Morning coffee

What's wrong with eating small pieces of raw fish in salt 'n sour sauce (Sill)? Why does everyone think, just because you like something they don't, you are weird? Why are all the people in the world so damn perfect?

Take video games for a start. I got tons of games you lot probably don't have. You might be playing Call Of Duty, Halo or you might even play FIFA (which is great never the less). Yes you probably have some unusual stuff but I bet you 2 pence you almost never touch them. I am in my second season of PDC World Championship Darts Pro Tour. I have completed the IL-2 Sturmovik games about 3-4 times. Sometimes I run the London Subway train in World Of Subways. I might beat Ronnie O'Sullivan in WSC Real 2011. Oh, and I really didn't think Death to Spies was so bad.

And what about cars? I run a Volvo. A nice 245GL in silver with sunroof, steeringwheel in smooth dark-red wood, excellent stereo and the engine has, brace yourself, almost 105bhp! You might drive a Vauxhall, Toyota or maybe a German car. There is nothing wrong with that, and it's not wrong to drive a Swedish car that is 16 feet long, weighs almost two tonnes and has a top speed of a bicycle.

Airlines then? What do you choose if you want to fly to Mallorca or any other tourist attraction? If it's possible, I choose Jet2. I have flown a lot, and I have always liked the service on board Jet2 and the planes looks nice. But you might say, why not choose to fly with BA or Thomson just because they are punctual or something. I say No. If I like something, I shouldn't do what everyone else thinks is right.

I got every single book written by Jeremy Clarkson. Why? I like the man and I think he is funny. He isn't right all the time, but those are his opinions and I respect them. I'm open minded. I can probably play Call Of Duty or Halo, but I think I'll probably stick with Jet2...


Lots of nonsense rubbish today. Sorry for that. 

//Loonytoony 

An idiot abroad

What a great show that is. If you haven't seen it yet, the show is about Karl Pilkington which is sent around the globe by Ricky Gervais and Steven Merchant. Karl is sent to see the worlds seven wonders. Karl likes his home. He likes his home so much he doesn't want to go and see the wonders. He want to camp in Wales instead.
A quite bad description about the show, but I think you should get what I'm on about. It is truly hilarious watching Karl get into a festival full of gays in Brazil, or visiting an ex cannibal tribe in the Amazon jungle on his way to the Machu Picchu.
However. Besides making me laugh so my stomach feels turned upside down, it also makes me think. How do the typical tourist act or behave when presented to a foreign tradition or belief?

What do people actually think when they buy a flight ticket and book a hotel in Rio for £2.000, get there, and then watch one of the world's most famous parades that nowadays is held on a quite short strip of road with spectators sitting on benches on each side, like a theater? Yes of course you're in Brazil and all is lovely. The girls looks like the missing eight wonder of the world, the bars are serving drinks with fresh fruit in them and so on... So you you might think your ticket-booking wasn't that bad after all and you feel like your money is well spent. Or do you?

When I go abroad (An Idiot Abroad) I always expect to much. Just like Karl in a way. When I went to Greece I expected bright blue water, white sand and quiet beaches. It turned out I had booked my holiday at Santorini. What I got was black lava beaches which were simply too hot for bare foots. The beaches were crowded with "salesmen" who insisted I should buy a new pair of sunglasses every five minutes. And the water was bright. Not so blue though...
My stay wasn't that bad to be honest, but still. My expectations did catch me up when I got back. I think we're all like Karl in a way. We like to travel, but after a while we all wants to go home. But Wales? Come on!

Short story today, yes, but at least you get some good reading right?

//Tooner

Money will make you happier

Before you read this, please open your music-program and start play the album Outskirt by Swedish artist Daniel Norgren. It. Is. Truly. Brilliant.

Now, let's get to todays story.

I cannot tell you how happy I am about the upcoming fall. I don't think I've ever experienced anything like this, the cheer excitement is killing me. And my wallet. I'm talking, of course, about the gaming autumn of 2011. I mean, how many great games will we play this year? I can name a few of my personal favorites, but I'm sure you've got a lot more. The three biggest games for me is without doubt the 1C developed Red Orchestra: Heroes of Stalingrad, Stockholm based DICE's Battlefield 3 and Tru Blu's Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge. Yep, you got that last one right?
Finally I say! A great rugby game is upon us and I can already tell from the adverts and in-game pictures it is going to be, as the Americans say, awesome!

