plinx

Stripes & Stars.

2012-01-26T16:42:00.000Z

There is no context, only...

DOPE ZEBRA!

Die, Robot.

2012-01-24T18:26:00.000Z

Evening, all.
Wanna play a game? 2 games, even? Good, because that just so happens to be the content of this plinx post. What an astonishing coincidence.

These games are the two entries in a series called Crash the Robot. It's a physics puzzler that tasks you with arranging elements of a level so that the end result is the destruction of a hapless robot. Sounds mean, and it is. But it's ok, it's just a game.

The games feature balls, boxes, bombs, balloons, bounce-pads, buzzsaws and err... cannons. Generally the aim is to activate switches in the correct order to spell doom for your mechanical mate. Alarmingly, the switches in some levels seem to make him suicidal, as he'll pull out a drill, a hammer or some other device and voluntarily dismantle himself. Chilling.

Anyway, have fun!

Crash The Robot.
Crash The Robot: Explosive Edition.

CENSORED

2012-01-18T09:45:00.000Z

Learn more HERE and see some sad examples of what the web could be if the webcomics community fell prey to this insidious law:
Dinosaur Comics.
Nedroid.
XKCD.

Midas Touch.

2012-01-13T15:44:00.000Z

Cripes, it feels like forever since I plinked a game. That's what happens when I spend the whole of December posting videos.

So here is a physics puzzle platformer that looks deceptively simple but very quickly reveals itself to be infuriatingly deep. It's called Midas and in between each bite-sized level, it has a pithy statement telling part of the story of King Midas (the dude who turned everything he touched to gold, if you forgot).

Fun times, then albeit tough. Have a go:

Midas.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-06T14:59:00.000Z

Welcome to 2012, guys. Hope you had a fun new year experience.

As is customary, I'm going to kick off the year with some pictures of new year festivities around the globe.

First, here's an astonishing picture from right here in our own capital city.

Pretty sweet, eh? Looks like a scene from V for Vendetta.

Bizarrely, in Georgia they have Santas shambling around like zombies!

Even the Vikings got involved in Edinburgh.

All these pics and more, including loads of spectacular fireworks displays, can be found Here.

See you soon!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Christmas Eve!

2011-12-24T16:00:00.000Z

Well, this is it. The end of the Vidvent Calendar. It's been fun and I've proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that my timekeeping skills are pretty terrible.

It seems appropriate that I should end on a high note. Lucky, then that I found this absolute corker.

I won't say much about it, just click on the appropriate part of the video to keep it rolling.

Enjoy!

Hope you all have an excellent Christmas. I'll be taking a few days off to spend with family and then I'll be back to give you something to look at to close out 2011. See you then.

Happy Holidays!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 23!

2011-12-23T23:24:00.000Z

Crikey, it's Christmas Eve Eve! How exciting.

Remember the flying robots that built a shed from earlier in the month? I think they may have noticed me geting a bit histrionic about their eventual takeover of the planet so they've teamed up to show us their lighter side.

So here we have a scanner and a robotic arm playing the Christmas classic 'Little Drummer Boy' for our enjoyment. Enjoy it, but don't let your guard down, for god's sake.

See you tomorrow for the last vidvent treat!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 22!

2011-12-23T00:15:00.000Z

Dang, it slipped past midnight again. I need a distraction.

Oh look, puppies!

*sneaks out door* ...suckers.

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 21!

2011-12-21T12:30:00.000Z

Afternoon,
Going to use today's post to give mad props, etc to notable animator and friend of plinx; Eddie Bowley. He is also doing a web-based advent videostravaganza this month, and as if it weren't obvious, you should check it out.

Here's the most recent upload, an alphabet themed short toon from his Edd Egg series:

Now go forth and watch all his other stuff. Tell him Paul sent you and you'll be well looked after.

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 20!

2011-12-21T00:04:00.000Z

Pretty sure that by the time I finish typing this, it won't be the 20th any more but who cares, eh?

I passed an exam today! So all you get is this:

See you tomorrow!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 19!

2011-12-19T15:32:00.000Z

Youtube, eh. It's doing alright for itself. A hastily googled factoid for you here: Every minute, 35 hours of footage is uploaded to the site. That's ridiculous, right? One other thing that can be inferred from that; in 2011, an awful lot of that footage would have involved Autotune.

If you're not familiar with it, Autotune is a tool that takes any spoken word audio and makes it sound like a song. It was the tech behind the popular process of Songifying which really took off this year, bringing us such gems as Charlie Sheen's Infamous Interview, the lady who, try as she might, Can't Hug Every Cat and a lesson in Backin' Up.

Anyway, the most recent Songify hit takes inspiration from an already-pretty-hilarious infomercial for an American Taxidermist by the name of Chuck Testa.

Here's the ad, followed by the Songify version.

I dunno about you guys but I'll never be sure if anything is real ever again.

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 18!

2011-12-18T23:21:00.000Z

I'd imagine that by this time of the month, you'll have seen your fair share of decorated houses. Now don't get me wrong, strings of coloured lights are cool, but today's video really knocks all that malarkey into a cocked hat.

The more observant of you may have seen something similar in my post about a Clock Tower in Prague but today we're having a game of pinball in Lyon. Check it out:

Neat!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 17!

2011-12-17T19:27:00.000Z

Sometimes, I work really hard on these blog posts. I spend ages scouring the internet for something that I think you'll all enjoy. Sometimes though, I don't have the time for all that and I need a quick fix.

Today is one of those days, ladies and gentlemen. So I just opened YouTube and typed in 'penguins falling over'.

Bam, done.

Easy.

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 16!

2011-12-16T15:05:00.000Z

Come with me now on a journey through time, back to the halcyon days of December 2008. Plinx wasn't yet 1 year old and was about to celebrate its first Christmas. D'awwwww. That's when I posted a treasure trove of comic strips featuring Calvin & Hobbes and their... unique snowmen. Anyway, fast-forward to the present day and static images just won't cut it anymore. This is the web circa 2011 and we need moving pictures, dangit!

So it's lucky that a couple of guys with time and talent to spare have created a video tribute to said strips using the twin disciplines of modelling and computer wizardry.

Check it out:

Marvellous. If you like this kind of thing, read a li'l bit about how it was done Here.

See you tomorrow, when it will be ONE WEEK until Christmas Eve. Holy heck.

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 15!

2011-12-15T16:44:00.000Z

Ask any kid these days what they want for Christmas and you're likely to get an answer that would involve being plugged into a telly. Fair enough, I say. Videogames are a noble pursuit but in years past, letters to Santa were dominated by things like bikes, skateboards and pogo sticks.

It's the last of these that concerns us today. The humble pogo stick has never enjoyed the same level of exposure as its wheely brethren. You get plenty of youtube clips of 'extreme' skate or bike tricks but no extreme pogo.

Until now...

Not bad, eh? SPROING!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 14(ish)!

2011-12-15T00:40:00.000Z

Hey guys,
So I guess I'm a little late for the 14th update but hey, you wanna complain you can go jump in a lake.

I'll keep this brief as we're already behind schedule; Fireworks!

I love fireworks, and so do you. Everyone in their right mind loves fireworks. The only problem is that they are only effective at night. That's only a 50% success rate, which is pretty poor. I mean sure, you could let them off during the day but you wouldn't see anything, right? No good.

No, what you need is a daytime fireworks substitute. Did anyone suggest microchip-controlled explosions filled with coloured gunpowder? Well, that's astonishly prescient of you, award yourself a gold star. That's exactly what today's video features. Check it out, it has a weird, otherworldly quality.

Awesome. See you tomor... err, later today!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 13!

2011-12-13T18:50:00.000Z

Evenin' all.
By now, some of you will have put up your decorations, yeah? Some tinsel, a tree, etc.
We put ours up at the weekend and nothing has collapsed yet, but then we don't live with any animals.

I imagine if you have pets, decorating the house would be problematic. In fact, I don't need to imagine, because I have video proof. It features a cat who has a modicum of internet fame; His name is Oskar and he is blind, which would be very sad if not for the fact that so many videos exist of him larking about and generally enjoying life.
Anyway, Oskar's owners are decorating their house for the festive period and Oskar is 'helping' put up the tree. The results are undeniably adorable:

D'aww. Still, what did they expect. Silly Humans.

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 12!

2011-12-12T15:47:00.000Z

How does that song go? I'm walking in the air?

Something like that, it's about flying, right? But, right, if you could fly, would you rather you had to do it while holding hands with a snowman, or would you rather do it like Iron Man, all rocket boots and repulsor jets for stability?

It's the latter, obviously. Too bad that Tony Stark's fancy red tuxedo is fictional, eh? OR IS IT?!

Yes, it is.

However! Here comes the closest thing to mimicking ol' shellhead that I've ever seen. A water powered jet-propulsion system that features rocket boots and repulsor jets for stability.

