The collected works of ScottyB

Last night, Kate and I got around to watching Demolition Man.

Inspired by my recent post about Wesley Snipes’ awesomeness, we had to watch it. So watch it we did.

Spectacularly, I have to admit this film is even more fantastic than the last time I watched it. Despite the fact it was made back in 1993, the ‘future’ still looks completely futuristic. Cars, ideas, computers etc.. its all still very fresh and next-wave and doesn’t really date after 14 years. Impressive feat for this sort of idea.

The humour is great, the quotes are tops.

It’s funny to see actors just starting their careers here too.. Benjamin Bratt, Jack Black (as “Wasteland Scrap”) and Rob Schneider (who doesn’t even make the credits).

Truly one of the great classics. Timeless action in the guns out, punchy lines era of shoot ‘em up flicks.

If you’ve never seen Sly Stallone at his peak, grab a copy of Demolition Man from your local DVD retailer. Check the bargain bins.

Link: Demo Man at IMDB

The Ninja.

Perhaps the coolest class of warrior ever.

From Wikipedia:

In the history of Japan, a ninja was someone specially trained in a variety of unorthodox arts of war. These included assassination, espionage, and other martial arts.

In the Japanese culture, they were usually trained for dangerous missions. Although their exact origins are still unknown, with some historians speculating about some Chinese origin or influence, it is known that they appeared in 14th century feudal Japan, and remained active from the Kamakura to the Edo period. Their roles may have included sabotage, espionage, scouting and assassination missions as a way to destabilize and cause social chaos in enemy territory or against an opposing ruler, perhaps in the service of their feudal rulers (daimyo, shogun), or an underground ninja organization waging guerilla warfare.

Or from Realultimatepower:

These guys are cool; and by cool, I mean totally sweet.

Facts:

1. Ninjas are mammals.
2. Ninjas fight ALL the time.
3. The purpose of the ninja is to flip out and kill people.

So we’ve established that the Ninja is dangerous and really cool.

The folks at Tecmo have brought us another incarnation of the Ninja Gaiden series. Basically a port of Ninja Gaiden Black (so I read) comes Ninja Gaiden Sigma.

Firstly, somehow I’ve never played a Ninja Gaiden game. How this occurred I don’t know. I guess I only bought the PS2 for the sake of Gran Turismo, now my horizons have somewhat broadened and thanks to amazing graphics and the whole ‘next-gen’ value of consoles these days, it becomes more justifiable to outlay large sums of the hard-earned on toys and games. So after playing the Sigma demo from a recently purchased PS magazine, I was so impressed, so incredible wowed, that I went out and bought the retail version the next day.

You can’t begin to describe how good this game is. It’s completely and utterly polished to perfection. The animation, the movements, the upgrades and character and story development. This right here is what next-gen is all about. Stunning graphics and an equally compelling, immersing story.

From Chapter 1, its eye-candy all the way. You’re in Japan at Autumn time, ‘The Way of the Ninja’. Introduced to the arts of sword fighting and unbelievable dexterity. All around you are the amazing colours of Autumn and leaf upon leaf falls from the trees above and flutters through the air in a bright red, orange, yellow dance. It’s just superb. You run along walls, triple somersault across ravines, double-backflip up ledges, skip over water.

You battle evil ninja, brown suits, white suits all the way through dojos where you’re ambushed by small armies of enemy Ninja, who you dispose of (not so) easily before moving on to fight the Dojo master before sitting down and having a chat to him.

Seriously awesome.

It’s been a while since I’ve played a game so good. It’s a departure from my usual game genre, but without hesitation, I’d put it up there in my top 5 games of all time. Wonderful.

Link: Official Website
Link: Ninja @ Wikipedia
Link: RealUltimatePower.net

What is it about Street Fighter games that requires they have long name?

Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, Street Fighter II: Champion Edition, Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers, Super Street Fighter II Turbo: The Ultimate Championship… Super Ultimate Crazy Mega Street Fighter Alpha III Part 4 Gamma: The Last Epicentre of Battle Destruction New Championship Fighting Classic Edition 3 Turbo.

