Fear

Posted on June 6, 2016 by Adam Randall

There aren’t a lot of things that I’d say were fears of mine, but I suppose if I were to identify one thing as my biggest fear, then I guess it would be the idea of growing very old and outliving most or all of my friends. As time goes by, my main circle of friends is always changing – people move away or have developments in their life which mean we can’t see each other anymore, so of course I then make new friends and the cycle goes on. But while it is always sad to stop seeing somebody on a regular basis, it’s nice to know that they’re still out there enjoying themselves. Outliving my friends is the one thing that seems frightening about living to an especially old age – I have a thing I call the Friend Square and it’s a collage of the twenty-four (and counting) friends who I am closest with and if I ever have a very sad dream, it’s usually about something happening to somebody on there. The idea of “running out” of friends and having nobody to engage with to ease the loss of other friends is probably what I would call my biggest fear.

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Memory Sieve

Posted on June 4, 2016 by Adam Randall

One thing I’ve noticed recently is that keeping this blog seems to have had a negative impact on my memory. In the past, many of the anecdotes I’ve written about here were things I could remember quite clearly and tell to other people: these days I only remember the general details and not many of the specifics. Most shockingly, a friend of mine recently mentioned something which happened to me years ago (before I met them) which they knew about because they had read about it on my blog and I had told them about it, but I didn’t remember it until I’d thought about it for a few seconds. In some ways I feel like, after I’ve written down the things that happen to me, that piece of writing then acts as something which kind of replaces the memory. Is this good or bad? I’m not really sure. As time goes by, perhaps I’d have forgotten about these things anyway, perhaps I need to have these written down to have any kind of memory of these things. Perhaps the sooner I write it down, the more likely I am to preserve an earlier, more accurate memory than if I didn’t write it and let it slowly fade. I am confident that some of the things I’ve written here would have been forgotten without writing them down. As an additional note, right now it is Saturday afternoon – I forgot to write this yesterday! Making this the second time I missed an update. Rather coincidental that it happened on a day that I was writing about forgetting things.

(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)

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Mother 3

Posted on June 1, 2016 by Adam Randall

Mother 3This is the third game in the cult Mother series and, honestly, is one of the best games ever published by Nintendo. The sad news is that it has never been officially released in English, which means that you won’t be able to properly appreciate it without either finding a fan translation (and there is a very good one) or being able to read Japanese.

The story follows the lives of a family (parents Flint and Hinawa and two kids, Lucas and Claus) who live in Tamzily Village in the Nowhere Islands. I shan’t spoil what happens (and it’s hard to describe any of the plot without revealing anything important) but they soon find themselves caught up in something quite big, all of them being affected in very different ways. It’s a really fantastic story which is both surreal and deeply emotional and one of the best I’ve ever encountered in a video game.

What’s particularly noteworthy about this game is the fact that it’s evoked both some of the biggest laughs I’ve ever had from a game but it’s also the saddest video game I have ever played. Once or twice, I actually I avoided playing it because I thought it might be too much of a downer. But you never know what’s going to happen: sometimes you’ll play and find yourself laughing hard at it’s bizarre humour.

What helps to really emphasise those emotions, is the fact that this game has a truly superb soundtrack. There are so many musical tracks in Mother 3 which are so beautifully melancholy – just hearing them triggers the sad association in my mind with the upsetting events of the game. It’s one of those games where the soundtrack is so good that I go back to listen to it whenever I can.

If you’ve not played any of the earlier Mother games, you’ve got nothing to worry about; while there are small connections to the previous title, the story is basically a strong, standalone thing.  If you do get the references though, it will help you to appreciate the game even more.

I realise I’ve gotten to the end of this review without really mentioning the gameplay! It’s a solid RPG with a colourful, vibrant world to discover. I really like the somewhat minimalistic art style of Mother games, it’s just kind of cute and fits perfectly with the style of story. Sadly, it’s through the gameplay that we come to the one weak point of the game: there are a few times when the regular enemies seem far too strong – it’s never unmanageable, but occasionally frustrating.

Overall, an amazing game. I really hope more people get to play it soon. Rating: 9.9/10

Buy it here.

(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)

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Honesty in Blogging

Posted on May 30, 2016 by Adam Randall

One thing that occasionally concerns me is that it might sometimes seem like I just make things up for this blog. There were one or two anecdotes which I almost didn’t write, because I was worried that they would just seem like they were made up and the blog would lose some of its integrity. One of these was the story about when I got threatened with a knife, another was the time I accidentally wandered into the woman’s changing room at the local pool without realising (to name two examples off the top of my head.) But of course, its silly not to write about things like that, because they did happen and the whole idea of this blog is to write about things that happen to me – I just can’t help but be a little concerned because anybody can claim that anything happened to them.

