The Year Under Review

Well it's been a couple of months since I last posted here, yeah, I'm very bad at keeping up with things like this, It'll be my forefront for a couple weeks then I'll end up forgetting about it until I kinda go 'Oh yeah I kinda had a blog somewhere!'.

This year has been a odd one, its had ups and downs, as many years do, I've hit lows and I've soared to new heights, doubted myself and yet still succeed in things, a year under uncertainty and a undercurrent of apprehension.

I came into this year with a prospect it'll be one of the best years yet and for the most part I'd say it certainly has been.

Highlights being being staff at Confuzzled, it was a really fun time and I look forward to continuing working for the convention as it continues to grow and grow.

The highlight of the year naturally has to fall down to the New York visit, this was hands down the best time of this year, being there with my boyfriend in excellent company really rekindled a spirit in me.

This year has had it's low points and whilst some are not to be mentioned, the low point is my own unease at still being in Germany, it's been nearly 6 Years now and I've got this urge to move on and continue on a new chapter in my life, it's been a interesting couple of years and I feel that now's the time I need to move onwards, I can't stay here forever, even if I wanted to.

I'm going to approach this topic again sometime in 2015 with a firmer outlook, but for now I'm going to ride out the rest of this year.

I'll have to thank all my family, friends and most of all my wonderful dear boyfriend for being with me throughout this year, through all the rough patches and tough times, I don't know where I'd be without you all.

So I sit here just before Christmas, alittle weary from the year gone by but hopefully a fresher brighter outlook for the upcoming year.

Plans ahead for the new year include another longer New York visit as well as potentially moving back to the UK to make a new start in my work career using all the experience I've gained throughout the time I've been here.

So here's to 2015, I wish you all, Good tidings for the holidays and a prosperous joyful New Year.


Since I always love linking to music, here's a cover of 'The Last Unicorn' by the angelic voice of Ashley Serena.

Uncertainty and the Year

If only I had a actual Tardis.

Over the past few months, in fact the majority of this current year, I've been having some inner turmoil within my own life, I've been in Germany now almost 5 1/2 years, it's been a comfortable and interesting few years, but I've had this unsettling urge to move on.

On admittance of a wish to move on, it feels like people are giving me the '20 Questions', to pick apart and analyze just why I want to move on, I also hear the same things time and time again, a number of people wish for me to stay, a number of people agree that I should move on.

Right now, as I write this, I've got a very small handful of plans, nothings set in stone, nothing is certain, but the main reasons why that I want to move on is that I feel really detached from my family, this wasn't a issue for a long time but this year really pushed the fact that I miss my family, my friends too, not to say I don't have some friends here, but the bulk of my friends are all back in the UK and it's straining to only see them once perhaps twice in a year.

Another reason is that I do not feel that me staying here is going to improve anything, I've found my notch and I'm settled in, progressing is almost pointless at this time, staying isn't going to be any good because if I move now or in 6 years I'll be facing the exact same issues.

Here's a couple things that I've had repeatedly said to me.

• "The UK is (Crap/Rubbish/S***)" - Yeah I could say that the UK isn't the best country in the world, but then again where is?, I noted a odd coincidence that nearly everyone who said this to me are the ones who have settled permanent lives here in Germany, so naturally they're going to sway to the side of the UK being rubbish, personally I see more advantages to moving back to the UK than staying here in Germany.

• "There's no jobs in the UK" / "0 Hour Contracts" / "Less Than Minimum Wage" - Again honestly I think this is based on people personal opinions and what they define as a job, every time I go back to the UK there always seems to be -somewhere- hiring, I think it's a case of you need to look in many places, I got told that there are some places paying 'less than minimum wage' to which I will call some bullcrap on unless I can find some more concrete things about it, the minimum wage is just that, the minimum wage, surely if you get paid LESS than that, it's illegal. 'Zero Hour' contracts I know are a 'thing' to which you are signed to no set hours but you may get varying hours during a working week, but what hours you do are still paid by the minimum wage. So the UK is a myriad of problems job wise yes, but there are jobs somewhere and no matter what, you'll always get the minimum wage, no matter what.

• "Why don't you stay until the closedown" / "Move to somewhere that is closing down" - Because I'd rather not stay the 6 to potentially 8 years of uncertainty and "X place is closing in Y months" because again there is no certainty to it all and why should I move to X place when that 'Y' timescale could turn into 'Z' at no notice, no thank you.

So right now I am unsure of what my next move will be, I've got a lot to think about, it's a lot of logistical things too, I came here with a backpack and a suitcase, over 5 years I've got stuff, yeah it's going to take some planning and whatever decision I make, I'm sure it'll be the best one.

Time for our semi-not-regular music show thing, here's 'Weird Al' Yankovic with 'First World Problems'

Alba

Alba nam beanntan ard

I see Scotland of the high mountains

Nan acraichean lom

And the empty acres

Thairis air na lochan mointich

Flying low across the moorland lochs

Nan coilltean 's nan gleann

The forests and the glens

Ach 'se sealladh leointe is gann

But it's a wounding and a hollow sight

Tha an seo aig ceann thall an linn

Here as we reach the end of the century

Talamh alainn nan daoine

The beautiful soil of the people

Fhathast an lamhan duine no dithis

Still in the hands of the few

Cuibhlean stolda mu dheas

I see the wheels of industry at a standstill

Na fasaichean a tuath

And the northern lands wasted

An taigh-mor falamh an Dun-Eideann

And the empty house in Edinburgh

Gun chumhachd gun ghuth

Without authority or voice

Runrig - 'Alba' (1987)

The 'empty house without authority or voice', is the Scottish government, these days it has authority and a voice, it just wasn't the way back when this song was written.

