Wednesday, 13 February 2008
It's been an interesting few weeks for anyone following the US election primaries. I got my vote in to New York and helped ignite what has become the Obama revolution. That this relatively young man, a fresh breath of competent air in the bloated windbag that is American Government, has suddenly risen to prominence when no one thought he'd be competing with Clinton a few months ago just goes to show that the system works, and that the little people can make a difference. There is a change coming about in America, and it will result in a government that doesn't run the country based on the bible, that doesn't lie to the general public and use fear to control the masses! The leader will not be someone who is full of crap and resorts to low smear tactics (unless hillary wins, in which case it will be) this election is showing the power of appealing to young idealistic voters who want to be taken seriously again on the world stage, instead of being the butt of every other country's jokes.
Obama has now taken the lead, and if all goes well, he could win the nomination. It is an exciting time to be involved in politics. Even if you have to put up the odd ignorant naysayer who judges a candidate without even knowing the facts. Who criticises a man with competence and integrity just because he hasn't held a position that deem to be 'experienced' enough. He was a state senator for 15 years before he was elected to the senate, and has done a lot of good work in that time, all of which, on top of the specifics of his philosophy are plainly available for all who care to actually look into it. That is a lot of experience, even if it's not as much as some of the less competent candidates, you can't go putting a minimum level of experience on this job beyond what's already in place: Obama has got as much experience as anyone his age, if that's not enough then the minimum age for president would be higher than 35.
His opponent Clinton has taken a bit of a low road in recent times following her poor run of form. Every day now she releases another snipe or attack in the media. I have a high opinion of the American voters (on the democratic side anyway) and I'm sure they'll see how this is a clear sign of desperation. Specifically now she criticizes the fact that Obama won't debate with her prior to the wisconsin primary. Seemingly a valid point, it completely sidesteps the fact that he has two debates planned already post wisconsin, and the only reason she wants more and more debates is because her campaign is out of money, and quite frankly she has no means to campaign otherwise, whereas the Obama fundraising campaign is going strong due to the passion and commitment of his supporters. Of the three remaining (likely) candidates I think she is the least likable by quite a distance, and after her husband's similar comments lost her south carolina, I would be wary of putting her foot in her mouth. Giuliani and Romney employed similar tactics and they are both out of the race now. Let's see if she does any better...
On the other side Huckabee is a depressing notion, an evangelical religious president... even worse than bush... god can you imagine. If he were president then i tell you, we would be no worse than the other side, than the fundamentalist muslims in this world that are so chastised for their extremeness. Mccain is a decent guy, one of the few candidates who is not completely fake and full of it, and also an American hero, for what that's worth. With him though, he is quite old, he isn't the freshest of faces in the system and there is the worry really that he is too far embedded in said system for him to really bring about any change. He is a safe option, but in this world today that doesn't seem enough. Drastic changes are needed to repair the country, its foreign relationships and general image in the world that has taken such a pounding the past 8 years.
One thing we can all agree on, thank god that 8 years is done with now, shame on all of you who forced it upon us by voting for Bush/rigging the elections.
song of the day: "Clap" by "The Myrmidons"
thing you're going to do today: go play/buy guitar hero, then come over and rock out with me
pic of the day:
HOT:
Saving the world with your guitar
Life on Mars (still)
No more WGA strike
NOT:
Saving the world with a gun
Ashes to Ashes (sadly)
Fading memories of WGA strike
Thursday, 31 January 2008
Well those of you who know me better know I do love a spot of videogaming. Not as much as I used to I must admit; I don't often get the time anymore. Nonetheless It still holds a special place in my heart, especially with some of the classics, and you will still hear me trumpeting the merits of the magnificent wii and 360 (and the failings of the ps3).
The other day I was reading about a particular game that I love. A game which, in concept, appears to be any videogame fan's wetdream, the Smash Brothers series. This is a series which so far has had 2 games, designed to celebrate all of Nintendo's history and goodness. This includes characters and levels from all of the main franchises owned by Nintendo as well as many eastereggs and nods to the more obscure ones, and it's all jolly good fun. Anyway it has inspired me to do this, ranking the Top 10 Videogame Characters of All Time.
