-the beginning of something bearded

02:01 am - Huzzah

Guess who just got through to semi-finals of a Covent Garden battle of the bands? Uh huh.

We got some constructive criticism, which is always good. Tbh I kinda knew that we (I, being the drummer) have a few dodgy bits, specifically with tempo in a few songs, so we're gonna iron those out, but with any luck we'll breeze the semis and the finals.

And I may well have a girl in my life. Keep your ears to the ground.

-we out

11:47 pm - Boots

Check these babies out.



Suits you sir.

x

04:53 pm - Eighties keytar to the max

Oi oi, you lucky people. Feast your eyes on this beauty-



Yes, I went there. For a very reasonable £120 including postage.

It actually is as sexy as it looks, and sounds predictably naff, but the sounds are only half the reason I bought it. Plus of course this will be played through my typical guitar setup (all questions fielded) and so will be using any and every pedal I so desire to get whacked out effects and such. You can't see from the picture but on the 'neck' on the left hand sign it has vibrato (makes the note oscillate quickly up and down), portamento (slides from note to note) and an expression dial (which bends the note up or down [upto about an octave either way] like a guitarist bending a string). Seriously cool. Great if you know how to play to create some ninja solos, or if you put them all on at the same time and put them through a fuzz and delay pedal it will sound like the end of the world.

But Christian, you don't play the piano I hear you cry? True, but I have had a few keyboard lessons (I was a natural apparently, but the teacher smelt and was a gimp) and I am hoping buying this will not only improve my keyboard skills (if only on my right hand!) but also my theory skills. Anyone who plays both piano and guitar will agree that it is a lot easier to see the notes on a keyboard, whereas on a guitar they can get lost in positions and fingering patterns. That's my excuse to myself anyway.

How eighties is it you ask? The demo is Wham's Last Christmas. Case closed.

-yep

Current Mood: energetic

09:07 pm - Results

First year results in...

67.25%.

Not bad huh, not bad at all.

10:53 pm - Bobby Cool and the Okey Dokes

Hey guys

A fair few of you are gonna already heard of us, but just in case you haven't I must reccomend that you check out my band Bobby Cool and the Okey Doke's at our myspace, we've just finished recording and mixing an (as yet untitled) EP.

Check us out at our myspace page.

For those left in the world not familiar with the wonders of myspaz (all two of you), just click on one of the track names on the top right handside grey player and click play, couldn't be simpler.

If you like us, please tell others! We're based in southwest London and gig around a fair bit.

*shameless promo mode disengaged*

01:18 am - Yowzer

This is what happens when people come to your flat late at night and express interest in your previously architecturally impressive hairstyles.

(example)



And now your hair is far too long, but you can't help but demonstrate...



Abort! Abort! Hair product overload! Urge to shave head...rising...

10:20 pm - A gig of two halves

Well it has been quite a cool few days.

Yesterday dancemouse3000 and I went to see The Black Keys at the Scala, which for me was the second time of seeing them there (and third overall [woo...fanboy]), and her first ever time. Having introduced her to them I felt kinda responsible that it went well!

Various train complications delayed arrivals, as is the way of things, but upon hooking up at Victoria buffet pizza was had, which seemed to hit the spot. Although I should tell fellow Deep Pan Pizza officianados that they have stopped doing Coke floats. Tis a dark time for us all.

We got to the venue at half six (doors were at seven) and to our amazement we were first in line!



It was kinda wierd. We actually asked a few people if we were in the right place! Apparently we were (that's assuming touts can be trusted!) and so the waiting begun. But shock/horror! Singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach walks past us and we miss him completely! I just caught him out of the corner of my eye as he went in the door! What a missed oppertunity!

But salvation found us in the guise of the other half of the Keys, Pat Carney! He came out about ten mins later, and was very happy to have his photo taken with us and shake us both by the hand. He insisted that we look completely dumbfounded in them, which ended up being hillarious.



