On the 1st Day of PlinXmas!

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.

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.

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.

Shocking.

Hello. Another mini-update today. Our Internet returns tomorrow but that's the day I'm going to End Of The Road festival so this will be the last one until next week.

I went to see a band last night. I knew of them by reputation and was expecting something a bit unhinged, but they were even more batshit mental than I expected.

They're called Electric Eel Shock and are a 3-piece garage metal band from Japan.

This is what they're like live:



It's great fun and I urge you to try and catch them while they're on tour. Dates and other lunacy can be found on their Myspace Page.

This post is sponsored by my chronic tinnitus.

Plinx Quickie.

Yes, another one. I should have internet back by Thursday and normal service will be resumed but until then I am going to chuck the odd curio at you from wherever I can get online.

This is one that I just found on twitter. More specifically I found it because my good friend Aardvark put it there. Now I am sharing it with you. Internet in action, right here.

Anyway, here we go. It's a comparison chart which comprehensively proves why Optimus Prime is better than Jesus.

I would also have added that 'Transform and Roll Out' is a much better catchphrase than 'The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart' which is frightfully clunky and doesn't stick in the mind half as well.

Case closed.

Plinx Quickie.

Hello, I am currently devoid of internet at home so I can't write a proper blog post. However, I do have something which will render you unable to every look at a duck in the same way again.

Fairly warned be ye.

The Ultimate Secret Of The Humble Duck.

Science!

So the world is a pretty confusing place, right? That's why we invented Science! But soon, there was so much Science! around that people got pretty confused and started believing all kinds of stuff. I mean seriously... homeopathy? Come on now.

Anyway, thankfully some stalwart individuals have dedicated themselves to sifting through all the wayward Science! and drip-feeding us the essentials in handy blog format. That blog is... Fake Science and you can find such gems there as:

How Solar Power works!


How to stay cool!


and How to tell if you are Radioactive!


But the best and brightest evidence why these guys are worth your time is because they endorse this very blog. The one you're reading right now!

Now, as any proponent of Science! knows, you need proof if you're going to make claims. So here it is (click to enlarge):



Oh yeah, I've hit the big time.

So read up and tame the wild beast that is Science!.. today.

Latitude Festival 2010.

Hey!
So, that first line of the last post has been hanging there for too long now. Relentlessly prodding me in the ribs saying "I thought you were going to write about Latitude, you big, hairy, internet liar". It's super annoying because he has this really sneery unpleasant voice and bony fingers.

So I said ENOUGH!

Latitude Festival 2010 - A retrospective.



Yeah, it was great. It always is, of course. It's just a top-quality festival. If you've never been, you should go at your earliest convenience. This year was my 4th time in a row. As I said in my End Of The Road post last year, it may be due to me getting old, but I really appreciate a smaller, more relaxed festival with a greater variety of things to do. Seriously, while walking around, in addiction to the requisite bands you'd expect (more on them in a minute) I also saw multicoloured sheep, a travelling insect circus, ballerinas dancing on water, comedians being upstaged by a 10 year old in the front row, a short film about a talking dog and a bunch of weirdos dressed as various animals.



Ah yes, that was us. Yeah, someone had the idea of everybody bringing an animal costume. Now, thanks to my good friend Charlotte of Dinohoodie.com, I was already well equipped to be a bear. However we also had an Elephant, a Lion and a Tiger, a Wolf and oh yes... another BEAR! At first this surplus of bears lead to Strife but soon after we Joined Forces to better terrorise our fellow festival goers.

But enough animal tomfoolery, what of the bands?! Well, I'm glad you asked.

Amongst the ranks were the ones I knew I would enjoy: The National, Jim Jones Revue, The Kissaway Trail, Belle And Sebastian, Black Mountain. Then there were the ones I wanted to check out: The Horrors, Wild Beasts, Yeasayer, Richard Hawley, The Antlers. Lastly there were the ones I'd never heard of who turned out to be amazing: Grizzly Bear, Jónsi, Race Horses, John Grant.

Oh yeah, and then there was Tom Jones (or ToJo as all the cool kids call him):



Yeah.

