Monday 18 August 2008

We Love Monkey World




We're down here in Dorset on holiday (yes, we do go to work occasionally).  It has to be said the one of the main reasons for coming to Dorset is to visit Monkey World and we were not disappointed.  This delightful chap above is Paulo, he is a Woolly Monkey, a tragically endangered primate from South America.

This splendid Orangutan is part of the Nursery group; the park is the European centre for orphaned Orangutans.  I chose to adopt A-Mei who if the "Mother" to this group.  She certainly has her paws full.



This is a somewhat surreal picture from the Annual Bridport torch light procession.  It sadly was a somewhat damp night, but a fun night nonetheless.  The procession started from Bucky Doo Square and ended (seemingly many miles away) at the West Bay.

Wednesday 13 August 2008

Welcome to Hollywood...

This one comes from the category - Lies, damned lies and Hollywood Accounting:

New Line Cinema allege that The Lord of The Rings trilogy has yet to turn a profit....

Courtesy of our friends at the Los Angeles Times...

Monday 11 August 2008

The Hijinks! They....Ensue!



Another day, another opportunity to remind you about Hijinks Ensue's current subscriptions drive.

Get gut-busting laughs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from Joel Watson's splendid Web comic and check out the forums for quality geek chat with no jerks allowed.

It's a Geektopia, people!

Mario Madness

Courtesy of the fine people at Craft magazine's blog, check out the joy which is a crochet recreation of the first level of Super Mario World.

There are no words to describe the coolness...

Saturday 9 August 2008

Bernie Mac, RIP

Some horrible news, breaking via the Associated Press and Cinematical, which tells us that Bernie Mac, stand-up comic and integral part of the "Ocean's Eleven" team, has died from complications stemming from his recent bout with Pneumonia.

A story to this effect was all over the internet last weekend, but the quotes attributed to Mac's publicist seem to confirm this very sad news.

He died today, aged 50, in a Chicago-area hospital.



(The You Tube video features some NSFW language - but you're all grown-ups, right?)

Save Hijinks Ensue!



You really should be reading Hijinks Ensue! - it's one of the best Web Comics out there. If you have love for sublime geekery, things of genuine amusement and all sorts of fancy bastardry, then you would do well to head on over there now. Feel free. I'll be here when you get back.

Site Major Domo Joel Watson is currently running a subscription and funding drive to allow him to keep running Hijinks Ensue as a full-time job and we're supporting him in that endeavour.

Why don't you, too?

Friday 8 August 2008

A brief trip through Roland Emmerich's lovely house..

Roland Emmerich, then. German-born, cheerfully mainstream helmer of such popcorn-selling blockbusters as "Universal Soldier", "Stargate", "Independence Day", "Godzilla" and, my personal favourite, "The Day After Tomorrow".

Perfectly entertaining flicks are his forte, but if the attached tour of his London townhouse from the New York Times is to be believed, there's a crazy auteur of Gilliam-esque proportions just waiting to be let off the leash.

Click and be bewildered...

Thursday 7 August 2008

Shane, Shane - let's talk about this...

Courtesy of the always on-the-ball folk at Cinematical comes news that Shane Black - the latter-day master of hard-boiled dialogue and thick-ear action in such films as "The Last Boy Scout", "The Long Kiss Goodnight" and his own directorial debut, "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", is considering a return to the well by penning a screenplay for "Lethal Weapon 5".

A spec script, no less.

My jaw - it has dropped.

Andrew Ryan lives!

Thought that some of you might be interested in this video from You Tube, which reveals the forthcoming PS3 version of 2K Boston's spooky First Person Shooter "Bioshock".

Get ready to travel to Rapture again (with a nice frame rate and lovely water effects...)

Monday 4 August 2008

What we did on our holidays...




A view of Torshavn, in the Faroe Islands, on a damp and decidedly closed Sunday morning. Other than a handful of cafes, and the odd ATM vestibule, nothing seemed to open on the island.

One to visit when it's a bit more open, perhaps?




The Blue Lagoon, just outside of Reykjavik, Iceland.  I didn't go - swimming isn't really my bag, what with the imminent drowning and all - but K and her Mum did and report that it offers the odd sensation of swimming in a warm, mineral bath.  



The view from our cabin porthole, at 03:00am - pretty, isn't it?




An aerial view of Bergen, in Norway, from the top of the Floibanen.  Imagine 19,000 tourists milling around us as we take this picture, with just as many accents and every conceivable type of camera clicking, buzzing and humming as background noise.

The way we live today, eh?

He Slimed Me

Cinematical are on the beat of the latest "Ghostbusters" sequel chatter, albeit by shooting down a rumour with an assist from Seth Rogen.

Good casting idea, though.

The console wars keep on a-rolling...

Evening, all.

Just some quick hits to reassure you that we've not vanished off the face of the green planet.

First up, N'Gai over at Level Up brings the knowledge on Sony's latest, wholly unhypebolic claims about their Next Gen dominance.

After reading, you may well wonder why Sony and Microsoft just don't resort to the tried-and-true methodology of settling the argument by recourse to tape measuring...