My General Crapness

My update schedule recently has been worse than Mark X over at Broken TV, blame many many games. Mainly though blame Half-Life 2, which I've just got sucked into big time. My plan is to play all the big 360 releases first and run through the major Wii stuff when I have spare time. This is where single player shortness comes in handy, being able to blitz a campaign mode means I can spend more time with quick games like Mario and Sonic, Guitar Hero and XBLA games. Unfortunately HL2 isn't going down without a fight, Mass Effect won't and I'm not expecting Eternal Sonata to go quietly either. Fortunately a short campaign in Call Of Duty 4 means I can spend more quality time with the supreme multiplayer, one of the few online shooters I consider myself rather tasty at.

And amongst all this I have Metroid Prime 3 to play, I haven't finished PGR4 and Viva Pinata is guilting me with the small amount of time I've put in. Finished Skate though, which is nice even though I'm sure to go back just to find some truly stupid trick combos and finish some of the goals I left. Will have to deal with Tony Hawk first though.

Don't even get me started on music. I haven't bought a CD since The Holloways album a few months ago.

The London Expo October 2007

London Expo is always an entertaining time. Whether its because of the tube system taking the piss or the actual joy of the people there. For me its mostly about spending money though so lets see the league table of who took my money this year.

Grinding at the bottom is United Publications, lacking the CCS boxset that was so tempting to me resulted in UP only taking £8 of my money through 3 fine posters covering Prince of Tennis, Yu-Gi-Oh and of course Card Captor Sakura.

Slightly up from that is Sweatdrop who got £10 with two brilliant prints. Sweatdrop always seem to have the fine prints and continue to give a reason for the Expo having an Artist Alley.

Tokyopop's wall of manga took £20 off me dispite my protestations that I wasn't going to spend money there this time. Lament of the Lamb 6, Fake 3 and Loveless 5 gave me the required spend to get an extremely sizable Pita-Ten artbook for £5.

Manga Entertainment got £25 thanks to their stand selling Terratag shirts. A fine zip up number (which looks like the top half of a boiler suit, and is therefore cool as hell) combined with Naruto Unleashed 2.1 got the cash off me.

The top prize for extracting money from my wallet though goes to Tokyo Toys. A supreme Tsubasa Chronicle messenger bag meant they took £34.

Cosplayer of the day is without any shadow of a doubt the fursuit Pikachu. I've seen Pikachu cosplay before but this one was truly excellent. Runner-up goes to another fursuit, a full size Kon.

Corporate stand of the day was easily Sony's showing off of Eye of Judgement. Giving out free cards and providing fairly extensive looks at the game meant that I can say this is a game I must have, And soon.

The new bag is excellent but it has left me with some sad news. After over 5 years of faithful service my Jeep backpack is now being retired. I bought it for £15 in TKMaxx back in 2002 ready for the 9th year at Bishops but now its age is starting to show. Its accompanied me through 3 years of Bishops, 2 years of college and a summer of full time work but now its over.

NJ's Jeep backpack
2002-2007

All the pictures are on my Facebook, because Photobucket's being a bitch.

Tumbleweed

Haven't been here for a bit but I have a few things to talk about.

I've been quite busy with work and gaming as October is a hell month as far as games are concerned. This week's XBLA releases don't help as they're both games I want to play (Every Extend Extra Extreme and Speedball 2).

London Expo is next week, or this weekend depending on your own grasp of the english language. I have a warchest of cash in the bank account to spend, around £150-160 for splurging which will hopefully result in me bringing home the other half of the Cardcaptor Sakura boxset which in turn will result in me doing little else than just trying to figure the fuck out of the ending. Hopefully something got cut from the English version that took all the sense out of the series ending. I'll probably pick up a few more Cardcaptors TCG boosters and some more volumes of the CCS manga. If I can find a CCS-era Sakura plushie (as opposed to my Tsubasa-era one) then that would be score. Might actually spend some time by Tokyo Toys as I haven't been tracking their stuff lately as their obsession with the damn monkey after its Big Brother appearance. Hopefully they're back to their proper purpose in the market (statues and wallscrolls).

I need a ham sandwich so I'll get one result in before going off to eat.

You Don't Know Jack Episode 32
Score: $5,135

Beautiful Voice, Great Writing and Smoking Hot

Now as you know I have far more appreciation for the male form than the female. This week though I just had to refer to some ladies as smoking hot though.

On Tuesday I did a 360 games run, I called this my 'Games I Really Want To Play' run. I bought Fuzion Frenzy 2 and Viva Pinata.

On Wednesday I did another games run, this was my 'Big Tough Manly' games run. I bought PGR3 and Quake 4.

On that day I also got a new pair of headphones and 3 CDs to listen to through them. This is where the smoking hot bit comes in.

The Zutons - Tired Of Hanging Around
KT Tunstall - Drastic Fantastic
Feist - The Reminder

You Don't Know Jack Episode 31
Score: $12,111

Not bad actually.

Nakedness

So the attention of my siblings to the site means I have to be careful about what I say on Facebook. For the most part anyway.

You Don't Know Jack Episode 30
Score: $8,541

Head to Head - NBA Games

In the world of sports games, there are a few certainties. Pro Evo will always be better than FIFA, Madden will always exist long after the man himself dies and no-one will buy a baseball game no matter how good it is. However the unknown quantity and real competition every year is the NBA game. So is 2008 the year for 2K or EA?

The short answer, EA. The long answer is all Electronic Arts. Having played the 2 demos I found that NBA 2k8 is hard to follow and quite tedious while NBA Live 2008 is a lot more fun and fluid as well as much faster.

I'll talk about Alton Towers later and why its so necessary to go during term time.

Oh, and Zero Punctuation is all about Manhunt this week. Another case of him being nice (or at least forgiving) about a game.

You Don't Know Jack Episode 29
Score: $6,725

RIP Colin McRae

Colin McRae
1968 - 2007

One of the greatest rally drivers the country's ever produced and the man who helped bring rallying into the world of videogames. The helicopter he was piloting crashed yesterday near his home. My condolences go out to his wife and all his family and friends.

250 Titles - Microsoft At TGS '07

So the Tokyo Game Show is officially started. Here's my thoughts on Microsoft's showing at their press conference.

1) Lost Odyssey
Square have really started throwing their weight behind the 360 now and the machine has a buttload of excellent looking RPGs coming out. Lost Odyssey looks to be one of them, no word yet on how it plays but if its half as good as the trailer says then this will be a system seller. Having Nobou Uematsu on the music team will help no end.
Release - 6th December in Japan, February in Europe and January in America.

2) Halo 3
*yawn* Nothing to say that hasn't been said many, many, many, many times.
Release - 25th September with free Xbox Live Gold for the 3 days after launch

3) Project Gotham Racing 4
No new trailer, but a hard release date
Release - 11th October

4) Atsumare! Pinata
Nice to have what I think is a new Viva Pinata game.
Release - December

5) Ace Combat 6
Time for the 360 to print money. The japanese love their Ace Combat.
Release - 1st November

6) Gundam Operation Troy
Yep, Gundam prints money.
Release - TBA

7) Beautiful Katamari
Lack of exclusivity will hurt this one, if the Wii gets it then the others will be left out in the cold.
Release - October

8) Dynasty Warriors 6
Hack, slash, yawn.
Release - November

9) Devil May Cry 4
Pick a platform for this one, it'll either sell PS3's or 360s.
Release - 2008

10) Ninja Gaiden 2
Ninja. Now there's a selling point.
Release - TBA

11) Xbox Live Arcade
This was the bit that killed. XBLA will be raking in the cash next year. Shmup legends Every Extend, Ikaruga, Omega Five and Trigger Heart will be joined by one of the PSP's good games Exit. That'll sting for Sony.

12) Rez HD
Its an XBLA game, but having Rez back in the present is a great thing for all involved.

13) Infinate Undiscovery
New Square Enix IP here, as is...

14) The Last Remnant
Another new IP. Square looks to really be going for it.

So there we are. 12 new games in total, a bunch of XBLA games and Square's performance alone makes me feel very good about owning a 360.

Verdict
Microsoft are looking to show a new reliance on RPGs that will really aid the 360 in Japan, whether they're any good yet remains to be seen but the line-up is incredibly strong.
B+

Kick Kick Punch Punch Block Block Chop Chop Master Onion

You're not a gaming blog unless you can reference Parappa. This isn't a gaming blog, but I do it anyway.

So if I was writing a post on Kotaku about how the Kingdom Hearts 2 theme appears in iTunes the sub-title would be 'Giant Utada Face'. It creeps me out a little.

