For those petrol heads and motoring enthusiasts Ace Cafe should be a familiar name in your inventory of hotspots for finding cruise nights and motor meet up spots. If you don’t know where they are check out their website to find them. If you’re in London it should be a peace of pie.
American Hot Rods [...]
Well here it is, the final piece of my Recollection of 2008, if you’ve made it this far then I must congratulate you and also thank you for reading for so long and so much, I promise there won’t be this many long posts for a long while.
The rest, yes what else happened in 2008 that is worthy of being written about here? Well I actually don’t have a service to record those things (shock horror) no one has actually created a service which records real life activities! There are many things that happened in 2008 where there wasn’t a mobile, computer or any sort of technology involved, which is a nice way of finding out who you really are and how your social etiquette really is in the real world, where you can’t hide behind smileys and social sites and services. Luckily for me there is always alcohol! 
2008 spelled a lot of key moments for me, many parties and social gatherings where attended, I found out a lot about myself too, a sort of self searching I was looking for but thought I always hid behind the sham personality I always portray – but this is my personality, this is actually me. I took a lot of personality tests in 2008, just to find out what I was and what my characteristics were. Some I knew about and others I learnt about and was actually surprised to find out. I won’t go into these things in particular detail but in short according to the (MBTI) Myers-Briggs Type Indicator I am an ENTJ – at first I thought yeah whatever, but then I actually started noticing this sort of classifying actually had some points to it. Now I’m not taking this as written in stone and have started to actually act like the thing tells I am. But I did notice that in many situations (mostly involving meetings) I was actually within these definitions, does this mean I’m like this in everyday life? I’d say not a 100% of the time. I still have characteristics which don’t fit into this model and cannot be explained so easily and simply with just four letters. Moving on…
Parties and Social gatherings have played their part in 2008, monumentally to be honest. 2008 kicked off with a bang with obviously the New Years Eve party, which was organised by my friend Alison (she’s pictured with me). We ended up on a boat on the river Thames opposite to the London Eye watching the fireworks go off to start the year – it was wet, cold and windy, but I was around friends which kept me warm, optimistic and a blood stream full of toxins also helped. The firworks show was grand, the night was an awesome event and it became the standard to any party to be had that year! The parties came thick and fast, many which I have since forgotten, I’m only human and as every human, I have memory lapses. But just like any other human those good times always live on in memory, and so forth here they are, I am trying to list these in chronological order, how succesfuly I will be will totally depend on my memory:
Jana’s & Richard’s Birthday Bashes
James, Lindsay, Me
Richard, Jana, Ed
Two birthday parties (separately celebrated) in April. Firstly we have Jana’s birthday party, it a was a drink up in Fulham, what was interesting about this was the attendance more than anything, guys who I’ve become pretty familiar with (ever since the huge MeetKu on mine and Whatleydude’s joint birthday bash in 2007.) In attendance we had Ed Cave, Richard Hyndman, James Whatley, Lindsay Wood and of course the birthday girl herself Jana – all pictured. The drinks flowed quickly and were appreciated, we had instances of Mojitos, Bucks Fizz, pints a plenty, there was as usual a lot of paparazzi around with Nokia N95’s snapping away at will, with a crowd of geeks, socialites and normobs it was a great chance to snap some interesting pictures. Most of these as usual ended up on Facebook. We ended up in our usual spot in Fulham (which I have forgotten the name of) where Ed went missing, pints were dropped, dancing was chaotic and in abundance whilst I missed my train and ended up on James couch, where the next morning I had to go into the office buy a whole new set of clothes from the Next store on the way in, shower and change in the Grange Hotel gym – this became an expensive habit of mine in 2008, but one which I learnt to curb nearer the end.
Richard’s birthday was on the South bank, where we ended up with cake, drinks and inflated and deflated balloons all streamed live to many watching who could not make it (see the Qik video below for more information). This was an effort on my part, mainly because I could not drink at all, I was on antibiotics and like young Kian (Richard’s eldest) we settled down to some cake sharing and juice – I thought we bonded pretty well, albeit I was waiting on him with cake in hand whilst he devoured it! This was a sober-ish party (except for the Hyndman brothers who got trashed). I didn’t mind this because I was sober and could actually remember most of this, which was a change. the opportunity to meet Richard’s brother and his immediate family were also a bonus. We also had a few other fellow geeks in attendance (obviously once Kian was taken home away from these infectious geeks) Anna Bi, Peter Romek and David Mannl. Sober or not, my inability to know where I was going ended up with myself and Anna walking for a long while before finding her station and my cab home!
There were may other social parties which I won’t go in to detail as they were more social gatherings of geeks, something which I don’t want to publish as they would end up taking up even more space! Mobile Geeks of London IV (where Brian May) deserves a mention purely on the basis a celeb turned up (only by accident but we would like to think it’s because of us) and the fact it was an awesome night overall.
Slightly moving away from parties – I don’t want to give off the impression that’s all I do (although it does take up a majority of my time!)
