Excuses, Excuses, Excuses

Or: I Aten't Dead

It seems to have transpired that if I apologized for long periods of inactivity, this blog would be filled with nothing but. So instead adding one more to the list, lets instead get severely depressed as it approaches October and none of the things in This list have been done. Hooray!

Admittedly, I do have an excuse; my complete and utter ineptitude. It seems that the JESUSSHITFUCKPANICPANICFUCKFUCKARRGH period was partly for naught, as I managed to fail two of my assessments. So I ended up spending a few weeks re-doing them, and failing. Again. Thankfully, I haven't been booted out of Uni - I just had to re-pick my modules which I never chose anyway (because of the aforementioned JESUSSHITFUCKPANICPANICFUCKFUCKARRGH period), proving that dark clouds can have a silver lining. Unless you're a meteorologist, in which case it's just a really inaccurate turn of phrase.

In the meanwhile, it seems that I picked up two new addictions - TV Tropes and anime (the latter of which can be blamed on the former, along with everyone who's ever uploaded stuff onto Veoh). At the moment, I seem to be watching Trigun, along with the three shows most people mention when they think of Gainax - FLCL, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. The last two are pretty interesting, mainly because of their contrast - while they both involve large robots pounding the crap out of various things, the shows are practically opposites. While Evangelion is fairly dark, Gurren Lagann is the equivalent of mainlining Brian Blessed.

A good example of this is early on in both shows - the protagonists, for different reasons, both snap and perform a gung-ho attack. Simon's (from Gurren Lagann) is treated positively - sure he's gone a little nuts, but he's fighting at his best and gaining a Crowning Moment Of Awesome (told you I was addicted to TV Tropes). Meanwhile, Shinji's attack on the Angel is disturbing as all hell. Mind you, the whole series could be described as such, up to the point where there's rumours that the hyperactive FLCL was made as a respite for the production team. Despite this, all the shows I've mentioned are well worth watching.

In other news, Jack Thompson's been permanently disbarred. \o/

Rice Boy and Lunar

Or: Using a Gift instead of an Excuse

They say a week is a long time in politics, so just over a week would be a long enough time between blog posts to have make an excuse about the lack of activity. This was going to be a post showing off freeware games I like, but between deciding this and desecrating the pub I used to live in by vomming in it I came across a few things I want to show everyone. So, there's three things I like you all to do, if you have the time for it:

• Go get something to drink. This could take a while.


• Click Here and click Play.


• Click Here and click Start.

If you're wondering, this is how I spent last night and now I want the Triptych Poster.

Jack Thompson Receives Court-Based Smackdown

Or: BaaaaaaHaHaHaHa!

On behalf of gamers everywhere, let me say that This is the best news I've had all day. For those who haven't been following this, Jack Thompson is a Florida-based lawyer who, for the last few years, has been misguidedly campaigning against videogames with all the grace and tact of an elephant with a road drill. Highlights include Arguing Like A Two-Year Old With A Webcomic Author, Sending A Letter To The Developers Mother and trying to get Bully banned while knowing nothing about it.

These exploits came to a head today when it was "recommended the attorney be found guilty on 27 of the 31 misconduct charges", which include "Engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation" and "Making statements that the lawyer knows to be false or with reckless disregard as to the truth or falsity concerning the qualifications or integrity of a judge".

Even if this comes to nothing, the mans reputation is as good as dead. Part of me would like to see him carry on with his crusade (mainly because I dread to think what would happen if he was replaced by someone who was actually good) but why let that stop me gloat?

The Great Rip-Offs

Or: Don't People Have Original Ideas Anymore?

Yes, I'm making two posts in one day. It's my blog and I'll post when I want to, so ner!
Anyway, it seems ripping of other people is quickly becoming the thing to do recently, so instead of jumping on the bandwagon with a copied Scaryduck post and a determined look in my eye, I'm taking a look at some of the most audacious examples.

First things first, The Sun. Presumably in an effort to fill pages, they've made another "Look at what people on the internet have done! LOL!" article by taking a b3ta challenge and posting it as news. The Article Itself says:

Now cheeky internet users have imagined what the bigger picture might look like.

They have taken famous LP and CD sleeves and gone outside the frame to reveal what could be happening there.

See any mention of b3ta there? Thought not. The original challenge is Here (Dated December 2007, so it's not even recent).

Next up on this cavalcade of mimicry is an advert for Barocca that has been doing the rounds recently. I'd post a link to a video of it, but since I can't find it, here's OK Go with Here It Goes Again:

The reason I posted that is because the advert is pretty much the same. A group of people dancing on treadmills, the only difference here is that it's outside. Woop. The worst thing is that the advert was probably more expensive, had more people behind it and more time - and it's still worse than four people and a camcorder. Rather than dwell on this puzzling state of affairs, lets move on to the last culprit.

I have some advice for people who listen to Crystal Castles. Don't. It seems they make a living of lifting chiptune songs and passing them off as their own. They've even done it with artwork. You can get the details at the MySpace page Crystal Castles are a bunch of lame thieves. Meanwhile, go listen to 64revolt. They do what CC do without having to rip people off.

Guess Who's Back

Or: Excuses, Excuses

So nearly a month after my first post, I return! I suppose this is what I get for starting a blog in the middle of handing in assessments for Uni (otherwise known as my JESUSSHITFUCKPANICPANICFUCKFUCKARRGH period) but now they're all done and dusted, I can get on with the important things in life. Procrastinating!

Ok, so I do have thing I can do through the summer. So I'll post them and become severely depressed in October when I look back on them and realise I haven't done any of them:

• Post more on here. Which is kind of obvious.


• Do more for my music project, Azm. That includes finishing the new website and compiling the tracks I've done into some sort of album.


• Learn the guitar. There's another music project I wouldn't mind getting off the ground which requires me to learn how to spank the plank, as it were.

It's not the longest list ever, and I'll probably end up adding stuff to it, but lets see if I can actually do them.