English – Page 62 – Cubilone's Dimension

Is more less?

A few days now I’ve returned to Mytilini. Leaving Athens was strange… 17 days wasn’t quite enough to enjoy. I wanted more! But if I had stayed any more I would have missed my uni registration renewal! So eh. Highlights of my last days around were my and Alex’s second visit to the Planetarium, going to the theatre to watch a great play called “Η Κατσαρίδα” and of course my birthday. My birthday! Not only was it a great night with 6 of my close and very close people, I got great presents! Yes, presents! Do you really expect me to be tactful and not mention them? Hah! Fat chance. Alexandra gave me a HUUUGE scarf -a bit more than 3 metres in length- she knitted for me herself, and that on its own is one of the sweetest, most thoughtful and overall best presents ever. It’s a bit difficult to wear in everyday situations, and I do look a queerer than usual wearing it but I know it’s going to be great for stragazing nights for two… George got me a Super Nintendo with 2 games, Super Mario All Stars and Donkey Kong Country, which is great. I lost my old Super Nintendo at an unspecified time, so it’s fantastic that once again I can feel how it was… And even buy games I didn’t own! Thank you George for taking me back to the past… Nefeli got me a soundtrack of a movie I’ve wanted to watch for some time, that is “2046”. I still haven’t listened to the album or watched the movie, but once I do I’ll listen to the OST as well. The guys in Mytilini got me Pikmin 2, a rare game that I’ve wanted for a long time. A big thank you to them as well. And the last present was…

In association with mum, Martin, dad and Vasso, each (including myself) chipping in €100, we got me a present the way I’ve never had a present before. Everybody co-operated, and in the end I was able to get my hands on my new wonderful Olympus E-510. I got it from a guy who got it as a prize in a competition but didn’t want it so he was selling it cheap, almost €150 less than retail. I couldn’t miss it: An 18-42mm lens, a 50-150 one, and an extra expense for carrying bag, mini tripod and ultra-fast 1GB CF card. Owning a DSLR just like this is no easy task, especially when my only previous experience is from compact cameras. But I’ll work hard and learn how to use it well! Expect good pictures. *vanity*

For the first time in some months, these days I’ve been feeling kind of… anxious. Restless. I feel like I have so many things I want to do but there’s so little time in my disposal. I’ll take a detailed look at what I want to achieve in the near future (maybe it will help me relax):

	It’s come to a point now that it’s almost shameful that I don’t know the german language fluently. Last year, I started learning on my own… I got distracted in less than 2 months, and haven’t much got involved since. I’m now trying to revise what I hope I haven’t forgot during this past short year. My goal is to have finished the first half of Themen 2 by summer.
	April 2007. I got my Bass Guitar then, aiming to finally learn how to play this instrument that I so love. I also aspired to learn a bit of music theory on the way, if I could. Today, almost a year leater, I haven’t progressed much. I have a good book and the internet in my disposal though, and I want to have the foundations clear first. My realistic goal is to be able to read sheet music for the bass guitar by summer. This is a bit confusing because I can read sheet music on the treble clef since I was little and played flute/clarinet. I’ll have to avoid adjusting my knowledge by learning the Bass clef through the Treble Clef and learn it as a completely seperate entity. It can’t be that hard, can it? Also I want my technique to improve, of course.
	This semester in the Cultural Tec waters seems particularly demanding. Creating a Flash movie that’s to be used by a mobile device for touring in an archeological site from scratch, learning how to use Premiere again (4 years ago I made Krama using it), keeping in touch with all the subjects and making sure that I can do all the projects and essays. I feel it can be kinda difficult because my only availabe partners in group projects are Garret and Mordread. Garret is keen but lazy and Mordread is lazy period. I’m lazy too but that’s the thing, I want to get myself involved! Will I make it? Last semester was a huge success, but only for the subjects that I did sit for. That is, around half of the lot.
	A huge piece of work, just like all other japanese RPGs, Lost Odyssey just begs for some more of my time. And the moral question of how much it should have is still unanswered. I’m still extremely early in the game.
	There are some people out there that are ready to beat me up because I prefer Viva Pinata over Lost Odyssey at this point. I can give them four reasons for this: Rare, Grant Kirkhope, Sandbox game, addictive-as-crack game. I won’t count ultra-cutesy as an argument cause that will scarcely save me any beating. I’m joining the ranks of gamers that are so ashamed of liking this it drives their love for it hotter.
	His Dark Materials. Only through rereading it can I understand how grand this trilogy really is. I first read it in greek about 5 years ago. I recently got all three books in english in a single hardcover tome and I want to finish it as soon as possible, while at the same time savouring it. Right now I’ve almost finished Northern Lights, yes the one that was recently turned to a pretty blah christmas blockbuster under the name of The Golden Compass. Also, check My Space and see if you agree that my daemon should be a snow leopard. It’s cool and appropriate, right? Hurry, you’ve got 10 days left!
	This series is great. I want to watch more! And I will!
	Alex gave me the complete Black Adder saga and I can’t wait to see it all! I’ve only watched 2 eps but I liked ’em and it’s obvious that the best is yet to come!
	For the next week or so, students from the rest of the Aegean Uni islands will be coming to Mytilini. There’s a community site for students of the Aegean Uni, that is my.aegean.gr. Its goal is to unify the different depts and parts of the university. One of them will stay at my place for a few days. I have no idea when he’ll be coming and what we’ll be doing with the rest of the team, but I expect it’s going to be all good. The only problem is that it’s going to throw me a bit off from all the above.

