Playstation One - Nostalgia Bomb

I'm assuming you're reading this on some form of modern technology that probably wasn't around when the mighty Playstation One was released. I used to spent a lot of time on the PS1 as a youngling, not quite as much as the PS2 but still enough to have probably impacted my mental development in some way...

Here's my top three, not necessarily 'best', but more 'most nostalgic' games I used to devote hours to.

Crash Bandicoot 

Everyone knows this guy. Crash is possibly one of the most iconic Playstation game characters ever, he's a likable, human sized, partially literate Bandicoot. Which if you look to your right, you'll see a great little real life photo of.

Crash is a failed science experiment that escaped from the evil Dr Cortex, and you spent most of the time trying to defeat him.
The game itself is a simple platformer, set in the fictitious Wumpa Islands, and man, I loved it so much. At the time, the gameplay was insanely addictive, and just plain simple really. Re-live your childhood by watching this sad man complete the whole game, with every special gem in just under two hours, or watch about two minutes, because ain't nobody got time for that.

Driver 2 

Fuck me I honestly forgot how terrible the graphics are in this one until just now, look at this pixelated mess of a game. But I tell you it was ridiculous amounts of fun in its day, and at the time those graphics were pretty cutting edge.

Driver 2 is very clearly the sequel to Driver. If you didn't figure that out I don't know how you're using modern technology at this moment, but anyway this one is a gem. I played the original Driver game randomly after playing this one, but I didn't care much for chronological story-lines back in these times.

Before Grand Theft Auto was a full 3D clusterfuck of an amazing game, Driver 1 & 2 started the whole free-roam sandbox game popularity for me personally. More so in D2 because you can actually get out of your vehicle, in order to get into another vehicle. Which sounds so simple but it was such insanity way back in 2004 or whenever it was I playing this. 

It starts off in Chicago, then moves to Havana, then Las Vegas and finally Rio. ALL THESE CITIES IN ONE GAME IT WAS SO GROUNDBREAKING! But you mostly have to complete vehicle based missions, e.g steal a car, smash up a car, delivering car bombs, follow cars... Yeah so it's called Driver for a reason. 

Witness some classic gameplay and feast your eyes upon the glory that is Driver 2. I enjoyed this so much mainly because you can drift like an absolute boss, it's a fully explore-able open world, and the missions vary just enough that they aren't too repetitive, well especially if you're 8 odd years old and are playing it. Which is another reason I liked this game, it was made for 'grown ups' and I thought I was so savage by completing it all on my own. See, my parents let me play this 'violent' game as a youngster because they knew I wasn't an easily impressionable little fucktard that will try and steal a car after playing it. And they also thought it was just a harmless car game that featured the occasional swear-word. LITTLE DID THEY KNOW I was smashing through police roadblocks, telling fools to 'move out the fuckin' way' and sometimes killing  people in this virtual world. But I think I turned out fine...

Tekken 2

If you've never played  any Tekken game before I genuinely feel for you. I even used to play against my Dad on this one, and all he would do is press all the buttons as fast as he could, somehow always managing to beat me. He didn't even know which button was 'punch'...

I believe Tekken 7 is out soon for Playstation 4 and Xbox One. There's been a whole 5 games released since I used to play this, damn.

It's a simple (recurring theme with these PS1 games) side on beat em' up. Literally one vs one fight until a player is knocked out. It's amazing. 

The game is based around The King of The Iron Fist tournament, and you choose a character to take through the multiple stages of increasing difficulty. At the end you fight a boss, who is a motherfucking Devil, literally a huge purple Devil that shoots lasers from his forehead I shit you not. 

My favourite character was Yoshimitsu, check him in action here, and also this time to your left. I still don't quite understand what the hell he is. But I was 8 or so and I thought he was a goddamn Alien with a glowing green sword, of course he was my favourite. The internet says he's a 'mechanized human'. Apparently half of him is made of metal; I NEVER knew that, probably because the graphics were so bad. 

