Random Playlist #1Women Who Love Men Who Love Oceansize

This is the first of music-themed posts, adding to the family of other themed posts I have thrown out there. Now, originally the first Random Playlist was going to be a very, very overdue review-of-sorts of Coheed and Cambria's last offering, but that has undergone quite a few restarts, that it is still in the pipeline. Instead, let's replace that with something a little more recent. Last Thursday I had the pleasure of seeing Oceansize live @ the Casbah (formerly the "Colly") in Coventry.

I'll be clear when I say that I am a big fan of Oceansize. They could easily be labeled as a progressive outfit, but where they excel over other progressive bands I've listened to is that they really keep the focus. Often it seems the trademark of a progressive band is to throw in extended interludes and include solos like their arms are going to fall off and they may never get another chance. This does produce many a quality song - technical expertise of an instrument is something to be marveled at and something I hold in high regard. Oceansize take a different path, and produce, in my opinion, a much more cohesive sound. There is a clear and more obvious vision in their songwriting. They set themselves a simple target for each song, whether that is a 4 minute heavy, riff-laden rollercoaster, or a softer melodic affair, and they simply nail it. There's very few Oceansize songs I am not a fan of, and that's down to all the time, effort and care put it to producing each sone.

Looking back on the gig itself, and overall I was very impressed on the night. They did play quite a few off their most recent album, Frames, but I guess that is to be expected. That's also not a bad thing when I am indeed a huge fan of their latest, although my all-time fave album is "Everyone Into Position". Along with their recent songs, they ticked off the list some of the standout tracks from their earlier work. There was a slight problem with the second mic, the sound guy obviously felt the need to drop the levels to avoid feedback off the primary mic, but he was often slow to invert the levels which did spoil the experience a little. Especially when lead man Mike is screaming his heart out.

I went to the gig with Wilson and some other Warwick people and we were chatting about the band in the taxi home. I made the claim that Oceansize will forever be a small-time band and that unfortunately will never change, which is a crying shame considering their superb songcraft, which is not a crucial factor in a band's success. Everyone else argued that I was mistaken and that they have supported many very large bands, Smashing Pumpkins being one example. The problem comes about when they are the headliners themselves, where they are the main reason why people buy the ticket, and it's was saddening to see that the side room (not even the main room ><) was only half full. So depressing that Mike felt the need to comment (paraphrased):

"We played here 5 years ago and it was shit, maybe in 5 years time we'll be able to fill this room."

Other than that depressing outburst, I was very impressed with their performance. It reminded me how long it has been since I last saw a live band, and how great the experience can be.
One thing I ask for those who've not heard Oceansize, I feel it's my duty to spread the word, they are a great British band, go check them out. I can't say that they are for everyone, but if you're looking for something outside of the norm and/or are open to new music, then give them a listen, that would be rather cool.

Read full post >>

Insert Coin #5Clearing the Road..

Unless you've been living under a rock, you are bound to know that Grand Theft Auto 4 is coming out this Tuesday - a title of which I am very much looking forward to. Now, I know that my gaming time will be consumed with it, a lot of my recent diggs have been little tidbits of information concerning aspects of the game. A full review by IGN that I recently read (and dugg) said that the main story will come in about 25-45 hours, dependent on player skill so there's clearly a lot of content to get through. Post Tuesday I therefore know that the only game I will be playing will be GTA4 so I thought I'd have a revisit of some of my unfinished games - give them half a chance before they get blown away by the new kid on the block.

Jumping back on to COD4 inspired Insert Coin #4 but the majority of my 360 time has been consumed with completing the story of Mass Effect.
Now Mass Effect is a huge Sci-Fi RPG made by Bioware - the same people responsible for the Knights of the Old Republic games and are considered the best western RPG makers out there. Now I don't want to turn this into a Mass Effect review, but as an overview statement, I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed the story - it is the old classic, machines rising up and rebelling against their masters but despite that it was incredibly well told and did I mention I enjoyed it?