Betty Comes to London Pt2 – London Zoo!
Chibbi & London's most famous Gorilla!
Yep, our Mexican party animal (the only one who could actually out party me) globally known as Chibbigirl came to visit London in 2008! This time the affair was less manic and more relaxing, especially as it was British Summertime – so we went to the Zoo! Jana, myself, Betty and Ed all turned up, Ed had to leave because he was seeing his close friend off, left me with the girls to enjoy the Zoo. The day was sunny, the Zoo wasn’t as pact so it was a nice stroll around, seeing the animals and just enjoying a rare day in the sunshine in the UK! After having some food and finishing the tour of the Zoo (along with Bart the travelling doll) We ended up in Camden where Betty had a friend who owned a Tea shop. We ended up drinking Tea and some chocolate cake before ending the day with a few drinks alongside the river, where talks of giant man eating spiders were the topic of discussion – nice!
Poker!
One great thing I found during 2008 was Poker, Poker can be played for fun, but it can also and is once you find yourself immersed in it a complicated game of wit and mid games. I started by joining up with my local work pub league which was free to enter whilst combining getting experience by playing on-line at first on Facebook (which is the more fun side of it) to joining sites like Pokerstars, where although games where more serious as there were rewards to be gained, it still was on-line play, something I approach with scepticism. Whilst it can be fun, there chances of guessing what will happen and getting it right was too much for me. The fact is, if you want to play real serious Poker you need to be playing with real people in a real environment, because Poker is not just about playing cards. Although it can be argued Poker is about playing cards and luck, it does play a part. The key thing about Poker is patience and having a good Poker mind – what that means is making the right move at the right time whilst playing the player and not the cards in hand (most of the time) and making the most possible profit from it. Having played in the Poker League for almost a year now, I have gained not only great experience and knowledge on how to play, but it has also become a part of my social calender, where I have met some great people, who enjoy not only to play poker but also a great night. So for now and the foreseeable future Thursday evenings are and will always be reserved for Poker League nights, which means I will be missing out on a lot of geek and tech related social gatherings – which brings up another and the final thing of 2008 which I have learnt.
Blogging
Whilst many see blogging as an opportunity to make a business of it, others tend to like it as a personal hobby of sorts. Whilst 2008 has seen the rise of the “blogger” it has in my opinion lost the “love of blogging” – this is a general assumption taking in the fact many do it mainly because they want to earn some money, get hits and promote their products, which in itself is fine. Whilst I blog too and somewhat to an extent fall into one of those categories, 2008 has taught me one important thing – do it because you love it and not necessity. My mindset for blogging has changed somewhat since I started, I’ll admit it, I’m a novice at this. But I have found that the blogging became more of a choir rather than a passion for me at times, and in consequence I learnt to blog because I want to and not because I have to. This is my main motivation on here, this is my personal blog and so it shall stay. But the story is slightly different for AdonisMobile. There, although I do it less for the joy of blogging and more for trying to build a product, I have learnt that you can’t keep everyone happy, including myself. Thus I took the main decision to not blog for the sake of blogging about handsets, applications and news, but those I personally feel are relevant to my audience and more importantly to myself.
Now there are many PR agencies out there, folk trying to get into the bloggers circle to promote their product and also build relationships, I have no problems with that, but also consider the fact us “pure bloggers” (using that term loosely) do it more for passion and not for profit. If I personally don’t like your product I don’t HAVE to blog about it, I’ll try and take the time to send an e-mail to you saying why, but I don’t necessarily have to give you a valid reason – this is purely my blog and what goes is down to what I say. If you want to do a promotion of your product and both of our goals meet somewhere in the middle, then fine, but if I feel I’m being used as part of a PR stunt then I will bluntly tell you to “fuck off!” (if your lucky enough to get a response at all), will I burn bridges? Most definitely, but I will keep my self respect – which means more to me than anything else, because I blog for a passion and not a purpose or profit.
Apologies for the little rant up there, but it’s something I would like to get out of my system, I’m seeing a change in the blogsphere where yet again Capitalism and opportunists seem to be destryoing something that was and should be more than just exploitation and profit.
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It’s taken a while, what with the blog redesign and my addiction to PS3 and LittleBigPlanet, but I am finally going to finish my Recollection of 2008 hopefully with this article and a summary one later on – let’s not dwell in the past for too long.
Moving onto the Anime, yes I’m a big fan, currently I’m watching and have been ever since they aired, a few usual series which are available to download from fan sub groups around the internet, these go to fill the void of my not watching TV soaps – mainly because I don’t. The series of Animé are Naruto, Bleach and Soul Eater. During 2008 I did watch a few others and feedback and impressions on those will be below if they made an impression and I can remember them!
