Yikes! What a busy week! I'll be glad for the weekend so I can have a rest!
I plan to play the latest Mass Effect 2 DLC this weekend too... I'm so behind with it, bought it weeks ago but Dragon Age II has consumed most of (admittedly not abundant) gaming time. I'm determined to finish it in time for the release of Skyrim... oh and Gears Of War 3... so many great games, just no flipping time! lol
Must admit I'm probably more of an RPG and racing game kind of guy (eek - just realised I have to add F1 2011 to that list!).
Mass Effect 2 is quite possibly my favoruite game of all time - it really was like playing a movie and I absolutely loved every moment of it. The DLC (that I've played) has all been great too! So yeah, drooling at the trailers for Mass Effect 3 and will quite possibly have to take a week off when it's released next year too.
Actually, I may have to for Skyrim in November too. Oblivion was my fave game until Mass Effect 2 came along... it's just so big (the game) and you could pick up just about everything! I never did finish all the quests - I actually started coming up with my own, such as rob every house and sell all the loot, explore just about everywhere I could... for me, it's the nearest I've come to actually finding myself playing something you really could get lost in for hours. It wasn't without it's flaws of course: the repetitive voices for different characters did reduce the illusion of being in another world but still.... great fun and one of the best RPGs I've played. I can't wait to see what they do with Skyrim... loved the trailers for that and really loved the more epic version of the theme!
I really better get on and finish Dragon Age II...!
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
Sunday, 26 June 2011
General Sunday ramblings...
Hmm. Today's F1 GP was a bit flat for me... still, all the other races so far have been pretty good and the Montreal one was one of the best I've ever seen, so I suppose that, although it wasn't boring, it did have a lot ot live up to!
I've been playing with my new toy this weekend... It's a camcorder, before anybody gets any funny ideas! ;-) Anyway, just been trying out zoom, focus, etc. and just recording stuff around the house. I'm thinking of posting some stuff up soon.
I also think the time has come for me to start meeting some new people. I'm sure I'll post about that later on.
Oh - Transformers 3 is out this week. I was going to go to a screening in the middle of the week but think I'll give it a few days. Anyway, anybody that knows me knows that there is no chance of me missing it. I'll probably go and see it in 3D just to see what the whole thing looks like but I must admit I'm not a huge fan of 3D at the moment. I find I always have eyeache for ages afterwards. It's an interesting idea but I think in it's current form its been over-hyped. The ultimate will be a 3D system where it's in the screen and you don't need glasses. Maybe something like the tech used in the 3DS (although reportedly a lot of people turn the 3D setting right down after a while! Hmm!). I'm pretty sure that'll happen. The need for glasses is what is holding this back a bit, for me at least.
If I invite someone round, I don't want to say they can't watch or play something in 3D because I don't have enough expensive 3D glasses. I want something everyone can enjoy. So, nice idea but not good enough to make me hand over my money yet.
It's a nice day outisde - 28 degrees you know! I'm going to go now and sit out in it for a bit! :-)
I've been playing with my new toy this weekend... It's a camcorder, before anybody gets any funny ideas! ;-) Anyway, just been trying out zoom, focus, etc. and just recording stuff around the house. I'm thinking of posting some stuff up soon.
I also think the time has come for me to start meeting some new people. I'm sure I'll post about that later on.
Oh - Transformers 3 is out this week. I was going to go to a screening in the middle of the week but think I'll give it a few days. Anyway, anybody that knows me knows that there is no chance of me missing it. I'll probably go and see it in 3D just to see what the whole thing looks like but I must admit I'm not a huge fan of 3D at the moment. I find I always have eyeache for ages afterwards. It's an interesting idea but I think in it's current form its been over-hyped. The ultimate will be a 3D system where it's in the screen and you don't need glasses. Maybe something like the tech used in the 3DS (although reportedly a lot of people turn the 3D setting right down after a while! Hmm!). I'm pretty sure that'll happen. The need for glasses is what is holding this back a bit, for me at least.
If I invite someone round, I don't want to say they can't watch or play something in 3D because I don't have enough expensive 3D glasses. I want something everyone can enjoy. So, nice idea but not good enough to make me hand over my money yet.
