Raithe

I was randomly pondering on the fact that it's about time to add a complete Arabian Nights to my library .. but there seem to be an awful lot of cut down versions out there. Anyone know of any particular good current translations?

I know I played a lot of the guild related quests and storylines... but I couldn't get into the main plot.. and I realised I was just forcing myself to play because I kept hoping that I'd get that Morrowind feeling kick in eventually. It's a game I wasted too much time on trying to enjoy when I should have stopped much, much earlier. And that's making me be very wary of Skyrim. As much as some of these previews are providing elements that look interesting.. I'm still in the "wait and see" camp.

And this is the trouble with getting so much news via the interwebs.. all the "mothers day" advertisements were geared for the North American date.. so it slipped by me and I lost all my current crop of brownie points by missing the UK mother's day. I tried pointing out "hey, I did give you a surprise present for no particular reason last week." and got told "that's why you're not even more in the dog house then you are."

And it was nice to finally see the pc version and some further detail on the hacking side of it all..

Anatomy of a Hack

It wasn't mother's day over here. It was mother's day in the States and Canada. Our mother's day was about a month ago..a bit before Easter.

Any that has the potential to add soul, excitement, and a means of having fun whilst playing the game.

Having one of those odd morning starts. Kind of wrapped up in feelings of frustration, tiredness (of the mental/soul more then the physical), and a few other things. That mix due to frustrations with re-shaping my mind back to adequate skills of programming, mental flexibility and such.. dealings with the ex, some of the passive/aggressive atttitudes of my father, the way my [older] sister can still pull off acting like a spoiled 17 year old, and my mothers medical conditions. Also partly that "where did the better part of the last 10 years of my life go while i was doing the 'primary carer' routine." Maybe that's due to how many weeks now pass between evenings spent in the company of my friends. It's that natural roll out where you have the core group of nearly twenty years now, but it hits the point where careers have kicked off for them (that and marriages, kids and the like). Other hobbies that they don't share with everyone else in the group taking up time... But it's that thing where you meet new friends at work , and at those various external hobbies as you grow up past university... And because I've basically been stuck at home like this, which means dealing with the family and not fresh faces.. I haven't met new people to form friendships outside of that core group I grew up with. That and government support doesn't really give you the money to get out on fun and exciting hobbies. Not that I can totally blame that, I've always been one of those people who can be perfectly happy on my own as much as in a group. So it doesn't bother me that much when a month or so passes and we don't have any gatherings, but I'm aware of the way it's happening. Ah well. I think I might find the time to sit down and pull out my old copy of the Count of Monte Cristo to read this afternoon. Some well plotted revenge extravaganza and see the old school "magnificent bastard" routines. That and carefully compartmentalise everything and repress again. If there's one thing the English can be good at, it's repressing.

Invited to a gathering of friends, got asked to bring along a batch of dvd's to provide movie options. Where they picked the Count of Monte Cristo for viewing pleasure, and I found out that none of them knew what the story was about, had seen any of the film versions, or even knew there was a book much less read it... Sometimes I feel like the odd man out..

I finally had the chance to put Tron Legacy on this afternoon. Between the hdtv and the blu-ray player, that looks totally crisp and the colors just pop out. It's an entertaining film in its way, but yeah, it still feels a little disapointing after the hype and the 20 year wait.

Animated series. Imagine if James Bond was an alcoholic, sex-crazed mysoginist but also with a lot of neuroses, with M as his equally alcholic mother (and the cause of all of his neuroses) who seeks to marry/sleep with money. - Archer's possible father is the Head of the KGB as well... who keeps up with phone/telecommunication sex with Archer's mother even after all this time... And he was basically raised by a gay English valet/butler. Running a private spy organisation with a group of equally "hopelessly inept but so brilliant" staff. Each episode is about new covert shenannigans...

What bugs me about the upcoming is that they've recast Chris Evans as Captain America. I mean, he's already played one marvel icon in two films. It's just weird they're re-using him for a different character. Actually in some ways it's being a bit of a relaxing weekend start. My sister's gone away for the weekend and taken the dogs with her, so I don't have to worry about them. On a seperate note, having the joy of needing to keep reminding myself of one fact, while struggling not to think about that fact. Which probably sounds really bizarre and illogical but. eh, its one of those.. I have to do one of those to stop being too grouchy and demanding, whilst the other to stop being too griefy and frustrated. Emotions. How much is chemical, how much is mental, and just which bit comes from the soul?