So the latest one is, as the title states, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (which from now on, I’m going to call SSF2THDR).

Don’t let my sarcasm fool you.

I’m a huge fan of the Street Fighter series of games. I couldn’t tell you how many times I went through the Street Fighter II: Champion Edition back when I had the Sega Mega Drive. I knew most of the moves, for nearly all of the characters. I spent the weekends kicking my brother’s ass with Ken, Akuma, Dhalsim, Blanka, Chun Li.. it was hours of replay value. Back when games could be as simple as microwave lasagne but engross you for hours.

SSF2THDR is basically the Super Street Fighter II Turbo edition of old, remade, redrawn, revived, revamped for the PS3 and High Definition television.

Normally, I’d say “C’mon Capcom.. give us Street Fighter 4!”, but in this case, I have to admit, I’m extremely excited by this news and can’t wait to see SSF2THDR live in action. If only for the fact I’d love another opportunity to play it on the big screen, with quality graphics, seeing if I remember all the moves - all the while finding out if it could possibly hold my attention for extended periods like it used to.

Makes you wonder if we’ll see this as a trend now. All these old classics revamped for HD goodness like SSF2THDR. Hell, they do it with VHS to DVD - and now DVD to HD DVD.. why won’t we see it with games?

Impressive..

It occurred to me this evening, as I was watching The Contractor, that Snipes has to be one of my favourite action heroes.

The Contractor wasn’t exactly a work of art, but it was a good film, easy watching and plenty of action. Slightly reminiscent of ‘The Professional’ with a new-age feel to it. Much better than I was expecting, especially after its poor reviews and relatively low score on IMDB. Proving once again that the critics are usually wrong (either that, or my taste in films leaves a lot to be desired. Or I’m just easily pleased).

While Passenger 57 is probably his first big hit that I remember, it was not the first film I ever saw him in.

Nope, that accolade goes to the 1993 blockbuster, Demolition Man, where he featured alongside Sly Stallone and the ever-yummy Sandra Bullock.

Simon Phoenix. I’ll always remember that name. This character that Snipes played was one of my favourite ‘baddies’ for many years. In fact, thinking about it, its truly hard to name a good bunch of villains that were as funny and likable while being so utterly sadistic and horrific as Snipes managed in Demo Man.

“I’m sorry to say that the world has become a pussy-whipped, Brady Bunch version of itself, run by a bunch of robed sissies”.

Simon Phoenix: “So let me get this right, they defrosted you just so you could lasso my piddly ass? Damn, you been had! I been dreamin’ about killin’ you for forty years”.
John Spartan: “Well, keep dreaming!”

Since then, he’s starred in plenty of hardcore, fast-paced, blazing action films. Many of which I own and numerous titles I’ve watched at least three times. The eternally popular Drop Zone, the underrated Money Train, The Fan (which I thought was brilliant, but just didn’t receive well with the crits), Murder at 1600, U.S. Marshals, Blade, Blade II, Blade: Trinity, The Art of War, 7 Seconds, The Detonator… to name just some of them. And I bet looking at that list, nearly everyone can say they’ve seen as least one. Probably liked it too.

It’s always good watching. The bloke is super-fit and you can tell he always puts 110% into his roles. And it shows in the hard edged titles he has amassed to date.

Awesome.

Think I’ll watch the Blade series again while I’m off.

And Demolition Man too.

John Spartan: “Is it cold in here, or is it just me?”
Simon Phoenix: “Good memory”.

Ahh the golden age of action films.

Link: The Contractor @ IMDB

Well, with my holiday time coming up next week - and it being Thursday, the holiday mode is really starting to set in.

I awoke this morning to my alarm (footsteps down the hallway, Mum yelling at me to get out of bed), rolled over, had a look at the clock and decided to grab another 10 minutes of shut-eye.

This kept up for about half an hour or so, the point at which I decided it was best I get up or I wouldn’t get into work at all.

I really can’t wait for holidays. I’ve not had a day off yet since the Christmas break, so it will be a welcome rest.

