The second episode of the second season of Black Books sees anti-social, hate-everything book owner Bernard change his ways and go about his days feeling happy and trying to impress a girl, a summer girl. It's a great episode.

I've got to get a girlfriend, just for the summer, until this wears off. She'll be a summery girl. She'll have hair. She'll have summery friends who know how to be outside. She'll play tennis and wear dresses and have bare feet, and in the autumn, I'll ditch her, because she's my summer girl!

I don't own a bookshop and there's certainly no girl (you're kidding right- me & other people?), on second thoughts, it's maybe even a bad reference, but despite what I said earlier, I am thoroughly enjoying summer. Can't this season -and happiness?- last just a little longer before leaving entirely? Either that or I want another two weeks of work holiday...

I've had my X360 for sometime now, just over two years in fact. The game most played on it, is without a doubt Team Fortress 2 (or The Orange Box to be more specific), while the second-most played game, is an arcade gem, by the name of Geometry Wars. It's abstract twin-stick shooting explosion of colour and sound is just one of those games I keep going back to for blasts at a time, but that stops today; i've bought the sequel. It's an unwritten law that videogame sequels can either fall into one of two categories, a) they be weaker than the original and more of the same, or b) the sequel that not only refreshes the original title but reinvents it entriely while still playing on it's strengths. Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 is thankfuly the latter.

So everything's bigger. It's brighter, louder, and thanks to the addition of five new game modes, it's a lot more varied. Naturally scoring high is always the objective, no matter what the rules, but the new games reinvigorate the title by putting a spin on things, some of which can change the game completely. King decides that firing is disallowed unless you're in a zone, the catch being these small safe-zones only allowing a few seconds of cover. when they're out, it's a dash to the next one, weaving the enemies on your way. Pacifism is silimar, but ensures you're unable to fire at all, flying through gates to evaporate your pursuers. Waves is a barrage or criss-cross attacks from the enemy travelling in lines the length and width of the map, while Deadline, the most similar to the original gamemode gives you unlimited lives and three minutes to get your high score. The final new addition is Sequence; twenty stages, each lasting thirty seconds, pre-determined enemy positions.The new modes, collectively are a lot of fun, and ensure that when you're stuck or tired of one, there's more to try. They're pretty imaginative, and well...different, but they feel altogether classic GW, no matter what new rules they may bring to the table.

In the screenshots it's hard to see the game as perhaps being any different to it's predecessors, but after only a few seconds playing you'll realise this isn't the case, and the game does pack more of a visual punch with all the neon-fireworking happening on screen. The music too, is thankfuly as exciting and fast-paced as previously, with again, minor reworks instead of full-scale reimaginings. Multiplayer is unfortunately restricted to only local-play, but with a plethora of online leaderboards, you versus the world style, what does it matter? Overall, it's a sequel that delivers. It's more of the same yes, but the new ideas and modes that litter that basic formula make the game altogether more refreshing, and while it will always be debatable if this is the definitive version of the series or otherwise, one thing is true, I have found my new addiction.

The last day in July is special. Okay, in the grand scheme of things it's maybe not that special a day after all, but for me, it marks the beginning of my two week holiday from work. Fourteen days off, and finally a chance to get some of those things done that i've been meaning to for a while.

Here's some of the things i'm hoping to get done:

• I'm currently playing through the Metal Gear Solid trilogy, ahead of hopefully getting myself a Playstation 3 and the fourth game in the series. Completion of these three will be grand.
• I'm hoping for good weather, presumably like everyone else who's on their work holidays. If it's hot i'll be off on my bike with the camera bag and i'll have pages of new content to add here. As well as that, i'm hoping to get some new posts up too.
• I started a new Lego project this past weekend, and while i'm not expecting to finish it for a few weeks yet, I am wanting to make substansial work to it, and perhaps get some early photos of it.
• I want... a suntan. Yes, it's incredibly shallow, but what little skin I show off is whiter than snow, and compared to past years, it looks live i've been living in a dark cave.
• I'd like to start my new course. Granted, the forms aren't even off yet, but i'm hoping that as soon as I get my new books I can get cracking so I don't run the risk of falling behind.
• I'd really like being able to finally write something. I've always got ideas for prose and short pieces of fiction, so having all this time off might finally be a good chance to get started on something. I might flesh this out further, if not, there's another hundred ideas I can attempt.
• I just want to relax, have a good time, and not have to worry about anything, while still feel as if i've accomplished something.
  