That’s about it. There’s loads of other things I still have in mind, like how I’m going to get by with my purposefully lowered monthly allowance or what other games, movies or outtings I can fit in all this mess. Not to mention more mundane obligations, like housekeeping, bills etc. If lifepoints came with such “achievements”, how many points would each feat get?

In the words of the Angry Video Game Nerd:

So much shit, so much shit, here we go!

Postscripts: Listen to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 II. Allegretto and Sylvan’s Artificial Paradise. Musical masterpieces in their own right.

A little piece of February

Sunday, February 24th 2008. My location: Dad’s and Vasso’s place in Aegina. We came here yesterday with Alex (it was a good opportunity for her to see the island and meet the owner’s of the house!), but she left an hour ago so that she could catch her choir practice session.

It’s been 9 days since I returned to Athens for February. This month is chock-full of celebrations. On the 1oth was George’s birthday. On the 14th was mum’s birthday. I missed both because of the weather’s annoying shifts of mood and general exam obligations but I didn’t miss my chance and by the 15th I was back in Attica. Most of my first few days were (well) spent with Alex, who stayed at my place a few nights. We watched Sweeney Todd at the cinema the first night, brilliant movie by the way, excellent clash of horror and musical, and the second night we went to Taj Mahal, the place Savi’s currently working at, with Alex, George and Elena. Nargile, drinks and even munchies for us all came from buddy Savi who treated us the lot. We thank you again! That night it also started snowing…

The next few days were dedicated to enjoying the Reign of White that took us all by such great surprise. Till Savi’s birthday, that is the 18th, and the day after, Athens and of particular interest, Nea Smyrni were as white as I never remember seeing them. Okay, I kind of missed the great snow of 2002 and the 2004 one lasted for just one day, but still. Streets frozen, plants all suddenly bearing the same bright appearance, a searing pain in the hands every time you tried to make a snowball with no gloves, going to Syntagma Sq, realising that it’s only you and your friends and only a few other (probably nice and interesting) people at the square, and then playing with the white stuff and watching it fall, denser and denser, more and more intrusive, more beautiful by the second. And oooh the chill, ooooh the cold. That’s what I call a flash whiteout! I took many pictures of us and the world but they will have to wait till I get back to my island home.

Then there was the Planetarium… Me and Alex enjoyed a documentary there about flight and a show about how violent the universe is, how the destructive nature of its components make the recycling of the stars’ lives possible (through novas, supernovas etc) or how great events like the collision of a newly formed planetoid with Earth during the earlier stages of its life, apart from almost turning our planet to space dust, created the moon and tilted the Earth’s axis to the place it is today -23.5 degrees from being perfectly vertical to its orbital plane- and thus created such seemingly unique phenomena as our yearly cycle of seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter. Climate change is showing a tendency of screwing this balance up but more is yet to be seen, let’s hope in the right direction. That night was also the night of the total lunar eclipse… The moon, only illuminated by the red beams that aren’t filtered by the Earth’s atmosphere, looked like a giant peach or christmas tree ball hanging in the sky. In fact, under this dim light it looked more like a satellite than usual, more like an actual celestial body than just a bright light. It was pretty.

These days I’ve also been watching Heroes, the TV series about superheroes which is actually pretty awesome, and re-reading His Dark Materials. I love this book (books)! Last week I also got 3 games for 50 euros, 2 of them used: I got Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Rare’s first game for non-Nintendo machines in a long time, Beyond Good and Evil, a game everybody knows is good but few have played and Viva Pinata (I bought that one new). I’m just so curious to see how they play. Oh and erm… My very own birthday is right around the corner and I’ve been thinking about how to celebrate. Alex had this great idea of having friends at home and just relaxing! It’s amazing how it’s an idea on its own, I had almost forgot/ruled out automatically the option of staying in with pizzas, drinks and games almost completely! Now let’s see who will be able to come and what presents I may receive. It’s possible I’ll get a DSLR camera, but I’m still researching prices and honing my diplomacy skills with my parents. But if no camera does fall into my hands, a nice Go board would do just fine, I fell in love with this game ever since Cies, the dutch guy who hosted me in Rotterdam, played it with me. “It was a gift to us by the gods” indeed.

This next week I’ll be around looks interesting and eventful. I can’t wait to have a good time with everyone. As usual, I’m missing Mytilini a little bit but when I get back there I’m going to miss Athens, or more like the people that live in Athens, my folks. But why is it that we only want what we can’t have?