I’ll use MyAnimeList as a reference point (yet another service to catalogue stuff!). First up is one series I finished entirely, this is pretty rare as most of the Animé series are aimed at a very specific audience and my tastes usually lie in Samurai, Ninja and Japanese history and folklore genre’s, I’m not a big fan of Harem or Robot related stuff, mainly because they just tend to be the same old cliché stuff with a different angle (reference any bog standard Hollywood film here). Saying that one series did catch my attention:
Code Geass – Hangyaku no Lelouch – translated as Lelouch of the Rebellion
This Animé centred around Lelouch – a prince in hiding who in short, goes against his father the King and ruler of the Brittannian Empire which has conquered most of the world including Japan, which is now called Area 11. His hatred and rebellion centres around seeing his mother killed as a young child and his younger sister left blind. Living in hiding he almost has forgotten who and what he his, until he is caught up in a rebellion attack and he comes across a mysterious girl called C.C. Whilst his life is under threat he acquires the strange and powerful Geass – which allows him to command anyone to obey him, which is triggered with simple eye contact. From here on the protagonist starts to put his plans in place (under the pseudonym Zero), with organising the rebellion with his high intellect and new found powers, and also becoming a champion of the Japanese people in the battle against the Brittannian Empire in the process…
This series has a lot of mecha action in, normally something I’m slightly not too keen on, but because the plot was pretty good and I was drawn into it so quickly I ended up finishing this series off. Code Geass is actually a well plotted Anime with good twists, animation and character building, it is also the right length to cater for the series to build into a grand finish which ends elegantly. Consisting of 2 series of 25 episodes it’s a good watch if you are looking into something to watch, mecha action fans should enjoy it too.
Now there’s one thing I like more than watching an Animé series, it’s a full length film. During 2008 I finally caught up with watching a few I had on my list; Cowboy Bebop and Afro Samurai and also a few I hadn’t.
Cowboy Bebop – Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
This was aired back in 2001 and I had watched it once before – but mainly forgot most of it, so I decided to re watch this again, it’s a classic and a favourite of mine. The Cowboy Bebop group (Spike, Jet, Edward and Fay) are Bounty Hunters travelling the Solar System looking for appealing bounties to capture. They aren’t very good at keeping their finances organised mainly because Spike ends up destroying most of the world in capturing the bounties thus usually leaving them with a huge bill and small reward at the end. The Movie is centred around a deadly virus which is going to be released in Mars, the government has put a 300 million woolong reward on the capture and stopping of the plotter. This has caught the eye of Faye who was caught in the first terrorist act from the mastermind behind this plot, as she recognises him on TV, which brings around an investigation by Spike, who reluctantly gets involved when Faye’s life is threatened after she is kidnapped.
The characters involved all have their key unique traits some of which they keep hidden and others which are pretty obvious. Spike has a Mafia related history, Jet is a former Police Office who was betrayed by his friend, Faye was resurrected from a 54 year long cryogenic sleep and has amnesia, whilst Edward is a 13 year old prodigy hacker, they also have a dog, which was scientifically experimented on to make it the most intelligent being probably in the known Solar System.
The Movie itself is a nice retro looking thing, it has got some great music to it, the story is pretty decent and the characters are well structured, the action is great with a mix of martial arts, gun and gunships all taking a piece of the action. All these are easy because they are all based off the series, but as found most of the time, creating a Movie out of a Series is not easy, but Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door is an example of how to do it well. It’s a great watch alongside the series, although the movie should be watched half way through the series, as it seems this is where most of the movie and series connect.
This is one I had anticipated watching, and I’m glad to say I wasn’t disappointed! It has everything I could ask for (maybe except for the English Dub) blood, swordplay and a simple plot – revenge. Driven by Revenge after seeing his dad killed (decapitated – it was gruesome) by the No.2 in the world to take the No.1 crown from his dad, he has lived a life of hardship, living by himself, training, defeating and searching after the No.1 so he could avenge his father’s death. Accompanied by his conscience played by Samuel L. Jackson it’s the only entrance into his mindset, showing cold blooded ruthlessness in killing anything and everything in his path, only his conscience can show his fear, agitation and despair at times, which is a great way to build up not only his character but also plays a fundamental part in making the story interesting.
The story is filled with some great scenes of sword fighting, great animation and a cool soundtrack which fits into the whole feel. I enjoyed it thoroughly and am anticipating some more as there is news Afro Samurai is coming to air this January!
This caught me by surprise, I hadn’t heard of it until I stumbled across it, but I’m glad I did, it’s an awesome Movie. It’s got two main things I love about Japanese culture – the Samurai and Japanese history. The Movie is based in Sengoku period, one of the Japanese era when the Sword and military might spoke louder than anything else.
