Worm's World v6.56

If Tarantino made Pokemon...

2012-01-28T10:32:00.001Z

If Tarantino made Pokemon..., originally uploaded by StaffsGamesTech.

It's Global Games Jam time again, Links to everything are up on the Games Academy blog - http://staffsgamesacademy.tumblr.com/

Burns night festivites

2012-01-26T00:23:00.001Z

Yeah for themed evenings, we had haggis (meat and veggie), proper accompnimets, bits of Burns poetry, Scottish Military Marches and The Proclaimers on spotify and now the boys are enjoying a 'wee dram' of Talisker.
Now why don't any other poets have themed days and meals?

Lacking inspiration for the garden..

2012-01-12T13:27:00.000Z

The window fitters have almost finished, it's nice to have safe, warm, secure windows that don't feel like they could fall out at any time, and you don't have to prop open with bottles (they've replaced all of the windows on the back of the house, apart from the one in my study - so we've now got double glazing in the Elvis Suite, the upstairs bathroom, the living room, the kitchen and a new back door.

The back door has a window in it, which very clearly brings to the forefront the fact the generally boggy garden needs some attention....

Not to mention this sad, unloved bit at the back by the kitchen...

Any suggestions?

PHD Comics: Anatomy of a Winter Break

2012-01-10T12:29:00.002Z

This is so very true....

Link the the comic

Evie's plan for Christmas Day

2011-12-24T09:34:00.001Z

My faux-niece Evie is clearly taking after her faux-aunt and her mother and written a plan for us all to follow on Christmas Day..

It goes:

Wake Up > presents > play > play with presents....

Wise words for us all to adhere too!

Nadolig Llawen / Merry Christmas everyone xxx

Hoorah for snowballs!

2011-12-11T11:54:00.001Z

Yeah for alcoholic custard! I think it's fair to say the festive party season is well and truley started!

Late Produce from the garden

2011-12-02T11:39:00.000Z

The garden needs a proper tidy up at some point, and we need to start thinking about planting for next year but it's nice to see it still producing some things - that's a healthy punnet of grapes, which we doubt is enough to make wine with, but maybe grappa or something, and some blueberries, destined for some pancakes or maybe muffins....

Home from Bcn

2011-12-01T17:24:00.001Z

I'm back from a quick jaunt to Barcelona with Jess to see mam and do some Christmas Shopping. I've also brought home some family heirlooms... (we picked up cheerful Santa and his cheerleading angels from the Christmas Market in Dusseldorf years ago)

Awesome photo of Stafford on the lights switch on

2011-11-22T15:38:00.000Z

We were stood somewhere on the back, right, near the tree.

The Jazzberry cometh...

2011-11-06T08:42:00.000Z

The finished upstairs bathroom (previously a room too depressing to take photos of)

A spot of DIY on a sunny Saturday

2011-10-29T12:52:00.001+01:00

Teabreak!

We're decorating the upstairs bathroom (inbetween taps being fitted and there being a new floor being laid) and here's a scrap of the original, original wallpaper.

We're going to paint it a sexy shade of 'jazzberry' (purple that is) but the horrid peeling wallpaper needs to go first.

But for a brief moment, while Pete reaches the high up bits on the only tall ladder we have I'm sat on a step on the landing, having a cup of tea and listening to The News Quiz on Radio 4.

Hitchcock on Film

2011-10-27T15:03:00.003+01:00

Jess has snagged tickets to a VIP Screening of The Birds tonight in Brum, I didn't realise how excited I was about it until I realised I was picking out a pretty outfit.

It's being shown as art of http://www.jamesoncultfilmclub.com - and it promises to be an 'interactive experience'. Should be fun...

Update - some pictures from the event - it was really awesome!

I was thinking on the way to work this morning a Hitchcock themed Halloween party would be ace (maybe next year)

Nom!

2011-10-19T22:37:00.001+01:00

One of the wonderful courses from a charming little restaurant in Vasto - I could get use to these 'cultural exchanges'

A lovely weekend for Mr. Wearn's 30th

2011-10-09T23:27:00.002+01:00

And here endeth a week of festivities hearalding Pete's 30th birthday.

There has been much lunching, gathering of friends, balloons, cake, drink and a surprise trombone (sorry neighbours)

Thank you everyone for making it a really special evening!

Pottermore - Hufflepuff (Ha! I knew It!!)

2011-09-14T15:21:00.000+01:00

I've been playing with Pottermore for a few days, I got my wand yesterday (Length: 11 1/2 in Wood:Cedar Core:Dragon Flexibility:Surprisingly Swishy) and I took the sorting hat challenge earlier, and I'm in...

Which actually comes as no surprise since I've always said I'd be good Hufflepuff material! I've been interesting in it all from a games / transmedia / marketing point of view, but it is very charming, and well done.

Bowling.gif

2011-09-10T13:32:00.001+01:00

Fun and games with an impromptu bowling session at Tenpin Bowling!

