Category Archives: Media & Marketing

Gaming, Media & Marketing, Technology

Xbox LIVES!

Alright, I mentioned earlier that I was thinking about getting Xbox Live and, well, I did, along with Magic The Gathering: Battlegrounds and Amped 2, and I thought I’d post some thoughts.

The infrastructure is incredible; Xbox Live has a unified ID system, so you have one login, one friends list, across all the games that you play, and you can keep track of your rankings, friends and downloaded content, some of which is charged at a premium, using the Xbox Lived-up dashboard.

The headset plugs into the controller and works well enough. The ‘mute’ button is definitely useful, as you don’t always want to talk to people in Phoenix, Arizona, playing Magic at 4am local time.

Despite using a very small proportion of my ADSL connection (connected as it is via a network bridge/cross-over cable, via a wireless network), there’s very little apparent latency or lag for either game and the VoIP service that works in game is pretty clear.

At £29.99 including a year’s subscription, I reckon Xbox Live is well worth it, if you play with any keen-ness any of the games it supports (and they are increasingly legion).

Just so y’all know, my Xbox Live ID, oddly enough, is ‘Division6’, and I’m honing my red & white spell book for some major ass-kicking. I’m ranked about 500 in the world (mad skills!), out of about 10,000 Magic players. My aim is to kick the bejeezus out of Matt (aka CSmith), who’s a couple of hundred above me in the league table. He’s a little raging goblin.

Alright, that was remarkably geeky. I think I’ll write about sport and women for a while to straighten myself out.

[Listening to: 08-Led Zeppelin – Immigrant Song – – (02:24)]
Books, Media & Marketing

Meme of the Day, apparently

According to Chris, I need to do the following:

   1. Grab the nearest book.
   2. Open the book to page 23.
   3. Find the fifth sentence.
   4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.

For me, this is Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, and the text is:

   “His tie was dark grey silk, and the tie pin was a tree, worked in silver: trunk, branches and deep roots.”

That’s really not that interesting. These meme-things are definitely overrated.

Although ‘deep roots’ is a profundity in itself.

[Listening to: Bend Me Shape Me – American Breed – Tales Of A Librarian (02:09)]
Film, Media & Marketing, Personal

I hate jet-lag

It’s been nearly a week and I’m still waking up too early. Of course, this morning it was at least partly caused by some monkey (silly monkey, look at the silly monkey) trying to fax our house phone at 06.32, and, of course, BT “do not have the caller’s number”.

Two films to talk about briefly; both of which I dozed off in, and therefore comments will be insubstantial. The first, an American movie (apparently for a change) – Ocean’s Eleven (the remake). This was re-watched the other night following a late supper with Kate, because we both felt the need for a silly film. Of course, I’d seen it before, but still deeply enjoyed the excellent performances from Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Friends’ Elliot Gould, and the deeply amusing Bernie Mac (who reminds me of the excellent and improbably named Cedric the Entertainer). It was great for the second time, even if I did doze off a couple of times, but was disappointed to find out that the sequel, due out next year, is going to be called Ocean’s Tweleve. Come on, guys, some imagination!

The second is the beautiful but VERY weird and very Japanese Spirited Away, which, unsurprisingly I watched with Matt and James. Like Princess Mononoke, its a fantastical Japanese anime film, but not really comparable in any other way. It dealt with extremely odd concepts of reality, good and evil, and had some of the weirdest protagonists I’d ever seen. The heroine, a little girl called Chihiro, struggles through a kind of twisted dystopic ‘Wonderland’, assisted and sometimes antagonised by a talking frog (nothing Disney about him), a dragon vaguely reminiscent of Atreyu (or was it Valkor) from the Never Ending Story, and a monochrome monolith called ‘No Face’ in an effort to rescue her parents, who have been turned into pigs. I’m going to watch the end of that film again to catch what I missed out on through my inadvertant naps – definitely intriguing.