Really there's not a lot of detail to explain in Tekken. There is a storyline involving the tournament itself, and how some characters are corrupting it or something pretty cliche along those lines. 

I enjoyed Tekken mainly because once you complete the game with one character, their weird alter-ego/variation character becomes unlocked, and they have all kinds of different moves and look completely different. This simple incentive was enough to keep me hooked for hours on end, trying to every single hidden player. It was like getting my next heroin fix, I HAD to unlock Kunimitsu (female version of Yoshimitsu funnily enough)

I hope I triggered some good memories for some of you, and if I didn't I'm surprised you're still reading at this point. Bottom line - The PS1 days were glorious. 

MC DRS Part 2 - Blackhearted - Lyric Discussion

MC DRS - Blackhearted - Lyric Discussion

Earlier in the week I spoke about DRS' Soul Remembers. Hopefully you've seen it but if not you can check it out  here.

I sent it over to the man himself and he said some real positive stuff about it and even said "It's an accurate breakdown of some of his ramblings." So I'm honored as fuck. Big up everyone that took the time to read it, I'm happy as Larry people actually bother to read what I write, if you're reading this now, you're a don. 

Anyway, I promised a follow up to again prove DRS is way more your standard MC. I'm sticking to 'I Don't Usually Like MC's But.....' as it's his most recent full album. I could choose A LOT of songs to talk about but we'll keep em linked together for now.

(Photo taken from the video from HeavyFeet & DRS - Dirty & Stinking, listen here. Sick song and equally as sick video)

Blackhearted is the tune of choice, you can listen to it with this madness of a hyperlink I just inserted. To fully judge the song you need to listen to the whole thing, I just write about a tiny proportion of it.

Lynx is the beat maestro, throwing in a powerful bassline that adds to the tone of the song, and this one is a lot darker than Soul Remembers.
It focuses on the youth of today being quite simply 'Blackhearted.' It's relatable to more than just the usual DRS audience, it really is a massive issue in Britain's youth culture. Sure, the youth has always been fucked up, but here DR accurately spits about issues the current youngens (including myself) have to deal with growing up in this ever-grey country.

Both verses hold an insane level of impact and expression, but I feel verse two fully hits the nail on the head and is the most powerful lyrically. Plus I don't want make this a 10 page essay.

"Blackhearted children, the city's lost souls.

Millions of tortured minds, their stories not told.

At the end of their rainbow there's not gold,

Hard to be positive or find someone that's not cold."

Even though this intro to the verse doesn't use any ridiculously complex rhyme or vocabulary styles, it's still so relevant and true. A lot of the time it is hard to be positive. The majority of things we hear and see are usually death, poverty, hatred and money issues. How can kids growing up be positive when that's all they know of the world? Adults have become cold from being treated like shit, seeing a lack of hope and generally losing trust in society as a whole. Bang. That's what these bars make me think anyway.

"Millions of tortured minds, their stories not told." Insane impact, "Tortured minds" with "their stories not told" speaks to me. So many of us have our minds rammed with paranoia, or the fear of not amounting to anything, or wasting our lives away, whatever the situation is. But because so many are in the same situation, no one speaks about how it is up in their head. Hence why the youth just act cold-hearted, and walk around "hood up expression frozen". It's a thought process that usually ends in people doing stupid shit because they 'don't care' - but you know it's not a smart choice.

(Or maybe kids smash stuff up purely for fun, who knows)

"Short lived escapes can be bought in ready amounts,

If you need weapons no worries plenty about"

Truth. Again. "Short lived escapes" is an accurate metaphor for drugs, which are ridiculously accessible to the youth. They're all short lived escapes, you just leave reality for a little while and eventually come back with a hole in your pocket, or a hole in lining of your nostrils... The second line is self explanatory, tools used to kill another human are just way too easy to get hold of. 

"Nobody cares that they've been led astray, 

just that they were carrying a knife when they left home today."