You know I like Pani Poni Dash right? Well today I decided to wipe all the anime themes I recorded off the original fansubs off my computer, resulting in 16 full themes I had to find. If anyone knows what the opening and closing themes are to Yumeria are then I'd be greatful. I mention the almight PPD as I tracked down the full opening and closing themes to get about 15 minutes of glorious j-pop that's so sweet I've now got cavities.

So there.

Video Face-Off

Jermaine Stewart appears to be rather in demand right now, 2 songs are currently hanging around using the classic anthem to platonic love that is 'We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off'.


Title - Clothes Off
Artist - Gym Class Heroes
Album - As Cruel As School Children


Title - We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off
Artist - Lil Chris

Personally, a proper cover beats a badly used sample any day. Chris really does the song justice.

You Don't Know Jack Episode 28
Score: $13,826

It would've been over $15,000 if a) I hadn't taken a stupid Jack Attack guess or b) I hadn't screwed up the first question.

Beta

So I got a key into the Call of Duty 4 beta. I'll be in there as soon as I get emailed my token.

I also got some hard planning done with regards to the 2008 Canadian Adventure. We're down to 2 rooms this time which will probably make life a hell of a lot easier. Especially as we didn't really use the 3rd room last time. Still, I got hard numbers on the spreadsheet and I have some idea of the amount I'm aiming for. Its quite nice I think.

Mercury

Yes its the first Tuesday of September which means it was the Mercury Prize ceremony as Grosvenor House in London. 12 artists gathered to celebrate 11 fine albums and Hats Off To The Buskers.

One by one they stepped up to perform and teach me that I really like Bat For Lashes and Fionn Regan, regardless of how many crap techno remixes he's ordered of an aquaintance of mine.

In the end though, it was the 11/8 favourite Bat For Lashes who politely applauded with the other losers as the mighty Klaxons thrust their arms skywards and stumbled to the stage to pick up the prize itself. A win that no-one really saw coming but those who did are bound to be swimming in it tonight. I really wish I'd made that guess.

You Don't Know Jack Episode 27
Score: $19,761

Oh yeah.

*does trivia-pimp walk out the room*

American Autumn

So the autumn TV schedules are up for the 5 US TV stations. Any americans reading this will find their heads may have exploded from my refusal to say 'fall' or 'network'. Here's what I think are the highlights.

ABC
Carpoolers (Tuesday 8:30pm)
Supposedly a single camera comedy that's funny according to the AV Club. I had something in my eye just then so I typed that with my eyes shut, go me. BBC3's Rush Hour showed that cars don't have to be funny, so I'm hopeful that this will work.

Errr...that's it for ABC. Unless you're one of the people who think Ugly Betty is funny.

CBS
How I Met Your Mother (Monday 8pm)
I watch this for Alyson Hannigan.

Two and a Half Men (Monday 9pm)
I watch this for Charlie Sheen.

Rules of Engagement (Monday 9:30pm)
I watch this for David Spade.

FOX
Kitchen Nightmares (Wednesday 8pm)
This show is brilliant in the UK, I don't see why it won't work there.

NBC
Too much stuff so I'll just list what I like on here.
1 vs 100
Deal or No Deal
Scrubs
My Name Is Earl

Yes, I know Heroes is on NBC. However after about 5 episodes I realised what I found out about Lost. Its boring.

Some stuff on the cable channels, The Sarah Silverman Program returns to Comedy Central as does South Park. However the big ratings banker there will be the return of Futurama. FX has a new series of Morgan Spurlock's brilliant series 30 Days too.

In the midseason I highly look forward to the US version of The IT Crowd on NBC, I heard that it has the same writers as our series so high hopes for that working. No news on The Amazing Race though.

Oh, and everyone with Bittorrent access should be hitting up Fox Reality's superb series Solitary. Version 2.0 is going up on trackers everywhere now.

The Great Shaving Experiment (Again)

You didn't think I was done did you?

Here's how this new phase will go down. I have treated my 2 upper legs in 2 different ways. On the left side is the standard Veet cream (the one with the spatula, not the rasera). On the right is a ladies' shaving gel combined with my extremely aged and beaten Mach 3 razor. Same rules as before apply.

Simply put, there are some new conditions for this phase. They're not too relevant right now, so I won't mention them. It'll be interesting to see if they have an effect though.

I'm not expecting them to work though, so probably another few weeks of spotty legs ahead. The things I do in the name of science eh?

Wireless Part 2

I did write up a post on my PSP but the browser typing on there is shit so I essentially wasted 30 minutes typing what I could've written on here in 30 seconds.

So my wireless is working, no thanks to the 'Quick Installation' CD that came with it. Here's how the afternoon went as I was trying to set it up.

1) Connected everything up
2) Installation walkthrough refused to recognise the ethernet cable connecting PC to router
3) Much fiddling with settings later, the CD is still the only thing that doesn't recognise the ethernet connection
4) I give up on the walkthrough and delve into the depths of my brain to find my A+ knowledge
5) Drivers for the access point are installed
6) Try accessing the router control panel
7) Access the router control panel, proceed to change pretty much all the default settings
8) Disconnect normal modem and find to my shock that the internet is actually working
9) Try accessing the router control panel again and fail repeatedly until I notice that I've typed www.192.168.1.1
10) Feel like an idiot for the previous mistake
11) Set a WEP key, quite frankly if anyone guesses this they deserve my internet
12) Change settings on the Wii, DS and finally set up a network connection on my PSP
13) Get frustrated that the only online games I can play are Mario Strikers and Tetris DS
14) Realise that I can now play Mario Strikers online whenever I want, regardless of whether the computer is on or not



15) Watch the frankly brilliant new Maroon 5 video and contemplate buying a laptop

Wireless

Getting a wireless router and adaptor tomorrow. So I'll be able to connect my Wii and DS to it instead of the Wi-Fi adaptor and also run my PSP on it. Hopefully I can get into some online play on all my main machines now. Might also get Metroid Prime tomorrow, I want to play through 1+2 before Prime 3 is out.

Also, check out Hot Hot Heat's new single Let Me In. As if you needed proof that Canadian bands always come up with the goods.

You Don't Know Jack Episode 26
Score: $-4,499

Errr...I apologise if that score offends anyone.

YDKJ! Catch Up

Episodes 17 - 21 need doing, so here's 2.

You Don't Know Jack Episode 17
Score: $6,880

You Don't Know Jack Episode 18
Score: $4,751

The London Expo is nearly upon us once again and I've already taken the option of clearing my savings out when I bought the Wii. So I've needed a bit of ingenuity to do it this year. I'm putting a little extra in teh savings for the next 4 paydays (2 months) so that when the day arrives, I'll be able to clean that little bit out. £30 a time would give me (based on my current average pay) about £200 to spend in the Excel Center come October. The most I've had for one expo, though I'll need a bigger bag. And I'll need to book the train in advance of course, and the entry ticket as I do not want to risk how big that line is gonna be this time.

Wii Release Schedule

This just got leaked onto GoNintendo. Start saving, it looks expensive. These are the major things I found.

Bully (Canis Canem Edit) - October
Crash of the Titans - November
Ghost Squad - November
Guitar Hero 3 - 8th November
Dragonball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 - 8th November
Endless Ocean - 9th November
Harvest Moon - 19th October
Mario and Sonic Olympics - 30th November
Metroid Prime 3 - 26th October
MySims - 20th September
NiGHTS - 23rd November
Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles - 30th November
Super Mario Galaxy - 16th November
Rockstar Table Tennis - October
Tomb Raider Aniversary - 7th December
Zack and Wiki - 7th December

DS
Boktai - December
Heroes of Mana - 14th September
Mario Party DS - 23rd November
Naruto Ninja Council - 5th October
Sonic Rush 2 - 14th September
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - 19th October

So...

September - 3
October - 6
November - 10
December - 2

Total
21 games I want to play before the end of the year. Suddenly not releasing Smash Bros this year makes sense, Nintendo are taking pity on us.

Silver

Its Jack's silver anniversary!

You Don't Know Jack Episode 25
Score: $7,938

I'll try catching up on games I missed while I was away later.

Maddie Mashing

The Daily Express wins the redundancy award today, the new butt of everyone's newspaper jokes has had Little Miss McCann on the front page for the last 13 straight days. Can they make it a full 2 weeks?!

I hear that Guardian reporter Nick Angel is going on a diet for the ever brilliant Current TV. He's going on a diet of nothing but the Daily Mail for a month. I dread to think what his mental state will be after 2 weeks, let alone 4. I think 4 doses of Richard Littlejohn in a year is against the Geneva Convention.

The Leipzig Games Conference starts tomorrow, look to Kotaku and Gamespot for all the fun stuff coming from there.

