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Cats About the House

My wife and I are now the proud owners of two bouncing hissing kitties.

Two boy kitties named Furrz and Purrwin 1.

They are still upset from separated from their mother. Every time we get close they hiss at us. I think we will wear them down with our love. But now I am slightly sleep deprive as they make so much at night. I thinking of buying them some Kitten Mittens just to get some peace and quiet.

[Update]

They seemed to have settle down now that we have had them for almost the six weeks. Also we have found out Furrz is a girl which we did not see coming first but it made sense of lot of little incongruities we had seen. She is still an Archduke though and we respect her live choice.

Furrz is the timid one and Purrwin the Extrovert.

Furrz is the athlete of the two. She run and jump leaving Purrwin in a tizzy. Both like to go in to the window sill in the bedroom but have to navigate the dreaded curtain. Furrz always manages it with one elegant bound but Purrwin not so much. At first me and Steff thought she didn’t like being touched but she likes attention but when she wants it. She is tiny with a curly tail.

Purrwin is the overly attached cat. When I go to work he will meow at me and get upset. And when I get home he’ll be super excited. He also has massive paws so he going to grow to be a huge cat. He not quite so elegant when climbing and will fall off things regularly. Also lot more aggressive. Ninety percent of the scratches on my arm are from him. But that was when we first got them and I don’t think they were picked up as kitten. Now he is amenable to being picked up.

I’m looking forward to my first Christmas with a Wife and the Cats.

Ad XO

Sleeping after a hard day of cat destruction.
The two of them actually using their expensive cat tower
Furrz Being Scared in her Shark bed
The two huddled for warmth on the sofa
A tired Purrwin after a hard day scratching my arms
Purrwin relaxing.
Purrwin showing his beans
Purrwin with a ring on his head for some reason.
Furrz hiding on my scarf.
Purrwin getting a stroke. Also notice the cushion matches the curtains.
Purrwin watching the F1 with me.
Purrwin watching the F1 with me.
Gratuitous bean shot.
Purrwin chasing F1 Cars
Close up of them sleeping under the table.
Sleeping under the table
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Update From The Carter House Hold

Well I have not updated this blog as much as would I like.

With wedding, My father being rather ill and My Wife being ill has left me rather stressed out. And as well as having a full-time job my candle has been burnt at both ends and bit in the middle.

I have been working on blog posts but never had time to complete them.
What I do not want to do is release them all at once and not be able to keep up with that routine in the new year.

So I am going to take it easy over christmas and post couple of the larger pieces. I will also try and post a number of shorter posts as well.

Speak Soon

Ad XO

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Mr and Mrs Carter

Well now I cannot see the TV.

I got married on the 28th of October to lovely lady called Stephanie. I now refer to her as ‘Mrs Carter’1.

It is a strange feeling. Nothing has changed in out relationship but it does feel different. I explained to some of the people I work with it good kind of different. Mainly I put it down to now wearing a wedding ring.

It was a good day. My best man did a great job of distracting me when I was waiting for my other half to make an entrance. Standing in front of my closest family and friends waiting was one of the most singular experiences of my life. Their staring at me was one of the most stressful things I have ever had to experience.

As soon as the ceremony was over and my wife and I were led out of the registry office a weight that I had not noticed had been lifted of my shoulders and I could relax.

I spent the rest of the day in daze walking between groups of family and friends as they congratulated me. It was nice.

When I went back to work many colleges congratulated me as well. Even customer and colleges I did not

Me and Daz. Because of Him I met Steff
My lovely wife.
Me and my dad
Me and my wife after the ceremony.

know well congratulated me. I always found the experience strange so I would smile and say thank you as sureness of the experience over whelmed me.

Now I am married to my best friend and love of my live.

And I am happy.

Soppy I know but true.

Peace out peeps.

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Locks and Keys

Well over the last week my front door  lock borked.

On Saturday I went to see Akira at The Electric Cinema courtesy of my brilliant Fiancée. I had great time and we were really decadent as we booked a sofa.

But.

When we got home I locked the door and felt softer then usual. The next I tried unlock the door to go to work the next day I found I could not. This left me in strange position of having call my work to tell them I was locked into my flat.  Not out.

I managed to break the lock.1 I ordered a new cylinder lock from Amazon2. Fitted without issue. But I found the issue was with the sashlock case and not with the cylinder.

I took the sashlock out the door and apart only to find out that a thin piece of metal had broken off. These tiny piece of metal functioned as spring on the lock mechanism and made sure the lock fully engaged and disengaged. Now it was free the lock had greater range and had come out sync with the key cylinder. I managed to jury rig it so we could use the door but someone had to be on the inside if it came out of sync again. My lovely Fiancée took this job whilst I went to work but on Friday I had to go to work and Steff was going to home to visit her parent. After much research late at night I ordered a new lock from Safe.co.uk but the delivery company they used completely messed up. They failed to deliver it the wrong address and then cancelled the delivery on the next day. The guys at Safe.co.uk were really helpful3. I was able to use the jury-rigged lock and use it without too much issue.

But first time I used to it without Steff being inside the lock got stuck again.

At this point I gave up and got the professional out. A nice man name ‘Dan’ came out from Timpson Locksmiths and fixed the door within about 30 minutes. He was a lot more professional than the last locksmith I had call out.4.

Now that I can get inside my flat without any issue and my anxiety level have dropped I am acutely aware of how my background level of anxiety is actually quite high. I can only attribute this to my wedding with is only 11 days way.

Oh god.

 

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Shadow Complex Remastered

Shadow Complex

Well I bought the remastered version of Shadow Complex. It is currently on Sale on the PS4 with an extra 15% of for Playstation Plus members. Not bad value at £5.59.

