tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38684319851078713872024-03-06T03:01:12.227+00:00Shaft's Words - A CollectionGaming, Books and TV talk. Including Anime, Manga, US TV and Sci-Fi films. You can find Book, Film and TV reviews by clicking on the relevant heading.DVLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347520545095018932noreply@blogger.comBlogger390125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868431985107871387.post-684062309438802772017-11-07T23:26:00.000+00:002017-11-07T23:26:51.625+00:005 Months 1 Successful Appeal And Still The DWP Is Screwing Me<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It finally happened after mandatory reconsiderations,
appeals and all that other fun stuff my month long Sanction got turned over at
Tribunal in five minutes. No new evidence, no legal gymnastics just the simple
facts that were available on the Monday when my so called Work Coach chose to
blow up my life.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxJvW-l5QjvkgGt14Ra5zosSkQvZFsgDwDiNuhd3TGTtbrT5rM1piO2Q26sGu9p-fw2VaiLK1MQqiMjDmyIR7eLeglqppcNGXpefaksLTyHog4vnPMO6IYUav7P5KzyVhed79y6AFMP4Vw/s1600/13feb-disputes-tribunal-scales_medium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="276" data-original-width="416" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxJvW-l5QjvkgGt14Ra5zosSkQvZFsgDwDiNuhd3TGTtbrT5rM1piO2Q26sGu9p-fw2VaiLK1MQqiMjDmyIR7eLeglqppcNGXpefaksLTyHog4vnPMO6IYUav7P5KzyVhed79y6AFMP4Vw/s320/13feb-disputes-tribunal-scales_medium.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This is not the first time, second or third that the JCP
have tried to bully me through a completely spurious sanction and I am sick and
tired of it. Alongside fighting this sanction and in fact before it I started a
complaint procedure which DWP have refused to properly respond to for 6 months.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Without the support of an advisor who helps people fight
against JCP and DWP nonsense I would have given up or curled up into a ball a
long time ago. So if you’re one of the thousands who get targeted by your local
jobcentre know that you’re not the only one suffering and that there are people
out there that can help.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">As I said my sanction was overturned which means that I was
due some money back unfortunately my figures don’t tally with the DWP’s as by
my math as well as the math of one of the advisers at my local JCP. I was
supposed to hear from them on Monday discussing the payment but surprise, surprise
they didn’t return the call in the 4 hour window.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I don’t want to make this a pity party but the sheer amount
of effort that goes into combating JCP lies is hard to grasp if you’re outside
the system and it definitely impinges on your job search time and effort. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The
only way to change it would be a fundamental reworking of the system, I don’t
see how the staff could stay given the way they’ve been brought up with the
sanction targets that the DWP swears don’t exist and the way they treat people
as little more than pests.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">That’s all from me I just wanted to write
something positive about being proved right but it went a bit negative</span></span>DVLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347520545095018932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868431985107871387.post-81552899701581160782017-09-27T21:16:00.001+01:002017-09-27T21:16:39.732+01:00Prepping For My Next ConThat title makes it sound a lot more grandiose than it really is. My preparation is mostly taking a long hard look at my finances and arranging everything in advance so my normal monthly bills are taken care of before MCM London Comic Con gets underway.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlbLootyQFDvTFmFyMneXDQ_7SP7U5i999ZrItjnpB0v2WjghT1D7rNBjX4C4LOnO0OIMXBzh_Jagkikf4uAf3H1EdFiig37qVfH_rWT9u_xgun-nYXcg0DhDQWABL6BU1cqxyugQp4mrz/s1600/octlogo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlbLootyQFDvTFmFyMneXDQ_7SP7U5i999ZrItjnpB0v2WjghT1D7rNBjX4C4LOnO0OIMXBzh_Jagkikf4uAf3H1EdFiig37qVfH_rWT9u_xgun-nYXcg0DhDQWABL6BU1cqxyugQp4mrz/s1600/octlogo.png" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
I have been approved as press for the event so that is one thing I don't have to worry about other than making sure I don't misplace my credentials. I am still deciding on how many days I'll be attending though I would like it to be all three. It comes down to cost/content really will going on Friday and/or Sunday produce enough content either for HNS or me personally to justify the costs involved.<br />
<br />
Through a different approach to the event I think I can justify going on all three days but we'll see, real life expenses come first Comic Con is fun but it is not worth getting in more debt or upsetting my finances for months to come.<br />
<br />
Hopefully I'm going to be doing a lot more walking around the event talking to actual people and taking pictures, lots of fun social anxiety wise but definitely worth the effort if it gives us something over other sites covering the event.<br />
<br />
Still no idea of who will be attending from the major US shows but they like to build things up to that in the last few weeks which to me seems a bad idea but their numbers prove me wrong.<br />
<br />
Will any of my readers be heading over to London for MCM Comic Con next month?DVLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347520545095018932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868431985107871387.post-40525111625448523582017-08-21T01:42:00.000+01:002017-08-21T01:42:29.619+01:00Am I Employable?<div class="MsoNormal">
It is a question I find I am asking more and more these days
after a string of recent and unfortunately unsuccessful interviews. Interviews
are a tricky thing especially it seems when it comes to feedback, it is very
difficult to get feedback in general and lately it seems that it is near
impossible to get written feedback. Call me cynical but sometimes I feel the
answers given over the phone or so generic that they remind me of politicians
on talk shows, they could be read a dozen different ways. Certainly not every
time but let’s say more than once.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitctdwV2fF2LcnR7V65J9aS-7_VbVI9v6oxTH0mLOM5PKpcikHOWJGAlY-hZTpDeMy7Qm2cj1lczx70RPUSQPmgYi69zIApdMNIqCOLBYWRfAn7C91VQzuRcxhoO1isVmtWT1u-SXKFmOr/s1600/interview61.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="640" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitctdwV2fF2LcnR7V65J9aS-7_VbVI9v6oxTH0mLOM5PKpcikHOWJGAlY-hZTpDeMy7Qm2cj1lczx70RPUSQPmgYi69zIApdMNIqCOLBYWRfAn7C91VQzuRcxhoO1isVmtWT1u-SXKFmOr/s320/interview61.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Enough of that though the current state of employment
etiquette is secondary to the problem of me not having a job. So what can be
done to resolve that, there are a few go to things:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Unpaid work<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->New skills to improve your CV<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Preparation for job interviews<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Evening classes or classes<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Pick up a temporary job<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
These are the suggestions and I have followed most of them
the only I haven’t are the evening classes because they don’t offer anything I don’t
have qualifications for in my area of work. Unfortunately you can’t make a huge
change profession wise just using free evening classes and at my age and
resources I don’t think that would have been possible.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Temporary jobs are a problem when talking about roles that
are less than say 3 months, those if taken would mean I would be taking on even
more debt thanks to the interesting way that unemployment benefits work in this
country. It also makes part time work (of less than 30 hours) an impossibility which
in this market really reduces the amount of available roles to apply for.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(UPDATE)<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Checked through the local listings for Adult Learning stuff
and the pickings are slim to say the least so it looks like I’ll just have to
double down on interview prep.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
DVLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347520545095018932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868431985107871387.post-28645454081759923042017-05-02T04:12:00.000+01:002017-05-02T04:12:18.251+01:00Job Centre Plus Will Be The Death Of MeIt has been months since I've written on this particular blog, Mainly because this is my personal blog and because of that it has tied itself to some of my negative experiences with the Jobcentre Plus. Well it seems more than time enough to get back to complaining about JCP.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpDhL-4o1vlTGcoq2PwLXOt-2G5Ty-rl24U6CFMeiaazC9U7z8bNnUNOxucEJ8VF-mF6o5N39uCMy3nVoAVuTlSp_pxv6zXbEtflow6SJmZZTpZHm1QcAyMcDm4z1YPQzWQEmAsn8SqXeF/s1600/rothbiz+jcp+sign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpDhL-4o1vlTGcoq2PwLXOt-2G5Ty-rl24U6CFMeiaazC9U7z8bNnUNOxucEJ8VF-mF6o5N39uCMy3nVoAVuTlSp_pxv6zXbEtflow6SJmZZTpZHm1QcAyMcDm4z1YPQzWQEmAsn8SqXeF/s1600/rothbiz+jcp+sign.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The beginning of the year came had a lot of back and forth with my then new Work Coach with her being openly hostile and rude to me during my fortnightly signings resulting in me having to make an official complaint regarding that and other behaviour that amounted to bullying. To make a long story short it involved my Work Coach, another one and their manager all lying to my face about procedure regarding the Claimant Commitment.<br />
<br />
The complaint went all the way to pre-hearing stage, basically the hearing had been called for and I was just waiting for a date to attend and then suddenly out of nowhere they cancelled the hearing and agreed to the my version of the Claimant Commitment in my view because they knew they were about to lose.<br />
<br />
Because of the fallout of the complaint (which was denied) and the changes to my CC (decided in my favour) I was switched to a new advisor then lo and behold the shenanigans started all over again with this advisor deciding that my CC needed to be changed 2 months after it was newly signed.<br />
<br />
The change he wanted was to force me to use Universal Jobmatch and I disagreed so we'll just have to wait and see how that works out as it has been at the DM for more than a month already. Then a month after that here comes the kicker I got sanctioned in my last meeting. As usual no real reason was given just the normal not doing enough to look for work.<br />
<br />
That happened despite:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>18 jobs applied for over the fortnight</li>
<li>voluntary job gaining new skills</li>
</ul>
<div>
So now I am waiting to see what happens with the appeal and so on I will obviously keep things updated on here.</div>
DVLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347520545095018932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868431985107871387.post-46077072787240027112017-01-20T02:30:00.000+00:002017-01-20T02:30:45.480+00:00It has been much too long - TV Post<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But I am in fact still here just not taking the time to update this blog as much. Let's rectify that with a little post about TV.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There has been a lot of new TV in this new season and I initially took on a lot of new shows and decided to write this about the shows I've hit pause on:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The shows I am not currently watching are:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Shoot The Messenger</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Incorporated</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Big Bang Theory</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Romeo Section</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Between</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Longmire</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm no TV critic and for the most part these are all solid shows but after watching most of them I just wasn't enthused with them. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Nr3IQvH-vI8SgWHVcNDmri4EvNjwIa74OVofmXva2tChcaHiBSkQIb6_Vt2g3XuCavBBW7OCPRDtbiytvFcpKnNCaMeBzfyPCN3uNMgXzq5kJDmk-1PD0SuMnMCS7i8Ew2_J4OqGmAKk/s1600/Shoot-the-Messenger-season-1-tv-poster-CBC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Nr3IQvH-vI8SgWHVcNDmri4EvNjwIa74OVofmXva2tChcaHiBSkQIb6_Vt2g3XuCavBBW7OCPRDtbiytvFcpKnNCaMeBzfyPCN3uNMgXzq5kJDmk-1PD0SuMnMCS7i8Ew2_J4OqGmAKk/s320/Shoot-the-Messenger-season-1-tv-poster-CBC.jpg" width="216" /></a></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I saw an episode of <i>Shoot The Messenger</i> after going to MCM London Comic Con and seeing one of the stars talking about it. It is more dramatic than I usually go with dealing with racial tensions and the press and things like that. Just hasn't grabbed me so far maybe I might grab an episode next time I have a big trip.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEWJx6QFpgW8vtMiDCmMG9EZvfnvN0ff7uYwSuqib5mx7qk4_fOphPgGgqZDEjyee1H1kAdsq46sjmEvNpNFHK12kRg9-H4F8thzpjSlqRe-9x0NR2VFGtrgXSWXvKQMbq3Qlu9x8xWIcK/s1600/maxresdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEWJx6QFpgW8vtMiDCmMG9EZvfnvN0ff7uYwSuqib5mx7qk4_fOphPgGgqZDEjyee1H1kAdsq46sjmEvNpNFHK12kRg9-H4F8thzpjSlqRe-9x0NR2VFGtrgXSWXvKQMbq3Qlu9x8xWIcK/s320/maxresdefault.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Incorporated</i> is Sci-Fi but not my kind of Sci-Fi it didn't grab me when I wrote about it. The first episode was a bit of a snore fest and was more about the evils of mega corporations than actual Sci-Fi. Pilots are notorious for being slow and boring when compared when the rest of a show's run but this one gave me absolutely nothing.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUg0ZfvvgpzrVIT_yRJObLmzG5l9z-Rs8HyWKZw5KKL2Sn5RqJCqe0khk7yaao-r_vFb9tnch05DtkFIp7ZEHXRqQ29xoceDVc_55StZhdUv6ZaodzgVcdtR4UFUXBNkOQB-7qW-ICWMeL/s1600/between-season-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUg0ZfvvgpzrVIT_yRJObLmzG5l9z-Rs8HyWKZw5KKL2Sn5RqJCqe0khk7yaao-r_vFb9tnch05DtkFIp7ZEHXRqQ29xoceDVc_55StZhdUv6ZaodzgVcdtR4UFUXBNkOQB-7qW-ICWMeL/s320/between-season-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>The Big Bang Theory</i> is on my to watch list but I usually marathon it at the end of the season's run to see if there is actually something worth watching like the return of Alessandra Torresani. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHWATbz17qdVFXPMLr220Q-1gq-EzjS27DYTZDL72WLiafPmV7b7Be-U8G5GwF56t9adh7IPnCoyIIWHuH88K9u_yd7mQhI6SKFOs3oZoPfNBKegzhsDgZMzDf8q-kWoDowv-JOtKmy5QL/s1600/the-romeo-section-season-one.38966.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHWATbz17qdVFXPMLr220Q-1gq-EzjS27DYTZDL72WLiafPmV7b7Be-U8G5GwF56t9adh7IPnCoyIIWHuH88K9u_yd7mQhI6SKFOs3oZoPfNBKegzhsDgZMzDf8q-kWoDowv-JOtKmy5QL/s320/the-romeo-section-season-one.38966.jpg" width="222" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>The Romeo Section</i> is a spy drama that is heavy on the interpersonal drama of normal people cultivated to be spies on people they are involved with. This is one of those Canadian TV shows I like to keep an eye on. I have seen three episodes or so of it and it is a great show that I don't fully appreciate, It is the first of these shows that I would recommend.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0wos2-KJs8JAL9qdz-xNotpG_KAPA5SkJpRNIsMRfag99dkiKezU-zeYTszaQPnsxwrgHGyEx_Fo93T54xD2oJ5gfibxOnsorljhBMO4MwG-BMTgR5Cv7XS6c0TqPWFuhxK1mTcTZT_uW/s1600/between-season-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0wos2-KJs8JAL9qdz-xNotpG_KAPA5SkJpRNIsMRfag99dkiKezU-zeYTszaQPnsxwrgHGyEx_Fo93T54xD2oJ5gfibxOnsorljhBMO4MwG-BMTgR5Cv7XS6c0TqPWFuhxK1mTcTZT_uW/s320/between-season-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<i><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Between </i>is this crazy little thriller seemingly joint Canadian/Netflix production about a town that becomes the centre of an outbreak. I loved the first season but I just haven't had the time or the inclination to make the time to see what the second season has to offer.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8mZt4DrIzEKx_iTsHuPhalKYYPNqPL5QinwJv1RQxAVC2-8xcHn5fY17eN5S6UQ3uI8CtkzVq0WfYJHvQv3rEgFfiuFFpQzXJ1ENV0JAQolKJmGkfHmEIcQtvgKGA0-G9KqX4qsTCbMqK/s1600/longmire.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8mZt4DrIzEKx_iTsHuPhalKYYPNqPL5QinwJv1RQxAVC2-8xcHn5fY17eN5S6UQ3uI8CtkzVq0WfYJHvQv3rEgFfiuFFpQzXJ1ENV0JAQolKJmGkfHmEIcQtvgKGA0-G9KqX4qsTCbMqK/s320/longmire.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ah <i>Longmire</i> one of the few times a show has prompted me to go and hunt down the books. The show is great but I missed when it came back two seasons ago and I am probably halfway through that season. I'm not sure if I'll ever catchup.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So what do you think about the shows I'm sleeping on? What shows have you given up on this season? Or what shows will you wait to hear the fate of before jumping on? Answers in the comments would make my day.</span></div>
DVLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347520545095018932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868431985107871387.post-587500677187341912016-11-28T04:49:00.000+00:002016-11-28T04:49:02.802+00:00Did You Know I Design T-shirts???I have a Teepublic store which you can visit <a href="https://www.teepublic.com/user/dvl">here</a><br />
<br />
At the moment I have four designs up and there is a Sale going on for the next 24 hours. The sale means that while the T-shirts (there are other options) usually cost $20 you can get them for the low low price of $20 which seems pretty cool to me.<br />
<br />
Check out my latest design here.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnFQBc8xHTGWb9E5zqQFLK1WoStgKr6FsHom37rz35YBQExtFUSizpoqR0Xo8s_XMAiqGkbpseF8kCxnzDj-vCVhVWlxRHfgy-J0UWBtWxl4sY5ipmFRNqxbSBvK2AosWMqJafAJE_-i9m/s1600/disen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnFQBc8xHTGWb9E5zqQFLK1WoStgKr6FsHom37rz35YBQExtFUSizpoqR0Xo8s_XMAiqGkbpseF8kCxnzDj-vCVhVWlxRHfgy-J0UWBtWxl4sY5ipmFRNqxbSBvK2AosWMqJafAJE_-i9m/s320/disen.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I'll be doing my best to add new designs as I can think them up and wrangle Photoshop to do my bidding. So check out the store and share the heck out of it.</div>
<br />DVLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347520545095018932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868431985107871387.post-33736501537622781772016-10-26T02:24:00.002+01:002016-10-26T02:24:50.620+01:00Getting Ready For London Comic Con2 weeks to go until MCM Comic Con London and I am mostly ready for it. It is pretty exciting actually even though it is far from my first time at Excel it will be the first time I am attending on multiple days. As seems to be the case recently the list of celebrity guests gets confirmed extremely close to the event.<br />
<br />
UPDATED<br />
<br />
Here is the list of guests at Comic Con I have some interest in:<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Enver Gjokaj (Agent Carter, Dollhouse)</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Violett Beane (The Flash, The Leftovers)</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Ophelia Lovibond</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Michael Landes</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Michael Rowe (Arrow)</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica)</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Nolan North (Pretty Little Liars, Uncharted Series)</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Troy Baker (Uncharted)</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Emily Rose (Haven, Uncharted Series)</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Lucas Bryant (Haven)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">This Comic Con has had a lot of prep got my new camera, few new SD cards and somewhat of a plan. No schedule has been released yet but the one thing I would like to do is to actually do a few different things while there. Before it has literally just been press work but this time I hope to attend a few of the cosplay meet ups and take some pictures.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">------------------------------------------------------------------------</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">On the job front things looked up briefly when I had some e-mails back from a perspective job offer but unfortunately it amounted to nothing. Still keeping up the applications though so hopefully something will develop soon. I'm gonna keep this short hopefully my next post will show some pictures using the new camera. Hopefully they will look ok.</span>DVLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347520545095018932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868431985107871387.post-37561054472358264612016-07-23T03:41:00.001+01:002016-07-23T03:41:53.273+01:00New Job Interview Stuff<div dir="ltr">
<u>INTERVIEW DAY</u></div>
<div dir="ltr">
I had a recent job interview last week to be exact and I thought I would share the experience. It was first thing in the morning at 9 which may have been a mistake. It was a very hot day and given that the business was a 20 minute plus walk from the train station with little shade by the time I got in to the reception area I felt somewhat unpleasant.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
I thankfully had some time to freshen up a bit but not really long enough to stop sweating but I was happy enough having spent the day before getting familiar with the role. This interview came with the dreaded task before the actual interview.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<u>THE ART OF THE INTERVIEW</u></div>
<div dir="ltr">
It was a Word and Excel assignment the former being a Mail Merge and the latter a Chart builder. With lots of mistakes and changes to be made such as add this line, make that a fancy table it is way too easy to burn through the precious, precious time. Look below for my rant on interview tasks.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<u><br /></u></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Personally I have a lot of problems with the task based interviews as it is not something that you can adequately prepare for unless you're super lucky. I do office work so my tasks are generally if not 99% of the time Word and Excel stuff. You almost never get enough time and the assignment is broken down in a way which is the most counter-intuitive possible.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
The way that instructions are listed in those tasks generally ensure that they take up as much time as possible. You could rearrange them and have them done in half the time. Perhaps that's the point but what does that have to do with a job situation where you've got training on how the company you work for likes to do things. To me it makes no damn sense.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Enough of my ranting about job interviews though don't want to talk myself out of future ones.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
DVLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347520545095018932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868431985107871387.post-76733594240560126612016-06-20T19:06:00.002+01:002016-06-20T19:06:51.978+01:00I Wanted To Write About My Job InterviewI had a job interview on the 8th of this month and I wanted to write last week to talk to you about how it went but it made more sense to wait until I had heard the result I just either way it seemed sensible. But you know the nature of job searches never make things simple. Anyway let's talk in general terms about the interview itself.<br />
<br />
