And so it begins. I've had to skip a few albums thus far because I haven't been able to obtain them yet. I've listened to 3 albums this week. I've pondered a few things, but I'll include them in the assessments below.

Louvin Brothers - Tragic Songs of Life (1956)
Thus marks the first album I listened to this week. My initial impression as soon as I started listening to it is that according to my admittedly somewhat limited knowledge of the genre, country music hasn't really changed over the years. I've never really been big on country music, but that's not to say that I think it is bad. After the first couple of listens to the album, I still wasn't really interested. I re-read the listing in the book for the album, to discover that both of the brothers were singing in similar harmony together, which I hadn't picked up until then. As soon as I read it, it was easy to pick up, and notice where they deviated from each other. Which makes me wonder; how does knowledge about the album prior to listening to it affect your appreciation of it? Still, I just couldn't get into the album. A lot of the tracks sounded the same, and the vocal ****didn't seem to change much between songs. I think I could like some country music, but this album didn't do it for me.

Duke Ellington - Ellington at Newport (1956)
Conversely to the previous album, I think this album has got me interested in a genre I've never considered before - jazz. This album is a bit weird to review per se, as it isn't the original recording. The original recording was a live recording that went awry, so the released product was a mix of that live recording, studio recordings and canned applause. The only version I've found is a 1999 2CD re-release that managed to restore the original live recording, but it still seems an eccelctic mix of tracks and fade in/outs, and I'm sure a couple of pieces are repeated with different track names. Nevertheless, brass instruments have never figured big in my music collection. After a few listens, it seems to me that jazz has a lazy seductive quality. That probably sounds a bit wanky, but I don't really know how to describe it. There are a numer of solos from various instruments, and I think this serves well for me. To compare to The Louvin Brothers, their album was very structured and predictable, whereas the variation on Duke Ellingtons album within each song and across the album as a whole was much more appealing to me.

I'm not ready to instantly say I love this album, as it's the first jazz album I've really listened to. Still, I appreciate it and may revisit it. But the rest of this journey will cover other jazz albums, so I will get a better comparison of what I may or may not like about the genre. Megan did advise me that this is not jazz standard, which is apparently a bit structured (like chorus, verse, chorus, verse). This is a bit more erratic and feels a bit improvised. Of course, I did follow this up with a jazz standard album...

Frank Sinatra - Songs For Swingin' Lovers
As mentioned in my prologue, I don't really know anything technical about vocal styIe. What I can say though is that I really like Frank's voice. It just sounds so breezy, like there is no effort at all in sounding so good, a natural talent that just works. It sounds like he is smiling the whole way through. In Duke Ellington there are very few vocal tracks and the music is always at the forefront, where the jazz here is a bit more laid back and Frank is the real star. The music really supports the vocals though, and picks up and drops off at just the right moments depending on the vocals inflection, or between gaps in the vocals. They complement each other well. The standout track for me is Makin' Whoopee. I imagine it may have been cheeky in its day, and it still is, but despite its potential for sounding ridiculous today, it still works. The lyrics throughout the album are well-crafted, as seen in my second favourite song (thus far) on the album, Too Marvelous For Words.

Interesting to note is that this is actually the second album by Frank Sinatra in the book. In The Wee Small Hours is the very first entry in the book, but I haven't been able to obtain it yet, so I've moved ahead a little. Apparently In The Wee Small Hours is a darker album, so having listened to how positive this album is, I'm wondering how his earlier work will compare.The book also notes that the average track length on this album is 3 minutes, and only one track goes over 4 minutes, setting the standard time for quick snappy tracks over the 15 songs on the album. I won't be grabbing this album yet... but I think it is on the cards.

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So here are the remaining albums from the 50's that I haven't been able to obtain yet.

Frank Sinatra - In The Wee Small Hours (1955)
Elvis Presley - Elvis Presley (1956)
Fats Domino - This is Fats (1956)
The Crickets - The "Chirping" Crickets (1957)
Count Basie - The Atomic Mr Basie (1957)
Little Richard - Here's Little Richard (1957)
Ray Charles - The Genius of Ray Charles (1959)

If anyone can help me out with those it would be appreciated.

Any questions about these albums, or the format I'm presenting these in, let me know. Should I let you know what I intend to listen to for the week, or keep you in suspense? I'd say suspense is probably better. Otherwise my initial impression of an album might be coloured by a readers response instead of being open-minded. But then maybe if anyone wants to play along they can listen to one or more of the albums as well if they can obtain them, and compare notes.

