For the past six months I've been working for RomanCart as a content marketer and close followers of my work will have doubtlessly have seen some of the blog posts I've written for them. Sadly, today was my last regular day there and I'll certainly miss working there. In January I'll be writing occasional RomanCart posts (I should be working for them for one day a week) and I'll also be writing for another business: FurtureProofMedia. I start there tomorrow, in fact, and should be working regularly for them for a while until I (hopefully) get a contract. I'm quite excited to get started and I hope it goes well. I'm very lucky to have another job lined up so quickly and I hope I will have a steady and reliable source of income soon. This will be the fifth job I've had since university and it will be nice when I finally have job which I can count on in the long term... Hopefully tomorrow will be the start of that!
0 Comments
In 2011 I started studying at Bath Spa University and since I live about fifteen miles away in Corsham, it meant that I had to ride a lot of buses. Some people might think that a commute like that might prove to be quite bothersome, but that was not the case at all because of the wonderful 231 bus service run by First Buses. I love riding on the bus and their reliable service meant that I could always depend on them...
Four years later, things have changed. I work in Bath now and I finished work and got to the bus station at 5:40pm, perfect timing, since the next 231 was at 5:50pm. A bus arrived at 7:10pm. So not only did the 5:50pm fail to arrive, but the next bus, the 6:45pm, was almost half an hour late! A few years ago, I'd have given them the benefit of the doubt; there are sometimes break downs and traffic accidents... But when the bus came, there was no explanation or apology. Several frustrated commuters asked staff at the station why they were running so late and they were just told that they didn't know. Sadly, days like today are not uncommon. On reflection, I realised I can't actually remember the last time that the bus was on time. My bus into Bath in the morning is always five to ten minutes late (and sometimes five minutes early, which is annoying) and on the way home it is usually twenty minutes late. It's sad because this shows that the higher ups at First don't really care about their employees or their customers. They show they don't care about their customers because they're happy to create situations where they have to waste hours of their time, and they show they don't care about their employees by forcing them to have to face disgruntled customers who will invariably blame the driver (often aggressively) for the bus's lateness (which may have been entirely out of their hands, if they even knew about it.) The problem is that their only competition comes from the Faresaver service X31, but this doesn't operate during early or later hours, so a lot of people have no choice but to use First's bus service, meaning they don’t need to make an effort to keep their customers. People have complained about First the whole time I've used it, but it's only over the last few months that it really has become the awful service people say it is. In the past I'd always defend First from critics, now I can't defend them, I am one of the critics. (Don't miss today's Finger Puppet Show!)
I was always fond of the Mario Kart games, but it was with Mario Kart DS that the series, in my eyes, changed from being quite fun to being a real Nintendo classic. To do this day, this is a very enjoyable game.
In terms of characters, some people might be disappointed after Double Dash!! because you start with the usual eight (Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Toad, Wario, Bowser, Donkey Kong) and then there are only four unlockables (two brand new, two featured before), making the total substantially lower. But while it may be a little lacking when it comes to characters, it is superb in every other sense. The selection of race tracks in Mario Kart DS is one of the best that has ever been offered. There are four new race cups (made up of four tracks each) providing sixteen new tracks which include an excellent Luigi's Mansion track, a cool Super Mario Bros. 3 style desert, a Tick Tock Clock level and one of the best iterations of Bowser's Castle (amongst many others). On top of this, you have an additional sixteen tracks which return from the previous four games and which I was very pleased with. Returning tracks include Frappe Snowland (from Mario Kart 64), Sky Garden (from Mario Kart: Super Circuit) and Mario Circuit 1 (from Super Mario Kart) to list three of my favourites. The multiplayer experience is especially good this time too. This was the first Nintendo game to provide online play and while you could only race with three online racers at once, it was very exciting. Plus, as long as they had their own DS, you could play with up to eight people with only one copy of the game (although it was only on a limited number of tracks). When you all have copies of the game, you can use all the tracks and it's a load of fun. So on the whole, this is an excellent game and one of the best Mario Kart titles. The controls feel pretty airtight and the CPU racers never feel like they are obnoxiously cheating (which is a problem with certain past titles). Plus, for the first time, there are "Missions" which have you fighting against several bosses (from Super Mario 64 DS) while riding around in the karts. Add to that the fact that battle mode can now be played with only one human player and you have a very substantial game on your hands. Rating: 9.5/10
(Don't miss today's Finger Puppet Show!)
Back when I started this blog in 2011, and for several years before then, I always thought of myself as an introvert. I found myself going to social events very often, but I often found this tiring. I'd be going to three or more social events a week and I'd sometimes try and think of excuses to get out of events, because as much as I was very, very fond of my friends, I just didn't have the energy to socialise that often. I craved silent time alone reading.