The role was a customer facing one dealing with lots of calls along with more administration based roles all the while dealing with the duty of care stuff so like safeguarding and the like. The interview was about 2:30pm on the day and by the Monday I could see it was a hot one. The interview venue was a serious walk away but awkward enough that it didn't make much sense to try and look to see if a bus route would make things easier. It would be about a 30-35 minute walk for most people but a little longer for me thanks to the heat.<br />
<br />
On the day the heat was ridiculous made more so with wearing appropriate interview attire but having expected that I made sure to leave an hour and a half before the interview time and make my way there at my own speed, although I took breaks from time to time the most time I lost was when a shortcut across a bridge was closed off for a month that definitely added an extra ten minutes for a very long detour.<br />
<br />
The place wasn't hard to find but it was hard to get into especially with no warning about the whole dial a department thing. Eventually I just tried all the groups located in the building until a nice person walked across from his office to the one that was doing the interview and they eventually let me in.<br />
<br />
I had 30 minutes I thought to stop sweating and try to look halfway presentable but they decided to move the interview forward I suppose as I had got there early. The interview went pretty well I felt closer to being in the zone than that nasty place where you second guess every answer you give. Though I wish they had thought to offer me a little water.<br />
<br />
I was told to expect a response "next week" which was last week in the here and now on Wednesday I e-mailed the HR department to chase things up and they gave no response, then on Friday I called the HR department up and spoke to someone who informed that the paperwork was still with the interview panel 9 working days after the interview with no idea on when that might change.<br />
<br />
The only bright spark I have is that today I got an invite for another interview in a couple weeks time thankfully not at that organisation so we will see how that goes. I am at least happy that interviews are starting to come around now it is up to me to my best to secure that job.<br />
<br />
Got another thing to write up in another post so check back tomorrow probably, have a good weekend people.DVLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347520545095018932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868431985107871387.post-77760757842437258132016-06-07T03:09:00.001+01:002016-06-07T03:09:59.006+01:00Celebrating The PositivesIt is nice to write about good things happening for a change, yes people I actually have a job interview. All I can say about it is that it is an administration role and it is local which makes it a lot more efficient on the wallet should I be successful than huffing it back and forth from London. Though actually the job interview was not the reason I was writing this post about celebrating the positive.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxE-JoaEaMRYC3cEZl04rb2xOBFqF_GaAFIq_gi3nAq5fm1bhbTGwHiMLluvJL-FNnSDQF6rVvE6azImbLbArwTDIl1ogBhj6KhwnP1_13I2xA-GzbYR4onsmrBX2_GS2wghJlmBggbRzv/s1600/GEDC0604.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxE-JoaEaMRYC3cEZl04rb2xOBFqF_GaAFIq_gi3nAq5fm1bhbTGwHiMLluvJL-FNnSDQF6rVvE6azImbLbArwTDIl1ogBhj6KhwnP1_13I2xA-GzbYR4onsmrBX2_GS2wghJlmBggbRzv/s320/GEDC0604.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
I recently attended MCM Comic Con in London to do some press work. It was something I had done before and I was definitely looking forward to going into it better prepared with like six months of planning to go into it. Planning for what you may ask, well when you do press events there are roundtables where you interview various actors, creators etc. with lots of press asking them questions and you need to record that. I can't do shorthand and I can't afford a decent video camera so my first time I used my phone to do the recording and it barely lasted the day especially with me also using it take some photos.<br />
<br />
This time I went in there with some specialist equipment:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>£10 8gb sound recorded which is surprisingly good</li>
<li>Digital Camera</li>
</ul>
That with my phone made things a lot easier though if I had a little more leeway in terms of budget I would probably have added<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Cheap used netbook</li>
<li>Mobile phone external battery</li>
</ul>
There is a lot of travelling time between home and Comic Con and it could have better been spent starting to do write-ups for my website. I can't quite get across how draining and how long transcribing stuff from audio takes. After awhile you get in the zone but you still do a little dance when you are done.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVjApP5ayFuOp-HrkXK6rEGFftjCtTpFfml2ezJp4t4NyPmB4GW1mpeZdC1EJe_KsIhhU2SuHGFs4BpAw4eV_uopOB42iFL3XighgmaHlXB4kbg-Isg8SH2qXW4QHQR0bHmxw6YlJ4iRYN/s1600/GEDC0607.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVjApP5ayFuOp-HrkXK6rEGFftjCtTpFfml2ezJp4t4NyPmB4GW1mpeZdC1EJe_KsIhhU2SuHGFs4BpAw4eV_uopOB42iFL3XighgmaHlXB4kbg-Isg8SH2qXW4QHQR0bHmxw6YlJ4iRYN/s320/GEDC0607.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Anyway if you want to see what all that stuff was about you can click on the links below to go to some of my articles.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0sY6ByebVQ-NOB7lAjDK09UafWda0ufqWo74GwRm7SjuIg1UzkgYCxWadbnDBief3jMP0rTSKqjtzOk1BzEDIhKourd34CdrDbSidyS60PIg_VLWD-6GzuzUpCQSDYSLJkkRjRmsKRq4u/s1600/Amanda+Righetti+%25281%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0sY6ByebVQ-NOB7lAjDK09UafWda0ufqWo74GwRm7SjuIg1UzkgYCxWadbnDBief3jMP0rTSKqjtzOk1BzEDIhKourd34CdrDbSidyS60PIg_VLWD-6GzuzUpCQSDYSLJkkRjRmsKRq4u/s320/Amanda+Righetti+%25281%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<a href="http://hollywoodnewssource.com/exclusive-amanda-righetti-colony-the-mentalist-interview-mcm-comic-con/">Interview with Amanda Righetti (<i>Colony, The Mentalist</i>)</a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7iO6HrujiuG1I_x35ovfk_2QRbXvTK3niBlPy2P0IFWbJllf1DDghcCuybsWpBf0jZ99qFp-OW41_2ESb56lx9XpCBiA9hstORAzxKz3VHmW04bTqg7qU6y9joUqIgZTQDPR-mzwFR52W/s1600/GEDC0632.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7iO6HrujiuG1I_x35ovfk_2QRbXvTK3niBlPy2P0IFWbJllf1DDghcCuybsWpBf0jZ99qFp-OW41_2ESb56lx9XpCBiA9hstORAzxKz3VHmW04bTqg7qU6y9joUqIgZTQDPR-mzwFR52W/s320/GEDC0632.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<a href="http://hollywoodnewssource.com/dark-matter-mcm-comic-con-london-press-event/">Dark Matter Press Roundtable</a><br />
<br />
There are more but that is just a taste and there will be some more coming out this week. Hope your life is moving along on a positive if not keep fighting.<br />
<br />
<br />DVLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347520545095018932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868431985107871387.post-1938750570279378702016-05-19T04:14:00.000+01:002016-05-19T04:14:46.327+01:00What Scares You? Taking A Risk?Things are not looking rosey at the moment career wise, I am feeling more and more pressure at the Job Centre now with weekly pointless meetings were I am left in no doubt about how little my advisor thinks of me asking me the same old questions each week. I half think they are looking for me to have a blowup so I can get sanctioned or something. According to the advisor there are no end of jobs in my field in the local area and everyone wants to hire someone who has been out of work for 5 years.<br />
<br />
I can think of few things that are more likely to put someone off doing their best to find work than condescending job coaches (which I think is their proper title???). Anyway it has been clear to me that as well as pounding the virtual pavement of the job boards I need to look at other ways of creating cash. I was talking to a friend who definitely personifies that man of all seasons thing and he suggested I take a look at Teespring and see if I can run a successful campaign through it.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyGzntF_4lwgg-cYTI1bS5Xv_6inoWakoADWs7RUDgrgryYtv8hKONdHm06ft6QizRPPhetG1lEF3TBX850WJYn7NahIhvb0sQ_gjL1seUFpiNNeXKQ0JJbtXKljdVnbsz7O8TOGKDpGje/s1600/Teespring-payoneer.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyGzntF_4lwgg-cYTI1bS5Xv_6inoWakoADWs7RUDgrgryYtv8hKONdHm06ft6QizRPPhetG1lEF3TBX850WJYn7NahIhvb0sQ_gjL1seUFpiNNeXKQ0JJbtXKljdVnbsz7O8TOGKDpGje/s320/Teespring-payoneer.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Other ideas might be to put up my comic collection for sale, I'd would feel bad selling it off at this point but in reality it has been more than a decade since I collected comics with any regularity and I haven't had access to them in about the same amount of time, they are all boxed up so I am stuck in that I really need to take a look at them research whether or not they are worth anything and take pictures and the like before I put them up for sale.<br />
<br />
So subject to work commitments next weekend at Comic Con and all the transcribing after I am going to be working on some designs for T-shirts then maybe I will put them up for a poll or just consult some people who I respect to see which one I should go with. Obviously I need to make a brand to put them under at least on that I have some ideas.DVLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347520545095018932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868431985107871387.post-76528012000501690972016-04-10T03:05:00.000+01:002016-04-10T03:05:19.207+01:00BOOK REVIEW: Demon Road by Derek Landy<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Demon Road is a
2015 novel written by Derek Landy and is the first book of the Demon Road
series. It was published on 28<sup>th</sup> August, 2015 by Harper Collins Children’s
Books. The ISBN for lookup is <span style="background: white;">0008156921.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">I
received this book from Netgalley after I requested it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Please
be aware that there will be spoilers in this review and it is better for you to
read the book BEFORE looking at my review though I will do my best to not talk
about the plot in detail.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxILaHeqEq80CEcer2uAKZ86mTC69mKLueFZ02F5bScPum4yx6kSS3MC_eCjzMlvnXxYuhsTGEiVmyJMm64qjZW3Lkc0QctvrzY9J0rjYuhbWy0ZzegJW3Kp_lqgqbLJmHB-6bKDkStfdY/s1600/23253921.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxILaHeqEq80CEcer2uAKZ86mTC69mKLueFZ02F5bScPum4yx6kSS3MC_eCjzMlvnXxYuhsTGEiVmyJMm64qjZW3Lkc0QctvrzY9J0rjYuhbWy0ZzegJW3Kp_lqgqbLJmHB-6bKDkStfdY/s320/23253921.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<h2>
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">SUMMARY</span></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Killer
cars, vampires, undead serial killers: they’re all here. And the demons? Well,
that’s where Amber comes in...Sixteen years old, smart and spirited, she’s just
a normal American teenager until the lies are torn away and the demons reveal
themselves.<br />
<br />
Forced to go on the run, she hurtles from one threat to another, revealing a
tapestry of terror woven into the very fabric of her life. Her only chance
rests with her fellow travellers, who are not at all what they appear to be…<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></div>
<h2>
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">WHY I BOUGHT IT (PICKED)</span></span></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">I requested it from Netgalley because you
can never have too much urban fantasy in my view. Also people seem to really
like Derek Landy’s work so I thought it was worth at least giving it a chance.</span></span></div>
<h2>
<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">WHAT I THOUGHT</span></span></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">I wasn’t sure
what to expect from this book as I have not read anything from this author
before what I got was a fairly enjoyable if somewhat strange ride and a very
interesting protagonist. The last time I read a book with a similar sort of
feel was the Strange Angels series by Lili St. Crow. I am not saying they are
all that similar but reading this did remind me of that excellent series which
