alter your state...

ever heard of binaural beats? no, me neither. but seemingly they were discovered in the early 1800's and are perceived to alter your mood and behaviour. listening to 2 separate low frequency tones (via earphones), your mind makes this into one sound with an apparent beat and this is said to stimulate different parts of the brain.

I Dose is a web site where you can stream several different types of beats(list below), giving different results. I listened to the creativity stream for a while to see if I'd get any divine inspiration, but all I thought of was that I should have turned on the kettle before I came upstairs! then when no one was looking, I tried the PMS relief....but that just gave me a headache....go figure...

super obama world...

i love the internet. especially when you come across gems like this.

it looks like 'super obama' has gone to alaska to take out the evil forces of palin. as you collect american flags in lieu of coins you can't help but snigger.

a must for any politically minded gamer...

me, myself and i......

believe it or not this is supposed to be the same person....me. on the left is the 360 version of me, on the right is the wii version (you'll have to forgive the quality, it was taken on a regular crt television). this is the xbox 360's attempt to get into the wii's family gaming market. to be fair they have done a good job. aesthetically at least.

the 360 avatar looks somewhat realistic but with a nice cartoon style. the wii avatar, on the other hand, looks like it should be hanging around in southpark. it also, for some reason, reminds me of mr potato head.

despite the different styles you can see similarities between the two....the round head....the receding hairline....the eyes...
when creating an avatar i wonder, do i try to make it look like me or like wolverine......i always choose the former. but you'll have to talk to people who know me to see if this actually looks like me or not.

video...

as i was working my through GTA IV, blowing up cars, starting random street fights and flying a helicopter down 5th avenue i discovered even the most hardened eastern european gangster wannabe needs a break. so why not head back to the apartment, crack open a beer and see what's on the box. you'll be surprised with what you find...(all off this 'video' is in game footage....mad stuff)...

drummer boys...

when shuffling through my ipod last night i came across an incubus track and i was reminded of this video. it is from a live DVD, 'Incubus - Live at Red Rocks'. their drummer, in my opinion, is one of the best drummers out there. but it seems the rest of the band have some skills...

my childhood of 80's/ 90's cartoons...

recently on the Ray Foley show I heard some 'lazy radio', in the form of 80's themes tunes from well known cartoons and TV shows. this got me thinking about my own viewing habits as a child and encouraged me to look up some of the golden oldies. I was instantly hit across the head with a nostalgic bat when 5 mins of theme tune surfing on YouTube, turned into 1 hour. I'm not talking about Transformers or He-man, while all classics, they are all dealt with on other blogs. I'm talking about some of the lesser known ones. I'm talking about cartoons such as Visionaries, Toxic Crusaders and Captain N-the Games Master. 'Captain who?', I hear you cry. well read on and hopefully you'll be reminded of getting up on Saturdays at 7am just to watch the likes of...

Visionaries
I think this was my favourite. I can't remember if I had it on VHS or watched if on telly, but it kicked ass. let's face it, who wouldn't want to be a knight and turn into the animal that they had on their chest. well, unless the animal was a mollusk(?) or beetle. there was only 1 series made (13 episodes) and it aired in 1987. the premise was the planet Prysmos was stripped of all it's electronic technology and set back to medieval times. kind of like a recession!! then Merklynn (no copyright infringement here) gave the knights magical powers. each knight got a magical totem power which allowed them to transform into an animal, based on their personality. some of these knights also had staffs which gave them additional powers. I also remember having the action figures which were very similar to GI Joe. even 21 years on it's still brilliant!...


Centurions
this is one that I can't remember much on, probably because I was 3 when the cartoon was broadcast in 1985/86. the heroes in this case, were a trio. Max Ray...sea commander, Jake Rockwell...land specialist and Ace McCloud...air expert. note the way their names are a reflection of what they do.....yes, very smart.....
they wore special suits called 'exo frames' and when they shouted 'POWER EXTREME' they were fused with various weapons and gadgets turning them into part man, part machine! believe me, for a 3 year old this was the shizzle (yes. I said shizzle). their various enhancements assisted them in various ways. Ace McCloud flew around the skies shooting missiles. Jake Rockwell had to walk, but he had kick ass cannons and demolition gadgets. and Max Ray had stuff that would get him through the water really fast with torpedoes n' stuff.....weak. I think when they were giving out the suits he got the short straw. he'd be pretty useless if the forces of evil struck a couple miles inland! the bad guys in this case were Dr. Terror and his sidekick Hacker, who were cyborgs and commanded an army of robots. I think this is a great idea for a cartoon and again, the action figures were great. they had attachments that you could put on any part of their bodies........take your minds out the gutters...



