Killzone

Today I walked around my local PC World and had a look at their very poor selection of games. The PS2 section is particularly poor, first game I pulled out to price-check was Killzone and it was 4.99 I couldn't believe it. I tried a few others and they were still the same price as they were ages ago. What luck and a chance find.

Baggies Win

West Brom have tonight pulled off a great 2-0 win against Tottenham Hotspur at the Hawthorns, Kano scoring both goals. It's great to win again after two losses in row, they've jumped a couple of Premiership table places and are now in 15th position, almost halfway up the table. Great stuff!

New Captain Scarlet

Here's an odd thing. I saw the merchandise for this before I saw or heard anything of the series. Apparently, it was broadcast on CITV but has been pulled. I've loaned the first series of 13 episodes from my local library (only 26 episodes exist in total as far as I know) to watch. The production quality is great- HDTV and Dolby 5.1 - there has clearly been a lot of money and effort expended in making the 22 minute episodes. A lot of drama is packed into each show. When the original series was shown on TV I was too young to appreciate it. But as a child of the 70s I loved anything that Gerry Anderson did. It seems a great shame that a new generation can't connect with the heroes of Spectrum fighting against the Mysterons. It has always been a great story and there are some subtle changes in the new series (Cloudbase Alpha is now just Skybase and Lieutenant Green is now female) but its just as dark as it always has been. Perhaps that is part of the problem: it was broadcast on CITV and really, I think it has more appeal for adults. Adults on the whole, however, don't tend to watch CGI TV series.

Boxing Day

Well, at least Christmas Day is over. What a nightmare of noise, mess, petty arguments between the children and family politics. I didn't really enjoy the food either. Knowing that the rich food is going to give me heartburn and gastric discomfort doesn't really aid the stress levels. Now the task is to find room in our tiny house for the extra toys and games....Christmas just isn't the same once you have children yourself. I just have to accept this and move on.

Mad Pre-Christmas Rush

It begins. Mile long queues everywhere, smiles wearing very thin. Pressure points are areas in shops around the Sale Items. The Game sale doesn't amount to much, no surprises there!

Any readers out there?

I've been writing this blog for almost a year now. It would just be interesting to know if there are any regular readers out there. Please leave me a comment, it might be the incentive I need to carry on.

No heating or hot water

Five days before Christmas and guess what? Our hot water and heating stops working. Just great. Of course, we can't get a plumber with everybody being busy getting bathrooms ready for Christmas. So, I'm waiting for an expensive boiler manufacturer technical engineer to visit and charge 200 quid for the privilege. An expense we can't afford but for something we can't afford to be without. We can't do washing, washing up, baths, handwashing or anything. The part itself may only be a few pounds. This kind of thing gets me angry. And we spent all that money on Santafuckingland. And they say 'tis the season to be jolly!!!

Santaland: Earls Court December 2005

We went as a family to this event on Monday with some trepidation. We'd heard very mixed reviews from friends and the forums were feeding back that it was a waste of money - we'd already bought our tickets. We even considered not going because of the travel costs getting there. The good thing about it was that we got a nice photo of our two kids with Santa. Apart from that it was shit. Here's a list of my gripes:

1. Long walk to Earls Court 2 (right at the back of Earls Court)
2. People were herded into the "Christmas market" to spend money there
3. Carpets were dirty and were red and green - where's the feeling of snow?
4. Coat attendants were grumpy and it would have cost two pounds for our buggy and coats (we didn't bother)
5. We were herded into "channels" where families could see Santa simultaneously
6. We had to watch a boring video outlining the story behind collecting Santa's magical ribbons
7. We had to watch the video and watch a crap entertainer do his best to cheer up a silent audience of bored adults and kids
8. The Santa we eventually saw dropped my daughter's Santa letter and picture on the floor as we were leaving him (and I don't think he even noticed)
9. The main arena was just a few fairground rides randomly distributed (the kids were given 6 coins to exchange for six free rides - one of our kids lost their bag)
10. There weren't enough ribbons being handed out

So, you can see, it was all a big rip-off. Oh well, been there, done that, won't do that ever again.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

My wife and I went to see this film last night. Very good indeed, I recommend it to anyone over the age of 10 (it has a 12A certificate in the UK). The ending is rather dramatic, as it should be, but the most amazing aspects of it for me are the small details. It really does create a wonderful feeling that magic and the magical world is something real.

Foo Fighters - Earls Court London 17 December 2005

Well, I was there and it was terrific. Two supporting acts (Eagles of Death Metal and Futureheads), which were cool - Dave Grohl came on and played drums for their final song. The Foos played "Hit after hit after hit" in the words of the man himself. A great night. The stage set was spectacular, a real surprise with wonderful green lasers. Dave said "You know you've made it when you your up here (the stage) and can close your eyes and see Black Sabbath laser patterns infront of your eyes". Not many songs from the new album, perhaps 2 or 3, but lots of songs the fans love. Well worth the ticket price.

Fantastic Four

I recently saw the film adaptation of this classic Marvel comic. I liked it, it had a lot of humour and some great special effects. I thought it was all well done, even The Thing had a likeable heroic quality about him. Jessica Alba looks totally amazing in her suit. The ribbing between Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm is well done too. If you scratch deeper there are some plot flaws but if you look too deeply I think your missing the point. Rated PG, I wouldn't let my kids watch it until they were 7.

Oil Fire at Hemel Hempstead

I don't think we're all that far from this. My wife heard a rumbling at 6am today, not me farting honest! All I can say is that I'm glad it was that time on a Sunday and not during a busy rush hour - that would have been catastrophic.

FIFA Football 2003

No blog post for a while, I do apologize people. Busy at work and 3 blogs to take care of: incidentally, this is the first time I've realy neglected this blog and this has only been for a week. Nevertheless I must not forget again!
Well, I wanted to post this to say that I play FF2003 exclusively now since I first got it. I am strangely adicted to it. I don't really know why. Perhaps its because I was never very competitive in real life with football a a teenager at school? I don't know aht it is but I find the difficulty setting just right, good enough that I actually have real difficulty during some games and actually winning is such a good feeling. Like the real game infact. Anyhow, I'm only playing at Semi-Pro level, there is the Professional level next to master. Not that I've mastered Semi Pro level yet - I am getting better though. I am tending to draw instead of lose now. The automated popup that tells you whether you have mastered a level or are having difficulty and suggests a change in skill setting (up or down) hasn't popped up for a while. It is quite humiliating when it pops up to say that you're obviously finding it difficult.

Richard Burns RIP

Any mourning I'll be doing will not be spent on George Best this weekend but on the death of 34 year old 2001 World Rally Champion Richard Burns. He died last weekend of a brain tumour he'd been suffering from since 2003. Instead of flowers his family asks that donations be made to Cancer Research, people should respect this wish as his family want a private funeral.

FIFA Football

Not related to the death of George Best, I recently purchased the 2003 version of this game and I have to admit it is quite an addictive proposition. I didn't expect very much but was very pleasantly surprised at how good it is. At the same time I picked up Pro Evolution Soccer 3 but the disk was scratched and so it had to go back. I have a better copy now and also found a cheap copy of FF2004 and it too seems good, although I think it has got more sophisticated with the Off The Ball control. I haven't really tried PES 3 but it "feels" good too. It might even get me interested in soccer again. The main feeling I get when playing the game is how much better it is than playing Subbuteo ever was. Maybe that's just because my brother was always shouting at me for kneeling on players? There was always a great blob of glue surrounding the West Brom players feet. FF2004 has West Brom in the First Division and Wolves in the Premiership - that can't be right can it? Perhaps when the game was finalised WBA looked as if they might be relegated but actually weren't?

Who is George Best?

It bothers me greatly to be watching the news and to be confronted by the image of George Best on what they are alluding to as his death-bed. Look, I've lost an uncle to alcoholism as have many other people. I don't need to see it on the news. The majority of people in this country now know him more because of his alcoholism rather than his playing career. By todays standard of footballers, was he anything special? I have my doubts. Its simply a sad waste and a sad life. I don't think he should be given the treatment he gets in the papers. I don't think anybody should.

Writing

I used to write a lot; poetry and stories, I attended a writer's group at a local art centre. That was when I was single and had a lot of angst. I probably have more material to write about now but I seem to have less inclination to use my writing as a vehicle of expression. It might help relieve stress if I did start writing again, get stuff out of my system. My wife bought me a tough document folder with lots of compartments, zips, pads, pockets and dividers; it was for work but it seems too good for that. Also, I don't do very much with my paper notes after meetings - I hardly transcribe a lot of it. Lately, the past year and a bit, I've enjoyed the writings of Tom Clancy. I've been toying with the idea of trying to write something like a spy story. Years ago, I enjoyed the Ian Fleming novels. Both these writer's share a level of detail that I find interesting to read because it makes the stories seem believeable, even though the plots are quite fantastic really. Perhaps, my spy story idea is not a good one, given that I think my best writing from the past is observations from feeling separated from society and loneliness.

Games with awkward control schemes

(Writing to you with a very sore throat today). I've been playing a few games recently that I find quite difficult because of their control scheme. Spider-Man (PS), Spider-Man the Movie (PS2), Spider-Man 2 (PS2) and True Crime: Streets of LA (PS2). These games are great fun, no mistake, but the complexity of the situations and the variety of gameplay means that the control scheme has got to be just right and I don't feel it is with these games. I'm not saying that it can't be mastered, just that in comparison with similar games there is something lacking. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell or James Bond Everything or Nothing or Project Snowblind all seem far easier to play and are just as complex, storywise.

X Factor Rubbish

The X Factor is a unique disappointment in that the people who seem to do well exhibit no X Factor at all. A look at last years winner Steve proves this. In the line-up this year we have Chico. Excuse me but he can't sing (clearly), he can't dance and his personality is entirely centered on his own ego. I hear the argument that he's in it just because he appeals to middle aged women who love to see male strip acts but I just don't buy it. The audience of the show must surely be the young (and hopeful) and the old (who can't work the tv remote and who are incapable of turning the rubbish off).

