New Splash Screen

I just made a brand new title screen for the Dungeon Siege Wiki...
It is so epic now.

www.dungeonsiege.wikia.com

Some people shouldnt be allowed to use the internet.

I'm serious.
Recently, I joined the Dungeon Siege Wiki. Now, as you loving readers will know, I love the Dungeon Siege Series. It's AWESOME.
So, now that I am fixing up the wiki, imagine myself coming across THIS page and then imagine how annoyed I was that someone was allowed to write something as bland, useless and pointless and unhelpful as THIS...

http://dungeonsiege.wikia.com/wiki/In_the_Name_of_the_King:_A_Dungeon_Siege_Tale

By the way, records indicate that the person who submitted to this only made this single page. To top it off, it's on the flippin home page. WHAT BLASPHEMY IS THIS???
Want to know MY contributions? Here, knock yourself out with all this heavy reading...


http://dungeonsiege.wikia.com/wiki/Krug_Scavenger
http://dungeonsiege.wikia.com/wiki/Krug_Scout
http://dungeonsiege.wikia.com/wiki/Krug_Apprentice
http://dungeonsiege.wikia.com/wiki/Krug_Shaman
http://dungeonsiege.wikia.com/wiki/Futak_the_Trainer
http://dungeonsiege.wikia.com/wiki/Human
http://dungeonsiege.wikia.com/wiki/Krug (Minor contribution. I didnt add much to this already awesome page)
http://dungeonsiege.wikia.com/wiki/Doppelganger
http://dungeonsiege.wikia.com/wiki/NPC
http://dungeonsiege.wikia.com/wiki/Unique_drop (Incomplete list)

So there! Yon evil person with your evil pointless description of the horrible movie. Take that!
Oh, and to top it off, the guy who created the wiki hasnt been on for months... Great...

December is Christmas

Guess what. It's December. That means it's Christmas.

Now, I basically have two logical options here. Either I give you a whole huge run down on why Christmas is so badly managed each year, or I dont and instead, I post about something completely non-related.

...

Actually, I'll pick option three. Pi = 3.14. Now reverse that number horozontally.

What is a "God"?

I noticed in the past few years a general increase in the number of games that revolve around Gods. In certain cases, this involves killing a god - God Of War involves having Kratos kill Ares, the Greek god of war.

So I thought about the whole idea of what is a "god" and how "mortal" they appear to be. The most illogical aspect that I have discovered so far is people's inability to distinguish the difference between mortals and imortals. Assuming we run along the basis of the Greek Gods, they ruled over the Greeks during the pre-roman empire section of history. A large number of texts point towards the idea that the gods looked down at the humans, referring multiple times to how they are "mortals".

While this is painstakingly true (After all, they are human), it gives reason to say that because they call Humans mortals, and they are so much more powerful than humans, they therefore should logically be immortal. Considering how aledgedly have the power to modify the fabric of reality itself, they might as well in all true sense have the power of immortality.

So, if we compare the differences between "mortals" and "immortals", the notable differences are quickly made apparent. Mortals don't live forever, Immortals do. If an Immortal has the ability to live forever, it stands to reason that they can't simply be hacked to death. The logic of immortality prevents them from becoming deceased (The concept of pain however is a different story). While it probably would be painful having their head cut off and still not dying, it simply makes no sense that severed limbs should kill an "immortal".

Though, there is a work around if your willing to go that deep. Many "lesser" Gods are referred to as semi-imortal. A.K.A: They don't grow old and die, but they can be killed by getting chopped to pieces. However this still brings up problems. "Less" and "God" are two words that DONT go together. The concept of Godhood means all powerful. If you add "less" or "demi" as a prefix, your essentially saying that this "god" is all powerful, but also not.

Ah, but what if we change the definition of "God" to not being all powerful? Make the definition of God something close to almost all powerful but not quite. This is all just a convenience plot twist. It just doesn't work because a God is a God. The definition of a God is all powerful. You can't change that.

It's almost like saying that Coke is pure water. I'd certainly raise an eyebrow to a statement like that.

And that's why I believe in my God - The great big holy christian God. Because he's all powerful, omnisienct, and thats the end of that. You cant fight who he is, because he's immortal and your not.

New Engines rolling around...

So, now that the holidays are over, I've returned to school - even though it is really only a week and a half long. Which, retrospecively speaking, isn't really that great a length of time.

Just earlier this evening, I did a reskin of Paul Hobbs BR Britannia from the game Trainz Classics 3. Although, this version is running in Trainz 2012.

The engine with the green livery in the background is the original by Paul Hobbs. My version is blue.

If your curious as to why it's blue (Most BR engines were never painted blue and canonically British Rail never painted a Britannia in a blue livery). It's because I wanted to see it blue. IT TURNED OUT AWESOME. Well, it's awesome as far as I am concerned.

Over the next few weeks I plan on trying out some more skinning and seeing what happens. I'm really keen. =D

It's the holidays!

Well, technically I am halfway through my holidays. Contrary to what the radio will tell you, I am not bored. Well, not bored yet.

I started off this holiday with the intention to get stuff done. And, as planned. I have gotten stuff done. I've done a tremendous amount of writing for a story that nobody will ever read because I'm too embarrassed to share it because it's stupid. I also FINALLY finished Prototype on the Hard difficulty! Hooray for me!