We saw Dan again outside but he was with people, so I guess we had had our fill of Keys members photos.

The gig, was of course epic. Involving in parts: a spasmatic support band front woman who lept all over the atage, including taking her shoes off and jumping backwards onto the stage from the bar (woah), theft of inflatable dionsaurs, unappreciating homeless guys, rat obsessed queue-buddies, hot new t shirts and (almost) all our favourite songs.

Today was also good! Had to wake up earlish to do a bit of work, and having been talking/laughing about Zoidberg til 3 it was a little painful. Also, my hall beds do not really fit two people! Back ache-age.

The gig today took a while to setup, and there was plenty of rain, but people still turned out in their dozens! However, about four songs in, some woman ran over and told us that some students were doing exams about a half mile away on the campus, and that we were disturbing them. Some people moaned, but it was fair enough. If they were in that position they wouldn't want to be disturbed.

So we moved to 501, where we had a lovely acoustic and jaffa cake based set from Lives of the Great Posioners (spidersandflies's shiny new band), and then off to the studio where we did the other half of our set. Unfortunately by this time I was a little drunk (3 cans on an empty stomach not being advisable) and so this set was a little interesting. In some ways it was far better than the first half of our set, which was horrible at times! I did the dumb thing of throwing my sticks into the crowd at the end, which I didn't really mean to do! Hope i didn't hurt anyone...

We were then followed by the swiftly named Paul Tompkins Experience, who played some solid blues-rock covers. I used to sing with them and was conned into coming up on stage to sing Immigrant Song into Heartbreaker by the mighty Zepp, which was fun, but I really hadn't warmed up and I fear it was all too obvious! Good fun though. Jumbo Collective (a quality instrumental funk band) then did a slightly shortened set, which was wicked to dance too.

It was then time for mine and dancemouse3000's ways to part, and off she went into town to get home. It was a lot of fun, and a shame it took so long to sort out!

And to top off the day, the chorus piece I was really worried about went swimmingly and i beat Dylan at pool twice!

Woo!

Off to watch some Futurama to make the day perfect.

-we out

PS-DiscoDino to the max.

09:31 am - Meme to the max!

I'm kinda busy with Uni atm, so this is the best post you're gonna get! Stolen from ricold

1. Your name spelled backwards.
Naitsirhc. Agh.

2. Last call on your phone?
I called Dylan last, and Chris called me last. Last night about ten.

3. What is the last thing you downloaded onto your computer?
A MIDI of Take 5. Classic tune, forever mutilated in computerised format.

4. What's your favorite restaurant?
Hmmm. I'm not that good with restuarants, tend to go for chains as I'm a consumer whore. I guess Pizza Express and Frankie and Benny's has yet to dissapoint. Although there is a cool Chinese on the riverside.

5. Last time you swam in a pool?
Aaaaaages. Like 4 years?

6. Britney Spears is a skank. Agree or disagree?
Maybe. But IMHO she can be forgiven for her past glories (hotness).

7. How many kids do you want?
Two is a good number, but who can control such things?

8. Type of music you dislike most?
Probably faux-classical music. Josh Groban style wank. Nice voice and all but yawn. I have yet to like a ska band, but you never know. I don't dislike the style of music per se, but I've yet to find a band who do it in a good way.

9. What was the last thing you bought?
Um...two cokes and some peanuts at the bar.

10. Have you ever ridden on a motorcycle?
For about a minute. We went about 25 mph and it was possibly the scariest thing in my life so far.

11. Does someone have a crush on you?
Maybe. I am generally too optimistic. Watch this space!

12. Ever made a prank phone call?
Yep! Mostly to the phone box outside Durrington station. Classic!

13. Listening to music?
Eels-Dead of Winter (Electro-Shock Blues)

14. Would you go bungee jumping or sky diving?
Dunno. I'd like to say so, but when life is so fragile that seems a bit too much like pushing it.

