5 Free Online Riddle Sites
April 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment
I love riddles and puzzles. Anything that makes my brain active, and provides a little challenge is always a good thing. Be it a one liner that stumps me for a while, a riddle that is just a pun, or a whole contest where I need to spend hours trying to get into the mindset of the creator - I like them all.
Luckily for me then, the internet has many sites dedicated to providing you with free riddles which should suit all of your needs. Whether you’re looking for a place to spend a quick 5 minutes, or somewhere to lose your self for weeks. Do you want a simple text only riddle, or do you want a shiny interactive flash one? Pretty much anything you want can be found online, and at worst all you have to do is sign up to a website to play them.
Here are some of the sites I have encountered over the years and have enjoyed spending time on in some way or another. If you’re looking for free online riddles and puzzles then these are a great place to start.
note: I’m not going to list any of the riddles from these sites on this page. Please take the time to visit the sites and see the range of puzzles, games, brain teasers and contests that they offer.
5) Prove your logic - www.proveyourlogic.com/
This is a simple site where you can waste away a few hours. Simply click ‘play’ when you get to the site and you dive straight into Level 1 of 25. The creator of the site is, I think, from Bulgaria so the English isn’t perfect - but perfectly adequate for you to grasp the riddles and work your way through them. As you progress through the levels you are actually working your way through a [very loose] storyline which is a nice touch.
One of the most frustrating things about this game is the fact each level allows you a number of turns based on difficulty. Some levels are easy, and you only get one turn at it, so if you accidentally mis-type your answer it’s game over and you have to restart. There is no save option so you then need to work your way through the answers once more which can be a little tedious.
All in all it’s an excellent way to spend your time if you like riddles which are not too difficult and where you can spend a few minutes woking them out, some in your head, others with a pen and paper.
At the time of writing it seems to have been completed by just under 35,000 people (some will be duplicates) - but that’s still quite a lot, and a testament to a) how good it is and, b) how difficult it is.
There are only 25 riddles, and these are not being added to so once you’ve completed them, you’re done.
4) Puzzle Tome - www.puzzletome.com
Created by a group of dedicated riddlers, Puzzle Tome features a large selection of contests that will set the logically side of your brain on edge and lead you to frustration and perplexity.
The site appears to be driven by phpbb forum softwarre but with a lot of customisation which works well, in most parts. There are some dubious colour schemes for some of the contests, and I’ve had a few issues with session maangement when attempting to join contests, but once you’re in there you can find all manner of riddles waiting for you, and a lot of thought has gone into some of them.
The site does feature a nice set of statistics for each riddle contest so you can see how many people have passed individual contests and riddles.
If you get stuck there is a whole community waiting to help you and provide gudance on where to look next.
3) Braingle - www.braingle.com
Braingle offers a large selection of brain teasers and riddles, along with other puzzles and brain training exercises. Though the site isn’t the easiest to navigate, it has several great features that help to build a strong community of players; these include the ability to submit your own brain teasers, and to rate a puzzles. Awards are given to users as they progress through the site and hit certain milestones, such as the number of riddles they submit or rate.
Once you’ve had a go at solving a riddle you can simply click on the ’show answer’ button and it will give you the answer, with some of the more difficult riddles offering a hint before you need to reveal the answer.
All in all it’s a basic site with some nice features. It could do with a bit of a redesign so it’s looks more savvy in today’s Web 2.0 environment, but you can’t fault the current model in terms of users and amount of content which is top notch.
2) Bimbogami - www.bimbogami.co.uk
Bimbogami is a smart little site that hosts a couple of fiendish riddle contests. You need to register to play (registration is, of course, free like all of the sites mentioned here), and then you’re free to delve into the wonderful world of the sensei who will try and trip you up with his devious riddles.
It starts off nice and simple, and you’ll likely get the answers in a single guess in less than a minute; but then it starts to get harder and harder where you’ll take hours - if not days - to solve some of them.
One of the nicest aspects of this site, and why I list it so highly, is due to the statistics sections. I love riddle sites that allow you to view all manner of stats, and this one gives you a nice summary of your riddles complete, attempts and average attempts taken and so on. It then gives you detailed stats such as how long and how many guesses each riddle itself took. There is also a nice site stat summary which shows you the members who have completed the contests, how long it took them and whether they were working solo or as part of a team.
Good riddle contests take time to come up with, so don’t expect daily, weekly or even monthly updates from Bimbogami - but do expect some top notch riddles to give your brain a workout.
1) smart-kit - www.smart-kit.com
Smart-Kit offers new puzzles on a daily basis. Some of them are text based brain teasers that you will be used to, others are flash games and puzzles of many different varieties. If you’re looking to sharpen your mind by playing online riddles and puzzles then this site is going to be a perfect choice for you due to the number of different types of puzzles they offer, allowing you to exercise many aspects of your brain.
One of the only downsides to this site is the way you get to answer the brain teasers that they post. After a riddle goes live you can suggest your answer in the comments section along with all other users of the site. The answer is then posted in the comments section 1 or 2 days afterwards, which means you have to remember to come back and check the site for the official answer (although the first person to comment often does so with the right answer, so you will have the chance to compare your solution to theirs instead of waiting).
5 Beauty Products I Would Prefer Not To Know My Date Was Using
February 17, 2008 | 2 Comments
Everyone makes that extra effort to make themselves look beautiful when you first start dating. Afterall, you want to make a good impression, you want to attract the person you’re dating, and you also want to make sure you feel confident - which is much easier when you feel beautiful.
