Somewhat Relevant

On Robots, Part Two

2012-02-20T14:00:00.000+00:00

Part two, of my mumblings on two recent Gundam properties which I've recently watched/played. You can see part one over here: http://cyrevenant.blogspot.com/2012/02/on-robots-part-one.html

Now, Gundam Age is the TV show I'm watching. I've watched a few series and movies of Gundam, though I've watched a few Gundams my exposure to the available franchise is far from exhaustive. The quality of them varies and they are clearly made for different audiences. This series, Gundam Age, is from what I can tell, targeted at kids. It's a kids show. I don't often watch kids shows, as usually, they're made for kids. Though occasionally you'll come across a kids show where the writing is clever in a way that suggests that either the writers were writing it partly for themselves, or that they realise that their audience might be wider than just kids.

Gundam Age seems to have taken a few story pointers from the original series and its sequels. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a remake, because it's not. It has its own story, its own characters and settings. It does, however, have many thematic callbacks to some of the original series. This and the structure, which I'll elaborate on in a moment, makes me wonder if this is being pitched as a gateway for a new generation to fall in love with the old series of Gundam.

Even in the mobile suit design the traits of the three original series can be seen clearly. The AGE-1 Gundam itself seems to have been designed based largely on the original RX-78-2 Gundam, while the AGE-2 Gundam and AGE-3 Gundam taking design elements from the MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam and the MSZ-010 ZZ Gundam. Specifically with the AGE-2 and Zeta being variable-flight type mobile suits while the AGE-3 and Double-Zeta are more heavily armed and armoured units.

Gundam Age like a lot of series, starts off on a space colony, which comes under attack by an enemy. The twist in this one is that the teenage lead, named Flit Asuno, doesn't randomly fall into the cockpit of the experimental high performance mobile suit and get left there. Flit designed and built the AGE-1 Gundam himself. He knows it better than any other potential pilot, so when the so called "Unknown Enemy" attack, he jumps straight in the cockpit and takes the fight to them.

In order to keep things interesting for the kids, the show has been written in a fashion that keeps the plot moving along very quickly, with big changes happening every couple of episodes. Firstly is the show's primary contrivance; the AGE device. The AGE device functions as a sort of Universal Constructor. Every other episode it springs into action. Based on the battle data, the AGE device automatically invents and then manufactures new weapons and components for both the Gundam and the battleship the Gundam is based from. Thanks to the AGE device, we get treated to new toys for the characters to use to crush the enemy every number of episodes. Of course, this is exactly the kind of thing that can help keep a show interested.

The second tool that the show uses to keep the audience hooked is alluded to in the title. The series is broken up into different 'Ages.' Similar to the separate parts of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, these are self contained stories with timeskips in between them. In this case, they are of course connected by the Gundams and the common enemy. Also, as with Jojo's, the protagonists are related. At least so far, the pilot of AGE-2 being the son of the AGE-1 pilot. In this way, we get full plot arcs played out in a relatively small number of episodes, with a larger plot stringing the stories into one.

As I said before, this is a kids show. Not only is this apparent in the structure and devices used to maintain interest, it's also pretty apparent through the writing and character design. Everything is very simple, bright colours and clean lines. The lead characters, while ostensibly 14 look closer to about 9 or 10. The enemies are clearly identified and, at least at first, are not identified as human or made out to be in any way sympathetic. Loyalties are for the most part, clear cut. Though there are a number of details which are a little surprising for a kids show. For example, in the opening episodes a colony is torn apart due to torsional stress after its outer shell is breached. This realistic result that even the most hard nosed military Gundam series didn't have. Though the best thing about this show so far? Grodek Ainoa.

Lieutenant Colonel Grodek Ainoa is the leader of the Federation force stationed on the colony where the show begins. By the end of the second episode, Grodek has tied up the captain and bridge crew of a battleship moored at the colony and dumped them in a storeroom at the spacedock, presumably to die? He then takes the liberty of hacking the ships records and erasing the crew manifest, instating himself as Captain and his squad as the new crew. Two episodes in, and he's stolen a top of the line Battleship and left the original crew for dead. When a Federation official comes to arrest Captain Ainoa for a court martial, the good Captain blackmails the official and takes off with the battleship, crew and the AGE-1 Gundam to lead the cast on his own personal mission for revenge. He only gets better from here.

Next time, I'll ramble some more on projects I've been working on, or talk about another TV show I saw recently.

Captain Grodek Ainoa lays it down.

On Robots, Part One

2012-02-17T14:17:00.000+00:00

If you know me well, you'll know that I'm a fan of things with robots in them. Small robots, medium sized robots, quite big robots and of course, giant robots. So it follows that I would watch a lot of shows with robots in them and play games predominately featuring robots.