15. What clothes are you wearing right now?
Green 'You Need To Be Nicer' Cardigans shirt and Gap jeans baby. Both are a little small. Or I'm just feeling fat today.

16. Do you have a garden?
Not atm, will next year though! Chris assures me we'll be growing herbs or somesuch.

17. What's your favorite comic strip?
Agh. Toss up between toothpastefordinner, natalie-dee or penny-arcade.

18. Do you really know all the words to your national anthem?
Haha! Barely the first line.

20. Hello or goodbye?
Hello

22. Chips or Popcorn?
Um. Chips I guess. Popcorn is generally dissapointing.

23. Favorite colour?
To wear, brown. Although red seems quite populer.

24. What did the last text message you received say?
'Think fast! You've got mail.' Dylan sent me the aforementioned MIDI.

25. Have you ever been in a beauty pageant?
Not yet. The night is young.

26. Orange Juice or apple juice?
Neither really, they both give me killer stomach aches.

27. Who was the last person you ate dinner with?
Chris and Dylan, future flatmates to the max!

28. What did the last text message that you sent say?
To Dylan praising him for MIDI 'King of Kings! You genius, cheers dude.'

29. Lucky number?
Don't really have one. I vote...octagon!

30. Last time you ate a homegrown tomato?
Jeeze...never?

31. Have you ever won a trophy?
Well I won first place in a painting competition (those of you who follw this closely will know that) but i didn't get a trophy. Anyone wanna mock me up one?

32. Are you a good cook?
Yeah I'm alright. Not too good at freestyling.

33. Do you know how to pump your own gas?
Not yet, but no doubt it is simple and I will learn.

34. Do the chinese really use cats in their food?
Those crazy chinese! Possibly.

35. Sprite or 7-up?
Sprite I guess.

36. Have you ever had to wear a uniform to school?
Yep.

37. Last thing you ate?
Chicken stirfry.

38. Thrown up in public?
Last Reading baby! At one point it was luminous yellow/green

39. Would you rather find true love or be a millionaire?
True love.

40. Believe in love at first sight?
I think so.

41. Think fast, what do you want right now?
Not to have to do my essay and go straight to the Black Keys gig!

42. Who was the last person you visited in the hospital?
I can't remember, which I guess is a good thing.

43. Where were you for Valentine's day?
Bowling with some other singletons.

44. Last time you laughed?
Um...last night maybe?

45. What's your favourite animal?
Elephant shrew all the way! Look them up.

46. What was the name of your first pet?
Tigger.

47. Who was the second to last person to call you?
James Ford.

48. Is there anything going on this weekend?
Seeing the less travelled side of the family on Sunday. No doubt some frivolity saturday.

49. How are you feeling right now?
Annoyed.

50. What do you think about the most?
Um...floppy bunnies? Was I supposed to say that?

51. What do you think of the person that posted this before you?
Don't really know him actually, but I get the impression he's pretty clever.

52. Who is MOST likely to repost this survey?
Either dancemouse3000 or spidersandflies.

05:52 pm - Song Meme

Nicked from pewterfish, it's a pretty cool idea.

Bear in mind I prob won't know half of these, and I'm actually using iTunes (can't be arsed to find my iPod), but some of you may know some of them!

Step 1: Put your MP3 player or whatever on random.
Step 2: Post the first line(s) from the first 30 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song.
Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from.
Step 4: Bold out the songs when someone guesses correctly.
Step 5: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING!

