Tuesday 5 November 2013

No Power in The 'Verse Can Stop Me

If you couldn't tell from the title/quote, I'm writing about Firefly, the Sci-Fi series starring Nathan Fillion as Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds of the Firefly-class ship Serenity.

This brilliant Space-age Cowboy series has been recommended by hundreds, if not thousands of Nerds worldwide. They were not wrong. With that in mind, I thought that I should be yet another Nerd to write a short review/ recommendation to our readers. (But let's see exactly how "short" it will actually be...)

Now, I won't lie, I only really heard about this show last year, from another show you may have heard of, The Big Bang Theory.

For those of you who haven't yet watched it yet, the general story is that, in about 500 years, Earth's resources have been used up. Humans (having developed space travel and terraforming technology by this time) search for Moons, and Planets to settle on, and in the years to come, war breaks out between the Alliance of the Central Planets, and the Independent outer planets. Spoiler Alert! The Independents lost... (It's explained in the pilot, don't worry).

After suffering a huge defeat in Serenity Valley, Mal is forced to make a decision, either work for the Alliance, or find a ship and a crew, and start a life of crime. It's a great show, I highly recommend you try watching the first episode- and then the rest of the series.

And after that, Serenity...

Anyway, the reason I bring this up now, is because there is a new boardgame (carrying on from the theme of the last post) based on the universe of Firefly/ Serenity.

You start the game with a Firefly-class transport ship, which can be upgraded. To win the game you must pick up and transport different types of cargo. There are also other jobs to attempt which can be legal (or not) and crew to hire, including many of the characters from the show.

Looks like it will be a great game for Firefly fans- hopefully even for people who have never watched an episode. I am definitely looking forward to the release date in the UK.

Saturday 2 November 2013

Giving Games A Chance


So, it has been... wow... 6 months since I last wrote anything for this blog. To be honest I thought it was a hell of a lot longer than that.

A lot has happened in the last 6 months, fairly recently my friends and I started trying out boardgames, not many but enough to say we have. There are literally hundreds of choices which we could have started with and Cam definitely did not disappoint. Apart from one of our number being unable to decipher the rules of some games for a time we did end up having a lot of fun.

Basically what I'm trying to say is, you don't always need video and computer games to have a good time. I highly recommend giving board games the chance they deserve. I think with a fair amount of years in spent in Dungeons and Dragons games I may have said something along these lines before in this blog, but I would like to say it again. Board games are fun.

And since it was Halloween a couple of days ago I would like to call attention to the recent (free) Xbox 360 Minecraft texture based on the fearsome theme.

My plans for this blog in the near future? Well, thanks for asking.

I want to write more and about a great many things. So, I'm going to try for a least once a week (I know I've probably said this before, but since I have 7 followers and probably even less readers, I think I'm OK if I miss one or two weeks). Saying that, I will try my best to write as much as I can.

Thanks for reading,
Till next time Nerds

Tuesday 16 April 2013

Brand New Day

Having been a Nerd for a while, I'd like to think I know my way around YouTube. A few months ago a video caught my attention, featuring a thumbnail of Nathan Fillion. At this point, I was watching (and re-watching) Firefly, so naturally I had to see what it was. Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is pretty much what it says in the title. It is a musical blog of a Super-villain called Dr. Horrible who tends to make rather big mistakes...

Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible is brilliant in this musical, as is the rest of the cast. Nathan Fillion suits the role of a Super-hero (albeit an arrogant, superficial hero... I'm not sure that was a compliment...) and adding his voice to NPH's just made this movie incredible.

The base story is that Dr. Horrible (aka Billy Buddy) is deeply in stalker-y love with Penny, played by Felicia Day, creator/ producer of one of my favourite YouTube channels, Geek and Sundry.

I won't go into detail, because I can't be bothered... But that's no reflection on the musical, so with that in mind... Watch it!


Geekiness and Booze

There is a website, which I have been reading for some time. It's been of great use to me.