They say that true happiness doesn’t come from having what we want but rather from wanting what we have.

Distractable!

Roughly 10 days after Alex left Mytilini (she stayed for a week, Alex you’re wonderful), things are mostly quiet. I play Bioshock, games on the Xbox Live Arcade (mostly Geometry Wars, Every Extend Extra Extreme and Castlevania) and watch Heroes. I’m also having my winter exams! YAY! Nay. I’ve sat for 2 subjects (perfect scores I believe), skipped another 2, and study very little. I honestly don’t know how I manage… But I do. The more interesting subjects are yet to come. I’ll gladly study History of Art, especially with the really interesting — unlike the lectures themselves — book we’ve been given. Times of hungry have come and gone, I lost my wallet AND my mobile phone last week but found them both in the end. I think I’m having fun, I think it’s all cool. Taking it nice and slow, relaxed, having teapots of Earl Grey or this strange but delicious rose and ibiscus concoction Alex left me two bagfulls of daily. But still not studying at all nor doing any German, which is truly regrettable… Next week the action returns to homecity Athens!

Oh, check out my freshly written Who is Cubilone? section. I’d like anyone who’s up for it to help me fill it up by commenting. I’ll then take their comment and fix the main post. How do you feel about me? How would you describe me? What have I omitted (there’s loads, I know) that you’d like to chuck in? 🙂

10 years since Christmas 1997 – A N64 Tribute (Part 3)

It’s been more than a month since my initially planned one-off of a tribute was last updated… I guess it’s high time for another 3 games that marked my childhood! Here goes:

13. Diddy Kong Racing

I know, I know. Some of you, when you see this, will be like: “you’ve got to be fucking with me… ANOTHER RARE GAME? It’s the third one in a row, not to mention Banjo-bleeding-Tooie!” All of you naysayers, believe me… It won’t end here. But I’ll rid you from this company for a while… You’ll only see them again in my Top 5. 🙂

Diddy Kong Racing was a must-have for me from even before I actually got my N64. I played all of the Donkey Kong Countrys on SNES the pretty long year of 1997 and the same year managed to turn me into a fan of all things Kong except for the monarchic one. I thought at first that the game would feature more Kongs than just Diddy. It took me a year to find out that that was not the case. Diddy Kong Racing was a kart game, a lot like Mario Kart, just with Rare characters. It’s funny how almost none of the characters apart from Diddy Kong himself and the featured Kremling had appeared in any game before DKR. Banjo appeared, but he hadn’t appeared in any game yet. In fact, Rare used DKR to promote Banjo just a bit before releasing Banjo-Kazooie: DKR was released in 1997 while Banjo-Kazooie in 1998. I got it in October 1998, after I had played and loved Banjo-Kazooie, so I liked that Banjo was in the game.

Aaaaanywhooo. Diddy Kong Racing, while oftentimes compared to Mario Kart 64 and rightfully so, was actually a game of very different scope. For starters, it was the first game of its type, that is cartoony kart game, to have a story/adventure mode which was actually pretty similar to Super Mario 64’s breakthrough idea of incorporating a hub world and a non-linear progression in the game through the means of obtaining golden balloons- – you can call me Power Stars. Games like Crash Team Racing used the exact same formula after DKR and are, due to them generally more popular game, mistakenly deemed as the creators of this system. There were a few worlds, like Dino World, Beach World or Ice World (they did not have such generic names but my memory fails me) and each had a few normal courses you could race in just like any other kart game. But it also had boss stages, where you raced against the boss of each world to rightfully “complete” it (though you always had to go back to each world for some more balloon hunting). Each world also had some battle modes you had to complete to get final access to the real final boss stage (which could grant you access to a 5th, secret world if you had enough balloons by then) and also tournaments, not unlike Mario Kart’s Cups.

The game was just so refreshing and polished. The graphics were great, the racing system was fantastic, what with the 3 different vehicles you could choose from (kart, hovercraft, plane) which by the way hasn’t really appeared in any games since then, the challenge to get the better times in the later courses, the awesome music which is standard in all Rare games… Diddy Kong Racing was a very fun game, had great multiplayer, had lots of secrets here and there that just make these kinds of games and was really a necessary addition to a Rare fan’s collection. Still is actually. Too bad the recent DS port/remake doesn’t really do the 1997 classic justice.

12. Paper Mario

(WARNING. SPOILERS IN THE VIDEO ABOVE)

Paper Mario was one of my last games for my Nintendo 64. I was already almost 13 years old when I played it (November 2001) and was, after Pokemon, my first RPG. I don’t know how I should take this now, having a mario game as my RPG kickstarter does feel kind of weird but then again back then my first PC was less than 3 months old and having been a Nintendo-only gamer for years I had missed many other good games for the PlayStation and computer. So perhaps it’s a suitable title. After months of dad pestering to order the game from Amazon, I managed to get him into buying it for me for my nameday. And it happened at the perfect time. One day before getting my hands on the game, I had an acciden at school where I cracked one of my right big toe’s bones. This is the closest I’ve ever been to breaking a bone, by the way… It was enough for me to stay home for a couple of days because walking was not advised, and what better time than then to start a game like Paper Mario!