I want one, right now. Even if it does mean I have to splash about in the murky solent. Whooooosh!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 11!

2011-12-11T21:19:00.001Z

Hello friends.
Here at Plinx HQ, we have a Swedish Christmas party every year. This year's event happens to be happening... right now!

I've eaten my bodyweight in herring and meatballs and had plenty of glogg to drink, but I thought I'd take a break to post this video featuring an ordinary Swedish hero.

This guy has been plinked before, when he showed us how to prepare Swedish Meatballs the traditional way, but this time he's doing breakfast:

Skål!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 10!

2011-12-10T23:44:00.001Z

Only a few minutes left of day 10 but I don't intend to miss my deadline.

Having done this advent thing a few times over the years, I've noticed a few trends. It seems every year, someone decorates their house with lights that sync up to a piece of music.

So here is this year's effort. Bonus points for being a metal song:

YEAH.

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 9!

2011-12-09T15:59:00.001Z

We're approaching the end of the year 2011, that means 2012 is just around the corner and it could potentially be an interesting year.
As you'll probably know, 2012 is supposed to bring about the end of the world as predicted by the Mayan calendar. Many have posited theories about what might cause our mass extinction; One of the more enduring is death by technology. Simply put, we will develop machines complex enough to overthrow us and wipe us from the planet.

Sounds ridiculous, yeah? Well see if you still think so when you've seen these flying robots build a futuristic bendy shed:

Now imagine them building a foot thick wall around us all while we sleep. ooooOOOOOooooOOOOoOOoOOoOoo!

Merry Christmas, meatbags.

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 8!

2011-12-08T15:49:00.001Z

I don't know about where you are, but here the weather is just awful. Rain, wind, cold. Nasty. I wish it'd snow. I bloody love snow, especially throwing snowballs.

However, there are some people who love snowball fighting more than is perhaps appropriate. To the point where they've given it a name and called it a sport.

Yukigassen, from the Japanese words for 'snow' and 'battle'. It appears to be catching on. Originating in Japan and spreading to America, Canada and parts of Europe (the snowy parts, I'd wager), could it one day be an event in the Winter Olympics? We can only hope.

Until then, just have a squiz at this video:

A bit unnecessarily epic in presentation but there we go. See you tomorrow!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 7!

2011-12-07T15:49:00.001Z

Ok, so I haven't gone to Costa Rica yet. I'll see how my finances are in the new year. Meanwhile, it's day 7 and you folk need a video to watch, so let's crack on.

Today's is a heart-warming video made by the crew of HMS Ocean. They were on their way home when they were suddenly required to go to Libya, turning a routine seven-week mission into a much more gruelling seven months. However, it's done now and they're very pleased to be coming home for Christmas.

So pleased in fact, that they did this:

Good work, guys.

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 6!

2011-12-06T15:31:00.001Z

Ok, this doesn't happen often but after finding today's video, I have decided to emigrate to Costa Rica.

Perhaps I should just show you the video first. It features a zip-lining bulldog.

D'aww, right?

Well that dog lives in a place called Finca Bellavista. It's in Costa Rica and is a community of treehouses, basically. I want to go there, right now. Check out The Website and you'll probably want to as well.

The dwellings are fully equipped with electricity and running water and they have phones and internet, and as you saw in the video above, there are zip-lines! Somebody get me a spanish language book and some lumber for Christmas. I'm going to live in the jungle!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 5!

2011-12-05T16:04:00.001Z

Hey guys.
Despite being in the early stages of the vidvent calendar, I have been asked to include a link to something specific that isn't a video. I should just refuse, right? How dare they try and subvert the Plinxmas tradition?!

However, the thing is, it's for charity and after all, 'tis the season to be jolly. So I'll do it, for the greater good. I'm an old hand at this though so there'll still be a video and what's more, I'll make it relevant.

Bah humbug, though.

I kid, obviously. I'm more than happy to help out with this kind of thing. So I'm hereby calling on any of you with the ability to get to London on Sunday to take part in the Santa Fun Run! It's a leisurely 5km run/jog/walk in the beautiful surroundings of Kensington gardens with a bunch of lovely people who all happen to be dressed in Santa costumes. I've done a couple of these before and they're always a good laugh.

But don't take my word for it, check out the promo; It even has a game! Santa Fun Run!

So there we go, a bunch of freely running Santas... Wait a minute, free running Santa?

Told you I could do it. See you tomorrow!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 4!

2011-12-04T21:42:00.001Z

Another quickie. Weekends are busy, y'know?

Anyway, I don't want to blow anyone's mind but it turns out there are videos on the internet that feature cats doing funny things. No, really. See for yourself if you don't believe me. In fact, let me just show you one.

There's an altercation between two moggies, and it turns out that the one being picked on was raised by snakes. Big mistake Cat #1.

POW.

See you tomorrow, guys. We'll be one step closer to Christmas!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 3!

2011-12-03T19:18:00.001Z

In a hurry today so not much of a preamble. This video uses one of the oldest tricks in the internet book. Take footage of one thing and add the soundtrack of something else. In this case, a grainy old video of some dudes doing the Charleston dance set to the music of Daft Punk.

Simple, yet brilliant. Watch.

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 2!

2011-12-02T19:10:00.001Z

Hey so, having built up some goodwill with an insanely cute video yesterday, I thought it best to alienate 90% of you by nerding all over the place. Yay!

Minecraft. You either know what it is or you won't care what it is. Despite only just being officially released, this game has become a full blown creative revolution and like all other media, someone has used it to recreate, in painstaking detail, a Super Mario level. In most cases, that would be a gruelling endeavour, but in Minecraft (where everything is made of individual cubes) it's masochism on a breathtaking scale. Check it the heck out:

Allegedly madeup of 500 man hours, divided between 3 dorks and an astonishing eighteen million blocks, if you're interested in the 'how' of it, watch the Making Of video.

See you tomorrow!

Fun fact, every time I needed to type 'Minecraft' in this post, I accidentally typed 'Minceraft'. What is this mysterious mince raft, and could it really be the answer to all our transportation problems?! Tune in next time.

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 1!

2011-12-01T22:28:00.001Z

Evening friends. It's the first of December and round here, that can only mean one thing... iiiiiiiittt's PLIIIIIIINXMAAAAAAAAS!

This year it's going to take the form of a plinked video each and every day. Hopefully one that will inject a little holly-jollity into your day. It won't necessarily be Christmas-related, it won't even necessarily be new but hey, this is my blog, you don't like it, there's plenty of other blo... oh god no, please come back!

Anyway, I'm going to kick things off with possibly my favourite video of the year. To describe it would be to rob it of its majesty. Just... just watch. Oh, and turn your speakers on.

Yeeeeeeah.

See you tomorrow, guys!

Nitrome Wasn't Built In A Day.

2011-11-30T12:45:00.001Z

Nitrome. If you've been reading this blog for a while, you should be familiar with the name. They make flash games of a superior standard, many of which have featured here. In fact, my second post on this blog featured a Nitrome game, all the way back in March 2008!

So anyway, they have just released their 100th game(!) and to mark the occasion, they've called it Nitrome Must Die!

The game involves one or two players taking up arms and blowing characters from loads of different Nitrome games into smithereens. It's good fun and it seems like it would be wrong not to feature it here.

NITROME MUST DIE!

Scantastic.

2011-11-22T17:26:00.001Z

I'm just going to say it; today's plink is about barcodes. Yeah... barcodes. Don't leave though, I am going somewhere with this. Also, you know I'm good for it. I've turned something dull into an interesting post before. Remember the post about Forklift Truck Safety? Exactly.

Anyway, I wouldn't be the first to try and jazz up the humble barcode. Remember Barcode Battlers?

But I digress. So barcodes are everywhere, yes? And they're pretty dull, yes? Just a dull arrangement of vertical black bars, some wider than others. Totally tedious, but then they're only there to fulfill a function. Nothing we can do to make them more interesting, right?

Wrong! They could look like this:

MUCH better. This seems to be mainly a Japanese phenomenon, mostly the work of a company called D-Barcode. Hooray for them!

More info and plenty more examples HERE, check 'em out.

Blowing A Load.

2011-11-14T10:36:00.001Z

I bloody love fireworks. We went to an excellent display this year which was a nice mix of impressive and dangerous. The sense that at any moment we could all be incinerated really added to the experience.

Lots of cities have official displays which cost thousands of pounds and tend to go on for half an hour or so. All this really ensures is that your whole audience will have a crick in their neck when they're done 'ooh'ing and 'aah'ing.

Perhaps we can learn something from a mishap in the Scottish town of Oban, then. After cueing up all the pretty explosives, a technical hitch caused them all to go off within 50 seconds. It makes for spectacular viewing. See?

Ooh and indeed, aah.

Out On A Limb.

2011-11-08T19:07:00.000Z

GAMES.
Yeah, I haven't posted in a while. Sorry. Here's something to play with to keep you distracted. 2 things, even.

