Blog Archives - Trusty Water Blog

Social Media Makes Us More Social

2/27/2015

Something I hear quite often these days is that social media makes us less social, which seems quite silly to me. I think, really, it's just a case of people being unfair and saying the past was better than the present and a refusal to accept modern trends. There are several ways that social media makes me more social, and they are all things which I imagine apply to lots of other people too.
    First, I have made new friends through social media. A few of my closest friends are people who I, at first, spoke to through social media. From then, I've gone on to see them all in reality and spend countless real life hours with them, which is probably the epitome of being 'social'.
    Second, when I meet new people, I tend to use social media to consolidate the friendship. People are nice, and when you meet someone for the first time it can sometimes be a little hard to determine whether they're actually enjoying your company or whether they're just good at being polite. I find that sending a friend request and then exchanging a few messages helps me to determine whether it is possible to build a friendship.
    Thirdly, I use social media to keep in touch with people. Once I'm friends with somebody, I like to remain in contact. As people are drawn very far away, without social media I'd have no way to easily keep in touch... Sure, I could write them letters, and I do write my friends letters, but I simply wouldn't have the time to regularly write letters to the number of people who I'd like to keep in touch with.
    So, basically, social media means that I get more chances to be social with my friends both over the internet and in person. If I thought hard about it, I could probably think of several more points too. I'm sure these all apply to several other people as well. But because people get annoyed when people are on their phones when they meet up in person (and it does annoy me a little bit too) they feel the need to label all social media as bad. Silly.

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The Walking Dead Volume 1, Days Gone Bye by Robert Kirkman

2/25/2015

The Walking Dead is (currently) an ongoing comic book series which follows the life of a man named Rick Grimes as he finds himself in the world of a zombie apocalypse. And when I say 'finds himself' I mean it quite literally; he wakes up from a coma and when he does so, the world he knew is gone.
    It's actually quite difficult for me to talk about the plot, because a lot of the things that happen are what I would consider spoilers to share and therefore things I'd not like to include in a review, but perhaps that says something about the quality of the storyline: there are lots of unexpected and exciting twists and turns which keeps things moving along quite nicely. However, there is a slight downside to this in that it does very occasionally feel like things have been rushed.
    Character-wise, in this first volume you don't really get a huge look at anyone beside Rick himself (although other characters are introduced) and I have to say that I like Rick. He's a normal person and his reactions to this nightmarish world are relatable, he's our gateway character. I guess certain aspects of his pre-apocalypse life are a little too generic, but this isn't a huge problem.
    The artwork by Tony Moore is also quite nice. I don't like to talk too much about illustrations as I feel a story can stand on its words alone, but the art does a good job of conveying the hopelessness of the world. I also like that a fairly light and cartoony style is contrasted with a very dark story.
    I know zombies have a reputation of being 'silly' (a reputation which I don't think is fair) and I certainly don't think that this fits that reputation at all. Kirkman explains in the introduction that he wants to use the zombie idea in order to explore human nature and morality, and I think it's the perfect canvas on which to do so! The story is definitely off to a good start.
    Rating: 8.9/10

(I do not own the copyright of the cover image.)

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A Man Eating Pie

2/23/2015

Do you remember December 2013? If not, let me refresh your memory. You headed over to Trusty Water Blog to see what the latest posts were and you read an entertaining (if slightly morbid and sad) entry entitled "Sir Lawrence the 2nd" which had been written by guest author Chloe Ward. The pleasure of having finished reading it, however, shortly turned to sadness; sadness caused by the fact that Chloe didn't have a blog where you could find more work of her's.
Well, guess what?
A little over a year later, you're finally going to get what you've wanted all this time! Chloe has just launched A Man Eating Pie where she will be regularly posting blog posts from now on. Of the small selection of posts she's already written, my favourite has to be her review of the recent Fifty Shades of Grey adaptation. Entertaining and informative! We've got more reviews like that to look forward to too. She's also going to be regularly sharing her dreams, which could get quite interesting. So, A Man Eating Pie is definitely something to keep your eye on! Although keep in mind it's not quite as child friendly as I am here.

Etiquette and Niceness

2/20/2015

The other day I found myself reading a few things by William Hanson (an 'Etiquette Expert'), which I found quite interesting. I also found it more than a little disagreeable. The idea of etiquette is basically a set of rules that people can follow in order to be nice to others, but I don't think they work. These rules don't seem to be things that will appeal to everyone and are therefore not that likely to maximise the level of happiness when interacting with others, which, really, is what I think you should be aiming for when socialising. To stick to this rigid set of rules, or to expect that things would be best if everyone stuck to them, is rather unwise; maybe even naive. These things cannot be achieved through rules and the best way to make people happiest will be different for everyone; you have to determine the needs of each person and act accordingly. No set of rules cover everybody.