(we later went to Pizza Hut, then Joxers - much of the evening was sponsored by the VoucherCloud App)

My New Uni Game is Out

2011-09-05T10:34:00.002+01:00

Finally - the virtual campus project I've been working on with various peeps in the university and Jisc is out - go, download, explore our campuses, work out what you'd need to do to enrol.

Link to Download | Project Blog

Banal Domestic Dream alert

2011-09-01T07:33:00.001+01:00

Woke up from a lovely dream that (a young) Mick Jagger and Natascha McElhone had come round for dinner. Mick was digesting on the sofa chatting to Pete about allotments and Natascha and I were doing the washing up. Naturally, it was all our plates, but my childhood home in Taffs Well...

Silly brain...

New office

2011-08-10T18:37:00.001+01:00

Looks like I'll be back in tomorrow!

#4sqldn (Apps Round Up Part 1 - London)

2011-08-04T17:02:00.000+01:00

Jess & Neil are in London, this wouldn't usually be worth noting, but I've set them a competition - but it's simple, whichever of them has the biggest gain in foursquare points by midnight on Friday gets a prize - I'm not asking them to go anywhere specific, or do anything, but they've accepted the challenge and I'm sure Pete ins't right in that I've created a monster.

One of the reasons I did this was we were in London at the end of June, not the first time we've done a quick jaunt to the capital for a break, but I decided to put my Android Smart Phone to good use.

Aside form Foursqure - which I already use, and love, and I've spoken at a few places about it (I'm fascinated about how it can make people change thier plans, or behaviours) and Chromarama which I'd already signed up for but I think I hit the wrong window to see my journeys - but go yellow team!) I thought I'd explore what else my smart phone could do.

I downloaded a tube map, Time Out & tube walker - and of all of them I think Tubewalker was my favourite - we were staying by King's cross and so we were certainly safely in zone 1 - I also found the map came up quickly, quicker then the tube map pdf - but it didn't have the flexibility of that one. Time Out was fairly useful, but probably not for just visitors who were familiar with the big things and looking for something quirky.

One of the main reasons for these apps, and the voucher apps I downloaded (Groupon & Living Social) was to save a bit of money - and it worked. a bit of digging around lead me to the Waterstones app, which gave use 2 4 1 tickets for the V&A exhibit I wanted to see - which saved us £7 - enough for a nice cup of tea. My favourite saving of all was actually via The Tower of London (we'd already worked out we could save a lot of money with 2-4-1 tickets showing our train ticket - a saving of about £18) but checking into the tower of london let me show my smart phone screen and save 10% on our found, thanks to the History channel - not a massive saving, but a nice thank you for not doing much at all.

So yes, anywhere I go now I'll be checking what apps, or vouchers are to hand (including the shiny new 02 priority moments & vouchercloud) - and in my next post I'll talk about apps in Barcelona...

Cupcakes & Robots

2011-07-29T01:23:00.002+01:00

Ok blog, (and by inference everyone that reads it) I haven't really been ignoring you, in fact my phone is full of half written notes that I'm sure would have made excellent, witty, insightful blogs but to the honest the last few months have been manic, flipping between horrible and wonderful - and at some point I'll write it all up, perhaps.

Until then, lets just start afresh. The blog post title, in case you were wondering, is a fair assessment of the cards / gifts I got for my birthday - many cards with cupcakes, many robot related presents (and sometimes the other way around)

The oddest dream..

2011-06-06T07:54:00.001+01:00

I don't usually remember dreams but I've just woken up from an ace one my buddies from afternoon play will appreciate:

My schoolgirl self, and naturally an old school friend I've not seen in a decade, were picked, along with other girls of about 14/15 to join a secret elite, girls only board game academy / boarding school - the mission statement of the place was to make us excel at strategy boardgames like Carcassonne, Settlers & Monopoly in order to shape a generation of women capable of running the county, Enders Game style...

I think it sounds epic, anyone want to buy the film rights....

200 Cookbook on Nombooks

2011-06-04T09:51:00.003+01:00

I've reached a bit of a milestone in my effort to catalogue the cookbook collection - I've reached 200 titles - there's a couple more, but I'm almost grateful it's not close to 300 I thought we had - that does seem a little obscene.

I'm not done, I need to cross reference, some how, and work out which ones I've missed - and any new ones will get added of course - I've also started actually using it, noting successful recipes I cook out of them (and trying to get Pete to do the same).

It's also proved my initial theory that blogging and tagging does make for a pretty useful inventory system you can access from anywhere.

Socrates the olive tree

2011-05-26T11:54:00.001+01:00

So, it turns out my husband and I are pretty much the same person, in that we almost brought each other identical gifts for our 4th wedding anniversary (This year it's fruit & flowers) - but he got there first. It's quite funny in a twisty little way.

He brought me an olive tree, because I've been looking at olive trees, because I wanted to buy him an olive tree - I didn't in the end because he's said things like we don't have room, or it won't survive, because he didn't want me to randomly buy an olive tree, because he wanted to buy me an olive tree - because I'd been looking at olive trees....

Can you see how this has gotten a little silly.

He also surprised me with the olive tree in an identical way I was going to do to him - down to the red bow (I know there's not many ways you can wrap a tree) - and he'd also thought about hiding it in the shed - which, if I'd have brought him an olive tree, is where I would have hid it.