Honesty in blogging is something which I take very seriously and I’d never write anything on this blog which I didn’t believe to be 100% true. But it’s a concept I sometimes grapple with; for example, I wrote a blog post about a time when I was in school and one of my teachers was absolutely terrible towards me. I feel like I wrote that post fairly and honestly, but, as with any dispute, the other person involved could probably write a version of those events in which I am the bad person – I just have to be as fair and objective as I can when it comes to things like that, but as they say, all writing has some degree of bias, even if only small. A perfect example of my own bias is that I wrote once about a time that somebody tried to violently intimidate me, but actually forgot that I’d gotten quite angry afterward, so I had to add a clarifying note to the bottom of that post.

Memory is another issue too: I started writing this blog in 2011, but there were things that had happened to me before 2011 which I thought were interesting and so deserved to be written down – this meant I’ve sometimes written anecdotes years after they actually happened. One example is the story of the time a friend of mine and I witnesses a parent abusing their child and tried to intervene – I remember what happened, but how much had my memory been affected by the passing of time when I wrote that? I like to think I remember a good amount, but I probably remember less than I think.

So basically, the issue of honesty in blogging is something I’m always conscious of. I try as hard as I can to ensure that these blog posts are as accurate and honest as possible, but I suppose there’s always going to be a degree of error. Outside of this blog, I have to write all kinds of marketing stuff which I don’t honestly believe, but at least here I can create my own space for honest reflection.

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Health

Posted on May 28, 2016 by Adam Randall

On Wednesday I almost didn’t write a new blog post here because I was feeling quite ill. In fact, all of this week I’ve been very ill and I still kind of am now. Thankfully, in the end, I was still able to write that blog post, but if I didn’t that would have been the first time I’ve missed a blog post due to health related reasons. While that’s still something which hasn’t happened yet, I wonder how long it will be before that actually happens? It’s made me reflect that I’ve really been very lucky with my health. Many of my friends have and do suffer from some terribly debilitating and painful illnesses. Its very sad, but it reminds me that this is something I need to be grateful of and to be sure not to take for granted: otherwise I’d really struggle to juggle the balls of creativity, work, socialisation and relaxation – my days are usually filled entirely and I’m thankful that I’m well enough to keep to those routines,

(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)

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Game & Watch Collection

Posted on May 25, 2016 by Adam Randall

Game and Watch CollectionGame & Watch Collection is a rather rare game for the Nintendo DS which brings together three classic Game & Watch games. The reason it’s so rare is because it’s something that was made available exclusively through Club Nintendo, which a lot of people did not use. It brings together Oil Panic, Donkey Kong and Green House which were all double screen systems, meaning they all transfer well to the DS. So what are those games like?

Oil Panic
This one has you at the top of a petrol station and catching oil in a drum so that it won’t fall on the ground and catch fire. These drums can only hold so much though and you have to pour them out of the side of the building once they fill up, making sure to pass it onto your helper and not one of the customers below! It’s a bit of a weird situation, to be honest and actually not as fun as the other two games in this collection. (Read the full review here.)

Donkey Kong
This is very interesting from a historical perspective as it is a Game & Watch version of the original Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong has kidnapped Pauline and Mario is setting out to rescue her. It’s fairly fun, but it gets repetitive quite quickly and can actually be quite tricky. It’s nice to see it’s rather urban setting though. (Read the full review here.)

Green House
This is my favourite Game & Watch! You play as a character who is presumably Stanley the Bugman of Donkey Kong 3 fame (but who may also be Mr. Game & Watch or a random fumigator) and you just have to quickly squirt bugs with a bug spray gun to stop them from killing your flowers. Very fun, simple and hugely addictive. (Read the full review here.)

Other than buying these original Game & Watches themselves, this is probably the best way to play these games – the DS’s two screens mirror their original ideas entirely. It’s sad that you only get three games in this collection and it feels like you should really have a lot more. So keep in mind that this is a very basic game, but it’s still good.

Rating: 8/10

Buy it here.

(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)

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Who to Make Friends With

Posted on May 23, 2016 by Adam Randall

In my younger years I held on to a rather silly belief: I used to think that people in relationships were not worth making friends with because they’d just be less likely to have time for you and you’d never be able to depend on them because they’d always be with their partner instead (at least in most cases.) Single people, meanwhile, can dedicated more of their time and attention to you and would ultimately be more loyal.