About a month ago I was browsing a book store while waiting for Megan to arrive. Whilst browsing I came across a book called 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. I picked it up as I was intrigued, and started flicking through it. Beginning in the 50's, it worked it's way all the way up to the 2000's, so this was not just your 'parents favourite hits' collection. Megan arrived and I showed her the book, and then we went to the comedy gig we had come to see.

But it nagged me. I was interested in the book, and after watching the movie Julie & Julia shortly thereafter, I thought it would be interesting to do with this book what was done in that movie with a cookbook. In that movie (based on true events) one of the characters decides she is going to cook everything in a cookbook she has in the next 365 days. What if I did that with all these albums? It's a pretty lofty goal. If I listen to one of these albums per day, that's almost 3 years. And I don't think I can listen to an album every day and form an opinion on it in that time. Maybe one per week? Well that will take about 20 years. So my goal is to try and listen to at least 3 per week and comment on them. So this might still take about 5 years or so. And so yesterday after hearing me talk about it, Megan bought me the book.

Part of my desire to do this is to broaden my musical knowledge. I have always been open minded when it comes to music, though my tastes currently lean in the metal direction. I've flicked through the book and there are a few dozen albums I have already heard, and a bunch more I know about but may not have listened to in their entirety (or heard singles), and a whole swackload of artists I've heard of but don't really know too much about. I have found it surprisingly diverse, though this may be due to the fact that the book has many collaborators. The book has many well known cIassic stars like Elvis Presley and The Beatles, but I was suprised to find a smattering of metal and other genres in there as well. The inclusion of a handful of Metallica albums isn't too surprising, but there are not one but two Sepultura albums, and an album by Venom, one of the early black metal albums. The diversity also includes everything from Chemical Brothers to Bjork, from Green Day to Massive Attack and something from just about any genre you can think of.

I'm no muso. I don't know anything about tuning or how to define vocal styIes. But I will be going in with an open mind, and without having to wonder about the technical side of the music, I can just worry about what I like listening to. As much as possible I intend to go through the albums in chronological order, just like in the book. Now, I can't afford to buy a handful of albums every week, so I will be seeing what my local library can get in for me, as a quick search reveals they have a decent CD collection. Anything that I can't find at the library will be otherwise... obtained. Of course anything that I enjoy will be purchased and added to my collection. I will listen to an album at least 3 times before writing about it, but if I think it needs more listens to appreciate, then that is what I will do. So I expect I will update this every week with what I've listened to and what I think.

So shoot. I'm sure you all want to ask if your favourite album is in the list :)

