Updated: GTA IV: I may be some time - now on sale

Those of you not au fait with the world of interactive computer entertainment (games), probably don't have the date Tuesday April 29th 2008 burned into your brains like I do. Tomorrow sees the release of Grand Theft Auto IV, arguably the most eagerly-anticipated videogame release of all time.

The game, which is already receiving 10/10 (that's 1/1 on thebadrash.com's binary review scale) ratings everywhere, is set to be more than just another jaunt in the GTA world. It's set in Liberty City, a through-the-looking-glass version of New York City, rendered to an incredible level of 'living and breathing' detail.

As I said, the game is released tomorrow so assuming the PlayStation 3 version on sale in Spain includes the 'versión original' English, I intend to be enveloped in its pillowy embrace for the next few weeks. Baby, it's cold outside.

Grand Theft Auto IV - reviewed in the New York Times.

UPDATE: The game is now on sale in GAME shops in Spain. I've just picked my copy up. If you get one and want to play before midnight, it's probably a good idea to make sure you're disconnected from PSN or xbox Live. I've heard that some online accounts have been suspended for playing the game early.

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April 28, 2008 | Filed Under Internet computer | 3 Comments 

News: Women, unions and blogging

The reason for a lack of updates here is simple: too much work. However, the world has carried on spinning.

The Spanish political arena is currently fairly dull. Zapatero announced a female majority cabinet, which is obviously an interesting statement. It doesn't say much about what his second government will achieve. My guess is: not a hell of a lot. Libertad Digital reckons that ETA are pushing for talks with the government by letting off bombs. Talks should happen, but probably won't, given that the PP is committed to breaking the historic pact of support for the government's terrorism policy. The struggle for power in the PP is the only story really worth following.

Good news: unionised dock workers in Durban refused to unload millions of dollars worth of Chinese weapons bound for Zimbabwe. Action by local human rights groups and trade unions prevented the delivery of arms and ammunition for Mugabe's regime from a Chinese ship. Apparently, the ship is now enroute for Mozambique. I can only hope that union workers there will also fight the 'free market' which allows China to arm Mugabe's psychotic and murderous regime. I mean, could the timing be any more obvious? This is the moral equivalent of Mussolini's assistance to Franco's rebellion.

We met up with Graeme of South of Watford fame (Madrid's best English-language blog) last night. I got a bit drunk (sorry about that) but we had a great evening, ending up in Plaça Reial, where I insulted an arsehole of a waiter.

The next few weekends will be pretty busy and work is going to be intense over the coming weeks. But I'll try to blog a bit more because I enjoy this.

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April 20, 2008 | Filed Under Catalonia, Internet computer, PP, Politics, Spain | 4 Comments 

Oh good God

I'd like to state for the record that I had nothing whatsoever to do with this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK0yYGhSqMQ

(Softonic.com do the chiki-chiki)

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April 9, 2008 | Filed Under Internet computer, Music | 2 Comments 

My new favourite website - Christvertising.com

I just stumbled upon this and I felt I had to share…

Christvertising.com - yes, you read that right.

Oh, and watch the welcome video… it's advertising a new service called TBR - Total Brand Resurrection. Yeah, it's an Easter special, apparently.

http://www.christvertising.com/flv/06.swf

Oh and this one too…

http://www.christvertising.com/flv/01.swf

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March 27, 2008 | Filed Under Internet computer | 4 Comments 

Beating the habit

I'm pleased to say that I've kicked the habit of reading and responding to one of the other English language blogs based here in Barcelona province. For several months, I read this blog, craved replying to one or many mistruths, resisted, read on, and gave in. You see, the skill of a contrarian blogger is to cause people to disagree with so many points in each post that their heads verge on explosion. So for more than a week (I didn't want to go public beforehand in case I relapsed), I've avoided looking at this blog. And you know what? My life is actually happier and therefore, according to Socrates, better.

So my advice is do what Socrates says and avoid the sophists: they'll only make you go mad.

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February 1, 2008 | Filed Under Catalonia, Internet computer | Leave a Comment 

UPDATED: Microsoft bids to buy Yahoo!

OK so this is breaking news and there aren't many details out yet. But apparently, Microsoft has made an offer to buy Yahoo! for about $44.6bn. They're valuing the web firm at about 60% more per share than the current price, which obviously makes this a staggering move. If it goes ahead (would it be allowed?!), this is the biggest story to hit the web since forever.

It looks to me like this might just go ahead. They've obviously already talked about it.

By the way: I work in this industry and I'm genuinely worried by what this might mean. For various language-related reasons, there's a good chance that plenty of programmers could go jobless if this mega-monopoly deal goes through.

More news as it comes..

Update: Here's the text of the letter Steve Balmer wrote to Yahoo (after the fold):

Read more

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February 1, 2008 | Filed Under Internet computer | 1 Comment 

Kaboom!

I've just managed to recover most of the site after some sort of serious database issue. Some of the most recent comments and posts have been deleted, But I will try to recover them too (I have a DB backup, luckily).

Normal business will resume shortly.

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January 29, 2008 | Filed Under Internet computer, Site news | 2 Comments 

If you like it so much why don't you go live there?

Just discovered this excellent site (thanks to Popbitch) which consists of the exasperatingly stupid and mad comments people leave on sites like the BBC's Have Your Say. By far the best one seen so far has to be:

One of the most basic laws in the universe is the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This states that as time goes by, entropy in an environment will increase. Evolution argues differently against a law that is accepted EVERYWHERE BY EVERYONE. Evolution says that we started out simple, and over time became more complex. That just isn't possible: UNLESS there is a giant outside source of energy supplying the Earth with huge amounts of energy. If there were such a source, scientists would certainly know about it.