Sleep-ins, some PS3-ing, driving, watching films.. and maybe I’ll get my finger out and buy my new camera.. can’t think of a better time to learn a new cam that a week off. When I can drive around all day snapping pics.

No doubt I’ll lounge around doing very little, catching some rays (if the weather permits) - and there’s a bit of housesitting involved, so I can’t just up and leave - but nonetheless, I really can’t wait for 4:30pm tomorrow.

Viva la Holiday!

I’ve not been a (serious) online gamer since my days of Quake. Ahh, sure there have been games since then, taunting me in attempt to lure me back to the dark side. Half-Life/Counterstrike got me close. Many an afternoon would I arrive home only to jump into Steam and boot up Counterstrike: Source - many a weekend when boredom was offset by computer terrorism (albeit simplistic) simulations.

The reality is, nothing since Quake has really captured my interest. In those days of rocket jumps and gibs, online gaming was a fresh concept - and at the time, Quake was the ultimate first-person shooter. You couldn’t go past it. You couldn’t find anyone who hadn’t at least heard of the game. My reputation as ObLiVioN became a household name* in precision shooting.

One day though, the time came for me to hang up the gloves. I retired.

Like Jordan and numerous other sports stars/celebs, I had forays back into the genre (at least 5 official retirements as far as I can remember), but really, it was over. I had discovered girls (somehow their presence had thusly eluded me behind the walls of the computer room and an Internet full of male gamers) and afternoons - and eventually weekends - we spent in admiration of the female form, rather than the pixelated masses of Chthon, Fiends, Vores and lightning-wielding Shamblers.

Most recently, I became aware of an online ability within the Playstation 3. This is a novel idea for a games console (yeah yeah, I know its not the first, the PS3 was last to the game, etc) and particularly when the PS holds the coveted title of ‘Gran Turismo bearer’.

Imagine the possibility. Playing GT. Over the wires. With mates from all over the globe.

The prospect was too much to bear. This added to the many reasons why I succumbed and bought a PS3.

Yesterday evening, MM and I embarked on a mighty adventure into the online world of Playstation. Once again, we were up and running almost instantly, no hitches, no delays (this is getting to be a habit with this PS3. Everything is far too easy) and without further adieu, we were MotorStorming our little hearts out.

And we would continue to do so for many hours hence.

There’s something about blasting over rough terrain, through mud and over canyons, carving passage through narrow ravines and soaring through the sky over impossible jumps in rough-and-tough Rally cars, Dirt Bikes, ATV’s, Buggys, that just gets the laughter rumbling.

A night time rally through a 4-lap stage with no headlights - just the dim Moonlight to guide you, praying you’re not going to hit a rock, or blast the Boost feature right as you clip the edge of a fallen tree sending you ass over handlebars in slow-motion shame.

MotorStorm is truly a fantastic piece of evolutionary gaming. It gets back to that ‘less is more’ concept. Few cool cars, big open track. And just go for it.

Ultimately, its a next-gen game - but luckily, it doesn’t suffer the next-gen curse that most seem to; That is all graphics, no gameplay. MotorStorm would have to be the most gamey game I’ve played since Quake.

So even while MM is riding alongside me, fists of his character punching madly at the air, hoping to connect with my green-suited biker, eventually spearing me off into the dirt, gravel and trees, you can’t help but cack yourself laughing.

Especially when all his concentration has been focussed so brutally on my own riders’ downfall, he fails to notice the wall rapidly approaching dead ahead.

I haven’t laughed as hard, for that long, in quite a while.

* possibly an exaggeration of the truth.

I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my biiiiike..

So we at home are now the proud owners of a $60, 15-speed mountain bike.

Why you might ask? Well, it’s our new ‘keep fit’ tool. And my parents arrived home with it on Sunday.

While I’ve been perfectly content lately with walking, the rowing machine, and the stepper thing, I have to admit a childish excitement when we started assembling this thing, connecting up all the cables and such.

Taking it for test drives up the street and back then making the necessary adjustments to the cables so the gears changed smoothly and the chain didn’t pop off the gear every 3 seconds.. it was all very reminiscent of the days when me and my mates used to ride our pushies all day long.