finished much too soon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">It is
interesting that the author chose to go with someone who is viewed as an
unattractive female lead. Think back through your YA collections and see how
many times the protagonist had actually been physically unattractive. The fact
that her “darker” side is viewed as beautiful is interesting it could also be
an allegory for drug use or drinking to make yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">The road trip
aspect of things is interesting but not all the extended class of characters
actively work which is a shame because it means those stops on the journey kind
of lag and you’re waiting to see what’s next in terms of destination.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">If there is a
problem with the book it is that there are too many stops on the journey for
this initial book. I think instead of the extended journey along the Demon Road
we could have done with one or two less complications with the quest and a
little more insight into our characters. I suspect it is not the last we have
seen of Glen so maybe we might know more of him in the next book but this was
certainly some time to fill in a little backstory for Amber the snapshot of her
parents coming to the school wasn’t really enough for me it is hard to envision
exactly how her parents very unique approach would have felt over the years as
she grew up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">I think the
plot itself is pretty interesting definitely doesn’t suffer from any aspect of
it that makes me think “oh I’ve seen this all before just executed in a slightly
different way”. Having a protagonist with limited skills is also interesting
yeah she can go horny on command by the end of it but as they have made it
clear demon armour won’t stop bullets. When you add that to her non-existent
fighting skills it gives you someone to root for.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Do I want to
read the next instalment? Yes but how much? I’m not sure if this pushes its way
to the top of my TBR but I am still eager to see what happens next. If urban
fantasy is your thing and you like imperfect female protagonists this book is
definitely worth your time so check it out. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
DVLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347520545095018932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868431985107871387.post-59421942258593522092016-03-22T04:45:00.000+00:002016-03-22T04:47:46.941+00:00BOOK REVIEW: Grave Surprise (Harper Connelly #2) by Charlaine Harris<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Grave Surprise is the second book in the Harper Connelly
series written by Charlaine Harris. It was published on September 26th, 2006 by Berkley Hardcover its ISBN for lookup is <o:p></o:p></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 19.2px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">0425212033. I purchased this book.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 19.2px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR4E16mKfYFC_MkPDPq7NLnpc1ZhNQhhG-ISXkPTM80vlHQh3rA-97jUWOenLVDMRj0kBf-MlZJXe0rIIL3p3ptk-IgiMFIXUFG_aL43cSMK7TLVpM9QanepE8osQMlXU1qwtL_GXvFYM0/s1600/140078.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR4E16mKfYFC_MkPDPq7NLnpc1ZhNQhhG-ISXkPTM80vlHQh3rA-97jUWOenLVDMRj0kBf-MlZJXe0rIIL3p3ptk-IgiMFIXUFG_aL43cSMK7TLVpM9QanepE8osQMlXU1qwtL_GXvFYM0/s320/140078.jpg" width="199" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 19.2px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">WHY I BOUGHT IT</span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I have been making my way through the Charlaine Harris’ back
catalogue after True Blood finished up. I started with Aurora Teagarden and
really loved the series so this was the logical next step.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">WHAT I THOUGHT</span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This book started slow, I mean really slow something that is
a symptom of being first in the series and often suffered by books that have
huge stories to build like your epic fantasies and Sci-Fi. However this book is
set in the Southern States in a world pretty similar to our own so I wondered
why it dragged in the beginning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Keep going though and you are rewarded with an interesting
story about a couple of damaged people who have formed an incredibly strong
bond. The supernatural element (or is it) is just an incredibly unique premise
for a murder mystery series. Harper herself is very clear that she is not a
psychic or clairvoyant. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">She is also a member of a very unique group – people who
have survived a lightning strike. You learn a lot about the phenomenon in the
series like for instance that there is pretty much no walking away from a
direct lightning strike and that survivors generally are hit after the initial
strike. The rest of the things I will leave you to learn as you read or you
could do hit Google.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Once the mystery got going the book became markedly easier
to read. You can see the Charlaine Harris style in this book just like I
enjoyed in Aurora Teagarden and Sookie Stackhouse. I best describe it talking
about all the little things that a lot of books miss out and a lot of social
interaction. The style makes you feel like you’re really involved in things
rather than just watching on from a distance it makes a lot of difference.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This isn’t a lot like Sookie Stackhouse which is an adult
mystery paranormal mystery it is probably closer to the Aurora Teagarden series
though it is definitely a little darker in tone. I think as I work my way
through the series I will see more similarities that line up with the themes in
Harris’ work, small Southern communities with lots of secrets. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">If you like murder mysteries check this out the twist of the
Harper’s unique abilities makes things even more interesting. If you’re a fan
of the way Charlaine Harris writes then I think you’ll be engrossed by this
book too.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
DVLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347520545095018932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868431985107871387.post-62530758868288154852016-03-02T02:07:00.000+00:002016-03-02T02:07:09.950+00:00BOOK REVIEW: Calamity By Brandon Sanderson (Reckoners #3)<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Calamity</span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
is a 2016 Young Adult novel by Brandon Sanderson. It is the third and final
book of the <i>Reckoners</i> Trilogy. <i>Calamity</i> was published by Gollancz on 18
February 2016 you can look it up by its ISBN - </span><span style="background: white; font-size: 12pt;">057510466X</span>.
The previous books were <i>Steelheart</i> (<i>Reckoners</i> #1 and <i>Firefight</i> (<i>Reckoners</i> #2).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 12pt;">SPOILER CHECK: THIS IS A DEEP DIVE REVIEW OF CALAMITY AND AS
SUCH WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS. OK so if you have not read the first two books STOP
and go read them first or this will ruin many of the things that make the story
great.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsn4VV-5P2LtvVeEP0QQN5MHOBOyHV3Crw50G2JDpzAJCCkwU0L6CyeTd270IN61r8sb765fiKlpISL7p_kt8bg0TRKk2-xKpXOYWTi8CJJVZlIDMLD2-zAQz_qq14W1FM4y1sNRL1WWvU/s1600/91YaxGr4suL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsn4VV-5P2LtvVeEP0QQN5MHOBOyHV3Crw50G2JDpzAJCCkwU0L6CyeTd270IN61r8sb765fiKlpISL7p_kt8bg0TRKk2-xKpXOYWTi8CJJVZlIDMLD2-zAQz_qq14W1FM4y1sNRL1WWvU/s320/91YaxGr4suL.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
</div>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">WHY I BOUGHT IT</span></span></h3>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">
Well obviously because it is the third part of a story I would really like to
know the end. The Reckoners trilogy so far has been one of the most novel (puns)
takes on the superhero genre in books. The only series on a par would be <i>Wearing The Cape</i> series by Marion Harmon
which if you like this series you'll probably enjoy that too though it is a
different look at a world full of superheroes.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">WHAT I THOUGHT</span></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The beginning of Calamity is almost the exact
opposite of the start of Firefight back then the team wasn’t exactly
celebrating but it was building something. Calamity sees the team in despair
once part of a national if not global Reckoner network and now literally the
only people left standing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The overarching message pounded into us from the
first two books is that Epic = Evil a message reinforced by both the Prof and
Megan that is what the Reckoners believe even if we as the readers know more
because we see more.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Seeing David as the head of the team is actually an
interesting plot twist as he is clearly the risk taker. He now has to sit back
and run things and take care of his team I think his status as operations might
be part of the reason that he spends a lot of the novel putting so much
pressure on Megan to keep testing her powers despite the strain it puts on her
sanity. I could talk about why this is BS when he is ignoring his Epic nature
but there is another section for that.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Megan is awesome as always completely kickass and
so strong within herself she is a full rounded character in many ways that
David is not when you throw in her crazy, crazy powers she becomes even more
interesting.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The other characters really were not much more than
window dressing this time in my opinion which is a shame because usually
Sanderson likes to have an ensemble cast in his stories with real
personalities, quirks and history.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGE0p_lMii63EoCwbeCoFXCnatjhKaiZCgErpiX5nOWVyZpOT06BYbtJACIhmi1gu2mCLc0iwYBzYsTKAoq54RbE1iwHYLB0EorddYYtV6tFrhnqhnbOHbLgVNTPNrEYsUYfHhaBmLmF3M/s1600/91SZ%252B3kt%252BkL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGE0p_lMii63EoCwbeCoFXCnatjhKaiZCgErpiX5nOWVyZpOT06BYbtJACIhmi1gu2mCLc0iwYBzYsTKAoq54RbE1iwHYLB0EorddYYtV6tFrhnqhnbOHbLgVNTPNrEYsUYfHhaBmLmF3M/s320/91SZ%252B3kt%252BkL.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
</div>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE</span></span></h3>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">
I went into this wanting to know a few basic things and I felt like I was
teased with these things every two or three chapters. It took so long for
things to get where they were meant to go it got boring in places, boring is
not a word I would ever associate with the writing of Brandon Sanderson.</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">David lying to the team about
his Epic status. I get part of it being down to all that has happened but he
didn't even tell Megan the woman he loves. I can't buy his “it doesn't mean
anything” in the early book he knew full well what it meant for him being
pretty much the foremost expert on Epics around.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">David riding Megan about using
her powers more added with the lying is something that really I find annoying
and actively made me angry while reading through the book.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It is never really explained
why Megan is less violent than most other Epics which we see while she is with
the Reckoners, then when she goes to work for Regalia and also when she rather
briefly talks about when she first became an Epic. Plus Conflux was selfish not
particularly evil.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On the book itself I just felt
like I wanted to try my hand at editing because parts of this book felt like
filler, or my precisely a filler arc for those of you who like me watch anime.
