Excessive Opinions

Let me prefix this by telling you all that I watch a lot of American TV. This is a new show which aired in America a while back, it even got a lotta’ good reviews and ratings. I even wrote about how much I enjoyed it. I wholly hope that this does as well in England as it has in the US and I thought it’d be best you knew to look out for it. So here we are, Ugly Americans, possibly the funniest animated show since Futurama was cancelled, possibly even from before that. I’m gunna sum it up for you again: 

Ugly Americans focuses on Mark Lilly, a new resident of an alternative New York working for the New York’s Department of Integration. This New York is alternate in the sense that it’s full of monsters, demons, wizards, zombies, vampires and various other such creatures. Its Mark’s job to integrate these people into living life alongside humanity, his only help coming from Leonard, an alcoholic, lazy, five hundred year old wizard who really couldn’t care less. Mark also has his roommate Randall, a frat-boy zombie who is absolutely hilarious. Callie Maggotbone, daughter of the devil, Mark’s supervisor and semi-girlfriend. The show has a few other characters, all of which are pretty funny and together make for an interesting dynamic. 

The show was originally thought up by Devin Clark, who I have no information on at all. It was then developed by David M. Stern, writer for The Simpsons, and had seven episodes in its first season. Stern’s influence is seen as the show is very parody based in its storylines; it’s written very well and although parts may seem a bit cliché it always brings a laugh. The supernatural twist to these storylines always adds something unique; the animation is perfect for the style of comedy and the voice actors just seem to fit perfectly. The first episode got over two million views and the show has been picked up by Fiver and Five USA for airing later into the year.

Just a little disclaimer here as to why this is being posted: this is very similar to what I’ve written before although it is slightly updated rather than a repost. I’m hoping this’ll get people thinking about looking for this show now that it’s confirmed that it’ll be broadcast in the UK. 

This post isn’t particularly about Steam itself and why I love it, rather just a quick post highlighting some of the major sales going on the last couple days. At some point in the future there will likely be a post on Steam and how awesome it is but for now I’m going to just assume you either know what it is or have access to google.

So yeah, sales time, there have been a lot of sales going on at Steam. Truly, it’s one of the major points people cling too when defending Steam and PC gaming; we get stuff cheap sometimes. Digital distribution is the future and it’s pretty great. Here are three things I think you should buy, as they’re on sale: 

Lead and Gold. - At the moment it’s on sale; costing only £3.40 which is a lot less than I paid for it. (And I got it at a previous sale.) This game is pretty cool, a lot of people have described it as “Team Fortress 2, western style.” and that does pretty much sum it up. It’s fun and at that price everyone should add it to their Steam Library.

[This Item is No Longer on Sale. Sorry.]

The Orange Box. - You already have this, what am I kidding. It’s why I started using Steam and it’s pretty awesome. Team Fortress 2, Half-Life2 and Portal. I don’t think anyone really hates this and it’s on sale now, again costing less than I paid for it.

Left4Dead2. - One of the most fun zombie games out there. It’s pretty awesome and the only major flaw most people seem to have with it was that it was released too early. Weird. It’s fun and on sale so you should pick it up. I’ve been meaning to play this a bit more so you might find me online in the near future.

I’ve not made a post in a while, I realise this and I’m sure you do too. It’s also rather suspicious (and possibly expected) when you look back at my last couple posts. Big Brother and World of Warcraft? Hmm… I really wonder why White hasn’t updated lately.

In my defence, I have been finishing up college and trying to sort out my student finances. That has been, and still is, a complete nightmare. Although, I have had a lot of spare time to write and I haven’t been for this site. Yeah, don’t get me wrong; I have been writing. I just can’t seem to find anything fit for this site lately but I’m going to try and correct that. Really I’ve been rather lazy lately but it’s kind off important to help me recharge and all that.

Looking ahead, I’m unsure whether I’m going to get a job or start a new writing project or just focus on this. Maybe I’ll give in and just play WoW for the next couple months. Either way, I’m moving house around September/October and so I’ve got until then. I’ll keep you posted, mostly likely on my other site, and I’ll try to update here more often.

So a new season of Big Brother started last week, I think it’s even the last season, so it’s kind of interesting. Over the years Big Brother takes various different primary stances, trying to get people to act or behave in different ways, utilising twists and the types of people to create a somewhat entertaining show.

I watched the first season of this show slightly, I was young and so was only allowed to watch the Friday shows and barely remember much. It was originally advertised as a social experiment and seemed like something everyone can watch. Appealing to those trying to seem like intellectuals aiming to understand the sociological theories which can be gathered, to the average person who just wants to snoop on someone else. As an idea, it was sold quite well I thought. A lot of people watched what was basically just “Put a group of people in a house, tell them their only goal is to be appealing to the entirety of Britain and see what happens.” I personally found it weird watching people completely cut off from the outside world.

More recently, of course, it’s a lot less of a sociological experiment and a lot more of a voyeuristic view at a bunch of emotional extroverts trying to get famous. If you look at the house itself in this new season, with glass walls and lack of a private shower, the withholding of food and forcing a man to live in a “mole hole” full of ants… The first set of house mates would have just walked out by now. Channel four would’ve been told to shut it down and the press would be aflame in disgust. Now, it’s pretty much just accepted as what “Big Brother” is.

I find it interesting that the public’s opinion of the show has managed to shift so much over the years. It’s not so much a big deal that they don’t have access to the news or their friends. The show is now more about simply what Big Brother sets them as tasks, which housemate is most likely to take their top off and how many arguments you can have about food. It’s quite an achievement that the producers of the show have managed to create this show without any real complaint from the general public. It is important to note though, some of the contestants over the years have been ridiculously annoying.

Continued from: http://www.66seven.co.uk/post/654844924

I’m a level 14 Undead Rogue on the EU Bladefist Server. For the Horde. (My username is Undeadninja) I’ve only played a bit and there is literally so much to talk about in this game. I’ve thrown a good few hours into this and so far, I’ve not quite worked out… why. Seriously; it’s not really fun, the gameplay is all standard and there are no glitches or issues as yet. I’m not really finding any real motivation to play other than simply to play.

People tell me that it gets better later into the game, that being a low level kinda sucks generally and that once I can start raiding and going into dungeons it’ll be cool. I’m sure that’s true. I’m a sucker for cool skills and moves, so I’m hoping to become a real Undead Ninja quite soon. Barring that, possibly if I start playing some form of mage I’ll get some sweet magic so I might’ve just picked a more boring class.

My second gripe is that so far, there’s been a relatively low amount of actual player interaction yet. I’m assuming this is because again, I’m a low level, so people don’t overly care because I can’t join them on any quests or what have you. For a game with as many players as it does, there’s not a major amount of community focus on lower level characters. I feel that if Blizzard focused more on lower level social play, they could attract more new customers.

I do like the split between horde and alliance, everything about the game from a technical point is fine and done well. Having to pay a monthly subscription is a slight gripe as I don’t really play video games enough as it is, it’s hard to justify this cost. I appreciate that it’s necessary but I sort of think it shouldn’t be quite as much. You’ve got to buy the game client, then there are two expansions, soon there will be a third. Add on that the monthly cost, any mounts you want to buy. You can even pay a small subscription to use the auction system from your iPhone. I’m going to continue playing but I’m not completely hooked yet.