One of us would get a new set of wheels, so we’d all come over to his house, unpack it, construct it and tweak it until it was just right - then we’d go out and ride for the rest of the day.

The difference being that these days, you get much more bike for $60. Those sort of coins (and bear in mind, it was a few months pocket money back then) would only get you a one speed basic BMX.. nowadays, it buys you a solid little 15-speed with all the bells and whistles. Quick assembly and pretty nice construction.

Whether I’ll use it regularly or not is the other question, but I got a kick out of riding it up and down the street yesterday. Still have to buy a helmet too, but for now, its looking like good fun.

And exercise to boot.

Thanks to MM and his recommendation that I join - or at least take a look at the PS3 Forums regularly - I have discovered the wonders of TVersity and live streaming of video to the PS3.

What was essentially a 5 minute production now means that I can watch any video (or audio, or picture) file I have on my PC through the PS3 on the big 40″ tele.

Awesome.

No longer do I have to waste a CD, or do lengthy conversions between file formats. Just chuck it into the share folder, open it on the PS3.

Simply put, this has to be the easiest system I’ve ever encountered for the ‘plug and play’ experience. Something as complex as video streaming over a home network all accomplished - and most importantly - working - in like 5 minutes is incredible.

Yay for Top Gear and Fifth gear on the big TV… hehe…

It’s not often these days that a trilogy manages to keep your interest all the way through.

Usually they are padded out. Like they were one movie.. or even two movies, that someone decided “Let’s make three films out of it, because that’s all the latest jazz of film-making at the moment” and what you get is a core story - sometimes pretty good - and about 3 hours of bloating.

Lord of the Rings was the ultimate in trilogy length. The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King at 178 min, 179 min and 201 min respectively (or 208 min, 223 min and 251 min if you’re up for signing a significant portion of your life away in watching the ‘extended editions’) were great - but you always got the feeling that they could have been shorter. It wouldn’t have harmed the films - and it would most certainly, have been easier to sit through their entireties in the theatre.

The Bourne Trilogy is one of those that somehow makes you feel like you’ve watched one film. Three films that felt like one, neat, final product - rather than one film that was made into three.

The Bourne Ultimatum is no exception to the trilogy rule. It finalises the first two films and all the while maintaining that fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat action we’ve come to expect from the Bourne character.

As always the car chasing is wild, even turning to bikes. And there’s the trademark hand-to-hand combat scene that has to be seen to be believed.

All around, these are polished pieces of film making. No lapses in concentration, always keeping you interested and surprised, with enough twists to keep you guessing, but not so many as to have you confused. Not to mention plenty of action and intense.

Fantastic.

‘Tis just a shame that my DVD of the Bourne Supremacy is a bad copy (bought it from HMV, took it home, watched it, hangs up and goes boxy for about 2 minutes right at the critical ‘confession’ phase of the film. Took it back, got an exchange, the exchange does the same thing! D’oh!).

Have to re-buy it again one day I guess…

Links: The Bourne Ultimatum @ IMDB

As I sit here, sipping on a fantastic brew of Country Cup ‘Cream of Chicken and Mushroom’ Soup for morning tea, I find myself realising just how good soup is.

I used to have soup all the time. Tomato, Big Red to be exact was one of my favourites. Then there was Chicken and Corn - also from the Country Cup variety. Honestly, though any soup would do.

Then I stopped. I don’t know why exactly - maybe the Soup Nazi packed up and left town - and I had no other option. I’m not sure. But this Winter, we got a permanent jug in the office so I started buying packets of soup again..

Maybe times have changed since I was last a soup fan, but I’m in awe of all the flavours and varieties soup comes in now. The soup section of the local Woolies is like an entire aisle and every flavour imaginable is covered. Not only is every flavour covered, but also every style and every mix-in too.

You can get soup with noodles, without noodles. With croutons or without. They come with herbs. You can buy the creamy or less-creamy (I assume) variety.

With such a multitude of soups, the decision to purchase a single soup packet becomes much more difficult.