There was a lot of repeating the same old thing time after time, like “if only
I could control X power, or master that technique”. David’s nightmares, him
going back to Megan or speculating endlessly how she could Deus Ex Machina her
way to save the whole damn world. It just felt like the characters were placed
in stasis with no real room to grow for nearly the entire book which is so
different to the first two.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">CONCLUSION</span></span></h3>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I don’t want to sound like I
am pounding on the book because I am not but there are things I am disappointed
by probably down to the fact that I am comparing it to the previous two and
other books by Sanderson that I have read.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
DVLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347520545095018932noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868431985107871387.post-46531472331502600532016-01-01T02:36:00.001+00:002016-01-01T02:36:28.682+00:00BOOK REVIEW: Villains Inc by Marion G Harmon (Wearing The Cape 2)<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><span style="line-height: 107%;">Villains Inc.</span></i><span style="line-height: 107%;"> is the second book in the <i>Wearing The Cape</i> series written by
Marion G Harmon. It is an indie book that was released through CreateSpace on
30<sup>th</sup> March 2012. The ISBN for this book is <span style="background: white;">1475125968. I bought this in paperback form can’t remember if it was eBay
or amazon worth checking as there was a price difference.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There are lots of spoilers in this review so be aware. I would also
recommend that if you are interested in this series then you should start with
Wearing The Cape by Marion G Harmon.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPGzVbIS8uer4Yg_1QFnEH-L5B21eYj8xkwuagstNw_F5vdIVh1mOCiviGUxblnyXuDKvhwag_PytQpDV_nkTJLVTq3SUimJ42P0VuIz1S7aFYaXLUkJNY7Z2wj1VbEYOiIvEe6_n20p-j/s1600/13601016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPGzVbIS8uer4Yg_1QFnEH-L5B21eYj8xkwuagstNw_F5vdIVh1mOCiviGUxblnyXuDKvhwag_PytQpDV_nkTJLVTq3SUimJ42P0VuIz1S7aFYaXLUkJNY7Z2wj1VbEYOiIvEe6_n20p-j/s320/13601016.jpg" width="221" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h3>
<span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">WHY I BOUGHT THIS</span></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I picked up the first book for free after trying to populate my newly
bought second hand Kindle with a few books I might actually bother to read and
was blown away.</span></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">WHAT I THOUGHT</span></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Chicago sounds like a fun city and it has always been an American city
that I wanted to visit even without its own superhero team. The world painted
in the <i>Wearing The Cape</i> series is
rich and detailed by the end of this book you know everything you need to know about
how superhero bureaucracy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Can we also talk a bit about how awesome Hope is as a lead character?
Even though this is only the second book she has already been through so much
but it is the fact that we can believe her journey, dealing with her PTSD while
still doing her best to do her job and getting on with her life which was
hardly settled now as she still feels the push and pull between her life as a
hero and the life she knew before.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Villains Inc. is a pretty straightforward idea as a plot in a world with
superhumans why wouldn’t organised crime want their own team of enforcers after
all when one bullet proof man can knock over a bank or a police station by
himself. I also like the fact that this
idea was opposed strongly by the super powered law abiding community in the
past.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I’m not going to go over everything that happens in the book I just
really enjoyed reading it and I am impressed by the fact that the quality of
the writing improved in this book and that the author isn’t settling into a
rut.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
DVLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347520545095018932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868431985107871387.post-31516786577935413922015-12-04T22:06:00.000+00:002015-12-04T22:06:33.344+00:00Going Back Into Battle - JSAIt was always a possibility but I had hoped that I would have found a job by now. After claiming ESA long enough for them to finally give me an assessment (11 months where it should be 2) I didn't get enough points and was told to switch back to JSA. I got the call on Friday and they wanted me to apply then and there unfortunately for me I was waiting for someone to drill into my teeth so I decided to wait until I got the letter.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCfUr8tSrdqto5NH3qT0jwc6cX65w1ULLfMHWnuh7XZsalJRBR5GpZs_o2f0-oTJ_DfwHS-cSlBiJCcxrFWKgDDfA-NZt-4-CbK6OV3tfqoJZGxlU2GD-H82iK2wOJtWjdk8CzVqonlYWe/s1600/chesspiece__white_knight_by_blackswordsman28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCfUr8tSrdqto5NH3qT0jwc6cX65w1ULLfMHWnuh7XZsalJRBR5GpZs_o2f0-oTJ_DfwHS-cSlBiJCcxrFWKgDDfA-NZt-4-CbK6OV3tfqoJZGxlU2GD-H82iK2wOJtWjdk8CzVqonlYWe/s320/chesspiece__white_knight_by_blackswordsman28.jpg" width="259" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Letter arrived on Tuesday informing me that my ESA was stopped on the same day they wrote up the letter on Friday so then it meant it was time to apply. Here's one wrinkle my area is now a Universal Credit area so I could not apply online. I am intending to appeal my ESA assessment and those on appeal can't be part of the UC pilot. Is it still a pilot after all these years? I don't know.<br />
<br />
So now I've got my JSA first meeting on Monday where I will finish out the application and be required to sign a Claimant Commitment. This is where the battle starts to ensure that it doesn't force me onto Universal Jobmatch or to a totally unrealistic number of jobs to apply for each week.<br />
<br />
I know some people might assume that it is being lazy or that Jobcentre Plus isn't out to get you, unfortunately they are and the numerous reports of sanction targets and my own posts about the various attempts at sanctions should serve as evidence.<br />
<br />
I do not look forward to this fight or the wait to actually receive my benefits which are on pause while the new claim goes through but I'm assured it will happen by the 23rd. So just in time for Christmas unless I had to post presents at all.<br />
<br />
I'll keep you posted on what happens on Monday.DVLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347520545095018932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868431985107871387.post-6174101450269853682015-11-24T19:45:00.000+00:002015-11-24T19:45:09.836+00:00A Month Is A Long TimeI have not posted in a whole month which is pretty bad. Things have been moving forward sort of. Shall we summarise:<br />
<ul>
<li>Job hunting, cranking out maybe 15 a week as a minimum</li>
<li>No interviews this week</li>
<li>Booked my place for a really cool Star Wars: The Force Awakens Party</li>
<li>Trying my best to put in some work for Nanowrimo</li>
</ul>
<div>
I am trying to remain positive but it is not easy. Thankfully I am stubborn and I am just not willing to give up yet. I've been getting through a lot of books and a number of my favourite series came to end this year or will next year.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I've been doing a bit more with my volunteer role hopefully that means that we will get our accreditation back so I can go cover events. It is something that is fun and also means that I am gaining new skills as well as working on improving existing ones, communication skills can always be better right?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So a short update for sure but hopefully I will be back soon with more.</div>
DVLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347520545095018932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868431985107871387.post-35621204534988605862015-10-22T21:20:00.000+01:002015-10-22T21:20:02.355+01:00Dealing With DisappointmentHow do you deal with disappointment? It comes to us all right? I certainly can't claim to be any worse off than anyone else but disappointments get me down all the same. I find myself trying to stay positive while not having much luck in terms of job prospects.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBQWVgGtKCCYZGyIqp5yPed85lKBQQqCb2eVcPqi01mrV7qIW22aTL9RecMmLThWpNAvmOqFtrHLa_5zM7baawRROLj4-6_PpVdIJTYGFxxXs9skJN3EPtEJrLwl-8-m8HoakjO8HytAlW/s1600/disappointment-expectation-reality.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBQWVgGtKCCYZGyIqp5yPed85lKBQQqCb2eVcPqi01mrV7qIW22aTL9RecMmLThWpNAvmOqFtrHLa_5zM7baawRROLj4-6_PpVdIJTYGFxxXs9skJN3EPtEJrLwl-8-m8HoakjO8HytAlW/s320/disappointment-expectation-reality.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I have been looking at ways to generate my own income like a small business but that requires capital which I don't have. I tried a little wheeling and dealing but that is just a start and trying to get that to the point where I can live off is a big, big step.<br />
<br />
The latest disappointment was connected to things well outside of my ability to control, the site I work for lost a year's worth of posts which includes most of the time I was writing for them. That affects a lot more than me it also means that our site lost their press rights at a range of conventions and media events until we can re-establish ourselves.<br />
<br />
For me it means I lost out on one of the two events here in the UK that are relevant to what we cover. It was something I was looking forward to it was a lot of fun and also a chance to add to my CV which apparently needs all the help it can get.<br />
<br />
So how do you deal with disappointment ideally in ways that the rest of us will think of as positive.<br />
<br />
Oh look I just broke my mobile phone with an epic accident I am too embarrassed to fully explain.DVLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347520545095018932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868431985107871387.post-65311734747899582682015-10-04T23:21:00.000+01:002015-10-04T23:43:51.295+01:003 New US Shows To Try<h2>
Blindspot</h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4k9wB7GQnFEPTjjTJdWKpPar62NdkuAQelHIQJmdgVBGFZIw91pn78bwtgIQ6OxTIf_tNntDpfLQ1Deo_n6sBkw27vBZ2DD1O6seh855axoTgsH7Edr2lvvHad80KzERuPWtuwkcjSOAf/s1600/blindspot-series.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4k9wB7GQnFEPTjjTJdWKpPar62NdkuAQelHIQJmdgVBGFZIw91pn78bwtgIQ6OxTIf_tNntDpfLQ1Deo_n6sBkw27vBZ2DD1O6seh855axoTgsH7Edr2lvvHad80KzERuPWtuwkcjSOAf/s1600/blindspot-series.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Strong Female Lead And A Puzzle To Solve<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jaime Alexander stars as Jane Doe in this new NBC thriller.