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Employment At Last

2/18/2015

Monday's blog post was quite a negative post about the serious problems with the Job Centre and so, to counter that, today's post will be a positive one about the fact that I have now found some full time employment!
    I was contacted a couple of weeks ago by an agency who saw my CV online and I thought I might be a good match for a vacancy at Park Lane Press. A few days later I had an interview, and things seemed to go very well. The job they thought I'd be good for was that of a 'Telesales Executive' which would have just involved calling their clients to see if they needed any more print work, but before the interview they took a look at this website and they were very impressed. They were so impressed, in fact, that they created a whole new side to the job, just for me!
    So, now I work as their "Social Media Content Manager / Telesales Executive" and 50% of my time is dedicated to calling their clients (as originally planned) and the other 50% is dedicated to running their social media and improving their online presence. I've been building them a whole new website and there'll soon be a blog published with regular posts by me! I love this job. I have a good deal of creative freedom and having two distinctive things to take care of means that I don't do the exact same thing for hours.
    The only small downside of this is that, with a full time job on my hands, I'm finding it a little hard to juggle all of my other pursuits. I'll be writing much fewer articles for Rice Digital from now on as a result of this. But I don't want that to sound like a complaint, I'm very happy right about all of this and I'm writing that more as an apology than anything else.
    To end this post, I'd just like to say that it's quite nice how all this worked out; when I was still in university, I often thought that it could be good to work for Park Lane Press... and now I do!

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Why the Job Centre is Awful

2/16/2015

For the past six months I've been visiting the Job Centre as someone who requires their service as well as serving as their unpaid General Administrator for a brief period from October to December. I have to say I haven't liked anything about my interactions with them at all and through my experiences I've realised that they're a dreadful organisation and are a real problem at the heart of our society.
    First, I'll talk about what it was like to be a customer. I need to pay £60 a week as rent and they were giving me £57, so, they weren't giving quite enough. It also costs £5 to travel there and back on the bus, but at least they do cover transport costs... Or, at least half of them; they have a ludicrous policy of not covering your travel money on 'Signing Days' which, for me, a person who is 21 or younger, is every other weekly visit. So they only really cover 50% of the travel costs, if that. They never bring it up and you can't have them automatically add it to your payments either, so, if you forget to say something, you don't get it. They never do back payments either.
    I suppose the worst thing wasn't that they only gave me £57 a week (which wasn't enough) but the fact that they had decided that, until I left them, I would only have £57 a week. During those six months, I had little bits of part time and temporary employment here and there, which you would have thought would be a nice financial aid for me, but, nope! If I earned more than £5, every penny I earned was taken out of my payments. So, really, it makes applying for part time work, especially part time work that you don't even like, almost a complete waste of time. It will be a new addition to your CV and I guess that's all you're supposed to take from it, because every bit of work you do while at the Job Centre will feel like it was unpaid.
    But, maybe they've got really good customer service skills and are really helpful? Nope to both things. I can very quickly explain all the 'help' they give you in your job search; they'll print off an advert for one random job in the area, tell you to apply for it and if you don't they'll cut you off. So, it just boils down to negative reinforcement, really. It's also painfully obvious that you're not seen as a person to them, rather just another number in the system. Despite the fact that I did a work placement there for a couple of months, even my allocated 'work coach' struggled to remember my full name the whole time (even though it was written on the screen in front of her!). Anything you tell them about the kind of work you're interested in doing is always completely forgotten by the next time you come in (or probably as soon as you leave the room) and I can't honestly say I was given any 'help' at all when it came to finding a job. No pointers on making CVs or cover letters, no advice on what a degree can do.
    Though it was while I was working there on my work placement that I realised just how awful it was there. I had to sign a confidentiality form before I started, so I shall have to tread lightly in regards to what I can say now. One of my duties there was to sort their incoming and outgoing mail and, fairly regularly, the incoming mail contained complaints and these complaints illustrated quite clearly that the Job Centre is deeply inconsiderate of the unwell and the disabled. Not that they're considerate of any of their customers; when I had to help customers on the computers (which was one of my duties) the staff would often make derogatory comments about them when they were out of earshot. Often, rather hypocritically, they would joke that customers were 'slow' because they couldn't use the computers well, despite the fact that the majority of the staff there only had the most limited understanding of how to operate their computers. And if making fun of them isn't bad enough, there were at least two occasions where a 'job coach' actively decided to lie to their customer before they arrived!
    The customers really are nothing to them though; for a few days I was asked to carry boxes of files up stairs so that they could be filed later. I didn't know the correct way to file the papers, and I told them so, only to be told every day that I'd be told how to 'tomorrow'. Eventually tomorrow arrived over a week later and they told me how to file them (in two seconds "alphabetical by name" so goodness only knows why I wasn't told sooner) so I went upstairs to file these ten boxes full of paper work, only to find that they had sent somebody up a little earlier to destroy them and they were already gone! I certainly hope that didn't cause trouble for anyone, but it almost certainly did.
    These are the only things I remember at the moment, though there are doubtlessly other stories of their awful uncaring attitude which I'm forgetting for a second. I've also said nothing of their sanction-happy mentality; they're rewarded for sanctioning customers and cutting off their money and so are always keen to do so; I, thankfully, was able to avoid this, though my brother was given a two month sanction for failing to apply for a job which he wasn't shown how to find online; how many of the less computer-literate customers must get sanctioned for this? And how many of them really need the money? How many will starve without it? It's disgusting and I sincerely hope that some changes are made soon.