Speaking of Gamespot, there's a new Button Mashing episode tonight at midnight. Wonder who's replacing Rich Gallup?

YDKJ will be up later.

Sorry I was gone for a while, blame the Wii and the 40 hour mark I'm about to pass on Zelda.

Wii Update

If you have an online-enabled Wii with WiiConnect24 active you'll be waking up to that glorious blue glow this morning as Nintendo have just shipped out a small firmware update. The update's pretty small and fixes the issue of the console crashing in the Internet Channel and also the connection issues I've been having lately using my USB Wi-Fi Adaptor.

Downward Spiral

I can feel the onset of some rather crippling depression. I have no idea why but its setting in heavily.

You Don't Know Jack Episode 24
Score: $3,161
Rank: 106th

That didn't help. Now I can either listen to Weezer to simulate an outpouring of feelings to a sympathetic friend (who is probably getting about as much sex as I am) or listen to The Horrors to simulate smashing myself over the head with several blunt objects.

Wow, that Horrors joke actually made me feel better. Probably because its been a while since I made one.

New Link

Links > Aetheism
The OUT Campaign
http://outcampaign.org

Make yourself heard, aetheists are not a minority.

Hairnets

We haven't got any of them at work right now, which is interesting as it means all the guys with long hair (myself included, as I have the longest) currently have their hair up. I am the only one out of the 3 guys who need to do it who can put his hair up myself, everyone else needs female help. I've quite taken to the ponytail now, I've never actively used it before but now I'm finding it quite useful. Useful enough to use outside work anyway, or at least walking to work. Not walking back, though it gives me a chance to wear my Naruto cap which I haven't worn for ages.

To Mr And Mrs McCann

Dear Gerry and whatever-her-name-is McCann
Shut the fuck up. Its now been over 3 months and your girl has been killed, you can tell this because they found her blood in your apartment. For crying out loud shut up and admit that even if you didn't do it, her death was your fault.

Dear Whoever Set Up The Maddie Channel on Youtube
How dare you invade my fun-time area (well, one of them) with this pointless piece of fundraising. I hope you get a Wii and ache forever (because I am).

Dear Lawyer Who Said The McCann's are Giving Spain A Bad Name
Ignore the redtops, you're a genius.

Wii Issue

I'll tell you what's annoying me about teh Wii. The speaker. That little speaker in the controller which cannot be turned down or off. At least I think not, anyone has any ideas then please let me know as I really want to play Zelda right now as I've been thrashing through the Lakebed Temple at last and want to get on with it. I have no idea how much time I've put into the game yet but it has to be approaching 15 hours.

My New Room

Right, haven't shown this off yet dispite having the photos on my hard-drive for ages. Mind you, it has taken a while to get things the way I want them.


Just starting with a photo of me looking cool. You can see the Angelic Layer poster on my cosplay wardrobe door.


This is the wall where my precious flag hangs, as well as my bookcase which has my normal books, DS games, Dreamcast games and DVDs.


My main wardrobe and the various images that surround it. My Inuyasha wall scroll, the Halloween Sora print I got from Canal, the picture of me and Sakura that I got off Canal and have recently framed properly and a small print I got off MincedNiku a long time ago. I think the box my Sakura statue came in is just visible on top of the wardrobe.


BED! My lovely bed which has a top bunk covered in plushies, my PSP box also on there.


The chair by the window, within easy reach of my CD player, CD collection and other stuff. My Sakura and one Ikki Tousen statue there as well, the other one is behind the curtain. I also finally found a use for that cushion.


The boysex wall, much making out in these images. The Naruto baseball cap on top of the CD tower and my computer also in shot. Bad shot, but still in shot.


The TV with the hallowed Wii next to it. The hallowed DS next to that.

NJ's Canadian Adventure - The People

Photo special! At last.

This is 11 photos to explain the people I met on the Canadian Adventure back in May.


Name: Francis (NJ)
Nothing to explain, this is basically an excuse to upload a photo of me looking quite good in the scorching heat of Downtown Toronto.


Name: Nelly (Gnome)
In September 2006 I mentioned a desire to go to Canada someday to this person. 8 months later I was there. Nelly is the ringleader and cause of the Canadian Adventure. A big feat for a short person.


Name: Sarah (on the left)
Sarah was one of my caretakers when we got back to the island. Before that she was one of the few who could deal with Jess in a bad mood.


Name: Jess
Jess with a bottle of something alcoholic. Don't know what night this was but I think I was elsewhere.


Name: Jennifer
Jen owns 5 horses, I also fell asleep on her bed.


Name: Audrey
Supposedly the quiet one, yet constantly seen with either the orange Kyo hat seen here or a Momiji hat with massive bunny ears. Already on my shopping list for next year (the ears, not Audrey).


Name: Liz
The cutest boy I've ever seen is a description that has kinda become my slogan for Liz. Cosplayed Ritsuka, Bakura and someone from Ouran. Made me cry at one point.


Name: Mark
I shot his guns, it was a lot of fun.


Name: James
Someone I hadn't much about beforehand, I really had no idea what to expect from him when we were waiting for him at the airport. Fortunately I was treated to this fine specimen of a human being.


Name: Allan
And then there was this one. Allan was the other half of James and Allan, and the perverted one. I had him on top of me quite a few times.


Name: Joseph (Ouiji)
Met on one of the last days, got a lot of fun out of him in that short space of time though.

There was also George and Cripple, but I have no decent photos of either.

Poor

Can't play poker at work tonight and GayGamer got knocked out by a DOS attack. Its a fairly poor day, but at least I got tomorrow off.

You Don't Know Jack Episode 23
Score: $11,010
Rank: 93rd

Goodbye Fingers

Guitar Hero 3
Dragonforce - Through The Fire And Flames

Somewhere in the world, someone's head just exploded watching this.

Updates

So I haven't posted a lot this week, the main reason being that I've found myself a little tied up with Wii and Facebook. So here's what's been going on.

1) I've been playing Zelda: Twilight Princess
2) I've been playing Wario Ware: Smooth Moves
3) I haven't been playing Final Fantasy 3.
4) I remembered why Polysics are my favourite band.
5) I've been working a lot.

Aches

Wii Sports has knackered every joint in my upper body. I can't wait for Wii Fit so I can destroy the lower joints as well. I honestly swear my pained arms are not a result of porn surfing on the Internet Channel. Or the Forecast Channel. Or the photo channel for that matter.

If you want to get in touch and you have your Wii online-enabled then you can send me a message by wanging off a virtual envelope addressed to the following code.

6669 1948 9764 5341

Picked up Paper Mario and Zelda 2 off the VC earlier.

Wii

Well I couldn't have a Playstation as my new toy for long could I?

Being of a future looking-to type person I decided to go to Play and see what tempts me in the Wii's release schedule. Here's what I found (the big ones in bold)

Mario Party 8
Trauma Center: Second Opinion
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2008
Madden NFL 2008
Red Steel 2
Super Paper Mario
My Sims
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles 2: The Crystal Bearers
Batallion Wars
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Geometry Wars Galaxies
-----
Super Mario Galaxy
-----
Pokemon Battle Revolution
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Guitar Hero 3
Crash of the Titans
Rayman: Raving Rabbids 2
NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams
Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games
Animal Crossing
Pilotwings
Harvest Moon
Ghost Squad (yes arcade junkies, THAT Ghost Squad)

So that's 23 games. Who said the Wii had no games? It'll be a good christmas for remote wavers.

The Mercury Prize 2007

So you probably know them by now but these are the twelve albums up for the big trophy, £20,000 and title of best album at the Mercury Prize later this year.

Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare (PAST WINNERS)
Basquiat Strings - Basquiat Strings with Seb Rochford
Bat For Lashes - Fur and Gold
Dizzee Rascal - Maths + English (PAST WINNER)
Fionn Regan - The End of History
Jamie T - Panic Prevention
Klaxons - Myths of the Near Future
Maps - We Can Create
New Young Pony Club - Fantastic Playroom
The View - Hats Off To The Buskers
The Young Knives - Voices of Animals and Men

Somehow the token obscure albums seem a lot more out of place. My advice if you're betting is to either take the safe option of Arctics or Winehouse but put a little insurance on New Young Pony Club, I think they could cause an upset.

Complete Life

There is no parallel. This is the greatest AMV I've ever seen.



Song: Electric 6 - Gay Bar
Creator: Hirichan
Animes: Princess Princess, Kizuna, Enzai, Sensitive Pornograph, Sukisyo, Papa to Kiss In The Dark, Angel's Feather, Boku no Pico, Gravitation, Loveless, Legend of Two Horsemen Of Apocalypse, Naruto, Fish In The Trap, Death Note, Fullmetal Alchemist, Marginal Prince, Lesson XX, Zetsuai, After School In The Teachers Longue, Haru wo Daieita

Business

Contrary to popular belief, Paramore's new single is awesome.

