Random update.

Well I haven't posted on here for a while as I have been struggling to actually finish the posts I start (I have three or four half written posts sitting waiting for me to finish them).

The reason for this is a few things. Firstly, I have been suffering from a major case of cannotbearsedness. This is a serious condition that effects most people at some time in their lives. Secondly I am getting uber critical of my work and when I read it back I'm usually like "OMFG this sucks".

Lastly though, I am working on a new project. I am looking to (properly) start my youtube channel. I have at least one idea for a weekly show in mind which I am putting together the stuff for now. Due to lack of funds, I have had to do the graphics myself at the moment so they kinda suck. When I have some money, I will get the stuff done professionally. I have already contacted a designer, Mhorag Mcdougall, who I can't recommend enough. If you need any graphics work done, give her a shout.

Anyway, I digress. So the first show is going to be called "Looking Back" and will be me playing old games (usually with someone else). The first episode will be recorded with KK and is going to be Streets of Rage 2 on the Mega Drive. I was planning on using xsplit (which is an awesome piece of software if you want to stream) to record it but due to the fact that I can't then edit the video (due to Premier thinking that it's running at 1000FPS) I am currently working on a new recording setup which should give me much more control over the video. The good thing with this setup is that I can record it all then add the graphics after.

Once I have things going this will all be available on http://www.youtube.com/spikeylogic

I have a few more games/guests lined up but no point spoiling it all too soon.

I am sure I have mentioned it before but Monday nights are board game nights (or Man Night in the Man Cave as Lisa has come to name it). We are currently rotating through the few games we have but are adding more as funds will allow. Last week we played some Settlers of Catan, Zombie Dice and a few hands of Poker to close off the evening.

Settlers of Catan on "Man Night"

This week with any luck we will have Castle Panic (On a side note, Wil Wheaton, you need to be getting commission from the publishers of these. We got Zombie Dice and now Castle Panic after I saw them on Tabletop) and will be playing that. I am going to start trying to do bits of recording during the night. Nothing to the degree of Tabletop but something none the less.

Erm, what else has happened. Oh yeah.

Going to see Garbage at the Barrowlands in Glasgow next Wednesday. Utterly can't wait. I missed the opportunity to see them in 98... I think it was 98 (Just checked, it was 98). OK, story time.

I was at T in the Park with a group of friends. Garbage were playing the main stage but the friends I was with wanted to go see something else. Me having little self confidence at the time went with them rather than going to see what I wanted myself. I have regretted that to this day.

Back to now and Lisa is a huge Garbage fan as well so when the tickets for the show became available we jumped at them. I just hope I am going to have a voice left once this is over. And if you haven't you should check out their new album Not Your Kind Of People which is awesome.

Wow this went on a bit.

Well if you got this far, thanks for reading all that. If you aren't already, follow me on Twitter where I promise to try and post more often. If you enjoyed reading this, please share it with others and if you have any comments at all, please leave them in the section below.

Until next time,

LAN Parties - What they're really about.

I think it was 2002 when I first attended a real LAN party.

I can't actually remember the name of the even now but it was hosted in a University in Glasgow and had about  forty people there. To me as a gamer, it was unreal. Forty like minded people there for a weekend to play games over a LAN (Local Area Network), how could it get better than that. Much fun (and Unreal Tournament) was had that weekend.

I think a full explanation for non gamers is probably in order. LAN Parties are gaming events where people pack up their PCs and head to a centralised location, be it scout hall, university campus, racecourse, someone's house, and connect their PCs together over a network to play multiplayer games together and against each other. It's not a new concept and has been going on since the mid nineties at least.

My first LAN, and in this case I use the term VERY lightly, was going to my friend Euan's house and playing Doom and Civilisation over a null modem cable. This then developed into a four man house LAN at one of Euan's friends houses using old coax cable networks.

2002 was the first of me experiencing a proper LAN party, and that was just the tip of the iceberg.

I can't remember what year it was that I went to my next LAN but it was the one that really got it's teeth into me.

Multiplay's i15 event was held at Newbury Racecourse and had around 1000 gamers there, which at the time was a lot for a UK LAN. I was competing in Team Fortress Classic at the time and went met up with two of my clan mates when I was there.