I doubt that Rory and Calum MacDonald could've ever imagined at the time that tomorrow Scotland will be having a vote on if it should be a independent country, changing the UK forever.

Tomorrow is History, this is possibly one of the biggest things to happen to the UK in our own lifetimes, what will the UK be without Scotland?

I personally do not want this to happen, we're the United Kingdom, we're United, if Scotland goes independent then we're not exactly the United Kingdom anymore, the thought of Scotland breaking away is a saddening thought, I hope that I don't have to cope with it as a reality.

It won't happen overnight but if they say Yes, then the scope and lands of the UK will change forever, perhaps paving the way for the disassembly of the UK.

It's not my vote, it's theirs, I just hope that whichever they pick it's what they truly want.

Here's to tomorrow, lets hope the beautiful lands of Alba stay with the UK.

The Wolf Among Us

I'm a fan of great story driven games and perhaps none do it better than TellTale Games, best known these days for the sublime The Walking Dead series of games, I'm going through season 1 of it as I type this, they've also done the charming Tales Of Monkey Island, the fun if flawed 'Back To The Future' game and my personal fave, today's topic, The Wolf Among Us

Whilst the game is rated Mature, this trailer is perfectly fine for all.

The game is set before a series of comic books called 'Fables' by Bill Willingham, basically it features the citizens of 'Fabletown', characters from fairy tales and such whom were exiled from their homelands and have to set home in New York, a powerful magic spell protects them from discovery by normal humans 'Mundies' as they call them, most citizens have to use a spell called 'Glamour' to retain a human guise as they try to live their lives, Sheriff Bigby Wolf, a reformed Big Bad Wolf, tries to maintain order in their community, even though most still fear him for his actions in the past.

I got into this game from a trailer and a brief description of the story, I was immediately fascinated by the world and the characters therein, originally released as 5 separate episodes to form a entire game, I was hooked after Episode One.

I've never read Fables and this game thankfully doesn't need prior knowledge to get into the story or the characters as it's all set before the events in Fables and without giving away any spoilers, this story is amazingly good, it's funny, witty and sometimes absolutely brutal, it can leave you speechless and having to face some very hard choices.

The stroke of genius that Telltale games does is that your choices have consequences and what you do, and when you do it, matters, this game has multiple endings, characters treat you differently depending on what you have done, some may help you, others my shun you this gives you much more attachment to the character of Bigby Wolf and to the story as it feels like you have a impact on what happens.

It is currently available on PC/iOS/PS3/360 as a digital download, later this year it will be released as a retail disc copy for the previously mentioned devices as well as XboxOne/PS4/PSVita, whilst I own it on PC I am getting it as a disc for PS4 and I cannot wait to go through again and see where my choices take me.

The graphics are really good, they take from the comics and still images look like they are taken from the comic itself, the voice acting is top notch, Adam Harrington as Bigby Wolf is a fantastic piece of casting and the supporting cast roles all work out fantastically, the game is violent in some places really brutally so, Fables as a majority are quite hard to kill so it can get quite gruesome at times, there is also a little bit of nudity in some scenes but it's never really the focus of the scene, and Bigby Wolf smokes, a lot, now this can be a real distraction in a age of non smoking, for good reason, the reason WHY he smokes isn't explained in game but I found out later, as the Big Bad Wolf he has heightened senses, smell in particular, the hustle and bustle of New York City would drive him crazy so he smokes to dull out these senses to keep himself fairly sane, it's a dog's life for Bigby, though that doesn't stop him being the Big Bad Wolf again if you make him a little too angry at you...

The game plays out as a 'Choose Your Own Adventure' style game, you have fairly little interaction other than choosing dialogue and more than a few fight scenes, this is a very dialogue heavy game, but the story is very much worth it all, even if your actual actions as a player are fairly limited.

The game does suffer from what I call the 'TellTale Engine' problem, as in it's issues which are seen in other similar games from the makers, characters actions can be a little jerky and sometimes making decisions can lead to a noticeable pause before things continue as well as problematic lip sync and sound cues, but most of these have been patched out in later releases and I'm confident the retail disc versions as well will be problem free.

So it's a heavy recommendation from me, if you want a adult game with a strong story and cast, get The Wolf Among Us on the device of your choosing.

Lets hope they make a Season 2, Come on TellTale Games, Please!!!

"It's Sometimes Better Than The Show!"

As anyone who has known me for any length of time would know, I still have a deep love for the cartoons I watched when I was younger, now 'rose tinted glasses' aside, I will admit that most of these shows have not aged well.

I recently watched the first 6 or so episodes of 'Around The World With Willy Fog', one cartoon which I remember fairly well, it really hasn't held up over the years, the poor 'dubbing' of the voices (the show is originally Spanish so it got dubbed into English), the poor quality of the animation, repeated frames, low frame rate, it's still perfectly watchable if you can accept that it really hasn't aged quite as well as other things have.

But yet what do I remember the most?, the theme song, it's so unerringly catchy it's almost impossible to not sing along, especially if you remember it from years gone by.

