http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/This is more of a chance to experiment with my writing style than anything else. There'll be a few me based posts but thats not really the focus, there'll be reviews, comments on news stories or just things in general that catch my eyeen-EUhttp://backend.userland.com/rss092http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/http://data5.blog.de/design/preview/48/4ad1b49004ef096408105801ef7a62_160x200.jpg <p>I'd return with something amusing before I get to the serious/potentially dark stuff with the recent changes in my life.<br> This is perhaps the best answer to a question I've seen.</p> <p>HELL EXPLAINED BY CHEMISTRY STUDENT</p> <p>The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid term. The answer by one student was so 'profound' that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of<br> course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well :</p> <p>Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?</p> <p>Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.</p> <p>One student, however, wrote the following:</p> <p>First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today.</p> <p>Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law<br> States that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.</p> <p>This gives two possibilities:</p> <p>1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.</p> <p>2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.</p> <p>So which is it?</p> <p>If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, 'It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,' and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct......leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting 'Oh my God.'</p> <p>THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2009/01/03/i-thought-5315970/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2009/01/03/i-thought-5315970/Sat, 03 Jan 2009 13:28:16 +0100 <p>a homocidalthought of cliffrichard...not sure why </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/11/29/simply-having-5132065/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/11/29/simply-having-5132065/Sat, 29 Nov 2008 14:19:00 +0100 <p>Woman flushes baby</p> <p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7746292.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7746292.stm</a></p> <p>at this point I'm speechless, but just showing I do still exist </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/11/28/wtf-5126273/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/11/28/wtf-5126273/Fri, 28 Nov 2008 14:28:42 +0100 <p>Apparently the woman who's now engaged to the second life guy I mentioned said it was love at first sight....she was refering to his avatar, they've yet to meet. I'm not sure theres anything more to say to that </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/11/15/follow-up-5042531/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/11/15/follow-up-5042531/Sat, 15 Nov 2008 23:56:09 +0100 <p>I have to admit I do find this new second life story amusing</p> <p><a href="http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/relationships/article5151126.ece">http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/relationships/article5151126.ece</a></p> <p>I mean I can see the point because mmo's are generally for people to escape into another life, be someone they aren't already, and this game in question is called 'second-life' which kind of implies to me that its well, a second life you can lead. So I'm not entirely sure dating someone with your character is immediately cheating, but its a very blurry line.<br> Oddly, according to the story, the solicitor that was used commented it wasn't the first time second-life had been cited for a divorce THAT WEEK..</p> <p>Anyhoo maybe its about time I finally installed the copy I downloaded months ago..a new career could be gained from it - online detective. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/11/14/well-theres-an-option-5034868/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/11/14/well-theres-an-option-5034868/Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:27:35 +0100 <p>But i found this story on 1up.com and don't think theres anything really more to add, other than the story itself.</p> <p>What would you do if you were killing time in prison for wire fraud? If you're Johnathan Lee Riches, you apparently spend it filing rambling third-party motions to unrelated court cases.</p> <p>WoW Insider is reporting that Riches has filed a third-party motion in the Blizzard vs. MDY Industries suit that was decided earlier this year. His claim? World of Warcraft was responsible for "causing [me] to live in a virtual universe, where [I] explored the landscape committing identity theft and fighting cybermonster rival hacker gangs."</p> <p>Apparently Riches is an old hand at this, because he made the same claims about Grand Theft Auto 4 when he sued Rockstar Games earlier this year. According to Virtually Blind, he's also taken the time to sue George Bush, Michael Vick, National Public Radio, Barry Bonds, Plato and the Eiffel Tower. At the very least, he gets major points for originality on that last.</p> <p>As for World of WarCraft, it may have turned his mind into "a living video game" and caused him "to commit fraud to buy video games," but it looks like this particular motion will be dismissed on procedural grounds. Maybe he should stick to suing monuments? </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/11/07/still-busy-4999335/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/11/07/still-busy-4999335/Fri, 07 Nov 2008 14:39:11 +0100 <p>I find it weird that only 2 people who listened to the show when it actually went out complained about the incident..the numbers now in the 10s of thousands , so surely the majority of the people who have since complained knew they may be offended </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/10/29/brandandross-4953428/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/10/29/brandandross-4953428/Wed, 29 Oct 2008 23:40:42 +0100 <p>or does this kinda defy the point</p> <p>Attempts by supermarket chain J Sainsbury to boost sales by selling Wii and Xbox 360 game consoles at a loss have backfired after store managers from a rival retailer hijacked the promotion by buying nearly 1,000 of the discounted consoles. </p> <p><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/3224650/Sainsbury-not-consoled-by-Wii-hijack.html">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/3224650/Sainsbury-not-consoled-by-Wii-hijack.html</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.mcvuk.com/news/31985/GAME-in-Sainsburys-stock-swoop">http://www.mcvuk.com/news/31985/GAME-in-Sainsburys-stock-swoop</a></p> <p>so if you missed out on this deal...now you know why. I'd say more but my brains dead...and fable 2 is here </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/10/25/is-it-just-me-4929453/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/10/25/is-it-just-me-4929453/Sat, 25 Oct 2008 13:02:08 +0200 <p><a href="http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3170818">http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3170818</a></p> <p>stories like this is why I wanted to have a blog, unfortunately if I have any hope of progressing at university I have no time for anything else so that and many other stories go uncommented by someone far from qualified to do so </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/10/22/dang-it-4911577/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/10/22/dang-it-4911577/Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:14:00 +0200 <p>who'd've thought it <a href="http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/3762835.Arms_factory_protest_turns_violent/">http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/3762835.Arms_factory_protest_turns_violent/</a> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/10/16/huh-4881721/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/10/16/huh-4881721/Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:50:02 +0200 <p>I've not posted for a while and certainly not in the manner I'd like to for even longer. Between Uni, the supermarket and the cinema my brain is fried. However after the events of trying to get home today I thought it was worth mentioning and I'll follow up if it makes the local papers and I see more details. It'll undoubtedly be in the uni paper next week anyway.