Year: 2014

Ooo. Let’s see … Could this be an excuse for a music post ?

Picture first.

That’s one of the opening frames of Kim’s So This Is Yogscast, one of their Xmas songs from last year. And, like the lady herself, it’s a little cracker. Linky ! Go check it out ! It’s guaranteed to :

Make you go ahhh with the cuteness
Have you sing along
Get you falling in love with this little lady
Give you an appreciation for the fun that these people have
Show you how they can transfer that fun to the audience.
Have you joining in with that effervescent Kim-chuckle at the end.

Yep. It’s still one of my favourite christmas songs. I wonder if Cupid’s Gift sings ? I hope so, although the bubbly chuckle she has is enough for me. She definitely likes very similar music to what I do, including getting me remembering The Cranberries and one of their highlights – Dreams.

Word of warning though, the two christmas songs this year are … 1st one – very poor and 2nd one – objectionable and likely to get banned. Actually the first one has redeeming features (it has Hannah and Kim singing and showing up the boys) but I wouldn’t be surprised if the second gets banned. Actually, don’t ban it because that just leads to more publicity. That’s enough about this year’s songs, check out this one !

More songs ? More pics ? Let’s see :

Tom Jones and Cerys Matthews did an incredible version of Baby It’s Cold Outside. Love it.

Kirsty MacColl had the voice of an angel, which was lost to us far too early. Here’s her version of Fairytale Of New York. (Warning – strong language)

Going back a bit (and grabbing a pic!), a childhood favourite : Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

Going back even more, Eartha Kitt’s voice is perfectly suited to Santa Baby (wonderful song). As is Yogscast – Hannah’s … although her version is way naughtier 😉 (Haha – I’m not linking Arthas Baby !)

And … I just watched Arthas Baby again (the one on youtube with the Yogs reactions) and … No way I’m linking that ! (lol). But I’ve given you enough hints that you should be able to find it. Beware mental scarring.

One last one. Elaine Paige is one of many artists who have done Christmas albums and the highlight from her’s is the heartwarming The Coldest Night Of The Year (Incredible Phat). Lovely.

Nite folks – back tomorrow with holiday movies.

I don’t have much time today, before heading out for Hobbit 3 so … short post.

(And there was much rejoicing !)

That’s the lights outside Cribbs Causeway, our local Mall.

Beside the castle thingy (pink/purple on left), there’s an open air ice rink and various sellers of goodies. Things like hats / scarces, sweeties, hog roast, chestnuts, all the stuff you’d expect from an outdoor christmas theme market thingy. And typically overpriced of course.

I’ll be heading back into town again tonight to watch Hobbit 3, hence me looking to get this post off quickly. Cupid’s Gift finishes work late, so early dinner for me. (That’s a shame, I haven’t had the chance to buy dinner for a Pretty Lady in … years).

Hobbit 3 is kind of a 2.5 film. It finishes off the story pretty well. And it goes beyond the book to fill in all the gaps. When the trilogy bluray comes out, I’ll enjoy doing a marathon epic of Hobbit x3 followed by LOTR x3. I have a few more of those coming up too, there’s a few movies coming out that continue series :

Star Wars – must see.
Jurassic World
Terminator
And I’ll watch Divergent again before seeing Insurgent.

It should be good times for films next year.

Decorations ?

May your’s stay intact and unmolested through this season of temptation for our pets.

Need to watch Bladerunner again. Perhaps a queuing up of a bluray bought months ago that I haven't got around to watching yet !

Didn't manage to see 2001. Did see Bladerunner though! It was PACKED in there though I suspect that the average age was at least 35!!!

Haha – go along for the ride and hang on like crazy 🙂

I headed off into town again today. One reason :

Yep. I am addicted to the hot chocolate again.

Today it was from the German Market, that day it was SohocoffeeCo hot chocolate. And when she asks “marshmallows and cream too ?” You know what the answer is. Yes, it’s bad for me. But it’s sooo Goood !!!!

This time of year isn’t the best to venture into the shops on the weekend. Even on a Sunday. The main car park was absolutely full and the next one on route was getting there too. Expensive as well ! £3.20 for an hour. Crikey. There’s a reason why city centre trips don’t happen as often as I’d like. The shops, munchie places and facilities are better but the cost of parking drives people away.

So how come I went in, despite knowing it would be packed out ?

Tickets for Hobbit;
Getting out and about;
Happy Cookie Place

Not sure how many more times I’ll get chance to raid the Happy Cookie Place, the Xmas market in Bath closes today so I’ve missed that for another year. Oh well.

There were enough people going to the market that they ran out of half meter Bratwurst !

Looks like I didn’t need to get tickets early (girl on the till reckons not many have been sold yet) but I’m glad I got the chance to get out of the house. I have a mix of hyperactivity tendency and tiredness at the moment. When I got out of the car park and into walking, the hyperactivity was driving me into ZOOM. I walk fast when I feel that need. But after a while, the lack of conditioning in my legs was becoming apparent. Ouch.

