Monthly Archives: March 2011

#173; What Happened, Mr TV?

  By Lukeh | March 30, 2011 - 8:19 pm | television
1 Comment

Well, at least they're flowery I suppose!

Man, whatever happened to television? It’s a common query and something I am at risk of recycling here but I can’t help but wonder it. The last few weeks I’ve been going back and watching some of the greatest British comedies ever created such as Fawlty Towers and Only Fools and Horses. I mean, these shows didn’t need much except solid writing and a brilliant cast to make them such hits but although there’s still good stuff on TV it’s hard to compare modern day comedy with some of the genius written back before I was even born.

Even just thinking back to some of the best shows I’ve ever watched shows a recurring pattern of the time they were made. How can you now find the absolute genius that is Blackadder and the wonderful work of Richard Curtis an absolute joy to behold? even a show that constantly places itself in new eras and still finds the jokes that make it such a laugh is a sure sign of a classic. Then there’s the iconic Monty Python, in all it’s radio, TV and film form the fact it just wanted to be so completely stupid made it funny enough but some of the sketches the Monty Python guys pulled together from four candles to the funny walk, just these little things to this day are still utter genius. I always had a soft spot for Open All Hours too, maybe it was because David Jason is brilliant in anything it does or probably because it was just simply fun to watch, whenever I see it on the digital channels it always grabs my attention. Going a bit closer to the times the likes of Vicar of Dibley, Keeping up Appearances and Red Dwarf are all these shows so utterly British in how they’ve been done and that for me is the key to their success. You simply could not find humour like what you see in some of these names anywhere else.

I could just sit here and have a rant about modern day TV but I won’t. It’s hard to compare the audience of today to the audience of the 70′s for example when it’s so, so different and the general culture of the audience has changed. But I suppose I get rose tinted specs when I look back at these shows I mention and talk about and wonder how much fun it must have been to have sat down at your television and watch these shows for the first time. Granted, most of them are sitcoms and it saddens me a bit to see how neglected the sitcom genre can be now as well as be seen as uncool with the whole filming in front of an audience thing. But I’m glad though that these shows are held up in such high prestige because it never, ever gets old going back to them and watching them whether it be on the terrestrial or UKTV channels or even just clips on Youtube.

 

Ronnie Barker is so funny, even without the Corbett. David Jason is a viable replacement!

Nowadays there’s not much I want to watch on TV anyways. Ironically one of my favourite Channel 4 shows is a sitcom still running – IT Crowd – but there’s still been plenty to praise over the last decade or so even if it doesn’t reach the heights of these absolute classics. Stuff like Black Books, The Royle Family, Phoenix Nights, Peep Show, even Gavin and Stacey (which won me over eventually!), South Park, Futurama, all these new American influences and imports such as Arrested Development and The Office, there’s still plenty to see. Maybe it’s just not as good as it once was though. Most of my viewing comprises of brilliant BBC drama now that I’ve been introduced over the past few months to by Lou and quite rightly too – the BBC can make a damn good thriller or drama. But again this goes back to my point that times changes and maybe what an audience wants now is well different to what a family would sit down to in the 70′s.

It would be fair to say though that TV doesn’t hold the same status as it once did with the general family of yesteryear. Stuff like the internet with streaming videos and downloadable episodes as well as a totally bloated line up of channels via digital television absolutely means the importance it holds has been devalued quite a lot or at least it does to me. But it’s still nice to know that going back to the classics still brings out that laughter and unequivocal joy that it always has done.

Long Live Classic British Comedy!

#172; Origin of Controversy

  By Lukeh | March 22, 2011 - 6:59 pm | 00s, 2011
3 Comments

Oooh, yay, it’s time for another Muse related post. Usually when it comes to Muse and writing about them on this blog I either seem to spout a bit of moaning, a bit of creativity or just a look back at the band, although it’s seemed to me that in the past I moan about them more than anything. Of course, this could be no exception here too but I don’t think I’ll end up moaning. You see, it was announced earlier this week that Muse would be headlining the Reading and Leeds Festivals this year. Rejoice, they could be heard, and shout in delight, as Muse fans worldwide got the even better news that these headlining performances would feature a special tribute so to speak to their much acclaimed album Origin of Symmetry. The old mucker is 10 years old this year see and the band thought it’d be nice to go back and perform some songs and rarities from the album at these gigs in the summer. As you can imagine, it led to much spontaneous eruption from the many Muse fans at such a thought. Could it be too good to be true? Could these old classic songs be coming back? Surely there’s gonna be something?

And then it hit them like a sledgehammer on a sponge. A really yummy sponge too. Not even one from Kwik Save, more like a sponge that you really wanted all your life and just tasted so nice. But I digress…

Muse have said they are likely to play some songs from their ‘Origin Of Symmetry’ album for the “last time” at this year’s Reading And Leeds Festivals.

Frontman Matt Bellamy said that the band want to mark the 10-year anniversary of ‘Origin Of Symmetry”s release in some way at the shows.

“It’s probably the last time some of these songs will ever be played live again,” he said of the 2001 album. He explained that the shows would see the band “drawing a line under one phase of our career“.

He added: “It was on the second album ['Origin...'] that things really started happening for the band, and when we focused on the live side of things much more. So it’ll be like coming full circle: we’ve gone off on one a little bit, and now it feels like the right time to pull it back and remind ourselves of what we were doing 10 years ago.”

As soon as this became public through the online forums, it seemed that the lyrics of Map of the Problematique became a reality for Muse fans – fear and panic truly was in the air for them. Could it be actually true? Are Muse really going to be getting rid of these songs completely, even the staple set list songs like Plug in Baby and New Born? Are Matt and the lads really that desperate to draw a line under one of the most loved eras of their fans? It all seems a bit odd I suppose.