The Movie starts at a hundred miles an hour, a young kid is being escorted away from angry Mings from China . Whilst the kid gets away his helper is killed in the process. The child called Kotaro ends up alone with his dog wandering around searching for a monk, they settle in a Temple where they meet Nanashi (which means nameless) who is haunted by his past, he has tied his sword up hoping to never use it again to take a life. But at that temple they encounter the Chinese pursuers yet again, whilst trying not to get involved Nanashi can’t help but aid Kotaro, as it seems he does have a conscience and doesn’t want to see an innocent child killed. He takes care of the pursuers with great skill which is evident, he doesn’t draw his sword at all and yet kills the pursuers. From here on they start on a journey together as Kotaro hires Nanashi as his yojimbo (bodyguard) in exchange for the precious stone he carries. His desire to take him to the monk he seeks.
Whilst on the journey Nanashi encounters Rarou a blonde haired western fighter who only seeks to fight the strongest opponent possible, they inevitably clash as Rarou is with the Chinese. The movie packs in a lot of awesome action, a great story and beautiful animation which I haven’t seen for a while. It’s definitely one I would recommend to anyone interested in watching an Animé Movie.
That about should conclude my Anime recollection of 2008, 2009 should be a lot more interesting as some of my old favourites are coming back with some new episodes, I’m sure I’ll end up writing about them here.
I’m a big fan of sports, Football, F1, Tennis and Athletics are my main points of interest. 2008 saw a lot happening within sports in general not forgetting the little event taking place in Beijing called The Olympics. Whilst the Great Britain team saw the most successful medal haul in their history most were achieved in events I personally don’t have any interest in. For me the Olympics is all about the Men’s 100 Metres, 200 Metres and 4×1 100 Metres relay events, as these were the ones I took part in school, they hold a special interest.
Usain Bolt and Jamaica
There is only one thing to say about these 3 events Usain Bolt and Jamaica, they obliterated the competition and took Gold in all 3 with Bolt responsible for setting 3 World Records, one of which is beyond imagination (9.69 in the 100 Metres event) and taking home 3 Gold Medals in the process. Whilst the 4×1 100 Metres relay was going to the Jamaican team anyway, the only factor that could stop them would be down to how smooth the exchanges between the runners would be. The main shock and a wonderful performance was from the main man Usain Bolt, who cruised to a World Record 100 Metres win and also broke Michael Johnson’s long standing 200 Metres World Record by running a 19.30, something many said would never be done!
Bolt admitted later on he was personally aiming for the 200 Metres as that was the event he mostly wanted to win and the 100 Metres was just a bonus and one wasn’t aiming or expecting to win or break the world record for, which would explain the early celebrations with 20 metres to go!
Lewis Hamilton
What can I say about Lewis Hamilton, he is an idol, a talent and has the world at his feet. He achieved in 2008 what he just missed out on in 2007 in his début season in Formula One. Going into the last race of the season Hamilton was once again in familiar territory, the race was in his hands. He had to finish 5th or better to become the youngest Formula One World Champion ever. It was nerve racking watching the race, all was going to plan until the last few laps, when the rain came, Hamilton along with with Masa and many others had changed tires and needed the rain to fully pour to take advantage, but it didn’t quite come as early as he would have liked. Going into the final turn of the final lap Hamilton was in 6th position and it looked like a 2nd year in a row he would narrowly miss out. But as he turned into the final turn he overtook Timo Glock, one of the few who hadn’t changed tires and was struggling, this put Hamilton back into 5th position which despite Massa’s win in his own Home town gave Hamilton the title, thus making it sweeter and breaking the World Record as the youngest champion ever.
Spain Win Euro 2008
Since 1964 Spain have underachieved, and on a major scale. They have had some world class players but always fell when it came to the big time, the time when they had to perform, time and time again they have been tipped to win, be one of the contenders and time and time again they had failed. Their wait for a major trophy is longer than England’s, and finally in 2008 they put the ghost of past failures behind them by achieving what England can only dream of.
When the Euro 2008 competition started most were sceptical about Spain’s chances ans rightly so, they have for decades seen them fall over and over again, but still they were amongst the favourites with an outside chance. With the twinkle toes of David Villa up front partnering Fernando Torres, Xavi Hernandez in the middle pulling the strings and Puyol at the back marshalling the young inexperienced defence with only the World class Casillas in goal Spain’s team looked odd at times. But Coach Luis Aragones had built a team which played great passing football and eased through the qualifications rounds and groups stages. Villa was at the forefront scoring a Hat-trick in the first game destroying a very impressive Russian side 4-1. Villa would end up as leading goalscorer of the tournament with scoring only once more to tally 4, but he would suffer injury, leaving the burden on Torres to get the goals.
Torres on the other hand wasn’t looking like the record breaking goal scorer for Liverpool in his début season, adjusting to the National team’s style was proving harder and with chances few and far between he knew being clinical would be key, something he has learnt since joining Liverpool. Clinical he was as he went on to score the winning goal, but it was the performance of Xavi which caught the eyes of the world, and the depth of Spain’s midfield with Xabi Alonso and Cesc Fabregas showing they can step up to the challenge when required.
Italy would fall to Penalties against Spain, whilst the Russians would get demolished a second time in the semi-finals where Spain would meet Germany. Here Torres shows his class with a deft finish, chipping over Jens Lehman scoring the only goal of the game to win the game and see Spain crowned champions once again, finally putting the ghost of 64 to rest.
