I just picked up an xbox 360 from a guy in work. £50, so a bargin. This opened up a whole world of "previously played" games in the game stores. I currently raid them for PS2 and original xbox games, but hey, Assassins Creed for £7.99, and Gears of War will be added to that soon.
While I do go "ooooh" and "aaaah" at the ads for the new games (Skyrim is seriously floating my boat at the moment), the great advantage with being a couple of years behind everyone else, is I've still got all these games at my disposal for a fraction of the price.
I know Ed is desperate for me to get Dead Island, so I can help him kick zombie butt, but I really want a bit of good old fashioned adventure gaming*, so Assassins Creed will see me over the holidays I reckon.
(* I actually used to LOVE the old text only adventures on the speccy waaaay back in the day, so if anyone knows of anywhere I can play text only on the pc, pleas leave a comment)
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
Industrial action for the hard of thinking
On Wednesday if everything goes to plan, then the UK will grind to a halt as the result of a mass day of action by trade unions, in defence of pension rights and pay increases (among other things). My division of the union I'm in wasn't balloted on the pension issue, as we're ok on that front, but we were balloted on action regarding a pay offer of less than 1/2%.
Bizzarely, the action was defeated 52%-48%. Now, we are involved in action short of a strike, but I've just had the weirdest conversation with someone who isn't in a union, but thinks if you are, it's ok to pick and choose your battles.
Her argument goes along the lines of "I don't want to strike over the pay rise, so even if the union voted to strike, I wouldn't"
My counter was "But you're in the union. They voted in favour of industrial action. You're on strike"
Her "Not me. I didn't vote for it"
Me "The union is democratic. The majority voted for a strike, therefore it's a strike"
Her "That's not democracy. If I don't want to strike, I won't"
Me "Fine. Resign from the union"
Her "I wan't to be in a union. I wan't the protection it offers"
Me "Then you have to accept that you won't always agree with the majority, and just suck it up"
Her "No I don't. That's not a democracy"
It's a circular argument. She JUST DOESN'T GET IT.
I firmly believe that if you're a union member, then you abide by the majority decision as voted on by the members, and if you don't like it, get the hell out of Dodge.
Maybe I'm naive.
Bizzarely, the action was defeated 52%-48%. Now, we are involved in action short of a strike, but I've just had the weirdest conversation with someone who isn't in a union, but thinks if you are, it's ok to pick and choose your battles.
Her argument goes along the lines of "I don't want to strike over the pay rise, so even if the union voted to strike, I wouldn't"
My counter was "But you're in the union. They voted in favour of industrial action. You're on strike"
Her "Not me. I didn't vote for it"
Me "The union is democratic. The majority voted for a strike, therefore it's a strike"
Her "That's not democracy. If I don't want to strike, I won't"
Me "Fine. Resign from the union"
Her "I wan't to be in a union. I wan't the protection it offers"
Me "Then you have to accept that you won't always agree with the majority, and just suck it up"
Her "No I don't. That's not a democracy"
It's a circular argument. She JUST DOESN'T GET IT.
I firmly believe that if you're a union member, then you abide by the majority decision as voted on by the members, and if you don't like it, get the hell out of Dodge.
Maybe I'm naive.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Nanananana Angus....
Just been to the AC/DC exhibition at the art galleries. It's superb. there's some incredible memorabilia, and some of the exhibits are actually quite moving (Bon Scott's jacket, some letters etc.)
After the exhibition, we headed to the Brew Dog pub, which I'd never been to before. Excellent beer, and a really cool pub. I'll definately check it out again in the future.
After the BrewDog, we went to the Three Judges for a pint. We're now sorted for Crimbo, as we're heading over to theirs. I'll do dessert.
Other than that, not much been happening.
After the exhibition, we headed to the Brew Dog pub, which I'd never been to before. Excellent beer, and a really cool pub. I'll definately check it out again in the future.
After the BrewDog, we went to the Three Judges for a pint. We're now sorted for Crimbo, as we're heading over to theirs. I'll do dessert.
Other than that, not much been happening.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Zen and the art of movement
Karate last night was good. It was a smaller class than usual as the national weekend course had been on at Largs at the weekend, and more than a few were suffering from aching legs. I wasn't, but that was just because I hadn't gone to the course.
Anyway, they were concentrating a lot on things that were covered at the course, and concentrating on getting the body in. A punch in itself doesn't have that much weight behind it. But when it's you're body that's moving in to your opponent, and the fist is the last thing that comes into play, it's a hell of a lot more devastating than a punch from a moving arm alone.
We also covered moving towards a punch that's coming towards you, and how to deal with it. This really goes against your natural instinct, which is to move back when someone tries to punch you, but it is really effective. It also freaks the attacker out a bit as "that's not supposed to happen", and can cause them to pull the punch a bit, which is an added bonus.
