Tuesday, January 17, 2012

The Great 2011 Holiday Haul


I get my jollies from finding games marked down like this. I actually scored this one for $14
Before I begin, I must clarify that by "holiday" I am referring from the month period between mid-December and mid-January. Truth be told, there was only one game waiting for me under the tree Christmas morning (Mario Kart 7), but I did acquire quite a number of titles with Christmas/birthday money and the after holiday sales. But enough of that, on to the games!

That's a lot of Wii games...
Amazingly enough, all of the games I purchased are not included in the above picture. Not pictured are Alice: Madness Returns, Shadows of the Damned, Rayman Origins (all three received from a sweet Twitter friend who works at EA Australia), Cursed Mountain (which I bought today), and Fatal Frame II, which is currently en route (an online order). Oh, and it's also worth noting that Sakura Wars~So Long, My Love~ was also given to me by another awesome Twitter friend who happened to have an extra copy. I cannot wait to try it out!

Out of all my purchases, I'm most excited for Little King's Story and The Legend of Starfy. I have been waiting to find a copy of Starfy new for $20 or less for ages now, and I got mine for $14! Oh, do I love a good deal. Little King's Story is quite hard to find in Australia these days, and I scored it for $13 used at an EB Games, but since I traded in the copy of Mario Kart Wii I got with my Wii console (sad, I know, but I don't think I'll play it now that I have MK7. Anyone want an extra Wii wheel, feel free to ask in the comments), I got it for free!

Endless Ocean 2Cursed Mountain, and Rayman Origins are the only games I've played so far, and Rayman Origins is really the only one I've spent a significant amount of time with. I won't go into too much detail, but as I mentioned in a previous post, it's definitely one of my favorite games that came out in 2011!! As for Endless Ocean 2 and Cursed Mountain, I've only played about 1 hour of each, so I can't really give my impressions of those yet. With Endless Ocean 2 I have to say I was a bit disappointed by the above water sequences, and some of the goofy tasks it has you do, like fend off sharks with a signature Wiimote waggle. The scuba diving (which is the meat of the game, of course) is great fun, though. Cursed Mountain has a really great atmosphere so far, and I'm really digging the icy mountain setting. I'm a chicken when it comes to horror games, though, so I don't want to play it by myself, or in the dark! Way to ruin the mood, I know...

How come no one told me there was a Princess Apricot in Little King's Story?
Clearly she is going to be my new favorite character
So, I know it's a bit late, but did any of you get any games over the holidays, or make any game purchases that you've been enjoying lately? January's a good month to catch up on one's backlog, I think. So, what have you been spending your time with?

Sunday, January 15, 2012

My Matchday - 305 Flaxley Road Ground

Selby Town 0v2 Staveley Miners Welfare
Northern Counties East League Premier Division
Saturday 14th January 2012

On this very day in 1988 as a bright eyed and bushy tailed shy young lad, I made my seventh attempt at permanent employment, crossing the office threshold for the very first time. I marked this 24 year anniversary and the fact my working career has stagnated with a day on the lash in one of my favourite drinking cities – York, incorporating of course another new ground visit at nearby Selby Town.


Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Selby is a town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, situated 12 miles south of the city of York, along the course of the River Ouse. Historically the river was part of the town’s large shipbuilding industry and a thriving port due to the Selby Canal, which brought trade from the city of Leeds.


The main feature of the town is Selby Abbey, founded by Benedict of Auxerre in 1069 and one of few surviving abbey churches of the medieval period. Its main feature is the 14th century Washington Window which shows the heraldic arms of the ancestors of America’s first president George Washington.

Selby Town formed in 1919 and the following year entered the Yorkshire Football League as founder members. The club were ever present throughout the history of the Yorkshire League before it became part of the Northern Counties East League in 1982. During the league’s 62 year history ‘The Robins’ were champions on five occasions, three times in the 1930s and successive seasons between 1952 and ’54.
They also progressed in the FA Cup during this decade, reaching the 1st Round in 1953-54 when a club record crowd of 7,000 witnessed the clash with Bradford Park Avenue, and the following season were knocked out at the Second Round stage by Hastings United, the longest cup run in their history.
Selby won their first honour in the Northern Counties East League in 1995-96, lifting the Division One title and have remained in the league’s Premier Division since,with there best performance as runners-up in 2004-05.