I accept that there are many regimes that people go through in order to aid this, but there are definitely things that go on behind closed bathroom doors that I would prefer not to know about. I know some women do the following things, and I appreciate the effort that’s put into making yourself more attractive…but I would really like to pretend that you’re beautiful without knowing what you go through to get the end result.
Here are 5 beauty products I would rather not know you were using…but sometimes am quite thankful that you are.
5. Fake Tan
I find nothing unattractive about women with pale skin; especially as the only possible tan I could get is from the glare of my PC monitor. If however I’m going to date a woman that is tanned, I would prefer to believe that the tan is a natural one. I don’t mind if there are parts of the skin that remain white due to sunbathing in a bikini, that’s completely fine, but I would like it if you didn’t give the effect of having spent two weeks on a sunny beach when all you have done is wiped yourself down with a bottle of some strange substance….especially if that substance may rub off on me when we’re in the middle of something hot and sweaty.
I know some of you also hate to use the bottled stuff so instead of a spray tan you go onto a sunbed…but I don’t want to know this either. I still want to have the illusion that you have been away somewhere exotic and your looks are natural…or as natural as burning your skin can look.
Even if you’ve been to Cornwall for a two week vacation…just pretend it was a really sunny place to go and it was okay to sunbathe in the nude. Thanks.
4. Silicone Bra Insert
This is one product I really don’t understand. I understand why women wear backless bras with certain dresses, and even why they would wear push-up bras, but actually using an insert to pretend they have something more than they do just seems odd to me. I get that women have different sized breasts, and that’s okay. I also get that women may gain confidence if they appear to be bigger than they are. I do not, however, understand why they think these things are a good idea when going out on dates.
I went shopping with a friend once and she wanted to buy some of these, and they really do look like a bag of chicken that you’re about to put in the microwave. If I go on a date and things go well, imagine how awkward it would be if we went back to my apartment and you had to go through the embarassment of telling me that you’ve actually got something in your bra other than what it appears…and no, I can’t stick it in the microwave for a mid-session snack.
Why not just be who you are from the start. If I don’t like you for your breast size then it’s not your loss…you should find a man who respects the fact you’re not as well developed as some other women.
Think of it this way…how would you feel if I stuffed something down my trousers and you later find out the jumbo hotdog you ordered was in fact a chipolata?
3. Waxing
Hair removal is natural…we all do it. I shave, pull the occassional hair from my nostril, participate in topiary every now and then…that sort of thing.
I know that you do it too. I know that you probably had a bath before our date and so shaved your legs and armpits. You possibly plucked your eyebrows and bleached your moustache.
I’m grateful for that.
However, I hate the idea of your having waxed. I can handle the shaving, the plucking and even the bleaching; yet sticking hot wax on your bikini regions and ripping out the hairs makes me wince (though probably less than it makes you wince while doing it).
I would prefer to think that you are naturally trimmed. I like to think that a woman’s body has natural areas where hair just doesn’t grow.
I do not wish to hear about your ordeals of doing this, I do not wish to watch you do this, and I do not wish to see a small strips of paper in the bathroom wastebin that has little bits of hairy wax stuck to it, thank you.
2. Ped Eggs
It’s summer, you’re looking lovely in that dress with matching sandals. Your feet look silky smooth as well, not like the callous, dry, dead skin looking feet that surround us. Do you walk anywhere or do you float on air wherever you go?
You use a Ped Egg you say? What’s that?
For those who don’t know, a Ped Egg is a little device that files the dead skin and calluses from your feet, handily storing anything it files inside the egg for future inspection prior to disposal.
Think a cheese grater for your feet.
Seriously…check this out - and just listen to that lovely scratching sound of feet being filed:
Now I see the need for it…and I understand why you may use it. I still wish to know nothing about it though…and certainly don’t wish to see the foot flakes!
This product, regardless of how disgusting it may appear, is getting great reviews. Going by Mo Rocca’s experience though I would certainly refrain from buying via the telephone sales route, and get it from Shopping Television, or Amazon (who have it located under kitchen and dining).
Not to be confused with a cheese grater!
1. Betty Beauty - color for the hair down there
As the tag line suggests, ‘Betty’ is a color dye for pubic hair.
Lovely.
I’m not a prude, and I don’t mind if you colour your hair - that’s fine. As with other things though, there are times when I just don’t need to know about it. If it looks natural then I’ll just go ahead and assume that it is. If you happen to have a different hair colour on top, I’ll just assume whatever is below is natural.
I don’t wish to see a bottle of Betty in your bathroom cabinet, thank you. This can be locked away with your fake tan spray.
I don’t know why this product should differ from normal hair colouring products…and can only assume that it does in some way or other. I don’t much care, neither. Is there seriously a need though?
Why can’t we go gray gracfully?
Surely anyone you’re willing to be intimate enough with will understand and be accepting of the fact your public hair may differ slightly to your head hair?
Please also explain to me why anyone who is self conscious enough to wish to dye their ‘hair down there’ would go out and buy the ‘fun’ version (shocking pink), or the ‘lucky St Patrick’ version (leprechaun green with a clover stencil!!!)?
5 Superhero powers I wish I possessed
February 9, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Wouldn’t it be great if we all had a super power!
Imagine how the world would be if you could do fly like Superman, change the weather like Storm, or stretch your body like Mr Fantastic.
More to the point, imagine how cool it would be to have a secret underground headquarters!
