Proto's Node

The blog is dead, long live the blog!

noreply@blogger.com (Jodie) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:27:00 +0000

This isn't the blog you're looking for. Move along. (I'm not interesting enough to have a blog. Go read someone who is!)

Happy days

noreply@blogger.com (Jodie) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:49:00 +0000

Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy HAPPPY!!!!

As I hoped, JoCo has announced a London date. Friday the 13th of November. Tickets have been secured already. Can't wait!

Get yourself along!

The geek shall inherit the earth!

noreply@blogger.com (Jodie) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:44:00 +0000

Jonathan Coulton is playing in Manchester in November. This is epic news. If you don't know who JoCo is, then you clearly don't have any kind of standing in the geek community (a dagger to the heart there, I'm sure!) and have either stumbled across this blog by accident or are only visiting because you know me and take pity on my attempts to maintain any kind of pertinence or value in this here page of witterings.

Jonathan Coulton is something of a geek icon. A singer/songwriter who ruminates on topics as steeped in geekdom as zombies, animated demonic dolls, evil geniuses and slave-driving robot overlords. His songs tend to resonate with the gamer geek niche. Here's a couple of unofficial videos to get a taste of what JoCo is all about.

Still reading? Well that's something... JoCo has become quite the internet phenomenon and is in many ways a trailblazer for the way new media is powering the consumption of content. The concept of mainstream now is one that is becoming less and less relevant. The huge pie that is culture is a lot more evenly sliced now than it ever was. Every imaginable sub-culture has its own heroes, its own icons and unlike before, an easily accessible mechanism to deliver the content by those producers right into their *insert potential computer location here*.

While it's quite cool these days to be a geek (right!?), the geek fraternity don't want to listen to what the cool kids listen to (and vice versa). In steps Mr Coulton and his ilk (another example being nerdcore rapper MC Frontalot) who, to quote the great Noam Chomsky, have "tapped the zetigeist". The times, they are a'changing ladies and gentlemen, and I for one am quite happily moving along with them.

As I said, he's coming to Manchester in November and am really considering the not inconsiderable amount it will cost to go up there for an overnight to see him live. Better yet, I hope there's a repeat of last year and more dates are added in more convenient locations. (He played shows in London and Oxford at the tail end of the year).

So, anyone out there brave enough to open their minds a little and let in a little geekdom?

The cost of Rocking

noreply@blogger.com (Jodie) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:30:00 +0000

So I sat down and had a think about how much Rock Band/Guitar Hero has cost me so far and it all got a little out of hand...

Xbox 360 Elite: £240
GuitarHero WT Band box: £100
Beatles Rock band: £40
Guitar Hero Greatest Hits: £30
AC/DC Rock band: £30
John Lennon Rickenbacker guitar: £90
HD TV to play it all on: £450
Mic stand and extra mic: £50

Total so far (not counting DLC): £1030

Ho hum!

Get back... get back... get back to where you once belonged.

noreply@blogger.com (Jodie) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:38:00 +0000

Sooooo, it's been altogether far too long. Or not long enough, depending on your viewpoint. The last four months have been eventful, that's for sure. Two holidays, a new xbox, a summer with no football, a new season of fantasy football and much much more has transpired since the last post in April. I'll be back blogging regularly again so do stay tuned for my usual mix of random thoughts on stuff what does interest me.

First up. Scotland vs Holland tonight at Hampden in World Cup Qualifying. A win is almost certainly required if we are to secure a play-off spot. The country is buzzing again after a decent second-half display against a not bad Macedonia side and whilst victory over the Dutch might be somewhat far-fetched given that they are ranked 3rd in the world at the moment but stranger things have happened in football and especially to the Scottish national team so we shall see. It's a huge blow not to have the talismanic McFadden available after the yellow card debacle just before half time on Saturday and one does wonder who amidst the side can cause problems for the Dutch defence. We shall see... 'Mon the Scotland!

In other news, today sees the release of Beatles Rock Band and I have to say I am wetting my pants in anticipation. Plastic instrument-based karaoke has never been so good! :) I expect to spend a lot of my free time with this for the foreseeable...

Britain's got (some) talent

noreply@blogger.com (Jodie) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:26:00 +0000

Right. I don't watch much TV, let's get that down right from the get-go. It's mainly because most of the stuff on there is utter tripe but also partly because I prefer my entertainment to be much more interactive than sitting there just absorbing what you're given. If I had my way, I wouldn't even have a TV in the house, so much do I dislike the damn thing. Other than to relay the images from your games console, they really are the devil's devices. OK, a bit harsh perhaps but you get the idea.

There are a few programmes, however, which inexplicably draw me in. I can probably count them on one hand. One in particular, however, utterly fascinates me and I can't quite put my finger on why. It's Britain's Got Talent. Now, I normally detest these types of shows, your X-Factor and pop Idol types, with a passion. This one however, I just cant stop watching. Perhaps it's the car-crash potential. When you see someone like The Singing Souls it's like you just have to rubber-neck. There's something deeply psychologically wrong about it all...

Of course, the producers know how to emotionalise pretty much anything through the magical forces of music and editing but I have to confess even this steely Scotsman was dabbing at his eyes when I heard Susan Boyle, or even the little guy from this week's episode. Inexplicable, I say! What despicable forces are at work here? I would also like to point out that the whole "oops I picked the wrong song" bit from the little kid is staged without a doubt. Still, cracking voice though.

Of course, the highlight of Saturday's show, for me, was undoubtedly Darth Jackson. This was that weird combination of a complete car-crash, cringeworthy moment followed by hilarity as he breaks in to part 2 of his routine. I shall leave you with a video to remember him by. Can't wait to see what he does in the next round. HOW did he get through exactly?? I wonder what he planned for part 3 that he is so peeved about at the end. "Who's Bad"??

Embedding disabled on this one, so clicky!

Roll on next week.

