Non Stamp Collector is a YouTuber who makes videos parodying certain sections of The Bible. Some may say that it is rude of him to attack religion like this, but I disagree; the sections from The Bible that he mentions genuinely are immoral and, as such, it is not wrong of him to treat them as such. Here's a link to his page and here's one of my favourite videos:
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That's what somebody told me anyway. One time, somebody ran up to me, telling me they needed some money, and when I gave it to them, they quickly left. I told this story to a friend of mine, and that person told me that I shouldn't have given them the money because they were just a dangerous drug addict. If I hadn't given them that money, my friend said, they would have just mugged me.
Now, I don't know about you, but I find that view on things very cynical. There are many reasons a person could end up homeless, and drugs is not the only one. And to assume most of them are dangerous and would happily mug you, well, I would quite definitely disagree with that! As such, when the oppertunity came around I put the "Bath homeless people are dangerous drug addicts" hypothesis to the test. My university routine means that on every other Thursday, I'll usually have to hang around the streets by myself waiting for a bus for two hours or so. Sure, it may sound boring, but I can sit around thinking about stuff or planning stories or blog entries, so it isn't that bad. Though, having said that, ever since I lost my Gameboy and Tetris, waiting around for things isn't quite as fun. Anyway, on with the story, there I was sitting on a bench, letting the time pass me by, when I was approached by a homeless man. Unfortunately, I never learned his name. "Do you have any spare change?" he asked politely. "Umm," I said, checking my wallet. "Nope." "Oh," he said sadly, "that's okay." "But," I said with a smile, "If we go over to a cash machine, I can get you some money!" Now, I had decided I was going to use this opportunity to test the hypothesis of my friend. This may sound like I was being manipulative with the homeless man, or that I was giving him money for the soul purpose of proving somebody wrong, but, while it may have potentially been manipulative, I have a little rule about always giving money to homeless people who ask me for it, so I like to think that I wasn't being too jerkish. Anyway, I wandered over to a cash machine with the homeless person, one which is actually in a small dark alley. Once there, I put my card into the machine and quite openly entered my PIN number. Had he been some bad person, he could have quite easily used this time to threaten me and make me give him £200, or even stolen my card and used it elsewhere. But no, he did not. I don't believe the idea ever even entered his head. Perhaps you would call me naive, but I was confident that nothing bad would happen and I was right. The man was just very appreciative and went off happily to spend the money. So, that was nice wasn't it? The title may give the impression that I hate this song, but actually I quite like it. Adele has a nice voice, the instruments sound nice and it's just generally not bad. However, if you think about it, the lyrics seem to be quite immoral in a way.
"Never mind," she says, "I'll find someone like you." And then "I wish nothing but the best for you." That sounds nice, but really, it seems she's only thinking about herself and her ex and not the future someone like [them]. That someone is very unlucky really: let’s say he meets Adele they get on really well and eventually get married etc. He thinks it's because she loves him and thinks he's a good person, but actually it's because he reminds her of somebody she met years ago… So either his self-esteem is going to take quite a blow when he finds out, or he'll spend his life living a lie. Of course, maybe he'd be fine about it, and then there'd be no problem, but I don't think it's likely. The desire to find someone just like your ex as your next partner really seems like rather unhealthy behaviour, the kind of thing that leads to you buying them the same clothes your ex wore and asking them to style their hair similarly. Surely, it'd be much better to find somebody very different, because people love different people in different ways, then it won't be able to be weighed up against her ex-partner so easily and there'll be less of that moral ambiguity. And surely someone like them would just leave her as well anyway? Here's a small video featuring me and my two friends David Tubb and Oscar Taylor-Kent. It was filmed and edited this weekend by David. Enjoy. Oh, bus is here. Better get on. Show the man the bus pass then find a seat. Comfy in here, buses are nice. Gonna be a while before I arrive. Read maybe? What? Yes, quite right. Ulysses by James Joyce. Bit silly really. Hmm does feel chilly. Hhhuuuhhhhhuuuu. Nice long yawn. Nearly here yet? No, Must remember to update my blog. Maybe I could write a parody of that darned Joycean writing style. Nah. Terrible idea. A tad cold today. What is cold? Opposite of heat. Dear oh dear, why am I still reading? Monday today. Monenday in Middle English. Means Moon's Day. Moon. Moon. Satellite. Neil Armstrong. Man who walked on the Moon's celestial body. All a conspiracy some say. Gosh, golly and darn, this book has some boring segments. Opps, must be careful what I say, to quote Rose Burton "Girls who say gosh, golly and darn will end up living in a barn!" good old The Waltons. I must finish reading it all. When I'm done I can listen to my iPod. Apple makes iPods. Steven Jobs, former owner of the company, now deceased. 1955-2011. Death, that's the one inevitability of life. Death and taxes, as they say, Or, death, taxes, and finding James Joyce a little tedious. Heh heh. Only joking. He's not that bad. Or is he? Hhhuuuhhhhhuuuu another yawn. Why am I yawning? I'm not tired, I'm full of porridge and water, that's practically pure energy! Energy, now, there's an issue. What will happen to the world when the oil is gone? Oh, good, I've read ten pages now, that's enough, music time.
