Top Ten - Stephen Lynch!!

I should warn you before you watch these - if you even bother to watch these yokes at all - that they can be offensive. In fact, it's fair to say that in a collection of Stephen Lynch songs you will be insulted at least once, if not multiple times! In a way that's what makes Stephen Lynch acceptable. By insulting a more wider audience, the stuff he sings therefore becomes less insulting...if you know what I mean.

My first experience of Stephen Lynch was "Special Olympics", which then prompted getting hold of ALL his songs. He does a mix of albums and songs he records on the radio, though his live performances are the ones you really want to hear - aka, no censorship!

10. Best Friends Song


9. If I Were Gay


8. Lullabye (also known as The Divorce Song)


7. Special Fred (also known as Special Ed)


6. Special Olympics


5. Craig Christ


4. Talk to Me (also known as You Caught Me Spanking It)


3. Superhero




2. Altar Boy (also known as Priest)


1. Dungeons & Dragons (D&D)


Try to see the fun in it!

~The Damo

Awesome Award #2

I know. It's been AGES since I last dished out an Awesome Award. But here we go, after a long time on the sidelines, the awesome award goes to.....THE POWER RANGERS - of the Mighty Morphin' variety.

I mean seriously, as a kid, how freaking awesome were they! I was flicking through the channels for Maria when I caught a glimpse of them on Jetix...formally Fox Kids. Looking back on it now, they suffered from severe overacting and cheesy dialogue, but as a kid you don't notice these things!

It got me thinking about it though - the whole Power Rangers thing I mean - and there are SO many flaws with it. I know this is supposed to be about how great they are but I can't let myself get on with that until I've addressed the problems. Firstly, the villains are so bad. And I don't mean evil bad, I mean lame. They always send one monster, to the same city every freaking episode. Not to mention that every episode is the same. They're in school, a monster arrives, they fight Putties, morph, blow up the monster with their combi-weapon thing, monster gets bigger, they kill it with a megazord. Of course I never noticed this as a kid, nor did I notice how they never seemed to take part in school classes despite the fact they spent all their time not fighting monster there. Also, the yellow ranger got it pretty bad, she only got daggers while everyone else got vastly superior weapons. Or notice how the Green rangers shield never offered him any extra protection?

ANYWAY, ranting now over. Power Rangers had everything as a kid, action, good triumphing over evil, cool robots (as everyone knows called Zords), magic (how their powers existed), diverse monsters and anything else you could want. It had the comedy relief in the characters of Bulk and Skull and it has recently come to my attention that the Red Ranger was the heart throb of many a young girl (sources available on request). What made Mighty Morphin (MM) stand head and shoulders above all the iterations that have followed it is that it was one continous story. I stopped watching it when it changed its name to Power Rangers Zeo, mainly due to the changing of peoples colours and what not. I can't comment on the standard of modern Power Rangers - I don't watch them - but to see that MM were still on Jetix this many years later is a testament to how good it was (and still is). The character of Lord Zedd was pretty terrifying when Season 2 came about, and while some things did change, it still retained its appeal to the mass audience of kids. At that time I didn't even know shows came in "seasons". To me the transition was just like another episode.

Everyone I knew watched MMPR. I can even remember getting the original Megazord for a birthday present. It's somewhere up in the attic now, but I can assure you it's in mint condition. Not that I would've kept that in mind when I was smaller, but the toys were quite robust and I've recently learned that the American toys were actually used for certain scenes in the show! Also, looking back on it, I can appreciate the use of stock footage. It's always great to see stock footage, but again, it's not something you notice when your 4 years old!

I guess the fact that Power Rangers receives a new iteration every year is a sign of how good the brand name is, but kids nowadays might not even realise that it all started with MM. It wouldn't surprise me if some actually thought MM was just another version of the show like the one's they've become familiar with. And don't forget, MM was good enough to get a feature length movie, which quite simply rocked! Even today the Theme Tune is pretty rockin, and who can forget the opening credits beginning with Zordan saying "Recruit a team of teenagers with attitude". VERY cheesy, but so cheesy it's cool!

