Ode to the deleted comment

O, deleted comment.
Why did you promise so much and deliver so little?
A misspelled graveyard of witty, pithy wordiness,
Your immortal epitaphs now left unread and undiscovered,
Capturing a thought that was right and true.

You seemed so good at first
But as my fingers dance upon the plastic
The clicks and clacks distract me
Gone in a dash as quick as the flash that created you.

My very own secret of intent
At one point seemed to express my soul
Then you revealed too much, mischievous comment
and so you must remain my secret

ELO Sweet Talking Woman

Heard this song on the radio...and so I share it with you. Love the 60's style verse with an great progressing pre-chorus and a chorus about 15 years ahead of it's time. Here's the "live" version...

The Mist - Movie Review

Well, it's been a while since I did a movie review..but everyone I speak to seems to either expect this film to be disappointing or has not heard anything about it. Let me start off by saying all those people should a) find out about it because b) they won't be disappointed. At least I wasn't. I went into the film expecting the commercials to have spoiled everything. It sure looked like they had. But the film is a constant stream of goings on that the commercial didn't even touch upon. The movie cuts right to the action, the mist sets in quickly and we soon learn of what might be out there.

I'm not really a fan of horror movies. I'll watch them, but would pick a decent action/thriller over them if push came to shove. What I really liked about this movie, and all of Stephen King's books/films is that the focus is not on the supernatural event, it's all about the human reaction to it. Whilst the creepyness is completely made-up the emotion from the characters is believable, realistic and illustrates to us how human nature can be. This film has a whole range of emotion from intense fear, to desperation, sadness, excitement, hopelessness, joy...and like in all good horror movies it shows that in the face of adversity, we can overcome our problems.

No matter how slimy they are.

K.C. and the Sunshine Band - Give it up

Just something to brighten the day....

War Bears 3: An Oceanic Problem

Well here is another sequel of a sequel. It's War Bears and it's the third mission this time. This game always drives me insane after about 20 minutes and losing at least 50 times. But still it's so addictive, and charming that it is hard to stay mad for long. As with the other war bears you must complete the mission by using your war bears, making them carry out specific actions in the right order...you'll see what I mean. Enjoy!

Jack French and the Seven Dwarfs

Loyal readers will have noticed that this is the second time i've mentioned Jack French. Loyal gamers will notice that this is the third installment of the series, so go check out the first and second episodes and then get cracking on this one. They always have fantastic voice-overs and some pretty interesting puzzles too! Well worth the effort for any point and click adventure gamer.

Sphere Core

It's a point and click room escape game! It is actually a pretty fun little time waster. Although there are a few glitches and the difficulty isn't too high, there is enough originality to keep the gamer interested. Even better than that there is a sequel and a sequel-sequel!

As requested... Point and Click Games

As a very recent Film Geek blog post reminds me sitemeter is fun to look at. The referrals page is often a fairly boring one for me...but it seems that recently everyone is looking for...point and click games...so without further ado I'll give the masses (haha) what they want...

It's quality...not quantity

I wonder how many times I've heard that phrase (see the title). It's often just an excuse for a small amount of work/art/text etc... but for me I appreciate succinct quality. This is especially true in my morning routine when I read through the news. I want the gist of the story, I want to know why it happened and what the outcomes where. I don't ask for much really. I can't stand it when the story waffles on and all manner of "friends" and "family" are consulted for their opinion (which is never surprising considering the event) and will finally address why it happened about a third of the way down the page. I appreciate the same quality in conversations. I don't need to hear about all the back story and minute detail just to understand the event.

What got me thinking about this was my preference towards others blogs. I know there is a wide variety of styles out there, and some just don't sit right with me. Especially long blog posts, in a small font, that seemingly meander through a thought process. I can handle reading small long posts and have gained a lot from doing so. But a whole blog full of them just puts me off. I'd feel unfaithful to my other bloggers by spending 10 mins on the long blog thus reducing my time to read the shorter blogs.

I think what I also like about shorter blog posts is that I feel the writer has more to say. I feel like if I approached the blogger in the street about a post he or she would say "Yes, I'm passionate/mad/happy/irritated about that and here's what I didn't say..." and so I would be rewarded for taking an interest. With the long blog post I feel like that it is all there in the blog. On that note I better end this here...before I'm accused of being a Long Blogger.

40 winks

Sleep always seems to be an exciting topic for everyone. Most do not get enough, some love it, some hate it, some like naps, others last till the evening. We all gotta have it though. My thought today is "what amount of sleep can make a difference?" That's about the best I can phrase it but I'll explain...



I love hitting the snooze button. I like to view the first time an alarm goes off to get up as a practise or a reminder that I have to get up soon as it's morning. It's painfully difficult to get up at the first beep. I used to purposely set my alarm early so that I could get in this period of snoozing but what good does this actually do? Instead of snoozing, I could have slept for those extra 10 mins but would that have made me feel more rested and relaxed? It certainly seems to feel better just to snooze it out.



