[ The 40 Page Itch ]

Posted on by August 26, 2014

One thing that I miss a lot about Ηρακλειά,besides the wonderful beaches, the lovely bars, constant sunshine and general beautiful-island-vibe of course, is how much I read. Serisouly, I had my Kindle ressurected , chucked Game of Thrones in and took it with me. Since I would not be able to charge anything while I was there Kindle’s month-long battery life was perfect for the occasion.
With no other distractions like games or the internet I found myself reading a lot more than usual.

After the Dark Tower I have never sunk in a good big story. Sure, I read a few good books, The Outpost by Adamn Baker is one that comes to mind, but picking up Game of Thrones I got reminded of how nice it is to have your hands on a huge story again.

But since I got back from that no-tech island, my reading speed has plummeted once more, more than that actually, it has grinded to a halt. I was looking up tips on how to read more, one of them was that “Read 40 pages every day”. My initial reaction was a typical No Shit Sherlock, but I guess that is not fair. It is like this I guess… (Link, check the top comment, yea the one with 4 reddit gold)
Making a habit out of things is a valuable skill.

I am watching the new Godzilla movie, so far it’s quite nice. The monster scenes are really good, the human scenes are very boring, as per usual. So far it is infinitely better than the previous non-japanese attempt.

~Garret

[ Dayslice ]

Posted on by August 25, 2014

Watched the NA LCS games with friends over Skype today. Curse demmmmmmmmmmmolished CLG 3-0.
Went outside to much on a can of tuna salad, it was tasty but somebody is having a crazy party and it wasn’t the usual calm stillness that I like so much about this hour.
Now I’m gonna watch a horror movie that comes with a bit of a recommendation (it’s not much but it’s not nothing)

So yea, all in all, nice little day.

~Garret

[ Κατοικίδιο Peeve ]

Posted on by August 23, 2014

Αυτά τα λεωφορεία, τα διπλά, που ενώνονται στη μέση με ένα μαλακό κομμάτι, όλοι μας τα ξέρουμε.
Επίσης όλοι έχουμε μια βασική γνώση των μουσικών οργάνων. Δε θα μπέρδευε κανείς το βιολί με το ταμπούρλο, έτσι δεν είναι;
Γιατί τότε, ναι όλοι, σε εσάς μιλάω, τα λέτε φυσαρμόνικες και όχι ακορντεόν;;;

Harmonica, Exh. 1

Harmonica, Exh. 1

Πάντα με ενοχλούσε αυτό, κυρίως επειδή δε μπορώ να καταλάβω απο που προήλθε αυτή η misconseption.
Οι φυσαρμόνικες πάντως μοιάζουν με τραίνα πλάκα πλάκα, ή το ανάποδο βασικά.

~Garret

[ Beach please ]

Posted on by August 22, 2014

Today was a sort of one-day trip to the beach. After a very kind invitation by a friend me and a few mates had a mini-roadtrip to Kalamos, a little village that feels way farther than Athens than it actually is, where we lounged at a beach for a few hours and then headed home.
I like the ambience of the beach (and pools for that matter). Sure I love a wild beach with nothing but rocks and a few people as much as the next guy but there is something that I find appealing in crowded or at least not-very-natural waterside places.
Those beach bars that are half sunk in pools (or half floating if you are an optimist), waterslides, all that jazz. I find those places extremely relaxing.
I spose lots of people must since they are well, popular.
So yea, I like something that a lot of people like. Huge update today.

In other news, D&D 5th edition is coming out. I have no idea where I’ll get the money for the new Players Handbook but this edition looks really well thought-out with the best integration of roleplay in the game mechanics that I have seen (you actually get a bonus in your roll if you roleplay a scene well, it’s a wonder that it took us 20+ years to put that in).
But yea, seriously thinking of creating a new Garret, Rogue and Cinammon Trader.

The past few days in League of Legends have been a slaughterhouse. I think I did something like 11 losses in a row? Anyway, my morale was at an all time low.
Today fortunately we played quite a few games with the Team Builder (so we chose our champions before the game) and they went great.
I am really liking Yasuo, a sort of squishy , very mobile, high damage, ex-samurai sort of guy, think Lone Wolf and Cub, without the Cub.
A new skin for him is soon to be released, one that looks insanely cool (like a badass Raiden from MGS4).
Me likey.

Well, this update was a bit all over.

~Garret

[ My favourite Album ]

Posted on by August 21, 2014

Blind Guardian is one of the few Metal bands that I still enjoy an awful lot.
It is also the first Metal band that I was introduced to, there might be some corellation between the two.
Something that bothered me about a lot of Metal bands is the “forced dark image” (for lack of a better term) that many bands seem to be after.
Blind Guardian is not like that. They are a bunch of Pen and Paper RPG dudes, they read fantasy books and write songs about them afterwards.
They have songs about A Song of Ice and Fire, The Dark Tower, Lord of the Rings, and these guys did that waaaay before any of that was “cool”.
For the 15 year old Garret, that was mind-blowing.
Their songs are a nice mix of Melodic and Power/Speed.

