"The world's only immortal animal"

The turritopsis nutricula species of jellyfish may be the only animal in the world to have truly discovered the fountain of youth.

Since it is capable of cycling from a mature adult stage to an immature polyp stage and back again, there may be no natural limit to its life span. Scientists say the hydrozoan jellyfish is the only known animal that can repeatedly turn back the hands of time and revert to its polyp state (its first stage of life).


Full article: The world's only immortal animal

A deeper look into Rock Band

So, after my blog post about my Guitar Hero frustration, I decided to look more into Rock Band.


I particular the DLC, and oh my Dog!

• "Gasoline" by Audioslave
• "So Cold" by Breaking Benjamin
• "Let Forever Be" by The Chemical Brothers
• "Stupify", "Meaning of Life",  "The Game", "Voices" and more by Disturbed
• "We Care a Lot" by Faith No More
• "The Colour and the Shape" album and other random tracks by Foo Fighters
• "I Stand Alone" by Godsmack
• The ENTIRE "Dr. Feelgood" album and 3 tracks from "Saints of Los Angeles" by Mötley Crüe!!
• "Hysteria" by Muse
• "Capital G" plus others by Nine Inch Nails
• Nirvana
• The Offspring
• Pearl Jam
• Queens of the Stone Age
• Rage Against The Machine
• "Blood Sugar Sex Magic" (album) by Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Rob Zombie
• Rush
• Sixx:A.M.
• SlipKnot
• Spinal Tap (!!!)
• "Texas Flood" (album) by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
• Tenacious D

Why has I been so blind?!

Now, if only Rock Band had 5 pad drum tracks and it would be perfect!

M

24: Day 8 - 13 hours in...

...and FINALLY something that made my mouth drop!


Apart from returning characters, everyone in the latest series of one of my favourite shows EVER has been annoying the crap out of me!


The best new character, played by Freddie Prinze Jr., is just about likeable, but he is getting better as the series progresses.


As for Katee Sackhoff... Her charater Dana is the most annoy person to ever grace CTU! At least she has finally become interesting.


And whoever said that she was "the hottie of day 8"... Give me Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe O'Brian) or Annie Wersching (Renee Walker) any day.


M

New blog template/CSS

I'm going to attempt to create a personalised template/css.


When I've got the time.


Watch this space!


M

"Video games promote hatred, racism, sexism and reward violence"

This quote is from a video that was featured in a recent ps3attitude.com blog and it got me really quite annoyed!


Julie Peasgood. As her article on Wikipedia state:

She is the regular sex expert on The Alan Titchmarsh Show

Why she is commenting on gaming, I've got no idea.


She talks about an American study, 130,000+ kids (note that keyword!) and how they are affected by violent video games. But why were they allowing these heavy rated game to be played by kids?!


What annoys me is the fact that Tim Ingham repeatedly states that video games, like films, are legally rated. This fact is constantly ignored by the rest of the panel.


If children are getting a hold of these games, it is the fault of the parent!


Don't blame the content. Blame the people allowing unsuitable games to be played by underage children!


This is an issue that has come up time and time again. First music was corrupting the young, then it was violent movies, now it's the turn of the video games.


When are they going to stop blaming everything else and start pointing the finger where it belongs? The parents and the upbringing.


Blaming entertainment products for peoples behaviour is an easy way to shift responsibility away from the parents. After all, who is supposed to be monitoring these impressionable kids in the first place?!


I'm a fan of violent video games and (at times, very graphic) horror films. The most trouble I've ever been in? A speeding ticket in 2003. That's it.


When are these people, such as Julie Peasgood, going to get it?! Until they do, their mouths should be in the same state as their minds... Closed.


M

More on PlayStation Move: Virtual Reality Navigation

A new Playstation Move demo, showing off just how awesome this hardware could, and most likely will, become.

M

Guitar Hero Frustration

I got my first GH game (GH II) for PlayStation 2 from my girlfriend for Xmas 2006 and I had never heard of it... Cut to a few minutes after me starting to play it, and I'm in love with a new format of gameplay. Since then I've had GH3, GH: World Tour, GH: Metallica, GH: Greatest Hits and the latest GH5. So you could say that I'm a fan.

That is what make this blog all the more frustrating to write.

The message is simple: WHY GUITAR HERO?! WHY DO YOU ANNOY ME SO?!!

I recently had issues with my guitarhero.com online account, and it ended up with me having to use a different username and losing all the data I had built up over time. This is frustrating. I must admit though, after I complained about the initial problem online, the GH developers did get in contact with me and help me, eventually, get it into some kind of useable state (not that I think I will be using it now).

But my main bone to pick with the game is the DLC. (Almost) every week, there is new DLC for GH5. This is good. What annoys me is the fact the Rock Band also have DLC out every week and it's kicks the shit out of the GH DLC every week.