I can't wait till Prototype 2. It's going to be such an epic game. Much better than GTA anyway. Halo 4 comes out early next year. WOOHOO!!!
Anyway, as I said earlier, I got stuff done. In Halo: Reach, I finally achieved the rank of Colonel. For me, this is a great achievement. It's a pretty big one anyway regardless because it means I am so close to getting the Mark VI helmet for my player! I'm so excited for when I get it, I'm gonna look so awesome!

It actually seems ironic to be honest. The Mark VI helmet is one of the less popular ones for Halo 3 multiplayer gaming and yet its one of the most popular for Halo: Reach mutlplayer and campaign. But, I guess thats because its the default in Halo 3 and in Halo: Reach, it's quite an achievement to get it. Well, it's an achievement for me.

Continuing on. Tomorrow I have church. I'm doing sound! Woot! I hope I don't do as badly as I did last week. Oh come on Jacques. I know you were just being nice and all. Anyway, I am looking forward to it.

After church, I plan on doing some more practise driving. So for those who keenly watch the news, please avoid any articles about accidental MAULING with a car. It wasn't intention. Unless your name is Alex and your asian. I'll get you one day... >=(

Time to go do some writing! Goodbye yon' folks!

Yea... I'm serious...

So it now currently october. Apparently I have this moral duty to do at least one blog post a month.

Hmm...

Done...

A very rushed assembly

After the principals assembly yesterday, there was this almighty great rush to get all the year 13's in for an assembly during interval. That wasn't so bad.

As it turns out, it's year 13 week this week! But it's only for Thursday and Friday... Sad. The idea is that we dress up according to the daily theme. Thursday is future career and Friday is superhero. I am quite happy to reveal that on thursday, I am going to be going as a Sound/Lighting Technician. As for Friday? The guessing is left to you. I've been spending the vast majority of this week so far getting everything ready and I have to admit, it's coming along really nicely. (REALLY NICELY). I'm actually making my costume.

Also, in other news, the Year13 hoodies are nearly ready for ordering. This makes me happy because I really want to get one and I hadn't heard any news about it up until now. The same applies for Grad dinner. This does unfortunately mean that I have to dress up in a suit... again. But, on the plus side, I still won't have to dance. That will never happen.

In futher news, the world is still being slowly destroyed due to various factors.

And finally, I have signed up for the Slave Auction Thingymajigy for Thursday. So if you just so happen to attend my school, please come and purchase me! YES! I AM FOR SALE!!! (Despite how wrong that may sound...)

That's a law?

I've always found it fascinating how the rules and regulations of airports work.

Specifcally, when it comes to customs. You probably don't know this, but as soon as your on the other side of customs, after the padding, the passports and the x-rays, your no longer in your original country. Yup, your now in a tiny country with absolutely no centralised government.

Fortunately, the government of the country that surrounds the countriles void once set down regulations for airports so that they still have to follow the laws of the country - So no, you don't have to worry about getting stabbed and your attacked not being charged because it technically didn't happen in the country.

However, even so, this does raise an interesting point. Technically, as long as said airport follows the laws of the country, they can come up with whatever sort of laws they want for their own little private paradise - and it all comes into affect when you cross the border.

You could be prosecuted for having a red handbag.

It's really possible...

Ardon District Line - W.I.P

So, I've been working on the Ardon District Line - A fictional USA based route in Trainz 2012. The main focus of this route will be multiplayer based but I really like how it is going so far.

Just because I am nice, I decided to give you a screenie!

No. 9609 awaits track clearance at the bridge in front so several tonnes of coal can be transferred onto a waiting ship.

Oh, and this is the most detailed bit so far. <=D

Here's another screenie after I did some building work. I have to admit, despite not having much to work with, I am quite satisfied with the outcome. =)

Admittedly, the ground is not yet textured. That will probably come last for this section.

A few Statistics

I've been watching the lists of whose being reading my blog recently. Not that I really mind who reads it, or where they came from.

But I did find it incredibly fascinating in certain respects as too two categories, where people get the link to my blog and where from in the world. So I decided to post some stats - You see if you like it.

Note: These stats are at the time of writing.

All time viewing of the blog: 345
Referring sites:
Facebook: 20
phdonlineuk.com: 11 (Note: Whoever made a link to my blog on this site, TELL me. I went to the site and I sure couldnt find it, haha)
www.google.co.nz: 8
theblogisdead.com: 2 (EXCUSE ME - My blog is NOT dead. This post proves it)

And a few unintelligble others...

Audience: (Now THIS is VERY interesting...)

New Zealand: 274

Malaysia: 34

United States: 23

Germany: 10

Switzerland: 1

China: 1

South Korea: 1

South Africa: 1   So I'd just like to make a shout out to all those "one" views. I have to admit, I never expected to see anyone from China, South Korea, South Africa or even especially Germany to look at my blog. Of course, for all I know, it could be just people in NZ going through a proxy server at said location. Either way, it's kinda hilarious. Especially Malaysia. So, thats about it. I just thought that you all might find this interesting. :)

Checkpoint Achieved.

I survived the year...

I survived the learning...

I survived the intensity...

Now I gotta survive the exams...

*Loads Shotgun*

Sunday Review

I've got a built up aggression from this week and I decided that I would channel it all into this blog post. So if your not prepared for a report on this week, then stop reading here and go find something else to do.

Thought that would be a nice warning.

The beginning of this week was long and difficult. I think Monday was probably the most relaxing of the week but thats only because MOST things hadn't quite started yet. The majority of my important schooling on Monday consisted of sound/lighting rehersals during Interval, Lunchtime and after school. Nikau Lip Syncing kicked off on monday and I have to admit, Monday was probably the most dissappointing Lip Syncing performance. After school, I had to stay back and help a group that would be performing on Thursday rehearse. Yay me?

