Nobody Reads This

Gamer, Blogger, Student

James Reynolds

jamesr87[.at.]gmail.com

 

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Anyone who keeps a blog will know this feeling; I do stuff everyday which is probably worthy of a mention, I play games and watch shows which I’d like to share with you … But I just can’t be arsed with articulating it into a post.

 

I’m lucky in the sense I didn’t make this a formal blog and that RoboticOverlord has yet to grow into fruition so really I can write whatever the hell I like in any format unlike those who write formal reviews for submission and the such like.

For now I will talk about the two things I predominantly did yesterday night (That weren’t coursework) being:

• I watched the movie Religulous.
• I played some of the new COH Expansion.

Religulous was a delight to watch but hopefully not just as an Atheist. It spent the majority of the movie frankly discussing the God and the convictions of those who believe. The ultimate message throughout claimed to be “Nobody Knows” which is a fairly agnostic comment but his closing epilogue was staunchly anti-religion.

Ignoring that I enjoyed seeing him give Religion the Expelled treatment where you get people to agree to an interview then trick them into answering difficult or obnoxious questions and then editing it to make them look stupid. It was done very well and cut together to be really obvious but still very amusing.

The movie’s strengths came from it’s ability to draw a quote from the subject which wasn’t favourable and then watch them realise what they just said. The US Senator scene was particularly delicious.

Ultimately it’s a blunt commentary on the state of current Religion’s but also a very amusing depiction of the people in charge of them. Sadly if you’re deeply religious you will probably draw no enjoyment from the movie clips used to twist the comments into jokes.

As for the COH Expansion: Tales of Valour I found the new content really very enjoyable. It comes with some new campaigns which are about a specific group of people – In the case of the first mission (and the only one I’ve completed thus far) Tiger 205 which was a fearsome tank and crew who were the bane of the limey existence. You can now control directly where the tank fires which is far better designed than you might think.

The skirmish mode that Rob and I enjoy on a regular basis was not radically different but felt retuned and using some of the “custom” vehicles was definitely a refreshing twist. After all, who else fucking hates the German Motorbike?

We waged a mini-war as the Germans vs a mixed Ally team, we each took a flank of the map with me taking on a forceful British infantry rush on a small bridge on the left flank which was eventually secured by MG bunkers. Rob rebuilt the bridges to the middle and defended against an early onslaught there. (Which intentional or not deflected focus away from me and our home bases)

Eventually I researched up to .88s and Rob pushed them back out of the middle island giving us total control over 2/3 of the map. The fought hard to retake the middle with repeated joint heavy rushes where Rob with my Registered Artillery prevailed (At repeated high costs). Each time we knocked out the bridge and bought ourselves a few minutes.

Now with the upgrades done and resources in hand I established an .88 battery which more or less killed any possibility of further attack on the middle coupled with the Rocket Barrage skill and the Ammo to use it freely. 

We built up out Panther/Panzer divisions and took the last island from the Allies.

I fucking love that game, we both saved the reply (I keep losing mine though ;p)

Regards,
James.

Gamer, Blogger, Student

James Reynolds

jamesr87[.at.]gmail.com

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Wow! That was quite the impromptu gap in the blogger-sphere! I do apologize for my absence for all the 1 or so people who still check this regularly to get their fix of the glorious self-deprecating and fantastically ironic (all in one sentence I might add) Jaime. Wait … is that a Girls name? (<3 Elle)

Several things are accountable for my recent lapse in activity and in no particular order they’re WoW, Leslie and the Easter Holiday. I’ll run off what I got up to on my holiday for you but only because it includes some movies I wanted to tell you about:

Leslie and I treated ourselves to a visit to HMV which, since the credit crunch began kicking corporate fat cats in the balls constantly, has seen a substantial growth in their discount movie section. I kid you not, I saw a wrapped copy of Scarface for a measly £3 … What would Tony say? However, unlike most trips to HMV which see me leaving with a cheap horror flick and a terrible comedy (I bought Mum & Dad and 40 Year Old Virgin a few weeks back, will talk about them soon) we spent most of our time in the World Cinema section.

Leslie was struggling to decide between two movies, I forget what one was (perhaps when she updates she can tell you ;p) and the other which she eventually left with was Hansel & Gretel. Two things you should know about this movie; It’s a Korean Horror (and therefore instantly awesome) and it’s obviously not what you expect. It’s visceral, horrifying but delectably mellow for the most part. Offsetting the Christmas setting may seem like a cheap trick but every detail of this movie silently screams bloody murders whilst eating sweets for dinner…

Check it out.

Almost as if to prove a point I walked away from HMV with three movies also from World Cinema for the sum total of about £12 and at least one of those you will hopefully know of, they were; Downfall (Germany), Romanzo Criminale (Italian) and Brotherhood (Korea). So far I’ve only had a chance to check out Romanzo Criminale and before I say anything else go out and buy this movie. Buy it if you ever loved Godfather, Goodfellas, Scarface or have ever watched anything even remotely gang related and though “Yeah, pretty cool” because trust me Romanzo Criminale will show you the Italians know mobs better than anyone.

