uber_munchkin

Well suck it up.

I do most of my updates via Twitter & Facebook anyway.

I'm only hopping on here to post that cool 30 tracks meme anyway. So the rules:

1. Turn on your music player of choice.
2. Hit Shuffle.
3. Note the first 30 tracks.

Be honest, don't skip anything because it's "not cool".

( Here's Mine )

The following has been brought to my attention by people who care about the future of the human race.

What do Avon think they are doing?



Now that should seriously be ringing some bells with you folks. If not let me remind you:



Seriously! Are Avon planning to unleash an army of the undead on us? Although immortality cream might explain why Andie MacDowell doesn't appear to have aged at all in the past 20 years.

The Ulitmate Crossover and one I strongly endorse.

( Cut for Image Size )

So I have joined Twitter, I finally found a tweet client that I can run on my phone without having to use the SMS update (expensive).

So yes I have created myself an account. I am (unsurprisingly) UberMunchkin, updates will be sporadic and with no guarentee of coherence. :)

This Friday Joss Whedon's Dollhouse shows its first episode in the USA, obviously it is likely to be be 6-12 months before it makes it to the UK and I am not willing to wait that long. This show looks awesome.

In Dollhouse, Eliza Dushku plays a young woman called Echo, a member of a group of people known as "Actives" or "Dolls." The Dolls have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas, including memory, muscle memory, skills, and language, for different assignments. They're then hired out for particular jobs, crimes, fantasies, and occasional good deeds. On missions, Actives are monitored internally (and remotely) by Handlers. In between tasks, they are mind-wiped into a child-like state and live in a futuristic dormitory/laboratory, a hidden facility nicknamed "The Dollhouse". The story follows Echo, who begins, in her mind-wiped state, to become self-aware.

So today Barack Obama is sworn in as the forty-fourth President of the United States of America and I will be watching it happen live by the power of the internet.

One question I have been asked several times since I told people that I was going to watch the Inauguration is "Why? You're not an American." So I thought I might just write down my thoughts.

Barack Obama is the first Black President of the USA, his election is a huge deal, it is history in the making and it is happening in my life time. How many times do you truely get the chance to see something that is this significant? Clearly I'm going to watch.

Ok people I don't usually go on about 'Christmas Spirit' or giving not because I don't believe it them but because I am sure that you all get as fed up as I do with being hassled and ambushed by the annoying people with clipboards in town centres who want money from you.

However I just thought I'd take a moment and mention Childs Play, its a charity organisation I support that was created by the guys over at Penny Arcade. Its been going since about 2003 and the idea is a charity of gamers and other like minded folks who contribute games, consoles, toys and movies to childrens hospitals all over the world. You can either contribute cash to them directly or make a purchase off one of the wishlists that have been setup for the various hospitals.

Each year Childs Play gets bigger and reaches more hospitals around the world.

Anyway, I'm not going to talk about this too much more, I just wanted to let you know that this organisation exists and that its one I support.

Anyone who is interested in reading more can find more information here: http://www.childsplaycharity.org/about.php

In this case specifically aimed at the American TV networks. Why do you have a need a mid-season break in all the shows now? Its fucking stupid.

Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles - Excellent TV Show, finishes this week for a 'break' half way though the current season.

Fringe - Awesome new TV show from JJ Abrams, on 'break' half way through the season.

Battlestar Galactica - Awesome TV show, on 'break'.

Chuck - Great show, really funny, on 'break'.

Town Called Eureka - One of my favourites but on 'break'.

And what do they replace them with, shite in almost all cases. Its a trend that I have really come to hate. Especially since these breaks tend to last for a overly long time, I could understand taking a few weeks out of the schedule over christmas but in most cases these show's will not be returning until Feburary at best!

Fucking americans.

Forewarning for everyone who may be reading this it is extremely geeky in here.

Ok, lets talk about Dice, a subject close to every gamers heart. Everyone has their 'lucky' dice and their high rolling dice and their low rolling dice. Ever wonder why?

Well there are two videos shot here at GenCon Indy 2008 where Colonel Louis Zocchi explains why his Game Science Dice are so much better than the competition and why you see such variance in dice rolling behaviour.

So without further ado, here are the links.

Part 1: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=bR2fxoNHIuU
Part 2: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PxmkWrDbn34

First up I'd just like to make it clear that I believe very strongly in an individuals right to privacy and their right to be a member of a political party, even if it's one that I disagree with on every level and I in no way endorse the making public of private information of any kind.

The said here's the thing. I'm almost drowning in the irony here. The BNP are crying to the press & anyone who will listen that this 'leak' of their members list is such a terrible crime because it might cause them to be discriminated against, ganged up on or possibly be the victims of violence.

Lets get this straight, a group of people who are well known for their racist, homophobic and rabidly discriminatory beliefs & practices are now complaining that they might be the victims of the same practices.

Cry me a fucking river you bunch of wankers.

To answer me this most difficult and vexing of questions.

Deadspace or Fallout 3?

So this thread (http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=419886) cropped up on RPG.net where they are talking about books every gamer should own. I was surprised and more than a little pleased to see The Munchkins Guide to Powergaming got mentioned twice on the first page.

