28
Feb

Games
This month started off with me playing a game that released at the end of January, Mass Effect 2, and what a game it was! Definitely my game of the year so far and one of my most enjoyable game experiences in a long time. It looks lovely, it plays brilliant, it has an epic story that continues from ME1 and sets up the inevitable ME3 beautifully.

After just finishing up Mass Effect 2, along came another sequel to a brilliant game, Bioshock 2. From outer space to under water in the time it takes to change discs. Bioshock 2 while not as good as Mass Effect 2 was still a fun game. It was a bit hard to get into but after a couple hours the story finally decided what it wanted to do and got on with it. I’ve not had a go at the multiplayer yet but I will at some point I’m sure.

Once I’d blasted my way through hordes of Geth and Big Sisters I got a bit ADD in my gaming. I went back to a couple of old titles that I’d either not completed fully or missed out on completely. I never got around to the Fallout 3 DLC so that was first on my list. I played through the Mothership Zeta content first and to be honest, it was pretty horrible. I moved onto Point Lookout next but never got very far in that because I kept dying. So I gave up on Fallout 3 and moved to Dragon Age: Origins which I missed out on because it released five days before Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. I’d played a little bit but never got into it before MW2 arrived so I thought I’d give it another go. I played a couple hours of it but it just didn’t grab me so I gave up on that too.

Next on the pile was Borderlands which I’d never finished cos Callum borrowed it. I’m still playing through it cos it’s a huge game but I think I need to play it on co-op to enjoy it more.

Since I knocked my rental games down to only one at a time the only rental game I’ve played this month is Darksiders: Wrath of War. It’s an alright game and I was starting to really enjoy it when it did something I really hate: had an unkillable boss. I tried four or five times to beat this boss and couldn’t so the games going back.

I’ve finally managed to settle on a game that I’ll be playing for a while tho: Eternal Sonata. It’s a beautiful game that’s easy to play and I should be able to get a fair few hours out of it.

There’s been some games I really want to play released in the past couple weeks and March just sees more added to that list. Battlefield: Bad Company 2, God of War 3, Heavy Rain, Dante’s Inferno, Echoshift, Command & Conquer 4, Final Fantasy 13, Metro 2033, Just Cause 2, Mafia 2, and Resonance of Fate. I think I’m gonna have to increase my rental number again!

On my iPhone I’ve been playing a bit of Cogs, a little Marple and some Final Fantasy. I love how good the iPhone is for bite-sized gaming.

TV
February has been pretty quiet for TV shows since the Olympics have been on. Lost started back and has been completely confusing as always, I caught up with Supernatural and cannot wait for that to start up again and finish the story arc, I finally started to watch Weeds season 5 and only have a few episodes to go, Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters are finally jettisoning the crappier storylines and sticking to the ones I’ve been enjoying, I gave up on Heroes as it was just too crap and that’s about it. March should hopefully be better with the Olympics out of the way.

Books
I’ve read four books this month: Doctor Who: Shining Darkness which was pretty dull, The Mirrored Heavens which was a good sci-fi romp, Peter & Max which was my favourite of the lot and a highly enjoyable read, and The Medici Curse which was a nice romance novel. I think I enjoyed The Medici Curse more because it was set in the same time period as Assassins Creed 2 and I recognised events that were taking place.

Movies
I think the only new movie I watched this month was Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs which I saw with Paula and Kirstin. It was alright, not as funny as the Disney Pixar movies but it was cute. I also watched the Directors Cut of Watchmen which I really enjoyed.

Music
The Courteneers debut album would have to be my favourite of this month, I don’t know why but it reminds me of Glasvegas a lot. I also can’t stop listening to Lady Gaga’s Dance in the Dark and Timbaland’s If We Ever Meet Again since I heard them in Polo. I think I enjoyed myself more than I think I did. Next month sees the release of Amy MacDonald’s second album so look for my review of that next month.


28
Feb

I have to say I’m really liking The Courteneers debut album Falcon. It sort of reminds me of Glasvegas but English-er.

Elie Goulding’s album is alright, quite chirpy. Her accent is kind of annoying me tho…

Next week sees the release of Amy MacDonald’s sophomore album and I’m really excited about that. So much so that I’m gonna actually buy it!


28
Feb

Brilliant concert, Jared Leto has an amazing energy live and seemed to really enjoy himself. There were a few too many scene kids for my liking tho and some of them act as if they’re in the presence of God with the way they’re screaming and panting.