I'm sure you can find episodes online on Youtube or something if you feel like reliving your childhood, I know I have...woops, shouldn't have said that.

~The Damo

Haze - The Review

Last Saturday I managed to get my hands on Haze, the latest FPS from legendary developers Free Radical. I had been slightly put off by the IGN review which gave it a 4.5/10, but I can safely say - having now played through it in full - that it is not 4.5 bad. Yes it has flaws, but there are aspects of the game which more than makes up for them.

You are Shane Carpenter, a newly enlisted Mantel Corp Sergeant eager to taste his first sip of battle. The game opens with a first person perspective in-game engine cutscene. This is the style that all cutscenes follow during the course of the game by the way. You're rising on a platform to the deck of the Mantel Land Carrier when meet your squad mates for the first time. Everything feels good; the sun is shining, everyone looks well, life is good. As you stand on deck two large aircrafts fly over, with a roar from the troopers on deck - their latest shipment of precious nectar is here - when a rocket from the jungle cripples one of the planes. You are immediately dispatched to assess the damage....

As you drop down from your troop carrier you get a brief tutorial about using Nectar. Nectar is the combat enhancing drug used by Mantel troopers. You are always on Nectar, but controlled boosts allow you to shoot better, see enemies more clearly, take more damage and strike harder. Too much Nectar and you overdose, loosing the ability to tell friend from foe. This only happens once beyond your control in the course of the game. Nectar is designed to give you confidence and like any drug will want you coming back for more, and my God is that true. Ok, I've never taken drugs myself, but once you start juicing up on Nectar you feel invincible, and just want to use it more. So when you use up your initial six doses, the wait for them to regenerate - even just one capsule - can become agonising.

I'll be honest though - Haze is a shooter, and gunplay is quite solid. As a Mantel trooper you start off with an Assault rifle and a pistol. Both sides have a counterpart with the exception that the Rebels have a knife instead of a pistol and a gatling gun and flamethrower instead of a rocket launcher. All work well and you'll soon find your favourite. Graphics are ok. They're not the greatest out there and they certainly look better on a SD tv rather than a HD one, but this is a shooter, and graphics are one of the least important things, but graphics do help.

As you progress through the opening level you can approach a certain rock. You're hardly thinking about your surroundings when suddenly the screen shakes, the colour turns to black and white, the message "Nectar Disruption" reads on the bottom of the screen and lying sprawled on the rock is a dead body. Seconds later the Nectar reboots and the body disappears. Already it has you asking questions. This happens again in the 3rd "stage". You enter a room which is seemingly empty, only for your Nectar to go again. This time you can see blood smeared everywhere, bodies lying in heaps all over the place. The non-Nectar existence becomes more graphic when you go to pull a lever, and see your hand covered in blood. The Nectar disruptions become more frequent, and it is only when cut off from Nectar you realise how fragile you are. Without it, bullet shots are louder, you can see the bullets making contact with flesh, people are screaming. It becomes evident quite fast that Nectar is giving you an edited view of the world. It also becomes apparent that Shane is not like his squad mates, when they cut off the finger of the Merino, a man they have been led to believe wears a coat of human skin. This prompts Shane to switch sides.

It's far more elaborate than that though. The carrier bringing Merino and your squad back is shot down, and crashes in a swamp. As you emerge from the wreckage you learn that Mantel are after you because they cannot access your Nectar administrator. A rebel scout brings you back to their HQ. It is here that the effect of Nectar becomes more evident. Now fully off the drug, your former comrades (who were rescued from the wreckage by the rebels) try to take over the rebel base. Their suits are covered in blood, their faces shallow and their eyes bloodshot. This is a vast difference to the image given to the player when we first meet them on the land carrier. As a rebel, your tactics change, and you can no longer rely on Nectar to fortify your health. You can double tap X to do a roll, steal your opponents weapon, lay mines, make Nectar grenades, and wipe Nectar on your knife.