I've never been big on history. You could mention major events or well known names from history but I would probably only have a vague idea about them. So recently I decided I should do something about it. Upon returning a couple of books to my local library, I thought I would have a look in the history section, and I found a book called What On Earth Happened? by Christopher Lloyd. It's a concise yet comprehensive look at history (and pre-history; I've been listening mprezzy) since our universe popped into existence. I'm finding it a great book because it is so accessible and because it is all in relatively chronological order it is helping me piece together bits of information I already knew and making them all inter-relate. I haven't finished the book yet; I'm about half way through, and have just finished reading about the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of Christianity; something I'm sure alot of people, including some Christians, are not aware are so strongly intertwined. So I figured the best to learn something and retain the information is probably to rewrite some it, and share some of the interesting things I've learned. Maybe you will learn something you didn't know. The first chapter of the book deals with the Big Bang. At the moment the universe is still expanding, but debate goes on about whether the expansion is slowing down. From what I understand (from discussion with someone else, not directly from the book), there are three common threads of thought regarding the expansion of the universe. One, it will continue to expand at a relatively constant rate. Two, it will slow down until it reaches a stable point and stops expanding. Three, it will slow down, then start to contract back into a singularity. What boggles my mind is, if the universe is still expanding... what is it expanding into? And is the universe just a giant accordian that expands and contracts every few dozen billion years? If so, how many songs have already been played on this accordian? Given that homo sapiens have only existed for 0.003% of the current universes timeline, I dare say we would be extinct by the time the next contraction begins (if there is one). A great example in the book of the distance between galaxies is this; imagine our sun being a Smartie that you put on your table. To signify the next closest galaxy, the next Smartie would be ninety miles away. That would be one hell of a cab fare. Theia was an early planet that collided with Earth, and it's cored fused with the Earth's to create an iron core. This iron core gave birth to the magnetic field around Earth, which deflects the solar winds and without it, life would not be able to exist on Earth. The remnants of Theia became our moon, and both the impact and gravity of the moon turned Earths 4 hour day cycle into a 24 hour cycle. Harold Urey and Stanley Miller attempted to replicate the conditions of Earth at the time life began on Earth. After what was expected to be a failed experiment, it turned out they had created amino acids; a building block for living cells. To date no one has been able to create an actual living cell, and how these building blocks sprang to actual living cells still remains a mystery. The evolution of cyanobacteria billions of years ago used photosynthesis, with a byproduct being oxygen. Since then they have supplied surplus oxygen to our atmosphere that have allowed future life to evolve. It is estimated that if all cyanobacteria currently on Earth were wiped out, oxygen supplies would be depleted within 2000 years. Fungus are a varied lot and can range from one cell, to a massive discovery in Michigan on an underground fungus that stretches for 5 kilometres, is estimated to weigh more than 10 tonnes and is one of the Earths oldest survivors at over 1500 years old. About 250 million years ago the movements of the tectonic plates caused there to be one supercontinent, Pangaea. This caused a super volcano to erupt... that kept erupting for a million years. 96% of life was wiped out after this event. Dinosaurs were the first land animals to have their legs directly underneath them. 65 million years ago another mass extinction occured, caused by a massive meteor. Some fossil discoveries support this commonly accepted theory, as in the sediment there are dinosaur fossils, followed by a thick layer of clay which would have been caused by this devastating impact. It is not until you look several metres higher in these age old stones that sea creatures begin to reappear, indicating a return to normal life. What came first, flowers or bees? It is still a mystery, as bees and other pollinators help flowers to spread their pollen to reproduce. But how could flowers have developed without those pollinators in the first place? But without flowers first, how could bees survive, as this is their main source of food? This still remains a mystery. By the way, flowers did not evolve until 150 million years after trees. Dinosaur fossils have been discovered with feathers, and it is now expected that they developed these to keep warm. At what evolutionary step did dinosaurs develop these feathers into flight bearing ones (fossil finds indicate they were not capable of flight or glide bearing) and become our first birds? The answer is still unknown. Mammals that existed after the dinosaur age grew to enormous sizes. Those that lived in the age of dinosaurs had to remain small so that they could survive alongside the giant reptiles. With them gone, mammals could go supersize. The Capybara was a rat that could grow to the size of a donkey. Until 40 million years ago, Britain was underwater. About 4 million years ago apes came down from the trees and moved into the grassland. Fossilised footprints have been found that are unmistakenly made by primates walking on two feet. Homo habilis is the first human to have created and used tools, and dates back to 2.4 million years ago. While the primates from 4 million years ago are our ancestors in regards to walking on 2 feet, homo habilis represents a leap in intelligence. Up to 5 different species of humans were expected to have lived at the same time until homo sapiens (us) became the last surviving member of the species. Today Humans show very little genetic deviation compared to other mammals. Chimpanzees, who we are 96% alike to, show variation 10 times greater than humans. This means that at some point in our past, approximately 160,000 years ago, some event is expected to have wiped out a large portion of the species and left somewhere between 1000 and 10,000 alive, and this evolutionary line originates in Africa. Well that covers the pre-history and I need to head off. Some interesting things to think about. I will probably do a follow up with some other interesting tidbits once I've finished the book.

I've had a fantasy novel on the backburner for a long time now; I haven't done any work on it for a few months now. I started writing some time back, but I hadn't really developed the world it was set in. Then I came across the idea of world building while looking for resources; before you seriously get into your story, you should have developed the world, such as its history, places, social structures, religions etc. If these are developed in advance, while writing you can incorporate those things into the story, as opposed trying to invent stuff and force it in later.

One of the other things I've done lately is watch Planet Earth, an amazing documentary that covers the gamut of nature, from specific animals, areas, and climate. I've also been reading a book about geography. One of the things that I have found interesting is that in the vast majority of fantasy books I've read, they take place on something that very closely resembles most aspects of Earth. The Earth is interesting in that it is tilted 23.5 degrees, which causes the seasons. Most fantasy books I've read have the same day/night cycle as Earth, and also the same seasons. I suppose this familiarity helps get straight into things.