I even wrote a note on his card to say do you fancy a trip to Homebase, where I'll buy you an olive tree..

Oh and he brought me the card I almost brought for him but thought was maybe a little bit girly (why do anniversary cards for men have teddies on them - why?? not that the card he brought me had teddies on it - he knows better then that)

Anyway - meet So Crates the olive tree.

Thank you sweetie xx

Easter / May Holiday Round Up

2011-05-02T12:47:00.014+01:00

Ok, so it's the last day of the long, extended Easter / May / Royal Wedding break - and just for my own sanity a little bit of a round up.

Games

The thing I've realised is that I really really like sim / strategy / tactics games - and RPG's - but mainly games that are silly, or have a big comedy aspect. So, even though things like Arkham Asylum are pretty, and I'm sure Portal 2 is great - (I've not finished Portal yet) - I've logged so many, many hours playing Evil Genius over the last week or so. I've also played a lot of Grotesque Tactics: Evil Heroes & Magicka (I'm up for playing Magicka Multiplayer if anyone else has it - add me on Steam etc etc)

I've already mentioned the Bank Holiday Wii Game session

And board games - Afternoon Play (I've spent a bit of time tidying up some of the stuff on AP - including a blog with links to all the games we've played.) was yesterday and by request of people I brought the Lego Creationary game - a bit of a nightmare to transport but immensely good fun (it's like Pictionary with lego)

I also picked up a copy of Niche - Andy's very simple, very cunning game.

( Niche )

I was hoping to finish off Lego Harry Potter this week, and I suppose I've still got a bit of time, but I'm really savouring that until Lego Pirates of the Caribbean comes out in a few weeks.

Eating Drinking & Catching up with people

I love lunching, and I've made good use of my Stafford Enjoy Card this week - lunching in The Pie & Ale & The Bear Grill - mainly because Olly was in town, and we finally met his friend Adam.

(Olly at The Bear Grill)

We also managed to have a quick picnic with old friends of mine from Cardiff, in Birmigham - Sharon & Jonjo - which makes my New Years Resolution of meeting up with people on my Christmas card list a bit closer to reality! Hoorah!

I've also been out for dinner a fair bit, a Pizza Express with the girls (this was followed by cocktails & darts) and out the Vivare with Pete

(Pete with the mighty Sea Bass at Vivare)

After Afternoon Play Gaz, Pete and I went to Brindly place to drink expensive beer by the canal side.

(the National Indoor Arena doing a sterling job of coordinating with my new dress)

Shopping

I've done excellent shopping - Games, as mentioned above, but also all of my Bridesmaids stuff for Jess's wedding next year, Birthday presents for Gazzy, LB & Harry, tickets to BCN to go see the Parental units in July and this very pretty Rocha John Rocha dress from the British Heart Foundation:

(Wolverhampton Station)

This is also developing into a trend of Pete taking pictures of me looking bored on Train Platforms around the world

(l'Hospitalet Station, LH - 2009)

We've also done some tidying up in the garden, brought some new plants and done some tweaking to the plants at the front.

(Rocky the Easter Island Head)

(New Herb Garden)

Telly

And finally, if I haven't been out lunching, drinking or shopping I've been watching telly. First up I'm loving Dr. Who - It nice to be treated as an intelligent audience member, can't wait to see how the series develops.

Yes we watched the Royal Wedding (ok, we were lounging around in bed, eating cut price Easter Eggs and twittering on #royalweddingtweetshow - official hashtags were just full of vomit worthy sentimentality. ) - But we've paid for it so we may as well look at the pretty dress (and she did look pretty, and they did look happy etc etc). I was impressed at how quickly the Internet geered into snark though: these two being favourites

Oh, and we finished watching Doll House - which means we're at a loss as to watch now, and we tried to watch Twlight and agreed that was 45 mins we'll never get back.

That's it really I'm rather looking forward to going back to work for a few days - then it's off, back to Brum, to see Uncaged Monkeys!

Bank Holiday Comes but 6 times a year (apart from this year where I've lost count already)

2011-04-26T08:59:00.004+01:00

And it contained the following..

Food..

Yes, that is a Flying Spaghetti Monster bedecked chocolatey pirate ship cake) - it's also serving to make an excellent breakfast..

It also involved quite a bit of Matini Rosso and Coke (well, it did for me and Jess), Pete made Ginger beer and that's my new festive favourite - a key lime pie...

It also involved this:

and some of this..

-all in all an excellent afternoon - thanks guys x

Gaming and Fitness - Year One #gamedevdiet

2011-04-19T09:51:00.006+01:00

Ok, So maybe not a full year - but last July I blogged about our attempts to keep healthy - and in the intervening time I've kind of worked out what I like doing.

I mentioned last July I enjoyed the boxing games on the EA game enough that I did make it to some boxercise classes at Riverside - the first one was lovely, mixed small group - but I ached afterwards - for days. I went to a couple more but the ratio of males / females soon dropped to just males (in fact entirely made up out of other trainers in the gym and some of my 2nd year students) So since I wasn't really enjoying it I gave it up.