It's a nice day outisde - 28 degrees you know! I'm going to go now and sit out in it for a bit! :-)
Saturday, 25 June 2011
Uploaded my pic
I've uploaded a quick pic of me to my profile - so now you know what I look like (why does that scare me a bit? lol).
I'll probably upload some better ones at some point - this was just a quick snap of myself so that I have something on here.
I sometimes wear glasses too as I'm short-sighted (or near-sighted as they say in the US); however I don't need to wear them all the time. Usually when I need to see a reasonable distance away - i.e. when I'm out so I don't do something stupid like step out in front of a truck or similar.
I guess that's a consequence of a lifetime of reading or staring at screens of one kind or another!
I'll probably upload some better ones at some point - this was just a quick snap of myself so that I have something on here.
I sometimes wear glasses too as I'm short-sighted (or near-sighted as they say in the US); however I don't need to wear them all the time. Usually when I need to see a reasonable distance away - i.e. when I'm out so I don't do something stupid like step out in front of a truck or similar.
I guess that's a consequence of a lifetime of reading or staring at screens of one kind or another!
Friday, 24 June 2011
Back To The 80s - Part 2: Wacaday! Look at everyone at home and say blairrrr!!
Ok, this just suddenly occurred to me. One of the best TV shows ever when I was a kid was Wacaday! I remember getting up early Saturday mornings - I used to get up stinkingly early - about 5am! I must have been insane!! I remember getting up so early that there would be literally nothing on the TV except that scary test card girl with the creepy clown doll.
Anyway, I remember sitting and watching all these odd shows in the mornings - Will Quackquack, Ludwig, Fred Bassett and all sorts of other weird and wonderful crap! But the one I really loved was the Wide Awake Club - shortened to WAC. It used to have Tommy Boyd and some other people on it whose names I can't remember now... although I can still see their faces in my mind's eye. It was cool (except the Mini Pops - why do adults think kids want to watch other kids trying to act cool on TV? I wonder how often those kids got beaten up by their peers?) and it introduced us to the one and only Timmy Mallett! I seem to recall he joined it later on.
Not sure whether I should admit this but Timmy Mallett was my hero when I was a kid! I wanted to be just like him - I remeber once going to a fancy dress party with the glasses, crazy shirt and a big home made mallet to hit people with!
When WAC spawned WAC-A-Day during the school holidays (see, it was on every day - see what they did there?) it became Timmy Mallett's own gig. He hosted sometimes by himself and sometimes with the lovely Michaela Strachan (yep - the one that does all the animal shows now). I used to get up and watch it religiously. I used to feel bad if I overslept and missed it (that happened a few times as I got older).
I used to stick plasters on myself in odd places. I used to do the W wave at the TV. I got a Pinky Punky one Christmas. Then, one day, Timmy Mallet came to my home town for a carnival. I remember my Dad telling me and I had to go! Well, there we were - hundreds of people lined up for the carnival. For some reason some of us were standing in the road when I saw Timmy Mallett apparoaching. I was far too shy to call out to my hero - I was going to be content with just watching from the sidelines. But my Dad had no fear! He called out "Mr. Mallett! Mr. Mallett!" just like Pinky Punky and over comes Timmy Mallett! Well, I'm in a bit of a daze - I wasn't expecting that. For some reason I'm momentarily fascinated with Mr. Mallett's shoes - well, they were quite funky - but I suddnely hear a voice ask "this one?" and the next thing I know he's got his arm around me and my Dad takes quite possibly the best pic an 8 or 9 year old can ever have taken! A quick "thankyou" and he was off on his way! I still remember that moment and I still ahve the pic somewhere too.
You no doubt think I'm very sad but cut me some slack - I was just a kid! I remember it for several reasons. 1. I met my childhood hero and have a momento to prove it. 2. It proved that my Dad was the best father ever - and that he had no problem in being silly to get the attention of his son's hero! 3. It was just a great moment - one of those ones you'll always remember.
Anyway, Wac-A-Day ended when TV-AM lost their franchise to the awful GMTV. Gone was Timmy Mallett with his funky dress sense, crazy sense of humour and just all round sense of fun. What did GMTV replace it with? Simon Parkinson. Making something crap out of cardboard (that's all I can remember). I'm sure Mr. Parkinson is a really nice guy but... come on! He was never going to live up to Lord Timmy of Mallett!
