Films 2010

Lastly some films. Probably the hardest to put together as well.

1) The Social Network

2) Inception

3) Toy Story 3

4) Monsters

5) Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

6) Kick-Ass

7) Four Lions

8) How To Train Your Dragon

9) The Illusionist

10) Shutter Island

Music 2010

As ever I started the year trying to listen to as many albums as possible and ended it with 100's of plays of the same ones. Number one was hands down this year though and I won't hear anything else otherwise.

Top 10 Albums

1) Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma

2) The National - High Violet

3) Frightened Rabbit - The Winter Of Mixed Drinks

4) Four Tet - There Is Love In You

5) Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

6) LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening

7) Gold Panda - Lucky Shiner

8) Caribou - Swim

9) Foals - Total Life Forever

10) Warpaint - The Fool

Honourable Mentions

Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can

Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Hot Chip - One Life Stand

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

A Few Disappointments

M.I.A - MAYA

Klaxons - Surfing The Void

Kate Nash - My Best Friend Is You

Vampire Weekend - Contra

Zola Jesus - Stridulum II

Top 10 Tracks

1) Flying Lotus - Do The Astral Plane

2) Frightened Rabbit - The Loneliness And The Scream

3) The National - Terrible Love

4) Gold Panda - You (Album Closer)

5) Flying Lotus - Kill Your Co-Workers

6) Hans Zimmer - Dream Is Collapsing

7) M.I.A - Born Free

8) Daft Punk - Derezzed

9) The Gaslamp Killer - Carpool Dummy

10) Foals - This Orient

Games 2010

2010 has been a pretty strong year for the industry as a whole. Black Ops has made over £1 billion, Microsoft and Sony have made us the controller and Blizzard only went and released Starcraft 2 and a WoW expansion in the same year. Still got a few games to get through (AC:Brotherhood, Singularity, Rock Band 3, Need For Speed, Vanquish, Fable 3 and New Vegas a few who have slipped through the net thus far) but, hey, I'm not made of money. So here's a few top fives.

Top 5 360

1) Red Dead Redemption

2) Alan Wake

3) Just Cause 2

4) Mass Effect 2

5) Fifa 11

Top 5 XBLA

1) Limbo

2) Super Meat Boy

3) Worms 2

4) Sonic 4 Episode 1

5) Lara Croft: GOL

A Few Disappointments

Black Ops

Alien Vs Predator

Halo Reach

Splinter Cell: Conviction

Scott Pilgrim: The Game

Honourable Mentions

Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver

Football Manager 2011

Flight Control HD

Split/Second

Bioshock 2

Dead Rising 2

Now I've got a current gen PC, I might be able to expand my horizons in 2011. Still no PS3 or Wii though.

Quick Rant

Quick rant. The dust is starting to settle on the recent events up in Tyneside and yet it still makes little to no sense. Chris Hughton gets sacked after a run of 5 games without a win. On paper it seems logical. Given it's Newcastle as well it seems very logical, well for them. But yet this is the first sacking at the club for a long time that has left me bemused, upset and downright angry with the the blatant short-sightedness of the club and it's owner.

This time two years ago Newcastle were an absolute state. In fact this time 18 months ago we were a complete mess. To take us from the relegation joke team to being back in the Premiership and shipping 5 one week and scoring 5 the next is an achievement. We're not the Newcastle of yesteryear, but we're certainly playing with the same excitement and inconsistency of it. This is the reason you love the team as a fan. Seeing us get hammered by West Brom is depressing and as upsetting as it gets, but not two months ago we smashes Sunderland so hard I almost got in a fight watching it for just wearing a Newcastle shirt. As a fan, this year has been brilliant, I couldn't have asked for more.

But yet no we're faced with Pardew, a man so bland you forget his face every moment you're not looking at it. He's also signed a 5 and a half year deal which really shows how much of a joke this whole situation is. I will be amazed if he makes it to the end of the season. Which is what brings me to the overall focus of my ire. Ashley has managed this club worse than the Americans do their secrets. Just one mess after another. Like an elderly dog with the shits we continually stumble through the footballing calender emptying our bowels in a fit of embarrassment at the slightest opportunity. There is literally no logic behind this move given he's trying to sell the club. Not even the most naive of Saudi business men would purchase a club with that dead weight strapped to the front for 5 and a half years.

