Time – Page 21 – Robot Claw

Living In The 70s

April 5, 2016

I rediscovered some old photos! I don’t think I’ve blogged any of these ones before. I’m going to try to do these in chronological order but since they’re undated I’ll probably get a few incorrect. I apologize for the small size of these, but image uploading to the blog is a bit wonky so I had to downsize them 🙁

This was obviously taken in PNG, in some sort of sewing workshop? You can see both Bernard and myself being held by two of the women in the front right, as they examine material with a nun. It’s a beautiful shot; I wonder who took it and why?

Mum’s passport photo, taken not long after I was born in 1972. The impression on the lower right is because it was scanned from the passport. Bernard’s titanic head suggests extraterrestrial DNA.

A bit of a curiosity. I recognize the furniture in the background, but don’t know from where. Basically I don’t know where or exactly when this was taken, or the name of the cat Bernard is holding! My body looks creepy, like a child weightlifter. Look at my stubby hands!

Our family, in the mid 70s. Bernard and I look like little Aryan’s don’t we? My hair was a lot lighter when I was young. I’m holding a small rubber animal, one from a set that I still own some from to this very day. Mum’s holding one of the old tin/steel coke cans, and Bernard’s shorts are pulled up way too high.

At the flat in Gateshead, again mid 1970s. We were poor in those days, and the only toys we had were a plastic cup and a pair of scissors. Despite this, mum managed to dress us like a pair of kings. I like my little shoes.

A few years later. I’d graduated from overalls to suspenders, and we’d both moved into our ‘glam rock hairstyle’ phases. The third person in this photo was a very dear friend of ours named Louis, who was a human-sized cat. He was a true urban king; a wild and wirey beast that ruled the neighbourhood for meters around our home. I hope he looks at this photo from cat heaven and purrs with happiness 🙂

An unfortunately blurry photo, but I believe the only one I have of my First Holy Communion. This was probably 1979 or 1980. There’s a lot to love about this shot, not the least that apparently Mr Spock had dropped by to congratulate me. I like my tie, and fondly remember this as the last day I ever wore pressed pants.

Leaping forward ten years now, to about 1990. This is me, dad and Sue. And I’m cooking. Cooking like a boss. Snags I reckon; maybe an onion or two. This is obviously on the lake, possible Valentine or Speer’s Point, and I’m guessing winter judging by the clothing. I don’t remember the event at all, and this seems to be the only photo that was taken. I’d kill for one of those snags right now…

I’ve got more like these. Should I post them?

Happy Birthday To Me

March 3, 2016

It’s my birthday today. Hooray! Happy Birthday to me 🙂

I was talking to someone about naming children, and how they had great difficulty doing just that. For me the choice was always easy: a boy would be called Hercules (or Herakles); a girl Momo. But I suppose some really stress over it, evidenced by the library of books and websites intended to help you name your child.

I’m lucky in that 44 years ago my parents selected well. My name is strong and regal, and impresses everyone I meet. “That man”, they think, “has the name of a king.” If I could rename myself, I wouldn’t change a thing!

My parents once told me I was named after one of Dad’s relatives – an uncle I think – and had I been a girl my name would have been Irmgarde. Here’s a photo of me if I had turned out as Irmgarde:

The gentlemen would have been queuing at the door!

It’s a good story but I have long had my doubts. For decades now I have believed I was actually named after someone else. Specifically one of these guys:

Consider the evidence:

1) Mum was always a rabid Sesame Street fan
2) This pair was ‘born’ in 1969, and first on Australian TV in late 1970
3) My brother was born early 1971 – less than 4 months after Sesame Street first aired
4) Both my and my brothers names are the full versions of the names of this pair
5) Both me and (especially) my brother bear strong physical resemblances to these dignified muppets:

Putting aside the fact that my parents were in Papua New Guinea at the time (and more likely to spot a dinosaur than a television), this evidence seems incontrovertible.

So next time someone tells you that Irmgarde story, you can nod knowingly and say “cool story bro” while inwardly smiling at the truth behind my name 🙂

2015 in Games

March 1, 2016

Well it’s a bit late in coming (blame Australia and the blogtastrophe), but it’s time once again for my annual summary of game playing and purchasing!

The numbers were up this past year, with the game-playing drought of early 2014 a mere memory now. Also last year was our first year with the PS4, but as it turns out it wasn’t the system that captured most of my time. In total during 2015 I purchased (or obtained as gifts) 69 games for a total cost of $2006.27, or an average of just over $29 per game. The numbers were up on 2015 by about 50%, but the average cost of games actually decreased. In addition during the year I purchased two new 3DS systems (a ‘new 3DS XL’ for me, and a 3DS for KLS).