Yes, the world may turn into something resembling The X-Men, or Heroes…but we would get used to that with time and I’m sure everyone will eventually just be able to live in harmony with each other. There would be a day, sometime in the future, that a person would just envy the power of another person in the same way they may envy the personal traits people have nowadays.
Okay, maybe not - but I stand by the fact it would be cool…and I may still go ahead and design myself a costume. Just in case.
Alert-InsomniaThe ability to stay awake as long as I want, without feeling fatigued or having the lack of sleep affect my mental performance in any way.
This would be an amazing ability to have. No longer would you be sitting at the PC, heavily absorbed in something and making progress on a project when you suddenly realise it’s 1am and you have work the next morning so really should go to bed.
With this power I could stay awake all night if I wanted to, and still be fresh as a daisy the next day. I could sit up and play poker during those times when all of the drunk Americans are online and splashing their cash around. I could sit up and watch the whole season of Lost or 24 without having to turn the DVD off at the cliffhanger episode ending just to retire to the comfort of my bed.
I would get so much more done if I had this ability, that my life is bound to be more fulfilling.
Of course, there is a downside to this. How great is sleep? It’s actually quite a wonderful thing when you snuggle up in bed at the end of a long day and drift into that lovely unconscious state. Even better when you wake up at 5am on a Saturday morning, turn over with a little stretch and then just drink back into sleep, safe in the knowledge the alarm isn’t going to go off in the next few hours to violently awaken you from you slumber and push you back into the depths of working life.
Invisibility
The ability to prevent others from seeing you.
I’ll skip over the cliches of slipping into a women’s dressing room and jump straight into why this would be a cool superhero power to have.
With this ability you would be able to view life in a natural way. You know how someone acts when they don’t realise you’re watching? The whole world would be like this if you could watch them while invisible. It would allow you to gain amazing insight into other cultures, it would allow you to watch different species of wildlife in their natural environment without them being cautious, or threatened, by your presence. What an opportunity this power could bring to you!
Of course, there would be people who would just use this ability to spy on people, to gain free entry into different events and to act like complete perverts or theives. I like to think if I had this ability, though, that I would use it for the greater good.
This ability is shared by The Invisible Woman, Sebastian Caine, and Claude Rains
Stretchiness
The ability to stretch your limbs and contort your body in ways that aren’t natural.
Lost the TV remote? Who cares! You don’t need to get up to change the channel if you have stretchy arms - you can just reach out and turn it over from the comfort of the armchair. You can stroke the cat, turn the light off and close that draughty door while you’re at it.
Tying your shoelaces will be a doddle, as would rescuing a cat out of a tree. Playing ‘tag’ as a child would be the easiest thing in the world…and you would make one of the best goal keepers or basketball players in the world!
Downsides? I think that if you had the ability to stretch abnormally then you would probably start to get in the way of things. It’s all very well stretching across the road to post a letter, but what if a car suddenly came around the corner? Or perhaps you are giving your loved one a final kiss goodbye through a train window when your tie gets caught…you’ll be stretched from London to Brighton by the time you manage to get it untangled and that can’t be a good thing - you’ve seen how a tape measure recoils when freed - imagine if you did that!
Still…you would be impressive to the ladies.
This ability is shared by Mr Fantastic, The Elongated Man and Eugene Tooms.
Telepathy
The ability to read the thoughts of others.
I don’t want this ability if I can’t control it. I would hate to walk down Oxford Street and have to listen to the thoughts of everyone I walked past…it would drive a person crazy, I’m sure.
However, the ability to selectively know what a person was thinking would obviously have huge advantages in life.
No longer would you spend Christmas Eve trawling the shops desparately trying to find a gift that will suffice for your loved one…you’ll know well in advance what they are hoping for and can make your purcahse accordingly.
You would never be short of money. Just turn up somewhere for a game of poker and you’re bound to make the right decisions needed to walk away with bagfuls of cash.
Of course going through life knowing what other people think isn’t all good. Sure, you’ll make good decisions, and you’ll know if that girl in the bar likes you…but you’ll also find out what people really think of you, and what parts of you really annoy them. To start with this will be a little shock, but eventually these little things will build up and become quite obsessive to you. I’m sure you would end up pushing loved ones away due to tiny things that they hate about you.
It’s all very well being rich, and one step ahead of others - but what good is that if you’re lonely and paranoid?
This power is shared by Emma Frost and Nick Marshall
Teleportation
The ability to move from one location to another, instantaneously.
Think of what this ability could do for you! You wouldn’t need to spend hours commuting anymore…you can leave your home at the last minute and still get to your destination on time. Had a nice evening out and about to face a long walk home in the rain? Not if you could just teleport there!
Fancy a holiday in Australia but don’t want to spend a day on a plane? No problem, jump on board the teleportation-express and you’ll be there in a jiffy.
This ability would be the best thing ever! You would save so much time and money, which would allow you to be more productive and happier in life that there are simply no downsides.
Unless you teleported in front of an oncoming car…of course.
There’s a film out called ‘Jumper‘ just now which covers this ability, and in the film they are only allowed to teleport to a location where they have previously been. So you would need to actually go to Australia normally before you’re able to go there again via teleportation.
That would suck a littel. I would much rather be able to select a desination and go there.
Anyone fancy a take away Chinese meal tonight? I promise it’ll be very authentic!