These days, however, I feel entirely differently. I wouldn't call myself an introvert anymore, and while I don't really get the opportunity to do many social events, I jump at any opportunity I can get. These days I do last minute events that I'd never have done in the past, even if it means missing my rest time or time alone reading. I'd probably go so far as to say I am an extrovert. Seeing people is really important to me, and when social events come to an end, I just wish they'd go on for longer (when in the past I'd get tired and look forward to going home). I just think this is all rather interesting. On social media, I see people talking about introversion and extroversion quite often, and when they do, they seem to talk in absolutes, but I think every aspect of a person's mind is constantly in flux. Introverts become extroverts, people discover new things about their sexualities and tastes change. I don't think we can ever really know ourselves, because we are always changing. Nothing is static. I wanted to use this blog post to reflect on how lucky I've been in regards to my career. I work full time as a writer and I'll likely be moving on to another writing position soon as well. While I have had a few months of unemployment in the past, I've mostly just had a sequence of jobs which I've enjoyed and which have been beneficial steps forward in my career. Writing work is hard to find and I've been lucky to have been successful so many times. In this position, it would be tempting to say that I've gotten all of these writing opportunities because I worked hard or because I was very dedicated to my work, but I think it's important to recognise that I've really just gotten the jobs I have thanks to luck. Where I went to university is very much tied to where I grew up; without going to Bath Spa University, I'd never have had many of my first writing experiences and without that I'd likely never have gotten my later jobs. Some employers have been impressed with this website... But if it weren't for a friend randomly saying I should start a blog one day, maybe I never would have. It's very interesting, I think, to look back and see how much of what happened was based on pure coincidence.
(Don't miss today's Finger Puppet Show!)
In 1994 Rare revolutionised the Donkey Kong series and took control of it, making numerous entries. In 2002 Rare were bought out by Microsoft, meaning that Nintendo had to take back control of the series and it's clear that they didn't know what to do. Over the next eight years, there were several experimental games, all straying far from what Rare had established. Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat might just be the worst example.
Let me start by telling you what I do like about it. Very uniquely, this is a side scrolling game that uses the Gamecube's bongo controller; hit the left bongo repeatedly to go left, the right, to go right and clap to interact with the world around you. The music goes along with your bongo playing and it sometimes feels amazing when you really get into a level and are hitting the bongos just right so that Donkey speeds through the level and you get as many points as possible (high scores are important). Having Donkey Kong's movements tied to your own in this way is a great way to make you feel immersed. I also enjoyed a fair few of the new characters; Orco the killer whale is excellent, Hoofer the ram makes for some of the most fun levels and Ghastly King (or Cactus King) is a very cool villain. Levels are often rather beautiful too. But what I don't like about Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat is that it seems to completely disregard all of the work Rare did on the series. Donkey Kong maintains his Rare design, but everything else that they introduced has been forgotten. Where are the other Kongs? Who are these evil Kongs? Where are the Kremlings? Why is the world full of freakish abominations? What does Donkey Kong himself actually have to do with any of this? Many of the characters and creatures seem like obvious replacements for things Rare created, when there was no real reason that Rare's creations could not be used. I'm especially disappointed with the fact that Donkey Kong is portrayed as an insane, violence-loving maniac, rather than the laid back ruler of Donkey Kong Island that Rare had turned him into. Plus, while I can appreciate the innovation of the bongo controls and the fact that they do work very well sometimes, when they don't work well, they are very frustrating. There were countless times when I thought to myself "I'd be having a lot more fun right now if this game had normal controls..." and that's quite sad, I think. So, on the whole, this is a very mixed bag. When it's good, it's fantastic, but when it's bad it's irritating and it's a shame that it seems to change so often. Nonetheless, for such a unique and experimental game, it's definitely worth a play. I'm sure somebody else might play it and think it the best the series has ever been, so do go ahead and make up your own mind. Perhaps it's just fans like me who will have an issue with this. Rating: 7.7/10
(Don't miss today Finger Puppet Show!)
I really love Christmas and anybody who has been reading this blog for a long time (and I mean, right from the start in 2011) will remember that I once did a Trusty Water Advent Calendar. What I did for that was write a Christmassy blog post for each day leading up to Christmas and I had a bit of fun doing it... I've often wanted to do it again, but I didn't just want to repeat myself. But this year, I'm going to do it. I won't be posting each day on this blog, but I will be posting on my Facebook author page. I’ll be sharing Christmassy pictures, Christmassy stories, Christmassy Finger Puppet Show strips and Christmassy blog posts. The first one is already scheduled to go up tomorrow and I am looking forward to doing this! I hope I’ll be able to share my abundance of Christmas spirit with you.
Some days I don’t have a blog post planned and I just open Weebly and wait and see what comes to me. This is the method I was sticking to today, but it took me ages to even gain access to the internet. While waiting for the connection to be restored, I reflected on just how dependant I am on the internet. While I do a little bit of short story writing every week, most of the writing I do is for my blog and my webcomic. To lose access to the internet would be to lose a lot of my creative energy and would likely be very frustrating. As odd as it may sound, I'd have much less motivation to write these things knowing that I couldn't post them right away or schedule them to be posted soon. Plus, of course, with no internet I'd lose the power to search for more work and writing opportunities and also lose my main way of backing up things up (Dropbox). In some ways it's very interesting to look at the impact that internet connectivity on creativity, in other ways it's a little sad...