This one hits hard, and is the final line of the second verse making it hit even harder. Few actually give a fuck that our youth are growing up with all of these issues, but they're ready to pounce on the troubled ones that feel as if they need to carry protection to not get robbed or attacked. Yeah there's a LOT of fuckers that carry a weapon as a form of intimidation to get what they want, but if their world was a kinder environment that doesn't prioritize money and power, they wouldn't have adopted that mindset in the first place...

I hope you enjoyed reading what I have to say, sorry it's quite negative overall but these are some real concerns DRS is making which he delivers with talent and originality. 

Will our culture ever change? Probably never. These are just current problems too, if DR was around 50 years ago he'd probably still be making similar observations, but talking about the issues that those kids have to deal with in that era instead. Straight up inspiring stuff for me. 

Download 'I Don't Usually Like MC's But...' here https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/i-dont-usually-like-mcs-but.../id895366432

DRS' second album 'Mid Mic Crisis' is out in March, be sure to listen, I'm certain it will be top notch.

You can also give him a follow on Twitter @MCDRS 

- Peace

MC DRS - Soul Remembers - Lyric Discussion

MC DRS - Lyric discussion

Probably about 90% of the time, since I was about 15/16 the music I choose to listen to is Drum & Bass. Now DnB has a pretty shitty reputation for itself. People that aren't a fan tend to think it's too fast and is just a collection of sounds and weird noises you can only enjoy after dropping some pills in a dingy rave, which is a bit closed minded for me.

People can listen to whatever they want as long as they themselves enjoy it. I hate how so many music genres are associated with an inaccurate stereotype.

Another typical DnB stereotype is that the MC's only perform at super fast speeds, and their lyrics have no real meaning. It's SO much deeper than that, I wish people took the time to understand. But then again I don't really give a shit as I enjoy it regardless of what commercialized chart loving Route 94 and Disclosure fans think.

MC DRS is probably my favourite MC, he has been for ages. I've seen him live many times, and particularly at Fabric and Critical's Xmas Party his stage presence blew me away. His lyrics aren't really posted on the internet often like most stuff, so I've chosen some words from one of his songs that I think demonstrate something more than just 'spraying bars'. It's closer to poetry than anything else in my opinion. Later this week I'll dissect another song of his to prove it's not just a one off. 

I know some people might think this song and music is terrible, but you can enjoy whatever the radio tells you that you should enjoy like most do, I don't really mind either way. 

Soul Remembers (Ft Dub Phizix & Fox) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI1fScNj5_Y (Listen and read at the same time for the full effect ya dig)

"She brings me warm feelings in cold seasons,

 Makes me feel like I'm alive when there's no reason.

Feel like I'm kissing summer sky, she intoxicates, 

So addictive I'm impatient if I ever have to wait.

Tie a yellow ribbon 'round the oak tree but don't lock the gates,

Special when she smiles genuinely when I serenade.

Beautifully dangerous the tactic of this game we play,

Look passionately into each others eyes when we lock and brace.

It's not a trend, I need her because fashions change,

When she glances at me my heart beats a rapid pace.

My soul remembers, every step along the way,

The time we shared is precious, something that you can't replace."

DRS' lyrical talent and flow, paired with Fox's vocal chorus over the top of Dub Phizix' dark bassline and piano riff come together to create a fantastic song. One of my favorites from the 'I Don't Usually Like MC's But...' album. 

This sounds like a love song to an ex, usually these are tragically cheesy, but here I can't help but think each line is genuine emotion. He uses a nice amount of elevated vocabulary, which straight away destroys the stereotype of MC's being 'thick' and unimaginative. 

"Feels like I'm kissing summer sky, she intoxicates, so addictive I'm impatient if I ever have to wait" is one of my favorite lines. The sibilance (repeated S sound) works so well and really makes their love feel almost toxic and dangerous, as he explains in the next set of lyrics. 

Each line rhymes perfectly, and the non stop flow makes it seem he's just pouring out all kids of emotions almost non stop. 

(I'm pretty sure I'm in this photo right at the back, shout out Fabric)

"It's not a trend, I need her because fashions change" is an awesome line. At first I didn't understand what he meant by "fashions change", I thought it literally meant fashion as in current trends because he just used the word trends, but he's referring to the manner in which he acts, well that's what I'm guessing it could mean something completely different.