Anyway, today my legs are a bit tired, as in a small class, there's nowhere to hide, so no slacking allowed :-)
Anyway, they were concentrating a lot on things that were covered at the course, and concentrating on getting the body in. A punch in itself doesn't have that much weight behind it. But when it's you're body that's moving in to your opponent, and the fist is the last thing that comes into play, it's a hell of a lot more devastating than a punch from a moving arm alone.
We also covered moving towards a punch that's coming towards you, and how to deal with it. This really goes against your natural instinct, which is to move back when someone tries to punch you, but it is really effective. It also freaks the attacker out a bit as "that's not supposed to happen", and can cause them to pull the punch a bit, which is an added bonus.
Anyway, today my legs are a bit tired, as in a small class, there's nowhere to hide, so no slacking allowed :-)
Thursday, November 24, 2011
w00t
Guy in work upgraded his xbox 360 from a 20G to a 250G with kinect. Sooo, he sold me his 20G machine for £50. Result.
There's a brand new unused xbox Live headset as well. Now, I know what games I fancy, but I just need to use a little sense and not run out and buy a shitload at one. The plan is to work though Assassins Creed and Gears of War, with a little zombie action on the side. Then, who knows.
All I have to do is see which of the original xbox games I have are still playable and then probably sell the original and the remaining games as a job lot and get my £50 back. Failing that I need to finish the games that won't work on the new machine.
Either way, w00t!!!
There's a brand new unused xbox Live headset as well. Now, I know what games I fancy, but I just need to use a little sense and not run out and buy a shitload at one. The plan is to work though Assassins Creed and Gears of War, with a little zombie action on the side. Then, who knows.
All I have to do is see which of the original xbox games I have are still playable and then probably sell the original and the remaining games as a job lot and get my £50 back. Failing that I need to finish the games that won't work on the new machine.
Either way, w00t!!!
St Andrews uni and the burning effigy
It's all over the press that Tory students at St Andrews Uni burned an effigy of Barak Obama, and are now being hounded as racists. Lets take a deep breath here and without a knee-jerk reaction, consider if they actually are.
Now don't get me wrong, I can't stand the Tories, so anything that paints them in a bad light is fine by me, but come on, are they actually racist?
The burning of effigy's of people you have problems with has a long and noble tradition, especially in the middle east, where effigy's of political leaders (esp in recent times of George Bush) have been coming into contact with naked flames on a pretty regular basis.
Now, if the St Andrews students were burning the effigy "because he was black", then yes, they're racist scum. But if they were burning the effigy in protest at US policy's, then the skin colour is irrelevant, and they are not racist. I may be a bit naive here, but Barak Obama isn't white, so if the dummy wasn't of a similar colour to the person it was meant to represent, no-one would know it was supposed to be the leader of the last remaining superpower. Would they?
Politics is like football. It causes way to much trouble and should be outlawed, but hey that's not going to happen, so how about a little bit of common sense and a bit less sensationalism from the press in reporting things like this.
Accusing the students of being racist when they're not, because the effigy they're burning happens to represent a black man is stoking the fires, and likely to cause actual race problems in the fallout. Remember people. If it was Bush or a white man in power, the effigy would have been white, and there would be no accusations of racism.
Let's all just use some common sense, which ironically doesn't appear to be that common.
Now don't get me wrong, I can't stand the Tories, so anything that paints them in a bad light is fine by me, but come on, are they actually racist?
The burning of effigy's of people you have problems with has a long and noble tradition, especially in the middle east, where effigy's of political leaders (esp in recent times of George Bush) have been coming into contact with naked flames on a pretty regular basis.
Now, if the St Andrews students were burning the effigy "because he was black", then yes, they're racist scum. But if they were burning the effigy in protest at US policy's, then the skin colour is irrelevant, and they are not racist. I may be a bit naive here, but Barak Obama isn't white, so if the dummy wasn't of a similar colour to the person it was meant to represent, no-one would know it was supposed to be the leader of the last remaining superpower. Would they?
Politics is like football. It causes way to much trouble and should be outlawed, but hey that's not going to happen, so how about a little bit of common sense and a bit less sensationalism from the press in reporting things like this.
Accusing the students of being racist when they're not, because the effigy they're burning happens to represent a black man is stoking the fires, and likely to cause actual race problems in the fallout. Remember people. If it was Bush or a white man in power, the effigy would have been white, and there would be no accusations of racism.
Let's all just use some common sense, which ironically doesn't appear to be that common.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Rediscovering bands
I don't know about anyone else, but my musical listening habits tend to be cyclic. I listen to a wee group of bands for ages, then want to listed to something different, and move on. Eventually I go full circle and end up back at the bands I've not listed to for ages (sometimes years). And so it is that I'm currently on a King's X trip.