Great game night

It's been a great night for games. I tried out a few new purchases first - Burnout, Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow, Prince of Persia Sands of Time and Resident Evil Code Veronica X. The tryouts were just to make sure that the disks were ok, them being second hand (or pre-owned as the store labels them). The main game of the night was Spiderman the movie. I didn't think I was ever going to advance into getting Spiderman into his proper costume but tonight I made significant progress and did. I do find the game enjoyable but that is despite the control scheme, which I find a bit awkward. It's having the right analogue stick for looking around but it doesn't let you look up or down.
Other games tonight included Devil May Cry, which I made more progress with. It has to be said that DMC is a graphically outstanding piece of work.

Halloween Game Sale - or not!

Game's massive Halloween sale being hyped before today began turns out to be quite a poor show. What a big disappointment. One game an hour and no really BIG reductions. Some forums were posting that games were actually cheaper on Play.com when you include the delivery costs.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse

I've just watched this film, so can finally give you the verdict you've been waiting for. If you enjoyed Resident Evil, you'll probably like it. I like Resident Evil, so I thought it was OK. There are these two great women characters in Alice and Jill and there is something slightly subversive in how sexy they look and how they always top the men. The women are (of course) gorgeous and retain their femininity as well as their strength, as to be expected in a Hollywood film. It begins where the last film ended and takes the story on further. Like in the first film, there is a uneasy sense that nothing is explained satisfactorily - rather like in playing a videogame. The twisted, evil Umbrella Corporation is somehow behind it all (whatever "it" is) and it is still more or less a faceless entity. There are some great moments of slow motion action photography and some good stunts - very professionally done. The special effects are what I think people watch this kind of film for and they do not disappoint. For this reason alone it is worth watching more than once. That said, I didn't feel the zombie flesh eaters were particularly scary and this detracted a bit. I wasn't scared at all or made uneasy and in a way that's frightening - am I having my tolerance for violence and gore increased by continually being exposed to Hollywood-style versions of it?
There is a saying that there's only one thing worse than a game based on a film and that's a film based on a game, in this case I'd say that wasn't true but Resident Evil was a better film first time around. If you want to see a bad movie that fell out a game try The House of The Dead.

Firefox starring Clint Eastwood

Produced and directed by Eastwood too. I read the Craig Thomas novel of the same name recently and enjoyed it, the film was based on the book. I think it was a pretty accurate job, not difficult because the story is so good but with films like this there is obviously going to have to be some judicious editing because the narrative in the book can go into a lot more detail. On the whole I thought this was a cracking good film that stands up well to the test of time - it was released in 1982 I believe. Yeah, the models sequences at the end were a bit creaky - but that was the only thing I could criticise this for.

Imelda Marcos Musical

I read this with disbelief. My disbelief wasn't that Fatboy Slim (good candidate for the crappest name ever) was involved because I have no hesitation in passing by anything he has ever done with a blink of an eye but David Byrne? DAVID BYRNE for fucksake! What is he thinking of? I have no concept of why anyone would want to produce a musical about someone who is obviously so wrapped up in herself as Imelda Marcos. She and her husband behaved appallingly and it is difficult to see any merit in their lives at all that warrants a musical. Unless its about how stupid and fat they were but how they loved music. Hey, maybe that's what it's about - DON'T DO IT DAVID!!!!

Library Snobs

I don't know what it is but some people I speak to have a disapproving view of multimedia in libraries. They look down their noses at people who don't use the libraries for books. I just think they're stupid people. For a start, our local library had a refurbishment paid for by money recouped from film and music loans. I'm convinced that the library budget is increased by loaning this type of material - not to mention it being a great source of making libraries relevant to all walks of life. So I say a big raspberry to all who look down on me as I stand with my books, CDs and DVDs in the library check-out desk.

House of the Dead (film)

I rented this out recently, my hopes weren't high and guess what? They weren't disproved. What a piece of garbage. Resident Evil was a videogame-film translation that actually worked. This one emphatically did not. HOTD is a textbook example of how to ruin a film. One of the things that infuriated me was using the slashing claw graphics from the game as part of a transition effect between scenes. It looked rubbish and was totally inappropriate. I rented the film because I liked the game and hoped that they developed a bit more of the story - I can't get very far in the game so this I thought was a way to watch the story. The story in the game and the story in the film are totally different. The game storyline is so much better, that should say it all really. Out of ten, this film would score minus numbers for me.

Good Games Night (last night)

A heavy night of gaming. I got into Project Snowblind a little more, followed by Gran Turismo A-Spec in which I gained my driver's B licence, rounded off with Red Faction 2. All quite knackering but entertaining nonetheless.Project Snowblind is a fairly recent game and for me it really pushes what the PS2 can do. Red Faction 2 is a great game too but you can tell the difference in age between them.I saw Devil May Cry today and was tempted to buy but I resisted the temptation, mainly because (as my wife keeps telling me) i've got enough games.

James Bond 007

I was excited to see that Tomorrow Never Dies was on TV yesterday, I watched just over half but tiredness took over and I finally had to admit defeat and go to bed. The game James Bond 007: Everything Or Nothing has turned me onto Bond again, the concept of scoring points for "Bond moments" is particularly innovative. You see, I guess I've been a bit snobbish and have ignored Bond as being too formulaic and stunt-driven instead of well scripted stories with fast flowing pace and realistic action sequences (see The Transporter). The last Bond film I went to the cinema to see was The Living Daylights, which gets the thumbs down here - I remember it being quite nasty and violent. Timothy Dalton's Bond had likeable qualities but he probably didn't fit the Bond mould established by the other actors, I don't remember him being as much of a womaniser. The point of this is that I have started to develop some appreciation of the formula for Bond films, something the writer of this page seems to appreciate too. There are a few other Bond games out there: Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, James Bond 007 in Agent Under Fire, James Bond 007: Nightfire, Goldeneye: Rogue Agent, 007 Racing and I see that a new game for PS2 is coming in November based on Sean Connery's From Russia With Love.

Tom Clancy's Netforce

I watched Tom clancy's Net Force last night, I didn't know a film had been developed from the books. Infact, it turned out to be a tv mini series sold as a feature film on VHS. It wasn't awful actually, I wasn't expecting a lot but was pleasantly surprised. Don't get me wrong, some things just weren't right. Like the paramilitary outfits of some of the Netforce staff - black shirts, black berets, white polo necks and lots of leather. They looked like something out of a Man From Uncle film. I thought the theme of a millionaire IT entrepreneur (Will Stiles) bundling his company's web browser with a computer operating system to win a competitive edge and world domination was a little too obviously based on Bill Gates. I couldn't decide whether I liked the close association to real life or not. I'm surprised they got away with it without having their arses sued. The leading man wasn't bad but was a bit too laid back for my liking. The Cinema Club video sound quality wasn't great but I persevered. Aside from these things I was well entertained.

Labour Conference

Someone remind me why party conferences are televised? They are the dullest form of televised politics. The business yesterday of an 80 something year old man being ejected didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. It was an undignified exit, I can see, and it wasn't a reasonable way to treat anyone of that age. The conference ushers were obviously simpleton thugs. However, I don't agree with applauding the guy either. I think he was a bit stupid to say what he did. He's entitled to voice his opinion though. The government does need to hear and address dissent from their own side but that doesn't need to be in public in my opinion. I just don't think party conferences should be televised. Party conferences should be for the party and not for the benefit of the TV. I'm always appalled at the swish stage lighting and colourful sets. Get the cameras out, lets return to some basic politics.

Cheaper Internet Access

In the interests of saving a bit of money, I've changed my internet access package (still with the same provider) to an account that is limited to 2GB per month. I don't know whether this was a good move or not, the main reason was uncertainty about what package I was on anyway. I signed up to a 512KB package for 19.99/m but since signing up for that they have introduced higher bandwidth packages for the same amount - it seems from the online account details that I was still on the 512KB bandwidth for the same cost as 1MB. So any, my thoughts now turn to what 2GB per month actually equates to in real usage terms. You see, my fear is that I might exceed this some months. I use the Internet at home for work and we use it evenings and weekends quite a lot. I'm sure it must all mount up. Also, I have been a bit dumb and not looked up what happens when you exceed the 2GB - am I charged per MB or is access just cut off? I should have found out first. The other thing, was that in the promotional email it said that the 1MB bandwidth would be doubled to 2MB however, there was no mention of that when I actually went through with the upgrade. ISPs haven't really improved a lot in terms of giving out detailed information - I hate that side of it.

DVD Burner Blues

My DVD/CD Re-writer is burning at a slower rate. It doesn't play audio CDs without popping and skipping. What has gone wrong? It seems to burn OK just slower than usual.

Tiny Crappy Speakers

I was reading the weekend paper this morning. I saw an advert that made me think. It was an ad for a speaker system that turns an iPod into a home stereo. I just thought, God how that just misses the point! The system was expensive too. And looked awful! I had a pair of speakers a long time ago that plugged into my early-style Walkman (maroon it was, heavy with big black and cream buttons - I think it was a Sanyo not a Sony though). I was listening to it in the living room once, had to have the volume really high because that was the only way to hear it, terribly tinny sound almost no bass. My Dad came home and said with a look of disgust "What you got to listen to that rubbish for?", it's debateable whether he actually meant the sound quality or the music - well it was Slayer.

Bob Dylan

On the 26th September 2005 the BBC and an American channel will air the first showing of part one of a Martin Scorcese documentary on Bob Dylan. Part two will be shown a few days later, both parts are two hours long. Great, can't wait. The BBC are having a sort of unofficial Bob Dylan season this month. They have an article titled something like "What's all the fuss about" and I've sent in some comments to add to others there.
In case my comments don't get displayed (they're moderated), the points I was making are that I think Time Out Of Mind and Love And Theft are his last two albums and instead of being "washed up" Dylan is actually producing some of the best work of his career. I also make the point that Dylan is strangely prophetic: his last album was released on 9/11/2001 and it included a tribute song to Charlie Patton (a Delta bluesman from the twenties who had a hit with a song called High Water Blues) called High Water about the Mississippi flooding of the twenties. Andy Kershaw ought to be ashamed calling Dylan washed up! To think I used to respect the man's opinions.

