I thought I’d give the blog a makeover to get into the xmas spirit. Gives it a nice winter wonderland feel – not that we’ll be getting any real snow this year.

Less than three weeks to go now! It seems to come around quicker every year. Even though it’s so close I still don’t really feel it yet – the magic, I mean :) I think maybe it’s because I haven’t got an advent calender, and because we haven’t got a tree or any decorations up yet. It’s these crazy rituals that get you in the mood, I guess.

I did make a couple of jars of fruit mince up a few months ago (it must’ve been late September/early October), so that’s had plenty of time to soak up all the brandy. I’ll have to crack those open and make a few pies up at some point (Mmm … mince pies), never made mince pies before, so fingers crossed I don’t mess it up. I’m also going to be cooking for my family on Boxing day this year, which again I’ve never done, so that should be fun – or stressful. I’ll be doing a traditional turkey, I think, with all the trimmings. I might have a go at making the cranberry sauce too. I love cranberry sauce! It’s just one of the foods that you have at xmas and then - for some reason - never seem to eat throughout the year. Sprouts is another one, although I can understand why no-one eats them after xmas is over. We won’t be having sprouts this year though. Not in my kitchen!

Still haven’t decided on the starter and dessert. I can’t be bothered with doing an xmas pudding as it’ll be too rich after the main course. Hmm, need to give it some more thought I reckon. Maybe try a few desserts out over the  next couple of weeks. Or be lazy and go for a frozen cheescake or something.

Yeah, it’s been quite a long time since I posted anything on here. Need to get back in the habit. I’ve had a lot on with Uni, which eats quite a lot of time up, but no excuses – I’ve been slacking off.

Anyway, last night was the world cup draw. It was a good one for England too: USA, Algeria and Slovenia, all very beatable (One paper’s headline was EASY: England, Algeria, Slovenia, Yanks – ) USA are probably the best of that bunch, but nothing to fear. It could’ve been a lot worse. Ivory Coast and Cameroon were probably the best in pot 2, and Portugal and France were definitely the ones to avoid in pot 4. So, fingers crossed, it should be an easy passage to the second round for England, where we will face the runners up (if we win the group) of Germany’s group – hopefully it won’t be the Germans.

Well, it’s six whole months away, so I’m not going to get too excited just yet. It’s just nice to be in the tournament this time after the Euro 2008 no show (boo, Steve McLaren!) and maybe, with Capello leading the troops, we might just have a chance.

I’ve finally got round to getting a Nintendo DS (DS Lite, not the newer, more expensive DSi model) after being totally underwhelmed by the lack of decent games on the Wii.  I got it last Tuesday in a bundle with Professor Layton and the Curious Village and I’ve been hooked ever since.  The game is a cross between an old-style point and click adventure (using the stylus to interact with objects and people on the screen) and a collection of puzzles (more on them later) and is presented in quite simple, but very quaint, 2D anime graphics.

The adventuring side of the game revolves around a ‘mystery’ inside a ’Curious Village’ called ‘St Mystere’ (so subtle!).  You play as the title character, the charming, eloquent, eccentric, puzzle solving genius Professor Layton, and his young apprentice, cockney schoolboy, Luke. 

After receiving an invitation from Lady Dahlia – widow of the recently deceased Baron Augustus Reinhold – you set out with Luke, in the Laytonmobile (seriously!), for St Mystere, a village with only one road leading to it (that’s the first puzzle, to find St Mystere on the map).  The purpose of your visit is to do what so many before you have tried and failed to do:  solve the mystery of the Golden Apple, and inherit the Baron’s fortune.  Obviously it’s not just as easy as going there and finding the Golden Apple, there are other obstacles and problems to solve along the way, including a m-m-murder (gasp!).  And it’s not long before you find yourself trapped inside the village and having to clear your name, whilst trying to solve several other mysteries along the way.  Hmm… Perhaps that weird looking tower in the middle of the village, that you can’t reach until near the end of the game, might have something to do with it?

It’s not a vintage plot by any means, but it doesn’t need to be, and it actually plays up to that at times, using any plot device necessary to squeeze another puzzle in.  Like the cafe owner, who has lost his measuring jug and needs to separate an 8 litre jug of milk into 2 x 4 litres, but he only has 5 and 3 litre jugs (Hmm, I wonder which Die Hard film I saw that one in).  It also leads to some very amusing dialogue:  ‘What?  There’s been a murder?  That reminds me of a puzzle I once heard…’ and:  ‘So you want me to help you solve the murder case?  Well I’d love to help, but I don’t know anything.  Perhaps if you solved this puzzle for me though… I might just remember something.’