Contrary to popular belief, Paramore's new album is cack.

I love this, when discussing 'emo' any viewpoint is popular opinion depending on who you talk to.

Also contrary to popular belief, Gym Class Heroes are rather good.

You Don't Know Jack Episode 22
Score: $15,136
Rank: 46th

The time off clearly did me good. Only one main question wrong, a missignal in the Jack Attack and a 5/7 DisOrDat.

Patience

First night online and I got to speak to Audrey, Kelli and Nelly. If that's not rewarding my patience then what the hell is?

I got a video converter for the PSP, so I now have gone the logical route which can only end in industrial grade smut going in the video folder. Which is why I had to put Sensitive Pornograph in there. Only a 50mb file after conversion.

Inbox

102.

Come on people, I'm gone without internet for 4 weeks and you can only put 102 messages in my inbox?

Anyway, little update on stuff. I got myself a PSP for £100 and have augmented it with a new memory card, so I'm ready for homebrew frenzy. I then started reading Prince of Tennis and immediately bought Virtua Tennis. I want a nice long RPG next, I know the PSP is well equipped in the field.

Final Fantasy 3 is nearly licked, if I can do it then I'll have major celebrations as it'll be my first completed FF game.

CDs aquired in the offseason include Just Jack, Mika, Fall Out Boy, The Enemy and HelloGoodbye. The latter in particular is supreme.

Incoming Transmission

I'm on the verge of crying with happiness.

In a minute I will go look at my Gmail inbox and just cry.

NJ's back.

More Stuff

Job interview tomorrow at 9:30am, which is nice. The same sort of nice as Pani Poni Dash getting licenced (did I mention that?).

Volume 1 is out now, volume 2 is out in September. Americans have naturally been enjoying this up to volume 4, and have a collectors edition box ala Ikki Tousen. Which has fucked up my DVD shelf royally.

Holy.....

PANI PONI DASH GOT LICENCED!!
PANI PONI DASH GOT LICENCED!!
PANI PONI DASH GOT LICENCED!!
PANI PONI DASH GOT LICENCED!!
PANI PONI DASH GOT LICENCED!!
PANI PONI DASH GOT LICENCED!!

*returns to bouncing off the walls*

REDRUM

All Gamecube and no internet make NJ watch 10 episodes of Cardcaptor Sakura in 1 day.
All Gamecube and no internet make NJ watch 10 episodes of Cardcaptor Sakura in 1 day.
All Gamecube and no internet make NJ watch 10 episodes of Cardcaptor Sakura in 1 day.
All Gamecube and no internet make NJ watch 10 episodes of Cardcaptor Sakura in 1 day.
All Gamecube and no internet make NJ watch 10 episodes of Cardcaptor Sakura in 1 day.
All Gamecube and no internet make NJ watch 10 episodes of Cardcaptor Sakura in 1 day.
All Gamecube and no internet make NJ watch 10 episodes of Cardcaptor Sakura in 1 day.
All Gamecube and no internet make NJ watch 10 episodes of Cardcaptor Sakura in 1 day.
All Gamecube and no internet make NJ watch 10 episodes of Cardcaptor Sakura in 1 day.
All Gamecube and no internet make NJ watch 10 episodes of Cardcaptor Sakura in 1 day.

One Hit Case Studies - Nizlopi

Leamington duo Nizlopi stunned the world last year when the JCB Song smashed into the charts at number 1. Then they disappeared, I've heard people asking what happened to Nizlopi whenever the JCB Song comes on. Why did they disappear?

Well, they didn't.

Nizlopi's first album, 'Half These Songs Are About You' sold alright-ish. The pair released a new mini-album this year entitled 'ExtraOrdinary'. They are expected to release their second full album before the end of the year. Until then they're playing the Leftfield Stage at Glastonbury this weekend. I strongly advise heading down to check them out if you're there.

www.myspace.com/nizlopi

The Manhunt 2 Saga

When Edge's preview of this game for the Wii celebrated it as a prime example of the brutal psychological horror that had been fumbled by the original, perfectly suited to the 'kiddie' console that was the Wii and its unique controller. The gaming world sat up and paid attention, after the flawed execution of the compelling premise that the first game offered could Rockstar North in Glasgow turn around a potentially brilliant series?

Then, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) dropped a bombshell on Tuesday morning. Manhunt 2 was to become the first game since Carmageddon in 1997 to be refused classification. That meant it could not legally be sold by any retailer in the UK.

Not even a day passed before the first import option was shut off, the Republic of Ireland classification board also refused classification to the game. Rockstar issued a statement saying they would respect the decisions but 'wholeheartedly disagreed' with them both.

The next day a battered Rockstar and Take 2 got yet another smash in the face as the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB). The game got the ratings kiss of death as it was rated AO, a rating no major retailer would sell and that neither Nintendo or Sony would allow onto their consoles.

With the game banned in the UK, Ireland and the US inevitable bans in Austrailia and Germany the pressure is on Rockstar to tone down the game's content to bring it inline with an UK 18 rating and a US Mature rating. Ironically the AO rating is the US' 18+, a point of idiocy pointed out by many commenters.

Here are the interesting bits. The UK ban doesn't cover the channel islands. Which means that Jersey based website Play.com can still sell the game.

Rockstar have a few options regarding getting the game out. Firstly they can tone down the game and resubmit it for re-rating. Secondly they can release it on the PC, which would cause a frenzy of importing as PC makers have no say in how many AO games get onto their system. No doubt a little bit of modder skill would get the Wii controls working on the game.

The most likely thing though, is that people will import it. Play's immunity from the UK ban is undoubtedly going to be a dream come true for its owners. I think they may already be wiping their asses with £20s.

Manhunt 2. Depending on who you listen to its either a stunning example of survival horror that takes full advantage of its host console or a sadistic murder simulator that will ulimately lead to armageddon. I know who I'd believe.

Manhunt 2 is out on PS2 and Wii on July 13th

Go

So I spent about 40 minutes playing Go on Yahoo yesterday. Yes the same game, it went about 340 moves and I lost (resigned). I'll do some more studying tonight and get back into the lobby tonight, there's one technique I haven't quite got. Either that or I just couldn't remember what to do when put in that situation. I started looking up some books about it on the Waterstone's website and found a scary amount, something for a future payday I reckon.

Packing

I'm packing for a move, suggestions have been made about dying my hair after college and here's YDKJ.

You Don't Know Jack Episode 16
Score: $14,976
Rank: 95th

PERFECT JACK ATTACK!!

NJ's Favourite Songs (circa 2003)

In front of me are 2 CDs I found today that I made when I first got my computer, clearly before njsykora was created as they would've had that title on them else. Here's what I loved in my early days online.

Disc 1
S Club 7 - Bring It All Back
50.Grind - Gotta Catch 'Em All (remember this?)
All*Stars - Land of Make Believe
Eminem ft. DIdo - Stan (well its a little credibility regained)
Scooter - The Logical Song
[I don't recognise this one]
[or this one]
Eminem - The Way I Am
[nope, nothing here]
S Club 7 - I'll Keep Waiting
DJ Sammy - Heaven
Darius - Colourblind (I still like this song)
Busted - What I Go To School For (was that my credibility?)
S Club 7 - The Colour of Blue
Blue - All Rise (goodbye credibility)
{I know the song but I don't know the title or artist]
S Club 7 - Alive
Gareth Gates - Suspicious Minds
Sum 41 - Fat Lip

OK. Now with zero musical credibility remaining.....

Disc 2
Linkin Park - In The End
[don't remember the artist name]
[no idea, but r'n'b has barely progressed]
Linkin Park - One Step Closer
[quite like the song, but drawing a blank]
Eminem - As The World Turns
Linkin Park - Crawling
OPM - Heaven Is A Halfpipe
Alien Ant Farm - Smooth Criminal
Linkin Park (again) - Numb
Wheatus - A Little Respect
Eminem - Lose Yourself
Linkin Park - Somewhere I Belong
Travis - Sing
Eminem - The Real Slim Shady
Linkin Park - A Place For My Head
Eminem - Sing For The Moment
Westlife - World Of Our Own (was doing so well)
Linkin Park - Runaway
Eminem - Hallie's Song

I'll be over in this corner.