There's always next season.

noreply@blogger.com (Jodie) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 21:23:00 +0000

That about sums it up to be honest. Motherwell's season came to a disappointing end today when we were beaten 2-0 at home by St Mirren in the final game before the split. After that defeat there are no more games left to catch up with Hibs so it's 5 more meaningless games for the 'Well before the end of the campaign. I'm pretty gutted. A couple of weeks ago everything was going great. 2 defeats in 14 games and we looked a shoe-in to make the top bracket and be challenging for the Europa League places. Now? Nothing to play for whatsoever. How quickly the fickle fortunes can change for a football club. I'm going to save the summing of the season post for a while until I can look back objectively. Right now it might be bit melancholy.

As ever for the football fan of a "wee" team, there's always the hope that comes with the next campaign.

There's always next season.

Prodigy = WIN

noreply@blogger.com (Jodie) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:25:00 +0000

There are no sufficient superlatives to fully do justice to the Prodigy gig at the Wembley Arena last night. No sir. It was a bass-pounding, adrenaline-charged, sweat-laced sensory extravaganza and I'm just glad I was there, in the flesh, to experience it.

Dizzee Rascal warmed us up with his repertoire of party tunes, beefed up for the occasion by turning the bass up, way up. Road Rage was great and Bonkers, as you would expect with a Prodigy crowd, went down a storm. The temperature was rising even before the Prodigy had begun setting up.

After half an hour of random DJ #2 the curtain finally went up to reveal a MASSIVE light rig. Within moments Liam, Maxim and Keith (and a pair of utter loonies on guitar and drums) would be upon us. Let the revelling begin...

90 minutes later I was drenched in sweat, half naked, breathing like I'd done 15 rounds with Mike Tyson, utterly exhausted and exhilarated in equal measure and absolutely dead on my feet. But damn, it was worth it. If there is a better band to see live than the Prodigy, get me a ticket NOW. Their energy levels, even after so many years, are through the roof. Never stopping for a moment, Maxim and Keith bounced across the stage like jumping beans. Surely this can only be attributed to narcotics. Whatever. The crowd drew from their enthusiasm as they drew from the crowd. A positive feedback loop that very nearly blew my eardrums. Speaking of which, my hearing STILL isn't back to normal. I'm starting to get concerned. But you know what? If I never hear properly again, well, it will STILL be worth it. Fuck yeah!

I could say more about this jaw dropping set but I think I'll let a couple of youtube videos do my talking. Enjoy!

We're all off to Wembley, na na na na.

noreply@blogger.com (Jodie) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:51:00 +0000

Tonight is the night! It's taken an eternity to roll around but at last it has indeed arrived. Wembley is going to be jumping to that irresistible Prodigy sound and I just cannot wait any longer! It's 14 years since I first saw them live (holy...!) and 3 (only 3!?!) albums (of new material) have been released in that time. Obviously this tour is supporting Invaders Must Die, which is a fantastic album, but I'm really hoping for a good mix of their stuff from their entire discography. Some Experience would be lovely. Jilted, well, they just gotta do some Jilted! Fat of the Land is a bit meh by Prodigy's epic standards but a couple of the tracks on it are amazing live (if poor quality youtube vids are anything to go by). Always outnumbered has some tasty stuff too. I just hope they are on stage long enough to fit everything I want in. In any event, this is going to be a night to remember...

The good, the bad and the ugly 90 minutes.

noreply@blogger.com (Jodie) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:28:00 +0000

Chelsea 4 Liverpool 4 (7-5 on agg)

Did you see it at the pub? On the couch at home? Even better, were you at Stamford Bridge? An affirmative to any of the above and you were lucky enough to watch one of the most entertaining 90 minutes of football you're likely to see for a long time. Chelsea and Liverpool served up an absolute cracker last night, an 8-goal thriller that contributed to a 7-5 aggregate score that poured scorn on the pundits who suggested this would be another pair of tight ties from these familiar Champion's League combatants. 17 goals in the last three games could hardly have been predicted from a duel that provided only 5 goals from the preceding 7 encounters in this most auspicious of club competitions.

There are a few good reasons for this uncharacteristic glut of goals. Liverpool exploded out of the traps, as you would expect from a team chasing a 2-goal deficit from the first leg. Bolton had showed the way at the weekend with 3 goals at the Bridge against a defence that included John Terry (who was missing for this game) so there was clearly cause for optimism in the ranks of the Anfield side going into the game. As Liverpool opened up in search of more goals then they were always likely to come under threat at the back and that combined with a bit of poor positioning from Reina, a thunderbolt free kick from Alex and Lampard's general ability to be where it counts, when it counts all contributed to the quantity of times we saw the net bulge.

The game had everything. Moments of genuine quality juxtaposed with Sunday league howlers made it an unpredictable encounter that seemed to swing from one possible outcome to the other every 5 minutes. Liverpool looked to have given themselves a chance in a first half during which Chelsea didn't turn up until 5 minutes before the interval. After the break (and a proper haranguing from Hiddink) Chelsea were much improved and seemed to have finished the tie off with a brace of their own. Once Lampard had put the home side ahead one got the feeling it was all over bar the shouting. Well, shout Liverpool did. Long and loud and clear. Somehow, incredibly, they managed to get their nose in front in the tie again with goals from the much maligned Lucas (who did a decent job in for the injured Gerrard) and Dirk Kuyt. For a few edge-of-the-seat minutes another goal would win the tie for Liverpool and you wouldn't have betted against them getting it either, despite Benitez having taken the largely ineffectual Torres off earlier. It wasn't to be though as another goal from Lampard killed off those last Liverpool hopes and ensured the blues march onwards to face the majestic Barcelona in the last 4. If those games are half as entertaining as this one was, you can bet I'll be waxing lyrical about them here as well.

As for Liverpool, well, their focus now switches solely to the Premier title their fans crave so much. Perhaps this ability to concentrate on one tournament will give them a real chance of clawing back United's lead at the top. It depends, of course, how Sir Alex's charges get on at the Dragao tonight. Benitez can be very proud of his players. A one-man team? Not a chance. Although you cant help but wonder what might have happened had Gerrard been fit...