A lot of people have been drawing comparisons with The Blacklist and I can see
that strangely enough people seem not to be comparing it with Prison Break you
know that show about a guy covered in tattoos that form part of an extensive
plan.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The show has gotten some stick from certain reviewers for
treatment of Jane Doe as an object, the first episode does have her emerging
naked from a bag in Times Square then being poked, prodded and scanned by the
FBI. Is it uncomfortable watching, yes is it there to titillate? I very much
doubt it. The showrunners are undoubtedly portraying Jane as a strong woman who
undertook this bizarre mission for whatever reason.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now strong woman can be thought of as a negative term which is not what I intend when I describe Jane as that I think in a time where we have lots of action shows we have a majority of men doing the physicality in the lead roles the only current show I can think of that does that is <i>Castle</i>. They bring back memories of <i><u>Alias</u></i> and <i>Buffy The Vampire Slayer</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Everything I have seen tells me that this has what it takes
to keep the audience interested but trying to judge audiences is a difficult
thing but this is a show I’d recommend.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chances of Season 2: 85%</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h2>
Limitless</h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjehaaiGVm0qpK45hGbwRtP5bYTN48QUvLwakX7JaxE6SlyM0E7TLdR_ZCwVt_GD_OZl_Gb84JrQfPeHLRLUP17VkyuzfnGBdITgSQRyPg8mdWB83oZ7N3EZKZ_FF0aOBs4AxweA3WstCuB/s1600/295743-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjehaaiGVm0qpK45hGbwRtP5bYTN48QUvLwakX7JaxE6SlyM0E7TLdR_ZCwVt_GD_OZl_Gb84JrQfPeHLRLUP17VkyuzfnGBdITgSQRyPg8mdWB83oZ7N3EZKZ_FF0aOBs4AxweA3WstCuB/s320/295743-2.jpg" width="220" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I really wondered about this when I started writing about this adaption of the film but seeing it in action may have made me a believer. I like the way that they strictly define the ups and downs of NCT so while Brian is on a whole other level he does have limits.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is interesting to see Eddie Morran in this role as both a potential ally or an enemy and I want to see what happens next and if there are any more Big Bads to appear and what is the story with Rebecca's dad. This show lives or dies on the back of the line walked by Jake McDorman between loveable slacker and jumped up asshole. From time to time he goes over that line but got to be patient as it is only up to the second episode.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you watched the film I think you'll be pre-disposed to liking this and if you haven't seen the film the pilot makes sure that you are pretty well filled in about stuff.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chances of Season 2: 75%</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h2>
Minority Report</h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihBW5YVPiCSU-oPhb7j5JGa1DpBuyFgtypj8dHI8bRDnvJL8L5v2GxPNlw4cazhFoI-TsVs2XZOOeoS6HStMfv8S1utGMJH18z9e-WmE8rSY1ROnF-SCSUcK52a9I8GU7Uvd4nwNrkknPC/s1600/minorityreport.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihBW5YVPiCSU-oPhb7j5JGa1DpBuyFgtypj8dHI8bRDnvJL8L5v2GxPNlw4cazhFoI-TsVs2XZOOeoS6HStMfv8S1utGMJH18z9e-WmE8rSY1ROnF-SCSUcK52a9I8GU7Uvd4nwNrkknPC/s320/minorityreport.jpg" width="216" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another film to TV series Minority Report continues the story five years the Pre-Crime Division was shut down after the events of the film starring Tom Cruise. I'm not sure which way this will go we've had a future procedural with Almost Human which should never been cancelled or had its running order changed so the character development made no sense.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hopefully Minority Report won't make those same mistakes but it is too early to say. There are some fun things to see in this show</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chance of Season 2: 45% (That's been optimistic for a Fox show)</div>
DVLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347520545095018932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868431985107871387.post-53591963917248748562015-09-15T22:56:00.000+01:002015-09-15T22:56:30.529+01:00ANIME REVIEW: Rokka No Yuusha<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Rokka No Yuusha</i> (English Title: <i>Rokka: Braves Of The Six
Flowers</i>) is a 12 episode anime series produced by Pony Canyon. It was originally a light novel series written by Ishio Yamagata then a manga and now it has been adapted for anime. The series
despite its fantasy and magic setting is best described as a mystery.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivBdfManr2FXJuKRoKEk7RTX8oLBrMGAx4qtl3Cf4jGvIYhaYTjftJIeB8F30GE3QsZT2hqqPDEJIZjcQwRXiOAVx5BoYh6-zOJXOodRHz5ul9LxdFTcU6wE2_KE8BD4Y27g0bjm0rPl2Q/s1600/4d5052bb6f7b1c1fc211f95a9532b73e1435277939_full.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivBdfManr2FXJuKRoKEk7RTX8oLBrMGAx4qtl3Cf4jGvIYhaYTjftJIeB8F30GE3QsZT2hqqPDEJIZjcQwRXiOAVx5BoYh6-zOJXOodRHz5ul9LxdFTcU6wE2_KE8BD4Y27g0bjm0rPl2Q/s320/4d5052bb6f7b1c1fc211f95a9532b73e1435277939_full.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h3>
<span style="background: white;">PLOT</span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white;">When the Majin
awakes from the depths of darkness, the deity of fate selects six heroes and
bequeaths them with the power to save the world. Adlet, a boy who proclaims
himself the strongest man in the world, has been selected among "The
Heroes of the Six Flowers". However, as the heroes gather, they soon begin
to suspect that someone amongst them is an imposter.</span></div>
<h3>
<span style="background: white;">WHY I WATCHED</span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white;">You don’t get
many anime series that revolve around mysteries, I’ve watched a few <i>Hyouka </i>is an interesting one that I
thoroughly recommend. I chose this as something to break up the usual parade of
mecha, fantasy and fighting anime.</span></div>
<h3>
<span style="background: white;">WHAT I THOUGHT</span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white;">I am writing this
review up after the first 9 episodes of the show but I think given the mystery
premise that’s fine. This anime is pretty much a run of the mill whodunit where
instead of a remote hotel or a dinner party caught off by a flood you have a
group of warriors stuck inside a barrier with the equivalent of a locked room
mystery to deal with.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6ey5B1raBY4v1XbWQM8w_wCpsw7hC3_ZUyUExsaoKrYE_H4g_-m-Jyi0hsMsLR9WQaFoHBfpXFA_sFynGIxHXCzY-i9Sj2g4g2hIMqve69br8zZNtvfqxZVqCelkj21wWDgPHfB7EXVLk/s1600/adlet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6ey5B1raBY4v1XbWQM8w_wCpsw7hC3_ZUyUExsaoKrYE_H4g_-m-Jyi0hsMsLR9WQaFoHBfpXFA_sFynGIxHXCzY-i9Sj2g4g2hIMqve69br8zZNtvfqxZVqCelkj21wWDgPHfB7EXVLk/s320/adlet.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white;">The mystery is at
the core but this is about a group of warriors so we do see amazing fights with
a range of interesting fighting styles and the interpersonal relationships and
how each warrior reacts to one another is interesting to say the least. The
warriors are very different from different social classes we have everything
from princesses to commoners.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiilVTo29JPZwJAOW3FxxZVhotYoUfbmG-VTwH4XUh51qjvBCdOyc2aTxfJax1tju9GONLIFPE-w9fB2qd0G3sOWKO9g9_kbQHIlhhsmxBV9ZAcLYztSDuTGKIKFKJeZT1nBzVLQGeb5uwn/s1600/freemy+speeddraw.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiilVTo29JPZwJAOW3FxxZVhotYoUfbmG-VTwH4XUh51qjvBCdOyc2aTxfJax1tju9GONLIFPE-w9fB2qd0G3sOWKO9g9_kbQHIlhhsmxBV9ZAcLYztSDuTGKIKFKJeZT1nBzVLQGeb5uwn/s320/freemy+speeddraw.png" width="186" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white;">There isn’t much
more I can reveal that doesn’t get into major spoiler territory so I will just
say that trying to figure the mystery out is a great little brain teaser and
makes me eager to see how things work out. I don’t know whether this is just a
first season or if this was just meant to be a one off, I tend to think it
could be the former subject to ratings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOSJW-EBpvkkd3kMHKwyFwokEkO7r7ANX0Jx4iXGelsynblSDJFDr_6AT_XnTo0rZOAu-6tvQVYyIE-X-HtbXm4Wm3NcRQl2m5HYvt5q6I0SmVi3-guD7cAQDKatr7eGz9RypxD2ZPM8bT/s1600/nashetania.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOSJW-EBpvkkd3kMHKwyFwokEkO7r7ANX0Jx4iXGelsynblSDJFDr_6AT_XnTo0rZOAu-6tvQVYyIE-X-HtbXm4Wm3NcRQl2m5HYvt5q6I0SmVi3-guD7cAQDKatr7eGz9RypxD2ZPM8bT/s320/nashetania.png" width="186" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white;">If you like
things like Sherlock or mystery books than you could do much worse than this
anime which is just the kind of whodunit fix you need.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
DVLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347520545095018932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868431985107871387.post-61699863850541293242015-08-12T23:07:00.001+01:002015-08-12T23:07:38.555+01:00Adventures In Ebay<div dir="ltr">
So I have been going to and fro about taking the next generation console plunge. Money is always and issue so I thought the best way would be to put up my PS3 for sale on eBay because I don't have space for both with only one monitor - below is all the fun stuff that happened.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieJR4hXVwow1Mp1lpezkLivJEGtRvTCAyeIRuj7sf9dMwWYYqfO7pASCQKCpQlwTPOT7c0JMyAjTPUtNsZEHgqQmMtPV36Zm0cJncGfgDmwZoag-vywscJhWJzWGF1jhYtqYp00pyx3Lod/s1600/EBay_logo.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieJR4hXVwow1Mp1lpezkLivJEGtRvTCAyeIRuj7sf9dMwWYYqfO7pASCQKCpQlwTPOT7c0JMyAjTPUtNsZEHgqQmMtPV36Zm0cJncGfgDmwZoag-vywscJhWJzWGF1jhYtqYp00pyx3Lod/s1600/EBay_logo.svg.png" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