Here's some of the things that I know will get done:

• Sleep.

Okay, so it's certainly been a while since I last updated my muxtape... May.

I've been using the site since that time however, listening to others, finding new music, and following links...just not updating my own. I've had ideas though, playlists and tracks i've wanted to put up but then changed my mind later. As with Last.fm, I think I may me subconsciously afraid of music snobbery. It's silly I know, but i'm weird like that. All the same, the good news is that i've finally gotten round to updating the tracklisting!

Some are songs i've been enjoying for a few months now, others are regular favourites, and some are by entirely new artists that I wouldn't have known about a few months previously. It is rock, it is dance, it is instrumental and It's a mash-up of all these things, and of the playlists I tried to make over the summer and yet never upload. If you think there's a problem with the pacing or song order, well, that's probably the reason why... oh, and there's twelve songs too, instead of the ten that I'm used to.

• Alamos- Number Cruncher
• The National- Mistaken By Strangers
• Radiohead- Treefingers
• Arcade Fire- Black Wave / Bad Vibrations
• Innerpartysystem- Heart of Fire
• Boys Noize- & Down
• Royksopp- Someone Like Me
• ...Trail of Dead- Another Morning Stoner
• Swervedriver- Duel
• Motorcycle- As The Rush Comes
• Team Sleep- Princeton Review
• Nine Inch Nails- Lights In The Sky

I'll try and get it updated again in a month's time, promise. If not, you can certainly expect to see another update towards November. Just in time for Christmas either way...

From the forum:

Version 5 of Squarespace launched this past Monday.

I've been using Squarespace as both a blogging and photo-hosting platform for just under six months now, and after mere days of the 30-day free trial, it was a service I was more than happy to continue using and happily pay for. Things seemed as if they couldn't get any better, but V5 introduces a wealth of new features and options to the core platform. Regardless, it was only this week that I realised i've yet to expand on exactly why I moved to Squarespace full-time all those months ago, so here i'm hoping to do a review of sorts of some of the additions, along with some exposition on why Squarespace is my platform of choice.

The first reason is...well, Squarespace is incredibly easy to use. Okay, so that's something touted by all the other blogging sites, but here it is undoubtedly true. That's not to say Squarespace is simplistic or lacking in features, because it's a service that caters to users of all experience. If you have no idea about coding or design you can let SS worry about it; if you know a little you can apply your knowledge into editing or modifying what you've been given, while if you're even more advanced you can create your own theme, muck around in CSS and set up an all manner of domian forwarding and security options. Squarespace can be as easy as you like or can be the equivilent of building your own site from scratch and hosting from home, whichever your most comfortable with or want it to be.

The most enticing aspect of Squarespace for me was this ease of use, but SS can be a lot more than just a 'blog platform'. Galleries can be created, forums and message boards added, guestbooks integrated and online shops built. The added benefit is the ability for numerous administrators meaning your site can be a solo-effort or a team-run operation depending on the site's aim and function. Best of all was the storage- you can have anywhere between 0.5 to 20Gb, and you can increase or decrease your bandwidth accordingly. In retrospect I think I took too much of both, but it's nice to know they're variable. The prices obviously reflect your choices and the features you choose when you register, but no contract means you can change them, upgrade or downgrade whenever. Traffic and Subscriber counts are displayed in-house with the site's own Statistics page, while RSS feeds are generated from day-one. No need for Feedburner, Stat Counter or the rest, it's all here.

