In Response To Your Question...

My taste in music has never been in line with the other kids of my social circle. In secondary school I enjoyed the musical stylings of Garth Brooks and Bryan Adams. The second through seventh CDs I ever bought were Garth Brooks. It was a box set. The first had been the soundtrack to Grosse Pointe Blank.

Anyway, the point is, I've always enjoyed music that isn't exactly topping the charts in Ireland. I don't think "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" counts, as even Bryan Adams hates that song now from what I've heard.

A while ago I discussed my amazing discovery that the Xbox 360 is female. This accurate assumption is based on the fact that she can multitask, playing games and music at the same time! While describing the life changing effects this revelation had on me, I casually mentioned that I was now used to playing games listening to such artists as Chesney Hawkes and Hanson. Amongst the hundreds of comments that followed this controversial and groundbreaking blog post, my good friend Lynn questioned "Hanson AND Chesney Hawkes? Did you buy them ironically". I shall now explain.

Chesney Hawkes is easy. "I Am The One And Only" is a guilty love of mine. At home, when Claire is still at work, I love singing Chesneys one hit wonder at the top of my lungs... or, at least, slightly above an inaudible murmur.

Hanson is a little more difficult. For well over a decade I joined any sane minded individual in cringing at the sound of an "mmm-bop" or the sight of a pack of long, blond haired males. The mere mention of Hanson was enough to make me laugh. And Claire agreed with me.

Until last year when someone mentioned them in one of the many, many blogs she reads. More specifically, they mentioned a particular documentary series made by the band themselves called Strong Enough To Break. The entire thing is up on YouTube by the boys themselves in an epic series of 12 posts! It is well worth watching, telling the story of how Hanson evolved from the teenyboppers they were at the time of their breakout number one hit to the pop rock grownups they are today.

Claire spent a fair length of time telling me and anyone who would listen how cool Hanson suddenly were, but we all ignored her. Then she got hold of the latest two albums, 2004's Underneath, and 2007's The Walk and got them onto her iPod. Thus followed an unavoidable exposure to the works of Hanson on any car journey that lasted longer than three minutes.

Not that it actually took that long. I found myself humming along to the tracks before we had left city limits. Penny and Me quickly became one of my favourite tracks to listen to while walking, cooking, or, yes, even playing Xbox. Crazy Beautiful, Misery and Georgia are also fantastic tracks, but honestly, it's just trying to pick from an incredible bunch. There are few artists, Messers Brooks and Adams included, that have entire albums that I enjoy listening to. Hanson almost has two. I leave out the last track from Underneath as it includes a hidden track, causing it to also include five minutes of silence. Annoying if you have your iPod in your back pocket and would rather not have to fish it out to move onto the next track.

In the end, music is for your soul. It needs to be felt within you, not just listened to. As much as MMMBop reminds me of teeny-boppers and terrible taste, Hanson makes me smile, hum, sing, and dance (when no-one's looking). Their stuff won't be for everyone, but it deserves to be heard by a lot more people than it is currently. Give them a chance. Listen to their most recent works. If you don't like them, that's fine. Just don't ignore them based on a single from 1997. Instead, try out their latest single "Thinking 'Bout Somethin'" from their newest, just released album, Shout It Out.

I have no excuse for Chesney Hawkes. Sorry.

Three Hundred And Thirty

Happy anniversary to me!! No. Not "Denis me"; "One Terrific Day me"! My blog turns 300 with this post.

Three hundred posts. Wow. I never thought I'd do it. And in a fraction over four years as well. Not bad. It's nice to think I stuck with this thing, and continue to do so.  I've had a good time, and had a lot of readers. My Google Analytics stats tell me that there are loads of people all over the world stumbling into my little piece of the world wide web. Here are some interesting facts from Google about my blog:

• I average around 20 page visits per day, peaking in the last 30 days with 31 views in a single day.
• As I write this, there have been 699 page views, which suggests that the first person to read this on the site could be the 700th viewer! Congratulations, whoever you may be.
• The vast majority of visitors are from the United States, at 180 visits. Ireland comes second, at 62, almost a third of the US! Inexplicably, India, Brazil and Germany are in my top ten! Hi there countries I've never been to or written about!
• For the longest time my post titled "I Miss World Of Warcraft" was at the top of the pageviews leader board, but my recent review of Splinter Cell: Convictions co-op story mode has blasted to the top and seems to be gaining speed. The single player review is also ahead of WoW already. I should do more game reviews. Apparently, they make good reading.
• Google sends me almost 50% of my total traffic. Thanks Google. Thoogle.

Interesting and true!

This all happens at an oddly appropriate time as well. Next Friday, just six days after One Terrific Day turned 300, its writer turns 30. I am living my last week in my 20's. Am I worried? No. I don't feel 30. I certainly don't act 30. The friends I have are the best I've ever had. I love my job. I am married to the most extraordinary person on the planet, and the only one that will have me. I am healthy, happy and hungry... oh. I should probably get some food.

Before I go, there will be fun and games at my place next Friday, the 28th. Of this I am aware. As the 28th is the actual date of my arrival to this pitiful planet, it will probably involve cake and lots of Rock Band. Everyone is invited. Everyone. Bring friends. I don't care if I don't know them. If they can 100% the guitar solo in The Final Countdown on Expert, then they're welcome. It should be a blast.