So, I don't know how many of those videos you watched but I hope it was all of them because they're all fantastic. That was my weekend. It was amazing. Which is even more incredible since it started so badly on the first night. First, I got chocolate sauce dripped on my head, which made my hair all sticky. This made me sad. Observe:



Then, perhaps more alarmingly than my hair being soiled, I lost my wallet with all my cash for the weekend in it. Gutted doesn't even come close. But it is testament to Latitude that I still had such a great time and hey, I got my wallet back at the end of the festival. All the money was gone but at least I got my 51p coin and my finnish trivial pursuit card back! Oh and my credit cards and driver's license.

Oh, one last thing. I met someone who reads this blog who isn't doing so because I nag them! I have spread to the friends of friends layer. My meteoric rise to fame begins!

Anyway, that is my review of Latitude 2010. I strongly recommend you check it out for yourself next year.

This post is brought to you by boxed red wine. Lovely, lovely wine.



All the pics in this post were taken by Kat (elephant costume), by the by. Team Latitude '10 comprised her, Andy, Chris, Chris, Kelly, Steve and Me!

Circuit Boards.

Evening.

Latitude was a blast. I will give you the full scoop once there are some pictures I can sprinkle through the post.

For now though, here's a video called Gnarcade. It's a music video which doubles as a skateboarder/snowboarder showcase. More importantly, it uses iconic imagery from some classic videogames and the editing is pretty amazing. Not a lot else I can say about it, really. Just watch it yourself.

Too Little, Too Late?

Um, hey. I know I haven't been around much lately but I've been busy, y'know. Lot of irons in fires and balls in the air. I can change though. Honest I can. Hopefully before people start calling for balls in fires.

So consider this a peace offering. I'm showering you with games. Like an absent uncle finally remembering your birthday. Here's hoping you haven't given up on me already.

First, it's Pipol Smasher, and what it lacks in spelling, it makes up for in smashy, burny fun. The tagline is 'The Time Of Cars Has Come. All Humans Will Be Eliminated!' and the game boils down to a series of levels where you control some sentient cars in their efforts to take out all the 'Pipol' in each stage by running them over, knocking them off the stage, dropping heavy things on them or burning them. Fun times!

Hokay, next is more of a brief distraction than a fully fledged game but it is so compelling that I have to feature it. It's a neon hued point & click where you try and get your rabbit from one screen to the next. Play it here: Easy Joe.

Another physics game now. This one a sequel to the previously plinked Crush The Castle. Imaginatively titled Crush The Castle 2, this is a sequel that improves on its predecessor in every way. More castles, more projectiles, more *ahem* story. More more more, how do you like it?

Moving on, here's another innovative platform game from the brainiacs at Nitrome. This one's unique selling point is... folding. Yup, you fold the level to get to your objective. It's a lot more impressive when you see it in action. Check it out: Fault Line.

Lastly, for those of you that just aren't into murderous cars, neon rabbits, trebuchets or space-warping munchkins and would prefer a game about a sushi-chomping globular cat... well, you're in luck. Here's Sushi Cat: The Honeymoon. It's a sequel to the first Sushi Cat game which apparently I did not plink. It's a bit like pachinko, assuming you know what pachinko is like. You drop your chubby feline pal into the top of the level and hope he bounces in such a way as to gather enough sushi to progress. there's actually a pretty cute story to go with both games. give them a try.

And that's it!

I'm off to Latitude festival tomorrow so I'll catch up with you again when I get back. Bye!

Review - The Karate Kid.

Hi there.
This here is my first film review. Some folks were kind enough to send me to a premiere of the new reboot of The Karate Kid so I am going to stick my two cents about it on here for you to read. Incidentally, instead of furnishing you with the actor names for all characters mentioned, check them out yourself on the film's IMDb page.

So... yeah. It's pretty good! To be honest, I have never seen the original, but I'm familiar enough with the legacy it has to know the storyline and some of the iconic moments. One of these (the using chopsticks to catch a fly scene) is mined for a great visual gag early in the film. The storyline loosely follows that of the original with some key differences. Daniel-san has become Xiao Dre, this film is set in China rather than LA, the age of the 'kid' and his rivals is several years younger (resulting in some surprisingly shocking child-on-child violence) and most importantly, in a move that has caused much wailing and gnashing of teeth on forums across the internet, the film isn't about Karate, but Kung Fu. To be fair, this is acknowledged in the film, and the title remains out of a sense of nostalgia and to illustrate the fact that most people don't know the difference, including Dre's mother.

