* My first assessment of this year's course -Medieval to Modern, 1400-1900- went off in the post today. It's a few weeks late due to personal problems I won't pleasure or bore you with, but it's away all the same- thought not without my dislike of what i've put down. The question(s) theoretically are easy enough but it was obvious from my struggling that I didn't do enough of the coursework. Still, there's plenty of time to solve that problem before heading towards the second assessment next month.

* I'm hoping to get some more photography added to the gallery within the few days. The first seven shots were merely experimenting with the kind of features Squarespace offered, but once i've resized the shots for web-viewing they'll be here shortly afterwards. On that note, i'm also planning on changing the header image. Not sure, maybe I wont. I've also kind of fallen out of love with Flickr (that's possible, right?). The tagging, the commenting, the group management- it's all become so tediously unexciting. I'm not uploading anything there at the moment either. After two and a half years, maybe it's time to move on?

* I've halted my GTA lovefest temporarily while I playthrough Resident Evil 4 again. It's easily the game of last-gen,and i'm enjoying it immensely,a playthrough most inspired by GAF. I'm playing Phoenix Wright: Justice For All too on the DS, but it's all time-wasting until Mario Kart and GTAIV release next month. LOST is on hiatus -after such an awesome mid-season finale- whereas Team Fortress 2 is constant- my enjoyment of it goes without saying. 36 kills as an Engie the other night, a new record.

* Finally, if you work in a Post Office and have seen my ordered Futurama action figures, please hurry them up- i'm getting impatient. They were ordered weeks ago in a state of giddy impulsiveness, and as each postal delivery passes each day, I find myself ever more disappointed. Please deliver them soon, if not, i'm going to have to complain once again and rant about how useless The Royal Mail is. Not good.

 

I mentioned a while ago my intent on entering the CC Battles Contest. i've had my entries completed for over a week now, but I finally got to photographing them today. It's my first year entering the annual contest, but it was exciting (and difficult) trying to build something more focussed towards action rather than structure. As such structures kinda feature heavily as backdrops in both the entries, but I like how the battles turned out, and they're both completely different from each other.

Attack on Widmore is a purely a classic-castle battle with Forestmen attacking a Crusader fort, separated only by a river. The idea originally was to have trees bridging across the river and the actual fort a lot more crumbled and overgrown, in a state of neglect, but now it kind of contrasts with the greenery across the river, which I like. The fort has a small interior too. It's completely unnecessary given the criteria of the contest, but i'm weird like that. The river is SNOT too which I think is a first for me, but I like the smoothness of how it turned out- it's something i'll be doing again.

The Battle of Mortia on the other hand is a lot more in keeping with that of the current Lego Castle line, with necromancers and skeletons- it's also got a lot of the newer colours too such as the dark-green. Generally i'm a fan of neither, but it was fun building in a new style and colour-way to what I usually do. Originally the battle was going to be below and over a bridge (again with dark green), but I needed somewhere for the Necromancer mastermind, so the tower was included. It wasn't going to be as high either, but, well...I got carried away.

At this stage i'm not sure if there will be a third entry or not. A lot of my bricks have been used and the thought of de-assembling and sorting those two entries frightens me completely. The contest ends on the 5th of April though, so I may build a smaller entry yet. It depends how forthcoming new ideas are.

 

Serial DVDs with no option of 'Play All'.

 

I'm pretty sure i've got some 24 DVDs that suffer the same problem- undoubtedly the show the 'Play All' function was invented for. It's nonsense.

 

I've become completely engrossed with the TV show Dexter recently. In it's US homeland the show may be getting ready to enter it's third season, whereas i've just watched the third episode, but it's a show i've been meaning to check out for ages. Award wins, critical acclaim, this review from Jon, and just general buzz- it's nice being finally able to catch up with the rest of the world. The show aired late last year on digital telly's FX UK, but with ITV having second-run rights it's something i'm only now able to watch, even if it does mean having to stay up late to watch the show due to afore-mentioned network's bad handling.

The show, as may be obvious already, focuses on the character of the same name, Dexter Morgan, a blood-splatter forensic working for the Miami PD. As far as TV preferences go Crime & Detective lark is usually at the bottom of the hierarchy, but both Dexter the show and character are completely unconventional, refreshing and exciting. The character of Dexter couldn't be more against the norm- here's a forensic scientist who's skill and ability in this area takes more than just a professional turn, as each episode sees him targeting a member of society to satisfy his bloodlust. Avenging deaths, taking out the trash, fighting, ultimately, for the greater good while satisfying that urge for murder.

It's a dark subject matter, with equally disturbing visuals to accompany, but the show is creepily satisfying and sometimes charming, usually through the use of the central character's narration. His life is dark, it's sick, someone who is anti-social and seeking justice at the same time; someone with a hell of a lot more depth than the entire casts of some shows. The formula's morbidly unique, but several times during my first three hours viewing I can't help but think of Nip/Tuck. Maybe it's the blood against a palm-tree background? The character so well-crafted he's far from perfect? That internal hating of the protagonists and their relationships with the world? I could go on, but such comparisons do nothing but undermine the show- so far it's a show that ultimately can't be compared perfectly to anything else.

