Because I could.

A man was once asked why he climbed the highest mountain in the world, Everest. His answer has proven to be one of the simplest and yet profound I know; because it's there.

Why do we do the things we do? It is our nature to do things that defy all conscious decision and logical reasoning. No one has yet been able to completely explain the why, but certainly many theories exist.

Emotion is perhaps one of the strongest motivators of human behavior. A simple example being the extreme lengths people will go to save a child from danger, even those that are not related to them. Love can make people do strange things and act irrationally. I know, Ive done some weird things myself for someone I truly care about.

Life is too short to spend the time pondering the reasons why we do the things we do. It is better to spent the time enjoying life, rather than analyse ever last detail. I leave such thinking to persons more intelligent and academic than myself.

Live life to the full and without regrets.

Alex.

The Best laid Plans of Mice and Men.

For those of you who answered "what have men got to do with it?", you have earned my True Geek award for quoting 'The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy'. The reason for this title is going to be more relevant to those who know what I had been planning.

On the 31^st of December, it will be my parent's 25^th wedding anniversary; Silver anniversary. It was my intentions to either send them off on a short break somewhere or to organise a get-together of all their friends.

The latter proved too difficult to achieve and I was thus left with the former; a short break. Fortunately, London is not too far away and will hopefully prove an enjoyable experience. I have organised tickets to see 'The Lion King' at the Lyceum Theater followed by a night at the Radisson Edwardian Marlborough. Rail travel was provided at cost by the travel company.

The rail tickets do not specify when, only which days, so a full two days in London is not impossible. They know that something is happening on the 6^th and 7^th but as of today they don't know exactly what. If they ask why I will simply give them a similar answer as to why a man would climb Everest; because I can.

Merry Christmas, everyone

Alex.

There and back again.

It is said to divided the world into two parts; those that have read it and those that are going to read it. If you still haven't gathered what I'm talking about, then you have my contempt. Made up of four novels, to me it is one of the most original stories ever told; The Lord of the Rings.

Films have been made, as have many games. It has provided inspiration for literally millions of people across many barriers, lingual and cultural. The books have been translated into many languages and enjoyed by both young and old.

The journey it describes across middle-earth is truly wondrous, and made by the most unlikely of heroes. To travel the farthest reaches of the world and encounter help from the most unusual friends has to be a great experience. Possibly, to sound cliché, life-changing. Scholars and academics could probably point out that it is merely an analogy of our journey through life.

I would say it merely shows you what you can do with your friends by your side.

Alex.

Hubble, Bubble, Boil and Trouble

Nothing like a little magic to brighten my day. Poor Igor, he goes from one lunatic master to another and his situation never improves. Van Helsing is a wanted murderer in Paris and a man with a tortured past. Interesting taste in clothes though; comfortable and functional. Pity they're not strong to stop werewolf bites.

Such is life I suppose. What looks fairly decent at first glance soon loses its luster.

Games are eating my life again, though I refrained from buying one of the new Xbox360s. Nice enough if you've also got the funds to buy a huge HD TV to go with it. The same goes for the new PlayStation3. I'm quite fond of Nintendo's stance to the next generation consoles; wii don't care about HD we're going to make a games console.

The result? A console that is outselling the PS3. I'll admit playing Zelda games is far too much fun to pass up, that and playing as your favourite Nintendo characters and beating the crap out of each other. I'm the proud owner of an original NES with light gun and arcade stick. I also have The Legend of Zelda in a shiny gold cartridge. Collectable, if I kept the box.

Ah well. The Collector's Edition on the GameCube makes up for it. Must finish at least one Final Fantasy before I go traveling or buy any more games.

till next time,

Alex.

They're called Standards for a reason.

I'm not talking about Standards of living or quality of food. No, I'm talking about Internet Standards, specifically those used in the definition of web pages.

If anyone has ever written a website will tell you, conforming to the Standards set by the W3C should ensure that your site looks and functions the same way in every web browser. I could use some colourful expletives at this point, but you get the idea.

Each and every browser does things in a slightly different way. To combat this, the W3C invented The Acid Test and Acid Test2. These tests are designed to show how well a browser conforms to the Standards set by the W3C. The web browser that is used the most, Internet Explorer (IE), does the worst. Firefox performs reasonably well, whilst Opera passes Acid Test2 with flying colours.