(Don't miss today's Finger Puppet Show!) Free to play games are very popular at the moment, so it wasn't a surprise that Nintendo and The Pokémon Company came out with Pokémon Shuffle. Pokémon Shuffle has you fighting Pokémon through puzzle-type gameplay. On the bottom screen you'll have a grid with several Pokémon faces and on the top you'll have a Pokémon. You are given a limited number of chances to move the Pokémon faces around, and each time you match up at least three of the same kind of Pokémon, it will launch an attack on the Pokémon on the top screen. If you run out of moves, you lose the battle, but if you win the battle, you get a chance to catch it. You can catch lots of Pokémon as you go along, and before each battle you choose which ones you want to bring along. As with regular Pokémon games, you then use the Pokémon with appropriate types to deal more damage to your opponents. The game incorporates the concept of Mega Evolution too, and (if you have a stone to activate it) some Pokémon can Mega Evolve in battle and then matching them up will cause even more damage. Plus, Pokémon are even able to level up if you make regular use of them, which I quite like. The free to play element of the game is the fact that you have five hearts and you use one up every time you do a battle. Once a heart is gone, it will take thirty minutes for you to get another. When all the hearts are gone, you can wait to get more, or you can just spend real money to buy crystals which can be used to buy more hearts (or to buy items which will make the battles easier). You might be happy to wait, but then there are legendary Pokémon which appear for a limited time only which might be frustrating to some. Later levels are also ridiculously hard and clearly designed to make you spend money, which I did not appreciate at all. It's a fun and very addictive game and you'll be pleased as you battle and capture more and more of your favourite Pokémon. The minor RPG elements are appreciated and I think this is the kind of game anybody could enjoy, even if they've never played a Pokémon game before. Puzzle and Pokémon fans will enjoy this especially, but generally this is a fun game with a broad appeal. Rating: 8.3/10 (Don't miss today's Finger Puppet Show!)
Deep Time tells the story of an African expedition lead by cryptzoologist Brendan Merlie who is hoping to find some evidence that certain extinct species might still be living deep in the jungle.
You may think this sounds like a fairly standard adventure story (and indeed, the Anthony says in the author's notes that he was inspired by the classic adventure novels) but it's so much more than that. This book covers environmentalism, religion, science, morality, sexuality, ancient history and so much more (without it ever seeming forced). But I think, most of all, what I loved about Deep Time was its characters. Brendan, Salome, Curtis and Vince are four characters who I grew to like immensely. All of them were very different, all of them had their own motivations, beliefs and ideologies, all of them had their flaws, all of them had their qualities and all were very believeable. I really cared about what happened to all of them, and that's just the main characters! There were several smaller characters that I grew to like just as much. It was Brendan and Salome that I was the most fond of, however. Brendan is a scientist and often hides behind a slight degree of rational detatchment to protect himself, but he certainly doesn't lack emotion and it's clear that many things affect him to a large extent. He always tries to be pleasant and upbeat, even in the face of disaster, and I think this makes him hugely likeabe. Salome, meanwhile, is quite different to Brendan and is frustrated by the ordered nature of science. She's very much a free spirit, but with strong moral convictions and I always loved to see her standing up for the things she believed in. At times, I felt like she was a little mean to the other characters, but then there are so many terrible things that happen to her throughout the duration of the novel, that she can be forgiven for occasionally seeming short tempered. One thing about Deep Time and something which might put some people off, is that there is quite a lot of sex and violence in it. These are things I don't usually enjoy in fiction, because I tend to find them used in tasteless ways that feel a bit on the nose. In Deep Time, every act of violence and every instance of sexual interaction felt perfectly natural. The sex and violence really complimented the story because, in a way, Deep Time provides a critique of human nature, and are not sex and violence large parts of human nature? Something else I really appreciated was that there was a lot of nudity in it, but that there was a strong emphasis on nudity as a non-sexual thing, which is a perspective I have a great deal of respect for, but which I don't encounter too often. I could go on for a long time about why this is an absolutely superb book, but I'll wrap it up now to avoid this review becoming too long. Deep Time is a fantastic sci-fi adventure novel, wrapped in lots of scientific language which helps makes the unbelieveabe believeable, while also telling a deeply emotional story. At times you'll laugh at lighthearted interactions between characters and at times you'll find things utterly heartbreaking. It's definitely worth a read and I hope it will be remembered for years to come and that Brendan and Salome will enter the pantheon of great literary characters. Rating: 9.5/10 |
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?
Click here for all the best posts.
Archives
I'm currently in the process of completely overhauling the archive system to make it more easy to use. Bear with me, it may look messy for a bit.
Anecdotes Funny & Silly Entries Archives
February 2016
Categories
All
Any Suggestions?
Give me them here.
|