What flavour do I want? Do I want an additional mix in? Do I get plain soup, or soup with noodles? Should I get the creamy variety? Should I get it with the croutons?!

It becomes one big game of Choose Your Own Adventure.

Sure, its nothing like walking into the Soup Kitchen and having to deal with the over-regimentation that ‘Yev Kasem’; AKA the Soup Nazi, constantly demanded of his patrons, but it is just as taxing to the senses.

Go the cold cucumber, wild mushroom, corn and clam chowders, jambalaya, turkey chili, lima bean, tomato noodle, mulligatawny, and crab and lobster bisques.

Mmmmm soup.

NEXT!

It’s here. The official full HD trailer is finally online.

Iron Man Trailers

Nothing more to say really. Right now I’m too excited for this to convey any more details.

Except to say. Watch it. NOW.

Link: Iron Man Trailers

and just in case you missed it…

Iron Man Trailers!!!!!!!!!

Heroes in a half-shell.

Turtle power!

I wondered if a fully animated flick would do justice to the old films. I remember watching the classics - and with the exception of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (which kinda lost the plot) - they were awesome films. I don’t know that I’d ever watch them again for fear of tarnishing the memory I have of them - but at the time, they were awesome.

I’ve always has a soft spot for the Turtles. They were probably my favourite characters as a kid. My Brother and I both had pretty much all of the action figures between us, plus the Turtle Van and heaps of accessories.

Fond memories driving them around in the sandpit in our backyard that’s for sure.

So naturally, I’m going to be excited about the prospect of a new TMNT movie!

And without beating around the bush, I’ll go out and say - the new one was simply awesome!

Not at all what I was expecting, but an extremely modern, great facelift of the long-running series.

From the new faced Turtles, to the modernesque April O’Neil (now a kick-arse sword master herself, voiced by Sarah Michelle Gellar), to the cool stone warriors - to the new face of Splinter - and the complete wicked Foot Clan! (led by - or rather voice led by Ziyi Zhang).

Seriously worth a watch. Great flick if you ever followed the Turtles on their peanut-butter pizza coated adventures.

Cowabunga dude!

Link: TMNT @ IMDB

There comes a moment after you’ve bought a PS3, latter to realising you’ve just ventured into a whole new world of next-gen console technology, that you realise part of this whole ‘next-gen’ concept is the realm of High Definition movie viewing.

As an avid movie go-er, watcher and DVD-purchaser, the obvious next step was to get on the high definiton bandwagon.

This is of course no easy choice, thanks to the state of the market for HD media. On one hand you have the cheaper alternative, the (arguably) better - more appropriately named, red-case branded ‘HD-DVD’. While on the other, you have the higher-capacity, better-backed, (arguably) cooler named, blue-case branded ‘Blu-Ray’ disc.

Both deliver 1080 res imagery. Both are incompatible.

Muppets. The only way to describe the procrastinators of the battle that should never have been.

So now the early adopters are forced to make a risky decision and ‘choose’ one or the other. It’s a gamble. And the retailers are forced to charge higher premiums due to lower quantity yields - because the mass majority of people are too confused to even make a decision, so simply won’t buy one or the other until the dust settles.

I had fallen into the latter category - in no rush to back or support either system - that is of course, until I bought a PS3 - which pretty much makes me a Blu-Ray bandwagon rider.

Regardless of the format, the quality is simply superb. I purchased Shooter on Saturday. Watched it with Katie that afternoon. And good heavens, oh lordie, dear little baby Jesus who’s sittin’ in his crib watchin the Baby Einstein videos, learnin’ ’bout shapes and colors, is the quality superb.

Details you never knew existed suddenly appear before you.

The little bug flying about Mark Wahlberg’s head during the jungle scene, every subtle detail of facial features (not necessarily a good thing :P), text, textures and that extra added level of detail when Kate Mara pops onto screen for the first time wearing an every-so-slightly see-though white top and no bra.

Hoochie Mama? I think so.