This intro clip is taken from a DVD release, so it's possibly the best quality you're going to get!.

Yeah, it's cheesy but I still kinda like it, it's a fairly big influence in some ways, also note how all the good guys are felines and all the bad guys are canines, didn't notice that until I watched it again.

A trick of the cartoon industry back then and in some ways still exists today is that they'll have exceptionally good and catchy intros, usually utilizing the best animation they could whilst the rest of the series may not be as polished or decent looking, it's to lure you in to keep watching, it could be said that 'It's Sometimes Better Than The Show'.

So onto today's video cavalcade of intros from Anime series.

Yes I've gone from a western show to Japanese Anime, now I've talked at length at times about my childhood cartoons, there is a lot of intros which I know and love, so does everyone else, but Anime is different to me as it's something I got into much later and they really put a lot of effort into their intros, usually using a hit song or popular artist of the time in the opening or ending theme, it makes for a really refreshing change to what we're normally used to over here, I'm going to show a couple of my personal fave intros/outros from Anime here, now I will admit, some of these I actually have not seen the series for but I've seen the intro and like the intro for various reasons.

Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Opening 'Inner Universe'

Animated entirely in CGI (the series is traditionally animated), this intro sets the scene for the series based on 'Ghost In The Shell', a haunting song over images of the city, robots and our protagonist, I've not seen the series but I've been told it's exceptional and I should catch it sometime, if the intro is anything to go by, I should.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - Opening #4 'Period'

Not going to lie, 'FMA Brotherhood' is my favorite anime, I love the story and characters and I really recommend it to anyone, this intro is the fourth from the series and it's my fave, the music and animation are superb, setting the tone for the series at that period in the story, the animation quality also extends into the series itself and it's of a really high standard, the music combines the slightly more somber moments with high paced action and very much worth a look.

D.Grey-Man - Opening #3 'Doubt & Trust'

Another anime which I've not watched but I really like this opening, the visuals and music match to give a real 'epic' feel to this darkly gothic series, what's going on? I don't know! but I like what I see.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood  - Ending #2 'Let It Out'

No, I'm not cheating putting FMA again on the list but this ending theme is just too good to not mention, it's a wonderful song put over more wonderful animation from the series, sometimes within the series the ending theme started playing before the credits rolled striking a emotional chord to some of the scenes within, it's a great song from a great series.

So there is a couple of faves from me, is there more out there, more than likely, to finish on another piece of classic nostalgia, here's a full episode of Trap Door which has the full version of the theme song within, curious to note is that due to the short length of the episode (average episode length including intro etc is 5 minutes!) it means you hear the song THREE times, the intro, the outro and the full song itself!

It's worthwhile to note that it was released as a single back in the day, it's exceptionally rare to find.

Enjoy!

Kickstarter And The Personal Touch

Some of the folks who browse around the internet have heard of Kickstarter, it's basically a fundraising thing for projects of varying scope from independent films to new technology.

One such example of a item which launched via Kickstarter is the Pebble Smartwatch, I didn't back it personally but I bought one later.

And through time I've ended up backing a couple of projects on Kickstarter, one thing which makes the whole thing slightly different is that the more you give, sometimes, the more you get, so you could pledge money just to get the product (like a DVD, CD or the item itself) or you could pledge more and get more 'perks' as a thank you for pledging more.

When I look to backing a Kickstarter I always see what the range of the perks is, now you don't HAVE to take any perks, you could just pledge money, usually the higher end 'tiers' of perks have interesting things attached to them, from Meet and Greets with the creators to personal thank yous.

Now a Kickstarter works on a thing of that people 'pledge' money towards supporting the project, the project will have a goal and a timescale for that, lets say a project has a £2000 goal to be raised within a month, if the project meets it's goal it's successful and the money is taken, if the goal isn't reached, say it raised £1999 and time ran out, then it failed and nobody's money is taken.

So not everything is guaranteed to win on Kickstarter, there has been success stories but there have also been failed projects, due to lack of interest or poor planning.

So to reel this back to what I'm talking about, 'The Personal Touch'.

The strange quirk of Kickstarter is that it makes projects all the more personal, you know who gave you money, who believed in your project, who supported it and how much they gave.

The last couple of Kickstarters I've backed I have nearly always gone with a high level perk for varying reasons.

Havok and Hijinks is a really quick and easy card game featuring some wonderful artwork with absolutely adorable baby dragons, I'm all for dragons, especially when they're being protrayed in a nicer light than a big baddie, this Kickstarter had a top tier pledge level wherein they would create and print your -own- dragon card to use within the game, working directly with the creators and artist to create it, I knew I HAD to back at this level and the results are wonderful.

Note, there is text on the 'backside' of this card with the tired side, I have three cards and one of them has no game text which is the right one here.

So I have my own personal, professionally done game card for this charming wonderful card game, usually to be included in a card game like this, you'd have to be best friends with the creators, but since I gave my own money to support the project, this was my reward for doing so.

I have mentioned other Kickstarters I have backed in the past in the posts 'The Experiment Of Spoons', 'My Love Can Change That' and 'Technology And Charity'.

Which got me a animated cameo in a popular webseries' intro, a thank you credit in a music video (as well as a personal thank you from the musician involved, read 'Technology And Charity' for the full story).