It has great drinking games, brilliant themed drinks, and cool nerdy merch. If you're into anything nerdy (since you're reading this, I'm guessing you are) then you should visit The Drunken Moogle. You won't find any of these drinks in pubs or bars, but it's fun to experiment by yourself.

Friday 15 February 2013

What your d6 can do for you

I was watching the Big Bang Theory today. Sheldon decided that for an extended period of time he would let all of his "minor" decisions be dictated by the roll of dice.

I was intrigued. So I researched the idea and found a book which was written in the 1970s called "The Dice Man" by George Cockcroft under the pseudonym Luke Rhinehart. It tells the story of a psychiatrist who decides to make life decisions on the roll of a dice (he takes it to extremes, but it does make for a good novel, and I doubt you'd want to read about some guy rolling dice to decide whether he should get a haircut or what movie he should watch that night).

The books tag line says "Few novels will change your life. This one will" apparently taking into account the very real possibility of jail-time, but yes, somehow it will be changing your life. (Of course, jail would only happen if you have illegal choices on your lists and follow your dice completely).

It's all about liberation, knowing that you could end up doing anything with anyone and committing to that idea. Part of me would really like to try this, but I know the way I roll dice. It would end badly, and quickly.

Some time after writing previous sentence say... after lunch

So I successfully used the dice for a decision. I wanted to mix up my lunch routine and choose something I wouldn't normally. It was a good idea, had fairly minimal consequences and I won't be arrested for choosing something I don't want.

Lunch was good. Fish and Chips. Thank you, my "trusty" d6. But I don't think I could trust my life to it just yet.


Just a short post today. I'll try and write again soon.
Oli


Tuesday 12 February 2013

Obliviate

It has been a long time since I’ve written anything for the blog, and I know I risk annoying the many (seven) readers that we may or may not have, but I’ve been busy and I don’t think Cam is writing at the moment. But hey, we forgot (hmm, an intentional link to the title).

Anyway, since the last time I posted… not much has happened.

Except... I was invited to a Harry Potter themed birthday party, which, if it’s like the Rocky Horror party last year (of which there are definitely no embarrassing pictures of everyone involved) it will be brilliant. There is however, one downside. I have become what I always feared. A Harry Potter nerd… Because of course, I wasn’t before…

But if, like me, you too are a HP nerd, then I would have to recommend Pottermore.com. Don't know what that is? It doesn't matter, because until last week neither did I. It's a website where you have the opportunity to explore the books in much more detail, be sorted into a house, brew potions and even have wizard duels with other students. I'm in Ravenclaw... He says proudly...

So, for the party I have chosen to be Lupin, because I didn't know how hard it was to find a brown suit and travelling cloak. It's weird, but I'm having more trouble finding a suit than a cloak (thank you Halloween).

I was thinking since it's Valentines Day soon, I'd write about that, maybe a quick quote from Dumbledore, but maybe later when it's actually V-Day.

Anyway, since I have a habit of writing posts and forgetting to publish them, I'm adding part of another post into this one. 

When in Doubt, Always Follow Your Nose

I have just finished watching a brilliant YouTube video (three months ago now), featuring the creation of amazing Minecraft builders. I spent the entire time in shock and awe. At one point a builder stated that if the Mines of Moria were to scale (1:1) it would have taken about 5 hours to walk through, (four days Gandalf, really?) it's 1:2 so I imagine it would still take quite a while, if you don't get lost along the way... [insert evil laugh here]

They built Middle-Earth in Minecraft...

According to the people in the video, they built it by hand. And when I say they built it by hand, I mean everything was built by hand, even the landscapes. They do have a very large team though, so don't feel too bad about your building skills when you do go back to your own world.

If you are interested, here is the first video (there are two others). They don't show you everything, but what they do show you is amazing.




Hope you enjoyed this little compound post.

Farewell Nerds.
And a very early Happy Birthday my Harry Potter loving friend! (Names have been changed to protect the innocent)

Oli.