On Tuesday, I had to get up early because I got a call from senior management saying somthing about "attitude talks" at school. I, naturally, still waking up and wanting to go have a shower, didn't really understand much about what whoever was on the line was talking about. By the time I arrived at school, I was pretty sure of two things:


1. My response to their request was something like: "Mrghmrbleghsuuuremrghblagoodbye". After that, I had my shower (Stuff coffee! Hot water FTW!)
2. I didn't have any attitude problems at the time, so what the heck were they talking about? If they wanted to talk to someone who had attitude issues, go find a druggie. They currently hang out in Jill Sweeny Block.


Of course, it about two hours later that I found out that it was some guy talking in the hall during period four about something. I didn't really care what it was about. I just got one of the year tens on the sound/lighting team to deal with it.


Naturally, though, this guy spent the WHOLE period talking. This gave me pretty much NO time to set up for Nikau Lip Syncing. Fun fun? Not really. But it got done, literally just in time. After school, I went to work. Now, dont get me wrong, I love work on tuesday. But I literally had no energy. I could see the warning screens in my head saying the following:

"Warning! Energy levels critically low! Opening emergency reserves!"

"Warning! Emergency reserves critically low! Seek relaxation before critical meltdown!"

"Warning! Approaching critical meltdown. ETA: Five Days"

"Warning! WHY ARE YOU NOT RELAXING YET?"

Anyone smart will instantly recognise that in five days time, it would be the weekend. So hopefully I could get a short break. However, that didnt stop me from dragging myself around during the remaining week.

Wednesday was probably the most difficult. Assembly was as boring as usual, I spent interval in rehersals, Mr Attitude guy went overtime again and Nikau Lip Syncing was late. After school, I went straight to work. This is the day when I dont like work. Why? Because my entire group is made of energy excessive physcopathic little kids. Seriously, if I knew a way of SYPHONING the energy out of them, I'd have them hooked up to the machine 24/7 and the output plugged into me. After work, I had to run back down to school to do my drama assessment. For the sake of staying alive, I activated the emergency conversion systems:

"Activating conversion system: drawing energy from fat, regardless of importance. Estimated energy output: balanced with consumption"

This might seem werid to anyone else, but it's the process in which my body breaks down what little fat I have into pure energy at the same rate that I use it. It's a little painful but it keeps me going. Especially when under the hot lights for over twenty minutes. To make it worse, I was acting the part of a guy who had excessive energy. This was problematic. After the performance, I checked my weight and found that I lost about three kg.

Thursday was no better. Boring assembly, rehersal in hall during interval, Mr Attitude guy went overtime, nikau lipsyncing was late. However, I must admit that todays lip syncing was pretty awesome. On the plus side, I didnt have to do any more rehersals anymore! Yay! After school, I dumped my twenty kilogram bag in the drama room and got dinner from Subway.

Note to anyone who likes food: "Chicken and Bacon Ranch" from Subway is DIVINE. Especially if your in my position. I think it was the best thing I ate all week. Of course, it gave me enough energy to keep me alive. The problem arose when my drama performance began.

"Warning! Energy levels dangerously low! Conversion system inoperative due to lack of conversionable material!"

What did this mean? I means that all that Subway was used to repair all the damge that sustained during the week, also including physcological damage. I had used all the sustenance on staying alive a bit longer.

"Overriding security measures. Activating conversion system. Converting materials"

Screw the safety warning. Fortunately, I managed to get through my performance okay, but that wasnt without doing a less good job than Wednesday night. I crashed into bed and nearly threw my pillow at mum next morning when she wanted me to get up.

Friday was probably the best and worst day. It started great because I got an extra hour to sleep in! That meant an extra hour USING NO ENERGY! Probably not the most worthwhile thing since I was running on almost nothing already. Assembly got screwed up BIG TIME. As soon as I got to school, I was told that there was TWO assemblies - one was in the gym. Of course, they fortunately had a sound desk in the gym. However, once I got there, I found that some IDIOT had messed around with the sound desk and completely ripped it to shreds. I was about to fix it when Mr Merchant suddenly comes along and tells me not too, as he is sure that I am going to break it.

WHAT THE FRAK!!!!! I MEAN, COME ON! IM A FLIPPIN SOUND TECHNICIAN!!! FIXING THIS SORT OF THING IS MY JOB!!!! YOUR A P.E TEACHER WHO SPENDS HIS TIME RUNNING LAPS!!! WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS STUFF???

Ranting complete. In the end, I decided not to yell at him, but simply leave it and inform the dean that I couldnt get any sound gear for them because it was broken - beyond repair. (Look, if he wouldnt let me even attempt to fix it then there was no point in me fighting about it).

Fortunately, there was no rehersal in the hall during interval. Thank you God. You are awesome. Lunchtime was the Nikau Lipsyncing finals. I decided to skip 30mins of class and come early (Also to get some rest). Once everything was setup, we began and I have to admit, it was pretty cool. However, we just finished the final song and suddenly Mr Dykes comes onto the stage, rips a microphone from one of the MC's and says that everyone has to go to class. No, we could not find out who won even though this was the biggest event of the term (Screw mock exams) and no, we couldnt enjoy ourselves. He was booed off stage and bits of paper were thrown at him. In the end? We continued. STUDENT RIGHTS FTW!!!

