Hubble, Bubble, Toil & Trouble

...anyone got a cauldron?

Saddam Execution

Seems that Saddam Hussein is to be hanged within the next 24 hours and has been handed over by the Americans to the Iraqi authorities, according to the various news channels. I wonder if they will show it live? Assuming they won't I wonder how long before it's available on Youtube? or similar places.

Seems to me to be a politically motiviated quick execution, how many other crimes will he not be tried for now? If I was a victim of one of the other crimes I would want my bite of the justice pie. I could, perhaps, understand the speed of this if it was going to help stabilise Iraq, but it won't.

Normally I'm strictly hang 'em and flog 'em and have no problems with death penalties for certain offences - including any involving me or my family :) - but in this case I'm not so sure, certainly I have doubts about the apparent speed and lack of additional trials.

Update
I knew it wouldn't take long to get it on the internet. His execution videoed on a mobile phone (can you believe they got that in??) is available here.

Becky, Alfred and Buzz Lightyear

His 'laser' is beginning to annoy me now.

Alfred

He doesn't like the current choice of music so has decided to pick some of his own favourites.

Buzz Lightyear, Space Ranger

Seems to be Alfred's favourite toy this year. However if he is in the pub he had better stand a round or leave, Space Ranger or no Space Ranger.

Fagan's, Sheffield

Fagan's is a top quality pub with great Tetleys and the food is very good at reasonable prices. We had a excellent afternoon in here and probably wouldn't be leaving just yet if it wasn't for peoples commitments.

Kate

Kate enjoying an afternoon on the lash.

Fagan's, Sheffield

Princess Royal regulars on tour in Fagan's. Terry, Julie, Kate, Tom, and James.

Becky Dancing

June Dancing

It was Abba as well, who I have a soft spot for.

Alfred & The Corn Snake

I can see Alfred wanting one of these when he is a little older. I don't mind, he's never having a dog or cat though.

Christmas Dinner at Kate & James

Kate and James kindly invited me around for Christmas lunch as the wife was working. Very nice of them and the whole day was excellent thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Julie & Becky

It's Christmas! Bah humbug.

Elf Yourself!

It's quiet at work so a few work colleagues 'Elfing' themselves (or more accurately people 'Elfing' others):

Phil Barber
Katherine Martin
Andy Hutson
Dave Roberts
Sue Chant
Jas Gill
Dharmesh Kotak

Don't they look cute?

The Three Tuns, Sheffield

The Three Tuns is a decent city centre pub which normally serves good condition hand-pulled beer, often busy at lunchtimes and early evening due to it's vincinity which is near a number of large offices. However, on today's visit it had run out of hand-pulled Tetley's (suprising given it is owned by a ex-Tetley's area manager), and the service was particularly abysmal. I personally had two people manage to jump in front of me and get served, unforgiveable as when I went up to the bar I was the only person there!

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Review

Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Platform Reviewed: Gamecube
Release Date (UK): 15/12/06 (08/12/06 WII)
Genre: Fantasy / RPG
Players: 1

During my endeavours to unsuccessfully find a Nintendo WII (see early posting) - mainly because I wanted to play The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - I discovered that it had come out on the Gamecube. Whilst I have enjoyed the Gamecube since it came out, it's not something I keep my eye on very much nowadays. I had completely forgotten that Zelda was coming out for it. Anyway apart from the lack of a Wiimote controller, 16:9 widescreen support, and that the WII and Gamecube versions are mirror images of each other, the game is exactly the same. In fact it could be argued that the mirroring of the WII version to make Link right-handed is wrong.

Anyway - onto the game. As expected it's fantastic. Anyone who has played The Legend of Zelda: Ocaraina of Time will immediately feel at home here. This is TLoZTP's closest relation in all the Zelda games. The look of the game is that of an updated Ocarina, it plays similarly and most of the areas have that Ocarina feel. However everything is bigger and better as well, the graphics are excellent for a Gamecube with great draw distances and lighting effects. The puzzles can be challenging though usually logical, and the play area is huge. Just concentrating on the main quests, there is 70+ hours of play (after 11 hours I have only completed 2 out of what I believe to be 9 dungeons).

There are some new additions to the game, some of the weapons - and therefore the puzzles they invariably help solve - have changed and been upgraded. Some sections of the game take place in the 'twilight' where Link is transformed into a Wolf. When in wolf form you can communicate with all manner of animals but humans will shun you.

