Linkyshinks Bayonetta Review
 
     
 
I'm currently in the process of chasing up my "Pure Platinum" medals, it's worth it just to hear Cereza tell mummy she's the best.  

 

Hi friends, hope your all well and apologies if I have not visited your blogs of late, but I can assure you I have been trying to. I do have a day off today so I will make an effort.

I'm taking some of this time off to tell you about a date I had a while back...

My work, which which I wont divulge upon in detail, is is art related, sometimes it takes me to some interesting places for research purposes. A little while ago I was granted permission by the head curator of marine biology at London's Natural History Museum to take a rare close look at a fascinating creature. The creature we today call Giant Squid.  The same creature that gave birth to the legend of the Kraken.


My Date with the Kraken


After having adorned myself with a white lab coat, I met with Carmen the head curator at the reception of the facility. After some quintessentially English pleasantries, she lead me onto a open lift that descended into the depths of the Darwin Centre. That's the name of the large research facility that's connected to the back of the Natural History Museum. She told me en route to the "Tank Room" that the facility had cost many millions pounds to make, and that it required unprecedented global cooperation. She added that it housed some of the worlds most rarest specimens. including many bizarre creatures like the one I was about to see. She told me that many creatures the facility had are so rare and live in environments so extreme that humans never ever come across them, and that they were in effect aliens. It was then that felt like a intrepid explorer as the lift descended through the floors.

Once we had hit the bottom, with a gentle judder, I was then lead through a series of temperature controlled corridors and rooms with security doors which seemed straight out of Star Trek. The swooshing sound they made as they opened was very cool. I had never thought  s**t like this existed for real. I was pleasantly and secretly surprised..

As we made our way to the Tank Room we passed many rooms specimen room, huge rooms, dedicated to a wide array of land animals.  Some were preserved in fluid, while others, which were clearly a lot older, had been stuffed many years previously. Carmen kindly switched the lights on as we walked through. She showed me around slowly and was happy to pass on her knowledge, despite the fact she was no expert due to land creatures not being her field.

There were a lot of WTF moments, I saw stuff I had no idea existed. it dawned on me then how amazing this planet must be if there are so many creatures people still have no idea about. I would love to be able to show pics of what I saw, but unfortunately I didn't have permission to take photo's of those specimens, and I did not want to risk not being able to return one day for more research.

It was certainly quite a macabre scene, I imagine it would have upset some people to bare witness to it.. I adore nature and understand the quest to understand it is vital to our existance and the animals that survive today. As a result, I have no problem with it. Although I will admit to feeling queasy at times.

We finally came to the doors of the Tank Room. I looked above and noticed an odd looking rail that ran beyond the door. I naturally wondered what that was for, so asked. Carmen replied, "you'll see.." she pressed her finger upon the touch pad and the doors swooshed open. I was immediately struck with a revolting stench of chemicals merged with what can only cleanly decribed as a fishy smell :  /. I looked around the room in peering into the jars in astonishment as I stood at the door, not having moved one inch.

At the end of the room there was a very large tank with the Giant Squid inside, I was taken back by it's sheer size. I walked towards it and around it in wonder of it... It was like that scene in Aliens when they come across the face huggers in those specimen jars lol.  I told her it was bigger than I thought, Carmen told be that was actually a juvenile and that a fully grown adult could grow to be three times that size!. She said the rail on the ceiling was how they moved the Giant Squid specimen into the room because it was the only way.

In the centre of the room were a series of large metal tanks, she lifted the lid off one and I immediately realized the source of the terrible smell. The fluid inside was deep brown and murky looking. I couldn't see anything in there myself,  while I peered in covering my mouth and nose. My nose caught the terrible whiff despite my attempts, my gag reflex was tickling my throat and I was about to throw.. She told me to stand back forcefully, I did so happily.

Carmen then walked over to a nearby drawer and snapped some some gloves on while staring at me. Carmen walked over and reached into the tank and grabbed onto something, something I could not see. With both hands she lifted out this huge fish, If you can call it that. She told me it was a newly found specimen of a prehistoric fish thought to be extinct some years ago. It was a fish called a "Coelacanth". Apparently it was in the tank because they had earlier been studying the specimen. She took me over to a PC and showed me images of why it was so special. It's internal anatomy was totally bizarre!. Bishop would have loved this shit!., it did not look like a fish at all inside. And I have cut open a few I can tell you.

She then opened a lid of  another tank and showed me a "Angler fish". the fish made famous by Pixar's Finding Nemo. It still had it's dangly bit still intact. It looked as evil as any creature could be in my mind, with it's grotesque over-sized mouth and long spiny teeth. She opened another, and lifted out what looked like a monster, she asked me to guess what it was, I laughed an naturally replied, I have no idea!. She told me it was a dismembered Penis of a Minke whale, lol.

Carmen then brought me over to a shelf which had a numerous cylindrical jars lined up and said, this is a "Oarfish." What's a Oarfish I replied?. "The Oarfish sir, is the longest bony fish in the world!", she replied.  I then asked how it could possibly be the longest fish in the world when it looked so small?. Carmen told me every jar on the shelf had the cut up segments of the specimen inside. If that was the case the specimen in question must have been nearly ten meters long : /. She allowed me to take one sneaky pic of that but old me not to tell anyone, or she would have to drown me in the tank if I did.

She then walked me over to a cabinet on the wall and pointed to a few smaller specimens. She told me that what I was looking at were in fact some of the very examples Sir Charles Darwin had brought back after one of his research missions. I thought that was kind cool to be able to see also.


The Giant Squid

A cut n paste job from my Gamespot blog :P

Horses bottoms in the morning. On the subject of food, the following post will contain lots of it, so consider yourselves warned..