Wimbledon 2008
Would this be the year when Roger Federer would make history and beat Bjorn Borg’s post war record of 5 consecutive Wimbledon titles and equal Pete Sampras’s Grand Slam record of 14 titles thus putting him in a class of his own. Instead it would be the year of another young Spaniard, Rafael Nadal is a prodigal talent and the only one standing in the way of the Swiss Express. Nadal has dominated Federer in the French Open recording 4 consecutive titles and absolutely destroying Federer in the 2008 French Open 6–1, 6–3, 6–0. This shows the dominance the Spaniard has over not only Federer but most others on clay and in particular the French Open. The only thing that was stopping Nadal was his grass court game, something that Federer was king of. Having lost the 2007 final to Federer, Nadal was eager to set the record straight, and the crowd were in for a great spectacle – a five set thriller by the best two players in the world.
Nadal got off to a great start winning the first two sets 6-4 6-4, Federer was struggling and had no answers to Nadal’s powerful forehands and the energy behind his game. But the Champion would not be defeated this easily, he made an effort and seemed to step up another level playing shots out of this world taking the next two set 6-7, 6-7 to even the game up. Going into the final set both players could say they had done enough to win any Grand Slam, but this wasn’t any Grand Slam, this was a defining one, one of the most important in modern times, one that would define one man’s career and probably break the others.
The final set was a close fought contest, both players were playing out of their skin and there wasn’t much to separate the two, eventually going into a final tie-breaker. Nadal finally won the set 9-7 with some scintillating shots and energy which could only come from being the younger of the two. Federer looked a beaten man and he was. The dream was over, he would stand alongside Bjorg as one of the games greatest, whilst still living under the shadow of the great Pete Sampras one short of equalling that record. Worse was to come as Nadal took over as the World’s Number One rank, a position Federer had a held for a record breaking 237 consecutive weeks! He still holds the record for the only player to win 5 consecutive Grand Slam titles at two separate Grand Slam Events (Wimbledon 2003-2007 and US Open 2004-2008). He is still a legend, even though his best is most probably past him, even though is only 27 years old!
This year has seen in all honesty some really good games released, unfortunately I don’t want (force myself not to) to be playing games for long periods, I just don’t have the time to hunker down and get some gaming on! I’ve got an Xbox 360 but that’s usually occupied by my brother leaving my PS2 and PC to handle the brunt of not playing games on them. Saying that I still had some time to sample some gaming this year, some more than others. So in this part of Recollection of 2008 I’ll look at what were the games I played this year:
I’m a big fan of racing games, as I don’t have a drivers license (which probably is a good thing for society) I have to get my kicks in games and not on the street like most other licensed/unlicensed boy racers, besides it all looks so much better in games anyway, oh and you don’t get to die if you crash!
Usually my game of choice would be Need for Speed, but with the release of Pro Street , it’s put me right off, so I decided to see what else was out there; one was Burnout and the other Midnight Club. Burnout Paradise is for adrenaline speed junkies who want to be reckless whilst driving around insanely fast. It’s perfect for those that want to grab the controller and get going ASAP! The graphics are awesome (as should be expected from any modern console) and the game is exactly what it says on the box. The choice of cars are limited (it’s no Gran Turismo or Project Gotham) but the gameplay makes up for the lack of choice. I do like the open world cruising looking for races, but saying that the area is pretty small and very distracting. Overall it’s a good quick game for those wanting to get some speed racing in quickly. It’s more casual gaming than Gran Turismo or Project Gotham.
Sticking with the racing genre, Midnight Club LA could be the replacement for Need for Speed – firstly it’s got a massive free roaming world which can be explored at your own will just like Grant Theft Auto (funny that, as it’s made by Rockstar Games), the graphics look pretty awesome and the game plays really well. Not only do you get to cruise around most of LA but the choices of cars and bikes are those found in the millionaires club, which add that real Hollywood feel to it. Add 16-Player on-line gameplay and you have a pretty awesome game on your hands – oh and it’s also got a pretty decent soundtrack! If you haven’t tried this game out, you should check out the official website, it’s pretty kick ass and one of the most informative and content filled I’ve ever seen!
There’s no doubt there’s one thing I like apart from watching and talking about football – that’s playing it – and Pro Evolution Soccer is my choice of game period! I tried to move over to the dark side of things and that didn’t go too well, the less about that the better! Pro Evo (or PES to it’s fans) brings realism beyond any other football game to your hands. It varies between different platforms and previous to Pro Evo 2009 I was playing it on the PS2 – mainly because this had the best realistic version, the graphics may have been better on the Xbox 360 and PS3 but the gameplay was nowhere near as good.