A lot of people seem to want a relationship to look like they're doing well or are with the 'relationship trend' of this stupid generation, where 15 year olds think they should be getting married. But DRS is saying the opposite, he doesn't want a 'trend relationship', he wants a genuine one because he's changed the way he acts or goes about doing things. Deep shit.

I apologize as this blog ended up being insanely long, but I hope I kept your attention throughout and you have maybe changed your opinion on DnB MC's. Honestly, if you haven't I don't mind. But don't get me wrong some of them are definitely fucking fools. 

Peace out

ANONYMOUS - #OpDeathEaters - Happening Now

#OpDeathEaters - Happening Now

I don't know if you'll have seen this going on, but a month ago the online hacktivist group Anonymous posted this video online.

In case you're too lazy to watch the link I just gave you - Anonymous vowed to start a march and protest TONIGHT - February 13th 2015, in order to expose "a club that has existed for many years. A club of elite peadophiles that have been tourturing, raping and murdering children for their own entertainment." They will be marching to multiple houses of supposed child abusers, and exposing them for who they really are. The march is mainly taking place in London, but different branches of Anonymous in different cities are also apparently taking part and exposing abusers in their area.

As the video explains, this "club" has influential politicians, singers, actors, men and women all taking part in this downright sick shit. They are supposedly the elite few that are above the law, their depraved acts are kept locked away in the vault of dark secrecy never to be discovered by the public... Until Anonymous come along and hack their computers, revealing all of the inhuman antics they've been getting up to and arranging.

Rumours and bits of 'evidence' have been floating around about this elite pedophile ring for a while, but public heroes Anonymous decided to dig deeper and have finally uncovered all sorts of disturbing truths.

Brace for the dirty details: Supposedly these men and women literally pay huge sums of money at a time in order to do what they please to a young child. They get to pick gender, size, age, hair colour, skin colour, you name it. Anything that these dirty fucks fancy they receive. They're literally allowed to do anything they want with the children, and this often results in the murder of a child so the club remains a secret to society.

Read the shocking account of a victim of the elite abuse ring. There is nothing to prove this man is telling the truth, but it's some pretty nasty information he's given off - http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/westminster-paedophile-ring-top-tory-4957409

Some of the abusers are potentially making decisions regarding the future of our country.

Some of the abusers are singers and celebrities you'll hear on the radio and see on the television.

And THIS is what they get up to in their free time?

This is all great stuff, but I wonder if Anon have sufficient evidence to turn up at a potential abusers doorsteps. Meaning if they got some wrong info, or the person is completely innocent a huge group of protesters arriving outside their house will cause all sorts of problems for everyone involved. Only time will tell.

Also, WHY hasn't this story received more coverage from the mainstream media? Is there something they're trying to hide? It makes you wonder...

I intend to write a follow up blog releasing what went down/is going to go down this evening as soon as the information is available.

The British Accent

The British Accent

According to a recent poll conducted by Time Out magazine, the British accent is the most attractive on the planet, says 11,000 people in 24 cities around the world.

I can see why people like the British accent. We're a small island, with a relatively small population in comparison to the influence we have on the world. There's this fascination foreign countries have with us, our music, our fashion and our tea drinking culture. Maybe it's because we're just different, I mean we drive on the opposite side of the road compared to most places. Really we're just a strange place.

British celebrities also create an insane amount of attention from around the world, I'm pretty sure Americans were more exited about the Royal Wedding and Royal baby more than the majority of us were.

 (For just £2 a session I will give you the British accent you've always dreamed of! Speak like Prince Charles in a matter of days!)

 But thinking about it, I'm convinced everyone outside of the UK believes our whole population speaks like the Queen, when this is so far from the truth it's funny. I'd guess 5% of our current population actually speaks eloquently and in the same way as the Queen.