This unique RPG, although not being the first Mario RPG (the first one being Super Mario RPG for the SNES, developed by Squaresoft and unreleased in Europe) was the one that launched the in-house Nintendo Mario RPG line. Mario & Luigi, Paper Mario and Super Paper Mario, which are newer games, all belong to this line. Its characteristics: 2-D sprites that look like they’re made out of paper in a 3-D world (2.5-D to be precise), a turn-based battle system which doesn’t have random battles, that is you actually see each enemy before battling and you can strike first (by jumping on or hammering) or be striken which defines who plays first. The story? Bowser gets his hands on the Star Rod, a fairy rod which grants any wish its wielder makes. Mario has to rescue the 7 Star Spirits that control the power of the rod so that he can reverse the rod’s power and defeat Bowser, whose wish (typically) grants him with virtual invincibility. Oh, did I mention that he abducted the Princess in the process? To be precise, he lifted the whole CASTLE from its foundations, trapping her inside her castle which he keeps afloat.

In his usual quest to save Peach, Mario encounters many familiar faces, including Toads or whole races and towns of baddies that in earlier games were just, erm, baddies. You know, they only served the purpose of staining Mario’s shoes with their blood. But no, in this game Mario has a Goomba fan (nevermind Mario could have slain his entire family), meets a whole family of Koopas, gets a pink Bob-omb , visits a Yoshi Village, and more. A lot of these characters join the party so at the end of the game Mario ends up with 7 party members through out of which he can pick one to have as a companion in and out of battles at any time. This gives quite a bit of depth to the game as each party member has a different personality and point of view of how you progress in the game, not to mention different abilities in the adventure or during battling. What is also interesting is the use Badges, which now kind of reminds me of Materia from Final Fantasy VII. It’s the same, only that Mario has certain Badge Points and each badge, that is ability or feat, costs a certain amount of BP. After every Level Up, Mario can choose whether to upgrade Hit Points, Flower Points or Badge Points.

Paper Mario is a good way to spend 20-25 hours. Its humour, loveable characters, great dialogue from classic Nintendo heroes and refreshing battle system make me want to buy this game off Virtual Console right now! I guess I will at some point.

11. Mario Kart 64

Oh, Mario Kart 64… Whenever I think of this game I get mixed feelings. It was one of my first games, the third one to be exact (I got it for my 9th birthday yay!), but whenever I think of it I remember my grandmother. She died not long after I first got it… End March 1998. I remember playing it at her place and her laughing at how the characters, when they got a mushroom/speed boost, burst fire from their asses! It’s a sweet memory. She was like a mother to me back then and I miss her… *sniffle* 🙁 Anywho, back to the game.

Mario Kart 64 is the second Mario Kart game and I came to own it mere months after I had got my dirty hands on the 1992 showstopper. It improved on its predecessor by featuring more items, 3-D tracks (which are all original) and an even awesomer soundtrack than the first game. You must have realised by now that music is a big factor for me, and it can even turn a great game into a stuff-of-legends game. Inclusion of 4 player mutliplayer was also a great hit and I remember just how much I used to play it with Kostas, Manolis and Aldo. Battle Mode especially, Block Fortress! Bring it on!!! It had high production values, great tracks with many secrets each (I still can’t believe how long it took me to realise that the Whomp in Bowser’s Castle could not be freed) and shortcuts. While the game might not have aged well at all (I haven’t played it since forever) mainly due to the newer instalments of the franchise impoving on the gameplay in many ways, it still remains in my heart as the best Mario Kart yet and was initially very disappointed with its sequel, Double Dash, for the GameCube. Fortunately, the 2-player co-op mode saved that one…

Here’s a particularly good ad I found of the game that aired in Japan!

World of Nylon

After watching this (watch it. Like, now) particulary well-made and enlighting flash movie a few weeks ago, not that I hadn’t thought about our wasteful nature as a species before [certainly not], I started observing how careless people are when it comes to plastic and especially packing and bags. I tried counting how many plastic bags I received in one day, and the number was somehow higher than my purchases in the same day. I recently read that 11.000.000 plastic bags (I have no idea about their mean size) are used each day in Greece alone. Using this number of bags you’d be able to encircle the earth many times. This figure is enormous, just imagine the kind of volume 11.000.000 full plastic bags can take, for a lot of those are used for garbage disposal purposes after shopping with them. Plastic does not biodegrade, so if anything is within the bag that actually does, it will not since it will stay in the bag. That breaks the circle of carbon, one of the environment’s most important bases of structure. You get plastic bags everywhere, just try to think of ONE shop that doesn’t use them. If you did manage to think of one, congratulations, but it is the exception that proves this rule. It would be nice if we started seeing more reuseable bags people can buy or even paper bags, which are recyclable. But of course there IS no way to recycle paper in Mytilini. But that’s a different story.