And yet I sit here completely nonchalant about the whole thing. I mean, I’ve seem some pretty violent reactions to this news on the forums and stuff like Twitter following this. Don’t get me wrong, I know some bloody brilliant Muse fans through social media but I can’t stress enough that Muse fans need to take a chill pill about these things. Even more annoying is the fact that such an idea isn’t even relatively new – Showbiz has basically gone from the setlist for a very long time, and now it seems the natural course of time is seeing Origin following such a state and I wouldn’t be surprised if in 5 years time, should the band still be performing, Absolution falls out of the set lists in favour of the band focusing on newer stuff. It just happens, you know? Don’t get me wrong – Origin has some brilliant, brilliant live songs on there and to be honest I don’t think they will all disappear suddenly forever, we’ll see one or two in future appearances. But it just happens. I’m not surprised about the whole thing in all honesty, if anything it’s a little espected in the way Muse’s course has taken them to where they are now, but at the same time I can understand why it would upset people. Not so much to the mental levels I have seen around the interwebs, but it’ll be sad to see a few songs retired forever.

Perhaps I’m falling out of love with Muse anyways as I grow up. I still love listening to their music but my own personal library continues to expand to new bands and new sounds as their albums grow weaker in comparison to such albums as Origin or Absolution. again I go back to my previous point though that this happens with bands, and it’s not really a surprise. I could sit here proper angry and upset at the band for choosing to do this but it’s ridiculous to take a band like Muse seriously as it is, there’s no need to go proper psycho over it.

Dem grown up.

The most interesting part of the whole story for me though is the fact they are doing this at Reading and Leeds. You may wonder what I mean but it intrigues me that they plan to commemorate this great album at a festival and not at a special gig for the fans. You have to remember both festivals will have a huge audience but will be mixed with casual fans rather than the specialist hardcore Muse fans that will go to their own gig just to see them. Is it inappropriate to suggest that the band should have chosen a special place to perform these songs ‘one last time’ rather than a festival with an audience who are not there necessarily just to see them? I just think it’s an interesting choice especially with a rapid fan base that they so have, and the band full well know just how much the fans love to hear stuff like Citizen Erased and Bliss, even more so with this introduced idea of some of the haven’t-played-live-for-years songs like Hyper Music and Space Dementia returning for one final go. Watching the reaction on various sites last year to Matt telling the second night of the Wembley gigs that ‘they were the real Muse fans’ that night, and it’s kind of surprised me that there hasn’t been the same level of reaction to this idea of playing it to a general audience rather than a Muse audience.

Like I say though, it’s all just thoughts from me. It’s a bit sad to know these great songs are being put into retirement but as I’ve already gone into detail it’s not really a shock is it? Origin was recorded when they were travelling around the round touring non-stop, drinking, tour buses, many many mushroom-related escapades, they were just young lads enjoying the moment and using their ‘activities’ so to speak to create a brash, loud and new sound to follow up Showbiz. Now Matt is with a Hollywood actress and has a son coming later this year, Chris has overcome alcoholism and juggled between the band and bringing up 5 children, and Dom is… well Dom is Dom. You can’t expect them to be the same as they were then. The band have grown up, matured, their ideas changed not only with the world around them changing but the changes in their life. You can’t expect Matt Bellamy to still be the wild child of the early decade with biro drawings of veins and dyed red hair. He’s said himself it;s one last big hurrah for that era and you just have to accept that and enjoy the moment by not being so negative about such an idea. Muse fans ask for such an event for years and years and when it comes it’s still not right.

I know there will be plenty of thoughts about this from Muse fans reading and I’d really love to hear them from you in the comments. There’s all sorts of reactions to this news, mostly angry, but I’d still love to hear from you to know what you reckon. Just try and give the whole idea a bit of open thought. I can understand if you may think I’m a bit naive for having this train of thought too but Muse have very much become a band I can’t take seriously no matter how much I may love their music. There’s no way I’m defending the band because their choices and their choices to defend not my own but it’s just something that hasn’t really affected me as a Muse fan yet I think I may be the only one who’s looked at it this way.

#171; Food for Thought

  By Lukeh | March 21, 2011 - 6:47 pm | 2011, food
3 Comments

Food has always been a pretty contradictory thing for me. When I get a really yummy meal I absolutely love it yet I can never seem to eat a full meal most times. It’s one of the many little things with meals and food that kind of annoys me personally but I thought it’d be worth discussing for a blog post. Usually I tend not to talk about these kind of things but I’d be interested in hearing how you treat food too whilst I discuss my own little habits and oddities.

To be fair, everyone does indeed have their own little habits and tastes with food. for me I’ve always had this really frustrating struggle with simply eating a lot of vegatables. It’s not even a case of ‘Ewwwww’ because I’m starting to become much more willing with trying new stuff, but in fact sometimes even attempting to eat some food genuinely want to retch. Just an instant reaction. It’s incredibly annoying because as I say I’m always happy to try something new but this reaction, uncontrollable in some cases, just seems to prevent it. It happens a lot with vegetables and it’s very frustrating. Stupid …something. But I really do love a yummy meal though despite seemingly having so many fussy habits, plus I’m not very clued up on most foods. It’s a little bit naive I suppose. But you always learn something new, right?