Bob Monkhouse

I've never really seen the reason for this guy's popularity. I don't mean to disrespect the dead but really, his jokes were so weak. Unpleasant and misogynistic. I've just seen a clip of him performing on The Best Of An Audience With...

I saw today in the newspaper an advert for a Bob Newhart CD. There are some really funny people who have done some great comedy sketches and monologues. My first and only real experience of Bob Newhart was a TV show called Newhart. I enjoyed the show but I was unaware of the main character's history as a stand-up comedian. I think you had to be an American to appreciate the guy had a history.

Kelly Monteith had a show on British TV, he was American I think. He was a very funny performer. It was a sketch show. I don't know if he wrote the sketches himself, I think he may have - whatever, he was a great comedian and I don't know what happened to him. Des O'Connor used to introduce a lot of comedians to British audiences, in my opinion this has been Des' biggest contribution to the world.

Essay Writing

I did geography at a level and failed unfortunately. This wasn't down to lack of interest (well, partly it was). It was mainly due to my poor preparation for essay-based examinations. I got a 2:1 degree based on essay examinations so I feel qualified to say I improved my technique in the years intervening my A levels.
I was less interested in physical geography than I was in human geography. My interest is being aroused in human geography again by reading the newspapers and novels of tom clancy. I'm particularly interested in trouble spots or areas of tension between countries.
I feel like writing an essay. Essays can infact be useful to help one learn - something i'm only just beginning to realise. The skill with essays is probably working out the right questions to ask. For my current interest a essay question might be:

Explain the background to the current (2005) constitutional crisis in Iraq.

I know this would never be a real exam question as it is much too topical. It would also be difficult to mark I imagine, the scope is probably too broad.

Nintendo gameboy micro

This looks like a pretty cool device I'd like to buy one -but I don't think I can afford one though, a pity . I'm sort of put off by the detachable fascia. I like the size and the general design. I think it looks nicer than the psp and the gba. Mind you, I just have a plain blue gba and I find it very appealing aesthetically. I've been enjoying my gba again lately. It's surprising how you forget how much fun gba games can be. I was looking at a video of a gba strategy game on gamespot. I have to say it didn't look very appealing. The other type of game i'm not sure fits the format well is first person shooters. I can't imagine anything worse than trying to focus on a 3d world 2 inches square.
I have been wondering lately about buying a gameboy sp. They are still not cheap new - 65 pounds. I was hoping they would come down in price.

Poppy Z Brite is OK

According to her blog she got out.

Chronicles of Riddick

I've just watched this film. Visually quite stunning. But how the hell do you make a game from that? Xbox did and I'd like to see it.

Nintendo DS v Sony PSP

I read a comment today that the Nintendo DS is more fun to play on than a PSP. Perhaps thats just because Nintendo have been doing handheld devices and games for much longer than Sony? Nintendogs does look like a great game. I think the launch line-up of games for the PSP has been quite weak in general. Ridge Racer seems like the best choice but how old is that game really? Same with Wipeout too. No, I think the PSP will develop much better content over the coming years: better games, better music, better network play and so on. Nintendo DS probably is more fun to play at the moment, but I think that will change. That's not to say though that the DS is dead - far from it, I'd like one. Especially for the golf. But I think the lifespan of the DS will be shorter than that of the PSP.
I don't like what I've heard about the pixel problem with the PSP screen either. It seems to affect only some but lets face it, it shouldn't happen at all. Especially when they cost so much - nearly 50 pounds more in England than America!!

The official PSP (PlayStation Portable) Website

Here it is. This site says if you sign up you get the Spider-Man 2 film for free. At least, I'm supposing its the film you get and not the game. I like the idea of watching movies on a portable device - say when on a train for example, problem is of course that UMD is just another format and hence another way for manufacturers and distributors to make more money by reselling the same content several times. In this day and age, we download licensed music in the form of Windows Media Player WMA files - why can't they work out how to encrypt movies so that they can be distributed in licensed form too?

Gaming environment

Upstairs now I've got my two old PCs next to each other with some great games on them. If you have never bought PC games and were wandering what kinds of games run well on them, here's my set up (I haven't included every game I have).
The oldest Pentium 2 machine has a processor rated at just under 300MHz. On this machine I have some great strategy games that I still like to play, like Red Alert, Command and Conquer, Age of Empires, Pharoah, Commandos Behind Enemy Lines, Sim City 2000, Sim Tower, Grand Theft Auto, Tiberian Sun, Dungeon Keeper, Monopoly, Warhammer Dark Omen, Railroad Tycoon, Warcraft II and Starcraft. This machine uses an integrated graphics chip but it does have an AGP slot that I've never seen the benefit of using.
The other Pentium 3 machine has a 900MHz processor and I'm running some other great games on that including Rollercoaster Tycoon, Delta Force, Delta Force 2, F1 Championship 2000, Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider II, Tomb Raider The Last Revelation, Hitman Codename 47, Driver, Grand Prix Legends, The House Of The Dead, The House Of The Dead 2, Mobil 1 Rally Championship, Toca 2 Touring Car Challenge and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six. This machine uses a 16MB PCI Nvidia graphics card.

XIII - fast and furious

Wow! I rescued General Carrington this week, now that was intense! This game has a great story, I'm on the brink of understanding more about what the thirteen is and who my character is. It's good that there are a variety of situations where in some you have to use a crossbow and others where the sniper rifle comes in handy and others when a grenade and an assault rifle are the best tools. The pace is fast and furious if you are hooked into the story line, you have to keep playing situations over and over again until you reach the end of the level. I'd say the levels vary in length but that they're all pretty well designed.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003

I have to admit I've been a bit disappointed with this game up until now. I still have a lot to learn, especially about the different game modes and scoring. But I'm starting to get a feel for the controls and am beginning to earn some money for hitting GIRs, which I think relate to getting onto the putting green from the fairway but I have no idea what it stands for. Learning to swing the ball seems essential to me, make sure you get the blue colour swing and not the yellow - that was my main mistake in the past - I always used slice instead of draw - but I'm sure there must be times when a slice is required. Also, I've found that putting can be hit and miss, the information about the angle and tilt of the green is pretty minimal and even though there are caddy tips it still seems to rely on being able to judge distances rather than giving you information to accurately set things up. But I suppose this is intentional, like golf in the real world, I'd say the experience of the game is quite close to real life when you get more into it. If you don't like golf however, you probably won't enjoy the game. This is at odds with what some other reviews I've read say but I believe it to be true. I've recently played a game of golf on a real course and maybe my belief is based on that and having a wife who has no interest in golf at all.

PSP Takes Off

Wow, the PSP sold 185,000 units in the UK in its first four days of release. That's some going. Most desired Christmas 2005 gift I think.

New Orleans: Vampires Move Out

The current crisis in New Orleans is an apalling tragedy. Once again, the poorest are bearing the brunt of the suffering. My heart goes out to all affected.
When I think of New Orleans I think of three things:

• Poppy Z. Brite
• Jazz
• Vampires

The first and third of these are related due to the topic and setting of the Brite novel I've read. I guess the vampires who have lived in New Orleans for centuries will have moved out while the flooding persists - or perhaps they're surviving on the easy prey of the vulnerable?

Command & Conquer

I bought a battered old copy of C&C Red Alert The Unofficial Field Manual by Roger Wong at the weekend for 10p. I love the C&C games, I have them all except the most recent Generals. C&C Gold is my favourite at the moment but I haven't played Red Alert too much, I think that is because I haven't got very far with C&C Gold, its so difficult. I hope the field manual will help. C&C Universe I have never played the games online, I expect that's a whole different side of the games to explore. I have my games set up on an olf family PC, my Windows XP machine isn't compatible with C&C Gold.

Conflict: Desert Storm 2

Wow, I love this game. I've spent a few hours with it at level Easy and love it - although I find Easy actually quite hard. I especially like the Besieged chapter, which I just completed last night - getting a few bonus points for Stealth Killings. Besieged was quite realistic, having to provide fire support for soldiers trying to reach extraction choppers vulnerable as they waited to lift off. I tried different tactics, including sending my men out into the open to try and blast tanks but the successful tactic was staying on the rooftop and blasting the artillery from there with anti-tank missiles.

Spider-Man V Resident Evil

I played 2 old PS1 games last night. I really enjoyed playing Spider-Man but got really frustrated with Resident Evil. RE is difficult to play, the static camera angles and difficult movement and firing system make it hard to master. The zombies are too deadly. Needless to say, I'm not progressing very fast with it.

BB6 Finally Over

Well Anthony won. How crap is that? This year there have been some awful people in the house. Lesley counts as the worst for me, personally. If you cast asides personalities, which you can't of course do in real life, I think the women this year have been better looking than previous years. I like boobs and there have been plenty of those.

Hard Lessons

I was thinking today about how I often have thoughts imagining what would happen if I was so stupid and actually did stuff like:

• touch a high voltage mains wire
• put a hand between two large moving cogs
• deliberately try to touch another car moving fast on a two-way road

And lots of other crazy but relatively small and easy things to do that can get you killed, just to see if it would kill you or not. It's a bizarre world but I bet there are like hundreds of deaths each year due to these kinds of thoughts - it must be similar instincts to the Jack-Ass style of prank except just more extreme.

Then it led me to thinking, what about the people who have actually done something stupid like these things and gotten away, probably with serious life-changing consequences. Hard Lessons - it would make an interesting website with video messages of mangled people saying "Don't do what I did, I lost a leg" etc..

Meat The Mobus

The rain hit the window and the winders squeaked noisely, irritating the driver. He was stressed about all the raw meat in the back of the cab. He could hear it sliding about as he skidded around, cornering hard with his foot hitting the gas as hard as he dared. The digital clock on his cab's dashboard clicked over another minute. At least it was late and the traffic had died down hours ago. He just had to be careful of cops. He concentrated on driving and watching the road as never before, sweat poured off his creased brow and he could feel it drip cold from his armpits onto his sides inside his shirt. The sweat would make him look like a liar. That would count against his story he realised. Another minute clicked over on the clock. For the next three minutes his mind worked overtime as he worked out roughly how much time he had to complete the task. He had about seven minutes.
Over the intersection clear. Good. That saved time. Perhaps he could make it afterall. The next four minutes seemed to the driver to be longer than they actually were, which was a relief -- he made good time.
He parked and jumped out. Quickly, he opened the rear door and reached in for the meat. He pulled it out and bolted up the front lawn towards his porch door. Yanking the transparent porch door open he reached for the handle of the front door. It moved easily and he was in.