Three hours in and already a desire for more, prompting a frantic urge to play catch-up. That's exciting.

 

Ahead of the release next month of that big-name game-of-the-year sequel, recently i've gone back to revisit Grand Theft Auto III, released an amazing whole seven years ago. How time flies. The backlog of uncompleted games still exists under above the consoles on a shelf, but what's the point in keeping older games if you're not going to play them impulsively in a few years time? Either way, playing through GTAIII is more than a refreshing nostalgic lark, just a further reminder of why I love the game so much.

It's interesting though, because despite having a PS2 at the titles time of release, it wasn't something I was originally interested in. Naturally being Rockstar the game hadn't been promoted heavily during it's development, but that legendary unique excuse and chance of buying it for myself solely based on playing it at a friend's, well, the game came from nowhere, and i'm pretty sure it was a similar feeling for those thousands that bought a PS2 solely to play it. But it's an innovative game; where Super Mario 64 introduced the player to 3D worlds, GTAIII gave that world depth and substance, populating it in the process with figures all the more interesting than Goombas. The last 3D action-adventure, and the first 'sandbox' title.

That feeling of depth and immersion within the game for me was one of the biggest draws. Sure, as a teenager that bizarre lust for violence that plagued my gaming mind was another force, but being able to not play within a game world and rather, belong, it was a one-time feeling. Cruising past the LCPD in a Yellow Taxi, listening to Chatterbox FM and Head Radio, passing fictional shops and rubbernecking at the product placements on the billboards overhead, with a passenger in the back, and all the while, wondering what was over that hill across the sea. The game world is limited of course, of course it's limited, but that unique sense of freedom driven purely by curiosity- not towards the next level or mission, but to the geography, street, and experience- it kept me going. There might be a flame-thrower, a hidden package, or even better, one of those shiny red cars i'd seen earlier in a cut-scene. Things to collect, out of curiosity, later, out of obsession. Finally a game where the Pokémon tagline of Gotta Catch 'Em All was not only motto, but mantra.

It's a game full of great moments, one that keeps on giving. These are more than mere virtual memories, they're stories from Liberty City, that place you long to visit after work or school, and that place that lingers in your mind for several hours after your daily visit. Moments that are unique, but moments that compare to your other favourite videogame memories such as rescuing Yorda or entering the 3D Mushroom Kingdom for the first time. This game has them. Moments and ideas that were not simply supplementary to the success of the PS2, but pivotal, the game that launched it's own genre and meaning for a console; the day when videogames not only grew up, but realised their potential. A game story so optional the majority of your time wasn't spent obeying the game's narrative structure, but rather, obsessively spent carving and creating your own.

Though I did not realise it the first day I played GTAIII -or the week after i'd reached the Shoreside Vale in the game, or even in the months after i'd completed the game 90% and lost interest- it would become one of my all time favourite games. A challenge and reputation that it's next sequel released next month will hopefully not only match, but obliterate completely.

It's going to be tough. 

In all honesty, Jin and Sun Kwon are my two favourite characters on LOST. That's not to say I don't like Ben, Locke et al along with the rest of the fanbase, but since the early days of the debut season, the Kwon husband and wife duo have been consistently interesting, fascinating, and incredibly deep characters, that most people usually forget about in the grand scheme of things. In a fictional universe inhabited by a clairvoyant, a cursed lottery winner, an evil mastermind and a one-time disabled hunter now recovered, the fact that Sun and Jin are merely a married couple is a major draw and a well-fought win for normality in the show, in essence, the two characters that still remind of the simpler times of those opening plane crash episodes.

Along with the rest of the show's ensemble however,  Sun and Jin too have been given their own development, and again, while not seemingly integral to the mystery and mythology of the show, their own personal backstories are forever interesting, often simply a tale of mere love and nothing else. Ji-Yeon seemingly continues these conventions, as Sun is rushed to hospital to give birth to Jin's baby, via a comment about her being one of this season's big things, The Oceanic 6. She gives birth to a daughter, while much of Jin's time is spent hunting for a cuddly panda as a present; a seemingly simple and charming couple of scenes with a plot-twist mindfu*k that cheats the viewer completely the way the show is renowned for. You'll love it, but Sun & Jin fans will thankfully be pleased that the episode has frequent exchanges between the two back on the ol' island of doom. A charming story of love, as always.

But as with last year, the focus in Ji-Yeon and indeed the season is once again entirely on the new characters, and not purely the survivors. This episode sees the exposition of the freighter plot and all the new stories that come with it, slowly moving the show's over-arching plot, while, inexplicably raising plenty of new questions and setting up for, presumably some answers next week before the show goes on hiatus. If we'll get them is another matter, but thankfully Ji-Yeon provides more than a filler episode that some would label it as, and once again proves that LOST, is still as good as it ever was. We may be in the fourth season now, but promises are being delivered, and all those early stories and characters are looking to come back in more than a big way.