But what if the supposed planet in my book was not tilted at all? Would it still be able to support life? Every place on the planet would have the same climate all year round. How would the lack of seasons affect life? The tropics around the Earths equator which has a similar climate all year around supports life, but that only makes up a small part of the Earth. The North and South Pole would be in perpetual light (assuming the sun is bigger than the planet), and the further away you get from the equator, the longer days you would have and shorter nights.

What if the planet was tilted 90 degrees? This would mean that at the start of its revolution around the sun, a pole (we'll say north) would be in total darkness, while the south will be in eternal light. This is similar to now, except on Earth when it is eternal day, the sun skirts the horizon; in my supposed scenario the sun would continually be circling until it was directly overheard, then start spiralling out until it reaches the night cycle. A quarter of the way through the revolution, both the north and south pole would be in light temporarily. While getting to that stage, the equator would be receiving a relatively normal night/day cycle. But when it gets halfway through its revultion around the sun, the north pole would then be facing the sun. When the planet is around this position (as well as the start), no place has a night day cycle. Could life exist here? Would man migrate to those night/day cycles, and then for a period of time live in one of those twilight zones twice a year? Perhaps a better question is could man evolve on a planet like this? If so, what would be different about man? And if man could not evolve here, what could?

Creating worlds is hard. Then you have to think about how the weather affects things and everything relates. I suck and don't remember which desert or mountain range, but one of the major mountain ranges (I think it is the Himalayans though) collects all of the moisture in the air and turns it into snow, thus preventing that moisture from reaching the lands beyond, thus turning them into deserts. And what about the major water currents that carry around warm water?

World Building. Hard.

It's been a while between blogs. Still been chipping away at side quests in Oblivion, I've spent over 65 hours with the game so far. The PS3 time clockproblem did something weird, and my 3rd save became my 2nd, which was really odd. I clicked 'continue' the next time I loaded it, checked my current quest and tried to complete it, thinking the game must have glitched as I knew I had done the quest before. Then I check my stats and I am level 8 when I know I should be level 17. Took a little while to figure out.

But that isn't the glitch that is annoying me. I stupidly contracted vampirism (I'd read about it previously and knew I could cure it before it fully took hold, but stupidly went to sleep without thinking about it), and went about looking for the cure, which I ALMOST completed. Taken from a FAQ.

4. Do you recommend becoming a vampire?
-Vampirism is a huge change in gameplay. It will affect everything you do. I have been a vampire for quite some time now since I caught the Bloodgrass Glitch. There is a LARGE chance that you will encounter this glitch, so when thinking about becoming a vampire, know that there is possibly no cure. Being a vampire is all about personal preference, so I recommend saving before you become a vampire, then try it and if you don't like it, reload the previous save.

Are you serious? This game has been out for god knows how long, and they haven't patched this obviously well known glitch that drastically changes the way you play? I'm sick of having to wait indoors until 8pm so just I can then go outside and continue on with my game. Or waiting until 6am, then casting healing spells until shops open up, or having to go the local guild I'm a member of to wait a couple of hours, then walk back to said shop. Lame.

So Microsoft are dropping Xbox Live support for original Xbox games from April 15. At first I figured this meant they weren't going to sell digital copies of them via the online store. Gamespots article doesn't really say whether or not that is the case. What it does make clear after reading it is that if you currently play an original Xbox game online, you won't be able to do so after that date. I decided to scroll down and read some comments. Some people seem really upset about this. Personally I never owned an Xbox. I borrowed Halo 1 & 2 from a friend to play them on the 360, but didn't play them online as I had no interest in the online, even if I knew I was able to play it (which I probably couldn't as I didn't have Gold). Check these comments out.

1. Plain and simple, it's happening, and they need to just give the affected players a buttload of free credits. The end.

2. this is crap. i have a hundred original xbox games, and out of those, at least a quarter of them are both compatible with my 360 AND live-enabled. that's 25 games that i won't be able to fully enjoy. thanks for rewarding me for my loyalty, micro$oft.

3. I think I'm gonna trade in my 360 for a ps3 now.

4. I agree. There should be refunds. There's no expiration date printed on the games and i don't believe this was mentioned in the terms of service agreement. Or is it?