But Blu-Ray is more than just muscles and nipples. It’s the next generation of movie viewing. It’s sensational picture quality, amazing sound quality and the feeling that you’ve just caught up with the rest of the world again - stayed up-to-date with the emerging technologies. For the first time ever, I think I’m one of the early(ish) adopters of a technology that’s future hangs in the balance of a console war and a consumers market.

It’s all just a little bit exciting. Our own little technology war. All from the safety of my lounge chair.

Safe in the knowledge that a nip-slip will never go unnoticed ever again.

With the exception of Gran Turismo, the title that I was most looking forward to on the PS3 was F1 Championship Edition.

A PC gamer at heart, we’ve been long denied a great F1 racing game for our platform. One to do the rich new graphics and much more powerful processing systems justice. The PS3 however, was not left out of the loop. As a release title, its done an amazing job of pulling off a truly polished finish.

Jumping straight into a single player ‘Quick Race’, the sensation of speed is well realised - coming straight from an hour or two of GTHD, its like going from riding a push-bike to sitting on the nose of a space shuttle at takeoff.

Thus, for a novice, who immediately over-estimates their abilities, choosing the medium difficulty level with no driving assists, you quickly find yourself in 22nd place - or in a wall, missing wheels and your front wing.

A much more realistic approach is necessary - and after a few (mildly) more successful Quick Races, I decided to jump into the big league.

‘Career’ mode.

Immediately you have a manager. He’s emailed you and informs you that he’s set you up with a couple of drives for a few of the ‘entry-evel’ teams. Midland MF1, Scuderia Torro Rosso and Super Aguri.

10 laps to beat the target time on a random track of the 2006 F1 season and you’ll likely get awarded a drive.

Clearing the target time by a good 4 seconds, I secured my drive for Team Super Aguri. Alongside Yuji Ide.

At that point, I had no idea if this was a good thing, or a truly horrendous thing - but advancing time and finding myself smack-bang in the middle of the Friday First Practice session of Round 1: Bahrain was an amazing feeling.

You evolve the car over the sessions. YOU do. The team chuck on a set of tyres and a certain fuel load. You go out, put in a consitent lap and assess it from there. The team configures tyre usages and recommends a race strategy based on wear rates and fuel usage.

Then its up to you to tweak the other areas of the car. Downforce, Suspension, Camber, Balance, Toe-In.. each change requires a consistent run to compare it to the last. Then you choose whether to head down the original route of evolutionary development or to take the new direction. You have to feel the car and how it behaves. It may be faster with the new setup, but it might be harder to drive. It all comes into play.

And it all has to be done in real-time to the Practice sessions.

Qualifying arrives and its the same platform as F1. 15 minute session, bank a time, go out and do another hardcore lap if you look like you’re going to get knocked out in the bottom six. Another 15 minute session of the same concept. Then the final 20 minute ‘fuel burn’ phase. Go out, run as many laps as possible. Bank a time while the tyres are still good. Pit, get new tyres, burn fuel, bank another lap.

It’s all quite tense and very exciting. A spin, or running wide at the chicane is enough to totally turn your session upside down.

Then comes the race. If you’re lucky, the conditions will be the same. And if you’ve taken the right route with your evolution, the car will be good and if you’re lucky, drive cleanly and handle your pit stops well (all have to be managed by you, and pit stops are carried out with a sequence of button pushes and co-ordination) you’ll end up in the front, on your first podium for Team Super Aguri.

Other times, you’ll be happy with your setup in practice, do well in Qualifying, only to find the race will be run on Intermediates due to torrential rains (awesome rain effect too I must add).

It’s pure eye-candy. Great fun and with the Career mode (can’t wait to get an offer from Renault or McLaren :P) its got some seriously good replayability.

I gave into temptation. The hint of a good deal, a processed tax return and I was walking out of the local retailer with a box full of Sony console (seemed more like I was carrying a box full of lead weights if I’m honest though).