Gameplay is a lot more fun as a rebel. Though I am disappointed that we didn't get to play as a Mantel trooper for very long. The story is quite good - and graphical, particularly when you open a shipping container to find it full of Nectar troopers with no signs of bullet wounds on the corpses - but the voice acting is a litte OTT. There are no load screens in the game, meaning you could technically play it through without stopping. The levels themselves are as a result quite big, and it is often difficult to ascertain where one level begins and another ends. Another problem as a result of this is that it can often be hard to tell where you're supposed to go. There are sometimes flares on the ground to direct you, but finding the flares isn't always easy either! No loading screens adds to the story in a way, as games which use defined "levels" can sometimes feel a little disjointed. The games main holding point is that it can be played co-op style offline and online, and you don't need to start a new segment to do it. A human player can sign in and immediately take the place of one of the AI controlled allies. Speaking of AI, enemy AI is definitely one of the games low points. It's not great. Putting it simply. I did expect better, but rumour has it that playing on Hard mode is a real challenge.

Multiplayer is quite fun aswell, with the Team Assault mode standing head and shoulders above the other two. Online stats are also very extensive, and rewards are given for certain events. The back of the case indicates that there will be free downloadable content - here's hoping it's more weapons, modes and maps for multiplayer.

To sum it up, Haze isn't the greatest FPS ever, but it IS fun! I've certainly enjoyed it. The campaign could've been a bit longer but multiplayer can make up for that. Graphics and audio are ok, and gameplay is good for an FPS. Free Radical have sought to bring some new elements to FPS gameplay with the two asymmetric styles of gameplay and it does work!

Graphics: 7

Gameplay: 8

Sound: 7

Longevity: 6

Presentation: 6

Extras/Unlockables: n/a

Overall: 6.8

Now just to wait for MGS4. Oh...and the ending kindof hinted there might be a sequel...Don't know whether that's for better or worse....

~The Damo

GLORY GLORY MAN UTD

...AND THE REDS GO MARCHING ON ON ON!!!!

What a night eh? Manchester United, Champions of Europe once again. Wednesday's final will go down in the history books, and in my opinion surpasses the memorable 1999 final. It really has been the fairytale story for Man Utd this season. 50 years after the Munich air disaster, Ryan Giggs surpasses Bobby Charlton's appearence record and also scores the winning penalty, Paul Scholes was the player who missed out in '99 but fired home the goal against Barcelona to put them in this years final...

You couldn't write that. Ronaldo missing a penalty, then John Terry missing the last penalty which would have won it for Chelsea. Even neutrals would agree that this years final was sensational, and it shows the strength of the Premiership when England's one and two feature in the Champions League Final.

With the double now sealed, Ferguson has hailed this squad as his best yet. And they deserve it. Arguably one of the toughest seasons in Premiership history, they overcame the odds and sealed an historical TENTH title. Man Utd now stand just one league title short of Liverpool...and lets face it, Liverpool aren't going to win the league any time soon!

That's all I wanted to say really, I've never been prouder to be a Man Utd fan. I'll leave you with highlights of the game.

Oh, and this little picture has already started to flood the net....

~The Damo

One Night in Cork

No, it's not a tagline for some porn movie involving a socialite named "Cork", it's simply an account of my trip to Cork at the weekend. It should be mentioned that there was a lot of alcohol consumption on this trip, so some details may be sketchy...

Anyway, the trip began officially at 00:01 Saturday. After the Johns on Friday, we went to the Long Miler as usual, followed by the mandatory trip to the Regent Palace Chinese takeaway. Myself, Wolfie and Joanne had all been asked by Lorcan to spend the night so we could get the Luas to Heuston early the following morning. Knowing in advance that my choices for places to sleep would be (A) The floor, (B) The couch, (C) The recliner or (D) Not sleeping at all. I hastely baggsied in advance on of the recliners. A baggsy that would prove to be painful. A trip to the off licence on the way to Lorcan's yielded more alcohol for the trip. Upon reaching Lorcan's I quickly parked myself in the aforementioned recliner and began to familiarise myself with the reclining action. While it was a little stiff, I figured by the time I decided to sleep in it I'd have it in the bag. How wrong I was.