Zumba's still going strong, in fact I brought the Zumab Wii game from Tesco - out of curiosity and some good reviews, and it's pretty faithful to Emily's classes, which meant a year of Zumba hasn't been wasted if I can score 'Zumba Pro' on my first attempt.

I also picked up a second hand Wii Fit Plus Kit, so now we have a balance board - and I have to admit it's pretty good fun - even Pete was having a go. It also unlocks a whole series of extra exercises in the EA Personal Trainer - whch is good, because I did get a little bored of that.

I also have Just Dance - again, which I've only scratched the surface of..

Which leaves me to a dilemma - I don't want want to get bored of any of them, and I'm determined to do 30 mins every morning of Wii Related exercise - and I think I have a solution (and it is in fairness the same solution I have for most things) - LET THE DICE DECIDE!

1 - Just Dance

2 - Wii Fit Plus

3 - Zumba

4 - EA Personal Trainer

And we'll see how we go, if I get bored, if I actually lose weight...

I need a beer....

2011-04-08T17:06:00.000+01:00

my brain hurts now, is it beer garden o'clock.

It's only taken 4 months...

2011-04-07T20:17:00.002+01:00

...but finally the beautiful Rob Ryan plates Pete brought me for Christmas are out, and up on display in the bedroom.

Pics from the New Office

2011-04-06T14:06:00.002+01:00

Yes, the rumours are true - I've moved out of 'The Coolest Office on Earth' ™ C160 into the slightly more sedate environments of the Octagon, mainly so I can get some work done.

I've shifted everything across and sorted everything away - I've a beautiful view (which in it's self is a turn up for the books having been used to having my back to the window) and some slight traffic noise - but I'll live. I'm just amused it took students seconds to find me...

Another Day - Another Day Trip

2011-04-03T10:42:00.003+01:00

2011-04-02 13.33.08, originally uploaded by wormella.

Following on from last week's trip to Cosford, yesterday we skipped off to Boscoble House & White Lady's Priory

Which also means we saw (the Son of) The Royal Oak

Which in fairness is a bit poorly due to lightning and storms so he only has 100 year left of life in him (Don't worry, there's an established Grandson of The Royal Oak)

In other news the mead I made back in December is maturing nicely and is more then a little bit drinkable.

Headache

2011-04-01T11:26:00.002+01:00

It's worth clicking on the blog title to see the 3D version, even if that does give me a slight headache.

Pete and I went to Cosford

2011-03-29T19:25:00.003+01:00

2011-03-27 12.52.30, originally uploaded by wormella.

Woot! Planes - who doesn't love a lovely free museum full of exciting planes, cause we do. And excellent Sunday afternoon day trip (we even managed to swing by Waitrose on the way home to pick up some yummy pies for dinner) - Which all happily coincided with the first proof of concept of a multiplayer game between me, Pete, Gaz and in theory dad, who has a far more exciting life then we do and therefore was busy and couldn't make it. And we've been playing this on Steam..

(feel free to buy it, add us on Steam and join us in the skies sometime)

Spring Makeover

2011-02-24T20:21:00.003Z

Having decided recently I wear jeans too much - and I was further inspired by Helen from Answer Me This! - who it transpires never wears jeans, I've decided to explore more in the way of pretty dresses, and some slightly more grown up, girly outfits.

It helps that a year of Zumba and now Boxercise and a lot of walking means I've dropped a dress size!

So, since it was payday, and new seasons fashions are in I skipped around town to much dismay (even TKMaxx let me down) - before heading into http://www.jadeclothing.co.uk/ and picking up the 3 pretty wrap dresses I spotted when I popped in the other day - one from Hobbs, another from Whistles and a slightly more party type dress from Guess. They all work nicely with the little ankle boots I picked up in the New Look sale. I'm sure photos will appear at some point.

What I couldn't find this morning was a suitable coat so I've this one winging it's way from good ol' Fashion Union

It's the closest I've found in my price range to the coat Zoey Deschanel wears in Yes Man

(There's a raft of blog posts like this one, trying to find it, and the one I've brought does also come in navy - but I've been wearing a navy military style coat all winter and I need something a little brighter - the original is vintage, and probably tweaked by the costume designer) but it is a good idea of the overall look I'm going for. Which bring me onto two points.

The hunt for the mystical perfect pair of knee high boots (I'll save this for another blog post)
What to do with my hair...

Since Pete said my new coat reminded him of French New Wave Actresses I did some hunting around and since I know, in my hearts of hearts the combo of the Emma Watson pixie cut and my taste in glasses will look more German architect then Parisian bombshell - I'm going to grow it out a little longer and add a fringe - I'm taking the following pictures of Danish actress Anna Karina and Zoey Deschanel along whenever I get around to booking a hair appointment

I think that's enough out of character talk about fashion and girly stuff from me...

Star Wars Ice Cube Trays

2011-02-21T16:08:00.001Z

these are very 'cool'!

