Clint Eastwood.

While the name makes me think of a tough cowboy, an even tougher detective or an opinionated old bloke with a rifle, Ben thinks of this song by the Gorillaz:

(Gran Torino, web image)

I ain't happy, I'm feeling glad
I got sunshine in a bag
I'm useless but not for long
The future is coming on
I ain't happy, I'm feeling glad
I got sunshine in a bag
I'm useless but not for long
The future is coming on
It's coming on...

What’s in a name?

Starcraft II players use names like Classic, Maru, MarineKing, Terminator, Soulkey, Reality, PartinG, Dream, Hurricane, Super, Solar, Creator, DeParture and sOs. All the most successful players are from Korea and some use English versions of their Korean names like BByong and DongRaeGu (DRG). One player recently won $100,000 at a winner-take-all tournament in Katowice Poland. Ben thinks that I should learn how to play and, when asked what name I should use, thought for a while and then suggested Frack. I wouldn’t win very often and could loudly utter my new name after every game.

Dark Souls 2.

We picked up the deluxe collector's edition of Dark Souls 2 on Thursday. The game comes with a cloth map, concept artwork booklet and a large hand-painted knight which now stands proudly on the kitchen shelf; beneath an Ork Mek Boss and beside the Dalai Lama. The hand painting was good but Ben’s using his painting skills to improve it significantly. The game hasn’t been played yet and won’t be attempted until the arrival of a Dark Souls 2 Strategy Guide pre-ordered from Amazon a few weeks ago.

Noise!

The neighbour a few doors away is having two large trees removed this morning. Chainsaws make very annoying noises but far worse is the massive wood-chipping machine that’s been running for the last few hours. Ben’s coping by wearing ear plugs and industrial ear muffs while also sleeping in as he usually does. Noise is a continuing problem in this house. Our teenage next-door neighbours often get carried away and play very-loud-and-fairly-awful music in their house or cars. Worse still was “doof-doof man” around the corner whose sub-woofer vibrations registered on the richter scale. A near altercation with another neighbour and, at another time, a call to the local police seems to have quieted him down. Finally, and at the low end of the noise scale, our fridge is a continual source of annoyance. The industrial ear muffs are worn to block the sound or, alternatively, the fridge gets switched off for a while.

Less Miserable.

(web image)

Ben reports he’s feeling much better lately, which is very good news. Our fairly frequent film viewing has expanded from the Sci Fi and Zombie genres to Westerns and even a musical, Les Miserables with Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Borat and others. The story is quite good and it was a revelation to discover that Russell Crowe can sing as well as act and manage a rugby team. And Hugh Jackman can sing too! Perhaps we all can but don’t have the training to sing well. One slight drawback is that a story moves fairly slowly when characters sing all the time and we kept wondering when we’d reached the half-way point. I think we’re now close the end as Javert, unable to forgive himself or anyone else, has just toppled off a parapet into the ocean.

Tasteless and Artosis.

(Artosis, Tasteless - web image)

Tasteless and Artosis are the names of Ben’s favourite Starcraft 2 casters. Their commentary on SC2 matches is both funny and interesting, though incomprehensible to non-gamers. We’ve put the new Samsung TV to good use watching live net broadcasts streamed from Korea. The TV wasn’t so cool when, after only three weeks of use, it suddenly failed to operate. Fortunately the electronics store was happy to exchange and the replacement is functioning well. In other news of the month, the Mulgrave Country Club directors decided to suddenly remove the club’s pool tables. We plan to punish them financially by not renewing our memberships and ensuring that our vast entourage of friends and relatives are aware of the injustice. We did try another pool hall in Syndal but were quickly driven out by loud techno music. How anyone can skillfully pot pool balls with that playing in the background is beyond me. Ben’s had occasional outings with friends though most time is still spent at home. Painting of Warhammer models continues each day and painting skills are improving. Thus February finishes and we march into March.

Portal 2.

(web image)

Portal 2, the game that couldn’t be played back in August 2013, has been successfully completed. Ben has mastered the physics of the Portal gun, navigated labyrinthine levels, defeated the final boss and emerged from Aperture Science’s massive underground complex out into a golden wheat field that stretches to the far horizon. Farewell to GLaDOS and Wheatley, it certainly was a fun game for a non-player to watch with some very funny lines and that very catchy tune in the final credits.