A few games of Wii bowling, two episodes of Family Guy, and one episode of Celebrity Deathmatch later, we figured we should probably hit the hay...or the couch/chairs anyway. Wolfie was first to go. I had always thought that people had exaggerated just how bad his snoring was, "The Chainsaw" as it is known amongst those who have experienced it. But no, it was that bad. Given we had consumed alcohol we found it quite funny just how loud and irritating it was, how the laughter stopped when we actually tried to sleep. This is where the matter of the recliner comes into play. My recliner intially reclined well, and I was reasonably comfortable. It didn't take long however for it to keep moving back into shape, meaning I was constantly fighting it, not really allowing me to sleep. Coupled with the snoring, this made for a very disastrous sleep. 5 and half ours later we wake up to head to the Luas. My bag weighing a tonne didn't exactly help the walk either, but I endured.

Upon reaching Heuston we found the queue for the train to be too long, so we opted to wait for the 9.30 train. With an hour to waste I bought a magazine and tried to gather my thoughts whilst everyone else went to different areas to grub up. In the queue for the train I witnessed my bands homepage on bebo, an article which can be found 5 or 6 posts below. The train journey was reasonably uneventful, except for Becky not realising that the "Charleville" stop is where the cheese is made. Reaching Cork we opted to walk to Southern Command to relive our cadet days. At Southern Command we were greeted by the other Walkinstown members who drove down. Some O'Briens sandwiches later and we were off to Pairc Ui Chaoimh. Our competitions were on in the actual stadium itself, but outside was some kind of fair "War through the Ages" or something. Looked kinda lame if you ask me.

The competitions were brief, no fucking around in Cork. Myself and Bren came second in the dual, beaten by one point! We then had to walk to Southern Command to get a taxi. Unknowingly I had been assigned the duty of looking out for taxis, because I was last in the line...due to my heavy bag. I missed one.... Eventually we got two taxis and we got the hotel. A wedding was on aswell, but that wasn't going to stop me getting in two pints and my dinner! Not much happened for a while, I made myself comfortable on the couch in the room which was to become my bed for the night and almost fell asleep until Sine rang to ask us up to the villa. A few drinks in the villa, and a membership of the Walkinstown Gun Club later and we were ready to hit the down.

We went to the Market Tavern and it's here I don't remember all the details. I remember getting a numb face anyway. Oh and there was some dude playing music, and we debated for a while over whether a picture opposite us was painted or a photo. Of course we were all too lazy to actually get up and look at it. I think we left there at about 12.30-1.00 in search of a takeaway. We passed 3 Indians but no Chinese. We did pass an Off Licence, and duelly stocked up. On our travels we met one of the HSE examiners from the competitions who was on duty in the ambulance. Eventually we ended up in Burger King and then headed back to the Villa. More drink as you can imagine and we watched a few episodes of Britain's got talent. Around 2.30-3.00 we decided to head back to our room.

When I woke up in the morning it felt as though my shoulder had been stabbed with a knife!! I mean I probably just slept on it but I liked being dramatic. Breakfast, TV in the villa, and a few agonising walks with my bag and we were on the train home. We were all either too tired or too hungover to make much conversation, though we did manage to get in a few games of switch and shit head. Wolfie eloquently summed up the trip with a song....(from his iPod obviously)....




Goodbye, goodbye, good friends goodbye...

~The Damo

America on the Verge of History

Barack Obama sits just 50 delegates short of winning a majority in the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination. With a turn in the numbers of superdelegates backing the Illinois senator, Obama seems now certain to seal the nomination - the first black man to contest a Presidential election. Either way the Democrats would've made history, it would have been the first woman in Hillary Clinton.

When the race began Clinton was certain of victory, but a combination of many factors, including attacks on Obama which were deemed "unacceptable" by analysts, statements regarding Bosnia and so on have all caused Clinton's downfall. Certainly remarks regarding "eliminating Israel" would raise eyebrows aswell. The problem for the Democrats however is that both candidates are attracting seperate votes, which may prove detrimental come the actual election. As I see it, I can't see America voting for a black man or a woman as President, regardless of how liberal they claim to be. And let's face it, I don't think anyone can transform America from being one of the most hated countries in the world...if not the only one. Realistically, I can see McCain being elected come the final vote. Had Obama and Clinton run as President and Vice President (in any order) they'd have stood a better chance. It's hard to visualise either of them being President - personally.