Some people are criticised the game in that it is nothing more than an interactive movie. Some would consider that a great compliment, and to be honest it is an RPG, so other criticisms that the combat isn't up to scratch are a little unjustified. It is very smart that I can take my character (Jimiminar Shepard of course) with all his experience and skills and start the campaign all over again - particularly useful for going for the achivements which demand several complete playthroughs.
So I went through the first time, aiming to be a paragon player as opposed to renegade - although the rather cool thing of the game is that it's not so much good vs evil, whatever happens you have to save the galaxy, it's more about the choices you can make in order to achieve that goal. Anyways, I will go through it a second time eventually with a renegade character, I've already punched out a elderly scientist with a screw loose, so should be fun.
My first playthrough was clocked at about 35 hours if the saves are anything to go by, and I didn't do much of the optional side missions, so it is a huge game. And that brings me smoothly onto some minor criticisms I have after playing through. The auto-save feature is effectively non-existent, so reminding myself to save after every enemy encounter is important but I have often forgot and become incredibly frustrated having to repeat half an hour's worth of progress.
I also cannot stand the "driving" sections to the game. The Mako I read in reviews was very easy to control, but I must have had the controller upside down, as I could not manipulate it as I desired - my progress was merely a product of luck and perseverence. It's true you cannot flip it, although I crucuially almost did when I was against the clock, I can't be any more specific without giving spoilers.

Anyways, so that's Mass Effect, a few problems which have been well documented upon the game's release and some of my personal thoughts, but overall a very good game, recommended to anyone that likes their sci-fi and/or RPGs. Another game I've been trying out before the GTA4's arrival is Dead Rising. I believe it was actually a release title, now 2 years old, and well it's graphically not as impressive as games coming out now, but it is effectively a zombie-infested playground where an incredible amount of items can be used as a weapon. Again very cool, but again a frustration thanks to the saving your game progress. Capcom have made it their staple to have save locations, and I always end up dying literally at the furthest point away from one. Also as much as hitting zombies with benches or knocking them down with shopping trolleys, the combat can be clunky at times, a lag is apparent after swinging a bin where you are vulnerable, especially in amongst a crowd of zombies.

I am currently renting Dead Rising thanks to using LoveFilm. The main reason is to check out some films, so any recommendations are greatly appreciated. They also have games to rent, so my thinking is to have a game for about a week at a time, and swap films like every three days or something, I dunno I'm just trying out the service atm, but if I can get that going, then that would be very smart.

Here's looking forward to Tuesday, where once that GTA4 disc goes, I think it's gonna be a long time before it comes out.

Read full post >>

Insert Coin #4The big fight! Halo 3 vs COD4

The other day I decided to jump back on to Call of Duty 4 after a fairly lengthy absence - I'm afraid a lot of my gaming time has been consumed with WoW. Anyways, I could go on about how my progress in WoW is coming along, so yeah I fired up COD4 and obviously went straight to the multiplayer. Both COD4 and Halo 3 came out at about the same time. Both games utilise the matchmaking system for their multiplayer, and it's their respective multiplayers which have made the games so popular, but which multiplayer is the best?

Now this may prove to be unfair, I am basing this on my time with COD4 recently and comparing that to what the Halo 3 multiplayer was like when I played it last, i.e. a few months back. Now both games have different style of multiplayer - Halo 3 is much pacier and it's not unnatural to jump about all the place like a loon. COD4 on the other hand is much slower and if someone sneaks up on you, you're practically boned. In that respect, COD4 is terribly unbalanced compared to Halo 3. At least with Halo 3 if someone starts shooting you, it's actually possible to turn around and kill them first if you are truly the better player. In COD4 you are rewarded for patience, maybe times I've seen on the KillCam my killer has set up shop round a corner and has simply been waiting for me to emerge and then sprays me with bullets = me dead, and not happy.

Both of them use the matchmaking system as I mentioned previously, but it seems a little redundant in COD4, I am quite a low rank as I haven't played much but it's pretty standard to playing in the same games with some very highly ranked players, often 30+ levels higher. Also when it comes to sorting the teams, they're not usually that balanced in my experience. Halo 3 multiplayer, on the other hand, if you jump into a ranked game at a certain level, then you will almost certainly play others at your own level, maybe some higher, some lower, but there's usually only a few levels in it. That way seems the best way to get better. That way you're playing people at your current level, and you can learn and improve, and then face the next level of players.
In COD4 leveling is performed by gaining experience as opposed to wins, or finishing in the top 3 as in Halo 3. That's a little flawed as given enough time I will be able to max out my level on COD4, it becomes a war of attrition, and not one of improving skill. I'm also not a fan of having to unlock game modes in the multiplayer. The idea of upgrades to your weapons and the global challenges that will earn you bonuses are rather cool goals to aim for.