</p> <p>So I finish my lectures at noon and wander on down towards the falmer bus stop as per usual. Anyway warning signals started firing off when I heard someone on what sounded like a mega phone and then there was one police car, followed by maybe another 8 vans. Turns out as I was getting to the university entrance that there was an anti-arms protest going on, nuclear weapons that sort of thing (yes I am very ignorant of student protesting issues), what also amused me was the fact that there was one policeman filming all the students, and another student filming likewise...for a while it just seemed like they were filming each other...Anyway it seemed to be a peaceful protest and my opinion, politically incorrect it is, that they were most likely vegetarians so unlikely for the most part to put up much of a fight. The police seemed to outnumber the students, and had others posted checking id's coming under the bridge and more vans posted at both the bus stop and the train station with yet more officers. My first thoughts were naturally that this was an over reaction, and this would be true on the face of it. I mean I've seen much fewer police on a friday and saturday night. However halfway through the journey home - just getting into moulsecombe as me and a couple of others were talking about the massive over-reaction to the situation, we noticed around 6-7 people who I could only describe as gangmembers, wearing clothes etc in such a way to hide any identifying features other than the eyes all moving in the general direction (albeit 20 minute walk easy) from the protest. The police were also doing a good job detaining buses from entering campus, which I can only assume to verify all those getting off..Bizarre situation though and it'll be interesting to read/hear what goes on through the rest of the day </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/10/15/today-4875262/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/10/15/today-4875262/Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:27:17 +0200 <p>I'm feeling a lot older than my years, and not in the good way. My right knee has been clicking and causing me discomfort most of the weekend and my left has started to ache. Weird thing is this would normally be explainable, I've been out 3 times this week so normally a drunken stumble wouldn't be out of the question - but that has definately not happened. Strange. Anyhoo I have my first christmas related item, I bought some 'extra special' handcooked crisps - Roast Turkey and Onion Gravy Flavour. As it turns out they're delicious, not worth the £1.20 I paid, but that extra was worth induldging a curiousity</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/10/12/age-4858446/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/10/12/age-4858446/Sun, 12 Oct 2008 12:11:45 +0200 <p>Well in an attempt to stop the run of video game related posts I thought I'd post a little on football. Now I would never class myself as a real fan, full 90 minute games bore me unless spent at the pub with friends, I've only been to 3 games. I do however keep up with the news, watch match of the day every now and then and the only pc game I ever really play is whatever Football Manager incarnation is out that year. So with the latest 'crisis' I feel I have at least a little insight.</p> <p>Finances in football have been getting increasingly ridiculous over the past 2 decades. Going back these 20 or so years you'd struggle to find players earning £20k a week, but thats the average wage for a premiership player these days. This seems to be the main reason, and of course the insane transfer fees but how did things get to this stage? </p> <p>West Ham are apparently in danger because of the collapse of their chairmans icelandic bank, assuming no knock on effect this basically means there'll be no more investment and they'll have to be a self sustaining business - which is surely half the point of running a club in the first place. I mean since the takeover a little under 2 years ago now, reports say he's pumped in £30million. But what I don't understand is how this is a good thing just pumping money in, because regardless of how generous a person you are, this 'pumping money in' is very rarely as a gift, and more often than not as a loan so its yet more debt the club is saddled with.</p> <p>As a Leeds fan - if i'm ever going to affliate myself with a team - I've seen what debts can do to a club. Chasing glory and heavily overspending on transfer fees and wages, borrowing money that relied on everything going right and falling short. At the time of their fall, the debts of Leeds Utd were somewhere in the region of £100-150million, which set off a firesale of the players and when you're desperate for money its impossible to get market value (see stock holders or property owners at the moment..). The FA however estimate that the 92 clubs that make up the football league owe around £3billion in debt, with the big 4 clubs making up a lot of that. </p> <p>According to the latest end of year financial reports, Manchester United are £764million in debt which is tied into their takeover - i'm not entirely sure much if any of this money actually did much to help the club, despite their massive outlay on players its conceivable that this came out of their annual turnover as they are the richest club in the world. But their income is still only in the region of £250million a year, and at a conservative estimate of 10% annual interest on this debt (cheapest rate for me is in the region of double this) thats £77million a year just to 'service' this debt, that doesn't actually pay off any of the debt, thats just the amount needed to keep the debt at this level, which is ridiculous, thats the same amount as biggest spenders of the summer (yeah and it sure helped them) Tottenham spent on players.</p> <p>Next up are Chelsea, who unsurprisingly rank up very high on the debt list and I'll be shocked if they're not top of the list come May 2009. According to their records, their debt level is at £736million, the majority of which is undoubtedly owed to their deep pockets owner Roman. Now most of this has actually gone on building the club at a heavily accelerated rate than should have been possible, overpaying for players in fees and wages. But what happens if their owner decides tomorrow he wants to pull out and wants his substantial outlay back (albeit over time) , the richest club in the world would take 3 years with their existing income and no other outlay to pay off their debt, but Chelsea really lag behind the facilities of Man U. They have a limited income as their ground only has a capacity in the region of 40000 , in other words just above half of Manchester United and 2/3rds of Arsenal. Gate receipts, prize money, television money and sponsorship are the only major revenue streams I can think of, so they're already way behind with the first one. When they were taken over they had debts in the region of £80million and were in danger of what is now known as 'doing a leeds' and as a club they're around the same size as leeds were before the disaster in terms of facilities. Sometimes I almost hope Roman gets bored and pulls out as the fall out would be both catastrophic and strangely amusing to watch.