5. Only reason I can see for them to terminate the service is to get more butts into Halo 3 or MW2. Underhanded at best.

That's a collection of responses from the article (some paraphrased or part of) and that's just from the latest page. Really? I think these are just a little silly.

1. I will give this one a sliver of credibility, because presumably there may be some people that have only an Xbox that may have paid for a year in advance to use the service specifically for games only for that console. Of course if that is the case, what are they going to get free credits towards? Otherwise, Microsoft doesn't owe these people anything.

2. Were you currently enjoying those 25 games online on a regular basis? My gut feeling says no. Perhaps they would like to reward you for your loyalty by improving the Xbox Live service, and introduce features they can't while supporting Legacy Xbox.

3. What? So you can have a system that doesn't support the previous generation at all, online or offline? Logic fail.

4. When a game is released, publishers aren't going to know exactly how long they are going to support their game for if they control their own servers, but no doubt the legalese in the manual will tell you that they can pull support whenever they want. If they don't control their own servers, then they have no say at all. Which takes us away from individual games, and on to the service itself. I'm not going to read the terms of service. I don't need to. There will be a proviso indicating they can pull this support, or make other changes to Xbox Live whenever they want. You agreed to these terms of service when you signed up.

5. I'm pretty sure they want to make changes to Xbox Live that support for the Legacy Xbox prevents them from doing. Assuming that dropping live support for a handful of games that might currently be played is intent to make those gamers purchase different games to generate profit is tenuous at best.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying sucked in to anyone who has been enjoying these games online regularly, or even irregularly, because this option has been removed. But for most, even if you have the games, it's an option that I'm guessing has gone relatively unused since the current generation have been on the market. This is the flaw for games that have an online portion; the online portion eventually dies. It's going to happen to 360 games and PS3 games too eventually. I think everyone knows that if online is the portion of the game that you want to play, you are best off doing it within the first few years of a title launch, if not the first few months.

When you buy a game, you do buy it on the premise of value, and that can include an online portion. But if they ever take that online portion away from you, no matter how soon after release, I'd be checking those terms and conditions before making an official complaint.

I know I haven't been commenting on peoples blogs much, but I have been reading them. I tend to read them when I'm eating lunch on my 15 minute break at work, so I usually don't have a free hand to write a response. I still haven't even looked at the last week of news and reviews here on Gamespot.

I've been playing Oblivion over the last couple of weeks. Initially, it was a bit overwhelming, there is so much to do, and a lot of different abilities to get a handle on. I ended up looking at Gamespots FAQ just to get a few hints, and the best way to level up your character is to focus on... your minor skills? After you read it, it makes sense due to the way the levelling system works, but it still seems a bit backwards. I had already ended up turning the difficulty down as I was getting tired of having to sit there spamming my healing spell before entering a new room in a dungeon.

Seems a bit glitchy still, which is odd given that I have the Game of the Year Edition for the PS3, and the original was already released on that platform a year after the others. I tried to cross a bridge and fell through it into the water. Really? A couple of missions (side missions thankfully) seem a bit dodgy too. I'm supposed to find a mace called 'Rockshatter' and the owner is on my map and I've killed him, but I can't find Rockshatter on his person or in the dungeon. When I highlight the mission, it points to his carcass on the map. On another mission I'm supposed to follow Thoronir, a dodgy merchant, after he closes his shop. I did that, and possibly he saw me, but I followed him the whole night and saw him meet with someone. I did wait a couple of hours (i.e. fast forward) and he was still there. But when I finally followed him all the way back to his shop the following morning, I had no new updates for the mission. Do I really have to do that all over again? I don't know if I can be bothered.

Though that is a good thing. If I don't want to do this side mission, I don't have to. There is just so much to do. Now that I can see 3 possible effects for alchemy, I wish you could sort them to easily match ingredients that share more than one effect to create the most potent potions possible. And I'm a bit annoyed that I have been kicked out of the Mages Guild at present. It appears to me that when you join a guild, you get free range to take all of the loot lying around and selling it. I picked up some minotaur horn or something while in one of the guilds and the hand was not red (indicating you would be stealing the item) but I got arrested and kicked out. I can get back in by obtaining ingredients to stock the mages guild alchemy hall, but they are rare and I haven't been able to buy up enough yet or find them in the wild. Annoyed. I'm not a big fan of lockpicking, but I'm pretty sure I read that in one of the missions you get a lockpick that doesn't break so that will help (pretty sure your lockpick skill goes up with each attempt, failed or not... so does that mean I could fail intentionally with this lockpick and get my skill up to 100 in short order?).

