Home is quiet as usual, with parents at work all day and my sister still at school. However it has given me some quality time with the Xbox as well as allowing me to watch some DVDs I just haven’t got round to seeing yet. Having taken a few days off, it’s probably time to get some work done unfortunately. As usual the quiet life, devoid of university frivolics, will result in fewer site posts until everyone else gets back and things start happening.
The fact my sister’s copy of Viva Piñata arrived yesterday was less exciting than it should have been with the revelation that the game is another PAL-60 only product, an annoying trend with a small but not inconsiderable number of Xbox 360 titles (particularly worrying from a British developer, Rare). Although technically superior, using the PAL colour system with the higher NTSC refresh rate, it’s not so much a standard as a botch job that requires less translation between the US and UK so there are still many British TVs that do not support it. Age is not the defining factor as ours was a flagship model for Philips’ ambilight technology just 3 years ago. I have found a possible way to make them compatible which I can only confirm once some new cables arrive.
I recently came across a delightful piece dedicated to nice guys. It was a pleasant surprise to hear such things being said by a girl. You can also read more of her amusing rants. In many ways I find The Mask to be the ultimate “nice guy” film. Traditionally it is difficult to make a guy like Stanley Ipkiss charismatically alluring, or even interesting, on the surface. However using the mask itself as a vehicle the filmmakers are able to reveal his repressed inner romantic and playful, capricious personality. Yet ultimately he learns, somewhat implausibly winning Cameron Diaz, that it was him with whom she fell in love and not The Mask.
8 December 2006 at 11:26 am
That piece is sooo sweet! :((