Best of 2008 – Definitive Edition

I think only the lucky or the terminally un-opinionated actually fully enjoy reading Top X lists. For the rest of us it’s an experience all too often filled with bewildering disbelief that some idiots voted item X above item Y even though it’s clearly inferior or why poltroons who engaged in voting entirely forgot about item M. The one advantage of public Top X lists is that they have at least the pretence of objectivity as they’re based on public votes. On the flip side this means they’re an indication of popularity rather than quality (as only the naive believe the two are inseparable). Though I suppose “Top X” has always been shorthand for “Most Popular X” rather than “Best X”. I sure do love me some variables. Continue reading…

Soulcalibur IV – A tale of blades and boobs eternally retold

As a brief prelude, I dont have a huge problem with arguably sexualised videogame characters, especially when it comes to fighters. Both the men and women tend to be scantily clad and in perfect physical condition and thats largely fine with me, though some games are a little too prurient for my liking e.g. Rumble Roses XX. When the characters are sexualised too a point thats distracting to the gameplay or in place of the gameplay then I have a problem (also I spent fucking ages uploading all the various images to imageshack through its shitty interface so click on the links you ungrateful bastards). Anyway on with the show. Continue reading…

Adieu amore Or another uninnocent, elegant fall into the unmagnificent lives of adults

It’s been a considerable while since I’ve been chemically augmented to a noticeable degree and so the world at large has been spared the truly epic amount of drivel that my chemically unbalanced mind is capable of producing. It would appear that day to day living (and a truly staggering abuse of caffeine) doesn’t produce as much angst as one would hope; then again I would bet large amounts of money that it is more my limited social interaction that is leading to my relatively calm state of mind. Continue reading…

Don’t look so frightened, this is just a passing phase

APOC1 – Book 2 – Entry XX – Culled from the apocrypha left by one of the early splinter cults which practiced a debased version of the widespread worship of “Mick”. Recovered from the outlands of Gundalk, one of the areas worst hit by the Fall in 07. The widely meandering and rapidly changing subject and tone is clear evidence of their mental degeneration – within a few (unwieldy) paragraphs it examines the supposed life of Mick, his feelings of existential angst, plans for the future, spirituality and questionable emotional stability. It then veers wildly into a strange discussion of “cosplay” before petering out in a tedious history of his infatuation with fighting games and an alleged round up of the various media products this fabled “Mick” engaged with – barely worth reading as anything other than a historical curiosity Continue reading…

Around the noble god are borrowed things

To quote myself:

“I also think I shall unleash some rating fury on the tried and tested one to five scale (1=crap 2=average 3=good 4=excellent 5=”perfect”). I suppose I should come up with some kind of unit for these as well, but I’ll hold of on that for the moment and go with stars. I would also like to point out in advance that the reason so many of these ratings are so high is that I usually research what I’m downloading/buying and try to weed out the shite in advance.”

Also, because I love you so (and certainly not because I’m an anal retentive with too much spare time), the titles of all the items below are linked to further (and almost certainly more objective) sources of information about the item in question. Continue reading…

What I’ve Watched – First Draft

Hmm, there is quite a bit here, well it has been almost three months, but it still seems like far too much. Perhaps even worse is the fact that I have at least twice this much on my computer never mind the (literal) stack of DVD’s sitting beside my bed that I have yet to open never mind watch. I think I’ll re-arrange these into alphabetical rather than chronological order (as it turned out they ended up arranged in relatively random fashion). I also think I shall unleash some rating fury on the tried and tested one to five scale (1=crap 2=average 3=good 4=excellent 5=”perfect”). I suppose I should come up with some kind of unit for these as well, but I’ll hold of on that for the moment and go with stars. I would also like to point out in advance that the reason so many of these ratings are so high is that I usually research what Im downloading/buying and try to weed out the shite in advance. Continue reading…

Secret meetings in the basement of my brain Or Reviews

Its been a while, Ive been pre-occupied with my masters, though paradoxically I havent spend much time actually doing it. Apart from that its been work and the continued consumption of media products, well that and being accused of being a monk by various bastards. Ive read/watched/played quite a variety of things recently and I shant bore you with snippet reviews of the lot, I’ll just briefly mention the stuff that stood out. Continue reading…