LoL Quarter Finals - The differences between sports and E-sports

The KT Rollers take on The Koo Tigers.

Although e-sports have been around for many years, the niche market has had an explosive expansion in the last few years – especially in Europe.

Games such as Starcraft and Counterstrike have always had followings in Korea and America respectively, Korea even having dedicated channels on TV showing the tournaments, but now Europe has jumped on the bandwagon, and it's oh so sweet.

This Sunday I had the pleasure of going to the LCS, or the League of Legends Championship Series, for the quarter finals between KT Roller and The Koo Tigers. It was held in the Wembley Arena, which has a capacity of 18,000 people, a figure not to be sniffed at.

It had everything a live sport should have; from overpriced beer, to chants and songs (of a type), with ultra-fans showing up in cosplaying outfits and regular Joe's like me wearing slightly nerdy gaming related clothing.

The Cosplayers in all their glory! Taken from the official LoL website.

So what we are really here to do is compare the two, sports and E-sports, to try and get to the bottom of what causes the disparity between the two and if we really can call a video game a sport at all.

The Similarities:

Obviously sports require teams, dedicated staff and to some degree a level of monetary sponsorship. League of legends is the prime example of this.

The teams that play on the professional scale League of Legends live together, play together, and in some circumstances even come across the globe to join other teams. Although there isn't a transfer market, these players still have to uproot their lives to find their fit – to find a team that they can work with. It's no mean feat, especially when there is a language barrier often in place for many of the players.

To really push home the idea of a team the higher teams not only live with each other but also have their own managers who, similar to traditional sports, analyse the opposition and have often been on professional teams themselves in the past, most certainly living and breathing the game itself.

One of the first big plays of the showdown.

This level of intensity most definitely illustrates how serious this business is taken. Five, albeit young, men living with each other, practicing for 8 hours a day in the run up to tournaments in essentially 'friendlies' with other teams, watching their opposition and discussing tactics with their managers and pushing themselves to the limit to get better at an ever evolving game.

One thing that definitely makes an E-sport like League of Legends particularly difficult to follow is the evolution of the game itself. The game is patched frequently with changes to champions and items. The huge impact that these changes cause means a constant evolution is taking place which creates a game that is constantly challenging. Unlike any other sport, this causes a shifting for team play and style moreover a very dedicated fan base. -- THIS SENTENCE DOESN"T MAKE SENSE

In regards to the actual live event itself, we had everything thrown at us that a normal sport would. From T shirts to plushies, overprices drinks to free crap no one really wanted, the event had it all. One of the things that stood out to me the most was the pre-game videos and content such as fan made YouTube videos that were played before the main event, which everyone laughed, cheered and screamed along to.

Free crap!

Although this is a very American style of having an event play out, all appreciated it and I think shows how e-sports can cross boundaries in a way traditional sports cannot. Our 'stiff upper lip' British attitude disappeared as thousands of fans jovially demonstrated their appreciation of the pre-game videos. This was astounding to witness in Wembley Arena which is perhaps one of the most renowned British venues.

The call and response of the chanting and singing in the stadium also supports the evidence that e-sport fans are not dissimilar to their 'traditional' counterparts. Furthermore, the light up wristbands became the team colours for the event – blue and red LED’s worn on the wrist representing which team you were supporting. Although I’m not entirely sure if any teams can simply change their strip on the fly, they were a really nice touch.

All in all, the intensity of the team play, the analytical approach of the managers, and the live game itself resembling that of an ordinary sport, suggests that we are in fact watching these video games become sports.

Differences:

Obviously it seems ridiculous to consider an event with no physical interaction as a sport and it is this which seems to me to be the biggest definitive attribute that causes e-sports to be shunned and perhaps even considered joke-worthy by those who do not grasp fully how much effort goes into the events themselves – but it is totally valid.

Without the pre-requisites of physical stamina and a better than average level of fitness, it essentially like calling Chess a sport. Check mate.

Just because an event has similarities to a sport, doesn’t make it one. Yes, we are sad to say that just because a stadium gives you a free torch on the way in, and the event management gives you blow-up-clappy-things, it doesn’t make it a sport either.

The crowd going wild.

Normal sports also have a tendency to not evolve. Generally speaking a decision in a sport that alters the state of play is a huge decision and arguably makes a sport what it is: physical entertainment that has set rules which are controlled by a referee or multiple referees; rules which are static. Instead, League of Legends in particular, shows the opposite end of this with its ever-changing rules and team that is constantly tweaking factors that have a knock on effect on the players.

A live event, or venue does not make an event any more official or sport-like. It would be unfair to suggest that a live venue makes a sport a sport when anyone with enough capital can rent a space and slap an event together with an audience. Boo!

The Result:

Clearly we have a slight issue at hand. There are strong pros and cons on either side of the argument but we are faced with an even more pressing issue: Can we even compare Traditional sports and E-Sports?

It sounds an article-redundant-making-statement, but it is a valid point without a doubt.

We have a separation of E-sports with the electronic aspect of its nature. Without the ‘E’ it would have to be considered a traditional sport, without the 'sport' it would just be guys at home playing online and wondering why they have not made thousands of pounds by just eviscerating noobs in teams.