</p> <p>The only other club featured within the article with a confirmed debt level provided by the clubs own financial reports was Arsenal with debts of £318million. They recently reported record levels of profit, in the region of £60million , meaning theres enough cash to both pay the interest and reduce the level of debt (again assuming 10% interest rates) and unlike the other 2 clubs this debt was mostly if not fully incurred moving stadium containing 20000 extra seats, potentially increasing their gate receipts by 50%. This level of debt is also less than the actual value of the club which is a debatable point with Man United and Chelsea. </p> <p>Along with these clubs, Portsmouth were also featured in the paper on some kind of financial crisis. Portsmouth are a small club living big at the moment, they have ambitious plans and for the most part it seems to be working on the pitch. It is however coming at a price, and one rumoured to be too big for their owner. According to the report their annual income is in the region of £65million, while their wage bill (including all background staff etc) is £60million. This sort of spells out the entire problem with the premier league. Unless i'm wrong, in recent years guidelines were brought into the lower leagues capping wages at a set percentage of a clubs projected income , and I believe this is somewhere in the region of 60-70% which in my opinion is still an absurd amount. Whereas Portsmouth are spending over 90% of their income on wages, leaving only £5 million for transfer fees, admin costs, stadium upkeep, taxes, and all those other lovely club outgoings. </p> <p>I can only go by what video games teach me, but given the global climate the long term plan seems smarter over time and success will come if the patience is there. One of my favourite games at the time was Premier Manager '98 and then '99. Now like most games I'd suck if I just stuck strictly to the football side, however how it differed - and I still don't understand why some games haven't tried this as well - was that you could really get involved in the financial side of things. As well as finding the money to work on the stadium to expand your capacity, you could decide where to build cafes/restaurants and other facilities within the ground, buy stock for them and set the prices along with selling the sponsorship spots pitchside. So even if I couldn't do things how I wanted to from the off, through a sound financial plan I was able get the business side healthy which quickly sped up me getting things pitchside successful. At the end of the day this can surely be the only way to run a succesful club, the age of the sugar daddy chairman may only just be getting into its full swing the Manchester City now joining the club, but its surely only a matter of time before the walls come crashing down. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/10/09/the-state-of-football-4845402/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/10/09/the-state-of-football-4845402/Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:09:39 +0200 <p>Now I've spent most of my leisure time today listening to the 3 Black Mages albums and unsurprisingly it got me wanting to play the various final fantasy games their remixes are from. Thankfully I've managed to quell the urge because I don't wanna waste another 50 hours of my life replaying a game I've had enough of, at least for the moment. But it did get me thinking...</p> <p>I once considered myself a fairly big Final Fantasy fan, a close look around my room could quickly lead you to the same conclusion, I have statues of Rinoa (FF8) Angelo (FF8), Cloud and Sephiroth (FF7) along with one or two others, along with other bits of less conventional memorabilia as well as a number of the games. However looking back I can see that I've clearly just been sucked into the hype for the most part as I often do, I mean I do like the figures, the chains etc but the games are often hit and miss. For me it started off on the PC with Final Fantasy 7 after hearing a lot about it around school. Unfortunately my PC at the time sucked and wasn't really capable of playing the game and ran at around 5fps so was incredibly slow. Somehow I made it through the opening bombing mission, godknows how I managed to beat the normal speed countdown, mostly through pigheaded 'I paid for this I will enjoy it' rather than actually having fun, and it soon was sold on and the series temporarily forgotten about until my sister, incredibly kindly, bought me a Playstation along with Toca Touring Cars and yes, you guessed it, FF7.<br> I spent my entire first day playing it, racking up 8-9 hours easily, getting into the first jenova battle and to the new continent before saving and going to bed. As often did at the time however, the excitement of having such an amount of new equipment meant I got little sleep, so I woke up during the night and decided to resume playing, on mute of course to avoid annoying my parents and getting caught. However on firing it up and loading my saved game, my tiny little mind was blown into a thousand pieces when the 3rd party memory card claimed it was a corrupt file and I lost all my data. Over the years I think I lost around 150 hours (not just on this game I hasten to add) before I learnt my lesson about 3rd party accessories (much less of an issue now I'd say, but back then it was fairly commonplace that there'd be issues). Needless to say I eventually progressed with the game, it becoming the first in my remaining memory to make me cry with that disk 1 ending, and eventually progressing to disk 3. This is where I met what has always been an issue for me, the inevitable level grind. I'd gotten to disk 3 all well and good, exhausting all the story based play I wanted to, but due to my lack of skill (as I realise there are FF obsessives who try to complete the games without in any way leveling up so in theory it is possible) I wasn't levelled high enough, and would have to spend a good chunk of time in repetitive battles without anything to really to motivate me to do so, no interesting side quest left that I wanted to do, and after a number of game overs trying to get where I was supposed to I gave up on the game. Over the years I went back and tried, even the odd occasion with a cheat cd to erase the level grinding problem however I always lost interest before the end, and its only thanks to internet video that I've ever seen the ending of the game. </p> <p>7 did do something however, it made me preorder its sequel, Final Fantasy 8, which I did enjoy but encountered the same problem with. The story I enjoyed even more, but when I reached disk 4, I had the same issue and its only been in recent years that I finally completed the game. Firmly sucked into the Final Fantasy community however, even though I had sorta liked the games they caused me equal frustration and joy, I went ahead and bought 9 which I hated and no longer possess, and 10 which became the first one in the series that I actually completed after sinking in easily over 100 hours on various play-throughs. I also acquired 3/6 on the snes somewhere in there on another hype induced purchase.</p> <p>12 has also entered my collection but I've barely played it as I'm slowly waking up to reality (even though I still hand over the cash for them at least I'm learning, X was bought for £40 at its release, I was able to hold myself off for XII till it was a much more reasonable £10, though so far X has proved much more valuable for my money), that for one well, I'm an idiot, and two that these games while good, aren't always my kind of game. </p> <p>For the overall record, 6,8 and 10 are my favourites in no particular order and they've all been completed. 