NJ's Canadian Adventure - Day 8

Tuesday May 29th 2007
Airport 2: Return of the Airport

We had to be out the hotel by midday. So we we'd packed most the stuff the night before and just had to shunt in the last remaining bits before we were ready to go. Nelly went to buy some flowers for the lovely cleaning lady who'd been denied access to our room most of the week while the rest of us relaxed in the lobby. Jess, Jen, Sarah and Audrey stood, George, Cripple, Mark and Liz sat on the chairs and I sat on Cripple (there's a photo of this). A quick check-out later and we got onto the Doubletree shuttle to Toronto Airport to board the plane to Prince Edward Island.

In the departure lounge Jen watched Black Cat on her new DVD player, everyone else sat around chatting and me, George and Cripple played New Super Mario Bros, Tetris and Diddy Kong Racing. Just before boarding me and George nipped off to the nearby Tim Horton's to get a drink and a doughnut.

On board the flight I made sure to defend my boarders as Jess was sitting behind me and was finding great amusement in tickling me from behind. Once I had my coat blocking the openings I settled down to watch the TV, I found Family Feud/Fortunes and then was astonished to find a fairly recent episode of Jungle Run. That kept me happy until the island came into view.

The Charlottetown airport was as small as I'd been told. It also only had 1 baggage car so the carousel kept stopping and starting as the baggage handlers went back for another load. Eventually though we had our bags, I'd met Nelly's mother and several other family members of the group and I was into a car with Sarah, Jess and Jess' auntie to head to their apartment and my home for the next week.

It was a nice place, 2 very cushy sofas, one of which was my bed, a good TV, some Cardcaptors videos, 2 bedrooms, one significantly bigger than the other and a supermarket just across the street. We went to the supermarket fairly quickly.

At the supermarket Jess and Sarah went buying food and various cooking stuffs, it was rare for me to go to a supermarket and not buy anything that went into the microwave. I got myself some cans of lemonade, not really knowing why they had a pull tab around the top of the can.

When we got back that mystery was solved. Turns out the drink had to be diluted with water, something I'd never seen before where canned drinks were concerned. Still it was nice drink and for 2 cans to last me a whole week was something previously unheard of. One of Jess' friends came round after a while so we went to the cinema to watch Pirates of the Carribbean 3. Which was nice.

The bed was a little bumpy, but a combination of my own body positioning and the sheer amount of popcorn I'd eaten got me to sleep eventually. Tomorrow was when the island stuff began properly.

Swag Obtained
None

Next Time
That Poor Tree

One Problem Goes, One Is Reborn

So Baka and me had a slight falling out. Stuff got patched up and its all fine now, however this has reminded me of something else. Another issue with another girl, an issue that's many many years old now and still unresolved. Dammit.

Mini Reviews

No Canadian Adventure today as I'm in a bit of a slump. It says a lot when I'm reading Lament of the Lamb to cheer up. A little collection of quick reviews of stuff I've got recently and not so recently.

CD - Favourite Worst Nightmare by Arctic Monkeys
Its the album Whatever People Say I Am should've been. A thunderous collection of massively improved riffs and lyrics with a far better sense of pace.

Manga - Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata
A brilliant story of morality and mortality. One of those excellent stories where you aren't sure who to cheer for with a fantastically dark sense of humour.

Manga - Hikaru no Go by Yumi Holta and Takeshi Obata (yes the same one)
A very fun series with great characters but crippled by the fact that there's no basic explaination of the Go rules.

Manga - Fake by Sanami Matoh
Its the supporting cast that make this story hilarious. One of those rare examples of a yaoi series with its head in reality.

Book - Triptych by Karin Slaughter
The supreme ending takes dedication to get to as the beginning of this story is unbelievably slow.

Game - Megaman Battle Network 5
The classic Battle Network mechanics are as sound as ever, but the frustrating and sometimes impossible liberation missions make this the worst Battle Network yet.

The Evil Empire vs The Evil Empire

Google vs Ebay. Checkout vs Paypal. This one is going to get very ugly (and entertaining) very quickly. I'll explain more when I get home.

NJ's Canadian Adventure - Day 7

Monday 28th May 2007
The Zooliverse

Toronto Zoo was the order of the day for Jessica's birthday. So we started with breakfast in the hotel's restaurant, an all-you-can-eat buffet including sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs, toast, bagels, juice, cereal, porridge, milk, fruit and the two items I'd been after all week.

Pancakes and maple syrup. I sloshed the syrup on everything eventually. James and Allan dropped by to discuss how to get the various swords the guys had bought back to the island as they obviously wouldn't be allowed on any flight. This was around the point I realised I'd need more money for next year so I could get a freaking sword.

So to the zoo, $60 in a hotel car there, another $60 back. Nice cars though. Somehow, for reasons that remain only known to her Liz had somehow managed to get the opening tune from Cardcaptor Sakura stuck in her head. This was to become a recurring theme of the rest of my time over there.

The zoo was...well a zoo. With all the animals to go with it, one standout moment was the trail back up from the Canada section. It comprised a very steep hill and 3 people (Sarah, Jess, Audrey) clearly unused to walking. Audrey showed all the althletic prowess that had seen me beat her twice in Toronto on Wednesday (racing around the Rogers Center).

The group had got split on the way round the park, Me, Jess, Sarah and Audrey had gone one way fast and the others (Nelly, Mark, Liz, Jen) had gone the same way slowly. This split resulted in our group waiting ages for the others to join us at the exit. This put Jess in a horrific mood.

Several hours, lots of leaving Jess in the room alone for fears of our own safety and one fine cockblocking story from James later Jess cheered up. So we got pizza. Which only me, Nelly, Cripple and George ate. And the other 3 didn't eat much. And there were 2 pizzas.

Full of pizza, Mountain Dew, fresh zoo air and myself I settled down in bed to sleep for the last time in Toronto. Tomorrow I would be sleeping somewhere else.

Swag Obtained
None

Tomorrow
Airport 2: Return of the Airport

Timbaland ft. The Hives

This is such a WTF? collaboration I find it necessary to post it.

Timbaland ft. The Hives - Throw It On Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn6kGzRSjhU

Wrong Host

http://www.gaym8.net

Its a gay website/myspazz knockoff (though an alright one) and they put it on a christian hosting provider. Who the fuck made that decision?

NJ's Canadian Adventure - Day 6

I was going to write an essay on procrastination but I found something better to do.

Sunday May 27th 2007
Hellday

I woke up in a bad mood, it was supposed to be maidboy day but from about Thursday night's breakdown I knew that wasn't going to happen. So I got into normal clothes and went with Jess and Sarah to check out Cafe Nocturne at the Renaissance. This was probably the worst decision I made all trip. When we got there and were looking for the cafe I was collared by Gryvon (the Yaoi North organiser) asking if I was the guy looking after the viewing room last night. The DVD player and DVD box had gone missing. It took every fibre of resolve I had to keep from crying in front of that group, it was horrible to be standing there knowing I was responsible for losing a potentially unrecoverable collection of DVDs. I told them everything I knew and went searching for the cafe again.

The queue for the cafe covered the entire 8th floor of the hotel. We didn't get to go in. We headed to the dealers room to try and take my mind off things, neither Sarah or Jess mentioned the DVD issue again.

I should say that I don't know if the DVD player and DVDs were found, I really don't want to know either as if they weren't I couldn't cope with the amount of guilt that would bring to me.

After a bit of splurging in the dealer's room we grabbed some people (George) and headed to a steakhouse for lunch. I was again the only one with an actual steak, everyone else had chicken

Then it was back to the dealers room. Which was closed. So we trekked round Artist Alley for a bit and I picked up some stuff.

The hotel room was packed that night, people had come by for a giant robot marathon as James put on some of his aquisitions. He was extremely happy with the amount of giant robot stuff he'd accumulated. I settled on the other bed with a few other people from James' group to read some manga. I also got some payback from Allan when I nicked his (warm) spot on the bed in the form of a full body pin and tickling torture. Eventually the room emptied and I got to bed, the con was over.

Swag Obtained
Anime North 2007 mug
Various prints from Artist Alley
Death Note manga 1+2
Hikaru no Go manga 1+2
Prince of Tennis manga 1+2
Bleach manga 1+2
Battle Royale manga 1+2
Ouran High School plushie
The Art of Reboot artbook (signed by CG director)

Tomorrow
The Zooliverse

Can I Keep One?

There's one category that keeps the hentai folder from leaving my computer. Tentacle. All my favourite pictures, all my favourite hentai movies involve tentacles in some way. Unless I like them through a sense of nostalgia from when I was first getting into it (Bible Black etc). Porn makes curious people question stuff I think, it can be helpful in the same way it can be destructive.

You Don't Know Jack Episode 15
Score: $7,850
Rank: 164th

Day 6 of the Canadian Adventure writeup will go up later. Probably.

NJ's Canadian Adventure - Day 5

Saturday 26th May 2007
Bring On The Hollows!