The Mobus had grown to fill the whole of the hallway. It seemed to consist solely of a large dribbling mouth surrounded by green jelly of varying shades . The driver was disgusted by it. He was ashamed that it had grown in his house. He tossed the meat deep into the mouth, still in the bags. The Mobus was taken by surprise a little but recovered quickly and began chewing it with relish. He hated this part and turned away, remembering he had left the cab door open he went outside to secure it.

He walked down to the road and pushed the door shut. He moved to the front and locked the door. He turned back to the house. Three people were waiting for him.

"We hear you have a Mobus" said one of them. He tensed and froze. He could hear peripheral noises as he watched the three infront, it sounded like others had moved in around the cab and were closing on him.

"It's not my fault -- it's out of control, man!" he cried, the sweat ran off him. It felt like a bucketful of sweat was dripping from his head. He had to try and explain, anything to avoid the beating.

"You've let your house go to shit. The Mobus moved in, attracted by your filth. It's got a grip on you, you've been sweating for it -- we can all see that. What was it this time? Meat? Yeah, I bet it wanted meat -- they all do -- at first" the voice was low and angry. "You've been feeding it man, haven't you?" it barked.

The driver thought it sounded like the voice of a cop but he knew it was no good reasoning with the mob, even if there was a cop amongst them. He broke down, fell to his knees shaking. "What can I do? Tell me what can I do! I want it out but I don't know how" he sobbed. The last he heard was the sound of evil laughter.

****

He woke feeling cold. He was naked. Except, he was wearing a golf glove on his right hand. "What the F***?" were his first words. His mind couldn't work out his displacement. He was inside a small wooden garden shed. It smelled of wood and weather protector paint. He sat on a wooden chair but wasn't restrained. On his lap was a folded piece of note paper. He opened it and read.

"It was necessary to purge the Mobus using a homemade flush. Your house is rid of it. You must live in the shed for four days until all trace of the toxic flushing agent has gone. You'll find cheese taped under your seat and a banana cellotaped to your shin. Use this for nourishment. Stay in your shed - you must not make contact with neighbours. You may return to normality after the four days".

****

When the four days had passed, he stepped out of the shed shielding his eyes from the daylight. He couldn't get into the house. Hippies had moved in and changed the locks. They waved and laughed at him from the kitchen window. When he got angry and shouted at them, the biggest male hippy came out and chased him around the garden with a plank of wood. The driver slipped and fell. Now the hippy had a clear shot he smacked the plank down hard on the driver's naked buttocks. The driver let out a roar of pain and scampered away crying.

As the hippy returned to the house he laughed and said to his girlfriend "Did you see that guy? What was his problem?".

Stories

I used to write stories to make myself laugh, I haven't done anything like that for a while. I have been thinking about posting them on the web -- but really, I doubt they'd work very well and I've moved on. So instead of typing them in, I thought I'd do something different and write some new ones as blog posts. Let me know if you like them ;-)

How To Play

I wonder if other gamers have this difficulty? I have so many games, I don't get around to playing them all in much depth. Some I do, but even those I like to leave to return again (and re-learn the moves etc.). So, this post is really me wondering whether I should just stick to finishing one game right through to the end before moving onto the next? (This could take a long time and wouldn't stop me buying games but may lead to a load of unplayed games - that is kinda the situation now).

Derek Must Go

Despite Eugene being a huge disappointment, I hope its Derek who gets the chop tonight from the BB house.

Mobile Phone Unlocking

My wife won a new mobile in a competition. Its a snazzy 3G phone - reviews were moderate, its not the best on the market but it is one of the smallest 3G devices in Europe. It came with a SIM card for another service provider, I rang them about exchanging the SIM for my own provider out of my old mobile. (I had bought my wife a new mobile only last week, so she was willing to let me have this one). The company wanted £150 pounds to unlock the phone. What a rip off! Surely, this is anti-consumerism and profiteering? Isn't this wrong and why aren't organisations representing consumers shouting to get this situation changed? I should have the choice whose SIM I put in the phone - obviously the phone and account type of the company have to be compatible (they are in my case), so the only thing stopping me using my nice new phone is the stupid phone provider. Things like this DRIVE ME NUTS!

Kinga

Good to see that another female has made it into the house. After these pool antics, I wonder if Makosi is feeling a touch of deja vu? I remember a pool session with Makosi, Orlaith and Anthony a few weeks ago.
Is it really Day 67 today? I'm glad there's only two weeks left.

GTA San Andreas

I've been ignoring the media coverage until today - I've just bought this game. I must learn more...I personally don't see what the controversy is.

Everything Or Nothing

I bought James Bond 007: Everything Or Nothing at the weekend. What a great game it appears to be, really good value for me too.

Scroll Lock

Does anybody ever use the Scroll Lock key on their keyboard anymore? Good name for a group though.

No Game Purchases

I haven't bought a game for a while. I'm considering a few being sold cheap in Tesco at the moment. The cheapest seem to have really low Gamespot scores, funny that. R-Type Final is one I'm looking at.
The other problem is finding the time to play them. I haven't even PLAYED a game for a few weeks.

Unbelievable...

I can't quite believe the news over the last two days. The police have been brilliant. The terrorists are on the run - lets hope they're not being forced into committing increasingly desperate attempts to destabilise our society. Perhaps Britain has been too soft in the past on the outspoken. I always thought that was supposed to be a good, tolerant thing. Maybe we should be more intolerant of groups who incite hatred.
I consider myself fairly liberal and a humanist but I'm in danger of sounding like someone from the rightwing of the Conservative party. Is this just happenening because I'm disgusted at the deaths of ordinary innocent people just trying to get fromA to B?
Hope the terrorists are caught and stopped. Life needs to return to normal asap.

London Suicide Bombings

I'm glad the police investigation seems to be going well. I do feel though that what I've heard through the TV, radio and newspapers are just fragments of the story. None of it seems to add up in my own mind. Perhaps in time all will be revealed, perhaps I don't understand the level of disaffection with the West amongst young muslim men. I just can't see the justification for taking your own life in such a selfish, arrogant, misled, cowardly way. The innocent people certainly did not deserve their fate, I hope that the souls of the bombers burn in hell. I'm not proud to feel anger towards them, I'm not emotionally or religiously mature enough to forgive them.

Big Brother Developments

Really, what a shit bunch this year. Kemal and Derek are starting to annoy me seriously. I've always found Makosi interesting and I quite like Orlagh despite her vanity. I wish Eugene would turn it up a notch, his eyes are fantastic when they stare crazily, I wish he did that more. If he turned it up on the crazy-front he would be so much more popular outside the house. As it is, he's losing support by being a boring fart. Anthony, Craig and Science are just waste matter - get rid of them, same as that other excretion Maxwell and by association his bitch Saskia. I guess I'm saying Makosi is my winner at the moment.

G-CON Light Gun

Now, here's the thing. I bought Time Crisis recently for PSOne. Now, to play it with a normal dual shock controller is a bit tricky but with a light gun it might be a lot better. Trouble is, I don't really want a gun in the house (even a toy), so I don't know what to do. If I bought one, I would have to hide it from everybody. I would feel silly being seen using it. On the other hand, I think on my own I would be "Wow cool! I just blew that cocksucker away!". Now, which is the stronger emotion?

My First UK PSP Sighting

Someone on the train I caught today was carrying a PSP. I didn't actually see it turned on, I was hoping that they were going to sit where I could see them but they didn't in the end. I was quite disappointed, I might have started a conversation about it with them. It looked good and seemed to have a soft felt-like black cover. It had something that looked like a rigid grey carrying strap but that doesn't seem to make sense, I wonder what it was. Actually, it looked a bit bigger than I thought it would be.

Dangers of Excitement

This story caught my eye this evening. I don't like going on these thrill seeking rides for the simple reason that I don't believe they're safe enough.

Terror in London

The BBC have full details on the London explosions. It has been a while since the mainland has been attacked by terrorists. It's always shocking but with a concerted multi-centre attack like this, it indicates the presence of real evil on our shores. Godspeed to the police and anti-terrorist forces in tracking down the cold-blooded killers who planned and executed this slaughter and bringing them to justice.

Where are they now?

I wonder if in 10 years or so, when the desire for reality tv shows has well and truly expired, programme makers will decide to look back at the reality TV era and interview old BB contestants in a "where are they now?" kind of show? Perhaps it won't take ten years... I wonder if Jade Goody will still be a celebrity then?

BB6 Progress

Well, getting rid of Saskia was a step in the right direction. I find Maxwell most annoying, he deserves to go next. He is so NOT funny and unfortunately his view is the opposite. He's ignorant and loud-mouthed and he's a lazy git.

New Games

My latest games gracing my collection are two PS2 games again, after a bout of PS games. They are:

• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2003
• Spider-Man 2

Cool!

Tom's Soaking

I missed this, must have been this week though. But some jerk-off pretending to be a reporter had a water squirter disguised as a microphone and Tom Cruise was happily about to give an interview when splash! See it all here, and Tom's disgust afterwards. I prefer Dennis Pennis verbal put downs to this idiot and unfunny stuff and I actually take Cruise's side - but only up to a point. He clearly didn't like it but I think I would have reacted in a similar way myself if it happened to me. Afterall, it was water but could easily have been acid. If his skin had been damaged that could have put an end to his career. Will Cruise be thinking of this incident everytime he has a microphone stuffed under his nose? He should have pressed charges as a deterrent to others, he would have gotten criticism for pressing charges of course. He had something nasty done to him and that happens to even the most saintly of us occasionally. We can usually forget it and move on but with Cruise being so public a figure the damage must be worse. I'm not saying he won't be able to forget it but since it was captured on film, it does make it more likely that it will be re-shown ad infinitum. How cross would that make you?