1-Isn't very difficult, to see why, you are the way you are. [KT Tunstall-Heal over] by dancemouse3000
2-I broke into your house last night, and left a note at your bedside. [Snow Patrol-Spitting Games] by dancemouse3000
3-There's a train out in the distance, destination's still unknown. [Bon Jovi-The Distance] by pewterfish
4-On the morning from a Bogart movie, in a country where they turn back time. [Al Stewart- Year of the Cat] by pewterfish
5-San Francisco Bay, past pier thirty nine, early p.m. can't remember what time. [Stereophonics-Have a Nice Day] by dancemouse3000
6-Who is this broken man? Cluttering up my hallway. [Jesus Christ Superstar) by dancemouse3000
7-Knocked up nine months ago, and what she's fittin to have she don't know.
8-All I need's a little time, to get behind the sun and cast my wave.
(original number 9 had no lyrics, so...)
9-I'm knawing on the knowledge, that I have been burnt, and I'm learning things that I should've already learnt.
(again, no lyrics)
10-Just a castaway, an island lost at sea, oh. Another lonely day, with no one here but me, oh. [Message in a Bottle-The Police] by dancemouse3000
11-Leaves are falling all around, it’s time I was on my way. Thanks to you, I’m much obliged, for such a pleasant stay.
12-There are days when she's a whisper, nights when she's a scream. A reason to wake up in the morning, to close your eyes and dream. [Bon Jovi-The Distance] by ghost_wolf_zeke
13-A black cloud's hanging over town tonight, but I don't mind, I don't mind. [The Cardigans-Little Black Cloud] by dancemouse3000
14-I'm a cold heartbreaker, fit to burn and I'll rip your heart in two. [Guns N' Roses-You Could Be Mine] by pewterfish
15-Here come old flattop he come grooving up slowly, he got joo-joo eyeball, he one holy roller. [The Beatles-Come Together] by pewterfish
16-It must be hard being an angel, when the Devil and your heart won't set you free. [Mike and the Mechanics-Nobody's Perfect] by pewterfish
17-I'm glad you came around today, I sure need a good companion. I'm losing it but you're the same, without you I move at random.
18-Unlearn me, ditch what i read, behind what I heard, look, find, free, do you get it yet, do you get it? [Incubus-Crow Left of a Murder] by dancemouse3000
19-Baby, baby... I'm gonna bring it on home to you. I've got my ticket, I've got that load, got up, gone higher, all aboard. by brokencube
20-It's hard for me to say the things, I want to say sometimes. There's no one here but you and me, and that broken old street light. [Bon Jovi-Thank You For Loving Me] by pewterfish
21-Freezin’, rests his head on a pillow made of concrete, again. Oh, feelin’ maybe he’ll see a little better set a days.
22-I hope this old train breaks down, then I could take a walk around. [Jack Johnson-Break Down]
(another no worder)
23-You were once my one companion, you were all that mattered. You were once a friend and father, then my world was shattered. [Phantom of the Opera] by dancemouse3000
24-Dear cousin I got your letter, it's more than I thought I deserved. She sounds perfect, all I dream of, and I dream of so much it's absurd. [Eels-Ugly Love] by spidersandflies
25-Oh yeah, Jesus, you got me going. And I know, just like I know, no way of knowing.
(hmmm)
26-He bear her off, he bear her down, he bear her into an orchard ground. Lu Li Lu Lay, Lu Li Lu Lay. The falcon hath bourne my mate away.
27-This here is the place I will be staying. There isn’t a number, you can call the pay phone. Let it ring a long, long, long, long time.
28-The feeling of understanding is very rare. For someone like me it's hard to find, somebody to care. [Eels-Sweet L'il Thing] by spidersandflies
29-Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed. [Bob Dylan-Lady Lady Lay] by dancemouse3000
30-Tore out my heart and you ran it over, you never said goodbye. Crushed it like a can in your landrover, why won't you tell me why.

Took a while! Some of these are dead easy, can I request that next time tracks which include the title of the song in the first line can be exempt?

Anyway, it's suitably embarrasing. Enjoy.

Current Mood: thoughtful

01:44 pm - Bands you can wear

The Cardigans were pretty wicked last night, as proved by my new t shirt:



I tried to take a photo of the back (it says The Cardigans in the same font) but it is really, really hard if you don't have some sort of crazy joint disease. Yes, I could have taken it off, but that would have meant severing the link between myself and Nina Perrson.