I'll be honest - I'm not sure I believe how genuine this is. But it's hilarious all the same. Read more at ifyoulikeitsomuchwhydontyougolivethere.com

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January 23, 2008 | Filed Under Internet computer | Leave a Comment 

Proof of the value of the Internet

Sometimes people question whether the Internet is actually at all useful or if it's full of silly rubbish clogging up our minds like cholesterol. To those people, I say: without the Internet, we wouldn't have YouTube. And without YouTube, we wouldn't have Hairdresser.

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January 17, 2008 | Filed Under Internet computer, Music | 3 Comments 

Updated: New comments system

I'm experimenting with a new comments system on thebadrash.com. It's called 'Intense Debate' and appears to be designed to allow for a more exciting commenting experience, as well as giving people the option of commenting on various blogs using one user profile (sort of like what OpenID offers). Anyway, those of you who are bloggers (especially if you're not 100% satisfied with the way your platform handles comments) should check it out, or at least keep your eyes peeled for a post on here saying that I've decided to stick with/completely ditch Intense Debate.

Please bear with me while I dick around with my blog a bit more.

UPDATE: Intense Debate looks really promising for the future but it's still a bit too buggy for me. I'm going to keep my eye on developments over there, and hopefully will be able to switch to them in the future.

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October 30, 2007 | Filed Under Internet computer, Site news | Leave a Comment 

Strength through Solidarity

Blog solidario I've been switched on to the concept of blog solidarity today. Apparently, it's where you name seven other blogs with whom you feel that you share a sense of solidarity, presumably on the basis of politics, ideas and quality of writing. Graeme at South Of Watford was kind enough to name me as one of his choices.  Funnily enough, I once penned an effusive blog post about South Of Watford which never saw the light of day. I was on the verge of declaring it 'the champion of Spanish blogs' or something when I realised that I had possibly been drinking. Naturally, I regret choosing not to publish the post as Graeme has now successfully trumped me. Thanks for the honour.

So now I'm left to pick six other blogs with which I feel solidarity.

My first choice is Chis's Le Flâneur. Though we don't agree on everything, I always think that we're trying to help each other toward the right direction. Sadly, he still doesn't realise that I'm right.

I'll do my best to add more soon.

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September 7, 2007 | Filed Under Internet computer | 1 Comment 

talkBCN.com was an unmitigated disaster

A few months ago I set up a new website, in a forum format, which I hoped would act as a sort of chat centre for English speaking expats in Barcelona. Within days, I could see that it was a failure… but I left it online until today. The fact that it didn't take off isn't that surprising, considering various factors:

1. I couldn't put much time into it because home time shouldn't be work time (my real job is on a website)

2. There were technical problems with the site which I never satisfactorily solved

3. I failed to promote talkBCN in any real way. Other people did and I'm very grateful to them.

Sorry to those who helped me out. talkBCN may well be back in the future, but I accept that it was something that I wasn't willing to put enough effort into.

As my boss said the other day, "Shit happens".

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May 18, 2007 | Filed Under Internet computer | Leave a Comment 

Updated: Guardian Unlimited total redesign

The Guardian has completely redesigned its site, going for a more open, 1000px look. It's quite good but I expect they'll be improving it over the next few weeks.

guardian-new-design-1.png

Update: as has been pointed out, while the Guardian site is being completely redesigned, today just saw the launch of the latest phase of this work. I think it looks really good… but lots of commenters at the news blog don't like it. Then again, the Guardian could announce €1 million for every reader, no strings attached, and most of the comments would be slagging them off. And yet, they keep coming back… a recipe for success, clearly.

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May 10, 2007 | Filed Under Internet computer | 1 Comment 

Grand Theft Auto 4: It's New York

…or Liberty City.

The new version of the best game ever is here… nearly. You can see the trailer here (because the official site's down at the moment). It's pretty obvious that the new game is set (at least partly) in New York. The actor's accent is interesting. My first thought was that he might be Russian, a possibility that could still leave the idea of a European angle to the game open.

Apart from that, the graphics look amazing. There are no proper gameplay shots but it's clear enough that it represents a major step up. Whether it has anything like the shift which characterised GTA3's appearance on the scene remains to be shown. Somehow, I doubt it does… but I'm more than ready to be proved wrong.

Any ideas about what the new trailer reveals?

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March 30, 2007 | Filed Under Internet computer | 2 Comments 

Pimp my MySpace with foulness

myspace-profile-1.png

I'm not sure how I ended up with a MySpace account. It's not something I'm particularly proud of, though I'm glad that I can use it to stay in touch with friends in the UK who don't really 'do' email like I do. Anyway, what I really wanted to write about today is why I'm going to start a new tradition with my Space. Starting yesterday, I'm going to find the most tacky, disgusting and cutré profile design possible for my profile. Perhaps it'll feature a buxom bikini model, a famous footballer, a sports car or an alien smoking a spliff. Ideally, it should include just the right balance of transparency, non-complimentary colours, animated gifs etc to render it practically unreadable to all but the most dedicated stalker/layabout.

I'm going to celebrate the trashiness of the world's most popular website and I want you to come with me. Suggest a theme from pimp-my-profile.com, or an equivalent (ideally with a song which you think will compliment the layout), and I'll adopt the best entries for a week each. Let's get low.

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March 27, 2007 | Filed Under Internet computer, Site news | 2 Comments 

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