Now I'm not going to go into any great detail about what exactly it is about robots that I find so damn fascinating. I will say that while robots are enough to get me interested in something, I'll never use the inclusion of robots as an excuse to forgive a show or game of core failings. The show should still be good, the game should still be solid.

This leads me to Gundam. You could write essays on the history and influence of Gundam. I won't here, I'll leave that for a talk I plan to give at some upcoming Anime convention. Briefly, Gundam is a franchise of tv shows, movies and comics which predominately feature giant robots of similar aesthetic design but otherwise are not connected either canonically or even thematically. Mostly. Recently I've been playing a new Gundam game and watching the latest TV show. Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3 and Gundam Age respectively.

Dynasty Warriors Gundam is a pretty simple game. I'd never go so far as to call it good, but I certainly enjoyed it. It does exactly what it intends to do and with no small amount of polish. The player controls a pilot and a Gundam, or occasionally, a mass produced mobile suit. The set up is simple. There are countless numbers of enemy robots. Destroy them. Occasionally an ace pilot in another Gundam or high performance mobile suit will duel you one on one, but for the most part the gameplay is simple hack and slash. It could be described as repetitive, but for what it is, I enjoyed it.

The story of the game is a little silly. Characters from every series of Gundam show up and work together or against one another. The personalities clash together as characters from bombastic over the top kids shows meet with stern military generals from the original series while introverted teenagers from the series aimed at more female audiences mope and cry about the futility of war. It's a weird mix. Ultimately, it turns out they were all being manipulated by a sentient robot who wanted to see some big fights. On a quality scale of writing which runs from 0 to 9, this falls somewhere around the same place as whatever you scrawled on the walls with your crayon when you were four.

It's not a game I would recommend to anyone, ever. That said, I've put about seventy hours into it. The Dynasty Warriors style gameplay of mindlessly putting hundreds and thousands of low ranking enemies to the sword is something you will either enjoy or hate. I enjoy it. DW:Gundam 3 has about 300 missions to play, including important battles from the franchise. They've included roughly 90 or so mobile suits to pilot, mostly various Gundams and about 55 or so of the pilots are playable. Add in the fact that the mobile suits are upgradable and customisable and you've got a lot for potential for longevity, provided you like it to begin with.

For what it's worth, I emjoyed it. If they make a new one, I'll probably buy it over a better game.

I'll post the second part to this in a couple of days, where I spend some time writing nonsense about Gundam AGE. I'll update this with a link to the second part then.

Dateline, Dublin. Twenty-twelve

2012-02-14T23:48:00.002+00:00

At the time of writing this, I am living in Dublin. I am a graduate of Computer Applications in DCU. I am employed in a call centre where I provide first point of contact customer support for a large software company's popular gaming platform. I am twenty-four years old and I am single. It has been fifteen months since I last blogged.

Starting this evening, I will rectify this. This blog will see updates again. Updates on my life, opinions on my media consumption and occasionally information on personal projects. Probably not on a daily basis, but I intend it to be semi-regular

Try to contain your excitement.

Midway, Work, Work & Robots

2010-11-06T21:46:00.001+00:00

I find it difficult to believe, but I’m already halfway through my term of lectures. Week six is now behind me, which leaves six more ahead of me. A handful of deadlines are out of the way, but there’ll be a handful more over the next week or so. Time certainly flies.
As part of my final year, I’ll have to complete and submit a final year project. This project can be anything we want, so long as we find a lecturer willing to supervise us, though it usually takes the form of a large piece of software. For my project, I’ve decided to write an application for Google Android phones.
The application, which I’ll call Pocket Scanner, is intended to take photos of hand written or typed notes, and extract information from the using optical character recognition. The idea is that you can quickly make notes of information, tasks or appointments on your phone.
I’m still not sure if I’m getting in over my head or not here. A couple of my friends certainly seemed to think so. The most difficult bit, I think, will probably be the OCR. I’ll have to find a decent open sourced engine and incorporate it. Though if it’s too CPU intensive, I’ll have to tear it apart and host some on a remote server. My supervisor seems to think that crafting a simple, intuitive and efficient user interface will be my real challenge. I’m someone who has no experience in UI design, so he may have a point.
I started back at work in IKEA yesterday. I got hugs from all my co-workers and was put right back on the floor as if I’d never been away. Certainly, I feel like I can do the job as if I’ve never been away, though it’s a radical shift from Irdeto. The half hour cycle in isn’t a problem, though I can see it being not fun in poor weather. Living in Ireland, this is inevitable.
Recently, I watched some classic animation. Gundam 0079: The One Year War. It’s the movie version of the original 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam. A show which created a genre and spawned 30 years of sequels, adaptions and derivatives. I had heard some mixed things, but I wasn’t sure what to expect.
It was fantastic. Now, it had it’s share of faults; The animation was dodgy as hell and the pacing got ridiculous poor at times, with characters being introduced, developed and killed off within the space of three or four scenes. Yet, even with these in mind, I was still amazed at how good it was.
The main cast of characters, and even the supporting cast, were diverse, interesting and had depth. They were all developed throughout the season and they had matured a lot by the end. Some would act in ways you weren’t expecting, but this only served to deepen and further develop them.
The story was great, and the plot was genuinely interesting. The twists were unexpected and the threads were all resolved with satisfying conclusions. The only given is that the ‘good guys’ defeat the ‘bad guys’ in the final conflict. Though the relative positions of the protagonist’s and antagonists factions is never clean cut, each having an array of notable heroes and villains. While the story initially appears to be about the ‘good’ faction fighting a war against the ‘bad’ faction, it is really about the conflict itself, mostly as seen from the point of a group who became embroiled in it against their wishes.
Gundam 0079 was solidly entertaining from start to finish. I can easily see how this work has spawned so many sequels and derivatives. It’s also pretty clear how many of the genre staples were based on many of the major plot points, and at the time, unique twists. I think I might try to watch some more old robot shows.

