Blog

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

10 Years of Blogging!

Categories Geekery, Internet, Life, Rants

10 Years BloggingWow. Today marks 10 years since I started this blog. I must have missed the 10 year mark of the website itself (which was on 13 July 2013), but it was with the launch of this blog 10 years ago that things really started to get interesting (at least for me 😛 ).

If I was honest, 10 years ago I don't think I would have bet that this would still be going a decade later. At the five year mark I was seriously considering giving it up, but over the years I've come to the realisation that this … Read more →

2013: Year In Review

Categories Life

It's been a big year with a few big changes, and 2014 looks to be another big one. Arsenal are top of the league at New Year's so I guess I can be really happy at that. 😀

Here's the highlights of this year's blog posts:

January

… Read more →

Tweets for 2013

Categories Geekery, Internet, Life

Tweets for 2013These are my tweets for 2013 (minus replies and retweets). All the URLs are still Twitter's 't.co' ones, as the API doesn't spit out the original URL text.

  • Time machine back to year 10, 1998! http://t.co/FDjrAzCA #DrWorm was my favourite Jan 02, 2013
  • Gold! 'Old Cops Discover The Internet': http://t.co/47ITSJrW Jan 05, 2013
  • Darn. Oh well, it was worth a shot http://t.co/BuoySrn4 #DeathStar Jan 12, 2013
  • lots of profanity, but loads of hilarity "Darth Vader Voiced By Schwarzenegger": http://t.co/2SY7sm7z Jan 14, 2013
  • What a joke that Brave won the Golden Globe for Best Animated Film! Does Pixar get the awards
… Read more →

The Best and Worst of 2013

Categories Gaming, Movies, Rants

It's my usual 'Best and Worst' post time! For those not familiar, I summarise the best and worst movies and games that I have watched and played this calendar year. These are only from the movies/games that I have personally watched/played, so it's definitely not exhaustive.

Movies

Keeping in mind that I have only seen one movie out of those that were released over the Christmas/Boxing Day period, here is a list of the movies that I have watched so far this year.Django Unchained

Best Movie: Django Unchained

Usually a movie will jump out at me as one of the … Read more →

Ender’s Game (the movie): Impressed

Categories Geekery, Movies

Ender's GameLast night we saw Ender's Game. Some spoilers may be ahead.

I had read the book earlier in the year, so I was quite eager to see how they would portray a book that I thought was not suited for a transition to the big screen.

I have to say that I was pretty impressed. I think they did quite a good job at compressing the story, themes, and relationships into a very watchable two-hour movie. Knowing the story of the book beforehand, it did feel very rushed, but while a lot of depth and other sub-plots were understandably minimised … Read more →

A Retrospective of the Now-Previous Gaming Generation

Categories Gaming, Geekery

GamingSo now that Xbox One and PlayStation 4 have been released, what was the 'current' console generation is now the 'previous' generation. I had two consoles of the previous generation (Wii & PS3), which was a new experience considering I didn't have any from the one before that. It was a pretty long generation, spanning 2005 to 2013, and I think a lot of gamers were grateful at that.

It was also a generation in which gaming matured a whole lot. Not only maturing technically into things like high-definition, proper online connectivity, and social capabilities, but also maturing in terms … Read more →

Symphony of Legends

Categories Gaming, Geekery, Life

Symphony Of LegendsTonight we had the immense pleasure of going to the Symphony of Legends, which was the Queensland Symphony Orchestra (and an accompanying choir) performing a collection of video game scores.

In my tweet tonight I mentioned that it was an interesting mix of high-class symphony regulars dressed in suits and gowns, as well as geeks, some dressed in shorts.

There were some really great pieces, but for me the highlight was the Journey score. It was fantastic to hear it performed by a live orchestra, not to mention being conducted by its own composer, Austin Wintory.

Other honourable mentions … Read more →

Getting the Joystick Out for BF4

Categories Gaming, Technology

BF4 Joystick In the past couple of weeks I have really gotten started on BF4. These early days are always a bit of a slog trying to upgrade weapons, classes, and vehicles, but it has been fun nonetheless.

One thing that I have always sucked at across all the Battlefield games, is flying aircraft. I always tend to struggle flying with the mouse, mainly because it is really hard to find a neutral 'centre' point, especially with the helicopters.

The best way to fly is, of course, with a joystick. So I thought "screw this", let's give it a go.

I dusted … Read more →

New Mobile: Google/LG Nexus 5

Categories Geekery, Life, Technology

Nexus 5The two-year mark on my HTC Desire S was coming up, so over the past couple of months I have been looking for a new phone. My criteria was a mid-range (and mid-priced!) Android phone that I've normally gone for, and one that has 4G so it would be a noticeable upgrade.

The Desire S was a great phone, so in sticking with HTC, I had my eyes set on a HTC One Mini. It was around my price-point, and it wasn't as large as the top-tier phones like its bigger brother. I was about to pull the trigger and … Read more →

Windows 8.1 Thoughts

Categories Geekery, Rants, Technology

After being on Windows 8 since I built the new computer, I was quite eager to see how Windows 8.1 would improve upon the deficiencies that I have previously criticised.

As a whole, I think it is a bit of a mixed bag. There are some good improvements. For example, the implementation of a 'Start' button goes some way to easing the transition for Windows users, and provides a visual cue of functionality that was previously only an unmarked 'hover' corner. But really, it is only a square that does the same thing as the Start key on … Read more →