Secondly, there’s just so much stuff when it comes to packages apart from the product. I opened the box my motherboard came in and every little accessory and thingie came in its own plastic wrapping or bag. And every accessory and every part I got had its own little plastic packages and bags. And every thing you ever buy has its own little plastic package that won’t melt before your grandchildren’s grandchildren write down their wills. It’s pathetic. The world is filling with more and more plastic every day. What are we going to do with all the stuff? Oceans are filling with it, land is, our homes are… It’s just crazy. I really hope that at some point there will be a collective realisation of how wasteful it is to use plastic wrappings, bags or just plastics in general in such quantities…

A tribute to Bubble Bobble and my first steps in gaming

I was re-reading this MySpace blog post I had written about Bubble Bobble and my gaming roots, and I really liked how it sounded. I thought it would be really nice having it here as well, it’s the post which first gave me the idea of having a more permanent blog so I’m copying it onto here. This was originally written on December 5th 2007, one of the days I was playing a lot of BB with Mario.

I was writing a huge blog entry, detailing what my November was like, and how I feel about the forthcoming Christmas. Yes, one wrong keypress and all of my time went in vain… And why is all this I wrote POSTDATA? Can Tom answer me this simple question? Eh? AND WHO THE HELL HAD THIS FANTASTIC IDEA OF HAVING BACKSPACE AS A SHORTCUT FOR BACK?!

I can’t be bothered to write it again, so I guess you’ll read a really huge blog entry from me some other time. Or perhaps I should start a more permanent blog at some site? Hm, why not… It’s not like I haven’t been feeling the waves of inspiration flowing through me as of late. But then again, why should I share this inspiration with you? Maybe I shouldn’t! *trick question*

Anyway, I soon plan on posting a tribute to N64, in a few weeks 10 years will have gone by since I got my little kiddy hands on the thing. And gaming never was the same again for me. Speaking about gaming and matters concerning the whole universe being permanently altered, yesterday and today Mario and me blew through Bubble Bobble, a super classic for me and perhaps the first game I ever played and finished (credit goes to Shaman Alex for the help back then *hi-5*, if he ever reads this. :P)

My first contact with gaming was on an Atari 2600 that I barely remember, and my real first contact with games that I clearly remember was in Australia in 1993, when some kids of a friend of my dad’s played Super Mario Bros. I think I played as well, but seeing how it was my first time with a controller, I failed miserably. Yes I know, other people finished the same game at the same age. Shortly thereafter (or what would appear shortly in a child’s eyes) ,it was a pseudo-NES my dad bought for me. The games it had: Bubble Bobble and 83 games in one. And I remember the first time my dad showed me how to play the game. After that?

It may have been the bubbly bobbly intro screen, the cutesy dinosaurs that made such a weird face when they died, the huge array of different goodies and their “mysterious powers” (it was awesome when a cross appeared on the screen… Now what the hell’s gonna happen, all the bad guys are gonna die!), from tomatoes to diamonds and from cakes to umbrellas, it was all so happy! The baddies were happy, the music was cheerful, loopy and catchy (what every 8-bit tune should be like) and most important of all, the game was fun, even more fun than picking ice from your refrigerator, trying to chase the little scar in your eye fluid or beatboxing with your mouth. It was more fun than doing these combined. How can you not have fun when blowing baddies into bubbles, hopping on your own bubbles or running away from the white “grim reaper whale” who appears in the backdrop of those 5 dreadful notes? It’s such a classic, and rightfully so.

My cartridge back then was hacked and cracked, and we had the choice of playing any stage we wanted, even the boss, and unlocking the good ending the easy way. It was a stunning moment for us, we had seen the ending to that game! We hadn’t played it to its entirety and we didn’t even care, we just saw the dinosaurs saving their girlfriends and the day. But only yesterday, while playing the game with Marios, did I realise that I had never actually and rightfully beaten the game. I had cheated! So, now was the time! We played through every floor, unlocked the happy ending (although I admit we had some trouble figuring HOW to do it) and kicked the crap out of that sorcerer thing. After almost 13 years, I had come back to my first game and beaten it the right way. And that’s just how it all felt; right.

Bubble Bobble, ladies and gentlemen, a game we can truly call a retro classic – just as playable as it was back then, it is today. Let’s see Crysis reaching that kind of status.

Bubble Bobble cover

Cuberick, rise!