I first came across them when they supported Anthrax at the Barrowland in Glasgow, and my ex bought me Gretchen Goes to Nebraska, after seeing how blown away I was by them. By the mid 90's my taste had shifted slightly (not always in a good way*), and King's x went on the back burner. I recently downloaded XV, and was totally blown away. From the opener Pray, all the way through, this is a superb album. I've been going back and listening to the back catalogue again, and plugging the gaps in the collection (fortunately just a couple of studio albums.
If you like your rock music with a proggy (but not too proggy) edge, check them out if you haven't already. They can rock out when they want to, Moanjam from Faith, Hope, Love is a case in point.
Click here and listen to Pray from the album XV. Superb stuff.
I first came across them when they supported Anthrax at the Barrowland in Glasgow, and my ex bought me Gretchen Goes to Nebraska, after seeing how blown away I was by them. By the mid 90's my taste had shifted slightly (not always in a good way*), and King's x went on the back burner. I recently downloaded XV, and was totally blown away. From the opener Pray, all the way through, this is a superb album. I've been going back and listening to the back catalogue again, and plugging the gaps in the collection (fortunately just a couple of studio albums.
If you like your rock music with a proggy (but not too proggy) edge, check them out if you haven't already. They can rock out when they want to, Moanjam from Faith, Hope, Love is a case in point.
Click here and listen to Pray from the album XV. Superb stuff.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Fandom and fanzines
It's been ages, so I think it's time to bung squeeze out another issue of Loose Stools (Glasgow SF zine. Actually it's just 2 sides of A4). I've also got an idea for a more general zine, covering SF/fandom/movies/music/shite. I'm going to call it Die Fanboy Die! Just because.
Cthulhu knows when I'll get round to it (over the Crimbo holidays maybe), but half the fun is in the planning.
Cthulhu knows when I'll get round to it (over the Crimbo holidays maybe), but half the fun is in the planning.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Ye Olde Worlde Underground magazine
I've just discovered Alan Moore's wonderful Dodgem Logic. It's an old school type underground magazine.
So far there's been eight issues published. I've picked up the first two, and will get the rest of them soon.
Issue one came with a free cd celebrating 50 years of Northampton music. It's an eclectic mix, so obviously all of it won't float everyone's boat, but overall it's a great cd. Current favorite from it is "I can't show my face in that bar" by Gerald Claridge.
There's some bizzaro comic strips, recipes, and hints on guerrilla gardening.
If you've an open mind and like something a little bit different, then give it a look.
So far there's been eight issues published. I've picked up the first two, and will get the rest of them soon.
Issue one came with a free cd celebrating 50 years of Northampton music. It's an eclectic mix, so obviously all of it won't float everyone's boat, but overall it's a great cd. Current favorite from it is "I can't show my face in that bar" by Gerald Claridge.
There's some bizzaro comic strips, recipes, and hints on guerrilla gardening.
If you've an open mind and like something a little bit different, then give it a look.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Zen and the art of aching thighs
For those that don't know, I do karate. I'm attend two clubs, Caledonian Shotokai at the Caley Uni, and Waseda in the Whiteinch Community Centre. Both clubs are part of the Shin-do Shotokai Association. The Caley club is a Wednesday lunchtime, and Waseda is Thursday night. Anyway, to get back on track, this week on Wednesday, we spent the majority of the class concentrating on proper stance, as it's easy to get sloppy, and if you do, you can't have a strong base. The result was achey thighs, which after last night's class at Waseda, turned into VERY achey thighs.
I honestly don't think my legs were this achey after I ran the Edinburgh marathon a few years back !
Ach, it's all good though.
New anthology comic
Strip Magazine is a new anthology comic. Issue 1 is just out. Years ago I used to love Deadline, so I thought I'd give this a go. For those of a certain age, it's reprinting Hook Jaw from Action comic from the 70's. Has to be worth a peek even if it's just to relive a childhood memory.
Anyway, it's £2.99 a pop.
Anyway, it's £2.99 a pop.
Wednesday, November 09, 2011
Oh joy
The boiler has gone into it's annual meltdown, and doesn't want to switch from heating to hot water. The result is that it's bloody hot in the house, but there's no hot water. We can get hot water if we let it trickle out the taps , but it's not working properly.
This always seems to happen when this time of year. It's a wee valve that gets jammed. Fortunately we've a service contract. Unfortunately, it's going to be Wednesday before it'll be fixed, as that's the first day that one of us can be in the house to let them in.
Could be worse, at least we've got heating.