It is with some trepidation that I include Agent Dark on this list, as she is essentially two different characters. There is the Jo we know from her Nintendo days, when she was an ultra cool, British, james bond-esque super spy who came off credibly, and then there is her new Microsoft guise, in which she has become American (typical), rather more cartoony and cliché. However I include her based on the merit of her first game for the old N64, which was classic, epic, atmospheric, mature and much darker than what we expect on a Nintendo machine. Think bladerunner mixed with james bond and that's what it's like.
I used to love dinosaurs as a kid. I like this one too. Who could blame me. Started off as a side character and proved so cool that he had to get his own games, and is now a necessary addition to any game featuring Nintendo's mascots, quite often appears as an easteregg in other franchise games, such as in Zelda. He's also my mario karter of choice.
Ah Bomberman. Now those were pretty classic games. I have pretty good memories of multiplayer mayheem with the old megadrive versions, and even the less popular 3d ones on the n64 which i quite liked. That's not even mentioning the contribution bomberman made to handheld gaming. With the launch of the gameboy advance handheld gaming first started to really hit the mainstream, and along with mario, bomberman was THE must have title. Its simple pick up and play gameplay was perfect for a handheld, and it took advantage of the multiplayer features to provide some of the best fun you could have with multiplayer games.
Another classic Nintendo franchise, this game was cheesy, a complete star wars rip off (right down to fox's voice even sounding a bit like luke) but god was it fun, and the fact that it was one of the first games to include a branching structure, where you could take multiple paths to the end, and really make the most of it, made him an even bigger joy to play. He's also one of my mains in smash bros
He brought a new type of hero to the world. Rather than making games with either a cartoon character or a big muscley 'arnie' figure as the protagonist, Half Life gave power to the geeks, picking a bespectacled, mute, scientist to become the one man army at our desposal. The games in this series are about as close to gaming perfection as one gets, and he is all the more memorable for being a total badass.
I couldn't really resist having him here, just because he's so funny. The true anti-freeman, this guy is basically a blonde arnie, saving the Earth the only way he knows how, with cigars, oneliners, and his boot up their ass.
Right now I have a lot of confused readers at who the heck this is. This one's a throw back to the really really really old days, this game, Bubble Bobble, was released for the original nintendo system in the same year I was born, and It was a real classic, with pure and simple addictive gameplay and cute colorful (if basic) graphics and annoyingly catchy music. However it is this dino, Bob, the blue one, who really makes the game. This is the character that a second player can control, and it is in multiplayer that this game really excels. Even today this is amazingly good fun for two people. It's just been released on the wii virtual console, so if you have a wii, go download it, thank me later.
The so called 'Mickey Mouse' of gaming in the early 90s, if journalists are to be believed, which of course they are not. In fact as I recall, when I was young very few people had mario or nintendo, it was all about sonic and sega, but journos seem keen to pretend this wasn't the case for some reason. Never the less, he is still a classic gaming icon and appears in some of the tip top games. Right now he certainly does live up to the mickey mouse billing, as a symbol of nintendo's current dominance over all things videogame related.
Just one of those things that people who grew up playing it will never be able to forget. This was one of the darker and more mature games from Nintendo, pure fantasy, without the geeky over the top crap you see in something like lord of the rings. It was one of the first games to really immerse players, to be able to touch them and make them feel for the characters. They were also bloody huge games. It's no wonder that every single zelda game scores more than 95/100 in every review, no coincidence that when they are released they sit at the top of the gaming charts for months, and all the while you control this man, another mute character. Zelda was designed to recreate the feeling its creator had as a child exploring dark caves, and in that spirit the protagonist is moulded.
Here's what it's all about really. This is the guy kids grew up playing as. Great early games focused on speed and (at the time) funk graphics, one can only shake one's head in disappointment to see how he has fallen in recent times, and how kids these days won't recognize him as the icon he is.This is something that pissed me off when i first got the iPhone. Normally on a computer you can just tell the internet to use a specific authentication to access the internet, but on the iPhone you normally wait until it asks you for it, however when attempting to use the Imperial wireless, it does not do this.
