10/28/2005 03:16:00 AM|W|P|dan|W|P|Hard to say how much I am looking forward to Shadow Of The Colossus. It's a kind of follow up to Ico - same design team, same aesthetics, but not in plot so far as I know. As Ico is far and away the best PS2 game I have ever played, and possibly the best console game ever, this is no small anticipation. All I know is you ride around on a horse and try to bring down some huge stone ambulatory creatures by climbing to their weak points. Doesn't sound too exciting, but then the plot of Ico could be summed up as "Get the girl, kill the baddies", and yet it's just about the most visually sumptuous, emotionally involving game I've ever played. More here. We saw Serenity last week, which I forgot to mention. After gorging on the Firefly box set, I was definitely up for this one, and I did enjoy it a lot. But all through it, I kept seeing the ghost of the TV series that never was. I like to get my plots dripfed to me over time, and after this film I was thinking "wouldn't it have been great to gradually find out what was really going on with River, and to watch the Operative chase Mal and company over the course of a season, and not to throw away Shepherd Book in five minutes?". I say after the film, because all the time I was actually watching it I was grinning madly and thinking "huh huh this is cool" in my best Beavis voice. It's a really good fun SF film, but it's also a frantic drunken shag in an alley. Fast, all consuming and terribly exciting, but sometimes you also want silk sheets and hours of foreplay. I am blogging to:Aretha Franklin|W|P|113043908700568448|W|P|And then they share that watermelon at the end...|W|P|danpawley@gmail.com10/28/2005 08:45:00 PM|W|P| Marcus|W|P|As ever Dan, you prove once again why I work in computers and am not a writer. ;)

Your comments about Serenity I completely agree with. And I'm very impressed with you getting a shagging reference in.10/25/2005 06:29:00 PM|W|P|dan|W|P||W|P|113023262224426454|W|P|Proof That Girls Are Evil|W|P|danpawley@gmail.com10/21/2005 05:40:00 AM|W|P|dan|W|P|Once again, a long time goes by with no update. Purely and simply because I got a new graphics card, and could finally play Half Life 2, which promptly ate up pretty much all of my computer time. I know it's a year after everyone else said it, but what a game. I don't think I've got so immersed in a computer game since...well, since the original Half Life. The whole game is great, but I think the last set of City 17 levels is the best, with the intense guerilla fighting, like some rerun of the battle for Stalingrad, only with aliens and giant robotic tripods. But really it's just everything - the physics, the story, the acting, the character models, and picking up rusty saw blades in Ravenholm to chop zombies in half. Unparalled. Now I just need the crew at Black Mesa Source to finish their work, and my life will be taken over again. But for now I've just opened a beer and put on the new Marah record, and I'm thinking saving the world is all well and good, but sometimes all you need is some good rock 'n' roll. Nothing but rainbows, blue skies, green lights, and straight ahead... Otherwise, I made it down to Exeter for a New Model Army gig. New guitarist, a lot of new songs, but I still ended up the same old hot, sweaty and bruised mess. It was a mess tempered though by the thought that it could well be my last NMA show. I don't think I'll be seeing them in Tokyo too often. I have also exceeded my previous heights of record nerdery by ordering a t-shirt promoting, not just a record shop, but a fictional record shop. Go on, it's for charity. I've also got hold of the upcoming record by Fields Of The Nephilim (best not to ask how). It is surprisingly good, and far better than I was expecting after fourteen years of silence. Epic, pretentious, grandiose and overblown, but in all the right ways. In the interest of balance I should point out that Esther absolutely hates it, and perhaps I am just a sad old goth trying to relive former glories.|W|P|112984239240554474|W|P|Cheer Up, Goth!|W|P|danpawley@gmail.com10/09/2005 05:14:00 AM|W|P|dan|W|P|Looks like I might well be an expat again come January. I've been provisonally offered the job in Japan - still have to sort out a salary and package, but it looks like things are go. Our trip to Tokyo was... well, brief. Only three full days when you factor in the time differences, and I spent a lot of that time involved in work affairs - talking to people in head office and visiting a few stores. Perhaps it's because I was in that familiar work environment or because I've spent time in other Asian cities, but I didn't find it as much of a culture shock as I'd been promised. Not even when we went to a traditional Japanese restaurant and were force fed sake, while the rest of the head office staff looked on in bemusement at our vegetarianism. We did a bit of exploring in our free time, mostly around Roppongi and Harajuku. I also got hold of the actual toy panda and robot pictured a couple of posts below as well. I reckon we can make a go of it out there. As long as Es doesn't bump into Bill Murray in any hotel bars while I'm off working... We saw Richmond Fontaine again the other night. Willy Vlautin once again affirmed his status as the nicest man in rock - I've never seen anyone come across as being so grateful that people would pay to come and listen to his band. He's happy and talkative between songs, and then strums a few notes and starts singing lines like "she took some valium, drank some vodka, tried to hang herself with a dirty sheet". Can't wait for his novel in January. I am blogging to:The Constantines|W|P|112880330773922741|W|P|I bet there's no shoes in my size|W|P|danpawley@gmail.com