Posted on 16-11-2007
Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare
Filed Under (Misc, Life with Scott) by Scott English

Downloaded the single player pre-release demo of Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare and have played it several times over the past 24 hours. Damn, I should not have done that. Now, I completely desire the game. It looks beautiful, in fact its stunning. The action is relentless. The combat is realistically scary and sometimes makes me forget that I am in the comfort of my office chair. An amazing game. I must have this at some point. MUST.

Some screen captures of me in the thick of battle:

There is a disabled Abrams tank being attacked but enemy forces, your squad is sent to provide support until attack choppers can arrive… but first you have to make your way through the city where your unit is currently located to reach the tank - and time is of the essence because the tank squad is fighting for their lives.

Pinned down, trying to make your way through buildings:

Here’s the a view through the scope of a sniper rifle:

The final battle in the demo reminds me a great deal of scenes in the movie Black Hawk Down. There’s what feels like a over whelming force of enemies, armed with RPGs, AKs and mounted machine guns just drooling at the thought of taking out the tank that you are sent to support.

Amazingly, Call of Duty 4 captures not only intense action, but also incorporates a lot of emotional situations for you to endure. I am thoroughly impressed, even with this tiny glimpse of it.

You can find out more at the Call of Duty 4 website, where you can also find the demo to download. Its on shelves now, so you can also just go out and buy it.

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Posted on 07-11-2007
Third Annual Pumpkin Carve Off!
Filed Under (Misc, Life with Scott) by Scott English

Welcome to the Third Annual Pumpkin Carve Off!

PumpkinheadAs some of you regulars may remember, each year Crickie and I go head to head with our pumpkin carving skills, and then put the results out for you, our readers to vote on the best pumpkin carving. The winner gets to proclaim themselves as the The Great Pumpkinhead for the next twelve months (a dubious, but competitively sought after title between the two of us).

The stakes are high this year. Each of us has carried the title one year. Your votes will determine whom gains an overwhelming lead and crowing rights for the next year.

Vote wisely. Vote well. And make sure you vote before 11:59pm Thursday, when the polling booth officially closes. For those of you that have a LiveJournal account, you can vote at Crickie’s post.

Our contestants:

Contestant #1: Kiss Pumpkins -



 
Contestant #2: Leatherface Pumpkin -



 

Vote for your favorite pumpkin by clicking here!!

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Posted on 31-10-2007
Carnival Time
Filed Under (Misc) by Scott English

Some of my posts were picked up by blog carnivals recently:

The Offending Arachnid has garnered the most coverage, probably because there are several blog carnivals focusing on our feline friends. Included among them were the 1001 Cats Blog Carnival. The very friendly Megan and her Bad Kitty Cats included the post when she hosted the Carnival of Cats, Issue 187. 187 issues. Woah.

Kale and Onion Stir-Fry was picked up by Kids Dish on the Vegetarian Carnival.

And finally, My Ass, Well Covered got a new lease on life from Anja Merret’s Blog Carnival of Observations on Life.

Thanks guys!

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Posted on 28-07-2007
Pulp Fiction: F’ing Short Version
Filed Under (Misc) by Scott English

Not Safe For Work (Language)

I never realized how frequently this word was said in the movie, until everything else was filtered out. ;)

Thanks to Crickie whom brought this to my attention.

Thanks for stopping by and remember: Everybody is somebody else’s weirdo.

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Posted on 17-07-2007
Lightning Links: Tuesday 7/17/07 Edition
Filed Under (Misc) by Scott English

Thanks for stopping by and remember, man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.

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Posted on 09-07-2007
Yeah, whatever
Filed Under (Misc, Scott's Photos) by Scott English

Scott English, by Scott English, Copyright 2007
Scott English, by Scott English, Copyright 2007

Yeah, whatever.

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Posted on 06-04-2007
Clive Barker’s Abarat is a Freak Show Ride
Filed Under (Misc) by Scott English
Abarat by Clive Barker

I love the idea of freak show rides. The rides with the rollercoaster type cars that travel along a predetermined path of tracks carrying its cargo on a short but mysterious journey through the strange and weird. Participants giggle nervously, a mixture of trepidation and excitement, fear of the unknown and an eagerness to see it all.

