Saturday night, me and the lady are heading back from a late matinee showing of The Muppets. The film was pretty darn hilarious, taking me by surprise. Taking me even more by surprise was the fact that I didn't enjoy Jason Segel's performance. He was not able to interact with the muppets in a realistic way, and seemed to be aware that he was talking to a hand the whole time. I think these movies call for much more cartoony performances.
Anyway, while strolling down Lower George's Street, quoting the funnies and having the lols, we stumbled upon a simple poster for The Glee Experience. "Why the hell not?" said the little voice in my head.
The show was fun, energetic and a good chance to watch Glee without actually having to watch Glee. There is no way I can commit hours of my life to a teenage soap opera about jocks and geeks and all that farce, but the songs themselves I have enjoyed, and seeing them performed by such talented kids was great fun. Check them out around Dublin over the next couple of months - it's well worth your €15. Ticketmaster is currently showing no dates, but they have some booked in that they plugged at the show, so I would watch this space.
Monday, 20 February 2012
Friday, 17 February 2012
Super Mario 64 DS
I am a winner - I got Mario for Valentine's Day! :D
This game is great. Nintendo have made several changes from the original on N64 (which I never got a chance to complete as a child) including playing as Yoshi from the beginning and some new stars to collect. Only had a change to nab 19 of these fuckers so far, so will shed more light on my progress later, perhaps.
Most of all, I love that I'm still using my DS Lite after all these years. I think the 3DS is the crappest idea Nintendo have ever come up with, and I appreciate that it's priced reasonably low. As a company, I'm sure there is a fair amount of panic going on with the rising popularity of smartphones, and consumers downloading games for their smartphone. Companies have started making fortunes making games that sell for as little as £0.79. On my iPad right now, I'm playing Kingdom Rush - an absolutely wicked tower defence game. It was less that a pound. Not even £1! A bus ride costs more.
I predict that Nintendo can't keep up this farcical strategy of handheld gimmicks for too much longer. The days of the Game Boy have surely started to fade away already. And with their new WiiU project looking equally daft, their presence in the home looks... unpredictable. I'm looking out for the new console, but I'm nervous. I will miss Link, Mario and the rest of the Smash Bros, but might have to let them go if it means buying all that hardware - when my phone and tablet do so much gaming for so much less.
This game is great. Nintendo have made several changes from the original on N64 (which I never got a chance to complete as a child) including playing as Yoshi from the beginning and some new stars to collect. Only had a change to nab 19 of these fuckers so far, so will shed more light on my progress later, perhaps.
Most of all, I love that I'm still using my DS Lite after all these years. I think the 3DS is the crappest idea Nintendo have ever come up with, and I appreciate that it's priced reasonably low. As a company, I'm sure there is a fair amount of panic going on with the rising popularity of smartphones, and consumers downloading games for their smartphone. Companies have started making fortunes making games that sell for as little as £0.79. On my iPad right now, I'm playing Kingdom Rush - an absolutely wicked tower defence game. It was less that a pound. Not even £1! A bus ride costs more.
I predict that Nintendo can't keep up this farcical strategy of handheld gimmicks for too much longer. The days of the Game Boy have surely started to fade away already. And with their new WiiU project looking equally daft, their presence in the home looks... unpredictable. I'm looking out for the new console, but I'm nervous. I will miss Link, Mario and the rest of the Smash Bros, but might have to let them go if it means buying all that hardware - when my phone and tablet do so much gaming for so much less.
Wednesday, 15 February 2012
Will Piracy Kill The Music Industry?
My girlfriend wrote a great little piece for tha-one.com called Will Piracy Kill The Music Industry.
I love this debate, and I really wish I had time to investigate it closely and recover the data on this. It's interesting how the Internet affects industries in this way, and the media industry is one of those fighting back hardest. Stacey talks about how the Internet interrupts the workflow for the middle man, and offers power to come straight from artists. Alex Day is her example of this, and his attempted Christmas number one in 2011, where he climbed all the way to number 4 - the first to get so far without a record label.
I love this debate, and I really wish I had time to investigate it closely and recover the data on this. It's interesting how the Internet affects industries in this way, and the media industry is one of those fighting back hardest. Stacey talks about how the Internet interrupts the workflow for the middle man, and offers power to come straight from artists. Alex Day is her example of this, and his attempted Christmas number one in 2011, where he climbed all the way to number 4 - the first to get so far without a record label.
Training Week
I've had load of training this week, and it was all meant to be stuff I already knew. It has been enlightening, and cleared up so many gaps in my knowledge. I love these moments where you realise that as much as you think you know about something, there are so many better ways to go about it. Well I have already been told - "Don't stop learning." Far too early to be stopping right now.
Thursday, 9 February 2012
New AdWords Help Center
This is the latest I have ever been in the office, and it's a quiet place.
I've decided that while I consider the tuna and sweetcorn sandwich next to me, I'd better make today's contribution to this blog. Today I've picked out nothing to share with the world, so thought I'd pull together something simple.
Did you know: Most of the problems you might be experiencing with AdWords (or anything else for that matter), chances are someone else has run into it and has posted something about it on the internet. Honestly, the amount of knowledge hidden somewhere in the webosphere is incredibly close to 100% of all human knowledge. Most of the time, the trick is just knowing where to look, or where to ask.
The AdWords Help Center was just revamped. It now has more easily accessible pages, more explanation of complex problems and navigation is more streamlined. And if not here, there are also frequent posts on Google blogs. Here is a list of challenging questions that really can't be explained in a clearer way:
Linking Analytics to your AdWords account
Segmenting your data, to show specifically what you are looking for
Just about everything on Quality Score
Remarketing: How to do it for beginners and advanced
I've decided that while I consider the tuna and sweetcorn sandwich next to me, I'd better make today's contribution to this blog. Today I've picked out nothing to share with the world, so thought I'd pull together something simple.
Did you know: Most of the problems you might be experiencing with AdWords (or anything else for that matter), chances are someone else has run into it and has posted something about it on the internet. Honestly, the amount of knowledge hidden somewhere in the webosphere is incredibly close to 100% of all human knowledge. Most of the time, the trick is just knowing where to look, or where to ask.
The AdWords Help Center was just revamped. It now has more easily accessible pages, more explanation of complex problems and navigation is more streamlined. And if not here, there are also frequent posts on Google blogs. Here is a list of challenging questions that really can't be explained in a clearer way:
Linking Analytics to your AdWords account
Segmenting your data, to show specifically what you are looking for
Just about everything on Quality Score
Remarketing: How to do it for beginners and advanced
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
Just waiting to go home... train is coming in 26 minutes! :D
In my spare free minutes at the end of the business day, I tapped in some Google Maps directions to local DART stations following my trip to see Star Wars 3D tomorrow night. I'm going to have a decision to make - either run and hope I make the last train, or preemptively concede defeat and wait for the bus, a much longer trip home.
Either way though, Star Wars eh? Fucking excited.
In my spare free minutes at the end of the business day, I tapped in some Google Maps directions to local DART stations following my trip to see Star Wars 3D tomorrow night. I'm going to have a decision to make - either run and hope I make the last train, or preemptively concede defeat and wait for the bus, a much longer trip home.
Either way though, Star Wars eh? Fucking excited.
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
Travis' Lucozade thing
I keep losing this great little video. Wakes me right up first thing in the morning! Expect more Travis Barker posts...
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