Via the ever awesome Topless Robot

Pop Culture Calaveras

2011-02-16T11:30:00.001Z

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T09:00:00.002Z

Hit the Link in the title to head to the SuperFriends Action Valentine Playbook

There's many more cool valentines here & here

Tribalism at Afternoon Play

2011-02-05T16:09:00.000Z

One of the games to come out of our site from the The Global Games Jam was a role playing card game. It seemed to go down well so I'm taking it to this month's Afternoon Play #4 event at The Urban Coffee Company in Brum tomorrow to play test.

The Cards are all hand drawn, and they look very pretty all printed out. I'm promised there an expansions already in the works..

Hex values for Crayola colors

2011-02-04T14:54:00.000Z

Via BoingBoing

Global Games Jam '11 #ggj11

2011-01-29T09:08:00.003Z

So, we're however many hours in, (it's 9:10am and we started at 5pm yesterday) - I've grabbed some sleep, drank some coffee and now I'm just waiting for people to wake up, drift in.

It's all quite chilled and quiet - which is odd since it's a much larger Jam then last years. We've got 70 students, in 10 teams making games. Last year we only had 40.

I'm sure the pace will pick up as caffeine kicks in - until then Check out the Staffs Games Academy Blog <- all the links, photos and things are up there.

We also have a spotify playlist which is open for you to add things too.

'At' Symbol Charmer Twitter Necklace

2011-01-25T21:34:00.001Z

Gosh these are pretty...

Being somewhere sunny...

2011-01-23T09:52:00.002Z

One of my students linked me to a machinima video for Katy Perry's California Grrls, made in Sims 3

It would appear I turn up 38 secs in.

I've played around with the screen cap in picknic, I may yet photoshop it to just say Nia...

In other news, survived Week 1 of term, went out for a lovely curry at Karma II last night with Pete and I promise to be productive today and now just play Tropico, like I did yesterday...

Update..

Worshipping at the alter of my New PC

2011-01-15T16:53:00.003Z

(because it's easier to blog then to do)

My Beast of a PC a) still needs a better name and b) won't fit under my old £9 computer desk thingy. So we're going to turn what is currently my study / 2nd spare room into just my study - for awesome phd work and game playing.

I had a look at lovely vintage desks today, but none of them fit the bill - so we're off to Ikea tomorrow to buy this

(I know it isn't cool or sexy, but it's functional, cheap, and everything will fit - although I'm torn between it in white or black).

Before then I have a bunch of stuff I need to do - In a specific order I think:

Move my Wonder Woman print
Empty the smaller of the bookshelfs onto the bed
Unplug the PC and move it out of the way
Clear the Computer Table, move it out of the way
Put book shelf #1 where the computer table was - and put the books back on it.
Put the computer table (hence fourth as know as bookshelf #2) where comics and shiz in boxes will live
Clear the bed - and dismaPublish Postntle it - it can live in the Elvis suite for now
Tidy up the stuff 'UNDER THE BED', it's going into boxes on bookshelf#2 tomorrow
Hoover
Sleep...

When the new desk is here I'll be able to see how much room I have for a comfy chair / small sofa in my study of awesome.

Update - Sunday 4pm

All done - We were like Ikea Ninjas...

Don't Worry, Be Happy

2011-01-14T13:48:00.003Z

(you will note neither of these are ticked off - it's been one of those days)

My PC gaming over the holidays

2011-01-12T19:06:00.004Z

It's been so long since I actually sat down and played a lot of games in a short space of time, I'd almost forgotten that computer games are the reason I've got anything resembling a career at all. So, since I've plunged headlong into reintroducing myself to gaming, and PC games specifically I though I'd write about some of the things I've been playing over Christmas and impression I've got before I get stuck somewhere in Arkham Asylum*.

Gaming equipment

I should round up, there's 5 things I play games on these day:

My New Pc - Umm, fast...
My Netbook - Dell Mini 10 I think
My Phone - Samsung Galaxy S on the Android platform
My Nintendo Wii
My Nintendo DS (Although I haven't exactly been playing much on this since I lent it to one of my FYP students)

My New Years Resolution to get better at playing with PC games coincided nicely with the Steam Sale, which was already full of shiny things to play. I also made a decision to stop playing Facebook Games, well, the Zynga time sink ones anyway - but I'll blog about that a different day.

Now I should point out, even in my heaviest gaming days I was always one for sims and tycoons games, I'm not very good with shooting things and I tend to get confused easily.

On the PC

Oooh, where to start - ok, an easy one - the first thing I downloaded to my PC was Lara Croft Guardian of Light - I'd heard good things, I love Lara, and the idea of the isometric angle intrigued me - and it is very nice nice, unfortunately I haven't had much chance to play with it since Pete is busy playing it and you can only have one saved game going at any one time. I might cave and buy it for him because I love the idea of playing co-op.