Saturday was cosplay day, moonlight masquerade day, volunteer day, collapse in bed exhausted day. That was the basic layout. I woke up at 9am.

At 11am I was showered and in my Hisagi outfit at last.

At 12noon Jen was doing her hair.

At 12:30pm Jen was doing my hair, it wouldn't spike at all.

At 1:30 (or something like that) we eventually got out the hotel and started over to the TCC for the Bleach photoshoot.

At 2pm we got the the TCC, there had been a few photo-hunters lurking in the Doubletree lobby.

At 2:10 pm we were out of the parking lot and onto the grass in front of the TCC because of an accident someone had had.

Eventually after an hour of photos we got to leave the TCC area and go eat at the Sushi Dragon across the street, I could hardly say I wasn't dressed for it so despite my dislike of sushi I went with 5 of the others and got some noodles (can't go wrong with noodles).

After that everyone went to the dealers room to spend more money. After the binge the day before I was a little more cautious but still planned to buy some stuff, pretty quickly I was left alone with Nelly while everyone else went exploring. I got some stuff but we had to leave and go to get ready for the Masquerade Ball which started at 11pm. It was around 6pm when we got back to the room.

It was 11:15pm when we left the room and headed for the ballroom. There was a massive queue which wasn't moving due to yet another accident, fortunately the line was more than capable of entertaining itself. A bit of happy birthday singing here, a guy who wanted a photo just because I was English there and we were soon moving on. I was in my work trousers and (cleaned a little) work shoes with my awesome blue dragon shirt and a necklace I'd bought. Add that to my straightened hair and I probably would've fucked my own reflection.

The ball stunk. After about an hour (if that) in there and a few instances of nearly falling asleep I excused myself and went up to the room to prepare for a night at the yaoi viewing rooms. With a big yawn I grabbed my stuff and left the room.

Then halfway across the bridge to the Renaissance I realised I'd forgotten my badge.

Eventually I got over there though and settled down to watch Ai no Kusabi, the choice of the previous person looking after the room. Seemed like an odd viewer's choice to me so the next 2 films were democratically chosen, as everyone knows if you give a yaoi fan the chance they will want to watch Sensitive Pornograph.

My companion in there was a Sasuke cosplayer originally from Siberia. As I was a little lonely sat on my own (and he was hot, and spoke to me) I moved to sit by him. In my mind there was a lot more going on than just sitting, but outside my mind that was it with a bit of occasional chatting in quiet bits. After a while I asked the girl who'd been put in charge of changing discs under the last supervisor to take the stuff back up to Gryvon's (Yaoi North organiser) room as I needed to get back and get some sleep, I couldn't stay another hour and do it myself. There were Spec Ops in the room anyway. I trailed across the bridge in the early morning Toronto sunlight and collapsed fully clothed into bed next to Nelly.

Swag Obtained
Kingdom Hearts 2 necklace - Demyx's sitar
Naruto shirt (orange and blue, I saw it and had it)
Kumaguro sweatband
Volunteers badge
THE UKE SHIRT!! FINALLY!!

Tomorrow
Hellday

NJ's Canadian Adventure - Day 4

Friday 25th May 2007

Superbinge

After the events of the previous night I was a little understandably wary in heading downstairs in the morning. Sarah and Jen had got into their Bleach outfits already, Mark was dressed as Cid and Liz was adorned with a purple set of cat ears and tail as Ritsuka when I was waking up, so the familiarity with cosplayers hit pretty quickly. I was a bit shaky walking through the lobby but knowing that the con had now officially started managed to keep some sort of composure.

We went to the Boston Pizza outside the Park Plaza hotel, this one is part of the trio of hotels which house the AN attendees (the other 2 being the Doubletree and Yaoi North location the Renaissance) but seemingly has nothing to do with the convention except for the massive spike in business the con brings. The pizza was nice, even though me and George were the only ones to actually have pizza.

Then we got to the dealer's room in the TCC and everything changed, suddenly I snapped into London Expo mode. Everything was fine and I was ready to get into there, cosplayers or no cosplayers (there were shitloads).

about 2 hours and $400 later we emerged, having missed the VG Cats panel I'd wanted to see we headed back to the hotel room to dump the stuff (getting halted on the way back for an impromptu photoshoot, seemingly every Final Fantasy cosplayer decided to cross that same road at the same time) and then I wanted to go to the Renaissance for a panel.

This was my first proper panel, How Not To Write Badfic. It was a very interesting and entertaining panel which pretty quickly turned from a educational panel with examples using a pair of stereotype characters to a simple bitch-fest about bad fanfics and the people who write them. It wasn't the last time I was going to see the girl heading the panel, or hear her (disturbingly endearing) lisp.

Eventually though I had to leave the room with Nelly in tow and head back to the hotel room for some sleep, tomorrow was the big day.

Swag Obtained
Bleach Chibi poster
Tsubasa Chronicle poster
Angelic Layer manga 1-4
Cardcaptor Sakura manga 1-4
Loveless manga 1-4
Fake manga 1+2
Alone In My King's Harem manga
Tsubasa Chronicle Sakura plushie
Tsubasa Chronicle Fai plushie
Bleach bag
Kick. Fucking. Ass. Blue Dragon shirt (seriously, you have to see it)
Cardcaptor Sakura Uncut DVD boxset 1 (episodes 1-35)
Cardcaptors TCG boosters (3)
Anime North 2007 t-shirt
Cardcaptor Sakura statue (from under Nelly's nose)

Tomorrow
Bring On The Hollows!

Wasting Time

Its really quite astonishing how little work actually gets done in this room. Its also quite astonishing just how much smut and porn I get to read while I'm here. Not to mention the pea-sized wit of the people I share the room with, that never ceases to amaze. I have 21 volumes of manga to get through back at home and should really get started on them at some point soon, very eager to get more volumes of Loveless too. How easy it will be to continue following some of the series' I started remains to be seen right now.

So Mika's new single is Big Girl, given that there are 9 songs on the album better than that one I have to wonder why. Why not the supreme My Interpretation? Stuck In The Middle? A re-release of Relax, Take It Easy? Still, at least its not Billy Brown.

I compiled an Anime Themes playlist this morning to try and get back into the anime otaku mindset that I've been sorely missing since around the time Shuffle finished (the last anime to truly grab my attention). I cheated a bit and put a few non-anime tunes on there too, and got sent a few tracks to keep engorging the playlist to the 80 minute mark. I got tracks from Air, Full Metal Panic, Gravitation, Tsubasa Chronicle, Cardcaptor Sakura, Evangelion, Bleach, Chobits and probably a few more on there. A good mix of all my favourites and stuff I've yet to properly explore. Might actually get through that stupid stack of DVDs in my room if I keep this mindset, I'm already managing to watch some stuff with some regularity. I decided when I got back to the UK that I was going to give up on the current season of anime, which means ditching The Idolmaster (I'm told I'm not missing much). I need the HDD space anyway.

Nothing warms my heart more than young smutfic writers. There's just something incredibly endearing about anyone writing something dirty at a young age, nice to see them learning the rules early. (The Rules: 2 guys = w00t, 2 girls = pointless, 1 guy and 1 girl = boring, 3 or more people = depends on the number of guys).

Day 4 of the Canadian Adventure write-up will be posted later.

NJ's Canadian Adventure - Day 3

Thursday 24th May 2007

You Spin Me Right Round

Thursday rolled around and now everyone was refreshed and ready for the weekend festivities. First though there was the issue of the largest theme park in the country, Canada's Wonderland.

The split was on from the second the day started. In the end it was just me, Nelly, Mark, Audrey and Jess who went to the park. Liz and Sarah hung back to do the pre-registration for the convention, Cripple and George were too lazy and Jen was doing something but I can't remember what. So with a taxi costing $50 outside we got moving.

Canada's Wonderland is owned by Paramount Studios, so a few of the rides are tied into their films like Tomb Raider, Top Gun and The (fake) Italian Job. There are 65 rides there, 14 of them rollercoasters. We got through about 17 rides and 12 of the coasters, unlike the UK's big cheese of the theme park world Alton Towers the queues were relatively non-existant. Doing 17 rides at Alton would be a miracle, at Wonderland it was an easy task with the average queue time being 10 minutes (if that). One instance of Nelly only just being within one ride's height restriction was hilarious, 2 rides that involved me getting soaked (and I mean properly drenched) were less hilarious for me.

On our way out Audrey and Jess nipped off to the toilet, we didn't find them for another 20 minutes. Eventually we found them walking back from one of the toilets we'd looked in while searching.