Overall rather liking the game. I'm more annoyed with certain things and wish they were streamlined than actually not liking something.

In other random news, went to Monarto Zoo on Australia Day (the aboriginies might call it Invasion Day). Due to a recent land acquisition, Monarto is now the largest free range zoo in the world. While the selection of animals is not quite as large as I hoped it would be, it was still an incredible experience. Their aim is primarily to breed endangered species and release them back into the wild, though there are a couple of other animals that don't fit this category. The information provided was quite remarkable in some cases.

They have a number of Mongolian Wild Horses, which are not related to the domesticated horse we know, although they can interbreed, which dilutes their bloodline. There is currently an organisation in the Czech Rebublic which has a register which has all of these horses listed. Zoos around the world are only allowed to breed the horses upon their approval, and they dictate which stud can breed with which mare, to maintain the best genetic line given that there are so few in the world. Incredibly, the 1500 that live today are descended from just 13 that were captured in the 1960's (if memory serves). They no longer exist in the wild, though in the last couple of years there have been some sent to Mongolian conservation parks. These are'nt zoos and they aren't protected from local wildlife, but they are kept isolated from other horses that would dilute their genetic lineage.

While I can't remember the exact animal, there was a type of antelope or deer of which there are only 200 left in the world, and Monarto have recently succeeded in breeding. The last sighting in the wild was 1980, 30 years ago. On a funnier side, I got to pat a rhino, and watch it jet spray urine over some children. I also saw some chimps drinking herbal tea out of 2L platic milk jugs. They looked like bogans.

Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time is considered one of the greatest games of all time. Gamespot gave it a score of 10 when it was released on N64. According to the game page, the average critic review was 9.8 out of 10, and the average user rating is 9.7. It was reviewed again on the Wii when it was released for the Virtual Console a couple of years ago, and received a score of 8.9. While there are no other critic reviews (according to the game page), the average player score is 9.5. As you would probably know, this was next on my Zelda marathon, and I downloaded it recently, to finally get my hands on this revered game, and see why it is one of the greatest games of all time.

After a few play sessions and a handful of hours, I'm shelving this game. It just does not do it for me. My main point of contention is the controls, something that I've heard was revolutionary for the time. And I'm sure it was. But that time is not now. We only had one analog stick back then, so in 3D games we had to make do with computer controlled cameras to decide what the best view was. "But it has lock-on" I hear you say. Yeah it does, but that didn't seem to work anywhere near as well as I expected... or at least would expect today. It seems to lock on I already had to be close enough and facing the enemy anyway, so trying to lock on when I knew an opponent was behind me or to the side just never seemed to work. A number of times I was tapping the lock-on button when hearing a bat somewhere near me but just couldn't see it... and then I lost my wooden shield to a flaming bat that I couldn't see or lock on to. Multiple times. This wasn't so bad in Link To The Past, where travelling the overworld was relatively fast. Here it takes forever to get anywhere (though I imagine you do get a horse at some point).

Aside from the lack of camera control, other controls were also tedious. The slingshot is ridiculously sensitive. I tried the slingshot game and I have no idea how you are supposed to manage to complete it. I like the fact that you jump automatically when he reach the end of a ledge, but I also found that I was jumping off at times when I just wanted to drop down, and narrow ledges became something of a chore to navigate. The lack of direction in places was also annoying. I get to the Dogongo's cave, and eventually look up a FAQ to find out I have to play the Royal tune on the Ocarina to open the door. Ah, fair enough. Then he won't help me anyway. It doesn't strike me that this is right; surely I wouldn't have gone through all of this for him not to help me, right? Back to the FAQ. I have to play him Sariah's song. How on earth was I supposed to know that? So begins the trek back to find Sariah...

Technology imrpoves. Control schemes get more refined. I'm used to 3rd person games that give you the control of the camera, such that trying to play Ocarina of Time is simply cumbersome to me. Was it the best game of 1998? Seems that way. Is it still one of the best games of all time? Of course you could debate that it is, but if it still is, does that mean that the progress we have made since then means games have not improved?