Why am I so concerned about this? I'm writing a web site. It is getting increasingly frustrating that the site functions perfectly in all browsers except, yes you guessed it, IE.

After repeatedly bashing my head against the wall, I have decided to use JavaScript to detect which browser is being used and make subtle changes to ensure that it does work in every browser.

Apparently, many of the bugs in IE have been fixed with the release of version 7. Sorry Microsoft, but you're a little late. The Alpha release of Firefox 3 passes Acid Test2 and it's going to be some time before Microsoft update IE as it is still tied into the Windows OS. Ah well, they'll learn eventually.

till next time,

Alex.

Live life without regret

We have all done things in our past that we might not be especially proud of, myself included. Whilst I haven't taken to drugs or heavy-drinking I'm not about to condemn those that have or still do. There is little point, what's done is done and I don't want to try and explain the problems caused by trying to go back in time (causality loop anyone?).

I have talked previously about the dangers of forgetting the past, such as the World Wars. Life moves forward at an ever-increasing pace and it is just as important to know where we have come from as to where we are going.

Dwelling on past mistakes is not helpful; learning from such mistakes means that they hopefully never be repeated. I am not so egotistical to think that I have never made a mistake, I make at least one every day, but I would like to think that I realise that I have and try to correct it.

To err is to be human. In the end, isn't it more important to live than to regret?

Alex.

Not all who yield are Weak

If you cannot understand that sentiment, don't worry. It is a complicated topic and one sure to raise more than a few eyebrows.

I'm not talking about giving in the fight for a cause you believe in, more the submission to someone you love more than anything else. You think it strange for a 23 year old guy to talk about, god-forbid, his feelings? More fool you.

Whilst it's true I don't actually have anyone in my life at the moment, I wonder how I would be if I did. Sentimental, soppy, love-sick puppy? Please, in the name of the Nine Circles of Hell, please not that. Understanding and romantic? Possibly, but no long lingering looks that just scream 'aaaahhhhh'.

Do anything and everything I can to make sure she is safe, even at the cost of my own life? If I save the life of another, lover or not, friend or not, then it is not a waste. I can be anywhere in the world in 24-36 hours if I must and I would travel to the ends of the Earth if it meant being able to see the one who loves me.

Just how far would you go, for the one you love?

Alex.

So long and thanks for all the Fish.

Ah, the utter insanity that is The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. A trilogy in five parts and longer than The Lord of the Rings. Pity the Americans mangled it producing a mediocre film.

The BBC produced a television and radio series several years ago, both of which are vastly superior to the recent film. The special effects might not have been the greatest and the acting just a little bit strained, but it was far more enjoyable.

It might just be me, but Hollywood does not have the most sterling reputation when it comes to remakes or films inspired by books. Take Hannibal by Thomas Harris for example. Various plot lines from the book fail to appear, the ending is completely different and much of the imagery created by Harris is dropped.

Fortunately, Hollywood does sometimes get things right. The production of Red Dragon, again by Thomas Harris, is a superb rendition of the book. It follows the story almost exactly, right down to the method Dolarhyde (played by Ralph Fiennes) uses to torture and kill Freddy Lounds (Philip Seymour Hoffman).

Films produced from games tend to be a mixed bag when it comes to success. Tomb Raider did quite well, though it's sequel wasn't so well-received. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was another mediocre hit, although Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children has proven to be a big hit.

This last film, was created with the fans of the game firmly in mind. The fight sequence between Tifa and Loz in the church displays some of Tifa's well known limit break moves from the game (Back flip and Meteor Drive are particularly well done). It ends with Tifa knocking Loz into the ground and a few seconds later the music from a successful fight can be heard.

As anyone who has played a Final Fantasy game will tell you, this music is almost instantly recognisable. Later on in the film, the music from fighting a boss can be heard as Barrett and the rest of Avalanche fight Bahamut-Sin.

With any luck, Hollywood will listen to the audience and especially the fans when it comes to producing or reproducing certain films. Well, I can hope, can't I?

till next time,

Alex.

So much for that Idea

It was a good plan and I suppose it serves me right for not doing something about it sooner. I'm talking about my attempt at trying to obtain the new Nintendo Wii. If I had pre-ordered it a month or so ago, I might have stood a slim chance.

As it happens, there is not one shop within driving distance that has one; unless you pre-ordered at least two months ago. There have been reports of shops offering pre-orders only to not receive enough to fill those orders.