I also loved their cover arts.

Nightfall in Middle Earth

Nightfall in Middle Earth


Lúthien dancing in front of Morgoth. Album covers are sort of a dying art it would seem.

~Garret

[ Freedom’s End ]

Posted on by August 19, 2014

Ugh, sleepy.

The Home Alone days are over, family is back and living in a house with other humans feels weird. I think I am built for solitude.

~Garret

[ Silent Post]

Posted on by August 18, 2014

Since Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro will be directing the next Silent Hill game, I decided to rewatch Pan’s Labyrynth today, I remember not really liking it when I saw it, quite a few years ago, but since then I think I have had a change of heart when it comes to dark fantasy/reality pieces, maybe I should give Bridge to Terabithia a chance as well.
I liked the coexistence of fantasy and reality a bit more this time, althought I couldn’t see many parallels between the two, they felt like two seperate stories. I also did not care much for the girl character though. The scene with the Pale Man though was quite brilliant when it comes to horror.
Right now I am watching another of his movies, Mama. So far it is really good, original premise,directing that is scary without being “BWAAAAARGH” in your face (scratch that, just had a jump scare… dangit!
Jessica Chastain is in it,that helps, and Jaime too!

I am quite worried about the new Silent Hill game. Sure, both Kojima and del Toro have the skills to tell good stories, but Silent Hill is a tricky animal that I feel needs Team Silent to come back. Masahiro Ito, Akira Yamaoka and Hiroyuki Owaku are quite essential I feel.
Not that I am particularly fussed about another Silent Hill, I would much rather they made a completely new psychological horror game, but I guess brand recognition is important.

Well, one thing is for sure, it can’t be worse than the western-made Silent Hills.

~Garret

[ Utopia ]

Posted on by August 17, 2014

Finished the first season of Utopia today, I went in blind, having no idea of what the show was about, I have to say I was thoroughly impressed.
Utopia is a british show, one that could not ,in a million years,(well, not literally, who knows what would happen in a million years) be made in the States.
That is not always a compliment, Breaking Bad was made stateside and it was bloody brilliant, but it is my impression that Utopia is probably not ticking any boxes in the “American Show Checklist”, it pulls no punches and has an interesting story that skirts the line between being too complicated and complicated enough.

—Spoilers start here for about a paragraph—
At some point there is a school shooting. A kid is framed for it, I will not go into detail. From what I read there 44 complaints about the show.
“Thirty seven of the complaints related to a scene at the beginning of the third episode where a shooting takes place in a primary school”
—End of spoilers —

To Channel 4 credit, they gave this awesome badass response:
“Channel 4 thought very carefully about continuing with the planned broadcast of Utopia. The drama is in no way based on real events, and the scenes featuring violence are editorially justified within the context of the storyline”

I am not some crazed gore-hound, I like my violence in entertainment subtle most of the times, but I find it refreshing to see that some stories are not dilluted to preserve some sort of “morality”.

Utopia is also gorgeous to look at. I am one of many who have grown sick of the

tyranny that has dominated the movie industry the past decade. I was extremely pleased to see that Utopia emlpoyed all the other colours of our tiny spectrum of EM radiation. They re probably using a yellow filter because all the greens are REALLY green, the blues are REALLY blue and the yellows just jump out of the screen. Happy colours in stark contrast with the tone of the show

The cast is quite enjoyable to watch, even the kid actors pull it off admirably. Πλάκα πλάκα my eyes roll like slotmachines when I see “serious” shows employ some kid for comic relief, but the kids in Utopia feel more like the “innocence-skipping kids” like Jake from the Dark Tower.

So yea, if you like conspiracy-laden, gorgeous to look at shows, check out Utopia.

Did I mention it has a kickass sountrack as well?

~Garret

[ Hot Tamale ]

Posted on by August 15, 2014

It is seriously hot here. I have the aircon turned on but my computer is generating enough heat to restart a dying sun. I am not even sure that heat is what dying suns need in order to get started again, or even if they can get started, maybe they just need more mass? Chuck a lil’ hydrogen their way.
Anyway, what I mean to say is that it’s hot.

Today was also a throwback gaming day. The cinematic trailer for the latest WoW expansion was released, it was…okey. I remember when the trailer for The Burning Crusade was released… holy molly it was the most important thing that had happened in my life up until then. Now… it was just a cool cinematic. Am I moving out of the target audience for these things? I hope not. The Garrison feature looked cool.
Oh, Phoenix Wright Dual Destinies (the 3DS game) got released on iOS today. Downloaded the free first mission and it looks really good. The whole thing I think, costs around 10 euros, compared to the 3DS game that is like 1/4th of the price.
I miss Phoenix and the gang, one of the few “anime style” games that actually had likeable characters for me. The music is still awesome. Maybe they will release the Phoenix/Layton crossover game too!

I also believe that I should see more David Lynch. I really dig his style but for some reason I haven’t seen much of his stuff. I should see more of his stuff.

I’ll start with Eraserhead and Lost Highway.

~Garret