Overall I think the kicker is the unbalanced matchmaking that ruins the COD4 multiplayer experience, and therefore I prefer the Halo 3 multiplayer. The Legendary map pack was released a short while ago, I won't be paying for it, I'll wait until it's made freely available, but to reinforce my argument, I'll obviously have to jump on Halo 3 and touch base with a game that received a lot of criticism, but I actually think it's an awesome and very solid game, the amount of achievements I have gained for Halo 3 probably proves how much I've played it.

Read full post >>

Podcast Review #1Diggnation

I've mentioned several times in the past that I've quite recently got into podcasts in a big way. Now podcasts come in two forms, audio only and video podcasts. Audio podcasts have been a great help on my lengthy commute to and from work, and the video podcasts offer an alternative to TV, and some (not all, unfortunately) are often just as, if not more entertaining than their counterpart shows. The real beauty with podcasts is that it's all free content! If you were sitting on the fence on whether to try these out then that should really sell it to you. I should be more vocal to appreciate the time and effort that goes into producing them.
An obvious place to start would be with the first few podcasts, the ones that got me hooked and enticed me to check out others. Looking back I'm tempted to say the first one would be Extra Life Radio, thanks to being a fan of Scott Johnson's comics and curiosity making me check the other stuff he's produced. I'll review that one later, but the first video podcast was of course Diggnation.

Again, it seems while visiting a site, curiosity tempted me to check out what else is going on around the site, so the question(s) should be: What is the Diggnation podcast all about?


It's probably best to start with a quick mention of Digg.com. For those not in the know, it's a site comprised of user-submitted stories where members will "digg" a story to increase it's value or rank (whichever makes more sense to you) and the highly valued stories make the frontpage. It's beginnings were based mainly with tech stories, but now pretty much anything will appear on the site. I have a Digg widget as part of the blog and I can be found on Digg at digg.com/users/Jimiminar. Anyways, it's a cool site and checking out the Podcast category of the site for highly rated podcasts and Diggnation pretty much tops the list. Now, Diggnation is a look at some of the week's highly rated user-submitted stories on the site Digg.com (that's D, i, double g, dot com). Now that's either an exact quote of the introduction at the top of every show or a very close para phrasal (is that a word?). It shows how much of the show I've watched.

Yeah, so what the show ultimately boils down to a video podcast of Kevin Rose (co-founder of Digg) and Alex Albrecht (Dude! What a legend) sitting on a couch with their laptops, having a chat over some stories they've picked from the last week, while usually having a beer or three. While that doesn't sound like much on the surface it just works in my opinion. At first, it's quite cool checking out what are predominantly tech and/or offbeat news, the banter the Alex and Kevin have are almost always funny and entertaining. What's even better is when they go off-topic and we get an insight into their lives, chatting about girls, online products/services or cool places to live/visit/go eat in the San Francisco area.

Now, I'm probably not doing the show justice but it's something I thoroughly enjoy and like all revision3 shows it is available in HD. The show clocks in at approximately an hour, so it's pretty cool to stick it on when I get back in from work. The duo go through a handful of stories, usually in the order of 5 or 6, and wrap up the show with a couple of emails. They usually feature one picture email (i.e. an email with a picture attached). Now the requirement to have the picture featured on the show is to either be a hot/cute laydee or be wearing a Diggnation tee (which I still need to sort out), or for the ultimate picture be a hot laydee wearing a Diggnation tee woah!

To sum up, Diggnation is a video podcast (available in HD) with an obvious tech/geek leaning. Now, the quality of the shows is pretty much dependent on the stories which are selected, so some shows can be better than others, but a high quality is maintained. I think the show hinges on the hosts as it is basically two guys sitting on a couch for an hour. Thankfully both Kevin and Alex are genuinely funny and entertaining, which ensures the show is the success it is. It's become as popular as it has for those very reasons. It's quite difficult to convince someone to go watch something and really enjoy it. I've given a gist of what the podcast is all about, although seeing is really believing and if the above sounds interesting, then check it out.