Catching up...

noreply@blogger.com (Jodie) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 09:34:00 +0000

Happy zombie Jesus weekend!

It's been a while and much has transpired. None of it is particularly important though and can be summarised thusly:

Football: The long and short of it, after 32 games this season is this: If Hibs dont beat Rangers and we can beat St Mirren away then we'll have sneaked into a top 6 place by a short nose and can concentrate on clawing back the gap to the euro places in the last 5 games. Draw or lose, regardless of what happens with Hibs and our season is effectively over with nothing to play for. We're completely clear of the relegation zone so the last 5 games would simply be a chance for McGhee to blood some youngsters and/or begin to organise the team for next season. To not make it now would be disappointing, to say the least, even with the horrendous time we had with injuries just before Christmas. The whole season comes down to this one game. If the players need any more motivation than that simple fact then there is something seriously wrong at the club. I know we can do it! As a 'Well fan for all this time though, you get used to disappointment...

Fantasy Football: It's two bad weeks on the trot and I'm languishing down in 7th again. Man Utd's decision to "rest" all three of my players didn't exactly make me grin and it seemed everyone around me had at least two scorers this week. By keeping Lamps as captain this week I've avoided being really finished off, for now. As it is, it looks like H is going to take it (something I will no doubt never hear the end of... "Next time, Gadget, *shakes fist* Next time!!!") but I think I'm looking at a disappointing end to the season. Oh well. Part of me wonders what might have been if I hadn't partially given up for 10 weeks and made no transfers. No excuses though, I've just been owned at every key point this season by what clearly must be more astute managers than I.

Star Wars: A Musical Journey was frankly amazing. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra are note perfect (as you'd expect) and hearing those familiar themes from the Fox fanfare to the Imperial March live, in front of you, with THX super sound booming throughout the O2 was something pretty special. Best. Birthday present. Ever.

The rest of the long, long weekend consisted of the usual combination of partying/gaming/chillaxing and recovering. If you're reading this you were probably there for most of it, so I wont bore you with details. It all went better than expected though, so that's always good.

Played a fair bit of Resident Evil 5 over the weekend. I've been disconnected from the series for a while now (I think the original is the only other one I've played) and... it's changed... a lot. Co-op mode is great fun though (much prefer this mode to single player in my shooters these days, partner can cover up my glaring inadequacies in this genre!) although a frustrating bug meant my character lost all the cool weapons I'd bought/upgraded from the first few levels we'd played together. Oh well. Nothing like headshotting one of our infected African brethren to soothe your frustrations. Hmm, I smell a "5 things I hate about..." coming on...

Almost finished Preacher now. It's simply amazing. If you haven't read it and you're not a comic book geek, yet you like your material dark, humorous and razor sharp then you could do worse than starting here. Transmetropolitan is lined up for dessert. Yummy.

Last but not least I have a massive rant welling up about the G20 death, the police state, faux-democracy and all sorts but I'll save that for later (or just internalise it and go nova with a .45 one day on the bus to work, either/or.)

Stay frosty.

Some people are on the pitch...

noreply@blogger.com (Jodie) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 10:10:00 +0000

Scotland 2, Iceland 1. Not amazingly convincing but it really is the result that counts at the moment. Job done. I think qualifying for the Finals is still something of a long shot because if you look at some of the teams currently in second place in the other groups... Well, let's just say, I wouldn't fancy our chances over 2 legs against too many of them... We don't play another competitive international now until August so attentions can once again turn to domestic matters (and fantasy matters!)

Big week in fantasy land. Only 8 rounds of fixtures left and following the disaster I had last time (curse you Gerrard and curse you no clean sheets for Man Utd and Chelsea) I find myself again with a lot of ground to make up. I've studied the fixture list quite extensively looking for opportunities to milk every last point I can in this run-in so hopefully I can make it back into 4th (or even 3rd) before the end.

The 'Well are at home to Aberdeen tomorrow in what is yet another must-win game. With Dundee Utd and Hibs facing each other at Tannadice (draw please!) it's a chance to move into the top 6 again and close the gap to the European places in preparation for the split. Hopefully McGhee has had the lads working hard this week as not too many of them will have been off on international duty (Clarkson is the only one I can think of off the top of my head, as Craigan didn't figure for Northern Ireland due to an injury). 3 points please lads. Nothing less will do.

Shearer takes over at Newcastle. I have to say I really didn't see that coming. I mean, obviously if you cut him open his blood is black and white but he has always stated he'd move when the time was right, both for him and for Newcastle. I'm not so sure that time is now. We shall see. It's hard to imagine a club of the stature of Newcastle being relegated from the EPL but when you take a glance at their remaining opponents there's not much comfort to be found for the beleaguered Toon army. Can their next Messiah lead them out of danger?

Friday drinks tonight, undoubtedly, then more drinking tomorrow (in the name of charity) and a haircut on Sunday. Rock. On.

Played some of the new Rock Band DLC last night. A couple of tracks from Offspring (moar plx!) and Get Up (Sex Machine) by the godfather of soul. Funking it up with JB on Rock Band is pretty f'n cool!

Have a good weekend folks.

Massive night for Scotland

noreply@blogger.com (Jodie) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:46:00 +0000

It transpired that last week's pessimism concerning Saturday's clash with Holland at the Amsterdam ArenA was absolutely justified and tonight Scotland welcome Iceland to Hampden in what is being billed by all and sundry as a 'must win' game. This is undoubtedly the case as failure to beat the men from the even more frozen north would send the good ship carrying Scotland's world cup qualification hopes crashing into an iceberg and ensure a frosty reception for manager George Burley in Thursday's press. 'Snow joke. I started out well behind Burley but every little new development is serving to drain my confidence of the man who took Hearts to the giddy heights of the SPL summit a few years ago (albeit temporarily) but now seems a little lost in the foothills of the national side. Fallouts with players, notably Kris Boyd, combine with poor results generally to make me somewhat concerned for the future under Burley's stewardship. I'm not sure of the ins and outs of the disciplinary action against McGregor and captain Ferguson but if nothing else it does show the players aren't being kept in control as well as you would like. One thing is for sure; failure to beat Iceland will mean a sharpening of knives amongst the Scottish media pack and to be honest, you wouldn't blame them.