First of all, a game where success will cost you an arm and a leg, literally. It's called Pursuit Of Hat and your protagonist is a cheerful looking blobby fella with detachable limbs. He desperately wants his fetching purple bowler hat back and you'll need to rip off and reattach bits of yourself in order to do it. For such a stomach-churning sounding concept, it's all very sweet. Give it a shot:

Pursuit Of Hat.

Secondly, an old internet stalwart; Ninjas. They're everywhere on the world wide web, the stealthy blighters. Where are they all coming from? Where do they learn their skills? Well, I'll tell you! Sticky Ninja Academy, that's where. This is a physics-y game involving flinging a ninja about, making him stick to walls, knock out other, presumably evil ninjas and nab some precious gold before making it to the exit. This is good, solid fun and the way your li'l assassin goes into a flying kick pose whenever thrown is just adorable.

Sticky Ninja Academy.

There you go, fill your virtual boots. See you next time.

Float On.

2011-10-21T11:36:00.000+01:00

Hello, and indeed goodbye.
This will, presumably, be the last edition of plinx as we are due to be Raptured today. Looking out the window, it doesn't seem like the sky is boiling and I can't see any cracks appearing in the earth but hey, plenty of time yet.

I thought I'd use my last post to show you something that could have really changed the world if it weren't doomed; Quantum Levitation.

Listen, yeah. Don't go to sleep just because it sounds nerdy. Wait until you see the video.

Pretty nifty, huh? I'm getting on the waiting list for a Marty Mcfly-style hoverboard right now. Y'know, just in case the planet doesn't implode this afternoon. Fingers crossed, eh?

Gnarly Gnoses.

2011-10-19T10:41:00.000+01:00

Cowabunga, dudes.
Hey remember Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Of course you do, TMN(or H)T is one of the most enduring pop culture phenomena of the 90s.

Not had much going on lately though, I suppose. But that changes right now! I'm about to show you something that like the Dog-mask Ducks will alter the way you look at the world forever. Did you know that everyone has an approximation of one of the Ninja Turtles on their face ALL THE TIME?

Don't believe me? Well, that's fair enough. It's a bold claim. However, try arguing with this:

POW. Proof positive. No-one is immune. Obama, Ghandi, The Governator, umm... Sting?

Anyway, it's amazing and has made me laugh consistently over the last few days. Why not try making your own?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Noses.

Mind, Reader.

2011-10-14T16:30:00.000+01:00

Hiya.
Bit of a blast from the internet past today. This was recently brought back to my attention by Housemate J and I have been enthralled with it ever since.
Essentially, it'll task you with thinking of a 'character', real or fictional, human or otherwise and then ask 20 questions before reading your mind. Yeah, it's one of those things.

Back in the day, these things were pretty hit & miss. However, this one has had several years of use and seen an astonishing 107011686 individual 'games'. Effectively this means it has evolved, for want of a better word, into a much more impressive mindreader.

Seriously, I have thrown so many curveballs at this thing and only rarely has it failed to come up with the goods. Sometimes it'll take more than one guess but hey, I'm willing to let that go based on the fact that some people have given it wrong answers.

Anything that can tell, in 20 questions or less, that I was thinking of the three-headed monkey from Monkey Island, or a secondary character from a cancelled TV series, or the COUSIN of the main character from GTA 4, or... bloody Barry Scott from the Cillit Bang advert! or... or... ARGH, HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS?!

Ahem, sorry.

Anyway, if you fancy being outwitted again and again by an animated genie, pit your wits against:

AKINATOR.

Charidee.

2011-10-06T19:29:00.004+01:00

Evening all.
I'm afraid it's that time of year again when I put on a sleeveless t-shirt and jog about in Southsea for a while in the cold, and I'm sure you all know what that means!

Yup, I'm after sponsors again. However, it's not just me this time. Housemate J is also coming for a run and we're trying to raise the princely sum of £500.

So please, go here:
http://www.justgiving.com/runpaulandjamesrun
and give generously. It's an excellent cause and I promise to render myself immobile with the effort come race day.

To sweeten the deal, here's a game!
A charming little knockabout where you scoot your avatar across the bottom of the screen to catch falling banknotes and sunflowers, presumably hurled by a philanthropist in a blimp. You can play as one of three people who would stand to benefit from Hospice care or erm... you can be a pelican (allegedly his beak can hold more than his belly can)

Game!

Oh! Also, last time I checked I had the high score, so try and beat me. Then throw a few quid at my donation page to really show me who is boss.

Ta very much.

iScraper.

2011-09-30T11:33:00.000+01:00

Hello.
Several months ago, I started playing an iOS game called 'Tiny Tower'. It's a simple concept; construct a skyscraper, one floor at a time. You chose from either residential or business floors so you have people living in the tower and working to earn money to build more floors! It may not sound like much but the charming pixelly animations make it really compelling and it is full of little incidental touches that enhance the game as a whole. Plus, it is horribly addictive. Each level you build costs more than the previous one but obviously, if you're playing well, you'll be earning more money as you build new floors. It only takes a week or so to get something that looks like this:

However, there is an achievement for building 100 floors and I was determined to get it. Now, I have realised that dream. Click HERE to see my magnificent tower in all its glory.

Oh yes, and although it was my intention to stop at 100, I now have a burning desire to see every type of floor there is, so I'll likely remain in the iron grip of this blocky timesink.

I thoroughly recommend the game to all of you with the ability to play it. It has a surprising amount of depth and is completely free as long as you don't mind being patient. You can read a review Here and if any of this has convinced you to give it a spin, it can be found on your friendly neighbourhood app store.

Have fun!

Stick It To The Man.

2011-09-22T16:16:00.000+01:00

Afternoon,

I won't say too much about this because it'd spoil it. Just click below and draw a stickman. Easy as that.

GO!

Plinx Quickie.

2011-09-16T11:59:00.000+01:00

This is a Public Service Announcement.

Portal, one of the best games ever, is now free to download on PC or Mac. I'm sure nearly everyone has played it now but if there is anyone out there who is still yet to experience its splendour, for god's sake get it now. It's free until September 20th so shake a leg.
Grab It Here.

I'm Appealing.

2011-09-11T16:39:00.003+01:00

Hello, this post may trigger a feeling of deja vu for you long-time plinx visitors.
Remember when I asked you to help Thomas Truax get his album released? Well guess what? He's at it again!

If none of this is ringing any bells, all you need to know is that Truax tours the country with a boot full of instruments he invented himself playing truly compelling songs. I've met him a couple of times and he's a thoroughly nice chap. In fact last time I saw him live he played the birthday song for me on that instrument you see in the picture above (it's called the Hornicator. Oh yes.) But yeah, he has a new album and needs all of our help.

This one is a concept album of sorts, a 12 track opus that is being written and recorded one track a month with each track referencing the month it was recorded in! Still with me? Good.

So this album is due for release in January but ONLY IF enough people pledge to buy it. Otherwise it won't be released and the world will be a worse place as a result. That may sound hyperbolic but I honestly think that what ol' TT is doing is important. He makes music unlike anything else that exists. Like last time, the album is part of a PledgeMusic drive which means you have several pledging options. If you just want an electronic copy of the album, it'll only set you back a measly £6 but you can opt to pay a little bit more to get some funky extras. Check out the page HERE.

I've put together a short Spotify playlist to give you a few reasons to get behind this musical endeavour. So Check It Out. (If you don't have spotify; firstly, what's wrong with you, go download it now and secondly, you can find a lot of his tracks on youtube.)

Anyway, stop reading this and go and change the course of music history if you wouldn't mind! Don't dilly-dally too much, there's only 12 days to go before it's too late.

Thanks, you won't regret this.

Monochromantics.

2011-08-25T15:38:00.003+01:00

Hi, 2 games today that fit into that wildly popular genre - 'ludicrous physics games starring black & white animals'.

First off, a zebra. Doing what zebras do best, making his way across the savannah... in a car. The game is Safari Drive and you need to get the motorized mammal from the left side of the screen to the right by clicking on objects littered about the stage to remove them. It's a fairly fun and straightforward jaunt with some enjoyably odd facial expressions from the zebra. So give it a spin.

Next, it's perhaps the most beloved of all the two-tone creatures, the penguin. This particular penguin wins extra points for wearing a trenchcoat and packing heat. Why? Well to kill zombies, of course! Lots of ricocheting rounds and smashable furniture in this one: Zombies vs Penguins. Whee!

Aaaaand that's your lot. Until next time, pals.

Plinx Quickie.

2011-08-19T15:44:00.003+01:00

How do.
Just a quick post to keep the blog ticking over. A clever play on words turned into an excellent collection of pop culture robots both famous and obscure. Click the sample below for the full-size version of...

Where's Wall-E?

Did you find him?

Incurable Stealie-o-holicism.

