All posts by Armand

Personal

Uncle Genga

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One of my Dad’s closest friends, and a constant visitor to our house since, well, forever from our perspective, passed away this weekend, in KL. It was rather sudden.

Although not technically a relative, Uncle Genga was family. A friend of my Dad’s since the early 70s, we know his family, we looked forward to him shouting up for Daddy as he walked around the neighbourhood in the evenings with his dog and/or his family, and I’m pretty sure he was strongly influential in my father buying the family home where he did (around the corner from Genga & family).

Uncle Genga was as proud of our successes as My Dad is of Genga’s son’s — and, whilst we didn’t speak a great deal, he would make a point of grabbing us when we visited home for holidays and ask us about each aspect of our life in turn. He loved a good story, and would spin yarns with my Dad and their other friends into the small hours of the morning. He was a constant, solid and reassuring presence through the proverbial good times and the bad, and we will all miss him a great deal.

Internet, Miscellany

Fan mail, fantastic spam

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I’ve had fan mail for David Armand. I’m hoping that he can do some gigs in the North soon because my interpretive dance version of Natalie Imbruglia’s Torn is far from impressive.

I’ve also had a spam email with the subject line lifted out of Robert Jordan’s ‘Wheel of Time’ series. Bizarre. But truly, the Darkfriend did indeed fall on his bottom and sit there standing at Rand.

Two random, vaguely interesting things that happened recently. The Internet is truly a wondrous place.

Substantive posts to follow. Maybe. Eventually.

Personal, Sport

I’m not a morning person

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For the last couple of days, at least partially inspired by the fatbloggers, but also due to various other (personal) incentives, I’ve been waking up early to work out. A cycle lap around the park yesterday, and some light weight training this morning to remind my body of those muscles I’ve forgotten about… Hopefully the park again tomorrow.

Interestingly, its not the exercise that’s been causing me the most issues. Yes, its hard to motivate yourself, but when the sun is shining gloriously it’s a little easier. Rather, its the earliness of the morning. It hurts, but, as I knew I would, I have felt good during the day as a result.

That said, when I was doing my lap of Regents Park yesterday I was taken back to my school days, heading up to far distant school pitches at ungodly and unpleasantly cold hours of the morning… It was a strangely nostalgic moment.

Internet, Media & Marketing

Nice blogger relations

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Toptable.co.uk followed a trackback to my blog post that referenced them (the other day, talking about Awana), and a day later I received an email with “200 points” to spend with them in thanks. Which is rather nice of them, really. I mean, I don’t know how their points system works but am intrigued…

It’s a good policy. Nice to see some businesses paying attention to trackbacks… If you want 200 div6 points, please link to me. Preferably telling people how awesome I am.

Music

New draft of my ad needed

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I’m still trying to get a band together. But the gumtree ad seems to have drawn the wrong crowd – people in the wrong genre or far too much talent for me. I think I need to translate my ad in order to make sure there is no ambiguity.

Am of average skill,

I am competent, but can’t read music, have only really played rhythm but can jam in E minor to twelve bar blues, and have never “gigged” before. Actually, technically I’ve had one gig. I’m not sure *anyone* but me and maybe one or two of the musicians involved remembers that one.

more enthusiasm, and varied taste.

It’s not difficult to have more enthusiasm than I have talent. I have limited talent. And varied taste != soul, techno, goth or dance music. Flattered that people would think that my taste and skill on guitar would extend to that range, though.

could commit to one weekly practice.

I could commit to one weekly practise. Maybe two, if everyone was at the same level of mediocrity and enthusiasm as me.

I really really want a band but feel that I need to be transparent or I’ll just confuse people. I hope that clears things up. Get in touch if you want to jam.

Gaming

More on C&C 3: Tiberium Wars

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Here’s the thing. It’s very, very good.

There’s not much more to add to my review of the demo. The game is fast, varied, graphically impressive and addictive. The video is compelling enough and the most of actors are the right combination of good at what they do and beautiful, which is always nice. The multiplayer is pretty slick, limited lag and a few good, entertaining modes of gameplay and well designed maps. Damo and Matt have bought it too, which was nice of them, and we had a good session yesterday.

I’ve not finished the single player campaign yet, but the appearance of the Scrin will make it interesting. An alien race turning up randomly? Nice! Clearly different strategies required for them than for Nod… and then the whole thing will be played through again when I take on the Nod campaign. So There’s a fair few hours of fun in this.

Other than the fact that the game plays better with a Core2Duo (which I still haven’t brought myself to buy), my only real criticism is the fact that the ‘Normal’ level AI is a bit of a pushover. Haven’t tried the harder AI yet – suspect it will be frustratingly difficult. IIRC, earlier C&C games had more balance on this front, but ultimately it’s not a massive problem.

Let me know if you want to play multiplayer at some point. Not this weekend, though: Some Tingulstads are visiting us, I’m going to see Hot Fuzz and also hopefully eat some Malaysian food at that new restaurant that’s opened. You know, that one.

Thanks again to the guys at EA for this. Keep it coming!!

Internet, Television

Joost vs. BBC TV

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I’m bored of Joost. I mean, the principle of interactive TV to that extent is AWESOME, don’t get me wrong. But there are more adverts than I have to watch when I use Tivo, and not enough content or an easy way of searching it. I’ll keep checking, but I’m not too hopeful. It seems to be more about the community than the content at the moment.

On the plus side, the BBC has just emailed me about the BBC TV trial – I got to use BBC iMP last year when they tested that. So that could be exciting – at least the BBC has a guaranteed trove of awesome content. More will follow here.

For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, these are two internet TV services, one launched by those nice Skype people (Joost) and one by the, erm, BBC. You know. Those guys with the funny hats.

More to follow.

Personal

Band

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So I’m trying to get a band together. Facebook hasn’t proven helpful yet, so I placed an ad on Gumtree last night and have had four or five responses so far, which is brilliant. I love the interweb.

Not sure if any of them will suit at the moment – I need the right balance of people who like the same music as me, have the same level of commitment and the same level of talent.

Ad here, in case you’re interested:

Guitarist in search of band in Central London
Date: Thursday 12th April

Have guitar, will travel. Am of average skill, more enthusiasm, and varied taste. Would like to get involved in songwriting, gigging, could commit to one weekly practice.

Am a 26 year old professional with a sense of humour and a desire to have fun.

Some bands I like: The Offspring, Foo Fighters, Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Metallica, Nirvana, G&R, RATM, Urusen, Sheryl Crow, Tenacious D, Smashing Pumpkins, Fratellis, Killers, Franz Ferdinand, Minutes, Sister Hazel &, well, lots more.

Can probably manage backing vocals, occasional bass etc. Have a bit of equipment too if people are interested in recording.

Let me know what you think. I will scour this site for ‘musicians wanted’ ads too. If you want to know more about me, check my blog – www.division6.co.uk