Some criticisms have been levelled at the game in the press, mainly relating to the old feel of the presentation, midi based music, no voice-overs etc. However I'm not convinced changing these would improve the presentation, I like the familiar midi tunes and quirky voice-like noices. All the emotion necessary for this game is excellently portrayed in the characters exaggerated faces. I think this is a very subjective view and I like the slightly (purposefully?) dated presentation. That said I do expect that Nintendo will change this now with the next release of a Zelda game on their main console.

Overall this is - as expected - a top game, Zelda is my favourite game series and Ocarina has been one of my favourite games of all time since it was released (though I have to say once completed it never really got revisited, thats the nature of these games with me), and this is better then Ocarina. A must have for any games player.

Rating: 10/10 - My game of the year 2006

Frank White, West Street Live, Sheffield

Minus Dale Storr, who was out supping with me and Bob instead.

West Street Live, Sheffield

£1.50 to get in to see Frank White (again), and no hand-pulled. Bargain.

Alfred On The Magic Roundabout

Thats what he called it - honest. I've not been on one of these for a while myself and I felt a bit of a prick going around on it in the middle of Sheffield city centre. But I quite enjoyed it all the same.

Frank White & Dale Storr, The Princess Royal, Crookes (again)

These two are included in the fixtures and fittings should the pub come up for sale.

Bolehill Recreational Ground, Crookes, Sheffield

The following posts are various pictures taken from the Bolehill recreational ground in Crookes, Sheffield. There fantastic views from up here overlooking the Rivellin and Don Valleys and across to Stannington. It was very windy here today as well.

Alfred On His Scooter

Bombing down on his scooter to the playground! Becky in the background.

Sheffield Gridlocked (again)

Seems I was fortunate setting off ten minutes early for home last night as I avoided another pathetic gridlock caused by a single broken down vehicle (Sheffield Today). What an embarassment for the 4th biggest city in England. A single broken down vehicle can cause all this in a supposed 'major' city.

Whilst this is an extreme example of what can happen in Sheffield with it's fragile and overcrowed road infrastructure it is by no means a rare occurrence to suffer long delays and gridlock, I experience several bouts most weeks. Often caused by something as common and inoculous as rain would you believe (not something that is rare here).

To add insult to injury we are constantly told to use the public transport infrastructure in Sheffield to ease congestion. This beggars belief as it is both expensive, and as unreliable as the road system it runs on, or in the case of the 'Super' tram does not go anywhere that is in the slightest bit useful to me and many others.

With more and more residential properties being built within the City Centre, and the planned increase in retail space over the next 5 years, it's very difficult to see how things aren't going to deteriorate further without significant investment in both public transport and upgrading of the road infrastructure. One wonders if the people in charge of transport and those in charge of planning ever talk to each other.

Anyone would think that Sheffield Labour Council was new to the job and hadn't been running this City and have had responsibility for it's long term planning since 1926 (with the exception of two brief respites).

Andy

Note the icecube!

Andy

I think the dribble adds to the overall effect.

Robin & Kerry

Danni

After many weeks of trying - a decent shot of Danni. She's a bit photo shy.

Becky & Pat

Seems Pat has developed a bit of a beer gut.

Becky & Shelley

Looking gormless as usual.

Paul, Sue, and Bob Too

Fancy a jump?

Random Nurses

Some of Becky's work colleagues holding each other up, I'm afraid I don't know all their names.

Static is a Dangerous Thing

A Chimney Sweep

I didn't realise it was fancy dress.

Becky & Sue

They are a bit tipsy at this point. Not quite pissed but getting there.

NGH, ITU/HDU Xmas Party 2006

The Northern General Hospital ITU/HDU ward Xmas night out is in full swing. I feel for any of their paitents tomorrow. I actually feel a bit ill myself, the double gin and tonic I just bought (Tanqueray, which is owned by Diageo, just like Gordon's Gin) just cost me £7.40. For a brief moment I thought I was back in Iceland.

Ivory, Sheffield

Another picture of the Ivory where the NGH Christmas do is tonight. I quite like this picture which is why I have posted another one of the place, again the sign has blown out.

Sinclair Building, Sheffield

One of the few modern buildings in Sheffield that I actually like, it's a bit different with nice curves.

