Float On.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.