(note the spelling of "Tomorrow")

Despite the amount of support the Democrats may have in the Senate (or at the very least the support they may have gained due to the Bush administration), one has to remember that in America you're either one or the other. As such, if you're Republican, you're going to vote for McCain, regardless. But because the Democratic support is so split as it is, with very strong differences and such strong negativety towards the other side, the question arises whether the Democrats can unite to get into power. The shear lack of competition for the Republican nomination would tend to suggest that Republican voters stand united behind their candidate. The competition and division with the Democrats may influence those on the benches to vote Republican, for the simple reason of collaboration (and arguably stability) in the Republican party - something which seems to be absent in the Democrats given the nature of their race for the nomination.

While this kind of race is exciting in its own way, it makes me appreciate just how well off we are in this country for politics. We have such great choice. Whether you agree with Fianna Fail being in power or not, since 1997 we have had stable governments. In fact, politics in Ireland have been quite stable in recent years. Now I understand that it doesn't work the same way in America, but I cannot recall in my time of their being the type of the division we have in the Democrats now in any single party we have today. Yes we had all those seperations and so on years back but like I said...my time. And I'm talking about such drastic division over the right candidate and so on.

Okay I realise that blog is a bit all over the place, but I'm tired and can't really think straight at the moment, I've some very serious issues on my mind at the moment.

Anyway, GO OBAMA!!! Just had to get that in there...

~The Damo

AVGN - Indiana Jones

The Nerd has been working overtime to get this second video out, he takes a look at some of the crap Indy and his whip have spewed out with the release of the latest movie. And my God....it's BAAAAAADDDD....

Enjoy:



Glory or Insanity awaits....

~The Damo

The Metal Gear Retrospective

Don't forget to check out the new posts below!

Gametrailers have taken a break from Star Wars and have begun feeding the hype monster as the release of the epic Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots approaches. Anyone who reads my blog knows that I hold Metal Gear in the highest of esteem, MGS1 was one of the first in my Greatest of All Time blogs. These videos can do better than what I could in words to describe how brilliant these games are.

Seriously, even if you haven't played them before I would recommend watching these.

Part 1 - Metal Gear, Snake's Revenge and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake


Part 2 - Metal Gear Solid, VR Missions and Twin Snakes.


FINALLY, as a last teaser, here is the THEATRICAL TRAILER for MGS4. I hope to God they do play this on TV and in cinemas.

Even if you know nothing about video games, you really should watch this. MGS4 will have over 7 hours of cutscenes and codecs, making it more than just a game, worthy of this trailer.

Trailer:


Come on June 12th! Wait...that's the same day as the Referendum. Metal Gear or Lisbon Treaty...Hmmmmm....God, I wonder which I'll choose....

~The Damo

"Mission: Metallica"

Some time ago I wrote a blog about the Renaissance of heavy metal. In it I was discussing how two of leaders in modern metal - Megadeth and Metallica - had gone through similar phases of huge fame, lower standard albums to new beginnings. Megadeth have pulled through it with flying colours following the albums The System Has Failed and United Abominations. This year (finally) sees the release of Metallica's ninth studio album. Five years after 2003's St. Anger, expectations are high, especially given the teaser of The New Song in 06 and 07. To help with the hype build up for the Autumn release date - which will hopefully be before they perform in Marlay Park on August 20th - they have released a sister site to metallica.com called Mission Metallica - http://www.missionmetallica.com/ . They will be releasing details about the new album and showing us footage from the studio and so on. Below is the trailer for the website. At 2.23 onwards features new riffs, which sound promising. Interviews with Rick Rubin have revealed that there are 8-9 songs all of which are 8 minutes long, including new solos which were sadly absent in St. Anger. If this and The New Song are anything to go by, Metallica are sure to pull through their own renaissance too...



Bow down! Sell your soul to me....I will set you free...

