Well it’s been a long time coming but I’ve finally set up wordpress on my web server!
the new site is:
ps. If anyone knows how to do a re-direct from this blog without breaching the wordpress user-policy please let me know!
Today is Mickey Mouse’s 80th birthday and he’s looking pretty good for his age!
The Walt Disney Company celebrates his birth as November 18, 1928 upon the release of Steamboat Willie. The anthropomorphic mouse has evolved from being simply a character in animated cartoons and comic strips to become one of the most recognizable symbols in the world. Mickey is currently the main character in the Disney Channel’s Playhouse Disney series “The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.”
So from Celebrityscraps… Happy Birthday Mickey!!!
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As of midnight tonight the new Warcraft expansion “The Wrath of the Lich King” goes live and millions of players all over the globe will embark on playing the latest installment of Blizzards long awaited sequel to their last expansion for the World of Warcraft.
It may surprise you to know that If you walk through a crowded town centre the statistics predict that you will never be more than 10 feet away from a World of Warcraft (WoW) player…. that’s quite a scary stat too!
I used to play this game regularly and am at a point now where I only dabble for a few hours a week. I have friends who have racked up over A YEAR in time spent in front of their screen playing WoW! While this is not uncommon around the globe I’m surprised that Blizzard Entertainment are not doing anything to tackle the problem of Warcraft addiction…. and it is an addiction.
I still play the game but the fact is I only do it to maintain the social aspect which I like. In truth the game is pointless. The only fun I have in it now is within the conversations with the players. I’m not really having any fun anymore playing the game cos it’s become repetitive, a constant goal of more epics… no real achievements, plenty of purple gear but nothing really gained…. and to make matters worse the new expansion negates all progress you’ve made by raising the bar to level 80 and rendering all your hard earned gear obsolete. I’ll play the new expansion cos it’ll be fun to explore the new aspects of the game they have introduced… but once I’m lvl 80 I can imagine i’ll not play much.
The real fact is Blizzard need to face up to the issue that they are destroying peoples lives by not setting play limits on the game. There are groups everywhere for people who have lost everything through WoW addiction. Check out a few:
Here’s a vid to help people quit too! – How to Quit Playing WoW!
Remember peeps… everything in moderation!
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Well I promised a review when it came out, but have been very busy so apologies. I’ve now managed to squeeze a reasonable amount of gaming time in on the side and I have to say that Fallout 3 is a masterpiece.
The stats system lends itself to the original two games, enabling you to create a diversely skilled and seemingly unique character. There are also multiple ways to solve each quest so you get to play the game the way you want.
The Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, or VATS, plays an important part in the fighting phases of the game. While using VATS, real-time combat is paused creating a combat system that the Bethesda developers have described as a hybrid between turn-based and real-time combat. Various actions cost action points, limiting the actions of each combatant during a turn, and both the player and enemies can target specific body areas for attacks to inflict specific injuries. The game features a new health and radiation system as well. The player can measure an object’s radioactivity and gauge the effect it will have on the character.
Another cool thing is that firearms wear out over time (they are over 200years old since manufacture!): as a weapon degenerates, its rate of fire slows and it loses accuracy. However, worn out firearms can be used to repair a similar weapon, or to make more reliable and powerful weapons. Weapon schematics can also be found and used to create various devices such as the Rock-it Launcher, created by combining a vacuum cleaner, leaf blower, fire-hose nozzle, and a conductor, that can fire various items such as lunchboxes and stuffed animals, or the Bottlecap Mine, made out of a lunchbox, cherry bomb, sensor module, and bottle caps. Along with equipping various weapons, the player can also utilize different armors and clothing that may have effects that can alter various skills. For example, a pair of mechanic’s coveralls may boost the player’s repair skill while it is worn. Armor and clothing come in two main parts for the head and body, allowing a player to wear different combinations of hats and armor. Also, a player’s inventory has a specified weight limit, preventing a player from carrying too many items. Some items like weapon ammo have no weight, due to the developer not wishing to bog down inventory management.
The karma system is an important feature in the game-play. The player’s actions, including conversation and combat choices affect the player’s status in the game world; a player who makes good choices will be received more positively by NPCs, and a player that makes bad choices will have the opposite reaction. Extremes of karma also have other effects: a high karma leads to the player being attacked by bounty hunters, and for random NPCs to give the player gifts in thanks of their service. Crimes can also be committed by a player, and whichever faction or group that is harmed by a crime will be fully aware of the player’s action. Other factions that were not affected by the crime will not be aware of it, and since a town is usually its own faction, news of a crime committed in one town will not spread to another. Factions can range in size and boundaries, however, and may not be restricted to a single area. The game world itself is similar in size to that of Oblivion, which has a 16 square mile game world.
