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.

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• 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.

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• 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.