2011-08-10T16:16:00.003+01:00

Cripes, it's been a weird couple of days, hasn't it? If you live in one of the areas where there has been rioting, I hope you've remained relatively unaffected.

It's been really disheartening, watching all the terrible behaviour on the news. Seeing how it'll affect blameless business/homeowners who will have a really tough time getting back on their feet.

However, in the aftermath, it was great to see good-hearted individuals coming together to help fix things. I love a bit of indomitable human spirit, me.

In a similar vein, I'm glad that some people are doing their bit to bring a smile back to our faces by looking at a tragic situation and seeing the funny side. So today I bring you PhotoshopLooter

It's a collection of cleverly doctored images of the twats doing all the stealing and smashing. See below for examples:

Teehee!

Soul Provider.

2011-08-04T18:29:00.002+01:00

Game time.
On paper, today's plink may sound a bit unsavoury. You float around as a ghost possessing hapless people and forcing them to commit murders until you have harvested enough souls to pay the reaper. But it's not as bad as that sounds, honest! The whole thing uses the ever-charming 'pixel art' visual style and the bouts of slaughter are broken up by some decent sections of black comic dialogue.

As you progress through the game, you'll take control of several different types of people, each possessing different skills (see what I did there?) from the lowly office worker who is only able to swing his briefcase around menacingly, to the likes of the gun-toting security guard and the lock-picking cat burglar. You'll need to figure out who to use in order to dispatch your co-workers, whether that be by pummelling them, shooting them or kicking them out a window.

The difficulty ramps up as you progress and each level has a pretty strict time limit, so there's no time to hang around contemplating the morality of your actions, just hurry up and punt that guy off the roof!

More fun that its subject matter would suggest, then. Play Soul Tax.

Plinx Quickie.

2011-07-28T16:03:00.003+01:00

You're all familiar with services such as SnipURL, TinyURL, etc right?
They take long, unwieldy web addresses and condense them down. Very useful, but a bit bland.

Wouldn't it be better if you could make any innocent URL look suspicious? Inject a bit of danger into your web-browsing? For example, would you click a link that looked like this:

http://5z8.info/hack-outlook_s1o7am_dogfights

Didn't think so, but you'd be perfectly safe to do so. It would just lead you to this very blog, replete with my grinning, boxy face.

This is the service offered by ShadyURL. I think they're doing important work, spicing up the prosaic world of surfing the net.

So, are you willing to take my word for it that this link is safe?
http://5z8.info/racist-raps_f5j2du_blackmarket
Go on, give it a click. I dare you.

Plinx The Blog & Paul The Human.

2011-07-07T15:46:00.004+01:00

Hello,

I used to watch a lot of cartoons. I don't just mean when I was a child, but up until a few years ago. Then I kind of stopped (with the exception of the combined output of Matt Groening & Seth MacFarlane) because things just didn't seem as good. I imagine some of it can be attributed to me growing up but it feels more like the toons are just getting less innovative and unique. Cartoon Network seems to be getting buried in stuff like Ben 10, Generator Rex & Johnny Test.

In short, it feels like we've taken a step back from the anarchic lunacy of things like Cow & Chicken, Ed, Edd & Eddy & Courage the Cowardly Dog.

So is there no hope? Au contraire.

Enter...

It's the best cartoon I've seen in ages and really feels like a breath of fresh air in a genre increasingly over-crowded with generic action toons.
It veers very close to being too 'wacky' but the end result is something that has you shaking your head with disbelief on a minute by minute basis. It's very colourful and there are characters made of rainbows and sweets but there's also a jet-black streak of comedy running through it.

It'd be best if you just watched for yourself, so here are the first two episodes. Drink it in, then go watch as much of it as you can.

YEAH!

Carface.

2011-06-30T19:50:00.003+01:00

Do you like Pixar movies? Stupid question really. Everyone likes them, and with good reason. As a body of work, it's approaching flawless. Perhaps the closest thing to a low-point would be 2006's Cars and even that was still a lot better than most of their competitors' fare.

Anyway, there's a sequel coming soon so what better time to apply the Pixar anthropomorphising technique to some famous and iconic cars from film and tv.

Observe:

Pretty cool, huh? See the rest Here.

Badum Tish.

2011-06-27T13:47:00.002+01:00

Just a quick one today,
How does a cymbal react to being struck?

Turns out, it's more extreme than you'd think. Check it out:

Press M For Murder.

2011-06-23T19:01:00.004+01:00

Hey, so we haven't had a game for a while. To be honest it's because nothing has really grabbed me. No matter how nicely polished or deep, every flash game I play recently seems to be a variation on a familiar theme.

Then finally something held my shrivelled attention. Ironically it was a game made as part of an indie game design contest called Ludlum Dare 48H, which tasks entrants with making a full game in just 48 hours. The game I'm about to show you was created by a guy called Adam Saltsman who created the previously-plinked Canabalt and it really shows that he has mastered the 'simple concept makes compelling game' trick.

Taking place on a single, unmoving screen and lacking in such luxury features as a play button or any instructions, this game is minimalist to say the least. However, it gets very hectic very quickly.

It's called Grave Robbers but you do not play the eponymous thieves. Rather, you play the unseen omnipotent force that is trying to thwart them using a number of carefully laid traps, each mapped to a key on the keyboard.

As the little animation-free swines swarm through your dungeon, you'll be hitting S to drown them, K to squish them and U to burn them (amongst others). Don't be squeamish though, the spartan graphics ensure there is no gore.

They will try every different direction and the 'cool-down' time on each trap means you will quickly start flailing about trying to rain death on your puny yellow foes before they can abscond with your loot.

It's frantic and fun. Give it a shot:

Grave Robbers.

The Fake Sound(s) Of Progress.

2011-06-21T19:38:00.003+01:00

Evening.

We humans are a pretty sophisticated bunch. Some people dedicate their lives to working out how we tick. They study behaviour and stick electrodes into squishy pink brains. They probably do other stuff too but that's technical enough, right?

Anyway, we like to strut about this planet like we own the place. As if we are masters of all we survey. We have built incredible machines to perform menial tasks for us (by we, obviously I don't mean you & I. I mean clever people) and we perhaps not unreasonably regard ourselves as in control of the machines.

Turns out that the artificial bastards might be pulling one over on us.

Collected HERE is a list of 5 ways in which machines lie to us to make us feel better. The most unexpected one for me was the cash machine. I'll never look at one the same way again, and I suspect you won't either.

POST ENDS.
*whirr. clunk. beeeeeeeep*

Let Slip The Sprogs Of War.

2011-06-03T11:08:00.003+01:00

Hey, get comfy and watch this video.
It's just your average clip of a bunch of kiddywinks larking about with plastic guns. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary happens.

Y'know, this charade would be a lot easier to keep up if it weren't for the preview frame of the video giving the game away below.

Ah well, just watch it. Cutesy carnage ensues.

GET SOME.

Exhibit I.

2011-06-01T14:58:00.003+01:00

Hey so Facebook is pretty neat, huh? It's handy for keeping in touch with friends and for sharing pictures, videos and links.

Once you've created your profile, anyone can come poke about in what is, essentially, a shrine to you. Everything you say, everywhere you go, every picture of you. It's all there. A treasure trove of information about you that would make the most committed stalker look sheepish. It's almost like a museum

That's exactly what you'll find here at the Intel-sponsored Museum Of Me. To tell you any more would spoil it. Just click through and grant it access to your facebook profile. You won't regret it, promise.

Hairy Man Shows Internet Findings.

2011-05-19T19:50:00.003+01:00

Hey there.
A decent movie needs a snappy title, right? Or at least a memorable one. Zack Snyder is much more likely to be remembered for Watchmen, 300 & Sucker Punch than for Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, I'd wager. So the title is pretty important.

Now almost all movies get released all over the world and it turns out some of the people in foreign lands don't even speak English? Madness. So the flick gets translated, including the title. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't.

An example:

An excellent film with a no-nonsense title. Not so in China. No. There it's called 'This Hitman Is Not As Cold As He Thought'.

Yeah. Turns out this is pretty common. In Germany; Airplane became The Unbelievable Trip In A Wacky Aeroplane and, incredibly, China never got to experience The Shawshank Redemption, but instead got the stupefying title 'Excitement 1995'!

Want more? Well check out this list of 50 Funny Movie Translations to see how films can be completely undermined by having their title translated. The one for Sixth Sense is incredible.

One of my personal favourites though: 'Leaving Las Vegas' becoming 'I'm Drunk And You're A Prostitute' in Japan. Hyuk hyuk.

Plinx Quickie.

2011-05-12T16:23:00.001+01:00

Hiya.
Just wanted to call your attention to a webcomic series that's just been started by my pal Alex. It's a simple 3-panel type affair and the concept is explained in the title:

Setup, Beat, Puke.

Yup, each comic ends with Alex himself dropping a barf. It may not seem like much on its own, but when you see them all together... well it makes me laugh. And hey! it's not like there isn't a success story out there which uses repeated panels each comic, right?