This is where I go off a bit and start talking about the social side of LANs. Most people have this stereotypical image of a gamer being in a dark room hunched over his keyboard/gamepad all alone. Most of us, in actual fact, are pretty sociable creatures. OK, we find it difficult to relate and interact with non-gamers at times but when we are with other gamers, it's a different story.

Case in point is the first of the two clan mates I met up with. Foxdie, or Jason as I call him these days, has become a close friend that I still speak to regularly to this day. I have made a lot of close friends through the gaming scene, most of which I have met outside of games and even LANs, and even more regular friends.

Anyway, back on track.

i15 I entered the TFC competition at the LAN with Foxdie and Metahawk (our clan leader) and we "merced" for another clan who's name has escaped me. Mercing is basically playing for another clan to help them make up numbers. In this instance, the TFC tournament was eight players versus eight players and the other clan only had five, hence we joined them.

More side notes: Little did I know that one of my now close friends, King-Kodiak, was playing on one of the opposing teams.

We came dead last in the tournament but I didn't care. This was an experience unlike any other LAN I had been to. The scale and the comraderey  between all the players was amazing.

I've been to several other LAN events of varying sizes (everything from twenty people to fifteen hundred) since. Several more i-series, the now dead CentralLan and ScotLAN events, Epic.LAN and even started my own LANs in Aberdeen called BreachLAN (which I am no longer a part of but the events do still run). Yes I have played  a lot of games at those events but more importantly I have met like minded people I never would have if I didn't go to these events. Friendships have been made and rivalries forged. These are all etched into what makes me who I am and I wouldn't have it any other way.

So why have I decided to write this now?

For a couple of reasons really. Firstly because I do get the "You're 32 years old, why do you still play computer games, they are for children" which to be fair I generally ignore as if you think gaming is for children you know nothing about gaming.

And because on Thursday night, when most of you are settling down and getting ready to turn in, I will be on an epic roadtrip with my friend Robbie heading down to Stockport for a house LAN (and Bobs first ever LAN). The metal shall be playing and the Monster flowing. When we get there Angelu5 will be waiting (or I hope so seeing as it's his house). KK and Supafly will be joining us either that night or the next day.

Yeah we will have our PCs there, and games will be played. More importantly I will be spending three days with four of my friends, three of whom I don't see very often. Laughs will be had and memories made.

And that's what LANs are all about.

Some LAN links for you:

Epic.LAN - LANs based in the midlands (Uttoxeter and Bagnall) - Next LAN Epic.Nine
Multiplay - Largest LANs in the UK based in Telford, Newbury and Stratford - Next LAN - insomnia 45
BreachLAN - Smaller LANs in Aberdeenshire - Next LAN - BreachLAN 21

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Late to the game, but so glad I came.

Being the huge Android advocate I am, it may surprise you that for the last year and a bit, I've been an iPad (suppose I better capitalise it correctly on here) owner. The reason for this is quite simple: when I bought the ipad, the only Android tablet available was the Dell Streak which was in no way comparable to the ipad.
It was actually bought so Lisa could take online payments when she was doing stalls for her business, a task at which it excelled. Don't get me wrong, the iPad isn't a bad piece of kit I'm just not a fan of Apples walled garden policy. For casual users, its fine but for me, it was just too restrictive.

So I have finally taken the dive into the Android tablet market and decided on the Motorola XOOM. Now I am going to pull a lot of iPad/iOS comparisons here due to that being my main frame of reference and me only having experience of five minutes play with a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Asus EEE Pad Transformer.
First the feel and look. Slick is the word I would use to describe it. Due to the extra ports and expansions on the XOOM, it's not as clean looking as an iPad. This, in my opinion, isn't a bad thing. Also, where the iPad feels like it should be used in portrait mode due to the power button/headphone jack being on one of the short sides and the home button then being at the bottom, the XOOM is designed to be used in landscape. Both do, however, rotate the screen so you can use it no matter what way you hold it.

