jayseven

I was watching frequent Mock The Week panelist Andy Parsons' stand-up last night, and I thought he came across as a bit of a closet bigot. He ended his show with the mantra "I'm english, and I don't like anything foreign. I just want my cup of tea, pint of beer and plate of chips. Three of our greatest imports ever" (from memory). While he was being fairly sardonic, he was still speaking of a national pride based on disillusioned idea of heritage, something the US is much worse at considering they're all bloody immigrants. But today I've realised that I really don't give a shit about being English/British in the slightest. That English is predominantly the main spoken language in trade around the world bothers me little, it only annoys me more that we have a culture so determined not to be arsed learning a second language. To me being a person is much more worthwhile. I currently live down an 'alleyway' (the accurate word for it eludes me right now) and on the way home tonight I happened to enter it shortly after a couple of grand skinheads who were going on about how being english meant this and that... and I couldn't find myself agreeing with any of them. Perhaps it's growing up with this forum, I've just accepted that there are boundaries beyond those set up by passport control offices. I see nationality as the smallest common denominator between me and my friends, with interests, hobbies and mindsets being the foremost determiners for my friendships. So, in an attempt to make this a topic, do you feel any national pride at all? What, specificially, is it that makes you so darned pleased to have been born in whatever combined hectares that creates your flagged domain?

Y'see, I don't think it's the nadir of western civilisation. I think it's one of the best comedy shows out there for people with a brain. As dogamoto said; at what point do people get the thought; going on the show is a good idea! If idiots want to show the world how stupid they are, I am more than willing to watch them showcase their moronity in excange for my feeling of superiority. WORDS.

Just want to say it's great what you guys are doing! I'd donate, but I've hit the red severecore. I'd participate, but I'm going to a country gig/murder mystery/cider festival that weekend. But I'm wondering if you guys are going to keep us updated? Like, keep a diary of any LOLsome moments, or just generally what you're up to? Would make me feel all warm inside.

Majority is 10 Nintendohnut (2): Diageo Diegeo (1): Smeagól Chairdriver (5): Cube, Nintendohnut, Heroicjanitor, Rez, Zell No Lynch (4): Ellmeister, gmac, Eenuh, Chairdriver

I was living on £20 for a fortnight many, many times. But if it's just your loan in late, I'd recommend talking to your bank about it. Take with you proof of address, ID, proof of being a student (can get something printed from your uni finance office) and ask for an emergency overdraft. IIRC (my housemate had to get one once) they can be interest free for student for a fixed period of time, i.e. if you say you're expecting your loan in a month then they'll charge you interest after a month. Effectively it'd be as if your loan was in! Otherwise; learn. To. Cook. I could survive on £20 a fortnight (including fags and booze!) because all I had to do was spend £5 on 1kg of mince and I'd be set for food for 6 meals (skip breakfast) and a fiver for 'emergencies' (usually a night out with some sympathetic friends). This was because I'd slowly invested in tins of tomatoes, herbs, spices, etc. Build up a larder and when you're poor you're alright for food. AND FUCK THE HAIRCUT YOU SILLY MAN

I put BISH on my CV...

AWWW! My sister's giving birth later this week (induced, date being decided on wednesday)... YOU STOLE MY GLORY! BUTEXCLAMATIONMARK we will be same-week-in-october-becoming-an-uncle TWINNNNSSS!!!

Majority is 10 Nintendohnut (2): Diageo Diegeo (1): Smeagól Chairdriver (5): Cube, Nintendohnut, Heroicjanitor, Rez, Zell No Lynch (3): Ellmeister, gmac, Eenuh

.. Surprised it's not been commented on! Video after the jump; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11510513 Aired last sunday in teh US and on the coming 21st in the UK. The most morbid thing ever seen on a simpsons episode? Surely so. There's a pub in brighton with a Banksy piece! [/sidenote]

Dannyboy; I think you're too concerned with the pronounciation (Eenuh too, to an extent) - I think you're active in your speaking, both with intonations and hand gestures, and they make for a lively and accurate monologue!

http://www.thatwasfunny.com/twenty-one-reasons-why-english-is-hard-to-learn/206 I think Eenuh was very right - there's no need to worry about your pronounciations. The above link is proof enough of how the english language can trip people up with the gap between written and spoken word. The english language is not written very phonetically (I'd say the italian language is probably the most phonetical I've encountered), so it is awkward to learn, but! Even I still pronounce things wrong. i could not honestly tell you right now which words they are, but there must be at least a dozen of them and I generally just choose to use another word entirely, instead of looking a fool. I think in general, foreign speakers of english are very careful to enunciate everything correctly while natives rely on context and familiarity and quick vocab memory access. I have a french family friend who is 60, has lived in england for 40 years, yet she still pronounces things 'wrong' - but we don't correct her anymore because we recognise what it is she's trying to say. If I mishear a foreign speaker it is probably because I am not used to that particular pronounciation, just as they may not recognise my accent. Ultimately, I am very jealous of you all! I wish I could speak another language or three.

I think you were very inventive with your roles, and am glad you gave me the role-switcher role, something I loved having in the smash bros mafia.

I honestly used to hate teh dude... but nowadays I think he's great. The idiots that go on that show deserve what they get.