I also finished reading Jennifer Government and Hey Nostradamus, mentioned in earlier posts. Spectacular books, both, one for its comic simplicity and the latter for being a profound and moving examination of faith in the face of hardship. I’m not a religious man, but have come from that background and was very impressed with Douglas Coupland’s careful narrative, telling an excellent story as well as dealing with issues of struggling with faith and dealing with personal disaster.

Oh, and a link to a “hot internet nerd” – a 20-year old girl from somewhere in the US who’s made a name for herself largely by being a girl and promoting herself as an ordinary individual. Unlike some of the weirdos on the internet, I didn’t surf to her site by typing “hot internet nerd” into google (no, really), but rather through a link in someone’s blog that I was reading. Honest. Anyway, I thought her blog was reasonably amusing for those with a spare minute.

Busy week this week. Posting frequency to resume at the weekend. Hope you’ve all had an egg-filled Easter and are ready to rumble. By the way, you might want to steer clear of Primrose Hill for a few days – those durned kids with their egg-and-spoon races have left fragments of boiled eggs all over the place. It’s going to smell like the 3rd circle of hell in a few days…

[Listening to: Try – Nelly Furtado – Folklore (04:40)]
Film, Gaming, Media & Marketing, Personal, Technology

Adieu

I’m off to Malaysia for the next week, visiting family for Easter; blogging frequency will almost certainly be reduced. So in good housekeeping style, there’s a few things I ought to set out clearly here, having failed to blog them in any sensible way.

Things seen:

(a) Continuing, brilliant ER, mediocre, but sometimes amusing Tripping the Rift, Simpsons, Smallville and Frasier continuing through their current seasons.
(b) Bubba Ho-Tep is a great film about a black JFK, an impotent Elvis, and a Mummy wearing a cowboy hat. Not just cult, but very clever too. Stars the epic Bruce Campbell.
(c) Zatoichi and 21 Grams are both films worth watching; the former a performance piece/far east cowboy feature, the latter a sometimes over-clever but generally moving film from the creator of Amores Perros.
(d) The remake of Starsky & Hutch is a less good film, but completely enjoyable
(e) The new Orange Film Foundation (or whatever) ads. That guy is DAMN funny. Anyone else think he’s a bit Kevin-Spacey-esque? Any links to info about these ads would be appreciated.

Things done:

(a) I’ve also been introduced to Xbox Live and intend to get it myself (if I can get it all to work, with my Xbox Live, a patch cable, a Mac and a wireless network – told you I knew about the tech) so that I can beat Americans at Magic: The Gathering.
(b) As well as the rebranding/self-hosting of this site, I’ve found an AMAZING blogging tool which posts using the Blogger API, so you know what I’m currently listening to (as seen below).
(c) Finished Jennifer Government (brilliant), and am proceeding nicely with the Rogue Nation of Badass Devils and the Republic of the Sunne on Nation States.
(d) Started Hey Nostradamus, as recommended by Chris, and Absolution Gap, as recommended by me. Alistair Reynolds’ previous Revelation-Space-Universe books are pretty good too.
(e) I’ve added Brazil, Heat and Donnie Darko to my films-I-should-have-watched-by-now list (having finally crossed off The Usual Suspects a few months ago). Any takers for some video nights?

Things revealed

(a) Damian is the one with the continental fruit beer fixation, as noted on the napkin of a thousand blogs.
(b) Tom & I are working on a secret project. It’s very exciting.
(c) I’m trying to stay up all night to prepare myself for the jetlag to Malaysia. The jetlag caused by the introduction of British Summer Time is contributing to a sense of increasing dazedness. Might post again later, especially if I decide to rewatch bits of Hi Fidelity again…

See y’all…

[Listening to: My Friends – Red Hot Chili Peppers – One Hot Minute (04:03)]
Books, Current affairs, Media & Marketing

Points of reference

I’ve just started reading Jennifer Government, a novel by Max Barry; thus far its a very amusing vision of a dystopic ‘capitalizm’-centric universe. Here, the ultimate in marketing strategies involves not selling your product and then, when you finally do, shooting the people who buy it. It has a corresponding website, Nation States, which allows people to play a kind of political role-playing-game – you  get to choose the location and politics of your country.