As a percentage of total purchases, here’s the chart:

And as percentage of total dollars spent:

That latter chart includes the cost of the two 3DS systems, which is why the 3DS portion is so large.

The most notable element of this data is the abundance of PS Vita, both in terms of games (32) and dollars (almost $800). This system, which was by many accounts DOA even when I purchased it last year, has become a bastion of imported Japanese RPGs, and while many of the games aren’t stellar quite a few of them are very good and I’ve been having a blast buying – and playing – all of them. Very quickly my Vita library has become quite large, and I’ve still got over a dozen unopened games on my shelf (and more arriving every month) that will give this system legs for a long time.

The other notable is the Wii U. Not much to say there, except that the system is not so much dying slowly as has never lived in the first place.

As usual, I’ll comment on my favourites in a moment. But first, four particular games warrant mention…

The first is Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer for 3DS. This is a charming ‘game’, with beautiful presentation and a massive – massive – amount of content which was tragically marred by some very poor design decisions. Essentially the game is about interior decoration, where you design and furnish houses for the other animals in the game. But the designers chose to omit such obvious things as budgets or rating systems or any sort of currency or systems that promoted gradual improvement. At best it became a toolbox where you just designed homes for the sake of it, and became stale very quickly. A very missed opportunity, and a great disappointment.

The second is Super Mario Maker for Wii U. It’s a wonderfully designed product, and I love making courses… but I don’t have anyone to play them and strangely I don’t particularly enjoy playing the (often terrible) courses designed by random strangers. That said Nintendo has done a wonderful job evolving the product since release, including adding content in the form of special downloadable courses, and I suspect I will periodically return to this one to see what’s new.

The third is Witcher III (PS4), a titanic game with mind-boggling graphics that looks insanely fun and would certainly have made the list below had I played it. But I didn’t, because it’s KLS’s game 🙂

The last (and you can sigh here) is the eternal Puzzle & Dragons (iOS). Yes I’m still playing it (spoiler alert: last Saturday was my 1000th consecutive login) and yes I still love it. The game has evolved so much over the years, and has become so generous that I haven’t actually spent any money on it for going on 18 months now. I’ll likely play until the servers close years from now 🙂

As for my favourites, well it was a year of great games, so I’m going to upgrade from three to five. Here they are in reverse order:

5) Terraria (PS4)

I got into this pixel-art 2D ‘build-em-up’ early in the year and love, love, loved it. The PS4 version cost me an absurd $4.98 in a sale and I must have easily gotten 100 hours out of it. I built a massive castly, dug a shaft all the way to hell and even had my own mushroom farm. I made so much amazing gear, killed every boss and did and saw everything in the game. Highly recommended.

4) Axiom Verge (PS4)

The work of a single guy, this 2D Metroid clone was the game I was waiting for and never knew existed. Again, it dominated my time around Thanksgiving and I loved every last second of it. For an inexpensive downloadable game, this one is a no-brainer.

3) Diablo 3 (PS4)

The PC version was good, the PS3 version better, but the PS4 version is just superb. I played more of this on PS4 than any other game this past year, pushing my Wizard and Barbarian characters (that had been imported over from PS3) to new levels of insane power. The game very recently updated with a brand new patch, so I’ll be returning to this one soon. Or maybe not, since who know’s how long this next game will last…

2) Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U)

When Xenoblade came out for Wii a few years ago it blew away those who played it. Which weren’t many, since it was released here in limited amounts. But it was a masterpiece of a game full of charm and innovation that I remember very fondly. This is the sequel for Wii U, and it’s even better. I’m currently playing it, 80 hours in, and I feel I have only scratched the surface. It’s basically a single player MMO with all the systems you expect from the genre, set in a truly massive world with some of the very best graphics I have ever seen (on the Wii U!?!?!). It’s easily one of the best RPGs I’ve ever played and I don’t think it will ever be surpassed on the Wii U. A monumental achievement in game design. And yet, despite all this praise, not my game of the year…

1) Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (3DS)

You knew it was coming didn’t you? When this game came out my savefile passed 100 hours in the first 10 days. Think about that. I played like a man possessed, but as much as I accomplished there was always more. This is easily the best MH game yet, and the addition of online play directly from the 3DS (a first for the series) took the gameplay to an entirely new level. I ended up putting the game aside after about 250 hours of play, but returned to it after my Oz trip and have amassed another 60-odd hours since then. SFL and I have been hunting regularly every week and it just keeps getting better. At this rate it won’t just be the game of 2015, it’ll be the game of 2016 as well 🙂