go for it.

88% - "Impressive"
Gameplay - 9/10
Story - 7/10
Graphics - 6/10
Music - 8/10
Value - 10/10

Now, this would be where I did a review of Myst for PSP. However, I found it so dull and disappointing, I traded it in for Tomb Raider: Legend, also on PSP.

Tomb Raider: Legend
She really is a legend.

Some say that the PSP port of TrL was a little worse, due to the lack of another analogue stick and slightly worse graphics. However, the content actually increased as far as I know, and after about a quarter of the game I'm happy to be back in Lara's comfy bosom.

Ok, I already mentioned the graphics. To be fair, they're a little more square than the console versions, but hey, does the DS have the FULL game port? No. The story is as it always has been; Treasure, tombs and tigers, with added spikes, stones and very large guns... And this time I'm talking about the weaponry.

The game was a huge breath of fresh air after the dog-crap-worthy Angel of Darkness on PS2, which was in no way related to raiding tombs - you instead shot your way through hordes of numb skulled thuggish guards. The story in TrL sees you after Excalibur, the fabled mighty sword in relation with King Arthur, Merlin and all that. The control system seems to be leaked from Prince of Persia, with less running up walls and reversing time. There ARE guns, and human foes, but nothing ridiculous. No rocket launchers to use against superhuman soldiers. You've still got climbing, many forms of rolling and diving, and extremely cute outfits that fit the re-designed Lara snugly.

However, from what I've learned, the game seems to be quite short. I've done about a quarter of the game in a few hours, which is a shame, seeing as how the few hours were fun. However, the disappointing length is made up by collectible treasure, 3 difficulty levels and time attack modes.

All in all, I'm happy I traded the desperately frustrating Myst in. I'm having fun with the greatest English fiction character ever created all over again. Bliss.

85% - "Welcoming"
Gameplay - 8/10
Story - 8/10
Graphics - 7/10
Music - 7/10
Value - 8/10

The Crying Game
Funnily enough, It's not a game.

Well, it's true. When I told the guys and girls at school they all assumed it was some game where you had to cry to win. Sorry to disappoint, although I'm guessing it made a few soppy ones cry back in the day. I'm here to give a brief review.

Ok, so the story is... Actually, It's not simple. The first half is about a black British military officer (Forest Whitaker) who is captured by IRA agents and held hostage. The second half is one of the agents chasing the soldier's old... Partner, the seemingly beautiful Dil. There's some real talented acting involved. And I mean that - some of the best I've seen. Whitaker's accent seems very false but other than that I was swayed.

There's not too much to see about The Crying Game. I recommend it to anyone mature enough to take it in.

79% - "Unique"
Story - 7/10
Acting - 10/10
Dialogue - 8/10
Music - 6/10
Value - 7/10

Well, that's all the reviewing I'm doing for now, I need to go and check my E-Mail. A few side notes.

1. My Auntie Sue is getting married, congratulations!
2. I got an E-Dog... Look it up.
3. SATS this upcoming week.
4. I got Myspace. Yuck. www.myspace.com/alternateview
5. I have Monday off. B'doing!

SWAG! And some other things

Just look at all this stuff i got today. How awesomeis that. Very, that's how.

1. A free T-Shirt that I got with OPM. It says "This is living" and "Playstation 3". So, so good.

2. The crying game on DVD. Got it cheap because my sister advised me to watch it, it's apprently got one of the best twists... Ever. Review soon

3. PS1 GAMES! to go with...

4. ...The PS1, my old one, that I got from my dads today. When I nab a PS3 they'll all be lined up. Sweet.

5. Official playstation magazine issue 6. I was in issue 4. B'doing! I love the new vesion and I can't wait to read this - Details of GA IV and the new Ratchet and Clank games to come!

6. The Prince of Persia trilogy on PS2. I don't know what made me buy these, probably the ten pound cost. But they look cool, review to come.

7. Myst on PSP, 'cause nobody I know has heard of it and that's just awesome. Looks great too. Review to come, again. I'll never save my hands...

8. Free peanut M&M's from OPM. I don't like peanut but that was a cool touch.

Other shit

Umm, what else. Oh yeah, we went bowling today. Me, Gooseman (Joe), Mrs. Idontwinmuch (Zoe), The ben copycat (Lisa), and spanner (Hannah). Don't ask me about the names I just made them up. Anyway, I came joint second with Lisa, hence her name, Zoe came last, hence hers, and Joe came first... His name is because he has a oose in his garden.