There were reasons for optimism on display in Amsterdam. Ross McCormack was arguably Scotland's best player in his first start and his attacking flair will surely be a crucial part of what needs to be a positive approach to the match against a team we really should be opening up against, especially at home. Hutton and McManus look like they'll be back to shore up the defence and the Celtic stopper will need to contain the attacking prowess of Barcelona's Eidur Gudjohnsen if we're to get the clean sheet that I think we might need to win this match. The tartan army will fill the national stadium again and I really hope they get right behind the team right from the get go and don't get too impatient if we don't score early. I've seen it happen too many times and the jitters of the fans do sometimes filter through to the players which wont help anyone!

'Mon the Scotland!
Kick off 8pm, Sky Sports 2.

5 things I hate about...

noreply@blogger.com (Jodie) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 00:11:00 +0000

Empire Total War

To kick us off, I'm going to moan lyrical over the latest instalment in this franchise. So, in no particular order, here we go:

1. Friendly unit AI in battles. If history has taught us anything, it's that no matter how much you tell them to fire at will, line infantry will invariably stand around picking their noses with bayonets having several ounces of lead shot pumped at them repeatedly, with nothing so much as a harsh word thrown in retaliation. 'Concerned: Losing slightly' Yes, me too.

2. Time to play a game. Like the great dynasties of yore, at the rate it takes to proceed through even a short Grand Campaign, I'll have to pass on the mantle of stewardship to my sons and them to theirs if my family is ever going to see a campaign through. Real-time strategy? You're not kidding.

3. Thugees. Yes I know the term is accurate but DAMN, every time I hear the advisor chick's voice saying it I almost snort a lungful of my soup. For some reason I have images of 50-Cent's crew roaming around the sub-continent in their pimped-out carts terrorising rice farmers and cotton weavers. Don't be a menace to South Asia while drinking your lhassi in the jungle.

4. Enemy AI on the campaign map. Watching enemy manoeuvres sometimes feels like you are watching two very stupid dogs chase each other around, waving their tails like these virtual muppets wave their flags with seemingly no sense of purpose to it at all. One unit will march from point A to point B, about face and march to point C. Meanwhile, another, perhaps slightly cleverer muppet (but who really knows) will start from point C and march straight to point A. The end result? Nothing has changed except a wasted turn of movement and the player sitting there giggling uncontrollably as she ponders which region to next meander over and swallow up into her empire.

5. Difficulty. A vegetablised donkey could prolapse onto a board made of solid stupid and that dubious deposit could swallow a couple of valium, play this on hardest setting and STILL easily mince to victory. Hell, I could even play this on the hardest setting and mince to victory (although as point 1 above suggests, probably only using good old auto-resolve (or should I say auto-win by the way but that's technically sneaking in thing number 6 that I hate)). This is also pretty much only theory as due to point 2 above, I've not got a spare year to actually find out. If conquering the world was this easy, America would have done it by now.

*offers pinch of salt*

Got any more?

(((Note this is crossposted from my new blog over at GAX. I'll keep crossposting for a wee while even though it's also kinda doing that automagically. )))

Bright, bright, bright, sunshiny day.

noreply@blogger.com (Jodie) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 11:09:00 +0000

Greetings loyal readers! What a lovely day it is (where I am at least). Inverse seasonally affective disorder it may be but there's something about the sunshine that puts a big dumb grin on my face. I even managed to sit in the beer garden of a pub at the weekend wearing nought up top but a t-shirt. Hailing, as I do, from the frozen north, this is something of a new experience for me and one I'm really looking forward to repeating over the coming months. When I moved down here the improved weather conditions were something I was really looking forward to and while the summer of 2007 was, I'm assured, somewhat disappointing (by my standards it was positively lovely), 2008 was much more promising. Hopefully this trend continues and the summer of 2009 is an absolute roaster.

The Mighty 'Well lodged a crucial 2-1 win against the Arabs at the weekend. Somewhat fortunately, by all accounts. Dundee Utd were denied what looked to be a good shout for a pen and had salt rubbed in the wounds as the 'Well broke up the park and nicked a winner. Harsh times for Craig Levein and the old cliche about these things evening out over the course of the season will be scant comfort to a team who have hit a sticky patch just as the season reaches crunch-time. Not that I'm crying into my porridge for them... Hearts did us no favours by losing at home to Hibs so we're still sitting in 7th for the moment but if we do make the top 6 I'm really confident we can take that 4th spot.

In fantasy land my tactical decisions paid off handsomely. Benching Van der Sar for Schwarzer was an obvious move which most of my rivals replicated, so was less effective than I'd hoped it would be but the rest of the lads did well and I was equal top scorer for the gameweek, moving quietly into 4th spot in the league and now focusing on Mr Bishop, sitting only 20 odd points ahead. I think 3rd is all I have left to fight for as 2nd is over 100 points ahead of me with only 9 (or 10 in Man Utd's case) games to play. There would have to be some utterly amazing results to haul back that much of a deficit.

It's been a while since i dropped a video in for your viewing pleasure, so here's a funky mash-up I've been listening to a fair bit lately.

Stay safe kids.

Bring on the tangerines

noreply@blogger.com (Jodie) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:50:00 +0000

Mark McGhee today received his Manager of the Month award for February and gave the credit to the players after a terrific ten game run in the league of 5 wins, 4 draws and just a single defeat (last week to Hearts in a game which no-one can quite understand how the capital side managed to win). Tomorrow we face Dundee United at Fir Park in a more or less must-win match if we are to make that crucial 4th spot and qualify for the Europa League next season. Back to back European campaigns hasn't happened to Motherwell for as long as I can remember. It would be some achievement given the atrocious spate of injuries we suffered towards the tail end of 2008. Last time out against the Arabs, we cuffed them 4-0 on their own patch and they will no doubt be out for revenge but with everybody fit and raring to go I think we should run out comfortable winners. I'm going for 2-0. Sheridan and Shuggy Hughes to score.