Which brings me to my subject: points of reference. I have two; the Sun, and the Devil. Nothing is better than the Sun, and everything is better than the Devil. I don’t think there’s need for anything further.

To that end, I’ve started up two countries on Nation States – “The Rogue Nation of Badass Devils” and the “Republic of the Sunne“. In one, I will vote exactly opposite to my inclinations, in the other I will try to be faithful to them (I’ll let you, dear reader, decide which is which) – and we’ll see who ultimately prevails.

The ultimate battle between good and evil. Right here. Right now. Bring it.

Books, Film, Media & Marketing

Hi Fidelity

Man, as if this isn’t one of the best movies ever. Almost good enough to make me want to read the corresponding book.

I don’t know what made me slap on the DVD of Hi-Fi today. I’ve been going through a bit of a John Cusack revival, having recently seen the middling Identity, re-watched the brilliant Grosse Pointe Blank (which has an AWESOME soundtrack) and now this – again.

Something about Rob’s neurotic internal struggle, the brilliant soliloquizing, and cynicism about relationships strikes a chord. Jack Black’s brilliant comic-foil potential shining through was also entertaining.

I wish I could do all that ‘to camera’ stuff.

Books, Media & Marketing

Eragon

I’ve just finished reading the first volume in a fantasy epic trilogy written by a 15-year-old. Goddamnit.

Not that I’m entirely envious; much as there’s a part of me that wants to be a world-class writer, there’s a lot to be said for living a bit more than Mr Paolini (for such is the young prodigy’s name) before I start transforming my experiences, friends, families and relationships into fictional alternates. Or even making new ones up for myself.

Eragon (pronounced, oddly enough, exactly as you’d pronounce ‘Aragorn’, and even less surprisingly, is ‘Dragon’ spelt with an ‘E’) is a deeply conventional book. There’s everything impressive about the fact that its been written by a kid, but there’s a reason that most decent fantasy writers have accrued a few more years; it gives them time to acquire original ideas. Chris Paolini’s book is an entirely unsurprising, frequently too ‘on the nose’, adventure of a young boy who realises he has powers beyond his wildest dreams, and a young dragon to care for, as he strives to revive the legacy of the ‘Dragon Riders’ and rid the kingdom of its oppressive and cruel ruler.

That said, I enjoyed it: Paolini writes well and has a good turn of phrase, for the most part. He’s got some problems with -logue – dialogue and internal monologues – which run improbable courses – but the book’s good light entertainment, and the story, hackneyed in places though it may be, is compelling enough. Anyone who’s interested should click here and buy it.

Media & Marketing, Music

My exploits with Launch.com and the demise of punk

From the department of self-flagellating, whinging, neurotic singers, division6.

I like rock music. People don’t usually expect it of me; depending on how quickly new people judge me, they either expect me to boogie down to Beethoven, Shah Rukh Khan or Britney Spears. Truth be told, I was one of those kids who turned up at school with no idea what kind of music he liked and was led down the moderately hard rockin’ crowd. Ah, the days of sitting in the common room in our smoking jackets, warming ourselves by a hot fire, with a large mug of tea, a pipe whilst singing “Welcome to the Jungle”… Hang on, that’s not quite what happened…

But never mind. The point is that my rockin’ has always been rather sedate; nothing like that of Jack Black’s, Marilyn Manson, or Axl Rose’s school. Punk skipped me entirely. In 1994, however, I got introduced to the Offspring, and their brand of tepid anti-establishment sentiment really got me going. And needless to say, the Offspring and Green Day were just a tip of a ‘Neopunk’ revolution that today has led to such things as ‘Skater Punk’ which today sometimes includes bands like Simple Plan, Bowling for Soup, Blink 182, Avril Lavigne (yes, yes, I know) and even my old favourites, the Offspring.