The fact you have such a huuuge amount of area to explore and the 100 hours plus in game-play and quests means you won’t get bored of Fallout 3 any time soon!
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Everyone who prides them selves of knowing a bit about film will have seen Jurassic Park. It was one of the first films to use realistic CG to create creatures and we all know the tale of how the dinosaurs were cloned.
Mosquitoes feed on Dino blood – fly gets stuck in amber – amber fossilises – 45 million years later human takes Dino blood from amber encased fly and clones Dino.
Well now in the real world the same technique has been used to make beer using a strain of yeast from 45 million years ago!
The company is called the Fossil Brewing Co. and their site says the process went a bit like this:
“Dr. Raul Cano, using amber obtained from locations around the world (including Burma, Central and North America), isolated and revived a bacterium, which had lain dormant in the gut of an encased bee for approximately 40 million years (Science 268, pp. 1060-1064, 1995). During his research, Dr. Cano, periodically working with Mr. Lambert, isolated a few yeast strains that resembled modern Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In other words, they are similar to the yeast we use every day for brewing and baking, except the newly discovered yeasts were much further back in the evolutionary chain. Essentially, Dr. Cano isolated the long lost ancestors of modern brewing yeast.”
They are not shipping the beer outside of their suppliers yet, but I’ve been added to their mailing list so as soon as it’s possible I’ll be treating myself to a glass of Fred Flinstone’s favourite lager…. or close enough!
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I’ll let Chris’s description on his website save me the bother of introducing him, although if you work in social media he should need no introduction: “Chris Brogan is a ten year veteran of using social media and technology to build digital relationships for businesses, organizations, and individuals. Chris speaks, blogs, writes articles, and makes media of all kinds at http://www.chrisbrogan.com/, a blog in the top 20 of the Advertising Age Power150, and in the top 100 on Technorati. ” …. there.. done.. dusted, and for anyone who hasn’t heard of him…. *he knows what he’s on about*
For all of you who want to extra insight from a clever mind into the world of social media I suggest you check out Chris’s site as it’s full of useful information for everyone.
I was recently having an email conversation with Laura Roeder, a social media and blogging strategist based in Los Angeles regarding Chris’s site, and how people who have heard of him don’t always realise how ‘in the know’ he is until they hit his site.
It was defiantly that way for me so I suggest that you all check out his site: http://www.chrisbrogan.com/
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Apologies for the late posting of this… my week has been frantic.
My exploits at the MCM ranged a bit further than chin-wagging with the boys and girls from Heroes. I also got a chance to check out the Q&A for a new series called Demons and chat with Michael Hogan (Colonal Tigh) from Battlestar Galactica (article coming soon).
Demons is a contemporary spin on the legacy of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, set above and beneath the streets of modern-day London. Philip Glenister stars in the new six-part drama series, and plays Rupert Galvin, a larger-than-life American with a tragic past and a zero-tolerance policy to the rabble of mythical “half-life” entities that exist all around us.
Galvin enters into the life of his teenage god-son, Luke (Christian Cooke – Echo Beach, Robin Hood), whose father died in mysterious circumstances 15 years before, little does Luke know what will be thrust upon him. There are supernatural forces at work and it is Luke’s destiny, as the last descendent of the Van Helsing line, to smite the half-lives that stalk our streets.
The Q&A was interesting but didn’t really tell me any more than I already knew from the wikipedia articles. I did gather though that we will be seeing a few “proper” vampires in the show and the writers “might” (which is producer-talk for WILL) be putting Dracula in the show but not in the first series.
One thing that does echo as similar is the “teenager with an elder guide having a destiny thrust upon them” theme….. sound familiar…. Yes that’s cos they did the EXACT same thing in Buffy the Vampire Slayer!!!
Whilst the concept may not be entirely new, the fomula is one that is prooven to work… so based on that I’m going to reserve judgement until I’ve seen a few episodes.
Also: I have a signed pic of the production crew and cast of Demons which will be going out on Celebrityscraps Xmas givaway!
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Continuing my chronicles at the MCM Expo we’ve already heard what Greg Grunberg had to say, the next member of the Heroes cast I got to quiz at the Expo was Brea Grant.
For those of you who have just been released from 6 months of solitary; Brea is one of the new cast members in Heroes, she plays a thief called Daphne who is a girl who can run very VERY fast.
