Unemployed!

Momentous day today. I'm not at work. I am in fact at home. And currently, I have no definite plans to return to work*.

There's an entirely rational explanation for this of course, Mrs Spacmonster and I are moving to Guernsey (my ancestral home and all that) and me being me, I don't have a job to go to. So, whilst the missus is busy working away already, earning a crust to support me in my joblessness, I'm still in London, packing up the flat.

Course, getting all of our gear into movable order, is pretty much the hardest day's work I've had in a while, in fact probably since the last time we moved house, and I haven't even had to move the giant piece of slate yet.

Still - I had time to do this, and I've nearly finished The Force Unleashed so it's not all bad...

* I am looking for a job. Honest.

What type of Gamer am I?

Apparently, according to www.mygamemug.com I am a Helping Hand. It says a lot (generally nice) things about me based on the answers I gave to about 30 questions.

Not sure I agree with all of it though. Seems to suggest I don't like FPS's. And that if I did end up playing one on line, I'd probably be all helpful and supportive. Course, anyone that's seen me play Call of Duty will know that I tend to charge screaming at the opposition as soon as the game starts - usually getting myself very killed in the process.

But - then again, perhaps Brigadier General Spacmonster's tendency to get himself killed very often because he's not watching where he's going very carefully means that I don't take the game at its competitive value, for me, it's fun, and if TrickyWooToo kills me 3 or 4 times in a row because I keep running at his hiding place (becuase I know he's there see...) before I figure out how to get him, it doesn't bother me.

So anyway perhaps it's not %100 reliable.


The Helping Hand

Deliberate Sociable Fun Veteran (DSFV)
Generous, helpful, kind...a few of many positive attributes people see in you, the Helping Hand. Nothing satisfies you more than helping your teammates or friends out in all the games that you play. You may even look to assist people in some cases if there is no one around asking for help. In fact, the enjoyment that you receive from helping people rivals that of solving a puzzle, winning a battle, or achieving a hard objective in a game.

Heavily social intensive games tend to be what you enjoy the most although you can probably find something to take pleasure in with most games. For instance, if you happen to find yourself in a competitive first person shooter, you'd probably take the support class. We recommend you stick to games (and crowds!) where people will appreciate you more; these include more casual gamers seeking fun and excitement from games rather than the serious competitive ones.

Home Alone

Sniff. I am all alone. Just don't know what to do with myself. Play some games? Make myself some sort of rudimentary snack?

I could re-enact Risky Business?

Anyway - any ideas welcome, got a couple of weeks to fill, before the big move.

Peanut Butter

Anyone who knows me, will know I have a penchant* for butter of the peanut variety. Especially, it has to be said the freshly squeezed variety. I first experienced the amazingness of freshly made peanut butter on a visit to the states, where my sister took me to Wholefoods in Pittsburgh.

There they had a machine, where you put peanuts (or cashews, or macadamia nuts or any nuts) in to the top, flicked a switch and watched as yummy peanut butter came out the bottom into a waiting container (or straight into my mouth...)

I was stunningly happy when Wholefoods announce they were opening in Kensington (near where I currently live), and that they brought their peanut butter machines with them. (Seriously, go their and try it, its the ultimate in nutty buttery goodness.)

So - about to move away from London, and away from the source of peanut heaven, you can imagine that I've been feeling glum.

Until today.

Step forward the Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Machine...

Wants it so badly. Look at the peanut butter, glarghrlghrglgglgrrrrrrrhrhrhllglhgr.....

* Some may say unhealthy obsession.

Found on Boing Boing Gadgets

Face Your Manga

Been having a play - what do you reckon:



Pretty shiny eh?

Face Your Manga

My xbox is not happy...

Speaking of green - I guess this is what I get for going away for a while and ignoring it!


As long as it leaves the axe alone, I suppose I'll be happy. Should probably get round to playing Braid though.

Green!

Got bored of orange. Green is also a much better colour for Guernsey. More on that in due course!

Viva Pinata: Believe

Okay so this is one of the funniest things I have seen in bloody ages.



It helps if, like me, you think that Horstachios are cooler than Master Chief I suppose. Makes me want to go and hang out with my Cinnamonkeys again after too much time spent chasing strippers around Liberty City.

WALL:E - best film I've seen in a good while...

Ah Pixar. When they make a film for adults, they can't be beat. I loved the Incredibles - it just had so much going on, on many a level, with great acting and some top superhero jokes appealing to my beloved geekery. Unfortunately they also make films for kids, and sometimes forget about me and my needs, so I've never really got on board with films like Cars.

WALL:E - as you can imagine, made me hopeful. It's a film about a robot, which puts it in line with some others of my all time favourites, Silent Runnning*, Short Circuit, Iron Giant, and the rest, with the human cast reduced (literally) to bags of mostly water.

It's also, sort of, post-apocalyptic, hitting my second geekery button full-on, delivering a stunning vision of earth; rusted and overrun with discarded technology. There's a scene focusing on the rotting hulls of several huge ships - which can't help but bring to mind ship breaking in the developing world.

And, in the ultimate test - I now want my own WALL:E. Where did I leave my Gamecube...

* No it is not about Bruce Dern. Or trees. It's all about the drones.

Carpet Smell

We've just had new carpet put down on the stairs in our house. Random thing to write about you might think, but for me, it's a bit Proustian.

Ahhh, 'Carpet Smell'. A bit like the fact that new cars and books have their own special smell, so does carpet. And it triggers happy memories of childhood trips to B&Q, and rolling through the giant carpet pyramid things.

Especially the ones really close together that squeezed you a bit like a mangle.

CC Image from Marc E Marc.