So that's Squarespace in a neat summary basically. V5 doesn't make any effort to deviate or alter from the site's and service's purpose, rather, it adds lots of new features to make the experience better. The interface is alone, one of my favourite things about the service. Navigation is now easier than ever with fast java script switching- buttons along the top of the page are there for easy clicking, Content, Structure, Style and Preview with fast links to the Help section (complete with video walkthroughs) and the overall management of your site for things like comment moredation, domain forwarding and audience permissions. V5 also has a re-designed content editor (Again, the main focus is the option of WYSIWYG -what you see is what you get, real-time editing etc) but site architecture is easily configured with drag and drop modules, and the ability to add, build, style or preview thanks to the constant presence of the four previously mentioned buttons.

The style editor has also been given a significant reworking, and like the content and post editor things are displayed entirely in real-time. Colours can be changed, fonts chosen, letter spacing increased, and most excitingly, sidebar and content wrapper width adjusted thanks to a nifty little slider. For the more experienced again, these things can be coded or manually decided, or ignored completely, if you want to make your own theme rather than edit one of the pre-existing ones. New functionality has also been added to how the site works- items displayed in your sidebar can only be displayed on certain pages for example, e.g the blog archive widget won't display when users are browsing the gallery. I found this incredibly handy, especially in the instance i've just mentioned, but with audience permissions it's nice that sections can be customised more individually now rather than a collective whole. Regarding Blogging, Tags can now be added as well as Categories, and "Share This" options with links to Digg et al are there if you want them, without any work required from yourself. "Publish this post on/enable comments on day X" have also been tweaked.

I realize i'm gushing (bet that makes a change, huh?) but Squarespace is seemingly the complete opposite of Blogger, and is exactly the kind of hosting/content platform I was looking for when I decided I wanted change, without taking the time out to learn 'how to build a website'. As a service it's easy to use, it's fun and exciting, and most importantly, it works great. Regarding V5 naturally there's been a few problems (and i've encountered one myself- sorted now thanks to support!), but the update itself completely reinvigorates and refreshes  the service, and thankfully as a whole, Squarespace remains a web service that i'm more than happy to continue paying for.

Screens

The Nominations for the 2008 Nationwide Mercury Music Prize have just been announced. I'm either getting older or further detached from the current happenings of music however, because there's even less acts that I recognise this year than usual. But that's a good thing- The Arctic Monkeys winning in 2006 was complete nonsense. That said, the Arctic's frontman is still there in some capacity this year thanks to a nomination for his side project, whoever they are, it doesn't matter.

There's a few acts nominated though that I predicted, as both Estelle and Adele are on the list. Portishead's album Third is bizarrely left off, while Radiohead are thankfuly inevitably there. In Rainbows is a great album, and my favourite from last year, and I think it'll be the one that wins the prize. It's the obvious choice at any rate. The full list of nominess for the 2008 prize is below.

• Adele - '19'
• British Sea Power - 'Do You Like Rock Music?'
• Burial - 'Untrue'
• Elbow - 'The Seldom Seen Kid'
• Estelle - 'Shine'
• The Last Shadow Puppets - 'The Age Of The Understatement'
• Laura Marling - 'Alas I Cannot Swim'
• Neon Neon - 'Stainless Style'
• Portico Quartet - 'Knee-Deep In The North Sea'
• Robert Plant And Alison Krauss – 'Raising Sand'
• Radiohead - 'In Rainbows'
• Rachel Unthank And The Winterset – 'The Bairns'

 Now to play catch-up and try and listen to the ones I haven't heard...

• I'm a drop out- History without the Art isn't as exciting as I envisioned earlier this year, so after much consideration (and stressing over an assesment that was long overdue) i've decided to quit. i've got a new block of coursework starting in September though, so I think i'll still be on track in regards to the overall degree.

• Before September though, i'm hoping to tackle my gaming backlog in a big way. There's plenty (and perhaps too much) to keep me busy, but with just as many games i'm wanting to replay as I do to complete, it's a task that gets bigger every week. Plans for buying a Playstation 3 probably don't help much in that regards either, but, you know.