Oh, also; Alex kindly put up a guest comic created by yours truly. Check that one out Here and click Here for the whole shebang.

Yay! *pukes*

April: A Retrospective.

2011-05-05T19:09:00.005+01:00

Hello there.
I didn't get much plinking done in April, perversely this seems to be because I had too much free time. I had a fair bit of time off work and I never really felt like it was the right time to sit down at my computer for a spell. Now things have returned to relative normalcy, I'm going to sum up the last few weeks in bullet point format.

> Running
> Portal 2
> Barbecues
> Thor
> PlayStation-induced Fury

Starting at the top, I did a run! Yes, another one. In Prague this time. It's a beautiful city and I had a great time. The run went OK, better than the last half-marathon anyway. Y'know, the one where I lost consciousness? Here's a victory snap:

Whee! Medals!

Then, a while later; Portal 2 descended from on high to bring me joy unrelenting. Well, not quite unrelenting but I'll get to that later. If you're unfamiliar with Portal 2, here's the trailer:

Having waited for it for so long, I was concerned it wouldn't live up to expectations but I needn't have worried. It's brilliant. If you play games, you've probably played it already or plan to do so soon and if you don't play games... Portal 2 has you covered there too.

It's clever, it's funny and... erm, I'm sure the co-operative mode is really good too... grumble mumble bloody PSN.

What's next? Ah yes, GRILLFESTS. Yeah, it's barbecue season and we kicked things off in sensational style by having one every bank holiday. I couldn't possibly consume any more charred flesh until, well the next barbecue on Monday. I hope you're chowing down similarly.

Another, less videogamey, event I had been anticipating for some time was the release of the movie adaptation of Thor. I love the character and had been watching trailers and looking at screenshots with increasing alarm. I really didn't want the movie to suck, and guess what? It doesn't! It's not any sort of breathtaking step forward for the genre but it was a nice slice of super-powered fun. They still missed a trick in not casting This Guy as the main man though.

AND in case you were wondering if I had totally jettisoned the plinx format for this post, never fear. Here's a surprisingly awesome promo game released on the Marvel website to coincide with the film release: Thor - Bring The Thunder. It's got charming, retro style and is surprisingly deep. Give it a go.

Things can't be uniformly great though. Something had to rock the applecart and tip over the boat. April's sunny skies were darkened not by a thunder god, but by... Sony.

Yeah, you've seen it on the news, the PlayStation Network or PSN is down. STILL. After an absence of over a week, I'm still waiting to play the supposedly excellent co-op mode in Portal 2. It's been infuriating as there aren't many occasions where I actually want to play online, then one comes along and I'm denied that right. I know it's very much a first-world problem but shut up, I want my fancy space toys!

So, to sum up. If April had to be represented by one image, it'd me of me taking a run up before hurling a mythical hammer fashioned from burnt meat through a set of portals right into the face of Sony president Howard Stringer.

It'd be nice if I had the talent to draw that, but I don't. Sorry!

See you next time.

Carrion My Wayward Son.

2011-04-18T13:27:00.002+01:00

Hello, sorry I haven't updated lately. These are busy times.

Today's plink is a game about some animals seeking vengeance on cars and other vehicles for their squished brethren. Essentially, you have a jet-propelled mechanical raccoon which you can launch into traffic with the aim of doing as much damage as possible.

And why not.

It's got a neat line in optional 'bonus challenges' that will keep you clicking the replay button and is generally some harmless, explodey fun.

Roadkill Revenge!

Slow On The Uptake.

2011-04-06T20:12:00.002+01:00

Evening.
I'm back from Prague. The half marathon went well and it's a delightful city. There may well be a blog post in it when I get some photos, but for now I'd like to share a video with you.

I'm pretty much a sucker for anything cool filmed in slow motion, there's some great footage out there taken on high speed cameras that blows my mind. I could show you the water balloon exploding in slo-mo, or the bullet going through things schtick, but you've seen that already.

Here's something a lot more restrained. It's footage of jugglers, unicyclists and other assorted ball manipulators *ahem*. Circus skills, essentially but sloooooooooow.

Check it:

Nice.

Plinx Quickie.

2011-03-31T16:27:00.002+01:00

Hiya,
I'm off to foreign lands tomorrow to participate in another half marathon because apparently I didn't learn my lesson last time.

So to tide you over, let's have a quickie.

How To Explain The Internet To A 19th Century Street Urchin: A Flowchart.

See you soon!

Park In It, Man.

2011-03-29T19:25:00.002+01:00

There's a chance that you're reading this at night. A smaller chance that it is night-time and you can see the sky from where you are and a smaller-still chance that it is night-time, you can see the sky and it is clear enough for there to be stars.

But if you DO meet all those criteria, have a gawp at the twinkly devils now. Nice isn't it? Wish we could see more of what's going on up there. My limited knowledge of the cosmic ballet is such that I know that celestial bodies are forever spinning around each other. Wouldn't it be lovely if we could watch. Or, at the very least, see a simplified representation in our browsers.

Well friends, your prayers are partially answered! Peep this:

The Solar System.

Hooray for space! While you're there click down in the bottom right to convert to a Tychonian representation. Now you can have it trace the orbit of any planet you choose. Essentially creating a galactic spirograph.

Twirly.

Sugar Daddy.

2011-03-22T19:42:00.003Z

Hiya.
You're a sensible person, right? So that means you drink tea. Or, at a push, coffee. How many sugars do you take? Oh really? That's interesting. Those of you who gave an answer greater than zero, how many grains do you think that number of spoonfuls would consist of?

Essentially, what I want to know is, would you put 100 grains of sugar into a cup?

Sugar, Sugar is a game that will task you to do just that; put 100 grains of sugar into a cup. Simple. I mean, you'll face the same challenges you would if you were making a cuppa at home: transport the sugar from where it is kept to wherever the cup may be, make sure you're putting the right type of sugar in the right cup, etc. Obviously, just like at home, you'll also need to drop the sugar through a hole in the floor so that it will fall from the ceiling and sometimes you'll need to flip gravity on its head.

Basically, you've been training for this your whole life.

So go. Go and draw those lines necessary to ferry the sugar from the comma it lives in to the waiting cups. Go play Sugar, Sugar.

Plinx Quickie.

2011-03-17T15:33:00.004Z

*pops head in*
I'll just leave this here:

Alphabeards!

OK Mr. Sunshine!

2011-03-15T14:06:00.003Z

Hello, this post presents a bit of a quandary for me. On the one hand, I don't want to over-explain the concept because it would strip away some of the joy of discovery. On the other hand, as you'll see in a moment, the more words I can put on the page, the better. I suppose one solution would be to talk at length about this dilemma so as to solve it in such a way that retains the mystery while creating enough raw material for you to enjoy.

Also, I suppose I could squeeze a few sentences out of the fact that this miraculous thing you're about to see may not work depending on the browser you're using. I can vouch for it's effectiveness using Google Chrome and I'm assured that the newer versions of Firefox run it fine, but I haven't tested IE. Maybe if you feel like you're missing out, you could convert?

Ok, that's enough blurb. Just click below to Katamarify this very page!

NAAAAA NA NA NA NA NA NAAA NA.

Visit the Site for more info.

Sty Stallone.

2011-03-08T20:00:00.002Z

Evening all.
It's game time. I hope you're ready, because it's the bottom of the ninth, the bases are loaded and I've run out of baseball clichés. Should probably have picked a sport I know more about. Or just not persevered quite as far with this tawdry introduction.

Either way, you're about to play a game where a pig in a bandana uses an arsenal of weaponry to take out other, presumably evil, pigs.

It's a 2D physics puzzle game, like so many that have gone before but the quality is elevated by the variety of weapons and intelligent level design. Also, if you run out of levels to play, there is a whole gallery of user-generated ones.

It's good, wholesome, cartoony, pig-murderin' fun for all the family.

It's Hambo!

Steeeeerike.

2011-02-28T22:13:00.002Z

Hey guys.
Today I'm going to lift the veil a bit. Give you an insight on how to milk the very best stuff out of the internet.
This is primo information, so don't go spreading it around. I had to put in 10 years hard graft in the HTML mines for this.

Ok, here goes... There are videos of cats on the internet. That's right. Cats. Just drink that in.

Oh you knew? You've seen the videos of Maru in the box? The cat failing to jump a gate in slow motion? The one that plays the bongos on a baby's head?*

Well check THIS out:

Yeah, that's why I'm an internet maven and you aren't.

*These are all real videos by the way. Oh yes.

Seed Of Doubt.

2011-02-20T10:46:00.002Z

Morning all.

Not really sure how to classify today's plink. It's a game in as much as it is technically interactive, but all you really do is click and watch events unfold.

In online gaming circles, things like this are called webtoys. Cute, right?

