Blog of Life

Once again I appear to be a bit late to the party but I just discovered Nitro Circus. For those even further behind than me it is a show very similar to Jackass but more understandable and more extreme at the same time… If that makes any sense!

Let me explain myself. Whereas Jackass deals with the random and the disturbing most of Nitro Circus stunts revolve around various extreme sports, hence more understandable. However some of these stunts border on the suicidal hence the more extreme! Anyway I’m hooked on this at the moment, its great fun to watch!

Its a new year; for most people that means resolution time, followed by a period of powering through said resolution then very soon disappointment that they can’t keep it up! For me, I like to skip the disappointment by just not making one in the first place. After all, if you are just doing because its ‘tradition’ to make one the motivation is not really there. If you really want to make a change you will because you really want to, making timing irrelevant. 

Personally I feel it’s better to use the time you would on resolutions on dreams. Not necessarily meaningful ones but things you just wish you could do. They may come true, they may never be realised but I believe they give you hope. Dreaming is a wonderful way to pass time and forget about everything negative.

For me there are many things I dream of. Not all are ones I want to share but there are a few that have always been in my mind. First is a relatively simple one, a cupboard of sorts but for DVD’s, games etc. I have always thought a walk in wardrobe style cupboard would be perfect for this and when my dream showed up in Hot Fuzz and it looked amazing! Making me want it even more.

Number two is similar to the fist. Though I may not be a big reader (unless it’s Harry Potter) I love books, there’s something crazily satisfying about a full bookshelf. Whenever we visited a National Trust property as a family it was always the library that enthralled me, if I ever have the money a big, old school library is what will be in by house; complete with sliding ladder.

My next is most likely a total no go unless I get extremely lucky. A yacht! One of those big, posh ones you see Simon Cowell and the like cruising round in. Many find them vulgar and repulsive but for some reason I can’t get enough of them. I’d have it decked out nicely with cupboard for dive gear on the lip at the back.

Finally the big one. A glass floor. Not any glass floor but an aquarium under my house. I would love the bottom floor of my house to be totally glass with an aquarium under so I can always see the life below. I would then have a staircase looping around it into the basement from where I could see the whole tank.

Due to the lack of pictures on Google they aren’t common place :) Well those were a few of my dreams, I hope you enjoyed and I encourage you to figure out some of your own.

Well Happy New Year to one and all! I hope you all had a great night, I sure did :) Not a big night but a smallish meet up with friends from home but great fun was had.

In other news thanks to the madness that was Steams Christmas deals I have enough games to keep me going for a good while and then some! Also added to my gaming library is Mario Kart 7 courtesy of Amazons lightening deals. This game is amazing! Anyone dithering over whether it is worth buying a 3DS or not up until now I probably have said not to bother but Mario Kart 7 changes everything. This is my favourite Mario Kart to date with the perfect balance of old and new tracks (from snes, GBA, wii etc.), plenty of customisations, game modes and unlockables. With this and Mario 3D Land (I’ve not yet played this but I’ve heard great things) there is plenty to keep you going until next years truckload; Luigi’s Mansion 2, Kid Icarus and many more.

In other news I’m loving American drama at the moment, Game of Thrones Season 1 blew me away and I’m currently near the end of Breaking Bad’s 2nd season which is getting better and better. Both of these are amazing in every respect and definitely put to shame the majority of British TV series’.

Having said that Sherlock is back! The first episode aired last night and it was everything I had hoped for and more, lots of drama, a few well placed laughs and a twisting plot that keeps you guessing. If it is anything like the first season its going to be one heck of a ride!

Whenever you have two competing platforms that are both successful you get fanboys. Be it Sonic vs Mario, Star Wars vs Star Trek etc. I’ve always had mixed feelings on these as as much as I find them pointless and childish I cant help but nurse a secret “favourite.” I suppose it all comes from that sense of pride you have in your belongings and the want to not have made a mistaken purchase. From this you then naturally fight the corner of your chosen side. 

Though it may seem rather hypocritical I thought I’d use this entry to tell you which I use from the major battles and why:

PC vs Mac

I’ve never been able to get along with Macs, maybe this is because I’ve always used PC’s and the transition would take time but to be honest the thing that bugs me most is their mouse sensitivity is ridiculously slow unless you tinker beyond the necessary. I can understand peoples obsession with them but in my honest opinion they just aren’t worth the money Apple charges for them. 

I personally own a Dell Studio XPS16 laptop for my portable work and, up until last October, everything. I tweaked the base speck on purchase to an intel i7 Q720 1.6GHz processor, 4GB RAM, Blu-ray drive and the RGB LED screen. I love this machine and it provides a beautiful picture for my movie watching needs and can run a decent selection of games. Unfortunately it has taken a battering since i bought it (constant high-level use not mistreatment) and although it has dealt with it well it was starting to tire. To avoid killing it completely I bought my first gaming desktop to relieve the pressure on the XPS so I could still use it for uni.

