Author: anthony

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Movies Recommended

Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit Since Wallace and Gromit’s first short, “Grand Day Out”, I’ve always enjoyed watching these characters. Is it childish? Probably but what’s not to like about them? Their first big screen outing is backed by Dreamworks but the film still has a homegrown feel about it and benefits as a result. The titular pair own a pest control business and in the run up to the yearly giant vegetable contest, are kept particularly busy. That is until the were-rabbit appears and starts to mess with the townfolk and generally causes a ruckus.

The characters have always been a strong point in pieces by Aardman and this film is no different. Both Wallace and Gromit have some excellent scenes together and the interplay and timing of scenes is spot on. One thing which also struck me was the cinematography. For an animated title, it’s beautifully shot and the detail on the models is astounding. The script also has space for a cast of characters voiced by Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham-Carter and Peter Kay all of which complement the story excellently. If you’re looking for a funny film at the moment then you’d be a fool to overlook this. :mrgreen:

Tony’s Verdict: 9/10

Categories
Dunboyne AFC General

Since Wednesday

This is one of those updates. 🙂

  • On Wednesday night I went down to the pub to watch Ireland but on a mediocre display against Switzerland. They didn’t do much and probably didn’t deserve to go through. A million and one punters have now had their say so I’m not going to add my 2 cents in. Alas, I was disappointed along with the rest of the country.
  • Thursday night was spent in the International Comedy Club in Dublin laughing at: Aidan Bishop, Dermot McMorrow, Tommy Nicholson and David O’Doherty. The place was absolutely jammers (full for those who aren’t Irish :wink:) with people and they all put on a great show. I’m going to see David O’Doherty again this week as he’s doing a standalone series of shows in the Project Arts Centre in Temple Bar. If you live in Dublin then go, you will be highly entertained.
  • Yesterday I was due to attend TechCamp but wasn’t feeling at all well on Friday so I decided not to go. By all accounts it was quite good and I’m sorry I had to miss it. Last night I went down to the pub with Dave for a few drinks. We discovered a disco bar that we thought had closed in one of the bars which was nice. Stayed there for the night and rambled home around 1.
  • This morning the Dunboyne team had a game against Swords Celtic. We lost the game heavily but we always seem to do that at the start of the season. 🙂 This was our first game and the lack of fitness showed. Tomorrow I’ll be doing laps to start getting them match fit. They need a serious trainer to give them the skills work though as I just don’t have the experience yet.

Tonight I’ll be wandering along to see Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. It looks fantastic and the reviews have been glowing. Unfortunately most of the back catalogue of models and scenery was destroyed last week in a fire at the main store house. The fire was still burning on Friday 🙁

Categories
Games Recommended

Game Demos

Have played a few game demos over the past few days. First up was Peter Jackson’s King Kong (download). It’s being developled by Ubisoft so I suspected this would be a quality title. The demo looks superb and has two sections, one where you play as Jack Driscoll and the other as Kong. I won’t ruin it for people that plan to download it but the frame rate on the Kong section dropped because of my graphics card. I have a Radeon 9800 Pro so I suspected I would have some problems. Overall it’s an excellent demo and I’ll look forward to the full game but it may mean a graphics card update in the near future if I’m to play it properly.

The second demo I downloaded was Call of Duty 2 (download). For anyone who’s played the original, you’ll know what to expect but on a bigger scale with improved graphics. The demo is set in Africa where you’re with a British batallion fighting in a small town close to the coast. You have to take out a set of anti-aircraft guns and make your way through the town. The graphics are spot on and the dogfights going on above the town lend a real sense of chaos to the action. Looking forward to it.

Lastly was Pro Evolution Soccer 5 (download). Pro Evo has long been the king of football titles on sheer realism and control. It just feels like a better football game than FIFA. The latest incarnation improves on the graphic front but they also seem to have done a lot of work on the physics. Players now bounce off each other better and fall to the ground in a variety of different ways. There was no slowdown whatsoever while I was playing and the players look remarkably like their real life counterparts. What they say about football titles on PC holds through here. You can’t play it comfortably with the keyboard. I’d need to invest in a controller but I may just do that considering this title won’t be available on Gamecube.

Categories
Football

Buildup

PICT1962The big game is on tonight. Ireland vs Switzerland at Landsdowne Road. This is the big one. If we don’t win then we don’t go to the World Cup. It’s come down to this so I just hope they do it. C’MON YE BOYS IN GREEN!!!

Categories
Web

Del.Icio.Us Link Digest

Thanks to Dave for posting the guide he sent me on how to get del.icio.us to post your bookmarks to your blog automatically. The page on their site doesn’t have any instructions so Dave’s steps make it easier to understand what to do. I’m not using del.icio.us that much at the moment but I plan to use it a lot more when I import my Firefox bookmarks. Their import facility is down at the moment so hopefully they’ll put it back live soon.