Redesign...again

So I've done a quick redesign to make all things new for 2011 & I hope you like it

We continue.......

Wake-up song of the month: DeadMau5: "Strobe"

Now a classic Mau5 track, this week I've been using this song to wake up to, do the wsahing up to & drive to - it is EPIC! It's from 2009's "For Lack of a Better Name" album

Wedding Update: now it's this year!

So it's 2011, the year when I (finally) get married to my beloved (awww) and to be honest it's looking a lot closer this side of January than it looked/felt last year - things are starting to get firmed up and put in place to make our special day ....special!

Expanding on my previous post there's a lot going on with the wedding now - it's all kicked off again & I've now established many things:

First Night: all booked (not paid for yet) and ready to go - I'm very much stoked about it - should be pretty amazing! I've booked us in for 2 nights, but I won't be sharing where we're going...that'll take the surprise out of it!

Honeymoon: after initially looking at further afield than Europe, then some specific countries in Europe for where we should jet off to, eventually I grounded my thoughts into what we wanted to get from our honeymoon and the reality of what we could actually comfortably afford. Therefore we're going to do what previous generations did & disappear to somewhere in the UK, somewhere I know has no phone reception or internet access & just spend the time being with each other. It's not expensive, but should still be just what we need, to escape to the country.

Transport: very recently (last week) we had a very kind offer of a camper van to take us from the  free of charge, complete with driver - a fully refurbished & minted baby-blue bay - excellent & just what Madds wanted :D

Stag Weekend Plans: So after meeting with my best man (JMC) we have decided to go Coasteering in the Home of Coasteering (Pembrokeshire apparently) & are currently trying to source where to stay in the local area...more details to follow!

We continue...

Getting older IRL

So apparently it was my birthday & it was my largest by far (irony? I think not) & I am now officially an age that rhymes with; dirty, flirty, hurty, shirty, etc. & I was beginning to wonder if this partially-interesting fact would make any real difference to me - the sad truth is that it did - although almost imperceptibly!

So we had a few issues with Maddie getting my Birthday/Christmas presents from Amazon in time for Christmas Day (for those precious few who don't know...that's when my birthday is) but it did not concern me, unusual. Then post-Christmas I bought a new bag (also not a surprise) but it was more of a professional briefcase rather than a rucksack! Then I bought me a new jumper but with elbow patches! Then it gets stranger - this weekend, I went to the shops not caring in the slightest that I looked like a deranged hippy, cooked a  roast & did a weekend of spring cleaning. Clearly I'm getting old!

I think my actions and thought processes are becoming more long-term - I'm thinking about the impact that I have with my spending or travel on my plans for the wedding - where we can reasonably go for our first night hotel, where can we actually afford to go on honeymoon, but more importantly - where can we realistically afford to live?

It is a bizarre thought, to think of one getting older, but there we have it - it is a fact of life.

We continue...

Another CotD - Tarantula by Pendulum....classic!

CoTD 2011: Noisia - Alpha Centauri

the first track on my CotD 2011 version (Choons of the Day for those uninitiated!) that noise has been stuck in my head for like 3 weeks so far - it's got a riff that won't quit :D

deadmau5 - Raise Your Weapon

A slow build-up, but some seriously dirty beats - poetic as well!

Wolfgang Gartner - Illmerica

Wolfgang Gartner - Undertaker

deadmau5 & Wolfgang Gartner - Animal Rights

Looking forward to seeing the Deadmau5 in Manchester next Friday ftw!

Movember Results

So it's now the end of Movember, so I thought I would share my Mo with the world. Click on any of the below pictures & you can see it in all its glory (plus each picture is in fact 4 pictures in 1!)

Now I'm off for a shave...we continue

Speedflying in Wengen 2010

Adrenaline rush or what!

Movember

This year, I am taking part in a charity even designed to raise money for Prostate Cancer research. It's called Movember or sometimes No-Shave-November and encourages men to put down their razors/shavers & grow a healthy moustache. I think it's a very worthy cause as there does seem to be a general trend in focusing on breast cancer a massive issue, but less on one of biggest male cancers - Prostate (see the wiki link):


Now has been running since around 2003 over in Australia, but has become more & more prevalent, especially amongst rugby teams (e.g. Wasps whose team roster pictures are normally taken during the month of November hence the delightful moustaches on some of their players last year!)

There are a team of Mo Bro's in my office (called LTG), and I thought I would join, both because of what the charity is designed for & the impact on my own life with prostate issues, as well as the excuse to grow some facial fur!

So far there have been some cake sales to raise money and there is a campaign in the office to get one of the guys who has had a full beard for an estimated 30 years to shave it all off...if we can raise £500, but it's all done in good humour!

I will stick a pic up at the end of the month, but if you would like to sponsor me, please have a look at the following link which will take you to my Mo Space page.

Gamerinageifcation

So about not playing any new games...after Reach & Lego Harry Potter....well Fable 3 has come out...& so has the new Call of Duty (Black OsS)...so expect a couple of reviews in the next few days (or weeks, knowing me!)...when I can eventually find time to put down the controller & bloggerificate my brain ;)

We continue

Harry Potter + Lego = win?

So Travellers Tales have released another Lego game...which is nice! After the successes of Star Wars, Batman & Indiana Jones (I never actually played IJ, but I know a lot of people who loved it!) they have tried their hand at putting the hugely successful series of Harry Potter Lego models into a whole virtual world - inspired by the Warner Brothers films.

This is the first installment (it's based on the first 4 movies) so I'm sure there will be a second with the last 4 movies (& then another one with all the movies stuck together...a la Lego Star Wars). But leaving that aside, it's a new Lego universe & whole new set of tricks for your characters to master, but with similarly designed platforming & fun puzzles, collectibles & challenges
& it's a more fantasy-based experience - there's magic involved here!