This one, named Mitoza, is a particularly polished example. It starts with a seed (well, technically it starts with an adorable loading screen) and offers you two choices. A flowerpot or a bird. Clicking one will cause something to happen to the seed, it will grow into a plant or get eaten by a robin respectively. Anyway, you keep making choice after choice and eventually you'll end up with a company of flies performing Hamlet or an ice cream stand inside an egg run by a devilish aubergine. Inevitably, you always revert to a single seed and the process begins anew.

There are so many permutations that I'm still discovering new ones. Give it a try and report back with your discoveries.

Mitoza.

Lurve.

2011-02-14T14:06:00.002Z

This blog post goes out to all the ladies out there.

Aw yeah.

The Ascent Of Van.

2011-02-08T19:52:00.002Z

I don't know quite how to explain today's offering. I've just found it and I am somewhat taken aback.

Put simply, it's a program someone has written which shows the realtime evolution of a car.

Now, I don't mean it shows the stages of a car being built, or how a certain model of car has changed over the years.

No. This is a genetic algorithm enabling the selective breeding of randomly generated vehicles. Each one is spawned and then its progress is recorded. The ones that get the furthest in the fastest times live on to 'reproduce' and pass on their strengths to a new generation.

This is one of the weirdest posts I've ever had to write. Thinking about it is making my head hurt. I think it is best if you just see for yourself. If you can handle it.

BoxCar 2D.

Let it run for a while. See how some are more successful than others? Through subsequent generations, you'll see tweaked versions of those cars as they literally evolve. It's strangely heart-warming. I found myself really rooting for certain scrappy little racers and being emotionally crushed (well, a bit) when one of them spawned upside down. Removing itself from the gene pool by dint of pure dumb luck.

I still don't fully understand the finer points of this program, but I am finding The FAQ pretty useful.

The theory of Evolution applied to cars. THAT is why I love the internet.

Doing Your Swede In.

2011-02-01T22:49:00.003Z

You've probably already had your dinner by now. If you haven't though, and you're at a loss for what to eat, why not consider some delicious Swedish meatballs?

Cooked the traditional Swedish way, of course. For reference, please watch the following video.

Note, this is like that time I linked to the German Forklift Driving Instructional Video, the video is much better than it sounds. Enjoy!

Give this man a prime-time cooking show.

Goodnight!

What's Your Angle?

2011-01-26T17:23:00.003Z

Hello friends.
I think it's about time we took a fishing trip.

Just, y'know... float out into the middle of nowhere, sling the hook over the side, grab a fish, flick it out of the water and into the air then blow it to bits with a gun.

What do you mean that's not how fishing works? That's how I learnt. Your way sounds boring! I prefer to go RADICAL FISHIN'!

YEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAHHH!

It's A Hoot Hoot.

2011-01-23T19:28:00.002Z

Hello all. Hope your weekends were fruitful.
I spent a lot of mine playing LBP2, predictably. It's so great. I'll write more about it sometime in the week.

Today however, I have something that just doesn't feature enough in everyday life:

Hungover Owls.

Yeah. Somebody has dedicated a blog to finding pictures of owls that look like they're suffering after a big night. Once again, it's stuff like this that makes me love the internet.

The blog has an astonishing 14 pages of worse-for-wear owls already, each with a smirk-worthy caption. You should check it out, and you can do so Here!

Carnage.

2011-01-17T20:35:00.002Z

Hello friends.
I love videogames, I also love the videogames community. Their creativity and the breadth of their commitment to titting about with the games they love is awe-inspiring. It's largely for this reason that I'm so excited about the release of LittleBigPlanet 2 this Friday. This post isn't about that, though. Expect a giddy outporing of fanboyism on that topic soon.

This post is about Grand Theft Auto 4, more specifically a video created by a guy who tinkered with one very important setting inside the game. Specifically the friction of the vehicles. If this sounds dull, well take a look at the video:

Heehee!

Space: The Final Frontier.

2011-01-14T19:15:00.003Z

Evening all. I trust you're well.

I'm going to really test your mettle tonight, put your skills through their paces. This game is not for you 'casual' gamers, so go back to your Farmville, pansies.

It's called Super PSTW Action RPG, the PSTW stands for 'press space to win' and err... that's all you do. Don't get me wrong, you have to press it a few times.

It's a fun little pastiche of RPG flash games, but the REAL reason I'm drawing your attention to it is because of a review it got from an irate player. As with many places on the internet, Newgrounds.com affords visitors the ability to comment on the content of the site. Obviously, when you give the general public an anonymous mouthpiece, you get, well... you get utter twats. The above game attracted a real doozy. He spewed out such a malformed chunk of prose that someone else felt compelled to do a dramatic reading of it and then a THIRD person made an animated video for it. It's stuff like this that makes me love the internet.

Without further ado, I present to you 'Dot Dot Dot'.

Pleased To Meteor.

2011-01-10T13:39:00.003Z

So, it's mid-afternoon. You're probably at work or something. Has the desire to destroy all life on the planet crossed your mind?

Thought so. Well, as always, plinx has got your back.

Way back in the mists of time (april '09, to be precise) I plinked a game called Effing Hail where you used gusts of wind to manipulate hailstorms until they became powerful forces of destruction.

Well, now the same guys bring you Effing Meteors! This time, you use your cursor as a magnetic field to group together rocks whizzing through space in order to send them smashing down onto the surface of the planet, wiping out anything currently living thereupon. YAY! It's a well-implemented gaming mechanic and hey, it's fun to cause enormous explosions.

Have fun destroying life as we know it.

Happy New Year?

2011-01-06T19:57:00.003Z

Humm, so I suppose I'm a few days late. But hey, after the posting marathon that was the advent calendar, I reckon I deserved a bit of a break!

Anyway, as you may have noticed, it is now space year 2011 and a new year means one thing here on Plinx. Hell it's as close to a 'tradition' that exists on this particular slice of the interpie.

Yup, just like Last Year and The Year Before That, I am bringing you the Boston.com new year photo showcase.

Much like the 'Christmas Around The World' set that I posted recently, this set focuses on how various chunks of the planet ring in the new year. The photo above was taken in Manila and this next one shows how they do things in New York, New York.

Not bad, not bad, but we didn't do so bad here in Blighty either.

Anyway, there's plenty more where that came from, including vikings, crazy people venturing into the sea, makeouts and some truly spectacular fireworks displays.

So check it out:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

On The 24th Day Of PlinXmas!

2010-12-24T18:53:00.001Z

Holy Crap, it's Christmas Eve! Yup, the night before Santa comes is also the last day of the PlinXmas advent calendar. If this were a pantomime, now would be a perfect time for you all to go 'Awwwwww' melodramatically. However, if this was a panto, we'd have been shut down on opening night for reasons of quality.

Anyway, I've enjoyed doing this and I sincerely hope you've enjoyed reading it. If anyone here has been through the whole 24 days, I am officially impressed.

So, it being Christmas Eve, I assume you've all bought all the presents and wrapped them, yeah? I don't imagine Plinx readers to be the type to wrap up any old tat in a panic a few scant hours before Christmas morning, right?

Well if you DO find yourself casting about for an emergency present, you could do worse than this:

Obviously this requires you to get hold of an extremely docile cat but hey, I can't do EVERYTHING for you. Jeez.

Ok, so that's it from me for a few days. I'm going to enjoy time with my family, unwrapping presents and eating & drinking far too much. I suggest you do the same, with your own families, natch.

Oh, one more thing, can we have a big hand for housemate James as he has been the one posting this for me. I have found myself in a house devoid of internets, and if it wasn't for James submitting this for me, Christmas would surely be ruined.

MERRY CHRISTMAS Y'ALL!

What do you get if you eat Christmas decorations?

Tinselitus!

On The 23rd Day Of PlinXmas!

2010-12-23T16:19:00.002Z

Evening. So I hope none of you are too bummed that tomorrow is the last day of the PlinXmas Advent Calendar. It's been a fun month and I feel like my days of not updating frequently are behind me.

To make sure you always have something fun to occupy your time over the plinxless days ahead, I am bringing you the festive edition of the Plinx Arcade. A pile of fun holiday themed games.

First up is Super Santa Kicker which is a nifty physics game where you try to launch ol' Saint Nick into a series of chimneys, navigating obstacles on the way. I really love this game. The music, sound effects and ragdoll animations made me chuckle and the puzzles are very well put together. So play it!

Next is an adorable little game called Snow Day. You play a young lad running backwards and forwards launching snowballs at the clouds in order to keep the snow falling so he doesn't have to go back to school. Daww.

Ok, moving on to... umm, weirder pastures. This game is called Santa Hair and would be entirely impenetrable if not for it's simplistic puzzle solving. It won't be immediately obvious but the goal is to give Santa a haircut, but along the way you'll help out a cat policeman, find a motor for a monkey's boat and poke some eggs. Listen, yeah, just play it and click about. You'll figure it out.