This general collection of thoughts though sounds a bit negative so far and I certainly don’t mean it to be negative because I’m really aiming to widen my tastes much more. Lou has been really helping me with this so far and it’s been excellent having that bit of support to try new things just to add a bit of confidence with this area and I’m really looking to eat new yummy things. This week I’m going to be trying more fish and probably over the next few weeks too, as I used to eat fish a lot when I was younger yet I just seemed to go off it. A bit strange perhaps, but fish being so healthy makes it a very useful thing to eat. Then we get to meat and I will probably eat anything with meat. Om nom nom. Pies and stuff I’m good with too (probably because most of them I’ve ever had have meat in!) but there’s stuff like Shepherd’s Pie, much like fish, that I used to eat a lot when I was younger but just kind of stopped. Very annoying!

I definitely want to eat more healthily though that’s for sure. As much as I love pizzas or curry it’s not something you can depend on (luckily I’m not that bad at the moment!) and I do agree that it’s good to have plenty of options of food to eat, enjoy and share with others. This also kind of leads into the idea of wanting to know how to cook stuff for myself too much more easily then depending on others but that’s a whole different subject I suppose as there’s nothing wrong with being cooked a really yummy meal if those cooking are happy with cooking it. Definitely wanting to improve with cooking though, back in school I made some mean sponge cakes and brownies!

It only seems right though that I become much more independent with my foods and just exploring new tastes and new things or re-visiting old tastes that I just randomly gave up. Part of me thinks that if I wasn’t living at home I’d try a lot more as usually it ends up with mum making meals for the house but at the same time I’m also quite concious about how annoying I can be with food too, even typing this up has left me sitting here just wondering whether such thoughts would be worth publishing. I’m also someone who tends to struggle with a bit of self confidence at times, having a bit more confidence I feel would probably learn to trying new things even easier if that makes sense. It’s all just general thoughts anyways that hopefully I’ll be able to get back to you all on in the future on what progress has been made. Food is subject we all have to deal with (food is quite an important thing I hear, it affects everyone these days) and it seemed a topic worth going into detail about especially when you’re a fussy eater like myself!

#170; Some More iOS Games Reccomendations

  By Lukeh | March 16, 2011 - 3:54 pm | 2011, gaming, general
13 Comments

It’s been a while since I blogged about recent iOS games I’ve been playing on my old iPod Touch so I thought now would be a pretty good time to share out some goodies in what I’ve been playing recently. Of course, I should offer a few warnings before I go on here – I don’t have an iPad. I barely have a notepad. If any of my recommendations are on the iPad then that’s even better but this is just a chance to share some cheap, fun games that I thought other people would enjoy for their iPod or iPhone. With my post in 2009 I went for more gaming-orientated titles but today include some really addictive and bloody good fun games you can get for cheap that anyone can pick up and play.

Just click on the icon below and it’ll transport you straight to more into on the game! Like a magic carpet but in HTML!

Tiny Wings

Genre: I’m not quite sure to be honest – 59p/99c

Slidiest hills ever.

Last time I looked at some apps as I said above I reviewed the fantastic Canabalt, a one-touch button game that had you escaping the evil wrath of buildings falling apart and your little dude running and running whilst you pressed to jump. At the time I had no idea what to class that genre as, and with Tiny Wings I have a similar problem. Much like Canabalt though with it’s gameplay mechanics, Tiny Wings is already standing out to me as the iOS big game right now as a successor to the slightly-bored-of Angry Birds. The concept is simple. Your tiny little bird wants to fly and to do so it needs momentum by sliding down hills to get as far as he can as you press to put weight down to slide. Your goal is to get as far as you can before night fall when your bird goes back to sleep. How something as simple as this can be such an absolute joy to play is beyond me but I genuinely think you’ll be missing out if you don’t give Tiny Wings a go because it plays beautifully, it has a lovely feel to the game and it looks absolutely stunning. It’s also oddly relaxing too, which I really, really like. Who needs Angry Birds when you’ve got a calm one like this?

Game Dev Story
Genre: Simulation/Strategy – £2.39/$3.99

They're an enthusiastic bunch.

In terms of PC games I’m an absolute sucker for these management and simulation type of things such as Theme Hospital/Park, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Sim City and so on. This is one genre I feel the iOS does pretty weakly to be honest but luckily Game Dev Story is an absolute shining gem in a misty swamp of average titles. Once again it falls straight into the world of being ridiculously addictive but you get a chance to start up a games development company, hiring and firing people, making games, working on advertising and going from generation to generation of console and whatnot. I know it’s hugely popular at the moment with gamers anyways as it’s something new for the simulation genre but it’s just a fabulous title with plenty of lifespan and replayability.

MovieCat!
Genre: Quiz – £1.19/$1.99

Kill Bill... actually don't. Bill's cool.

If there’s one way to present an app that quizzes your knowledge of movies it should always definitely be though the form of cats. I think that’s why I really enjoy using MovieCats because it’s pretty unique in that aspect but if you do love your movies then this is an absolute must for you. None of that Chris Tarrant nonsense with his cheques and his dramatic music. MovieCats’ various modes of quiz include re-enacting scenes from films with cats, phrases from films, general trivia etc and everything you;d expect but, of course, with more cats. We need more cats! But the variety of things to do makes MovieCats real fun to play and you tend to learn new stuff if you know nothing about older films like I do. Don’t fret though – it covers even the newest films with constant updates too. Such fun!

Time Geeks: Find It All!
Genre: Puzzle – 59p/99c

Gotta find 'em all.