Firstly this game is pretty vast - Hogwarts Castle & grounds are substantial enough for you to go get lost in easily, there's Diagon Alley & Gringotts Bank, it's all there for you to explore! You will quickly adapt to the myriad of spells you will need to learn (progressively) as you go through the school years.

There are a good number of levels for each year group, with a good variety of missions - all linked in closely with the movies (more than the books) & keep you interested enough to play through to the end & it'll take you a long time to play the whole game.

There's nothing really new or different from previous games, with the notable exception of a change to the coop mode, which now automatically cuts the screen which is a good change. But I'd still give this a good 4 out of  stars

.....we continue

New Footy Game

A long held game of cat & mouse, a game of 2 halves, etc. there are 2 football princes vying to be king, last year, apparently it was Fifa's year, hopefully this year will be different!

I've stuck with Pro Evo, since 2006 (when I first got my 360) & have bought it every year: 2008, 2009 & 2010, so now it's only natural to get the new 2011 version.


Therefore, I have decided to......not purchase a new football title this year. Now here's why:

1. Last years title was a little disappointing - lots of good things happened, champions league, etc. but the massive disappointment was the refereeing - which once again sucked!
2. I'm saving for a wedding - come on people - I can't save and spend out on 'luxuries' as well!
3. Football games are really a social tool - you need to play it with friends and you can't really play this on your own, which tends to be how I'm playing at the momento - hence why Fable, Halo: Reach, Lego and the CoD games work so well for me - you can do it without...backup!

So I'm not boycotting it, I'm just not planning on buying it, you know...unless the need  arises!

Halo: Reach [a.k.a. Halo 5]

Ahhh it seems to be the season of new games - this time it's back to the Halo universe, for the 5th (& arguably final) game that the developers Bungie are making involving Spartans/UNSC vs. Covenant.

The game is different to previous Halo games (ignoring ODST), because you are not controlling the Master Chief - this time you are another Spartan warrior called Noble 6, as part of an elite squad called 'Noble', on various missions on the doomed planet of Reach (we know it's doomed because it's set a couple of weeks before the original Halo: Combat Evolved game, which kick-starts after the fabled Fall of Reach).

There are only 10 formal missions found within the main campaign, but these are really tough - even on normal difficulty setting. So far I'm only playing through on normal, but once completed it's game-on for Legendary (i.e. toughest mode). The story is packed with emotions, it's gripping and makes you want to keep going through to the end. In fact it's quite like the movie 300, because you know they're doomed to fail (eventually) & it's a futile fight, but that doesn't stop them going out all guns blazing!

However, the main element of this game is not simply the campaign, the level of extras is huge; there's online Multiplayer games aplenty, there's Forge (a level creator tool) & the return of Firefight 2.0 (building on the original from ODST) all fully editable.

What this game has done is to pick all the best parts from the franchise (guns are  new & improved, firefight is fully customisable, forge is an epic affair, multiplayer is expanded to be on a par with the greats...like Halo 3!) create an exciting storyline, then allow you to play to your hearts content.

I would describe it as a must buy a 5/5 for any Halo fan - it's better than ODST & arguably the best of the main games - go get it!

Update of Wedding Stuffs

So in the last week everything has gone into overdrive in the past week!

Over the bank holiday we managed to establish:

• Date
• Wedding Venue
• Reception Venue/plan
• Bridesmaids

Then this week spoke to every usher I had lined up, negotiated a friendly Photographer, started organising with the wedding planner, spoke to the best man, typed up a guest list, signed up for a wedding list registry, organised a person to help with all the stationary & even found time to establish some potential discount for Madds bridal dress & a contact with a jewellers, oh & asked my old man if he would get me & my baby brother a good suit for the occasion. Not too shabby for about 10 days!

Now it's onto budgets & more groundwork - it's all good fun, but all I'm talking about is weddings - boring to some, but not to most!

We most definitely continue...

Trails HD ftw!

This post is all about arguably the most addictive video game I have every played (yes, even more than Fable 2) & it's called Trials HD.

Originally just an Internet game, but envisioned to be something much more smooth & intuitive when using the xbox controller system. It's a an amazingly simple premise - guide a bike & rider though a series of tracks (platform style) using 4 controls only; power, brake, lean forwards & lean backwards.

But the tracks, that's the hard part - things start simply enough, but an impressively fast learning curve is the order of the day - things start to look more & more impossible - how is it possible to do a standing jump of 20 feet & not hit the floor - no idea!

So to help you...slightly, there are a series of unlockable bikes with more power (or in the case of my favourite monkey bike - silliness!) ratios which help you power of some chasms, etc.

Even if you manage to conquer the beginner, easy, medium tracks, then there's also hard & extreme to give you some nice impossible ones to try your hand at - overall there's 50 tracks. Then more, if necessary, in the shape of some DLC (more coming soon) so new tracks & challenges.

Oh yes, there are some challenges as well - as if the tracks weren't hard enough - there a load of specials designed to get you even more addicted: ski jumping (on a bike) ride a giant cage ball (inside & out) use your bike with a rocket pack on it, giant bike pinball, pull a wheelie with the front wheel falling off & many more.

It's 1200 MS points (about £10) but you can get a demo version for free of course! It's the best thing I've seen on Xbox Live so far & it's super addictive a well worthy addition to any gamer's collection & surprisingly the more alcohol content in your blood, the better you drive - super-epic-win!! Check it out here over on Xbox Live

PS  & if you feel really keen, you can do tournaments - multiple tracks where your overall time dictates how well you do - epic