Read full post >>

Jimiminar takes to the airwaves!

It's no secret that I've quickly developed a love for podcasts - who ever knew there would be such (mostly) great content out there, and free too. So much so, that for pretty much everything out there, if you like something so much, then it is a natural step to want to emulate that. I have been giving some serious thought to maybe knocking together my own podcast, and the reality of this could be closer than you think.
I have looked into what it takes to actually produce a podcast, and all that is required at it's core is a microphone and a means of recording it. I also checked out methods to host the podcast themselves, and there are free services for low requirements - i.e producing a small(ish) podcast on a weekly, or fortnightly basis.

Now, I am planning to post about some of the cool (and not so cool) podcasts I have discovered on my travels over the Internet and the iTunes store (lol), and one thing that does hold true is that 2 is the magic number. That is, podcasts work (in my opinion) the best where there are two hosts. With just one host, it does seem to much of a monologue - with two hosts banter and the back and forth can be had. It also means that that the other host can pick up the slack, as with the desire to keep speaking throughout. With three hosts, it generally degrades into chaos - everyone talking over each other; only with great discipline can order be achieved.

I'm pretty sure I mentioned a while back, that I would happily entertain the idea of putting together a podcast if a co-host could be found. Now, fast-forward to last weekend, and in the attendance of my good buddy Wilson, we checked out an archive recording of Wilson's Corner - a show we put on the student radio station, RaW. During that session, I showed Wilson some of the video podcasts and coupled with the infliction of nostalgia, the idea of resurrecting Wilson's Corner was quickly suggested.
Now it would be pretty pr0 to do that, I definitely had a lot of fun putting on Wilson's Corner, particularly the pre-show meetings we had, which were let's face it, an excuse to grab some ales. Whilst it would be a good thing to start up again, I do have my concerns on the form the rebirth could take. Looking back on Wilson's Corner, something that was kinda clear back then, but painfully obvious listening to it today was how disjointed the show was. There was no real cohesion, Wilson and myself coming at the show from two completely different angles. Never was that anymore obvious than the music which populated the show; and how often we argued for our own songs to receive the airplay.

Yeah, so a new show would be pretty cool, but we will have to decide what to base it on. It makes sense to have the banter on things which interest us, which for myself would probably turn into a bit of geek show, much like the podcasts Extralife Radio and The Totally Rad Show. Now I can't Wilson wanting to indulge in that, his thoughts on watching the live Amsterdam episode of Diggnation (with more mainstream and accessable stories it has to be said) being:

"Well it's geeky, but there were some laugh-out-loud moments..."

If the podcast show does get it off the ground, ideally I would probably knock up a solo show of my own, so I can get my geek on. That show would be more of an audioblog as such, rather than a podcast. I keep going on how I should be more of a proactive blogger, so jumping on the mic would be so much easier to keep the blog uptodate.

To go on a slight tangent, WoW introduced voice chat natively into the game as of patch 2.3 and that got me thinking it was time to buy a headset. Especially if I want hit my aim of being part of an active raiding guild, they usually have a ventrillo server set up. So getting a headset could have double the usage. One as used in WoW, and the other to produce podcasts with.
I plan a two-pronged attack with the personal podcast as well. Not only would it keep the blog uptodate, but it could help boost the confidence. I always "enjoy" leaving answerphone messages and literally talking into a mic would be an extension of that. I can imagine that I would probably be "erring" and "umming" a lot at first, but eventually it would probably get smoother. Also, the production would hopefully increase as I get more familiar with producing podcasts and have a go at editing and all that fun. As Randy Deluxe of The Instance Podcast fame says: Once you're able to talk comfortably with four listeners, it's the same with more and more listeners, to paraphrase.

It looks like the purchase of a headset will have to wait till after next payday, but it's definitely sooething I want to try so watch out.

Read full post >>

Time to tighten my belt...