There is another similar fundraising site called 'Indiegogo' which works the same way to Kickstarter but it'll take the money off you first, it'll refund you if it's unsuccessful, I backed a film called 'Ashens And The Quest For The GameChild', it's available on youtube fully able to be watched by anyone, it's good fun and a enjoyable romp. Plus it is now available to purchase at Amazon or your local entertainment retailer.

Stuart's look to camera just slays me.

I got some DVD's from the project and my name read out in a personal 'Thank You' video which Stuart Ashen reads out the names of everyone whom backed the project, now I'm not going to make you sit through a over hour long video just for one little bit.

Yes I could've used my real name but I decided to use my screen name instead because I wanted to get a reaction from them and I did, really made my day when I first saw it.

So what's next, well I've not gained anything like a cameo appearance in a film or video game like some other projects have provided but you may never know what's around the corner.

What I am currently backing is Eric Stuart's latest project, a 4 Song EP called 'Character', Eric is a fantastic musician and song writer and I really recommend checking out his works!

New York Part 2

Times Square!, Its much smaller in real life.

Well moving onwards, we got taken to this botanical gardens which were staggeringly beautiful in their size, we spent quite a few hours wandering around the gardens.

Later the same day we got taken to a pizzeria, to try some proper New York style pizza it was called Luigi's and I'll always remember it as the place which spoiled pizza for me forever... because it was that damn good.

Photos do these slices of pizza absolutely no justice, absolutely the best pizza I've ever had, I got a pen from the restaurant which now reminds me that I'll probably never have pizza as good again, until we go back that is!

Sorry for a much shorter post, it's hard to recant some things, the trip was overall a wonderful time, I've said that this was the single best trip to the USA I've ever had, the first time I went was fine enough but I was in a relationship which just didn't work out, the second time I went as a friend but it was overshadowed by times past, this time was full of bright wonderful memories, yes we had moments, as relationships do, but we're still together because even if you have a argument, the strength of the relationship can heal it, yes I'm admitting that we had some arguments there but the overall experience was so incredibly positive I cannot even bring myself to think of the negatives.

One thing I'll say is that during our city visit, I had a panic attack right in the middle of a subway station, it really rattled me that I broke down so easily over pretty much nothing, but my boyfriend was there whom pulled me back together, I'm only saying this because I cannot really honestly type all this out without mentioning a incident like that.

We are both already planning ahead towards our next USA visit, planning to make it a longer visit as well as visiting Anthrocon, the world's largest Furry Convention, with around 6000 attendees, it is in Pittsburgh but we are already looking at options of how to get there from New York state.

I certainly cannot wait to be a Englishman in New York again.

New York Part 1

The Empire State Building taken from just down 5th Avenue

Well, another long pause in the blog, yeah, it's just that mostly I've had nothing really to particularly write about nor the mood to write, three weeks ago I came back from my third USA visit but it's been a real struggle getting back into my usual rhythm of work, it's not usually this hard for me.

So yes, New York, it was wonderful visiting the states again and it was a blessing to be able to go with my boyfriend, one thing I'll say right away that this was hands down the -best- visit I've had to the USA.

We stayed with cousins of my boyfriend and they were the most accommodating, kindest, nicest, most pleasant people I've ever had the pleasure of staying with, the hospitality we received was truly exceptional, they made us feel like close family, barely halfway through the visit they were asking when were we coming back, it was such a delight to meet and be around people of such pure kindness.

To you all if you read this, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, Thank You.

The flight was more than fine, despite a issue which had caused some discord when I had pointed it out, in a nutshell Finnair decided to pull some of their planes to do maintenance on them, specifically the Airbus A330/340 and that they got LOT Polish Airlines to co-run with their 787 Dreamliner.

Uh oh, I thought.

A odd thing about Finnair's Airbus is that there isn't a B row in the seats, it goes AC DEF GH, why? I don't friggin' know!, me and my boyfriend had booked 25A and C, so we're sat together, when I learned about the aircraft change I looked up the 787 seat plan, ABC DEF GHI, er a seat's appeared between us, so I voice my concerns to my boyfriend whom promptly rang up Finnair whom said 'nothing changed', so we relaxed and thought nothing more, until we're at the airport and it's the 787 Dreamliner sat at the gate, thankfully the lady who was going to sit between us moved and sat at the window so we sat together at least.

The entertainment centre of the LOT 787 Dreamliner

The 787 is a lovely aircraft, it's one of the quietest planes I've been on and one of the most up-to-date ones, the windows don't have shutters they have these windows which darken at a push of a button so you could turn it all the way down but you could still see outside, it was really nice, plus all the seats had smart screens which had a variety of content on with cool little controllers which popped out at a push, I watched The LEGO Movie and The Hobbit 2 on these, the lady whom moved into what was my seat, her screen wasn't working properly, the sound didn't work, so she moved to another seat, leaving me and my boyfriend with the row to ourselves, quite lucky then.

That's me sorted, The Hobbit and Lego Movie!

The USA border was fine at JFK Airport if not exceptionally busy, we queued for quite a while, luckily when the US citizens had gone through they opened up the other gates to the rest of us, they filtered off the line from where we were standing so we got lucky, didn't have to wait for bags as they were already off the belt by the time we got through.

So tired from the flight, we had to make our way to East Northport, we had both never been in the area and we had a still sizable chunk of journey left to make, luckily the trains were not too hard to figure out, about a hour or so later we arrived, got picked up and taken to the residence.