The puzzles themselves are great though.  There’s some that I’d heard before, (variations on the fox, chicken and chicken feed crossing the river-puzzle, and the different sized jugs puzzle) but the majority of them I’d either not heard before, or couldn’t remember them well enough for them to be easy.  There’s a good variety in the puzzles too, they’re not all logic puzzles.  Some are trick questions, some are mathematical, some are visual, there’s even a few sliding block puzzles (they were pretty hard!).  Although it starts off pretty easy, the puzzles get harder and harder as the game progresses.  There are hints available, although they are limited (you collect hint coins throughout the game to ’unlock’ a hint) and you only get 3 hints per puzzle; the first is a general pointer, the second more specific and the third virtually spells out the answer.

There’s 135 puzzles in total (15 bonus puzzles after you solve all 120 in the main game) although you don’t need to solve them all to finish the game.  I did it with 108 (I think) and you could do it with even less.  Yes, I have completed it already, which is why I haven’t blogged or done much writing this last week as I’ve not had much time where the DS has been out of my hands

I won’t ruin the game by saying what happens, but I can wholeheartidly recommend it to anyone with even a slight interest in puzzles – you won’t be disappointed.

Well, I’ve rambled on for long enough now, so it’s time to go.  Just remember though; ‘Every puzzle has an answer.’

I thought I’d post one of my writing activities from the creative writing course I’m doing – seeing as I can’t think of anything else to blog about.  I’ve already posted it on the course forums, so for those of you who aren’t doing A363 with the OU here’s my version of a Futuristic Interview:

After a fierce top of the table clash between the Coca Cola Redsox of Merseyside and the McDonalds Manchester Devils, I’m here with Manchester’s captain, San Jose Pepsi Beckham.  San Jose, talk us through what happened out there.

Erm, well, like I say, it was always gonna be a tough game.  Two great teams, with great history and traditions, but at the end of the day we’re happy with the win.

It wasn’t all plain gliding for you though, was it, after conceding a penalty in the opening minute and a red card.

Yeah, as I said, it was always gonna be tough with equal teams, but if you go down to eleven men, er sorry, players, so early in a game it’s even tougher.

The referee didn’t have a good view of the incident and had to confer with the fourth, fifth and sixth officials before making the decision.  Presumably the wrong decision, in your opinion?

Yeah, we thought it was harsh.  I mean, she did foul the guy, but it was only worth an orange card, not a red.  At the end of the day though, you have to respect the ref’s and the fourth, fifth and sixth officials’ decision.

However, after you lodged an appeal, the panel, consisting of the seventh, eighth and ninth officials, reviewed the decision.  It was then overturned and your team-mate was allowed back on the pitch.

Yeah, obviously like, respect works both ways, as I say.  So we have to respect the ref’s decision and he, or she, has to respect our right to an appeal.  And then we all have to respect the seventh, eighth and ninth officials’ decision, which is final.

But you’re happy that we got the right decision in the end?

Erm… At the end of the day, two wrongs don’t make a right, and although this wasn’t two wrongs, it was one wrong and one right, but that, like, doesn’t make it totally right either.

Right… So, to summarise, the decision evened itself out for you?

Yeah, exactly.  Like I say, decisions tend to even themselves out over the course of a season.

OK, but overall you’re happy with the way your team performed today?

Yeah, like I say, I think we can play better, but at the end of the day, the four points is all that matters.  So, we’ll move on now to the next fixture, take each game as it comes, and just concentrate on the next match.

Thanks for speaking to us, San Jose.

Pleasure

So, the England football team are in great form at the moment under Fabio Capello.  They’ve already booked their place in next year’s world cup, with two qualifying games left to play. Topping their group with 8 wins out of 8 so far, and with a potential pefect 10 wins out of 10 a real possibility, moral is high and the country is buzzing.  So, Saturday’s game against the Ukraine has given us England fans the perfect opportunity to basque in this new found glory, stick our chests out and savour a rare moment where we can watch our boys play without having to bite our nails.  But wait… They’re not televising the game!?

That’s right, the game will not be shown on TV, not on any channel, thanks to the demise of Setanta – who previously owned the rights to broadcast.  Instead, the game will be shown live on … the internet!?  That means you won’t be watching on your lovely big HD plasma screen that you bought especially for these kind of events, instead you and your mates will be huddled over a 12″ monitor, watching in crap-o-vision (although the game is being played in the Ukraine, most of the snow will probably be part of the SFX) Not only that but you’ll have to pay at least £4.99 for the priveledge (it costs more if you ’subscribe’ on the day)  The game will not be screened in pubs - more good news for the economy and, to top it all off, there will only be a maximum of 1 million users allowed as the server can’t cope with any more.