I think they tried some other shows with Timmy Mallett. A show called Utterly Brilliant and some game show thing on The Children's Channel... I also remember he was in a really cool show on CITV that I cannot for the life of me remember the name of. He had to team up with other celebs like Neil Buchanan and some others and get from one place to another, doing challenges along the way. I think they went around in a bus... No idea what it was called but I loved it!
These days I believe Timmy Mallett does a lot of painting - he's a good artist from what I remember (careful now!) and he has his own website with Timmy memorabilia too.
And you know what? I still think he's cool!
I think Pinky Punky and Magic The Cockateil formed their own progressive rock band but it fell apart when Magic's crack habit and wild orgies took their toll. As Timmy used to say, that's a true story as I just made it up myself!
Anyway, I remember sitting and watching all these odd shows in the mornings - Will Quackquack, Ludwig, Fred Bassett and all sorts of other weird and wonderful crap! But the one I really loved was the Wide Awake Club - shortened to WAC. It used to have Tommy Boyd and some other people on it whose names I can't remember now... although I can still see their faces in my mind's eye. It was cool (except the Mini Pops - why do adults think kids want to watch other kids trying to act cool on TV? I wonder how often those kids got beaten up by their peers?) and it introduced us to the one and only Timmy Mallett! I seem to recall he joined it later on.
Not sure whether I should admit this but Timmy Mallett was my hero when I was a kid! I wanted to be just like him - I remeber once going to a fancy dress party with the glasses, crazy shirt and a big home made mallet to hit people with!
When WAC spawned WAC-A-Day during the school holidays (see, it was on every day - see what they did there?) it became Timmy Mallett's own gig. He hosted sometimes by himself and sometimes with the lovely Michaela Strachan (yep - the one that does all the animal shows now). I used to get up and watch it religiously. I used to feel bad if I overslept and missed it (that happened a few times as I got older).
I used to stick plasters on myself in odd places. I used to do the W wave at the TV. I got a Pinky Punky one Christmas. Then, one day, Timmy Mallet came to my home town for a carnival. I remember my Dad telling me and I had to go! Well, there we were - hundreds of people lined up for the carnival. For some reason some of us were standing in the road when I saw Timmy Mallett apparoaching. I was far too shy to call out to my hero - I was going to be content with just watching from the sidelines. But my Dad had no fear! He called out "Mr. Mallett! Mr. Mallett!" just like Pinky Punky and over comes Timmy Mallett! Well, I'm in a bit of a daze - I wasn't expecting that. For some reason I'm momentarily fascinated with Mr. Mallett's shoes - well, they were quite funky - but I suddnely hear a voice ask "this one?" and the next thing I know he's got his arm around me and my Dad takes quite possibly the best pic an 8 or 9 year old can ever have taken! A quick "thankyou" and he was off on his way! I still remember that moment and I still ahve the pic somewhere too.
You no doubt think I'm very sad but cut me some slack - I was just a kid! I remember it for several reasons. 1. I met my childhood hero and have a momento to prove it. 2. It proved that my Dad was the best father ever - and that he had no problem in being silly to get the attention of his son's hero! 3. It was just a great moment - one of those ones you'll always remember.
Anyway, Wac-A-Day ended when TV-AM lost their franchise to the awful GMTV. Gone was Timmy Mallett with his funky dress sense, crazy sense of humour and just all round sense of fun. What did GMTV replace it with? Simon Parkinson. Making something crap out of cardboard (that's all I can remember). I'm sure Mr. Parkinson is a really nice guy but... come on! He was never going to live up to Lord Timmy of Mallett!
I think they tried some other shows with Timmy Mallett. A show called Utterly Brilliant and some game show thing on The Children's Channel... I also remember he was in a really cool show on CITV that I cannot for the life of me remember the name of. He had to team up with other celebs like Neil Buchanan and some others and get from one place to another, doing challenges along the way. I think they went around in a bus... No idea what it was called but I loved it!
These days I believe Timmy Mallett does a lot of painting - he's a good artist from what I remember (careful now!) and he has his own website with Timmy memorabilia too.