It also seems they may have gone back to their old logo... :D

~The Damo

Top Ten - Rammstein!!

I first got into Rammstein back in 2001. I was a young teen, riding along the bus (better known as the Wacky Shack) in the Gaeltacht when a young David McGuiness was listening to Rammstein's Mutter on his cd player. Yes, I actually did say CD player, it's THAT long ago! An even younger Brendan Kelly expressed his knowledge on the band and how good they were and my accomplice Daithi O'Cinneide also knew of them. Needless to say I had to have a listen and I instantly fell in love. Well not literally, but you know, in a way a man can love his car or his farts or his johnson. So anyway, my first taste of Rammstein was their 3rd studio album Mutter which was FANTASTIC, and still is in my opinion. I of course had no idea that they had two previous albums Herzeleid and Sehnsucht. This fact only came to my knowledge through a DVD. In 2004 I duely purchased the brilliant Reise,Reise and most recently (2006 recently) bought Rosenrot. While I personally feel that Rosenrot was slightly weaker than its immediate two predecessors, it does have one or two nice songs. At present, Rammstein are currently working on their next album set for release this year under the working title Punk. I only invested in their first two albums last year and I love them as much as the others. In fact, I think Sehnsucht is slowly coming into second place behind Mutter. I would also highly recommend getting their two live albums, Live Aus Berlin and Volkerball, both equally good and express excellently Rammstein's incredible raw power and flare when performing live.

Anyway, so back to the purpose of this blog. Firstly, I haven't done a Top Ten in AGES! Secondly, I wanted to share Rammstein with everyone. It is an acquired taste, much like Guinness, so it doesn't appeal to everyone, but I can safely say I know more people who like them than dislike them, and in actual fact I've been surprised countless times by the amount of people that actually know of them.

So here goes MY Top Ten, not everyone will agree but there ya go! The song title in Italics is its English translation. Where possible I've tried to get the original music video for the songs, not all have them and not all are available.

10. Mann Gegen Mann - Man Against Man (from Rosenrot)
*PARENTAL SUPERVISION REQUIRED!*


9. Du Riecht So Gut - You Smell So Nice (from Herzeleid)


8. Feuer Frei! - Fire at Will! (from Mutter)


7. Wollt ihr das Bett in Flammen sehen? - Do You Want to See the Bed in Flames? (from Herzeleid)


6. Du Hast - You Hate (from Sehnsucht)


5. Sehnsucht - Longing (from Sehnsucht)


4. Amerika (from Reise, Reise)


3. Ich Will - I want (from Mutter)


2. Engel - Angel (from Sehsucht)


1. Sonne - Sun (from Mutter)


Again, no brownie points for guessing what my favourite album is. Oh, and if you speak German, you might be able to see how.... *strange*....some of their lyrics are...especially Mann Gegen Mann and Du Hast... Nevertheless, I highly recommend Rammstein for everyone!

~The Damo

Introducing......"Stockade"

Stockade are a new 5 piece vocal harmony band taking the world by storm. With their amazing covers and solid physical presence their going straight to the top.

The members are (Left to Right):

Lorcan Keller (Ginger Stock)

Maurice Price (Baby Stock)

Brendan Byrne (Sporty Stock)

Damien Kelly (Posh Stock)

Alan ''Wolfman'' Byrne (Scary Stock)

Look for them soon in a town near you!!

We are currently recording our debut single Well Stock'd and have begun work on our first studio album Built Like A House (working title). The single Well Stock'd will likely include a bonus track of the WIP We Work Hard, We Play Hard.

Oh yeah, let the money flow!

~The Damo (aka Posh Stock)

AVGN - NES Accessories

Now that the exams are finally over, I can get back to writing lengthy (waffle filled) blogs about anything and everything. In the mean time however, we have the Nerd's follow up video to his last, after the battle with Jesus against Satan.

Enjoy:


Coming soon, the MGS4 THEATRICAL TRAILER!

~The Damo

The Empire Strikes Barack

Brilliant...just brilliant. One might argue that this person has no life to make this, and under normal circumstances I'd probably agree. But it's just so damn good!