On the front there are no hardware buttons on the XOOM. The usual home/back/menu hardware buttons I have always been used to on Android handsets have been replaced with on screen soft buttons which rotate with the screen so are always where you would expecexpec them. The front does host a small camera for video chat. On the bottom is the micro USB port, micro HDMI and a proprietary charger port. Actually, going on a slight tanget at this point, the charger. WTF Motorola? The charger is basically a laptop charger with a smaller end on it. Seriously, one of the reasons I want a tablet is to have less to carry when going away. A chunky charger like that is not the way to go. Ahem. Back to the tablet. On the left side are the volume buttons which are exactly what you would expect. The top of the device has the Micro SD slot under a cover and the headphone jack, which is situated right in the centre. This is, in all fairness, a major design flaw. If you put the XOOM in a dock to watch a movie or video with headphones, the cable will end up in front of the screen. The back has the main camera, a dual LED flash and the power button. The XOOM feels solid and well made. If I have any complaint about the construction, it would be that the smooth back of the device doesn't give the best grip - a problem with the iPad as well - which should be resolved when I get a case for it. It does feel a bit unbalanced when held in portrait mode due to the widescreen layout, something that the iPad doesn't suffer from.

One of my biggest complaints about the iPad, especially since we had the 16GB version, was the lack of expandable storage. Another thing that we use the iPad for is entertaining our daughter on long journies. By the time we loaded full seasons of Peppa Pig, Ben and Holly, etc on, it didn't leave much space for us. The XOOM's 32GB internal memory is complimented by the addition of a Micro SD slot which is neatly hidden on the top of the device under a pull off cover (if this was the 3G version, the sim card would also live under there). The ability to add and swap storage gives the XOOM flexibility that the iPad just doesn't have in that department. As i mentioned earlier, the XOOM comes equipped with two cameras. The front camera has a resolution of 1.3 megapixel where as the rear camera is 5 megapixel. The webcam, as I call the front camera, does the job for video chat but as you would expect from such a low resolution, snaps aren't great. The rear camera takes decent quality shots but nothing spectacular. To be fair though, its not a device I would really use for even mildly serious photography, even if it had a 10 megapixel camera. For quick snaps to be sent to
Facebook when you have the tablet handy, it's more than adiquate.

The screen is another big difference to the iPad. The 10" capacitive touchscreen has an aspect ratio of 16:9 instead of the iPad's 4:3. Running at a 1280 x 800, the screen can display 720p HD content. The touchscreen is on par with the iPad, I can touch type on it and it keeps up pretty well. The stock keyboard that comes with Honeycomb is not bad (I typed this on it) but could be better. One of the plus sides to Android, as I have touched on previously, is the customizeabiliy. There are several alternative keyboards on the Market including, my favorite, Swiftkey X which has a tablet version. The XOOM has bluetooth which gives you the option of connecting a bluetooth keyboard if you would prefer. Speaking of external peripherals, Android is compatable with bluetooth mice throughout the OS. This gives the XOOM massive flexibility especially in business and art apps.

The screen does suffer from the usual issue of not being great in direct sunlight, an issue most tablets have. Also, as usual, it picks up fingerprints easily so a screen protector or microfibre cloth is essential (and unfortunately, I have neither currently).

I suppose I better move onto the OS. The XOOM is running Android 3.2 Honeycomb. This was the first version of Android to be designed with tablets in mind. Its a huge improvement over the tablets I have seen still running Gingerbread. The UI is on par with the responsiveness of iOS, flicking between the home screens with no real lag. The UI layout, even with the changes, is still distinctively Android. There are five home screens for you to customize as you see fit with the usual assortment of shortcuts and widgets, something iOS still hasn't picked up on. Gone, sadly, is the shade. Notifications now appear at the bottom right of the screen next to the clock. This area also displays the battery and wifi status icons. The bottom left hosts the back, home and multitasking buttons. Multitasking used to be achieved by long pressing the home button. With this no longer a hardware button, multitasking has been given its own button.

At the top right of the home screens is the app button which opens the application dock. This hasn't changed much from previous versions. One flaw here is that in portrait mode, the icons in the dock wont fill down to the bottom of the screen.