What I am not aware of is what will be happening on Saturday, the 29th. There will be something. Claire has been organizing it. You will have to contact her or any of the people she has informed for further details. Do not ask me. All I know is that a small amount of driving will be involved, though there should be lots of room for car-pooling.

See you all soon!

New Season Brings Glee

At this point we're well into the new season of television, with the start of a number of new shows, and the welcome return of others. Most shows are hitting episode seven or eight this week, so we have a fair idea of what to expect from the brand new offerings, as well as the season story arcs for the new season of those series we've watched for years.

Smallville has introduced Zod in the awesome form of Callum Blue, a move that almost makes me want to catch up on the series I left way back in season three. But there are just too many other great shows to invest time in, and while I'm sure many people who know me think I spend all my time either playing games on my Xbox or using it to watch tv, I really have more important things to do than sit on my couch long enough to watch everything that's available. How I Met Your Mother, House and Heroes are just three of the many shows I've let slide, while repeated recommendations like Dollhouse, Chuck, Sons of Anarchy and 30 Rock haven't even been given a chance.

There are just far too many good shows to watch right now. Returning Big Bang Theory and Mythbusters are joined by the immensely enjoyable Castle, starring everyone's favourite space cowboy, and the intriguing mystery series FlashForward, which I hate to think will become the new Lost, giving question after question and no answers, but I'm finding myself sucked into regardless of caution.

But there is another that has taken me by surprise. I never even knew it existed until I stumbled onto it from a completely unrelated article online. It sings to my inner love of cheesy music and cringe-worthy but hilarious situations. It plays on my desire to be a famous singer/dancer (admit it, everyone has that dream, right? ... Er... Right?). Watching it makes me smile and laugh. It brings me great Glee.

Glee is about a music club in an American high school. In the past, the club was popular and successful, but now they are nothing, while cheerleading and football rule the school. The series starts when Will, the Spanish teacher, volunteers to be the new Glee teacher as well, and recruits new members, including the football teams quarterback.

All the clichés are there. The thickheaded bully is a fantastic singer, the bitch cheerleader can sing as well as she dances, in fact, the entire cast is full of highly trained singers and dancers, most coming from Broadway. Unlike Fame, people don't spontaneously burst into song in Glee. Instead, any song is a product of the clubs rehearsal, stage production, or the individuals exorcising their personal demons in front of a mirror. As of the end of the third episode, the only example of someone bursting into song and causing people around her to dance in perfect choreography was, of course, part of a dream sequence.

But it works. I love it! It's hilariously funny. The cast is excellent, both vocally and in acting ability. The dynamics of the characters are fun, and the relationships are interesting. The cast are strong and all seem to be truly enjoying themselves. Thankfully, the network seems to agree. If TV.com is to be believed, Fox has picked up the show for a full 22 episode first season.

In the end, the show is just fun. The songs are fantastic and the choreography is flawless, making the many numbers during each episode fascinating to watch. It's a great addition to the weekly viewing, moreso because of it's core nature. In Glee, life is good. It might be tough sometimes, but ultimately, it's an enjoyable ride. While every other show of television has murder, tragedy, affairs, broken relationships, jealousy and hatred, Glee has songs, laughter, music and dance.

And when the credits roll, Glee leaves you smiling and humming a tune.

From The Earth To The Moon

July 20th is generally considered to be the anniversary of mans first steps onto the lunar soil. But much like the idea that the millennium began in the year 2000, it's a bit ambiguous. You see, in the US, it was indeed the 20th, but here in Ireland, and most importantly, in Greenwich in England, it was already into the early hours of Monday, the 21st of July, 1969. Regardless, we chose to celebrate the occasion with the US, and had a special movie night tonight to mark the historic event.

Opening the evening early at 7pm, we watched Mythbusters NASA Moon Landing Special, wherein they bust some of the bigger so-called "reasons" that conspiracy theorists give to "prove" that the moon landings were fake. By then, a few more people had shown up, and before we started into the trailers, we had a grand crowd of nine people in our living room, watching the big screen. The lights went down, and I started up the trailers.

It has become almost a tradition now that movie night at my place always opens with a number of new trailers for upcoming cinema releases. Tonight was no exception, and we watched trailers for Planet 51, Zombieland, The Last Airbender and District 9, among others. All in all, we got through nine trailers, ending with Moon, right before the feature presentation.

The room went silent as I placed the disk in the Xbox drive, waited for the menu to appear and pressed "Play". The music swelled, and The Dish began.

Claire and I went to see The Dish on release way back in 2000 in the cinema, and have loved it ever since. We bought the DVD as soon as it was released as well, and watching it tonight, I realised I haven't seen it enough. I remember the silence in the theater as Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface and uttered his immortal line. The joy of watching a DVD with friends is that you can chat and joke about scenes, characters or events, and we did. But once those grainy images of a ladder and suited-up spaceman appeared on the big screen, everyone was silent. There was hardly the sound of breathing from all nine of us.

40 years on, mans first steps onto the dusty surface of another world still have the power to silence us, and inspire us to dream.

To everyone involved in the Apollo program, from the men who walked on the moon to the people who built the machines to do it, from those who programmed the computers to those who stitched the spacesuits, thank you all for making a wondrous dream a reality.

I Think Someone Is Watching Me

Recently, as any of my regular readers know, I had an extended break from blogging caused by a lethal combination of laziness, procrastination and no internet. However, everything has it's purpose, even if unintentionally so.

