My feminist friends, if I still had any, would be outraged at this…

Via. Eleverbo

This entry was written by Aaron, posted on June 26, 2009 at 7:38 am, filed under funny ha ha, video. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

Epic.

This entry was written by Aaron, posted on June 9, 2009 at 6:45 pm, filed under funny ha ha, video. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

Last night I watched Cloverfield — the monster movie that was an internet phenomenon before it was a tepidly received movie.

I wasn’t going to watch it, but then since it comes in at under 90-mins I decided to give it a go. I’m glad I did.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not brilliant. Indeed I think comments that it reinvents the Godzilla genre are a bit too much. But it’s a good film nonetheless.

Once you get used to the jerky handheld camera perspective (which, by the way, you will), what you get is a beautifully conceived concept-movie: footage from a handheld video-camera retrieved after Manhattan is totalled by a stadium-sized monster (with a doomed love-story thrown in to appease the date-movie crowd).

It’s not terribly scary. As someone who (figuratively) crapped himself silly while watching 28-Weeks Later alone in our Tallinn apartment, it’s fair to say I do get the heebie-jeebies quite easily. I was more in awe than scared of the monsters in Cloverfield.

While the mini-beasties the monster sheds like dandruff are derivative (kinda like the bugs in the fantastic Starship Troopers), the main monster is a colossal mountain of vicious havoc, taking down skyscrapers and bridges with a single malevolent swipe — while occasionally taking time out to munch on tasty Manhattanites. Hmmmm Manhattanites…

The beauty of Cloverfield is that nothing, I said NOTHING, is explained. The director doesn’t assume his audience are dribbling morons. I like this. The army grunts and the occasionally spotted TV news footage convey utter and complete confusion. The city and the authorities are in disarray. No-one knows what the monster is, or where the hell it came from. And don’t expect the story to unfold at the end — it doesn’t.

So Cloverfield… It’s not scary, but it is wonderfully conceived. Oh, and it does make the dog-shit awful remake of Godzilla irrelevant (if it wasn’t already), even if, sadly, it’s unlikely to lead to a renaissance in the genre. 7/10

This entry was written by Aaron, posted on June 3, 2009 at 9:21 am, filed under flim, review. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

PlayStaion hacker Modder Dashhacker has (with help) created software that allows the PS3’s remote play feature (a way to play your PS3 through your PSP - via. Wi-Fi, say on the bog) to be accessed via a suitable PC or Mac.

This is potentially awesome.

I’d love the possibility of playing my games console on my Mac. I have two small kids. The TV is invariably tied up with Pingu or whatever, so I rarely — during the day at least — get chance to frag homophobic American teenagers.

I don’t expect the current generation of consoles to make any use of this. After all it’s just a hack and I don’t have a PS3 anyway. But maybe the next gen of hardware can have this facility built-in — available to play over a fast internet connection even.

Imagine it. Sat in your hotel room or in the garden, rocking XBOX LIVE from your laptop (Bluetooth controllers would naturally work with your laptop via. supplied drivers) Now that’s fucking progress.

Via Engadget.

This entry was written by Aaron, posted on May 20, 2009 at 9:30 am, filed under Sony, gaming, hacks, hardware. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

Just playing with Picturesque by Acqualia software.

Very simple. Will be cool for online pics.

This entry was written by Aaron, posted on May 19, 2009 at 5:12 pm, filed under photography. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

I’ve just ordered a Samsung NC10 netbook. I did some research — I was very tempted by the excellent new Asus EeePC 1000HE — and plumped for the Samsung for a variety of reasons. It’s light, has an excellent keyboard, looks cool, and has a non-glossy screen.

Anyway, enough of that; I started making a quick list of Windows software (free, please) that I will install when it’s delivered. So I thought, rather than pen my list on Evernote, I’d post it on here and crowd-source some ideas. You have to understand, I’ve used Macs for years and only use Windows for the odd gadget that’s incompatible with OSX (our pedometers for instances).

The machine is going to be used for travelling and sticking in my camera bag, mainly. But it’ll also, no doubt, be used around the house. Maybe the G4 Powerbook will be retired, I don’t know (Olga still loves her G4, and rarely uses the iMac powerhouse we bought her last year).

One idea I have toyed with is dual-booting. I’ve always run Ubuntu on a separate HDD, rather than have a partition, but I might split the 160GB HDD between XP and Linux. Maybe give myself 60GB for an Ubuntu install (the netbook is for us both when travelling, and Olga wont want Linux - also, we can put away the 15″ HP we keep around for Windows).

BTW, I’ve never tried installing OSX on a partition, and the only copies of OSX I have came with the machines, and I’m not sure if they’ll work. Anyway, I like to play around with Linux. :o)

So, back to the list. I know mine is pretty rubbish, but I’m no Windows expert and I’m happy to be put right…

Source: xkcd

This entry was written by Aaron, posted on May 1, 2009 at 4:31 pm, filed under comics. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

Apparently this truly beautiful video was captured, “principally”, using Nikon’s £724 D90 DSLR, and a Redrock DSLR support.

Doug Burr’s “Should’ve Known” from Jon Todd Collins on Vimeo.

When I was at Uni a few of my housemates were media students who’d gone to the uni because it featured a bunkered Sony digital editing suite - worth tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of pounds. How times have changed, eh?

This entry was written by Aaron, posted on April 24, 2009 at 7:30 pm, filed under music, photography, video. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

This entry was written by Aaron, posted on April 17, 2009 at 8:42 am, filed under mac, microsoft, video. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

This is a very personal choice… so here they are (in no particular order) ::

Halo 3 [systems I played it on] XBOX 360 (although, Halo: Combat Evolved had the biggest impact, Halo 3 is the format perfected *with* 360 shine and XBOX LIVE glory)

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time N64

Half-Life PC/PS2

Half-Life 2 + Episodes PC/XBOX 360

Super Mario World SNES (as good as Galaxy is, this is the daddy)

Beach Head Acorn Electron (possibly the first game I ever completed)

Championship Manager Amiga/PC (when it was Sports Interactive’s franchise, now Football Manager. Championship Manager Italia, being my favourite incarnation - I’m a sucker for Serie A)

Street Fighter II Arcade/SNES

Double Dragon Arcade (my first arcade love)

Wings Amiga (arguably the best intro ever)

Far Cry PC (for the graphics *swoons*)

Call of Duty PC

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare XBOX 360 (the online game I’m best at - seriously, I’m actually really good at this)

Quake II N64

GoldenEye 007 N64

Super Mario Kart SNES

(this list is not exhaustive, and may be modified/added to)

This entry was written by Aaron, posted on March 30, 2009 at 9:54 pm, filed under Sony, gaming, microsoft, nintendo, online, review, software. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.