The Robins originally played at the James Street Recreation Ground, known as The Bowling Green, which had also been home to both Selby Mizpah and Selby FC at the turn of the century. The club moved across town to the Flaxley Road Ground in 1951, opening in August with a local derby clash with Goole Town in front of a crowd of over 4,000.

The ground is open terracing on three sides with a covered seated stand behind the north goal. The stand has the club name in large red letters on the white back wall and has three rows of wooden block seats with a cordoned off section of 16 seats set aside for club officials and guests.
There is a small covered stand added directly behind the opposite goal, with the team dugouts and changing rooms at the far side. Next to the turnstile entrance is the clubhouse which was opened in the late ‘60s and is quite spacious with a selection of hot food and drinks.
There's a set of tall floodlights on each side which were installed in 1994 and as part of a three-year sponsorship deal, Flaxley Road was renamed the Rigid Group Stadium from August 2010. There’s plans afoot to move to a brand new Conference-standard stadium on East Common Lane next to Selby College.
The Robins stretched their current run of successive defeats to eight games and remain rooted at the bottom of the NCEL Premier Division, as a goal either side of half time secured a comfortable win for Staveley who strengthened their position at the top end of the table.
The visitors were awarded a penalty five minutes before the break when keeper Barford brought down Barraclough with Ryan Damms making no mistake with the spot-kick. The points were assured on 54 minutes, when a nice exchange of passing was finished off with a neat chip over the keeper from Simon Barraclough, to move The Welfare into second spot in the promotion race.
To break up my journey to Selby I enjoyed a canny pub crawl in York, a city where your spoilt for choice as far as a decent pint is concerned. I started off with breakfast and a pint in the Punch Bowl, then called into Brigantes, Last Drop Inn, Three-Legged Mare and the cities oldest pub Ye Olde Starre Inne.


I arrived in Selby at 2.10 and the Flaxley Road Ground is a 10 minute walk to the station, so I headed straight to the clubhouse for a pint and a read of the match day programme, which had an interesting feature inside titled ’On this day… 14th January.
The many landmarks on this particular day include Zsa Zsa Gabor getting her leg chopped off(2011) The Simpsons premiered on Fox-TV(1989) Roy Castle breaking a tap dancing record on the Beeb(1973) and the Sex Pistols final concert in 1978. Another personal milestone which could go on that list is in 1988 when I began working for one of the world’s biggest communications businesses, an occasion I marked by not actually being in the f***ing place but instead spending a great day doing the things I like i.e. enjoying my football ground hobby and a day on the lash.




STFC 0 SMWFC 2 (Damms 40p Barraclough 55)
att.82
Admission £5
Programme £2





4 games I'm looking forward to in 2012

This post is coming a tad bit late, but who said I had to follow the herd, eh? As the title suggests, I've wrangled up a few games that I'm particularly looking forward to in this hopefully epic year of the dragon. It should come to no surprise to any of you that all of these are Japanese games. I am very predictable.


Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance


Or Kingdom Hearts 3D, as it is also known... Get it?? Ahaha... Anyways, pretty much anyone save die-hard fans will tell you that Kingdom Hearts has been on a downward spiral littered with obsolete and downright unnecessary plot threads with still no true Kinghdom Hearts 3 (that 3D may be as close as we're ever going to get). But I've been playing some Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep over the holidays and I have to say, its rekindled my Kingdom Hearts spark. And besides... The World Ends with You character appearances? A Hunchback of Notre Dame world? I was in before Disney could utter "Frollo."

Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom


Why look, it's another predictable title on Anne's list. I think all that needs to be said here is "first major English otome game." If you want to read more about otome games, I've written plenty about it. Here's a sample of what I'm looking forward to:


Theatrhythm Final Fantasy


Dream Drop Distance, Theatrhythm... Japan will never get over its absurd use of English in game titles. If you're wondering, the official Japanese site states that "theatrhythm" is a combination of "theater" and "rhythm." Well, it helped me remember exactly how to spell the title, at least.


As a fan of both rhythm games and Final Fantasy, this one is yet again another no-brainer for me. I am decidedly not a big fan of the cutesy art style used in the game's character art, but I'd be willing to overlook that if the game plays as well as I'm hoping. And with three different modes to play all of my favorite Final Fantasy songs in, it should provide many hours of fun.