I’m watching 2010 at the moment. Wonder if the boys managed to see 2001 today ? 2010 is the sequel, it sees a joint US and Russian mission going out to find out what happened to the Discovery. (Hiding spoilers!) The book was written at a time when the USSR was still a valid superpower, instead of a bankrupt one that likes to rattle the sabre occasionally.

I’m at the point where they’re about to board a derelict Discovery.

It’s a decent film. Not watched it for ages now. The science in there is still valid now, having been based on principles that weren’t compromised by the need to jazz it up for the story (I’m looking at you Interstellar !).

I’d better get back to the movie …

Pretty much sums up the condition of my legs today !

Oh, as Oscar Wilde so brilliantly said: Women are meant to be loved, not understood. I gave up trying to understand them years ago. I suggest you do the same.

Ok,

So – change of plan. I was going to give a shoutout to someone for this post but … Here’s the replacement pic :

Pocket dwagon strikes !

This one’s “It’s A Present”. I don’t actually have that one. My pocket dragon collection used to be much bigger but Ravenwolf took custody of more than half of them when she moved out almost a decade ago (to be fair, she was the one who bought most of them!). Sadly, pocket dragons are no longer made, so you have to raid Ebay for them.

What was the presents post going to be ? One of the youtube people I keep mentioning does a series in December, an Advent series where they do videos opening what the fans send in. It’s fairly amusing :-). But I’m not going to send shoutouts their way any more. (Ok, just the one, it’ll be in a few days time)

That sounds a little petulant doesn’t it ? I guess it does. Or it’s just someone giving up and moving on after a multitude of attempts to get someone’s attention in order to answer the need for them to find company. Or maybe that isn’t their actual need ? They just say it on the videos to seek a certain response from the audience. That’s a shame because the quality of the videos otherwise means they’d captivate that audience, without getting it from the emotional/protective response.

Either way, there’s another little lady who’s got my attention at the moment.

I watched Hobbit 3 yesterday with a very good friend (aka Luth). He’s one of my movie buddies. I’ll quite happily head off to the cinema on my own. I should really look at doing other things as well to get me out and about, bit cold at the moment to go walking up mountains though, or other stuff like that. Yep, Luth’s one of the movie buddies, as are the Craziemob.

It’s a mixed mob, each movie buddy likes different types of films. So where one wouldn’t go to see Hobbit 3 (haha – I know how much CK loathes the suck everything out of the franchise attitude surrounding these films), another didn’t want to see Interstellar.

I’m hoping I’ll have another regular movie buddy 🙂 I’ll be going to see Hobbit 3 again on Monday night with a Pretty Lady.

It’s true ! I saw that look. Haha 🙂

Actually, that brings me back to presents because I have a little preparation to do. First thought was to do that today but it looks like I missed a bullet. After today, there’s only 1 more shopping Saturday until Xmas. Which means … chaos. Looks like it was chaos out there today. I’ll head in tomorrow instead for :

Bratwurst – yes, I’ll miss that German Market when it goes.
Hot Chocolate – yes, I’m addicted again.
Presents … What can I say ? I like doing nice things for people.
Happy Cookie Place – those cookies ! sooo good.
Early buying of the tickets – I don’t think they’ll be booked out. Friday was close but that was opening night. Monday’s tend to be quieter (unless it’s a one time in the week 2001 showing !)

This next week will be fairly busy. A night out with the Pretty Lady on Monday, an afternoon/evening with the team on Wednesday (not convinced how long I’ll stay out) and pre-break shopping to sneak in some time too.

I’m looking forward to the break. It’ll be a chance to heal and a chance to hibernate. The healing is positive and negative. I am genuinely healing but it’s still ridiculously easy to set it back through ill discipline. I’d hoped to be healed up by now but it’s still taking its time.

A new telly might appear … But it will depend on the right offer being in place. My requirements are :
Big Screen – 55 inch preferred.
4k ultra HD resolution.
High processing rate – this affects the smoothness of the movement between frames. And now I know what to look for, a low processing rate (like on the Samsungs) is really noticeable. They’re ok for static images but I was starting to feel ill watching them.

It could be an LG Big Telly. But … It needs the right offer and I really do need to fix a couple of other things :
The heating – it’s ok for heating water but it really needs fixing.
The washing machine pipe – it’s leaking more and more over the course of a wash.
And generally making the house suitable for visitors.

I suspect the pipe will be an easy fix, outside of getting access to the back of the washing machine. It may not even need replacing (I suspect a bad washer).

This has gone into random thoughts territory hasn’t it ?

Time to concentrate on the music again. I’m getting closer to listening to everything, although 2 more soundtracks appeared today courtesy of GoG.com’s sale. There’s only 800 more tracks to listen to. That’ll take me into the new year.

Especially as I have this habit of adding more stuff to the library !

Let’s see.

What could be more appropriate than :

Yep. It had to be pizza.