When Pro Evo 2009 was released there was a change on emphasis – the PS2 was more or less discarded and effort was put more on the next gen consoles. The Xbox and PS3 versions were so much more superior to the PS2 version it wasn’t worth playing. But ever since I’ve loaded it on my PC the Xbox and PS3 versions have been left playing by themselves. The gameplay and graphics (Graphics Card dependent) are so much better and realistic on the PC it makes the next gen consoles look last gen. The realism and dynamics of the movement of the players and AI are far beyond the Xbox and PS3’s. It’s the ONLY football game to be played.
If you haven’t heard of this franchise then you must be living under a rock (see video below for introduction). The name is legendary amongst gamers and arguably one of the best games series ever. This latest version of it is the best yet. Combining a huge free world with some stunning graphics, humour, violence and lots of missions with online gameplay it’s arguably the ultimate gamer’s experience. This combines everything any gamer could want. If you want a race just steal a car, get chased by the police and try to get away, if you want to have a gun fight, just start killing random people and you’ll have SWAT and helicopters coming for you. If you want missions to solve and build up your empire just go and do them. But the most appealing factor about this is the fact anyone can go around and do whatever the hell they want – that’s the main appeal, but also my and I suspect many others downfall…completing missions is hard, not because they are complicated but more because there are so many distractions! I always found myself wandering off and doing something stupid and ended up aborting the mission and in a chase with the police. Devious minds!
I started playing Fallout 3 recently, mainly because I didn’t want to get involved in it, why? Because I love these types of 1st/3rd person Role Playing Shooters and I know they take up a lot of time! Time I did not have. But still I gave in and dived into the deep end. Sigh.
Fallout 3 is from the Bethesda, notorious for creating free roaming RPG’s and since I had already played Morrowind and Oblivion it was only natural I would end up playing Fallout 3. This is a another free roaming, RPG Shooter but set in a 70’s retro scene where the world has gone down the pan because of nuclear warfare. The game is based in Washington DC mainly and the object of the game is to find out who you are and what is going on (at first). There are two key things which make this game unique and awesome; the karma factor and the VATS system. Both of these combine what would be a normal shooter into something else, Karma effects how others respond to you and the VATS helps you blow heads off enemies! If there is one thing in this game it’s gore and lots of it. The slow motion VATS kills usually ends up blowing an anatomy of your enemy off and looks pretty awesome!
In games like these it’s mainly down to the player to do whatever they want, do the main quest, side mission or just go exploring and uncover places, missions, items and enemies. This is the sweetest thing about it, which I love. Walking around the place doing what I want to do when I want to do it – it’s virtual freedom. Oh the Graphics and humour aren’t bad either.
So what is my game of the year? Well this one is hard as I’m torn between GTA IV and Fallout 3, I think on the whole GTA IV is appealing to a lot larger audience than Fallout 3, but unfortunately I’m not part of that crowd, my game of the year will have to be Fallout 3.
In this part of my Recollection of 2008 I’ll be going through the movies I’ve seen in 2008. Now remembering from the top of my head I can remember some really good ones and some really bad ones, when I mean bad I mean BAD – epic! Straight away X-Files: I want to believe and The Promotion come to mind, more on this later. There have also been some really great movies, some which I didn’t expect to be any good. The Dark Night, Ironman and Wall-E are the main three that left an impression.
Now my memory isn’t the best when it comes to remembering general things, specific things I can remember in vivid details so luckily for me I have yet another service which has kept my records of which movies I have watched in 2008 and how I rate them – Flixster! I like Flixster because I’ve got it added on my Facebook profile and I can quickly review a movie I’ve just watched and check my Facebook at the same time.
So what does Flixster say about the movies I’ve watched in 2008? I’m going to choose 3 of the worst and best to keep it short(ish).
Let’s start off with the bad
X-Files: I want to believe (1.5 / 5)
Now I’m not sure what David Duchovny was thinking getting involved with this movie, maybe he felt he owed it to the brand to appear, his advisor should have told him to steer clear. Being an X-Files fan, I watched the series and the first movie and have to say that it was actually a good way to end the series and probably the whole franchise. The movie never really takes off, it sits stagnant trying to tie up events to create a link between Fox Mulder and Dana Scully and the FBI to try and get some meaning into why Mulder should come out of hiding and be involved in this movie. The plot is even weaker as there is no hint of anything unnatural happening, there are mysteries yes, but these are predictable from first glance. The cast trudges off trying to solve the missing FBI agents case, which looks more like a murder / abduction (read kidnapping) case than anything supernatural, whilst Mulder at first tries to find something Supernatural but in the end it’s more to do with how much Mulder needs Scully to function and how each try and move on from their previous jobs as FBI agents. It’s almost like an extended Xmas episode rather than a movie – this should have gone straight to DVD.