• Harry Potter & The Order of The Phoenix (DVD)

Yeah okay, so i'm late to the series. Following Goblet of Fire-both my favourite book and film of the series- was never going to be easy, so naturally, I went into watching the film not expecting much. Inevitably loads has been left out of the film adaptation including many moments of exposition that the book provided- once again, film fans seem to get the short straw. Regardless, it was fun, looked great, and did a good job of putting print into film, though obviously improvement would be no bad thing for the film, or indeed, the future of the film franchise in general.

------------------------------------------------------------

• I'm also hoping to get lots of Lego-sorting done as well. As with years past, this is another summer i'm going to be spending in the garage like a big geek. As with the game backlog, this task is constant.

• Twitter redeemed itself this past week when E3 was taking place. I was watching the live conference streams but getting updates ahead of my viewing was pretty interesting, and the continued coverage from some of the users i'm following means that i'm getting most of the info from the one place. Even better? Twitter didn't crash once.

• Super Smash Bros Brawl (Wii)

With the entire contents of the game revealed through the game's official blog, Brawl is immediately unsurprising, and a game cursed with all the hype that came before it's european launch, inevitably sometime after the rest of the world gets the game first. Online feels incredibly wasted, while new single-player mode 'The Subspace Emissionary' is repetitive and feels tacked on.  Depth is certainly there by the huge number of unlockables and fan service, but with so much hype and a lengthy development, Brawl already feels old and uninspiring.

                                       -------------------------------------------------------

• I've aged forty years overnight- i'm now growing carrots and lettuce in the back garden. For the rabbits, for my own shits and giggles, as an experiment; there's a number of reasons why I guess. Count yourselves lucky you're not getting Carrotwatch updates- currently there's no growth at all...

• Squarespace V5 launches on Monday. I may play around with the site's appearance or what not- if things aren't displaying, it's probably my fault.

• The 2008 Mercury Music Prize nominees are announced next week I think. My predictions? Portishead, Ting Tings, Duffy/Adele, Radiohead and possibly Estelle.

• Finally, I recently posted this over on my Tumblog, fifty words or less. It's rather awesome though, so here it is again for any who haven't seen it. Human Skateboard by PES:

Monday and Tuesday (and the rest of this week) was all about E3, that electronic gaming convention held annually in LA that announces the games, unveils the hardware and for gamers like me, at least determines my spending or wishlist for the coming winter months. Things are now on that list, things are now off, all future Wii purchases are temporarily suspended, and i'm caught with the impossible decision of whether or not to buy a PS3.

 Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony's press conferences took place on Monday and Tuesday respectively, and being the loser geek that I am, I streamed all three as with every year. That these conferences were radically different from last year is unsurprising, but with the worldwide success of the Wii, it was inevitable that more time this year would be given to casual gaming. So more sequels, for both Guitar Hero and Rockband, games that of course don't need sequels (and rather, just more DLC), an attempt by Microsoft to replicate Sony's Singstar franchise, and Nintendo pimping their Wiimote any way they can. Revealed this year by the big N? Wave your remote and arms wildly, and your screen Mii will make music randomly...um yeah, I think i'll pass. Thankfully 'proper' games were shown as well, though all Nintendo could actually produce was a new Animal Crossing. It's something i've been excited about for a while, but when it came to it's debut and unveiling, I felt a little disappointed.

There were proper games too of course though thankfully. Resident Evil 5, Far Cry 2, Fable 2, new Portal, some MMOs from Sony and the huge news that Final Fantasy XIII is appearing on the Xbox 360. Oh, and shooters, plenty of mindless shooters, because, you know, that's what the in thing at the moment is. While it's also something i've been planning for sometime, I think E3's also finally prompted me to buy a PS3 sooner rather than later. Sony's conference was far from perfect- but then, whose was?- but there seems to be an increasing amount of games i'm wanting to play that I currently can't. Metal Gear Solid 4, obviously is top of that list, but Sony's upcoming emphasis on MMOs is mighty interesting, and something Microsoft should've perhaps been focussing on with the X360 to begin with.