I enjoyed this game. At first it was a little overwhelming, but after a couple of nights we started being able to fit all the pieces together. The problem was that so could everyone else. What I did like was how unusual some roles were that kept things on edge - tellyn's role to lighten colours that targetted him, Mundi's role to replace any other colour, and paj's ability to force a vote -- we didn't really utilise all of these for a while, but we had a couple of successful nights where we effectively killed off most of the opposing mafia... then when we figured we were down to one mafia it was all over. We had no chance. I think props should be given to dannyboy for creating a very exciting and confusing game. The only downside would be that it was weighted a little bit too much towards town (consider how many townies were left at the end), mostly by having so much so obvious in the write-up, but we as mafia could've done a little better.

In the drip and the drench, he hears not the heckles. "My friends, there is another way! This hunger for violence and its lover of procrastination heed no spawn! Their progeny is only stagnation and decay! A vote for nothing is still a vote worthwhile!" That Damned Preacher was not giving up on his flock.

Ah, you are so right about that scene! Intense stuff. It's kinda like how Bioshock does pretty much all its cutscenes - you keep the view but lose control. In that respect, I totally get what you mean, and it is very much so immersive. But! I still think that Darkness is attempting to imitate movies first and foremost, or at least that's a decent enough excuse for refusing to put in the extra dev. time to do all interactions like bioshock. Perversely, that one scene in Darkness where it's in that mode is probably the most claustraphobic of all of them, and it perhaps has such weight because we're not used to the perspective? You've got me wanting to play the game again. I'm sure I said it already, but I deferred from playing through on a harder difficulty straight away as it was bothering me not being able to find all the collectable stuff - I did attempt to go back to it but having not played it for so long it was too tricky to remember everything combined with it all being so painfully hard.

1000G!!! Boo-to-the-ya. Came as a surprise, too! I thought for Battle Hardened I'd need everything levelled up. Was litterally SADFACED when I saw I needed 12500 for one of the things when I had 'only' earned 13k while grinding away at levelling up the weapons... so I bought all the weapon moves and HEY PRESTOO!! The last two achievements pop up. I even started a new game in order to get a couple that I missed. Including the hour of bullshit of riding in circles (tied headphones around the pad), I did it in 27:43:49 on apocalyptic, plus a 1:22:19 file on easy which was to get teh 160 kills on the winged beast and Kill 150 Enemies With Objects - which took practically no time at all. The grinding was made easier with music. PHEW! Broke the 30k mark with this game too! ... What next? Ah, that sad phase of getting over a game.

Oi. I'm well profound, me. :P

While in FP, encounters with NPCs are often boring. How many times have you patiently just stared at the person talking? How many times have you, instead, jumped, crouched, span around and shot stuff while you're waiting to get back to the shooting! I think it's a form of narrative control to switch to the third person mode, like a mini cut-scene, so yeah it's definitely a directorial decision that you'll forget is even happening in due course. As for the sequel news - here's hoping it does come around. I think they could really let rip with a sequel.

300 miles of movement covers not just horseback but general trekking around on foot y'see. You get the horse so late in the game and can only really use it in a couple of places that it just seems so stupid to make an achievement. And yeah! If the pad is facing just one direction, it'll automatically disconnect after a period of time if it's wireless, just as it would if one button was pressed down or a trigger held down all the time.

There's an achievement on Darksiders that pretty much represents stupidity. Ride your horse for 100 miles. Now, after 24 hours of gaming, I've clocked in 300 miles. I've checked the 'nets and the advice is to stick an elastic band on your controller and leave it be -- I wrapped an ipod cable round the 'stick... but after, what, 20 minutes?, the pad switches off. I gained about 8 miles. So effectively I'm looking at 5 hours of running around doing nothing, just for the sake of a few g. It's not really worth it (but I'll probably still try...)... My point is that it's an achievement that totally goes against the game, that is clearly based on no logic whatsoever. I understand if a game developer wants people to play their games for longer, but these sorts of achievements just leave a sour taste in the mouth. And achievements like the one you got for finding and shooting all 300 (I think?) pigeons in GTA4 would be ok if you got a map! Otherwise I see no solution besides... using a guide. The sense of reward a few g would give you for what would surely be dozens of hours of work to find them all alone would just not be worth it in the slightest. Anyone got any other examples? I could probably pull any game off of my shelf and find at least one rubbish achievement.

AFAIK, dan, a lot of fluid speakers are able to express what they're saying mostly with one hand and the ever useful context Don't let it put you off, if you were ever intersted.

I don't like this. Rummy was quick to vote for me, too, but I think voting for non-participators isn't really an acceptible route to follow. Jonnas; you could've given me that defence before finding out a silencer was killed. I'm going to give the thread a re-read. Tomorrow.... Changevote: nobody for now.

It's the switching between two modes that takes you out of the experience, for sure, but I think that was why it was only as immersive as a movie; you have no control at all with a movie and my point was that this game is like a movie but with some control. But I'm glad you're enjoying the game I was considering playing it through again, but I know that I'll be sidetracked with some achievements I missed, some of which are hoarding ones, and I know that'll detract from my enjoyment.

Majority is 10 Nintendohnut (2): Diageo Diegeo (1): Smeago Chairdriver (5): Cube, Nintendohnut, Heroicjanitor, Rez, Zell