This would’ve been a good April Fools day joke - if it wasn’t October 7 - but sadly it’s true.  It really makes you wonder what the point is of ever getting excited about anything involving football these days, when a bunch of complete muppets can make a decision like this one.  All we hear from the FA and the government are PR men and women campaigning to get more youngsters interested in sport, and yet they’re determined to make it as difficult as possible for people to actually watch their national team play.  England games – for any sport, not just football - should be FREE to watch for everyone.  They are supposed to be representing us and our country, and inspiring the next generation of sportsmen and women.  Judging by this though, the only future sporting success we’ll ever get will be winning the Pro Evo world cup.

I thought I’d do a feature on Ghost in the Shell (GitS) seeing as I’ve just recently read the graphic novel – I was going to do this last week, but … connection problems

Firstly, for the uninitiated, a brief introduction to the world of Ghost in the Shell. 

Ghost in the Shell (GitS) is a manga (Japanese comic) from the late 80s/early 90s by Shirow Masamune, which was later adapted into an anime (Japanese animation) film in 1995 (and a sequel in 2004) and then an anime series (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) which ran for 2 seasons (2002-2005)  It is set in a futuritic cyberpunk Japan and follows the adventures of Public Security Section 9 (a fictional counter-terrorist organization).  Led by ‘The Major’ Major Motoko Kusanagi (she’s hot!  Er, for a comic book character, I mean ) Section 9 spend their time investigating cyber-crimes, having mass shoot outs with the bad guys, cracking jokes at eachother and then have the occasional philosophical musing afterwards.  In the GitS universe cyborg/robotic/AI technology is very advanced and most of the characters have some form of cyborg enhancements, anything from a hand, an arm/leg, to a full prosthetic/cyborg body and usually cyborg brain implants.  These cyborg brain implants, or cyber-brains, allow for wired (plugging into sockets at the back of the neck.  An idea The Matrix stole from GitS) and wireless networking with other cyber-brains, as well as general connection to the net – sort of like having a computer inside your brain and being able to e-mail and telephone people by thought.  The only downside being that hackers can actually get inside your cyber-brain and even ‘dive’ (a term used in GitS) inside your ‘Ghost’ – although never fully explained the term ‘Ghost’ refers to a person’s soul, hence the title ‘Ghost in the Shell’ with the ‘Shell’ being the body.  Once inside your ‘Ghost’ these hackers can then manipulate you into doing their bidding.  Hope you’re following all this, so far.

 The plot of the anime (Japanese animation) film revolves around one such ‘Ghost-hacker’ called ‘The Puppet Master/Puppeteer’ – who also features heavily in the graphic novel.  I’d been meaning to watch the film for years - having heard about it as the main influence for The Matrix – but only just got round to seeing it earlier this year.  I’m glad I finally got round to watching it though, as it really is an impressive film.  Not so much the animation, which although good is slightly dated by today’s standards, but more so by the story, the cyberpunk setting and whole the concept behind Ghost in the Shell.  It’s an intelligent film, which questions reality and what it is to be human.

At the end I was left wanting more, so I watched the sequel, which, although technically impressive, didn’t have the same impact story-wise.  I then got hooked on the series, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, after buying the boxset of the first gig (season).  It didn’t take me long to watch all 26 episodes (some Stand Alone, others part of a Complex story arc) and then I was straight on Amazon for the 2nd gig boxset.  It’s a great show, the episodic content really helped to develop the characters and give more insight into the whole GitS universe and how Section 9 works.  It also had more humour than either of the films – which isn’t too hard as they’re both pretty devoid of humour, much more serious and contemplative in tone - and the characters looked, and were portrayed, slightly different.  After I’d consumed every episode of the series – including the follow up film GitS:SAC Solid State Society – there was only one place left to go.  Back to the source material; the graphic novel.

It was a lot more humourous than I was expecting and showed the characters off in a differnt light.  I thought it would be slower and more explanatory than the films (and series) but it was actually really fast paced and although there are a lot of the author’s notes at the end (which I haven’t read) it wasn’t bogged down with a lot of explanation.  It does get a bit technical at times, and the philosophy is quite heavy towards the end, but mainly it’s just a top notch action sci-fi comic, well drawn and with all the great sound effects thrown in (BKAM BKAM SPAK SPAK – that was just me firing a couple of rounds off, now I’m going to escape in my helicopter - WHUP WHUP WHUP WHUP )

I could tell you more – much more – but the beauty of Ghost in the Shell is in discovering it for yourself, and hopefully all you readers (oh so many of you ) will give it a go.  As of writing Amazon.co.uk is selling the 2 films (together) for £4.99; the series for £18.98 (7 discs); and the book for £13.99.  I would urge everyone to at least give the first film a go, before we get the Hollywood version - yes, that’s right, unfortunately Dreamworks have acquired the rights to produce a live action film with Steven Spielberg

As for me, now my journey through the GitS universe is complete (well almost, there are a couple more books but I haven’t read them yet) and my appetite has been whetted for more cyberpunk, I’m wondering where I should go next.  Beats me, but then, ‘the net is vast and infinite.’