I brought it on the Xbox 360 when I was suffering from a severe chest infection and could not leave my bed. I enjoyed it then and still do. It is a fun mix of Metroidvania mixed with 2.5d shooter. I also like the amour and mecha design. You will have seen ChAIR designs in Infinity Blade 1-3 on iOS.

Shadow Complex
Shadow Complex Remastered ©Epic Games.

Now the remastered version does not seem to add any thing to it as far as I can see. I mean it clearly high rez and it seems the animation is smoother. But if you ask me to tell you were the one hundred plus addition and enhancements I simply could not tell you. Now I looked online and one review mentioned the extra close combat animation but which ones are new I could not tell. Only place I could find any information about the addition was on Steam were they mentioned a ‘bonus proving grounds’.

Well I guess it does not matter really.

The game is still a fun blast to play. Just don’t expect a great story or even much of one. The story is not where is it is at.
You play a young man chasing a women in to a forest 1and the forest just happens to be on top of secret military base. And that is it for the introduction. Most of the rest of the plot is told with over heard conversations and flash backs. There is much to be said for a game that sticks you directly into the gameplay without burdening you with a lot of exposition.

What interest me the most is something else. A lot of what is missed with games these days is the idea that games are created in isolation and come completed in perfect form. This is barely the case and missed by a lot of gamers. Hence the furore around No Man’s Sky.

When they first Shadow Complex on Xbox 360 in 2009 they advertised connection to Orson Scott Card. I faulty remembered that he had created it with ChAIR. But a quick wikipedia check revealed that ChAIR licensed it to Orson Scott Card2. But in the new version there is not mention of Orson Scott Card two Empire Duet novels3. The only thing on the Epic’s website is that story was penned by Peter David.

As did some quick check I found that the founder of ChAIR Entainment, the epically named Donald Mustard, worked on another gamed called Advent Rising. It was not a very good game but it story was written by Orson Scott Card and Cameron Dayton.

There is a good article on wikipedia that goes in to the detail of creation and how a chance to work with apple diverted them to create Infinity Blade.

What this tells me is that if you don’t do the research it is very easy to have preconceptions the colour your views. I thought that Orson Scott Card’s history related to his anti gay marriage issue had caused bad blood between him and ChAIR. Not only was I misinformed, I was factually inaccurate. But it does lead me to think that some time some of the most interesting aspects to a game are related to the story that happens behind the scenes. How sometimes small mishaps shape how came is created or released. And sometimes a company greed can cause it to reach even greater heights only to crash.

TLDR

I recommend Shadow Complex if you want fun without the expectation of plot it is worth a check .

 

Also recommend the article on the fall of Lionhead Studio by Wesley Yin-Poole on  Eurogamer.

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Wall Of Nostalgia.

My fiancee bought a Tintin poster from Tintin Shop Uk in Covent Garden London.  Now it has pride of place on my wall. Frame from Ikea.

It of my Favourite Tintin story ‘Explorers on the Moon’. In its native french it is called ‘We Walked on the Moon’ which I think is much cooler than the english version.

I am a big fan of Hergé and his Ligne claire (French for “clear line”).

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Motorsport Manager

Screen Shot 2016-08-10 at 12.46.48Well I have preordered Motorsport Manager.

Cannot wait. I have being playing Motorsport Manager on iOS for the last week to sate my hunger for this game. Now it is  no longer a challenge :-(.

For those that do not know. Motorsport Manager is a game for iOS and Android. And it is brilliant. It was created by Christian West. He worked for a big name developer and worked on it in his spare time. Because it was wildly successful it allowed him to setup his own game development company. Now he is working with Sega to bring a more complex version to life.

I am a huge fan of F1. My Fiancée evens watches it now with me. I remember playing  Grand Prix Manager 2 1 on my friends windows computer. He always loved Michael Schumacher but I didn’t.

Whilst writing this post a quick google 2search revealed Looking at the other F1 management games I realised how antiquated the genre was. Most of the games were made by fans and had not evolved past the formula 1 managerial sims created by Edcom with Grand Prix Manager 1&2 games from the mid nineties. So seeing Motorsport Manager with it modern UI is really exciting. They are getting help from Sega’s Sport Interactive as well. Yes they made Football Manager so that only makes me more excited. I have always liked Football Manager but I not that connected to Football world so some of it could be some what esoteric.

But it all happens on September so I will see if I can sate my excitement till then.

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Scrivener for iOS : Thoughts

I have been using scrivener for a while now on my iPhone and iPad.

And I like it. It is a lot less over whelming then its desktop counterpart.  I sat with my phone and wrote over five hundred words when while my other half was watching Deep Space Nine on Netflix.

I have used Scrivener for mac for going on five years now. Even I can find it difficult to get my head around. It is undoubtedly powerful but sometime feel like that power is trapped behind it’s convoluted interface. Now to be honest that most of it power is connected to that interface. I have always liked that there is more than one way to do most things and it adapts to how you want to work.

More so than say Microsoft Word. 1

The simplicity of the iOS version is staggering. It has all the powerful features I like to use but contains them in a much more simple form. It is such a joy to use.

I can see why Keith has had to take such a long time to develop it. Aside from the loss of two iOS developers it is more than worth the wait since it was first announced.

I for one cannot wait to see what Keith and the fine people at Literature and Latte do with Scrivener for mac next. It should be good.

Might to have to buy the iPad Pro 9.7” with Smart Keyboard now they finally have international layouts. Either that or the iPad Pro 12.9” with the Razer Mechanical Keyboard as it even has Backlight Keys!