Without structured team play, endorsement, huge amounts of financial backing from various sources and teams with playing ability beyond the majority, I would have to agree that we could never consider the likes of League of Legends, or Starcraft, or DOTA a sport.

Star Guardian Lux, taken from the official LoL website.

However, they all have this – but let us not forget our most relevant point – that little ‘E’ that separates these definitively as an electronic form of sport which comes with its own subcategory.

The best way to personally decide is always going to the event itself. I'd be lying if I said that my face did not light up like a child’s multiple times throughout due to the wonder and mysticism that surrounds live sporting events.

Get yourself to a show, soak it all up and then tell me that E-sports do not have their own little place in the sporting community.

Tune in tonight to http://www.twitch.tv/riotgames to watch semi-finals live from the comfort of your own home.

The Koo Tigers accepting their win.

The Martian - Book review

For my book this week I chose The Martian by Andy Weir.

Although the choice for this book was made by me, technically it was actually made by my girlfriend who gave me this fantastic novel for my birthday.

Due to the film version coming out this week, I wanted to make sure that for once I had read the novel before viewing the film. Obviously this is a glorious notion, but few of us manage to ever achieve this because we either did not know it was a book in the first place or we struggle to cram the reading in before the film is out.

This time I prevailed!

It most certainly was not a difficult task in terms of reading the book before the film, in fact it took me less than 2 days to devour this fantastic piece of sci-fi.

Fortunately work was quiet and so I could get away with doing nothing but reading my little heart out and so I did.

The novel has a fantastic opening - 'I'm pretty much fucked. That's my considered opinion. Fucked. Six days into what should have been the greatest two months of my life, and it's turned into a nightmare.'

Instantly causing us to wonder what occurred to leave out protagonist so out of luck,
and in this case it is of course reality.

Essentially the premise is our lead character – is trapped on the martian planet Mars after being injured and separated from his crew. Little do they know that he has actually survived and is now fending for himself with all the odds pitted against him.

The reality of the situation is managed marvellously; the sci-fi that plays out before us believable because unlike most sci-fi it is not set so far ahead in the future that technology has progressed past our current means, but only a few decades past what we know now. It's terrifyingly relatable.

Obviously being relatable is hard to achieve as a notion in sci-fi, a genre littered with characters who are so obscure or advanced that we can barely comprehend them wholly. But, The Martian handles this problem magnificently, giving us not only a human character but the type of character who we all wish we could be. Resourceful, funny and horrendously intelligent. He's an every man, but he's far from like anyone you know personally.

By becoming trapped on Mars with technology only slightly better than our own, our character has to flex his intellectual muscle throughout the book, allowing us insights into not only the harsh realities of the situations being trapped on Mars would cause, but also to how much Andy Weir has managed to cram into his own mind prior to writing this novel.

Without a doubt Weir has researched thoroughly into many of the concepts in the book, a degree in chemistry and astro-physics would hardly be surprising at this point. Because of this knowledge, or possibly advisement from others, a complex but understandable narrative is provided from our protagonist.

I would be fibbing if I said that I could comprehend every scientific utterance, but understanding the science as a reader is almost secondary despite how much work has gone into it.

But the understanding of the science is only secondary due to the plot being so relentless that we want to know what happens next, our minds searching for the next words rather than slowing ourselves down by trying to visualise complex arrangements of valves on airlocks.

This ferocious pace is hardly lacking in any section of the book. Whether it is what is occurring on Mars or back on Earth at NASA, the characters are foremost human and therefore the clashing of ideals is ever present. This keeps the blood pressure high and the stakes even higher. Nothing is ever easy when performing a rescue operation from millions of miles away.

By understanding human qualities, their psychology as well as complex science, Weir has created what every writer wishes they could – a book with style and intellect, and which fits into their genre without trying feebly to transcend it.

However, I will say that the positivity of our lead is almost nauseating in some sections, but this is for two reasons: 1. Astronauts are exactly that, positive, resourceful and horrendously intelligent – it's why they would have picked him, and 2. I feel like this book was intended to eventually be made into a film.

Even if it wasn't intended to be made into a film, it will hopefully be word for word the same when I view it on the silver screen, because it flows so well that any screen-writer would have their work cut out for them if trying to re-write it.

So, if you want a fast paced read with a loveable lead character, peril after every step, with seemingly no hope, this then is the book for you – sci-fi fan or not. In fact, if you're not a sci-fi fan, read it, because I guarantee it will convert you.

I can also guarantee we'll have a lot more kids interested in becoming botanist after the film is released.

Happy reading. 

The Holiday

After E and I had scrubbed away and cleaned the entire kitchen at our friend's wedding venue we jumped back into the car and headed for her parents' house. Once we sorted out the direction we were going we left sharpish for the 4 hour drive that awaited us.

The drive itself was actually quite pleasant, the weather was stunning, sunny and warm but not so boiling that we were being roasted in the car.

Once we eventually found the cottage it was a bit later in the day so all that was left was some exploration of the cottage itself and to head to the local town to get some dinner.