7 while I would like to finish properly will only ever happen if theres a remake, I just can't play it anymore, and 9 I hated. 1,2,3,4,5 all got attempted but I quickly realised they werent for me. 4 and 5 are the only ones from those I still own as 4 came with Chrono Trigger, and 5 I had on some misguided collectors item as at the time it had never been released in english, now of course it has that cart is pretty much worthless..go me.</p> <p>Anyway I will eventually get to a point here, feel free to skip on down to what I was intending to write without so much info. Given the atmosphere and enthusiasm that surrounds Final Fantasy, its hard sometimes not to get swept up in it, as for some reason I tend to believe a game that has sold millions of copies and has a whole bunch of people on the number of gaming forums I visit all shouting its praises. This isn't the only series that I've been sucked into like this, Zelda, Mario, Grand Theft Auto. 100s of pounds down the drain, and less than their moneys worth wringed out of them. But now getting around to the point...almost</p> <p>Among all the Final Fantasys, number 7 more than any other is likely to get people crazy. From the number of Aeris resurrection cheats, to the constant demands for the PS2 and nowadays PS3 remakes, and the fact a game company actually listened to its fans and realised how much of a license to print money it is with the straight to dvd sequel Advent Children, the mobile subscription game (only in Japan) Before Crisis, the horrid (so i've been told) Vincent (who was only ever an optional character in the original game) spin off Dirge of Cerebus on the PS2, a definitive Blu-Ray version of Advent Children that is being bundled with a demo of Final Fantasy XIII, and finally the reason I started this post and in fact sadly the reason I actually bought a PSP - Final Fantasy Crisis Core.</p> <p>As I said in recent times I've been realising I don't enjoy the series as much as I'd like to believe, I still spent a little north of £100 primarily to play this prequel to FF7. It was sold as much of a hack and slash action game rather than the grindathon JRPG so I was much more looking forward to the game as while I never finished the game, I have enjoyed the story - hence why I own Advent Children. </p> <p>The first thing I have to say its very bizarre playing a game where you already know the outcome - if you make much progress with the original you find out what happens to the main character Zack - but it didn't spoil my enjoyment of how the story progresses. Its always weird to be going through a prequel, be it a film, a book or a video game as if you've already played part of the series its almost the ultimate spoiler. Visually I would say this game definately wouldn't look out of place on the original Playstation, and thanks to the knowledge gained by the programmers over the years its not got nearly as many glitches or horrible awkwardness of the original (which bare in mind was the first 3d ff game) and is easily the prettiest handheld game I've played. Also due to the UMD format over the DS carts there is enough storage room for a limited amount of voice acting to fill out the cutscenes.<br> There are a few different modes on this game, well 2 (3 if you count new game+ which is just restarting the game with your completed games character and equipment). Theres the main game, which comes in at around the 10 or so hour mark, and theres the missions (if I remember correctly theres 300 of these) which are small side well missions that will gain you more powerful items, give you something to do to help advance your character level without feeling like grinding for no benefit and also has the benefits of little tips of a hat towards the original or other spin offs from 7. The missions is what really turns this game from one that belongs on a home console to a more portable game, they're only a couple of minutes long so can easily be played on a short public transport trip on the way to work, or however else you wish to use your portable console.</p> <p>The fact is however this isn't really a game for anyone other than fans of Final Fantasy 7. Its a fun game regardless, but only someone who has played the game to which this is a prequel to will be able to enjoy all the small references in the story which is really the whole point of the game. Its just pure fan service. It worked for me especially when its style and presentation and its basis in a bit of a more realistic universe (when you get to the end of the opening section you'll see what I mean) compared to the original , and it is a game I've already completed 4-5 times. The story I feel also works quite well, and a lot of the same strings the original does...and yes, I also cried during this game as sad as it is to admit that.</p> <p>If you had some time off with nothing else to do, then you could quite probably finish this game with just a rental, but its a fan service game so chances are if you're interested in the game, you're going to want to come back to it. You also have to consider its a portable game, so they're a lot cheaper than those on home consoles, I mean this only set me back £18 and that was on a preorder..so I'd say its almost definately worth sacrificing a night out for.</p> <p>Well thats it for now, that definately could've been written better but well, I don't like to edit. Enough rambling from me, I'm off to cook dinner </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/10/07/final-fantasy-crisis-core-and-final-fantasy-feelings-4835421/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/10/07/final-fantasy-crisis-core-and-final-fantasy-feelings-4835421/Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:40:43 +0200 <p>So I've not been here for a little while, a long while by the standards I had been setting. I'd decided to take a bit of a break from the virtual world and spend a bit more time in the real one as I panicked about my return to university. What this basically consisted of was a lot of alcohol meaning a lot of stupid/weird/hearing too much information/departing too much information type conversations with people who have my sympathy and apologies, fulfilling my obligation at both jobs aka working my ass off, and a llot of time spent on G1 Jockey 2008 on my wii as stupid panicky thoughts ran through my mind. I'm still not sure how I feel about it, and still don't know when my student loan will arrive so perhaps some tought times are on the immediate horizon, hence the majorly working ass off part...I still don't know but truth be told I don't wanna use this as too much of a personal blog. News items and things have been catching my eye, so hopefully I can start up doing those again. One that seemed appropriate considering my state of mind was the recent school story.