Other things I'd been playing:

Recettear - I did try and play this on my netbook buy it's more intensive then it looks. I love the style, but I've already failed to meet the demands of that evil fairy at least once.
Machinarium - Very Pretty, and really nice - in fact Pete and I have been playing it together.
Mirror's Edge - I haven't quite got into this yet, but it makes me feel a little bit sea sick, which doesn't help.
Batman, Arkham Asylum - gosh, this really is pretty isn't it. not very far into it, and I really like it so far (but I am playing it on easy)
Tropico 3 - told you I love Tycoon games, if you enjoy these kind of games Tropico is pretty much up there as a Wearn household favourite
SimCity4 - yep, I really love Sim / Tycoon games...

On the Netbook

The interesting thing with Steam in the range of games, and if your netbook doesn't have a cd drive, a godsend.

Flight Control HD - This managed to entertain me for a while, and it's about the only thing I've got achievements against my name on Steam, but I haven't gone back to it in a while
Puzzle Quest - mainly because I've been playing this, a lot, (It's Bejewelled with RPG elements) and its ace.
Plants and Zombies - I do rather like this, but I get bored pretty quick

On my Phone

I picked up a few of the Game Loft 3D Hack n Slash games, but I can't even remember what they were called so I think they may have to go. I have been playing Angry Birds, Alchemy & GameDevStory - all lovely little bundles of time & battery sinks. I suspect my phone is one of the reasons I don't pick up my DS so much any more.

On the Wii

Now I really like my Wii, I think it's about my level, but I don't often pick up games for it - especially not new shiny ones. I did however pick up Epic Mickey which I've really enjoyed so far, although I'd like less platform jumping and more world editing.

What I have noticed is no one thing has really captured my imagination, or made me plough hours into it - maybe Facebook games really have destroyed me attention span, maybe such a long hiatus away from playing games, but being so involved with them day in day out makes me see them in a different light.

I'll keep you posted....

* This though struck me though, if Batman's so keen not to kill the bad guys, and lock them up why doesn't he build a better mental asylum...

The new year is in double digits already...

2011-01-10T10:13:00.004Z

Right, it's been tinsy little bit of a whirlwind since Christmas so here's a few highlights:

New PC

Hoorah - I have a new PC, a big, shiny beast of a thing. Which means I can put my steam library to good use (and have been). If you want to add me on Steam please do.

Exciting Tickets

Some of our Christmas money went towards buying tickets for Nerd-fest 2011 - The Uncaged Monkey's tour. It will mark the the 2nd time I've seen Ben Goldacre (Jess and I snagged tickets to his talk at Aston Uni) and Prof Brian Cox (D:Ream supported East 17 at the CIA in Cardiff- that was probably the first ever gig I went to) on stage.

New Blog:

Vanity Project ahoy: http://nombooks.blogspot.com/ <- Decided to find a way to catalogue my cookbooks, I've also got a New Years resolution to cook out of all of them, well any of the ones I haven't already cooked out of.

New Term

Yeah to be back in work - I like work, it makes me happy - and most of my marking is done now, but it's full steam ahead to get ready for semester 2 & The Global Games Jam

Other Stuff

Catlan Christmas - a end of festivities / Birthday party for Gaz (who was ill so couldn't attend) / Buy stuff in the sales feast:

Menu

Table Setting

Example of Awesome Presents

(Wonder Woman joining the 'girls' in the office)

And finally Afternoon Play #3 - in which I got to play Dixit

served raw - served up

2011-01-07T10:40:00.003Z

Now available .44 pistol's debut album 'served raw'

(I was trying to get Pete to sign his copy but he wasn't playing!!)

It's a proper CD and everything - I'm very proud... a bargain at £10!!

2011 New Year's Resolutions

2010-12-29T18:27:00.001Z

Some things to be getting on with...

Merry Christmas!!!

2010-12-25T07:40:00.002Z

Hope everyone has an awesome day Xx

24th December - Santa Claus Detector

2010-12-24T09:41:00.000Z

24th December

(Christmas Eve)

23rd December - Festive department store posters from the 1920s and 30s

2010-12-23T09:47:00.000Z

23rd December

22nd December

2010-12-22T09:12:00.000Z

22nd December

Doug on Telly!!!

2010-12-21T23:11:00.000Z

21st December - Robot Santa

2010-12-21T09:51:00.002Z

21st December

20th December

2010-12-20T09:42:00.000Z

20th December

19th December - Jolly Good Snow

2010-12-19T09:28:00.000Z

19th December

PostScript on the 2nd of December Post

2010-12-19T09:23:00.003Z

Oooh, Spotted this on BoingBoing earlier:

Cylon Snowflakes

"So Say We all"

18th December - Geeky Wreath

2010-12-18T09:34:00.002Z

18th December

later updated to:

Also this one made out of Star Wars toys

Help, My Half-Elf Is Pregnant! The 11 Strangest Questions From The D&D 'Sage Advice' Column

2010-12-18T09:30:00.001Z

I love these, and they make me want to run a one day festive D&d game over the Christmas Hols - anyone up for it?