The local town Howden was quaint, but because we were so hungry we decided to leave any exploration until Saturday and jumped back into the car after a visit to the Co-op.

After waiting what felt like a decade for the gas oven to heat itself up we put out food on whilst I started a fire. I don't think there's many better feelings than sitting in front of a fire and just pondering. Nothing beats a toasty thought process.

Environmentally friendly buildings are few and far between sadly, no human product is ever 100% 'environmentally friendly', but as far as houses go, the straw bale cottage was near as damn it. We assumed that the furniture was reclaimed wood, second hand and so on, whilst the walls were actually insulated in a very old school manner, the hay that lined the walls actually visible thanks to a little window into the wall cavities.

But as intriguing as the house itself was, sleep was calling us and so we went on our merry way upstairs after some wine because the next day we were hitting my favourite city – York.

So, after a solid nights sleep, coffee was brought to me in bed be E, which was awesome, and then we prepared for a long day.

Fortunately we didn't have to look too hard for things to do over the weekend as York was hosting both an antique book fair and cider festival within a 10 minute walk of each other. What a win.

However we wandered around the city beforehand, taking in the wonderful architecture of the cathedral, (which admittedly I'd never been two on my two previous occasions visiting), and the wonderful Minster Gate book shop.

This place was amazing; 6 stories of books, old and new, ranging from the hundreds of pounds to just a few the one I assume subsidising the other. Because the modern books were cheap I decided to have a look and see if anything would tickle my fancy and something certainly did. I found a copy of Cormack McCarthy's No Country for Old Men, a novel I'd always wanted to read based on my appreciation for The Road and also hearing that the film adaptation is meant to be stunning. It set me back a whole £4, which is great for a modern book in my opinion.

E of course bought a few books, (there's no entering a book shop with her without leaving with several things).

We then had a further wander, I showed E one of my favourite music shops and then went for some more coffee to help keep ourselves perky. A slice of cake may have been consumed in the process.

We knew that the book festival hadn't started quite yet and so we went for another wander along the city walls. The clarity that the weather allowed meant that we could see as far as the buildings would allow without blocking our line of sight. It really is a pretty city, retaining the archaic aesthetic whilst being quite clearly modern in its own right. I love it there.

So after our brief walk we then headed to where the free shuttle would take us to the two festivals. A few minutes of waiting, amongst older individuals who had grown douchey in their years, and we were on the shuttle for the short ten minute journey to the Racing track, where many events are hosted such as the York Tattoo convention.

After waiting a further ten minutes behind more oldies, who couldn't comprehend leaving their bags in the mandatory cloak room, we were in and awestruck with some of the editions that we found. Admittedly, we couldn't afford to buy such editions, or rather what would the point be?

Seeing the types of people selling and buying the books slightly angered me. Once you realised that the customers weren't buying the books for the enjoyment of owning an original piece of history because it had some profound effect on their place in the universe, or some relevance to their thoughts and feelings, or even some sort of deeper connection with the writer, it took away what makes literature so wonderful. Instead the books will probably sit in their relevant bookshops and become collectors pieces that were worth a lot of money, but not much else. A sad day for literature indeed.

Although it was a good experience, I don't think if I had all the money in the world I would have dealt with 90% of the snobs who were there, because that's what they were, snobs who looked down their nose at us because we were young, having no background to us or what we could have possibly been worth. It was honestly disgusting to think some of the best minds in existence in terms of literature were now being sold by people who didn't even seem interested in the books, even willing to talk about them let alone friendly.

Never mind.

After a bit of a let down, Ellie did find a few gems that were priced well and still relatively unique and so she snapped them up.

Once we battled our way through another gruelling incident with the cloak room to get our stuff back, we set off on foot to the beer and ale, (and cider), festival.

A short wander brought us to the entrance of the rather smelly interior, but the weather was still gorgeous and so went got our first half pints and snagged a seat outside.

This was a far more intellectual festival.

After several halves, a few thirds and a winning tombola effort, it was time to stagger back into town for something to eat. This time we opted for the walk rather than bus and given that the weather was pretty still spectacular it was a good shout.

Because E has never been to Jamie's we decided to eat there. Sadly the service was shoddy, the food mediocre and the time wasted pretty annoying. We waited the best part of an hour for our food, the chefs shouting for service frequently but going unheeded for long periods of time. Frankly I'm glad that tip wasn't included because I wasn't prepared to pay for it.

Sorry world, but tipping is bullshit. Pay your staff fairly.

But it wasn't so bad, we headed home for some more wine, more fire and also a re-watch of Lord of The Rings, which neither E or I had seen in years. What a fantastic film.

Saturday was our day reserved for not doing much at all, and so we did as little as possible.

However, we're an active couple so it didn't last long at all.

After a brisk 3 mile walk into town, and a few blisters later, we sat down for some lunch in a pub that was recommended by a local as the second venue we were looking at was for 'Hobos and drunkards'.

It was a close shave, but of you can't trust a doddery old guy wearing a sailors hat, who can you trust?

The food was great, the staff were lovely and the service was excellent. Bloody Jamie's...