While away, I had a number of people ask if I was ok, or if I had become bored of blogging, or if I had moved my blog elsewhere (don't worry Blogger. I love you too much to leave). It made me realise that there are a lot more people reading than I'm aware of! Some come and go, some even have me on their Google Reader feed or similar. I don't post very interesting stuff 99% of the time, just things that catch my own attention, but people still come back for more.

So, if you do read regularly, please take this opportunity to just drop a quick "hello". Especially if you're a friend with a blog I don't read. While you're at it, feel free to let me know if there is something about my blog you particularly enjoy, or even something you dislike. What would you like to see me do more of in 2009? What would you like to see less of?

Those Damned Water Aliens Are Back Again

Grab your shotguns! Turn up your obnoxious high pitched music! Release the flu virus across the population! But above all else, someone get Will Smith on the phone!!

The aliens are back, and this time, they're invading from the depths of our planets oceans, those clever so-and-sos.

Not a hoax, not a fake, maybe some hyperbole, lots of inaccurate assumptions on my behalf, National Geographic has the full, fact filled, non-sensationalist story, with video! But who wants that?!?

Alien-like Squid With "Elbows" Filmed at Drilling Site

Okay, so this is kinda old news by now (very old news by internet standards!), but I've been meaning to post about it for days now! Days, I tells ya!

Stay In, Fall Out

In a little over eight hours, I will be outside Game waiting to pick up Fallout 3 for the X-Box 360. Ten minutes later I'll be home and firing it up.

See you all on Monday.

Convention Scenario Writing

In my last post I mentioned the two adventure scenarios I had worked out on the journey home from Dublin. It seems that post caught the attention of a few people, and I've been requested, much to my surprise and joy, to write a Spirit of the Century scenario for LepreCon XXX. How could I say no?

I haven't really come up with a plot yet, but discovering that the coming LepreCon is their 30th anniversary, I was suddenly hit with a lot of inspiration. Thus, so far, while I know little about the guts of the scenario as yet, I now know that it will feature the XXX Investigations (Triple-X Investigations) private detective agency, Trinity College, possibly the Library, most likely hidden demonology within the Book of Kells (have a close look at the above image) and all sorts of wacky shenanigans in 1927 Dublin.

I think it's coming along nicely, don't you...?

As well as that, I've spent a little time on the other two scenarios, and have come up with the final blurb for each of them.

Murder On The Cambrian Coast Express
Welcome aboard the 10:00 train from Aberystwyth, stopping at Borth, Dovey Junction, Machynlleth, Welshpool, Wolverhampton Low Level using the Shrewsbury Abbey Foregate curve, then on to Birmingham Snow Hill, and finally Leamington Spa, arriving at Paddington at 15:50. Sit back, relax, enjoy the company of the other passengers and prepare for a peaceful trip through pleasant English country-side, stress-free and without any incidences of ritual murder... Oh, who are we kidding. The title is a dead give-away!

The Mechanauts
The battle cruiser Space Defence Force Omega is the last line of defence against a possible attack against the planet Earth. As crew members of the S.D.F. Ω, you are invaluable to its continued smooth operation. Unfortunately, not many people understand the importance of your work as a D.O.O.S.E.R. (Daily Ordinary Operational Service Equipment Repair). Thankfully, you have Hyper TONK Simulator eX 2, the latest installment in the TONK Simulator game series for ViaSofts home console, the Z-1080G to pass the boring hours between boring shifts, blasting enemy clans with your Friends List in Clan Mechanauts. And tonight, you have a grudge match scheduled. Bring it on!

Now all I have to do is create characters, add NPCs, draw up maps where appropriate, read up on key subjects, plot a bullet point, step-by-step list of the scenarios for ease of reference by willing GMs, and put everything about the actual plots that is in my head onto an easy-to-read PDF!

Simple.

Renewed Enthusiasm

Last year I mentioned how my trip to GaelCon XIX had greatly renewed my interest in gaming in general, but particularly in RPGs. Having just returned from GaelCon XX this evening, I find myself in a similar situation.

Since this time last year, I have ran a very successful campaign that lasted an astonishing 14 sessions, I've bought a lot more card games and board games, and I continue to look for ways to increase my time spent at this hobby, enjoying Monday Night Gaming, and trying to play board games with friends more often.

Now, I find myself contemplating the idea of maybe, possibly giving LARPing a chance, and stranger still, giving Vampire LARPing a chance!! That is not something I would have written, spoken or even thought three days ago, but GaelCon changes me, in ways that frighten and disgust me some times...

However, not everything is bad. On the drive home from Dublin to Cork, I wrote not one, but one-and-a-half once-off, convention-friendly RPG scenarios! How did I manage to write one-and-a-half? Simple. While the first one I came up with was entirely new, the second was a development on one of the sessions from my own Spirit of the Century campaign, so I already had that one worked out. I just spent some time tweaking it. Both are potentially for WarpCon 19, in January 2009. And both will be written using FATE 3.0, the Spirit of the Century system. Here are the blurbs, in reverse order, so the second one is my brand-new idea (subject to change):

Murder On The Orient Express
Welcome aboard the luxury trans-Europe train, the Orient Express. Sit back, relax, enjoy the company of the other passengers and prepare for a peaceful trip across Europe, stress-free and without any incidences of ritual murder... Oh, who are we kidding. The title is a dead give-away!