I’m sure many of you will instantly know what I’m about when I saw how awesome Where’s Wally/Waldo was. I don’t know why that guy seemed to lose himself in such silly crowds yet see the camera fine whenever he went on his journeys but finding him was the best. This is why I love Time Geeks, because it is basically a geeky version of Where’s Wally with lots of objectives, a huge amount of references to popular culture (the IT Crowd characters appearing I really love) and some retro fantabulous  graphics. I find it incredibly rewarding too with such a huge amount to do and discover, but it’s the levels you explore that are the main highlight for me. So much effort has been made to put in these little references and I’m glad there’s a free camera mode to just explore it and see what you can find. Fantastic fun and totally worth it for 59p/99c.

Land-a Panda
Genre: Puzzle/Action – 59p/99c

Such panda-monium. Sorry.

First off, this fabulous little title has pandas in it. I mean, is that enough to tempt you? You want more? Blimey, fair enough. But what I like about Land-a Panda (keep typing Lada Panda) is that it’s really good to look at with some lovely graphics and it keeps it simple but still ridiculously addictive. Of course, it is stupidly cute too but that just goes back to the panda argument as mentioned already. The point of each level, all constructed in a similar 30 level a world style that Angry Birds has, is to reach your ladyfriend panda through cannons and physics as she waits with her heart to fall in love with you. Awwwwww. Again, cute. Once the game stops holding your hand for most of the first world and lets you reign free, getting used to the physics and the cannons available you’ll soon see just how good it is and will keep you hooked for a while. Did I mention it has pandas? If you leave your little panda for a while he begins squeaking like Sooty and Sweep. Awwww.

Let me know what you think though and if you have any games to share! I’ve just also just had this great bit of info on Twitter…

http://twitter.com/miketbh/statuses/48052896637521920

…about the SEGA related deals concerning the Sonic games having their sales proceeds going all towards the relief donations for Japan at he moment which is a fabulous idea and further incentive to buy the games right now. It seems SI Games are doing the same too with SEGA for the Football Manager games on iOS. Good to see developers of the platform doing their bit. Cheers Mike.

#169; Movie Reviews VIII

  By Lukeh | March 14, 2011 - 4:34 pm | 2011, films, reviews, wrestler
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It occurred to me the other day I haven’t posted a movie review post for a while so here we are with the latest quick roundups of recent film watching. A few different types this time out as I took the time to give Taken, Grown Ups and The Wrestler a watch. Also, you can now find all my previous movie reviews up in the menu at the top of this blog on any page as well or if you can’t be bothered to scroll all that way up there here’s the page. Phew, hard work that clicking and scrolling! Onto the films.

I wasn’t sure what to make of this. It’s a film I’d wanted to see for a while because it has a pretty good repuation as a good action film but it was the story that let it down for me I think. That aspect just disappointed me a little bit, it had such a good foundation for a story but it wasn’t anything that really captivated me. The main plot follows Liam Neeson’s character who, as a retired spy for the US who stepped down to spend more time with his 17 year old daughter, is pretty worried about letting her go off to Paris with her friend. Of course she ends up going and it ends up all going horribly wrong as her friend gets kidnapped and Liam heads off to get them. As a film there’s plenty of action in there and some scenes are really quite brutal at times but really well done.

I’m a big fan of Liam Neeson too but with me I have this frankly stupid thought where whenever I see him in a film I picture him in Love Actually. Yep. But let’s face it – Neeson is the Hugh Grant of father roles in films. In this he is a dad. In Love Actually he’s a dad. In Schindlers List he’s a father… figure to many he helps. And Ponyo too, and I’m sure there’s more I’m forgetting. Hell I’m surprised in Star Wars that Qui-Gon Jinn didn’t turn out to be Luke’s father. Even in Fallout 3 he is your dad. That doesn’t take away the fact he is stupidly bad-ass in Taken though. I mean, when he shoots the French chap’s wife in the arm to get his point across? Jesus Christ! I would not mess with Liam Neeson in Taken at all. I’d probably just run away in fear. Sadly the film’s general pace and story-telling wasn’t as convincing. Lots of action and some great scenes contradicted by a pretty lazy plot told pretty uninterestingly at times and a feeling of the film dragging on a bit at times as well as coming across as a bit of a Bourne series spin-off but that’s not a bad thing I suppose as I still enjoyed watching most of it. Plus in the credits you have the absolutely amazing Dragster Wave by Ghinzu playing and I loved that so much. Felt like a perfect way to finish the film which such a wonderful song. That said I’d still watch it again if I was offered to give it another watch.

Summary – Taken doesn’t live up to it’s potential but it’s still totally watch-able and you can’t go wrong with Liam Neeson when he’s this bad ass. He was good but in general the film just felt lacking sadly. Although with Ghinzu topping off it off with the credits it finishes on an awesome note so I’m not going to moan.

For a while now I’ve been umm-ing and err-ing about watching this film because it seemed to suffer from the worry that it would look pretty good but ultimately be a ridiculous disappointment. The main cast really has some fantastic names for the type of films I like in Adam Sandler, Kevin James, David Spade and Chris Rock (not so much Rob Schneider) but luckily all five pals in this feel good fun film really made it such a joy to watch and I definitely enjoyed Grown Ups. I think what immediately came across from watching it was the fact it really looked like an absolute ball to film for the cast – whether it be the picture-esque cabin house or the water parks or just the big family feel about the film it just looked like everyone involved really seemed into the film and the chemistry came across fantastic on camera, especially with our main focus of the five former school friends all grown up.

