Not location specific, No rules: Welcome to ILX heaven

And now I have a Sky HD box as well. Bye everyone! See you when the sun comes back!

Oh, by the way, in case anyone feels very rich, my brother is running the Dublin City Marathon this year in aid of Console, which is a charity that provides counselling services for people in Ireland who are bereaved by suicide. It's an issue close to our family, because my cousin committed suicide a couple of years ago, and it hit us all very hard, as it does everyone.

Here's the link if you've a few spare quid. If not, no biggie, but I hope you don't mind me asking.

http://www.mycharity.ie/event/edbyrnemarathon/

(yes, all that booze in the cupboard and I was still in the pub last night.)

I didn't go to the pub. I went to Tesco for milk & bread & stuff and OH LOOK A "WINE FESTIVAL" and spent about £20 more than I intended. Then we polished off a bottle and a half :)

My Dad's just sent me a text about going to a dodgy pub quiz he goes to on a Friday at teatime. Going means leaving work really early and therefore ending up totally hammered by closing time :-/ That said, it's a piss easy quiz, got 22/25 last week (despite stupid questioner asking questions wrong*) and the nearest to us was on 17. £20 prize = free drinks for an hour or so - we were thinking of splitting into 2 teams to win the £10 2nd prize too :)

Football tomorrow as well, I hate being onimoed at the football.

*that was the one I texted you about aldo - turned out the answer was "no-one, ever, unless I change the question when I read out the answer"

Don't you lot skive on a Friday? At this rate I'm going to end up w*rking!

the horror! anyway, back to work.

I'm currently in "what am i having for lunch?" mode.

And these old computer game threads are giving me the urge to download an emulator or two.

I'm just out of a FUCK! PANIC! WE ARE BANKRUPT! meeting, which has given me a pile of work for the rest of the day. Which I might not do, obviously.

I haven't set up MAME since I bought my last computer, I must have another go at it - though it pains me to discover I'm now shit at games I used to be expert at. I used to complete Ghosts & Goblins for 10p, now I couldn't do it with £10 worth of continues.

I do have good SNES and Megadrive/Genesis emulators courtesy of Mr Cowpat. I might dig them out over the weekend for a wee game.

I'm always disappointed by Speccie games when I replay them. Nostalgia just isn't enough in most cases.

I agree that the vast majority of spectrum games don't stand up anymore. I still one or two maddeningly addictive, though.
I always found Ghosts'n'Goblins incredibly hard - how much money did you put into the arcade machine to get that good?

please to instruct on emulator attainment.

I always found Ghosts'n'Goblins incredibly hard - how much money did you put into the arcade machine to get that good?

Loads. The worst thing was the bit when you finally fight through to the 6th(?) boss for the first time ever only to find it won't let you through unless you have the shield "weapon".
Other coin ops I was v good at: Salamander, SiniStar (RUN COWARD! BEWARE, I LIVE!), Robotron, Shaolin's Road (I used to play that in the local shop during my school lunch and had to leave it running after 40 mins still on my 1st credit). I also loved Commando, Centipede and Double Dragon but could never get top scores in the arcade.

My older brother was like a machine on Robotron. He got to the stage where the screen was just full of bad guys with barely a space between them and he'd have to shoot himself a path to run through. It was mesmerizing watching him. Robotron's a shit game to play on emulators as you need the two joystick control to do it justice.

Why do my local pubs not do early Friday pub quizzes? That sounds like fun.

I shall defer to others on arcade games as I NEVER played them ever.

Onimo, who is driving tomorrow? If you come round to pick me up at my house, I have an old VCR for you as requested by Mrs O, and I might also have finished the new Christopher Brookmyre if I don't get distracted by pub. I can't do the driving as I'm not coming back home after the football, since it is me and the mister's wedding anniversary and we are going out to eat and drink and be merry, hurrah.

I R jealous of Trish's HD box. I am in love with my Sky+, but couldn't justify shelling out on an HD box and TV right now. Maybe next year.

I think Andy is driving but I haven't spoken to him. I'll phone him later and let you know. If he isn't then I will so you'll be picked up anyway. We'll aim to leave by 1pm and pick you up at home.

I just finished Brookmyre's "Be My Enemy" (I only buy them when Monsieur le Fopp does them for £3) which was brilliantly stupidly gory fun.

Happy anniversary for tomorrow!

new Christopher Brookmyre

Any good? Please no Parlabane!

Please no Parlabane!

No luck :(

Synopsis
Do you believe in ghosts? Do we really live on in some conscious form after we die, and is that form capable of communicating with the world of the living? Aye, right. That was Jack Parlabane's stance on the matter, anyway. But this was before he found himself in the more compromising position of being not only dead himself, but worse: dead with an exclusive still to file. From his position on high, Parlabane relates the events leading up to his demise, largely concerning the efforts of charismatic psychic Gabriel Lafayette to reconcile the scientific with the spiritual by submitting to controlled laboratory tests. Parlabane is brought in as an observer, due to his capacities as both a sceptic and an expert on deception, but he soon finds his certainties crumbling and his assumptions turned upside down as he encounters phenomena for which he can deduce no rational explanation. Perhaps, in a world in which he can find himself elected rector of an esteemed Scottish university, anything truly is possible. One thing he knows for certain, however: Death is not the end ? it's the ultimate undercover assignment.

