No one ever expects...

To find a large bird of prey in their garden. Lunchtime yesterday, I spotted a large bird in the garden, clutching a (hopefully) dead pigeon in it's claws. My Guide to Local Birds identified it as an adult female Sparrowhawk. Definitely not something you see everyday.

It then proceeded to pluck and eat the pigeon. I have ever only seen something like this on a nature program. Fortunately, I also managed to take some video footage of it as well.

A singularly beautiful creature, despite the fact my dear mother couldn't believe what it was going to do with the pigeon.

till next time,

Alex.

Doing the unthinkable

No, don't panic. I haven't gone off the deep end, at least, not yet anyway. In my earlier post, I reasoned ways of finding a girlfriend. To this end I reasoned that anyone I might meet in a pub or club is likely to be drunk at best, drugged at worse. Thus, it comes to this: I have joined an online dating site. Before anyone asks, no I won't tell you which one.

It probably won't lead to anything, given my luck these days, although of course there is always hope. Though it might be called an act of desperation, I see it as an exercise in bettering myself. If nothing else, it might extend the number of people I can call a friend.

On a different note, I'm currently waiting to hear from the Japanese Consulate about the details of a working-holiday visa. If I'm refused for whatever reason, I will be taking a holiday there for a couple of weeks. Should I be successful, I will be staying in Japan for anything from a few weeks to nearly a year.

till next time,

Alex.

St. Valentine's Day

Where on Earth has the time gone? According to Blogger, it has been close to three weeks since my last post. It's not like I'm busy working or fighting evil in my spare time. I could try and blame it on attempting to finish a Final Fantasy game before the next one is released on the 23^rd.

It's St.Valentine's Day. I'm over-joyed at the prospect of being sent cute, heart-filled cards. This is my Sarcastic Remark of the Day™. In case you hadn't already guessed I'm a little bitter about today as no one has sent me anything before and the trend has been continued this year. Ah well, with any luck I won't be here this time next year; I'll be in Japan instead.

I'm currently working on completing Final Fantasy VIII (8) and reached disc 3 of 4. It's still a great game, even if it's the best part of 8 or more years old. The graphics might not be the latest, but that's not the point; I like playing it. Few things scare me when playing Final Fantasy games, namely Tonberries and Marlboros.

If you've ever played a Final Fantasy game, you will know what a pain these two monsters are. Tonberries will hit one character with a move called "Everyone's Grudge" which does damage equal to a multiple of the numbers of monsters that character has killed. Once the Tonberry has walked across the battlefield, it will then instantly kill one character at a time. To make them even more fun they have a stupid amount of hit-points (FF8's Tonberry has around 21k).

Marlboros. It's enough to make grown men weep if they haven't got the correct items or status-protections. "Bad Breath" not only causes most status ailments (blind, mute, confuse, poison, etc) it does large amounts of damage. In the unlikely event that your characters survive, your only option is to hope they haven't been hit with berserk status and can use items to cure them.

Fortunately I haven't met any in FF8 yet, although I will at some point if I want to upgrade some of my characters weapons. Unlike in Final Fantasy VII (7), the 'Ribbon' item no longer exists. Previously it gave one character complete immunity to all status ailments. Actually this is not completely true, 'Ribbon's can be obtained using a PocketStation™ and completing the ChocoboWorld mini-game.

Wish me luck, I only have a week on Friday before FF12 is released. Till next time,

Alex.

RPG Silliness

As usual I try to keep abreast of the latest happenings in the world of the PSP and read PSP Updates every couple of days. One of the articles I read gave me fond memories of playing Diablo II and some of the games more unusual 'features'.

Killing a monster rewards you in a couple of ways; you get character experience, sometimes gold or the odd item. Fair enough, you would think. Except, why would a monster have gold or be carrying an item in the first place? The article on PSP Updates (Loot-drop paradoxes) has an amusing reference to the slaying of a dragon in World of Warcraft (WoW):

Warrior: And with this last arrow I kill you.
Dragon: Hang on a sec. Let me bottle up my blood first. You got a needle and tube handy?

Game developers go to a lot of trouble to make the game world believable only to make mistakes such as this. Of course the dragon could merely be carrying dragon's blood in a bottle, though it would raise the question as to where it obtained it and why it would be carrying it.

Battling in the Lord of Destruction expansion pack proved amusing as the number of small fliers that dropped either a very large weapon or full-plate armour was quite frequent. It begs the question as to why a mosquito would be carrying a potion in a bottle. Ah well.

till next time,

Alex.

The Triforce of Courage

The series of Zelda games is nearly as old as I am. From humble beginnings way back on the NES (Famicom) to the glory that is Twilight Princess on the Wii.

I have played some of the Zelda series on various different platforms and even own an original gold-coloured 'The Legend of Zelda' for the NES. My favourite has to be The Ocarina of Time. It just did so many things well and like all first-party Nintendo games, it was well produced.