Speaking of apps, this is always one of the big iOS vs Android arguments. The iOS app store has more app available on it but the Android Market is catching up. A lot of the iOS apps are now either available on Android or have equivalents. Android also allows you to install apps from locations other than the Market. This option is turned off by default but can be turned on in a few presses. This does, admittedly, leave Android open to the possibility of malicious apps in a way iOS won't be but it is a worthwhile trade off to have more choice. Just always check out the feedback in the Market before installing unless you know the developer is trusted. There aren't many apps designed for the higher resolution of tablet screens but for the most part, the apps have all scaled up fine, in fact the phone apps work far better on android scaling wise compared to the iPad.

The Market on the XOOM borrows heavily from the iOS app store in layout rather than from the phone version of the Market. Upon launch, the top section gives you the apps designed for tablets. Navigation through the market is simple and hassle free. Google checkout is the only payment option but it is quickly setup.

Talking of Google, to get the most out of any android device, a Google account is essential. Once my Googlemail account was added, my mail, calendar, contacts and even my app purchases from my phone were synced to the XOOM. Adding another email was painless and in less than two minutes I had my work exchange email and calendar syncing as well.

Video playback on the XOOM is nice and smooth, even if the stock video player only plays a limited set of formats. Yet again, the market comes to the rescue with plenty of free and paid for apps to replace the stock player.

There was no social networking apps with the XOOM but it was easy enough to download the official Facebook and Twitter apps. There are several unofficial apps available as well but I would recommend sticking to trusted publishers. There is also an official Tweetdeck app with both Facebook and Twitter integration.

As you will most likely know, to connect an iPad to a PC you require iTunes to be installed. My unbridled hate for iTunes isn't really for this post but let's just say that the chance to be free from it was a major deciding factor in changing tablets. Connecting the XOOM to a PC is done via a standard micro USB connector which mounts the internal storage as a drive in my computer that you can drag/drop/copy/past to and from to your hearts content. This makes, in my opinion, adding media, or anything for that matter, to the XOOM easy.

In conclusion, iOS and the iPad are still a far better out of the box experience. For the casual user, I would probably have to recommend the iPad over an Android tablet still. If you are willing to put a little time in though, learn and experement, Android is a far more satisfying OS and you could do far worse than the XOOM.

If I was to give the XOOM a score it would be 4/5. It's just let down by a few silly design decisions.

Portal 2 - Complete

Note: I started writing this on January 4th and have been busy so only got round to finishing this today.

Well, it's only four days into 2012 and already the first game on my list has been completed.

Portal 2 is, as if you couldn't guess, the sequel to Portal. A FPS puzzle game based around the use of a piece of kit called a, bet you can't guess, "Portal Gun". If you haven't played either of the portal games and therefore don't know how the Portal Gun works, go play them now? They are both brilliant.

The story had a few nice twists in it and was easily as good as the first game. The voice acting was also superb with the original actress, Ellen McLain, reprising her role. Even Stephen Merchant was a brilliant choice for the voice of Wheatly, and I can't usually stand him.

The addition of the gels, and I'll leave it at that as I don't want to spoil things if you haven't played it yet, later on in the game add more mechanics to the game but I wouldn't say it made the game any more interesting than the first.

Overall I would recommend Portal 2 to pretty much anyone. It's not a hardcore game and will appeal to casual players. It's a good game for playing in spurts. If you have played and enjoyed the first game, then there is absolutely no reason for you not to play this.

Now that that's completed though, on to the next game from my list. I've decided to go with Orcs Must Die as my next gaming project. I'll let you know once that one's done.

What were your thoughts on Portal 2? Feel free to post in the comments below with what you thought.

Thanks for reading.

The ubiquitous top ten "things" of the year list.

Well, what would a blog be without a top ten list? Probably better. However, I thought I would post my thoughts of my top ten "things" of the year. These could be things that happened, a "thing", a person, anything. So after much deliberating (OK, 5 mins with a notepad) here is my top ten of 2011.

10 - Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows

Robert Downie Jr returns as the fictional detective, hot on the heels of Moriarty. Most of the original cast return, most notably Jude Law as Watson. This is more action flick and less of the detective work but still retains the humour of the original. A mention has to be made to Stephen Fry as Myecroft Holmes who had some of the best scenes and lines in the movie though I could do without seeing the good Mr Fry naked again......