Once we got back to the hotel things changed, the pre-reg meant that the usually empty hotel lobby was packed. A short and unsuccessful search for Sarah later and we headed up to the room. The sheer number of cosplayers flooding every part of the hotel had had a major impact on me, I had a breakdown in that hotel room that night. I tried to hold in the actual crying for a long time as for some reason I didn't want to cry in front of Nelly, this would become a bit of a running theme. I couldn't go downstairs for the rest of the night so I just stayed in the room eating pizza and watching TV, sometimes alone and sometimes with Nelly for company. Eventually I pulled myself together and tucked into bed, tomorrow was going to be harder than I thought.

Swag Obtained
Canada's Wonderland fleece
Pink Canada's Wonderland teddy
Anime North weekend badge
Various AN promo stuff

Tomorrow
Superbinge

Cuts

I was watching my Cardcaptor Sakura DVDs last night and I can see in many ways why they were cut for the western audiences. Those audiences were clearly expected to be 11-12 year olds (much like me when I first discovered it) and I don't think any 11-year old would get some of the hints dropped in the unedited episode 1. I'll say that while even I notice the Touya/Yukito pairing watching the cut episodes back now, the uncut ones make all those Sakura/Tomoyo fanfics make a lot more sense even if I don't particularly like the pairing. My main reason for that is because the Syaoran/Sakura pairing is so freaking blatant that I can't ignore it, its probably the only hetero pairing I support with any real passion.

Day 3 of the Canadian Adventure will be written up later, I've decided to stop posting the Daily DisOrDat results as they were getting a bit cumbersome. I'll still post the full episode results.

NJ's Canadian Adventure - Day 2

Don't spend money to have your DVD drive converted to another region, most now can be changed using Windows Media Player.

Wednesday 23rd May 2007
NJ Meets Tim

One fast food chain dominated the landscape in Canada, and its not the one with the golden arches. On this morning I was taken down to the cluster of food places by the Toronto Congress Center for what was described as a Canadian tradition, this tradition was eating breakfast at Tim Hortons. It was probably the nicest breakfast sandwich I'd ever eaten, and my introduction to ordering food in Canada. As well as an introduction to the pain-in-the-ass process of tax being added at the cash register.

The focus of the day was downtown Toronto, supposedly something nice and relaxing after a day of travel. Why public transport is considered relaxing I have no idea. Cue the start of manic indecision about where to eat lunch (we eventually went to a nearby Swiss Chalet, another restaurant chain) and my introduction to Jessica's insane mood swing when she hasn't eaten for a while. The CN Tower was one point of the day, the vertigo sufferers among us looked more than a little queasy once in the top observation deck known as the Sky Pod.

After the tower it was onto my first experience with proper, un-fizzy lemonade. Then it was to a lot of shops, a extremely punchable sales assistant in the Apple Shop, a complete inability to find anyone in a mall with 2 food courts and then The Stag Shop.

Ah the Stag Shop, Toronto's biggest sex shop where a few people just hung around in the 'safe' bottom floor while everyone else went upstairs to look at sex toys of all descriptions. I ended up buying a vibrator and a set of (much longed for it must be said) anal beads once I had relaxed and picked up the courage. In theory the bus ride home should've been easy.

But the group split, one group went to see The Phantom of the Opera at the Princess of Wales Theatre and the others went back to the Doubletree. Or we would've if we hadn't missed our stop and got lost. It was 20-30 minutes before the Doubletree's logo came into sight and we eventually got to collapse in the room.

In the room we started meeting other people, some people Sarah knew dropped by and I took to just poking people with my new toys. Then one of the new people asked what it actually was I was poking her with, the entire room nearly suffocated laughing.

Swag Obtained
CN Tower t-shirt
CN Tower teddy
Vibrator
Anal beads

Tomorrow
You Spin Me Right Round

NJ's Canadian Adventure - Day 1

Tuesday 22nd May 2007
Arrival

I left home, got a taxi to the train station, got on a train to London, got on another train to Heathrow Airport and sat in a departure lounge for 3 hours. Then I went and sat in a gate room for another 40 minutes or so. Then I got on board my first aeroplane ever. After the thrill of the takeoff I settled down for 9 hours of sitting and possibly sleeping. I got some sleep but not much, most of the awake time was spent doing very little or eating over salted beef (my fault, not Air Canada's).

The landing was simple, the baggage reclaim lengthy and the welcome was manic and slightly painful. It was the massive glompfest I was expecting, Nelly and Sarah met me at the arrivals gate and then we went to find everyone else. 30 minutes later Nelly, Sarah, Jessica, George, Cripple, Mark, Jennifer, Elizabeth, Audrey, James and Allan were on a shuttle bus to the Doubletree International Plaza. The order of the day was to get settled and rested, until we decided to go to Subway and the garage convenience store where I took in my first taste of Mountain Dew. A drink I've heard much about for its caffiene-rich properties, its now caffiene free with alternately named (yet identically tasting) Dew Fuel providing the kick. Still a mouthful of joygasm whichever version I had.

Fed and sated (sort of) I retired to bed with Jess, Allan and James would be staying with us for a night until their reservation at the Park Plaza hotel kicked in the next day. I also got a slight addiction to the cookies that the Doubletree hands out to guests, warm and soft with chocolate and hazelnuts. It wasn't quite the same when they'd cooled and crisped up, I couldn't drop half the freaking cookie on the lobby carpet though (yes I did it).

Swag Obtained
Canadian flag

Tomorrow
A Beautiful Romance - NJ Meets Tim

NJ's Canadian Adventure - Aftermath

I'll get some sort of report and run-through written eventually. Photos will also follow when I'm sent them. Full swag list also to come.

You Don't Know Jack Episode 14
Score: $3,620
Rank: 337th



50 Weeks To Go.....

Boysex To The Left, Boysex To The Right....

Boysex behind and in front of me come to think of it. Yes I'm in Sarah's room with more yaoi than I think I can manage in one week. I'll do my best though. In the meantime...

You Don't Know Jack Episode 13
Score: $9,638
Rank: 373rd

$12,000 on the Jack Attack saved my ass.

NJ's Canadian Adventure - Day 4

I have something to wonder, why the hell don't we have some of the places I've seen round here in the UK? Places like Tim Horton's and Swiss Chalet, which is like the Hungry Horse but with better chicken.

NJ's Canadian Adventure

8 months in the making, over £1,500 saved up and now only 17 hours of travelling separates me from the real start.

2 weeks
2 cities
10 people

Lots of butt grabbing.

NJ's Canadian Adventure has begun.

NJ's Canadian Adventure - Final Post

10 t-shirts
6 pairs of trousers
7 pairs of socks
7 pairs of underkeks
2 books
2 chargers
1 plug converter
1 plushie
1 dress
1 crotch apron
1 pair of big heeled boots
1 passport
1 set of plane and train tickets

NJ's Canadian Adventure begins in 15 hours.....

You Don't Know Jack Episode 12
Score: $14,896
Rank: 31st

Catchup

My blogging has been shameful this week, so here's a catchup on You Don't Know Jack First.

You Don't Know Jack May 15th 2007
Category: An End To Violins
Score: $2,527
Rank: 304th

Well you wouldn't doubt him vomiting on a world leader.

You Don't Know Jack May 16th 2007
Category: Stamp-ing Out The Dark Side
Score: $2,510
Rank: 162nd

You Don't Know Jack May 17th 2007
Category: Anna Nicole, Where Art Thou?
Score: $3,610
Rank: 56th

You Don't Know Jack May 18th 2007
Category: A Hard Drive Day's Night
Score: $3,134
Rank: 45th

Heads Up

John smugly turned over a pair of queens. He was all-in with 2 players left, only me to get past. Grinning at the look of blankness on my face he reached for the pot only to freeze and go pale when he saw my cards.

Three of a kind, triple 5's.

I threw my arms into the air in triumph and he went ballistic. 6 hours of poker after we started and I managed to wipe out 7 other players to win the work tournament. £55 was the total prize, I haven't decided what to use it for but I sure as hell aren't buying any of the losers a drink.

T'was a good night. YDKJ stuff will be up later.

NJ's Canadian Adventure - The Run-In

7 Days Remaining

With just a week left until take-off its time for the first look at the weather!

This data is taken from 2 sources, firstly from The Weather Channel in the USA and secondly from The Weather Network in Canada. Here's what we're finding out, firstly the average temperature in Toronto for the week we're there and secondly what the weather will be like mainly (rain, snow, hurricane etc)

Tuesday 22nd May to Monday 28th May

Weather Channel (USA)
17C, mostly sunny.

Weather Network (Canada)
18C, mostly cloudy.

Tomorrow I'll probably post up my list of albums I'll be loading my mp3 player with.