This ability is shared by Nightcrawler and Misfit
Top 5 gifts for poker players
December 9, 2007 | 1 Comment
It can be hard to buy a gift for a poker player if you don’t play the game yourself. What you might see as a nice gift could be useless to them. There are so many books on the market nowadays that they are also becomingly increasingly difficult purchases for your poker playing friend, especially if your own knowledge on the game is limited. Not only do you have to try and purchase a book your friend hasn’t already got, but then you also have to ask yourself these questions:
Does your friend play Limit or No Limit?
Do they play Hold’em, Omaha, Stud or many other variations?
Are they a cash game specialist or tournament player?
Do they primarily play Sit ‘n’ Goes or Multi Table Tournaments?
Are they ready for the advanced reading of Sklansky, or are they more suited to Harrington?
If you’re shrugging your shoulders at the questions above, you really shouldn’t be deciding which poker books to buy as a gift, unless your friend happens to have an Amazon Wishlist with what they want actually specified.
There are questions you probably can answer though, and these may help in your quest for a nice gift.
Do they play online or live - or perhaps both?
Do they often have friends around to their own house to play?
Do they play for fun, or are they a serious student of the game looking to advance and make money?
Knowing the answers to these questions will enable you to find a gift that your poker playing friend will enjoy and make use of, instead of a gift they may be disappointed with and which would end up on eBay within a month.
The items below are varied to suit online and live players; amateurs and those wishing to become more; novelty and serious; and also to suit various budgets.
Plastic Playing Cards
Price: $14.95 - $29.50
From: www.copagcards.com & www.kem.com
Game type: Live play - Home Games
A couple of packs of plastic playing cards are a great addition to any home game, and are extremely affordable - especially for the length of time they will last. Kem cards are renowned for being the best in the world, so the ability to buy two packs for less than $30 makes for a great stocking filler.
Copags are very high in quality and also a great bargain at half the price of the Kems. As these sets are made out of plastic they will last a hundred times longer than normal paper based cards. No longer will they get dog-eared or creased when you bend them. An added bonus is that plastic cards are washable so a simple spray and wipe will keep them clean and germ free for many a home game.
The Tournament Director Software
Price: $24.99
From: www.thetournamentdirector.net
Game type: Live play - Home Games
If your friend hosts poker tournaments at home, this great piece of software will allow them to add a great professional air to their poker nights. The Poker Director can be left running on a laptop whilst the game is in progress and will automatically keep track of blind levels throughout the game. Every time a player busts out of the tournament simply let the software know and it the average chip stacks will automatically update, and tables will be adjusted.
This software is especially useful if the same people play each other on a weekly basis, as it will keep a record of past successes or losses, allowing you to run a league or season of poker with ease.
Poker Tracker Software
Price: $55 - $144
From: www.pokertracker.com
Game type: Online play
Poker Tracker is great software for online players to be able to keep track of their, and their opponents, game. This software supports the major poker clients, so you don’t have to worry if you don’t know where your friend plays poker online. By importing and analysing the hands played, whoever you buy this for will be able to establishes the weakness in their game and allow them to become a better all-round player.
The price difference for this software depends on how many versions of the tracker you buy. You can buy Hold’em, Omaha or Stud versions, and you get discounts for buying two or all three together.
Custom Card Guard
Price: $28 - $50
From: www.pokerguard.com
Game type: Live play
Pokerguard.com offer great quality customised card guards. For the uninitiated, a card guard is an item that you place on top of your cards during a live game so that the other players and the dealer know they are still in play…meaning there is no risk of cards being mucked by accident. They’re not necessary in a game, but many people use them and though you can use anything you like, these are one ounce of pure silver and are guaranteed to add class to their game - especially if it’s unique to them.
Pokerguard.com do offer several designs which you are able to personalise using text of your own, so you can get this great gift even without having to go to the effort of finding a graphic to use on the card guard.
Subscription to CardRunners.com
Price: $99 initial fee, plus $24 per month
From: www.cardrunners.com
Game type: Online play (primarily)
CardRunners.com is a website dedicated to offering video tutorials from many of the best young poker players in the world. A subscription to this site is a great gift to anyone looking to advance in the game, as they get to watch the best players in action and listen to their thought processes as the professionals actually play their game.
Although this may not be the cheapest poker related gift you can buy, imagine the value in helping your loved one turn into a high stakes cash player and having you to thank for it. You’ll surely be treated to gifts galore as thanks to such a great present.
As this gift carries a monthly subscription fee you’ll be able to cover a whole year of access by buying top ups for your friends birthday and Christmas.
What not to buy!
If you don’t play poker you may think that any poker related gift will do…but this simply isn’t true - and here are two products that you will not be thanked for.
1) Poker for Dummies (DVD) - this item is only suitable for absolute beginners. Anyone who plays poker enough to be classed as your ‘poker playing friend’ does not need this as a gift, so don’t waste your money on it.
2) Automatic Card Shuffler - Wishing to add a touch of class to the home games of your poker playing friend? If so, stick to something such as the plastic cards mentioned above, and give this item a wide berth. You’ll need to run cards through it several times to get a decent shuffle, it’s loud, it interferes with the television and it’s really no substitute for using your hands which is probably just as quick. Avoid at all costs.
Top 5 Rube Goldberg and Domino effect videos
December 1, 2007 | Leave a Comment
I’ve always been fascinated by the Rube Goldberg machines I’ve seen on television, and spent many hours as a child arranging various playthings around my bedroom in an attempt to have one thing interact with another, a ball hitting a piece of lego connected to a string attached to a plastic paratrooper. I rarely got a 5 step process working but it amused me for hours and was always more interesting than plain dominoes were, though the latter were another favourite pasttime.