The Robo-Techs
✔ The Space Defence Force Omega is the last line of defence against a possible attack by the evil alien forces of the (Insert name here) on the planet Earth.
✔ As crew members of the S.D.F. Ω, you are invaluable to the continued defence of Earth.
✘ After all, without you, who would fix the 32 coffee machines in the canteen, or ensure hot showers for the 3,200 ship's company.
✘ Who would unblock any of the 237 toilets on board, or crawl through miles of air vents to find a loose wire?
✔ Yes, as S.D.F. Ω engineers, you're pretty important crew...
✔ Luckily, you and your friends have clocked up over 1,000 hours of combat apiece in TONKs, the 12 meter tall elite combat mechs of the S.D.F.
✘ But only through Hyper TONK Simulator eX 2, the latest installment in the TONK Simulator game series for ViaSofts home console, the Z-1080G.
✔ But your clan, The Robo-Techs, is one of the top 10 in the game. And you have a game scheduled against your biggest rivals, Xentraidee, tonight.
Five ✔'s against three ✘'s. Life isn't all bad, right?

The first blurb is a proper, convention brochure style blurb. The second is far too long, but I just started having too much fun writing it. Sorry. And I know it's full of terrible, terrible gags, but I'll probably change all of them before the final draft. Probably.

Gaming, Friends & Madness

I'm just back in Cork after a long and mostly enjoyable weekend in Dublin, at the 20th anniversary of GaelCon. Like last year, Claire and I decided to stay in Clontarf Castle for the weekend, saving us from nightly travel, and adding greatly to the sense of relaxation and time we could spend with friends. Also, we got to enjoy kick-ass all-you-can-eat breakfasts with everyone else that was staying.

As with last year, we played lots of card games and board games, but far less RPGs. I don't think any caught my attention, even enough to read beyond the title. Even Claire, who played in something for every slot last year, spent most of the Con just hanging out with friends, playing table-top, non-RPG games. That said, it was a heck of a lot of fun! Not only did we get to play games we know and love, but also lots that were new to us!

Both nights had us up late into the morning hours, chatting to the others that were staying in the castle. And there were a lot. About ten others from Cork alone, and then a bunch of gamers from all over that would be very good friends. Sunday night in particular found around 20 of us in the lobby until 3:30am, howling with laughter over some incredible stories and general shenanigans!

All in all, it was a good convention. Not as good as last year, possibly, but then, that was an extraordinarily good year! I'd say that while last year was my favourite convention so far, this year was my second favourite. We had to make our own fun a lot more this year, and that's a sentiment I've heard echoed quite a bit over the last hour before we left this afternoon. Everyone seemed to have fun, but only because they made their own.

There was one huge disappointment, though. Last year, I missed the table-quiz, which seemed like a blast, and this year, I was determined to stay for it and join in. Except this year, the GealCon Charity Table-Quiz was an unbelievable disgrace, with clear bias towards the Dublin crowd, an utterly unfair and non-sensical "bonus round" system, ridiculous rounds, an annoyingly ambivalent "odd-one-out round", and just a general lack of entertainment, apart from two, possibly three rounds.

But, you know what? We had fun. We bought some new stuff, played some new games, made some new friends, played some old games, hung out with some old friends and enjoyed every bit of that. We're definitely going next year, and definitely staying at the castle again. Far too much fun to miss!

SDCC- Video Games Live

One of the big events we booked months in advance was Video Games Live, a full symphony orchestra and choir playing video game music. Because we booked and paid for the tickets well in advance, I splashed out and got the best tickets available, which turned out to be pretty damned good!! Front row, dead centre! We got dinner served, and free drinks! Amazing.

But nothing on the music itself. This trip has been incredible already for Claire and I, and it seems that there is some greater force ensuring things just... work out in our favour. We spend all Thursday meeting the nicest people, getting amazing sketches, spending real time talking to people I only ever dreamed of meeting before, and then, Thursday evening, VGL seemed to choose it's pieces and guests only for Claire and I.

Here's how te night went:

• Opening Medley
• Metal Gear Solid- Incredible! An amazing piece to kick the show off with! And everyone loved the guard and box wandering around on-stage. The box stayed on=stage for the whole piece, and the following one, before revealing VGL creator Tommy Tallarico, who joked that he was the only one short enough to fit inside!
• Metroid Medley- They covered the entire series, but got the biggest reaction to the Super Metroid piece.
• Civilisation IV- Beautiful and powerful.
• Tron- Got a huge reaction! Great piece.
• Legend of Zelda Medley- as with Metroid, they covered the entire series, but as soon as Ocarina of Time appeared onscreen, the crowd went wild! This was introduced via recorded video by the original composer of the Mario and Zelda themes, Koji Kondo.
• Kingdom Hearts- I was blown away! Disney kindly allowed the video playing to use the cartoon footage instead of game footage. It was spectacular.
• World of WarCraft- Seriously. Playing just for us! Claire nearly died. And they had the original composers on-stage... who we knew we could meet later, as we had back-stage passes! You can only image how Claire felt about this.
• StarCraft II- The perfect follow-up to the WarCraft stuff. They played a new piece, introduced by it's composer, as well as playing the piece used in the trailer, while the trailer played! Nice. I loved this one.
• Super Mario Brothers Medley- This started with Martin Leung playing the Mario Brothers theme on piano, blindfolded!! Awe-inspiring stuff.
• Guitar Hero Competition- Before the show there had been a Guitar Hero competition, and the winner was brought up on stage to play Sweet Emotion on the game, with the symphony backing him, and Tommy Tallarico on guitar assisting. It was incredible. The guy was amazing, and when we met him back-stage later, he told us that he doesn't own Guitar Hero, and had never played Sweet Emotion before! Regardless, he managed to play it on Expert, and score over 200,000 points, winning a tonne of stuff!
• Halo- The crowd went ballistic! Everyone loved this. A girl in Cortana costume came on-stage to do some of the voice bits, and they played my favourite Halo piece, the teaser for Halo 3. As the piece ended and Cortana said "This is the way the world ends", Master Chief arrived on-stage!
• Final Fantasy VII: Sephiroths Theme- Halo was the final piece, with this standing as the encore. Once again, the choir blew everyone away with the power and beauty.
• Castlevania- I don't know if they always do a two song encore, but they did for us, wrapping up the night with this. What a way to end!