GH give you 3 tracks at about £1.70 each (can't remember the exact price).

Rock Band give you at least 6 tracks, each at 99p!

Why?! Why the price difference and why the volume difference??

Having never actually played RB, I don't know if the game is THAT much more simple/cutdown than GH or what. The only thing I know for sure is that GH have an extra drum pad to deal with. But if that was all, why THIS much of a price and volume difference??

RB: Green Day is coming out soon. Think it'll be time to try walking on the other side for a bit.

M

DeviantART Gadget on Blogspot

Well this is annoying.

The DA gadget I use to show my gallery isn't working because the link using deviantshare.com is broken.

In fact, deviantshare.com is just made of fail.

deviantART is still win though. Just gotta either wait for the linkage to be fixed or find another way to show my gallery... 

For now, it is relegated to the bottom of the sidebar.

Sorry DA gallery.

M 

Picture credit: http://mick-mick.deviantart.com/art/deviantART-Mascot-Fella-PSD-5564889 

(PS - I know the layout is REALLY spaced out... Quite annoying but got no time to look into it now)

Fog lights

Why do people insist on driving around with their front fog lights on... When it's NOT foggy??!

I get that boy racers think that it looks cool (and I agree with them, but only when the car is at a stand still, on a plinth, being photographed), but why do middle age men in family cars/SUV's do it?!

My only explanation for it... Morons.

M

So... Avatar

Finally got around to watching it (in 2D) yesterday, and it's... ok.

Visually, very nice. I admit I was always looking out for bits that were in the film (almost) just to show of the 3D effect. This was a good thing because it took my attention away from the very annoying plot and main bad-guy.

The idea that a corporation would be willing to wipe out an entire planet's population for mining purposes was just frustrating. It was the story of the Native American's all over again.

Basically, it's Dances with Wolves in space!

The comparisons between this film and the plot of other is quite crazy. It's like they couldn't be bothered to write an original film, but they wanted to play with 3D. The result, Avatar.

I'd watch it again, but only for background noise while I was doing something else.

And seriously... "Unobtainium"?! Until I looked it up, it just made me laugh every time it was mentioned.

M

Avatar on IMDB

Lady Gaga - Telephone (YouTube Video)

Lady Gaga's newest single, featuring Beyoncé, Telephone has an epic (in Pop music standards) video. 9mins 32secs long. It's more like a mini movie.

WARNING: Possibly NSFW

Funky track. Although I'm not sure whether a long video suits it. Although I am interesting in the "to be continued..."

M

PlayStation Move - First Impressions

Ok, so we are going to have people saying "It's just a copy of the Wii!" ... and I have to agree that it does have many similarities. However, PS3 has brought High Definition gaming (and movies via Blu-Ray) into the home and it is capitalising on Nintendo's great job done of bringing motion controlled gaming to the masses.

I have a Wii in my flat, right next to my PS3. When it does get played, it's fun, it's interactive, it's different.

Nintendo managed to bring this generation of console gaming to the whole family, but more hardcore gamers found the Wii a bit tiring and unfulfilling. The games were aimed at the younger market and those that were for a more adult audience still weren't up to scratch.

The shift from the Wii to the PS3 is inevitable.

So far, from what I have seen via the PlayStation GDC press conference, the focus of the PlayStation Move is very much in precision.

The demoed games, both family and "gamer" types, are looking good. In particular, I'm liking the look of a street fighting game called "Motion Fighter" (working title) (see YouTube video below).

One of the comments on this video is "wii HD=playstation move". I'm assuming they meant this as a good thing, because the interactivity of the Wii mixed with the quality gaming of the PS3, all in HD... It's a great time to be a gamer!

M

PlayStation Move on Wikipedia

My not so secret love affair

...with the Dark Tower (written by Stephen King)

I love these books. I'm currently reading through them all again. (Progress shown via my GoodReads profile)

I strongly urge anyone who loves books and reading to pick up this series of novels and take a journey that means more to me than any other piece of fiction I have read or watched.

M

I seem to have gone a bit Gaga

Yes, after swearing off the American pop singer as a "few-hits-wonder", I have seen the light and realised Lady Gaga for what she truly is...

The future of Pop music.

It wasn't until her 2009 release "Bad Romance" that I actually paid attention to the music she was making. Her random outfits, videos and performance were all just headline grabbing (I thought)... and they worked. But "Bad Romance" caught my attention for the simplest of reasons - It's a REALLY good Pop track!

If scientists worked out the formula for the best Pop music song that could be created, I believe that they would come up with something 99% similar to "Bad Romance". For me, it is easily the best Pop song of the last 10 (maybe more) years!

She has managed to make the sea of female Pop artists interesting. There are a few more (such as Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse and Pixie Lott) that have also grabbed my attention, but Lady Gaga, for me, is standing head, shoulders, chest, hips and knees above them all.

M