I’m very happy with my desktop, which I built myself with the help from a friend. If anyone is thinking of buying a new PC I would highly recommend a self-build as not only does it save you money it is a lot of fun; it also allows you to upgrade individual parts saving even more money in the long run! My PC specs, for those interested, are: AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 3.30GHz processor, 8GB RAM, Sapphire AMD Radeon HD6870 graphics card, Asus M5A78L motherboard, LG Blu-ray Drive and a purdy case from xcase.co.uk. I love it to bits and it allows me to run every game I have so far tried in the highest settings seamlessly (Skyrim looks incredible!). 

iOS vs Android vs Windows Phone 7 vs others…

This was a much tighter decision as I love the iPhone with its sleek looks and straight-forward OS. The only problem is the recurring apple problem: price. That was the final tipping point that separated it from the competition and caused me to drop onto the Android side of the wall. I managed to find a brilliant deal on the Samsung Galaxy SII, a decision I am so glad I made. The Android platform provides an excellent amount of freedom with its OS and the phone itself is a powerhouse with a big beautiful screen and a dual core processor.

Xbox vs Playstation vs Wii

I’m an Xbox lover. I had the original and now I have the 360 and I have always preferred them to the playstation. Why? For one, the controller is a lot more sturdy and feels great in your hand where Playstation’s feels flimsy and awkward. Also PSN is not a patch on Xbox Live. Having said that if I had the money I would also get a PS3, though only for it’s exclusives. As for Nintendo I own a wii for its casual, party sensibilities though it doesn’t get used a great deal. I also have an N64 which reminds me of my childhood and is still great fun today. On the handheld from I have a PSP slim’n’lite which I rarely use any more (used to get played a lot). Back to Nintendo and I have had a GameBoy, GameBoy Color and a GameBoy Advance; I was never really sold by the DS line so it was only due to my incredible luck that I have a 3DS as I won it! So far I don’t use it a great deal but I’m sure that will change when i get my hands on Super Mario 3d Lanbd, MarioKart 7 and next years releases!

As for the future I cannot wait for the PSVita, it looks incredible! The wii U? I think I’ll pass, to me it looks like Nintendo have just given up and just made a HD wii and stuck thumbsticks on a tablet (in a stupid place).

That was quite a long post! Thanks if you read it all and check back as I may do more of these to give my opinions on the matters :)

Anyone interested in gaming will know that from September this years release line has been chock full of amazing games, so many that there isn’t a chance in hell of me playing them all within rave time of release. By that I mean the period of time between the game coming about and the time people stop talking about it. For me I’m not especially bothered about whether or not the game, film etc I talk about is old or new but i know that a lot of people just aren’t interested in anything but the latest releases; especially if its just a blog like this.

Of the games that have been released I have managed to procure a good selection and with thanks to my house mates have played a few more still. To those of you who aren’t quite aware of the kind of numbers I’m talking about here is a list of the games from the past few months that I personally want to play:

Gears of War 3

Batman: Arkham City

Assassins Creed Revelations

Forza 4

Battlefield 3

Skyrim

Modern Warfare 2

Super Mario 3D Land

Mario Kart 7

Saints Row the Third

That may not seem a lot but at £40-50 a pop it mounts up! Out of that lot I own MW3, Saints Row the Third, Forza, Skyrim and have played Battlefield, but I’m determined to play the others!! This isn’t even mentioning the first few months of next year for the likes of Mass Effect 3, Bioshock Infinite and others. I’ll save my opinions for other posts and spend a while talking about my inner nerd and collectors editions.

I’m a sucker for the collectors edition, partly due to my hoarding nature (not to the great extent of the TV show!) and also because I love exclusives. Top of the list of things I love in collectors editions are figures or statues and some of the above have absolutely corking ones of these. Batman, Skyrim and Gears all have collectors editions that I want to a crazy level due to the beautiful pieces within (see below). Only problem, as always, is that price tag.  I am determined, however, to get hold of these models probably via ebay :)

Fingers crossed!

What am I playing in the mean time? Well I’m around 50hrs into Skyrim (non collectors edition) and I have MW3, Forza 4, Saints Row 3, Lego Harry Potters 1&2 as well as a couple of others to crack on with. Look out for some thoughts at a later date, I’ve got me some gaming to do!

So its been a while since I cleared my Tumblr out for a re-imaging of this blog. I have finally gotten round to writing something on it! As films are a big part of my life I thought why not start off with a round up of my recent perusing’s?

The Other Guys

It is fair to say that I am not Will Ferrell’s greatest fan. The only film of his I am yet to enjoy is Anchorman (and odd moments of Elf). The only reason for this is that I just don’t find them as amusing as many people seem to do. So why did I watch The Other Guys? I do not have a personal vendetta against Ferrell and films are what I love so I like to see as many films I can regardless of who’s in them.

The film? It was ok. As far as Will Ferrell goes it was occasionally amusing and not overall terrible but there was nothing to really push it out of the water. It is not a bad way to spend time but there are much better alternatives out there. 

5/10

Captain America

I have been itching to see this since I missed it in the cinemas; its release on Blu-ray and DVD have been a blessing. Marvel have a very mixed track record of turning their comics into films but, in my opinion, this one falls into the success category.

Many people have complained about the amount of time spent in the WWII era but, personally, I love it. It portrays the rich backstory perfectly, doing the comic books real justice. From this, however, I can see where the film falls down for people not a fan of the books or who are there for a shameless action film. The film isn’t packed with fighting and explosions, which in my view gives it a one up on the likes of Transformers. Chris Evans was a controversial choice for the role due to him being the first actor to play two superheroes in the Marvel Universe (The Human Torch in The Fantastic 4) but he pulls off his new role brilliantly, you are never left with the image his other character.

9/10

Welcome to this blog! Here I plan to upload pictures I take and articles about pretty much anything that interests me. It could be news stories, games, movies, music or random musings. I hope you enjoy!