But it wasn't the end for Claire and I. We got to then head back to the VIP Area and meet Jason Hayes, composer of World of WarCraft, Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall themselves, Martin Leung, and some of the special guests, including the girl dressed as Cortana! We also talked to the guy that played Guitar Hero, who was visibly shaking still, some 30 minutes after his performance! Nice guy. And, we got to meet Dee Baker!! He had been up on-stage earlier and did a live voicing of the monster for Gears of War, the blind one that you have to orbital strike. He voiced it in-game, and recreated and matched the scenes as the game played! But more importantly for us, he voiced Appa and Momo in Avatar: The Last Airbender, and it was a real honor and pleasure to meet and talk to him. While wandering the VIP area, we even got a copy of the just released Video Games Live CD!! Woo!!

After all that, we grabbed a taxi and headed home. This was our first day at SCDD, and we thought it couldn't get any better. We were wrong. So very, very wrong.

SDCC- The Good Times Don't End

Let me update you guys on some of the stuff we've done or seen so far!

• The sketch-book I brought over for the entire trip, including all the amazing people I'm sure I'll meet at PAX, is, with a day still to go in Comic Con, full. Completely! And I can't find a suitable replacement for tomorrow.
• We have already met and held conversations with, among others, Seth Green, Breckin Meyer, Jackson Publick, Ben TenNapel, Gabe and Tyco, Peter David, Orson Scott Card, Raymond E. Feist, Larry Hama, Wil Wheaton, Rob Liefeld, Greg Pak and countless more I'll try to mention once I'm not using a tiny keyboard and touch pad instead of a mouse. We've met and got autographs or more from Hideo Kojima, Gerard Way, James Stewart & Gabriel Ba, as well as many more.
• I've bought way to many books already!
• I'm very proud of how few action figures I've bought!
• We have, so far, attended a total of one panel, and even then, it was because we met the guys it was all about outside and spent ages talking to them... also, it was the Marvel/Hasbro Action Figure Panel... so, you know. Some interest there...
• We have met and exchanged email address' with the most incredible people, making friends with folks from all over the world!
• So many photos. So, so many photos.
• San Diego is beautiful and friendly.
• My feet hurt.
• Good (or even passable) tea does not seem to exist here.
• Everyone wants to visit Ireland, particularly the writers and artists.
• Dear Joss Whedon: You are awesome. You are a funny guy, and seem very natural and honest. But I am not willing to queue for six hours just to sit in a room with 6,000 others and listen to you talk. Sorry. There are far to many things to do at SDCC than to make that worth considering.
• Claire got a drawing of herself by Yoshitaka Amano! It is as incredible as you think it could be, and more. She nearly cried. He drew it without prompt. Apparently he liked the hat she was wearing.
  
• By 1pm, sitting down for ten minutes becomes more important that seeing the next line of writers or artists.
• Skype is a wonderful invention.
• People recognised and complimented me on my t-shirt (which is meaningless to most readers until I post pictures!!)

More updates soon, but nothing detailed until I have a real keyboard with a mouse. Also, photos may take a little while, but I have lots!! And no Picasa to run them through.

Turning Death Into A Fighting Chance To Live

On the cover, it looks as though Star Trek has, after 42 years, five live-action series, one animated offering, making up an astounding 726 episodes over 29 separate seasons of television, ten movies in the bag, countless fan productions, computer games, a library worth of novels, comics, action figures and merchandising of all shapes and sizes, finally run it's course. Thank you Wikipedia for the informative facts there!

Of course, as on a book, covers are often deceiving, and Star Trek is currently attempting to rejuvenate itself with a new movie, based in the golden era of the franchise. Yes, Kirk, Spock and company are coming back. Younger, slimmer, and sexier fitter than ever before!

Let me say, straight up, that I am not a Trekkie. The only series I've ever enjoyed was Next Gen, and that was because, at the time, it was the only thing remotely like it RTE aired. I didn't have very much to compare it against, but for better or worse, it still holds a place in my heart. Plus, unlike later incarnations, RTE managed to show all of Next Gen at a reasonable hour! The Original Series was too old for me. RTE inexcusably stopped showing DS9 right before it got, according to those that know, good. Voyager was only ever shown at some ridiculous hour like 11pm, or later! And I don't think we ever saw Enterprise here. From what little I saw of Voyager, I liked it. It had the "boldly going where no one had gone before" vibe I enjoyed from Next Gen, and two of the handful of episodes I caught featured Q (they were a two parter I saw together), my favourite recurring "villain" from Next Gen.