Games against Dundee United have held an extra significance for me since December 29th 2007. This was the last Motherwell game I actually went to (and my first since the 5-1 thrashing by Rangers in the league cup final years ago) and was of course marked by the tragic death of our captain Phil O'Donnell, who collapsed during the game and never recovered. On that day the football was magical. We were 3-0 up after half an hour and playing some truly scintillating stuff. It's not just fond memories. We really were that good. I still think about Uncle Phil from time to time and especially about his young family. Mostly when we play Dundee United. What a legend. Thanks for the memories Phil.

Homeward bound

noreply@blogger.com (Jodie) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:02:00 +0000

Starting to really look forward to my trip home next week. I miss family and friends of course but it's the little things that you take for granted while you're there that can often be surprisingly important when they're gone. Take square sausage, for example. I used to munch one of these more or less every day. 2 for breakfast at the weekend. Sometimes with fried egg, sometimes with mushrooms, sometimes bacon or potato scone or black pudding, or even some unholy, heart-stopping combination of all of the above. It's no wonder the Scots have such unhealthy cardiology, generally, with crap like this on the menu. But damn! It tastes good. The picture above makes me laugh. It seems the garnish is designed to make it look a lot more fancy than it is!

Usually this is served up on a roll, preferably a Morton's roll. This slightly crispy, slightly chewy bread product is a million miles away from the "baps" we get down in the South. I can't wait to get into Glasgow off the 'plane and go buy one!

Just a shorty today as I'm storing all my bloggy goodness up for later. Ooh aren't you lucky!

It's Monday, bloody Monday...

noreply@blogger.com (Jodie) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:26:00 +0000

Wow, Monday comes around fast doesn't it? I had a wicked weekend of doing very little in the way of anything other than chillaxing with my favourite munchkin. I did introduce her to the joys of Rock Band though which was jolly good fun! I think the Hot Spring Perverts have a potential new lead singer...

On Friday I saw Watchmen. Quick capsule review: Not terrible, not amazing. A bit overlong at 2 hrs 45 but otherwise, nothing to write a blog about. I hadn't read the comic first so can't really join in on the debate raging about the ending, or Alan Moore's disassociation with it. I can only take it as I saw it. Distinctly "OK".

No game for Motherwell this weekend due to the cup matches. We lost in midweek to Hearts despite dominating them to bring to an end our 9 game unbeaten run and effectively put to bed our hopes of finishing third. Guess it's between us, Dundee Utd, Aberdeen and Hibs for the final Euro place and we're far from in the driving seat there. On current form, I'm fairly confident we can do it though.

Not much to talk about in fantasy land either. Sneaked up into 4th place in the league, level on points with 5th. REALLY need Blackburn to score on Wednesday night, preferably about 13 goals please, thanks. An Andy Johnson hat-trick wouldn't go amiss either.

Played some live poker last week which was really fun. It's been ages since I've played either live or online and it was good to be flopping cards again. Finished in the money on one and narrowly missed out on the cash places in the other so I'm not too rusty it would seem! Might take a wander up to the casino tonight for a game...

Stay frosty people.

It's a Sin, alright!

noreply@blogger.com (Jodie) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 10:10:00 +0000

A little bit of a rant today. I've been going through a spate of watching films with the director's commentary on, including the considerably entertaining Mel Gibson on Apocalypto, the somewhat less than entertaining Ridley Scott on Bladerunner and the mildly entertaining Michael Davis on Shoot 'Em Up. I'm quite a fan of picking up special/collector's/limited editions of movies I like and exploring the behind the scenes features that you pay the premium for.

This was definitely at the forefront of my mind when I picked up the "Recut and Extended" steelbook edition of Sin City a few years ago now. To my surprise and outrage, when I put in the first disc the other night to watch the film with Robert Rodriguez's commentary I discovered that the package had shipped with the basic one disc edition masquerading as disc 1. WTF!? Not a commentary or special feature in sight. Fair enough it's taken me this long to notice but nevertheless I am not a happy bunny. Has anyone else got the Recut and Extended version and also found this to be the case? I wonder if a whole batch shipped this way or if I was just unfortunate to get a bit of an idiot serving me in HMV...

Bastards.

Farewell, good sir.

noreply@blogger.com (Jodie) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 10:40:00 +0000

Today I got some bad news. A friend and colleague had a heart attack last night and passed away. The office is just numb about it. He was a gentleman, a great professional and the kind of boss that was well liked by his team for both his compassion and his leadership. I feel truly sorry for his young family.

Death is a strange thing. We spend our lives avoiding dealing with it or thinking about it which leaves us unprepared and unsure how to behave when we are confronted by it. Likewise, grief is a strange emotion. It sucks optimism and hope from you and leaves you with an emptiness that can only really be consciously avoided until time soothes the pain.

I guess the only thing that you can focus on is the reminder that life is short and every day should not be taken for granted and instead lived to the full. I'll try to bear that in mind in the foreseeable future and beyond.

Rest in peace Asif.

And the 'Well roll on

noreply@blogger.com (Jodie) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 10:05:00 +0000

It would appear this blog is turning into one almost solely focused on Motherwell Football Club but there is a school of thought that says if you write about what you know and love then your writing will be all the better for it. Perhaps it's just because we're in the middle of such a good run and once we start to lose again I'll switch the attention of my blogs to happier things but for now, the 'Well are on a storming run which has taken us from the brink of the relegation zone to genuine contenders for a second successive season ending with a European place.