Michelle McManus

I just watched a show about the Gillian McKeith healthy lifestyle plan and her tutelage of Mammoth Michelle McManus as the narrator dubbed her. I actually thought the commentary was a bit condescending and that they repeatedly showed the before version of Michelle in bathing suit. I thought it was noticeable that they didn't show her in bathing suit afterwards, she wore some kind of middle age skirt and blouse ensemble at the end as Gillian gushed at how far she had come to lose 5 stone in 5 months. It's a big achievement (the narrator would deliberately emphasise BIG at this point) but the point is surely that its got to be a long term change, afterall she can't go on losing weight at the same rate. The programme concentrated far too much on the reasons for starting and not enough on what fish she eats now, the type of exercise she is doing and how she prepares and stores food. The McKeith plan is an expensive regime, I think. It's OK if you have the time for the gym but most people don't have time to go to the gym everyday. I know it has to be a lifestyle change and I guess what I'm saying most people can't make the change as radically as somone as well off as Michelle. Even Michelle's veggie flat mate said she wouldn't have the strength to do what Michelle is doing. I'm sure the fact that the camera is on and she is recording what she is doing has a positive pyschological effect.

BB Boredom

A few weeks into BB and I usually feel a sense of boredom. I feel it now, at least the Work House idea was quite a good one and is at least quite entertaining. After Sam left I did feel a bit down, just because I quite liked looking at her I think. Even Derek has been a bit more entertaining with his comment about Science - "for the first time in my life, I've met a back man that makes me want to join the BNP". Science is irritating, he's not even funny with it though and I think that's his problem. It'll be interesting to see whether its Roberto or Derek on Friday, I think it'll be Roberto actually.

Digital video

If you want to create DVDs on your PC, you can't go far wrong with Adobe's products:

• Premiere Pro
• Encore DVD
• Photoshop

Premiere lets you edit digital video from your camcorder. Encore allows you to create menu systems for your DVD and photoshop allows you to create background images for menus and you can edit photos with it to create images for photo-montage sections of your DVD.

Sam's Exit

OK, so I was a little surprised at Sam's eviction from the Big Brother house. My money would have been on Derek. I suppose it was more interesting to keep Derek and Roberto in the house. Sam was attractive I thought, but her laugh was annoying and I don't think I would get on with her in the real world - just to contradict my previous post. She didn't have much about her actually, she didn't let her real persona out of the hat and just became boring instead.

This bloody weather!

I don't like hot and sunny weather. I just don't do it. The sun gets in your eyes so you can't see, the back of my neck gets sunburnt, I don't drink enough water so I end up with a headache, shops are too hot, the house is too hot and I can't sleep at night because I'm too hot and there is no breeze. Basically, its a misery. Don't get me wrong, I don't desire winter all year round and a hot summer makes Christmas all the more enjoyable when its cold, dark and frosty in comparison. BUT I hate the fact that cars, homes and shops in this country just don't have the necessary air conditioning for these conditions. With air conditioning this weather would be so much more bearable.

Reasons why I don't play online games

I have never tried online gaming for the following reasons:

• I buy and play cheaper older games and I'm not sure that networked play is still supported (e.g. Command & Conquer Gold Edition, SOCOM I, XIII)
• low bandwidth - 56K modem (worried in the past that playability would be so poor to be not worthwhile)
• setting up internet connection sharing, buying the right kind of cables and asking ISP for any information - the process is too painful
• privacy fears

SOCOM US Navy SEALS

Bargain time again - this time I bought a pre-owned version of this game with a head set earphone and microphone. I'll look a bit daft playing though as I'll probably not play the online version. See next post.

Contestant Sam

Her resilience after tongue lashings from various housemates has made me quite like Sam. I think she is probably my favourite now, although I do like Vanessa too but she's a bit too much of a gossipy bitch especially when she's with that Craig the wierdo bitch queen (who I would never get along with in real life because I can't stand bitching men).

DVD Decrypter RIP

It would seem that DVD Decrypter is no more. I must have been one the last people to discover it for the first time only a few weeks ago. A great program, its a great shame that its gone. Check the comments on the post for an alternative source. I shall continue using it.

PSP Pangs

I really want to pre-order a PSP. Even though I know there is no chance in hell of my family agreeing for me to have one. I still want one. I'm just a big kid. Am I being selfish? I don't drink or go out. Maybe I should go out more and enjoy the company of other men, drooling over young women in pubs.

Vote Anthony Out

I have taken a dislike to Anthony. He's quite unpleasant. He's so thick. I think he looks up to Maxwell, when he had a go at Science for throwing the bin at Maxwell (not that I think he did) I felt he was just labouring the point too hard - whose fucking argument was it anyway? Not his, that's for sure. He should have stuck his neck in. I want him OUT!!

More game bargains

It's been a few weeks since I bought Metroid Fusion for the Game Boy Advance. Which is a great game, by the way. So, I thought I owed myself the chance to pick up another bargain. I really fancy Advance Wars for GBA too, which I thought I might pick up pre-owned for a bargain. Unfortunately GBA games in general seem to hold most of their value, even when secondhand. So, I didn't feel a copy of Advance Wars with a beat-up old box wasn't really good enough value at the price. Instead I picked up a few more PS games:

• Time Crisis
• Spyro 2: gateway to glimmer
• Spider-man
• Medal of Honour Underground

All of which seem really great. The only thing is I don't have a GCon 45 light gun for Time Crisis and the game with the Dual Shock (digital only) controller just feels a bit strange. Oh well, I can't see my wife agreeing to the purchase of one.

DVD Ripping

I've been ripping some DVDs lately, using our new family workhorse PC. If you want to know how to do it I recommend looking for DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink information on the web. It's not hard to find.

Mary's Out!

So Mary's gone. Shame in a way, she got the other housemates on their toes. Nice to see a bit of character from Saskia as she spat a few unpleasant words out at Mary. I'm beginning to warm to Sam a bit, she's a horrible weak person but she is pleasant to look at (I'm so shallow!).
I think BB6 would be better if Mary had stayed and the awful Craig had got evicted. For someone with a hair salon he has shit hair: oh, and did I say he's an idiot?

Mary the witch

I was starting to warm a little towards Mary. But then she had her birthday party and was so excited by having a crap halloween-ish party (with accompanying crap music). I would have thought she would just have said it was all false but she seemed to think it was totally her. What kind of a witch is she?

Derren Brown - Home page

I'm looking forward to watching Derren Brown tonight. It's a special with celebrity guests and is on for over an hour.

PSP - Manual

PSP - Manuals are available here. Worth a read if you're thinking of buying a PSP (or just dreaming of it!).

Sony PSP Import in stock

Sony PSP Import Version is available from Firebox. Can't afford one but it would be lovely to have one.

PS2 Freedom

I'm not sure what this is about, but it might be worth visiting it from time to time and watching a few videophone diaries.

BB6 Underway

I do feel more inclined to watch BB6 now, after watching the housemates enter the house. Lesley and Saskia have caught my eye for obvious reasons but I'm sure my views will change as the personalities shakedown and come to the fore. Strategy-wise, the ones who usually remain are the ones who have a foothold in the various cliques. My prediction for a winner? I would say Sam at the moment (7/1 odds).

School uniform

Who was the sick fuck who dreamt up the traditional English soft porn of lady dressed in school uniform? What does that say about underage sex? I can't imagine who thinks it is sexy or why they could ever think that. English people of my generation are probably different to older generations. One of the reasons we don't progress as a race is what is passed down the generations. Evolution goes quite slow.

Big Brother 6

BB6 Starts tonight, we'll likely be watching it. I'm not very enthusuastic about it this year. Maybe after watching the start I'll feel differently. I've got some stocks on the contestants in BBCi's Celebdaq. I made quite a killing on my Michael Jackson shares.

More games

Bought some more games this week. Metroid Fusion for my GBA today. It's been a long while since I bought a GBA game. I picked up Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped, Rayman, Ace Combat 3 and Tekken 3 for PS recently. All great.

Domain Name

I purchased a personal domain name today. I'm setting up my other blog tool so that I can post to my personal webspace as a blog category. I am not sure what I'll do with this blog. I like it, so may well keep it for posts not going to my other blogs. Not that I've been very prolific this month.

No-Jogging this week

Feeling pretty bad because my jogging hasn't done too well lately, I stopped because I had developed a cold. Haven't really picked it up again. Must try tomorrow.

Celebdaq

I've signed up to have a go with BBC - Celebdaq - mainly at the request of my wife who is very excited by it. Be interesting to see how I do.

Eurovision 2005

Printed out the BBC Eurovision score card. Cooked a curry. Drank some beer. Scored the acts. Enjoyed the commentary. Watched the results come in with mounting disbelief. My top act was Switzerland who started well but sank halfway through. Greece won but I had them in joint second with France and Spain. Maldova did well on my sheet too, so did Latvia. A good evening's entertainment all in all. I think it gets better each year, I'm SO glad that Jordan didn't compete - she might have done better than Javine though! Eurovision website.

Barbara Streisand

Saw a lookalike for the young Barbara Streisand today. She just needed the puffy hat like in Funny Girl.

Still Jogging

Well, I'm still managing to jog nearly every morning its practical. Today, on my lap, there was a burned out van. Made it look like I was jogging through a warzone. That's life on da street for you.

Baggies to Glory

I am so pleased that West Bromwich Albion have not been relegated. Good on you, you Baggies!

Gran Turismo 2

My nearest shops for secondhand games are both crap. So I drive 30 mins for a better shop. I buy several games but the prat serving me puts the wrong game in the case. I get home and realise the error. The following week I take the game back and exchange it, arranged on phone. However, it turns out that disk 2 of 2 is missing. What a pisser! Am I never to get Syphon Filter 2, is it any good?

Pause Problem Resolved

I took the memory card out and the game no longer pauses. Perhaps Tomb Raider II would have worked? Oh well, I took the PS version back and bought the PC version instead.