Contacted PCWorld in the hopes of finding a lone console. Most helpful information from the poor guy on the phone, even though you could tell he'd already been asked this very same question numerous times. Same story as previously; no pre-order, no chance. One extra piece of information emerged though. It appears that Nintendo only shipped about 20% of the expected orders and more units wouldn't be available till mid-January.

It seems there's going to be quite a few disappointed kids this Christmas. That's assuming the parents don't cave to the incessant whining and buy an XBox360. It's going to be a long wait, but it'll be worth it to play Zelda: Twilight Princess by swinging your arms about.

till next time,

Alex.

The coldest blood runs through my veins

Sometimes you gain something by waiting. Good things come to those who wait. Unfortunately I waited too long; the pre-order list at Play.com for the new Nintendo Wii filled up before I realised that I would try and get one.

Whilst you folks in the US have already released the Wii, us poor schmucks in Europe have to wait till tomorrow. Hopefully not every store in town has committed their stock of Wii's to pre-order. It's going to be a long day.

If all else fails, I'll try and score a copy of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the GameCube. Not the most ideal plan as I wanted to finally be able to swing my arms around like a loon and direct the fighting.

My work on the website for the White Cliffs Motorboat and Yacht Club is progressing. It's should be easier to use than the current site; all the text can be resized and links change colour when the mouse hovers over them (green for internal, black for external and blue for emails). Also the tables used in certain sections of the site change colour to highlight which row is currently containing the mouse.

This wonderful new colour scheme works fine in Firefox, Konqueror and probably Opera. It doesn't work in Internet Explorer 6 or less. Insert rolling eyes here. Thanks to the lack of standards support, I will have to write some clever scripts to take into account the failings of IE.

So much for the simple life. Till next time,

Alex.

It's been a long road, but now we're finally here

After the best part of a year, the last volume of Ghost in the Shell S.A.C: 2nd GIG has arrived. Like the last volume of the first series, you get a tin box containing the volume, a t-shirt and in this case a toy tachikoma. This time, they have appeared to listen to their fan base as you can fit all 7 volumes (double-disc editions) into the tin. Last time, you could get all but one volume in.

Sadly this marks the end of the Ghost in the Shell series, unless they have decided to create a third. It would have to be set after the manga and both films as the last episode of 2nd GIG shows the events immediately prior to the start of the manga.

If you've never heard, seen or read of Ghost in the Shell by Shirow Masamune, I strongly suggest you get hold of a copy. The manga is probably more interesting than the film as it explains some of the relevant technologies in greater detail.

The second film, Innocence, is perhaps one of the best animated feature films I've seen; mixing both 2D and 3D animation. There are two notable exceptions to this, Appleseed (2004 remake) and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (2005). Perhaps not to everyone's taste but if you're fond of films such as BladeRunner (1982) then I'll think you'll enjoy Ghost in the Shell.

Much of Shirow Masamune's work has been published by Dark horse comics, so you stand a chance of seeing some of it in your local book store. Other notable works that didn't unfortunately make the grade include Ghost in the Shell 1.5, a collection of stories between Ghost in the Shell (Book 1) and Ghost in the Shell: Man-Machine Interface (Book 2). Book 1.5 is not in English, but in Japanese.

Between building a website, Christmas shopping and organising presents, I might not have much time for frequent posts so please don't get annoyed with me.

till next time,

Alex.

Of pot-shots and small furry animals

Firm grasp of the pistol-grip, sight along the barrel and squeeze the trigger. Easy to learn but much harder to master.

On yet another trip to Calais (France), I took the opportunity to practice target shooting with an air rifle. I upheld my honour and dignity, taking 10 shots to hit 12 balloons. Admittedly I missed 2 shots but made up for it by hitting two balloons using one round twice. My prize? A small teddy bear dressed like Biggles.

An amusing diversion before stopping off for dinner in a local restaurant. More than a few strange looks were given to me, until I explained how I came to holding a cute teddy bear. My dad hit 3 out of 4 targets, the fourth being just a little too low.

I think it annoyed him somewhat; we have also been 12-bore shotgun shooting and with the last two shells we had, I hit two targets. I put it down to having faster reactions from playing computer games. He didn't put much faith in that, but it has been scientifically proven.

A friend of mine in New Zealand played computer games more than me, I dread to think how quick his reactions would be.

till next time,

Alex.