The Promotion (1 / 5)
Now if there is one thing I can’t get past is Sean William Scott not being in American Pie and saying dip shit” every 10 seconds. So hoping this was going to be his make or break movie where he can try and get rid of this label cast upon him I gave this a shot. I know he’s done a few other films after American Pie (most notably being Dude Where’s My Car and Bulletproof Monk, the latter being unrealistic and wire-framed over the top) he still hasn’t managed to get rid of the label of Steve Stifler. So tagging up with John C. Reilly I thought he may change his direction away and still keep to being funny. Boy was I wrong! Not only is this movie not funny (I hope it’s not supposed to be) its dull dreary and really slow. I can’t remember anything interesting happening in this movie, I actually don’t think anything happens in this movie. There is your usual plot yes – two guys fighting for the same job, one is a previous substance abuser, the other a young and ambitious guy that has just bit off more than he could chew buy buying a house he cannot afford so the financial strain and the risk of losing his significant other is getting to him. But that is an average situation to be in, what should have been an over the top funny movie with some crazy and stupid acts of selfishness to try and get the other out of the job, it ended up as an average movie as there wasn’t enough happening in the movie to keep interest or stand out.
Disaster Movie (0.5 / 5)
Now spoof movies have been coming out thick and fast, everyone seems to be trying to get in the act and making their own versions. This year there has been at least 3 including this one; Meet the Spartans (3 /5) and Superhero Movie (2.5 / 5) the other two I watched, both of which did decent jobs in getting some laughter out of me and also having some sort of mildly funny scenes and acting. Disaster Movie on the other hand is unique- it misses everything, in the end all it ends up doing is justifying its title. There is nothing funny as the cheesy acting is so over the top and bad, the different movies it spoofs cannot be linked together, so you what you end up with is random events happening without no reason whatsoever. The Wayan brothers did a stellar job with the Scary Movies and it seems everyone thinks they can make spoof movies, the key ingredient they seem to be missing is making the movies actually funny rather than retarded.
Swiftly moving, let’s not stick around rotten tomatoes too long.
The good Movies of 2008
Step Up 2 The Streets (3.5 / 5)
Now not everyone will like this, if you aren’t remotely interested in Hip Hop, Rap or R&B then you should steer clear of this as it’s cheesy and the acting is pretty lame, but the choreographed dance moves and phat beatz make this more than anything. The plot is mainly about a rebel school kid who has lost her mother and lives with her mother’s friend. She can’t fit into your typical schooling system mainly down to her interests in street dancing and also the fact she is hanging out with the “wrong crowd”. That’s the plot, you could probably figure out what’s going to happen in the movie. Although this is cliché and there won’t be any seriously Oscar nominating acting going on, you will find some great music, dance moves and a light hearted funny and romantic movie which should keep you going until the end for the finale – which is not to be missed.
WALL-E (3.5 / 5)
This is one movie I did not expect much from. Yet another animation movie by Disney and yes that’s what it is. But it’s got something about it and also a loose plot which you can’t help but carry on watching. The star of the movie is little WALL-E himself; a cleaning robot left and abandoned on Earth to clean up the pollution whilst the human race has gone off to live in space in the hope one day they will return and inhabit it once again. The Earth is desolate with the exception of WALL-E and his cockroach friend (they can survive nuclear strikes) who are left to clean the place up. The story properly gets into action when an explorer robot is sent to Earth to find out the status and look for plant life signs. And now starts a romance between robots which takes them on an adventure out of this world – literally. Overall the movie is warm, light and funny – nothing too complex, which in the end is what probably makes it good.
Pineapple Express (4 / 5)
If you have seen Superbad, then you should be looking forward to this movie, it’s from the same guys. The movie in all actuality takes a little while to get going, but fulfils it’s job in being funny, with action and a stupid plot only those that have delved into the “good stuff” would appreciate – I am of course referring to the “reafer,” that is the main plot of the story. With the usual pothead, unambitious dead jobber somehow getting themselves into trouble mostly being involved in drugs (smoking, distributing.) They get themselves deep in over their heads with both Chinese and American drug traffickers and gangsters. Ensue a hilarious and idiotic chase which takes up most of the runtime, but is worth it as it’s over the time, funny but totally expected and pleasing.
Transporter 3 (4 / 5)
Now if there is one thing I can be shocked at in 2008 is this movie. I have seen both the previous two movies and was not looking forward to this. My opinion of Jason Statham is dropped quite a bit since his days in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. Mean Machine, The Bank Job and Death Race haven’t done anything to repair that, nor did the other two Transporter movies. I personally think Jason Statham is the British Vin Diesel, you won’t get much variety from either of them, nor will you get a lot of acting talent. But they are what they are and put in the right sort of roles (look at Schwarzenegger, Van Damme and Stallone) they can do a decent job. Whilst the previous two were really poor, this has some good action, plot and is almost a 3rd attempt at doing the one movie and finally have succeeded. It’s got action packed fights, car chases and cheesy lines – this is what James Bond would have been like if he hadn’t been so cut clean and sterilised.
Now it looks like I’ve gon through the good and bad movies from 2008, there is an extra in the good section and so there should be, being positive is always good.
To summarise this up:
The Worst Movie of the year award is going to go to Disaster Movie – it’s head and shoulders above anything else.