The difficulty curve was set at a leisurely pace and dungeons got progressively more difficult without sudden jumps. Puzzles could be solved with some careful planning and you were often rewarded for exploring.

Admittedly the only purpose of the mini-games was to obtain heart-pieces, but they were fun to play and even a little silly (setting off bomb-chus in Ocarina of Time for one). I don't think I ever found all the heart-pieces in any of the Zelda games so far and I doubt I will without following a written guide.

If you've never played a Zelda game before then you have seriously missed out on one of the best game series. I rank it amongst Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy for originality. You almost invariably start off as a young boy from a little village and before long you are sent off on an epic quest to save your girl-friend (who often turns out to be a princess), your village or the entire world.

Battle the forces of evil with nothing more than a sword, shield and (if you're lucky) a bottle of milk or a fairy. Of course the games have introduced us to many varied and wonderful friends along the way. From the mighty Big-Goron to the most timid deku scrub, they all have something worthwhile to contribute to your quest. Helping people always has its benefits such as empty bottles, bigger equipment bags and in one case a hug from malon (Talon's daughter) for protecting her!

As many tearful encounters await you as joyful ones. The death of the Great Deku Tree was perhaps one of the saddest moments in video game history with the only exception being the death of Aeris in Final Fantasy VII. Vanquishing the evil Ganondorf and saving Hyrule is always one of the better moments.

Got some spare time? Pick up an old Nintendo64, a copy of 'The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time', you won't be disappointed.

Alex.

She really ought to learn when to shut the f*ck up

I apologise for the vulgarity in the title above, but I'm in a seriously annoyed mood. If you've read my last post, then you don't get any reward for guessing who I'm referring to. In case you're unsure as to precisely who has seriously annoyed me, it's one Jade Goody.

She was apparently unaware of the furore her actions have caused in the outside world. Watching some of her interview immediately after her eviction made me wonder exactly how intelligent she thought she was being in trying to explain and even justify what she had done.

After a few minutes I switched off as the things she was saying sounded like utter tripe. To paraphrase one particular part "she hoped that [Shilpa Shetty] didn't hear what [they] were talking about." How incompetent can she be? She is in an environment that is under 24 hour surveillance, how did she think that her words wouldn't be heard by the public? She seemed to think that if Shetty hadn't heard her and others talking about her, then it was perfectly acceptable.

Several news sites, newspapers and television news programmes have been discussing Goody's actions and what may happen now that she is no longer on Big Brother (BB). Many of them have stated that Goody has caused an international incident and I find that I am in agreement with them.

I doubt that Goody will be expecting the reaction she is about to receive; she even tried to apologise by saying "she didn't mean nothing." Shetty, meanwhile, did accept Goody's apology immediately before Goody was evicted and was more gracious than I would have been in similar circumstances.

Hopefully the eviction of Goody will force the other house-mates to treat Shetty with the respect she deserves, although only time will tell.

till next time,

Alex.

The 50th Post

You read that correctly folks; this is the 50^th post on my blog. Though the regularity of my posts has occasionally been a little patchy, I have stuck with it and hopefully raised some thought-provoking ideas.

For those of you who have been keeping track of the news this last week will have seen the events unfolding within The Most Talked About House in the UK^TM; Celebrity Brig Brother. As my friends can attest, I'm not a big fan of reality television and especially not of Big Brother (BB) in any form.

It appears that I'm not alone in my dislike of BB as approximately 20k people have sent complaints in concerning the abuse of one house-mate; Shilpa Shetty. She is a well-known Bollywood actress and has been subject to racial comments from three of her fellow house-mates.

I have only heard about some of the comments made second or even third-hand. What little I've read makes my blood run cold. No one deserves to be treated in such a manner and quite rightly a fair few people have said so to Channel 4 and Endemol (broadcasters and producers of the show respectively). The number I quoted earlier will continue to rise and has already made one of the shows sponsors, Carphone Warehouse, withdraw their support with immediate effect.

To illustrate this is, as far as I'm aware, an unprecedented move by Carphone Warehouse. One which will make others take a breathless step back and consider their involvement in the show.

If this is not backlash enough, news has spread back to Shetty's home country of India. Demonstrations have already taken place and several questions relating to this have been asked of Gordon Brown (Chancellor of the Exchequer). That has caused questions to be raised in parliament, something not take lightly.

I said my blood ran cold at hearing this. In our modern, well-adjusted society, it appears that racism isn't dead yet. I'm not so naive to think that racism doesn't exist, but I do think that people would have learned by now not to air such thoughts in public; let alone on national television.

The three house-mates involved in verbally attacking Shetty are going to be in serious trouble once the show has finished, if it's not cancelled or they are removed first. I find it unlikely that the three will find much employment and relations between the U.K and India will be frosty for quite some time.

Unless Channel 4 or Endemol take action they could be faced with serious reprisals.

Alex.