And you know what? I still think he's cool!
I think Pinky Punky and Magic The Cockateil formed their own progressive rock band but it fell apart when Magic's crack habit and wild orgies took their toll. As Timmy used to say, that's a true story as I just made it up myself!
F***ing tennis!
Wow! Was it really Monday the last time I posted? That week went fast! I've managed to get a lot done at work this week. If you recall an earlier post (well, that's assuming you're reading all my ramblings! lol) I was having trouble fixing a particular problem at work and I only managed a partial fix... well, earlier this week I fixed that problem 100%. Then I fixed another big problem... I've fixed loads of things this week!
TV here in the UK is currently being hammered with Wimbledon stuff. I don't mind a bit of it but it's getting stupid now. Not only is BBC1 and 2 pretty much The Wimbledon Channel, they've also out it on every screen on the Sports red button service and flooded iPlayer with it too. Talk about overkill! They're not showing any of the F1 practice sessions or the favourite races picked by the drivers today... well, they apparently 'found' a slot of a couple of hours earlier while most people were at work. And that's your lot. Epic fail BBC!
I'm sure some people are enjoyign it... but is it really necessary to flood absolutely everything with it and cancel stuff to fit it in? Maybe it's time for a BBC Sports channel and all that stuff can be shoved onto that!
Anyway, rant over! ;-) lol
I'm looking forward to the weekend!
TV here in the UK is currently being hammered with Wimbledon stuff. I don't mind a bit of it but it's getting stupid now. Not only is BBC1 and 2 pretty much The Wimbledon Channel, they've also out it on every screen on the Sports red button service and flooded iPlayer with it too. Talk about overkill! They're not showing any of the F1 practice sessions or the favourite races picked by the drivers today... well, they apparently 'found' a slot of a couple of hours earlier while most people were at work. And that's your lot. Epic fail BBC!
I'm sure some people are enjoyign it... but is it really necessary to flood absolutely everything with it and cancel stuff to fit it in? Maybe it's time for a BBC Sports channel and all that stuff can be shoved onto that!
Anyway, rant over! ;-) lol
I'm looking forward to the weekend!
Monday, 20 June 2011
Geeky post!!
Well, I was back at work today. It wasn't too bad - things weren't too busy but, as usual, just about everything had been left for me to do so failed backups and other fun things were waiting for me to sort out.
Well, being the complete geek that I am - I will be at this year's Auto Assembly (just as I was last year and a few times before that too). If you don't know what that is - well, it's a Transformers convention.
Yep - I love giant robots and I suspect Transformers are in some way responsible for that (actually I know they are). Plus they remind me of my childhood. I'm sure I'll make a Back To The 80s post on them at some point.
Anyway, they've got some pretty cool guests lined up including David Kaye (the voice of Beast Wars Megatron and TF Animated Prime), Greg Berger (G1 Grimlock!) and David Wise (writer of a number of G1 episodes).
Last year's AA was excellent - unfortunately I had to leave early on Sunday but, to quote Shockwave (hey - it's a Transformers post so why not?): this time we shall be ready! In other words, this time I'm spending the whole damn weekend there! By the way, bonus points if you know what episode that quote came from!
Yep - I shall be geeking out completely, I already have two Transformers t-thirts I've bought especially for wearing there (and plan to get a third soon). Plus I've ordered myself a lovely HD camcorder to video what goes on there!
Last year was great - Garry Chalk and Scott McNeil were the main guests and they were great. Mr. Chalk performed a concert on Saturday night and he was very good! So much so that I plan to get a CD of his music, should one ever appear (I'm not the only one to be asking about this, btw). He is one of my favourite voice artists, by the way, and he's also appeared in a lot of movies and TV shows. He was that Russian General that popped up a few times in Stargate SG-1, for example. Yep - very cool!
If you haven't already guessed, I'm a big fan of anime, sci-fi and fantasy in general. If you hadn't already guessed that - do pay attention 007! ;-)
Earlier this year I got all the original series episodes of Star Trek on Blu Ray. Very cool and I've been watching those on and off for a while (I'm several episodes into season 2 now). It got me thinking about Star Trek conventions. The last one of those I went to was way back in 1994/5 for the Generations con at the Royal Albert Hall. I was still at school then and my mum and dad came along... I think they got a bit bored! lol
One time, I seem to remember, there were loads of these things but these days there doesn't seem to be that many, at least not here in the UK. I'm guessing it's because there's no new TV shows or anything. Pity though as I think a Trek con would be a lot of fun!