While it's natural that the games industry is changing, the three press conferences from the last two days show this compellingly, with multiple 'casual' titles that previously wouldn't have been greenlit, and worryingly, a real lack of eastern presence as far as future games are concerned. The thing that this year's E3 shows more than any previous year before it however, is that while none of this generation's current three consoles are entirely perfect, and thus, the "BEST CONSOLE EVAR!!!111!" etc, they all have things going for them and exclusive games, ensuring that for this generation, owning all three consoles is perhaps more necessary than before if you're wanting a varied and exciting experience.

I'd like to say that i've been busy, but no, I haven't really. I haven't been away either, at least not physically, and generally the two weeks between this and my last post have been filled with the usual trivialities and procrastination as there always is. If you came looking for intrigue, mystery and excitement, I apologise. But look at what i've been building the past few nights; Lego's 10190 Market Street!

It's one of those sets i've been after a while, but everytime i've gone to buy it there's been distractions, either finanacially or otherwise.

 

The set itself has been out since last year, so naturally i'm late to the party, but it's one of the (currently) three sets that make up the modular Lego Factory theme- that's right, it's one of those new-fangled sets actually designed by a Lego fan. We love Lego, they love us.

As such, it's built better than most contemporary sets, and naturally, looks a hell of a lot better too. I haven't got the funds to get the other sets just yet, but I do have the bricks to expand upon it my way- i'm hoping to have another building either side of it once I find the time and enthusiasm.

 

The set's got great pieces though- there's plenty of new light-blue and navy-blue bricks, even if it isn't for display it's a great source of bricks. For me and my constant lack of a designated Lego room/garage/bunker/geek centre this is good news.

Game of the Year. Yes, it's silly mentioning such an accolade only six months into the year, but after buying multiple games that I ended up not liking and thus, ignoring to finish, Burnout Paradise is the one game this year that's truly impressed. 'Course there's another six months of releases, and having not played MGS4 yet (next month, hopefully) handing out the award still seems a little premature. That aside, Burnout Paradise is a stellar collection of great ideas and an example of how things should be working this gen.

I'll admit, after playing the demo earlier this year I was heavily disappointed, but mere hours of playing the game properly I am in love. Here's some reasons why:

• The game is fast. You will crash, a lot. It's a fucking rush that demands your undivided attention. Even better, it's a racing game without those horribly fenced courses- the city is yours, the racetrack is the route you choose. A racing game without a track seems baffling, but it works, and how.
• Again side-stepping racing-game law, the AI of the opponents is what it should be, intelligent. Your opponents crash, they cheat, they win and they're just as deviantly sneaky during races as yourself. They don't stick to the roads, they take the time-saving jumps and they go out of their way to prevent you from winning, even if it means taking themselves out.
• It shows GTAIV what a sandbox play area really looks like. Districts and areas are unique, vibrant, and remarkably different from each other- everywhere is worth exploring, and reward lies in adventuring.
• The soundtrack is awesome. Brand New, Junkie XL, LCD Soundsystem, Soundgarden, and the seemingly misplaced but equally awesome Avril Lavigne. Turn them up loud though, they compliment the driving and drown out engine rattle and metal meets road screeching.
• As a single player experience the game is great, online, it's eight times better, and a hell of a lot more competitive to boot. Team challenges and a free-play online mode where the city is yours and seven others dominate the line-up, while high-scores are broken, boastings and stories made.
• Flames come out the back of cars that glow greens and entire mountains can be driven off of across lakes, all while performing a double barrel roll. The game is full of moments of satisfying omg car porn, and despite not being anywhere near a petrolhead, I love it.

Burnout Paradise, then, is surprisingly my favourite game of the year so far. I say surprisingly because, yes when it comes to racing games (or god forbid driving in any game) I roll my eyes right out of their sockets, but 'Paradise not only completely refreshes the stale genre that is racing, but feels so complete that it's a great game in it's own right. With promised continued developer support through DLC, my interest and new found love of this game is sure to continue for more than the next few weeks, unlike that 'other' supposed game of the year...