~The Damo

The Star Wars Retrospective - Parts 3 and 4

Some time back I posted the STAR WARS RETROSPECTIVE videos which detailed part of the evolution of games made for the Original Trilogy. Part 3 spans games made for the Prequel Trilogy and Part 4 looks at Flight Sim games which - on a personal level - were hours WELL spent in my youth. I think my ass went numb playing TIE Fighter several times....

Part 3:


Part 4:


I expect there'll be a part 6 too, I mean...they haven't TOUCHED Knights of the Old Republic yet!!!

~The Damo

HAZE Blowout!

Frequenters to my blog will know all about HAZE on PS3, so rather than re-hash everything I've already said I'll make it brief.

Here, MANTEL official website:
http://www.mantelglobalindustries.com/uk/
The HAZE EXPERIENCE:
http://hazegame.uk.ubi.com/experience/main.htm?uk

KoRn Music Video:


Gametrailers Preview:


Gametrailers Multiplayer Preview:


MAY 22nd can't get here fast enough...

~The Damo

Long Time No Blog

I only realised when I signed in the other day that my blog performance for April was quite shocking. This was in fact due to the incredible workload I was under for the month including:

> An AED course
> Divisional Competitions exam setting
> NOVICE CUP - which we came 3rd in
> 100 page report for my Communications module
> 20 minute presentation in powerpoint for the aforementioned report
> A set of steps made of cardboard which had to support my own weight
> A Mechanics assignment

That is all DONE now of course, but alas, such is college life that I now must study for exams over the next two weeks which realistically means...no blogs!

So I'm going about posting all relevant blogs that I have hear in an attempt to keep interest while I'm away.

First and foremost is the exams themselves. Thankfully I've only 5 actual exams, one of which is a computer exam. The 6th module is in fact the one which took up all my time last month in the aforementioned project, presentation, steps etc. Speaking of that, we received an email from our Co-ordinator - Arturo - that our portfolios had to be in by Friday. When I arrived into college on Thursday for a tutorial, I found the office where we had to submit it would be closed for Thursday and Friday. So Arturo - the legend - said I could knock at his office on Friday and he would make the effort to have the office opened so I could hand it in. Dedication or WHAT! Anyway so as you can expect studying is a pain in the arse, especially for Mechanics and Surveying. The only one I'm looking forward to is really Theory and Design II, as the questions are very hands-on and you can actually visualise what your calculating - namely beams, foundations and rising elements for buildings. Computer Apps isn't bad either, and it's kindof hard to study for a computer based module. All I can do is practice on the pilot service MATLAB that's available through UCD connect, but it's hardly exciting.

What IS exciting though is one of the best games I've played to date which I managed to get my chubby hands on on Thursday when everywhere in town was sold out...GRAND THEFT AUTO 4!!! Initially I thought I would do a review of this. But since it's likely to take me in excess of 40 hours to complete - the main story - I can't see that happening anytime soon. I MAY do some kindof review in general but we'll see how it goes, and it certainly won't be happening till after the exams. I'm using GTA4 as an incentive to study, if I study well during the day, I can reward myself with virtual booze, sex and violence later on in the evening. But in short, IT FREAKING ROCKS!!!

The above means my review of Gran Turismo 5: Prologue is on hold, as the GTA disc currently sits in my PS3. I also managed to buy the two expansion packs for Warhawk a few weeks back too and they are quite fantastic.

The stress in my life does not end there however. This coming Sunday my youth team will be playing in the penultimate game of the season against the All Muslim team Clonskeagh who called us in for the racism charge earlier in the season. While we're quite sure they'll play the same overage players again and avoid punishment from the league again, victory would mean the league title for us, losing would mean league glory for them. My youngest brother on the otherhand, his team are in the final of their cup after a nail biting game in Ballyowen Park against Peamount. The game went to extra time and penalties but two fine saves from Esker's goalkeeper ensured a cup medal at the end.

Finally, I have a delicious teaser trailer from the legend Hideo Kojima himself. Pay attention...


Yes Mr. Kojima... I DO like it!

~The Damo