But as the years have gone by and I’ve had time to reflect: I realise that people in relationships are some of the best people to befriend. In fact, in many ways they make better friends than single people! Why? Well, firstly, when you make friends with one part of a couple, there’s a good chance that you’ll be able to make friends with their partner too – a kind of “buy one get one free” sort of situation. Then, also, when befriending somebody in a relationship, you already know that their relationship ideals are healthy and they’re happy to make friends even if they do have a partner. If you befriend a single person, then they might abandon you if they ever have a relationship.

Ultimately, its just a bit silly to make decisions like this about who to be friends with, because the seeds of friendship can burst forth from any flower and those seeds can grown under any conditions. Or in other words, you never know who you’re going to make friends with (but it’s always exciting to find out!)

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Kinder Consideration

Posted on May 20, 2016 by Adam Randall

I was at work the other day and it was just me and my friend and co-worker Sarah in the office. It was a nice, relaxing afternoon. Our office is very close to a Sainsbury’s, so Sarah decided to pop up there to get a snack. I got on with some work by myself and eventually she came back.

“I was going to get you a Kinder Egg,” she said when she returned.

“That would have been a good idea, I like Kinder Eggs,” I said, because I like chocolate and I like toys and that’s the perfect combination.

“But then I saw they were divided between princess toys and super hero toys and I didn’t thnk you’d like that.”

“Ah, yes, you’re right. I don’t like things being gendered like that,” I said, because I don’t.

“And I wouldn’t know which you’d prefer, either.”

“I wouldn’t know either.”

“So in the end I got some Magic Stars!”

So then we ate some delicious gender neutral Magic Stars.

It’s just a small, pleasant interaction, but I thought it was nice and so I wanted to record it here on my blog (as I do.) I find that’s it’s rare for people to put this much consideration into their actions. People can do positive things and negative things without putting much thought into it, but I think it’s always important to reflect on how a person’s different experiences and perspectives might cause them to view different actions an gestures. Without this, actions based on positive intentions can sometimes come across negatively and can cause falling outs and misunderstandings. That level of thought and reflection could honestly help people to get on and understand each other a little better.

(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)

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Batman: The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb

Posted on May 18, 2016 by Adam Randall

The Long HalloweenBatman: The Long Halloween is a graphic novel set during the early days of Batman’s crime fighting career. It’s the kind of thing that you could read with only a rough understanding of the Batman mythos and is also a very enjoyable story.

This is essentially a murder mystery: every holiday, somebody is murdered and it’s always somebody who is some how connected with one of two feuding Gotham crime families. In the middle of these murders are villains like The Joker, The Riddler, Poison Ivy and The Scarecrow, all of whom cause even more trouble for Batman and the police force as they try to get to the bottom of those murders.

The story was deeply interesting and there were several very sad (and unexpected) twists and turns as it went along. The tone of the story, coupled with Tim Sale’s art, made the whole thing hard to put down. Everything was quite dark and moody, but at the same time there were brightly coloured superheroes thrown into the mix. One thing I really love, is the feeling of being in a city during the night and that feeling was captured perfectly in this graphic novel. All the characters felt very human too and there was a lot of emotion in this book.

As I said, this is a good graphic novel to read even if you’ve only got a general understanding of the story of Batman; other than a few recurring characters, it’s all very self-contained. The characters in it, in fact, might be just the thing to help inspire you to read further stories of Batman. It’s a beautifully realised world and I find it all deeply immersive. This is definitely something which I would strongly recommend; if you want to know more about Batman, this could be a good jumping in point.

Rating: 9.1/10

Buy it here.

(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)

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Holy Pizza

Posted on May 16, 2016 by Adam Randall

I’ve recently had a pizza related fantasy which has gotten me quite excited. Imagine how delicious it would be to have one large pizza made up of slices of pizzas from all different pizza businesses – it wouldn’t be much larger than a regular pizza, but one slice would be Domino’s,  one slice would be Pizza Express, one slice would be Stone Willy’s (a local chain), one would be Co-Operative brand pizza and then on like that, with Yammo, Pizza Hut and all the other ones I like mixed in there too. It would be really exciting to have a pizza party with ten friends, buy ten pizzas from ten different places and then make ten holy pizzas made out of all those other delicious pizzas. I like to think that I will actually do this one day. In the meantime, here’s a picture of the Pizza Creature.

Pizza Creature

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