PlayStation Pause Problem

I've bought a few more old PS games over the weekend. The list includes Die Hard Trilogy, Alien Trilogy, Dino Crisis, Duke Nukem: Time To Kill and Syphon Filter 2. Actually, that's all of them! I'm having an issue with Die Hard Trilogy though - when I start a new game the PAUSE function keeps launching, its maddeningly interrupting. I had the same thing with Tomb Raider II and after taking it back and exchanging twice gave up on it and swapped it for something else. Having the same thing happen with another game leads me to think there is something more consistently wrong. Is it the controller? Should I try with a non-dual shock controller?

Jogging

So far this week I've run about 14 miles, averaging about 3 miles per day. Glad I'm doing it early in the morning. Enjoying it so far, hard work though but my thighs are not so tired as they were when I started.

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

Listening to Sabbath Bloody Sabbath tonight, while washing up! I've heard it a zillion times and it still amazes me. Wonderful music.

Derren Brown Video Game

We do like Derren Brown in our house, went to see him live a few weeks ago and it was great. Last night's episode of Mind Control was fantastic. The video game with zombies to shoot was scary and exciting to watch - best thing I've seen on TV for ages.

Tomb Raider: Legend

It's quite exciting to anticipate the arrival of a new Lara Croft adventure. Tomb Raider: Legend has a website where you can register to receive news and view exclusive content.

Bank Holiday Rant

This is going to sound petty and vindictive. Here it is... I was at a car boot sale today, looking around and checking out bargains - yeah that's what you do at car boot sales STUPID! I see a few PS2 games I wouldn't mind having, so I ask innocently enough how much they are - thinking I might be able to pick up 007 Everything Or Nothing or GT3 cheap. The teenager I asked was old enough to sell the games and said 7 quid. OK, that's what I'd pay in a shop for a pre-owned copy with guarantee. Here I get no guarantee. It's a car boot sale so haggling is what people do. I ask if he'll take 4 quid for a game. But just then his overbearing mummy buts in and asks which one, I say the 007 one and she says no way - and begins to justify her decision by saying its a recent game (which its not). OK I say and walk away happy not to give her anything. My wife said she could tell she wasn't going to come down on a price even before I asked. What are these stupid people doing at car boot sales? I offered a fair price, I could have justified it if I'd wanted too (hell, it's labelled 007 but Everything or Nothing was not associated with any Bond film). The best thing to do was to say OK and walk away, which I did. But man, I feel sorry for the kid having a mother like that - it made him look weak. He was lanky and ginger too, that doesn't help.

Midnight Club II

I picked up a copy of this today - it's great fun! Driving around LA like a mad bastard!!!

Absence from blogging

I realise it's been a few days since my last blog post (apart from one I just created), I've been pre-occupied with building my new PC and life in general. I started jogging today, my legs ache because I haven't really run for such a long time. I enjoy it though - my "circuit" is very flat at the moment. I managed 3 laps (I needed to walk one and a half laps-but it still counts as exercise don't it?).

New PC!!

It's here. It's good. It's fast! My new BioStar Ideq 200T is looking cool (and blowing cool incidentally!). I'm very proud because I selected all the bits and put them together myself. AND what's more, it worked. I did have the jitters when I first turned on and heard a horrible rasping noise. I quickly powered down and checked and the FDD power cable was hanging free and trailing into the CPU heatsink fan. I quickly remedied that by tidying up a bit better and then it was fine.

Classic PlayStation Games

I'm grinning like a Cheshire Cat! I picked up some great old PS games recently - REALLY cheap too. The first three Resident Evil games, Silent Hill, Gran Turismo, Tenchu: Stealth Assassins, Syphon Filter and Metal Gear Solid.

Royal wedding TV commentary

What a joke the TV coverage is whenever there is any Royal occasion. Its totally over the top and biased : anybody who does make a comment that is balanced is regarded as mistaken and anyone who criticises the Royalty (even by email read aloud) is treated with the contempt reserved for criminals. And they have to talk don't they - even when there is nothing to say! I don't want to hear a banal comment on a hat when it's on the screen and anyone with half a braincell can make the same observation. I know I had the choice to turn off and I'm not an avid supporter of the Royals we've got but I do like to see a spectacle and I did want to watch it. I also know that we can't choose the Royal family but after Charle's handshake with Mugabe I'm just so embarassed!

Air Force One

I watched this film last night. It's a shame when a film can acquire the acting talents of great actors and have a great special effects team. However, this film is let down by a script that descends into farce: its one against one insurmountable odd after another - and it happens to be the President of the United States. The baddies fail to be really threatening because it all turns out alright in the end. If they were really as bad as they are built up to be they wouldn't think twice about murdering his family. Rant over. Don't expect much and you'll be entertained in a lazy Sunday afternoon type of way.

My Room 101

1. Instructions for cooking raw meat are usually on the underside of the printed price label. Impossible to peel off to read so you have to slit the plastic with a knife. I would like to know how long to cook something for before deciding whether or not I want it.

2. New CDs (in jewel cases) that have the teeth holding the CD in place broken and fall out.

3. Variety of biros at supermarket checkouts. Why can't Tesco afford to supply biros? Why do the staff have to bring their own?

4. Complaints by Bank of England that consumer spending is too high when at the same time the finance industry encourages people to get into debt. Why blame consumers? Surely the finance industry is to blame for making it so easy?

5. In a sugar bowl, having blobs of coffee stuck like a cluster nut to sugar. I hate having to knock them away when loading my teaspoon with sugar.

Mel C

Ever since Mel C turned into a rock chick I've fancied her. I just caught a bit of a Queen tribute show last night and I saw a brief bit of a performance from her, it was awesome (I just saw the last 20 seconds, so I don't know how it started) and I wished I had seen more. Infact, I'd love her to do a show just singing Queen numbers - she did it so well. She looks great, sounds great.

Pope JP2

The pope is dead, what a farce the TV coverage was over the weekend. I half expected to see Jon Snow with a computer diagram illustrating the failing heart and liver functions. "The Pope's breathing is now shallow and kidney functions are at 10%, he can't hold out too much longer and take this kind of punishment". Really, he should have been left alone. I can't understand why people who revel in the sight of a dead man get called pilgrims either. I just don't get books of condolence/lying in state kind of stuff I'm afraid. It's all just a bit weird.

Bargains

Found a few game bargains last week, so had to pick them up. Was away at the weekend hence my lack of posts. Those bargains were:

Tomb Raider III
Metal Gear Solid
Gran Turismo
Firestorm Thunderhawk 2
Metal Gear Solid 2

All of these were less than half the cost of a new game. I tried to buy a new copy of Tomb Raider II but the same error kept appearing, so I exchanged it for GT. Funny that the same error was on both disks, I suspect this is too much of a coincidence. Oh well, I am just destined never to own that game.

MP3 Player Musings

My wife is looking into MP3 players for taking along to listen while she does her gym workouts. The market is pretty saturated it seems. The question is which player is both light and portable, is supported by software that is Win98 compatible, is easy to use - meaning is easy for a relative computer novice to use: particularly where track selection, playlists and music organising are concerned AND has a decent display. I'm seriously considering an iPod Mini but don't know whether it would be supported by our current PC - we'll be changing it soon for a faster one though (see earlier posts about the Ideq).

Cult TV

There are a few TV shows I haven't seen that I would like to:

Babylon 5
Stargate SG-1
Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Dark Angel
Alias
Roswell
Millenium
Harsh Realm
Farscape
Smallville

I don't know if I'll like them or not but I'd like to see them from they're first episode to be able to judge them.

Car Boot Excitement

Well, it's Easter again and the start of a new car boot season begins, hurray! Went to one today with a decent turnout, just a pity that there was not much that was good on offer. I did pick up Andy McNabb's Bravo Two Zero and Immediate Action that I've been thinking of getting lately. I also bought Stand by, Stand by and Zero Option by Chris Ryan - I "think" they might be fairly similar as they are both ex-SAS but I could be wrong not having read them. I don't know if I'll like these however, as I'm not sure how fictional they are and how much is autobiographical.

New Dr Who

I watched the BBC's first episode of the new Dr Who series this evening. It was a good start overall I thought. My wife thought there were scary moments in it, I wasn't so sure about that but then I'm too old to be scared in that way. It's not the kind of show that would genuinely frighten me, its more entertainment than anything else. There were lots of screams and lots of running about. Its good that the locations were outdoors - but I suppose the budget of millions helped! I look forward to future episodes. I'm glad the show is back on, Saturday night on BBC needs a series thats not another bloody celebrity talent contest/DIY/reality TV/lottery/quiz show like every other night of the flippin' week.

The death of creativity

I used to be part of a writers group. I wrote a lot of poetry but I did it when I lived alone and was lonely. Since meeting my now wife I hardly ever write any poetry or prose. The kinds of novel I've been reading lately worry me some - they're usually about spies or the military. I wonder if this is the deatyh of creativity within me as I approach 37 this year?

Authors to read

Some other writers that I'm thinking of reading are:

Craig Thomas (who wrote Firefox, which I read recently)
Dale Brown
Stephen Coonts

The latter two are ex-military personnel who have turned to writing. I'm also considering two others:

Andy McNabb
Chris Ryan

I've been put off both of these because of the first person narrative they use, which I find slightly amateurish if I'm honest - but perhaps this is just my prejudice. I suspect that I may appreciate the style more once I get into the novel. I'm slightly put off the McNabb stuff by the fact that Alan Partridge (parody of English TV talk show host) likes reading him.

Hair Cuts

Well, gone now are the days when I pay for my hair cuts - actually I haven't paid full whack for a haircut for a while now. A relative has been cutting my hair for over a year but I've paid something towards the cost and its a little inconvenient because he is not terribly reliable or punctual and I end up waiting around and being disappointed when he doesn't show. So really, he has only himself to blame for losing my custom - but it's not a big deal to him anyway I think. So how have I achieved this? I've gone and bought a hair trimmer - the Remington HC-363 to be quite precise. My wife has trimmed mine and my sons hair and we both look very smart, here's to DIY, cheers!!

Other games on the hit list

The two games I've considered recently but haven't as yet bought are Freedom Fighters and Dead To Rights. Both have got reasonably good reviews in Gamespot but I'm worried that I've spent too much on games recently. Especially since I'm awaiting the credit card bill soon and it's not going to be good reading - several items for our new family PC are on it plus God knows what my wife has added to it.