Bright Green Helix

2010-10-26T22:25:00.000+01:00

Deep into the college year. The work keeps coming but it's nothing I can't handle yet. Still keeping up the gym too. I look forward to the day when it doesn't take quite so much out of me. This weekend was a relaxing weekend at home. Nothing much happened, but it's been a while since I've been home and a while since I've spent a weekend doing altogether very little. The weekend before, however, was Eirtakon.

Now I'm not about to start claiming any sort of credit for Eirtakon, after securing the venue back in March, I've contributed nothing of note towards this event. However, as Treasurer of the Anime and Manga Society, I was on hand over the weekend to keep an eye on proceedings and track the money rolling through.

This year, Eirtakon's sixth, was probably the biggest and most successful yet. This year it took place in the Helix. We booked out close to the entire building just short of the Theatre, and the extra space was a massive boost to the atmosphere. The hall for the traders and costume competitions was over twice the size of the one that had been used in previous years. People had room to breath, and with a functioning air condition, the atmosphere was good all weekend.

The foyer of the Helix is a very large area, spanning three high ceilinged floors. On the ground floor the Helix opened a café serving hot food which was an enormous success. The first floor hosted all of the guest artists, who sketched for people and sold their works. There was also a makeshift photo studio where our fabulous resident photographer Kieran Broderick. The top floor was where all of the games were played, along with the manga and comics library.

Aside from all of that, there were screening rooms showing lots of animated TV shows and films. The guest voice actor, Spike Spencer, held a number of very entertaining panels. There were also a number of other panels held by other guests and members of the society on subjects from art and giant robots to life in Japan.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable weekend. I felt a little guilty for not pulling my weight and helping out with everything that needed doing, though I think taking it easy is what contributed most to my enjoyment of the weekend. It was a very successful weekend for the society too. There are still some bills outstanding, though I estimate net profits to be somewhere in the region of €18,000. The lion's share of that wealth will of course go right to the Helix to secure a booking for next years Eirtakon. I wish all the luck in the world to whoever ends up organising it.

I had a blast. I also didn't manage to get away without spending any money. I bought a piece of art from a friend and a pair of DVDs from a trader. The Giant Robo mini series and the original trilogy of Mobile Suit Gundam Movies. I've seen and love the former, I have yet to watch the latter. I might get around some time after Christmas, time allowing.

Locked Out

2010-10-12T00:24:00.000+01:00

I went back to the gym again today. It was surprisingly easy to get back in after a week off. I forgot to book an intro session so I'll need to get on that tomorrow. There was a problem though. When I came back from my shower wrapped in nothing but a towel. Luckily, a nice chap fetched a man to open up my locker for me. Crisis averted.

Diocletian's Imperial House of Cats

2010-10-10T23:19:00.001+01:00

Last week, Takako and I went on a holiday to Croatia. Four days on the Adriatic coast. It was great, and full of pleasant surprises. Of course, we nearly didn't make the flight to begin with. I lingered too long over an ice cream in Burger King, and arrived at the gate just as they were closing. The staff were in the process of sending us away when some more breathless passengers dashed up behind us, so they reluctantly allowed us through. So began a great journey.

The first surprise of the trip was right after we touched down in Zadar. While walking across the runway to the terminal, someone gave me a rap on the back of the head. I turned around to see who has the audacity to bother a stranger in such a manner and was greeted by the grinning face of Adrian McGearty, a man who was one of my best friends way back in primary school when I was 9 or 10 years old. Sometimes this world is so small it scares me. He's now an anthropologist of some sort and was on his way to Bosnia.

