Photos!
Here’s a couple links to some photos i’ve just thrown up on to the internet. Hope you enjoy them!
Let me know what you think 
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Tags: bioshock, birmingham, photos, statue, University, university of birmingham, uob
Bioshock 2
A few years ago, following a developer walkthrough of a level, I fell in love with the world of Rapture as depicted in the game which went on to win numerous Game of the Year awards, Bioshock. A year or so later the game came out, and I bought the gorgeous limited edition version – with a Big Daddy statue – for the 360 and played about 4 hours into the game. The 360 is a piece of shit and the worst console that has been release in the past 20 years – the hardware is just sooo shoddy – so after a couple of years of living with it I had enough and sold it, forgoing any further journeys into Rapture.
That was until the PS3 version of Bioshock came out – sadly i’ve yet to even get to the point I was at when I got rid of my 360. This annoys me slightly, but the sequel is coming out a day before my birthday – THIS TUESDAY :O
And again it is available in a stunning collector’s edition ^_^
So despite not finishing the game I’m super excited about being submerged in this world again, 10 years on from the original, being able to play as the first Big Daddy will be truly epic!! Here’s the launch trailer – let me know your thoughts
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Tags: ps3, bioshock, bioshock 2, 2k games, marin, boston, 360, playstation 3, hardware, failure, game of the year, Rapture, collector's edition
Roisin Murphy
The lady is back to steal my heart again!! After her AMAZING second solo album post-Moloko, Roisin Murphy is back with an added bump and an unusual muse all due to being pregnant. But this has not tainted her ability to produce outstanding pop music. Her first single of this era of her career was Orally Fixated, about cravings, which as a fun little slice of dirty dance pop 
And now her latest single, Momma’s Place, is set to be released on the 18th January. This is perhaps more like Overpowered than Orally Fixated, but it does have a very retro sound to it. It’s very reminiscent of a 90s house chooon, and it’s actually amazing. It’s about how her child is not going to get up to anything worse than she has done herself in her time – Needless to say I cannot freaking wait for her next album, despite all the talk of her pregnancy. Let me know what you think.
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Tags: UK, roisin murphy, irish, pop, electro, dance, 90s, pregnancy, overpowered, moloko, mommas place, orally fixated
Symphony of Science
This is the latest song in a series of fun songs made freely available. They take famous science popularisers and modulate their voices in such a way to make it sound like they’re vaguely singing along. It’s really awesome.
Here’s my favourite song so far, mostly because it’s catchy and has Dawkins in it!!
I really get misty eyed when I think about the scale of evolution. It’s simply the most beautiful explanation for the existence of complex life ever conceived, and the fact that it’s 100% true simply blows my mind. It really is greatest show on earth.
Some are more catchy than others but you can download the MP3 file if you like it as much as I do from their site.
Filed under: Biology, Religion | Leave a Comment
Tags: Biology, Atheism, Evolution, Dawkins, Creationism, Darwin, science, music, creation, complex life, earth, universe, carl sagan, richard dawkins
Resolutions
Sooo, 2010 has just got underway so it’s time for me to publish my half-arsed attempts at making some resolutions in the hope that it’s presence and record on the internetz will help me keep them. Nothing too groundbreaking here but hey ho . . . every little helps.
1) A simple one, made easier by a christmas present I received – to remember to brush my teeth twice a day. We all know we should do it, but it’s so easy to forget or to just not get back out of bed when you remember you haven’t done it yet. My new electric toothbrush is helping me by adding the gadget factor. I think this resolution is totally achievable since I should have been doing it anyway. Whoops!
2) To go out more often. I went out less than 12 times during 2009, and for a gay guy this is a bit of an anomaly. It’s not that I don’t enjoy going out, it’s just that I either don’t have the money because I spend it on other things, or I don’t have the time due to stupid degrees. So i’m going to try and go out more than 15 times in the next 12 months. Again, should be achievable, riiight??
3) To be a better friend. I get distracted faaaaar too easily by thing like university, movies, games and boys and my relationships with my friends suffers. I’m not just talking about those who live in other cities, but also those who live about 20 mins away. I feel so bad when I realise it’s been months since I last heard from someone, I’m going to try and not let that happen this year.