 

Returning from her shopping jaunt this past weekend, my sister brought me home two CDs- the second full-length offerings of Rilo Kiley and Band of Horses, The Execution of all Things and Cease to Begin respectively. Great, two bands that I absolutely love and records i've been meaning to buy for ages now, except, a week later, i've yet to listen to them.

It's not that i'm excited or don't have time either (trust me, of the latter, I have loads) it's just that recently i've had the problematic issue of not wanting to listen to music, at least in the conventional sense. For weeks, my CD player has gone unused and treated without any love. But I love music, and it's one of those things i'm incredibly passionate about. The problem nowadays is that while I may buy so much as five CDs at once, most will only be spun the once, during which it'll be getting imported onto my computer. From there it'll be listened to infinitely, while it's physical counterpart will merely sit on the shelf with all those other CDs I no longer spin, slowly gathering dust.

But it's a problem. I'm too much of a worried consumer to buy purely the digital versions of the album, and i'd still rather buy the CD in the first instance if only out of habit, whatever, i'm old-fashioned like that, i'm a purist. While it's great that digital media is finally getting publicly and socially accepted, the problem for me at least is that i'm under the belief that if I go that way I own nothing- i'm feeble in that, if it doesn't exist physically, it doesn't exist at all. Given the choice, i'd probably buy all the Xbox Live Arcade titles in box form if Microsoft would allow me, but I know that out of looking at a shelf full of CDs and a 'My Music Folder' which one I find more reassuring and pleased to own. Another factoring issue is probably i'm usually nearer to the computer than a CD player, and even going somewhere else now it's gotten to the stage where it's probably easier bringing a USB stick with you than an actual CD. After all, everyone has a computer now, right? If not why the continual option of cheaper downloadable music?

The fact that downloads are now considered as music sales within the official charts is at it's simplest level indication that this phase is only just beginning, with movies, TV shows and games presumably due for the same success in the coming years. It may be better for the environment and cheaper for all involved, but do we really have to move on so quickly?

Some of us aren't ready.

 

Released between the studio albums of the self-titled debut in 2005 and Sound of Silver in 2007 -easily one of my favourite records of the last year-45:33 is at it's simplest level forty-five minutes of continual sound from everyone's favourite indie-dance outfit, LCD Soundsystem.

Advertised and released originally in the Fall of 2006 as a soundtrack to accompanying jogging and all that nonsense, the EP was commissioned by Nike to "to reward and push at good intervals of a run". Umm, whatever. Originally the soundtrack was only available to download from iTunes, but last November was given a re-release on CD through Death From Above. While theoretically one complete piece of music, here it's separated into a tracklisting, that still works, if not more so. While producer James Murphy would later admit that the jogging aspect was a lie and he merely wanted to create such a lengthy piece of music, it's not that difficult to imagine it being used in regards to it's original purpose.

45:33 begins with a slow-building introduction, slowly building up pace before simultaneously transitioning into the next track or section, a smooth soulful piano groove, sprinkled with the lyrical pacing you've come to expect -and heard in the future release-from the band. What follows is the pure instrumental of an old friend, Someone Great. If you're listening to this after Sound of Silver it's somewhat alarming, but hearing the sample here devoid of the vocals you've become so accustomed to gives it new light, and after some repeated listening, I think I prefer it to the final version of the song. But movement is constant, and while lasting longer than it's finished-with-vocals counterpart, 45:33 continues, into something so psychedelically driven, and fused with 80s brass. From there it's robotic voicework and a relentless ongoing beat that drives forward, the penultimate push before that big soft eight-minute comedown.

While the formula is undoubtedly unconventional and the premise baffling, 45:33 provides far more than an exercise soundtrack. First and foremost it is music, and as a means of experimentation between two very defined albums, a play on expectations and past assumptions. It is fresh, exciting, and perhaps, somewhat appropriately, energetic throughout.

The annual Battles Contest was announced over at Classic-Castle by Josh Wedin last weekend.

I'm always building (or more often than not sorting bricks), but contests and competitions like this and the Colossal Castle are always good excuses to bring out the bricks, especially with prizes on offer. Not that winning is everything, and it's foolish and egotistical to aim for success anyway, but it's always a good chance to show off what you've got and soak-up the entries and ideas of everyone else. I know that in the few year i've re-developed my interest of Lego, I have learned a lot from these kind of contests.

The closing date for entries is the 5th of April, and forgetting all other current commitments, i'm hoping to knock out a couple of entries, embarassingly, ideas i've been plotting for a while. But i've started all the same, two entries in fact, and while it's easy to spend an entire day at the weekend building, it's difficult going back through the week or finding time and enthusiams later on, much like my new bad habit when it comes to videogame as of late. Then there's the constant problem of finding myself out of specific bricks or colours solved only by a binge-spending trip to Bricklink, but all hobbies are expensive, right?

I hope so.