"But I want the toy!", Cutest dog I've perhaps ever met.

After getting a quick tour of the home, and introduced to two really sweet dogs, whose names I cannot remember how to spell, pictured is Reina (I think thats how you spell it!), we got taken to a local Indian restaurant and had what was the absolutely best curry I've had, despite jetlag catching up like a looming shadow over the both of us, we had such a great meal, I knew that we were going to have a great time, I was falling asleep in the car on the way home, thankfully we got to bed and I slept like a rock!

"We got the Mini!"

The next day we woke up, minimal jetlag which was a blessing, we set off to get our rental car, which ended up being a wonderful little cream white Mini, it was such a perfect little car for us to have whilst in the states, my boyfriend was very anxious driving for the first couple days but he got the hang of it, and getting that car really helped us explore, no waiting on public transport or lifts from others, we could just go where we wanted and whenever.

My Boyfriends starter from Cheesecake Factory, Fried Calamari 

We took ourselves to a Cheesecake Factory, we'd seen it mentioned on The Big Bang Theory and decided we should go, it was a wonderfully presented restaurant, the interior was really lovely, we decided to get a starter each, whoops!, they were HUGE, one could've easily fed both of us with no issue, the food was great, the service was good.

My Starter, rustic garlic bread with a garlic oil dip and tomato dip

Over the days we went to alot of malls, I know that sounds so weird but, we're not really the 'sightseeing' types, we like retail therapy, one thing we both noticed is that in nearly every shop we went into we got seen to by a assistant, sometimes that's lovely but other times it's nice just to browse!, one time I was looking at a item and upon asking the assistant if they had any he kinda quickly answered yes but then decided to point me towards another similar item which was darn near double the price, I played polite and looked around, but it's that sort of tactic which can and did scare me off.

'Medium' (!) portion of boneless wings with Parmesan oregano sauce and ranch dip, drink was Mountain Dew.

Independence Day, we got given tickets to go see a baseball game, proper american!, earlier in the day we went to a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant, there we got served by the nicest lady, even though working on a national holiday she was so nice, tended to us exceptionally well, chatted with us, asked what we was doing, all round wonderful service, why doesn't Europe have this level of service, yes we know they're working for tips (and we ALWAYS did tip), but you didn't feel that they were doing it for the tip, you felt like they were doing it because they could and by goodness, this lady did.

Wonderful view we had during the game

The baseball game was good fun, we got really into it, the weather was sketchy at first but cleared up lovely, one thing which amused me and my boyfriend to no end was that during one break in play, they played a scene from the film Independence Day, where the president makes a speech that rallies the troops for the flight against the alien forces, er, hang on, that doesn't seem quite right, yes it's a great scene from the movie but...erm... bares no relation to this day?

Also being a spectator is highly dangerous, at least 7/8 times baseballs shot into the stands, one got kinda close to us but that was NOTHING compared to the last pitch of the game, he swings, we hear a crack, great big baseball bat shooting towards us, the section we were sat in DUCKED, and I mean EVERYONE did, thankfully the net just behind the players caught it, but it would've been nasty if that bat hit somebody!

The Long Island Ducks are a minor league team but it was still a lovely evening out, we got some 'quackers' and baseballs from the store, I would've loved a team shirt but by god I'm not paying $80 for a single shirt even my Wigan Warriors shirt with custom naming on the back didn't cost that much!

There is so much to cover, I'll try make another post detailing more later, this one's gone on long enough!

Oh 'Appy Day

I recently acquired a iPad 4th Gen from my boyfriends brother, thank you!, mostly because I know of a ton of apps which just are not available on the Android platform and I've been wanting a decent sized tablet for a while, one thing Apple does well is the large tablet, so getting one is a blessing, here are a couple of apps which I've been playing.

Ticket To Ride (Available on App Store and Play Store)

A app version of the wonderfully simple but hard to master boardgame, I've sunk already a ton of time into this, you get routes to complete on a map and you have to place trains down to complete routes, sounds simple and it plays simple but its ruthless and a ton of fun!

Surgeon Simulator 'Touch' (Available on the App Store)

A app version of the crazy insane PC game hit from last year, this brings it to the iPad with all new touch controls and a few new mechanics to keep veterans of the PC game on their toes, such as your patient being able to have a heart attack, you just try to get that heart started in time, its not easy!
Infamous for it's dodgy slightly intentionally broken controls, this game is fantastic for a quick laugh and is certainly not for the squeamish!

If I mention something which was a little disappointing it's 'Sherlock The Network', it's only on the App Store and it's billed almost as a addition to the hit tv series, it stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as Sherlock and Watson respectively, you're one of the latest members of the homeless network and you help solve cases and the like, sadly other than the wonderful videos and voices of Benedict and Martin the game lacks any other real substance and for a game which cost nearly €5, is a real shame, one for die hard Sherlock fans, as I am, but if you're not, best steer clear.

The Whole World And You

This world is full of amazing events, even the strangest things can happen from a cat saving a boy from a dog to a 'baby' t-rex throwing a pitch at a baseball game.