That’s a BBQ Meat Feast pizza done by my current favoured pizza outlet, the Pizza Hut Delivery that’s really close to where I live. I can hit the button to confirm a web order, put on shoes & outside stuff and still walk there with a few minutes to spare before it comes out of the oven (never rush food, especially pizza). I reckon it’s actually quicker to walk there than it would be to take the car.

I’d actually prefer to walk, it offsets some of the calories that are in the pizza.

Demolishing a pizza is still something that satisfies one of those Make Pete Happy things. It fills me up, it’s tasty, including multiple different tastes and it satisfies the naughty guilty pleasure aspect. I do pay for it later though, I’m developing a minor lactose intolerance. Nothing really serious, certain foods (including pizza and cheese) make me produce too much acid. I’m usually prepared for a great deal of trouble getting to sleep the night after having a pizza.

I have a few other known allergies too, the most serious is citrus/orange. I had two connected incidents where I nearly carted myself off to hospital due to having a great deal of trouble breathing. That was directly linked to having orange juice and white bread …

Wait …

More joy ?

I’ll be going to see Hobbit 3 twice over the next few days. The second will be with Cupid’s Gift on Monday night and I’m expecting that to be huge fun. Mostly cos she’s good fun. This sounds conceited but it’s rare that I find people who can keep up with me. CG definitely can.

Joy is – having someone who you can communicate with on an equal level. That’s verbally, non verbally and most important, offering the gift of your time.

One frustration I’ve had is where I reach out to people and they don’t communicate back. I like writing nice things about people and I like it more when I know they’ve appreciated seeing what I wrote. So you can imagine my frustration when I tell people about the nice things and they completely ignore it. Yep. I’m talking about yesterday’s post. Let’s just say I won’t be doing a shout out to someone’s channel tomorrow for “presents” ! A pity. As I genuinely admire the people I talked about but if they give me the blanking treatment, then honestly ? that’s their loss.

Back to joy ?

Happy T-Rex is happy.

Sad T-Rex is sad.

Driving fast, usually at ludicrous speeds around corners, used to be a big joy. Actually, it still is, the problem is finding the places to drive at the ludicrous speeds and corners that give the challenge. That’s a drawback to having a car that handles speed the way it does, both in a straight line and in the corners. The IS handles the turns extremely well and insulates you from feeling the high speeds.

Last one for today – Smiles are Awesome.

To be honest,

I still don’t have much of a clue for a Green themed photo post. I have another pic coming up later in the month which has lots of green in it but … I have another theme in mind for that.

How about – anti green ?

Why green ?

Cos the terrible threesome above are sitting in a green screen room, with the image superimposed on top. Or the game video is there instead. Haha – ok, yep. It’s a terrible excuse for a green theme but … the livestream last night was worth it.

More background ?

From left to right in the pic is Killer Kim, Stupendous Simon and Horrible Hannah. They’re all 3 members of the Yogscast and (Lewis too), they’re the driving force behind Yogscast. They put out incredible amounts of content. They (well, Hannah & Kim !) do the serious reporting. They keep the standards, they set the tone.

What is that tone ? Why do I keep coming back to watch them ? It’s :

Fun.
Mischief.
Spontaneity.
Craziness.
Empathy with the game characters and ability to carry the audience along with that.
Incredible voices.
Interesting* content.
*(even when the games are rubbish, Hannah & Kim will make the videos worth watching)
Feistiness.
Confidence.

In a time when my own game playing and my reading have suffered due to the secondary effects of my illness, firing up the videos these two ladies make has kept me going. They’re awesome. Their spontaneity and intelligence genuinely adds huge value to the games on screen. You could say it’s the gaming version of the audiobook, except they’re adding their own comments to the literature of the game.

And those comments can be truly hilarious or deeply saddening, depending on what’s going on. I’m rewatching Kim’s The Last Of Us series at the moment, that’s an example of the sad videos, as was her playthrough of Valiant Hearts which showed the building horrors of the first World War. Hannah’s just attacked the first episode of Telltale’s Tales of the Borderlands, which I found so amusing that I’m catching up with her Walking Dead and Wolf Among Us series.

May they stay in the video game … game … for many more years to come. They’re awesome.

So why highlight for this post ?

Yogscast do an annual charity drive with livestreams all the way through December. They’ve raised $483,000 so far this month, at time of typing. That’s pretty good for an internet channel. Hopefully they’ll smash through $1m by the end of the month.

I think we need a little bit of linky love … Here’s Hannah’s channel, here’s Kim’s. Enjoy ! And I think we need another pic. Just for Hannah & Kim :

You definitely were last night on the livestream. Oh and, last one, especially for Kim after some words that ended up on the end of the competition instructions :

Muahaha. Cya tomorrow.with “joy is”. No – it’s not going to be “Hannah and Kim sing”, although I’m tempted. I have something else in mind … Haha, it’s not going to be “Pete gets to see movie with Pretty Lady” (Hobbit 3 Monday !) either :-).

PS There’s one coming up with the theme “presents”, I have something in mind involving another shoutout but if Hannah objects (I hope you scan this milady !) then I’ll come up with something different.