Pokémon x Nobunaga's Ambition

Admittedly, I'm a bit of a shameless Pokémon fan. Okay, there's not much shame in that, as most of my video game loves are based on silly reasoning, but here's one to take the cake: After I saw these two character designs from Pokémon x Nobunaga's Ambition, I was sold. Also, Pokémon combined with feudal Japan? A fresh take on the old Pokémon formula? Sign me up!

 

Of course, there are plenty of other great looking titles that I am very much looking forward to this year, including, but not limited to: Atelier Meruru: Apprentice of Arland, Final Fantasy Type-0, Rhythm Heaven Fever, and Rhythm Thief and the Emperor's Treasure. 2012 is looking to be a great year indeed!

Thursday, January 12, 2012


Para todo aquel que se cree tecnico y que le gusta armar sus equipos, ya está listo el Torneo Santa Grandeza C2012 donde no ganamos nada, pero nos divertimos como chamucos. 
Si quieren formar parte de nuestro grupo este es el código: 
362312122 
Obviamente primero tienen que hacer su equipo en esta liga:http://gruporeforma.elnorte.com/Futbolvirtual/default.htm

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Maestro y alumno vuelven a clases pero...

 - Se inician las hostilidades para el clausura 2012-
- ¿Algo nuevo bajo el sol? -
- ¿Y los refuerzos? -
- Se pierden los primeros 2 puntos -
- Feliz año 2012 a todos - 
Luego de una prolongada ausencia por cuestiones meramente personales, regreso a retomar el proyecto que hasta hace poco se había convertido en parada obligada para mucha gente que gusta de éste deporte.
El trago amargo quedó atrás, al igual que el subcampeonato perdido miserablemente OTRA VEZ en Monterrey, hoy, Santos mira a un 2012 con la esperanza de por fin encontrar lo que se ha negado ya por mucho tiempo, su tan anhelada 4ta. estrella.

MAS INFORMACIÓN



Éste es el Santos Laguna 2012
Si, es el mismo que el torneo anterior.
Desgraciadamente los deseos no van con lo que se ve en la directiva, al negar la inclusión de refuerzos para el plantel mientras deja en éste a jugadores que ya nada deben estar haciendo por aquí y eso es algo que el aficionado reclama, pero que tal parece ya no importa.

Hércules Gómez, fué el único refuerzo-hasta el momento-  que el Santos dió de alta para este 2012, de posición delantero, se pensaría que vendría para cubrir un hueco que se está teniendo al ver los bajos niveles en que ha caído Darwin Quintero a quien nadie sabe porque siguen manteniendo en el plantel.
Sin embargo y para éste primer juego, Quintero nuevamente sale como titular indiscutible, ¿la razón? nadie sabe, sólo el maestro, aún así, el juego contra Pachuca, aún siendo un cero - cero que a NADIE, ABSOLUTAMENTE A NADIE LE GUSTA ( aunque salga el técnicos diciendo "me voy conforme" habrase visto ¿DE LOCAL?  y diciendo eso, que alguien le haga entender que no se ganó un punto, se perdieron DOS.)  aún así fue un juego movido, con llegadas claras de gol que desgraciadamente se fallaron ante el marco ( séan del color que sean) Pachuca tuvo todo para llevarse la victoria, pero Santos tuvo en los botines de Peralta igualmente cantidad de situaciones, lamentablemente para nosotros, el de la partida no andaba atinado pero sabemos que es cuestión de tiempo para que se haga notar siendo que siempre tiene la disposicion, entrega y calidad para hacerlo.
Darwin Quintero...¿por fin será su torneo?
No así en contraparte su pareja en la delantera, Quintero sigue levitando, tuvo algunos destellos durante el juego pero nada que nos haga olvidar TODAS SUS FALLAS que ha tenido en su estancia en el equipo,  sin temor a equivocarme siento que Gómez debe tomar la titularidad de inicio para el próximo juego, y picarle el orgullo al "científico" para que le haga darse cuenta, que su reemplazo, YA ESTÁ AQUI, y que en donde anote primero, se quedará y el otro comerá banca durante un buen rato.
Se esperaba más pero la lucha fue férrea.
Para lo que ví en el juego, Santos es el mismo que la temporada anterior, tratando bien el balón y tejiendo sus jugadas como le gusta, pero ojo, ojalá que se hayan dado cuenta ( porque hasta el momento no ha sido así) de que ese futbol NO LES ALCANZÓ para campeonar, triste pero cierto; Que chiquimarco ayudó al Tigres bla bla bla...al final los números son fríos y hay que recordar que QUIEN NO QUISO QUEDAR EN LOS PRIMEROS LUGARES fueron los mismos jugadores locales con sus resultados pues del primer lugar se fueron desinflando por mas que les decíamos que URGÍA que quedaran dentro de los 3 primeros -al menos- para aspirar a cerrar la final en casa, pues está comprobado que históricamente de visita NO GANARÍAN ni a las canicas.
No se les veía contentos al finalizar la primera mitad
El caso es que Santos ahora ya no compra ( ni produce) se deshicieron de Chema Cárdenas a quien enviaron al América y bien podían haberlo usado de moneda de cambio, por el lagunero Medina, y con eso cubrir la media ¿pero que creen? ¡no lo hicieron! ¿por qué? a lo mejor porque "debilitarían" al equipo favorito de nuestro flamante presidente.