Hmmm

I bought Julian Cope's krautrocksampler off amazong (as a companion to japrocksampler) and it's in FUCKING GERMAN. :-(

Arse (xpost). So tired of Parlabane, always the same thing :(

I thought you read German? Did I just make that up?

xpost

Also is japrocksampler worth the money in?

I do read German, to a degree (I actually said as much in the car this morning) but given one of the main motivations for buying it is Copey's writing itself then translating a translation of it seems a bit... crap... somehow.

I've only flipped through japrocksampler, but if you like some of the big hitters in it - Les Rallizes Denudes, Flower Travellin' Band, the whole Group Sounds era - then it's apparently a blast.

one of the main motivations for buying it is Copey's writing itself

Fair point, Head On/Repossessed is a great read. I don't fancy the megalith stuff but I might check out the Kraut/Jap books. I imagine they're handy to have lying around for occasional inspiration.

Reporting back:

I made creme de cassis and poppyseed cake (2tbsps of cassis in the mix) with cassis buttercream sandwiching it all together. It makes SUCH an incredibly pretty cake! I took a photo but it's stuck on the phone for the moment. Why there no wai 2 just press button and make picture on internet go?? (At least not on my flipping Sony Ericsson w800i as far as I can figure). I recommend the cake to all of yers!

Have picked up molasses (BLACKSTRAP) from Planet Organic. Tonight is going to be the attempt at ginger cake.

I wish I could do cakes, or, more appropriately, I wish I had people who would eat cakes if I made them. My previous attempts at cakes have been quite good, but they tend to just linger around the house half-eaten.

Hmmm just had interesting chat with estate agent. Looks like he's losing it if he doesn't sell it by tonight! Well, he knows how far I'll go on it. Happy days, pity I can't drink for lunch :(

I really enjoy baking things like scones and muffins, but the problem is that you can end up eating them all by yourself and eating a dozen muffins by yourself is never good for you.

I struggle with baking, to be honest.

Yeah, I like to bake more but if I don't have an occasion to bake for I just end up gorging myself on them which is somewhat suboptimal really.

Anything I bake is scarfed down in record time by G. Then he complains that I'm making him fat.

Trish I donated a little bit for your brother - crap exchange rates and all.

Since we're asking favors for siblings, this just requires a couple of minutes of boredom and ability to view videos. My brother's in a contest to get a morning DJ job at a local hip hop station. There's a million entries and so the only real way to stand out is with views. So if you get a chance, watch his. :)

http://k104tube.com/play.php?vid=290

Also we got another kitten this morning. don't ask.

Can't help myself: why another kitten?

Have to go out to house for another viewing to be sure. Groan. Can't get the builder to go sadly.

Ha ha I recognise those shoes!

From my flickr? He is a master and his lazy good-for-nothing webmaster needs to make him a real site to get some more business. (webmaster=me)

It's a long story with the cats and we are in a pickle. George says we must wait until we're home tonight, and have a drink, before we sort it all out. :/

No, I think you'd talked about them on another thread a while ago. I am not au fait with people's flickrs to be honest. I don't be trusting the internet arrrr.

Oh noes re. pickle :(

The internet is your friend, kv. You can take its candy.

Ha ha NEVER!

Thanks Ms. M! Ed will be delighted. Now to view your brother's vid from all four of my youtube accounts.

How do you have so many that's crazy? I don't think you have to log in to make a view count though. I don't have a youtube account (I don't think. . .)

It's good to have lots of accounts on the Internet. You just never know.

I have a feeling that I am not going to get the house. I am now a sad panda :(

:( If you don't, it was not meant to be. There is a better house out there waiting for you.

I just watched it twice, Sam, and I'll do some more later.

Y'all wake me up when it's time to go home, please.

I'm torn, I think 2 and a half grand would clinch it but I'm getting it in the neck from family not to do it. ARGH! Still though, I must not smoke, I must not smoke.

Wait, we can view it through our youtube accounts? I think I have one. I'll start watching now if that's the case.

haha, thanks! I will (again) when I get home too.

Will it count multiple views from the same computer as additional views. I know nothing about this video stuff. You can watch it straight from that link.

I've refreshed a couple of times and the count is going up so I think it's fine. They'll probably note that there's a repetition of ip addresses bur I wouldn't worry too much...

I'm sure that's the only way people with 50k views got there.

I watched it, too, Sam. Bets of luck to him.

On 7th viewing. I think one more and then basta!

Have a good weekend everyone.