We'll see how we do on Saturday against the previous "biggest joke in the Premiership team" Liverpool. He'll need a lot more than a result there to prove his worth though.

Holidays In The Sun

So I've been away for a while. Been busy you could say. Although you probably shouldn't. I've changed up a lot of things, grown as a person. Mainly outwardly though to be honest. Still, I've learnt a lot along the way. Here's a small list of the most important.

1.) Most problems can be solved by not doing much. I found myself in debt, adrift and on the verge of spending my days watching Jeremy Kyle and weeping into a bowl of Cornflakes. However, an afternoon spent making CV's and then one handing them in later I found myself employed (twice over in fact) and then, through a few extra forms, enrolled at the OU. Debt crisis was averted through ignoring phone calls then agreeing to pay off some every month with my freshly earned pay cheques. And voila, future sorted. I always complain about being unlucky, but green was certain rubbed in my favour on this one.

2) I am wrong about almost everything. Living with more than 0 people that I talk to every day leads to discussions about many things; music, politics, how to deal with the sexual advances of Stephen Fry. However, blindly arguing about things you don't understand doesn't always win the day. For example, not the other day, I was discussing about how I hate Twitter. To me it seems like it's a venue for people to bum celebrities and post one liners of middling quality. Yet, even when it's just used in that manner, it's extremely fun. Yet another example of my hypocrisy.

3) Not everyone enjoys films because they're shit. Exaggeration is a disease we all suffer from time to time. Yet, claiming Deja Vu or Domino (or possibly all of the Tony Scott canon) are brilliant because of their dizzying level of shitness is a misfire of larger proportions. Glasses that see into the past. Come on Denzel.

And finally.

SFC, the king of hungover food.

The best Christmas song sounds like a Hungarian wedding.

Newcastle are unpredictable no matter what league they're in.

Having two jobs makes it a lot easier to enjoy one a lot more than other.

Studying something you're vaguely interested in makes it a lot easier to read the textbooks.

Limbo

Last year's Arcade of Summer, Summer of Arcade or whatever it was called gifted us the wonderful Trials HD and Shadow Complex to name but two. This year's premier offering is something a little more, shall we say, pretentious. Limbo is the visually striking tale of a boy's lone journey in to "Limbo" (in speech marks thanks to now being abolished) and basically, that's it. Of course, it being an XBLA title such pointless attachments as plot, voice-acting, tacked on multiplayer are all left aside, leaving you with a touching, un-nerving trip which will induce delight, puzzlement and anger all in equal measure. These are the signs of what make it great though, the satisfaction of solving another devilish complexity massively outweighs the crippling sadness of repeating the same failing attempt at progression. Prepare a slot on your end of year lists.

In other gaming news: RDR. Got a donkey. Did lots of missions. Bonded. Named it Juliet. Watched in vain as it got shot by Mexicans. Too devastated to play again. Wonderful game.

Inception

It's very rare that you can go to the cinema and see something that has the financial backing the same size as the budget deficit but isn't about moping vampires or fighting robots. Inception is not like anything you'll see at the cinema this year. Unless you deliberately go to an art cinema to watch an obscure foreign film just to say otherwise. But then you'd be a pretentious shit. So swings and roundabouts. The lead up to this film was very hush hush and with good reason. It's hard to explain what happens without it sounding like a confusing mess. But basically, it's a film about people who trained to steal information and ideas from peoples dreams who take up the oppertunity to place an idea in someone's head through "inception". It's essentially a heist movie. He gets the job offer, assembles a team, starts the heist. You know the rest.