</p> <p>Now often considering my educational situation I think back and consider what I might have done differently and naturally what may have happened if I was able to transport the knowledge I have now into my 7-8 year old self. Of course aside from winning the lottery several times over and amazing betting results theres another thing I'd consider in light of an article in todays paper, I'd purposely get injured and claim against it. I found it ridiculous some of the things that were in here. One kid got £5000 for SLIPPING ON SOME LEAVES. Another - for hurting his finger swinging on a security gate and therefore clearly his own fault - got £13700, thats more than I've earned since I've moved to Brighton (3 Years ago) and something i'd be happy to earn if given a proper full time job, I'd deem it a decent starting wage for sure, so hell you could break my finger for that amount. Other amounts £500 for falling off a space hopper , £14k for an elastic band in the eye and nearly £50000 for some kid who was stupid enough to touch a hot radiator pipe. Even if I do graduate decently I doubt i'd earn £50000 in less than 3 years, so I'll touch a hot pipe and get badly blistered for that amount, probably less. The thing is, this money comes from schools who are already insanely in debt, much like hospitals, who are funded by a government who are heavily in debt (if someone can explain to me about government debt and who exactly is owed please let me know as I hear America is several trillion or several thousand billion, in debt) which at the end of the day helps no one especially as the government is funded by taxpayers, and well the circle continues. A circle which is breaking in the current climate. I dunno though, I mean I loathe these ambulance chasers who have got this no win no fee compensation culture - much an extension of the something for nothing culture - and its very easy to get on your soap box, or your high horse when you're not directly involved - other than being a taxpayer. But confronted with the chance myself and being involved in the real thing, I'm not sure I ever could - if, god forbid, I'm ever responsible for another life, and they get hurt and I get the chance to profit from it, I'm not entirely sure I could say no, at least on my own, I mean if the mother opposed and she (as she more than likely will) scare the living daylights out of me if I got on her badside, I'd have no problem then, but if it was my decision I might just have to take advantage. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/10/06/hiatus-4829632/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/10/06/hiatus-4829632/Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:10:56 +0200 <p>#7745453</p> <p>People who come up to your counter, slam an item/object down on the counter and clear their throat. Twice this happened to me today - both times when I was serving other people. From now on, you'll be ignored.</p> <p>Also thank you to whoever stood on my pringles...I was looking forward to those </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/30/general-annoyance-4803508/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/30/general-annoyance-4803508/Tue, 30 Sep 2008 22:27:48 +0200 <p>I spent the entire summer mentally preparing myself to be a university drop out, I searched out a career path, made sure I was financially set up and everything. But now I'm going back and I've been given a week now 6 days to prepare myself for going back. I'm not ready. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/30/mental-problems-4801043/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/30/mental-problems-4801043/Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:31:18 +0200 <p>Okay so yes I only just got this game, but its a music game and to be honest, there is never a lot you need to know with music games. The important part are the controls, the responsiveness and the difficulty. Then all you need to know is whether or not you like the soundtrack</p> <p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samba_de_amigo#Wii_version">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samba_de_amigo#Wii_version</a></p> <p>the soundtrack can be found following this link, but having played the 2 previous versions - to some extent - and knowing that some of these tracks would be coming back and some new ones would be joining them. The chance to make an idiot of myself maracaing along to things like the theme from rocky, tubthumping etc was kind of appealing. Being a wii game the graphics are not top of the line hi-def or anything, but then neither is guitar hero or rock band - beyond the over the top opening videos and there's no need to be. There are different ways of controlling this game, thankfully theres no need to buy gimmick controllers (although there are some maraca add-ons for £10 approx available). The first is the obvious wiimote-nunchuck combination, but I opted against this because the wire between them bugs me. In what I believe is a first on the wii, you also have the option of using 2 wiimotes and this is the option I went with. It may have been something to do with how I calibrated them on start up but theres been a few instances where it either hasn't detected the shake properly or perhaps I was slightly off. So I suppose this is a slight issue. But it hasn't really affected my performance, I've yet to perfect a song but I haven't played the same song twice but there have been several almost perfects. This compared to what I used to be like at the Dreamcast versions is almost a hundred percent improvement. The Dreamcast version calibrated itself based on your height and you held the maracas high medium and low. On the wii you hold them upright/horizontal and downwards to relate to the high/medium/low of before. So even if they may not track perfectly I would say the controls are an improvement and I've been having a lot of fun with the game.</p> <p>Overall I'd say its a great party game, and being a wii game it can be found for a reasonable price - mine set me back £30 which I would say is value for money, but to decide if its worth it for you you have to check out the track list and a general like of samba music.</p> <p>Quick and easy review because I wanted to write something while my food was cooking. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/29/samba-de-amigo-wii-4797175/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/29/samba-de-amigo-wii-4797175/Mon, 29 Sep 2008 17:07:43 +0200 <p>I really need to start being more imaginative with my titles. Anyhoo I just bought samba de amigo and cleared the first 5 tracks. My arms are already tired. Oh and I've been invited back to redo year 2..have to reply by friday. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/29/hmm-4796661/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/29/hmm-4796661/Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:25:47 +0200 <p>This blog will probably reveal more about me than I'd like and i'll be leading with a confession, I know a lot about wrestling, far more than I should. This is part of the reason why I gave TNA Wrestling on the PS2 a brief rental. I can't say I've really been following its progress through development by like looking at previews or screenshots or anything, so I was coming to the game completely fresh.I had been rather excited that this game was coming out however, as its something been needed in the fighting/wrestling game genre - competition. Without competition franchises especially stagnate, they don't have a reason to improve various areas that might need attention as it is either go with their product or you go without. Rumour has it this has also been happening with EA's Madden NFL series now they have a license monopoly , however I can't comment much on this as its not a game I play, well, not since Madden '93. So the fact a new wrestling game - one with some name stars attached has hit the scene.<br> Unfortunately while it is competition, much like the actual situation in the wrestling world, neither are much competition just yet. While neither of the wrestling games on offer currently are all that great, this one comes in a clear second (I'm leaving out Fire Pro as for one I'm not sure if its even available in the PAL regions, and also I haven't played any entries in the much acclaimed series). What I always go for in these games is the story/career type modes, they're the reason why I still play wrestling games, why I play Football Manager every incarnation, why I occasionally still play F1 2005 (as I can't justify another game in the series just yet) - always for the chance to play through some kind of story, however badly written, and to work my way to the top. Strange really as I've never really had any ambition to a real career other than the do a little more than scrape by.