After we had attached plasters and grabbed dinner, we took another brisk walk home. The afternoon was lovely, spent reading and being the host to one of the rare occasions that I napped during the day. An hour was spent comatose on the sofa after reading some more of The Purple Cloud, which was followed by more food and Shrek 2, just because it's a great film and we were having our welcome lazy day.

Sadly, this was our last night on our short weekend break and we high tailed it back home early on Sunday reaching my homestead quickly to drop stuff off but then hitting traffic on the A406 which brought our trip to 7 hours in the car one we finally reached E's. Another hour and a half back out of London via train and car and I was home. A long week came to an even longer close, but what a week.

Patrick the farm cat, who rarely left our doorstep 

The Wedding!

This week has been a busy one with the marriage of my two friends Zoey and Dan along with mine and E's first holiday. 

So after a long boring day at work on Monday all pistons were pumping to get down to London. Although the journey wasn't exactly straightforward - a train ride carrying all my weeks things - it went quite quickly. 

I was soon in South East London and killing a bit of time before we ventured to Jermyn Street to pick up the food for the wedding at Wilton's. 

Now parking a car covered, and I mean covered, in bird crap outside a pricey restaurant isn't always the best way to create a mouthwatering experience for the clientele it was definitely the way we picked up the food from Wilton's where Olivia, E's sister works. Once we had our supplies we were off for the three and a half hour drive to Taunton. 

Fast forward slightly to 3am and we're finally getting into bed after a long day for all of us. We slept like logs on Vicodin. 

Fast forward again ever so slightly and we're now moving ever Southward to the wedding venue which was beautiful. 

The Oak Barn had serious charm, serious space and seriously hard working guests. We began our day feeling a tad useless as Liv set her ovens to stun and began the catering frenzy whilst E and I helped as much as we could. 

The day itself was long and the food looked amazing, the cake especially looked brilliant, the fact that it was sprung on Liv at the end of the day is unnoticeable. Plus the fact I learned that a cake can in fact be naked without being a huge edible rack which is nice. 

The wedding itself was exactly the type of wedding becoming more common and I couldn't be more glad. The service was all of 15 minutes and very personal, none of the flashiness or gaudiness that people have come to expect from modern weddings was present. 

After was the Pimm's, pics and spectacular afternoon tea, (which I even helped make). 

The Naked Cake!

Sandwiches and sweets galore made the tea even better and visually pleasing to say the least. After this was the hog roast, which in my opinion is one of two ways a pig should be eaten. 

After sufficiently stuffing my face it was time to show the South how to get their groove on, accompanied by alcohol galore. However I'm please to say that two people told my other half that I was a good dancer. So take that world. Michael Reynolds can dance and is most certainly not afraid to use it. 

After hours of dancing and eating we retreated after a brief clean up in preparation for our long drive Northward the next day. 

At the early hour of 8:30 we roused and began to clean our hearts out. I may have possibly stuffed my face with sweets as I went, but I was working hard - I needed the sugar. 

Finished by 10 we got what food we could carry in the car along with all of our stuff and we made out way back to Taunton and then Northward...

The Chef and I

If you need any catering done for an event, consider the one and only Olivia Baggley - winner of the Craft Guild of Chefs award, details below. 

I'll be back tomorrow with a post all about our first holiday! 

A book a week

So earlier in the week I posted about how I intend on reading a book a week and I've stayed true. The post itself was a little behind my timeline however and I've consumed several books since actually beginning this idea 3 weeks ago.

The brilliant thing about my current choice of job is that I can pretty much sit reading all day, (even though I'm not supposed to).

So, here's what read last week and what I intend on finishing this week:

Firstly I read Fight Club. This was a strange experience as I mistakenly didn't do my research years ago and watched the film first. Although my viewing of the film was several years ago, it was still relatively fresh in my memory and this can make a read so much faster.

I ate through the book and found myself so inspired by its style, (plus a flawed character is always appreciated), that I sat down and wrote for the first time in months outside of articles. It was compelling.

Chuck Palahniuk is one of the most appreciated writers of recent years and this novel shows us why. Although I've never read any of his other works, like for others I feel like he could become one of my favourites.

Delve into the mind of Tyler Durden and experience the world through his perspective as he starts his journey in the most unlikely of ways: by punching his only real friend, after a session of heavy drinking, in the face.

Down and Out In Paris and London by the one and only George Orwell was my second read this week. After falling in love with 1984, I decided that I had to read more of my main man, (although I didn't finish Animal Farm... oops).

This novella takes the reader on a strange journey through Orwell's experiences living in, you guessed it, Paris and London but not as the successful man that we come to think of him as. As the title suggests, Orwell isn't in the best spot when the story begins, essentially living in a slum in Paris.

We follow my favourite author as he shows us how existence is when living on the bread line, the term itself taking an almost literal form once we learn of the endless 'tea and two slices' that he subsists of throughout his journey in London. It's not for the reader looking for a jolly story.

Although this was his first work, it illustrates an image of Orwell himself. Its non-fictional prose simply following his journey is however rather articulate in places, his awareness of his situation as an educated man interesting to say the least. It's honestly one of the most intriguing reads I've ever had the pleasure of reading.