9 - Super Dungeon Explore

Super Dungeon Explore is a bored game based heavily on the old eight and sixteen bit turn based Japanese RPGs such as Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 3/6 and Shining Force. The basic concept is fairly simple. One player takes control of the monsters while the others take control of the heroes. The rule set is simple to learn but takes a while to master. All the characters and monsters are represented on the board by some very nice looking miniatures. Soda Pop/CoolMiniOrNot, who make the game, put a lot of effort into making this look damn good. Value for money is pretty good as well. The game costs under £70 but you get 52 miniatures. You look at a company like Games Workshop, and you would struggle to get that many miniatures for £70 alone, not counting the rest of the game.

My only down side would be that the game will need expansions in the future to keep it fresh, which will obviously cost more. It is, however, a game that I would recommend that you play. It's fun, quick to pick up and looks cool.



8 - Thundercats 2011

I'm hoping most of the people reading this blog know what Thundercats is. If you don't.... *sigh*

Thundercats was a staple of my childhood in the 80s along with Transformers and Centurions. Centred round a group of humanoid cats (I know, I know) and their adventures on "Third Earth" against Mumm-ra and his henchmen The Mutants. I'm not going to go into the rest of the plot, as most of it is actually irrelevant.

The reboot has a different back story, though the characters are mostly the same. The key players are all there and even some of the supporting cast from one off episodes in the original series get airings, the Robear Berbils being one that stuck in my head.

I have to admit, when this was announced I was very unsure. Reboots of most of the cartoons from my childhood have been awful (Transformers armada springing straight to mind). I was more than pleasantly surprised at the quality of this show. The animation is crisp even if it is Americanised manga/anime style. The storylines aren't dumbed down for today's kids.

I would highly recommend this show to any children and any fans of the original series.

P.S. Watch out for Larry Kenney, the voice of Lion-O in the original series, voicing Claudus, Lion-O's father in the pilot. He even says that immortal line :D

7 - Thor

I am so glad that Marvel are now making their own films rather than selling the rights to third party production studios. All the movie's building up to The Avengers next year have been on the above side of average. Even Iron Man 2, which I think is the weakest of the films, was enjoyable and has re-watchability. Compare that to X-Men Origins: Wolverine....ok let's not go there. Anyway, on to the film in question here, Thor.

I loved it. I have to be honest I wasn't sure how Kenneth Branagh would handle an action movie but he did a damn good job. Chris Hemsworth was believable as the arrogant heir to the throne of Asgard even if he was a bit wooden at times. The special effects, always a selling point in any superhero film were of the usual high quality we have come to expect of Marvel studios. Asgard looked amazing, as did Jotunheim. The star of the film though was, without a doubt, Tom Hiddleston as Loki (and when you consider that Anthony Hopkins was Odin, that's quite a compliment). I personally think he did an amazing job in the role and can't wait to see him in The Avengers. I've not really touched on Natalie Portman's role as Thor's love interest Jane Foster. This is really because I found her kinda forgettable. Kat Dennings as Darcy was far more memorable, even if it was for being a bit irritating.

A special mention has to go out to Clark Gregg on his recurring role as Agent Coulson. He is there mostly for comic relief but does it surprisingly well.

Overall, a fantastic film even if a few of the supporting characters weren't that great.



6 - Dungeon Defenders

Over the past few years there hasn't been many computer/video games that have taken up a lot of my time. Though I have played a lot of different games, usually it's been for a reasonably short period. The only games, until recently, that have had a lot invested in them have been World of Warcraft, Starcraft 2 and Minecraft.

Recently though, Dungeon Defenders has been eating up all my gaming time.

Dungeon Defenders is a variation on the tower defence genre where you actually play as one of four heroes (well before you add in DLC), The Squire, The Huntress, The Apprentice and The Monk. On each level you have one of more Eternia Crystals that you have to stop enemies, who spawn from set doors on the level, from destroying. You have several ways you can do this. You can attack them directly, use special abilities that you gain as you level or, and this is the main point of the game, you summon defences to aid you. Each character has different defences to match their personality. The Squire, for example has physical defences such as a harpoon tower or spiked barricade. The Apprentice (basically a mage) has magic missile towers and fireball towers. The Huntress summons traps that go off as the enemies walk through them but have to reset before they will go off again. The monk is more a support class, summoning auras that can slow down or damage enemies, heal allies or, and trust me this is the most awesome defence in the game, make the enemies attack each other.

