Mr W Phallus

Something I noticed watching Napoleon Dynamite, everyone pronounces Pedro as Pay-dro whereas in the UK we'd say it with a short 'e' so it rhymes with head(ro). Or at least I would. I can't remember how Pedro himself pronounces it though.

I've been listening to all four Strokes albums a lot but I'm feeling particularly sentimental for the first album of theirs I heard.

But...but...

Blue and orange, how original.

Last gaming one was my Christmas wallpaper I think:

Just finished Rushmore and I watched The Royal Tenenbaums earlier today. Both were really good films, but I feel like they're both the kind of film that you need to re-watch in order to fully appreciate them. Plus the streams I watched really didn't do Anderson's direction justice. Personally I prefer Fantastic Mr. Fox to these two.

It's not "replayability" just games you've played 5 times or more. Well yeh, but what is a game you've played 5 times if not replayable?

Uh... actually, I don't think that's true at all. HL2's design is pretty narrow. Did you ever play the original PC version of Far Cry? Now that's an example of a FPS with open level design. I know it's narrow, it just feels open. Normally when you play a shooter you head down a corridor, through a room, leave by the only exit, repeat. A corridor here could be a literal corridor or it could be a valley, a street with all its exits magically blocked by debris or whatever. You head down it because that is the only way to go. In HL2 you don't go the way you have to go, you go the way that looks/feels like the right way to go. In practice it amounts to the same thing, the other routes are almost always dead ends, but it is the illusion of choice that is crucial.

Half Life 2 is one of the most replayable FPSs I can think of. The level design is so good that going from A to B feels like exploring, even after several playthroughs.

Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3 Just because I feel like it, here's some in-depth analysis. Dead Man's Chest: I was actually pleasantly surprised by this. Mostly I think it just suffered from sequelitis, where the plot seems to have been written around the set pieces, and said set-pieces are too over-the-top and silly for my taste (although I do quite like the rolling water-wheel 3 way fight scene). The CGI, too, goes overboard, with many of Davy Jones' crew becoming a mess of visual noise, Bootstrap Bill Turner's design proves that sometimes less is more. The film still manages to deliver in terms of comedy, though, and ultimately this is where it excels, with Depp and the supporting cast managing to compensate for the damage caused by Knightly and especially Bloom. Not a bad film, then, but at 2 and a half hours a (mostly) stellar cast, an interesting mythology and plentiful references to it's superior predecessor are not enough to hide the lack of a plot. At World's End: I can't quite make my mind up about this film, which seems appropriate since the film can't seem to decide what it wants to be either. The opening is incredibly bleak, depicting mass hangings where even children aren't spared. This seriousness is seemingly carried over into the next scene, a covert pirate meeting in Singapore (or somewhere equally oriental), the weight of colonial oppression is heavy in the air. It seems out of place then, when the familiar raggedy crew of the Black Pearl turns up, complete with coconut scuba helmets, a midget beating up an enormous fat man and a monkey letting off fireworks. Then the tense espionage and infiltration/comedy suddenly explodes into a chaotic action scene. The problem with At World's End isn't that the individual parts are bad, but the parts simply don't gel together as well as they did in the first film. Disjointed, too long but enjoyable none-the-less, if anything else it should be commended for bringing surrealist elements to a major Disney cash-cow franchise.

I honestly can't think of any game I've played through more than 3 times.

Then make a prequel. Well I'd probably hate it if it weren't for the fact that in comparison to the rest of the movie that moment is cinematic brilliance.

When you watch or play a fantasy film/game obviously there is a required suspension of disbelief, one that is usually established early on, for example we are asked to imagine someone has made an underwater city, or a floating one in this case, but there still has to be rules to this world. Imagining that someone could build the technology to make a floating city is a lot different from believing that a normal human could travel along a rail at high speed, hanging by one arm, then leap off somehow and fall massive distances before again catching onto a rail without tearing his arm out it's socket. Plus it makes no sense how the hook connects to the rail. I don't think I explained that very well, basically unless Irrational establish that this is a world where everyone has impossibly strong left arms, then it's not OK for everyone to have impossibly strong left arms. And I know it's not a massive thing, but it's something that really annoys me, especially in films. Like I said, if the gameplay actually merits it, and if it feels natural then hopefully it won't annoy me so much.

I was bang on 6' last time I checked, I remember when I was one of the tallest in my year.

Ah well I can understand since I only managed to get through the good one in my 'marathon', watching the second two together can't be great - especially if your wallet is taking a hit.

I'd like to pretend the others don't exist. I still intend to watch the others, I seem to remember the third one being half decent at times. It's still a shame that the sequels didn't live up to the first, because the concept, had it been fully realised, could have been amazing. And despite everything, I can't help getting excited for the new one. At least they got rid of Bloom and Knightly already.

I'm a little bit sceptical of the skyline system, mostly because it seems to throw the laws of physics out the window. Whether this will be an issue in the actual game depends on whether it serves a useful gameplay function.

Any 2D Mario, any 3D Mario Kart (against other people) and Pacman. And every kid should play Pokémon, too.

I was going to have a Pirates of the Caribbean marathon the other night but in the end I only watched the first one, which is still as good as ever, even if I've reached the point where I've seen it so many times I can't help but notice every small plot hole or logical fallacy. After that I watched L.A. Confidential for the first time; it's an excellent film. Oh I also watched a Chinese film on Friday called Blind Shaft, which was good as well.

Personally I never use the minus button, but if someone makes a particularly good post I will +1 it. Most of the time I forget the rating system is even there, though.

Ahah I've never heard this before (or the Australian version) but they both look pretty good.

What night is that? I went to uni in Manchester - I wonder if it's one I went to... many years ago. BOP. It goes way back I think, the Chemical Brothers played their first gig there.

I got the impression Dean meant protests over economic issues (ie spending cuts), but I could be wrong.

The first music I can remember owning was a Vengaboys album on CD. I was about 7 at the time. To be fair, they still play this and a whole lot of other 90s cheese every Friday at what is probably one of the biggest student nights in Manchester. It's post-ironic...or something.

I'll always be an xbox boy at heart, but I'm getting more into PC gaming thanks to a number of factors such as not having my xbox at uni and the ridiculous cheapness of games on steam. Next year, though, my house should have a PS2, a PS3, an xbox 360, a N64, a Gamecube, a DS and maybe a Wii if we buy one, so plenty of choice there.