Mientras ahora con la nacionalización de Ludueña ahí andan buscando -aún- a un extranjero mientras que el torneo ya empezó y hasta ya se tiene el primer lesionado en la figura de Hoyos que al menos se va vs Atlante y al primer expulsado (Ibañez) para no perder la bonita costumbre del torneo anterior que nos costó el CAMPEONATO ( y no por culpa de Chiquimarco o de otro nazareno).
Es entonces cuando uno se pregunta ¿que pedo? y saco conclusión de que parece ser que ahora ya no quieren gastar nomás vender ( como si fuéramos una gran cantera ) porque saben que aún así, Santos logrará calificar y por ahí meterse a una semifinal viendo lo raro e irregular del futbol nuestro así que no hay necesidad de reforzar al equipo.
La gente asiste, consume y ahí está...entonces..
¿Y los refuerzos?
Es cierto, es la jornada 1, no caigamos en exageraciones, y puede que en una de esas agarren una racha de 5 sin perder y renueven la esperanza de toda la afición, a eso le apuestan, pero ¿y si no?...Sabemos también que nuestro torneo es irregular y que hasta haciendo una temporada mediocre el equipo clasifica, pero calificar para nosotros los santistas ya no es un logro, es simplemente como hacer un trámite, eso déjenlo para aficiones como la de Querétaro, tecos, y demás equipos que nunca califican.
Para ser la primera jornada, el equipo no se vio mal, no, pero no es nada del otro mundo, simplemente es una continuación de lo que habíamos visto antes, un equipo que genera jugadas de gol, que batalla cuando Peralta no anda fino porque Quintero no apoya, un equipo que es raro que termine completo y que permite que el rival también le llegue con su consecuente peligro para remar contra la corriente, un Suárez que sube, baja y se funde, y un medio campo que requiere urgentemente ser apuntalado.
No pedíamos mucho, si acaso unos 3 o 4 refuerzos para tener gente de relevo confiables, no que se sigue volteando a la banca y vemos a Zinedine Ochoa y a Carlos "ni madres que me voy" Morales.
Si al menos nos dijeran que bueno "no hay dinero" y que ahora " se les dará oportunidad a las fuerzas inferiores" las cuales TAMBIÉN FUERON SUBCAMPEONES pues al menos comprenderíamos el porque la falta de decisiones para traer a gente y sangre nueva, pero ni eso, entonces nos dan la pauta para uno pensar lo que queramos.
Santos visita ahora al Atlante que en su debut, fué a amargarles el inicio de año a las chivas de Jorge "no compro nada " Vergara ( ¿será amigo de nuestros directivos? ) el sabado a las 9:00 y me imagino que será por Sky pues al Atlante nunca lo pasan por tv abierta.
Los guerreros tendrán que cubrir la baja de Hoyos en la central, me imagino que con Galindo y al chico Ibañez en su lateral, lugar que Mares no desconoce.
Hasta el frío se me quitó.
¿Saldrá con la misma delantera? el maestro dijo que él estaba conforme con el accionar de sus muchachos, entonces no dudo que salgan igual, nomás que le avisen que donde se traiga un resultado adverso las cosas empezaran a ponerse calientes de inmediato pues la gente no está muy contenta que digamos, sin refuerzos, sin triunfo al iniciar torneo y muchas cuentas por pagar en la vida real.
Cartón de Terrazas.

Sale!
Y como no hubo goles, les dejo algo más entretenido.
¡Y lléguenle a Belen cantando! que ya inició nuestro futbol.



New Image from Float Movie

New Image from Float Movie