It’s somewhat based on the rising to power of an actual gang in Italy who grew to power in the 90s before their ranks eventually thinned and “scores were settled”. This gang was linked to kidnapping, killing reporters, killing judges and perhaps most importantly they were linked to the Bologne Massacre. They also had ties to the Right-wing Government and it’s entirely possible they were all pawns of perhaps the most notorious Mason fraternities to have ever existed (and been known about publically).

The movie depicts the founding members of the gang and tells their story from their first crime (and imprisonment) all the way to the top of the ladder and down again, it truly is a glorious crime novel (see what I did there? What do you mean you don’t speak Italian?) with scenes that could almost have been substituted for those classics I mentioned earlier and you wouldn’t have batted an eye-lid. The most criminal thing you could do is not check this movie out.

I also watched Mum & Dad which I mentioned earlier, I picked it up for £3. The premise is: There’s a (presumably) inbred family living just outside of Heathrow Airport who live entirely off of whatever they can scavange including people. They abuct the lead actress and force her (through very nasty visceral acts) to become part of the family but just as you think the family can’t get worse … Of course they bloody well do. This movie called itself the British Texas Chainsaw Massacre and it’s bloody right to do so. If you can still grab this cheap then do it, you’ll enjoy it more than you enjoyed the last 36 Saw movies.

I think that’s it for the movie summary and now I’ll spend a few minutes talking about WoW before actually getting on with work. I dinged my Paladin level 72 which was a long hard journey of procrastination and I’m sad to have left the Howling Fjord. I’ve moved on to Borean to enjoy some nice easy questing and hopefully pick up some instance runs as main tank, so far I’ve had a generally ok time of it as I’ve done Utgarde Keep a few times. The mobs hit pretty hard and my avoidance really isn’t up to scratch but I have to make the decision of either having stamina gems which contributes something silly like 800 Stamina to my pool (bringing my total up to circa 11k) but also additional damage and ergo threat or going the avoidance route which is obviously better for healers.

So far I’m mostly gemmed for Stamina with a few Defense gems but I’m going to do the research a little later and probably change that up a bit. I did spend pretty much ever last copper piece I had catching my Jewelcrafting up to my level, now I can craft rings and trinkets I can’t wear but at least the gems are great!

Leslie dinged 61 recently and I put some gold towards her epic land mount, she’s doing really well to have gotten this far and now she and I are enjoying brief levelling sessions in Outland with the occasional booster run from me. She desperately needs a good robes if anyone can recommend anything, I think she’s dying to look better

Anyway, I think that’s enough from me, I’ve got no reviews from XE given that they’re now getting the scraps from the XCN. Kind of a shame really that the last couple of reviews that went up were from the weak writers, I’m guessing that probably didn’t help much at all.

If you’ve got anything interesting to talk about then hit me up or @me on Twitter, I’ve been crazy busy so not checking it but now I’m back at the desk I probably will.

Gratz if you actually managed to read all of this!

Peace,
James.

Gamer, Blogger, Student

James Reynolds

jamesr87[.at.]gmail.com

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:::Edit::: I finally found the BBC article link and dropped my Daily Mail one, why was the BBC hiding this story?

So today I was appalled to read that a local group of Muslims felt the need to picket the homecoming parade of British troops as they returned from Afghanistan. They brandished signs and placards with images of dying children and called them killers and monsters. Of course, 30 yards away from the men on the picket line we’re the obedient domicile caretakers that they call women. It’s almost poetic.

Anyway, if this show of hate for our country was not bad enough for people who are here entirely by choice the fact that they were given police protection leaves a particularly bitter after taste. Furthermore, in spite of the fact they were causing the disturbance, two patriots were arrested for telling them to leave.

These are people who murdered innocent civilians (100 deaths recorded in total) for a doodle in a paper they disagreed with, a group of people who terrorized a man for  writing a book they thought was offensive and NOW they wave the flag of free speech?

It’s about time we told immigrants, if you don’t like it – Get out. Nationals of this country should be heard and i’m sick of patriots being told to grin and bear the hatred imported from overseas.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Any interesting materials to share?

That’s all,
JamesR.

Gamer, Blogger, Student

James Reynolds

jamesr87[.at.]gmail.com

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So yesterday I invented a movie trivia game with a twist, ok so It probably exists already … But I made it up off the top of my head.

How to play (Players 1-2)

• Someone names a film.
• Then the next person has to name another movie, in which one of the actors from the previous movie was also in.
• Then they take turns repeating this.

Example

• Player 1: Batman Begins
• Player 2: Equilibrium (Christian Bale)
• Player 1: Lord of the Rings (Sean Bean)
• Player 2: Sliders (John Rhys-Davies)
• Player 1: You’re a cunt

Optional Rules

• Can include Television Series, Animated Series, Games etc as appropriate.
• The same actor can not be used twice consecutively
• The same movie can not appear twice in one game
• The same actor can not appear twice in one game
• You only win the game/score a point if you can continue the path and your opponent can not.

Alternative Hot Potato Rules (Players 2+)

• Same rules and gameplay as before
• Each player has n lives
• When a player can not continue a chain he loses a life and passes the go to the next player
• Aim of the game to be last man standing

Simple, but awesome.

I saw Australia and Seven Pounds, both awesome movies.

Regards,
JamesR.