Yes, that’s my excuse for not blogging for ages.  I’ve been having connection problems and every time I’ve wanted to blog I’ve lost connection halfway through the draft and not been able to get back on the internet.  Never had this problem with a wired connection, but hopefully – touch wood – it’s all working properly again now.

Unfortunately I’ve missed a few blogging opportunities over the last few weeks, mostly moaning about the weather, but also things like the ’12 year-old boy having a sex change’ story (that was weird, wasn’t it?), the return of Peep Show (woohoo!), and er, more Derren Brown (that was funny last night seeing him fail like the rest of us, LMAO!)

Another thing in the news recently has been the director Roman Polanski, who was arrested recently for an offence commited in 1977, ‘sexual intercourse with a minor’, which he pleaded guilty to way back then.  He fled the country (the US) before they could sentence him though and probably thought he’d gotten away with it.  He’s 76 now, was 44 at the time when he had sex with a 13 year-old girl.   You can find out all the info on wikipedia if you want to, but I just wanted to give some of the background info of the story.  The interesting, and quite frightening, thing is that so many famous people have backed Polanski, and even signed a petition for his release,   basically condoning his actions.

I’m quite firm on where I stand on this one, he commited a crime – a very serious and perverted crime – and he should be sentenced the same way anyone else would be.  He shouldn’t get any special treatment because he’s famous, or because it’s been over 30 years.  The trouble is, famous people seem to have a different justicial system to everyone else.  They seem to get away with a lot more than any ordinary person would.  They can afford the best lawyers and have their celeb mates speaking up for them in public and in court, trying to sway the jury.  Usually it works, and if not, they can always bribe them.  Well, not Polanski, he’s already pleaded guilty.  I’ll be interested to see how this one plays out.  Hopefully he’ll get what he deserves, but I doubt that very much.

So that’s how he did it!  Anyone else want to try that with me.  All we need is an informant working on the lottery show, a window of opportunity when the balls are not going to be checked, special balls made that weigh 100g (8 sets of them) and someone to hypnotise the security guards…  Erm, I mean, we need 24 volunteers doing automatic writing and using ‘the wisdom of the crowd’ so we can predict the six random numbers.

To be honest, it was quite a boring show.  I had a feeling it would be very similar to the horse racing system show and I was pretty much spot on.  The whole show was all just misdirection until the big reveal at the end.  A lot of people on the forums refuse to believe the explanation that he fixed the balls.  I think it sounded feasible enough.  Maybe he didn’t do that, but it was explained pretty well.  The other main theory from the public is that he used some kind of ‘split screen’.  I don’t understand how that works, and if it were that simple then why has nobody else done it before?  If there is some kind of ‘trick’ to it, then maybe one of the top magicians will show us how it’s done, but it would have to be done live, not pre-recorded.

Until otherwise explained I’m happy to believe that he did fix the balls, tip my hat to him for a good stunt, and look forward to the next show.  I just hope the next shows are more entertaining and dramatic than last night.  I loved the Russian Roulette special and a couple of his others – The Seance, The Heist – but I wasn’t as impressed with The System or last night’s special.  I guess I prefer it when there’s a gun or dead people involved, rather than just some trick with numbers.

While I’m blogging, just a quick one on Derren Brown’s lottery predictions.  Anyone else see it?  Weird.  I’m sure there’s some trick to it that I missed, and that he has promised to reveal on Friday – good promotion, I’ll definitely be watching – still, it was pretty impressive, getting all six numbers right.  I just wish he’d revealed them sooner.

Great to see the mighty England cruise to a 5-1 win against Croatia last night and ensure qualification to the world cup next year.  Now, I’m not going to get carried away with the result, or the 100% qualifying recored, but I’ve got a sneaky feeling that we can win this world cup.  In fact, when I look into my crystal golden balls, I can see us there, beating the cheating Argies – if they even qualify – with a handball from Heskey.  Then playing the Brazillians off the park with some silky skills from … Erm, Aaron Lenon???  Then we’ll hammer the Germans 5-0 in the final, and the new chant will be: ’2 world wars and 2 world cups!’  Come on England!