It's so much more than that though. The outlandish setting keeps you on your toes the whole time. Not to mention that the visuals are stunning, some of the best I have ever seen. Suffice to say that the scenes from the trailer are even more mind-blowing at the multiplex. The script, whilst a little wordy, keeps the balance of complex and engaging and Di Caprio leads with a great performance, with the rest of the cast not too far behind. But overall it's the perfect cinema experience, the perfect to retort to whether Avatar is the future of cinema. It doesn't have to be, we just need more big budget, big idea masterpieces like this. In a word stunning.

Red Dead Redemption

It's funny how you can instantly fall in love with a game for the the poorest reasons. Like being able to name your rival "Tosser" in the Pokemon games and then laugh hysterically every time you run in to him on the SS Anne. Or that in the latest FIFA game you scan a photo of your face in with a ridiculous glitter Hitler moustache and watch yourself do cartwheels with a silvery upper lip every time you score. As they say, it's the little things. In Red Dead Redemption you can shoot animals, skin them, and then sell said skin for a small profit. On paper it's dull. In practice it's probably also quite dull. However I've spent 3 of my first four hours playtime doing it. Painfully addictive. I haven't even found a bear yet. I'll never do anything else if I find one. For me it proves the level of immersion this game offers. GTA IV suffered from a slightly stilted and familiar setting. We've been stealing yellow cabs for ten years now in various guises. RDR opens up the world of the Western to a new generation and feels very fresh in comparison. The greatest test will of course be whether I can now buy and wear a pair of cowboy boots without being socially outcast. The proof will be in the freshly skinned carcass no doubt.

World Cup

A lot has gone on since my inaugural declaration of disappointment in the tournament. Firstly then, England. In many ways it was no different at all, watching Heskey running on in the 70th odd minute to save the game is a sadly familiar sight to us all. Yet the pain of it all still rests high on the shoulders. It's easy to sit and point the blame at the under-performing players; Rooney, Lampard (as ever), Terry, Johnson. But my real bugbear was Capello's unwillingness to change it up at all. It's a World Cup after all, you can't put your best players out and the rub your hands as the magic happens. But, the stern Italian is staying and will hopefully realise a lot of the horses in this team need to go out to pasture.

Luckily for us though this World Cup's middle name has been capitulation. France were more farcical than even the most optimistic of alliterative writers. Italy played as much exciting football as the Sam Allardyce dream league and then there's the likes of Ivory Coast, Cameroon and South Africa all doing wonders for Pele's predictions of greatness for African football. But even with these let-downs it's been a great ride. Germany's demolitions of both England and Argentina were as ruthless as stereotypes would suggest and point to a horrid time for sluggish Spain in the semis. The rise of outsiders Uruguay have brought much joy to many disgruntled English fans like myself but it's Holland that are my favourite though. I've always had a soft spot for the neon orange of the Dutch. The return of Robben has sparked them into life and an unfathomable win over everyone's tip Brazil. Should they beat underdogs Uruguay in the semis we'll be left with a head says Germany and heart says Holland final of epic proportions. Who ever said football wasn't exciting?

Trials HD

It's not just been football for the past week, there's a clearout going on over on the Xbox Live Arcade. I've snapped up three in total; 'splosion Man, Zombie Apocalypse and Trials HD. The third of which has engrossed me the most. Trials is simple in it's design. Accelerate, brake, lean forward and lean back. That's all you need to know. Well that and the instant restart button (B) or even level restart if you're going for medals (back button). The aim is equally plain: get to the end of the course. That's it. But what sounds like a shallow experience confounds to be completely rewarding. The levels slowly increase in complexity, requiring precise accuracy and timing. This obviously leads to moments of screaming frustration but those depths are overcome by the dizzying heights of passing the section. The instant restart button (which if you're anything like me will have your finger constantly hovering over it) will become your best friend and has no loading to prevent added frustration. Trials just nails that rare balance of frightfully challenging gameplay and disturbingly addictive playability meaning that you will easily sink up to 45 minutes on one section without realising you've made 400 failed attempts. It's been lorded everywhere as one of the best on XBLA and for me it easily is up there and for 560 points it's a steal.