Toxic Crusaders
this is another one from the Saturday mornings that I remember quite well. Based on B movie the toxic avenger, it's story is familiar. a nerd falls into a barrel of toxic waste and transforms into a monster with superhuman size and strength. it came along around the same time as Captain Planet (1991-ish), another pollution conscious cartoon that wanted the kids to get the message and save the world. well it sank in.......i recycle! the main character, Toxie, had a mop that communicated with him by squeaking and pointing (it got dumped in the toxic waste as well). but it was full of bad puns and cheesy phrases such as 'lets clean up this mess', when talking about the bad guys. but still great. it's yet another cartoon that had a great collection of toys...



Bucky O'Hare
this is one that I think I saw on live and kicking, the Saturday morning kids show that ran from early to late 90's. but that's another day's discussion. it followed Bucky with his team of crime fighting friends through space, against the evil toads. looking at it now it looks like they took a little inspiration from well know warner bros. characters. the main similarities between Bucky and bugs bunny, the other between dead eye duck and daffy duck. other than that all i remember is that it had a kick ass theme song...



Chip N' Dale; Rescue Rangers
this was another cartoon that was on Saturday/ Sunday mornings, and like most of the Disney cartoons, it was was class. And like all the Disney cartoons it had a great theme song. this starred 2 chipmunks (as i'm sure you know) that originally appeared in old short Disney cartoons, usually annoying goofy or Donald duck. in rescue rangers they were usually getting themselves in trouble but always managed to save the day.....those little rascals.
Chip was the leader of the operation and was like an Indiana Jones type character. Dale wore a Hawaiian shirt not unlike magnum PI, but he was a bit careless. they fought the gangster-like 'fat cat' with a hardy little flea called zipper, Monty the mouse (who, for some reason i remember being drunk a lot?) and Gadget Hackwrench. I think she was the brains behind the operation and always invented cool weapons and gadgets (as the name suggests). anyway, have a look at the clip and see if you can remember...

rockband 2 get cymbalised

this is the new rock band 3 drum set. doesn't look much different than the original set, but looks can be deceiving. The new set will come with optional cymbal expansion pack (more €€€€) . which you don't need to get but adds a little realism for us drummers.

additional features of this kit include;

• quieter drum pads
• touch sensitive pads (the hard you hit the more deaf you become)
• metal plate reinforced foot pedal
• slip resistant floor pads (more useful than you'd think)
• and as mentioned above, cymbal expansion pack (€€€€)

the funny thing about rockband is that I think it could create musicians. unlike the guitar, which is a task in button mashing, the drums feel realistic. if you hit a the snare pad, you get a snare sound.....just like real life! 'real' drummers everywhere should shudder in fear, at the thought of a 10 year old taking your place in the band cos he can complete 'who are you' on expert.......

fake tan raider

meet the new laura croft... Alison Carroll. the british gymnast joins a long list of models and actresses who also have worn t-shirts that were too small. but none before have been introduced in such a 'fake tanned' fashion. it seems like she didn't go high enough or......it got rubbed off.....emmm......I'll let you decide.....

chopper says....

this is ronnie johns. an australian comedian who, wikipedia will tell you, has a sketch show in oz called 'the ronnie johns half hour'. but the rest of us around the world know him better for his spoof on mark 'chopper' read. any one who has seen the movie 'chopper' should enjoy this......

to blog, or not to blog?.....that is the question

deciding to start a blog is a bit of a daunting task. besides that fact that blogging is somewhat of a overpopulated medium, there is the question, will people want to read what you have to say? so I put the question to a few friends, the reaction was mixed. but all said 'suck it and see'.

so here goes, what you'll see in this blog is an assortment of music, movies, gaming, tv, web and a few random thoughts that usually happen over a 9-5 period. but please bear with me as I get to grips with the 'blogger' interface and the task of blogging in general.

please leave comments (good/ bad/ constructive welcome). so I hope you enjoy, or find mildly amusing, the spread of thoughts over these pages of internet anonymity.