James

The food literally exploded in the reviewer's face? The Science Museum in London had an exhibition about the history of gaming on a year or two back, and whilst it didn't seem to have much in the way of analysis (to be fair, I wasn't really seeking it out), it was great to play on some of the old arcade machines; particularly those which did things that couldn't be accurately reproduced on a modern computer. I'm thinking in particular of Asteroids, which used a vector display, meaning that all the lines were extremely bright, and even more intense where they (imperfectly) met. I'd never realized that it was like that, and while it's a pretty cosmetic observation, it really enthused me for some reason. It got me and the friend I attended with wondering why there isn't a more permanent establishment around here where you could pay for entry then play a bunch of old arcade machines at will. I guess it wouldn't make money or would descend into anarchy or both. And judging by the number of systems that weren't working when we attended, those things take some maintenance. Still, it would be nice. Anyway, I don't know how similar all that was to the thing in Manchester. I don't think there were any talks or anything, so I guess it was a much less impressive affair. I'm not sure whether I can motivate myself to make the trip to Manchester, though.

I have a friend who was thinking of getting one of those. We used to make horrible sounds together, but then I finished university and (two years later) got a job. This has barely anything to do with birthdays, expired or otherwise. Sorry about that.

It's freeware now, isn't it?

I don't know if I'd say it's completely the opposite; the portion used is somehow aesthetically fitting (I think it may be that the staccato bass and high-pitched melody both remind me of Morse code or something). But yes, it's certainly less doomy and macho than actual news music. I also think it has to be one of the most epic remixes I've heard ('epic' in the scale sense, not in the generic Internet vocabulary sense). But I'm not very well-versed in remixes.

Happy birthday. You're apparently only a little bit younger than me, so I barely resent you at all. I resent Miffmaff slightly more.

So, there are those of the opinion that being a dick and constantly correcting people is actually giving them valuable information and teaching them how to express themselves more eloquently. Not that I completely subscribe to that belief. If I did, I'd tell the German at work that "slowly" is an adverb and not an adjective. I guess I'm not annoyed enough by "Why is this so slowly?" to go through the slight awkwardness.

"This game turned my hair gay." - IGN.COM

Yeah, I was "between jobs" for over eighteen months before my current one, and whilst I'm lazy enough to enjoy that in theory, I always felt too guilty to take full advantage of it, so I ended up wasting a whole load of time (more so than usual). When things started getting really dire I settled for a fine-but-less-than-stellar job, which is where I am now (right now). I feel like I need to move on to something with more prospects, but I hate looking for work and I have no idea what I want or am able to do. Hooray for inertia! Anyway, the best of luck with your respective searches.

A friend gave me Closer for a birthday, but I couldn't get over Curtis' voice. Being part of the horrible mainstream, I like Love Will Tear Us Apart and little else of what I've heard. Sorry. I haven't been listening to much at all recently, other than Fortdax's remix of You Are Here by Nathan Fake (which I obviously only know of because it's Newswipe's theme tune) and watching jazz drumming videos on YouTube when my boss is out (particularly , who seemed to enjoy himself a great deal, which is nice, although apparently he was one of those difficult-to-get-on-with musicians).DISCLAIMER: I know nothing about jazz or music in general.

IT'S WHAT I DO.

Hahahaha, well at least you're consistent.

And maybe knives and feet! Wait, does that make us chicks?

I made the joke again!

Whilst I have my moments of pedantry, I think once the phrase is taken out of that context it ceases to matter (at least to the same degree). After all, from what I remember academic Philosophy has appropriated about half of the language for its own obscure and very specific definitions. OK, perhaps that's an exaggeration, but most fields develop their own lexicon, and it's probably a mistake to try to transfer that to general use. Which isn't to say that dumb stuff doesn't annoy me. That "I could care less" means the opposite of what's intended is frustratingly daft, but until I start using "whom" instead of "who" on all appropriate occasions, I'm not sure I can claim that perfect English is as important as I once thought. It's good to know, of course, but not essential. Basically, I don't want to be a hypocrite, and I'd rather lower my standards than raise my game.

Colour me cautiously excited.

A BILLION MOTHERFUCKING GUNS

The IGNominy of it!

Three of my favourites all in one post!

It's my signature move.

Custer's Revenge?

HEY MR. VANIA IS THAT THE PHOTO YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT WHEN WE WERE PLAYING GTA AND NOBODY OTHER THAN THE BROTHERS BLIX WERE THERE shout shout shout

The Colonel of Truth (Sorry)

I don't mean to question that there are reasons; simply that they will always be accessible, comprehensible or satisfying. How far do we have to go before we feel we can close the book on a particular event? How many books and articles about a serial killer or rapist or despot or madman does it take to reach resolution on the matter? I don't know, perhaps I'm just being pessimistic, but I feel like the search for resolution will generally be fruitless. Also, although stories are undeniably influenced by and ultimately based on real-world psychology, they have also built up their own language and conventions through thousands of years fiction and storytelling. We have tropes, stereotypes, narrative arcs and the like, which, whilst possibly based on some kernel of truth (to coin a phrase), have passed enough times through the feedback loop to have taken on a character of their own. I don't mean to be totally nihilistic about things. I think wanting to understand stuff is natural and generally a good thing. I just think it can sometimes get a little desperate and hopeless.

I don't mean that, I was just wondering whether that's why the old tag displayed differently for people apparently on the same platforms. Anyway, yes, you should totally recreate the site in full 3D with Shader Model 17.whatever and DirectX 10 and Achievements.

I often wonder what drives people in the news to do the terrible things they do, but I think if they told me I still might not understand. I think narrative fiction has taught us to expect resolution, and that these incidents are stories with a beginning and end, which isn't really the case. I often feel that the news is also presented to us as a story, and like in fiction we are lead (intentionally or not) to think about things in a certain way, and care about some things more than others. Not that that's an especially original or revelatory idea. It's just that I keep forgetting and re-discovering it. But yeah, I think the whole search for explanations thing is our fear of chaos. People do things we don't expect or understand, and that makes us feel the world is unpredictable and uncontrollable, and we don't like that. This may also be blindingly obvious, I don't know.