Prose

He stares mournfully out the window, rain dashing against the pane creating a somewhat fitting cliché. The weight of the world rests on his shoulders forcing his head to lull below them. He turns his back to the room, barely lit by the dimmed bulb in the corner, and walks to the table. In front rests the source of his woes, a culmination of toil and despair. His hand rattles with trepidation as it reaches for the pen, his heart says no but his head says yes. The teeth grit, the muscles tense, the beads of sweat form on his brow as the pen is lowered to the page. It's done. He stands and turns to the window, turning his back on his actions. As a solitary tear runs down his face the "England 0-0 Algeria" scoreline on the wall-chart flickers in the lamplight.

World Cup First Round (Of Matches)

It's all gone so fast hasn't it? Been a flurry of misplaced passes, hoofing clearances, spooned free-kicks and BEES, FUCKING BEES EVERYWHERE oh wait no it's vuvuzelas. Last year I remember texting in to the BBC text coverage of the Confederations Cup saying the vuvuzelas were annoying "but beats the England Supporters Band". How lucky we were then that they joyously combined in England's opening embarrassment against the USA in a cacophony of loud, continuous pain. Which was the perfect metaphor for the stilted and predictable England performance which would have duly provided a 1-0 win had Green not succumbed to a mistake that puts him in happy company with Carson, Robinson and Seaman.

The cup on the whole has been a let down though, a fearful trepidation gripping the majority of big teams leaving their strike forces impotent and nets unwavered. Germany fought this though with a stonking win over the Aussies, 4-0 barely covered the free-flowing attacking football they were playing. It was mesmerising stuff that Argentina, Spain and Holland hinted at but with less finishing prowess. The games have still been great fun though; North Korea surprising us all with a spirited display, New Zealand with a dramatic equalizer, Japan and South Korea both earning good victories being highlights. The less said about Slovenia v Algeria though the better. Anyway, we stand on the cusp of improvement. Forlan dragged Uruguay into a deserved win over the Bafana Bafana tonight promising a few more goals than we've had so far. Here's hoping anyway as having watched every game so far I think I deserve a bit of gratuitous net bulging.

World Cup Excitement

It's finally here. Four years is a long time. Especially with no English involvement in the 2008 Euro Championships to help stave off the boredom. But at least now, with two days to go, we can unleash all that English pride and bravado we do so well at hiding away. Although this year most people seem to be starting their predictions with the word "realistically". Which makes a change from blaring out The Lightning Seeds and blindly chanting the affectionate nicknames of our nation's finest. But could this be because we stand a better chance now than we ever have before?

Probably not. These days getting to see the likes of Torres, Anelka and Fabregas strut their stuff in the Premiership means we're more familiar with the world's greatest than ever. We're also hardly unfamiliar with the likes of Messi and Ronaldo in Spain thanks to the Champions League as well. Which means that we have even more reason to do the truely English gesture of being pessimistic from the onset. I wouldn't rule us out, but our knack to capitulate in big tournaments is an outcome more likely than the consistency required to go all the way. A few predictions then, hopefully more successful than my Glasto ones.

Winners: Brazil
Runners-up: Argentina
Third: Italy
Fourth: England (felt very optimistic saying we'd beat France though)

Golden Boot: Van Persie
Silver Boot: Luis Fabiano (covering my bases really with that one)

Surprises:
North Korea won't be shit
Japan and South Korea will prosper through organisation alone
All of the big teams will qualify top of their group

Let downs:
Spain and Holland will both capitulate after amazing starts
African nations will disappoint, Ivory Coast especially
England will go out in the semis/quarters in extra time

Outside bet for winning: Holland
Outside bet for performing well: Serbia/Slovenia/North Korea

Undoubtedly all these will be proved wrong come the end of the tournament.

Singles Review

Probably worth saying that I don't actually buy singles. In fact the only CD I've bought in the last year is Flying Lotus. Only bought Future Of The Left last year as well. Downloads (legal of course) are the format of choice these days. This is more a summary of the four tracks that have been sending those crazy cats over on Hype Machine wild. You know, those tossers who have Pitchfork as their homepage.