More here

17th December

2010-12-17T09:14:00.000Z

17th December

16th December

2010-12-16T09:12:00.001Z

16th December

15th December

2010-12-15T09:26:00.000Z

15th December

14th December - Wil Wheaton & Smurfs

2010-12-14T09:35:00.000Z

14th December

13th December - Eel Powered Christmas Tree

2010-12-13T09:14:00.001Z

13th December

(He looks a little bit grumpy)

12th December - the Meat Nativity

2010-12-12T09:20:00.001Z

12th December

11th December - More Gingerbread Joy

2010-12-11T09:42:00.001Z

11th December

10th December

2010-12-10T08:28:00.000Z

10th December

Maybe next years theme should be retro... Town's charity shops are full of excellent vintage baubels, the kind covered in strands of what I guess is nylon or one of those other highly flammable 60's materials. I might just buy a load anyway.

9th December - Tasteful Christmas Tree

2010-12-09T08:28:00.001Z

9th December

Mmmm Beer..

2010-12-08T21:20:00.004Z

An awesome find in the Katherine House Hospice, even better when it's full of beer

8th December

2010-12-08T09:23:00.000Z

8th December

Not My nails, in case you were wondering...

7th December

2010-12-07T09:31:00.000Z

7th December

#afternoonplay Games Log

2010-12-06T14:06:00.004Z

Following another excellent Afternoon Play, and thinking ahead to the next one (9th Jan, Urban Coffee Company, Brum) I thought I'd make a list of everything I had as a bit of a mental note to myself - and a note to others:

Carcassonne & Expansions
The River (and the River II)
Abbey & Mayor
Inns & Cathederals
Traders & Builders
Princess & Dragon

You can also now find me on BoardGameGeek - Come say Hi!

6th December - 2010 White House Gingerbread House Revealed

2010-12-06T09:47:00.000Z

6th December

2010 White House Gingerbread House Revealed

5th December - A Klingon Christmas Carol

2010-12-05T09:25:00.001Z

5th December

A Klingon Christmas Carol

4th December - Top 20 worst nativity sets

2010-12-04T09:32:00.000Z

4th December

3rd December

2010-12-03T09:05:00.001Z

3rd December

Pretty candelsticks and baubles

2010-12-02T18:16:00.001Z

We got these from freecycle (you can see the black ones on facebook) but they were always a little bit austear, so I've softened them slightly, and I'm pretty happy with them. I'm sure when I was in town yesterday I could find dinner candles in more exciting colours but never mind, they look good for now!

2nd December - Star Wars Paper Snowflakes

2010-12-02T09:11:00.003Z

2nd December

#uksnow - stafford

2010-12-01T08:57:00.001Z

The back garden

1st December - The Best Of The Absolute Worst Christmas Decorations

2010-12-01T08:23:00.003Z

1st December

I don't have an advent calendar this year, nor have we put up any Christmas decorations so I've decided to make an awesome advent calendar of awesome festive blog posts - titles will always link to the original

I'm starting to feel a little bit festive (I'm guessing that's the snow's fault, and the fact all my Christmas Shopping is done- I have had 1 Christmas dinner, but that was more logistics then anything)

I'm not last!

2010-11-23T12:52:00.003Z

Lunch time fun in the office.

And on the subject of good things to see

2010-11-22T20:07:00.001Z

The new Harry Potter film is ace! (and very dark, I've never seen so many traumatised children in one place)

Bye Bye McNulty & Crew

2010-11-22T18:42:00.004Z

So, we have 2 episodes of The Wire left to watch - it's been a constant companion in our house for about a year, and we're not 100% sure how we'll cope when we're done and dusted with it.

Of all the box sets of telly we've watched this has been the best.

We were planning on a themed food evening, like we did for Life on Mars (ace 70's food FTW) but Wikipedia recommends Fried Chicken in a box, Beer & Chocolate Biscuits - great for me, not so great for Mr. Wearn (well, the beer & chocolate biccies are vegetarian)

So Goodbye dear friends, and remember #When you walk through the garden, you gotta watch your back#

Christmas lights switch on in Stafford

2010-11-21T12:26:00.003Z

I was reminded by Dave in the office that last year that we some how turned the innocent festive event of the christmas lights switch on into an all day drinking session (I suspect because Pete needed a drink to recover from dealing with festive shoppers turning Starbucks into a creche due to the Santa parade)

Last years switch on lights was odd (they lights were switched on by people dressed as Bart & Homer Simpson and the inevitable fireworks were set to Jeff Wayne's War Of The Worlds)

This year just as odd, Stafford born PC David Rathband who lost his eyesight in the Raoul Moat shoot out in July, someone dressed as Shaun the Sheep, the Mayor and the Town Crier (and music leading up to this provided from the band from this years Panto playing 70's soul tracks - not very festive)

(Pete looking a bit cold and slightly unimpressed at the rendition of a Blues Brothers track)

Anyway, the lights switched on (or the bloke on the top of the guild hall connected the extension lead at the correct time) this years fireworks were very pretty - and a much more appropriate soundtrack of 90's pop and Katy Perry's Firework - probably the most played pop tune in November.

Then we proceeded to carry on drinking fine ales in Joxers - much more festive.

2 Years in a row makes it a tradition right?? See you all in the Back to the Future square next year ;)

I'm just tweeting...