New Super Luigi U

2/13/2015

I've complained in the past that the New Super Mario Bros. games are all the same and this game is literally the same as New Super Mario Bros. U but with some minor changes here and there. Guess I must really hate this game then, right? Wrong! I actually like it even more than New Super Mario Bros. U as I feel all its changes make it quite a unique addition to the series and, while it may be quite similar to its predecessor, I can't really fault it on that as it was originally made just as an extension to it, rather than its own game.
    The most significant change to this game is the fact that it doesn't feature Mario. The opening cutscene to this game is even the same as the one in New Super Mario Bros. U except without Mario. This allows Luigi, the Mario Bro I've always liked most, to take centre stage. This isn't just a superficial change either; Luigi actually controls quite a lot differently to Mario, just as he did in certain older titles.
    You might be concerned that the lack of Mario may also mean that the game lacks a four-player co-operative mode, but don't worry! It doesn't mean that. Nabbit the thief has been added as a playable character and he also has his own unique play style. Nabbit cannot be harmed by enemies, though he also can't use power ups (he just steals them and doesn't use them) meaning that one player will be able to use his special powers either for good or evil when playing with others. Sadly, the other two characters are still just a couple of Toads.
    The levels also have their own interesting difference; they're a bit shorter, but also much harder with much trickier designs and greatly reduced time limit. For some, I suppose, this could be seen as a negative thing, but I certainly don't see it that way. I appreciated the greater level of difficulty and felt a much greater sense of achievement when completing a level.
    In conclusion, it is a good improvement over New Super Mario Bros. U but it does still have many of its downsides. The New Super Mario Bros. aesthetic, for example, is something I find rather boring and the boss battles still aren't great. But it's certainly nice that there's a Luigi based game and I appreciate the things they did to make it different.
    Rating: 8.7/10

(I do not own the copyright of the box art.)

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New Super Mario Bros. U

2/12/2015

New Super Mario Bros. U is the fourth game in the New Super Mario Bros. series and by this point it's starting to feel increasingly mistitled. The gameplay and art style is exactly the same as it has been since the first game and, if you've played all of them up until this point, you may understandably be starting to feel a little tired of the formula.
    Story-wise, things have been changed very slightly; this time Bowser has actually come to Peach's castle and thrown Mario, Luigi and co. to a far off land so that they have to make their way back to the castle which is now being occupied by Bowser. What's disappointing is that, even though you're in a new location, very little is made of it and the environments all look very similar to those in the earlier games.
    What is nice, however, is that there is a big inter-connected world map which you can explore at your leisure. Don't get me wrong, the game is still made up of small linear levels, but you get to them via a nice big map and at times you're even given branching paths! It reminded me of the map in Super Mario World, which I was also fond of.
    But then, back to the subject of things being the same, all of the boss battles were pretty predictable and felt like things I had seen before in the series. The bosses, especially the final boss, were perhaps the biggest let down of the game; as well as being very predictable, they were also far too easy.
    Thankfully, after they had been absent in New Super Mario Bros. 2, the Yoshis are rideable in a number of levels once again and there is also a fun four player co-op mode. I am still disappointed, however, by the fact that you cannot keep Yoshi with you from level to level. I can't quite understand why this is, either, as it surely can't be a technical limitation. As well as fully grown Yoshis, this game also features adorable baby Yoshis who you can carry; each different colour has its own power and they sing along with the background music (which I like a lot). Hilariously, they eat virtually any enemy you carry them to.
    Two new things called Challenge Mode and Boost Rush have also been added. In these modes I was pleasantly surprised to find that you are able to play as your Miis. In Challenge Mode, you are put in a level and given a certain task to complete and these can often be very tricky. Boost Rush is a spin on New Super Mario Bros. 2's Coin Rush and you have to hurry through a level as quickly as you can while collecting coins. Both of these are nice little additions, but nothing substantial.
    On the whole, I don't want to say that this is a bad game, because it is quite fun, but it does represent a disappointing lack of variety and creativity in the Mario series. If you've never played a New Super Mario Bros. game before, you'll love this game and have no problems with it at all, but if you've played its three prequels first, you'll probably find yourself wanting something just a little bit more unique.
    Rating: 8/10

(I do not own the copyright of the box art.)