Ahyawwwn… I’m typing this really tired, I’ve been awake for close to 30 hours straight now. Yesterday was all about fixing up Cuberick, my new mate and companion in the world of internet, IT, games and cyberculture. Together with Magebreeze a.k.a. Beast, that is my old computer (I’ve set them up in a LAN, both are downloading, Cuberick is downloading Celestia addons while Magebreeze is downloading Bioshock while also transfering all of my existing data from Magebreeze to Cuberick’s more spacious HDD) they’ve both put me in a really techie and computer nerdy mood, which also lead me to rearranging my furniture a bit. Nothing special, just moving some chairs around and wasting one and a half hours on some stupid DVD stand that I thought I had put together wrongly but in fact after trying to fix it ended up making it worse, realising in the process that not only was it defective out of the box, the way I had put it up originally was the best possible way to do it. Without it looking too bad I mean. Yes, I think those were some of the least useful, productive or enlighting 90 minutes of my life.

Anyway, back to the PC: I had some worrying difficulties while building Cuberick (can I have a SCREW SCREWLESS DESIGN? No, that’s SCREW SCREWLESS FUCKING DESIGN!) but fortunately after talking with people that could give me some meaningful advice, like trying everything out having the motherboard outside the case and even with no CPU, GPU or memories on, it finally worked. The problem was initially that, once powered on, the PC would stay on for around half a second then turn off and then after a few seconds do the same on its own. It could go on and on if I didn’t turn off the PSU every time. After playing around with the connectors, the battery and the CMOS, somehow I got it to work, and even though there are still some pretty minor points that I’d like to be able to correct sometime, like not being able to boot in Dual Channel mode or having some kind of power hickough at start-up, Cuberick is, I’m very happy to say, working fine. At this point, I’d like to thank my mum, the funding of which was necessary for the creation of Cuberick, Mario, who was with me at the very first stages of building the machine and helped me avoid some (crucial) mistakes I would have otherwise made, Kostas, who gave me the idea of trying to set-up the motherboard outside of the case and see what happens, Manos, whose Windows XP Pro SP2 CD I used at a time of need, and Alexandra, to whom I gave the honours to name Cuberick. This name just suits it fine, it hit bull’s eye. 🙂 Thank you, people! Even if some of you may never read this…

So what was the first thing that I did with my brand new PC? I played Portal, Valve’s most attractive inclusion to the Orange Box, at least personally. I had been keeping an eye out for this game ever since it was first announced, somewhat less than 2 years ago. I had bought the Orange Box when it had come out but Magebreeze just couldn’t cut it, 2004 tech just wasn’t enough for opening portals and solving interspatial puzzles. So once I had Cuberick up and ready with graphics drivers and the game installed, about 6AM today, I started the game and finished about 3 hours later. Short game, but wonderful nonetheless. Darkly humorous, clever, mindbending, potent and stylish. It seems to me that the gaming industry is less and less inclined to make good epic and long games rather depending on one-offs like Portal, which are short, cheap, stand-alone, based on an intriguing idea [;)] and creating a huge cyberculture following. I can’t even describe the success and appeal the Companion Cube, GlaDOS and the Cake have all had to the internet community. And today, I found out exactly why! Definitely one of the better games of 2007.

So here I am, even more tired, unable to up some pics I wanted of Cuberick because they’re too large and uuuhh… We watched Planet Terror earlied with Marios, Garret and Dimitris… Totally crazy and fun movie, if not slightly disgusting at times. Really gives off the cult feel a lot of people, including me, like. Staple of the movie was Cherry, with her mutilated limb replaced with a machine gun! Recommended if you’re into lots of blooooood!

So I better publish, before I… ah, zzz…

730–23

First of all, happy new year everybody. Most people who read this have already received personal wishes from me, but it’s nice keeping a continuity in my posts. Today I returned to Mytilini… I came by a slow and boring ship got me here and a smelly, dirty and totally untidy home was here to greet me. I brought it even more stuff for it to cherish its stuffy existence with, namely parts for my brand new PC I bought in Athens (and will start connecting and building very soon), the Xbox 360 and the various networking I had to do to make it play on Live (yes! I’m on Xbox Live as of today! My gamertag is Cubilone, look for it) plus all the other experimenting I’m doing right now with my room makes for a really messy place. Anyway, soon, when I get to building the PC and putting everything where it should be (which doesn’t automatically mean the place is going to be tidy afterwards, mind you) and along the way make the whole apartment slightly more generally inhabitable. Today I put up a few posters, two I had got in Athens and a surprise Mario Galaxy one that came with January’s EDGE. I like them all!

So what have I been doing recently? It’s really difficult for me to think of anything apart from one person and everything I’ve been doing with her, which is what I was doing mostly for the last few days : Alexandra. We got together on January 5th, which ended my 730-day period of singleness. What’s so important about that number? It’s 365×2. I had been single for exactly 2 years. Not one day less or more. There must be some kind of signifcance within this number… I should research it more. Anyhow, what is much more important is not that I’m no longer single; it is that I’m now with such a wonderful person. And it all came completely out of the blue… I didn’t even know her a month ago! We’ve only been together for a week (wow, it’s a WEEK already?) but the time we spent in eachother’s company even during this short period of time was ouf of this world. Everything seems too good to be true… Apart from a single, hard-hitting fact: we don’t live in the same town. Now, under different circumstances this would be a problem and sure, it still is. But I know I’m dedicated to keep this relationship no matter the cost. Suddenly, to me, the distance doesn’t seem all that great and the trip to Athens and back sounds short enough. I think that both I and Alex can and will make this work just the way we want to, to all feasible extent of course. Going out every night with her sure was good but it dramatically reduced the time I thought I’d have to spend in Athens. A whole week with her felt like little more than a couple of days… Mindblowing. I couldn’t see all the people I originally wanted to see, but the price was fair. It’s OK though for I can safely tell that my trips to Athens will be much more frequent now. Would you imagine that… I was planning to spend at least 2 and a half months here without going back to my homecity. But I have no complaints, on the contrary. 😀