Definitely give this a go if you appreciate the autobiographical elements of reading whilst retaining elements of the far-fetched and possibly fabricated.

Because I managed to read two books this week I've had a lazy third week and so I decided to treat myself to a re-read of The Purple Cloud by M.P. Shiel. This novel is weird fiction at its best.

This book came to my attention when writing my dissertation, thanks to my tutor, and has been one of my favourite books since.

Although 1984 replaced its top positioning on my favourite books list, The Purple Cloud is the ultimate book for suspension of reality, especially for myself, using religion and the apocalypse as the two driving forces for the story.

I won't write about this novel quite yet, as I still haven't finished it for the second time and it has been a long time since I last read it. Sadly I read this novel in sections and it seems I'm repeating the same process, but luckily it should be a little bit more fluid as I already know its storyline and still have a week to finish it. Go me.

If you read any of the above novels based on reading this, then let me know!

Happy reading.

A book a week.

A book a week. As a typical English student, I stopped reading after finishing my degree. What a moron.

Although there was no conscious effort to do so, I found myself in a bit of a rut. ‘But I read every day’, I would tell myself, and it was true. It is true. However, there’s a difference between reading articles, (or what the twenty-first century is passing off as articles), and sitting down and focussing on a novel.

So, I’ve set myself the task of reading at least one book a week from now on. So far, I’m hoping that I’ll remain on track as long as I avoid any monsters at the beginning of my challenge.

Although a book a week probably seems more pitiful to the avid readers out there, it’s a big deal for me as so much of my time is dedicated to other more instant forms of entertainment and escapism. For instance, sitting down and playing guitar are always a great way for me to pass time, write, and become frustrated at how inconsistent I am with that as well.

The wonders of being silly with hobbies.

But back to books.

I just finished The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. It was what inspired me to start reading more regularly again, that and E. But don’t get too excited, the book wasn’t the most mind-blowing experience of my literary life. It was a great read for some reasons and harrowing for many, but a little stale in places and a little offensive. When I say offensive I don’t mean the content, I mean the epilogue. It’s cleverly done, it’s almost pleasant to see what the writer can say about their own work, but I feel it’s the reason many colleges and sixth forms use it as a book of study. That, and the feminism simply drips off of the pages.

But, as of Sunday night I started reading Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. Although I’d always prefer to read the book before the film, I saw the film many years ago unaware that it was a book, so this gives it strange dimension, the awareness that I have of the plot allows me to read it with a different skew, which is surprisingly pleasant as it’s one of those book that you could finish and immediately pick up and start again purely because of the fantastic and famous plot twist.

So, the above is my plan. A book a week from now on. Let’s begin…

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London Town

So this week has been quite relaxed in a lot of senses. Instead of fretting about things, I’ve decided to just go with the flow a tad more. I spent nigh on a whole week at E’s and it was great. No pressure, no issues, come at me life.

However, like most functioning adults, my better half, E has a job and so we didn’t get to spend any real time together until the weekend, which we made the most of. on Friday we had a relaxed evening and watched Kingsman, which I thought was brilliant. Colin Firth was absolutely fantastic - seeing more of him in kickass roles would be superb. 

On Saturday we decided to take on the sculpture walk put together by The Line. It was gorgeous outside and therefore the perfect day for a short/horrendously lengthy stroll.

We started at Stratford with the plan to snake our way back into the centre of London. This plan almost worked, and we almost saw all of the statues, but it wasn’t to be! Sadly the map was pretty vague and the areas that you were meant to leave the river’s edge to seek out statues were not present at all, so we missed a few of the locations. Bummer.

However, by the time we came to the edge of the Docklands, E had it in her mind that she was going to take on the Emirates cable car. I’ve already had the displeasure of going up on one of these bad boys and it was not something I’d vowed to do again. But as I mentioned before, it was a lovely day, with next to no wind aside from the slight breeze that was just enough to cool you off when you began to feel yourself sticking to your shirt. What could go wrong?

Well, I certainly could list the things that could go wrong, but we didn’t get on in the end, (with a mental sigh of relief from me), because of the massive queue that was snaking it’s way along the water’s edge. Double bummer.

Just before we realised there was no chance of getting on the cable cars, we sat down and had a quick snack. For me it was fish and chips, which were pretty good albeit a little batter heavy. Cutting through a half inch of batter with a plastic knife isn’t something I’m going to attempt again any time soon.

So with our stomachs sort of full, we strolled back to the DLR, (my fav way to travel in London), and began the next leg of the walk.

Before we continued we dove into an exhibition focusing on the works of Christina Broom. E was previously aware of this intriguing woman but I was not, and if you aren’t I really do suggest having a read up, a look at her work, or to make your way to this exhibitions yourself as it is on until the 1st of November. Although, if you’re of a soft nature it has its harrowing aspects, reading about the young men who sacrificed their lives in the First World Ward was sobering to how fortunate we remain subsequently to the conflict and the many conflicts that followed during the twentieth century.