My next question is, given that I've stumbled this far in the marathon, is Majora's Mask, released on the same platform as Ocarina of Time, going to have all the same issues that I'm complaining about? My guess is that it will, I'll wait for your feedback before I lay down the Wii points on that one. Otherwise I'll jump straight to Wind Waker.

For now I'm playing Oblivion on PS3, which I've only given one play session for a few hours, so I've not really formed a full opinion of it yet. Pretty good so far (I did play it for a few hours on 360 a couple of years ago but then never continued with it). I did find it interesting that I was with the emperor when he died, I headed to my first destination and found a monk reading news that the emperor had died. Man news travels FAST in Cryodiil! The way you level up is intriguing and makes sense in some ways, but possibly flawed in others. I decided to be a spellsword and most of the stuff I'm doing contributes to my major skills, though it is funny that I'm jumping around like a madman while travelling to improve my acrobatics skill. I've done enough that I can level up if I can find somewhere to sleep... but I tried near Kvatch but there were enemies nearby, so I don't know what effect leveling up has yet. Talking doesn't seem to be doing much when I come across random strangers. I met someone out in the wild, so I got off my horse to fight him... and then he chased my horse. And because we both had the same running speed, I couldn't catch him, so there went my horse. That lead to a tedious walk to the next town...

...but hey, at least I can control the camera.

No, not converted from preferring one console over another. I'm talking about food. After being a bit concerned over my naivety when it comes to cooking, my girlfriend got me a cooking book for Christmas by Jamie Oliver. Now granted, I've been given cook books before. When I moved out of home a couple of people bought me cook books knowing that I might need help in that department, but they all seemed to lack accessability. They spoke about ingredients like you should know what they were, and I had no idea, or how to prepare them if that was expected of you, so my cooking life has been pretty plain for the most part; heating stuff in microwaves out of tins, frozen meals, basic stir fry and pasta (with meat sauce out of a tin).

But this book made it all pretty easy to follow. So I decided I needed to make something. The first page my girlfriend opened to was some roasted white fish wrapped in smoked bacon, with a side of lemon mayonnaise and asparagus. Second choice was rib of beef with a side of rosemary and garlic roast potatoes, seeing as I don't recall having a fishmonger at my local shopping centre and don't think the supermarkets there carry fish. So on Sunday I go to pick up the ingredients and forgot that the butcher won't be open. So I settled on some T-bone steak from the supermarket. Megan was going to bring some rosemary from her house, but she forgot. So she looks outside and it turns out I have rosemary a bush in my backyard. Who knew?

So in the end we had cubed roasted potatoes, cooked in rosemary, lemon zest and juice, and garlic. The T-bone steaks were marinated in the leftovers; it was supposed to sit for an hour but we already had the potatoes on and somewhere to be, so we couldn't wait. Chucked them in the frying pan, seasoned with freshly ground pepper and sea salt, flipped them over after a few minutes and did the same. After a few more minutes, took them off the stovetop and chucked them in the oven with the potatoes, taking it out every few minutes to baste them. Once finished, drizzled the steak with the leftover marinade and some extra virgin olive oil mixed with ground pepper.

And it was quite awesome. I was able to pick at what I could have done better, but given that it tasted so awesome I guess that means I have been living in blandtown for too long. The lemon really set off the meat. Usually when it comes to meat, I just chuck it in the frying pan with a little oil. I probably drizzled a little too much of the extra virgin olive oil on afterwards. I also don't have a mortar and pestle and improvised, so the potatoes probably would have had a stronger flavour if I'd been able to crush them correctly (but damn the crunchy texture was awesome). As I write this I am eating some calarami and salt and pepper squid that is cooked in the oven from frozen. They are tasty. But the vegetables that I've also cooked from frozen? Almost no taste. Now I have to decide whether to just throw them out or see if I can dress them up somehow. I don't think I want to eat them again as they are.

So why haven't I really cooked before? There are a few factors, that I'm sure some of you can relate to. Time is a factor. I often get home late so I don't want to have to prepare something. As that time is usually also invested in making meals just for myself, I don't see that it is worth the effort. But the above meal didn't take that long to make. It was probably about half hour from starting preparation to ready to eat. Though needing to do extra dishes because you prepare individual items of food can also be annoying. Then there is cost. I've always seen preparing full meals as more expensive. I think that may be both true and untrue, depending on what you make. The bill to get started on this meal was almost $40, but that included a bunch of ingredients that I only needed to use a small portion of and can go towards future meals (olive oil, extra virgin olive oil, bag of potatoes, sleeve of garlic, salt and pepper including grinders which were a bit more expensive). So if I keep preparing these sorts of meals it should start averaging out as I obtain stocks of general ingredients.