I just made myself some tea using the new set my dad gave me for Christmas. It really is a fine gift…

Apart from last week, I don’t have much to say. I’ve been acting like a big spender to get everything right for my new PC and Xbox — I just downloaded Castlevania: Symphony of the Night from Live Arcade. Last week George persuaded me to buy Blue Dragon for just 20 euros brand new. Whether this purchase will be worth it remains to be seen. Oh yes, Gears of War is an awesome game but Hexic still holds the top spot for most playtime on my Xbox… Remember what I said about simple games and innovative ideas?

Apart from all this, there’s also uni to think about… But I wouldn’t worry about it too much for the time being, apart for the Javascript thingie I have to have complete by Jan. 17th… Duur! Why can’t I just sit back and relax with my techie, geeky stuff? Oh yeah, the project is just as geeky… What have I got myself into. 😛

What is the opposite of “New Year’s Resolution”?

It is New Year’s Eve. I’m in Aegina at my dad’s and Vasso’s (his wife) new house here. OK, it’s not exactly new, they’ve been living in it for more than a year now, but every time I come here there’s something different about it. I’ve been here since Friday (today it’s Monday) with the owners of the place and Ines, Karina (who unfortunately left for Canada yesterday) and their parents, Nejib and Iro. Lots of names, hooray!

Right now, Ines is sleeping, and I am sitting at my father’s laptop, thinking… 2007 is over. To be precise, there are about 12 hours left of it. Remember the old song “Πάει ο παλιός ο χρόνος”? The part which went “Γέρε χρόνε φύγε τώρα, πάει η δική σου η σειρά, ήρθε ο νέος με τα δώρα, με τραγούδια με χαρά!”? Every time I hear this part I imagine the year past as an old bearded man who’s about to die. And every time, I can’t help but feel bad for the poor grandpa. He’s dying, but nobody cares. Instead, we’re celebrating about some baby that could very well turn out to be far worse a person than the old man ever was. At this point, I’d like to switch from “pessimistic bastard” mode to something more cheerful:

May 2008 be the best sum of 366 days of our lives. May it be an enlighting, happy, productive and lucky year. Even though they always say something about that February 29th…

Instead of thinking out new year’s resolutions I’ll do last year’s highlights. What exactly made 2007 an even better year than 2006?

2007 Highlights! (highlights below not actually 2007)

Trip to Holland: My 10-day adventure in this beautiful country. A trip loaded with suspense, exploration, excitement, self-discovery, and realising just how important friends can be. Wow sounds like some movie tagline.
Bass Guitar: After years of patience, finally I took the plunge in April. My progress isn’t exceptional but I’m hopeful!
Going strong with Uni: 11 out of 14 1st Year subjects passed. I got the best mark in my year in Interactive Multimedia, several 10ers in the exams and also a 14/14 for the webpage I made for Web-based Multimedia, Synaesthesia.
CouchSurfing: A wonderful site I signed up to on my 18th birthday. Ever since, I’ve been looking at travelling from a different point of view. Hosting Charisse and staying with Cies were great moments and I regret that Cies in the end didn’t pass through Mytilini for his world tour.
Cubilone’s Dimension: December saw me getting all interested in blogging all of a sudden. The result of this strange interest lies before you.
Astronomy and Astrology: Charisse showed me www.astro.com, a good site that details Astrology and its practices. After doing a bit of research, I found out that astrological readings and practices really have some base and that at least character interpretation can be variably accurate. In September I suddenly got very worked up with Astronomy, stargazing and constellations, so my interest in Astrology came back with a vengeance. Now I can proudly say that I’m abolutely captivated by both sides of the same coin, the scientific side and the mystic side. Isn’t it even more awe-inspiring that these two contemporary mortal enemies once were one and the same?
Xbox 360: The details of this you can find in the post right below. What a day the 19th was! Crazy… Got to get Xbox Live! soon.
Great games discovered/played: Phoenix Wright, Daigasso Band Brothers, Europa Universalis III, Galactic Civilizations II (too hard at parts though), Hexic, Super Metroid, The Orange Box, Super Mario Galaxy, Final Fantasy VI (playing it right now), and others.
Shows: I got to watch such wonderful shows as: Samurai Champloo, Fullmetal Alchemist, Firefly (not anime but great nonetheless, must watch!), Death Note, Elfen Lied, and One Piece, which is an AWIP (anime watching in progress, I’m up to episode 62 as of 31/12/07)
1st Medieval Rose: The Medieval Festival which took place in Rodos and which I participated in. There’s going to be another one next Spring, I’m not missing it!
Focusing: More and more I get the feeling that I know what I like and what I don’t like in everything… Slowly but steadily, I’m forming a less flexible character that knows, however, what it seeks. That’s both a good and a bad thing, as my general flexibility is one of my strengths… A stable character nonethelss has its own set of benefits. Going into detail about my greater inner change would be too lengthy and theoretical even for me.