</p> <p>I had quite high hopes for this however, as TNA has made some innovations with the Ultimate X match, and well when I've watched the product has had more of a focus on the actual wrestling rather than everything else that goes on around "sports entertainment" as its sometimes referred to - which is an advantage in terms of a game. However what strikes me with this game is exactly how limited it is, and I think a part of me expected this when I learned Midway were responsible for the game. That kind of comment might be a bit cruel and is definately an extremely broad generalisation considering the volume of their output, but I honestly can't remember the last game they did that I enjoyed. To make a big success of a license you need a big name or a good game and unfortunately with TNA Wrestling they have neither. The promotion are making progress within the states as far as exposure and everything goes, but I couldn't even tell you where to start looking for it on TV in the UK, I'm sure it'll be there somewhere given the multitude of digital channels now available given some of the trash shows there. But anyway I suppose I should get onto the actual game itself.</p> <p>Theres only really 2 modes in which to play this game, theres the story mode - which is where I spent my entire time, and the exhibition mode used for multiplayer and quickplay of the various matchtypes. My first disappointment was to find that there is no create-a-wrestler mode, and considering the storyline of the game I thought this was the whole point of it. You also have to play through the story mode to unlock wrestlers to use within the exhibition mode. The graphics are not bad, I'm not sure how it'll rank up against competition on the xbox360/ps3 but they weren't bad for a ps2 game as you'd expect from a game this late in a consoles life. However Midway have gone a bad route with some of the cut scenes. There are two types of cutscenes which in short are one in which characters are moving and interacting and the other where for some reason everyones frozen and the camera moves through them very bizarrely while the main character does some summing up narration. The closest analogy I can think of to what its like is something I remember seeing in the old american series Police Squad, the prequel tv series to The Naked Gun film series. Often during the end credits the actors would 'freeze' and the cameras kept rolling, now imagine this happening and the camera panning about/moving through them and to me it just didn't work well.</p> <p>The storyline itself as I previously mentioned is perfect for a create-a-wrestler scenario, you are a superstar who gets beat up beyond recognition and are dumped in a no name town in mexico. You wake up to find you have amnesia and plastic surgeons are about to rebuild your face. You decide to take out your frustations in the ring, and eventually find yourself back in TNA and eventually progress to the world title match. Predictable for the most part? Yes. Short? Yes. Limited? Yes. Theres no wiggle room, you have to win every match, if you lose, you just repeat the match. The matches all feel too similar and the story did very little for me to actually care about. </p> <p>I also came across a number of glitches during my short time with the game. I would inexplicably fall through the ring and appear on the outside, I'd lock up with someone near the ropes and suddenly appear on the floor or I'd pull off moves, well a punch or a kick that wouldn't connect despite clearly doing so in a real situation so the collision detection is off as well. As far as the controls go there isn't really any issues I have with them other than the fact that they could've mapped so much more to them. For grapples they only had moves assigned the button, 'away' and the button and 'towards' and the button. This may be stating the obvious but there are 4 directions on a d-pad/analogue controller meaning there were 2 free obvious controls that could've been assigned to moves which would have definately improved my enjoyment of the game, it may have been partly my fault for not reading instruction manuals and so forth but it really felt like the infamous '6 moves of doom' often talked about among fans (typically towards the end of a match, especially in the wwe you'll notice finishes typically go in the same manner, the same sequence of moves) and it often felt like you only really had a couple of moves to progress through the matches with making the game very repetitive. </p> <p>So after finding so many faults you're probably wondering why I played the game through to completion, well for one I wanted a quick game to complete so I could try my hand at a review (Force Unleashed on the backburner currently as I want to really enjoy that one), for two I don't really get to complete that many games, theres always another one that grabs my attention or I get bored, and for three I suck at a lot of games so I'm not good enough to get to the end. I suppose I was also kinda curious to see if there were any swerves in the story and where it was really going to end and to some extent it wasn't completely as bad as I've made out but the thing to keep in mind is that there are a lot of issues with the game.</p> <p>Overall, and this is the part I've been looking forward to, I don't actually want to give it a score because I agree with a lot of reviewers, its never the score its the body of the review that is the important bit. There have been many a badly reviewed game that I've enjoyed and even more well reviewed game that I couldn't stand (Super Mario 64, the majority of Zelda games come to mind) so considering theres no motivation otherwise to try and attract readers. But overall I'd say that this game is worth a rent if you;re a wrestling fan despite the faults as if nothing else it'll tide you over till the next release. As far as buying it, while it is great to finally see AJ Styles and the fallen angel Christopher Daniels and all in a game I'd say its only worth it if you're a big TNA fan and you're getting it for the PS2 as its only around £15 compared to the much more expensive 360 version.</p> <p>Dang that summary was all over there...I'll work on that, anyhoo thats it from me today apart from this</p> <p>Strange compliment #1<br> "you'd make a good granddad" - i'm not really sure what to do with that, especially since i'm only 22. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/29/tna-wrestling-ps2-and-new-segment-4796171/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/29/tna-wrestling-ps2-and-new-segment-4796171/Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:58:53 +0200 <p>#213</p> <p>People who use their phones/cameras/gadget that shouldn't play music but does to play music and play it through the terrible tinny speaker on the gadget rather than headphones...or those who do use headphones/earphones that you can still hear several rows away</p> <p>Saying that makes me feel old.. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/28/general-annoyance-4791845/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/28/general-annoyance-4791845/Sun, 28 Sep 2008 16:23:01 +0200 <p>I don't know if todays post was originally going to be just a general annoyance of mine or not, but I was going to comment on video games, the media, and the scary element lurking in the night - that creature known as jack thompson. But amazingly someone somewhere (florida) has seen sense and the guys finally been disbarred, and since all he ever achieved was self publicity, I won't bother servicing his ego further by being another blogger to have a go.<br> So I'm not reduced to 2 out of 3 points, and thankfully this week the media has played a big role in my desire to writing about this subject by making a complete tit of themselves. Not the specialist gaming media, thankfully they keep a more even head on their shoulders when such stories come out since they actually know the area in which they deal with (completely unlike people along with myself).