Lastly, remember when Santa had that epic guitar battle with the Grinch and emerged victorious? No, me neither but that is the story behind the next game. Now Kris Kringle is off on a pole-to-pole tour, rocking out. Put simply, it's a Guitar Hero clone where you play metal covers of Christmas classics. Play it: Santa Rockstar 2!

What do you call people who are afraid of Santa?

Claustrophobic!

On The 22nd Day Of PlinXmas!

2010-12-22T10:52:00.004Z

HOORAY! I finish work for Christmas today. In about an hour, in fact. Not back until the new year either. A most satisfying feeling.

If you're still at work, or are stressed about all the Christmas preparations you have still to do, or even if you just want something to watch while you kick back and relax, I have just the thing for you.

It's the new video in the Simon's Cat series, which everyone and their Grandmother has heard of. They've done Winter related ones before, like when the cat encountered snow for the first time:

But this year there is a proper Christmas themed effort. Check it out. 'Santa Claws':

Meow!

What do you call a penguin in the Sahara desert?

Lost!

On The 21st Day Of PlinXmas!

2010-12-21T16:32:00.002Z

So, it's the shortest day of the year. It's already completely dark outside but at least we can rely on it getting brighter from now on.

Today, you should spend some time watching the Christmas special of Edd Egg, which is an excellent webtoon by my pal Edd. Also, the end credits music is by my other pal/dangerous lunatic 'Baldmonkey'

It's called Mistletoe and Mine and could be referred to as 'loosely topical'.

Why did Frosty go to live in the middle of the ocean?

Because snow man is an island!

On The 20th day Of PlinXmas!

2010-12-20T20:46:00.003Z

Hey! So we're into the twenties. Christmas is officially right around the corner!

As such, things have been getting properly festive in the Plinx household. A couple of nights ago, we watched Nightmare Before Christmas which is the best example of adding a sinister spin to the holiday season.

So with that in mind, maybe you'd like to play Poltergifts, a game where you use a variety of weapons to stop marauding, demonic, possesed toys. Lovely stuff.

Why don't penguins fly?

Because they're too short to be pilots!

On The 19th Day Of PlinXmas!

2010-12-19T18:33:00.003Z

Hey, I'll have to make this quick as we are currently having a barbecue! Yeah, housemate James chiselled it out of the ice block it was in and fired it up. If I stay here too long, I might miss the burgers.

Anyway, do you remember back on day 5 when I said that Santa has 31 hours to deliver all the presents?

Well that wasn't just some made up number, that is the actual number of hours he would have, assuming he flew East to West, due to the rotation of the Earth and the different time zones.

That's just one of the conclusions drawn from this article called:

Is There A Santa Claus? - A Physicist View.

It's an interesting read, check it out.

Why does Santa Claus have three gardens?

So he can Hoe-Hoe-Hoe!

On The 18th Day Of PlinXmas!

2010-12-18T21:17:00.002Z

Y'know what? Today there will be no explanation, because I don't think this needs one:

See you tomorrow!

What does Tarzan sing at Christmas time?

Jungle Bells!

On The 17th Day Of PlinXmas!

2010-12-17T15:41:00.003Z

Hey, remember the dancing robots from day 7? If you thought that was going to be the only Christmas/Robot hybrid post, you have another thing coming, my friend.

BEEP. BOOP. ROBOT SANTA.

SantaBot was present at the 2010 NYC SantaCon (yup, it's a real thing) and you read about/watch his exploits in this article Here!

BEEP. BOOP. SEE YOU TOMORROW PUNY HUMANS.

What is the difference between the Christmas alphabet and the regular alphabet?

The Christmas alphabet has NO 'L'!

On The 16th Day Of PlinXmas!

2010-12-16T18:06:00.003Z

Evening all. So I hear there's more snow on the way. I'm kind of on board with that since I have a child-like love of snow but with so many people tavelling at this time of year, it'd suck to get stranded. Unless you're These People

Anyway, on an unrelated topic, how 'bout those Christmas lights, huh? I wonder what the spike in electricity use is over the Christmas period. In these eco-conscious times, maybe it is time to investigate alternatives. Like, for example... having your tree powered by an electric eel?!

Might be a while before you start seeing them in the corner of your living room though.

What's red and white and gives presents to good little fish at Christmas?

Santa Jaws!

On The 15th Day Of PlinXmas!

2010-12-15T19:36:00.005Z

Dang, today's PlinXmas post nearly didn't exist. In fact, it looked for a while there like my whole blog had been deleted. When I saw the message from blogger about it, it scared me half to death!

Thankfully, all has been restored now. Seems there had been some suspicious activity on my account.

ANYWAY. In other surprising news, today I am pleased to announce that there has been a new Homestar Runner toon after what many thought to be a terminal hiatus. You can watch it here: A Decemberween Mackerel! I'll be honest, if this is your first taste of H*R, you'll probably not appreciate it that much.

So for you ~~losers~~ people, here's a game! It's called Factory Balls: Christmas Edition and it's... err, the Christmas Edition of the game Factory Balls. I don't know what else to tell you. You use the various tools and paint pots to create tree ornaments that look like the one in the top right corner. The best way to pick it up is to just play around with it, so go do that!

Anyway, that's it for today. Barring any further catastrophies, I'll be back tomorrow. Goodnight.

How does Rudolph know when Christmas is coming?

He looks at his calenDEER!

On The 14th Day Of PlinXmas!

2010-12-14T16:19:00.002Z

Right, after yesterday's not-very-festive offerings, I feel I should inject a bit more holiday cheer into the advent calendar today.

That there is a flare-wielding santa, wakeboarding across a lake in Germany and it is part of an excellent collection of photos showing how different parts of the world are kicking off their festivities.

From fireworks in Rio de Janeiro:

To the ski-slopes of Maine:

Everyone is getting into the spirit of the season. Check out the rest of the photoset Here.

What did one Snowman say to the other Snowman?

Can you smell carrots?

On The 13th Day Of PlinXmas!

2010-12-13T16:20:00.002Z

Yeah, ok. You got me. I missed yesterday. It just totally slipped my mind. I suddenly realised at a few minutes to midnight while I was in bed that I hadn't done the advent calendar and I am nowhere near a dedicated enough blogger to get up and post something in a hurry.

HOWEVER, you are about to forgive me, or at least forget that I ever transgressed against you. I am about to send you on an emotional rollercoaster, you see.

First, watch this video and feel your heart leap up into your mouth, as you see a procession of tiny, fluffy, baby ducks come face to face with a most fearsome predator... the WIND!

There isn't a word to describe what you're feeling right now. It's simultaneously sad AND awesome. As with most situations though... T-Rex Has Your Back.

AND THAT'S NOT ALL!

While you're still reeling from that, prepare to have your feelings get the equivalent of a vicious nipple tweak in the form of a pixelly flash game.

It's called As I Lay Dying, and it starts with the death of the protagonist's spouse. You decide you can't very well leave his corpse to be pecked to bits by the crows so you pick him up and begin your journey back home.

Along the way, you will have to use the decomposing remains of your beloved to solve puzzles, activating switches and the like. All the while, you'll be fending off the aforementioned crows. Anyway, it's grim and hilarious all at the same time. If pressed, I imagine that T-Rex would label it 'grimlarious'.

Anyway, I hope I am absolved and that you haven't had the Christmas spirit violently shaken out of you. Either way, see you tomorrow!

How many chimneys does Santa go down?

Stacks!

On The 11th Day Of PlinXmas!

2010-12-11T17:08:00.004Z

Evening! I don't have long as tonight Housemate James is doing a big Christmas meal. It's all Swedish food and drink. He's not Swedish, I'm not Swedish, No-one who is coming is Swedish, but hey who said these things have to make sense? Skål!

Anyway, here's a game. You play a supposedly rehabilitated lunatic who becomes a department store Santa, then goes on a rampage on top of a mountain with a big hammer.

Don't worry, it's less nasty than it sounds. It's all very cartoony and the central game mechanic is to make a big rock bounce down a mountainside causing damage as it goes. FUN!

So. Mountain... Check. Maniac... Check. It must be Mountain Maniac Xmas.

Who looks after Father Christmas when he's ill?

The National Elf Service!

On The 10th Day Of PlinXmas!

2010-12-10T15:40:00.002Z

Double figures now! Exciting. In 2 weeks, it will be Christmas Eve. In 3 weeks it will be the end of the ~~world~~ year as we know it. Where does the time go, lawks a mercy, etc.

Anyway! Here's a video. It chronicles how little it takes to confuse a human being after a snowfall. Just carve them out an erratic path and they'll follow it no matter what.

Why does it take longer to build a blonde snowman?

Because you have to hollow out the head!

On The 9th Day Of PlinXmas!