Sue

Sue is a 'desperate professional' in need of a bloke. She particularly prefers those aged 35 - 45 with their own hair and teeth, but might make an exception if the money is right.

Becky

Becky in her best party frock with christmas decorations for jewellry.

The Princess Royal, Crookes, Sheffield

A few people had pointed out that I had not got a photo of the outside of the Princess Royal. Well I have now.

Nintendo Wii Shortage

Disapointed not to get a Nintendo Wii last Friday. Somehow I hadn't got a place on the reserved list at the game shop I generally use. I believe they only had an allocation of ten units. At this time I only wanted one because:

1. It's new gaming hardware.
2. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

I generally love Nintendo games (Zelda / Mario especially) and even though the hardware is less impressive then the Xbox 360 or PS3, no one else does games like Nintendo. I'm hoping to get one as new stock arrives. I also hope that all the bastards who buy these things to stick on Ebay to profiteer get a nasty disease and that their balls fester and drop off.

http://ms.nintendo-europe.com/wii/?l=enGB

Weston Park Museum, Sheffield

The Weston Park Museum has recently re-opened following a huge revamp so myself and Alfred thought we would investigate (actually Alfred has already been before). The revamp is very nice aesthetically with a stylish chromed cafe and the museum has taken on a much more modern interactive approach which is great for the kids. Some of the old favourites are still there, including the bees and what seems like a much smaller polar bear. However, some of the video presentations that were running seemed to be nothing short of Sheffield Labour Council propaganda - particularly the video about Park Hill Flats - and I generally found that the weighting towards interactivity and 'how people lived' themes made it a less satisfying experience then before. A museum for people who don't like museums.

Windows Vista!

Managed to get hold of Windows Vista x64 (full release) today. Being the technophile that I am this is quite interesting. Installed fine and apart from no sound card drivers being available from Creative, everything appears to be running ok, albeit without much installed on it. First impressions are that it is very nice, certainly the graphical updates are nice using the Aero interface. Overall it is much more Apple OS X like, but thats not bad thing at all. Somethings are very similar to XP, but also lots have changed. I'm sure I will revist this topic in more depth at a later date when I have used it some more.

Heartrending Story

Sometimes you come across a story which puts all your own problems into perspectiv. If only everyone had half the strength of character of this young girl I'm sure the world would be a much nicer place.

Another Rant

Yet again another disturbing story showing how pathetically we punish mindless violence in our society. Two and a half years for killing a man who came out to have a go at a load of violent youths because they had put his car windows through? Great. According to the story the police had received a 'number' of calls, what did they do about it then? FA I'll bet. Maybe if they had the man wouldn't have had to go out and try and deal with it himself and would still be here now. Given the numbers involved they should have turned up with the riot squad and given them the fight they wanted, and some.

As a decent tax paying citizen I certainly want to know why the police hadn't done more (as usual), this behaviour seems to have been reported before and the gangs were known about. What kind of country is it which we live in where this is tolerated, is seen as acceptable behaviour and nothing is done about it by the authorities. And how can anyone think two and a half years is punishment enough for this?

Bored! And Annoyed With Nvidia

I've been stuck in the house for 3 days with a nasty chest infection and I'm completely bored. It also means I haven't had much to add to this blog. I've not had a cigarette for 3 days though which is good, hopefully I can keep it up once the infection has cleared as I would like to stop smoking.

I am increasingly pissed off with Nvidia, I have had 2x 7900GTX graphics cards running in SLI mode (2 cards running together) for the best part of 6 months and still they haven't fixed an issue with the drivers which causes flickering 2D textures on the slave card, which have effectively rendered these cards unuseable as far as I'm concerned. These seems to be quite a common problem in SLI mode from what I've read on t'interweb, and only seems to have been introduced in driver versions >84.56. Trouble with using 84.56 drivers is that all the recent games run like a dog on them. Last night out of boredom I spent sometime messing with these cards - swapping them around in the slots, that sort of thing - and updating the drivers (something I've not even tried for months), still no good. I expect more for £800 worth of graphics cards. I have even raised a fault with XFX - the cards manufacturers - to no avail.