The team that I had rehersed with all week didnt win, but I didnt really care. I just wanted a rest.

I got home, relaxed a bit, turned off the lights and went to bed early. A fly attempted to annoy me but I jammed him in the ranch slider door. I wasnt in a good mood. He isnt now, because he is dead.

And in the end?

"Energy levels normalising -  Restocking emergency reserves - Enacting repairs"

"Estimted final energy levels: Duration - three weeks"

Except I have mock exams this week.

Dammit.

This is a fact.

This image is a fact. It is literally my motivation for writing essays, and these upcoming exams certainly don't make it any easier. :(

Aiming for Zero

Now, that might seem like a dumb idea, but I actually have a worthwhile reason.

I'm REALLY wanting it to get to 0 degrees celcius. I prayed to God, and hopefully... Just hopefully...

I haz awesome future seeing skillz.

Why? Well, recently in Auckland, the weather has been going CRAZY. The wind recently picked up and I'm pretty sure that I saw someone go flying past my window. However, that isn't entirely relevant.

Actually, the relevant side to this story is how I predicted the change in weather, specifically, the movement of the snow. Yesterday on my Facebook Profile, I posted a status update 'asking' for the snow to move about 600km up the North Island from Wellington. Now, any fool who says that's around the Tauranga area, shut up. Your wrong. Get a map. It's Auckland. So, anyway, I get upstairs this morning, I eat my pie while reading the newspaper and on the front cover, it's all about the snow in Wellington.

LOL. Looks like they finally found a new use for wellies... Yea.. I know... ANYWAY. There was this little box predicting the continuing movement of the snowy weather and apparently it is going to hit the mountains in Auckland. Because I technically live on a mountain, does that include me? =D

I might be getting snow! Anyone want to come and toboggan down my driveway?

By the way, for those who got a map, now you know. I am right, you were wrong.

Cultural Night

Anyone who read my recent post would have been suprised (Or unsuprised, knowing me) to hear that I blew up the school hall.
Well, technically, I didn't blow it up. I just felt like ending on a good note. That's how I plan on ending today. Today has been such an epic DAY OF SUPA AWESOMENESS!!!

I woke up, had a shower (That wasnt so awesome, the water wasnt as warm as I usually like it) and then had breakfast. Wait, before school isnt really relevant.

EPIC TIME SKIPPING POWA ACTIVATE!

Okay, so we are now at Pakuranga College. Drama was pretty awesome. I was really worried though. We all start the lesson and Mrs Keith Kirk is all like: "I want to talk to Philip, Danny, Sylvester and Luke at the end". So we all freaked. Then she called me up halfway through the lesson and gave me my initial feedback from my assessment. I was a little worried, but then I saw that it said that I got Excellence! YAY FOR ME!

So, after that, I was pretty happy. Then I went to History... That kinda came and went, nothing special. Assembly was hilarious, we were trying to get the radios to work. Well, Josh and Izzy and Ibrahim were trying to get them to work. I just sat back and watched the chaos unfold as they learned was the "Squelch" control was. I learned a new meaning. I wish I didn't.

So then I had interval. That was alright, nothing special. DTI came up pretty quick and I worked alot in class there. I got really happy. I got so much signed off for my assignment. I think I got about five-8 marks done out of the 60 mark assignment(?). I had already done about thirty, so that made me happier!

After that, I went to Maths and in class, I had a very interesting debate with my class over the ability for someone to be both dead and alive at the same time. They said it wasnt possible. I invoked the theory laid down by Mr Erwin Shrodinger of the Shrodingers Cat Theory. By the way, I won.

So, lunch wasnt anything special. But I did find out what was going wrong with the books in the library and why it was such a mess. I discovered that by becoming a dictator and watching how all the student librarians put the books away, the level of accuracy rose about 80%!

Then I had English. Mooooving on.

After that, I came home and had KFC for dinner. That was really nice. I think that pretty much covers it. I HAD AN AWESOME DAY SO DON'T SCREW UP THE REST OF IT!

Cheerio.

When life gives you lemons.

Don't make lemonade.

Everyone has heard of the saying "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade". My question is, why make lemonade? I mean, there's so much more that you can do with lemons. You could make a lemon drink, which is a brilliant aid for when you have the flu. You can also create a lemon gun that fires the lemons!

"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons, what am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life's manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons!"

- Cave Johnson


Now that's a man who knows what he is doing. Alternatively, get someone to invent a combustible lemon which can be used to blow stuff up! (Would be brilliant for getting through the secutiy checks at the airpoirt.) If you could rearrange the DNA segments of a lemon and therefore make it explosive, then you should have no problem with this.


And that's just for lemons. Recently, I was asked to do all the live feed for Pakuranga College Cultural Night. Apply the principle here. When your given a job, make a solution.


I made a solution.


The school hall doesn't exist anymore.

"Lost" Explained

The TV series "Lost" can be summarised in four words:

"This island is dangerous!"

Summarisation complete.

Dungeon Siege 3 Review

First and foremost, let me say that I rate this game 8/10.

That's just for the people who want to get my idea out of the way quickly. Dungeon Siege 3 is actually by far my top game of the year. You'd ask: "What about Halo: Reach and Halo 3?" Well, that can be put to rest quickly. Halo: Reach came out last year. So that's my top 2010 game. Halo 3 I bought for the campaign and multiplayer, not to compete in my top lists (But it is there...)