From the airport, we got onto a local bus, which seemed to have been procured second hand from the Dutch bus company Connexxion, it still bore the green XX livery. Taking that bus to the main bus station, and another bus from there, we proceeded to get lost in the heart of the old city of Zadar. Large churches, old apartments and big white stone streets. It was a beautiful city. After a short sleep in the guest house, we headed back to the bus station to grab a bus to Plitivice National Parks, stopping only briefly to grab one of the most amazing sandwiches of my life.

The sandwich, from a fast food shop was shockingly simple yet stunningly tasty. I ordered a chicken sandwich, the woman in the shop proceeded to throw a few pieces of fresh chicken breast onto a grill and fry them. Then she cut open a large, thick, fresh bread roll, gave it a quick layer of mayonnaise and added the recently friend chicken. It certainly hit the spot.

Buses seem to be the main form of long distance travel in Croatia. They take a slightly different form to Bus Eireann services. There is a driver and ticket inspector. The ticket inspector tags your luggage and stows it, then after the bus is underway comes along to check or sell you a ticket to your destination. A couple of hours into the journey, there was a half hour break at a curious restaurant high in the mountains, which had pens of elk and brown bears out back. After the break, the driver and the inspector swapped roles.

The bus journeys we took to the national parks, Split and back to Zadar were very relaxing and interesting. The bus would wind its way into the mountains and pass through lots of interesting Croatian countryside and villages before reaching the lakes. The road down from the mountains was quite spectacular and afforded us many views of the valleys. The final bus journey took a coastal road from Split to Zadar. The entire journey was spent overlooking the sparkling blue Adriatic sea.

Plitivice National Parks, high in the mountains, are a set of wonderfully crystal clear lakes in a valley, flowing from one to another by way of spectacular waterfalls. We walked several kilometres around the lakes taking in the sights from every angle. We even took a boat across the largest of the lakes. It was off season, but the park was full of tourists from all over the world. We stayed in a hotel on the side of the park, it took us a day and a half to see all we could manage.

The park was beautiful, the trees were wonderful shades of green, orange and gold. The waters were deep green and full of fish. ducks followed us wherever we went. We explored some caves, stared in awe at some waterfalls and climbed a mountain.

After Plitivice we headed to Split in the south. An old city that grew up around the retirement place of the Roman emperor Diocletian. The centre of the old town sat right on the harbour. It was a busy town, with a large market and a bustling shopping district. We explored some of the ruins of the old Palace and the old city, some parts converted into museums, some restaurants.

One thing I found interesting about the old city of Split, was the number of cats there were to be found. As we wandered through the underworks, we found cats lounging on the rocks. In the gift shops, there was a cat sleeping on a chair and some other cats eating dinner. Up in the square, there were cats wandering around the basilica grounds. Outside the walls, cats wandered between the statues. Everywhere we went, we found cats. It was odd.

On our last night, we tried to find a hotel recommended in a guide book. We got directions from an information office and a hotel receptionist, though the second woman was doubtful that the restaurant was still in business. The first set of directions led us to an empty patch of wasteland. The second to a sea front with an array of small restaurants and bars, none of which matched the one we sought. Eventually we gave up and returned to the city, after a walk on the beach.

Croatia was a beautiful country. There seemed to be lots to do. Though outside the cities, it seemed a bit odd. The main roads were in perfect condition. Though in a lot of places where the side roads broke away, they looked like they hadn't been resurfaced in decades. No potholes, probably due to there not being much rain, but the surface was cracked, broken and worn away. Some didn't even have any kind of road signs or markings.

Every town would have the same odd mix of buildings. There would be brand new buildings, and old buildings in wonderful condition. Then right beside them, there would be old or new abandoned buildings, and odder still, buildings that were partially or almost completely constructed and then abandoned. You could see unfinished buildings having been left idle for years. As if one day, the builders packed up their tools and went home without bothering to finish the building.

In some of the towns, there were abandoned hotels, one even had a gutted bus station. We even drove through more than one village that was completely deserted. Driving through the mountains you would see people building houses in the middle of nowhere, with nothing of note for miles around. On one plateau we passed a cemetery, with no other house or village visible for miles. Another building would be riddled with bullet marks, and holes which looked as if they'd been made by shells.

Croatia is an interesting country. Beautiful, varied and interesting. Though I got the impression that if we hadn't kept travelling, we may have run out of interesting things to see and do. I may return some day. We didn't go anywhere near the capital Zagreb, or the most famous city; the pearl of the Adriatic, Dubrovnik. For now, this holiday was enough.

Running for One Hundred

2010-09-30T00:44:00.000+01:00

Halfway through my first week back. Lots of interesting lectures, and I've joined the gym. The lecturers all seem very interesting, The content seems like it should be pretty straightforward for the most part. Though cryptography still looks tough, as does compiler construction. The optional modules seem to be a lot more doable than the compulsory modules.