Blogger Beta

You may or may not have noticed the addition of a 'Label Cloud' heading on my sidebar. This is made possible as I have moved the blog to Beta Blogger, which enables posts to be tagged (labels in Blogger parlance) and therefore a 'Label Cloud' to be built up. This is very useful when trying to find old posts that would otherwise be lost in the archives. I will build these categories up over the coming months to enable easier navigation.

Viva Piñata - Xbox 360 Review

Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Rare
Platform Reviewed: Xbox 360
Release Date (UK): 01/12/06
Genre: Gardener-em-up / Sandbox
Players: 1

I've been intrigued by this game ever since I heard about it not longer after the 360 was released. For a start I have been a long time fan of Rare (since the Spectrum days when they were known as Ultimate: Play The Game) and after the somewhat disapointing Perfect Dark and Kameo, felt that they needed to prove themselves again. Also. it's not every day you read about a game whos main premise is to design a garden to attract creatures to live in it.

The game on the surface of it might look for kids (I also believe that there is a kids animated programme that is based on this), and it's childlike - though very impressive graphical style - only serves to reinforce this view. However this game is actually quite complicated to play and certainly much deeper then is immediately obvious.

As I have stated, the game is essentially a blank canvas for you to build a garden on. The garden starts off reasonably small and manageable which you must flatten out with a spade and turf with grass, and as you get more experienced it expands in size. The more you attempt and accomplish in your garden, from growing plants and trees to attracting wandering wildlife (Piñata - sweet filled animals) the more experience points you are given. This is a nice touch as it adds a sense of character development to the game though in reality it's just a way of drip-feeding you new abilities and upgrades.

The relationship between attracting Piñata, getting them to 'join' your garden, and then getting them to breed is quite complicated. Some Piñata won't stay unless they have eaten combinations of others, or certain flowers etc. In order to develop and expand your garden you will at times have to sacrifice one Piñata over another. The Piñata all interact with each other and the environment you build for them, they will fight with each other leading them to be injured. Once injured you have a finite amount of time to call out the Doctor before a spirit-like character wanders into the garden to split them open, spilling their contents (sweets) all over the floor to be devoured by the other Piñata or sold by the player for profit.

Breeding is tastefully handled by pairing them off - once they have eaten whatever it is they need to eat before they can breed, and you have provided that breed of Piñata with their specified type of housing - you are then taken into a top-down view mini-game where you have to navigate one Piñata to the other avoiding certain obstacles and picking up coins on the way. They then do a 'romance' (sounds like a Borat-ism if you ask me), which is effectively a humourous cut-scene dance, which you are only forced to see the first time a pair of similar Piñata pair up. After this an egg appears and hatches. It should be noted that all the Piñata appear to be asexual and incest does not appear to be an issue (maybe they are from Barnsley).

Designing the garden when you have lots of different breeds of Piñata gets more and more difficult, trying to keep certain types apart from fighting by using natural boundaries, moats, fences etc.

The garden and Piñata can be highly customised if you have the money by purchasing items from the village store. and the Piñata can transform into different varities by the use of differing types of food. Money is generally obtained by clearing the rubble to make a garden, from collecting coins in the breeding mini-game, or by selling stuff that has grown in your garden, including excess Piñata.

Graphically and aurally this game is brilliant, in a childlike way. All the Piñata seem to be based around real animals - with names a mixture of real names and sweets - but highly stylised and they change from black and white when they first enter your garden to full colour when they turn resident. There are also tons of references to the Rare / Ultimate back-catalogue of works as well.

There are a couple of annoyances that really don't affect the gameplay, but shouldn't be in the game either. Selection of items / characters in your 3D garden can be a bit hit and miss sometimes. The character AI is generally very high but occasionally you find yourself having to repeat the same command several times for the Piñata related actions (i.e. go from here to 'romance' that Piñata over there). The breeding mini-games get repetitive quickly. There are often short loading pauses when you switch between game environment and menu-based activity. Also most of the voices seem to be American, which is particularly annoying as far as I'm concerned given that Rare are a British based developer.

To sum up, this is a highly original and unusual game executed with flair and a few niggles. It is suitable for all the family but don't mistake it's kiddie appeal for simplicity or easy.

Rating: 9/10

http://www.vivapinata.com/

Dogging Executive Box

I expect nothing less.

A Night Out Dogging

Brother-in-laws company's Christmas do and we were kindly invited. I quite like the dogs for a different night out.