It was only a matter of time before the likes of GTHD forced me to succumb to temptation. Not much longer would I have been able to put up with the constant taunting and jibing from MiniMinor. Telling me I just had to have one. Reminding me how good the system was. How amazing the graphics were. How fantastic GTHD is…

Each time I’d walk into Myer, or JB’s and see one running Motorstorm or GTHD, I couldn’t go past without taking at least a fiver out of my DVD-buying routine to pick up the controller and have a go. I’d play. And I’d like.

More often than not, I’d leave feeling like I was missing a piece of myself.

Thursday night however, all that changed (this also explains my absense to the Motorcade).

A PS3, two controllers, Motorstorm, F1 Championship Edition, Resistance: Fall of Man and an HDMI cable were all sitting on the floor of my TV room waiting to be set up.

That evening was the most wonderful technology filled evening of my life. I downloaded GTHD as soon as the system had updated and set some times. In fact, most of the evening would be spent playing this and watching films.

The graphics are simply incredible. Each frame is like looking at an ultra high-res still photo from the greatest of cameras. It will be a sweet day when GT5 Prologue hits the shelves - and an even sweeter day when the final release comes out in 2023 (knowing Polyphony :P)

The 2007 F1 season has been arguably the greatest we’ve seen for years in terms of racing. At least four drivers all had an equal chance - still have a chance - of taking the Driver’s crown this year. The racing has been sensational, the unpredictability marvellously compelling.

Off-track though, it’s been a shitfest of mud-slinging and name calling that’s torn at the very fabric of the sport and further tarnished - damaged, the credibility of the sport forever.

More than ten years and I’ve not missed a GP in some form or another. I’ve seen races, known results of every GP since about 1995 and never once before this year can I remember being so completely disappointed in the politics and absolutely appalled at the state of some who call themselves ‘fans’.

I’ve read of leaders being forced to the verge of tears trying to defend their teams’ credibility - while others rip shreds from them with razor teeth and searing false accusations. The Sports’ Governing body is out on an all-out witch hunt. Not even a verdict has stopped the endless onslaught of corporate probing, tarnishing reports and political slander.

And then there’s the ‘fans’ that spend the majority of a race doing nothing but wishing that the leading driver crashes, burns or retires, simply so ‘their’ driver can take a win.

ITV presenter Steve Rider, described the appearance of the Italian police at the doors of the McLaren garage on Saturday afternoon as a “cheap shot”. McLaren were even more scathing. “We strongly suspect that the nature and timing of this wholly unnecessary contact, just before the start of qualifying, was to disrupt our preparation for this important session and Thursday’s World Motor Sport Council hearing”.

It’s like a bunch of school kids have taken over the running of the multi-billion dollar industry and set about causing as much trouble as is humanly possible.

Something is missing from F1 this year. And that is the focus on racing. The brawls being decided on track. The talk being transferred to the fastest lap times and podium finishes. Overtaking moves. Qualifying strategies. Instead, its all too easy to wave a piece of paper at someone, or publish a worthless article on which driver could be tied with a spy scandal or which team should be excluded from the Championship.

Where did it go wrong? And why has it been let to go this far?

I really can’t be bothered following all this stuff any more. It just ain’t what it was a year or two ago.

The 2007 season will be remembered. Not for the arrival of the rookie, not for the closest fought championship, not for the excitement - but for political turmoil at a high-cost to the viewer. To the fan. The people that make the sport tick.

I can only hope its a swift turn-around.

Starring…

Gerard Butler.

Now I’m sure most of you will be going ‘Who?’.. but some of you - those of you who are the movie enthusiasts and watch modern films, paying attention to their stars, will know Gerard Butler is the one and only, King Leonidas, from Frank Miller’s “300“.

This… IS…. LOVE!

Nope, just doesn’t work does it.

I’m not one to typecast any actor or actress - and I have absolutely no problem whatsoever disassociating previous roles to enjoy new films.

But how do I watch a film when the whole time, I know.. I just KNOW, I’d be sitting there waiting for him to crack out the sword, and yell “TONIGHT, WE DINE IN.. Maricios’ Italian Restaurant my dear”.

There’s simply too many Internet parodies about the Leonidas character. I rarely go a day without seeing one of them.