But there is so much more than just these three contenders. Not only do we got RAGE or FIFA 12, but we also get to lay our hands on Dead Island, Uncharted 3, Gears of War 3 and Assassins Creed Revelations, among many. How on earth am I going to get enough "cash" to buy all of these gems? I have thought about this thing called Donation via Paypal, if you donate a fiver I'm sure I will make as much as "Notch" (who earns about 1 million pounds every other minute thanks to the genial Minecraft) in no time what so ever.

But let me get back to Red Orchestra. The lads at Tripwire really seems to know what they do, because everything about Orchestra looks and sounds exquisite. And actually, I'm most looking forward to the singleplayer campaign in this one. Unfortunately I do not think the multiplayer will get as much attention as it should be given. Every bloke, and girl for that matter, that I know plays games, will not leave Call Of Duty multiplayer behind and move on to Red Orchestra. Thats just the way it is I'm afraid. But then what would you expect when Call Of Duty has about 9 billion players online continuously?

My comment on Battlefield 3 is quite simple. It looks brilliant. Thats it really.

And finally I'm going to lay my hands on a GOOD rugby game for the first time. Have you lot seen the pictures and video of it? Sure, I can admit it isn't going to be as good as FIFA 12 or even FIFA 10 for that matter, but hey, when was the last time you saw a good rugby game in High Definition? Exactly!
I will even be able to build my own team, create my own players and be able to create my own competitions, now how about that for a starter?
The game will also come with 31 stadia, 93 teams and Grant Nisbett with Justin Marshall in the commentating booth. It all sounds very promising and on paper I think this game will be truly great. But I should not shout in the air with both my arms until I've actually had time to play it. There is no demo, and not much fact about it even though it is scheduled to be on the market Q3 this year.

To round up todays topic and this week in fact (next story on Monday morning) I want every one of you to ceep your fingers crossed that the brilliant game Off-Road Drive from Russia will be released soon. It will probably be the best game ever made.

//Tooner

General thoughts of roads

It is obviously that mankind is somewhat bright. Just think of how many authors of books there are in the world today and how much the worlds scientists has discovered. Quite impressive, yes? We have always been able to solve problems, well some people can't but most can. I strongly think that mankind's greatest achievement is the science of the law of physics. Think about it. Just after a couple of hours of queueing, you can have a tight walk in a tight corridor and have seat in what a the russians call a "samolet", wich in english means airplane. This airplane-thing then rolls of to a runway and then takes off. Thanks to science, people can fly. And queue at airports...

Without science we wouldn't have cars either. And that would be a sad thing. Imagine you would have to walk or go by horse (wich is a big animal living where there are no trees) wherever you want to go. Not a good idea if I'm honest. Just think about all the great cars that have rolled out the factories and sheds over the years. If there were no scientist or brave lads in those sheds, we would not have cars like the Lamborghini Aventador, Aston Martin V8, Noble M600 or the Volvo 245GL. I'm sure you agree with the last one... I can't imagine a world without cars, locomotives or planes. Boats, or "ferries" as it seems to be called where there are lots of tourist, are also a good alternative for transport, but not on any other surface than water. Including shallow reefs as I recently discovered.

If we are this bright, how come there's no person in the world that have come up with a solution for traffic jams? I honest to god believe this is a general problem. My idols at the famous car show Top Gear are always on this subject, and I agree with everything they say. There are simply a lot of roadworks going on in our country (Britain if you haven't noticed) and what can we do to prevent the jams? Yes, the basic solution is to take a de-tour through some small villages such as Glossop or Middlesbrough, but that solution ain't that bright to be honest because every other motorist along side you are thinking the same as you, so the Church Street in Glossop will be quite crowded...

The best way to avoid traffic jams seems to be the simplicity of leaving your brand new Mazda at home and  have a lovely walk. As you notice, I can't figure any good solution. Hope someone will, because I simply hate traffic jams of all sort.
Now, around where I live (Gosforth, Newcastle) there aren't that many jams, but I quite often go to London and my oh my...! I've got to tell you right now that the best way to go to London centre by car is to drive it to Borehamwood, park it where you're allowed to park it and then walk or go by public transport, if even that helps. You see, roadworks ain't the problem on the A1, it's the 10 billion cars on it I'm affraid...

Until someone can come up with a solution for the traffic jams, I can only suggest walking. Or fly, it's brilliant.

//Tooner