eBay is pretty much the only viable way I think for getting rid of your PS3. It is so late in the game that I doubt Game or other video game store would want it and heading to a pawn shop would most likely get me £30 at most. I figured that most likely in a free bid situation I should get more than that so if I add postage I would have been fine.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Obviously doing the eBay thing does require some preparation time taking nice pictures of what you are trying to sell. Having a PayPal account to deal with payments is pretty much a requirement. A good step is searching for what you intend to sell and pick out the good stuff that makes the listing appeal to you and adding it to your own.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
I think to set my one up I spent 45 minutes before making the listing live. Oh pay attention to what eBay suggests you might as well use their stats but of course be aware that if it is low you might take a bath finance wise. It can be a little stressful sometimes.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
I set my PS3 for £40 with a few games which I could live with along with the postage that I had already got a quote for. I used myHermes it allows for collection from your home and has decent prices but do your own research.<br />
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
FEES, FEES EVERYWHERE</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
The problem with doing the eBay thing is the fees and not just in the obvious ways, eBay charges a monthly fee based on your sales for that month and insists you give its direct debit access. Now that might not be a deal breaker for you but I've never been a big fan of that also not a fan of the way this stuff doesn't kick in until your second or third sale or bunch of sales.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Also another fun thing that happens after a few sales is Paypal start holding onto your money for up to 21 days. The first time I called them up to ask why they said bring my status to Above Standard then they changed that. For now the rules seem to be add tracking for your package on Paypal and they will release it three days after delivery is confirmed. Now there is a problem there are only three postal services that are integrated into Paypal so the rest (like myHermes) won't confirm delivery through Paypal so you have to call them up and get them to check it through the site. Yeah makes no sense to me either.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
So if you want to sell things for a reasonable price not the pocket change that cash convertor style places offer go to eBay just be aware that it can be a fair bit of work.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
DVLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347520545095018932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868431985107871387.post-494311335011397722015-07-13T01:18:00.000+01:002015-07-13T01:18:23.068+01:00ANIME REVIEW: Terra Formars<div class="MsoNormal">
Terra Formars was originally a manga serialised in Weekly
Young Jump which was then adapted for anime in 2014. There were also two OAV
(basically one-off or very short anime series) covering the earlier missions
often referred to the show.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMmXqrKdnIVTIcCMmXJf_woHqpAI8Dt8ZjsDrhVMswkFD6fViITnqKrDr0u4q4qEj4JjDZkYyqu5FTHGG720atoHZHXX60-SNDABuaqYg1wyj-lhrYzSQTojoLsZRR0x4Nufn9JYohNmz7/s1600/DJ42KOt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMmXqrKdnIVTIcCMmXJf_woHqpAI8Dt8ZjsDrhVMswkFD6fViITnqKrDr0u4q4qEj4JjDZkYyqu5FTHGG720atoHZHXX60-SNDABuaqYg1wyj-lhrYzSQTojoLsZRR0x4Nufn9JYohNmz7/s320/DJ42KOt.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The anime ran from September 26, 2014 to December 19 2014
and consisted of 13 episodes<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For those interested I did a little research and
unfortunately could not find any evidence that there will be another season.
There is still a manga to read though.</div>
<h3>
WHY I WATCHED</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Terra Formars was marketed as a Horror/Sci-Fi which sounded
pretty interesting to me and other than that it pretty much came out of
nowhere. It sounded like a fairly cut and dry idea, hard to go wrong, it
reminded me a bit of Gantz but could just as easily be described as Attack On
Titan in space.</div>
<h3>
WHAT I THOUGHT</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Terra Formars is a wild, wild ride. There is a OVA which is
like two episodes wrong but I’m not whether or not you should watch it first,
it shows the previous missions will be referred to in the show from the
beginning so make up your own mind. So first up is Terra Formars scary?
Definitely not in a jump scare serial killer behind you sort of way but more of
a no one is safe so don’t get attached to that character you find endearing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One thing of note is that when Terra Formars was first
broadcast is was heavily censored (what else would you do with a horror show)
so trust me when you I say you want none of that action it is more horrifying
than any of the deaths on the show.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Zeroing in on the show’s core reveal it to be a battle anime
(think Naruto, DBZ) with the fights being more violent but just as intricate
with just as many “let me just pull this special move out of my ass” moments
which will make you smile.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The explanations for the Science behind the abilities of our
protagonists and the enemies is well worked though it doesn’t exactly have me
wanting to queue for that surgery. The announcer is awesome I kind of want to
check out the English dub to see if he is up to scratch but somehow I think I
will be disappointed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I mentioned previously absolutely no one is safe but if
you had to watch one character it has to be Michelle K Davis as one of the
leaders of the crews and perhaps the most badass female anime of recent times
(say last five years). She is one of the few female protagonists you see in a
show where you think yeah even without her powers or abilities she still kick
the crap out of most who tried to take her on.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRo2JqluYlUbq_Cn3v2dYrlfU6xDwQ44Wk190M8gWhaKIIogAasH67yleUYkC2YeRIE3t62U-CLMi8jLAl_nhOdZadj2CfKxkoeRSQVbtxJza7K4_ctwwbZH4HeBp_64B8BtdElZN4TRkt/s1600/tumblr_ndymmmTXBx1s307p6o1_500.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRo2JqluYlUbq_Cn3v2dYrlfU6xDwQ44Wk190M8gWhaKIIogAasH67yleUYkC2YeRIE3t62U-CLMi8jLAl_nhOdZadj2CfKxkoeRSQVbtxJza7K4_ctwwbZH4HeBp_64B8BtdElZN4TRkt/s320/tumblr_ndymmmTXBx1s307p6o1_500.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The show isn’t all action though there are flashbacks which
serve to show why people would choose to go to Mars on what could be well be a
suicide mission. The flashbacks speaks of mega corporations and the divide
between rich and poor growing even larger.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
So if you have a strong stomach and a love of epic multi-episode
battles handled a lot better than they were in Dragon Ball and if you want to
see some strong women calling the shots than go pick this up on DVD or on a
streaming service if you can find it.<o:p></o:p></div>
DVLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347520545095018932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868431985107871387.post-23457678759533755012015-07-06T02:16:00.002+01:002015-07-06T02:16:44.023+01:00ANIME REVIEW: Is it Wrong to Try and Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Familia Myth
is what I will be referring to this as from now on but having the full title is
useful.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So in no particular order these are its titles.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"><b>Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? - Eng Title</b></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">Danjon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darō ka - Long Title</i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<sup class="t_nihongo_help noprint" style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 11.1999998092651px; line-height: 1;"><i style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"><b>DanMachi - Shortended Title</b></i></sup></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"><b><br /></b></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Familia Myth is the anime adaption of a
light novel series from SB Creative – GA Bunko. </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 107%;">The anime
series had an initial 13 episode run and started broadcasting on April 4</span><sup style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 107%;">th</sup><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 107%;">.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6CzaFwgTGTr2tclTvXclaeQmFqZE9L2cLEwll-baDhyphenhyphenduHdaHqFz8GUf7nxTEVNTg_wdkOjA11grq3NFoDlTV9WMVzDsruNpVobCIowET6a-tKQ6CJU351RnK9Qsng0hlzSaQI5uoHICa/s1600/dungeon-girl-news.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6CzaFwgTGTr2tclTvXclaeQmFqZE9L2cLEwll-baDhyphenhyphenduHdaHqFz8GUf7nxTEVNTg_wdkOjA11grq3NFoDlTV9WMVzDsruNpVobCIowET6a-tKQ6CJU351RnK9Qsng0hlzSaQI5uoHICa/s320/dungeon-girl-news.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<h3>
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">PLOT</span></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The story follows the exploits of Bell Cranel, a
14-year-old solo adventurer under the goddess Hestia. As the only member of the
Hestia Familia, he works hard every day in the dungeon to make ends meet while
seeking to improve himself. He looks up to Aiz Wallenstein, a famous and
powerful swordswoman who once saved his life, and with whom he fell in love. He
is unaware that several other girls, deities and mortals alike, also develop
