The Black Dahlia

Film watched:
The Black Dahlia

What utter, utter, utter garbage!

This is the first and only time that I have ever walked out of a cinema before watching the entire film (I have been tempted twice before for Bram Stoker's Dracula and The Mummy Returns).

I actually paid good money to see this?

How on earth could the same man responsible for the Untouchables and Scarface come up with this crap????

I could write almost endlessly about how rubbish this film is, but to be honest, I can't be bothered.

One word sums this movie up neatly.... AVOID.

1/10

Batman Lego

Purchased a new toy the other day...

Pictures say more than words :)

Wii and Southampton

The Wii UK launch details we given out on Friday as follows:

December 8th at £179.99.

A touch later than expected and also a touch dearer, but hell, I’m just please it’s actually coming out before Christmas, unlike other manufacturers I could mention (*cough* Sony).

The games (both disk based and virtual console) are well priced and everything looks good for world domination…

Needless to say, I have mine pre-ordered and will be standing at the front of the queue come launch day (which I plan to book as holiday).

I know, I’m a very sad geek… But I don’t care!

The trip to Southampton went well this weekend. Roz’s tutorial (the reason for the trip) was good and she also managed to fill a hold-all full of shopping. Elliot enjoyed his first trip on a plane and his first journey on a train and overall was a very good boy for the day.

My feet didn’t half ache by the end of the day though!

Writing and Bone Collector

It’s been bothering me recently that I haven’t done any writing (with the exception of my blog) for some time. My story “Cry of Xenotaph” has gotten almost a little too complex for its own good, and as such, has been left in limbo for a long time now.

I may try to knock out another very short story in the interim to try to kick start my writing again (in a similar fashion to when I wrote “One for Sorrow” during “Dance ‘til Dawn”). I have actually written the start and the end of a short story called “Swinging Dead”, which I may try to continue with. My real problem is that I’m great at beginnings, not bad with endings, it’s just the main content that I tend to struggle with…

Film watched:
The Bone Collector

I watched this on my parents (and sisters) recommendation. For some time they have been saying that it’s a really great film and as it was one that I missed when it was first released, I thought I should give it a go.

What a disappointment. What a generic, predictable and frankly stupid thriller. I just hate it when I figure out EXACTLY what is going to happen in a film, where the murderer is pretty damn obvious and every event has a predictable “Hollywood” outcome. I like films to surprise me, to get me thinking. This film did neither.

4/10

LOST

Just watched Lost from last night...

BLOODY HELL, I wasn't expecting that!

(Regular viewers of the excellent show will know what I mean)

PS3 Delay

There have been some rumblings on the internet for some time now that the production of PS3 was not going as planned and it turns out that these were true. The end result of this is that the PS3’s release in Europe has been delayed from November 17th to a tentative March 2007!

Where have I hear this before? Oh yes, this sounds just like the European launch of the PSP which was originally scheduled to launch November 2004, but was then pushed back to March 2005, then May 2005 and finally July 2005. Microsoft must be rolling around on the floor laughing their guts out.

The launch date for Japan (Nov 11th) and the US (Nov 17th) remains unchanged.

For me this is great news, for 2 reasons.

1) I had decided not to purchase a PS3 on launch as this was going to be released at the same time as the Wii, and the Wii held priority. Not to mention the fact that I wouldn’t have time to play on two new consoles at once!

2) This will mean that the Wii will be the only new console launching (fingers crossed) in time for Christmas 2006 in Europe. A great boost for Nintendo, meaning that they will be able to establish themselves without needing to compete against the PS3 launching around the same time. Also any media attention will be focused primarily on the Wii as opposed to the PS3 (with the Wii as an afterthought).

Now, we just have to wait until September 15th to find out for certain the launch date for the Wii. If Nintendo are sensible, they will jump at the opportunity. Nintendo have always struggled in Europe when compared to the US and especially Japan. This is exactly what they need to build a firm foundation for the Wii. After all, originally the DS and the PSP were due to launch on the same day, and the long delay on the PSP certainly helped the DS establish itself.

What’s even more amusing is that Sony ACTUALLY started their marketing campaign for the PS3 yesterday. That’s one day BEFORE announcing that the PS3 was going to be delayed until next year. Utter, utter madness! Hell I know nothing about marketing, but even I know that’s pretty dumb.

Just read also that for the launch the PS3 will have 400,000 units available in the US and just 100,000 in Japan. That’s absolutely nothing in Japan. The DS currently sells around 100,000 to 200,000 a week in Japan (admirably the nearest competition, the PS2 is around 25,000) so that’s nowhere near enough.

I actually feel quite sorry for Sony.

Second Life, Blackadder and Wii prediction.

Tried out Second Life the other day.

I have to say that apart from the novelty of speaking a couple of strangers (in the US and Romania), my overall impression was that it all seemed a little pointless! Sure the fact that you can customise yourself, buy your own land, run businesses and the like is rather neat, but this is all in a virtual world and as such, isn’t really that exciting. Maybe as technology improves and the virtual world becomes that more realistic, this will appeal a little more. As for now, I think I’ll stick with my normal life.

Just recently rewatched the first series of Blackadder. I must say that it was a lot better than I remembered it. On my first viewing I always thought it was a huge disappointment when compared to series 2-4, mainly because Edmund was less conniving and more of a pathetic wimp, however, I rather enjoyed it this time round.

It seems like everyone is trying to predict the launch date for the Wii… We should (hopefully), know the actual date in around a week and half, but I thought I’d take a stab myself. My prediction? November 10th (if only just to spite me – i.e. a couple of days after my birthday)