A Helping Hand.

Animals must hate us, for the most part we make their lives so much more difficult. Building things in their gardens and shooting them for a laugh. Boo, humans are rubbish. But of course, I'm generalising. There are lots of people who do good things for our furry/feathery/scaly chums. Whether it's a vet, an RSPCA volunteer or just some guys who want to help a mini squirrel get over a wall. Coincidentally, that last example is what the video below depicts. It made me smile, perhaps it will do something for you too:

Killing The Joke.

What is a Ghost's favourite meal?

Where do Policemen live?

What do you call a Dinosaur with one eye?

When is a Door not a Door?

Presumably, you know the punchlines to these jokes? We all do. So, why not undermine them totally until all sense of fun has been removed? Sounds like a laugh, right?

You bet it does! This concept was introduced to me by my good friend David, also known as FoldsFive, a minor internet celebrity who maintains a most triumphant blog called 'Myxamatoasties' which I recommend. He text me a couple, It made me chuckle and I text one back. Then the idea was posited that these would make a good blog.

This was the genesis of Killing the Joke. Check it out, tell your friends!

Electrickery.

Some facts: 1. I like physics games (see? see? see?) 2. I like games made by Nitrome (see? see? see?) 3. Nitrome have just released a physics game. What can you surmise?

Yeah, I love it. It's called Power Up. The idea is to create a circuit between two robot heads using many different types of blocks. It's not perfect, there are a few design flaws but the idea is so much fun that it doesn't matter. Go play!

We're On Two Wheels, Baby.

I'm a sucker for videos depicting someone recklessly endangering themselves to do something cool. It's why I like parkour (freerunning) so much. When I stumbled upon this video, it was described as parkour on a bike, and that's a pretty accurate summary. This guy is wheeling about in Edinburgh doing fancy stunts. It's pretty impressive. Not sure why the video starts off with him falling over a couple of times though. Anyways, have a look-see:



Not bad, eh?

Rock It Out.

Some self-promotion today. I want to introduce you to my new band; Paul & the Pauls:

Singer.

Guitarist. (note the stylish hat)

Drummer.

Bassist. (photographer was mid-swoon when this was taken)

These photos were taken during a gig at an intimate Coventry venue. Good times were had by all!

Today's Word Is... Sesquipedalian.

Back after a few days off. I've been traipsing about the midlands visiting various friends. Apart from losing a bag containing some of my favourite t-shirts (anyone who knows me knows how important those are), it's been great fun.

Anyways, I need to get back on the plinxwagon. So here goes:

My First Dictionary is a blog parody of the 'learn to read' style books that kids have. Each entry has a picture with a caption that defines a word. Normally these would say such things as 'House - We all live in a house' or something equally asinine. These, however, are an entirely different kettle of fish. Obsoive:


Brr, they're all in that vein and make me chuckle somewhat guiltily. Check 'em out.

D'you Wanna Take This Outside?

You lookin' for trouble, sunshine? Fancy a fight do ya? Well, if you've got the cojones, I got three lads here that're itching for a bit of a rumble.

Ok, that's quite enough of the macho posturing. I'll get to the point. I want you to fight my three brutes. By which I mean, my three registered characters at mybrute.com

It's very easy, in fact, at first it appears ridiculously simplistic, once a fight is started, you have no input into what happens. You just let your avatar duke it out and see who comes out on top. However, win or lose, you get experience, and the more of that you get, the more cool upgrades you get. So you start off as a fairly weak warrior with maybe one weapon or perk, but as you level up, you get bigger and better kit. Anyway, the best way to learn is just to get on with it. So why not start your trial-by-fire by fighting my three:

RHCPAUL!
MANOLITH!
GUFFBEAK!

I'm sure I thrashed you. Bwa ha ha. But keep fighting, and eventually you'll become as awesome as me.

Déjà Vu?

Sorry for the prolonged absence. I've been on a brief camping holiday. It didn't rain the entire time which is an improvement on the last one! Went to Go Ape while I was away and as soon as I get hold of them, I'll post some pics. Was great fun.

Anyways, on to the serious business of today's link. I was really amazed by this. It's a video highlighting some striking similarities in Disney's animated films. There are more of them than you'd think. It's surprising that they're not more noticable. Check it out:



Weird, no? I can see why they do it as each of these films must be a colossal endeavour and a few reused frames here and there makes perfect sense. Kudos to the people who spotted them though, more eagle-eyed than I.

Oh, and additional kudos to Phill Jupitus for bringing it to my attention via his twitter feed.

All Hail!

How'd you like to play a game where you control a puff of wind? No. Ok fine, how about one where you destroy skyscrapers and jumbo jets and satellite dishes with your awesome power?! Sounds good, right? Better than the first one. Well brace yourself, because they're the same game!

Oh yeah. Minds blown.

Anyways, to cut to the chase; It's a game where you destroy things using a hailstorm, you control a gust of wind and you need to keep the hailstones in the air, only letting them smash down on their targets when they've reached a big enough size to cause some damage.

Woo, fun!

Oh, it's also got a good name. Go ahead and play Effing Hail.

They're Dead, Dave.

Hello. It's time this blog had a splash of much-needed mortality. So let's talk about death! Specifically, the people that you have outlived and what they did. It's an interesting read, even if you're sprightly and young like I am, you'll have already outlived someone of note. For example:

Andrea Feldman was about 2 months younger than me when she died of suicide by defenestration on August 8, 1972. She was an actress and performance artist who was a Warhol Superstar and a regular at Max's Kansas City. She died 13 years before I were born.

That one was chosen for its legitimate use of the word 'defenestration', which is my favourite word!

So come on, who have you outlived? Read Dead At Your Age.

Inspiration.

Sometimes, we all feel as though we're going nowhere, as if we're putting in as much effort as we can muster and getting nothing for it. At times like this, it's tempting to give up but we must persevere. To illustrate this point, I would like to show you a video that demonstrates a real indomitable spirit. It's called, simply;

Hamster In A Wok.



Thank you.

Balls To Civilisation.

If you've been paying attention, you'll have noticed that I love physics based flash games. Being able to predict the paths of a load of coloured balls with faces as you guide them into ornate pots by severing their chains and using cannons and catapults by applying the rules of a realistic physics engine is a great feeling. As that titan of children's broadcasting would say; Try it yourself!

Civiballs!

Fool Me Once...

So, were you taken in by any scurrilous attempts to fool you? There's no shame in it, the sheer volume of attempted pranks is hard to avoid. My own rather lame attempt was to try and convince people I had shaved my beard off. What larks! Anyways, some tricks were more successful than others. April fools day is a good day to cast a wary eye over the rolling hills of the internet. Let me point out some areas of interest:

Google Creates Artificial Intelligence!

Youtube Gets Inverted!

Stephen Fry Discovers Long Lost Sea Creature!

Guardian Ditches Print Format For Twitter!

Firebox Release New Products!

So Do IWOOT!

...And ThinkGeek!