4) To be honest. All too easily, one can tell a few too many white lies and then life gets stupid complicated. So this year I’m going to be as truthful as possible hopefully to the betterment of everyone I know.
5) To be gayer. A bit of an odd one, but it entails buying more clothes, looking after my appearance more and treating every day as if I have a date with a hot guy. Not only will this make me feel better about myself, but it’ll also save those slightly embarrassing moments when you bump into an ex looking less than amazing. And you never know what each day brings, so maybe there will be a date with the guy I’m seeing at the end of it. Who knows
And that’s all I have for the moment. Hopefully I should be able to keep these ones, and make my year a bit more nicer for me and everyone who knows me. End.
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Tags: 2009, 2010, gay, new years resolutions, Resolutions
Earphone Shenanigans
Why oh why are earphones the most poorly built audio devices on the planet?!?! My Etymotic hf2’s were amazing, they died a month or so after I initially bought them. I got them replaced at the Apple store and 5 months later, the replacements die again. I’m now in the process of getting them sent off to Etymotic in the US to be replaced AGAIN and have resorted to my old Sennheiser CX500s. These earphones are less than ideal, the bass is too bassy, the clarity simply isn’t there and the noise isolation is non existent. Since I spend minimum of two hours a day wearing my earphones I decided to fork out for some cheap-ish replacements to tide me over until the hf2s come back.
After researching earphones on the Apple store, the best source for pretty, quality iPhone earphones, I decided on the Ultimate Ears MetroFi 170vi. For the tiny sum of £29 you get some solid earphones, a lil case for them and an in-line mic/clicker which is essential for all iPhone users. The sound quality is surprisingly good, while not as clear as the hf2s they’re a significant step-up from the CX500s, and they isolate noise fairly well, allowing you to listen to your music at a lower volume. Full blast, the earphones hold up very well, and the bass only is disappointing when the earbud comes out or isn’t inserted correctly into your ear. They also look pretty tidy, and professional. In short, I’m stunned by the quality of these £30 earphones and urge all you cheapskates to pony up and get these lil fellas.
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Tags: etymotic, faulty, iPhone, metrofi 170vi, premium earphones, repairs, replacements, reviews, ultimate ears
Top 5 Games of 2009
2009 has been one hullova year for games, and between two different universities, graduation and the rest of life, I’ve been spoilt for choice as to what to play. So here’s my favourite 5 games of the past 12 months, not that I’ve finished them all, but these are the ones whose quality is apparent, and in some cases, have me addicted more than any game ought to.
PixelJunk Shooter
The PixelJunk series of downloadable games have provided many hours of quality gaming, and perhaps have delivered more joy to my console than it has any right to considering each game costs about £6 and takes about 20 hours of my life which I don’t want back. The series has hit a new high with Shooter, which is an underground shooter with a platforming feel to it. You venture into a cavern on a distant planet on a rescue mission and have a pew-pew gun and a grabble hook to get you through the rivers of lava, flammable noxious gas, water and magnetic goop, oh and to survive the shoot’emup boss fights at the end of each section. While only consisting of about 15 levels, there is no wasted space. Each level teaches you a new technique or introduces a new tool and can change how you play the game dramatically. The big draw to this game is the puzzle element which revolves around the interplay between the different fluids. Water solidifies lava into a destructible rock for instance, lava can melt ice, ice can solidify water into a solid ice block etc etc. And along the way you get new suits which imbue your ship with new abilities, such as being able to drag out rock, or shoot lava. This game is the perfect downloadable game. Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned it’s divine soundtrack from HighFrequencyBandwidth and sumptuous stylistic cartoony visuals. To say the least, it’s a must have game.
The Beatles: Rock Band
This is a game aimed squarely at family play, and the fact that you can play with up to 7 people at anytime makes i perhaps the ultimate party game. The Beatles are perhaps the only band whose back catalogue can justify a stand alone rhythm action game, and Harmonix really deliver on conveying Beatlemania in the rear end of the noughties. The story mode slowly follows The Beatles through their career from the Cavern Club, all the way through to the Abby Road Rooftop final performance, and is visually, and stylistically stunning at each stage. The videos that play in the background as you strum/band the drums/warble like a loon (goo-goo-ga-jooob) perfectly match the feel of the song and look stunning on a HDTV. So even if your friends have to wait their turn, they’ll be entertained by your ‘performance’ as well as what’s happening on the screen. Beyond the Career mode lies challenges, leaderboards, achievements, and a mountain of DLC. Every month from the games release brought with it a new complete album to play through, and this has really held my attention as I laid out about £9 every month for another 10 songs to play through and perfect. This is probably my most played game of the last half of 2009.