So yes strange and sometimes wonderful things can happen in this wacky ol' world of ours but it also goes to stand that alot that is out there is complete and total bunk, out to mislead or even potentially take money away from you or damage your computer, as a user of the book of face I see all too often these stories which I call 'clickbait', stories which read like "first I was saddened but then I was shocked!", who the frig has that as a headline or link title, oh wait, people who just want other people to go to their website, people get money from people visiting websites, it's a easy enough thing to set up. there was one particular instance which i've seen in which a man falls down and asks for help, someone walks by (saddened) then someone helps him (shocked!), what more concerns me that what about the person FILMING the entire thing, they saw it why don't they help?, because it's a set up.

Not to say that genuine acts of kindness don't happen or that selfishness doesn't exist, but you have to take a lot of these supposed articles at face value, yes it was filmed but you have to think, who shot the video, why did they keep recording, I mean who records a video at a distance of a man in distress?

I'm a avid reader of this lovely site called snopes.com they look into a lot of hoaxes and 'clickbait' articles, as well as covering urban legends, 99% of the time you can find something that someone has shared on facebook of dubious intent on there already busted, whats that? Flight MH370 was found in the Bermuda triangle? busted, that is just -one- thing I can bust instantly, there is a story about a 'cancer killing fruit' which they are looking into.

Don't believe everything you click, use your brains people and if you seriously believe some of the more 'out there' stories, "They're spraying chemicals in the air after airplanes, it's geogengineering, it's poisioning us!!!!1", I have a couple rolls of lovely tin-foil you can make a hat out of!

(also, those 'trails' are caused by hot exhaust from the engines being put out in a -cold- sky, it's colder the higher you go!)

I'll always find strength...

There comes a day where you find a way to escape
A blank page, now I'm writing out my own fate
I've grown tired of running away from a thing called reality

And I will scream from the top of my lungs
I'm living to fulfill my hopes
(Can you hear me?)
I'm no longer taking the safer way out of anything
(We'll never go back home)
I'll always find strength from those who will help me
They'll always be there by my side
(I'm on my way)
The hope for tomorrow
Will help me ease all my pain today

Today I had a bit of a run in with some rather unpleasant comments via my twitter, I'm not going into details but when random strangers are judging you for who you are and what you on a public space, it's not nice, each and every comment was filed and reported for abuse on Twitter, I don't stand for it, I'm alright but I'm shaken and only a little upset.

I have to thank my coworkers and my boyfriend who where there when I needed someone to talk to, I was more rattled than anything, you guys make my life awesome, I try not to let idiots upset me, I can be thick skinned but sometimes things can pass through and hurt, everyone I know is supportive of who I am and what I do, it's just a shame that there are idiots in this world that the rest of us have to put up with.

Thank you all.

The Next Generation?

So I finally snagged myself a PS4 and I'm very happy with it, it's early days for the system and I think it's got great potential, recently it gained a update in which you can edit videos which the system records automatically, it's a really useful feature for me so I've tried it out with a bit of footage that I've got already, I'm looking at doing longer more proper videos in the future, this was edited entirely on the PS4 with all in game footage. And yes that is a Lego Smaug roasting a sausage.

All footage is PG rated, no swearing, few moments where those who have a fear of heights might not like so much. Taken from Metal Gear Solid V Ground Zeroes, Infamous Second Son and Lego The Hobbit.

I think I may just use the editor to trim down videos to export to my PC for proper editing, the transitions it does make it look a little professional to a point but it's missing 'character', it's just cookie cutter templates, but it's a step forward.

My only gripe with the PS4 is the choice of titles is small but it's early days yet, there are some fantastic games on the horizon and I'm looking forward to playing them!

Warning: May Contain Nuts

As a fussy eater, I'm used to going through labels constantly to make sure that whatever I'm getting doesn't have something I don't like in, I jokingly refer to myself as a 'Meatatarian' (note, not a proper word) because I don't like seeing those poor innocent vegetables getting needlessly slaughtered just for food. (note, this is only in jest, I eat some veg but I DO avoid alot of it, most times I end up being quite ill, this may be psychosomatic though, but i'm not talking about that here)

My quirks aside, I'm very lucky to not have any seriously life threatening food allergies, I'm still sensitive to food colouring for the most part and try to avoid most of it, I don't normally eat any nuts, but I've had some in my years, just not the biggest fan of them.

Recently UK supermarket chain Tesco has introduced a whole swarm of new labels to help consumers avoid any potential allergens, as most allergies can be life threatening, Tesco said they were listing products with May Contain Nuts if there was a possible risk of cross contamination, this could be seen as sensible.

(Source Twitter )

This is a picture of a bottle of 'Pure Apple Juice', note that it says May Contain Nuts, how the frig can Apple Juice even potentially contain nuts, this isn't the only example, Orange Squash, Cream Soda and Sliced Ham are just the tip of the iceberg, other people have noted seeing it on bags of potatoes, pizza and butternut squash.

There's being careful and then there is just being darned lazy!

I'm probably not the best person to speak of this but surely Tesco of all companies could examine their product suppliers (or get a outside agency to do so) and check out the factories to say it may or may not potentially contain nuts, I'm sure for mums this is a nightmare but when they speak up about this they just get shot down saying that they just want a excuse to sue Tesco or are just overreacting to nothing.

When your child could die from a nut allergy, shopping for them is hard and trying on the most steadfast and bravest of mums, they need clear concise labeling to make sure they can provide the food to feed their family and keep them safe, they're not overreacting, they're protecting their children.

I know one such mum, my twin sister Rachelle, she has a blog, her daughter has a severe allergy to Walnuts and Pecans, I'm pretty sure she would have a thing or two to say when someone says to her that shes 'overreacting', if we want the best for our children, listen to those who have children and take heed of the struggles many families face every day.