Going to the gym is kind of fun, and kind of intense. The cycling machines and the cross trainers aren't a problem, though the saddle on the cycling machines is really uncomfortable. My real struggle is with the twenty minute run on the treadmills. The run is exhausting, but what makes it worse is the pains in my feet and calf muscles with every step. I'm sure this will pass if I keep at it. The weight machines seem to be pretty easy too, though I'm sure I'm doing them wrong somehow. The aerobic stretches are a bit beyond me though, I'll need to work on those.

In a couple of days I'll be away on holiday to Croatia. I can't wait. Going to do a lot of travelling and sightseeing in the short few days I'll be there. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures. Well, I'll try at least. I'm not the most skilled photographer.

I believe, and I may be mistaken, that this is my one hundredth entry on this blog since starting it in May. I honestly didn't think I'd be able to keep it up that long. Certainly it crossed my mind to just abandon it as a pain on more than one occasion. I can't say if I'll be able to keep posting to it as frequently now that I'm back in Ireland. I spent a lot of time in Holland doing nothing, I spent a lot less time in Ireland doing that.

To the Grindstone

2010-09-27T00:26:00.001+01:00

Back to work! Only back a day and lectures start tomorrow. Straight into Security Protocols, first thing tomorrow morning. I also need to finish my registration for my modules. I've got a couple of hours free over lunch so I'll have to take care of it then. I still haven't fully decided what modules I want, but I guess I can change that after I get a good feel for what's available.

I have no food in my house, this is something I'll need to resolve. I had takeout when I got home last night, and more takeout tonight. I've decided I hate takeout. I need to buy real food. A trip to Tesco will have to happen soon. I may also start making my own lunch. Sandwiches or something. I can cook when I get home. This would be a lot cheaper.

Also, now that I'm home, I need to join up to the Gym.

Home Again, Home Again

2010-09-25T22:38:00.000+01:00

I'm back. And this time, it's serious business all round. Lugging my bags to Schipol and across Dublin was a pain, but I had a good flight. I turned my phone on when I touched down, and the internet came flooding back into it. It had been quiet since I left but it's been chirping incessantly since I arrived. A couple of relaxing bus trips and I was home. It's good to be back.

The living room hasn't changed since I left. I'm not surprised by this. The kitchen on the other hand, is an absolute mess. Grease coating the cooker and sink, and flour everywhere else. I'm going to need to give them a good cleaning tomorrow or something. The floor also could do with a good mopping.

It seems that while I was away, the shelving unit on the wall of my room collapsed, showering my bed and floor with my belongings. I'll have to clean it all up if I want to sleep tonight. At the moment there is no walking space in the room. I'll need to resolve this minor issue soon.

Having a hi-fi in the living room is great. Having no TV may be an issue in the future, but I've enough to occupy myself with for the time being. I'll need to work on finding a place for a desk for my computer now. Looking at my room again, while I've found space for a desk, I'm not convinced I have place for a chair. This may require more thought.

Job Done

2010-09-24T22:04:00.001+01:00

Today was my last day of work. That's it, I'm finished. There was lots of lovely cake served to say goodbye to me, and I was given a lovely Irdeto branded notepad, flash drive and pen. The notepad is great. Another person was leaving today too, a woman who started the same day as me. So there was lots more cake in the afternoon. Then we spend the long evening drinking and chilling out in the company bar. I got a couple of games of pool in to prove how bad I am.

And now I'm free. I gave back all the company property I also checked in all my change sets, potentially breaking lots of code, but I'm gone now so I don't need to be there to find out. I might come back next year. Some people certainly seem to be eager to get me back in as soon as possible, but I think it would be worth getting a degree first. It's something I'll need to give some thought to.

I'm still not finished packing. I can't bring myself to pack my backpack any way other than laptop first. If I pack it and then can't fit the laptop in it's all a little pointless. I still have to figure out what to do with this printer. If I've time I might drop it up to Robby, but I'm tempted to just leave it here. Robby lives a bit of a distance away and probably won't be up until lunchtime tomorrow. Though he wasn't particularly interested in taking it in the first place.

I'll figure out something tomorrow morning, I guess.

Finishing up

2010-09-22T21:56:00.000+01:00

Just two days left for me here in the Netherlands. I really should get around to packing my bags or something. Tomorrow I'll be needing to take a trip to city hall to let them know I'm leaving the country. I tried to do it today but I forgot that nobody will talk to me if I'm not carrying my passport. A little annoying but if the alternative is some kind of identity theft then I'll put up with that minor inconvenience.

Homeward Bound

2010-09-20T22:32:00.000+01:00

Into my last week here in Irdeto. We had a sprint planning meeting and all I did in it was take up space. I asked to leave as it didn't involve me at all, but they had me stick around. Not that I had any work to be doing regardless. Listening to what the guys are going to be doing, it sounds like they'll have a nice easy couple of weeks to start them hard, before they launch into some nice frustrating test cases. Part of me is glad to be going.