I wasn't too sure about Jaden Smith, son of Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith (the producers of this movie) to start with, but without noticing, I warmed to him. He's not one of the truly great child actors, but he did enough to make me believe he wasn't only chosen due to nepotism. All the other performers did a solid job. Jackie Chan is forever reliable, here playing Mr Han, the Miyagi-equilvalent ass-kicking handyman who saves Dre from the bullies he manages to enrage by talking to pretty fellow student Mei Ying, resulting in a stand-out sequence where Mr Han takes on 6 children in spectacular fashion. He then goes on to coach Dre to the point where he is able to enter a Kung Fu tournament, the two of them inevitably bonding along the way. As with the original, Dre is taught the fundamentals of the martial art using a series of seemingly-mundane actions (picking up a dropped jacket and hanging it on a peg) and then an obligatory training montage. This pulls out enough new ideas though to stay fresh. Chan's comic timing is as precise as his movements and Smith seems to have inherited his father's skill in goofy charm.

One strength this reboot has is the fact that due to the film being set in China, many characters use faltering English, which leads to some incredible economy of language. One such moment is the upsettingly bleak farewell given to Dre from Mei Ying when she is told by her father not to consort with him anymore. This, despite the faintly silly plot, gives the film an air of authenticity that only rarely spills over into sickly sentiment.

Obviously, the film culminates with the tournament and enough about the film is different to ensure you won't know whether the script will follow the original to the letter or not. I'm not going to spoil it here, obviously.

Anyway, I'd recommend seeing this. It won't change your life, but it might make your day.

Pew Pew Pew!

Hello.
I'm not sure where you stand on graffiti. I think that it can either be a wonderful art form or senseless vandalism for the sake of letting people know that 'gary woz ere'.
One of the main arguments against it is the 'defacement of property' angle and yeah, that's fair enough. You might not like a sprawling mural depicting anti-capitalism if it was sprayed on the side of your bungalow. However, this is not a criticism that can be levelled at 'light graffiti'. However, the capacity to make impressive works of art is still there. It's by no means a new idea. People have been doing it for a while. It was the basis of a pretty sweet Music Video back in 2003, for example. But people are still finding new ways to dazzle us with its possibilities.

Case in point, the work of Freddie Wong who has used the technique to make this short film: Light Warfare. As you can probably tell from the screenshot below, it's pretty spectacular.



Watch to the end for a link to a 'behind the scenes' video as well. Sweet!

Planet Plate.

Afternoon. In honour of the official start of the World Cup, have a football themed phuzzle game. It's called Soccer Balls and the link to real football is nice 'n' tenuous.

Basically, kick the football at the ref. Pass it between team-mates where neccessary. It's good fun and won't tax the grey matter too much but it is oddly compelling. Mainly because the refs get so angry that their heads pop off and bounce about. Anyway, enjoy!

Soccer Balls.

It's All Happening Now.

Hello, remember a while ago when I plinked about Thomas Truax's Album Launch Campaign? Well it worked! The album has been released and I have the warm glow of satisfaction that comes with making a tangible difference, albeit a small one. It's really good by the way, I advise you to get hold of it if you haven't already.

Anyway, now it's time for phase two. Here's the plan as laid out by the man himself:

"We're going to upload 'It's All Happening Now' to Youtube on TUESDAY,and we're hoping you'll watch it! We're also going to try and get all our friends, supporters, dogs, kittens, goldfish and, of course, zombies to go on youtube to watch it and comment on it and try to boost it into a 'most viewed' category on that day. With a little luck and some concentrated effort, we hope it will take flight and find a larger audience. Aside from my own selfish agenda, Keith and all the talented people he brought in for the project really deserve to get noticed. Loads of time and energy went into making this little film, and it was all done for love...(and, of course, BRAIIINNNNS!!!)"

If you're wondering about the 'brains' comment, it relates to the presence of zombies in the video. A while back, when it was being made there was an open casting call for people to be in the video dressed as a zombie and as much as I'd like to tell you I was there, I wasn't able to make it.

However, it's still a truly excellent video for a truly excellent song. Check it out, click on 'like', help me to help him. Again!



Thank you.

Caught By The Fuzz.

If you're reading this blog, you almost certainly know me. If you know me, then presumably you know that I am pretty great and that you could stand to be more like me. It just makes sense.

But how?

Well, here's a good start. Beard Beanies. Yup, it's a beanie, with a beard attached. Check it out:



That guy is automatically rendered 400% cooler and more attractive. Be like him by being like me.

Beard Beanies!