Upon exiting the exhibition, we once again made the wrong step onto a DLR platform and decided we were too weak in our lower regions respectively to continue. No, that wasn’t a euphemism, my better half E and I have the bodies of septuagenarians who’s skipped their cod liver oil for the last week.

Sunday was a day reserved for shopping for some bits that E needed for the gym, so we made our way to Oxford Street and scored in TK Maxx. I do love me some bargains when it comes to clothes, in fact I’m loathed to pay full price for clothes at all.

Once we got what we needed, we wandered to what I know as being the single best restaurant in London for a couple of reasons:

11.  I’m a burger fiend. It’s always my standby at a restaurant and I say that with zero guilt, and that is what this particular establishment serves, aptly named - .

22.  The service is always amazing, the guys and girls that work in this place have their heads screwed on when it comes to jovial service.

33.  It does the single best chilli-cheese fries I’ve ever tasted.

The third reason is the most important. It’s the reason I go back there and it was magical as it was the first time.

(Picture, courtesy of tripadvisor.co.uk) 

If you fancy trying the bad boys out yourself then head over to the restaurant!

On our stroll home we also happened to wander down Savile Row perchance and we walked past the ‘Kingsman’ store. This topped off seeing the film as I thought it completely fabricated.

When we got home we stuck on another film, Babe. I hadn’t seen Babe in well over ten years, maybe fifteen, so this was a great throwback.

But, the evening took a darker turn…

At approximately 1:15am I was awoken rather rudely by the sound of screaming which was preceded by a bumper bash outside out window. I went to the window and saw what I thought was two men, brandishing guns at each other. It’s safe to say I was worried, so I told E to ‘Get on the other side of the room, low’. I got on to the phone to the police double quick and let them know what was occurring.

Roll on 3:00am when I’m finally getting into bed and attempting to fall asleep.

Although it wasn’t too bad for me, because I’m still looking for a job, E was on an early and so it was a rather rude awakening for her.

The Police were fantastic though, the whole process was well handled, armed police showed up as quick as I imagine a unit of such importance and at such a distance could. Moreover the Police kept me in the loop and even followed up to let me know that no one had been prosecuted on this particular occasion and that no firearms had been found. Phew. 

Either way, yet another productive weekend, which seems to be the theme of mine and E’s time in London, which I’m also very grateful of. Maybe I'll even be moving there soon...

Oopsie doodles!

So I've not had a chance to sit down and have a write this week... Okay, that's a huge lie, I've had a ton of time but I haven't and quite a lot has happened.

So last Friday I went to some free outdoors theatre by Tower Bridge, courtesy of The Scoop. I have to admit, I didn't stay for the whole thing, because the acting wasn't astounding, but it was an enjoyable evening. The play that I watched was 'The Women of Troy', which to my surprise was the tale that was eventually turned into the movie Troy, which I thought was pretty guff. I'll give it another go though, just to see if my taste has changed.

Either way, hanging with two of my fav ladies and having an alcohol fuelled picnic was pretty awesome, as well as the leisurely stroll through that part of London after dark.

ALSO, yes the big also, the rest of this even continues on for September from the 2nd until 24th and it contains free cinema which is pretty groovy if you dig films such as Ghostbusters, Big and Frozen. The only lame part is that I'm away for Moulin Rouge. I love that film more than any man probably should, but whatever, I love me a sing along to sweet jams.

On Saturday one of my fav ladies was working and I had an all day type party to go to at my second home. It was pretty sweet, just getting to see and hang with my best mates for a few hours is always nice because we don't often all get to see each other in person. Since my PC broke and I've not had Leagueof Legends, which is our main contact hub, plus I haven't been on Skype to talk to them as much recently which is just silly. Why does life have to get away from us all so quickly?!

Either way, it was pretty awesome and I drank my fair share of alcoholic beverages, which always make me behave better if anything. Actually, infinitely - infinitely better.

The next day we awoke, had some more beverages and I went home. On the way home, my joint best friend Siobhan happened to text and see if I was free. 'Of course I am', I thought, 'I'm a jobless 23 year old with no spare money, my freedom is about all I have'. So, on that note, I popped down to the lovely town of Romford to see her.

Even more beverages were consumed, far too many in a sense, (which may or may not have left some of us sicker than others), and I once again returned to the homestead.

I awoke on Monday feeling pretty great, seriously, I felt fine which for someone who's barely slept and drank two days in a row – which is a rarity for me, I felt pretty swell. A whole weekend of seeing my favourite people and drinking was pretty good because it's so rare for me.

But, tired and in need of finishing some job applications, I had a pretty dull Monday. However, I found myself equipped with a copy of 'Rare Replay' from the week before, so the boredom didn't last long, (or the job applications).

If you're a kid that grew up in the 90's, this game is a must. For £20 it really can't be beat, aside from perhaps £20 during the Steam summer/winter sales. That amount of money could literally buy you 50 games. Seriously, 50.

This disc is a winner for someone like me, someone who knew of and played some of these games, but never had an N64 so couldn't own some of them. Not only we I reliving certain games, but also playing them without the rose tinted glasses of having the required console(s) which was awesome, because nostalgia can betray us in the worst ways as we get older. But, I'm kind of gutted I didn't play some of the games as a kid.