Outside Les Miz in "Theatre Land"

I Love this shop on Charing Cross Road, smoking Cigars occasionally is one of my greatest pleasures in life. I hate cigarettes though!. People who love reading may of heard of Charing Cross

It's olde, 1820s something.

It used to be orange-

I often ponder the same thing:)

Heaven. I am partial to a Monte Cristo myself, which is what I bought. My girlfriend likes Cigars too if they are mild. Monte Cristo's are in the left hand top of the picture, un-tubed.

My favourite Italian Deli, Camisa & Sons. I heart Italian food!, but adore great  food in general

I ended buying some Tuscan Pancetta as well as some juicy sweet cherry tomatoes, hand picked from the side of Mt Etna, They're delicious simply roasted with olive oil, sprigs of fresh Basil and good Balsamic. Modena has the best, the sweet sticky type is perfection. I also got some really strong Gorgonzola cheese and some Sicilian split olives, which are really nice, best I have tasted that's for sure.

Just look at those cherry tomatoes!

Chinatown

The Dim Sum lunchboxes are fantastic

So is everything else, I love the scent that fills Chinatown, I don't think there could be any better advert for the food.

I bought some Char Siu (Roast Pork)

Got hungry

I also bought these old chinese coins and a bamboo brush wrap for some chinese brushes I have.

This shop sells great engravings, I bought tow today. As you may already know, I heart art!

I bought these, I just could not resist. Lately I have become fascinated with the London of the past, the gritty side especially. James Drummond depicts the Gin drinking and prostitution well I think. Such scenes were common place around the time this engraving was made in 1870.

I also bought this JMW Turner landscape of the Piazzi chapel in Florence in Italy. I love Turner. I managed to haggle the price down due to the blotch in the sky (not a technical term)

I also went to "The Cinema Store", that surprisingly sells all manner of cinema stuff from models to autographs

I have had my eye of this lately, I may well buy it...eventually

After all that hard work shopping, lol, I then decided to grab a slice of Strawberry Cheesecake and a cream tea at Valerie's

!CAKE ALERT!

MORE CAKE!

For dinner I took advantage of the happy hour at this fine establishment, I had the "Bat wings" They are in exact fact chicken wings that have been blackened with Tamarind paste, and then char-grilled with honey.

I have no idea, but none the less Pofta Buna to you all!

The London Games Festival kicks off on October 24th bringing a series of events to the my home city that celebrate the wonderful world of videogames. I always look forward to it each year as there is always loads of cool stuff to check out around the city with all my gaming friends in London. I hook up with friends I play with online and that adds a little something to the proceedings. It's always fun and sometimes a lttle wild as last year was when I initated the rabble into the wonders of combining Absinthe and arcade gaming lol.

Last year I did some cool stuff which included playing the very latest Q4 games that had not even been released yet. I also got the opportunity to play some of the very first video games ever created, and some of the most iconic, many of which I had never had the chance to play before. It was of course very cool for a lover of retro gaming.

http://www.londongamesfestival.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacewar !

They also had a series of lectures on videogame production and the history of them. Normally I find lectures very dull affairs, as I am sure many others do. I can barely stand the lectures I attend at the National Gallery for my private study, yet these on the other hand were a revelation as I have never been to lectures and listened so attentively and not wanted them to end. I found it all fascinating, I learnt so much about the industry and the design processes involved in making videogames. It made me think about games in a way that I had never done previously. As a result I now have greater appreciation of them as a creative mediium and hold many more in high regard.

I currently have no intention of entering the industry as I am perfectly content with what I do, but one day I would certainly like to have a creative role in the development of a videogame. This years festival will see a careers fair for those wanting to get advice from professionals already deep within the industry, it will have representatives from the big development houses attending. I am going, not in order to snag a job, but instead to network with other artists that have a appreciation of gaming in the hope that someday it might lead to a bit role. My first ever job was actually at a games company amazingly, it was my work experience during secondary school at the age of 17. I recall stating to my tutor that if he did not find something suitable I would not bother to even turn up. I listed videogames twice in the three boxes available on the request form, and cartooning in the one remaining lol. I spent far too many lessons day dreaming while scribbling onto table tops, some of it very vulgar and well detailed featuring teachers lol. Anyway, in the end I found a place at Ocean Software, the peeps that made the early Robocop games on the C64. I cannot remember much from my experience then due to they years of substance abuse since then but I do remember being what was in effect a well worked slave for two weeks. They had me running out to the shops in Covent Garden to buy them white chocolate muffins and latte's. They did however give me some Rayban shades as a leaving prezzie so that kinda made up for the temporary slave stuff. I felt so grown up heading home from work wearing my Rayban shades on the London underground lol.

In line with the past two years yet again Video Games Live will be part of the London festival also. I have been lucky enough to attend everyone that has been held in London so far and this year will be no exception as I have already booked my tickets. For those that do not know what VGL is, it's basically a high quality stage show with w 32 piece orchestra playing all the great music from all the great games including MGS and Halo, Zelda and Mario, Final Fantasy and many other ****cs. I adore videogame music and have found the two previous events actually very moving. It really is something special hearing the melodies we love being played live in such a awesome fashion.

Video Games Live

http://www.videogameslive.com/index.php?s=home

Final Fantasy-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8loSwkZjWDw

Metal Gear Solid-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_6LG8dyE0U

Zelda-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJMdFHE90iI&feature=related

 I will be attending the Golden Joystick Awards at the end of the festival for the first time this year after getting a press pass. I cannot wait, this years event should be equally awesome :D

Noitu Love 2