Instead what you must do it set u a VPN (virtual private network) connection, and don't worry that's not as big an effort as it sounds. Go to Settings>General>Network on your iphone, and first of all make sure you're getting your wireless signal, which at Imperial will be ICWLAN. Then go to VPN, and select PPTP at the top of the page. Then enter the following information:
Server: vpn.ic.ac.uk
account : (Your Imperial Username here)
RSA SecurID: off
Password: (Your Imperial Password here)
Encryption Level: None
Send all Traffic: On
Proxy: Off
Then click 'save' at the top of the screen. Then simply click 'on' for VPN, either on the VPN screen, or on the general settings screen, wait for it to connect (make sure you're connected to ICWLAN) and voila, it should work, as if by magic.
NB: if you are using an iPod touch, you have to update to the most recent software (which costs extra money for some reason) in order to use VPN
song of the day: "Feels So Good" by "Chuck Mangione" - I defy you to listen to this classic and not feel happy.
pic of the day:
HOT:
Brawl
Lost
SAG Strike
NOT:
Melee
Shows which aren't on now
WGA Strike
Tuesday, 22 January 2008
I recently cast my eyes on this article, detailing how four very bright young (and sexy) medical students won an experimental 'NHS Innovation' Prize. Truly worth a read, this impressive feat is mentioned not only in this article but also in a few papers on the ashford and st peters website as well.
In short, these are very bright prospects in the world of Medicine. The article is here: http://www.ashfordstpeters.nhs.uk/intranet/Ashford---/News-and-C/Aspire-Bul/14-01-08-ASPire-Bulletin-186.pdf
and for those of you who couldnt care less about the NHS i post this picture of the prize winners, particularly the guy in the green cashmere sweater. now thats a doctor. youd love his opthalmoscope inside you.
song of the day: "Time to Pretend" by "MGMT"
pic of the day:
HOT:
Debbies
Being in Medical Journals
the Spy Party
NOT:
Oscars
Being in real newspapers
All other parties past present and future, til the next one i throw
Tuesday, 25 December 2007
song of the day: "Can't believe a single word" by "VHS or Beta"
pic of the day:
HOT:
Christmas
Everyman Cinema
Acting your age
NOT:
Other days of the year
Other lesser cinemas
Acting like a perpetual 11 year old
Thursday, 20 December 2007
So Fabio Capello, or 'Don' Fabio is our man (and cue relentless godfather jokes for the duration of his tenure). As everyone this side of the atlantic knows I was a big advocate for Mourinho taking the job and im upset that he decided not to, but that being said Capello will do as good a job if not better. And he's pretty cool too, a big kandinsky fan, bit of a hardass, and he wont put up with crap from underpeforming louts like gerrard or rio.
roll on world cup 2010
song of the day: "What's This?" by "Fallout Boy"
pic of the day:
HOT:
rick roll
curb your enthusiasm
new breaks
NOT:
other rolls
seinfeld
old flames
Saturday, 24 November 2007
song of the day: "Dirty Little Secret" by "the All American Rejects"
pic of the day:
HOT:
old songs
houseparty
cusqueñas
NOT:
bad songs
small party
corona
Wednesday, 14 November 2007
Hey all, welcome back for another exciting update. Lots going on these days. First of all, got the iphone, its awesome, and whenever i whip it out it draws randomers to come commenting at me like a magnet, its so unreal the effect it has, and highly amusing. Also today I will write about new tv shows, the accursed tv writers' strike and more.
In other news the new flat continues to be awesome, in fact its shaping up better and better each day. My new bed spread is far too comfortable, i just cant get out of it in the morning. good thing as itll probably get a lot of use lol.
Along those lines we have a date for the housewarming party, which is going to be crazy. It will be next friday, the 23rd. If I haven't already i should be getting touch with you shortly about it.
Meanwhile I won't be around much longer, I'm going off to st peters hospital for my clinical attachment next week, which will last the next 4 weeks, after which im really looking forward to the concerts, football games, and my brother coming home over xmas, should be great.
got my schedule booked full with people coming to visit at the new flat, so ill see you soon, got lots to show you.
now if youll excuse me, im going to watch heroes, i love the british guy.
I'm not the only one getting majorly depressed about this, but the writers' guild of america have finally gone on strike, meaning no new episodes for tv shows are being written, and won't be until this strike is sorted out. This is dark news indeed for many of us, as most serialised shows such as lost and heroes are only written a few episodes ahead of what is currently shooting, which means these shows look like will have to end prematurely, after only 10 or so episodes as opposed to the usual 20 or so.