Overview:
The game itself is VERY different to Dungeon Siege One and Two, that's something that everyone should know when they play the game. Apparently there are problems with the PC version but... yea, I have it on Xbox.
According to the storyline, DS3 takes place about one hundred and fifty to three hundred years in the future after DS1 and DS2. (Which makes sense to me). The 10th Legion has been blamed for the death of the King of Ehb (Awesome country, I'm gonna have my holidays there) and have been destroyed. A civil war now rages between Jeyne Kassynder, leader of this big almighty revolution, and the royalty who have been forced to retreat into Glitterdelve. As a last surviving Legion soldier, it's your job to fix everything. Makes sense, really.

Positives:
KILL KILL KILL! That's what the Dungeon Siege series has always been good at. You see an enemy and then you see alot. Mob hunting has been improved a heck-of-alot in Dungeon Siege 3 in comparison to DS1 and DS2. Your powers are alot more useful in battle and you can now duck and roll around to avoid the oncoming blows of your oversized opponent.

To be honest, I was actually expecting the game to suck on this level after hearing what some people thought about it at the E3 demo but I was actually quite amused at how I could constantly stun an opponent and then hack him, stun 'em, hack 'em, etc, which made it hilarious and quite fun.
Compared to Dungeon Siege 1 and 2, DS3 has far better graphics in the game and when added to the powers you use, can create some incredibly stunning effects.

The game also makes a heavy number of references to Dungeon Siege 1. This actually makes me very happy because I enjoy seeing them make jokes.

Negatives:
Oh, where to begin. While I love this game to bits, there are a large number of negatives which, at times, make me want to throw my controller at the screen and shout: "WHY!!!!!". Firstly, party size = 2. It seems to be a major problem for the game developers of Dungeon Siege to understand that large parties were a popular aspect of the Dungeon Siege franchise. The reducing of a maximum party size in Dungeon Siege 2 was very unpopular, so why did they implement it here? I miss the old days of DS1 where you had everyone gang up on a boss and you just watched the numbers reduce until it died. Dungeon Siege 3 insists that you have one partner in the game (Unless you go to Xbox Live multiplayer) who helps you do everything. You can switch that partner for any of the other two at any time (Assuming they have joined you). What I really want to see it Anjali set an enemy on fire while Katarina fires gunpowder into their chest while Lucas cuts them up all the while the mage guy (Can't remember his name, silly me) does... well, whatever the mage guy does anyway. (Honestly, he actually looks REALLY useless).

Probably the biggest fail this game ever had was the subsequent extinction of the Krug. They were so awesome and so hilarious that I just really wished that I would have had the opportunity to go and slaughter them again. One of the game trailers has two guys slaughtering Krug, so why can't the game have it? I DEMAND KRUG SLAUGHTERING!
The entire loot system for the game has changed completely. All gear is specific for four different playable characters and in most cases, it all looks the same. A reason that Dungeon Siege 1 and 2 was so popular was because of the level of customization. Infact, the game won't let you customize your appearance whatsoever. I find this so bad that it lost one point off of the final score (Which is actually quite major if you think about it).

Final Judgement:
The game is good. Worthy of my top game of the year lists. So I'll keep playing. Seriously, I actually haven't won yet. But I will.

Continuity Errors:
I figured that I might as well put this in.

Dwarfs: Dungeon Siege 3 clearly takes place after Dungeon Siege 1 and Dungeon Siege 2. In DS3, they state multiple times that dwarves are extinct. Yet in DS2, dwarves are considerably numerous and the game heavily references the "Glory" of Glitterdelve Mine. It seems incredibly unlikely that all dwarves are dead. The Utraean Peninsula should still have Dwarves, as well as the Glorydeep mine in Eastern Aranna.
The game states that the "Farmgirl" was acompanied by fourteen companions. DS1 only allows a maximum of eight characters in any given party AND DS3 makes no reference to packmules in the party.



Connections:
This will ONLY make sense if you have played right through Dungeon Siege One and read the backstory.
Sikra and Boryev are both Lescanzi. The whole travellers thing is just another name.
The mage who joins your party, he is a decendent of Grandmage Marik, a party member in DS1.
Lucas is the descendant of your main character in DS1. He is ALSO blood related to Katarina.
Ulora is an Azunite, very much like your character in DS2. She is also DISTANTLY related to the hero in DS2. You can't really figure this out unless you do deep digging in DS1, 2 and 3. START READING YOU LAZY PERSON.

Holiday Plan.

I have plans. Serious plans.

And that's all I am going to say.

Pirates of the Carribbean 4: On Incredibly Strange Tides with stranger crews

So last night, I went to go see Pirates of the Carribbean 4: On Stranger Tides. I have to fully admit, it was certainly an interesting movie.

Of course, this is Pirates of the Carribbean. Of course it has to be good. It's got pirates killing different pirates killing spaniards and British people (British People are funny)
Oh, and before I you continue reading, I suggest you adhere to the following statement:

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SERIOUS SPOILERS!!!

The film starts off with Jack Spar-... Wait... "Captain" Jack Sparrow in England posing as the judge for a trial where Mr Gibbs has been arrested on the crimes of piracy, etc. Sparrow saves him, they go running away and a hilarious battle scene begins. But, this is Pirates of the Carribbean. Hilarious fight scenes are everywhere.