This always seems to happen when this time of year. It's a wee valve that gets jammed. Fortunately we've a service contract. Unfortunately, it's going to be Wednesday before it'll be fixed, as that's the first day that one of us can be in the house to let them in.
Could be worse, at least we've got heating.
Monday, November 07, 2011
Everything louder than everything else
Yup, went to see Motorhead (again) on Saturday. The support was a couple of old punk bands who've been doing the rounds for what must seem like eternity. First up was the UK Subs, and then The Anti-Nowhere League.
I've got to admit to liking both when I was listening to punk, before I got into rock/metal, but I knew more ANL stuff than Subs stuff. Still, UK Subs were good, but the League were really really good. Motorhead of course, were superb as usual.
The rest of the weekend was taken up with doing some housework, some shopping at Silverburn, where coffee was partaken of, and a spot of feeding the ducks at Queens Park. There's also swans and moorhens on the pond, so there's a bit of variety.
I've got to admit to liking both when I was listening to punk, before I got into rock/metal, but I knew more ANL stuff than Subs stuff. Still, UK Subs were good, but the League were really really good. Motorhead of course, were superb as usual.
The rest of the weekend was taken up with doing some housework, some shopping at Silverburn, where coffee was partaken of, and a spot of feeding the ducks at Queens Park. There's also swans and moorhens on the pond, so there's a bit of variety.
Friday, November 04, 2011
This is kind of cool
I found the following post on someone else's blog when I click on the "next blog" button on Blogger. The person that posted it had come across it as a piece of graffiti in a bathroom. It's kind of cool.
"People tend to forget that happiness is a state of mind, not a result of circumstance."
"People tend to forget that happiness is a state of mind, not a result of circumstance."
If this is Scotland's greatest album, we're screwed
Just checked the results for Scotland's Greatest Album and sorry, but what a crock. Out of 12 tracks, the Proclaimers have 2, Rod Stewart IS NOT SCOTTISH, and neither are Snow Patrol.
The only good thing is they're remembered who Frankie Miller is, but come on, Caledonia? He's been on the go for decades, and you pick a cover he did that was used in a lager commercial. Words fail me.
Also, where's Alex Harvey? A true Scottish legend if ever there was one, or Maggie Bell?
Seriously, what where the panel thinking?
The only good thing is they're remembered who Frankie Miller is, but come on, Caledonia? He's been on the go for decades, and you pick a cover he did that was used in a lager commercial. Words fail me.
Also, where's Alex Harvey? A true Scottish legend if ever there was one, or Maggie Bell?
Seriously, what where the panel thinking?
Wednesday, November 02, 2011
Post lurgi post
So I'm feeling human again which is good, and I'm back at work (boo!). During the lurgi phase I managed to catch up with some stuff that needed viewing. In no particular order, I watched The Beach, Batman (Tim Burton version), The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Outpost, The Horde, and some episodes of Big Bang Theory
I also (finally) got round to reading Arkham Asylum (wtf!) seriously mental, but very very good. dave McKean's artwork is superb. I much prefer this to the artwork in Dark Knight Returns (see earlier post on this). I also finished reading The Roil. This was a terrific book, totally loved it, but it IS the first part of a trilogy and there in NO conclusion here, so don't go looking for one. Saying that, it's an ending that leaves you wanting more, so that must be a good sign, right?
The Colour of Magic got a re-read in a little over a day. That's some kind of record for me, I usually like to stretch books out for a bit, and I kind of feel that I sped read my way through this. Still a good book no matter how many times I re-read it.
I'm now just about up to date enough that I can start a novel that a friend wrote. The Elect is available from the Amazon kindle store. Check it out, and give it a go.
So, that's me just about up to date. Other than the fact that I'm going to veg for the rest of the week (work aside) and not go to skating or karate (I still need a bit of a rest after the lurgi), there's not much else to say at the moment.
I also (finally) got round to reading Arkham Asylum (wtf!) seriously mental, but very very good. dave McKean's artwork is superb. I much prefer this to the artwork in Dark Knight Returns (see earlier post on this). I also finished reading The Roil. This was a terrific book, totally loved it, but it IS the first part of a trilogy and there in NO conclusion here, so don't go looking for one. Saying that, it's an ending that leaves you wanting more, so that must be a good sign, right?
The Colour of Magic got a re-read in a little over a day. That's some kind of record for me, I usually like to stretch books out for a bit, and I kind of feel that I sped read my way through this. Still a good book no matter how many times I re-read it.
I'm now just about up to date enough that I can start a novel that a friend wrote. The Elect is available from the Amazon kindle store. Check it out, and give it a go.
So, that's me just about up to date. Other than the fact that I'm going to veg for the rest of the week (work aside) and not go to skating or karate (I still need a bit of a rest after the lurgi), there's not much else to say at the moment.
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