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Man is this game beautiful!! Like actually, drop-dead gorgeous beautiful. But that won’t be why you play this game, the reason why this game is so amazing is it’s perfect pacing of action, story, humour and exploration platforming. The story itself is better than many of the movies Hollywood bring out, and Uncharted 2 is by far the most compelling, cinematic experience of the year. If you like games, you have to play this but if you like movies but don’t like playing games, sit behind someone as they play and you will have just as much fun.
Batman: Arkham Asylum
This game was a huge surprise for me. I shrugged it off as just another mediocre licensed game and boy was I wrong. This game is the best comic book game ever made. The developers Rocksteady simply ‘get’ Batman, and what makes his world so compelling, and they constructed an enjoyable story line which expertly delivers to the player the chance to beat up on the greatest Batman villains ever. They also have made a solid platforming game, with quality stealth elements and one of the best hand-to-hand combat systems ever seen in an action adventure game from a western developer. The game starts with the Batman dropping off the Joker to the infamous Arkham Asylum, and you literally walk the Joker in to the complex. this allows the game to begin piling on the atmosphere and immersing you totally in the world. The Joker escapes and thus begins another adventure for Batman. But the Jokers taunting of Batman throughout your exploration of Arkham really stand out as a brilliant idea and one of my favourite little things about the game. You simply have to play this game if you like Batman in anyway at all. And if you’re a fan, then the oodles of extra content and information will keep you sweet.
DJ Hero
Another game I was sceptical about when it was first shown, DJ Hero from Activision applies the Guitar Hero concept to the world of hip-hop/dance mixes. The DJ Hero turntable controller is a solid piece of kit and is much more comfortable than playing on a Guitar during your first few games. The music itself, which makes or breaks a music game, is varied but generally solid. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the amount of Daft Punk and Justice in this game. Some of the mixes are dodgy, such as anything with the Jackson 5 in *shudder* but scratching your way through tracks is just a really enjoyable experience. Unlockables are the main driver and drip feed you with new toys to play with such as DJ avatars, costumes, decks, venues and whole set lists which you play through. This game is challenging but doesn’t ever feel too harsh like some of the Guitar Hero games have done, and fills you with a nice warm fuzzy feeling when you five star an 8 mix set list. This game is what has sucked up all my free time over the holidays this year and will keep me scratching into 2010.
Filed under: Games, Lists, Review | 1 Comment
Tags: 2009, best of, Games, ps3, Review, top 5, top five, Videogames
Podcasts
I’m bloody addicted to them! They’ve been available for a number of years now, and I’ve listened to literally months of podcasted content. So what I thought I’d do here is to name some of my favourites, my top tier of podcast that I never miss. (Too subscribe to a podcast, just search for it in the iTunes store) Here goes, hope you enjoy them!!
MacBreak Weekly
A weekly show featuring Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Andy Ihnatko and guests which discusses the latest news affecting Apple and the Mac. It contains thorough discussions of key topics, contrasting views about Apple as well as a selection of the best software/hardware for Apple’s products each week. It’s such a funny show as well, and one of my absolute favourite podcasts.
The Instance
A World of Warcraft podcast which is delivered with such humour and wit that non-WoW player can also enjoy it. Scott Johnson and Randy DeLuxe ( hehe ) discuss the weeks news in regards to WoW as well as other Blizzard franchises. It’s the best WoW podcast by far, and one which taps into MMO/gaming culture and delivers the goods.