Grown Ups’ story is pretty simple in it;s theory but the execution worked wonderfully. A successful team of basketball players and close school friends all come back together after the death of their basketball coach to spend some time at a cabin with their families and that’s pretty much the foundation of the film. The comedy doesn’t rely on stupid comedy to actually be funny (although there are a few Adam Sandler moments as I call them where it’s silly humour but it’s to be expected) but it’s just the banter between these friends, the situations they get themselves into the just the general feeling of fun between them as they recollect their memories together whilst trying to inject this past fun they had into their kids that just makes Grown Ups work so well. Parts of it drag on a bit and the cast is pretty huge (so many new characters pop up! It’s hard to keep up!) but it was very good. Better than I expected in facy. Yay!

Summary – The fact that Grown Ups is supposed to be a fun film works even better with how fun it came across with fabulous chemistry between characters and just a really nice story with a nice surprise too. Very good and recommended for some easy going, positive and almost inspiring movie watching.

The general conception of professional wrestling as a form of sports entertainment is that it is all fake, that it’s all a soap opera and just a silly show of men in tights. There’s no denying that stuff like WWE is fake in the aspect that it is premeditated and set up before the match but if there’s one thing The Wrestler does it helps show just how real this sport is inside and outside of the ring. I’m sure you know now just how well did film did when it was released around the world but my word is this success deserved. The Wrestler is brutal, honest, hard to watch at times but absolutely gripping and heartbreaking. Mickey Rourke is absolutely mind blowing as Randy ‘The Ram’ Robinson, the film’s main protagonist, as he deals with the end of his career as a professional wrestler alongside his personal demons of drugs, drink and family issues. This is a common issue with wrestler in how they struggle to leave the limelight and end up, through their career, getting hooked on painkillers and other drugs whilst their constantly touring lifestyle from city to city and from arena to arena night to night, something that is shown heavily in the life of Randy in The Wrestler.

As I say it can be absolutely brutal to watch. The film doesn’t hold back from showing some of the more extreme versions of wrestling in the US with barbed wire being dug into skulls, bloody pouring down faces and injuries and broken bones occurring. But it’s the heart of the film that makes it so endearing and gripping to watch. You really feel for Randy as he struggles to cope with his life and it’s various problems, knowing he needs to reconnect with his daughter whilst moving on from this world that has made his life so far. His pain is constantly evident but you also see the determination to work through it and do what’s right despite losing spirit at times and falling to various vices. Rourke’s performance as this grizzly and hurt wrestler constantly stays quite raw and completely interesting to watch but it’s the amount of research and accuracy to how this reflects the real lives of older wrestlers and they leave this career that helps get such a career lifestyle on the map to a widespread audience. Darren Aronofsky, the film’s acclaimed director, has said how much research was put into the film and you can really tell, even with the lonely moments Randy experiences and his various struggles it is possibly even more disheartening knowing how this reflects the lifestyle to many in society.

If you’re sitting there thinking you’ve never been interested in wrestling or cared for it don’t let this distract you from seeing The Wrestler. Even ignoring the wrestling related side of things it’s just such a good watch and so interesting with a really well told story and some wonderful performances it deserves every bit of acclaim it gets and it’s a recommended watching for all. About a decade ago I watched a wrestling film called Ready 2 Rumble starring David Arquette and it still ranks as one of the all time worst films I have ever, ever seen. Almost as bad as Thunderpants. But the Wrestler does everything it needs to do and so much more in creating a gripping, emotional and totally engrossing film that everyone deserves to give themselves a chance to watch.

Summary – Whether you used to like wrestling, whether you still do or whether you’ve never liked it. The Wrestler is one of those films that just blows every conception away that you’d expect from a film based on this sport. Incredibly believable performances combined with a really strong and well told story combine to make it such a good film and a definite recommendation to all.

#168; Thoughts with a Nation

  By Lukeh | March 12, 2011 - 1:56 pm | 2011, appeal, Japan
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I’m sure like myself you will have seen on television and news outlets about the absolutely shocking news from Japan of a 8.9 magnitude earthquake that struck the coastline of the nation with a horribly destructive force. Usually I don’t comment on these kind of things on this blog but this disaster has really struck me. The videos and pictures of the tsunamis racing in-land and obliterating everything it’s path has been genuinely terrifying, as if it were a movie but actually reality and nature at it’s most dangerous. There’s a video being shown often on BBC News of the mud-stricken waves rushing into land and just taking down even the biggest of temples in an instance. Absolutely scary. I think what strikes me personally is how I can never imagine just how awful it must be to be in such a huge disaster for the country, with the unpredictable nature of earthquakes and the destructive force of this occurence something I can never comprehend. Like many of you reading I’m sure you’ll be sending your sympathy to all affected by this in this tough time.

Yesterday I pretty much spent 5 or 6 hours just watching the news and waiting for updates especially since the nuclear reactor issues that started being reported last night. This morning I read about the explosion but luckily it was more related to a hydrogen build up rather than radioactive explosions. But it’s all still breaking news and even as I write this more news is coming out of Japan. Disasters are always something that may a world step back and hope for the best and want to help but this earthquake and tsunami has really got to me. Can you even imagine being affected by what’s happened? Even the aftershocks are pretty large and that itself could sum up just how huge the main earthquake was.

At the moment I’m still looking out for a place to donate but know it’s going somewhere good. Stuff like this there’s not much you can do hundreds of miles away but hope for the best but I really want to just give, even if not much, money towards the relief efforts as I’m sure millions over will. Japan is prepared for earthquakes of course but there’s only so much preparation you can have for something on the scale of what’s happened and it’s very clear from the videos and news coming out as to how much of an effect this has had. I just hope that as many people come together and help this great nation recover.

http://twitter.com/BritishRedCross/status/46573013801504768

Please don’t just pray for Japan – donate too. Do whatever you can to help. The Red Cross around the world are accepting donations and I promise you can help with any donation. If that’s the only piece of advice I could offer to you today it’s that because even the smallest amount from millions of people can go a long way to help.