Thor. Some impressive visuals and architecture in Asgard.. I almost didn't recognise Colm Feore under the disguise of the Frost Giant King..and I totally didn't click to Rene Russo as Frigga. Manages to cram in the basic story of an overweeningly proud Thor slammed to Earth and learning a bit of humility and care. Although it takes about half an hour before the action actually reaches Earth. Loki is sneaky but doesn't really feel as if he has much presence so I'm a little meh over that. Heimdall got some dry lines in which amused. Natalie Portman looks pretty as the astrophysics geek looking into einstein-wotsit bridges and wormholes.. (which by another name get classed as the Bifrost or Rainbow Bridge...). They have a nicely uncredited appearance of Clint / Hawkeye when Shield turn up and play the big spooky men in black role. The ending is set up so while the "story" completes.. it hangs a massive notice of "This is where the sequel is going". - Note: And apparently Loki and a bunch of background characters from this film are on the credits for The Avengers film...

On a slightly random note.. I caught a Time Team episode the other week, where they were digging up one of the worlds biggest flamethrowers from the Somme. It was used quite smartly and was one of the few locations where the British made an advance with minimal casualties on their side. They got the Royal Engineers to build one based on the designs and it was seriously nasty-impressive when they tested it.

Some of it's not that surprising.. I mean they said with ME2 that one of the key reasons they didn't give you the same team you had in ME1 was so there was no chance they'd be dead by the time ME3 came around. - Although after making a point of saying that, they then put Tali and Garrus on the squad again.... So I guess they weren't overworried about their survival. I guess it made sense to throw Tali in so you could have the whole Quarrian connection and possibility of "woo-ing" the Quarrians to your side before ME3 kicks off. Heh, and the thing about 70% of players did not remain faithful to their ME1 romances. I mean c'mon, Ashley or Kaidan (whoever survived) treat you like crap when you return without bothering to listen to your reasons.. it's pretty much written to cause you to feel as if that relationship breaks before you start flirting with ME2 squad-mates. Though you do get a rather toneless email semi-apology from them at a later date... But apparently if you "cheated" on whoever it was, there will be some form of consequences.

Did you go full retard? Because you know.. You should never play Full Retard...

Well, nothing could exist without quantum tunnelling Mmmm... quantum mars bar. I hate to disturb your image Wals.. but that resembles something that came out of the puppy today....

Eh, while the Arrival DLC might flesh it out a little more.. I kind of imagine that ME3 will start up with its own intro sequence that tells the story of why Shepherd is facing a trial. In a similar way that ME2 jumped around and showed you how Shep got killed. I guess I'm seeing it more as them taking what would be a "time montage / cinema opening sequence" to ME3, and then breaking it down to a short-form dlc you can actually play if you wanted to get that "insider" feel to it. But they'll still be doing that opening sequence in ME3 that tells the story / brings you up to date with what's been happening in the Universe. At least that's how I'm kind of viewing it. I do think Lair of the Shadowbroker was a much better DLC then Arrival (and it'll be interesting to see how they fold those story elements into ME3).

One slightly divergent thought that's cropped up due to the batch of news on at the moment.. I'm seeing reporters standing outside the Welsh Parliment building..and the Scottish Parliment building.. We (the English) don't get any MP's in those buildings.. and the Houses of Parliment in London has MP's from Wales and Scotland.. so you can't say we've got our "own" Parliment these days. So is it just that they want independent government, but keep acces to the tax base of the entire UK.. Is it just me, or does something feel a little iffy with the way it's all been developing the past decade?

The last combat veteran of The Great War passed away yesterday.. Combat Veteran Claude Choules Died

For more on DE PC Week.. PC Hud

Well the sun is out and shining so there is that.. After a day of settling it looks like the garage door has a small flaw in that all its weight seems to be settling on the lower hinge. So have to redo that. Mom's having one of her bad days where all sorts of things have flared up so there's dealing with that. And the puppy seems to have chronic wind and a bit of diarhea..so paranoid having to keep running it outside every 15 minutes or so when it starts panting and whimpering a little. Although it seems to be settling at the moment. (just to challenge murphy...)

What was that old quote.. "A young man who is not a liberal has no heart. An old man who is not a conservative has no brain."

Of course, the LibDems are already saying they're going to hit back hard at the Tories with serious demands due to the "lack of support" over the AV referendum. So how much in real shift government politics is going to come out of this all... Although it's kind of odd to think that the LibDems and the Tories are the oldest political parties in the country, and then Labour became the young whippersnapper...

It's not overlong, and it's set up for Shep to do solo. Basically breaks into two parts.. the first is the breakout a scientist/covert operative from prison. She's been in Batarian space and discovered something to do with the Reapers, let the Alliance know that.. then got arrested for terrorism. Potentially you're encouraged to do the breakout without getting into mass shootouts (well, they give you an achievement if you manage that). The second part is spoilery to talk about in detail, but is more of the lone Shep doing mass destruction and showing that you can run like a leopard, fight like a krogan but no-ones better then Commander Shepherd. The end result is that you basically have responsibility for a big civilian bodycount, although the Reaper plan was prevented. But you know that at some point in the near future you will have to face a court-martial / trial and show why you had to do it. And ME3 basically starts off with the trial from what's been hinted at.