Lazier Days

2010-09-19T23:04:00.001+01:00

After a night out in the XO in Haarlem on Friday night, with two of the most hipsterish DJs I've ever seen spinning out lots of Techno, I've spent half the weekend in bed. I can't recall the last time I was this tired. Tired to the point where even getting up to go to the shops is a massive effort. I don't know what it is but I hope I shake it soon, back to work tomorrow.

In just under a week I'll be back home in Ireland. Time certainly flew by. The whole time I was in the pub, one of the directors kept telling me I should come back and join his team when I graduate, while my manager told me to ignore him and come back to her team. I also heard something similar from one of the VPs, so it makes me think that there might be something here for me when I come back.

It's something I'd consider, coming back here. But I'm not convinced I'd go right for it. While I've had find over here and enjoyed working for Irdeto, moving into a cramped little bedsit and moving away from all of my friends hasn't been the easiest thing I've ever done. However, if the pay was high enough that money weren't an issue for me, I'd consider taking it. But even then, the idea of moving far away from family and friends wouldn't be easy.

Forever Delayed

2010-09-16T22:36:00.001+01:00

Registration still isn't open today. I did some more research into the choices and I'm almost back to square one in terms of picking what I want to do. On further investigation, Operations Research is not about problem solving, decision making, game theory and management skills. It is instead about very hard, nasty maths. So where I had it down as a sure thing, I now might reconsider. If I can find something else worth taking.

Tomorrow is the last day of one of the Interns, so there's going to be a night out to say goodbye to himself and me. Somewhere in Haarlem, I think. I'm glad, these nights are filled with boring. Honestly, while I've had a great time over here, I cannot wait to get back to Ireland.

Just over a week to go. Should probably think about packing.

Scritch Scratch

2010-09-15T22:49:00.001+01:00

I've gotten my third year results. At long last. I was concerned that I was going to fail one of my modules, Object Orientated Analysis and Design. Though at the end of it all I came out with 66, a good mark. Everything turned out better than expected. It brings my total mark for the year to a 2.2. Which isn't the best I could have gotten but I'm glad regardless. All that's left for me to do is to submit my INTRA report, which I should be able to wrap up this weekend.

Next thing on my list is to pick a set of modules for final year. I have to pick three from a group of nine for my first semester and three from a group of six for my second semester. There's quite a varied choice available, some that I won't even consider so the choice is easier than first appears. There are some very interesting sounding modules with reputations for being extremely tough. There are some boring sounding modules with reputations for being extremely easy. I won't consider any of the boring sounding modules with reputations for being touch, which leaves the modules that sound somewhat interesting and may turn out to be somewhat easy.

Obviously I'm picking the last set, and a couple from the interesting/hard set. Which leaves me with two modules to pick to round up the selection. I'll go over them again tomorrow and make my final choice when I register.

Hop to it

2010-09-13T22:29:00.001+01:00

Tomorrow I'll have to start on my INTRA report. It's due in a few weeks time but I'll have to crank out a good 2,000 words on Irdeto. I'm not sure what I'll write but I need to get it done before I leave so my boss can review it for things I can and cannot say. Shouldn't take too long to do. 2,000 words isn't exactly a lot.

I've been playing some games recently, and by some I mean two. I haven't played games in a long time so I decided to check a couple of old ones out. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth is an old detective horror game I first played a few years back. You play a PI sent to a small village called Innsmouth to investigate the disappearance of the local general store's manager. As you explore the town you slowly uncover the mysterious goings on and dark secrets of the locals.

I'm not a big fan of horror games, but this game is fun. It had an interesting Sanity system, where every time you see something disturbing or unsettling your character's mental health suffers. Eventually your vision becomes blurred, your movements unsteady and your character begins mumbling to himself as the experience becomes more and more stressful. You also have hallucinations if you see one to many unsavoury sights or unworldly creatures. If your character suffers a nervous breakdown, it's game over.

It was a fun game, but not long. I uncovered Innsmouth's dark history. Journey'd into it's depths and have killed two immortal sea gods. Though I can't finish it as I'm stuck at the very end. On my way to the exit after the last conflict, a rock falls on my head and kills me. It's a little annoying. There were other sections of the game that were simply impassable due to bugs, I had to find save files online to get past them. Either way, it's more than a little irritating so I've just given up.

I also tried Dwarf Fortress, the free indie game which cheerfully exclaims in the manual that "Losing is fun!" I've heard a lot of stories about how entertaining this game is, and it certainly seems like it could be very enjoyable. Unfortunately there is a massive learning curve, and it is extremely unintuitive. Not to mention the awful interface. I'm sure there's fun to be had here, but there would be a lot of learning involved on the way to having that fun, I'm not sure I'm up for that.

