Plinxmas Vidvent Calendar - Day 7!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.