Going Walkabout
Feb 21, 2010 Uncategorized
Finally I got to see Avatar this week. As some of you know, I have a cinema phobia in that the only acceptable behaviour (according to me) is to sit very very still and very very quietly. If people could actually go and see a film and die during the trailers then that would be pretty much perfect for me. So therefore seeing the highest grossing movie of all time in Chichester wasn’t going to be acceptable, in fact there would have been a murdering going on (by me, when someone created 10db of noise 5 rows away from me by eating a stale piece of popcorn).
So I went to see it in 3D in the IMAX London and boy was it worth it. I fell in urrr, “like” with Neytiri after about 15seconds and think that painting yourself blue and wearing a dish cloth is a great idea to get noticed. Such a shame it didn’t have an awesome soundtrack by someone like Clint Mansell though.
However, the highlight of my trip to London (apart from eating the best beef in suet pudding pie in Roast) was going for a fantastic walk through the London that all of us know is there but none of us can find.
To do this… I booked a two hour trip with London Walks. The have an amazing range of walks, from Eccentric to Hidden to Jack the Ripper to Beachcoming (this one involves you meeting at low tide and search for ancient artifacts with an expert guide!). I went along on the Eccentric London walk and within 5minutes of meeting the guide (Peter) I had more brilliant information stuffed into my brain than I could ever know what to do with. It seemed like he could look at every single building and tell us (there were 20 of us) something unique and interesting. Here are some highlights…
- The phrase “robbing Peter to pay Paul” comes from when St Pauls and St Peters (that’s Westminster Abbey) used to compete against each other for donations
- When “George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham” sold his land he insisted that his title remained in the local area. So not only is there Villiers Street, George Court, Duke Street and Buckingham Street… but also “Of Alley”!!! (see the photo above)
- Trafalgar Square has some American land on it where the statue of George Washington is. He said he’d never stand on English soil so his statue is on American land!
- The smallest Police station in the world used to exist in Trafalgar Square – and the building is still there
Sigh, that list is really disappointing as there were HUNDREDS of amazing, interesting facts during the two hour walk. I spent the rest of the day looking up at the buildings wondering what stories they held. Next time you visit London make sure you go with London Walks, I promise that it’s even nearly as good as the Apple store. Nearly.
The problem with war…
Feb 7, 2010 Uncategorized
Well, that might be a little flippant as I don’t mean real war, I mean something far more important… Modern Warfare 2. I have several really important issues that I’m sure other people are experiencing…
- In a ground war match, there are approximately 16 people. 8 of which are apparently on the same side as me. So Why does the git on the opposing team always seem to target me with a missile fired from a Predator at an approximate cost of $58K. Is there a special achievement called “Drive Cloudzilla Mental” that I don’t know about? Does everyone else playing Modern Warfare 2 already have this achievement?
- When the rare event occurs of me calling in a supply drop there is nothing worse than being killed before collecting it… and watching someone else get my booty. Arghghghgh it drives me mental.
- Almost as bad as this, is when your supply drop lands and one of your own team tries to claim it. Bugger Off! You can clearly see me lurking in the shadows waiting for this gift from above so go and stick a hellfire missile up your ass!
- When I’m stood at a window, waiting for some fool to walk in front of my sights below… don’t come and stand at the same window with me! There are plenty of bloody windows in the maps, get your own!
- Knifing someone quietly in the back is a joyous experience. I do understand that if I ever get mixed up with the law and they find my blog with that phrase on it then the Daily Mail is going to have a field day… but it’s true.
- How on earth are people good at this game? Is it because I’m not 12? I’ll start a game and be checking out my uniform, complaining about the dust in the air and thinking about getting my gun ready and someone will call in a nuke already! How on earth is that possible?!?! There don’t seem to be any actual “how to be good at Modern Warfare” guides on the internet… so if any of your have any proper advice then let me know! I guess one of my main mistakes is “see movement in front of me, start firing, hope the person is an enemy and walks in front of my sights before my clip empties”, maybe?
- The brushie brushie image is of no relevance but is all that is good about the internet.