Gloomy days….could do with a bit of magic

Somehow, gloomy days tend to carry their atmosphere over to my personal activities on that day. It’s not exaclty the fact that it’s “gloomy” that makes me depressed, it’s how it finds it way into some normal or even happy activity I’m doing and somehow messes it up slightly. Buying my computer parts on a cold and rainy day is no fun.

And not to mention that the financial world is also facing some rather gloomy days, with the AIG bailout and the aftermath effects of subprime. The Australian dollar has also fell so much, making it harder for me to want to purchase some material from the US online, namely my magic supplies. Speaking of which, for those of you who don’t know, I have been into magic tricks for probably around 9-10 years now. And yet I bet a lot of you who do know are wondering why I don’t seem to perform for you at all. Some might think that I only buy and research this stuff just to know how it’s done, but I assure you this is not really the case, I enjoy performing magic, it makes me happy and brings entertainment to others. It’s a long story how I took interest at the start though, but in short it’s because of an Uncle who showed these tricks to me, and I felt so happy and entertained seeing them, and felt magic was a really cool thing . I wished I could do the same and entertain others, letting them know such cool things can be done!

As a magician, I will honestly say I have probably lost some of my skill due to lack of practice, and probably even confidence as well, greatly thanks to the busyness of uni.  Because of this, I would hate to expose a trick due to my lack of practice, and so I have somewhat stopped performing for quite some time. But as with the case for me, from time to time I do some purchases of magic material I find worthwhile. Whilst I pray for the Aussie dollar to somewhat go back up to at least a somewhat equilibrium state, here are the effects I’m interested in!

Tattoo Joe:

Apparently make ANY tattoo image appear on your arm, then magically vanish once again with your arm clean. Imagine the possibilities!

Flow:

Defy the laws of gravity using water as a demonstration…see for yourself.

Extreme Burn:

A superb visual bill switch trick. No more dodgy moves and bill folding! (I believe Cyril Takayama, a famous magician, did this trick on his latest magic revolution special.)

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And yes, I do own tonnes more effects just as equally amazing, I know I will find the time to practice and show you all some time. And now as for my magic to this gloomy and cold day….gonna go take a nice long shower.

Fall 2008 for the gamer

And as with every year’s fall, a lot of awesome games are to be expected to hit the gaming market. This year, theres much more sequels and continuation of series, rather than brand new innovative games, though there are a few out there. For those who don’t know, I’m a shooter fan, so most of my interests lies in the upcoming shooter titles, though honestly most of the hyped games ARE shooters.

Firstly, titles that I must play:

Red alert 3

Having been a long time fan of the red alert series, there is no doubt i must get my hands on this one. Apparently the normal soviets and allies will be back, along with a new faction known as the empire, which is pretty much based on Japan in today’s world. There also seems to be a much more stronger focus on naval warfare. A must for the fast paced RTS fan.

Far cry 2

Far cry 1 was one of those games that set a new bar for quality, with a typical storyline about some scientist going nuts and causing mutants to appear. Far cry 2 will apparently have a totally unrelated story to far cry 1. Basically you are sent into a war-torn Africa to stop some big war conflict going on. Personally the setting seems much more attractive to me, I’m kinda sick of the mutant/zombie nonsense in shooters. However this is definitely worth the attention for any shooter.

Call of duty 5

Call of duty is returning to its WW2 roots for its fifth installment into the series. Well its voice acting is going to feature 24’s Kiefer Sutherland, and watching the trailer will definitely ring a bell as you hear his distinct voice which sounds exactly the same as when he acts in 24. A promising title after all this series has had to offer in the past.

Gears of war 2

Yes, as I am a x360 owner, I am clearly looking forward to this. It continues the story from 1, so expecting you are playing the right games for a x360 owner, I’m assuming you know what this is about. Otherwise, better pick up your copy of 1 and start getting ready for this.

Tomb raider underworld

Apparently, ever since the new style for tomb raider came out for the pc (first one was legends I believe?), I’ve taken an interest in the series. This upcoming ones features Lara looking for Thor’s Hammer. Somehow this game is said to properly feature the “next gen Lara”. Let’s see what the game has to offer when it is complete.

Prince of Persia

I have played all 3 titles for the 3d releases of the game, namely sands of time, warrior within, and the twin thrones. However this one will be different, featuring a totally new storyline, new next gen graphics style, and a very different fighting system. The prince will have a female partner as usual, this time with her supporting him with magical powers in both fights and acrobatics. Definitely worth checking out.

Games that are interesting, but i will await reviews

Saints Row 2

Another gta style sandbox shooter, except with a much heavier gangster base story. I played the first one and enjoyed it quite well, however somehow I have doubts about how this next one will end up performing. Hopefully it turns out to be more fun and interactive, as some parts of GTA 4 were somewhat repetitive and quite the letdown.

FEAR 2

Some of you might be thinking what this is doing down here when im a shooter fan. Honestly, FEAR was pretty fun with the slow mo and effects at the start, but the whole thing got a bit too repetitive with all the expansions, along with one of the most confusing and in my opinion, pretty crappy storyline. So I’ll have to see what the new one has to offer first when reviews are around.

Mirror’s Edge

This is one of the brand new games of this fall. Its a unique idea where you are this package delivery person in a dystopian world, where apparently people get watched a bit too much. So you do these deliveries for people who don’t want to be watched in such a way I think. Its about jumping around with acrobatics and a lot of interesting moves….you might want to check out the trailers of this game around, the concept is hard to describe. However it seems slightly lacking with the action for me, and the first person seems to get a bit confusing at times. Guess we’ll see how this turns out.

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And there you have it, that’s my take for games that catch my eye this fall. Theres still plenty more games that are interesting though are not my type necessarily, such as left 4 dead on x360, fallout 3, resistance 2 on ps3 which i don’t own though, etc. IGN has a nice list of interesting games this fall if you want to check out more games coming out.

And in other news, heroes season 3 is airing tomorrow in US! I actually only continued with second season because of someone….but we won’t go there. However the theme of the third season captures me: “villains”. I just love villains in a show like heroes, so I guess I’ll continue to watch this series.

Starting Afresh

And so, with this post, I will once again commence blogging activities.

Other than this blog starting afresh, looks like I’ll be getting a fresh new pc as well, a somewhat powerful one at that too. Farewell to the days of, ok gotta tune down the settings as I install a new game….MAXIMUM ALL THE WAY UNDERSTAND. And so, heres the parts list as follows:

E8500 3.2Ghz
Western Digital SATA 500GB
2GB Kit DDR2 1066 G.Skill-PI
ASUS 512 MB HD 4870

Corsair HX-620
Antec P182
DFI LanParty Dark LP-DK-P45-T2RS Plus DDR2
TRUE120E heatsink
Thermalright HR-03 GT

Nexus Real Silent 92mm
Scythe Slipstream 1200rpm fan

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The seemingly random listing arrangement is just for shopping convenience, listed in groups of which parts can be bought at which shop. Also, the idea to get a new 22inch has been scraped, decided to stick with my silly old 17inch for now. I can always add in the 22inch later anyways.

Can’t wait to get my hands on this and start playing Crysis Warhead! And on a finishing note in accordance with gaming, I’ll be posting soon on the gaming side for fall 2008!