<br> The stories I refer to are the murder the Advance Wars game has been tied to, and unsurprisingly the latest Grand Theft Auto game has been making the headlines again.<br> So first the Advance Wars story. Now the Advance Wars game exists in a genre where to be honest I've never really been able to exist, I see the point of the strategy game, why people would find it enjoyable but I just can't get my brain to think in the way I need to to actually be good at them. In short, I suck at them so don't play them. The Advance Wars games however have been a bit of an exception, having played all 4 of the english speaking country released series - in its native japan the series debuted on the famicom (nes) under the name Famicom Wars. The reason this shocked me is the fact that for starters its a Nintendo brand who have always been accused of almost being too family friendly (among gamers) and this series itself is very cartoony. The game deals with war in various different settings - varying from game to game - but the violence well, you see small pieces ie infantry, tanks, helicopters etc blowing up but theres no blood or anything nearing realistic while the generally limited story (it serves its purpose but its not a main reason to play the game) impresses upon you the horrors of war.<br> Details on this murder are still on the sketchy side, and all the developments so far at the questioning stage - from what little I've found out on the internet no one has been charged as yet - and the unfortunate victim was known to run a fan site/forum for the series/perhaps one of the games (as I said, details in the reports have been sketchy) and this is the only connection between the game and the murder and yet it has taken pride of place among a lot of the reports. So as far as I can see this link is merely being promoted to sell newspapers.<br> I can't really think of much more to say on this however until other details come out. As a sidenote however I found this a little bit creepy, the guy is about my age, a fellow Physics student - about to start at Nottingham Trent University - which was one of the universities I briefly considered.</p> <p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/7636821.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/7636821.stm</a></p> <p>Now a complete lack of surprise greeted me when I saw the latest GTA game made it into the papers due to another controversy, but I mean really is this stuff really news? The games are now really well documented even in the mainstream media (although rarely ever completely fairly), the title implies at minimum you're going to be a thieving bastard and every single one of the series has come in rated at 18 or Mature (meaning 17+ in america) so to be honest if kids are playing this its their parents fault. Storylines/missions in this game have often involved assination/random killing, extortion, and while I can't yet speak for GTA 4 ( I still haven't sunk my teeth into this one) , the rest of the series is also infamous for being able to pick up prostitutes, take them back to 'your' car, have sex with them to boost your health - with the option of killing them to get your money back.<br> The latest addition to this series will be on the fantastically successful Nintendo DS and will be known by the subtitle of 'Chinatown Wars'. Now DS games, mainly due to the nature of the portable console are well known for having a strong base in mini games - quick blasts/distractions that can be completed and progress saved on a short bus trip. So in the realm of gangsters, one of the mini games is based around dealing drugs - which to me is perfectly fitting, I mean you shoot/kill/run over/otherwise attack other people so it makes perfect sense that you would deal drugs as well, if anything its less shady than many of the other aspects. However unsurprisingly the tabloids have been having a field day with this fact, getting quotes from anti drugs spokesman etc. However there are 3 facts that need to be taken into account.<br> 1) Nintendo may be family friendly in the majority of their content, but GTA clearly isn't, and will unlikely receive anything less than the 18 rating given to its elder brothers.</p> <p>2) You have to have something wrong with you to actually attempt anything in these games in the real world, yes they may glamorise some aspects of the underworld and make it seem like easy money but the fact is its so easy to die in this game, for something to go wrong and get blown up or something. Okay in the game all that occurs is you lose your inventory/some cash and wake up in the hospital, but anyone thinking this would happen in real life just isn't right in the head.</p> <p>3) Parents, if you're worried about games like this getting into your childrens hands use your parental powers to prevent it, or at the very least do some research on it. Jon Davidson of former 1up fame, and still a fairly regular personality on 1UP Yours left to found a website <a href="http://www.whattheyplay.com">www.whattheyplay.com</a> - a parents guide to video games. Its an area I believe is heavily neglected and while I was sad he left 1UP at the time its the sort of resource that needs to be out there, and seriously needs to be promoted and pointed to because while it may often be bliss, ignorance makes fools of us all.</p> <p>Thats all for now, time to cook me a roast dinner. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/27/well-4788017/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/27/well-4788017/Sat, 27 Sep 2008 16:14:39 +0200 <p>#101</p> <p>People who say 'lol' and 'btw' in real life.. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/26/general-annoyance-4783832/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/26/general-annoyance-4783832/Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:28:17 +0200 <p>If you're actually interested in the subject of DRM or copy protection issues, Penny Arcade (http://www.penny-arcade.com) currently have a guest blogger talking on the subject past and present in much more detail and knowledge than I ever could, so check it out.<br> And a belated congratulations to Advance Wars on becoming the latest game somehow linked to a death, I'll likely have more to say on this later </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/26/quick-editions-4783264/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/26/quick-editions-4783264/Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:39:28 +0200 <p>Still rather tired so only did my contracted hours today and am now listening to the free practice for sundays grand prix. Anyhoo I'm a fan of many webcomics , and being a video game enthusiast Penny Arcade is one of them. They're currently doing a mini series on cd copy protection which I've been finding more amusing than perhaps I normally would after blogging on the subject recently. Todays, part 2 of this series, did remind me of something. Something long forgotten, a bastardised idea of early copy protection - that many crackers found easy ways around mind you. And this was the disk wheel (first window <a href="http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/">http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/</a> ). Now obviously this is a comic so is prone to comic exaggeration, though trust me the amount of stress and annoyance on the face depicited is pretty dang genuine. I only ever had to deal with this method the one time for Nigel Mansell's World Championship (or well whatever his f1 game was called) on the amiga. The idea was , to verify the games legit it would give you 2 symbols which you'd have to match up on a code wheel, and input the third as the answer. In the case of this game, it was all different driver helmets. The trouble was, especially considering the fact that in these days (damn I feel old) games often retailed in the sub £15 region, so the code wheel was often supremely cheaply and rubbishly manufactured, little more than very thin card. After a few uses, especially by an 11 year old boy, the card was quite bent and certainly approaching sub useless conditions, not to mention the helmets you were supposed to match up were to my recollection black and white and incredibly similar (not that this is a major shock, it is copy protection afterall) which caused great frustration to my limited patience. This almost ruined what was a rather enjoyable game - looking back it wasn't great, certainly Formula 1 Grand Prix 1-4 were streets ahead and I still enjoy the odd blast on the original - but I loved it nonetheless and this annoying contraption, due to the fact this was not among the less than legitimate games I'd inherited from the previous owner, which wouldn't've been there if i'd obtained it through naughty means, almost ruined my enjoyment of something. Still, its a good comic and I'm rambling again.