First up is Klaxons with Flashover. First thing you notice is how dirty it sounds, like they've spent their entire time playing in the mud as opposed to honing their sound. It's not too much of a departure from their usual shtick but that's in no way a bad thing. Solid opening. 8/10

Kanye is also back with his first song since Gay Fish with newie Power. It's got a big beat to it that almost harks back to Jesus Walks. More than anything there's not a hint of that horrible T-Pain esque auto tune that was all his last album seemed to amount to. The lyrics are the usual "Kanye is amazing" stuff, but that's probably what we love him for. 7/10

Most excitingly really is Papermill from Madvillian's long awaited second album. The beat is amazing, the perfect evolution from the 50's comic book aping debut. The mixing of DOOM's rap however, is less good riding much to high and making him sound lazy and almost uninterested in the going's on. Undoubtedly Madlib will be layering on the polish before this one hits though. Optimism still at a maximum. 6/10

Finally (the) Arcade Fire have returned with the bewilderingly uplifting Suburbs. It opens like the long lost cousin of The National's So Far Around The Bend and pretty much continues in that vein. A nice catchy chorus saves the day on this one, hinting at a more pop orientated sound for the new album. But this is the Arcade Fire so they could have recorded them weeping into an accordion for 45 minutes for all we know. 9.6 on Pitchfork probably then. 7/10

U2 Pull Out Of Glastonbury

A big hoo-hah was made earlier this year when the Eavis' confirmed U2 for the Friday night headline slot. Initial fears suggested that they would just belt out the same old songs on a smaller, less ostentatiously ridiculous stage. However, this week saw our worst fears confirmed when Bono had to pull out after having emergency spinal surgery. Even if you don't like Bono (proportionately speaking you probably don't), you can't help but wince at the thought of it. So whilst Bono lies in bed, surrounded by piles of money and sunglasses and weeping himself to painful slumber thinking about all the good deeds he's not being able to do, we're left with a void that needs to be filled. Obviously not a precise void. I can't see the auditions for a "smug, sunglasses adorned know it all", "hat wearing, pedal obsessed, name changing cock" and "other two" being necessary. Rumours are rife and varied, much like the pre-festival speculation. The favourite is obviously Chris Martin riding in on his middling, strumming Coldplay stallion. You can picture him running, twirling, leaping on to stage as a surprise act only to be stopped in his tracks by the audible noise of an entire festival deflating. 6 Music reported on Led Zep stepping up, although that's unlikely as is the many people I've seen crow out for The Libertines. One thing I'm glad I'm missing at Reading this year is watching them trying to fill a stadium on glory's past and forgotten. They were good, but they weren't The Strokes. There's also the long shots of Dylan, Bowie, Radiohead and even The Smiths but a lot of hope will be needed for them to come true. Best familiarize yourself with Viva La Vida then. They're not that bad really....

Flaming Lips are on the Other Stage you know.

EDIT: Literally minutes later Gorillaz are confirmed as the replacement. Glad to be wrong for a change!

The Walking Dead & Luther

So before I watch Scanners on the iPlayer (yeah it's that kind of day) I thought I'd reminisce about the last week or so which I've mainly spent re-reading The Walking Dead comics. I'm not a big comic book fan but this series has sunk it's claws into me. Not too much though, I only buy the hardback editions and only then when I have the money/remember I have the money/kid myself that I do have the money. I delved back in last week because my copy of the third book recently arrived and the fourth should soon (if it doesn't I'm in trouble because I'm moving house next week). The premise is simple in that it's the same as every zombie movie/book/game you've encountered. The twist, however, is that the story "never ends". Which from a writer's perspective is money in the bank. At first you might snidely point out clichés and inspirations (the main character waking up in a hospital is not exactly original) in it, but you slowly warm to it as the characters grow in front of you and the story slowly propels them forward. It's primarily about the people and the effects on them. The zombies are only a factor in this. Of course, add in bountiful swearing, violence and all kinds of wrongs (there's several scenes in the third book that are not for the faint hearted) and you've got an addictive and enthralling piece of literature. Hopefully my fourth book will arrive tomorrow, so I can sit in the garden and read it in the sun with a glass of iced beer. But then it'll be the wait for coins for the fifth book which isn't due until May 31st. Sad times.