Tomb Raider 2

I bought a copy of this for PlayStation for £1.99, which I thought was good value for a game I haven't got - despite its age. But unfortunately, its the first pre-owned game I've got that I've had a problem with. It keeps pausing the game for no apparent reason. So I'm going to take it back.

The News

I once read that Clancy was asked where he gets ideas for his novels and his response was something about him reading the papers everyday. It's true, when I watch the news I can see Clancy novels. I wonder if he is charting all the news and weaving plots around the various strands? It could be the kind of thing you might do in MindManager, I wonder if any authors use that tool for novels?

Tom Clancy versus Op-Centre

I'm reading Tom Clancy's Op-Centre at the moment, written in 1995 by Jeff Rovin actually - so not a Tom Clancy novel at all. Although, the Op-Centre book's are branded as Tom Clancy, I understand that Jeff Rovin wasn't actually credited properly as the author when the book was first published. It's OK, I'm enjoying it - probably not as much as a Clancy written novel though; it lacks the fine detail and "believe-ability" one gets reading a genuine Clancy.

Men With Cigars Are Trash!

Friday afternoon, walking from Oxford Circus to Hamleys toystore. In Hamley's I'm queueing with my sons trains patiently in line when some old git with a cigar hanging out of his mouth ignores the fact that there is a queue and barges infront of me. He stinks. Why are men with cigars arrogant sons of bitches? They're all tossers!

Next Game!

Oh no, I've got to get Freedom Fighters - my addiction is out of control!

Avoiding Temptation

Well, I've managed to avoid the feeling of having to purchase a game so far. Although even as I type I'm looking up a game review for a game I've seen cheap. I'm reading Firefox by Craig Thomas at the moment. I haven't seen the Clint Eastwood film adaptation for years and years, I wonder if I could get it on DVD?

Kuala Lumpur

Good that Schumaker didn't make it onto the podium at the Australian Grand Prix : a good start to the 2005/6 season. However, Barrichello came second so Ferrari are a long way from the doldrums. This weekend it's the Kuala Lumpur grand prix, so I'm getting exciuted about it. Check out the interactive circuit map.

A New Leaf

After some reflection, I think I have to stop buying new games that I may never have time to enjoy. Afterall, I don't have time to play the ones I've got already. I do like to swap between games but this means I never get very deep into them. I must change this behaviour, take a new leaf and play games more deeply instead of playing a lot very shallowly - if you see what I mean. I MUST NOT BUY GAMES ANYMORE - but equally, I know I can't resist a bargain. I MUST NOT BUY GAMES ANYMORE - UNLESS IT IS A BARGAIN.

Weekend Additions

Three new titles added to my games collection over the weekend. I must stop buying games and start playing them instead. I do worry about where I'm going to find the time to play though - I'm so tired once the kids are bed and whether I play on the PC or PS2 depends largely on what my wife wants to do. I also have DVDs to watch and books to read, no TIME! If only someone would pay me to do what I most enjoy!
I also bought 7 new books over the weekend - for the than a fiver, not bad at all! All good condition, in one swoop on a MacMillan charity shop I acquired most of the Power Plays series and two more Op Centre novels all bearing the Clancy name on the cover but not written by the man of course. I finished Sum Of All Fears over the weekend and started the Craig Thomas novel Firefox because I'm missing Without Remorse from my Clancy collection - my "Tower of Clancy" I call it because of the vertical height of the book stack. I want to read the books in order and without this I have had to pause.
I was doing some book research over the weekend on publishing dates for Clancy and related novels and it was quite hard work. I will post the results some time but I had to use the Library of Congress, Amazon and British National Bibliography web sites to identify them. Not at all easy but the number of series bearing his name and a young adults series that I have included for comprehensiveness made the task a bit harder than it might have been. I look forward to reading them all though.

Irritating World!

I know it's a sign of increasing years, I've been getting this way since my 30s began. But I find small irritations in life lead to stress and annoyance far beyond their individual weight of importance. Last night for example, I spent over an hour searching for and adding my PC games collection to my Gamespot profile and what did I discover when reviewing my list of games at the end of it? 21 games! No way, I've got a shit load more than that. I was infuriated! But today, I view my profile after logging out and it says there are 81, which is a lot more like it. Now, I'm not so annoyed because my work doesn't seem to have been lost.

I posted about this last night but w.bloggar complained the server was busy - last time this happened I just tried again and after about three attempts it was accepted and posted. Unfortunately, when I next viewed my blog I had 3 duplicate blog entries so I had to log into Blogger and delete the redundant ones. Now last night, instead of trying again I just thought -oh well, it's probably posted them anyway but I find it didn't and I lost the post: oh crap!

Sometimes life is just annoying!

Tombraider

I've been installing a few older PC games and trying to get them working on my system. If you have a SoundBlaster Live sound card and can get Cannon Fodder 2 working please get in touch as I have tried everything I can think of - the furthest I can get is about 3 seconds of gameplay. The copy I got is on the Sold Out label. At the same time I bought Iron Assault and this game installs and works perfectly.
If you have Tomb Raider and the image is a bit grainy hit the F1 button and it instantly improves the resolution. I really like Tomb Raider, I will play it some more. I found a really great Tomb Raider web site, check it out here.

Hide and Seek

A package came for my wife this week. Inside was a baseball cap and T shirt, she's obviously won a competition (she spends half her time on the Internet filling in forms about soap powders to win prizes). I don't know what Hide and Seek is but it has 20th Century Fox on the label so it's fairly safe to assume it's a film. Nice stuff though, I'm not complaining.

Gamefest

I've been a game demon this month. I've bought eight games so far and we're only into the second week. Games are a serious addiction for me. I caught the bug when I was bought a paddle game from Binatone as a kid. It worked on the black and white TV I had, it never did tune very well, I remember the picture not exactly being rock steady like today's monitors. But since the eighties I've slipped behind in the video games world - mainly due to the price of new games and consoles. Since I've had my Playstation 2 in January I've been doing some catching up and now I have 12 PS2 games and 9 PS games. The last couple games I've actually hidden from my wife, I'm embarassed to admit buying them. It's a compulsion I can't resist! Maybe an addiction???

Airgun Tragedy

A horrible news story about some thug who called the fire service out on a false call and shot at a fireman and also hit a 2 year old boy in the crossfire, killing him. In my opinion these people are scum. But what punishment would fit their crime? I have a 2 year boy myself so its hard not to be emotional about this, the way I feel right now I would like to see a painful death for him.

F1 Kicks Off

The 2005 F1 season kicks off this weekend with the Australian Grand Prix at the Albert Park circuit. I have dusted off my F1 Championship Season 2000 PC game and done a quick race on the circuit - but I was tired and the experience of using a racing game on PC (being so close to the monitor) is quite draining, so I didn't complete the race. Good game though from Electronic Arts.
The new FIA rules sound quite interesting but I wonder how effective they will be in reality - they are trying to de-engineer the cars to even things out for the drivers but I think that the stability and reliability of the most successful teams will give them an advantage under the new rules.
I disagree with Ecclestone's comment about Schumaker's dominance being good for the sport - last season was a complete washout seeing him win almost every race.

Celebrity Fame Academy

It's for Comic Relief I know - so it is a good cause but this show is the pits. Nuff said.

Care Bears To The Rescue

This is a fairly strange to post about I know. But, my kids seem to like their Care Bears - I don't really understand why. We have about three large ones in the house and a Care Bears cartoon movie on DVD, which I just can't seem to work out - probably because I can't sit through very much of it without being totally bored and confused. That's not what this post is about though. It's about a tape we bought on Saturday called Care Bears To The Rescue - it was 50p and my daughter wanted it so what the hell right? Anyway, after a quick listen on Saturday in the car I thought it was pretty much like the movie - confusing and boring. But after the traffic today I had a much better listen and could follow what was going on. Not to say it was MY thing or anything but I recognise putting words to music is a skill and the guy who wrote the songs obviously is of a higher order of quality than normal because they actually work well as songs and they tell a story. That's it. That's what I wanted to say. I don't know if you can get it anymore - we got ours from a charity shop and it was released in 1989.

Red Faction

I bought this game on Saturday and tried the tutorial out last night. Looks really good, can't wait to get stuck into it. Great game premise too.

Brrrrrr

It was cold last night. I spoke to another parent in the school playground this morning and he said it was -3 according to his car's thermometer. That was at 9am, so earlier than that it was probably colder. My wife's car wouldn't start and my own normally reliable automatic died a few times during ferrying people around to their various locations. It really screwed my routine up this morning, having to ferry passengers. I was most annoyed and behaved like a complete tit. Why am I so horrible to my family?

Oscars: Best animated feature film

I see The Incredibles won this against Shrek 2, depends on the criteria but I think Shrek 2 would have got my vote.

The It girl conundrum

Strange how the mind works isn't it? I was thinking of blogging something about girls bottoms (will probably still write that piece one day) when I had the thought that an attraction to someone is not necessarily a physical thing you can typecast - I fancy Tara Palmer-Tomkinson for some reason I can't explain but I loathe and despise Tamara Beckwith and I don't know anything about Lady Victoria Hervey but just the name makes me want to puke, so I can't imagine I would like her either. The Spectator partially explains the history of "the It girl" if you've never heard of it before.

The Incredibles

I don't know if I like this film, I mean I do like some aspects of it but it's attempt to appeal to children and adult audiences stretches it a bit too far. It's got dark and light moments, the animation and lighting effects are groovy. It's got humour and menace. I think if I was pushed to put my finger on it, I'd say the Mr Incredible character is the weakness of the film. He is just not somebody I can empathise with. All the parts are there, its a tried and tested formula but his character ultimately leaves me feeling like so what? Shame, its enjoyable all the same but it is not a classic film.

Minutemen film

I'd be failing in my blog duties if I didn't bring this film of the Minutemen to your attention. I can't wait to order a copy of it when it comes out on DVD.