They were pretty stonking, and they played almost exclusively from there two latest albums, which is good as they are awesome, but a touch annoying as gig companion pewterfish (brotherly unit) had not heard them, but they did play a fair few from Gran Turismo (which he knew) so that was cool.

There was a twat who decided to plant himself right next to us who insisted on jumping up and down like a tit to every song, slow or not. The crowd was pretty subdued, but if you've heard the Cardigans' last two albums you'd understand. This guy didn't. The surrounding concert goers kept pushing him and telling him to move away if he wanted to spaz around like that, but he just ignored us. A guy even tried a bouncer arm clamp on him and rushed him to the other side of the floor, but he just returned and continued, even slapping someone when she asked him to stop. I thought he smelt of garlic but pewterfish assures me that was the smell of amphetamines attacking his stomach lining, so that makes sense. Quite how he knows is anyone's guess.

Eventually he was taken off by a security person and we were a lot happier. Still a stonking gig though. Being Swedish they were all rather gorgeous, and they had some pretty wicked lighting effects.

Now to do the presentation I've been trying to forget about...

-yep

11:11 am - Finally! The pictures you have all been waiting for.

Hey!

Check out the winning GW Kingston 2006 duel entry here! Sounds grander than it is I think.



















Hope you like them, any questions are gladly fielded.

-we out

12:45 am - On the absence of home

Hmm, it seems that Kings of Convenience and Garden State were right after all.

Once you leave home for the first time (ie move into a flat/house) it is never quite the same. You can get it back for a bit whn you're there, but then it doesn't feel right because stuff that you use everyday is not there, that is at your non-home address. And when you're at your new address it is a bit wierd because your parents and family aren't there. I'm hoping that next year will be better as I'll be in a house with people i want to share with, but I'm guessing that until I move into a family home with a SO I won't get that feeling back. And that is an uncertainty at the moment in many ways.

On the upside, time at home was great. Had some time with family and friends, including some much needed pub time with some of my longest serving friends as Mike Watt would put it, and I won that Duel competition! Pewterfish has promised he the photos I took, so expect them hopefully within the next few days.

Here is a retro pug for your amusement:



Time to clear my bed and get in it.

-we out

PS Kate Beckinsale is da bomb. Fo shizzle dawg.

Current Mood: hopeful

11:38 pm - Yet more duelage

Sorry guys, but this is pretty much all i have been doing of late, therefore it gets blogged!

It'd done now, but still the pants phone pictures I'm afraid. Assuming pewterfish remembers his phone decent ones will be up Saturday.

Until then, fuzziness beckons!






Hopefully you get an idea of the reflection on the Kroot.

-we out

06:01 pm - Duel update!

Check it out folks, two bits of OSL done, the base (needs touching up i think) and the guard.

It's not clear (lousy macro!) but should give you a good impression.



Agh, now the quite lightly coloured and leg-over-the-flame opponent...

-we out

09:01 pm - A work in progress

A few peeps have asked to se work in progress shots of the Duel I'm working on, so here they are.





(sorry, for some reason can't shrink the smaller one. according to it's properties they are both the same size!)

This should put you better in the picture.

Yes I know the base of the flame is green (being extended slightly) and yes i know the kroot's head is lolling at a funny angle (it's not glued on), but that is a few approximation of the final product. Of course it is missing the crowning glory (the OSL [object source lighting]) but that would probably just look like i had splashed orange everywhere, so hopefully that will be seen with a better camera with a better macro and colour gradient!

Anyhoo, back to work!

-we out

09:10 pm - Today i have mostly been playing Tomb Raider

Well it's been a long time all three of you that follow this blog!

I have been quite busy!