06
Jan

These are in no particular order

Games
Halo Wars
Resident Evil 5
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Killzone 2 -
Borderlands
DIRT 2
Modern Warfare 2
Left 4 Dead 2
Assassin’s Creed 2
Forza 3

Biggest Disappointment: Halo 3: ODST
Started but didn’t finish in 2009: Uncharted 2

DLC games
Battlefield 1943
Shadow Complex
Splosion Man
The Lost & Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony
Tinker

Music
Enter Shikari – Common Dreads
Kelly Clarkson – All I Ever Wanted
Frankmusik – Complete Me
Boys Like Girls – Love Drunk
Black Eyed Peas – The E.N.D.
A-Ha – Foot Of The Mountain
White Lies – To Lose My Life
Lady Gaga – The Fame
Mat Kearney – City of Black and White
Athlete – Black Swan

Favourite song of 2009: Dykeenies – Sounds of the City
Favourite gig of 2009: Snow Patrol

Movies
District 9
Up
Star Trek
New Moon
Avatar
500 Days of Summer
The Time Travelers Wife
Watchmen
The Fall
Ice Age 3

Books
The Girl Who books
The True Blood novels
Assassin’s Creed: Renaissance
Night Over Water/Pillars of the Earth
Eragon/Eldest
Let The Right One In/Handling The Undead
The Grant County books
Alice in Wonderland
A Christmas Carol
Second World

22
Nov

As it apparently will ruin your life. If you’ve seen the video of Susan Boyle at her first audition on Britain’s Got Talent, you may perhaps remember a young girl rolling her eyes as Susan wiggled her hips on stage? You don’t remember? Well a lot of others did as they launched a hate campaign against her which is still continuing to this day.

What is wrong with people? I think just about everyone watching that had the EXACT same reaction before she performed and then the same stunned reaction once they heard her sing.

Yet this poor girl, who’s only 18, has been singled out because she was shown on TV. It’s disgusting quite frankly and I feel sorry for the poor girl. Susan herself has even told people to leave the girl alone as she knows how she looked.

Leave 1.24 girl alone!

19
Oct

Tonight I went with Paula and her sister Susan to see All American Rejects at The Barrowlands. It was pretty good, the band has a lot of energy and Tyson in particular seemed well up for it.

One thing annoyed me tho: the young girl next to me kept grabbing her head and screaming in disbelief. I couldn’t understand this. Did she not buy a ticket? Did she not use her legs to transport herself to that exact location? She did? Then why is she surprised she’s here?!

Fool.

16
Sep
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11
Aug

The latest rumors to come out regarding Apple (cos you know there’s GOT to be a rumor about Apple going at all times) is that iTunes 9 will support Blu-Ray and therefore there are Blu-Ray drives coming to future Macs. Hooray! I care not.

The part of the rumor I DO care about is that there’s going to be a social networking aspect to iTunes. By the sounds of it (and really this is what I want) it will allow you to “share” songs on Twitter, Facebook etc. Recommending songs to friends? Sign me up. However my guess is that it’ll link back to iTunes Store for buying the songs therefore Apple is upping it’s profits.

Also it sounds like some kind of Last.FM integration is coming judging by this page at MacNN. I really hope scrobbling could be built into iTunes now as it’s annoying having to have the Last.FM app going seperately

05
Aug

Take my hand, take a breath
Pull me close and take one step
Keep your eyes locked on mine,
And let the music be your guide.

Won’t you promise me (now won’t you promise me, that you’ll never forget)
We’ll keep dancing (to keep dancing) wherever we go next

It’s like catching lightning the chances of finding someone like you
It’s one in a million, the chances of feeling the way we do
And with every step together, we just keep on getting better
So can I have this dance (can I have this dance)
Can I have this dance

Take my hand, I’ll take the lead
And every turn will be safe with me
Don’t be afraid, afraid to fall
You know I’ll catch you threw it all

And you can’t keep us apart (even a thousand miles, can’t keep us apart)
‘Cause my heart is (cause my heart is) wherever you are

It’s like catching lightning the chances of finding someone like you
It’s one in a million, the chances of feeling the way we do
And with every step together, we just keep on getting better
So can I have this dance (can I have this dance)
Can I have this dance

Oh no mountains too high enough, oceans too wide
‘Cause together or not, our dance won’t stop
Let it rain, let it pour
What we have is worth fighting for
You know I believe, that we were meant to be

It’s like catching lightning the chances of finding someone like you (like you)
It’s one in a million, the chances of feeling the way we do (way we do)
And with every step together, we just keep on getting better
So can I have this dance (can I have this dance)
Can I have this dance

15
Jul

Every time I listen to Enter Shikari’s new album it reminds me of when I was in Seattle and I start feeling anxious :( it sucks cos I really dig the album otherwise.

The ultimate irony tho? The album is about the UK losing it’s civil liberties and freedom and stuff.