So the first time I heard the name Brea Grant was in an announcement of the new additions to the Heroes cast many moons ago. Then as the hype for the new season ramped up I started searching the new additions and to my surprise found that Brea is one of the few actors who is fully immersed in online culture. She’s on Facebook, Blogs, Webcasts, and regularly uses Twitter.
This heavy use of social media and level of transparency has made Brea one of the new favourites of the Heroes cast and she’s established a huge fan-base through the many different channels she’s using to promote herself and Heroes. You can tell her fans deeply appreciate the personal touch she brings to them too.
A big shout must also go out to Laura Roeder as well as she is the person responsible for keeping the online world of Brea running as it should.
Anyway… so my first questions to Brea went out to her in the group Q&A.
First she talked a bit about her character:
Brea: “From the moment I walked in they (the Writers) had a very brilliant idea for the character pretty much mapped out for at least the first four or so episodes to see what was going to happen. That’s been amazing just going in…. the writers are geniuses and they are always there for me to talk to them and ask questions like ‘why would Daphne do this?’. My character was pretty much shaped before I even set foot on the set”
Greg jumps in and adds:
Greg: “You usually don’t get an idea of what’s coming until you get the script, but they called me up and said will you come read on some of these final auditions… and so I did. So they did a scene where where we first meet and we (Greg and Brea) had a scene together. It was great to do that cos when we auditioned i was like ‘please…PLEASE…She’s fantastic!’ *point at Brea*”
I then got to ask a 2nd question:
Patrick: “Out of all the Heroes cast you use blogs and online technology quite heavily. Do you find this important to relate to your fans?”
Brea’: “I think it’s important to be able to use my blog to let people know what’s going on. It’s great to be able to get questions from people all over the world and be able to respond. I also think it adds a personal touch and that’s important.”
Patrick: “The people reading your blog seem to think so. I also noticed that you’re a regular user of twitter and that you recently got Greg (Grunberg) involved”
Brea: “Yea… there’s a funny story behind that.. we were stuck at the airport and I set Greg up on Twitter but forgot to disable the email you get when people add you on it.”
*Greg jumps into the conversation*
Greg: “So my email’s got like 1000 emails in it by the time I get off the plane. Which I only discover when I turn on my phone! …and just to make matters worse when I was coming out they asked If I wanted to upgrade my data package and I was like ,…Naaah I’ll be fine… what am I gonna download on my phone while I’m there…” *makes a painful face*
Brea: “I felt bad about that”
I didn’t get any more questions over to Brea in the Q&A session but managed to speak to her just before she was being made shiny and glam by the make-up girls. As it was an informal chat I went with an different line of question:
Patrick: “So Brea.. are you missing your dog?”
*see Brea’s Twitter for cute dog pics*
Brea: “I am… she’s being looked after by a friend at the moment.. although I’m a bit worried… last time I came back and she’d been in a fight with a raccoon.”
Patrick: “Really!? A raccoon?”
Brea: “Yeah she had a bite on her. It’s wasn’t nice”
That was about all I got to ask Brea at the Expo. I did have a bit of a chat with her and Greg at the autograph table later but nothing noteworthy although I must admit I did see something funny transpire. One guy was taking pics of Brea at the autograph table for ages… even the people getting autographs were telling him to stop… so Brea gets out her camera and takes a pic of him… raised a few laughs although you had to be there.
Anyway… Brea Grant the Speedster Semi-Villain (not made up my mind yet) from Heroes.
She’s was lovely to meet, and you should check her blog out at http://www.Breagrant.com
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I wake early on sunday morning and make the agonising journey on packed public transport down to Wembley Stadium to see the once a year International NFL match. “I should have driven!”
Arriving at the stadium and very hungry I’m confronted with £6 burger prices and excessivly priced merchandise…. not a good start.
I enter the tailgate party which is basically a few bars… a stage with a New Orleans style band … and a big tent to drink in. That’s it…. this I was not impressed with, and must say that the tailgate party hosted by the Dolphins the previous year was much better…. maybe the Saints are trying to capture the atmosphere of “post hurricane New Orleans”??
Anyway I decide to stop wasting time and head for the stadium.
I arrive… get a reasonably priced beer and take my seat. It’s about 3 rows from the front so I’m pleased i’ll be able to get a good view of the cheerleaders… and the game too!
This is where the experience turned from a chore to a delight. As it was the home game every seat had a New Orleans Saints flag for us to wave merrily. That was a nice touch and definatly paid off from a TV point of view because as soon as the cameras are on the crowd all you could see was flags waving.
Right… to cut a long story short the game was in all fairness one of the best I’ve watched in a long time, and right till the last second (no word of a lie) could have gone either way. It will probably also win a competition for the most penalties handed out in an NFL match this season.