Will this be a fad and I only make a couple of meals for Megan to please her before I give up? Possibly... but I think I might be on to something here.

In gaming news, I've still been playing Burnout Paradise. It's taking a while to get my Elite licence. For those that haven't played it, each time you get a licence (by completing enough events) the city gets 'cleared' and you can complete the same events to go towards your next licence, with more events being required for each incremental licence upgrade. Once you get your Burnout licence, the city clears and you have to complete EVERY event to get your Elite licence... which is only about 115 events. I'm down to about 75 to go after a few play sessions, so this is going to take a while. If anyone wants to do challenges or compare road times/showtime, let me know. I'm playing the PS3 version. Haven't played much World of Goo, tried one of the stages while I had a spare moment but didn't complete it, I think I know what to do now though.

Also watched Avatar, and it was amazing. At first the 3D was a bit distracting, but after the halfway point I didn't really notice it and was immersed in the incredibly envisioned world. Highly recommended. Is the movie meant to be an analogy for us destroying our world? I don't know. Still incredible though.

Final Tip : For anyone out there who wants their significant other or anyone else they know to learn how to cook, the first step is to stop ridiculing them about what they don't know. This is probably the biggest factor in someone not wanting to learn how to cook, because they feel that anytime they own up to not knowing something, they are going to feel stupid for it. I told Megan this and she became supportive, and she was incredibly proud of me for making her an awesome meal.

A bit of a random jumble today.

This is part of an answer to a question asked of Heavy Rain writer/director David Cage;
"I wanted to create an experience based on several points of view. I played with this idea since my first game, Omikron, where you could get reincarnated into another body when you died."

I found this interesting and thought it could make for a good mechanic in RPG's. Granted, I'm aware from some friends blogs/reviews that there was something like this in Planescape : Torment which I haven't played, so I don't know how exactly this was implemented. But I was thinking, what if you learned some information as some form of character, but due to some restriction (race, caste, cIass etc) were unable to seek audience with certain people or reach certain areas. But once you die, you can get reincarnated in a new body with your knowledge (or some of it) intact. Then you can go to places you couldn't before to complete these discussions. Or revisit people you have had personal conversations with and have them wonder how you came across such personal information. I can't think of many specifics, but I'm sure there is room for some interesting situations.

Went on a spending spree. Bought Brothers In Arms : Hell's Highway (360), Saints Rows 2 (PS3), Oblivion GOTY (PS3), Valkyria Chronicles (PS3). AU$120 because the cashier gave me $50 off BIA instead of 50%, knocking an extra $20 off. Plus I used a voucher still left over from work (which sadly they aren't doing anymore) so it still puts my spend on games this year probably under $300 which is awesome. I also bought my sister and her fiance a Wii for Christmas which was a bundle. She can have Mario Kart, but I'm going to keep New Super Mario Bros as they weren't actually packaged togother. Not like she can complain, she is getting a Wii!

Also playing Burnout Paradise on PS3 at the moment, which I'm not terribly good at, but am enjoying nonetheless. Had a good time trying some of the challenges with Foolz3h the other day, if anyone else might be keen to play some time let me know and I'll add you as a friend. Keep in mind I'm an aussie though so if you are on the other side of the world I might not be able to play with you that often!

Also finally bought my first Wiiware game, World of Goo. Awesome game. In 3 play sessions I'm up to the end of Chapter 3, so the game doesn't appear to be terribly long but based on my experience so far it is probably the perfect length as I wouldn't want it to overstay its welcome either. I finally completed the Upper Shaft level which was giving me grief, just needed to balance my bridge better.

I was thinking of writing a blog about what you could buy gamers for Christmas with a few ideas, but it is probably getting a bit late. One of my basic suggestions given that retail games are expensive and potentially out of budget, and it can be hard to know exactly what someone likes or has already played without knowing a fair bit about their preferences, is to buy them points for an online store. It shows you've thought about something they like, they get to choose the exact games they purchase, and they aren't prohibitively expensive like new games can be.