Blog

The thoughts, opinions, happenings, and just plain ramblings of a seemingly boring person.

Rants

Console Purchasing Wars: Xbox Series X

Categories Gaming, Geekery, Rants, Technology

Last week, I finally got an Xbox Series X! I say 'finally' because despite working for a Microsoft company (I even have a Microsoft employee ID and email address), I have no special access (or pricing) to any Microsoft hardware.

Like everyone else desperately trying to find one, I've had to watch Twitter stock alert accounts, ring around tonnes of stores, and do everything else to try and secure a console ahead of scalpers. Even though the scalping price on eBay isn't too exorbitant—roughly about 25-30% above the retail price—I've refused out of principle to take that easy way … Read more →

Why I Have Always Hosted My Own Blog

Categories Geekery, Internet, Rants, Technology

I started this blog in 2004. Since that time, there have been a lot of changes in writing and publishing your own online content.

To give a bit of perspective, back in January 2004, WordPress had only (by a matter of days) hit 1.0, and still wasn't really a thing yet. Back then, it was really only Blogger (newly acquired by Google), or older services like LiveJournal that allowed you to have a blog. To give even more perspective, even MySpace wasn't really a thing yet.

So, in the 16 years that I have maintained this blog, I have … Read more →

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (spoilers!)

Categories Life, Movies, Rants
Rise of Skywalker banner

Here we are, at the end of the Disney 'sequel trilogy'. The whole thing has been a bit of a weird and unexpected experience. A bit of history first:

I first watched the original trilogy as a child, mainly on VHS tapes. I did not see the movies in a cinema until 1997 at the age of 14, when the Special Editions were released theatrically on the 20th anniversary of the original movie.

The prequel trilogy marked my coming of age. I was 16 when Episode I came out, and 22 when Revenge of the Sith was released.

So for … Read more →

Working on a MacBook Pro

Categories Geekery, Rants, Technology, Work

Regular readers could be forgiven for thinking that I have an anti-Apple bias. Although I'm definitely not a fan of the company, I'd like to think that I am mostly objective when it comes to my views.

I've been pretty consistent in my position that I would never buy an Apple computer for my own personal use. The price-to-value return for my own circumstances isn't justifiable. I like the flexibility and customisation of Windows/Linux PCs, not to mention things that are practically impossible on a Mac, such as high-end gaming.

The one area where I use what I'm given (although, … Read more →

Solo: A Star Wars Review (spoilers!)

Categories Movies, Rants

Solo posterApparently, some people actually read my Star Wars reviews, and I've been a bit slack writing this one up.

If you asked me what stories I'd like to see in the Star Wars spin-off movies, I'd have to say a Solo origin story wouldn't have been very high on my list. Combined with the reported production problems that resulted in the original directors canned in the middle of the shoot, I didn't have very high hopes for this movie.

My overall impression after seeing Solo: meh. It wasn't a bad movie by any stretch, but nothing really struck me … Read more →

Google Is Shutting Down Their URL Shortener, so I Created a Custom One

Categories Internet, Rants, Technology

I've used the goo.gl URL shortener for a while to create short links for all manner of things, but especially for sharing links to this blog on the social medias. So, it was to my surprise when I went to create one yesterday for my most recent post, that I saw the announcement that they are terminating their service, in favour of their Firebase product.

All I need is a quick way to create short URLs, and for the life of me I couldn't even figure out how to create one as they suggest using a 'dynamic link' … Read more →

The Best and Worst of 2017

Categories Gaming, Lego, Movies, Rants

Best and worst time! This is my personal review of 2017's media that I was exposed to, and the ones that I liked the most and the least.

GotG2 & LoganMovies

This year was quite a tough one to pick. There wasn't really anything that good that I can think of as being the stand-out, and by the same token, I can't remember anything that I saw that was really that bad. Nevertheless:

Best Movie: Two-way tie between Logan and Guardians of the Galaxy 2.

Guardians 2 gave me more of what I loved about the first: space, sci-fi, 80s, humour, … Read more →

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (spoilers!)

Categories Geekery, Movies, Rants

Star Wars: The Last JediIt's that time of year, again! No, I'm not talking about my usual 'Best and Worst', 'Tweets for 20xx', or 'Year in Review' posts. I'm talking about the annual Star Wars movie in this new era of Disney Star Wars. Being the second 'trilogy' movie, and the successor to my well-received The Force Awakens, I did have reasonable expectations for this movie.

As usual, be warned that there are SPOILERS AHEAD!

I don't totally share the critical acclaim this movie is getting. It's a good movie, not a great one. I was pretty frustrated after my first viewing, … Read more →

Mario Odyssey: Unpopular Opinion

Categories Gaming, Rants

Super Mario OdysseyI've just finished playing through Super Mario Odyssey, and I have had a bunch of fun with it.  However, I have a seemingly unpopular opinion: although Odyssey is fantastic, and it really is, I don't think it quite lives up to the standard of its predecessor, Super Mario Galaxy 2.

Let me start by saying that Odyssey is a great game. If you have a Switch, this game is a must buy. If you don't have a Switch, this game should make you seriously consider getting one. The game is deserving of its widespread critical acclaim, and I … Read more →

MusicBee: Finally Opting Out of iTunes

Categories Geekery, Rants, Technology

MusicBee LogoIt feels like I've been complaining for almost a decade about the bloated mess that is iTunes. Despite all those complaints, I've never really been bothered to move on to anything else.

About 5 years ago, I had a brief flirt with other stuff like DoubleTwist, but wasn't that impressed and quickly ended up back on iTunes. This wasn't really because of iTunes being any superior itself, but more-so the ubiquity of support from third-party devices and services in interfacing with an iTunes library.

I hear you ask: "Wait a minute, you still own and manage your own music … Read more →