In between perching and scouring through graphic novels I've sat down with Stringer Bell's foray into BBC crime solving. It's no Wallander that's for sure. No lingering shots of countryside, story threads of parental illness or (probably most unfortunately of all) funny Swedish names. Luther is set in Laaandaan, or I believe it's safe to assume this from his boss' ripe accent. Anyway, he accidentally puts a paedo in a coma and goes off work for a while before returning to his job straight in to a case of a stunningly attractive mental case murderer with his marriage and mental health falling down around him. It's one of those shows that's clearly too bombastic but yet is still strangely enjoyable. The support are good barring his little runt partner who has played a prick in some BBC Three Two Pints spin off. A crime that cannot be forgiven. The first two episodes are an entertaining yarn and hopefully they shall continue in this vein. Suspension of belief required obviously though.

Cameron, Chelski & C...Fulham

Although they probably went about encouraging it in the wrong the way I think young people have become more involved in this election than those of years before. This frankly upsetting video (which Charlie Brooker claims was genuinely produced for this) aside of course. A straw poll of Facebook reactions show this is true, at least amongst my brethren. People were chirping left, right, and (most commonly) centre right about their thoughts and feelings on the candidates. Personally I can't help but feel aggrieved about Cameron's claiming of the crown though. The Tories are renowned for their loathing of the poor and hatred of all things free and equal (BBC, NHS). Yet through a campaign of full frontal nonsense they've squeezed into power like Dawn French clambering into a morph suit. You can't help but feel disillusioned when their obvious and shameful tactics (funded by a man who is so uniformly evil he eats children just for thrill of it) secured them the passageway to destroying a country that is already on the brink of collapse. But then again, given the shit-storm Labour have sat through for the last few years you can't blame everyone for their shortsightedness.

In many ways Chelsea's title win is the perfect metaphor for this. Whilst we revel in the glory of Man United being dethroned we're still celebrating the victory of a team that have bought their way to success with none of their winning squad coming from the youth ranks or even the lower leagues. At least they had the good grace to win it in a romping style though. For that I can commend them. Which leaves us with the only light at the end of the tunnel right now, good ol' Roy and his worthy bunch. I do hope they put in a good showing, it wouldn't half cheer the country right up. Whatever happens though, Fulham have been an inspiration this season and deserve their moment in the spotlight tomorrow more than any other English team.

Cameron's March To The Apocalypse

So Thursday was the General Election that we've all been waiting for. The bloke on the left has been especially looking forward to it, rubbing his hands in glee at the prospect of waltzing into Number 10 on that hallowed Friday after a brief jolly round after the foxes. Unfortunately for him we have a hung parliament instead which means that although the majority of the county liked his smug, posh cake hole there wasn't enough seats in the colour of blue for a full majority. I stayed up to watch this spectacle unfold. Worse than that, I sobered up watching this spectacle unfold. Not a sobering in terms of political disillusionment, a genuine alcohol recovery. This was due to the fact that I got locked out, went to the pub to wait for a house-mate to get back and ended up starting an all night binge because I got too involved in the 20/20 cricket. Good game is was too. Anyway, I got back about 1ish and watched the BBC coverage which was seemingly broadcast from some kind of extravagant James Bond-esque lair. Things got worse than that though. The slightly frantic coverage would skip between a variety of seemingly strange events. Firstly Jeremy Vine has taken the "Swingometer" to a new level and entered the world of Tron with PS1 graphics. Scenarios where he's climbing stairs to compare vote share tallys beg the question "how did they do that?" but also (and more appropriately) "why?". Then there's the horrifying moment where Dimbleby would utter "and now over to Andrew on the boat". Andrew is a man with a wig that defies comprehension and array of guests and dull chatter that make you reach for the shotgun. All the stars were there, from Kirsty Alsopp to Bruce Forsyth. There was the grilling of Lord Ashcroft to brighten things up though which in many ways felt like an alternate more subdued finale of The Devil's Advocate. The man practically drips evil. No wonder he lives abroad, probably found somewhere he can drink the blood of virgins unnoticed. On the whole though there just wasn't enough of Paxman yelling at the video screen like a demented villain making his demands. Those moments were just priceless. Anyway, we've now got a few days to see if Clegg fancies a bedfellow or if we're going to be back down the village hall again. Either way lets enjoy these few days where we technically have no government.

