Oh, hai!

Gah, it's been too long again. Missed me? Thought not.

So. Ashes to Ashes then. I mentioned it a little while ago, or more specifically how much I was looking forward to it. I've been disappointed so far. There's one simple reason for why this is: I hate the character of Alex Drake. She's the most annoying lead character in the history of television. If you've watched the show you'll know what I mean: she constantly shouts, calling those around her 'constructs of my imagination' (or something similar) and is just generally...gah! I hate her. Especially when Sam Tyler was near perfect. I think I'm growing to A2A though.

To completely change the subject, I'm really, really looking forward to Be Kind, Rewind. Which looks amazingly funny. Just click on that link and watch the trailer. Try not to laugh too hard at the Ghostbusters theme song part. Or the Robocop rip off. Or 2001: A Space Odessy (sp?). See why? Jack Black's very funny anyway, and Michel Gondry's a very good director. All the reviews I've seen so far look good, although admittedly I've only seen reviews from The Sun and The News of the World, so maybe I shouldn't get my hopes up too much.

Plus! The Writer's Strike is over! Finally! This is good! More Lost (which I have recently found myself becoming more and more entangled in)! More Battlestar Galactica (probably my favourite show, it's awesome. Watch it if you've not already. If that's the case then watch it again)! More 24! Well, next year. The last series of 24 wasn't brilliant anyway, but I think the next one should be. I hope. I have faith anyway. That show got me an A in my A-Level media coursework, so I'll give it my devotion for helping me out anyway :-)

I'm sure there's some other stuff I've been meaning to put here, but have forgotten. Oh well, more material for the future. If I remember. Ah well, there we go.

We can has halp, plz?

I think I've briefly mentioned that myself and a team of others won Let's Change The Game, a competition to design an ARG in aid of CRUK and, and probably some other acronyms as well. Now, I'm not sure who reads this blog, so there's a distinct possibility that you've already seen one of these around and about. Either way, we're looking for assistance! Can you help?

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Hi there!

We’re a group of volunteers currently designing an ambitious web-based game to raise funds and awareness for cancer research. It’s going to tie in storytelling, online communities, websites, real-world events and more, creating an unforgettable experience for thousands of people while supporting a profoundly important cause.

So, we need a bit of help! We can’t offer you money, but we can offer you the camaraderie of our team, the experience of creating something awesome, the good karma of supporting CRUK’s important work and suitably glowing testimonials.

Here are the folk we’re looking for:

• PHP/MySQL developers – we’re looking for people who have a reasonable amount of experience and can write good, clean, secure code
• Design for web: designing our graphics and website, somebody who can create an eye-catching look and then implement it in HTML/CSS. Fancy UI skills (AJAX, Flash) even awesomer.
• Flash developers – opportunities to contribute to general UI and site stuff, and also create full mini-games
• Guerrilla film types: Someone with the equipment, shooting/editing chops and the visual imagination to create fantastic-looking viral video
• Productive generalists – working on a particular area of the game and making stuff happen, from arranging live events to building relationships with supportive companies
• All hands – people who can help out in the future with testing, community participation & player support, event support, and so on
• Creative people we haven’t even thought of yet. This means you!

If you want to help make the magic happen (and we know you do!) email Guy at guy.lewis.parsons@gmail.com letting us know a bit about yourself – skills, experience, any stuff you’ve made, what you’d actually like to help with, where you’re based – and we’ll get back to you ASAP.

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Well, can you?

"I felt like my eyes were raped."

So, Cloverfield then. I went to see it yesterday because a) the premise sounded interesting; b) it seemed like one of those films you really had to see at a cinema and c) you haven't been able to go near an Interweb in the last 6 months without someone saying something/stumbling across some viral ARG-ish ad campaign.

I have to say that I thought it was awesome. I'm a sucker for films that try something new, and just the whole 'everything was shot on a personal camcorder by 'amatuers' thus breaking the whole Fourth Wall' thing definitely ticks that box so enthusiastically that it tears a hole in the paper.