Here are 5 videos showing Rube Goldberg-esque and domino effects creations.
5. Cola & Mentos
Grab yourself 251 two litre bottles of coke and 1506 mentos and you too can have your own geyser domino effect like the guys at Eepybird.com
The Geyser Tube is available for sale at Firebox.com
4. Domino Billiards
This is quite a straightforward one as the balls are pretty much guaranteed to be pocketed, but it’s still good to watch such a creation on a surface that is rarely used for anything other than billiards.
3. Nintendo Animation
I’ve seen a few of the Rube Goldberg Machines that have been rendered on computers, and am often underwhelmed by the ideas and physics behind them.
The physics in the following video aren’t much better than the usual, but I love the idea behind it. There’s a couple of great games linked in there, and a genuinely amusing ending. Enjoy.
2. Guinness ‘Domino Village’ advertisement
Dominoes on a large scale in the latest Guinness advertisement that turns all manner of items, from books, beds and cars, into a chain effect climaxing in a lovely glass of the black stuff.
1. Honda Accord advertisement
I first saw this advert many years ago, and I still enjoy watching it. I’ve heard various rumours about this and the time it took to make, the amount of shots it took to finally capture it and even whether or not this is one continuous scene or if there are two videos fused together.
Regardless of what the answers to these questions may be, there’s no denying that this is a fantastic video and one of the best adverts in the past decade.
Top 5 movies featuring Rabbits
October 7, 2007 | 33 Comments
Everyone likes rabbits, unless they suffer from something like lagomorphobia (such as the lovely Anya).
However, rabbits don’t have a huge starring role on the screen in the past. We’ve had a few, of course (hence this list), but they just haven’t quite made it in the way dogs, cats, mice or other household pets have. This, I feel, is a real pity.
The list below shows my top 5 movies that feature rabbits - and note by ‘feature’ I meant that they play an actual role in the film that is integral to the storyline.
Before we begin, I must mention that there are of course other films that feature rabbits rather than just those below, but which are not on this list. Space Jam, for example, features Bugs Bunny who is one of the first televisual rabbits that would spring to anyone’s mind - but the film itself was rubbish. Fatal Attraction of course has a very significant scene with a rabbit, and allowed all men to categorise their ex-lovers as crazy, psycho bunny boilers - though this is indeed an integral part of the film, one of the best remembered and also one of the most shocking - but the actual rabbit itself didn’t play a big enough part in the film for me to include it. Perhaps one of the other most famous rabbit films that I also missed out was Who Framed Roger Rabbit? I saw this as a child and liked it, but a few repeat watched as I have grown older just didn’t see me having any interest in it any more. If it were on TV, and one of the other films in the list was on at the same time, I would certainly not bother watching it.
So on with the list…
5 Bambi (1942)
Disney’s classic animation features one of the most memorable rabbits on the screen in Thumper, the lovable character who teaches the eponymous hero his first words. Thumper gets his name from the fact he always thumps his right hind leg on the ground.
Though he isn’t a prominent character throughout the whole film, he does make several appearances, and certainly makes more of an impression than Flower, the skunk.
Bambi is the first Disney film I can really remember watching, and though it my be overshadowed in today’s world of CGI animations it is still one of the best out there, offering up more emotional impact and feelings for the characters than any of the other animated films out today. Put Bambi up against Nemo and I’m sure most kids would like the latter more, but fear for the deer over the fish when it comes to the crunch.
4 Watership Down (1978)
In a list featuring movies with rabbits in them, how could I miss out this one?
Though this is an animation, and has Universal rating, it’s far from cute and fluffy look at the world of rabbits. Instead, it follows the adventures of a group of rabbits leaving their warren after one of them has a vision that they will be destroyed. This film as mild swearing and, at times, harrowing scenes of violence which are very much out of place in what we associate with a children’s film.
Though Hazel and Fiver are the two key rabbits in this film, I was always more of a fan of Blackberry who was the one rabbit in the group who was a lateral thinker and problem solver. When faced with a garden fence, most of the team would sit there and think they either can’t get past or they can fight their way through - whereas Blackberry would go right ahead and just open the gate.
The only problem I have with this film is that I can’t watch it very often. I don’t know why, but the introduction - though important - does bore me a little, and Bright Eyes just annoys me after a while.
3 Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
I’ve always liked Wallace and Gromit, and the other Aardman animations in general, and this film was no exception. As a standalone movie it was good, and as an animation it checked all of the usual boxes which include a reasonable storyline, jokes that should go over the heads of most pre-teens, and several allusions to other top films, including the aforementioned Bambi and Watership Down, along with the film in the number 1 spot below.
As for rabbits - this film is full of them. Big ones, small ones and - as the title of the film suggests - ones that are slightly more anthropomorphized than usual.
This film is also very good if you like cheese.
2 Donnie Darko (2001)
There is a rabbit in this film, his name is Frank, he’s slightly demonic and he may also not be real. See, he comes to Donnie Darko in his dreams and tells him about the end of the world and other such things the demonic rabbits would often talk of.
The premise of this my sound a little stupid, but this really is an excellent film that takes a look at the supernatural, time travel and an individual who appears to be on the brink of insanity.
Don’t watch this film just for the rabbit though, as though the character of Frank is essential for the story, it could have just been in a guy in a giraffe costume and it would have had the same effect.
1 Harvey (1950)
As with Donnie Darko, this film features a slightly deluded individual who sees and hears a 6ft rabbit. The only difference in Harvey is that we don’t actually see the rabbit at all (the special effects in the 50s obviously didn’t allow someone to dress up in a bunny outfit).