Dark Before Dawn - Breaking Benjamin

Considering myself one of the biggest Breaking Benjamin fans out there, I was a little dazed by the release of a new album by the band after a 4 year hiatus, but at the same time stoked beyond belief. The crushing knowledge that I'll probably never see them live, due to Ben's phobia of flying, weighs quite heavily on me as musically and lyrically I feel like they are one of, if not, the best band out there with a style that although isn't unique, is still at the top of all the hard-rock bands for me and many others.

I recently found myself singing along to tracks on the bands latest release Dark before Dawn after a two day period of not being sure of where I stood with the album. It was strange, at first I felt a little disappointed by the album after the initial listen as I felt like it was almost a re-hashing of Dear Agony, which is probably my most listened to album, (bar Ascendancy by Trivium), ever. Although the single 'Failure' came out of nowhere and was instantly a winner, I felt like the rest of the album could have been a part two to Dear Agony due to similar song structures, a use of very distinct rhythm sections which the band recycle a great deal, and even lyrical content. For instance, I Will Not Bow is one of my favourite songs ever - but listen to the intro of that and Angel's Fall and tell me that it's not the same riff. I was, to say the least, a bit disheartened. But, and it's a big but, like I said I found myself singing along to songs a few days after my initial listen, that's how catchy the songs are.

Although most people who listen to “alternative” genres generally don't want the songs to be be catchy in the same mindless way pop is, Breaking Benjamin are probably the only band that I know that toe the line of rock and pop due to their fan base being so broad they actually inherit a great deal of listeners from such musically appreciatory backgrounds. Before anyone thinks that's a bad thing let me tell you, it's most certainly a good thing. Without a blend of heavier music into the world of the mainstream we'll be stuck with repetitive bullshit for the rest of time and that's why this album is such a winner: it doesn't try to be heavier than heavy, (I'm looking at you Black Tongue), and it doesn't try to be so mainstream that the original style the band had is so diluted you may as well throw them in a glass and swallow them down, (Maroon 5 anyone?) Having an album that tops the mainstream charts as a rock band is hardly the easiest thing to achieve so even if you don't appreciate the music, you have to respect it.

My main hesitation on judging the album was quelled by a YouTube comment, (of all things), which highlighted the fact that this album was almost intentionally written to sound like Dear Agony as well as their previous works, to encapsulate the styles of the preceding albums as if the songs were individual reflections of previous tracks. This to me could be a continuation of Ben's personal journey, to note his older work and make sure that he doesn't lose touch with it despite the lengthy hiatus and also various changes he has gone through personally. Although I haven't heard this said by Ben himself, and the fact a random comment on another website spawned me to think this, I think it's a pretty fair assumption to make due to the severity of the situation that Ben has had to encounter, but more about that shortly...

The one thing I wasn't sure of initially was if Chad Szeliga was still with the band providing the percussion that we'd grown used to on the band's previous releases Phobia and Dear Agony. To me his distinct style of drumming helped put Breaking Benjamin up with the bands who are noted for their technical ability. This has been mimicked well, but after a re-listen to the album paying attention to the drumming you can easily tell that the technical aspects of his drumming aren't present which is a shame as I always found him to be a fantastic drummer.

Lyrically the album is quite similar to the previous albums but with a great deal more religious context added. Syntax wise we still have Ben doing his thing which is nice to see as any force to alter his style would have seemed a bit lacklustre and frankly would have removed from their sound entirely (we really don't need to see speed-vocals making their way into their music any time soon). Strangely enough Ben's voice actually sounded better than it ever has on Dark Before Dawn, which is astonishing, mainly because I considered his voice to be perfection. I can't comprehend how it sounds better, but the cleans sound cleaner, the grittier sections still retain their abrasive qualities and the more metal styled vocals remain present which is welcomed by myself and I'm sure a great deal of non-believers in hard rock being truly heavy.

The most shocking thing to me about this album was reading about how harsh the medical issues are that Ben suffers with. Any fan of the band is well aware of his phobic ways, but his other issues, which have an unknown cure, sound heinous and leaves me humbled that he's come back to music at all let alone with such a strong album which retains the bands style that we were all familiar with. Also the complete overhaul of members has made this more of an achievement.

Although I could write essays about how this album is so brilliant and break down each track and discuss possible influence and all that jazz, I think I'll cut myself short. I'd like to leave on the note that this album will soon become a favourite for many and that the production quality is fantastic. It's big, juicy and I'm so glad that they didn't return to the production style of their older work. It's like they picked up right where they left off and a great deal of the album seems to have been influenced by the awareness that Ben has of his own situation and how it's relative to the bands progression and future. Long live Breaking Benjamin. 

Back to basics

In recent months I've almost forgotten what it means to be a gamer: to simply play and enjoy what I'm playing without a care in the world other than the narrative of the game, or the other players I'm crushing online. Being several months, and in excess of a year, behind my fellow square eyed friends has actually lead to my re-entry into gaming. I've been playing Titanfall, which for most is ancient history, but for me has become the access point for my rebirth into FPS but also gaming.