It was just yesterday I was reading up about the new eSata external HDD’s, when someone in the thread had posted this:

Hilarious.

See the problem is that 300 was so well received by the ‘general masses’ and is so much part of popular culture, like all things popular, its everywhere. So the face of Gerard Butler is permanently a reminder of King Leonidas’ legacy.

While I’ve no doubt he can act a role like this brilliantly - after all, he played the The Phantom in the 2004 version of The Phantom of the Opera, so I’m sure a romantic role would be within the realm of possibility - it would be very difficult to shed the links and watch P.S. I Love You without picking a line, or a scene, where he can be transformed once again into King Leonidas.

Ahh how the Internet has changed our World forever.

Link: P.S. I Love You
Link: Gerard Butler @ IMDB

Just got crazier.

Uno.

We all know the name. Those of you who keep up-to-date with this blog will know my history with the card game that consumes a forever of time.

It is a sensational card game. It’s been played with friends and lovers. You can even play it with complete strangers such is its amazing ability to wow the mind.

Wars could be avoided with the use of this game, I’m almost sure of it. World leaders should sit down with a deck of Uno and before you know it, we’d all be at peace.

Recently, a woman requested that - for her 20th Birthday - I ensure that I locate and add to her Birthday chest, an instance of an Uno variant, aptly titled; Uno Attack.

Uno with an automatic card launcher. Instead of drawing from the draw pile, you press the button on the card launcher. And the launcher will randomly spit out no cards or a bunch of cards.

UNO Attack includes different cards than the original UNO.

“Draw Two” is replaced by “Hit Two”, which causes the next player to hit the Launcher button twice.

“Wild Draw-Four” is replaced by “Wild Hit Fire”, in which the next player must hit the launcher button until it fires. “Hit Fire” can only be played if the player using the card does not have the color being played in their hand.

“Discard All”, which, when played, allows the player to discard all cards of the color of the “Discard All” card.

“Wild Hit All”, which requires every player, except the one that played the card, to hit the Launcher button, is added. “Hit All” can only be played if the player using the card does not have the color being played in their hand.

“Trade Hands”, allows the person playing the “trade hands” card to trade his hand for another player’s. Perhaps the most dangerous, powerful card in the Attack game. Always good for those last minute situations when your opponent is down to one card and you’ve just picked up another 5 to add to your already losing 20.

Fantastic game.

Season 2.

Yes. Those buggers from the UK are getting it right now. It’s showing over there, the second series of possibly my only ‘favourite’ TV show in current existence (well that’s not entirely true, I tuned into Californication last week with David Duchovny - and it was actually quite good, funny, he drives a Porsche and there were plenty of boobs, so I rate that highly too).

Alas, we in the land down under, have to wait.

Ah. The bitter taste of waiting. It leaves a vile taste in my mouth. Much like Broccoli.

I’m sure that one day soon it will appear on Australian TV - giving me reason to actually watch some free-to-air television again. And one day after that, it will appear on DVD again, the IT Crowd v2.0 I’m guessing, and I’ll be able to snap it up at the first available opportunity.

I must admit to being somewhat ignorant when it comes to television shows these days. Maybe I’m becoming a cynic in my old age But for whatever reason, I just can’t be bothered turning it on any more. It’s rubbish TV, reality shows and the over-abundance of advertisements that I just can’t tolerate. So I’d put on a DVD.

In this action, I’ve probably cut myself from a bunch of little screen gems.

Thankfully, we have the Internet though. And wonders like the IT Crowd and Californication don’t go entirely unnoticed for those of us that had once given up hope on television.

Finally got around to booking some time off.

I’m officially off work for a week beginning on the 24th September! Thanks to the weekends - and the October long weekend, that means that for 5 days of leave time, I finish work on Friday the 21st and don’t go back until the 2nd of October.

Awesome.

Seriously looking forward to some time off. I should have taken a week back in June, but just never got around to it. Now it looms on the horizon, taunting me with its ever-nearing sleep-ins and late nights. Not to mention it’ll give me a bit more spare time to do some job hunting!

Bring on the end of the month. I need a vacation