If the Brit lovers were to visit Essex, Liverpool, Yorkshire or any other location where the accents are... fucking annoying, they would definitely be in for a surprise when asking for directions to the nearest "British tea house"

Religion - My View

Religion - My View

Religion is one of the biggest argument starters in the history of mankind. I could honestly write a short novel on my whole mentality and opinion towards it, but that's not what a blog is for, so I'm just going to write a bit about my take on it. I'm attempting to not focus on one group, but religion as a whole.

I respect people that are heavily religious, I equally respect people that are strongly anti-religion.

My question is, why do such a large amount of religious folk feel the need to preach their ways towards those that don't feel the need to worship a God? I'd consider myself an Atheist, yet I don't go around telling people they should become an Atheist, because people are in control of their own life's and can be whatever the hell they want. I really don't care what you believe as long as you're a nice person to be around.

I've been in multiple situations (particularly in America) where I've mentioned I'm Atheist, only to be met with things like "Finding God will improve your life" or "You should have faith in God, he creates your life path" - No. I create my own life path. I choose which opportunities to take and what not to take. My life doesn't need improving, I'm very happy the way I am. Surely relying on God to sort my life out will just lead to problems when he doesn't appear in my time of need.

I believe in being a kind human being because that's what all humans should aim to be, and if you don't agree with that you're probably an inconsiderate arsehole. You shouldn't be kind or caring because that's what God wants, you yourself should want to bring positivity into people's life's.

Napoleon speaks sense in my eyes. In the Renaissance Era, religion was massively used as a tool by the church and other establishments to try and shape up humanity. People wouldn't commit crimes because they were terrified of being sent to hell, which is a good thing, less crime = happier humans. But in this era, religion has become a tool of war, a tool of hatred. Individuals aren't scared of hell. To them committing suicide and killing innocent people in the name of their God is okay? That is the most illogical bullshit I've ever experienced in life, how can taking the lives of innocents be the right thing to do under any circumstance!?

The sheer divide religion creates between humans is outrageous, as soon as opinions are split into various religious beliefs, conflict almost certainly follows. This simply shouldn't happen. The world would 100% without a doubt be a much more peaceful, caring place if religion didn't exist.

Stephen Fry makes so many LOGICAL points in this interview, it's only two minutes long, have a watch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-suvkwNYSQo&feature=youtu.be

"Morality is doing what is right regardless of what you are told. Religion is doing what you are told regardless of what is right"

Sons of Anarchy Review

  Sons of Anarchy

Being a student, I tend to spend large portions of my free time watching movies and TV series on the internet. I started watching SoA as soon as I came to Buckingham, and I'm still ridiculously engrossed almost three seasons (out of seven) in to the show. Often when watching a new series I won't be able to properly get into it, but this one is really quite incredible. 

The series is set in a fictional town in California called Charming, and despite the gruff machoness of the main characters, Charming is the word I'd use to describe these testosterone fueled mad men. They simply get what they want, however the hell they want, but usually in a slick, or perfectly executed way. The initial plot sees the guys selling guns and ammunition to surrounding gangs, and they try to ensure there's no backlash that leads back to them, which is clearly never going to be the case. 

There's something I've always been intrigued about with biker gangs, I think it's the fact I rarely see any real ones cruising around on Honda's or Harley Davidson's through the streets of England. 

Back to SoA - In terms of depth and character likability, no other series comes close (except Breaking Bad, which almost everyone agrees was one of the best television series of all time) Every character has unique aspects that make them enjoyable to watch. My favorite three characters so far are as follows:

 Jax  - (Charlie Hunnam) the main protagonist. Young, reckless, and seems to possess no fear. He's clobbered in baggy jeans and hoodies, and doesn't initially seem to fit the stereotype of a biker gang member, but after a few episodes the story unwinds and you realise how deeply ingrained the biker mentality is into his unstable brain. 

Clay - (Ron Perlman) the 'father figure' in the show. Jax's Dad was killed representing the Sons when Jax was a young child, and Clay is now dating Jax's mother. This leads to intense moments in which her loyalties are divided between her son and partner, and creates a very powerful underlying plot. Ron Perlman does a fantastic job as a big bad biker, with his ridiculously manly voice and ego. He's the current leader of the Sons. 