As you level up, you can increase the stats of your hero or defences. Also weapons drop that can also be upgraded.

What really makes this game though, is the four player co-op. I've not personally played on random servers, only with people I know while chatting to them on Teamspeak but it's the most multiplayer fun I have had since end game raiding in WoW:TBC. Even though my characters are a fair bit behind as I spent some time trying some out before deciding on The Monk, the game is still fairly balanced. The limited Mana (used to build your defences) between waves of enemies and limited build allocation means that you can't just have a level 50 mage build 9001 Deadly Striker Towers (the mages best tower). You have to think about placement and also what defences to use. There is a bit of strategy involved.

There are also a few game modes as well as the campaign but I can only comment on survival (unlimited waves of increasing amounts of enemies) as I haven't tried the others.

I would highly recommend this game on the condition you have people to play it with. It doesn't really stand up as a single player game. If you are wanting something similar for single player, go get Orcs Must Die.

P.S. at time of writing, Dungeon Defenders is at 50% off on Steam.

Buy Dungeon Defenders on Steam

5 - Fife Flyers joining the Elite Ice Hockey League

Most people that know me, know how big a Fife Flyers fan I am. I have supported the team for the last twelve years and have gone to as many matches as I have been able to in that time. When I started going, we were in the British National League, a professional league that allowed, I believe, eight imports (imports are classified as non British trained players) and the rest of the team had to be Brits.

Six years ago, the BNL folded and the team were left with two options. Go to the EIHL or go to the amateur leagues. At the time, the directors of the club didn't think the EIHL was financially viable so it was down we went. For the last six years we have moved from amateur league to amateur league, never finding a stable home. This summer the Flyers were left with no amateur league left to join and the move to the EIHL was made.

The oldest hockey club in the UK has returned to pro hockey.

The flyers twitter was pushing the #backinthebigtime tag and things began to come together. We were late joining the league and several teams had all their signings done before we even started looking at ours.

It's not been easy by any means. The coach and directors have admitted they underestimated the league. This is a ten import league that we started with six, one of which is our 38 year old player/coach Todd Dutiaume who joined the club back in the 90s. Slowly over the first half of the season we have strengthened the team and now look in a position to push for a play off spot.

Some of the imports we have signed have been of outstanding quality. Our netminder (goalkeeper for you non hockey people) Garrett Zemlak is quite possibly the best netminder ever to pull on the gold, white and blue and Matt Cohen is reminiscent of Bill Moody, my favourite player when I first went.

Our British lads have taken time to adjust but are now coming up to speed as well. Some of them, such as Steven "Hamish" McAlpine got there quicker than others but now guys such as Chris Wands and Jamie Wilson, who got a lot of flak at the start of the season and were told they were not EIHL quality, are showing that they can compete at this level, with Wands being picked as the stand out Brit in a few games.

We are, unfortunately, still sitting at the foot of the table but we have half the season(ish) ahead of us. Time to show the EIHL what we are made of.

C'mon Flyers!

Fife Flyers Ice Hockey Club

4 - The Samsung Galaxy S II

I've used a lot of mobile tech over the years. From a Psion 3 to the Sharp Zaurus. Nokia 5100 to HTC Tytn II. Creative Zen to iPod Touch. Palm Pilots to iPads. Some have been good, some have been bad. Some have been amazing.

The Galaxy S II is the first that has made me go OMFG Awesome.

Android has come a long way since I first saw it on my G1. Although the Android market is still fragmented to hell, it hasn't stopped hardware manufacturers from pushing the specs up and up. The Galaxy S II is the most responsive phone I have had the pleasure of using. It's the first phone/tablet device I have had that I would say it is a pleasure to use. I usually hate the custom interfaces that phone manufacturers add, but touchwiz was actually decent with a few nice features. It still could be better though.

And it doesn't take much to do that.

Android has, since the beginning, had custom ROMS (the software on the device) which, while not easy to change to, has usually improved the devices. When the Galaxy S II was released, I have been told anyway, that Samsung actually sent some devices to the CyanogenMod team to root and customize.

The result is a fantastic custom firmware that takes the device from OMFG Awesome to OMGWTF Awesome. And with Samsung not locking the bootloader, it's not a difficult task to root and update.