No, this is not a topical rant brought on by the credit crunch, and/or my failed efforts to produce a proper budget, but rather more of a literal statement concerning my jeans etc. Yes, I mentioned a fair way back (about January) that I signed up for the local gym, and whilst I haven't managed to go as often as I would like, my efforts have gradually taken their toll (in a good way) on my body. I've been caught out without belt twice now, the most recent being today when I was carting my prescription home - it effectively doubled my trip, having to stop to pull up my jeans to stop them falling down altogether in public, oh dear how embarrassing that would be.


It first became apparent when I went home for Easter, and whilst round Eric and Karlie's, I spotted the scales and decided to check my weight. Now, I had weighed myself on the first time I went to the gym, and upon weighing myself at Easter, I had come down from 12 and 1/2 stone to around 11 and 3/4 stone. I was pretty chuffed at that. To add to the ego boost was my good buddy Carl's comments on how slimmer I was now looking. It's rather cool, and as it has been such a gradual thing it's been much less obvious for myself. It's quite terrible looking back at some older photos and see how how much fatter I was in the face especially. I think around about the time of my graduation I probably hit my peak weight, captured forever in my graduation snaps. And to make matters worse, my Nan insisted that I take one of graduation photos with me to hang up in my place here. First off, the photos were for my family not for myself, you have to be very vain to have pictures of yourself hanging up in your own home. Second, as I just said, I was quite a lot fatter in the face, so it's not fun to be reminded of that. And the bonus third reason being, that I generally don't photograph well (must be the subject matter /emo) - the photographer wasn't happy until I showed some teeth whilst smiling, although he never said as much, so I actually look a little uncomfortable having to hold a smile for so long.

"Smile! Come on, really smile!"
(under my breath) I am smiling you jackass.
[inadvertedly shows teeth] "There you go!"

Anyways, I'm going all OT. Yeah, so personally I've noticed it on the ol' face, mainly the cheeks and the chin, a lot more defined than they used to be. I've also noticed it in some of the clothes I wear. Some of my older shirts I have a 17" collar, but that is a lot looser now, the recent shirts I've bought now have 16.5" collar, and I could easily now take 16" collar to be honest. Also, how cool do black shirts look? Hell yeah. It's also noticeable in the belt I wear to work. A few months back I asked to get some new holes pierced into it, as the tightest hole was still quite loose. Now, those two holes are getting a bit loose now hehe.

Getting back to the gym and the other week I got back in from work, changed into my gym clothes as is my habit, this time putting on my Oakley shorts which I clearly had not worn for some time. Fast forward to myself on the treadmill and I'm noticing them starting to fall, oh dear I thought. Had to bring the jog to a close to avoid making an ass of myself, literally.


So overall, I very pleased with my progress, it's been quite gradual but consistent so I'm really starting to reap the rewards. As it was pointed out to myself quite some time ago. It's always better to be fit and healthy, you don't get sick as often, the long climb up the stairs is nowhere near as taxing, and clothes fit better - all this combines to an improved self esteem. I'm not quite sure I'm a completely changed person, but I'm getting there and I really do feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Read full post >>

Insert Coin #3The (format) war is over...

Catching up with some posts I started a while back but have yet to finish, welcome to Insert Coin #3, not ultimately about games this time but as you may have guessed a winner to the format war was announced a few weeks back. That is of course the war between the two rival formats HD-DVD and Blu-ray who were duking it out to become the new Hidef optical medium. Sony are the creators of Blu-ray and have been pushing their format with the inclusion of a drive in the PS3, and of their Vaio laptops too. Toshiba sat in the other corner with the HD-DVD format. Now I can't be bothered to go into the specific pros and cons of each format here, but will say that technically blu-ray is the "better" format in terms of storage capacity. This has reminded many of the VHS/Betamax war many years ago, personally I was too young to remember this but VHS won outright as it was the cheaper to produce despite Betamax providing the better quality. In this format war, the "better" format won, although it is widely believed that Sony bought out many of the HD-DVD supporters.