#167; Just How Relevant is Downloadable Content?

  By Lukeh | March 10, 2011 - 2:01 pm | 2011, downloadable content, gaming, general
3 Comments

So you’ve gone out to buy a brand new game on the release date it’s been given. Fantastic! You’ve been waiting ages for this and it’s there in it’s cellophane wrapper waiting for you to chuck it in. You boot up the game, you play it, you enjoy it as it’s everything you’ve been hoping. But then you realise on that first day of release there’s downloadable content, for a price too. £4 in fact to download it. Is this good news that you have this extra new content to further enjoy with or it it bad news because it should have been in the game itself and you have no reason to be paying for extra content immediately?

Is DLC a gift to gamer or a pain in the backside?

This is one of the many, many arguments you can have with downloadable content for games. In recent years since the expansion of game consoles to support broadband connections and almost come to rely on them game developers have very much moved to emphasize the need for downloadable content with their games. Like I say, there’s so many arguments to whether the need for DLC is as great as it seems but it definitely has it’s positives and negatives in the modern world of gaming. Look at the Rock Band and Guitar Hero games – on the Playstation 2, the first Guitar Hero game had 47 songs and that was it for you. That was on the disk and that’s all your gonna get. What does Rock Band currently have on the Xbox 360 with the inclusion of downloadable content on the Rock Band Store? A potential of 1,220 songs available to play to the date of typing this up with more incoming every week. That is how powerful downloadable content can be.

On the positive side of things, it’s fantastic that you can now have this opportunity to take games further with downloadable content. Back on my PS1 I would have killed to have done even more with some games and gotten new circuits, cars, maps, missions, whatever. It’s easy for people to grow tired of what’s just on a disk and having the opportunity to take things further is such an ease with having DLC available. It also allows developers to keep pushing a game into new areas and continue breathing fresh air into their game with updates and new stuff. One of the more famous and personal favourite examples of downloadable content being used to fabulous effect has to be what Criterion Games did with Burnout Paradise. The game as released on disk was really very solid, a good fun game you could pick up and play and just have loads of fun on. Criterion kept pushing the game forward though with continuous free updates and downloadable packs with new missions and cars and online games and it was fantastic. Eventually they moved onto premium DLC for the game but even that offered huge new areas and alnternative ways of playing the game with mini RC cars, F1 cars, and so on. The way Criterion treated both the game and their fans with Burnout Paradise, for me at least, is an absolute prime example of everything right that DLC can be when used in the right way.

Then there’s the wrong way of having downloadable content for a game. I opened this post using an example of developers releasing downloadable content on the day of release of a game, sometimes free sometimes premium. I’ve known many a person to get pretty pissed off at the fact they have to download more on release day, with DLC further on down the life of a game much more acceptable it seems to the general consensus rather than being told to pay for more stuff when they’ve already bought the game. This leads to the further argument of premium DLC being offered when you’ve paid for the right to own the game. Everyone will have their own thoughts and feelings about owning a game and then being offered bits of the game they perhaps feel should already be there but are being held ransom so to speak by prices being placed on top. Sure, downloadable content is a completely optional as to you buying it but if you really wanted to play such content yet feel the price is too much it’s a problem. I’m having this problem personally with Call of Duty Black Ops, where Activision and Treyarch are offering 5 new maps for the game but have slapped a pretty silly £8 tag on for just these 5 single maps. It’s nothing new to the Call of Duty series but it’s an absolute pain in the arse.

DLC definitely comes with both it’s good and evils. If you were to ask me for my opinion I have absolutely no problem with the ideology of downloadable content as a form of extending a game’s life and playing on with new stuff. I also have no problem with paying for DLC if the content matches the price. Over the years I’ve had an Xbox 360 (and a PS3 before I sold it) I’ve bought some fantastic bits of DLC – the previously mentioned Burnout Paradise stuff being a definite highlight as well as stuff like Fallout 3′s various extra stories and environments as well as Grand Theft Auto 4′s new and more-interesting-perhaps stories for the game added onto the standard story – but I’ve also bought some bloody awful bits too as well as noticing other shockers over the years – in particular the Horse Armor debacle that Bethesda created with Oblivion and in particular the amount of games that now offer to unlock everything in the game for a price which is an absolute joke – so the analogy of it having it’s and downs continues.

One of the most famous bits of DLC was in Oblivion. You had to pay 200 Microsoft points ($2.50/£1.71) for just the shiny armor. That's it. No quests, games, anything.

There is no denying that DLC is a pretty huge part of the gaming industry now though. Pretty much every game comes out with the developer pretty much including DLC as part of the game’s future further down the line and it comes as now shock usually when DLC is announced. I can’t help but wonder though just how much developers depend on such models to keep their money coming in. I mean, there’s the whole negative feeling about preowned games as well that seems to pop up every so often with games developers with the view that it’s unfair to them when they lose money because people aren’t buying new games so they aren’t getting what they deserve financially. This of course has led to DLC codes being included in brand new copies of games that allows that game to be played online only from using that code, otherwise they will have to purchase a downloadable pass to allow them to play games online. EA have really put this into practise pretty much putting into most of their sports titles and now even other games like Bulletstorm and it’s an incredibly controversial move for developers to do when it annoys gamers so much. Then you have the possibly more controversial method of putting downloadable content out for a game then the actual content already being on the disk but the downloadable bit just being a form of accessing the content and unlocking it which has popped up quite a few times in games and caused much of an uproar everytime it’s happened.