The only problem, this phone is almost a year old now and the newer Nexus S is now available.

Still, I am glad I decided on this phone when my upgrade was due. This easily takes the title of gadget of the year.

3 - Within Temptation at Glasgow Barrowlands

I wasn't really a fan of Dutch operatic metal band Within Temptaion. I didn't mind them and though a few of the songs I had heard on Kerrang or Scuzz were ok, but they weren't a band I would go out of my way to listen to. Lisa, however, was a huge fan and wanted tickets to the gig for her birthday so I did my husbandly (or boyfriendly since it was so long ago when I bought them) duty and got two tickets for their gig at the Barras on November 10th.

That all changed about 2 minutes after they stepped on stage. MY FUCK THIS BAND ARE GOOD!

Lisa had me listening to their latest album, The Unforgiving, on the way from Fife to Glasgow which I did think was pretty good. The album doesn't do their live act justice. Don't get me wrong the studio recording is good, but in a lot of cases, bands don't sound quite the same live as they do recorded. Within Tempation do, well with one notable exception, they guitars are more prominent which makes some of the songs sound that little bit heavier than the recorded version.

Sharon den Adel has some voice. She also is one of the most humble front women I have seen. Stopping to chat with the crowd, but not in the usual "YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST CROWD EVER!!!!!" type way, but actually just telling us about her day.

In the background they had this large video display used to full effect to enhance the music but also to tell the story of The Unforgiving. The new album is a concept album based around a comic series of the same name. Some short video clips have been made and set to the tracks from the album (For example here is the Mother Maiden short set to the song Faster on Youtube).

I would put this gig up there with the best shows I have ever been to and look forward to when Within Temptation return to Scotland to see them again.

2 - Kaylee's first birthday

My daughters first birthday, how can this not be on the list. Though this is on here for a different reason....the battle between Superman and Batman that occurred in our back garden.

Nothing I type here will be able to describe this so I provide you with video evidence

1 - My wedding

Well if this wasn't my biggest highlight of the year, I think I may have ended up castrated....

Seriously though, the biggest day of my life (though I argue that Kaylee's birth was joint biggest) has to be my number one thing of the year.

11th of March 2011 was a day filled with nerves, smiles, tears and laughs.

The Victoria Hotel in Kirkcaldy was the setting for our big day and to be fair, we couldn't have asked for a better venue. The staff were amazing and catered to everything we, and our wedding planner Helen needed. The food was fantastic and the room that we stayed in that night was perfect.

Though the thing I will hold in my mind forever is just how beautiful my wife to be looked (OK, OK. I'll quit with the mushy stuff). The ceremony was lovely and the local registrar did a great job. Also, how many people can say they walked out of their wedding to Nine Inch Nails ^^.

After the ceremony, in which Lisa's self written vows were so much better than mine it's not even funny, we retreated to the bar while Helen and the staff got the room setup for the meal and reception. During this time the incredibly talented Ange Harper and Charlie Kruger took our posed photos.

So yeah, speeches. I suck at public speaking but I think Lisa and myself managed not too bad. We had a two part rhyming speech that I think (hope) went down very well. We then did our unrehearsed and made up on the spot thank you's.

The reception was fantastic and a huge thank you has to go out to local band Off The Cuff for providing the music.

I could go on and on but I think I will stop there.

The only bad part was that something happened with our digital video camera and the footage of the ceremony was lost to the digital ether and no amount of data recovery software could restore it.

It was one of the best days of my life and one I will remember forever.

Victoria Hotel Kirkcaldy
Ange Harper Photography
Eventive (Facebook link as I have been made of fail and need to finish Helen's site)

Honourary Mention - Peter Dinklage

For no other reason than he said "Cunt" on prime time TV.

And that's the end of my top ten "things" of the year. Feel free to comment with your top "thing" of the year.

Thank you for reading and I wish you all a fantastic New Year. All the best for 2012

Something a bit different...

Can someone please point me in the direction of the rule that says only boys can wear blue clothes? We were down the supermarket today and spotted a pair of blue Gruffalo pyjamas. Kaylee loves the Gruffalo and you know what kids are like for going through clothes, so I bought them for her.

