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| Sunday, May 27th, 2007 | | 5:33 pm |
Weekend notes
My cousin Sharon is over this weekend doing some kind of self-defense course http://www.kravmagaireland.com/index.htmlMay try it out myself, as she was impressed with the first day's activities. Last night Sharon, Shinobu and myself popped out for some food and drinks with some other participants of the course (including the instructor Patrick) and had an enjoyable evening chatting. Also visited the opticians yesterday and got some contact lenses - for the first time. Been trying them out a bit more today. Feels odd not feeling the weight of my glasses on my face, or the subtle 'frame' normally around my vision. Cool though. Also finally starting to make some headway in 'Hard' mode on Guitar Hero II - though 'Woman' proved to quite a step up in difficulty from prior tracks! (did beat it eventually though, but with a poor three star performance). | | Sunday, May 13th, 2007 | | 11:08 pm |
Portugal Visit
Shinobu and myself went to Portugal for a week - Lisbon, Sintra, Nazaré, Alcobaça & Tomar. Some photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wimlach/sets/72157600208239685/It was good. Weather was great. Food was excellent & inexpensive (as was the whole trip in general). Definitely worth a visit in May, as it was off-peak season so costs where low and tourist bustle was minimal. Current Mood:  lazy | | Friday, March 16th, 2007 | | 12:15 am |
From another LJ User. I promised to post it - no expectation for replies though.
1. Can you cook? 2. What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator? 3. What talent do you wish you had? 4. Favorite place? 5. Favorite vegetable? 6. What was the last book you read? 7. Are you Dirty or Clean? 8. Any tattoos and/or piercings? 9. Worst habit? HERE COMES THE FUN ... 1. How did we meet? 2. What's your philosophy on life? 3. Negative or Optimistic? 4. What was your dream growing up? 5. Worst thing to ever happen to you? 6. What was your first impression of me? 7. Tell me one weird fact about you: 8. What's your favorite memory of us? 9. Have you ever kept anything from me? 10. What do you think of me as a person? 11. Do you think I'm sane or insane? 12. Would you cry for me if I died? 13. Would you be my crime partner or my conscience? 14. If you could change anything about me, would you? 15. How do you fall asleep? 16. Ever gotten angry with me? 17. Would you go on a blind date if I set you up? 18. If you had one day to live, what would you do? 19. A million bucks... what would you do with it? 20. What is your worst fear? 21. Favorite thing to do in your spare time? 22. Can you sing or dance? 23. In one word, how would you describe me? Be honest! 24. Will you repost this so I can fill it out? 25. Can I unscreen this? - Tough, it'll be friends viewable by default. | | Monday, December 18th, 2006 | | 5:06 pm |
Tonight I'm Going to Rock you Tonight
Played a little Guitar Hero II at work today, and after completing a song the virtual crowd in the game requested an 'Encore' - I was surprised as this was the first time this had happened. And what song did they request? None other than Spinal Tap's "Tonight I'm Going to Rock you Tonight" Ace! | | Sunday, October 22nd, 2006 | | 12:49 am |
Children of Men
Top Film Clive Owen in one of his best roles (I normally find him a little wooden but he shines here). Excellent attention to detail in the realisation of a grim near-future Britain. While the film does get somewhat violent in the latter half, this gives contrast to some of the quieter, emotionally moving scenes. Overall excellent story, acting and direction. Recommended. | | Sunday, September 3rd, 2006 | | 10:04 pm |
| | 5:12 pm |
Japan003
Ok, so no entries for a while due to laziness and limited 'net access (though mainly laziness!) Stayed at a the home of a couple of Shino's friends last week - Hackai and Yuko, who live out in a suburb area (Niiza City), so chilled out and mainly lived like a slacker rather than a tourist. :) Saw more shrines, popped into Tokyo City on several occasions to meet with Shinobu's friends over drinks and dinner, wandered around Ginza on my own for half a day, bought a few bits and bobs etc. Rented a couple of bicycles for the week so cycled around the local area for a bit (as well as using the bikes to get to and from the rail station). Lots of very narrow streets - no wonder the trend here is for very slim, tall cars! Experienced a small earth tremor too - only lasted around 10 seconds, but enough to shake the house and rattle the crockery and glasses. Fortunately wasn't the long overdue 'big one' that may hit sometime in the future. Shinobu & I popped into a really dodgy 'Adult' superstore in the Akihabara area called 'Pop life Department M's' ( http://www.ms-online.co.jp ) - as well as all the usual sex toys, literature and video, they had quite a selection of 'cosplay' type outfits but geared toward the erotic end of the dressing up market. There was also a gallery of what I can only assume where photos sent in of customers in their newly acquired 'outfits' - many of which left very little to the imagination. Of particular interest was their range of products very simply and directly titled 'Hole' - I'm sure you can guess what function they served! Quite entertaining - I didn't buy anything I hasten to add! Yesterday took a bullet train from Tokyo over to Nagano to stay with Shinobu's parents, who live a quieter life in the countryside. A little trepidation at meeting her parents, though unwarranted as they have both been very welcoming. Spent this morning out walking, taking lots of photos of dragonflies and forested hillsides. I'll stick the better ones up on flickr at some point in the future. Current Mood:  contemplative | | Wednesday, August 23rd, 2006 | | 3:41 pm |