And, a short while later, young Adam Randall departed from his bus and prepared himself for the next bus ride. Note: This entry might seem very strange. For those of you who don't get it: I decided to write up my bus journey into university for this blog entry, but I wrote it in the style of James Joyce, rather than my own style. 10. Theme A from Tetris
Tetris is my favourite puzzle game. It's fun to play it all the time. One of the upsides is that it has a very nice and catchy tune which plays as all of the blocks fall into place. Sure, it might be an old 8-bit tune, but I love it! 9. Lavender Town from Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow Another 8-bit tune here. I'm sure, if you ever played the original Pokémon games, that you remember that creepy graveyard town; well, this is the theme music from it, a tune I think is excellently eerie. Although, all the versions on YouTube seem weirdly echoic, which I think is an alteration, but still this is mostly the original tune. 8. Banjo Land from Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts Probably only really here for nostalgic reasons: it's a big orchestral version of several tunes from the Banjo-Kazooie series! All put together as one lovely medley. Still, it might sound nice to people unfamiliar with them. 7. Stardust Road from Super Mario Galaxy A lovely little tune which makes you think of the strange, cold emptiness of space. Beautiful and slightly melancholy. 6. Beware the Forest Mushrooms from Super Mario RPG An immersive little theme from the SNES classic, it's very fitting that it plays as you wander through a thick forest! 5. E-102 Gamma Theme from Sonic Adventure Ah, E-102 Gamma, the best character from Sonic Adventure. This song is just the perfect theme for the sad story of this robot! 4. Click Clock Woods from Banjo-Kazooie A nicely optimistic song played when you visit Click Clock Woods during the spring, an uplifting, catchy song. 3. Sunset Shore from Donkey Kong Country Returns This song plays in dark levels which only use silhouettes; it really suits it. 2. Final Hours from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask Actually, a really depressing piece of music. This tune plays right before the end of the world and you literally hear it everywhere you go, just as a reminder that literally everywhere and everything will be gone if you don't do something about it. And if you don't do anything, a particularly depressing cut scene shows you the world ending... 1. Stickerbush Symphony from Donkey Kong Country 2 How could this not be first? Just listen to it, it may be from an old SNES game, but I still think it sounds beautiful and it really captures the feeling of wandering in wilderness. Note: I just wanted to point out that it's the 10th of May, one year ago today I wrote my first entry and thought that I'd probably end the blog a few days later! I guess I was wrong. I remember in the past, whenever I've had any exams, there's always been somebody to point out how boring the job of exam invigilator must be. Quite right too; imagine standing around in a room for two hours in complete silence while students write an essay and you can't so much as bring in a book to pass the time with. Well, as it turns out, the invigilators actually do have a few sneaky little games that they play in order to make the job a little more fun. Just the other day, in an English Literature seminar of mine, one of the professors at the university was talking about the times he'd been an exam invigilator. Now, before I tell you them, I must warn you that they should be taken with a pinch of salt; he has quite a sense of humour and could have been joking or exaggerating, but I don't think he was.