On Friday you may recall I tipped Cillian Sheridan to score first in the match and his first for the 'Well. I was half right, with the loan-man's winner in the second half enough to see off a spirited Inverness side 2-1 and consolidate our position in 6th place. It was the first defeat inflicted on Terry Butcher since he took over the reins at Caley Thistle and makes it 5 wins and 4 draws in the last 9 league games for the Steelmen. Aberdeen must be looking nervously over their shoulders now, with the gap at only 3 points after the Dons drew 0-0 at home with Kilmarnock. With only 6 games left to the split, Motherwell seem to have a somewhat tougher fixture list than the teams above us but with the unique way our league works in Scotland, just getting into the top 6 will mean that the last 5 games of the season will undoubtedly decide everything. If we win half of the games before the split I think that will probably be enough to ensure top 6. Failure to do that now would be devastating after such a poor start to the season, where at times we had 12 fit first-team players. Now that we have the full complement again (including Brian McLean who has recovered from his horrendous injury and started at the weekend in the absence of the supended Paul Quinn) McGhee can put the same team out, more or less, every week which is really helping the team maintain the consistency which was the bedrock of our success last season. Next up is a tricky tie away to high-flying Hearts in midweek, who themselves consolidated their grip on third spot with a crucial away victory to rivals Dundee United on Saturday. It wont be easy, that's for sure, but with a little luck, who knows? I'm tipping the 'Well to sneak a point with a late penalty.

Fantasy football was a mixed bag. My super secret star signing was Lampard who, as captain, netted me a fat 20 points. The only problem being it would seem my fellow managers also had the same flash of inspiration with Lampard suddenly captain in half a dozen teams, and pretty much all my rivals for 4th spot. Still, some daylight is appearing between myself and the teams below me which is encouraging given that 6 of the 15-man squad were either injured, suspended or on Carling Cup duty. With at least 4 of that cadre due back for the midweek fixtures things are perhaps looking up...?

I'll post later regarding my weekend experiences with GTA4: The Lost & The Damned.

Jode out.

Ball Ball Ball, Footy Footy Footy

noreply@blogger.com (Jodie) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 17:26:00 +0000

Here we are once again. The weekend is just a hangover away and my team travel to face bottom-of-the-table Inverness on the back of 8 unbeaten in the league. We're in great form but will have to be to beat a resurgent Inverness who look a completely different side since former 'Well managers Terry Butcher and Mo Malpas joined forces again to take over at the Highland side. Nevertheless, I'm quietly confident (which usually spells disaster). If I was a betting man, I'd also be following my hunch and putting a cheeky fiver on Cillian Sheridan scoring first. He's due, or something like that.

In fantasy land, Man Ure are on Carling Cup duty meaning I've got two guaranteed non-starters over the weekend. Injuries and suspensions have ravaged my side which basically means my new star signing (who will also be my captain this week) better have a stormer or I could be falling behind again after a big move up the table last week. We shall see!

Just a wee one today as it's rapidly approaching pub time and if I didn't post now the chances are good that I wouldn't at all or that it would be drunken rambling (as opposed to regular rambling).

Hope you have a great weekend.

Couldn't embed today's video but do click and check it out.

The Prodigy are back. But is it GOOD?

noreply@blogger.com (Jodie) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:04:00 +0000

The long-awaited new album from The Prodigy hit the shops on Monday. Here's my attempt to tackle it in some kind of objective fashion. A tough assignment given my love for this evergreen and ever metamorphosing stalwart of the electronica scene.

But first, let me set the scene. It's the early 90s and I'm in high school. The older kids are going to clubs and getting into the ecstasy scene, powered by "Hardcore", a sort of mainstream version of Rave with such illustrious luminaries as 2 Unlimited. I dip my toe into the music with a few compilation CDs (they were new and shiny!) including one called Essential Hardcore. My favourite track on there was "Everybody in the place" by someone called the Prodigy. The fad passed and I didn't really get into the scene at all.

Fast forward a few years and I'm smack bang in the middle of my "mosher" phase. Long hair, leather jacket, tight black jeans, the whole shebang. It's the summer of 1995 and I'm at the second ever T-in-the-park festival back when it was held just a mile or two from where I lived in Motherwell. I was there to see some big metal acts (can't rightly recall who at the moment) and my flavour of the month band, Irish rockers Therapy?. I'd had a phenomenal weekend and things were winding down and the last act of the night were getting ready to come onto the main stage. Shrouded in darkness, we could make out some movement but not much of anything else happening on the stage. An expectant lull descended over the tightly-packed crowd and it became quieter than at any other time over the weekend. The sun was beginning to set on the horizon and we were bathed in a pinkish glow both from that and from the elaborate light show that was starting up on the stage. A giant plastic ball, reminiscent of Gladiators, rolled onto the stage as some brooding bass began to pound out of the enormous speakers all around us. Moving as one sprawling body, the crowd instinctively shifted into regimented lines. My booze-addled mind wondered what was going on as a two or three foot space opened up in front of me. Then it dawned on me. This was my own personal dance floor. Suddenly the stage was flushed with light, dazzling us momentarily and a resounding boom of bass almost split the earth asunder. The giant plastic bubble rolled to a halt and it's human hamster occupant (Keith, of course!) burst forth as the first beats of Voodoo People tore an excited scream from every single member of the crowd.

And then we danced.

Dusk became darkness and almost 2 hours later, drenched in sweat and utterly exhausted, not to mention completely sober again, I'd just been infected with The Prodigy for the first time live. It's an experience I'll never forget. Since then I've followed their careers like any other fan. I've seen them 3 times live now and they truly know how to put on a show. Their energy and enthusiasm for what they do really transmits to the crowd. Listening to their studio albums has never really hit the same high for me, as you might expect, although I love all of their albums to one extent or another. Sure there are low points on Fat of the Land and Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned but I've yet to be disappointed by a new album. So my excitement and anticipation for Invaders Must Die was tempered by a trepidation that maybe this time they wouldn't quite live up to their previous efforts. I have to admit, on first listen I couldn't help but feel my fears were justified.