I did, however, enjoy the movies. The classic ones, starring Shatner and Nimoy are still great fun to watch. Yes, even the whale one... maybe not the one with God, though. I love First Contact. But after that... I had to look up what Insurrection was about, and even after skimming the Wikipedia article for it, I just can't remember much about it at all. I seem to recall Data going berserk at the start, and then... nothing. That's it. Even after reading the plot synopsis. I still have yet to see Nemesis, and am in no hurry, really.

So that puts what I am about to say in perspective. Ahem.

Damn!! I am starting to look forward to Star Trek 2009 (formerly 2008. Accursed delays!). The cast sounds really strong, and when J.J. Abrams is reigned in and forced to do a movie-length plot, it can turn out great, unlike when he's let loose with a multi-season series (I would link to the official home-page but, "Yo! ABC dudes!! Spoilerific homepage!!")! Plus, I love their idea of minimalism in web design! Awesome! So, when Abrams stated upfront that there would be no big news for San Diego Comic Con (Have I mentioned yet that we'll be there?!? I have? Oh... well... we will), I was momentarily disappointed. Only slightly. But then, Paramount went and released these to brighten up all our days! Click to embiggen.






















They'll be available at the Paramount booth at San Diego Comic Con.
Which I'll be at.

The Little Movies That Could

Amongst all the blockbuster, high action, computer generated, explosion driven, super hero, sci-fi testosterone fests that clog up our cinemas lately, every now and then we get something that is actually worth watching, and even rarer still is something that is worth watching more than once!

This week, I was extremely privileged to see two as a comedy, and the other is a sentimental feel-good movie such movies! One is a drama that masquerades as a comedy. Similar, but entirely different in presentation. Both, however are small, quirky movies that that are more interested in the characters than the action.

Juno is a wonderful movie that made me smile throughout, with a powerful cast that deserve every bit of credit and praise that they are currently receiving. The humour is bang on, and the story is, in my opinion, riveting. The cinematography was beautiful, full of subtle references and wonderful choices of camera angles and movement. There is really very little I want to say about this movie, bar advising you to go see it. I don't want to talk about the story or characters, and there is very little else to discuss. I will warn you that Claire did not enjoy it. She found the movie just didn't grab her, and she made no connection with the story or characters. While I laugh loudly at the few moments in the movie geared toward that response, she just found them mildly amusing. Eh. To each their own. I loved it, and look forward to seeing it again. It reminds me very much of Garden State, another fine example of a quirky American black comedy.


Be Kind, Rewind, however, is much closer to being a quirky British comedy than an American one, yet it is entirely American. Well, almost entirely. It is directed by Michel Gondry, who is best known for his strange and interesting Björk music videos and the wonderfully odd Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Be Kind starts off slow, but escalates into a wildly hysterical ride through a series of old favourite movies being refilmed. Despite strong performances from everyone involved, including an entirely watchable Jack Black, it is the change of pace in the story that makes this movie so incredible. Again, rather like Juno, I hate to talk about this movie too much, suffice it to say, it is a far more intelligent movie than a simple spoof written to poke fun at classics from Driving Miss Daisy to Ghostbusters to Rush Hour 2, as the trailers suggest! I will say that in the case of this movie, it benefits the final product that the trailers only focus on the first half of the plot, as the shift in the final movie has more impact because we see nothing of what is to come prior to it happening on-screen. All that aside, the spoofs are incredible! Watch out for moments like Mos Deaf falling from a building during Rush Hour 2, or Jack Black doing a remake of King Kong! Priceless!

Two in one week! I needs to get my geek on! Come on Iron Man, time to get the adrenaline pumping.

Pulp, Fantasy & Oh So Very British

Six months ago role-playing games didn't even factor in my social calendar, either as a regular or irregular event. I hadn't played in anything for months, and my GMing experiences could be counted on one hand, despite the fact that I really wanted to let people play in some of the fantastical worlds that swam in my head!

But things have started to change in the last few months. I got in on a regular Monday night gaming session with Gar that started off as Spirit of the Century (SotC), in which I played a Gadgeteer. Once it was officially announced that Gar was writing the new edition of Traveller for Mongoose, we started play-testing the mechanics he was working on within the Firefly setting, as none of our group had much experience with Traveller, and were far more keen on playing space-cowboys anyway! In Firefly, I started off as a Rogue, before dieing, apparently completely forgettably, and returning as a Core-Worlds doctor, secretly under the employ of Blue Sun to investigate the origins or Reavers. That wrapped up all too fast before Christmas, and we moved on to something else in the New Year.