We tend to sleep in 4 hour cycles of light and deep sleep (if my memory serves me correctly) and so does it really matter if I wake up 20 mins before those 4 hours are complete? or will 10 do me just as well? What about if I wake up after only 7 hours? Will my head explode? Experience tells me no but I guess the mystery of sleep continues.

Twilight Heroes

Despite being nothing like the TV show "Heroes" Twilight Heroes is equally as addictive. I mean that in the best sense. It's a MMORPG (aka Geek game) which involves choosing a super hero class, and then patrolling the streets of Twilight (at night) fighting crime, solving puzzles, collecting a whole heap of stuff and other such shenanigans. I have been playing for over two weeks now and still find it charming. It's very much in development but everyday it gets a little better. The game takes place with "turns" and so you can just check in for the day on your superhero, fight a little crime and then come back the next day with more "turns". It's difficult to explain but if you are familiar with KOL then you might have some understanding on what is expected of the gamer. Worth checking out if you need to quench that desire to be your very own superhero!

Business as usual

Wow, it seems like a long time since I have made a blog contribution! Time to get back on the horse (not literally as that single horse riding experiences was one of my most terrifying..but that's for another day). It has been an incredibly busy time for me in actions and thoughts. Things have started to ease off a little so it is with some relief that I take the time to update my little blog.
I suppose I should really talk about Thanksgiving a little. Interestingly, I was consulted at work the week before Thanksgiving to write an introduction to a newsletter and give some of my thoughts on Thanksgiving "you know, as a Brit". I guess the editor thought it would be quaint, or maybe they were just too busy to write it themselves, either way it got me thinking (and wikipediaing) about Thanksgiving a week in advance. My thoughts were mixed, but I wrote in the Newsletter about the fact that those pilgrims were Brits and so I was proud of the day and Thankful. Without them I would be here today. I tried my best not to sound like I was a stuck-up Brit proclaiming "Hey, Yanks, if it weren't for us you wouldn't be here!" because that was not my intention at all. (hey, if I wanted to brag about something, I'd pick something else :-p) But I did want to show that it was a significant day for me also, even though I am not American....and don't really get into football that much. Anyway, I am thankful for the chance to be here, and I had a great day!
I'm still a little confused about the Cranberry "salad" though. For starters it's a sweet dessert on the savoury plate (??) and it's not even green. Very strange. Maybe next year I'll make Yorkshire puds...

Flash game creation

Anyone who knows my gaming habits will probably know that I like to play flash games. Occasionally a few show up on my blog, especially ones I have tried and tested and they have gained my seal of approval. One of my aims is to actually MAKE a flash game. I have attempted on a few occasions to learn some basic flash. I do OK with the tutorial, usually spotting my mistakes and correcting file locations or invalid code. The problem I find is adapting it to my needs, and then as soon as I can't find out what to do next, I usually give up. But this morning I have been spurred by discovering a point and click game (well two of them) designed by a 16 year old boy. Man, if this kid can do it then surely I can figure it out. So, the quest begins today. Anyone who searches for flash game tutorial, or game creation and finds this, feel free to drop me some pointers!

And back to the blogging...

Well, things have eased off a little, so I'm going to take some time this dreary Friday morning to post some of my thoughts from the past week or so. Starting with the fact that Monday was Fireworks night! Understandably not a tradition over here, but still a day that I think would fit in perfectly. Why only have firework displays on July 4th? I mean the sun doesn't go down for agggeeess. At least by November 5th it's dark by 6pm so you can enjoy an early display with the family and be home for a hot toddy or a cup of cocoa. Firework night is always a time for family get togethers but without the pressure of the other major holidays. There is no cooking involved (although, my grandma did used to make a mean toffee...that had to be dropped from a two storey window before you could actually break off a piece to eat), there is no table to sit around resulting in semi-awkward silences with that uncle-you-only-see-twice-a-year-and-don't-really-like-that-much-anyway-as-he-is-married-into-the-family-and-your-aunt-was-doing-much-better-with-that-other-guy-she-was-dating-before-him, there is no disappoint from a lack of gifts, or bad gifts, or someone being a poor host. It really has a lot of benefits. It just involves the family, going out and spending time together, outside, away from technology and stresses and enjoying something almost magical. The kids can't even run away because it's so dark they don't know where they are going (I was always made to wear a glow stick so I could be spotted easily), and they often want to huddle up to mom or dad just to stay warm.

Any other benefits to this day? Why, yes! My half-birthday, which I fully recognize, accept and celebrate as much as I can. It just happens that everyone else celebrates with me and a dozen fireworks.

Distractions

It's been a while so I've been at the old blog machine, cranking out another fantastic post of witty and sharp observations (what do you mean you've never seen me do that? Must be on my other blog) and as a sort-of apology I offer this tiny blog post offering. I've got a heck of a lot of things going on at the moment and so my mental capacity is full with thinking about other things asides from my comments on society. So the blogging will have to wait until I can devote some more mental and physical time to it! I'd hardly want to carry on blogging with sub-standard posts. That would offend you, the reader. And I'd never want to cause offence. I will leave with this quote, however, related to all the other things going on at the moment:

Epicticus (100 AD): Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of them.