While I do admit that alot of IDEAS were mostly original. Remember how Davy Jones had cannons on the front of his ship? Well, Captain Blackbeard has flamethrowers. I know, right? FLAMETHROWERS! WOOHOO! A big highlight of the movie is alot of the ideas behind things. I certainly must admit that I was not expecting mermaids to suddenly grow fangs and become carnivourous. That... was quite unexpected. Of course, there's always one silly girl who thinks "I'm different! Please don't hurt me!" And what happens? She gets caught. Sucks to be the cleric chap who gets caught in the crossfire, causing her to have a slightly less level of respect for him. Oh, and of course, they HAVE to fall in love, just like any other movie.

I think the most dissappointing thing about this movie was... Well, actually, there's quite a bit. Remember all those awesome side characters from the original trilogy? The short guy, the guy with a wooden eye and his friend... Ah, good times... Yea, they aren't here. Seriously. It's almost as if the director said: "Hey, let's make a new POTC movie and just keep the main characters. We'll introduce new characters with a very poor backstory which won't be explained very well". But that dratted monkey is still around. Only thing is that he has been minaturized and stuck in a wine bottle... With the rest of the Black Pearl (Whaaaaaat?) Apparently Blackbeard captured it... How he stuffed it in there I will never know.

The final topper is that apparently, Blackbeard likes to raise the dead in his spare time, as evident by the two zombies who seem to manage the crew on board. The final fight scene is extremely unrealistic. They go to all that trouble finding the fountain of youth, travelling through a very NARROW passage, only to have the Spanish come LATER and surround them ON ALL SIDES. How did they get in there? This sense makes not.

I have to say that my final verdict is a 6/10. It's quite simply, not like the original three and it probably would have been better to leave it at the end of the third one because the finale few scenes actually rounded it up VERY well in my opinion.

Portal 2

I believe that the best answer to your incessant wanton knowledge of my lack of blog posts over the previous unknown amunt of time can be summed up in one word (Or two if a one character number counts as a word): "Portal 2".

Having recently acquired this amazing Xbox 360 game, I quickly proceeded to play the heart out of it. Which, ironically, I did. I am quite satisfied in reaching the stage where I have completed all of the single player achievements. Thats right. All single player achievements = mine.

I have a sense of pride about that. I would quote some random historical figure, or poke fun at my friends who still lack this trait but I would rather direct you to my next goal in gaming. Dungeon Siege 3.
I really cannot wait until this comes out. Seriously.

Until next I type. Farewell..

P.S: I also changed a few colours around... But that shouldn't be such a big deal to you.

P.P.S: I also have a new favourite word! "Relativistically". It's like, "Realisitic" and "Logically" combined to form a completely illogical word. Believe me, it exists. Search it up on google.

Phyco Fanaticism

What an interesting subject line. By now, you've probably already asked yourself what the heck am I talking about.
No?
Oh, well, you'll soon understand.

The phycological impacts which we impart on ourselves are actually alot bigger than most people give credit for. Infact, their even bigger when imparted on other people. Their massive on young children, but thats mostly because they assume that because your bigger and older that your more intelligent (Doesn't say much about the people who ditch school at the first opportunity)

Here's a prime example. Did you know that if your head is covered, that the rain does not affect you as much? Your hands, your arms, your legs, could get wet. But ultimately, it comes down to how much water is streaming down your face and has clogged up the wax in your hair (I don't use wax, thank the lord almighty)
This has a profound affect on your speed at which you move through the rain. Of course, its an absolute myth that you get more wet by running through the rain. You actually acquire more water by staying in the rain for longer, A.K.A, walking in the rain.

Maybe thats why people like the dance in the rain...

Another profound thing that I have discovered is that, generally speaking, most people prefer it when someone does a multitude of small good things for someone rather than one large good deed, this also does not affect the distance between the small good deeds, but rather the fact that it was done. I mean, obviously, its a big deal if you stop someone from getting killed, but thats besides the point. COMPLETELY BESIDES THE POINT SO DONT ARGUE!

There's actually also a load of other things that you should notice about other people. If your primary hand is your right hand (You write with your right hand? Thats your primary hand. Its opposite if your left handed) then typically when moving forward, your twice as likely to move to the right for any given reason. Say your in a game and you come to a crossroad that divides into going left or right. Your 25% more likely to take the route on the right despite the fact that there is no difference in route. This, of course, applies in a multitude of situations such as when approaching someone on the street.

Unless. of course, their ambedextrious. Then they always get confused. Funny aye...

It's these small things which not many people take notice of. But hey, knowledge is power. So you just gained a +1 in intelligence for your character by reading this blog entry. Feel proud? I do. I like stats. They make everything make sense...

Social Outings

If there is one thing that I have never been adept at, it is Social Outings. That whole idea of getting together as a group to discuss previously set topics on a set date has never been something that I am good at.
Infact, the extent of my social outings limit to school and church. Otherwise I stay at home by myself keeping to myself and doing things that only I know.

By the way, if you hear anything about nukes going off in the next few days... ignore it.

Anyway, I figured that I might as well bring to attention the whole point as to why, as humans go, we crave social connections. Well, I certainly dont. Indeed, I could spend years in peaceful UNINTERRUPTED solitude all by myself and I wont go insane. But then again, the definition of insanity is only logistical in the eyes of the beholder. Einstein once said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Since I won't actually be doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, I guess that means that I wouldnt be insane.
I suppose it all probably has something to do with the need for talking and not being a loner. After all, society dictates that the loner is the 'uncool' person and therefore, they are an outcaste. So, logically that means that we dont want to be excluded. The whole idea just doesnt compute (Despite the fact that I like being by myself... It gives me peace and quiet... mostly) I suppose in some ways that could mean that I am a direct opposite of society... The lone one, destined to be different.