This feature is supposed to be about gaming, so what does all this have to do with anything? Well I've been interested in the outcome of this war and like a lot of people am surprised that it ended as quickly as it has. Now, myself being an owner of an HD TV, I would like to test it's capabilities. Whilst the standard def signal looks ok, it's still quite obvious that that signal suffers because it is on a higher resolution TV. Now that blu-ray is the winner, I find myself thinking, hey it would be cool to have in my possession a blu-ray player. That being said, the cheapest blu-ray player out there is, OMG the Playstation 3. I never gave any serious thought to buying a PS3, the price point being far too high and the lack of quality titles available for the console - or at least titles which I could not already get for the 360. But now, there are some quality games on the horizon, Metal Gear Solid and Gran Turismo 5 are two upcoming titles I am very interested in.

As I said I would like to see blu-ray now I have the HD TV goodness, and being a fan of a fair few revision3 shows, all of which (that I've tried at least) are made available in HD format. That is good in that, I am experiencing some non-game HD content, also Netflix are a regular sponsor of the shows, and blu-ray rental is incredibly tempting. Netflix is of course US only, but there are easily enough UK alternatives out there. Online DVD (+game) rental is the way to go it seems so tempted to sort that out and then switch over to Blu-ray when I finally sort out a PS3. It is probably not much of a coincidence that following the announcement that the format war is over, there must have been a noticeable spike in their sales. Now recently with the help of my good buddy Wilson, I've been looking into getting a new pone contract with the promise of a PS3 as a free gift. The catch is that you obviously have to go for one of the higher rate contracts, they seem to start at ~£35 and you are tied into a 18 month contract. Crunching the numbers and that works out as ~£17 to cover the PS3, and the rest being the cost of the actual contract. Now I'm getting very off topic here but my mobile phone usage is pretty low in the whole scheme of things so it doesn't seem that worthwhile for myself, although it is very tempting to spread the costs and get a PS3 now. Thinking about it, I do feel a little guilty spending all the money for what is effectively going to be primarily a Blu-ray player. There are more crucial purchases that I should be considering first plus GTA4 comes out in a couple of weeks, I've pre-ordered a 360 copy (obviously), so maybe when I start to get bored with that (lol?), I'll properly reconsider the PS3 again, although like the iPod Classic, it's pretty much a definite purchase, it's more of a case of when rather than should I.

This has been a little off-topic but it needed to be posted sooner rather than later, as the more I put it off, the less relevant it gets (especially if by the time I actually posted, I was an owner of a PS3, that's not the case here). I wanna post an Insert Coin about WoW (sorry), and after seeing Kidderminster Harriers play the other day, I have a strong urge to actually play football and/or football manager lol.

Read full post >>

I'm a drug user f*ck the police!

The above is of course a quote from the simply awesome Peep Show, the episode where Mark smokes Pot in the toilets at the bowling alley. For those not familiar with the show, OMG! Where have you been all this time?! It's simply a great show, Mitchell and Webb, both the stars and creative geniuses (should that be geniui?) behind the show are finally getting the recognition they deserve. Anyways, we're getting off topic so to bring us back I will start with a simple statement - I have smoked weed. Now, that shouldn't be that big a statement in itself, and it's probably not, but the perception is that I should now be cooler than I was, or at least that's what the World tells me.
I think it all starts with smoking in School, it's seen as a very rebellious act and we all know that rebels are cool, right? Possibly I'm given the impression that people that smoke weed are cooler is that I've known many people that have and it is regarded as something truly special and there's almost an elitism to it. Take University and there were some people on my corridor who would often go "on walks" as they put it, and I was grudgingly never asked to go. There's some thought process on their part going on - I was never deemed "worthy" to join them. Let's actually return to my experience, and heading back home for Easter to see the family as well as some friends. I've texted my good buddy Carl about possibly meeting up for a pint, nothing OTT, just something low-key where we could catch up and have a laugh, the usual. Anyways, thanks to some rail scheduling I happened to get the train back with him and he mentioned a gathering that I should come to. Now I'm usually wary of going to parties/gatherings with all strangers, I wouldn't call myself a people person, and could easily see myself wishing I was somewhere else, knowing I'd be having a better time. Recently I've been taken the more laid-back approach with social gatherings and going-with-the-flow, not getting stressed about meeting up times and just doing whatever, so I said sure "why not, could be fun". 

