Best. Net. Quiz. Ever.
Monthly Archive for September, 2005
I’ve had some great experiences with Skype over the last few days making me appreciate the service even more. As I mentioned in my last post, I was in a conference call with a few people deciding what to see at the cinema but the fact that Tim could call the taxi company with us all listening was awesome.
I also had a long conversation with someone on a landline with zero glitches for nearly an hour. Hopefully the ebay deal will enhance the service more, I would definately consider the SkypeIn option if it had caller id.
Oh and I have added a button to the sidebar which you can click on to call me. No double glazing thanks ;-).
Saw Revolver last night after much debate on Skype as to the existance and non-existance of the cinemas in Birmingham. It seems like every week a cinema is getting rebranded, bought, moved or built and it has everyone rather confused. We settled for the new AMC in the end, which I have never been to and didn’t even know existed. Nice place, good prices and a large screen - great.
As for the movie, that’s still in the air. Guy Richie’s latest left us with some interesting ideas and pleanty to ponder but I couldn’t help feeling he tried way too hard. Cool movies that blow you mind are great such as Donnie Darko, Sixth Sense and Fight Club. Here Richie tries so hard to disguise the twist that film becomes overlly complicated when in the grand scheme of things it needn’t be.
Visually the film is impressive with every camera angle meticulously poised and with a depth that is missing from many movies. Unfortunately at one point in the film, and for no reason, some kind of terrible cell shaded computer animation is used that feels horribly out of place and rubs off as poor man’s Kill Bill. Tarantino he is not.
If you enjoy long, mind bending movies with strong characters then there is a lot to enjoy here. If you want entertaining, non-headache inducing film that doesn’t insult your intelligence then this isn’t for you.
The long holiday is finally over and I am moving into my Birmingham flat tomorrow. I have had a few nights stay there but hadn’t fully commited all my stuff and as such was in limbo with some of my gear. It will be nice to have everything in one place and it will be great to see everyone at uni again. So fingers crossed for this year, I don’t know where I will be by the end of it but hopefully we can all enjoy the ride wherever it takes us.
Incedentally this blog should pick up become a whole lot more entertaining. I hope.
See you on the other side.
They managed to watch all 24 hours of 24 season 1 in one stretch, give or take the odd short nap.
Well done!
As I write this my brother and some friends have just started a TV marathon of 24 season 1. Yes it’s true, they will be watching TV for 24 hours from midnight today till midnight tomorrow (just like timing of the show). Fair play to them and I aplaud their effort but I can’t see them finishing it in one stint. My money is on 12 hours tops but I’d like them to prove me wrong.
The only shows I watched in long stints were The Sopranos and Babylon 5. Being late to get in on The Sopranos I caught up very quickly by watching one episode after another for hours and hours. This wasn’t planned, it was pure addiction driven by my desire to see what was going to happen next. The same went for B5 when I watched it last year, showing just how awesome these shows are.
As for 24 Season 1, lets just say Jack’s wife isn’t the most intelligent of characters and the stupid messes she gets into are only rivaled by her incompetent daughter. Both of which get a ton of air time in the first year. Nah, they won’t do it. They can’t do it. Can they?
I would give my thoughts on the new Nintendo Revolution controller revealed at TGS but right now there isn’t much to say. Sure it’s different and its unique features hold a lot of promise, but sadly no games have been announced for the system yet so passing judgement is rather difficult.
It’s great to see some innovation in the next generation, lets just hope it lives up to the massive potential this controller serves up.
You can tell the new TV season is officially apon us when there is far too much to watch. Take all the new stuff on last night for example:
- Family Guy
- American Dad
- Rome
- TNA: Unbreakable
- Simpsons
In a few weeks Curb Your Enthusiasm is back so you can add that to the list. Obviously TNA is a one off but it seems like every week there is a good PPV on whether it’s WWE, TNA, UFC or Pride.
It’s just finding the time (and the bandwidth).
Sony’s strategy of making the UK and Europe wait an insanely long time for its new portable system has clearly paid off. By launching the PSP in the UK almost a year after its initial Japanese launch and suing anyone who dares to import them they built enough up enough momentum to shift 185,000 units in the first four days. By comparison Nintendo did 87,000 consoles when the DS launched earlier in the year, which at the time was considered a landmark figure.
Initially I was surprised by the figure but when we look at the launch it’s clear how this number was accomplished. The system’s short comings are well documented including horrible battery life, expensive low capacity memory and many units shipped ridden with dead pixels. But by sandwiching the console into two camps, part games system, part media player they have drawn the early adopters from both areas and the general gadget freaks also.
So 185,000 isn’t as crazy as it sounds but by making the PSP a ‘jack of all trades’ it has become lackluster in all the areas it has taken a stab at. The media player aspect is frankly shocking. We are expected to buy all our movies again in UMD format when the DVDs we have are of higher quality, with more features and less expensive. On the audio side this is not the iPod rival Sony claim it to be, they are selling 1GB memory sticks for almost ¬£100 in UK stores which makes it an impractical and expensive competitor.
As for the games (don’t forget this is a games console also) it would be easy to think you were looking at the PS2’s line up looking down the list of launch titles. With Ridge Racer as the top selling game in the UK it doesn’t fill me with confidence that the system will deliver quality original gaming experiences not already available on the PS2.
Don’t expect the PSP to innovate or invigorate the portable gaming and portable media markets as sadly it fall short in both areas. Instead expect it to do well living in the safe land of mediocrity by defacto, proving that it truely deserves the Playstation name.
![Futurama - Bender's Big Score (with Limited Edition Lenticular Sleeve) [2008]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61THJCbOxwL._SL75_.jpg "Futurama - Bender's Big Score (with Limited Edition Lenticular Sleeve) [2008]")
![Futurama - The Beast with a Billion Backs [2008]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511PW90lDhL._SL75_.jpg "Futurama - The Beast with a Billion Backs [2008]")
Recent Comments