I agree it’s a bit odd to have a top 5 list of movies featuring rabbits, and have a film at the number one spot where a rabbit isn’t actually seen in the film. You may be disappointed. Believe me when I say that the rabbit, whether real or not, is very important to the story and to understanding the main character and, eventually, those who support him.
There’s no doubt in my mind that without this film you wouldn’t have Donnie Darko, and look - there is a rabbit on the DVD cover.
Final point. I decided to write this post after seeing the latest Sony Bravia advertisement, shown below for your amusement.
Top 5 ways to save money on lunch
September 17, 2007 | Leave a Comment
I work in the heart of Covent Garden, London which is fantastic. There’s a lot to do at lunch time, and can easily go into one of the many shops around and deposit a lot of my monthly salary on clothes, electronic goods and other random items I deem to be ‘essential’ in my impulse buying status.
For lunch I usually go to a lovely little place nearby that does comforting home cooked food such as lasagne, cauliflower cheese and stews - nothing I can’t do myself, but it’s always that bit nicer when you don’t have to lift a finger.
If I go there every day for a week though, it’ll cost me £30/£35. That’s around £120/£140 per month just on lunch.
Most of the time I don’t think of this as anything other than a necessity…but there are times when I think to myself…I really could save myself money if I planned a little better and put a little more effort into making lunch for myself.
So here are my top 5 ways to save money on lunch.
Fruit it out
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, they say, so it’s a good idea to have something hearty in the morning. A health food place near to where I work does porridge for £1 and what better way to start of the day then with those nutritious oats?
This gives a slow release of energy which will allow you to carry on for most of the day. By eating several items of fruit throughout the day you can easily skip lunch without feeling hungry or fatigued, as well as boost your ‘5-a-day’ count of fruit and veg.
Meet with clients over lunch
My clients seem to love me, and I have a lot of them. Where possible it’s a good idea to meet with them to discuss vital parts of their portfolios and the working relationship between us. It’s good to see clients face to face where possible, as it shows you care. Meeting over lunch is also nice, as it means it’s slightly less formal than in a stuffy meeting room, but more formal than if you had gone to a bar. Sometimes the client will offer to pay for your lunch, especially if you have traveled across the city to see them; otherwise you offer to pay for them and the lunch goes onto company expenses. Who said there’s no such thing as a free lunch?
Round Robin with workmates
I’m sure everyone at work will be spending pretty much the same amount on lunch as I do. They go to the same places a lot of the time, and so it does stand to reason (I can make a little money by offering to buy their lunch, taking their cash, and them not bothering about the few pence change they have). Why not arrange with 4 co-workers that you will each cook lunch for each other one day a week? You then go home and cook an extra large portion of something yummy - and probably costing no more than £15 total - and you get to save £15 per week by the fact you do this once, and then eat whatever someone else has cooked. The only problem with this is if someone cooks something you don’t like…such as a horrible curry dish.
Stock up on sandwich stuffs
Many workplaces have a fridge that you can keep some stuff in - I know mine does. Grab yourself a loaf of bread, some tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce and cut meat from a local supermarket and you’ll probably find you can spend £10 on food which you can use over 3 lunches. Although this can be boring, especially if you eat the same thing a few days in a row, stocking up on tins of tuna, corned beef, sardines and salmon will offer a bit of variation to the daily routine.
Cook lunch and bring to work
The best way to save money over lunch, and to have it varied and tasty, is to cook for yourself and bring it in to work.
If you cook a nice risotto, stew or casserole at home - make that little bit extra and put the rest into a tight container to take into work and reheat the next day. It takes very little effort to do this, and once you get into a routine you will be able to do this most days if you have cooked for yourself the night before. Routine is the key for this one, as if I don’t do it often I find that I either leave the extra food at home and forget to take it in for lunch, or that I do take it in to work and put it in the fridge, but forget it’s there by the time lunch comes around, in which case I go out and buy lunch anyway.
If you don’t wish to have the same food for lunch as you did for dinner the night before, simply place the excess food into the freezer for another time.
Top 5 most irritating gameshows to watch
September 15, 2007 | Leave a Comment
I love game shows, and will watch most drivel that’s put on in front of me. My favourite ones are those which ask general knowledge questions such as the fantastic 15 to 1 and, to a lesser extent, University Challenge (but only as the questions are much harder).
However, there are some game shows that are just irritating to watch. Most of the time the format of the show is fine, but the combination of stupid contestants and often easy answers results in the viewer shouting obscenities at the television, wondering how such a muppet could have lasted so long in life, let alone found their way to the television studio.
At the end of the day, it’s because we all sit in front of the television watching them with one thought on our minds - “I would do much better than that twit if I was on this show”.
So here’s my countdown of the top 5 most irritating game shows to watch (introduced in the style of Bullseye’s Tony Green).
“iiin 5″ Catchphrase
The point of this show was to guess the phrase that was coming up on screen - like an animated ‘dingbats’ or ‘charades’. The show was presented by Irishman Roy Walker who had a sleezy smile and evil glint in his eye, and coined those wonderful terms ‘Say what you see’ and ‘It’s the ready money round’. The mascot for the show was Mr Chips, a yellow robotesque figure who would often look like he was wanking off a dog or killing someone with a kitchen utensil until the final square on the board disappeared to show he was in fact acting out ‘Man’s best friend’ or ‘don’t cry over spilt milk’.
answer: Holding down a job
The show is frustrating in part due to Roy Walker, but mostly due to the images being either too difficult to get, or extremely obvious but the contestants not having a clue.