Now we're play-testing the upcoming Doctor Who RPG, which is fun, though admittedly, I'm playing it as an SotC game! I play a 1944 RAF pilot accidentally caught up in wacky time-travel shenanigans! Even though I'm not a fan of the Doctor Who series, Gar was careful to gauge our interests and play towards that! Plus, although I dislike the show, I love the concept. I love the time-travel, action adventure, the pulp-styled gadgets and over-the-top fun, the lovable ridiculousness of the TARDIS and the odd creepiness of the Daleks. What I don't like are the cheesy villains (pet hate: living plastic! Whiskey! Tango! Foxtrot!!) and the over use of low budget effects or props. There isn't an excuse for them anymore. The show has both a sizable budget and an endlessly creative crew. Episodes such as Blink, Sound of Drums and Family of Blood illustrate the inventiveness and ingenuity of the crew at all stages of an episodes production, yet despite these few shining moments, we still have to put up with living plastic and gas mask-faced zombies!! If you haven't already seen it, do yourself a favour and watch Blink. It is incredible, and due to the nature of the episode, everything you need to know about the Doctor is explained within the episode, so you could watch it without ever having seen another one!

Sorry... that got a bit rantish there. Well, I guess this is my blog, and I can talk about what interests me, but still. I've gone way off track!! Back to RPGs and the current situation I find myself in.

Um... actually, where was I? *blah, blah, blah* Play-test... *blah, blah* Doctor Who... Oh yes! Now I'm up to my own game! After months of trying to get a group together to play my own SotC game, I finally struck gold and pieced together a stunning and enthusiastic group for a Tuesday night ongoing story. As SotC is supposed to be a "pick-up-and-play" game, I've designed each episode to run within a single night, and there is very little of an over-arcing plot. It's fun, fast and pulpy. Last week was all character generation, which ran longer than expected as three of the five players were new to the system. However, while it officially starts tomorrow, I've spent the last week adjusting some of my stories to fit into characters backgrounds. Instead of Professor Bob, madman extraordinaire, they'll now fight Doctor Eternity, nemesis of Sir Alistair, inventor to His Majesty King George V. Honestly, I've never looked forward to a game more than this one!

And to top it all off, I'm now playing in Claire's D&D game on Sunday nights!! So far, there isn't much to say about this one. We're investigating the spread of a plague that doesn't kill anyone, we have no-one in the party that can heal, and I'm playing a customised version of a WarForged, essentially based exclusively off of RoboCop! This one's gonna be fun.

That brings my weekly gaming experiences up from zip, to three games a week, running Sunday, Monday and Tuesday! Not bad for someone that had lost all interest in gaming not so long ago. I'll try to add various bits of short fiction based on the games as I go along. I enjoy the three settings I'm playing in at the moment, and I love adding to the backgrounds or just general bits and pieces. Keep me bookmarked, and feel free to comment on things, or add your own ideas to my stories!

Well Done Agent

This review is short and sweet.

I love it, some of my friends love it, some don't. A free-roaming sandbox game from the creator of the GTA series, Crackdown puts you in the place of a future cop with a crazy suit of armour that allows you to leap small buildings, pick up trucks, snipe with a heavy machine gun, and cause company cars to transform from G1 Transformers to Bayformers. Freakin' sweet! Admittedly, that's what you can do once you have leveled up a bit, but that really doesn't take very long. I was fully dotted before even starting the last of the three city zones.

I love the freedom, the leaping around, the crazy action, the pick-up-and-play aspect. I love the leveling up process, the cell shaded animation, and the sharp dialogue. I just love how much fun I find this game to be.

But I can't recommend it. You have to play it yourself. If you can, rent it, or even better, if you're on Xbox Live, just download the free demo. The leveling up speed has been ramped up so that you can almost max-out your athletics or weapons in the hour and a bit the demo allows you have. If you enjoy it, you can pick it up for about €25-€30 new, and €15-20 second hand. That's all it's really worth. Even I know when I get stuck into my other 360 title, even the colourful graphics and equally colourful gameplay won't pull me back. Though, as a rule of thumb, I'd say that if you enjoyed Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, you'll love this.

Galactic Conquest

I love playing computer games, but find anything that makes me too frustrated is not worth my time. Often, if I get stuck on a particular level, or a certain area, I'll just give up and never go back. If a game annoys me to the point of cursing or even anger, it's not worth it (I should note that this is different from getting excited to the point of cursing. Chu-Chu Rocket had me screaming like a sailor for hours, and I loved every second of it!). I can turn it off and try again tomorrow. If I still get angry at it, then I know I'm not going to finish it. This is entirely independent of how good the game is.

A quick glance at my games on my game rack brings lots of examples to mind.

Mercenaries: Made it to the second Ace. Couldn't capture him alive. Replayed it too much. Never even got to play on the second map.

Gun: Stupid frackin' last boss. In fact, I didn't even play the last part of the game. Jp played it.

GTA: San Andreas: Got bored.
GTA: Liberty City Stories: Couldn't get into it.

Metroid Prime 2: Fish boss killed me too often, and every time I died it was a ten minute trawl back to his location. Nope. Not again.

Punisher: Started something else... damn. I liked that game. Must go back and play it again...

Add to that a list of PC games a mile long, and you see the problem I face any time I consider buying a new game. If I play it, will I enjoy it? Will I finish it? Even if I don't complete it, will I put in enough time to make it worth the price?

Mario Galaxy took up more time in my life for the two weeks after I got it than eating, and arguably breathing, did! Certainly I got far more of a sensorial response playing Galaxy on the Wii than I did with any of my meals during that time!
From start to finish, this is a masterpiece exploding with humour, creativity, intelligence and a level of complexity to make the game challenging without being frustrating. The hardest Stars to get (once more, the goal of the game) are often on the most fun levels to play, so dieing ten times in quick succession doesn't seem so bad! Collecting purple coins on a pixelated Luigi is awesome, but I've lost over 20 lives to it already and still don't have a Star to show for it.