OK, that seems about right… What about the year’s disappointments?

I’ll only say this: Internet love has potential. Whenever it is not realised, results are mostly tragic. ¬¬
I started teaching myself german, complete with book and CD. Unfortunately, I wasn’t consistent enough.
I was planning to go on a Eurotrip with friends in summer. It never happened.
Still single. Still looking.
Still can’t cook properly, with the exception of lentils which are edible. Only by me.
The world is not looking all that good at the moment. Especially Greece with hit with many disasters and misfortunes the past year, like the huge fires and Karamanlis’ re-election.

I’d write a lot more but I’m being distracted all the time! Ines wants us to watch Midori no Hibi and we also have to write to the finnish national park we’re going to volunteer for in the summer…

“Γιατί ο χρόνος δεν υπάρχει
γιατί ο χρόνος είσαι εσύ και οι άλλοι
και κανείς δε γνωρίζει η ζωή που θα βγάλει
κι όλο αυτό είναι μια μεγάλη γιορτή
Κι όποιος είπε “και του χρόνου”
θα εννοεί πως δεν τελειώσαμε φέτος
Ευτυχές και στο χέρι μας το νέο έτος
και πες το μου κι εσύ.”

All I want for Christmas is a time machine

Well well, here I am in Athens, finally finding a tiny bit of time to update my Dimension. The last few days have been hectic but in a good way. I’ve been out with friends, window shopping every single day (although I did already buy some parts for my new PC, namely mobo, CPU and a CPU fan) I’m also buying presents for my close ones. Thing is, most I’ve bought through net still haven’t arrived and I’m getting kind of worried. Anywho…

On my first day here and after a good sleep, Mario called me and told me they were selling Game Boy Micros in Electroworld for only 15 euros! I called George and together we went there for me to get one. And there, we saw it… That moment changed our gaming lives once and for all! 4 Premium Xbox360s with Perfect Dark Zero and NFS: Carbon for only 120 euros. 120 euros. 120. We were both like: “WTF IS HAPPENING HERE? IS THIS FOR REAL?”, looking at eachother and hardly believing what our eyes told us. We asked around and found out that they were the original XBoxes that came out 2 years ago, which also means noisier and more problematic (?) hardware. Still, you can’t beat THAT kind of a discount, I mean we bought 2 of them at less than the price of a Wii with no games. Yes, we bought them. George had been looking for a Xbox 360 and I always thought it would be a good purchase but only when the price was right. Well, the price was right there and then. Couldn’t let it go, even if it meant that I had to cut down on my new PC budget. And I also walked away with a GB micro, as planned. ^^. What a single call can bring…

Of what I’ve played so far, it’s an exceptional console. I even think it’s a better package overall than Wii at this point. More games that are good, better hardware, better online system. It’s a gamer’s system, unlike Wii which is an everybody’s system. Still, “everybody” includes gamers so it’s all good but I think that this ~~little~~ console has a lot going for it. Only problem: it is much too expensive to buy games for. Wii has much cheaper games. Anywho, I hope rentals will do the trick…

Hexic is addictive.

Apart from that piece of news, I have to say that going to huge shops like the ones in The Mall or Public has a certain effect on your psychology. You see all these books, all these games, all these music CDs… And you think that you don’t own remotely enough. Especially with books, they remind you how little you know and how little you’re going to read and/or learn. I wonder if it’s a trick they use so they can get you to buy more. If that’s the case it has the reverse effect on me: I’m so purely overwhelmed by the sheer amount of products that I end up buying nothing!

Yesterday Mordread® visited us here in Athens. Him, me, George, Maria and Evi, we all went to Furin-Kazan, a good but expensive japanese restaurant where we had some sushi, sake and yakisoba, and later went for some milkshakes, right in the middle of winter! Go us! Ice cream with soda is good. Yes it is. Mordread missed his train so he stayed at my place. I toured him around Nea Smyrni and even though it was a surprise visit we had good fun.

So Christmas is almost here. I’m sorry to note that I haven’t uploaded part 3 of my tribute to N64, I was planning to have it all complete by tomorrow, which is the true 10th anniversary. Since I’m evidently missing my deadline, I’ll post updates as soon as internet speed (I’m on 56k here. Noooo!) and personal interest allow me to. So, have a merry christmas everybody and remember: Santa Claus is not Agios Vasilis.