2010-11-18T14:28:00.002Z

Blue Things for Christmas

2010-11-17T20:51:00.002Z

As I mentioned in the last post this year's Wearn Christmas theme is Blue, (as in Blue Christmas). Most of my shopping is done (wrapped and looking pretty in the spare bed - I hope no one needs to stay the night between now and Christmas.

Since I've spent most of the day reading The Lady my idea of what is a sensible price to pay for something but some very pretty ideas from F&M ....

Fortnum's Tea for Two Tea Set -
£225.00

The Duchess of Devonshire Box - £110.00

All The Blues Cheese Selection -
£40.00
(note it's an extra £35 for the plate)

I so very rarely get pangs of hiraeth*

2010-11-15T18:45:00.003Z

but I would like everything from this website please..

This one is even blue, as per this years theme

*Hiraeth is Welsh word that has no direct English translation. However, the University of Wales, Lampeter attempts to define it as homesickness tinged with grief or sadness over the lost or departed. It is a mix of longing, yearning, nostalgia, wistfulness, and the earnest desire^[1] for the Wales of the past.^[2]

Lunch

2010-11-14T15:21:00.001Z

Sunday lunch, Wearn style!

Excellent Day of Telly & Radio ahead

2010-11-11T10:26:00.002Z

RADIO 4 - 18:30 - Bleak Expectations

Brand new series - Pip must enlist the help of his former nemesis to fight a new evil.

E4 - 21:00 - The Big Bang Theory

Brand new series - The Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification: Sheldon realises he won't live long enough to download his consciousness into a robot body and tries to extend his lifespan.

E4 - 21:00 - How I Met Your Mother

Brand new series - Doppelgangers: Marshall and Lily make a secret pact to start trying to have a baby if they see Barney's double. Robin is offered a dream job but it comes at a cost.

E4 - 21:00 - Misfits

Brand new series: The superhero comedy drama returns for a second run. With the gang still mourning the apparent death of Nathan, a mysterious man leads them to the grave.

The Gods of Television & Radio planning are kind to us!

New fish!! <><

2010-11-06T15:43:00.002Z

While the stuff with Pets@Home, rumbles on we thouroughly cleaned the tank, let it run for a week or so while we waited to see if Faraday made it out of quarentine (he didn't, it was a little odd coming home to empty tasks) and now we have new fishkies, ~~names to follow, when we've found 5 revolutionary authors we're happy with!~~

I present to you: Kerouac, Marlowe, Cervantes, Vonnegut & Orwell

Really Facebook - this is how little you think of me?

2010-11-03T19:30:00.002Z

http://www.bradford.co.uk/product_info.php/info/p1766_Ultimate-Elvis-Charm-Bracelet.html/XTCsid/a4703dbdeea0f692a532001288812105

And no, I'm not posting this up here because I secretly want it.

Awesome A-Bomb Cake (and Hat)

2010-11-02T08:16:00.001Z

From a collection of photos from Life Magazine via BoingBoing Marsh mellows do you reckon? (the cake, not the hat)

Día de los Muertos

2010-11-01T18:00:00.004Z

One of these days I will get around to actually hosting a Day of the Dead party, there will be lots of Mexican food, tequila and awesome Home wares and Oilclothes - and people will have to come as a ancestor, however tenuously connected or researched (which will probably mean lots of 17th/18th/19th century agricultural workers)

My Pumpkin Carvings never look this good

2010-10-31T18:00:00.002Z

Happy Halloween!!

Trick or Treat ?!?

2010-10-31T14:57:00.001Z

The king and queen of Halloween have made an appearance...

Let the dice decide...

2010-10-29T09:37:00.002+01:00

We can't decide where to go for Christmas dinner...

Evens - Old Joint Stock,

Odds - The Warehouse

Quirk of Fate - Cafe Rouge

This is the kind of thing that makes the internet great

2010-10-28T11:39:00.001+01:00

One of my students has this as his sig on the DA forum - awesome stuff...

Lunchtime Fun / Research - Quake 3

2010-10-27T13:52:00.001+01:00

It would appear whenever I play Quake 3, I'm not very good and I've a fondness for leaping into the lava

Cause of the fish illness discovered

2010-10-23T16:20:00.003+01:00

I recently brought some Goldfish from the Stafford store, on September 11th, and naturally followed all the advice from the shop assistant, who was a little condescending considering I'd been keeping goldfish for 8 years.

A month on and 2 out of 3 of the new goldfish have died, and all the remaining goldfish are infected with Crustacean parasite, Lernaea (Anchor Worms) - which can only have come from the infected fish, and could only have been the fish from Pets at Home establishment.

I am furious that having trusted a large scale brand my entire tank is now at risk. I will never buy pets from there again. We only went there because the fish guy at Brindley Garden Center was restocking and we were that side of town (usually we go to Fish World at the Reynolds Center)

I've sent this e-mail to Pets @ Home, I'll update if I get a response, but I'd check the health of your tank if you've brought Fish from them recently.

Don't worry, we are treating them now, and they do look a little bit happier, and as ever I'll keep you updated.

This blog post almost wants to make me host a Halloween Party

2010-10-21T16:55:00.001+01:00