It’s kind of amazing how much downloadable content has transformed the gaming industry from my point of view as a gamer. I mean, I really love having all of this extra stuff but it causes so many problems at the same time. For me I don’t think anyone can truly be correct on whether DLC is good to have or not because there’s so many different arguments to the necessity and usefulness of DLC and how it’s released by developers. Whether you think it’s greedy or useful, everyone who’s encountered downloadable content for their games will have their opinion I’m sure and I’d love to know from you reading down there in the comments how you feel about downloadable content.

#166; We Can Be Heroes

  By Lukeh | March 9, 2011 - 11:02 pm | 2011, heroes
1 Comment

As you can guess from the title of this blog post, David Bowie once sang that we can be heroes just for one day. sometimes I wonder what it actually takes to be a hero or at least to relate to the definition of a hero. What is a hero? Would you class a family member as a hero or a celebrity or someone in the limelight who’s done good things? How does a hero in society differentiate from a personal hero? Perhaps I’m overcomplicating the idea of a hero here but earlier today I got asked who my heroes are and I found it a bit hard to actually come to fully answer that question as my friend and I seemed to debate whether someone’s personal hero may actually be classed a hero to all. For me a hero to someone is their own personal hero but a hero to society is a much broader subject, someone who has affected the lives of many than to simply be in the mindset of one person. Of course someone can be a hero in both aspects but it’s also the case that someone I may look up to others may not. That is a personal hero.

I’m kind of going off the subject here because I have been thinking about this over the last few hours and I thought it’d be cool to just present various people that I class as heroes, as people who’ve influenced my life even though they may not know it (mostly because most of, if not all of them, don’t even know me). Again in our debate we went back to the idea that someone who hasn’t affected you directly may not be a personal hero but I find that a bit irrelevant as you can admire someone from afar from what they could have done in a public domain. Look at Stephen Hawking for example – someone I know many people admire and look up to yet I’m sure they may have never met the man. Why should this make a difference to what one may perceive as a hero? Anyways, again I digress. I’m sorry if it all sounds a bit philosophical but I found it an interesting little discussion point. Now I’m going to focus on some serious self indulgence and discuss some various individuals I very much look up to in my everyday life.

Don't look so surprised, Tim!

Tim Schafer
Who is he? – President of Double Fine Games

I can understand if you’re as confused as poor Tim is in that photo there but I can’t stress enough how much I admire this man. If you’re wondering, Tim is the brain behind the likes of the Monkey Island series (with Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman), Psychonauts, Brutal Legend, Grim Fandango and various other games I’ve played and absolutely fallen in love with. His sense of humour and approach to video game design with unique ideas and just making something fresh and original is something I’ve always admired in his work whether it be at LucasArts or Double Fine or whatever he’s done He’s just an absolute mega dude and when it comes to some of my ideas with creating something original and fresh when I’m in super creative mode. Would love to meet him one day just to shake his hand and thank him for his contribution to my gaming life.

 

Quite British.

Davey Boy Smith (aka British Bulldog)
Who is he? – WWF wrestler

If you were a teenage boy in the 90′s there’s a pretty solid chance that at some point you were a fan of the WWF, now known as the WWE after losing a cage match with some pandas. Although I was pretty young at the time I was a big fan of the British Bulldog, often watching videos lent off my brother’s friends and other friends of him like at WWF Summerslam 1992 when he beat Bret Hart at Wembley which still sends shivers up my spine. Upon growing up I’ve learnt over the years of the personal trauma he went through with drug addictions and other paraphenalia over the years behind the scenes that led to his untimely death in 2002. Even at the age of 14 I absolutely cried my eyes out the day I heard he died, I still remember seeing it on GMTV actually. But I always looked up to the Bulldog and loved to see him wrestle and although I fell out of love with this form of sports entertainment a long time ago, looking back still brings back that excitement of seeing him in the ring and watching him wrestle just like I did when I was a small chappie.

 

Just the happiest chap ever.

Rubens Barrichello
Who is he? – Formula 1 driver

This is totally unexpected, right? What can I say though about Mr Barrichello that I haven’t already said and what everyone else has said too? 307 races, 19 years in Formula 1 , 12 wins and just an awesome dude. It’s hard not to look up to this fella’ and not see him as a bit of a hero. I got into F1 in about the end of 96/1997 season and it was only really in 1999 onwards I started noticing Rubens at Stewart and I’ve pretty much supported him since then. He’s just a quality part of Formula 1 and for someone to have contested in 33% of all the sports’ races ever is a frankly insane achievement. He may not have the success of Schumacher or the legacy of Senna but he’s still one of the greatest in the sport to me at least and I’ll be gutted when he retires sooner rather than later. Anyone who survives F1 for this amount of time still with their sanity intact and a beaming smile on their face deserves recognition!

Quite possibly from before my existence.

Antoni Gaudi
Who is he? – Artist/achitect

You may see this as a bit of an odd choice but there’s plenty of reasons why over the years, admittedly less in recent years, I’ve looked up to this chap with much awe and respect. If you have ever been to  Barcelona you will have almost definitely been in the presence of Gaudi’s incredible work around the city – whether it be the Casau Milia, Parc Guell or the absurdly beautiful La Sagrada la Familia Cathedral. In school I tended to be much more focused about my art than I am now, constantly working on my art projects during pretty rubbish times personally but I took a lot of my work from such artists as Gaudi as well as Salvador Dali, Claude Monet and Van Gogh but actually being in the presence of his work absolutely blew me away. Our school trip to Barcelona resulted in visits to some of the afore-mentioned creations of Gaudi and you have to see them to believe how mind blowing they are. Parc Guell is just a word of originality whilst La Sagrada is probably still the most incredible building I’ve been in. We climbed the spires and even from the top the most minute, tiniest details that Gaudi sadly never got to see finished still look incredible. His pieces of work around the city and what he did against others at the time ridiculing his work are some things that have always been in my mind and stuff I really look up to. It really sucks that since leaving school I haven’t indulged more into my artistic nature because it basically ran my life whilst in education.