Also, It's Abi's birthday. She's (finally) 14. so here's you mention.

*MENTION*

Happy? Yeah. Happy birthday pickle. <3


- BG '07 out.

Behold 2007

Ok, so I should really update this thing more. It may seem like alot but I'm ashamed. I'm literate. I should be on here every day.

In the mean time, here's a run down of what's happening in 2007.

JUNE
In June, I'm going to London for the first time ever, as It's my cousin Suzy's wedding. I also hopefully get to go way down south to Huntingdon to see Abi and Vicky, also know as Ebi-san and Viki-san. They're these two ninjas who go around kicking gnomes and stuff.

AUGUST
In August, It's V FESTIVAL! With my sister and her friends, and my cousin. Lots of artists, going to be grrrreat.

SEPTEMBER
... The ninth is my birthday, and you know what that means. PS3. Oh, yes.

NOVEMBER
In November, I'm going to see Bill Bailey. He's one of my favourite comedians, like, ever.

Sheer Awesomeness

I'm so gleeful. Like a child at Christmas. I just found an amazing site, http://speeddemosarchive.com/, that has a huge archive of old and new video games being completed in record time. Here are some of my favourites. I would embed the HTML but you wouldn't like more than one video going off at once.

Alex kidd in miracle world:

http://speeddemosarchive.com/flash.pl?AlexKiddMiracleWorld_eu_1733

This was a childhood favourite for the Sega master system, although it was one of the hardest games I've ever played. I recently went through it using an emulator and the relentless "stop save stop save" technique.

Grand theft auto III:

http://speeddemosarchive.com/flash.pl?GrandTheftAuto3_14340_part10

One of the first game I got when I grabbed myself a PS2, and I never completed it. So, naturally, this segment of the speed run was quite awesome for me.

Easter updates

After playing a Lumines game for 30 solid minutes, I wandered downstairs to find mum holding my easter egg; I could have it three days early. Well, it's always a nice surprise. Anyway, I got this awesome Lindtt one, by Lindor... Anyway, here's a picture. I got a fiver off my Auntie and a tenner off my mum too, and I'll see dad sometime soon, sunday I think. If he turns up with a PS3 I swear I'll cry. Although the chances of that are slimmer than kate moss under a steamroller - OHH, somebody stop me. Ahem. anyway, yeah, he just spent like one hundred and fifty pounds repairing his fancy ass DVD player. Why can he afford that and not a multimedia centre like the PS3?! It's like a top of the line computer. My friend Abi was on webcam the other day on her friend's laptop, she took it into her brother's room and pointed it at the desk. I nearly fell off my chair when I saw he had one.

Speaking of PS3 I did some research, mainly consisting of flicking through this month's magazine. They definately aren't burning out, but there IS some limited backwards capability. you won't be able to play less popular PS2 games very well, but game like Grand theft auto and Metal gear solid should, in essence, be fine. I think It's more modern games. Sony claims you can play 60% percent of titles, which is pretty damned good; Although, on release, why are you trying to play PS2 games?! Get your hands on Oblivion, Resistance, ETC ETC. Scroll down for more about GTA IV too.

What else is going on.. Hm. Oh, Paige is coming round some time in the week, for a movie and food, pictures to come probably. Errmmm, what else..?

No, that's it for now. See you.

BG '07 out.

Oh, now I NEED a PS3

GTA IV Is coming.

Yes, this is the main reason I'm going to have to beg and squirm Even more for a PS3 in September. Oblivion was big. Blue ray was bigger. But this just looks mind blowing. Rockstar, my personal gods, have release the new trailer and 5 screenshots.

http://www.rockstargames.com/IV/trailer_splash.html

From what I can gather it's set in new york city, and you play as an immigrant or immigrant smuggler. He sounds Russian. Either way, the graphics look stunning, and it's not all gangsta stylie anymore. No, this is true GTA. Gritty, balls to the wall street violence. And trust me...

... It's gonna be big.

Oh, and by the way. There's a frickin' ROLLERCOASTER.

Time to rant - School

Hi. I feel like setting something on fire.

