Tuesday 18 November 2014

Yoga and cycling

after doing a few bits of research i find out that the main reason for some of my back problems  has come from my love of cycling.
cycling shortens the ham-string muscles that are directly linked to the back thus making bending over and such like hard work. I thought I was just getting old, but, it turns out I will still forever.
I never thought I would be saying this, but, i've taken up yoga to cure the back stiffness [and I must say right now; I am rubbish at it!] we where rubbish at most things  that we start new, but that never stops us from getting better at it.
After just my first sequence I could feel the improvements .  Just 30 minutes or so every other day is nothing in my day, and is a great come-down after a caffined-highed  late night gaming session.
My very small aim is a be able to touch my toes [legs straight], small steps lead to bigger ones


Thursday 15 May 2014

"What do you see?" a short badly writen film review




'Sunshine' [2007]
 

This went out in the cinemas at the same time as '300' and with all the hype to that film no one really bothered with it, which is such a shame.

On paper the story sounds like main-stream rubbish, but, its so much more than the sum of its parts. just like Danny Boyle's previous work '28 Days Later' ["just another zombie film right?" nope]
The budget was quite low for a film like this, but every penny is put to good use.
The main character of the film is the sun and it has never, ever looked quite so good as this. totally believable in its visual execution, it just looks simply stunning.light doesn't make any real noise but there's some great sound effects for the sun burning into every part of the ship, almost creating a monster with its sound design alone. your just over-powered by its brilliance of light and sound from the outset and you are humbled by the scale and power of the sun which the film conveys, very much like the crew of the Icarus 2.

Never have I come out of the cinema feeling so 
complete as after watching this, it was perhaps my perfect cinema experience to date.

at home turn up the sound and sit as close as you 
can to the screen and you will be belittled by the sunshine



Wednesday 26 February 2014

finishing a old job, starting a new one




After feeling for sometime that i was getting stale and part of the furniture in my last job, i finaly found a new one.
Leaving a any job which you've been in for over ten years is never going to be easy, but, the job i had was also i very fond hobby of mine: cycling, it will be intesting only working on my own bikes from now on, and talking to like mined people about cycling rather than people who want a bicycle to last forever and will only pay the same price as a cheap blu-ray player.

About my new job: its quieter than the last, and not forward facing so i don't deal will the public on a daily basis. Which is good as i feel that my speech is getting worse with my old age, or maybe it was just my body's way of getting me to find some place new.

Only time will tell....

Thursday 23 January 2014

a link to my film collection

here's a link to the few films i have. all of them are stored memories of good times, each one a little Pandora’s box ready to be opened once again [except one]


http://www.imdb.com/...f_=nv_usr_lst_3

Tuesday 14 January 2014

a old Halo 1 review

you have team mates in quite a few of the levels but in all but one level [where you protect the captain] you can either kill or protect them and fight with them. the A.I. is so good there's no leading them around while they face a wall or bang into stuff they all act as a real team: jumping into a vehicle when you do, storming a building together, in a fire fight running to save there buddies. there's not meny weapons to pick up and your find yourself having one or two faves and sticking with them all through to the end of the game, plus only being able to have two guns on you at one time means you really choose wisely! having your left arm to throw grenades means there's no changing weapons to use them e.g.: opening a door, spraying the room inside with gun-fire, and then quickly finally throwing in a grenade afterwards.
everything is done very realistically and tactics play a large part in the game: lets get my team mates to take out as much as they can before they all die and then i'll go in and finish off the rest!, going in the front way? ok, but be prepared for a big fire fight...

take the back route and snipe them one by one for a easy kill, take on more than a few enemies at once with no cover and you die, jump into a gun emplacement and yes you've got bags of firepower but your a sitting duck for a air strike say.

one of my favourite parts in the game is where two aliens wearing stealth suits come into a room where you've just been stocking up on ammo, relaxing for a few seconds after a blood filled five minutes.... a door opens a little way off.... you only hear the

little sound of the door opening.... you spin round.. "what was that?".... this is where you just fire into the room blind and see if you hit anything! [even with your torch on, its very hard to see these guys]

there's just so many little details in the game to tell you all of them, like, if your able to hit a guy out of a speeder without damaging it you can then get in it and 'speed' off! or in two player: say you drive the vehicle with player two on the back firing away as you go, then you get out while your team mate is still firing and he can cover you!

its been done with the up most care in every way

one of the only gripes i have is that there is no long term smoke after effects like in Goldeneye/Perfect Dark, oh yes there's smoke coming out of your muzzle, burning spaceships lying on the ground after you've shot them down, grenade 'dust', atmospheric perspective [things in the distance you can hardly see], lens flares, real-time lighting affects on everything [a bad guy in a dark room only shows up when his gun is fired], to name but a few. but still no walking into a smoke filled room blind,

which lets be truthful was one of the best things about one player Goldeneye.