Galaxy is the first game I've really played in a long time. It's certainly the first in a very long time that I have totally enjoyed. Every new level is a thrill, every new Star, a burst of adrenalin. While the big Stars might power the space station, it's collecting the little ones that power me forward. Races, time-trials, quests, and other challenges divert from the platforming for a while and add to the fun. And while I'm talking about platforming, returning to the classic 2D styles in a 3D game without a break in the action is beautiful to watch! Mixing those up with altering gravity fields and mind warping puzzles is just fresh strawberries on an already perfectly iced cake.

There is nothing bad I can say about the game. Sure, the two-player mode leaves the second player with little to do, but Claire loved it while I was Mario, and I loved it while other people controlled the main action. It's not much, but it's damn fun to do! The bosses are colourful and varied, the levels are amazing to play on, and the innovative gravity elements are mind bending to play with. Running around to the underside of a platform to avoid enemies can be confusing at first but you eventually get used t... no. No, you never get used to it! It's amazing every time!

If you have a Wii, you need this game. Mario 64 on the N64 redefined platforming, bringing it into the third dimension. Mario Sunshine was weak, created to fill an unusually long gap between Mario games. But Mario Galaxy is a shining achievement that Nintendo is rightly proud of!

In Before The Lock

Just about made it for today. I was at Beowulf and am home in time to post something for the 16th of November, officially putting me over halfway through the month.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure what to actually post about! So I'll direct you towards my newest infatuation. Do you think it would look good on me? I really, really want it, and it works out at just €350, which puts it cheaper than the leather jacket I saw in town for €500 that looks like the one Doctor House wears!

I really want that jacket, though. I can then get the helmet and make a jet pack! My life would be geekplete (geekplete: adjective: gee'k pleet: 1. having all parts or elements; lacking nothing; whole; entire; full; 2. finished; ended; concluded; relating in both cases to a single-minded obsession with a nonsocial hobby or pursuit: to own all issues of a comic run, to possess every piece of merchandise related to a particular character), though not complete. I have lots to do before I can ever consider my life complete.

Thing's I Can't Do # 21

Ever since I was a child I have enjoyed drawing and writing. While I have never been great at either, I can at least admit to some level of ability in both. However, the third of the three biggest fields in the discipline of the Arts has forever eluded me, and to this day I have to admit that I just don't understand the process that goes into bringing it from something behind your eyes to the real world for others to enjoy.

When I see a book or a painting I understand the basic principles behind creating either. First, you create an idea, a plot or concept of what the finished product will roughly resemble. You sketch out your ideas, characters and setting, then begin the meat of the work, filling in the details, colouring the world and making the finished product appealing to look at or read. There's more to it, yes, but this is the basics upon which everything else is built.

But music is different. When I listen to a piece by my favourite modern composer, John Williams, I hear the majesty and power in every note. Nothing is fluff or filler, everything is important. It is lean and perfectly built, and more precise than a book or painting ever has to be. When John Williams creates a piece of music, how does it begin? How does he "sketch" his idea, or "colour" his world? Does he hear the piece in his head and then break it down instrument by instrument?

The composition of music fascinates me. I can hear music in my head when I'm happy, sad, lonely, or thoughtful. When I plot out ideas for RPG scenarios, or write short stories, I begin to hear the soundtrack for each scene playing behind my ears, just for me.

But I can never write them down. I can never imagine breaking them into their component pieces, defining what instrument does what. I can't imagine plotting out the highs and lows of an epic movement, or the dramatic tensions of a piece like "Duel of the Fates". I mean, look at the sheets of music that appear in the linked video! I spent years learning the piano and it's still an alien tongue to me!

How do they do it? I don't know. Obviously, natural talent is a vital factor. I think it would be difficult to teach someone to be a good composer. You really have to be able to hear the music.

But I would love to spend a week in John Williams' company and just watch and listen in sheer awe. That must be how God felt as He created the heavens and the earth, and He watched as the some caveman picked up a stick and started tapping out a rhythm. God only knows He must have been impressed.

Heh... see what I did there?!?

Painting With Pixels

While writing my post about Spirit of the Century I googled around for some interesting art of pulp-era, or pulp styled characters. I spotted a number that looked interesting, in particular one of The Shadow, one of my favourite actual pulp era characters. There was also one of Doc Savage and Tarzan that looked nice, and when I started to open them in larger sizes, I noticed they all held a similar style.

That was when I discovered Paper, Pencil, Pixels; a blog showcasing the art of Scottish digital artist Euan Mactavish. Euan's work has a beautifully painted look to it, despite being entirely digital. In one post he mentions how he started out using paper sketches which he scanned in, but now works entirely on the computer. He has a broad range of material, from comic book characters to real life celebrities. He is equally comfortable drawing non-human characters, as in the most recent update with Mighty Mouse, as he is with the colourful cast of humans he has on display!

My personal favourite is used as the image for this post, with kind permission from the artist himself! Those of you who know me know of my love for all things Rocketeer related. Those of you who don't, now do!

The site is well worth a visit, and he updates regularly. As well as the Rocketeer, have a look at The Shadow, Doc Savage, Midnighter, some Bonds, a female Hellboy... in fact, just go through the archives! There is something eye-poppingly good every month! Oh, and check out July '07. Only one image, but it's incredible!