Sorry. Any way, better explain why I'm in a vicious mood. School. I'd normally avoid a horrible cliche of moaning on about school being boring or whatever, but today just pushed me over the edge. I had two letters through the door today. One of them is telling me that I'm underachieving in science and maths. Nothing to rant about yet, but then it got really interesting. I opened the next letter and found I'd been accepted into NAGTY - The national academy for gifted and talented youth (http://www.nagty.ac.uk). Add in two scoops; My maths teacher, Mr. Hart, being the most evil thing EVER to have taught me (Sorry sir. I just hate you)m and Mrs. Seamen (science teacher), being unable to control the class, teaching us shit all, and generally screwing up. Mrs. Burstow is on leave and to be fairly honest we want her back alot. Sprinkle this ice cream of hatred with the fact that I got a level 6 in my science test - 3 being LOW, and 7 being blood smart.

I'm in a seriously shitty mood. I don't know if the "boffins" who write/send these letters even bothered to CHECK what was going on. I'm trying to hold back from saying I hate these teachers, as I'm way too nice apparently... But this is tipping me over the FREAKIN' EDGE. Mr. Hart gave me a D.T today, I couldn't care less. I might just throw it away. Anyway, staying on subject; I'm hoping that they've checked but I mean, for all I know it's an automated ROBOT. Intimate or what? I just know Mr. Vickers will be involved soon, He's my form tutor. As much as I usually like him, I wish he'd keep his nose out of it. It's like he's showing off to the higher levels and it's really, really annoying.

While I'm ranting about school I'll fit as much as I can in. Next on the agenda? Uniforms. Everyone in school today has received a letter about a drop in uniform standard. Who gives a toss? It's all to impress someone of a higher level. We're the bottom of the god damn food chain; we impress the teachers, they impress the governors, and it carries on to pope level. But I mean, it's one button, at the top. Positives? You look smarter, apparently. Negatives? You look and feel as uncomfortable as a cat in a dog's kennel. Not to mention the strangling sensation. Tucking your shirt in apparently makes you well dressed... what they don't see is all those self conscious people shifting nervously about. They don't see the people squirming because they feel tight and horribly awkward.

Moving on, let me see. Dinners? Seems fine, except the sup- AHA! The support team.
They are basically.. Well, demons really. They sold their soul (free time) to hell (school, and all its assets) for cold, hard cash. They're a bunch of sixth formers who walk around at lunches telling people to move form places. It's that simple, yet so, so effective. It takes us two minutes to go back to wherever we where. Some of the places that are "banned" I could understand; behind the school near the dodgy pond, actually ON the roads coming into school, near the construction work. But today we were actually moved from the path, guarded by a fence, next to the car park. Sounds reasonable until you realise the CARS ARE PARKED. If you're stupid enough to get hurt by a parked car then well, you deserve it. These support team have traded respect for money; we hate them. All of them. Well maybe not Joe's sister, cause she didn't care today and had cool glasses. BUT MOST OF 'EM.

I'll stop now, this was only supposed to be a one paragraph rant, but it's turned into a playground of destruction. All I can say to those mentioned?
*Fart noise* Jog on.

BG '07 out.

Big(ish) update.

Ok, I havn't written anything in a while, admitted. I thought I'd jot down a few points.

1. The PS3 was launched friday, march 23rd. Yes, I've been suffering serious gamer's depression - I really, REALLY want one. And of course there's rumours about "overheating" and "no backwards compatability"... As far as I know, bullcrap.
2. It's the easter holidays soon. Just thought I'd throw in a note.
3. Interestingly, my blog was machine-marked as a "spam blog". I don't mind, it took like a day to fix, but it was interesting how a few links can get you flagged.
4. I've dug up my old sonic obsession. As you may be able to tell from my picture... And I'll post a flash game at the bottom of the post.
5. I'm changing just a few things around the blog, just a few. My picture, bio, the "now playing" bar, the recommendations (now one thing per week).
6. Gladiators rules. Period.
7. I really, REALLY want to go and see 300. I was a massive fan of Sin City, so big in fact, I had to throw is onto my favourite movies list. Frank Miller's next outing looks pretty damn cool too.

As promised, here's a flash game of sonic. I managed to get to world 2-2 without dying.. Yay?
http://www.myspacegames.net/?game=sonic
I'm not doing the HTML thing as last time I did, i got an error and had to re write this. GRR.


BG '07 out.