It seems that the establishment has stopped bothering these guys. Now that they’re all loaded, and the Republican government is giving all the Americans a big tax cut (surely the Canadians should still be p*ssed off), the only institution they seem to have left to fight against is… wait for it… women!

Bladihell. It’s ridiculous. I was checking out Launch.com in a fairly regular attempt to find myself some new music, and I watched a video of Blink 182 waxing nostalgic after some ex-girlfriend, followed rapidly by Simple Plan doing the same thing. Not that this should have been unexpected, but it just struck me as tedious and whiney; these guys don’t strike the same emotional chord as Cat Stevens with ‘The First Cut is the Deepest’, or really hit on any real sentiment other than luke-warm never-ending self-pitying loathing. Say what you want about Mr Manson (Marilyn, not Charles), he’s not a whinger.

It’s almost enough to drive a man to… Light Rock. Thank goodness for my old AC/DC albums, and for the presence of the Darkness, providing some comedy and a really good sponsorship opportunity for moisturiser filled soap (credit for that pun to Mr Tom).

Media & Marketing, Television

Save Angel!

A few days ago, I watched the finale of the current season of Stargate SG-1 (don’t laugh, it is good – Macgyver, anyone?), with fleeting sadness. At least, with SG-1, I have the next season to look forward to, and one final run with Jack O’Neill and his crazy exploits.

But Buffy finished last season, and now Angel’s up for cancellation. Goddamnit. I don’t want new television. I want me old faves to stay on the air! Futurama, Family Guy, Buffy, Angel, Friends, SG-1 – all are ending or ended, or got canned! Am I going to have to start watching 24 and Nip/Tuck? Not that that would be a bad thing. At least the Simpsons will never die.

Truth is, being honest with myself, it is probably time for them to be put out of their misery. Friends writing is so poor this season you’d almost think they would be better off with a team of monkeys playing around with typewriters writing their scripts. Or Shakespeare; either, really. Still, I can’t help but feel the sadness as an era of television draws to a close. So I’ll say: don’t. Save Angel. Before he turns into a muppet.

Books, Current affairs, Media & Marketing

You know guys, I learned something today…

I’ve been walking head first into inspiration lately. First, I read Michael Moore’s latest book, Dude, Where’s My Country, and determined to write to Mr Moore, get a job working on his staff and move to Washington to help the war against Dubya.

Then I watched School of Rock and Mr Jack Black’s high octane, high energy honest-rocking got me geared to write songs. In fact, last Saturday I met a cute New Zealander, and while I failed, in consultant terminology, to “seal the deal”, I’ve decided to throw my inhibitions to the so-called winds and write a song about the sexiness of antipodean-accented-ladies Although I may have to substitute “Australia” for “New Zealand”, for the benefit of good scansion.

While I’ve done and watched many other things recently, the lingering power of those two works has me contemplating my own future, self-involved egotistical bull as that may seem. Michael Moore points out in Dude that the truth of capitalism is that you, being Joe Average, are not ever going to get rich and famous, and that’s part of Capitalist America’s myth that ultimately allows people like Dubya to make massive tax cuts for rich people (because Joe believes that one day he’ll be there, and he’d like that tax cut then). I, being reluctant to accept that I’m Joe Average in any way, and with minimal inclination to money and power, at least, am still looking for a way to change the world. Ok, some money and power might be helpful to that end, but I’m looking for a route. Waiting for my rocket to come. Waiting for my real life to begin.

So a public thanks to Michael Moore and Jack Black. You charming chubby Americans, your pride in what you do, the strength of your convictions and your tireless struggle to promote ideology which I have strong empathy for, if not entirely believe, is inspirational. In the words of AC/DC (and possibly they were paraphrasing a Caesar, but who really knows?): “For those about to rock, I salute you.”

Or in the case of Mr Moore and Mr Black: for those already rockin’.

Afterthought: perhaps the Liberal Myth is that one man can make a difference. I’m not sure I’m cynical enough to abandon that yet.