The Chargers played well… a bit rough.. but well, and the Saints put on a stunning performance that certianly pleased the crowd. Check the hightlights: HERE!
The trip back was another matter. 84,000 people hit the streets of Wembley and try to get on the London Underground…..EPIC FAIL!!!!
To resolve this transport issue my buddy and I run about 4 miles up the road to catch a different underground line… which we were able to get on although the situation did resemble that of battery chickens we were that packed in.
Bottow line… the game was awesome and worth it… but next year I’ll drive!
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I’m sitting in the corner of a small room located in the press office of the Excel centre in London waiting for the some of the cast of Heroes to arrive for a Q&A session. Looking at the line of chairs up against the wall I can’t help but draw a contrast between what I’m seeing and the classic ‘firing squad’ image… then I relalise that I’m playing the role of the marksman…. too late to back out now… they are arriving….
Greg Grunberg rolls into the room followed by Brea Grant, David H Lawrence, Ken Lally and Andre Royo. Within seconds Greg has already destroyed a camera stand. A grin creeps across my face as I realise this is not going to be the standard rigid press affair I choose to tolerate.
After the rest of the group has asked their questions and the press Q&A starts to wrap up I decide now is my time to corner ‘Grunny’ for a decent chat.
My first question was obviously… “Do you think you’re death in the film Hollow Man could have been better?”
Greg rolls into this one with ease:
“Man so much more could have been done with that film. The guy goes invisible and what’s the first thing he does?… goes and feels up a bunch of women, then goes crazy and kills people. So much more could have been done with that film. When he’s driving and scares the kids in the other car *Greg imitates the scene*, that’s the type of stuff that we should have been doing!…. and I’d have loved to be in the sequel too… but … oh… wait…. that’s right I’m dead!”
Suddenly my chat with Greg is cut short by one of the events personnel whisking him off to the main press office. I follow and after some ninja like sneakery I’m back to talking to Greg in the press office while the events staff work out how to get him out of there without getting mobbed by 30,000 fans.
So next we get chatting about his celebrity band. For any of you who don’t know Greg’s band is called “Band from TV” and all of the members are actors from various TV Shows.
The band’s members are Greg Grunberg (Drums), James Denton (Guitar), Jesse Spencer (Violin), Bonnie Sommerville (Vocals), Bob Guiney (Vocals), Teri Hatcher (vocals), Adrian Pasdar (Guitar) and Hugh Laurie (Keyboards).
I ask Greg if he’s planning to do any gigs in the UK, he replies: “Man we really wanna get that happening. Hugh was saying he wants to do a few performances in the UK… we’re working on it.”
At this point I committed to plugging the band on this blog (again) so as a man of my word – ALL OF YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT BAND FROM TV’S ALBUM “HOGGIN ALL THE COVERS“. IT’S FOR CHARITY SO IF YOU DON’T BUY IT I’LL BE POSTING YOUR NAMES TO GREG AND YOU WILL BE ‘ON HIS LIST‘.
Ok so now that I’ve plugged the band we can get back to the interview/chat. So we’re talking about the band and Brea comes down to get herself made up by the lovely make-up girls (who had been up since 4am – unlucky girls). Our conversation then goes a bit like this:
Patrick: “Hey man you should get Brea in on the band action”
Greg: “yeah I just found out she’s a drummer… she plays drums!”
Patrick: “You’re a drummer!”
Greg: “You know it’d be great to get her in for a song… like she comes on and sits on the drums and I sing a song that’d be huge”
Patrick: “Yeah or you could be on the drums and get her on the Bongos or something”
Greg: “Definatly!.. watch this space”
So there you have it.. now all Greg has to do is get Brea to agree… but I doubt that’ll be hard for him.
We then move on to the subject of mind reading… I ask him where he got the inspiration for the unique look on his face when he’s reading minds on Heroes. His response “Yea… cos if someone came up to you and did it *makes the face* you’d be like – what are you looking at?”
He then proceeds to fill me in on a few Heroes season 3 spoilers which I’m not gonna publish. Sorry peeps!
We then briefly move on to the subject of Twitter. Greg has gone Twitter mad since he was introduced to it last thursday and he loves the fact he can keep all his fans up to date with all his movements. Check Greg’s Twitter: HERE
So that’s it. Greg Grunberg at the MCM Expo and what a nice guy he is too! Again.. buy “Band from TV’s album!” It’s for charity!
COMING SOON: What Brea Grant has to say on Blogging, Auditions and raccoon attacks.
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