Without going back into our older gaming catalogues, sometimes we forget how fortunate we are to be having so much scope and variation when it comes to our favourite pastime. However, I'm finding that the older I get the more I'm finding that this spoiled library that we've taken control of via Steam sales and cheap secondhand wares has made us complacent, and even worse, has caused us to lose our attention span as a collective. Instead of sticking to a game and religiously playing it I feel like maybe games are being appreciated for a fraction of the time that they should be. This is concerning when there is a hoard of games coming our way which could all individually cause us to accidentally hit our middle ages without realising. Way to go universe.

But going back to the beloved Titanfall, I am glad to see that this franchise isn't going to fall victim to the same ridiculous Call of Duty mentality that Activision has pushed upon the gaming world for the last decade: over saturating a corner of the market by releasing weak games and trickle feeding content with as much potential for add ons and DLC as possible. This just doesn't fly with me. Hell, if after playing Call of Duty 4 a single member of the Activision team had approached me, they would have had the next 5 games worth of content sorted without even having to think. It was a game that started a revolution regarding FPS, (and should be noted as my favourite game when it comes to playing against other gamers), and it had more potential then I care to list, because it would take me a while. This bad boy was set to stay and laid the first of the slates that have made contemporary gaming what it is for all of us today. Now I just feel old.

Without getting to gooey about the past and how my youth is slowly escaping me, I'll leave with a note that I'm finding very important personally at the moment: If you love something sometimes a step back and a deep breath is the way to keep striding towards something positive later on. So many games are coming out later this year and I plan on buying them all, hopefully a new PC to go with them will come to fruition sooner rather than later as well. I also plan on writing my socks off and enjoying myself every second I escape into the worlds that I have access to via the silver screen. A man who reads can live a thousand lives, but a man who games can live a thousand lives and also destroy tens of thousand digital lives whilst stuffing their brain with knowledge. (Take that society!) I simply can not wait for my next purchases, but I'm sure my wallet will be a very sad sight soon.

'1984' Re-invented.

The magnitude of the task that the Headlong Theatre set itself was well cut out when they took on George Orwell’s masterpiece 1984 on stage at The Playhouse Theatre. Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan’s reimagining of the heralded novel has set the bar extremely high in terms of my personal return to watching live theatre. Without a doubt they managed to stay true to the original novel without moving into tedium, but also allow themselves the spin that fans of the novel will appreciate as well as newcomers to the story.

We begin our 2015 version of 1984 in a reading group that seems to have intertwined with the psyche of our protagonist Winston. At first I was a little befuddled, questioning whether I remembered my favourite novel with complete accuracy. After a short while I accepted that this was not simply a clone of Winston’s tale, but a newer rendition embedded in a reality that has seen the fall of Big Brother and ‘The Party’. Obviously any divergence from the original story to true Orwellian addicts could come across as offensive, but as one of the more vocal fans of this particular work I can happily say that this was not the case.

In order to truly achieve a hellish vision of the past, and what seems to be our ever so raptly encroaching future, the visual and audio aspects of the play had to be very specific, and to my amazement they were terrifyingly apt. Blazing light accompanying shrieking pitches were used in the most punishing way to the audience, engaging us within  Winston’s fear but also intensifying the overarching situation that he was facing; the possible capture of his mind at the mercy of Big Brother was reflected in our own mercy to the audio engineers. The audio was almost foreboding Winston’s eventual torture with the audiences own personal torture, the high pitched ringing matching that of severe tinnitus, would be enough to drive even the most solid audience members to the edge of sanity. 

Visually the performance was relentless as well. One particular scene is repeated multiple times with fewer characters in each permutation, but retaining the movements of a full stage. This gave an unnerving visual performance as well as illustrating how well versed the actors are. The more gruesome scenes towards the conclusion of the play were also brilliantly conceived by our directors as they allowed severely brutal images with the highest realism, although I was disappointed in the audiences reactions, most of the adults giggling like nervous teenagers at the violence was frustrating when it was so well performed.

Furthermore, the visual aspects of the play regarding what I’ll call the “off-stage” scenes were brilliant. The rear of the stage had a projection of the rented room which our protagonists spend a great deal of the performance in. These projections were of the two actors in the room as scenes were acted out rather than an overlay simply projected onto the wall. The audience looking in on the actions highlighted how much of an escape this sanctuary is for the characters, the voyeuristic stance shared by the audience helped to illustrate the removal this tiny room allowed from ‘The Party’ and the all seeing eye of Big Brother. The use of projection also allowed for the claustrophobic existence that the characters held to be shown via the visual appendage of camera which I feel is rarely used with the stage, and may have caused issue for some, but was worked in well. 

The conclusion of the play was the only area that I found lacking, the diversion from the novel’s ending was well performed and integrated very well, but for me the ending of the novel is so disturbingly perfect that I was disappointed to have seen it altered from its original form. 

But with the magnitude of the task that is bringing such a magnanimous novel into the 21st century, I think it was achieved extremely well, and without a doubt will have a third run and will hopefully be the starting point of a positive personal relationship with the stage.