Japan002
Today - very quick visit to Roppongi Hills (but just to grab some lunch), then popped into an old workplace of Shino's where she caught up with some old work colleagues. Then wandered around Gaien-Mae and Omote-Sando while Shino visited the Dentist, then met up again later and popped down to Harajuku via Takeshita Dori, taking in the odd fashions of Tokyo's youth. Jumped on the train up to Shibuya and did some shopping in the Neon laden area, where I bought some t-shirts and a jacket as the small mens size in Japan happens to be a perfect fit for me. Shino bought some bits & bobs (mainly food!). Oddly the ratio of men to women was really off in the shopping district - blokes where a rare breed! I reckon out of every 10 people, perhaps 1 was a dude and the rest ladies. Nice if your a dude I suppose. Shino dragged me into an arcade type place looking to show me some arcade machines, though after a few moments I pointed out that all the decor was very ... pink, and all the games in there tended to involve winning cute cuddly things or playing rhythm type arcade games. I was a fem-arcade! No blokes at all (except for a couple of door staff). Quickly made my excuses and got the heck outta there! Scary! :) Oh, yesterday visited Akihabara and Yodobashi Akiba where we bought a couple of pay-as-you go mobile phones, grabbed some lunch, then headed off to Asakusa. Wandered the narrow streets and Nakamise Dori, viewed the Temple, took some photos. Early evening took a boat down the river to the bay area (just before Rainbow Bridge) before heading home. It's late so that's it for now. | | Tuesday, August 22nd, 2006 | | 2:13 am |
Japan001
Just a quick update to say I've safely made it to Japan! Arrived Narita around 10am, then Shinobu & myself caught the train to Kanamachi where her sister Chizuru lives with her husband Makoto and two young children Genta & Fouka. We are staying in the guest apartment within the residential block (mansions!) where they live. It's very hot & humid here - reminds me of Gibraltar in Summer. Still getting used to a few of the custom things - the importance of having to take your shoes on/off whenever you enter a home is odd, especially since areas such as balconies are considered 'outside' so you need to put slippers or shoes on to go there then remove them on entry back into the house. I managed the 'taking off of shoes' in the hall bit, but guess who proceeded to have a look out on the balcony with (shock! horror!) bare feet! Had some nice dinner around Chizuru's place in the evening, played with the kids (they are aged 2 & 4) and was pleasantly surprised that the eldest boy had a few English phrases already. More than can be said for my own Japanese! Off into Tokyo proper now - Akihabara & Asakusa a couple of destinations for today (among others). Oh, did I mention it's very hot and humid here? Hurrah for air conditioning! Current Mood:  relaxed | | Sunday, June 25th, 2006 | | 12:29 am |
Guitar Hero
Bark at the Moon - whatever happened to 'smooth difficulty curve'?!!! | | Friday, June 23rd, 2006 | | 1:28 pm |
| | Sunday, May 14th, 2006 | | 1:39 am |
Guitar Hero
Guitar Hero is very cool. Picked up a copy for "the studio rec' area" this weekend, and borrowed the PS2 to play it at home (thanks to Emmeline & Rob for the demo last weekend). Zipped through all the songs on easy mode (completed each in the first sitting, though the last two songs where quite a challenge!). Medium mode is considerably harder! Need to get used to the blue fret now. I'm sure my left hand is going to be like a claw come tomorrow morning. :) | | Thursday, April 6th, 2006 | | 4:15 pm |
ecksbocks freesickstee
I finally cracked. I went and bought an xbox360 plus Oblivion, PGR3 and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. Goodbye life. Hello Live. | | Tuesday, March 21st, 2006 | | 6:22 pm |
New Place
I have moved. New Address: Apt 100, St. James Wood South Circular Road Dublin 8 New Telephone: 353 (0) 1 4548296 I am also playing Eve Online. Anyone else I might know have a character? | | Monday, January 23rd, 2006 | | 12:56 am |
Short update
Bought an extremely cheap 5.1 surround system for my bedroom (50 euro cheap from Argos) - nothing fancy but gets the job done. Good films viewed recently: 'Breakfast on Pluto' and 'Memoirs of a Geisha'. Hopefully I can catch 'Underworld: Evolution' and 'Narnia' (before it drops out of cinemas) sometime this week. I make good use of my Cineworld Unlimited card! Other news...um, not much. Popping over to Amsterdam in a couple of weeks to attend the 'Casuality' game conference. Other than that, life is tranquil at the moment - doing a bunch of 'conceptual' design work at the mo', as I can't have any art or engineering resources till April. By then I should have a good mix of game proposals for prototyping. Hopefully two or three of the ideas will be strong enough to go into further production later this year - which will be handy, as my CV is looking a little short on recently released titles, and if I want to perhaps talk at next years conference, or indeed comment with authority on any aspect of casual game design, I'll need some hard examples of my own work to provide credibility. Oh, and it's a bit old, but here's an amusing comedy performance by 'Tripod', of special relevance to gamers (or their partners!)... http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1329362959167995041&q=tripod | | Tuesday, January 17th, 2006 | | 1:59 am |