“iiin 4″ Bullseye
It had to be in here, and let’s get this straight from the start - nobody watched this show for the darts, and I doubt anybody thought it would be a great idea to enter for it whilst they were sober. This show featured 3 teams of 2, one of who was a ‘darts player’ and the other being whoever they could drag to the set to answer questions.
Like Catchphrase, this show also had a mascot - Bully the Bull. He was great and would appear throughout the show moo-ing if you got something incorrect or ran out of time…though they may as well have had him sat there laughing at the idiots who can’t spell the simplest of words (go ahead and find the typos in this post, I can take it).
Host Jim Bowen was the main cause of frustration in this show, due to the fact he’s not a very funny comedian. Added to this the contestants who are dragged from under their rocks in the depths of middle England and have no character whatsoever and you get excruciating television. There’s the usual bad answers to easy questions and the worst prizes in television show history (”Look at what you could have won!” - what…that kinder egg toy?)
The top prize was often a car, caravan or speedboat - and you can guarantee there would be arguments about who would have kept the prize (no, you have it) when it was won because everybody on the show were friends who had met at the pub. Two scooters would have been more ideal.
“iiin 3″ Who wants to be a Millionaire
Yes, we know ‘it’s only easy if you know the answer’ - but some people are just stupid.
Most contestants on this show are fine, and they go through their life lines and get a bit of money and you answer questions along with them until they get knocked out on questions you don’t know the answer to anyway.
However, you will often come across one individual that must have slipped during the fastest finger first round and managed to make their way to the chair, and when you do the only thing that is more frustrating than their inability to answer simple questions is the fact they may accidentally get it right and end up with money they surely don’t deserve.
The Majority of French People Are Dumb - Watch more free videos
“iiin 2″ Wheel of Fortune
Hangman with bright lights and a big wheel.
Another show that has more than it’s equal share of dumb contestants who simply can’t grasp what words are.
Originally the UK show was presented by likable Nicky Campbell and wasn’t all that bad. He was a decent enough presenter, and we can forgive the fact the show gave rise to the fame of Smilie Smilie Carol Smilie. Yet there were times when you just left wondering how the contestants can miss such obviousness, a feeling that was amplified if you ever got to see a US version of the show.
After Nicky Campbell left it went downhill very quickly. Bradley ‘It’s a puppet’ Walsh took over to offer a lot of cheese and innuendo to the show, and he was followed a year later by John ‘insert your own comments here’ Leslie, sidekicked by an equally bad Jenny Powell.
Sure, it’s annoying when you can obviously see what the word is and they guess letters like ‘z’ which won’t fit anywhere at all, or in the cases above when it is so obvious what the words are, but the thing that projects this show to the forefront of annoyance is the audience who do nothing but clap all the way through.
clap say hello clap look at the wheel clap it’s a phrase clap spin the wheel clap letter T clap 1 letter T clap spin the wheel clap - it’s crazy how much clapping goes on in there, and I’m sure the audience can’t have much skin left on their palms by the end of it all.
I never noticed this originally until someone had pointed it out to me, and now it’s the only thing I can think about if I watch it…kind of like when someone mentioned Jeremy Beadle had one had smaller than the other - never noticed that until it was told, and now that’s all I can see whenever he’s presenting something.
“iiin 1″ (or should that be “and Bully’s special prize…”?) The Crystal Maze
Slaphead Richard O’Brian presented this popular show which combines a team of witless contestants with challenges that are based around puzzles and fall into categories such as mystery, logical and physical.
The hand eye co-ordination of some of these people is unbelievable, and makes you question how they manage to get dressed in the mornings. Combine this with their inability to do tasks that a 2 year old does means you’re shouting at the television in agony (No you fucking idiot - put the triangle in the triangle shaped hole!) as the team fail to gain a crystal time after time, or use the few that they do manage to accidentally retrieve on ‘freeing’ their hapless team mates who are to slow to comprehend time and how doors work as they get locked into room after room.
I was never sure what the actual prize was at the end of the day once the contestants collected ‘gold tokens’ from inside a wind machine, because all the contestants ever seemed to take home with them was a crappy ‘crystal ball’ and a newly established lack of self esteem.
5 Games I’m looking forward to in 2007
August 19, 2007 | Leave a Comment
It’s nearing the end of August and there are going to be a lot of games released between now and Christmas which is great for us gamers, but not so great for the bank balance or social life.
Nowadays a game will cost you £40 or £50 in the shops, with about £10 off the RRP if you get it online through the likes of play.com…so you sometimes have to be careful about which games you do and don’t buy. There are, of course, some games which you simply must have and the following are in that category. If I was only allowed to buy 5 more games this year - these would be them. All games are on either the PS3 or Wii, it seems I have enough PSP games to be getting on with.
Release dates are taken from Play.com and/or Amazon.co.uk and are therefore subject to change; some clips are from other video game formats.
Rockstar Games presents Table Tennis (Nintendo Wii)
by Rockstar Games - Release date: 26th October 2007
The Xbox 360 version of this game won the acclaim of ‘Best Sports Title’ at the 2006 E3 show, so I’m very much looking forward to the fact it is coming to the Wii this year.