2010-12-09T15:45:00.003Z

Hey there.
Got something pretty amazing for you today behind door #9. It's a list of the top ten weirdest new species discovered this year as compiled by National Geographic. It's eye-opening stuff and it features this little fella:

I may have added the Santa hat in post production. So sue me.

Anyway, also featured are the likes of the Ninja Slug, the Yoda Bat and my personal favourite... The T-REX LEECH!

You can check out the whole top ten Here.

Kooky!

What do you get when you cross a Snowman with a Vampire?

Frostbite!

On The 8th Day Of PlinXmas!

2010-12-08T20:14:00.002Z

Hello again! You look like you've had a long day, perhaps you'd like something to help you unwind?

Do you know what the best cure for fatigue is? That's right... Penguins!

Daww. I'll tell you what though, just looking at a pair of penguins in adorable jumpers is all well and good, but if you want the strong stuff, you should try playing a game with a jaunty soundtrack where you help a sleepwalking cartoon penguin in a nightcap find his way home past various arctic obstacles, mischievous creatures and icecream-loving aliens. It's true, look it up. That's the best cure.

It just so happens I have such a game up my sleeve, and seeing as it's you, I'll let you have it for the low, low price of one click.

Sleep Walk.

Honestly, I'm too good to you.

What do penguins sing at birthday parties?

Freeze A Jolly Good Fellow!

On The 7th Day Of PlinXmas!

2010-12-07T18:44:00.003Z

Evening. It's a bit bloody cold out there, isn't it?

What we all need from today's plink is something to make us feel all warm inside. So here's a video of some cold, unfeeling machines dancing a merry jig to a couple of Christmas classics. The choreography for Silent Night is a bit prosaic but make sure you stick around for Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.

I think we can all agree that what both these songs were missing in their original incarnations was the grinding of servo motors!

Why did Santa's little helper go to a psychiatrist?

Because he had low elf-esteem!

On The 6th Day Of PlinXmas!

2010-12-06T16:11:00.004Z

Hello again, my festive chums. It's time for another dose of internet wonderment.

Today's helping concerns one of the cornerstones of the Christmas period... Booze!

One of the best seasonal drinks has to be whisky. You can complain as much as you like, but it is true. Sitting with your feet up in front of the fire, glass in hand. Lovely. However, it seems it may have an even greater purpose. According to This News Story, whisky may have a part to play in saving the world!

So, naysayers... Bottoms Up, your planet may depend on it.

Which variety of Pine has the sharpest needles?

A Porcupine!

On The 5th Day Of PlinXmas!

2010-12-05T12:33:00.002Z

Afternoon. So by this time, you must have started to think about presents. What you want, what you're buying others and of course, what you hope Santa will bring.

But have you ever spared a thought for what the poor old duffer goes through to get those gifts to you? Even if he took the optimum flight path, he has a maximum of 31 hours to deliver all the presents. So he must be sprinting along at a hell of a pace, cramming presents down chimneys, leaping over obstacles, dodging low hanging icebergs. Wait, what?

Ah yes, that's how things are in the game I have for you behind door #5! Control the portly present-packer as he jumps, slides and dunks in BlitzKringle! Word to the wise though, don't play it on easy. It gets boring quickly.

What do you call an eskimo's house without a toilet?

An Ig!

On The 4th Day Of PlinXmas!

2010-12-04T12:05:00.005Z

Hello! Still having computer problems so I'm browsing the web in safe mode, which is really frustrating.

Unfortunately, this means these posts aren't as fleshed out as I'd like them to be, but hopefully things will pick up soon. Bear with me.

So what is behind door #4?

An absurdly talented, possibly mental artist is what!

His name is David Jablow, and he found a drawing exercise called 'Do It Yourself Doodle' which gave a partially completed drawing to act as a 'jumping off' point.

This is what he started with:

Pretty suggestive but surely you could only create a limited number of things with it?

Well, why not See For Yourself! (warning, contains some nudity)

What do you get if you cross Father Christmas with a duck?

A Christmas Quacker!

On The 3rd Day Of PlinXmas!

2010-12-03T23:31:00.002Z

Phew, just made it in time. I'm having serious computer issues right now, so today's offering may be a bit sparse. Most advent calendars have the odd underwhelming day though, right?

I'll cut to the chase and present to you, the tastiest nativity scene ever made:

Mmm... Meaty.

See you tomorrow!

What do Santa's Little Helpers learn at school?

The ELFabet!

On The 2nd Day Of PlinXmas!

2010-12-02T16:17:00.003Z

Hello again, hope you're enjoying the snow if you have any.

Today's lesson is that this year, it doesn't have to be a Christmas-themed link to make it into the advent calendar, but rest assured it DOES have to be great.

Do you happen to remember when I linked to a song called 'Cup Of Brown Joy' by a Professor Elemental? Hit the link there if you need your memory jogged.
Well it turns out he isn't the only purveyor of what has come to be known as 'chap-hop'. No, a new challenger has appeared. Enter... Mr. B, the Gentleman Rhymer:

Obviously, as with all walks of thug life, this can only be solved in one way. Rap battle! Here is Prof. Elemental's shot across the bow. He put on his Fighting Trousers! It can only escalate from here:

What do you call a cow in the snow?

An EskiMOO!

On the 1st Day of PlinXmas!

2010-12-01T17:38:00.005Z

Hey, so... Um, remember how I used to write this blog sometimes? Then remember how I didn't write it for about 6 weeks?
Yeah, I'm not sure how that happened, but it got harder and harder to write a new post because I felt like I'd need to explain why I had been away for so long and there isn't really a reason.
So I am coming back now, with a bang! I am resurrecting, not only the blog, but the PlinXmas Advent Calendar!

So yeah, after 6 weeks without a single update, I am going to furnish you with something fun to look at/listen to/play with/smell EVERY DAY from now until Christmas Eve.

Hopefully that'll coax you all back. Here goes:

In what must be one of the smartest opening gambits on record, I am going to use the first day of this online advent calendar to direct you to a different, much better online advent calendar! Truly, mine is the greatest strategic mind of all.

Anyway, this advent calendar is different. Each day is a small segment of a charming platform game starring a snowman called Chubby, and when you complete each 'level', you get free content from an assortment of indie games! Today for example, I got some wallpapers and avatars from a game called Chick, Chick, Boom. Sweet!

Play Mission In Snowdriftland!

Anyway, I'm back. Let me entertain you throughout the festive period.

What do you give a reindeer with an upset tummy?

ELKa Seltzer!

Save The Clock Tower.

2010-10-15T16:02:00.002+01:00

Hello, I will be back with a proper post soon, but for now please just watch this video of an amazing projection onto the wall of a famous clock tower in Prague.

Why? Because it is incredible.

The 600 Years from the macula on Vimeo.

Yeah. I know, right?

Anyway, be back soon. Sorry to keep you waiting.

Running Joke.

2010-09-26T21:12:00.002+01:00

Hmm, it's been a while, eh?
*sweeps blogwebs off*
Right, yes. Hello!

I'm pretty much just here to spam my sponsorship page. Like last year!
However, this time I am doing 2 runs so you should definitely sponsor me.

As before, they're for Help The Hospices. Please dig deep and I promise to run myself ragged.

Donate here: http://www.justgiving.com/tworunsholyheck

Ta.

plinx

Stripes & Stars.

Die, Robot.

*CENSORED*

Midas Touch.

Happy New Year!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Christmas Eve!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 23!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 22!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 21!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 20!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 19!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 18!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 17!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 16!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 15!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 14(ish)!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 13!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 12!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 11!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 10!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 9!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 8!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 7!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 6!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 5!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 4!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 3!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 2!

Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 1!

Nitrome Wasn't Built In A Day.

Scantastic.

Blowing A Load.

Out On A Limb.

Float On.

Gnarly Gnoses.

Mind, Reader.

Charidee.

iScraper.

Stick It To The Man.

Plinx Quickie.

I'm Appealing.

Monochromantics.

Plinx Quickie.

Incurable Stealie-o-holicism.

Soul Provider.

Plinx Quickie.

Plinx The Blog & Paul The Human.

Carface.

Badum Tish.

Press M For Murder.

The Fake Sound(s) Of Progress.

Let Slip The Sprogs Of War.

Exhibit I.

Hairy Man Shows Internet Findings.

Plinx Quickie.

April: A Retrospective.

Carrion My Wayward Son.

Slow On The Uptake.

Plinx Quickie.

Park In It, Man.

Sugar Daddy.

Plinx Quickie.

OK Mr. Sunshine!

Sty Stallone.

Steeeeerike.

Seed Of Doubt.

Lurve.

The Ascent Of Van.

Doing Your Swede In.

What's Your Angle?

It's A Hoot Hoot.

Carnage.

Space: The Final Frontier.

Pleased To Meteor.

Happy New Year?

On The 24th Day Of PlinXmas!

On The 23rd Day Of PlinXmas!

On The 22nd Day Of PlinXmas!

On The 21st Day Of PlinXmas!

CENSORED