The Worst Movie of 2008 - if not all time!
The Best Movie of the year you’d think would go to Transporter 3…but no, there is only one clear winner here – The Dark Night! (4.5 / 5)
Movie of the Year 2008
There is no doubt this is the best Movie I have seen this year and no I’m not even saying this because of the late Heath Ledger (although he’s performance as the Joker was better than Jack Nicholson’s), the movie as a whole is fantastic. The Batman movies had been struggling of late, where Keaton’s Batman was a law abiding nice guy and based on Tim Burton’s and Joel Schumacher’s characters, it was more constrained, more reserved and less risky. Christopher Nolan’s Batman on the other hand is darker, more mysterious, troubled and alone. It shows a different side of the superhero and also the risks and vulnerabilities of actually being human and swayed by emotion, love and hate. With Ledger playing the part of the Joker splendidly and toying with the Batman at will, always getting the upper hand and being one step ahead, Batman is under a lot pressure and starts to doubt himself.
This movie is more than just a play on the superhero movie, there is much much more to it. The fabulous stunts and action scenes, the twists in plot and the exploration of the inner Batman and his emotions make this a bigger thriller than anything released this year.
This movie looks into what makes the Dark Night, how he gets to be the hero of Gotham City and what he is willing to sacrifice and do to protect the people of the City whether they like it or not.
Get it on Blue-Ray and watch it if you haven’t yet and can’t find it in your local IMAX – it’s being re-released in January so I’d urge you to go and see it.
2008 has come and almost gone, it was pretty fast and pretty fun on the whole. I really can’t see many negatives in 2008. Yeah the global economy is dying/dead that’s not my concern nor is it my problem to solve, so I’m not going to dwell on that. What I will do is recall what I enjoyed during this good year. So expect many more entries on this subject, I’ll try to separate them out so it doesn’t get too long and boring.
Firstly looking at one thing that’s always playing a huge part in my life – The Music. Music for me, makes me sometimes, just like a riff on a electric guiter can send shivers down your spine, music moves me to do more with little effort, it’s a base for my mood, productivity, attitude and solace. Without Music I probably would not have enjoyed 2008 as much as I did.
It is a huge influence in my life. So what sort of music did I listen to during 2008? Luckily Last.fm has a lovely library of my listening habits, although not everything I listened to was scrobbled a big majority of it was.
My top Artists for 2008
Looking back at the last 12 months of my listening habits and filtering it out, it seems Amy Winehouse was pretty busy singing her way in between my eardrums. I have to admit I do recall listening to her Back to Black album quite a bit and also rediscovering her Frank (Deluxe Edition) album which is in my opinion absolutely fantastic – better than Back to Black even! Chris Brown, Jack Johnson, Ne-Yo and The Killers make their usual appearances, which I expected to be honest, all have released good follow up albums this year and are very good listens.
What isn’t the normal listening habits for me are Hoobastank, Lil Wayne and the Kings of Leon. All three I usually don’t listen to much, Hoobastank was recommended by a friend and I got hooked on quickly, Lil Wayne on the other hand I knew all about and really didn’t like his style nor thought much of his musical talent. But with the release of The Carter III he has finally released a decent album which is worth a listen. Tracks like Mr. Carter (featuring S.Carter himself (Jay-Z)) and Got Money (featuring T-Pain), the huge club hits A Milli, Lollipop and Dr. Carter show the maturing talent and direction in his rapping which was previously missing.
The biggest surprise of the year has been for me Kings of Leon, I have heard of them but their music so far has eluded to capture anything for my tastes, but that all changed with the release of their latest album Only by the Night – an epic album to say the least. Purist fans of theirs will say they have deviated from what they were and their style of music, I personally would say they have matured and their music has matured with them. Having listened to their previous albums this is something different, something special. From the start of the album with Closer, Crawl, the huge hit Sex on Fire, all the way through to Manhattan, 17 and Be Somebody the tracks just keep rolling along one after another, smooth blend of rusty vocals with the soft drums and guitar sometimes which when listened with closed eyes almost feels like being drawn away, closer to Southern Rock. Looking at my favourite played tracks charts for the last 12 months shows the dominance of how I rate this album. From taking 1st and 2nd place to mixing in amongst Chris Brown and Jack Johnson, something usually unheard of!
My Top Most Played Tracks of 2008
It’s worth a note also seeing there is no single track from Amy Winehouse in the top tracks, mainly down to listening to her Frank Deluxe album from end to end, which contains a whopping 31 tracks all of which are worth listening to.
So I guess I can conclude in by saying my Favourite Artist of 2008 was Amy Winehouse and the Album of the Year was Only by the Night by Kings of Leon.
Artist of the Year 2008 - Amy Winehouse
Album of the Year 2008 - Only By The Night - Kings of Leon
So there it is, my recollection of 2008 – the music sorted, stay tuned for movies, games, sporting events, and anime soon.
