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A Brief Return to Suffolk
I popped back to Suffolk for the day, for the first time since Mum's house sold a couple of months ago. I visited the grave, made sure all was ready for the return of the headstone and got my car serviced and MOTed while I was at it.
Oh, and I got very wet and muddy… But that's fodder for a different post.
Recreational Social Gaming for Beginners
Now, I wish I could claim that I used the time I reclaimed that way in working for world peace or the betterment of mankind. But I don't. On the whole, I use it playing World of Warcraft. And there's a reason I find this online game so very compelling - levels of interactivity.
TV is essentially a passive experience. You watch what someone else has produced. And while it can be a communal experience, you normally have to be in the same room as the people you're watching TV with. In WoW, the same restrictions do not apply. You're interacting with the content. It's designed so that you have to do stuff to get the most enjoyment out of it. You are the protagonist. And, more than that, you're online with thousands of other people at the same time, often working together to achieve the objectives within the game. And I've managed to stack things such that most of the people I play with are my real life friends. Indeed 90% of the guys on the stag night last weekend were also my guildmates in WoW, including the groom. (The bride's a player, too...)
That combination of the social and the interactive is what makes the game very compelling - and all but the best TV rather insipid by comparison.
Don't believe me? OK: ask Ozzy:
Of Stags and Baths
The (Rotten) Core
I seem to have watched some really bad movies of late. Most of my free time has been caught up with trying to get the flat back into a decent state after the sudden arrival of an avalanche of possessions from Mum's house, and so picking and choosing movies hasn't really been much of an option. We just grab something likely-looking on our BT Vision box, and watch it when we get the chance.
Last night, we watched The Core. And what an appalling piece of tosh it was. By around 15 minutes in we'd correctly predicted all the major plot points of the movie, from the number and identity of the crew who would survive, to exactly what would result from the ship being modular. It was plotting-by-numbers, only enlivened by some pretty good performances from DJ qualls and Stanley Tucci.
Still, it gave us something to laugh at, and it was the kind of movie that you could keep track of while popping in and out of the living room, carrying boxes into the study. And that's exactly the sort of review quote you never see on Movie adverts…
Gosh
It's a lovely outfit she's nearly wearing, isn't it?
Living Room
Experimenting with iSight self-portraiture…
Vox Hunt: The Forecast Is...
Show us the weather you're having today.
Well, the weather forecast was for torrential rain and storms. And this is what we got:
I call that a win.
QotD: Sales, Sales, Sales
Do you plan on taking advantage of all the holiday sales this weekend?
Uh, no.
The problem in my life is this:
When we're busy clearing out Mum's house, the last thing we need is more stuff coming in…