It throws up some interesting production techniques that hopefully someone will delve more into in the future. The tape occasionally 'skips' to the old film it's taping over, essentially a love story between a couple of the characters. If someone could somehow implement this as a 'proper' way of doing flashback sequences (or, I guess, flashforwards) then I think the results could be interesting.

Also, there's a quote from Matt Reeves, the director, which I thought was mind-blowingly clever. Possible spoilers follow, so tread lightly! This is what he said:

"There's a moment on the Brooklyn Bridge, and there was a guy filming something on the side of the bridge, and Hud sees him filming and he turns over and he sees the ship that's been capsized and sees the headless Statue of Liberty, and then he turns back and this guy's briefly filming him. In my mind that was two movies intersecting for a brief moment, and I thought there was something interesting in the idea that this incident happened and there are so many different points of view, and there are several different movies at least happening that evening and we just saw one piece of another."

That's just an awesome idea. I don't know how else to put it, but that would be a stunning way for someone to do a film series, or maybe even a sort of Groundhog Day inspired TV series (repeating the same day from different viewpoints).

It's just a stunningly well made movie altogether. The special effects are really top class. The monster's design was absolutely brilliant, looking like several different 'things' throughout the run-time in order to keep you guessing. (So, for example, I thought it was a dinosaur at one point, a giant squid a little later etc.) Although I have to say that the little spider things it drops every now and again seemed like a bit of a rip off of the poisonous headcrabs from Half-Life 2.

The characters were pretty good, if a little one-dimensional sometimes, and it was cleverly written. I'm not saying it's the best script in the world but it holds up well enough. The product placement did my head in a little bit though: Nokia is everywhere, as is Mountain Dew.

And of course the marketing. It really has set a new bar for viral advertising using the Internet, which I'll probably go into more in the future. I'll just leave it there for now ;-)

Wondering what happened to Jimmy?

Jimmy thought that he'd broken his leg,
(Bones brittle, like the shell of an egg),
But then he stood up -
An ant in a cup,
And was rescued by Simon Pegg.

I really should say something, huh?

Bah! I hate leaving postage for so long, it makes me feel like I've done bad or something. No matter.

So I said I was thinking about taking a trip down to Paradise City in my last entry, which I decided to do in the end. Burnout Paradise is a great game, no doubt about it, but it still left me cold. After the first few hours, and you get over the whole 'I can do whatever I want? Sweet!' thing it gets a bit boring. Doing the same thing over and over again is the thing that I hate most about any game, so it's a shame to see one of my favourite series' employ the technique. I hope they didn't pay it too much. My favourite still remains Burnout 3: Takedown. Maybe the next one can revert to that a little bit. Then I'd love it all over again.

So, Ashes To Ashes is on BBC on Thursday. I can't wait, despite the fact I'll most likely be watching it on my 'Uni TV', a little VCR combi thing that should have been made extinct with the dinosaurs. At least I'll get that 'authentic 80s feel', eh?

I loved Life On Mars, so much so that I'm in the process of watching it again. It was perfect: not a single poor episode and an ending which just plain worked. I was a bit despondent when AtA was announced, mostly because they're using the exact same plot line as LoM. Mix it up a little, eh guys? But then, if you think about it, that goes back on what I said about Burnout: Too much change is a bad thing. Wow, contradictory. Oh well.

In other news, myself and the rest of my team won the Let's Change The Game competition with our ARG Sleeper Cell. Lots of work will now ensue. I'm sure it'll be brilliant!

I've had a lot of things to say, but their gone now. Mayhap there's more to come... I'll leave ye with a random YouTube video of Flight of the Conchords and another limerick.

When Jimmy fell into the well,
He created an awful smell,
In panic he'd guffed,
An ant had been snuffed,
Sent off to its personal hell.