Of course at the beginning, it’s a fairly mild affair after all you’re just getting warmed up. Then each subsequent exhibit becomes more eye opening. And shocking. A FeeJee Mermaid here. Over there is a “pair” of Siamese Twins. Followed up by a two headed goat, and then oh yes some shrunken heads. Of course, just as soon as you arrive at one exhibit you are hurried on to the next so that you never have adequate time to soak up all the details. “Want to see it again Mr.? You can always pay to take the ride again…”

Abarat, by Clive Barker is the literary equivalent of a freak show ride.Abarat by Clive Barker

In the beginning the read is fairly mild, almost mundane, as you follow Candy Quackenbush through her daily life. Then things start to get progressively more interesting, as she first encounters John Mischief (a thief of some renown, but not in our world), whom comes complete with a pair of antlers, on which each prong is topped off by an independently thinking (and often speaking), head. All of which are also named John.

Mr. Mischief (and company), as one would gather from his name, despite being a seemingly polite gentleman, draws Ms. Quackenbush into the beginning of an adventure that forms the rest of our freak show ride through Abarat. Then the subsequent exhibits become more eye opening. Water-walking Card Players here. Over there is Lord of Midnight with nightmare worms squirming around his face. Followed up by a squid called Squiller that serves as high powered binoculars when you wear him on your head, and then oh yes a wizard that obtains all his power from that pile of hats on his head that he claimed from his fellow wizards after helping them meet an untimely end. Of course, just as soon as you’re getting comfortable with one character you are hurried onto the next before you have adequate time to soak up all the details. Unfortunately there’s not a lot that that return rides will grant you.

There is no real meaty story line evident in Abarat. Oh sure Ms. Quackenbush appears to have lived some sort of previous life in the world of Abarat, though when she returns no one appears to recognized her except for three witches. There’s a mysterious key and your fairly archetypal bad guy brooding in the background (the already mentioned Lord of Midnight). You reach the final page being pretty much none the wiser about what is really going on, as you were when you thumbed over the first page. What you are left with is a hanging “And?”

However, Clive Barker has done an outstanding job of creating a journey that keeps you turning page after page. Perhaps it is the onslaught of new oddities; each one briefly looked at before you’re hurried onto the next. You’ll find yourself thinking “just one more page” often.

Of course it should be mentioned that Abarat, is not a stand alone work. The follow-up, Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War, hopefully reins everything in and makes a nice meal out of all the ingredients that are assembled here. Worth you time, but perhaps only if your time includes allowances to read the follow-up as well.

Related Resources:

Abarat at Amazon

Abarat’s Official Site

Abarat on Wikipedia

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Posted on 02-12-2006
Merry Bloody Christmas!
Filed Under (Misc) by Scott English

We’ve decided to put up a Christmas tree for the first time ever. We’ve not really done it before because we have cats.

Cats + Christmas trees = Mayhem.

I don’t really know why we’ve decided to try to run the gauntlet this year, perhaps because we now only have two cats instead of six, but we have.

We do have a tree though. Its been sitting in a large box on the top shelf of a closet for years.

I was tasked with extracting it from said closet so that we could put it up for this year. This was not a simple task, as there were other large tupperware type crates packed in around it, full of other stuff.

So as I am pulling the very first of the surrounding large crates down, it is apparently heavier than I expected.

So it tilts toward me.

And I try to compensate.

And the lid is not secured because it is overfilled.

And the world comes crashing down around me.

Actually, not around me. ON ME.

Bloody Christmas

This tree better look F’ing Fantastic, I tell you!

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Posted on 02-12-2006
Your Daily Monster
Filed Under (Misc) by Scott English
Stefan G. Bucher's Daily Monster

Stefan G. Bucher is a good egg.

With a scrambled yolk.

He is also the mastermind behind Daily Monster, a deliciously curious new project Mr. Bucher has undertaken wherein he creates a new, often whimsical, monster each day. Not only do you get to see the monster, but also you get to witness its inception from blank piece of paper, to marvelously creative use of Reinhold, to the final touches that bring his beast to life.

You will enjoy watching the creative process unfold before your eyes as streaks of black ink take form and become feathers and eyes and little stumpy feet.

Particularly impressive is his use of Reinhold, which appears to serve as his initial inspiration for the direction his monster will eventually take. You might even find yourself inwardly gasping as he colours over aspects of what he has already drawn, “no… hey… what are you doing, that looked good”, only to find that what he is doing looks better. You journey along with him to see the end result.

If you have shooed away all of the monsters under your bed, then you should definitely stop by Daily Monster for your delightfully monsterous fix.

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Posted on 30-09-2006
More How To’s then you Could Poke a Stick At
Filed Under (Misc) by Scott English

Darren Rowse over at Problogger recently held his monthly blogging competition with a theme this time of writing a How To. There were a record number of entries, and some great prizes. However the real prize is some of the posts, and blogs behind the posts that were submitted. Scroll through the list and click click on anything that grabs your fancy.

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