Why, that's my dainty Ariel

We went (School) to see a stage production of the tempest today. We missed periods four and five and went by coach to the "New Vic" theatre. We sat in a medium sized round room called "The Round". Imaginative or what. It was a pretty damn good performance, no pictures as they weren't allowed. Got an awesome card from the gift shop though (See below).




BG '07 out.

New monitor

I was round at Clippie's (Diablo/linux nut) house today checking out his beautiful new monitor and just before he left he offered me a pretty cool Dell one, his old old one, free. It's the same size screen as mine but looks better and is black (Mmm).

My new baby:





My old lover:




___________________________

Also, following on from my vista rant, I have another point to make. But instead of blabbing, allow the glorious Penny arcade to show you. (http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/02/02)

BG07 out.

Talking lost property and windows Vista

So I woke up this morning (Sunday, march 11th) and my mum is stood outside my room getting ready for work. She tells me that some woman rang and asked for a Ben G. Ok, this was kind of weird. But then mum tells me that she'd found a phone and wallet in west park, on a bench near the skate ramps. And my number was the first that appeared in the phone. So apparently mum walked over to find they were Jake's wallet and phone.

All I can say is: You dope. Your lucky the nice tourist lady found it, lucky the guys on the skate ramps didn't steal them, lucky it didn't rain on them and lucky my mum went to pick them up for you. Whatever are we going to do with you, Jakey boy?

___


On a slightly more technical note, I thought I'd throw in a small word on why I couldn't really care less about windows vista.

What are the main features? One is it looks alot prettier but hey, there's nothing wrong with Linux. I'm not a user (YET Rob, YET), but there's a video I was shown by Mr. brackets over there that's tempting me to turn to the Penguin side (http://www.metacafe.com/watch/434675/windows_vista_aero_vs_linux_ubuntu_beryl/).
The other is the security. But sometimes, when I hear about all this added stuff it makes me feel like I won't be able to leave the house without my screen flashing with a warning message. I feel as though when I'm physically ill, like with flu or something, Vista will try and erase the bug itself. If that's not invasion then don't tell me what is.

Also, there's no clear way of telling if my games will work well on it. From all I've heard the beta testing was pretty crappy - World of warcraft will run but alot slower. Plus, I really don't need to upgrade yet because there's no Direct X 10 games yet, which means I don't need Direct X 10 yet. Simple.

And finally... What is Vista's main competitor? Windows XP. They're just trying to out do themselves now and if I'm honest, I couldn't give a rat's ass.

UPDATE: Rob reminded me of a very short but stunning point. four hundred pounds for a Direct X 10 graphics card. Yeah, I'll just take a PS3, thanks.

Belgium and beyond

So on Wednesday, at ten at night, I arrived at school with my friend Catherine (thanks for the lift!). Met up with everybody because we were going to Belgium and France with school, to see the battlefields, trenches and war graves from WWI.

We got on the coach and went to the top floor, right at the back near some sixth formers... They're like half-teachers. They'll tell you to behave but they don't really give a toss. We were in seats of two so I paired up with Ollie, except we were sat in a big bunch of friends. Initially it was me and the... ecstatic Ollie, Alfie and Jack F, Will and Jack M, Sophie and Zoe. all the way through the journeys we kept changing seats around and later Rachel joined us for the ride home. Anyway, on with the narrative.

We drove for hours on end, stopping once at a service station. There we played house of the dead four! I didn't even know that existed. You get an Uzi lite gun each which just kicks ass. So yeah, we were there at like half past one in the morning on an arcade game, and It felt weird. Almost like a dream. I wanted to buy someone a teddy because I felt really good but nobody particularly wanted one. Humph.

So we set off again, with Ollie flashing his torch out of the window to try and blind drivers. Great going... Ahem. We travelled for hours more, surviving on Tic Tacs and Editors (http://www.editorsofficial.com/). We eventually arrived at Dover and saw the white cliffs a little before boarding and early ferry. I think we were on it for about two hours. There were like, three cafes/restaurants, an arcade (With house of the dead three, but we knew about this one. Two shotguns. Awesome.), and a highly overpriced shop. I bought a portable game of Downfall to play on the coach, mainly because Zoe liked it (sigh, me eh?).

Eventually we arrived in Belgium and travelled some more to France. We stopped at a (what we thought at first was) large graveyard full of white grave stones. We found the grave of a fifteen year old boy too, and we read some of the monuments. And Zoe kept repeating a poem, suicide in the trenches.