Conversations with a "real person"

Ah "Customer support" my arch-Nemesis. Sometimes you are good to me, sometimes you just plain suck. I've had both this week. An on-going issue with Blockbuster total-access was finally cleared up after getting to speak to a "real person" (my thanks to Redzeppelin). Apparently, the online customer support (which the website promotes intensely) does not have the authority to make any "account changes"! I didn't see that written anywhere on the website. Needless to say the bare minimum was done; a refund and an apology and not really much else to ensure I stay with total-crapcess.
My second run-in with "Customer Support" was with Fed-Ex today. They actually have their customer helpline on their website, bravo! And I was not held in a queue on the phone. After a few automated messages I was straight through to a person. Unfortunately, I think that we had some difficulties in communication what with my British accent, and her Spanish/Portuguese accent (sorry - I can't define it any more than that!). It almost made me flash back to the same difficulties I had with a Homeland security guard, but that's another story.

Allclick: "Yes, I wish to report that I scheduled a package for collection, and no-one came in to collect it"
Fed-Ex: "O.K. can i have the pick-up reference number?"
Allclick: "Well all I have is a tracking number....it wasn't picked up so I don't have that."
Fed-Ex: "I need the pick-up reference number to check on your pick-up, sir"
Allclick: "The package is right here next to me. It says "tracking number". I have an email it also just says "tracking number" (believe it or not, I'm not being sarcastic at this point! :-) )
Fed-Ex: "As your package has not been picked up the tracking number will not help me."
Allclick: "It's not helping me much either."

And so on... eventually it turned out that all she needed was my zip code..then my address...name, dimensions of the package...so in fact I had to RE-schedule a delivery. I received a slight apology and asked how I would be paying for this. If only Fed-Ex operated some sort of "tipping" system. Speaking of which, do I need to tip the guy if when he shows up?

How to tell if a deer has been in your yard

One of my local papers (the Kanawha Valley Clipper) offers these helpful hints to help you check to see if there have been deer in your yard:
1. There may be rub marks on tress, where bucks have rubbed their antlers to mark their territory. Yes, missing bark on the tree may mean there are deer there.
2. Torn vegetation is "another telltale sign". Deer do not have incisor teeth and therefore rip the vegetation. OK, some torn leaves, probably not that easy to spot though, plus didn't you tear that whole side of the bush with that lawnmower?
3." If the damage is above 6 feet then that rules out small animals", or small kids I guess.
4. "Deer tracks, shaped like broken hearts and about 2-3 inches long". Of course! Tracks, that are made by a deer are a sure sign that a deer made them.
5. There's a deer still in your yard. (ok ok I made this one up).

Happy deer spotting!

Mobile Blogging

Ever find that you are out and about, and have the urge to blog about something? Well sometimes I do...but not a strong enough urge to actually go ahead and do it, yet still mobile blogging is now offered, you can blog directly from your cell phone. Is there any need for such technology? As a recent excellent article in the Herald-dispatch says multi-tasking and high-technology products are actually making life more difficult and wasting our time. It's well worth a read. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I'm happy just to log on on a desktop computer (how 90's of me) and type up my blog on a QWERTY.

Movie Rant - The Comebacks

Something caught my eye about this movie. We have all seen the commercials. It is usually playing on a least one commercial break an evening (why do they still call them "messages"?) and as far as spoof movies go it doesn't look too bad...does it? Rottentomatoes.com says:

Ouch! However, I don't rely on RT too much because sometimes reviewers intentionally make bad reviews just to stand out and try and remain aloof and eclectic. So I trot on over to IMDB.com:

Ok, so that's fair enough. Two very popular movie review sites that are consistent, fans (only 689 of them mind you) and 24 reviewers agree that it sucks. So what the heck is THIS all about:

It made 5.5 million over the weekend. Man, it must be a slow week at the box office.

And I want it now

An obscure reference to a Queen song in my title today (bonus points if you can name the song without using google) but I found it apt when thinking about other blogs yesterday. As I was going through my usual online routine, looking at the news, other bloggers etc.. I found myself wishing that other bloggers I enjoy reading had posted something new for me to read. Something to entertain me. I am often disappointed when I load up a blog only to discover there are no new posts. Then I thought to myself "Hey, I rarely post a new blog post in the morning... I usually don't even post once a day, and usually never at the weekend, give them a break!". So that is what I am trying to bare in mind next time I'm disappointed with a lack of blog posts. Somedays I don't manage to squeeze out a blog post until late afternoon. Sometimes whilst eating lunch a revelation will occur to me worthy of a blog post. So, to all other bloggers just keep doing what you do. When you post, I appreciate it, even if I don't comment. If you don't post, I wont slash your tires. Well, not just yet ;-)