Chibs - (Tommy Flanagan) the loyal Scotsman. Chibs has been a member of the Sons for decades, and he's the most down to earth character in the show. He thinks logically, and remains loyal throughout so far, bear in mind I'm only just arriving at series 3, anything could happen. His Scottish accent sounds strange when surrounded by dozens of Americans, but I feel this makes him one of the more unique heroes, with links to the IRA and all kinds of crazy shit, Chibs is a sweet character that I hope stays in the series until the end. 

It's very difficult to go into proper plot details without giving anything away. Sons of Anarchy is like a testosterone soaked, gun filled water park, with twists, turns and bullets flying everywhere. Not the place you would take your children for a family day out, and likewise not the kind of show that's intended for family viewing. All I can say is start watching it, and you'll hopefully get hooked like the crank addicted prostitutes that frequent the show. 

Invasion of our privacy

As most of you are aware, over the past few years there's been drastic changes to our levels of personal privacy, mainly on the internet with kingpin bastards like Facebook and Google watching our every move. Almost all of us have a Facebook account, and statistically 68% of internet users use Google as their primary search engine so it's a pretty big concern for most computer monkeys. 

I first noticed Google and Facebook snooping on my shit a few years back. I was casually browsing the internet in search of some new plain black Nike trainers to wear instead of school shoes, because you know, fuck the system.Then I log into Facebook, and wouldn't you know it, the exact same pair of trainers is right there in my advertisements, being sold on various websites. Back then this freaked me out as I had no idea what targeted advertisement was, but I'm sure by now you've all experienced similar things and know what I'm talking about. 

Oh yeah, if you look at porn, your Facebook will become a target place for companies advertising 'hot busty singles in your area' or 'lonely milfs' and the like - You get the picture. Which in itself can get you in all kinds of awkward situations with girlfriends, boyfriends, parents, teachers etc.

Mr George Orwell will be turning in his grave right about now, if you don't know who Orwell is (what are you doing!?) pick up 1984 and have a read. It was published in 1949, and he predicts these sort of levels of privacy invasion to be happening in 1984, let alone 2015. It's an incredible book that really makes you wonder who's in charge, and how much of your life they control. (Fun fact: 'Big Brother' is the name of the all seeing, controlling government in the book,which is where the horrendous reality TV show gets its name from)

So, if you installed the recent Facebook messenger app, you have agreed to the following terms and conditions. And I bet you didn't even know it, this is literally only about 20% of the things you've allowed Facebook to do with your device. You can check out the full list here 

(This hasn't been officially confirmed by Facebook, and they will likely deny it. But I for one don't trust them whatsoever)

Allows the app to call phone numbers without your intervention. This may result in unexpected charges or calls. Malicious apps may cost you money by making calls without your confirmation – The app can call phone numbers within your call log without your permission.  If you have paid minutes, this will count against them.

Allows the app to send SMS messages. This may result in unexpected charges. Malicious apps may cost you money by sending messages without your confirmation – The app can message anyone it likes without asking your permission and cost you money if you don’t have a texting plan.

Allows the app to record audio with microphone – This permission allows the app to record audio at any time without your confirmation

Allows the app to take pictures and videos with the camera – This permission allows the app to use the camera at any time without your confirmation.

Scary stuff right? This blog is dragging on so I'll wrap it up. Realistically, the man is using this information to crack down on terrorists, pedophiles, murderers, you know, the real sick puppies. So unless you're planning to become any of those things you should be fine, and won't have the police kicking down your front door any time soon. BUT, my point is: WHY do we live in a world where this is even necessary!? Humans are straight up disgusting, why can't we all get along and NOT try and murder innocent people, or destroy the life of a child? Really, it's not that hard to be a nice person. 

 Anyway, peace out. Don't do anything too bad on the internet, you never know who's watching...

(If you're reading this Google, Facebook or any other privacy invading establishment: fuck you)