I knew a simple soldier boy
Who grinned
at life in empty joy
Slept soundly through the lonesome dark
And
whistled early with the lark.

In winter trenches, cowed and
glum,
With crumps
and lice and lack of rum,
He put a bullet through his brain.
No one
spoke of him again.

You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
Who
cheer when soldier lads march by,
Sneak home and pray you’ll never know
The hell where youth and laughter go.

She actually only repeated the last verse but I posted the whole thing as I think it's a great poem... Even if we did study it for two months in year eight (Grr).

So we then moved on and I was so tired at the time I'm not even sure where we went to at what times... I know we went to a museum, or two. And some trenches where I bent all my fingers back falling down some ridiculous stairs. Anyway, hours later we got like two and a half hours free time in Eypes, a really nice town. And lucky for us, the fair was in town! So first we got a great deal on a ruck of Belgian chocolate before going on the bumper cars for like two hours. We walked around the shops and bought a few cheap things (I got a notebook that I later left in the hotel, hooray). We then finally got to go to the hotel, a pretty damn nice place too. We got an hour to unwind and unpack, I stayed in a two person room with Andy, a dodgy TV and en suite bathroom.

I changed from my travelling T shirt, jacket and walking boots to a nice black shirt and pants and Converse. We all went down for tea, thin chips and a pretty tasty piece of chicken. We then went out to watch a daily ceremony, the last post. They play a trumpet, lay a wreath and play again. Quite powerful stuff. We then headed back to the hotel to muck about for a few hours.

As I said, I was sharing a room with Andy. Well, I was out and about the corridors so I left him to it, inside the room with the key card. I said I'd ask when I wanted in. Well after two hours of running about laughing, I decided to go back. Knock knock. No answer. we tried this for ages, screaming and kicking at the door before we decided to go around looking for him for half an hour. Got no where. Went to reception and got a spare key card, unlocked the room... Fast asleep on his bed with the TV on. Bah.

The next morning we had a really nice breakfast buffet, I just had lots of bread and I got the last chocolate croissant. Stuff you all! Ahem. after, we headed to the coach and waited before realise George, Ben and Dan were missing. Ten minutes later they show up half dressed and yawning. always a funny sight.

the rest of the day was spent in France looking at a few more sights, quite nice but still tiring. The journey back felt alot shorter too.

And that's about it! Generally, everything was fine... Five people got pulverised for being outside water fighting but apart from that it was all cool. Got my photos developed today and they're good (Zoe's on ten?! How did that happen?), got some nice ones and some silly ones. Caroline will love it next year and I really, really want to go again, mainly because of the amount of time we got to spend with friends. So awesome. It's always nice to be back in England though... When I got in, I had beans on toast, a bath and bed. Hehe.

In reply to comments:

Alfie: I can't find your video.
Kelly: I'll be back soon. IOU 1 huge.
Caro: No I didn't get any belgian rock. Just chocolate.
Zoe: I'm a dope, yes I left my notebook... Oops. but my friend Vicky, from huntingdon is going next week so I'll ask her to get it if she goes to the same place.
Caroline: How does that tune go?

UPDATE: After reading Zoe's blog (no, you can't have the adress) I remembered she LOST MY HAT OVERBOARD. Oh well, it's fine, Cause it's Zoe.
UPDATE 2: Forgot about Sophie and Mark. Well, me and a few people finally realised they are together so me and Jack F decided to do a routine "Love check" Where we'd peek our nosey... Noses over, to see how things were. We got bored when the Uno deck was brought out.

Viva la France! And Belgium of course.

Introductions

So it's half past one in the afternoon, Saturday, March tenth, and I'm bored out of my mind. I'm getting nagged from every direction to set up a Myspace, or Bebo, or some other way of showing off how many friends you have... And I'm thinking, do I really care about having some fancy ass site with an actual friend counter on it? No, not really... But I've always wanted to keep some form of diary, and whenever I started one in real life I got sick of my hand aching from pen writing, some I gave up in, say, mid to late January.

Then the thought struck me like an apple from a tree (Cheers Newton)... blogging. I'd never been a huge fan, always seemed kind of pointless but since I wanted to keep a diary anyway, I thought, hey, I'll give it a shot.

If you're actually reading this then thanks for taking the time... You're either a good friend or someone who likes reading about strangers. Either way, you sound good to me.