I'm considering trying Rome: Total War. I've had this game for years now, it was gotten for my Dad years back, and he certainly loves it and sings it's praises along with my brother. It's very well regarded as a strategy game amongst people who play these kind of things. I've been hearing for years how great it is but I never got around to trying it myself. I might have a few evenings free when I get this report out of the way, so I'm considering giving it a try.

I've booked accommodation for the trip to Croatia. Now we just need to be sure of the bus timetables. I'm looking forward to this trip a lot. Hopefully it'll be enjoyable.

Mean Streets

2010-09-11T22:35:00.000+01:00

So on Friday, we all went into Amsterdam for drinks. We had a good time, such a lively city at night. I still don't understand why every night out turns into a pub crawl though. Several times we were settled into a pub and having a grand time, when suddenly it was time to wander a few streets and find a new one. It's something I'll never understand.
I saw Machete today. In typical Robert Rodriguez fashion, it's one of the most ridiculously over the top films I've ever seen. The plot seems to be mostly an excuse for Danny Trejo to travel around Texas cutting people. It was all very enjoyable though. Robert De Niro was very good as the Texan Senator, as were the rest of the cast. Like the movies where the original trailer for Machete featured, it is very much a tribute to the low budget grindhouse exploitation movies of the seventies. Worth a watch.

My card was acting a bit weird at the train stations on the way to Bijlmer Arena. I had trouble swiping in first, and then trouble swiping out afterwards. The end result was that I ended up being charged a flat fee for the train journeys instead of for the stations I passed through. €20 instead of €4. I'm a little annoyed about that, and will be reluctant to take the train there again. The bus may be slower, but at least the max charge is only €4.

Potentially Useful

2010-09-09T22:57:00.001+01:00

The new interns have been here almost two weeks. In that time they've been in constant training. I can count the amount of minutes training I've received since starting on one hand without using my fingers. Some of the stuff they're learning seems to be quite useful and would have helped me a lot when I was still fumbling around the system back in July. Guess there's not much point investing time in training me now as I'll be out the door before the month is gone.

Tomorrow there seems to be some sort of get together for food somewhere in Amsterdam. We'll have to take a train out after work. I'm not sure where it is but it should be fun.

Living in the Future

2010-09-08T21:45:00.001+01:00

Sometimes technology scares me. Or rather, the pace of advance. Today I received delivery of a replacement memory card for my phone. It was a 16GB Micro SDHC card. Now I know these have been kicking about for a couple of years now, but this was my first time handling one myself. These things are smaller than my thumbnail but can hold a pretty large amount of music or photos. Or if I felt like it, a few full HD movies.

I've realised over the past few days, that I know absolutely nothing about the Balcans. I don't think there's anywhere in the whole world I know less about than the Balcans. However, I'm learning about at least one of the Balcan states. As I've already said, I'm visiting Croatia next month. It'll only be a few days, but trying to figure out the best way to spend those short few days hasn't been easy. It's a mixture of being spoiled for choice with options and not knowing anything about the country to judge how much each option is worth seeing. Whatever we end up choosing, it should be a great trip.

I've been hearing surprising things about Machete. A ridiculous over the top gorey action movie based on a fake trailer made as a joke by Robert Rodriguez and starring Danny Trejo in the same role he plays in every movie; Danny Trejo. It never sounded like it was going to win any awards, but it had promise to be entertaining.

Turns out, however that the movie is good. I'm hearing it described as a less than subtle and somewhat scathing attack on some attitudes in the US related to immigration, racism and corporate sponsorship of politics. I haven't seen the film, and don't know a whole lot about the political climate in southwestern US states, so I can't really comment on whether any of that is true. Though the fact that the writers and directors took the time to work in a subtext gives me hope that it's more than just an hour and a half of blood and severed limbs.

Stop That.

2010-09-06T21:53:00.001+01:00

I'm going to take a step here, and risk cutting off my own toes with this. If there's one thing on the internet that annoys me more than most things, and there are a lot of annoying things on the internet, it would have to be the winging. The constant winging and whining. Yes, even more than the sense of self righteous entitlement that everyone seems to have.

People whine on the internet, a lot. The internet is almost a perfect forum for whining, but it constantly gets on my nerves. Particularly people whining about their families and their mothers. Every time I see someone complaining about their mother on facebook, I just want to tell them to man up, then reach into the internet and give them a good hard slap.

I realise that this rant may sound a little ironic coming from me. So I'll just leave that there and move swiftly along.

Firstly, The GO! Team may now be one of my favourite bands. I don't know if I've already mentioned this.