Sweet. At least I have something to be proud about. =)
But I have to admit, it always has sparked my greater side of curiousity... I've always been fascinated by peoples way of engaging in conversation. The whole idea of shaking hands no longer happens, rather a unique 'greeting' each person has usually dicates who they are and how much people are going to hold a distaste for them in the ensuing conversation.

It's always been fascinating for me. I know of a few odd people (One who lives near Horrible Hamilton) who appears to be quite different to the social norm. I could probably mention the names of a few others, but they'd probably come barreling down my back.

Big things would be coming my way. Large, heavy big things. Probably desk chairs. Or tiny small needle like devices called pens.

But, as I have always said, social outings simply arent my thing.

Growing Pains

Have any of you ever experienced back pain? I think it's likely. Apparently statistics say that by the time the average person reaches 17, they have felt pain at least once in all parts of their body. Yep, even your eyebrows get tired. And stop hurting your little toe! How would you like it if you hurt your toe from all that running? Tut Tut...

It's quite a fascinating statistic actually. But it can probably be explained quite easily thanks to "Growing Pains". But then again, growing pains never stop. Once you get past the physical ones, you then get the mental ones from overly difficult school work and excessively annoying peers. I can name a few, but I shall choose to not to because I have my serious doubts that they would see any funny aspects in this post.
Well, it's going to be hilarious for me. Sometimes I just find stupid things funny. Yea...

I've discovered that on an average trend, the new year nines at any school, Pakuranga College in particular, are downright annoying, sometimes repulsive and in the worst cases, have excessively bad tastes. I've witnessed some pretty bad things coming from a select few and all I can say is that for now, I'm staying off Youtube.

I've also discovered why. Well, thats because
A: Society is teaching them things that they should NOT be learing AT ALL until they are a minimum age of 15. Seriously. I turn up to school one day early in the year and theres a group of year nines already having everyone pair up with a brand new girlfriend and boyfriend. I don't think most people quite realise that a Boyfriend/Girlfriend is meant to be that special someone, though, not a person you can make out with at any random interval when you get the chance and the teacher happens to not be looking (Or they are looking and they just don't care)
B: Most of them come from Intermediate School where they were Year 8. Yup. Top of the school. Now in Year 9 they are at the bottom and they don't exactly enjoy the idea of giving up power and being of the ruling class. I mean, come on, two on the first day back at school told me to give them a grand tour of the school. They werent asking where any specific rooms were, they practically wanted me to help them out throughout the whole day, doing their work and carrying their bags. Heck no.

But otherwise, school is pretty good. I'm practically student head of anything that is IT related. Yay! I control the power grid. Follow my orders and you wont lose your precious five minutes laptop batteries... Actually, I'm kidding. Despite knowing how to operate the darn thing, I don't have access to the schools power grid... Yet.

I was considering creating a Anti-Annoying-Person Union. The only problem is that it would be a legal requirement for everyone to not find anyone else in the group annoying. I guess that would probably leave out several year nines. Actually, that might work.

I have plans. Plans within plans, that are also embedded into other plans. Sometimes, it's all just totally worth it for the sake of it. Oh, and enjoy this hilarious Youtube Clip I found. (Yea, I know I said I was staying off Youtube, but that was technically three days ago)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgn6g2dCxC8

That Image Thingy

I figure I feel like explaining that big massive oversized image that heads the (near) top of my blog. It's basically the whole understatement of what this blog is for.

Actually, that isn't true. I just like the design. =P

I'll start from Left to Right. The big green armour wearing man with the weapon is John-117. A.K.A: Master Chief from the popular Xbox Title: Halo. He's awesome. Kills Covenant and Flood as easily as baking Pie. I like pie. Below his iconic figure is a minecart from Minecraft. Now, I know that part of it appears missing, but that's a glitch because it's actually stuck inside the cobblestone wall. I figured that since the game is called Minecraft, and you can have minecarts in it... Why not go place a minecart there somewhere?

To the right of Master Chief is the grand can of Coke. Which has it's own minor role in the title "Life and the Universe in a Can"... lol. I like Coke. Sprite is okay, L&P tastes pretty bad and the smell of alcohol is pretty much living death. So I haven't ever had alcohol. The smell puts me REALLY off...

The little blue guy with the awesome hat and the twin guns over his shoulders and the smug smile is my avatar in Spore: Galactic Adventures. The Species is Zeyus. I was going for Andromeda, but I had already done that and the design wasn't to my liking as much as the creatures from Planet Siegon. Heck, I even wrote a whole story about how the entire planet was destroyed by the Grox because they were actually capable of defeating them and how one lowly captain on the other side of the galaxy survived, now doomed to roam the stars as a freelance agent for the highest bidder until one day he became so strong he was able to get to the Galactic Core before the Grox could stop him.

<_<
>_>

Moving on...
Radiation Sign. That's a warning to everyone. The infomation in this blog has the risk of blowing your mind. Might not be the most appropriate sign, but I had the oppotunity to put something there. So I did.
The car you see is an Aston Martin DB9. I want that car. With that paint job. Hate it all you want, but I like it.
Below the car is a Saracen Barracks from the classic awesome award winning still alive game Age Of Empires 2. Yell at me all you want for still enjoying this game but I like it. =P

To the right is the game Dawn of War - Dark Crusade. Not the greatest game I have played, but still an enjoyable one. I do like commanding tiny armies that smash massive ones. Mua ha ha ha! Yes, I am actually that skilled.