Halo Reach, Humble Bundle and more Pokémon

So last night saw the meticulously well planned, hushed, almost understated launch of the Halo Reach beta. I of course talk in jest. It was horrible. Well, not horrible. Just painfully dull. Took me about 3-4 hours to successfully download the beta which left me almost too embarrassed to play it having spent so long staring at a 99% completion bar. I did of course play it though and to my great delight (read tearful disappointment) I played about four round of Oddball in a row. Which just turned into manic re-spawn, shoot, pick up ball, die, re-spawn, etc. I was frightfully underwhelmed. I went back today though, more out of blind optimism than anything, and was greatly surprised at how much more fun it was than the night before. A few games of the new four on four slayer mode are the reason. I'm still yet to get to grips truly with the new armour add-ons though. The jet-pack is fun, useful and seamless in it's integration into the Halo fold. The invincibility punch thing is good when you know what you're doing. Sprint is sprint and I haven't fiddled with invisibility yet. Been on the receiving end of all of them though, so there must be a good use for them all. I'll delve back in at some point as it's only on for two weeks or so anyway.

Found a decent deal as well today. 5 indie games on a pay what you like scheme found here. The games in question are World Of Goo (which I already own and love) and four others I'm not familiar with (Aquaria, Gish, Lugaru HD, Penumbra). They seem to be broad in genres and graphical styles but when you're paying what you like I guess complaints aren't something you can have. Finally on the Pokémon front things are looking good. Got 7 badges now and a squad of relative quality. Found some other new features, namely some bizarre arena where you complete athletics challenges with your Pokémon via the stylus and much screen stroking. Hmmmm. Good job it's still a quality Pokémon game then.

Pokémon

Pokémon will always hold a place in my affections. It was my first love really, before women, alcohol and other more alluring prospects came about. I'm ashamed to say I've owned pretty much every Gameboy iteration of Pokémon at some point. Including Pinball and the Trading Card Game one. So, under the guise of peer of pressure from a friend, I've bought the new one. Soul Silver to be exact. Not quite sure why they've been named Soul Silver and Heart Gold. Just sounds a bit shit really. But then again this from the company that named their world conquering console the "Wii" so titling their products obviously isn't the highest thing on the agenda. Anyway, the games are a re-skin of fan favourites Gold and Silver with a few bells and whistles. The shiniest of these is a Pokéwalker which lets you wander round with your favourite little beast while catching Pokémon and getting items. However I found that I could never find an item in the mini game and Pidgeys would be all I could find Pokémon wise. So, pointless then I guess. The game itself though is still as glorious as ever. I've just got to the third Gym city (Goldenrod) so plenty left to do for me. Puzzles have been rejigged and few other things tweaked from what I remember but nothing that's mind-blowing as yet. The highlight is still probably giving your little beasts "hilarious" names. Was worth digging my DS out for the first time in a year anyway. Although if I could find that copy of Zoo Keeper I'd use it a whole lot more.

Also got my copy of Cosmogramma delivered a few days early, which was nice. Pretty much the same as the leak but without the hassle of the tracks being out of order and labeled incorrectly. It's certainly growing on me a lot more now than when I first got it. Not as much as High Violet by The National is though. I can't seem to stop listening to it. Also got Jason and The Argonauts and the original Clash Of The Titans delivered as well. Can't beat a bit of Harryhausen.