Unwrapped

Some surprises this year but first and formost, I recieved the LOST season 5 box set (from Mrs Osbon) that I asked for. Season 4 started slowly but built into a very good season, I hope the 5th season surpasses the story/action/character-driven plot of the previous four seasons.

The surprises came in with a copy of Metal Gear Solid 4 and The Hangover DVD(the funnest film I've seen at the cinema this year). I may keep MGS4 under wraps until the possiblity of a trophy supporting patch is confirmed or not - Kojima have been very quiet about the possibility of a patch since August this year. All I will say about The Hangover, as you may not have seen it yet, is watch the end credits - they are not to be missed! OK so the movie, Very Bad Things (hello CD) had covered the same ground back in 1998 but I say The Hangover is very worthy of being produced.



Have you finished unwrapping anything 'grand' over Christmas?

Goodbye BlackBerry, hello iPhone

Traded in my 'uptight' BlackBerry and got myself a 3GS white iPhone. Never knew touch-screen could work so well on a hand-held device but Apple have, after owning a BB for 26 months, made me a present, possibly future, customer of theirs. And no, I don't own a iPod

I'm even enjoying hand-held gaming for the first time(both the PSP & DS have yet to impress me) and Bejeweled 2 is an early favorite.

I'd be interested to hear from other iPhone owners that wish to share any tips or good apps with me.

All I want for Christmas...

I once new a girl that played in a band. I don't recall her name now but I do remember that she had a moment of sexual bliss with Kurt Cobain, the lead singer/guitarist with Nirvana.

This kinda brings me onto a topic of dreaming of sleeping with a celebrity/star. Last night I dreamt one such dream and it's the first of its kind that I have a memory of, the morning after. The star/celebrity in question was Cameron Diaz(uncredited in one of my favorite movies of all time) and we were outside. During the whole experience, Miss Diaz had that crazed smile that she wore so well in Vanilla Sky.

Now if only I could dream a sequence of Cameron and Evangeline on a spooky desert island! Sadly, I may just have to make do with a new box set...

Reclaim the charts: A better reality?

I don't care much for 'reality TV' with all its factors of X and overweight brothers, give me an episode of LIFE - now that's a reality worth watching. So the prospect of yet another newly-born 'reality star' being top of the charts, here in the UK, for Christmas is fairly sickening. But wait. Could there be a sniff of debunk to the no.1 spot this Christmas?!

Unlikely as it may seem, Killing In The Name released 17 years ago by Rage Against The Machine has an outside chance of taking the number one spot - all thanks to a Facebook group. I've made my purchase on iTunes(ready for delivery of my iPhone tomorrow) as I believe it's the public right to tip the apple cart and upset bland corporate marketing.

Interesting, the 'Killing In The Name' single reached the Top 40 back in 1993 in the UK - peeking at #25. At the time of typing this, the majority of download charts have it at #2, this without Rage Against The Machine having any connection with the Facebook campaign.

Lordy knows if they've picked up on it yet - better they don't.

Be kind, rewind

Braid is the videogame title I missed when it launched but the innovation in that title alone, has been a staple sorely missed from my recent gaming experiences. I will be writing a deeper account of my impressions of Braid very soon - look out for my own 'videogames of the decade' list to be posted before the year end.

Whilst I'm on the subject of innovation and Braid, these are the times when I feel I was born in the wrong country.

MIA

Two bloggers I've missed since they became MIA:

Foton - last seen April 1st 2008 @ AFK Gamer

Was the blog I read to balance out all the dry, ridge posts made by other MMO bloggers back around the time I played WoW. Although I don't play MMOs now, I still keep AFK Gamer in my feed reader in the hope new posts will arrive.

Foton's self-indulgent introduction post from 2004.

Dave Yeager - last seen July 31st 2009 @ Soul Kerfuffle

The post that hooked me into Soul Kerfuffle? Take a read through The View From The Top - it gave me time to pause and consider my own thoughts on the time I spent, trapped in the MMO grind. Still in my reader, Soul Kerfuffle was one of the blogs that inspired me to write online. Not a gaming blog or an MMO blog - Just one man doing his part to add more background noise to the internet.

I sent Dave Yeager a email question(as I also did with Foton) as, being a curious fella, I wanted to know what was keeping him away from blogging:

Since your last blog post, what have you replaced that time with and do you miss blogging?

Since my last post I have purchased my first home with my wife, but otherwise I don't think much has changed really. This is a good thing mind you, but I have filled the time with things like work, friends, some amusing community sports such as dodgeball, wiffle ball, and kickball, and plenty of video games to be sure. Neils Clark's book, Gaming Addiction, came out and really I wondered what I could possibly do for an encore in the realm of relevance in the gaming community lol.

There was a time when I looked to redefine the purpose of the blog as a source of good news, but really Happy News does that already and better than I ever could anyway. I actually intend to do some "Best of the Decade" posts with a couple of my friends, but even those take a back burner to other things. I do not particularly miss it, only because there is so much terrific content out there that I don't see that I can add much to the discussion anyway - and if I do wish to add something, I can always comment. ;-)

Of course, since Mr Yeager sent me his reply to my question, new posts are beginning to surface at Soul Kerfuffle! Sod's law..!

So, my readers, if you had the power to bring a retired/MIA blogger back to entertain you with their wise words, who would you pick?