As for Tesco, I really hope they turnabout on this, they're a quite decent store chain, they should know better than this.

There's a petition going which asks Tesco's to stop using blanket allergen labelling. Go sign it.

This is clandestine, this is arcane, this is...

Broken Sword.

Good gracious I love this game series.

Cast your minds back all the way to 1996, we got a shiny Playstation for christmas, included with it is a disc called 'Demo 1' amongst demos for things like Wipeout 2097 it had a video for a game I'd never heard of 'Broken Sword - The Shadow Of The Templars'

I must've watched that trailer more than a few times, I remember much later playing a demo of it, played that to death too, I remember being able to play it properly and fully enjoying it, the cast, the story... the friggin' goat puzzle and I've enjoyed the series ever since.

Broken Sword 2 was also fantastic, I've played both Broken Sword 1 and 2 countless times, alas the later sequels 3 and 4 are not as good, so imagine my surprise to hear that they're Kickstarting a 5th game, naturally I was hyped, it was going back to it's older style, with the original (for the most part) voicecast, I hadn't backed it since I didn't have the means to at the time, it remains one of two kickstarters I wished I could've backed.

So it got released last winter, I've finally picked it up on a half price offer and I've just finished it after about 4 hours and at the end of the first episode I can safely say it's a great addition to the series,.

The puzzles are not too challenging if a little long winded but that was and still is the nature of Point And Click adventure games, I'll talk more at length about Broken Sword V when episode two is out and I've finished it.

I do like point and click adventure games, I've throughly enjoyed series like The Secret Of Monkey Island, even more recent titles like the brilliantly dark 'The Wolf Among Us' or the enjoyable 'Back To The Future' game, I always enjoy good storytelling!.

Got reminded of this, 'Yahtzee' talking about point and click adventure games and their decline in recent years, it's safe to watch if you don't mind one use of the word 'Bollocks'.

Drinking and me.

Warning, what follows is only my own views and opinions, nothing is aimed at anyone, if the shoe fits then by all means wear it but I'm as much entitled to voicing my opinion as you are enforcing your own.

So I'm 'Non Social', I sit in my room, playing on my computer and being a lazy fat shut in.

I'd like to say the otherwise.

In reality I'm still working my own life, I'm conversing with my boyfriend, my friends and family, I'm managing over many things, planning stuff, editing videos, working on personal projects, occasionally playing a game or just singing to music, so I don't draw myself out and drink myself into a stupor every weekend, I'm a fan of a drink now and again but I'm one who feels there has to be a time and a place for it, pushing myself into a crowded room, with music so loud you can't talk, does not appeal to me.

I like conversation, I like sharing a drink with friends, when you make it every now and again it makes the time so much more interesting and fun.

This is a picture which involves a incident which happened when I was out being 'social', I'll provide a tiny bit of context, I was heading to the bar with my friend (pictured right) and we where talking about this drink called 'Kalte Muschi' it's a red wine and cola mix, it's pretty nice, the joke being that in german 'Kalte Muschi' means 'Cold Pussy', us both being english had a good chuckle over that, so we get to the bar and another of our friends is there (pictured left), my friend walks to the bar and to the nice lady bartender asks for "two cold pussies", I burst out with laughter and thus a unforgettable moment was born.

The point I'm trying to make is that, I appreciate drinking but when it's not every week, it makes things much more memorable and for me a lot more enjoyable.

So don't label me as 'Anti Social' or 'Non Social' because I prefer having quiet nights in compared to every weekend out on the razz, I appreciate all the friends I have, doesn't mean I have to drink all the time to appreciate it all the same.

The Customer Isn't Always Right, A Retail Workers Nightmare

"Can I have a no-foam cappuccino?"

Wait... what?

In my time doing retail work I've come across some absolute blinders of things that customers have asked for or done, everything I quote here are things which I've personally encountered or to wit that I've been told about.

"Can I have Cash-Back?" "But you've paid cash" "yeah but I want cash-back" "that's not how that works..."

"Can you get salmonella from a creme egg?"* (*Honestly not sure if that was a joke or not but still, daft thing to say!)

"I've used up my quota for this month, can I use next month's?" "yes, next month"

"Can I have a skinny latte but could you put lots of chocolate sprinkles on top" (so whats the point in the 'skinny' part then?, it's like ordering a giant pizza with a Diet Coke)

"Can I have €100 cash back" "sure but you need to spend €1" "but I don't want anything, I only want the cash back" "but I can't just give you cash-back, you need to spend €1, get a drink or something" "but I don't want anything"

"Can I have 40 pounds cashback" *processes transaction, gives money in € as that is all we provide in cash* "I asked for £ not €!"

"We're forced to shop here" "No you're not, there is a shop 10 minutes walk away" "but I don't want to go there" "then you're not forced to shop here then"

"Can I have cash-back please?" "sure, how much would you like?" "I don't know"

As said most of the customers I get are polite and know what they want but sometimes, in -ANY- retail establishment you get the odd customer who just makes you scratch your head in disbelief, does brighten anyone's day though!

And now for our multimedia portion of our ramblings today, got reminded of this song and forgot I liked it.

'Got My Mind Set On You' by George Harrison

A Party Indeed

So I got Runrig's 'Party On The Moor' Blu-Ray and 3CD Boxset today, what's my opinion?