</p> <p>I'm trying my hand at a review which'll be posted once I've completed the game on a second format, actual effort rather than the usual brain leakage that ends up on here. ttfn </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/26/coincidence-4783210/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/26/coincidence-4783210/Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:30:15 +0200 <p>It never takes me long, I always break my patterns and yesterday I didn't post here, the first day I haven't. Wednesdays are my days for doing nothing, my only day off from both jobs so I take it as a me day. Chances are I've been at the alcohol the night before, as anyone I was talking to would testify, as its the only day I don't have to be up at 4 or 7 or well, at all if I don't want. It was a lovely day of nothing. Today however I am more than knackered, I started at 5 having walked a mile and a bit to work, finished at just past 12 with only a 20 minute break, and another 20 minute break before starting my second job and I got home about 15 minutes ago. My legs are like lead.</p> <p>Anyhoo 2 stories caught my eye today, but I can't comment too much with my brain in this state. The first was a little one I believe from Italy. Apparently a wife has been awarded the equivilent of £400 because her husband removed a urinating pet cat onto the balcony. Apparently the award was for 'distress caused'. Now surely this is a gigantic waste of a courts time and is like taking money out of one pocket to put in another?</p> <p>The other being the prime space dedicated to another pedophile story. Now hear me out, that sentence maybe came out a bit wrong. The story was that child porn was on limewire, a file sharing website. My surprise was the fact that this is seen as a surprise. Now its been a long time since I've seen anyone use limewire, but I'm assuming that it has done nothing to become anymore legit in recent years, so is little different than bit torrent and other p2p stuff. It has a small almost niche element of legitimate uses where the rest of it is illegal to one extent or other so I was kind of shocked it was full page of newspaper news.</p> <p>Otherwise david blaine big deal, I don't see his point that is all. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/25/so-knackered-4779879/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/25/so-knackered-4779879/Thu, 25 Sep 2008 19:26:49 +0200 <p>In between jobs at the moment, just got back in and leave for the next one 2ish so don't have time to finish the longer post I'd wanna post but still wanted to keep up the daily stuff.</p> <p>General Annoyance #1</p> <p>Part a)<br> This would be me, hence it being potentially multi-part, as there are many things about me that bug me. For now though a - When i'm tired throughout the day in need of a nap but i perservere and stay awake to get back on routine, but when it rolls around a sensible bedtime, in my case 9pm for a 4am wake up, I'm wide awake...</p> <p>General Annoyance # 42662</p> <p>This is the kind of one that could backfire if she ever finds out, as one of my friends is guilty of this, but chances of her finding this blog are slim to none (for those who know the horror movie 'rules' this is the equivilent of saying "i'll be right back"). Anyway - vegetarians. Not just any vegetarians though I mean I don't care if you don't like to eat animals, it means more for me , I mean the type who call themselves vegetarians despite the fact they eat fish, and/or poultry. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/23/quickie-4766677/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/23/quickie-4766677/Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:37:54 +0200 <p>So for the past few days I've been trying to come up with an appropriate post on something I saw the other night. I'm a big fan of the shield and I've been enjoying the final season thats just recently kicked off. One of the secondary stories in the last episode (season 7 episode 3), involved a missing girl. To cut to the chase she was found, and it transpired that her brother -upon discovering she was a lesbian- arranged the kidnapping, had signed over temporary custody of her sister where she was given some 'alternative treatment'. She was raped by other kids of a similar age and heard 'words of encouragement at a critical moment' , the idea being that it was such a humiliation, such a dishonor to the family name a brother arranged and paid for his sister to be raped straight. It was such a bizarre disgusting idea and now I do realise its fiction, its one of the reasons I like the show, the fact that its not afraid to shy away from many subjects and its gritty no nonsense realism. This is part of the problem, the fact that this storyline did seem believable, that someone would do this in the sense of honor. There have been a number of 'honor killings' in recent years, and there is also the very scary ex-gay movement which is a whole nightmare in itself. However I couldn't put it altogether in any kind of way that make me satisfied and more than likely offend many many people. So I'll just leave it at that.</p> <p>General Annoyance #1423<br> Bus drivers who miss stops. I don't just mean the full bus having to drive past, I mean the type who just accidently drive passed when there are many seats available, or hearing you ring the bell and carry on regardless, it pisses me off.</p> <p>If you were wondering I was on a bus, rang the bell in plenty of time, upstairs was pretty empty, people at the stop stuck their hands out and the driver just kept on going...so a less random annoyance today </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/22/hmm-4762628/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/22/hmm-4762628/Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:07:12 +0200 <p>#40012</p> <p>People who when wanting to be served at a fast food place or cinema kiosk (or anywhere with multiple tills to be honest) in their group but buying/paying for it all individually. If there are 2 other tills with no one at them with people saying 'next please' 'can I help' or another variation upon just might be willing to help you out. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/21/general-annoyance-4758098/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/21/general-annoyance-4758098/Sun, 21 Sep 2008 16:09:03 +0200 <p>I'm tired and cranky after having to get up at 4 this morning for work and the customers got to me a little, taking a nap now </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/20/if-you-hadnt-noticed-4753796/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://ToaDSK.blog.co.uk/2008/09/20/if-you-hadnt-noticed-4753796/Sat, 20 Sep 2008 14:18:10 +0200