On to the gathering itself and me and Carl stocked up on the beer before heading over to Kevin's (the host of the party). We boozed up, got chatting and generally having a laugh - having a few beers with friends with nothing on the agenda is a relaxing venture, and something I don't do enough anymore. At one point we got a little heated debate on Macs and how they are in fact now marketing towards the dumb customer, that just wants a stylish bit of kit but no actual substance - that got me worried as I am more and more interested in Mac products - I always thought it was more an elitist thing - you've tried the Every Joe desktop, now you want to try something a little better, a little different. It was later revealed that they were having a delivery, and planning to smoke the rest of the night away. I was asked if I had ever smoked weed before, to which I replied I've never smoked anything before except the odd attempt at a cigar. I must make something very clear, I did not feel pressured into trying weed at any point. Like spending a night camping with a bottle of vodka, it's a very social thing - you take your few sips and then pass it on, knowing that you'll see it again soon enough, and the same applies here. I was offered a couple of times, the first few I passed, but ceasing my chance to become "one of the cool" - one of those people who I couldn't stand for looking down on me but yet yearned to be one of their circle so badly, I accepted the joint. A quick crash-course of smoking later and I was initiated. I was asked a few times if I could feel it's effects but to be honest I was pretty merry from the beer at the time so it was difficult to say if it was the beer, the weed or the fact that I was in a relaxed environment as well that was crucial to the relaxing times.

Yep, so we spent the evening with some beer, some weed, having some chats and generally chilling to music. I can't say if the weed was the ultimate factor on what I would label a good night looking back, or merely a combination of all these things. The one thing I know that it was a good evening and positive reinforcement will tell me an equally good evening can be achieved with those things again. It reminds me of part of one of Bill Hick's routines and how he wished they would report on someone having a good experience on drugs. I will admit here that I had a positive experience on drugs and would be quite pumped to go it again.

Other highlights of my Easter break include almost getting run over by a pony, thanks to Eric and Karlie for letting me crash one night, and of course stuffing my face full of chocolate whilst I watched the F1 at my Nan's. Overall a very good weekend - they always are if they are filled with varied activities - it's so easy I find to simply do nothing after a busy week at work.

Read full post >>

Big up the Graffiti snaps!

I'm enjoying the artsy habit I've developed of taking snaps of cool bits of graffiti or silly/cool phrases on signs that I spot on my travels. I popped a few on facebook, and this one has been getting a load of attention:

This picture can be seen, along with others like it can be seen on my flickr page which can be found here at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimiminar/ so go check them out.
At the moment, they have all been taken on my phone camera with questionable quality. The plan is to purchase a compact digital camera so I can have it on my person literally all the time. I think it would be a very cool habit to have a camera, see something smart, take a snap, and then stick it up on my flickr page, literally every day. Of course these snaps can be seen in the slideshow in the left sidebar, but check the flickr page for full screen goodness.
Enjoy!

Read full post >>

Rock Band EU details released finally!

I was just goin about my normal lunchtime internet browsing when I stumbled on an article that Rock Band is finally been given a European release date.
Good news you're thinking, I had the opportunity, thanks to my good buddy Adam to try the US version many many months ago - probs around 6 months ago. First off, I was very miffed that the wait is so long (release date May 23rd) they ("they" being either EA or MTV, or a combination of them both) decided to shaft us even more in the PAL territories.
Usually when it comes to pricing, they don't actually convert the currency but rather lazily they swap the $ sign for a £ sign. Whilst that's not great, it's something we Europeans have gritted our teeth and beared with, but the Rock Band pricing is ridiculous.
They've decided to, rather than sell the game + guitar, drums, mic all in one package, and instead sell just the game on it's own and then the instruments seperately. Not only that but the instruments alone will cost £130 with the game expected to retail initially at £50. What's worse is remembering that the US got this over 6 months ago AND for the price of approximately £90. This article on Kotaku, particularily the comments reiterate my anger at these decisions.
I always said that I would be getting it when it is finally released, but now it seems simply too much of a ripoff - I really hope that people have some sense and stay away come end of May, and force them to drop the price hard and fast.

EA and MTV, you've just lost my patronage.

Read full post >>