We got home and Lisa spotted the label on them. "Boys" it had printed on it. This urked me in my tired and crabbit state. I mean, why can't a girl wear blue?

It's not the first time this has happened. Kaylee likes Tigger as well. But when you look at the Winnie the Pooh clothing ranges, it's Pooh and Piglet on the girls clothes and Tigger is on the boys.

Now I know I could just ignore the label and for the most part I do. It's not just clothing brands, people can be just as ignorant.

A long, long time ago (OK about a year) we were out with Kaylee in Glenrothes. We had her dressed in a blue top and skirt (remember the skirt, that parts important). Kaylee was about 4/5 months old and still had random people coming over and commenting on her. This woman came over, looked at her and said "Awww, how old is he?" The ability to make me scream "Moron" in your face is strong in this one.

Don't get me wrong, Kaylee has her fair share of pink clothes. Today, for example, she has a blue top on with some pink trousers and shoes (it sounds like it wouldn't work, but it actually does). She also has pink toys, pink bedding, etc. It's safe to say that these days, we don't worry about the labels too much. Fair enough, if we had a boy I don't think we would be buying him pink clothes, but do you see adult women just wearing pink? No? Then why should we do the same with babies and girls?

I didn't think so.

Stress, Sleep Deprivation and Love: The story of a first time father.

Been speaking to some friends of ours that have just had their first child, a beautiful baby girl called Abigal (Gratz again Maddy and Chris ^^). They are in the stage of parenthood I named "AAARRRRGGGGHHHHHHH". The first few weeks when the enormity of taking care of a child starts to really hit home.

There is so much that they (the midwifes and health visitors) don't tell you or prepare you for. The sleep deprivation, the feelings of uselessness when you can't decipher what the last hour of crying was for and you have tried everything and just how much your life has to change.

There is also the pressure. Lisa had issues with Kaylee when breast feeding, she just wouldn't latch on. The first night she had to be bottle fed due to her blood sugar being low. The midwife in charge was very forceful and made Lisa feel like a failure because Kaylee wasn't feeding from her. It took me quite a while to get that idea out of her head. It really doesn't help when you have all the pro breast feeding propaganda plastered everywhere. Sometimes it just doesn't happen, and a lot of people need to realise this. We would have loved for Kaylee to be breast fed. Hell, we were planning on a natural birth but that didn't happen either. We realised that making sure Kaylee was eating and healthy is far more important than what we planned on. My advice to other parents is do what is best for you and your baby and don't worry about these people looking down at you.

I don't think any parent knows how much of a lifestyle change is coming. When Lisa fell pregnant we had these ideas that we would still be going to the cinema every couple of weeks, I would still be instancing and maybe raiding a bit in Warcraft and Lisa would have plenty of time for all the projects she has planned.

How wrong we were.

I'm only now starting to get back to a reasonable amount of gaming, Lisa's focusing on her business but still not managing to do a lot of the stuff she wants to. We are lucky in the fact my Mum will take Kaylee one night a week so we can still go watch our local ice hockey team (C'mon Flyers!) but are lucky if we have been to the cinema 5 times this year. To be fair, this was just a mistake on our part but it shows how you don't realise what's coming.

Then there is the sleep deprivation I have mentioned a few times. Even now, with Kaylee almost eighteen months old, sleep is a luxury. Kaylee still isn't sleeping through the night all the time and can go several days at a time where she will be up for anywhere between half an hour and four to five hours. Several times I have woke up lying on the couch with Kaylee, in agony from being in some weird contorted position that she decided was comfy enough for her to fall asleep, then still having to get up and go to work.

This leads onto stress. Now don't get me wrong, Lisa and me have always had minor disagreements. Since Kaylee was born, we have had a lot more. This is just totally down to lack of sleep, which makes us both grumpy. This combined with stubborn personalities on both sides meaning neither of us will back down has led to some "fun" discussions.

Thing is, even with all this, I wouldn't change Kaylee. The good really does outweigh the bad. The smile I get everyday when I come in from work or the pride I feel everytime she works out something new. Even the feeling when I first saw and held her in the hospital. These are feelings that really can't be put into words properly. Don't worry if you don't get everything right straight away. You are learning just as much as your child is.