CO-OP
A video podcast from Revision 3 and the fellas who used to work for 1UP.com before ZiffDavis died. It’s the 1UP show reborn and made even more fun! Containing reviews and previews of the biggest games releases for all platforms ranging from iPhone to PS3, Co-op manages to fit reviews within some pretty funny narratives that keep you watching through reviews about games you don’t necessarily care about. Why is this awesome? Because it can introduce to games you wouldn’t normally play. In one case, the above video review of Spider for the iPhone made me go and buy the game, which I am now in love with Give it a watch ^_^
Robert Llewellyn’s CarPool
Robert Llewellyn, semi-famous for acting in Red Dwarf, as well as being a TV presenter on shows like Scrapheap Challenge, started his own video podcast where the whole concept was to give an informal interview, while ferrying people from A to B, such that they would drop their guard a little more and just waffle. This show is a treat and features the likes of Stephen Fry, Leo Laporte, Jason Calacanis, Dr Brian Cox (Watch that one for sure) and Wil Harris among many other famous names. What is even more different is that Robert only ever uses hybrid or electric cars, and such many conversations deal with the energy crisis we are facing. This is best shown in episodes featuring people from companies like Tesle and Honda which make electric cars for the consumer. A very interesting little video podcast for your iPhone or iPod.
Nature Podcast
Finally, a 30 minute weekly science podcast from one of the most respected journals in the world, Nature magazine! The podcast talks you through the biggest stories from Nature each week in an approachable way, that while accessible, isn’t dumbed down in anyway. A really great listen for people who have any interest in the world around us.
If you have any other recommendations, leave a comment, or let me know what you think of my recommendations below.
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Tags: apple, carpool, co-op, gaming, leo laporte, Mac, nature, podcast, Review, revision3, science, warcraft, wow
The Hobbit
When I was about 13 I vistied my cousin (then aged 8 ) and saw that she was reading The Hobbit as part of her school reading homework. I had the year before attempted to read The Lord of the Rings during my first year at secondary school but didn’t get much beyond the first chapter, so was intrigued that a 8 year old was told to read the prequel to Tolkeins masterwork. Some years later I bought LOTR and forced myself through The Fellowship of the Ring and began The Two Towers when the book actually started getting good, and Tolkein started spending less time describing every leaf of a bush the characters brush past. I ended up loving LOTR and the movies based on the book as well, so it was when I came across an illustrated edition of The Hobbit I immediately snapped it up to see if I merely entered the series at the wrong point, and how great one of the worlds most loved childrens book is.
Now that I’ve finished it, I have to say I am impressed. Tolkein manages to keep the humour, detail and sense of place he goes overboard on in LOTR, while leaving out the boring parts. The story still has many embelishments such as the songs which Tolkein is very fond of which rarely serve the plot of the story he’s trying to tell. But they do add to the sense of place, and don’t go on nearly as long as they do in LOTR. The plot itself is simple, Bilbo gets forced by Gandalf to join a troupe of Dwarves who are looking to reclaim their treasure long since stolen from their fathers by an old, cruel and wicked dragoon called Smaug who now resides at their fathers former home, the Lovely Mountain. What ensues is a journey from the west, where Hobbiton is, to the east beyond Mirkwood and back again. And along the way Bilbo’s true nature is revealed.
This book is nothing short of a masterpiece. It’s pacing is wonderful, and perfect for a childrens book, the characters are perfectly formed in every way possible, there are scary moments, and dark kind of depressing moments too, which Tolkein manages to keep brief before lightening the mood with some well placed humour. And the humour is at time laugh out loud funny! And this is a book which is how old?!?!
The illustrations by Alan Lee really help the story telling and are beautiful to look at by themselves. I love the surprise when you read a chapter and get to an illustration, and the scene appears EXACTLY as you imagined it. It really is remarkable how Tolkein was able to create a world so whole, and write a novel with such skill that each person who reads it sees the same images in their head and each have such a good grasp of the characters in the story. This will for sure make it a difficult task for any film maker, but Guillermo del Toro has taking up the challange and, under the guidance of Peter Jackson (script writer and producer) hopes to release the film in the 2011.
Overall, The Hobbit should be compulsory reading for everyone, regardless of age or genre preference. It really is a journey worth taking.
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Tags: Alan Lee, Bilbo Baggins, English, Gandalf, JRR Tolkein, key stage 2, lord of the rings, peter jackson, Review, secondary education, The hobbit, tolkein
In this, Bill Maher really lays into the blindingly obvious failing of the American Christian church. Such a funny stand up show though, kept me laughing when i shoul’ve been trying to get asleep last night ^_^ Let me know what you think
Filed under: Religion, Video | Leave a Comment
Tags: american, Atheist, bill maher, christian, george w bush, right-wing
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