The first game, he said, was called Exam Pac-Man: since there are usually three or more invigilators in any given exam there are enough of them to have their own game of Pac-Man. Between them, presumably before the exam starts, they decide who's going to be Pac-Man and who're going to make up that team of dastardly ghosts. Since they don't have any white pellets for Pac-Man to eat, the desks used by students replace them: the person playing as Pac-Man has to walk past every desk without being caught by a ghost. That sounds like innocent fun doesn't it? Well, just wait until you hear the second one. The second game, I can't actually remember the title of, but we'll call it The Ugly Baby Game. Basically, the invigilators look out at all of the students and the have to pick the combination of them which would produce the ugliest baby. So, next time you're in an exam, worried about what you're writing, if you've remembered enough or any other exam related anxieties, be sure to make sure you look nice, because you're physical appearance is being judged the whole time! These're the only games he mentioned, but I find it quite amusing that they exist. I'd never assumed before that exam invigilators play any games, but, thinking now, it seems pretty obvious that they'd need something to pass the time with. This game is just so wonderful and perfect in every way and so in this review I'll try and explain all of its virtues to the best of my ability. First, before I even start to talk about the game itself, look at the title: what a funny pun it is! Anyway, in this game Donkey Kong has been kidnapped by King K. Rool (another pun! Get it?) who has recently become a pirate and renamed himself Kaptain K. Rool. As such, Diddy sets out with his girlfriend Dixie in order to rescue him. A nice basic story which anybody can enjoy, but not one which is so basic that you don't care for it. Plus, the pirate theme is used perfectly, you can swim through the ruins of a sunken ship, look out onto the horizon and watch the sun setting behind the sea and search every single level for very well hidden golden coins (which have a very important use! But I won't spoil anything). Piratism isn't the only theme either: when you reach Crocodile Isle is seems to be a really rather diverse place: you explore creepy old castles, haunted woods, super fun funfairs, dark volcanoes contrasted with the bright oranges of lava and many more. The gameplay as well is very good. While it may just be a simple side-scrolling "finish this level and go to the next!" affair, every level is still very big and full of secrets so it still feels like your exploring a large open world. Plus, you're given a handy world map which allows you to return to past levels at any time (and to do everything, you will need to!). I could talk about the good features of this game for a long time, but it might end up as the longest entry on here! Another important point I'll just quickly mention is how beautiful and atmospheric the game's soundtrack is. Perhaps this is all just nostalgia talking, but I love this game just as much every time I play. I think this is the only game I can give a perfect score of 10/10 to… So far anyway. (This game was also available on the Virtual Console.)
(I do not own the copyright of the screenshot.) When I was in Year 11 at school, for PE, we were able to do whichever sport we wanted to. We had to choose two subjects and so every term I did Golf and Gym (Gym being where we were allowed to actually just use the local gym for free!) we were told at the start of the year that we wouldn't be allowed to do the same ones every term, so there was no point in choosing them, but I guess they were wrong, since I chose the same ones every time and then was allowed to do them. There was actually a trip to a driving range that happened at the end of every term which I always looked forward to, but unfortunately, every single time I was unavailable. Anywho, today I'm going to tell you a sad little story about one of my golf lessons.
There I was swinging away with my club, knocking the ball no further than it would have gone if I'd only tapped it with my foot, when my teacher, Mr. Holden, approached me. "I'll show you exactly how to swing so that you do can hit it further, watch me," he hit the ball pretty far. "Now you try." I got into position and prepared to take my swing. "Wait a second," he said, "I think that water bottle in your pocket is probably throwing your balance off, take it out and put it down here." So I took out my Trusty Water Bottle and put it safely on the floor a meter or two behind me. I took my swing and, sure enough, it was a lot better than it had been before. "Well done, Adam," he said. I walked out to collect my ball, and once I had it, headed back to where I had been swinging from. Unfortunately, it seemed that some cleaner was walking across the field with a large bag of rubbish and a litter picking claw (the kind I would become familiar with later during my time as an MDSA). I stared helplessly from the distance as my water bottle was grabbed and placed into the bag like a common discarded bottle of coke. There was nothing I could do; it was gone, if only I had collected it before the ball. Alas, that was the end for my trusted companion. |
About the AuthorAdam Randall is the author of the blog. Is he a good or bad writer? Who knows? Why not read a few entries and make a decision! New to this Site?
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