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New Super Mario Bros. 2

2/11/2015

New Super Mario Bros. 2, despite what the title may have you believe, is actually the third New Super Mario Bros. game, and it kind of bothers me that they didn't call it New Super Mario Bros. 3D or 3DS because, it being the third game and a 3DS game, that'd have made perfect sense.
    Sadly, this is the point where the New Super Mario Bros. series begins to wear a bit thin. By all means, if you've never played one before, you could start here and enjoy it a lot, but if you've played the first two and then play this one it may feel a little too same-y. Like the last two, it uses the classic 2D Mario platforming play style which has really been perfected to make it as fun as possible. But the game also reuses lots of environments from the previous two instalments and nothing really feels that fresh.
    In terms of what is actually 'new' in this game, there's a strange focus on money. There are coins everywhere and you have a counter that adds up your coin total after every level with the idea being that you aim to eventually get a million coins. I found this quite exciting, but it takes so long to get this many (much longer than it takes to finish the main story of the game and do the secret worlds) and so in the end I got bored of this and gave up.
    There are also two money based power-ups; one is the Gold Flower which turns you into Gold Mario. I love this new item as it gives you the power to throw golden fire balls which turn things into gold. It's probably the most powerful item you can get in Mario games and, while it is rare, I really enjoy it when it turns up. There's also the Gold Block item which will give Mario a strange golden head and give you coins while you're moving. I just thought it was a bit weird.
    A new mode called Coin Rush has also been added which involves you rushing through three levels as quickly as you can in order to get as much money as you can. I find this mode to be pretty fun and it's a nice way to expand the game's life span. When you StreetPass other people, you get their Coin Rush records which you can aim to beat. For a price, you can also download new levels to play in Coin Rush mode; some of these are levels which return from past Mario games, some of them are made to be extremely hard (they're harder than anything I've seen in this series before) and I think it's nice to have the option, but it's also annoying that you can't just casually play them.
    Over all, I do like this game, but I wish it could have had more of an identity of its own. It all feels a little repetitive, and with no Yoshi and a weaker co-op mode, it's a bit of a step down from New Super Mario Bros. Wii too. Rating: 8.6/10

(I do not own the copyright of the box art.)

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New Super Mario Bros. Wii

2/10/2015

New Super Mario Bros. was a big success, so it was only natural that Nintendo would follow it up with a sequel before too long. New Super Mario Bros. Wii was a Wii title, which meant that it had the capacity to do things which were not technologically possible in the first game.
    I won't even bother to dedicate a paragraph to the story, like I usually do, since it's so minimal (Bowser kidnaps Peach, you must rescue her), so I'll get straight on with talking about the gameplay. It takes the classic play-style of the old 2D platformers, but it really perfects the control scheme and polishes things up nicely. At the same time, new features are implemented too, such as the very handy new power-up the Propeller Mushroom which launches you into the air and gives you a slow decent.
    Significantly, this game features a very fun co-operative mode for up to four players. Players 2, 3, and 4 take control of either Luigi, a yellow Toad or a Blue toad and you work together to get through the levels. I find this very fun and it adds an exciting new dynamic to everything. Things get very competitive, and oftentimes you'll find you're in a situation where either you have to let yourself be killed, or do something which will leave your fellow players killed. Other than the yellow and blue Toads being boring choices for character slots, there's not really anything bad I can say about this new mode.
    But, even if you don't have any people to play with, playing by yourself is its own experience which can be just as fun and rewarding. As you may be able to guess from the cover art, Yoshi has been brought back into the mix and being able to ride him makes things even better, though it is a shame that he's only available in certain stages. A less welcome return is that of the Koopalings (Bowser's distinctive young underlings); on the one hand it's cool to see them with 3D models for the first time, on the other, it does mean that the boss stages are quite predictable.
    On the whole, a very fun game and one which builds over its prequel. However, if you have played the first game, this might feel a little like an expansion, rather than a wholly new experience, but as there are a lot of nice new additions, you should still be happy with it. Rating: 9.1/10

(I do not own the copyright of the box art.)