Anyway, that's today's geeky post. I'm sure there'll be many more to come!
Well, being the complete geek that I am - I will be at this year's Auto Assembly (just as I was last year and a few times before that too). If you don't know what that is - well, it's a Transformers convention.
Yep - I love giant robots and I suspect Transformers are in some way responsible for that (actually I know they are). Plus they remind me of my childhood. I'm sure I'll make a Back To The 80s post on them at some point.
Anyway, they've got some pretty cool guests lined up including David Kaye (the voice of Beast Wars Megatron and TF Animated Prime), Greg Berger (G1 Grimlock!) and David Wise (writer of a number of G1 episodes).
Last year's AA was excellent - unfortunately I had to leave early on Sunday but, to quote Shockwave (hey - it's a Transformers post so why not?): this time we shall be ready! In other words, this time I'm spending the whole damn weekend there! By the way, bonus points if you know what episode that quote came from!
Yep - I shall be geeking out completely, I already have two Transformers t-thirts I've bought especially for wearing there (and plan to get a third soon). Plus I've ordered myself a lovely HD camcorder to video what goes on there!
Last year was great - Garry Chalk and Scott McNeil were the main guests and they were great. Mr. Chalk performed a concert on Saturday night and he was very good! So much so that I plan to get a CD of his music, should one ever appear (I'm not the only one to be asking about this, btw). He is one of my favourite voice artists, by the way, and he's also appeared in a lot of movies and TV shows. He was that Russian General that popped up a few times in Stargate SG-1, for example. Yep - very cool!
If you haven't already guessed, I'm a big fan of anime, sci-fi and fantasy in general. If you hadn't already guessed that - do pay attention 007! ;-)
Earlier this year I got all the original series episodes of Star Trek on Blu Ray. Very cool and I've been watching those on and off for a while (I'm several episodes into season 2 now). It got me thinking about Star Trek conventions. The last one of those I went to was way back in 1994/5 for the Generations con at the Royal Albert Hall. I was still at school then and my mum and dad came along... I think they got a bit bored! lol
One time, I seem to remember, there were loads of these things but these days there doesn't seem to be that many, at least not here in the UK. I'm guessing it's because there's no new TV shows or anything. Pity though as I think a Trek con would be a lot of fun!
Anyway, that's today's geeky post. I'm sure there'll be many more to come!
Sunday, 19 June 2011
Back to the 80s - Part 1: Dragonslayer
Well, if you're a child of the 80s like me, then chances are that occasionally you get nostlagic for that time when you were growing up and you like to listen to 80s music, or maybe watch 80s TV shows or movies.
Seeing as I seem to get like that more often these days - I've decided to post up whenever I take a trip back in time to then!
Yesterday, I watched my DVD of Dragonslayer. If you don't know, Dragonslayer is a fantasy movie made in 1981. The title pretty much sums up what the movie is all about - with a young wizard's apprentice having to slay a dragon that has been terrorising a village.
The movie flopped upon it's release - it cost $18 million to make but failed to make that back in box office. This, unfortunately, was the fate of many fantasy movies in the 80s. Star Wars had been such a massive hit that studios were willing to take a gamble on these things and most of them just didn't perform.
It's on VHS, laserdisc, DVD, etc. that a lot of these movies have gained cult followings and it has been realised that actually they were pretty good (or at the very least entertaining!). Dragonslayer is one such movie.
I first saw it on TV when I was a kid and I remember particulalry enjoying the scenes with the dragon (Vermithrax) in it. I then bought it on DVD a few years ago and remembered enjoyign it then. So I came to watch it again last night - having forgotten most of the story.
It certainly has an 80s fantasy movie feel to it (hard to explain but you'll probably know what I mean if you've seen a few of these things) and it tries to shun a lot of the cliches - there's no knights trying to slay the dragon or rescue the maiden, etc. in fact, when the hero tries to rescue the princess (who isn;t the romantic interest, by the way) she ends up dead. D'oh!
