Internet Stuff

I have news!

I've been asked if I'm interested in auditioning for a series about gaming. It's for Platform Play, and I'm very excited. No idea if I'll get anywhere but it's great just to be asked if I'm interested in auditioning.  If you feel the need you can see my initial web audition below.

Platform Play is part of Platform Expos,  which is working to create a hub of games development, transmedia and content creation in the Humber region.  It's really exciting what they're doing and I really hope it takes off.  If you are in the Humber region, do be aware of the upcoming Platform 2013 expo in November - I've got my ticket booked for the Friday (and the day off work), I'm not quite sure whether I'll be in there doing a load of filming or whether I'll just be enjoying everything going on, but either way it's going to be fun!

Couple of Internet things to tell you about:

Firstly, just a reflektor. This is an interactive film that uses your webcam and smartphone/tablet to interact (it can use your mouse instead of your phone if it isn't to hand) and is quite cool. It follows a young woman who travels between her world and our own.  I won't spoil it by saying what happens but do check it out at https://www.justareflektor.com

The other thing is that I am rapidly becoming addicted to Card Hunter. This is an online collectable card adventure game that you play either as a single player fighting your way through dungeons,  or in multi player head-to-head. You get loot, which gives you better cards. Very good fun and free to play (although you do get more loot if you pay to become a member of the card hunter club), the only downside is that because it is so popular at peak times you may have to wait to get onto the server (which is always a sign of a good game!)

Pics below:

Okay, so I've got to kill some kobolds right? Lets do this.

A Mighty Bludgeon is deployed.  That's gonna hurt.

Polish takeaway is awesome

Polish takeaway is awesome.

That's all I have to say.

Actually it isn't, which is a good job otherwise I'd be a really bad blogger (rather than just a mediocre one).

I had zrazy wolowe with a side order of beetroot soup, while my other half had kotlet devollay.  The beetroot soup was really spicy and tasty, and the zrazy wolowe (rolled pork chop fillet filled with sausage, cucumber and onion) was great, was covered in gravy and came with various shredded vegetables which weren't immediately easy to identify (cabbage and carrot was in there) but all tasted far better than you'd expect.  Cheap too (under £15 for both of us, delivered) and very filling.  It's all good.

I went to a debate held by Platform Expos about what they're doing Thursday night.  Basically they're looking at building a hub for games development in the Humber region, and the debate was about how people can get involved to help support what they're doing - check out the photos from the night here.  They're doing loads of things, from supporting groups of developers to running LAN parties, setting up a sort of games review and news channel called Platform Play, all kinds of great stuff.  Very very interesting and I'll keep posting news from them as it happens.

Have you subscribed to Blue Xephos aka The Yogscast on YouTube?  If not you should, if you like gaming and you like to laugh.  According to their website, "Lewis founded The Yogscast in 2008, with the goal of sharing Simon’s gift for inane banter with the world via YouTube" and I can confirm that the banter is inane and extremely funny.  I first came across them in a series of videos they were doing playing the game Magicka with TotalBiscuit, it's just brilliant how Simon panicks.  Very sorry to Simon if you read this (unlikely though that is!) - but you are ace.  Thanks for making me laugh.  Possibly their most well known work is their various works involving Minecraft, I particularly like the below episode where they build a particle accelerator, and fire an anti-gravity missile - I never expected it to be so funny :)

Anyway - enough from me.  Have fun and next time you have a takeaway - why not try a Polish one?

Hey hey pneumonia

Apologies for the break in blogging but I've been out of action with pneumonia for a while!

At the start of last week I came down with what I assumed to be a cold, but it seemed to get worse rather than get better.  The Friday was particularly interesting, I basically spent 36 hours in bed from the Thursday evening to the Saturday morning, imagining another dimension (a sort of white fluffy place that somehow I moved through but was unsure how to do so).  On the Sunday morning I ended up seeing the emergency doctor (luckily they're based about a street away from us) who diagnosed me with flu and prescribed me some linctus (cough syrup).

My other half wasn't happy with my condition and after another day in bed hallucinating a different dimension she took me off to the doctors again, where they ran some tests and advised me to go to hospital to get checked out.

Bottom line I had a chest X-Ray and found out that I had pneumonia, made worse by basically not resting and not drinking enough fluids, so I was put on a drip.

I'm hugely better than I was - not quite 100%, pneumonia can take several weeks to fully clear up - but hugely better than I was.  I won't go on about not being able to get water when in hospital (but basically I couldn't get water from anyone there despite going in dehydrated), I'm just glad they found out what was wrong!  I'm still getting tired quicker than usual but definitely on the mend.

In other news - Platform Expos is an organisation that is basically boosting the gaming profile in the Humber region, and I'm very excited by what they do.  I'm also excited because they're looking for presenters for their Platform Play gaming news platform - I've put an application in, feel free to watch and like here!