The fifth season of Channel 4's Peep Show came to an end recently, and by that I mean, yes, I was meaning to write this mini-review sooner. As my favourite TV comedy the thought that it's ended is obviously pretty upsetting, but the good news is that now thirty half-hour episodes in, the show is still going strong.

Once again, and inevitably they're nowhere near as good as the opening two seasons, but that these episodes can't match the standard set by the early seasons is only because of time and just how pivotal and fresh those first few episodes were. That's not marking them down in anyway, because the core idea and formula of the show, as ever, remains interestingly unique- after all, how many shows exist on TV today that are set for the most part in first-person with audible thinking of the characters? The answer's irrelevant, whatever the number, this would probably be the best example of such an idea.

Following on from Mark and Sophie's disastrous wedding that dominated and closed the entire fourth season, series five returns to the single episode narrative of previous seasons while still retaining the story arc of the previous year, this time the fallout and consequences of that very wedding. Highlights include Mark's attempts to get back into the dating game as well as the constant rivalry with co-worker Jeff Heaney. Jeremy meanwhile runs out of money, commits credit fraud and joins a cult, while collectively the two manage to get their widescreen TV stolen (and the subsequent one smashed), fall out, go to some gigs, and play a game of 'Who's The Daddy?' when Sophie becomes pregnant. As ever, those scenes and thoughts of pure cringe that dominate the episodes, are also in place. Similar to last year the real focus of the show seems to be on Mark's adventures while Jeremy once again seems to get the short straw, but as has always been the case, it's the chemistry and exchanges between the two that really make the show to begin with, and fans will be pleased to know there's plenty of comedic exchanges between the two.

Despite this, recurring characters are again, thankfully plentiful. Super Hans continues in many episodes to be Jeremy's sidekick and partner in crime, while Mark's boss Alan Johnson once again has recurring appearances. Big Suze from previous seasons is in a reduced capacity, while Nancy, once again, has disappeared entirely. In their place however there's the new character of Dobby, a character so well-materialised and crafted she seems as if she's been on the show for absolute years, and is undoubtedly one of the best things about these episodes. With luck, a return for next year will be inevitable.

Earlier this year writer and creator Jesse Armstrong announced that there was no intention to stop making the show, as a result of the characters never changing. While this is true for even this season, the continued adventures and troubles Mark and Jeremy find routinely find themselves in continue to amuse and entertain, and the prospect of more episodes of an already winning formula, is an exciting one.

My Toynami 3rd Wave Futurama figures arrived today -after the usual minor issues and obligiatory feud with the Royal Mail of course. They'd been on pre-order for a few months now, and while I think they were scheduled to be released in August, i'm well chuffed the date was brought forward and they arrived today.

 
Wave one and two was Fry and Zoidberg, Leela and Zapp, while the third wave sees the arrival of Bender and Kif- TV most infamous robot and the ever depressed green space sidekick. As with the previous figures there's a range of props and accessories -again annoyingly, most of them can't be held properly- and they compliment the character and maybe even add to the figure's appeal. Bender comes with extra pairs of eyes for 'angry face/sad face' lark, while Kif comes with his hat from Where The Buggalo Roam, and one of the sphere 'enemies' from the War Is the H-Word episode. There's also a framed photo of Amy, but this is a weak addition, second only to the possibility of an actual Amy figure.

Out of the two, Bender is undoubtedly the better figure, and perhaps even the best out of all those released so far. Even better, is the fact that his head can be unscrewed and replaced with Nixon's head-in-a-jar, as depicted in, A Head in the Polls, the best episode ever, fact. Wave Three also means that the Robot Devil figure is finally completed. The figure is all long and skinny compared to the rest, but it matches the character, and he's still a lot better than the horrible Fry release from earlier. And he's got a magnetic top hat, so, win.