This doesn't mean that the movie isn't cliched in other ways though. The hero ends up with a special weapon that can slay the dragon (and a fire-proof shield) and the wizard played by Ralph Richardson deliberately allows himself to killed, only to return towards the end of the movie... so the Star Wars influence isn't exactly hidden.
Another criticism is things that simply aren't explained. Why does the blacksmith have a lance stashed in a waterfall, for example? There are a few moments like this which make me wonder if scenes were cut from the movie. Whilst I can't really find any info on this, a quick read of the Wikipedia entry for the movie reveals that the novelisation of the movie does try and explain a few points not really covered in the movie. Whether this was the author taking it upon theirself to try and plug the holes or if it was in the original script and then removed for some reason, isn't explained.
That aside, the movie is quite fun and there are some nice touches - the politics played by the King and his servants is a nice touch - particularly at the end of the movie. Of course, the real star of the movie is the dragon. Aside from the inevitable matte lines in places, the dragon looks great. The scenes in the dragon's lair when the dragon chases the hero look particularly good and the Go-Motion technique used for animating it certainly works very well indeed, giving the dragon a very smooth and realistic movement.
If you're looking for something with a deep and meaningful plot then this is not the movie for you but this is an entertaining movie and worth looking at if you've enjoyed other 80s fantasy stuff like Dark Crystal, etc.
There's no danger of it being my favourite movie but I enjoyed it nevertheless! :-)
Seeing as I seem to get like that more often these days - I've decided to post up whenever I take a trip back in time to then!
Yesterday, I watched my DVD of Dragonslayer. If you don't know, Dragonslayer is a fantasy movie made in 1981. The title pretty much sums up what the movie is all about - with a young wizard's apprentice having to slay a dragon that has been terrorising a village.
The movie flopped upon it's release - it cost $18 million to make but failed to make that back in box office. This, unfortunately, was the fate of many fantasy movies in the 80s. Star Wars had been such a massive hit that studios were willing to take a gamble on these things and most of them just didn't perform.
It's on VHS, laserdisc, DVD, etc. that a lot of these movies have gained cult followings and it has been realised that actually they were pretty good (or at the very least entertaining!). Dragonslayer is one such movie.
I first saw it on TV when I was a kid and I remember particulalry enjoying the scenes with the dragon (Vermithrax) in it. I then bought it on DVD a few years ago and remembered enjoyign it then. So I came to watch it again last night - having forgotten most of the story.
It certainly has an 80s fantasy movie feel to it (hard to explain but you'll probably know what I mean if you've seen a few of these things) and it tries to shun a lot of the cliches - there's no knights trying to slay the dragon or rescue the maiden, etc. in fact, when the hero tries to rescue the princess (who isn;t the romantic interest, by the way) she ends up dead. D'oh!
This doesn't mean that the movie isn't cliched in other ways though. The hero ends up with a special weapon that can slay the dragon (and a fire-proof shield) and the wizard played by Ralph Richardson deliberately allows himself to killed, only to return towards the end of the movie... so the Star Wars influence isn't exactly hidden.
Another criticism is things that simply aren't explained. Why does the blacksmith have a lance stashed in a waterfall, for example? There are a few moments like this which make me wonder if scenes were cut from the movie. Whilst I can't really find any info on this, a quick read of the Wikipedia entry for the movie reveals that the novelisation of the movie does try and explain a few points not really covered in the movie. Whether this was the author taking it upon theirself to try and plug the holes or if it was in the original script and then removed for some reason, isn't explained.
That aside, the movie is quite fun and there are some nice touches - the politics played by the King and his servants is a nice touch - particularly at the end of the movie. Of course, the real star of the movie is the dragon. Aside from the inevitable matte lines in places, the dragon looks great. The scenes in the dragon's lair when the dragon chases the hero look particularly good and the Go-Motion technique used for animating it certainly works very well indeed, giving the dragon a very smooth and realistic movement.
If you're looking for something with a deep and meaningful plot then this is not the movie for you but this is an entertaining movie and worth looking at if you've enjoyed other 80s fantasy stuff like Dark Crystal, etc.
There's no danger of it being my favourite movie but I enjoyed it nevertheless! :-)
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