Secondly, Warren Spector gave a great talk at PAX 2010 which was captured on a shaky camcorder here. If you don't know who Warren Spector is, don't bother visiting the link. You might not appreciate it as much. Don't feel bad about that. Instead, keep an eye out for a Disney Mickey Mouse video game headed for Nintendo's Wii.

When it gets released, buy it.

Tumbleweed

2010-09-05T22:31:00.001+01:00

I really need to find out something to do with myself. Ever since I got back I've been spinning in my chair wondering what to do with myself. I'm just about fed up of it at this point. I should probably try to finish my Java book, I'm only halfway through. But I was hoping for something more fun and relaxing. I guess it'll get fun once I get into the swing of it.

I miss proper food already. The past couple of days I just don't want to eat anything that's in my cupboard. Not that there's a lot in the cupboard. I don't feel like having anything that the sell in the local chipper, and I'm definitely not going back for any of that awful excuse for Chinese food these sell here in town.

I'm left hungry, but not wanting any of the food that's readily available. I could go get more food from the local shops, despite how their restrictive opening hours might try to stop me. But cooking out of a tiny pot and hotplate sitting in the middle of the floor is quite an unappealing prospect.

I've had about all I can take of this little bedsit. I want to live in a real house, or a real apartment. Something with a real kitchen and a real bedroom. Not this horrible mashup of the everything in one room. Only three weeks remaining until I get back to Ireland, I can hardly wait.

Super Positive!

2010-09-03T22:44:00.001+01:00

One thing I've learned today. Well, I've learned a few things, but the biggest thing I learned today. It's that The Go! Team are great. Like, really great. Super positive and super funky. They kind of remind me of Alphabeat, only less poppy and much funkier. There's so much energy, some of the tracks just make me want to jump about. "Thunder, Lightning, Strike" is a great album.

So, Munich may be off, for various reasons. But that doesn't mean that I'm not going to get any kind of break. It's off to Croatia with my girlfriend and me. It's not the easiest place in the world to get to, but Ryanair have two flights there a week for less than a third the price of flights to Munich. Accommodation is far cheaper too, so even with the extra few days we'll end up paying far less.

Truth be told, I don't know anything about Croatia. Though the photos of the landscape look beautiful. One of the cities is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and looks wonderful. The National Park looks spectacular. I'm not much of a photographer, but I'll be sure to bring my camera for this.

Electric Glossy

2010-09-02T21:39:00.001+01:00

This has been a pretty slow week, though not the slowest since I got here. Though next week will hopefully be a bit more involved. I've finally been given a proper task to do again. It's a little vague and a bit tricky but should keep me busy for a few days at least.

Samsung have been showing off their new tablet, the Galaxy Tab. It's only a 7" tablet compared to Apple's 9" iPad. Which doesn't sound like much of a difference, but it works out as being about half the size of the iPad. Which in turn makes it small enough to hold with one hand. I'd imagine it's quite a bit lighter too. It runs Android 2.2 and has a very nice vibrant looking screen.

There have been quite a few tablets released running Android since the iPad launched earlier this year, but this looks to be the first one that doesn't look to be completely or partially rubbish. It looks quite good, a proper competitor to the iPad. The small size actually makes it a bit better, in my eyes. Maybe not as good for watching videos, but I wouldn't use the iPad for something like that anyway.

Sony have also upgraded their ebook readers. They all have sharper screens, are lighter, faster and have a touch surface. They look pretty neat, though the price hasn't changed. I'd definitely buy one where money no object, but as it stands I think I'll leave it until ebook readers become a little more ubiquitous or the prices fall some more. As it stands, I could get 20 books for the same price.

Looks like the trip to Munich is off. What a shame. Maybe we'll get to go next year, and organise it a little better. There's always hope. Maybe I'll go somewhere else, I don't know yet. We'll see. I'm quite disappointed, but I guess these things can't be helped. I suppose we were a little late getting out skates on with organising it. Live and learn.

AKG have re-released their ultra high end reference class headphones rebadged under Quincy Jones' name. They seem to be the same headphones, but now they have a Q on the side and a bright green cable. These headphones already cost nearly €300 but I have a feeling Quincy Jones' name being attached will bring the price up further.

Sounds

2010-09-01T22:57:00.000+01:00

I've been listening to some new music recently. A couple of Canadian bands from the Arts and Crafts labels that I was recommended amongst others. In particular I'm enjoying Stars album 'Set Yourself on Fire' and Broken Social Scenes 'You Forgot it in People.' Very good albums both of them. I enjoyed them both.

Flights get more expensive with each passing day. This business is more complicated than it need be.

Now that I'm finished working on projects and studying, I can't think of anything to do to occupy myself with in the evenings. I guess I'll go back to that Java book I got and work my way through the rest of it. Or maybe get to work on Google's Android tutorials. Something to pass the time.