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.