Then your probably wondering who the woman with the smirk and the massive flaming sword is. Well, she technically has two names. The first is LITERALLY "Farmgirl" if you play Dungeon Siege 1. If you play Dungeon Siege 2, her name is changed to "Eva" and it turns out she's a princess and has a real good sword arm. Not sure what part she will play in Dungeon Siege 3, but hey, she WILL be there, even if the name changes.

Well, that about wraps it up. I'm going to do some wrapping of presents now. It's my mums birthday tomorrow... =)

Life. What more could you need?

It's interesting.

Well, maybe for me. Most people find my ramblings to be completely illiterate and boring. It's like talking to one of my... errr... 'friends'... wait. No... 'Associates' in my Drama class whom happens to hate everything in existence. He is insistent of the fact that I have horrible grammar.

Big deal. This is my blog, so what happens is what I say. Woot.

ANYWAY, back on topic. I've always found it to be considerably interesting to work out why living forever is a brilliant idea, but then you get the deeper points and suddenly find that it's gonna suck. Alot.

So I figured, why not break it down? After all, your all here reading this. Either that, or you stumbled here from another dimension. I like the dimension idea better.

The whole idea of living forever can be kinda cool. You could get away with doing anything you wanted. After all, you have the time and since you spent so much money learning how to become immortal, you probably also have the money. You could do anything at all. Take on dangerous tasks, clean up on high yield long term investments and generally outlive the heck out of everybody.

But even the joys of immortality can't last forever. Think about it, after a while, all your friends would simply start to die around you, so you'd only bother to know people for what would actually become quite a short time after a while. Eventually, the years will turn to what feels like months, then weeks, then whole days. The mere idea of when you were born would appear... non-existent.

Oh well. At least life is good enough as it is now. The whole world appears to be heading to a big idealism behind supporting democracy. Just look at the Middle East. Might be run by buffoons such as the Libyan problem, but hey, life is life.

I like life.

I also like pie.

I think I might have also killed the dinosaurs, but that's another story...

No. Seriously. Just No.

I remember some time ago, when the world was full of lush green grass, the trees looked brighter, the campfire was warmer and the animals were at peace.

Then Winston Peters became the head of NZ First.

In my personal opinion, that party is more like NZ Last. Wait, no, not even last. Someone give me an adjective or noun for being worse than last.
Regardless, the guy did a pretty bad job of doing things 'right'.
He lied to the press.
He wanted to let Maoris have free unrestricted access to Universities (So, if a maori failed 100% at school, they could still go to Uni)
He wanted money.
He had a funny oversized sign that had a large "No" Printed on it.
He loved talking to the press.

Anyway, the moron really screwed things up for us. It was a great celebration that occured when we found out that he was kicked out of parliment, his party not far behind. He even said that he was no longer going to be an MP. That and he had no discussions with the press to make concerning this development.
Three slight problems.
He's back.
He's talking to the press.
He's still a moron.

I'd consider writing a letter. But then he'd probably do something like hire the Mongrel Mob to break my computer. I like my computer. I can write emails on it.

In conclusion of this: No. Winston Peters, just NO. Go away. We don't like you. Seriously. U R BAD.

Now for No Number Two.

Which will come later. Stay tuned. I can assure you that something positive will eventually be typed by me which relates to politics.... Well, most likely anyway.

Maintaining the Balance between Old and New

As most people know these days, anything that has been around for a year is now technically classified as being 'out of date'.
Take the Ipod 2G. Once it was the pinnacle of 'modern' technology. Now its incompatible with 90% of the latest apps from the Itunes Store.
But taking this into account, upgrades are always possible.

The Velociraptor, once the strongest predator of the planet, now dead and gone due to becoming out of date thanks to time. Now, equip it with the latest smartphone and you've got a deadly killer on the loose.
Sounds rediculous, right? Rediculously insanely awesome more like!

On the other hand, sometimes upgrading isnt the best idea. Generally something one should into account is the fact that Old School Technology just WONT break. I've got a small analogue TV sitting on a table about five meters from my bed on the other side of a wall (sad). Greatest thing about it is that it simply continues to work considering that its about twenty years old. If not older.
But why replace it? Well, thats easy. Simply because TVNZ is switching off Analogue broadcasts and is only sending out Digital in the future.

So, we got a brand new Samsung TV. Digital recieving. Works brilliantly.

So, choosing whether or not to upgrade is your decision. In some cases, the problem is money, but gaining money is a subject upon which will be discussed at a later date.
Alternatively, you could get your friends to get it for you for Christmas or as a Birthday Gift.

Thats what I do. =P

Vanicus Progress

This Blog Update is completely unrelated to the rest of the universe. You can ignore it as you see fit.

Anyway, progress of Vanicus is making substantially good results. Here's some photos of the work that's been done.

Durrans Wharf - http://ductorphil.deviantart.com/art/Durrans-Wharf-Mark-1-192952851
Market Stall Pack - http://ductorphil.deviantart.com/#/d36vmok
Wall Pack - http://ductorphil.deviantart.com/#/d36vmj6
Bridge - http://ductorphil.deviantart.com/#/d36vlde
House Set - http://ductorphil.deviantart.com/#/d36vk3h
House Compilation - http://ductorphil.deviantart.com/#/d36vjjt