Angelina Jolie

I can't watch Angelina Jolie without sighing and exclaiming words such as "And God created woman...". She is perfect,is she not? My eyes naturally, unknowingly, just adore her from her eyes to her lips to her breasts.
I've also been adoring Monica Harris recently, a beautiful girl worthy of much fame.

Vin Diesel

There are some actors who I just don't like, whatever role they play. I've already spoken in this blog about Nicholas Cage. My next victim is Vin Diesel. I'm sorry but it's not like I haven't tried. I rented The Fast and the Furious and began watching. I don't know what happened, it made me fall asleep. It was on TV recently and I watched a bit but it brought back horrible memories of how rubbish it was. I just had to turn over the channel. I'm not above action movies and I like films that others may hate - Charlie's Angels and Tomb Raider for goodness sakes! But XXX and TFATF take the biscuit - they are SO boring! If you want action - get The Transporter, I'll talk more about that film one day...

Let the Pope go

Why is the media fascinated with every turn of the Pope's medical history. OK, I know why - he is the pope, but it gets reported like it's unusual or something for an 80 year old (or whatever he is) to have poor health, I mean really he's had a good innings hasn't he? Let him alone to die in peace I say, give him a bit of dignity. He sure enough deserves that for tirelessly serving God and his flock.

UFO

I bought the box set of the 1970s TV series UFO starring Ed Bishop as Commander Straker. The most striking part for me, after years of loving the stories, is that the costumes are so damn sexy! I'm talking principally about the female costumes here of course, especially the Moonbase ladies. Here's an interesting fact I can't get out of my head - Lt. Ellis in Moonbase is an actress called Gabrielle Drake who played a character in Crossroads in the 80s. Don't say I'm not good for trivia again!

XIII

I've been playing this game intermittently since January and I just have to tell you that I have the utmost respect for the developers. I love the cell shaded graphics and the nice little comic book touches, like the 60's Batman style "Tap Tap Tap" written in words infront of a wall a guard is walking behind. I'm getting into the levels and the pace is picking up to, my weaponry is getting more advanced too - cool! Lovely colours as well.

Queen's snub - so what?

The second annoying thing in the media is the queen's so called snub to Charles and Camilla. I can't stand either Charles or his horsey bride to be. I couldn't care less that they are getting hitched, I care even less about who attends the ceremony. This is NOT the NEWS - don't report it!

Give Ken a break

There are 2 things that are making me annoyed at the moment. They are both concerned with the media reporting non-news as news.
The first is the "controversial" comments made to a Jewish Evening Standard journalist by the London Mayor Ken Livingstone. This should be between the two of them and is not a story that should be headline news. I don't particularly like Ken Livingstone, I have never supported him personally. He is an official and should be sensitive to any audience he speaks to in his official capacity. He would be wise to follow the same rules in private, however I don't expect that because he is in public office his judgement will be perfect always. The journalist should likewise recognise that as a reporter he should be objective and unemotional about the things he is reporting. I think a reporter should expect to get a bit of flack from people they are following.
It's a question of balance. The unintended hurt caused by Livingstone's words has been due to the way the event has been reported. No party is innocent here. But my point is that this is not news. It's going after a public target for the sport of it - something the British press like to do. I don't want to hear or read about it because it's all nonsense.

Nirvana: From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah

I was listening to this last night and it brought all of my memories of the early/mid nineties back. The music is still surprisingly good, still sounds quite fresh. They were a breakthrough group, their music did cross the bridge between alternative and mainstream. They were certainly not the only grunge group that was successful but the scale of their success was quite amazing.

Deus Ex

I bought this a few weeks ago, started the tutorial a few times but have finally had the time to start playing it in earnest. I'm enjoying it. I've noticed it seems to be titled Deus Ex: The Conspiracy but my copy is just called Deus Ex - same game though (Playstation 2). I like the fact that it's a fairly open game and that it's your choice how you play the levels. Quite a good plot too.

Clear and Present Danger

My illness gave me the opportunity to finish my latest read, CAPD. Great book, a real page turner. I've started my next book - Sum Of All Fears.

Collateral

I saw Collateral last night and was impressed overall. Some great night scenes of LA. It's a good thriller, some nice twists. I thought perhaps a little short at the expense of storyline. But rather too short than too long. Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise share leading characters and both play their roles well. It could easily be turned into a video game. It's not of Hitchcock class however, as a few reviewers on IMDB have incorrectly reported.

Windows Media Player and Playlists

Well, I've had a My Playlists folder in the My Documents directory for ages and its always been empty. That is to say, I haven't ever really used Windows Media Player except to play audio CDs occasionally and to stream videos when I've had to. Before this weekend, I had Real One, Winamp and Windows Media PLayer - all of which can play audio and video. I also have Apple QuickTime but I don't know if that plays audio files. Anyway, I'm trying to rationalise my media players and have decided to settle on Windows Media Player (at least for the moment). On my last PC, I wanted to play an audio CD - not an unrealistic demand, even though the PC was not very powerful it was PC Chips processor running at around 300MHz. Anyway, to get to the point Windows Media Player wouldn't play a CD whereas Winamp did - so I've used Winamp for audio ever since. Now though, I'm giving Windows Media Player a go again. I have some CDs with my MP3 tracks on and I've created playlists in Windows Media Player for all of them. So now, I select a disk and choose my playlist, put it on shuffle and away I go - several hours of music played in combinations I would never have chosen myself. Seems to be going OK, there are occasional skips but nothing serious.

Metallica: Master of Puppets

I listened to this album this evening. I think its one of their best. It was the first Metallica album I heard and I was blown away by the power of Battery and astonished that there were some great guitar solo pieces in amongst the heavy grinding thrashing. My favourite track remains The Thing That Should Not Be, even though the lyrics seem a little naff now. In the last year I've heard their first album Kill 'Em All and this is also very very good. At their best, they are strong and melodic and are able to convey the dark overtones and trgedies of life in their music.

Reinstall thoughts

Trying to boot my machine just brought up a Windows Protection error. I looked in the bootlog.txt file and for all of my fonts I got the failure code 0016. Everything else was loading fine, it would boot into Safe Mode but not Normal Mode. I reinstalled Windows without formatting my drive and that worked but I had to reinstall all my drivers and applications but fortunately my data was all there. I was concerned about losing my Outlook Express settings. Fortunately, past experience helped here - I had exported my account settings to another drive so all I had to do was reimport these. I also new that my old email folders were in the directory C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Identities\ but there were two folders in this directory - it was a case of going into both and identifying one with more than the default folders and copying the .dbx files into the folder that just included the default mail folders (also there as .dbx files).

Half Life

I bought the game Half Life yesterday. I did the tutorial last night and it seems quite good. I look forward to playing it some more and working out the puzzles etc. I tried a bit of the main game and sure did enjoy it. But it was late and I had to stop to get enough sleep.

Windows Media Player

I'm running Win 98SE, I know its an obsolete OS but it came with the PC. I installed Windows Media Player - or so I thought - and everything seemed fine - not that I tested it. But the installation seemed fine, version 9 I think it was. However, I wanted to watch a streamed video from Gamespot earlier today and it wouldn't let me. It took several attempts to get a version of Media Player installed and working. At one point I uninstalled the version of WMP that I had installed to try a re-install. Basically, you need version 7.1 if you're running Win98SE but you need a version of Windows Media Player installed to find that out - I had to roll back to the version of WMP installed by default with the OS.

Computer Crash

Disaster last night with Windows failing to boot after I tried to install a driver for a network card. Took me several hours to get back to nearly normal. What a waste of time! Oh well, at least I'm there now. Have I learnt from it? Er, not sure.

Kate Moss painting

A painting by Lucian Freud of the model Kate Moss sold for 3.5 million pounds. Unbelievable. I have never much liked Lucian Freud's paintings and I've never really got anything out of looking at Kate Moss. A combination of the two going for so much seems completely surreal. What a strange world this is!

Clear and Present Danger

Started Tom Clancy's CAPD yesterday evening, going well so far. It's book five in my attempt to read all of Clancy's novels. I enjoyed all his books so far read - Hunt for Red October, Red Storm Rising, Patriot Games and Cardinal of the Kremlin. Am looking forward to reading the more recent ones but his books take me a while to finish.

Runaway Jury

Runaway Jury is a good thriller if you get the chance to see it.

Conflict Desert Storm II

I do like playing this. I'm not very good but it is a good time waster. Quite a good choice of weapons and an arcade feel to it make it playable. Not incredibly realistic, I take far too many hits from bullets for that - but hey, I've only played on easy and I haven't worked through it all yet.

Differences between women and men

No, this post isn't what you think it's going to be. I just get the feeling I've offended some mothers at my kids school because I don't always talk to them. I don't blank people yet I've a feeling I've been blanked a few times, just expressions on faces and not making eye contact. Maybe it's paranoid.

Bureacracy.....

Just got some unfathomable correspondence from the Inland Revenue about Child Tax Credit. Why is it that even though we supplied information to them months ago they still get it wrong? Why is it so hard to get what we're entitled to? It just seems so unfair that the amount of money wasted in government because of stupid financial rules can't be used to fund giving us some kind of financial relief. I was having a chat with a fellow parent at the school this afternoon, he used to work for the council and said in April they would have to carry in new desks and come February they were chucking them out again so new ones could be bought. Its all just a waste of public money.

Predator

This was on last night, too late for me to watch unfortunately. I love this film, maybe I should get the DVD?

Grinding Wheels...

I've got to stop writing now, time is marching on and I'm on my own with the kids. They'd be happy to stay playing together watching television but the grinding wheels of live have to turn and we all have a schedule to keep if we're to survive the day. I feel like just going back to bed though...get that thought out of my head!

The Pope

I wouldn't like to offend anyone's beliefs but surely we are into the last few days of life for the current pope. That's why all the world's media have gathered, after all they're not there to wish him well, the poor old sod. It does seem an odd job to have, pope. Strange name for it too.

QOTSA

I was listening to the Queens Of The Stone Age album Songs for the Deaf a couple of days ago, its a really strong album and one that sticks in the head. What a cool band! I'd love to check out some of their earlier material. I see there is a new album called Little Sister.