The album opens with the title track. It's been available to listen to on Youtube for ages now (and I posted it here in my blog a while ago) so it wasn't a surprise to me. Some people have compared it to the style of Pendulum's more recent offerings and I can see why. But it's definitely got that Prodigy air about it. It's actually pretty distinct from any particular album sound they've done over the years though. A typically pounding bass is overlaid with heavy guitar and a scratchy synth sound that definitely gets my head bobbing. A solid 5 minutes of electro-joy and a strong opener for the album, for me.

Track 2 is Omen, another track which has been available for some time and one which I instantly loved on first listen. Again very Pendulum-esque in the juxtaposition of elements. This one has Keith's vocals over the top and the track is full of mini crescendos that when the break hits just makes you want to get up and dance. This one is sure to become a club favourite much in the same vein of Firestarter. It has just enough "rest break" lulls in the beat combined with it's powerful main theme to make dancing to it an utter joy, I imagine. I only wish it was longer than the 3 and a half minutes it weighs in at.

Thunder took me back to Jilted in the blink of an eye. Reminds me of The Heat (The Energy) a LOT, which is by no means a bad thing. Not much more to say on this one. It wasn't an immediate favourite but after 10 listens it's definitely grown on me and now I love it.

Colours is pure Always Outnumbered... through and through. Rapid drums, pounding bass and a little keyboard tinkling make this one a definite head bobber if not necessarily a floor filler.

It wouldn't seem strange if you found out that the next track, Take me to the Hospital was actually a lost track from the Experience album. It's got that old school hardcore sound to it with the chimes and the squeaky vox augmented with a thumping bass that seems to have been lifted from Fat of the Land. Another great track imho.

Warrior's Dance takes a little while to get going but when it does, wow! It does break down a little in the middle when the pulsating bass isn't tearing your sub woofer a new one but it's still pretty good despite that.

Run with the Wolves is another track from the Always Outnumbered... stable. It's very much like Hotride (minus Juliette Lewis, of course) with that albums signature heavy bass and Keith's aggressive lyrics combining to form what is a pretty decent track in and of itself but one that is perhaps overshadowed by the rest of the album. If this is as low as the album gets, then it's a testament to the quality of Invaders Must Die.

Omen Reprise is (one would imagine) Liam just having some fun with what is clearly one of his personal favourite tracks on the album. It's only just over 2 minutes long but has some nice tweaks on the original heard earlier in the album. It does have more of a Jilted feel to it though which is never unwelcome. Listening to it does kinda make me just want to go back to track 2 though. Likely to be the most remixed track on the album I reckon.

World's on Fire is up next and I take back what I said about Run with the Wolves being the low point of the album. This is definitely it. There's nothing particularly innovative in this one. I like the vox-box modded vocals but the beat is just "ok" which is a rarity for the Prodigy as far as I'm concerned. It also briefly goes off on an Experience tangent that just doesn't really work in the context of this song.

The brilliance is back with a bang in the penultimate track, Piranha. This doesn't really sound like any other Prodigy songs that I can think of off the top of my head. Maxim does the vocals on this one and it's just 4 minutes 5 seconds of energetic booming beats. Great way to finish off the album...

... because the final track feels like it really doesn't belong here at all. It's a complete change of pace from anything I've ever heard the Prodigy do before, in almost every way. It's called Stand Up and if anything it reminds of Dry the Rain by the Beta Band. It's melodic and very light on electro interference. There's a guitar, drums, a wind instrument of some kind and a little bit of synth action between choruses. Guess what? I love it! It's... not... Prodigy... but I love it nevertheless. After the intensity of the rest of the album it's a really chilled out way to wind the album down and once again shows just how genius Liam is at composition.

These opinions arrived after at least a dozen listenthroughs and it is absolutely one of those albums which is a grower. If you love Prodigy, like me, then you wont really care and will have it already. If you love raw power, genius composition, thundering bass and a masterful display of electronic finesse then making Invaders Must Die your next acquisition would be far from a bad move. Turn it up and dance your heart out!

Mini-rant

noreply@blogger.com (Jodie) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 12:34:00 +0000

What the hell have they done to the Follower box? It looks terrible now. So much so in fact that I got rid of it altogether. It used to be so unobtrusive and now it's this big ugly box emblazoned with GoogleFriend Connect logo or somesuch. Urrgh. Not nice at all.

That is all, for now. Later today I'll post my review of Invaders Must Die. I bet you cant wait...

For the Emperor!

noreply@blogger.com (Jodie) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 09:43:00 +0000

It's Dawn of War, Jim, but not as we know it.

So Dawn of War 2 hit games shops all over the country on Friday and I managed to hold out until Monday to buy it. For those of you unfamiliar with the franchise, it's set in the world of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40K. Developed by Relic, the masterful team behind Dawn of War 1 and WW2 strategy masterpiece, Company of Heroes, DoW2 uses an updated version of the Essence engine from CoH, optimised for dual core DX10 systems. The game requires you to install Steam if you dont have it already and encourages you to get a gamertag from Live, so you can get Xbox-style achievements. Yes folks, I now have Gamerpoints. For shame!

So, trivialities out of the way, let's begin our adventure into Campaign mode. The first thing I noticed about the Campaign was that I didn't get a choice of which race to play. Having just recently finished DoW:Dark Crusade and DoW:Soulstorm, I had gotten used to the idea of having 7 races to pick from but here it was Blood Ravens Space Marines or quit to desktop. Fair enough, says I. Marines were my favourite in the first game anyway. After picking a name for my Force Commander (pick wisely as you will regret calling yourself Geneseed McBigballs when you have to see it over and over and over), you are taken into your first mission immediately. So, Force Commander Proteus (I've played Chaos Gate, I know they're all called Latin names...) and his accompanying tactical squad land on the battlefield and straight away it feels familiar. More polished graphics, for sure. I turned the settings up to full then tuned them down until it stopped warning me my system would have trouble. The landscapes are pretty nice, especially when you zoom right in. Details and animations are good and thankfully there seems to be enough of a range of them that you dont have 5 men performing what appears to be some kind of esoteric synchronised shrugging dance. Scratch the surface though, and the blood and guts of this game have changed in a big way. First of all, there's no resource collection. Now, I dont mean that in the same way you could say there is no resource collection in DoW, where you take a point and it will build up resources for you to buy stuff. There literally are no resources to collect. You dont "buy" structures or units. You dont "buy" upgrades within the mission. Instead you simply have your squads, each with a named squad leader. If a squad member is killed then you get him back by retreating to your nearest "relay" (think checkpoint) and a replacement teleports in. If your squad leader is incapacitated then another squad leader can revive him (in true Gears of War teabagging fashion by standing nearby and waving your arms in the air like some kind of steel-encased Obi Wan Kenobi). This feels really strange at first and you cant help but think to yourself, where the hell do I get more men, damnit!?