It's great.

Simple as anything really, if you like Runrig, get it.

But, I had some issues with the Blu-Ray which may be worth noting, I tried placing it into my computer first, I've played many blu-rays on my comp before from Star Trek to the Extended Edition of The Hobbit, this one just downright refused to play, software issue perhaps but it was very weird, so I move onto my PS3, load up the disc, press start, froze and crashed my system, okay, still not good.

I finally got it to work on my brand new PS4 system (to which I'll talk about at a later post), looks and sounds great but surely a blu-ray should work on any blu-ray player, just a thought that's all.

Overall the concert sounds great, it's the entire thing which is wonderful, I can't pick a fave because there are so many but I will note my own personal opinions on not-so-great tracks, 'Alba' is fine but it's more akin to the Paul Mounsey 2009 BBC version, really should be more like the original, 'The Highest Apple' is possibly the weakest on the concert, Donnie does a good job but he's a -little- bit too high pitch singing it which just put me off what is a very deep and wonderful song.

But they are only minor gripes from myself, I've been listening to Runrig for at least 23 years and that number will only keep getting higher, but if I do have one problem with Runrig right now it's this.

It's been 7 YEARS since their last studio album 'Everything You See'

Since then we've had two live concert albums and a compilation boxset, come on guys, we're waiting!

I know there's rumblings of the guys heading to make a new album soon, would be nice if we had any official word of that though.

Only time will tell.

My Love Can Change That

The first ever Eric Stuart Band music video, this is the result of that Kickstarter I backed a while back, I'm so happy it's finally finished, I'll admit I was hoping for another track but I don't care that much, this is a wonderful simple music video and deserves a watch, plus I'm named in the credits ^_^

The Experiment Of Spoons

No it's not some kooky experiment involving the kitchen utensils, it's The Spoony Experiment!

Standard Disclaimer, these videos are intended for more mature audiences, he does swear and in the latter two there is simulated violence both in game and in video, use your own discretion!

I've been a fan of this guy for years, he's funny witty and can make almost anything entertaining from a VHS board game about golf to one about bird watching, yes, there's a VHS board game about bird watching, look it even stars 'British birder' Bill Oddie!

Recently he's been reviewing over the vast disappointment that is Final Fantasy 13 and a little while back he finally posted the last two parts which use his new intro of which I do make a cameo in, I've mentioned this before. 

So it's been a while and I've forgot to post about them here so, here's the links

For those of you who can't be arsed waiting for the intro to start, to watch it at all or just plain missed it...

There I am in the dark red shirt just left of center, I'm happy with how I look in it and I'm happy just to be part of it, it's still weird knowing I'm there. ^_^

Technology and the clan

Oh it's a fair bit dusty round here... heh, yeah once again I've neglected to post anything for a while, life does get in the way sometimes and things can fall by the wayside, lets hope I can keep this going!.

I haven't recorded anything new for a while, mostly work and life getting in the way plus slightly marred by some tech issues rearing their ugly head again, again I hope to get back to doing the videos!


So what's been going on, well aside from the usual quiet holiday season and a lovely short trip to Finland nothing terribly much I wanted to have a rant about Technology, most specifically the PS4.

As some of my readers know couple months ago I sacrificed a PS4 pre-order to help a Kickstarter, whilst I'll always be proud of that I do feel abit daft having done so, why?

The PS4 is still not available, anywhere.

It's amazing how we're near the end of February and it's so difficult to get hold of one, amazon.de have pretty much de-listed (taken off) the PS4 from their own site, it's not gone entirely but they don't list themselves selling it, there is sellers however offering stupid prices for the damned thing in it's place. (€560? I don't think so!), MediaMarkt and Saturn also have removed all mention of the device from their websites.

I've been told it's due to amazingly high demand and a backlog of pre-orders, surely amazon could still have a preorder system in place, akin to take a number and wait, guess not.

End of last month I caught sight of a pretty decent bundle, PS4 plus 'Knack' 'Killzone' and 'Driveclub' for €499, not bad for the console and three games, even if I only want one of them, 'Driveclub' but that still hasn't been released yet, there is no official release for it, I did pre-order this bundle but today I cancelled it because rumour suggests the game may be about around June/July and that is when the pre-ordered bundle would ship, this is just no good to me because all my leave and vacation is planned around this time and it's not feasible for me to continue with it, for a few reasons.

• Having a bill of €500 when I'm on holiday, especially if it's around July when I'm visiting America, would kill my spend for the trip.

• Due to 'Killzone' being a 18 rated game I would personally have to be here for the delivery, ID and all, to sign for it, can't sign for it when I'm not here nor can I get someone else to sign on my behalf, it has to be the same person as the one listed as paying, plus I'd want to be here for a delivery of a €500 console!

So I roll my eyes and sigh, thwarted once again, I know people can and do say that I should wait and hold on, I don't know, just this morning I looked onto Amazon.co.uk and saw the PS4 available on the 25th March, what a joke!, though there is a bundle with Infamous Second Son available from the 21st March... and I do want that... We'll see.

At least something else I pre-ordered will come, Runrig's new live concert 'Party On The Moor', ordered the blu-ray with the 3CD box-set too, yay! Cannot wait to hear Bruce Guthro and Donnie Munro sing 'The Cutter' together in the best quality other than someones smartphone footage!