Discoverances

I found £10 in my suitcase yesterday. Or as someone else put it;

"That's like finding $23!"

Gotta love the Canadian dollar. Weaker than an episode of My Family.

You Don't Know Jack Episode 11
Score: $8,196
Rank:106th

The Charts - May 13th 2007

Let's see who's enjoying the view from #1 this week then.

1: McFly - Baby's Coming Back/Transylvania
2: Beyonce and Shakira - Beautiful Liar
3: Akon - Don't Matter
4: Gym Class Heroes - Cupid's Chokehold
5: Scooch - Flying The Flag
6: Linkin Park - What I've Done
7: Timbaland ft. Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake - Give It To Me
8: Manic Street Preachers - Your Love Alone Is Not Enough
9: Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend
10: Amerie - Take Control

Review - Life In Cartoon Motion

Album Info Box
Title: Life In Cartoon Motion
Artist: Mika

Initial thoughts when you think of Mika are that he's the most annoying thing to come out of Beirut. Then you realise you can't think of anything else that came out of Beirut therefore he gets that by default. However judging this fluffy haired, helium voiced popstar based purely on his 2 big singles (he's had 3 believe it or not) would be a mistake.

1 - Grace Kelly
The album kicks off with the familiar opening and soundtrack to a million nights out that is Grace Kelly. Top of the UK singles chart for 6 weeks and with a chorus designed to make even the most hardened Bee-Gees fan's testicles retract. Despite this it is a song that starts to grow and that you will gradually start to sing along to. That pretty much sets the tone for the whole album.

2 - Lollipop
Horrifically high-pitched yet annoyingly catchy tune is exactly how everyone in the world would describe this song. A single in waiting for sure, especially as musically it changes enough to work as a great party tune. Much too sweet for constant listening though.

3 - My Interpretation
Now we enter what I've come to know as Mika's second mode. From pure bubblegum pop we now move to a song with some considerable substance. Its technically a classic post-breakup song but from the side we're not used to hearing from, the side that actually made the split. This along with the superb music that accompanies the lyrics makes it one of the strongest tracks on the album.

4 - Love Today
And we're back into singles mode. If you haven't heard this sublime slice of pop brilliance then I want to know what asteroid you've been clinging onto. Exploring the full spectrum of Mika's voice from the helium to the normal along with some really strong guitar parts makes it a vastly superior single to Grace Kelly but the ending bit doesn't quite sound right, when you compare it to the shortened video version its easily noticable.

5 - Relax, Take It Easy
The debut single, but easily Mika in serious mode. An eerie tune with some really surprisingly deep singing during the verses gives way to helium boy again in the chorus, but it works. Surprise comes here as this guy can do dark songs.

6 - Any Other World
Astonishingly beautiful. This is a piano-led ballad with the voice rising and falling at the exact right moments which makes it less grating than some other tracks and therefore makes it so much easier to take it seriously.

7 - Billy Brown
Its a story song about a guy who's happily married with a kid who falls in love with another guy. Much as I would love to applaud the intent behind the song and the greatness of the songwriting and music I can't lie in a review. This song is appaling. The chorus, music and most of the lyrics are just terrible. A real low point.

8 - Big Girl
Its a song to dance to this one, a self-esteem lifting song. However it suffers from the same failings as Billy Brown, mainly the fact that outside the chorus its an immensely dull song.

9 - Stuck In The Middle
This song is another sufferer of chronic all-chorus-no-verse syndrome. What started so promisingly is all starting to come apart at the seams.

10 - My Happy Ending
I want to know why this isn't the last track. Back to the mould of Any Other World but the addition of backing singers give it an extra feeling and it succeeds in the same way. Great lyrics, great music, great singing. Would've been perfect as a finale.

11 - Ring Ring
However we get this as a final track and its kicking it up into a song which initially sounds like it could soundtrack a final race in a movie. It has a great climax feel to it which is excellent. After a big, long belch on the way to the end the whole record finishes on a major high note.

Mika is undoubtedly a truly talented musician. Its just such a shame that this isn't shown off as much as it should be on this album. I believe he has 11 great tracks in him, why we have to settle for 8 good and 3 abysmal is something that anyone who buys this album should think about.

In One Line
Many great songs, but also lots of unfulfilled potential.

Seven (7)

Differences

For the record, the James singles collection comes in 1 and 2 disc varieties. These can be compared to the core and premium Xbox 360s. One is the real thing which will allow you endless entertainment from the moment its out the box. The other is a bastardisation of the product which will require loads of further purchases to fully enjoy.

I got the 2-disc version.

I'm moving! Yep, once I get back from the land of the rising maple leaf I'll have a new room in a new place of living. Hopefully where the bastard neighbours don't constantly fuck with the Sky dish. This does mean sorting the internets out though, so the darkness of me not being online may last longer than it should.

You Don't Know Jack May 11th 2007
Category: Zygote You Babe
Score: $1,550
Rank: 278th

Demands

Demand notice from Paypal's debt collectors. I'm not worried as I know I owe them nothing.

You Don't Know Jack May 10th 2007
Category: Don't Hassle The Hoff
Score: $1,580
Rank: 298th

I Feel Pretty

Pics of the whole maidboy outfit WILL be up by Friday at the latest. Possibly even tonight if I feel like it. Maybe even with me in it.

You Don't Know Jack May 9th 2007
Category: Do These Tights Make My Wallet Look Big?
Score: $2,634
Rank: 134th

Frilly Bits

Thought you lot might like these.

The Arrival

Words cannot describe how good a mood I'm in right now, and its all because of a pile of black and white sitting in my bottom drawer. Yes, its here at last.

You Don't Know Jack May 9th 2007
Category: Extended Stay Hilton
Score: $2,659
Rank: 100th

Paris Hilton going to jail with no chance of early release just makes the day better.

Shameful

You Don't Know Jack Episode 10
Score: $306
Rank: 156th

2 Weeks

I've just noticed that on the HSBC travel money page one of the notes sticking out of the passport is a Canadian $20.

All my pay this week is going on money. About another C$380 which would bring the total to C$920 plus whatever I get paid while I'm there. That's a decent chunk of money I reckon. I'll start packing sometime this week, still trying to decide on one bag or two. I prefer the big kit bag we have here to the big suitcase, though I think I'll only need the suitcase.

The message on Pull Tiger Tail's myspazz page is a bit interesting.

"Send Away The Manics"

Hmmm, I think the fact that they're reigniting the evil class war in music is getting a lot of bands a bit irritated.

Little Red Book

Say what you will about Hadouken's lyrics, I have never seen any band have that much fun on set. Most 'Making Of The Video' stuff is just purely on set, not the band taking the piss out of each other in the band or in the dressing room. I like referring to James as the 'Ninja Slinky'.

So, little red book. After 6 weeks, 2 birth certificats, £66 and more worry and stress than anyone should be able to deal with I have it.

"United Kingdom Of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Passport"

10 years of international freedom. The Canadian Adventure is unstoppable.

16 Days.....

Mika

What do you do about this guy? I've naturally been doing my research and what I've found is the ultimate cross section between piss-poor sugarpop and really quite seriously decent songwriting. Here's one example of the latter, his REAL first single. Yep, before Grace Kelly destroyed the charts there was this.

Mika - Relax, Take It Easy

Yo-Yo

The BNP currently looking like they're holding onto their 45 councillers, but unlikely to pick up any more. Not that it really matters as the Conservatives have absolutely slayed everyone in this election. Just look at these numbers.

Councils
Conservative - 155 (+37)
Labour - 31 (-8)
Liberal Democrat - 21 (-5)

Councillers
Conservative - 4,843 (+839)
Liberal Democrat - 1,973 (-460)
Labour - 1,736 (-246)

Still 20 councils yet to declare.

You Don't Know Jack May 4th 2007
Category: Panda XXX-press
Score: $3,042
Rank: 131st

Election 2007

Local elections, the first ones I can vote in and vote I did. The key tonight for a lot of people is the BNP's slice of the pie, already too big a slice.

BNP Government
MPs - 0
Councils - 0
Councillers - 45
Candidates - 400

That's how it looked at the start of the day, 9 of those 45 councillers are defending their seats. Lets see how that's going.

Councillers - 44

Yep, they've lost one. I'll update this in the morning. If the number is still 44 I'll be ecstatic, if its gone all the way to 36 then the Love Music Hate Racism team will be joygasming all over the walls.

'X' Rated

Don't ask me, I just wanted a witty title with X in it. Got a brown envelope from the Passport people today, nothing major. OR WAS IT!!!?

You Don't Know Jack May 3rd 2007
Category: The Pwning Of The Shrew
Score: $2,042
Rank: 184th

It wasn't. OR WA....nope.