Anyways, these are just a few major heroes and people I look up to. Thought it’d make for an interesting write-up to discuss some of these individuals so hopefully it wasn’t too bothersome to read through. There’s the obvious people I really look up to in my life too – people like Lou and my mum who always stand beside me when I need a bit of a helping hand and just with their presence in different ways as well as my closest friend Ashley who I’ve known for nearly 20 years now! – but it’s just people like this who I can sometimes just sit back and think of and just have a smile on my life. Their lives have inspired to make the most of mine and for that they’re my heroes.

#165; Trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion

  By Lukeh | March 7, 2011 - 11:06 am | 2011, Brian cox, space, stargazing, stars, universe
8 Comments

Who needs a watch when you have hills that tell the time?

Professor Brian Cox has a fabulous ability to make astronomy and astrology and general science totally engrossing. Everytime he’s come out with a new show it’s been completely interesting and fascinating to learn knew things yet I can’t help but feel that these things are stuff that could have been taught at school if the school science curriculum wasn’t so deadly boring. But that’s something else I’ll go into later in this post. What I’m interested in discussing first is how much I enjoyed the start of Cox’s new series of Wonders of the Universe which started last night on BBC2.

I think was absolutely blows my mind about space and astronomy with the universe is just how insignificant we are yet to us the world is pretty huge. You see Earth compared to everywhere else and the size of the sun but then you see just how small the sun is compared to other stars and universes then to know how there are billions and billions of galaxies out there apart from ours is kind of overwhelming. The final half of the episode was actually quite a depressing realisation of what we will all become with the 2nd law of thernodynamics, something I won’t even try to explain yet this depressing way of looking at what will happen with the universe eventually basically collapsing in on itself was absolutely fascinating, It wasn’t the most uplifting of subjects but seeing what will happen to the sun and then what’ll happen on an even larger scale with the universe around us was just really interesting. He also went into great deal into how the laws of entropy pretty much confirm these theories with life basically wasting away and for me I found it all a lot to take in and absolutely mindblowing.

For me that’s why Cox’s shows are absolutely essential viewing if you’re into this kind of stuff. I know nothing about space (only a few weeks ago I learnt that there’s a difference between a galaxy and a universe!) yet everytime I’ve seen one of his shows I come away feeling like I’ve learnt a whole new syllabus of information. My school education with physics consisted of textbooks and really, really bad videos that didn’t interest anyone in the slightest. If you were to ask me to recap any lessons or subjects I would honestly struggle with you on that. Imagine if schools used Cox’s documentaries and videos on physics though – this I honestly think would much the subject of science much more appealing to a teenager uninterested in such subjects as seems to be the case with most kids. That’s how I feel anyways after pretty much hating science for several years thanks to a dull, boring curriculum.

Life won’t end anytime soon though. As Cox himself said, it’ll be a trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion years or so before our universe as we know it collapses in on itself after the death of the sun. Plenty of time to make sure your dog is OK and your kids are prepared then. These time-scales though are pretty mind blowing itself, knowing what we just happily live in every day has been around for billions of years and will be for billions more yet we are merely just passengers on it’s life journey that come and go. You’ll be happy to know if you’re a UK resident you can catch Wonders of the Universe on the iPlayer now and it’s just such a worthy watch in my opinion. Whether it be the hills that told the time or the story of entropy or the demise of the universe, there’s so much in there worth listening to and watching.

Space is cool, man.

#164; Papa Loves Rango

  By Lukeh | March 5, 2011 - 9:59 pm | 2011, rango
1 Comment

I’m an absolute sucker for CGI films from the likes of Pixar and Dreamworks. Although we all know Pixar are the undisputed king of the genre, Dreamworks have definitely been improving; How to Train Your Dragon was one of the best films in 2011 in fact. Anyways, this is a little aside to my actual point here which ironically features neither Pixar or Dreamworks but instead Paramount’s new film Rango. I’ve not seen it, but I saw a trailer last week and thought it looked a bit different but also quite good – and it has Johnny Depp which is enough to catch my interest being a big fan. But tonight I found myself watching a video over at Digital Spy that really, really caught my interested and seemed well worthy of sharing with you guys where the actors and producers involved talk about how the voice acting was constructed for the film.

Edit: Sorry about that. The embed seemed fine in WordPress’ crappy editor but I fell for the spell of it’s crappiness too easily clearly. You can view where I watched the video here.

What an absolutely fascinating idea! Usually when I see these CGI films being recorded and even cartoon stuff you see clips of the recording artists sat in a booth with a big in their face reading straight from the script getting possibly animated but no more so than the borders of their chair but this is something else. I absolutely love the idea of a director getting his actors to actually act out what is happening in the recording sessions on a stage whilst actually recording. It seems like such an obvious idea too yet it’s still kind of blown my mind!

Like I say I do want to see Rango at some point and I can only it lives up to how much I enjoyed watching this small trailer of Johnny Depp and Isla fisher and others discussing and showing just how the film was recorded. We need more of this – flying rockets, transport tubes and claw claw fights for the Futurama studio please…