The fourth wave of figures (which I think are already out?) is a Fry reissue, this time with superhero attire dressed as Captain Yesterday, and Nudar, from the recent DVD film. I'm passing on them both, but future releases include a Leela as Clobarella, Lrrr and Calculon. All must haves, and if they're anywhere near as good as the existing figures, fans are in for a treat.

Summer.

The weather-too hot or too wet, but never a nice in-between compromise. Endless attacks by beasties. Sleepless nights, and going to bed when it's still daylight. Shit TV, and the horrible stench of barbecues. Glares on screens, and the forever pouring sweat. Hayfever, that time when all the annoying little school kids are on holiday, holidays in general, and people either wearing too much clothes or not enough. Shorts, hairy legs, topless male bellies. Altogether, a culmination of awful.

Turns out it's my birthday today- yeah, really!

I'm now 22, but i've yet to feel any difference. Okay, so maybe there's some mild fears and apprehensions that i'm a year older and even further removed from being a teenager and more an adult, but these feelings will probably get worse before they get better. I think. But the good news is that with each additional year comes a whole lot of goodies people have kindly bought too celebrate the occasion, undoubtedly, the best thing of any birthday. Here's what I got.

• Leonardo da Vinci, The Complete Works
• Father Ted, The Complete Scripts
• Castles: England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales
• Radiohead- "Kid A"
• Radiohead- "Amnesiac" (from the rather awesome Jon- thank you kind sir!)
• ...Trail of Dead- "Source Tags and Codes"
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (on DVD- read the books, catching up with the films)
• That Mitchell & Webb Look, Season 1

...and finally, The Sims 2 'Teen Stuff' expansion pack.

I sent a link of my Amazon Wishlist to my parents before my birthday, so this is all the nice stuff they brought back with them. More than I was expecting, but I wont complain about that. I'm hoping to review some of the stuff for here too, but, well...better not make any promises. The three books are particularly good, and though there may not be any Lego or games -i'm pretty sure I can cover that myself- i'm pretty chuffed.

I still don't feel '22' though...

MOO Minicards 

Final Fantasy.

Mages, potions, heroes, quests, battles, and presumably somewhere down the line, a boss that can only be fought after several hours spent grinding. Oh, and moogles, chocobos, and a hundred other recurring themes and ideas that the series is frequently notorious for. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King, undoubtedly the posterboy for the launch of Nintendo's answer to Xbox Live Arcade that is, WiiWare, thankfully tries to move the series forward while still retaining it's roots and incredibly deep conventions. This is one RPG where you're not going to be adventuring.

The plot is immediately throwaway, but is best being summed up as follows: you are the king's son and heir, returning to the home realm with hopes of restoration and success accordingly. The game's objective follows hand in hand with this, and the game as a whole is very sim RPG, a Theme Final Fantasy if you will. Against your best wishes and recurring desires to do the opposite, all your time in-game is spent within the realm building houses and restoring your once was home-town, speaking to the residents and keeping everyone happy. As King, this is somewhat obvious, but adventurers can be hired and dispatched to numerous dungeons around the gameworld to do your bidding, return with treasure, and wipe out any villain that remotely poses any threat to your empire.

Okay, so it might sound a little tedious, but the game's surprisingly addictive, and the micro-management of your adventurers is for the most part, pretty interesting. As the game progresses you're able to train them as black/white mages or thieves, while building armouries and weapon shops allows them to tool up before departing, perhaps increasing their success in battle. They're battles you don't see, but Life as a King goes back to the origins of RPGs by being entirely text based. Your decisions following these battles will be the agenda for the next day in-game, be it allowing them to rest, head out somewhere else, or, umm...grinding to take down that boss. But with one in-game day only lasting a few minutes, the gameplay is surprisingly fast. Being confined to the city however does become slightly frustrating, and before long you'll realise your input to the game is only marginal, but it's fun while it lasts, and seeing progress and the development of the realm take place in front of you is pretty rewarding.