Playing multiple gigs either as 70's rock and roll singer (Zep, Hendrix, Who etc), funk/jazz drummer and helium powered backing singer (Bobby Cool and the Okey Dokes) or session percussionist (Brahms, Shostakovitch) has taken up a fair amount of my time. Now I have more BCOK gigs to look forward to, as well as performance exams in June which the music office is apparently against me doing! damn you women, holders of keys!

I have also been working on my Duel for entry in a competition at my local GW. The construction went well, but then fear of painting flames and OSL effects (Object Source Lighting) got the better of me and it sat on my desk for a while, but I'm getting on with it now and it's going ok. Here's a preview of the almost finished faux-marble base:




It's going ok so far, but the figures aren't going as well (particulalry the Kroot) but the Guarsman is ok. The flame is already done thankgoodness, but the ambient lighting is going to kill me.

I have also been playing Tomb Raider Legend! It is pretty much stonking, and I especially like the extras and unlockable content, such as background info and costumes (in a Zapp Branigan voice, 'Erotic content!'). Add three levels of difficulty and some content that can only be unlocked once you have completed missions time trial style there is no reason not to replay. The controls are improved to an extent, and they have almost fallen into the join the dots Prince of Persia style (yuck yuck yuck) but i did have a soft spot for the old wiggle, shuffle, die method of older games. Puzzle solving is simpler (find room, work out puzzle, leave room, go through corridor, find next room...) but there is enough variation and exploration to make it interesting. Thankfully the headset buddies are not too over bearing, but I wish you could turn off the on-screen hints! Yes, thankyou, I know how to grab ropes, I have done it twelve times already.

A few new features are very innovative, for Tomb Raider at least. Gone are the days when during a cut scene you can sit back and relax. Now you are just as likely to be responding to onscreen button cues (much like a dance game) to control the cinematic! Failure to press often results in a messy death, and it really keeps you on your toes. These cinematics are sometimes merely 'push this button=video A, not pushing this button=video B', but so far one cinematic has given me full control of Lara, despite a chase camera angle and a ravening beast trying to eat our plucky heroine. Bizarre, confusing, but totally exhillerating.

It does have a tendancy to crash atm, despite downloading the latest drivers. I'm hoping a good defragment might help, we shall see.

Lara of course, looks gorgeous, especially with anti-aliasing on, but then she moves kinda jerky, so i just flick it on very now and then for effect.

But away with me! Cornish pasty land is my destination.

-we out

12:41 am - Fire alarms and caffienne

Well seeing as my buildings fire alarm just went off and I'm drinking a can of Dr Pepper I'll probably be up for a bit longer, so i might as well add to my blog.

I shifted a few things on my Uni desk recently, and found that the created space would be a pretty good slot for a small (for small, read: tiny, as in a max of 50 by 65 cm) model railway. Seeing as I've been dabbling in small scale industrial narrow gauge over the past few years, this seems too good an oppurtunity to miss.

I'm going to be working in 0-9, or On15. If you think of the average or commonplace train set being in OO (or Double-oh, or 4mm to the foot) scale, then 0-9 uses a larger scale (0 gauge, 7mm to the foot) on smaller 9mm gauge track (N gauge, 2mm to the foot). This sounds complex, but it ends up meaning that I'm modelling narrow gauge railways in 7mm to the foot on 9mm gauge track, representing 'real life' gauge of about 15 inches. Actually that isn't much easier to understand. It's small track, big engines people!

So I've joined a message group, and emailed a guy from a localish society (1/2 hour on trainish) to get back into the swing things, and I'll prob pop home this weekend to grab some bits and bobs that i left behind (let me know if that's cool Mum!)

Got my first praccy with my new band tomorrow (being a pop/funk band formed by something of a singer songwriter), so i should prob sleep at some point.

*Yawn*

-we out

09:39 pm - The End

Guess who just finished their assignment and exam period? Uh huh! That would be me!