You move around and fight just like in CoH, with terrain features offering either no, light or heavy cover depending on what it is. Your troops are relatively smart and will jockey their position to make the best use of available cover, retreating behind walls or sandbags and the like when they catch sight of incoming enemies. Each unit has a few special abilities which are powered by energy and you have to constantly be micro managing this to get the most effectiveness out of your troops. This would be an unholy pain in the ass if it was DoW. But it's not. It's DoW2 and you get, count em, 4 squads of men maximum per battle. And we're not talking 10-strong steel legions raining explosive jacketed slugs of death. Oh no. The tactical squad is 4 men. The Assault and Devastator squads number 3 a piece and your Force Commander is all by himself. Generally in each mission you have 11 men, tops. The key to this working is the new wargear and experience system. Each squad leader character gains XP over the course of the Campaign with which he can boost one of four stats. Health, Melee, Ranged and Energy, would be the basic titles. Like in Mass Effect, hitting a threshold in a particular stat grants new abilities and unlocks access to different weapons or to additional equipment slots. Each point invested in a stat also boosts your associated skills, such as melee skill or ranged damage. It's actually a very fun process to level up, choosing what's the best direction for your squad leader based on the way you like to employ him and his squad in the battle. My only observation on this would be that against some enemies, they have structures which spawn enemies seemingly indefinitely until you destroy the structure. This would indicate that it's possible to "milk" these bottomless udders of XP for as long as you could stomach it but I haven't tested if the time/reward ratio is worth it. The other new(ish) addition is Wargear. In the last two instalments you could pimp your force commander with wargear but here every squad leader has a number of slots which can hold wargear of various descriptions. Weapons, armour, grenades, orbital beacons, medpacks, purity seals etc. It's very VERY much like WoW in this respect. Even down to the fact that basic loots are white text, uncommon are green and rare are blue (haven't seen any purples after 8 hours of gameplay but you know they'll be there...) Each piece of kit further enhances your stats or grants special abilities to the bearer. This loot "drops" from killing standard enemies (sometimes) and from the "boss" fights (always). I'm not sure if there are loot tables or if the drops are predefined. I have a feeling it may be the former. The bosses are good fun to fight and generally have one or two tricks up their sleeve that make the battle a bit more interesting than just mass select and click attack.

Which is not to say that the regular gameplay is anything like the drag-select and zerg that has been the bane of RTS games since, well, since forever. Try that here and you will be torn apart faster than Richard Gere's rectum at the hamster equivalent of Crufts. Each squad has to be individually manoeuvred into position, then the enemy teased into attacking you on your terms while you micro-manage your special abilities to maximise your firepower. As soon as each individual burst of combat is over, your troops regenerate health and energy very quickly so it becomes a series of small skirmishes that you have to carefully manage to be as efficient as possible. You do have some tricks that are limited use, such as grenades and medpacks but these can be topped up by breaking supply crates that litter the maps. I've never ran out of anything yet but I am only playing on default difficulty (2 of 4, I think).

It's really not like DoW at all, to be honest. It's more like a bastard half-breed of Diablo 2, and Company of Heroes set in the 40k universe, with elements of World of Warcraft thrown in. Hmmm. Win?

After a battle you are debriefed and given bonus experience based on 3 key areas: Fury (what % of enemies in the level you killed), Resilience (how many of your squad leaders were incapacitated at any point in the mission) and Speed (how quickly you completed the mission, which for me is always the lowest rating unless it's a computer attacks you type mission). If you score highly enough you can gain bonus deployments on that campaign day (in other words you get to do another mission before the day ticks over, which usually entails some bad shit happening somewhere or other, so it's a worthwhile goal to achieve these bonus deployments).

On the interplanetary scale, there are a number of worlds with available missions on them and after the initial couple you are free to choose the order in which you do these. Tactical considerations come into play here too though as some missions have a date by which they must be done and some missions lower the Tyranid Infestation level of the planet which I can only imagine to be bad if you leave it to build up for too long.

There is a continuous story thread going on as you play which seems so far to be much more solid than the dubiously loosely associated fluffy bits which proliferate the Campaign modes of Soulstorm and Dark Crusade.

I haven't ventured into the peril-fraught world of multiplayer matches yet. I understand you can play as Marines, Eldar, Orks or Tyranids in multiplayer, so I'll be giving that a try once I've played a bit more. It will be interesting to see how the other races deal with the 4 squad limit, or the fact that when fighting Tyranids and Eldar they seem to have buildings. I did notice there is an interesting Co-op multiplayer mode where two players can each take control of 2 squads in campaign mode (I'm looking at you Mr Oakley...)

In the future I can see expansions with other races which if you offered me right now I'd bite your hand off. This game is helluva fun, not many games can keep me playing for 8 hours straight and have me only switching off when I'm bordering on unconsciousness and a few hours away from my alarm going off for work. It's only been one day of playing but I'd recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in RTS games. To me it's made some real innovations to the genre and is almost guaranteed to be a smash hit. If nothing else, it will sate your RTS appetite until Blizzard's Starcraft juggernaut rolls onto the scene. Relic ftw! 9/10