Public Photos, Food, Movies, TV and Games
Just jumping onto the whole web photo album thingy - got a free account with flickr and uploaded some of my recent trip to Gib photos. Only 20mb upload allowed per month on a free account, so unless I decide to subscribe (and to be honest it's pretty cheap) I'll probably slowly filter photos up there... http://www.flickr.com/photos/wimlachIn other news...um... saw Brokeback Mountain, excellent film. A great and unusual love story. Saw Irreversible - incredibly shocking French film. The story is revealed in reverse chronological order (much like Memento). Of the twelve or so scenes that comprise the film, two of them are really quite awe inspiring in their brutality and graphic nature. Not for the faint of heart or the squeamish. A thought provoking film nonetheless. Cooked loads of Spanish type food on Saturday evening (with plenty of assistance from Shinobu!), and invited a few folk round to enjoy the results of my cooking. The main dishes where a Seafood Paella, Meatballs in a Tomato Sauce (Albondigas), Patatas Bravas and a Spanish Omelette. Also a bunch of smaller tapas dishes such as olives, squid, octopus, anchovies, bread, spanish ham etc.. Went well and everyone enjoyed the food, which was nice. Oh, the next season of Battlestar Galactica has just started up in the states, and is available via your P2P network of choice. If you haven't yet caught this show, do so immediately. Start with the mini-series first, then move onto season one. Along with Firefly, this rates as the best science fiction show I have seen. The sci-fi definitely takes a back-seat to the human drama and is generally downplayed, despite the spaceships and robots. Honestly, watch it. You'll be hooked, I promise. Also playing Quake 4 on the PC. It's ok, but not a patch (playability wise) on it's predecessor (Quake 2). | | Wednesday, November 23rd, 2005 | | 1:03 am |
Summary of Recent Events (in vaguely chronological order)...
Caught Underworld and Basement Jaxx in concert with Shinobu. Got a visit from an old friend Amanda. Graced by the presence of the lovely Kimlan for a week. Also visited by friend and work colleague Guy. Lost job (actually, studio closed down - I kept job, but nobody left to pay me!) Saw Royksopp in concert with Shinobu. Finally got round to watching the last season of Babylon 5. Got new job (actually still old job, but someone came along and saved the studio and is now paying me!) Finished Half-Life 2. Bought seasons 1-7 of Stargate SG1. Finally got round to doing my US taxes for the year 2003. Did some tabletop roleplaying (which I haven't done in years). Visited Seattle (Washington) for a week - for work, so didn't do much in the way of sight-seeing but visited some good restaurants and bars in the evenings while there. Plus loads of other small items, mainly in the company of my lovely Japanese girlfriend Shinobu (been to see tons of films at the cinema, a few parties and nights out, eating at good restaurants, etc.). Altogether an interesting last few months. | | Friday, July 8th, 2005 | | 2:58 pm |
London Bombs
Terrible events, but I'm surprised there isn't more conjecture as to the reasons or perpetrators of the attack - everything seems to be focused on the purported Al Qaeda admission posted on a web site by an unknown group, and talk of 'Terrorist Cells' in operation in Britain. I'd take a stab at an alternative theory, and say that the bombs where placed by a single bomber who inadvertently blew himself up on the bus while traveling to place another device. A few things lead to this possible conclusion: All the bombs went off fairly close to one another - a multi-member group would perhaps have done better to split up and spread the terror all over London, rather than in one fairly limited area. One bomb going off on a bus with few passengers in a relatively quiet location - an unexpected change of behaviour and target. Small devices - as reported each bomb was only a few kilo's in weight. Why make them so small if they are going to be placed by multiple operatives? I suppose concealment could have been a factor here, but portability by a single individual also comes to mind. I suppose we will find out soon enough, as with all the CCTV equipment in operation around London it shouldn't be too long before the perpetrator(s) are identified. Anyway, just thinking along alternate lines... | | Monday, June 27th, 2005 | | 10:37 am |
Damn... Nobody left to kill me.
Watched Ichi the Killer this weekend (as recommended and picked out at the DVD rental store by my GF Shinobu). That is some fucked up Japanese shit. Violent, gory, disturbing and yet full of humour all the same. | | Tuesday, April 26th, 2005 | | 6:06 pm |
Millenium
Oh, also picked up seasons 2 + 3 of Millennium on DVD, so that should fill any spare evening hours for the next couple of months. |
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