Had my last exam today, which was a peer assesment performance exam. Basically there's a group of performers (6 in my group) and each person plays a couple of pieces (upto 10 minutes), then they leave the room whilst the rest of the group discuss their performance and give them a grade usuing the usual percentage/class system. I felt i did ok, but through covert machinations (ie asking people) it turns out I got 70%! W00t! I was hoping for a 2/1, but a 1st class is a pleasant surprise, even if it is an only just a 1st. I helped out someone else in their recital by singing for them, and I was actually more worried about this than my own recital. It was a very high song (Hole Hearted by Extreme, for those who know these things) and i really didn't think I'd be able to hit the notes, but I did and it was pretty great even if i say so myself. The guy ended up only getting 56%, but...well I tried.

So so far I have got 72% on an essay, 82% on an acoustics test and 70% on a performance assessment. We'll ignore the 37% I got on a theory test (it was only 5% of the module anyway) and say I am doing 'Not Bad So Far'. I can't see myself getting a 1st overall this year, but you never know. Shame nothing counts this year, but my theory is that if you get yourself into the right swing of things this year then when it actually starts mattering it won't be suich a big shock.

Slight bummer this evening though. Was out to see a film (A Cock and Bull Story since you ask, and pretty damn good is the answer to your next question) and I got a phone call from the head of music, David Osbon (or D to the Ozzle as some of us call him behind his back) asking if I wanted to play part of my performance for the open day concert tomorrow, since the original act had had to pull out. I said I'd love to, but unfortunately the other half of my duo was winging his way to Canterbury to see his girlfriend. Agh... Shame to let the big man down, but hopefully he'll sort something out. I'm sure there are plenty of other performers who can make it.

Anyhoo.

-we out

01:27 pm - Um...sorry...

I know only a few people actually read this, but sorry for neglecting it all the same. Makes me feel guilty for always pressuring Daniel about it!

Well I'm almost at the end of my exams/hand in period which is nice, got everything in on time and I'm pretty happy with them. Got my final thing tomorrow, a 10% of a module performance recital, so not too important but I'm practising hard for it. Helping a few people out with theirs too, singing some songs, and one down one to go, so that's going ok too.

Looking forward to the end of this period really, it's kind of wierd. Not a lot to do apart from assignments, so it can get a bit lonely/dull sitting in your room typing away. It'll be good to be back in lectures next week, especially as I'm now pretty much doing a two and two halves day week. Hopefully I'll find some time this semester to work on my army, which has been sadly neglected as yet, with only a dozen assemblies to it's name. That sort of pace isn't going to get Grandfather Nurgle a new pustule!

That's about it really. I guess that's why I haven't been posting a whole lot recently, I've only really been doing work, and that's not really worth blogging about!

And in other news, the new (pre-ordered from Amazon!) Tomb Raider has been delayed by a couple of months, now put back to April 28th. They delayed the last game by about 8 months, and it turned out to be kinda pants, so here's hoping they actually spend the extra time on play testing and extra development this time around. Screnshots and info so far are stonking, but a Prince of Persia movement/jumping system is a little disheartening. I played the first P of P game on the PS2, and the jumping system seemed too join the dots for me.

Stand at point. Push, boton combo. Character executes perfect move. Find next postition. Go to 10.

Say what you like about the old TR control system, the jumping fitted the game perfectly. I guess I'll have to judge the new system in the context of the new game, but controls really make the game, especially in an action/adventure like TR.

All will become clear in the nearish (although it will possibly get less near again before it arrives) future.

-we out

01:36 pm - Wahammer type stuff

Empire You are 67% Honorable, 44% Bloodthirsty, 27% Magic-minded, and 68% tactically-oriented!

The empire, led by Karl Franz, is the most powerful nation in the old world. Men lack the powerful muscles, tough bodies, innate quickness or sorcery or the scaly skin of many of their adversaries. They make up for these shortcomings by their ingenuity. From noble knightly orders and some of the most powerful cannon in the world, to crazed flagellants, loyal state troops, and the mysterious colleges of magic, the Empire lacks no tools to defend herself.