Easily the big-name title for the WiiWare launch, My Life as a King is big, both visually and in design. Waggle controls are thankfully kept at a minimum, but the game is immediately a far better choice than half the licensed crap on Xbox Live Arcade, and more interesting, the Wii itself. It's no killer-ap, but Life as a King is enjoyable, fun, and most importantly, a good indication of what the Wii's new service is capable of.

* There was a visitor spike here on 16th. I wasn't here. Were you? If so...why?

* Sidetracking the usual musical interests of all things post-hardcore and new-fangled dance-punk, this past week i've been listening to Lupe Fiasco's The Cool. I'm not an avid follower of hip-hop by any means, but both the album and the man behind it seems immediately fresh and exciting. In a genre so overblown and awash with all the correctly-applied and numerous stereotypes, this is a good thing.

* LOST ends it's fourth season run towards the end of the month after yet another (but altogether shorter than the previous one) hiatus. Because of the WGA Strike the season's seemed a whole lot shorter than it actually is, but being the rabid fanboy that I am it'll still be my favourite show this year. The spoilers for the finale are out too, which is either good or bad depending your stance, but if the finale is anything like it's predecessor's then the twists will be huge, and that isn't something I want to spoil. Operation avoid-Internet-at-all-costs-and-go-into-hiding, starts here.

* Continuing with TV, last night's episode of Desperate Housewives on E4 was Something's Coming. Over the last few years the show and I have had numerous fallings out, and i've vowed to stop watching several times, but every so often the show redeems itself. Something's Coming is reportedly the most-expensive episode of the show, and it's understandable- there's a mother facking twister that hit's the show's fictional locale. It wasn't as good as it could've been-only two deaths? realism bye bye- and the show still insisted on continuing with it's season of silly stories, but those aside, it was a great forty minutes of TV.

* It's my birthday in twenty days. Buy me something nice. Or not, whatever. 

* I've abandoned playing through GTA IV. I'm in the closing stages of the game, but i'm finding it all incredibly repetitive, and some of the problems are a lot harder to ignore than others. Another uncompleted game that i'm going to have to revisit later. Nah, this past week i've been playing Viva Pinata. I've had it for ages, but a five minute revisit immediately reminded me how relaxing, charming and well-developed the title was to begin with. The good news is that yes, it is a game I have almost completed.

* Things I want to do that i'll never get round to:
1/ Go see Iron Man.
2/ Go see Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
3/ Ever be able to keep this blog frequently updated.

Back soon...maybe. Possibly with new posts, but then again, well... better not make promises.

I wrote a little about Muxtape last month- new site, upload twelve songs and share, internet excitement all round- and with the site still online (and thankfully seemingly devoid of any legal rambling), I've decided to update the songs to keep the page fresh.

There's no artist or band continuations, but again, the current line-up is once again a list of 'songs I like at the moment', rather than being focussed on something specific like genre or a letter of the alphabet, though those mixtapes may be coming eventually. That said, there's one or two more elusive acts listed this month that last- if you listen to the playlist and discover someone new anyway then that's great, I guess the site really works.

Here's the May listing: [Stream Here]

1. Jane's Addiction - True Nature
2. Hell is for Heroes - Kamichi
3. Nshwa - By Your Side
4. The Longcut - Holy Funk
5. Radio 4- Enemies Like This
6. Röyksopp - Sparks
7. Sufjan Stevens - All the Trees of the Field Will clap Their Hands
8. Computerman - Spies on You
9. Portishead - The Rip
10. ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead - So Divided

Muxtape Post and April listing

Just a couple of things- more Castle and some more of the Indiana Jones sets. Theoretically I don't need any of it, but with spare money and no other unhealthy addictions to spend it on, why the hell not?

7620 is going to be staying boxed. Generally hoarding away boxed sets isn't something I do, but having missed out on the original Star Wars sets ten years back (yes, it's really been that long) i've decided to do it for one or two of the Indiana Jones sets. The amount they might be worth in a few years time is anyone's guess, but if they're anything like it's Star Wars big-brother, they may be worth quite a bit. If not, i'm sure they'll make for nice 'from me, to me' presents in a a couple of years.