Yay. Go us.

Ok so this entire journal is in desperate danger of just becoming a stream of me posting video links, but that's not really always a bad thing is it? :)

Anyway, you may remember that a little earlier I posted that really quite funny video of Paris Hilton announcing her presidential candidacy. Here's the follow up to that, Paris seeks advice on her campaign:



(Link: http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/06ae3d8563)

One of my favourite stand up comics of recent years is without a doubt Sarah Silverman, she's really funny. For example this video was made for her (now ex) husband Jimmy Kimmel:



Anyway, she has something to say on the upcoming American Election that is relevant and delivered in her unique style.

One of my all time favourite computer games is getting a sequel, I'm sure anyone who has ever owned an Atari ST or an Amiga will recognise this game.

http://www.carriercommand.com/

But can I wait until 2010 for its release?

For anyone out there who has no idea what I'm talking about or why I would be excited, then read and learn:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrier_Command

There is a lady called Sachiko Kodama who has rapidly become one of my favourite artists, which is saying a lot as I really don't tend to go in for 'art' in most forms that it is made available to us. What this lady does that makes me stop and think 'Wow' is all to do with a very firm grounding in Science, Physics to be precise.

She uses magnets alongside fluids and oils that have magnetic particles suspended in them to make what I can only describe as truly amazing sculptures and installation pieces. Here's an example:



(And the link for those who may not see the embedded file: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=me5Zzm2TXh4)

You can find her full portfolio at http://www.kodama.hc.uec.ac.jp/index-e.html and I would really recommend that you go and have a look. The site is mainly in Japanese but there are English language options on most of the links.

A number of years ago a good friend of mine by the name of Giles moved to China, he moved there to do a bunch of things, one of which turned out to be start a group and record and album.

They called themselves Made of Sound and their first album will be called Made in China. Anyway, they have a video up on Youtube for anyone who may be interested:



For the Embedding Impaired - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0goGGtG6UfI

Well today is properly summer, its clear skies, warm but not stupidly so and generally quite nice.

This calls for a couple of summer song, these two songs have very strong summer associations.

( Bring On The Tuneage )

Shortly after I picked up my PS3 I decided to get some stuff on Blu Ray to check out the difference, among various other things I purchased Season One of Torchwood on Blu Ray (Being that the HD Blu Ray edition was £38 and the regular DVD release was £60) and started to watch it. Now I can honestly say that the first season of Torchwood (barring a few stand out good moments) was deeply average. Too much of it was "oh look, an adult targeted show in the Dr Whoniverse, quick get them all shagging". Although it does look amazing on Blu Ray.

Anyway, I'm now onto Season 2 (not on Blu Ray yet annoyingly) and its much better, the quality of story is much better and the scripting is much better as well. The characters are becoming more believable and less of a series of stereotypes locked in a basement in Cardiff.

So yeah, just a brief post really to say Torchwood Season 2, considerably better than Season 1.

Right, this Friday evening I completed Metal Gear Solid 4 on my PS3 for the first time. I am going to attempt a reasonably in depth review here that is going to be absolutely chock full of spoilers, to that effect I'm putting it behind a cut tag. If you are at all likely to play Metal Gear Solid 4 yourself and you in any way care about the story then I would suggest you go no further as this will totally spoil the entire game for you.

For those of you who aren't going to read the full spoiler filled review I'll give you the quick version here. Metal Gear Solid 4 is one of (if not the) greatest computer games I have ever played.

Just one final thing before the review begins, I know there are people on my LJ Friends List who probably have no idea what Metal Gear Solid is or why I would be this excited about it. So for you folks here's a brief précis, in case you want to know what I'm talking about. :)

Taken from the Metal Gear Series Wiki Page

Metal Gear is a critically acclaimed series of stealth games created by Hideo Kojima and developed and published by Konami. In the series, the player takes control of a Special Forces Operative (Solid Snake in most games) repeatedly facing off against the latest incarnation of the eponymous superweapon "Metal Gear"; a bipedal walking tank with nuclear launching capabilities. The series is famous as a pioneer of the stealth game genre and for its lengthy cinematic cut scenes and intricate storylines as well as its exploration of the nature of politics, warfare, censorship, genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, loyalty, reality, subjective vs. universal "truths" and other philosophical themes.

I've been a massive fan of this series ever since I played Metal Gear Solid on the Playstation in the late 90's and I've been waiting for this incarnation of the game for a really long time. In fact the existence of Metal Gear Solid 4 is basically the reason I brought a Playstation 3.

( Metal Gear Solid 4 - The Full Review )

All together this makes Metal Gear solid 4 not only one of the best games I have ever played but one of the best franchise games ever full stop.

I give it a 9.8/10, it can't quite be perfect as there are a couple of tiny niggles, some times the cut scenes seem to drag without need but its not very often and easy to live with and some times the crawling controls have a massive ming and you end up pointing the wrong way.

However this game is amazing probably the best thing I've every played and in the way its presented, written and acted it is better than a lot of movies I've seen.