Developers have now had the chance to fully utilise the motion sensors in the Wii remote so I’m hoping this title will have a strong and accurate response rate so that it’s as good as holding an actual table tennis paddle. Wii Sports Tennis was good, but they made you play doubles due to (I guess) not knowing how to allow the player to run around the court. Table Tennis is perfect to allow single players without having to run back and forth, so you can concentrate solely on accuracy, power and spin. Can there be a game better designed for the Wiimote?
Steve beats me everytime we play this in real life, so I’m hoping I can now finally beat him at it. I wonder if they will be releasing Fußball at any time soon?
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (Sony Playstation 3)
by Eidos Interactive - Release date: 9th November 2007
Eidos gave us the excellent Hitman series which is one of my favourite sets of games, and now they look set to start on another franchise with Kane & Lynch. I guess this is a cross in some ways between Hitman and Freedom Fighters in that it’s a third person shooter with squad elements. One aspect I do like is the fact there are 2 lead characters, so you can play in the standard one player mode - or bring a friend into the action to assist (or hinder depending on how good they are). With Hitman two players just had to pass the control pad back and forth to take individual turns.
This video shows some of the gameplay:
Hitman started showing how well developers were handling crowd interaction within games, so I would be interested to see how this has progressed with Kane & Lynch - I understand there’s a nifty nightclub scene which should highlight the crowd response nicely.
Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo Wii)
by Nintendo - Release date: 30th November 2007 (Amazon.co.uk) or 5th October 2007 (Play.com)
It was odd to see the Nintendo Wii being released without a shiny new Mario game to go with it, so let’s hope the long wait for this title has been worth it. Footage has been around for over a year now, and it really does look like playing this would mess with your mind a little.
I was always a reluctant follower of the Mario games. Perhaps it was because I was a Sega kid growing up that my loyalties lay with Sonic the Hedgehog, but whenever I was placed in front of a Mario game I didn’t really want to like it. I did, of course, love them, and completed several of the earlier ones along with the fantastic Mario 64. That’s why I’m going to embrace this one and hope it’s got as great gameplay as the other ones had…I’m sure it will.
Other Mario releases I’m looking forward to are Super Paper Mario and the Wii version of Super Mario Kart.
Fifa 08 (Sony Playstation 3)
by Electronic Arts - Release date: 28th September 2007
Every year I buy the latest version of the FIFA game, and every year it’s one of the titles I look forward to the most. FIFA 2007 was, and still is, fantastic - so much so that it actually took over from Pro Evolution Soccer as the best football simulation. That’s why I’m very much looking forward to the latest version, especially as it’ll now be on the Playstation 3.
I hope to see the Management mode in the similar style as last year - no doubt with a few additions to make it even bigger and better. The same team who took over FIFA 07 is in charge again so they won’t have to work on a whole new ball dynamics engine (which was why there was such a huge difference between ‘06 and ‘07 versions) - which means for this release they can just work on the solid foundations that they already have.
A few things I’m hoping they have for FIFA 2008:
Interactive goal keeping. i.e. A Goalkeep that can be fouled and injured.
Interactive Referee. I want to see him on the pitch, and get in the way of the ball every now and then.
45 minute halves. Real time football for those crazy moments of boredom.
Transfer updates. Ability to update the teams for the different transfer fixtures without the changes over riding a custom team that you’re using in management mode. Ideally there would be weekly updates automatically to take into account real life injuries, but I think they’re working on that for the future.
I’m also interested in seeing how the ‘Be A Pro’ feature is going to work. This is something EA are working on between now and 2010 so that you can play as just one player in a team. Online this may be quite good, as you can have 11 vs 11 online, and this is meant to lead up to having two teams of 22 players contesting virtually at the FIFA World cup…should be fun.
Assassin’s Creed (Sony Playstation 3)
by Ubisoft Montreal - Release date: 9th November 2007
I’m not too sure why this game has me so excited, as I have only seen very limited screenshots or videos of it. Yet this is the one game I am waiting for in 2007, and a little bit of me is annoyed that I am away for the week when this is released so I won’t be able to spend the first weekend playing it.
The first thing that struck me about the game is the sheer interaction between the lead character and his surroundings. The developers claim that anything that stands out more than two inches from it’s surroundings will be interactive, which means pretty much anything goes when it comes to navigating the landscape. Also, rather than the usual ‘run up to a wall and press X to climb it’ movement, the actions your character takes will differ depending on the buttons pressed. Think of fighting games whereas pressing a button for your legs will kick an opponent, and a button for your arms will punch an opponent, in Assassin’s Creed you get the same buttons controlling body parts to decide if will step onto a beam or swing from a beam, jump up a wall or vault it, and so on.
Here’s a gameplay demo for it…and remember what I said about crowd interaction earlier? This seems to do the job very well:
I’m a fan of both Prince of Persia and Splinter Cell which are other Ubi creations, and PoP was extremely fluid over the last few outings, along with allowing the player to interact a little bit with the scenery (running across walls mostly). This looks to take things one step further and, further to that, appears as if it does it well. All of this along with the fact you’re an assassin - what more could a guy need?
So, I think from the above it looks like FIFA 2008 will have the longevity of all of the games; it should last a year until FIFA 2009 comes out, whereas the others look as if they will certainly only give a few months of constant gameplay before they are completed or discarded for something shinier.
Assassin’s Creed is certainly the sexiest looking of the bunch, and the one that I have most been looking forward to from the very few clips I have seen. It’s just a shame it’s released not only in the week I’m away, but at the same time as Kane & Lynch which means one will have to sit on the sidelines for a short amout of time whilst the other one gets my attention.