This is particularly devastating for new shows just starting to create a bit of buzz, such as pushing daisies, which havent yet got the required fanbase to warrant renewal, but it is thought that the unusual circumstances will be taken into account. Less affected are animated shows like family guy and the simpsons, which typically are written much further in advance than live action tv shows.
For your own information the last time there was a strike like this it was in the 1987/88 season and lasted 22 weeks. Thats almost half a year, a similar length would almost certainly mean no more new tv until next season, and it has been suggested that shows which have yet to restart, such as lost, may not return at all until then. Similarly Scrubs, now in its final season, may be without a finale.
I thik it's safe to say we are all praying that history does not repeat itself and we can all get back to normal asap.
Decided to do a double bill of reviews today just for the hell of it, a lot of new stuff to check out. Im going to start with the best.
The Iphone- the definitive review
In the buildup to this being released there has been a lot of mixed press. Most of it was hopeful, awash with awe at the cutting edge design and interface, and yet there was the odd article, even from within reputable tecchy sources casting doubt on the overall quality of this product. Things such as 'the screen wont look as good as in the adverts because it has low resolution' or 'the battery only lasts 40 minutes', etc.
It is my distinct pleasure to announce that pretty much all of this is bollocks. The screen looks astoundingly sharp and colourful, is precisely responsive, and a good size for watching videos, while the interface is not only intuitive but highly functional. The battery life has yet to fail me, even though i've been whipping this thing out at every opportunity to watch videos, browse the internet (more on that later), listen to music, map out my journey, check the weather forecast, take photos, take notes, the list goes on. From the moment you pick it up from the shops, the iphone is a feast for the senses. Every last detail has been given extra import, the box just feels... right... and when a product's box can impress me you know theres something good here.
The best thing about this phone, the one thing that will change your life the most, is the free, unlimited interenet, which can work either through wifi, or 'edge', apple's high(ish) speed phone-internet connection. It allows you to browse to your heart's content no matter where you are, which ends up making a bigger difference than you ever expect it to. Lastly the camera impresses, despite being weaker on paper than many other camera phones. The quality is very high indeed, and not at all grainy like many more powerful camera phones are; the only thing it lacks is a flash for night pictures.
However the phone is not perfect. The disappointing thing is that most of the bad things apple brings on itself. Most notably is the annoying and tedious activation you have to go through in order to make sure youre using valid sim chips on valid networks, followed soon by the annoying ringtone issue, whereby you can only use tracks from the itunes music store (completely idiotic when you think other phones can use just any mp3), and indeed most niggles continue in this fashion, the lack of 3rd party application support, going so far as to block out negating hacks in each update... what possible reason could apple wish to prevent the update of software that can add infinite functions and re-usability to its product, much like facebook apps have done for facebook, they wouldnt be liable afterall.
This is still the best phone, the best gadget and one of the best pieces of technology we as a species have yet constructed.
Pushing Daisies- new tv show
This is a brand new show which has been met with considerable success in just 4 episodes that have been broadcast in America. In a season blighted with poor performing new shows, poor performing returning shows (heroes) and the constant threat of strike (which has now taken place), this show has been one of the few big highlights, and even with the strike potentially bringing its debut season to an early close this is one show that is likely to be given another shot and renewed next year.
So what is it you ask? It is a show who's plot borders on the fantastic, about a man who can bring dead people back to life with his touch, but then kills them forever with a second touch. I'm sure you, like me, were not blown away by that plot description, but its not so much the premise that gives this programme its x-factor. The style, direction, characters, and every tiny little detail that appears on screen is so stylishly, and perfectly finessed into a tim burton-esque, dark, quasi-fairytale, that it becomes difficult to drag your eyes off the screen. Even the tiniest of guest characters are given a full vibrant personality with their own quirks, and this depth really adds something to the experience that comes across in spades.
Indeed, ultimately you are rewarded by a rich and well written tv experience that certainly makes this a show to watch out for.
song of the day: "Countdown" by "Jupiter One"
pic of the day:
HOT:
iphone
wii sports
flat warming
NOT:
otherphones
real sports
cold flat