affections towards him; most notably Hestia herself.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">WHY I CHOSE IT</span></span></h3>
<div>
<span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I was not sure about this show at first but decided to give it a try and when I checked it out on the various anime sites I saw that word most dreaded of anime fans "</span></span></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 17.1200008392334px;">WHAT I THOUGHT</span></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I was not sure about it at first and even a look at
that cover was a bit off putting somehow I could sense the harem issues but
after a bit of back and forth probably 2/3 of the way into its run I took the
plunge. The show is not a harem at least it is not the only thing it is. It
really can be described as the typical male anime protagonist gradually proving
himself and rising up through the ranks, this story has been told dozens of
times but I was entertained all the same.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If I could de-construct DanMachi into its constituent
parts and look at them I would probably come out having no idea how the show
manages to work as well as it does. It is also interesting because this is
basically an anime version of most fantasy JRPGs. The idea of experience and
talent trees are presented in an interesting way.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijPFv7aOqrSNbE1JAeIWJp0Ev8Fdg7UAGhR9A0JukOvotCLykqiSJKFzz7HfTd4emqjJynsSHsIth7dowXOZLj_0m0KpdftGoIESPO1Bj4RqYl8nEdmI68P8iyQLb8K1CprnTl5CfuFcg0/s1600/5fae0f6c58bff85b5fb51944f3d19201.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijPFv7aOqrSNbE1JAeIWJp0Ev8Fdg7UAGhR9A0JukOvotCLykqiSJKFzz7HfTd4emqjJynsSHsIth7dowXOZLj_0m0KpdftGoIESPO1Bj4RqYl8nEdmI68P8iyQLb8K1CprnTl5CfuFcg0/s320/5fae0f6c58bff85b5fb51944f3d19201.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bell Cranel is the protagonist of the show and starts
out as a level 1 adventurer (yes they have levels) who is just beginning his
career. He is a nice if oblivious dude which should give you some idea of the
character arc you’ll watch but still he is compelling to watch.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrMp1UYj75LvcKKgEHbvt0PaqSoDVfSrGdeuufr0cXdzjgoZIf5kObCx48Dr2sjlVnnxcEmpypPXj_ttPN_CjzQy014EU3ruJSKzNpMpUjVn96t7m8muM3F3Y5nQJFluexLukuvTccULdv/s1600/CDBE4KWWMAABktH.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrMp1UYj75LvcKKgEHbvt0PaqSoDVfSrGdeuufr0cXdzjgoZIf5kObCx48Dr2sjlVnnxcEmpypPXj_ttPN_CjzQy014EU3ruJSKzNpMpUjVn96t7m8muM3F3Y5nQJFluexLukuvTccULdv/s320/CDBE4KWWMAABktH.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hestia is a god one of the pantheon who came down to
the world at some stage in the past to live with humans. She’s called the
“Loli-God” down to looking like a kid, those ponytails and her other apparent
assets. I couldn’t tell you why other than the obvious but she makes me
uncomfortable, it is not the first time I’ve see Lolita with overly large
breasts but her body combined with her personality makes it super weird.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQghWrcT9vzmAxEUUfv9qvoxhKD3VD53UvONrZfSxnQVXg4Iru0wWpcGdq1FIDFxJmTlaKsDOZojkQHgnaiTO7FOtiyPDmxrZuwprXXcqOx4k1cuV0O1ZTiJXKPT5y2wxrsMp5oy0TTGnQ/s1600/Aiz_Valenstein_Anime_4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQghWrcT9vzmAxEUUfv9qvoxhKD3VD53UvONrZfSxnQVXg4Iru0wWpcGdq1FIDFxJmTlaKsDOZojkQHgnaiTO7FOtiyPDmxrZuwprXXcqOx4k1cuV0O1ZTiJXKPT5y2wxrsMp5oy0TTGnQ/s320/Aiz_Valenstein_Anime_4.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ais Wallenstein is the superstar of the world of
Dungeon and considered to be one of the top adventurers as well as one of the
most beautiful who Bell falls for in the first episode.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So to settle up if you like adventure anime and JRPGs
then DanMachi is a show that is worth checking out. This initial season looks
good for a renewal though I can’t confirm that. So just remember that as I said
before this is so much more than a harem show.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
DVLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347520545095018932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868431985107871387.post-55936021250928808872015-05-12T02:11:00.002+01:002015-05-12T02:11:28.473+01:00FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS End Of Season Event<div class="MsoNormal">
This Saturday was the End of Season 2 Event of Friday Night
Fights – the free Fighting Game Community event hosted by Xtreme Gaming
Colchester.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAuxQhj8z5LWfk1qzlW9UtHHWtEfOVJxkIZ7tj4YTjonj6KEENXGJ6pf1M6FeyZKQcyeYaVe3pfA8Jhaudt6TgptOlz7sZrJ7uEKeTnkaRj8_i53XPvbdOBRN6qGK_DEfvsVnfbbKPLC3Z/s1600/bmWSnQEw.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAuxQhj8z5LWfk1qzlW9UtHHWtEfOVJxkIZ7tj4YTjonj6KEENXGJ6pf1M6FeyZKQcyeYaVe3pfA8Jhaudt6TgptOlz7sZrJ7uEKeTnkaRj8_i53XPvbdOBRN6qGK_DEfvsVnfbbKPLC3Z/s320/bmWSnQEw.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the end of every Season (16 weeks or so) we hold a
special event with a tournament and give out prizes to the top 3 placed players
as well as a raffle earned through a points based system.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This was my first full season as I joined the first in the
middle and I feel like that made a world of difference.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Season 2 consisted of weekly tournaments of two games Ultra
Street Fighter IV and Skullgirls. I went into the second season feeling a lot
better about my chances as I now had Ultra Street Fighter IV at home and a
decent Fight Pad to hone my skills.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I managed to finish 1st in the 2nd season check out the points break down below it is a league system with points for turning up on each night and for doing well in each tournament.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKRvfnsygAZnmmMuFIQmyzUhvgX_73ROPWpIapoWkQAUbq9K6WWvOMNIf_VmWTY_Acyx3MmcIkPBw7-d9YrbePstNzGXHK4V77HgCXZiXCli7j7gZWhzJPIBWfaqjzkCtlKT9SaTbTML_u/s1600/tumblr_m0imd357ez1r5img1o1_400.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKRvfnsygAZnmmMuFIQmyzUhvgX_73ROPWpIapoWkQAUbq9K6WWvOMNIf_VmWTY_Acyx3MmcIkPBw7-d9YrbePstNzGXHK4V77HgCXZiXCli7j7gZWhzJPIBWfaqjzkCtlKT9SaTbTML_u/s320/tumblr_m0imd357ez1r5img1o1_400.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Season points results:</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
1) 82 Points, Kinneas<br />2) 69 Points, DW|Kuniku<br />3) 37 Points, MOP|C4IQ</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And I won this for coming 1st.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhryW5owbKyx1nSw8x4xrkYfpB3aUj7QemaCAc16ZUox2cQ70LtWWteztZTGZHC8eWN0l7Gw6L55WQzpQuLQ2soXSLjlZ3ZZO4kk3pfeG0bjGe5ARJs7MigDJAzmoPS1bSE3Euw_aZtrnGc/s1600/CameraZOOM-20150510240056682.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhryW5owbKyx1nSw8x4xrkYfpB3aUj7QemaCAc16ZUox2cQ70LtWWteztZTGZHC8eWN0l7Gw6L55WQzpQuLQ2soXSLjlZ3ZZO4kk3pfeG0bjGe5ARJs7MigDJAzmoPS1bSE3Euw_aZtrnGc/s320/CameraZOOM-20150510240056682.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Mad Catz F.R.E.Q Headset</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Xtreme Gaming and Friday Night Fights has been a revelation
for me, a very welcoming community and lots of people to talk to with shared
interests and not just gaming.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You can find out more about <a href="http://www.xtremegaminguk.co.uk/">Xtreme Gaming here.</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The event featured a Mortal Kombat X and Ultra Street
Fighter IV tournament I managed to finish 3<sup>rd</sup> and 2<sup>nd</sup>
respectively.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidIfO9N0JC41uZIafj480yFP8Z7XTknVdJpTzCDbJjX6K9wZ0R3ga6wstOYjEVqHAg9XMSdcoLSnMfzXIlTlRO1p6-SslEpZlQ1WfeX1D4RntMRZFBCtiXQZdnzrPTUiUSdtEmBrRLEuIF/s1600/CameraZOOM-20150509214257544.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidIfO9N0JC41uZIafj480yFP8Z7XTknVdJpTzCDbJjX6K9wZ0R3ga6wstOYjEVqHAg9XMSdcoLSnMfzXIlTlRO1p6-SslEpZlQ1WfeX1D4RntMRZFBCtiXQZdnzrPTUiUSdtEmBrRLEuIF/s320/CameraZOOM-20150509214257544.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thanks to the offline practice I’ve been getting I managed to get up the courage to pit my my skills against top ranked UK players at a major tournament next
week.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
So definitely consider coming down if you’re based in the
Essex area for a cool free night of Fighting Game Action<o:p></o:p></div>
DVLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347520545095018932noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3868431985107871387.post-38415038939093968292015-04-16T22:00:00.002+01:002015-04-16T22:00:39.537+01:00What's Been Happening With Yours Truly<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">So there may be
some hope on the horizon or at least something to inspire me. I have found out
that my local gaming tournament will be hosting a qualifier in August for a
major tournament one of the Capcom Tour events.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">It has
reignited my passion for training in Ultra Street Fighter IV where to be honest
it was starting to wane. My local tournament is also about to start a new
season with the addition of Mortal Kombat X so I’m hoping that will mean more
numbers. More numbers means new matchups and a learning process but even if I
lose at first I know I’ll improve.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">On the job
front things are looking… unchanged but I’m still applying and I chased down my
last interview when they ignored my repeated requests for feedback in the end I
received the following:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM5uYdS6zLqRA6ThSGHEej2TkUNHt7sxmRq0os3M9t5e8rUniu2rn-sDdfAoEOaYp5zQU6BcPkh36tI7uvdQaNgi0gwl60gC4aK-yxncfXjr3fTInwI-6LGbZSKSCAEhrElGQnAHu5fdt5/s1600/interviews-suck.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM5uYdS6zLqRA6ThSGHEej2TkUNHt7sxmRq0os3M9t5e8rUniu2rn-sDdfAoEOaYp5zQU6BcPkh36tI7uvdQaNgi0gwl60gC4aK-yxncfXjr3fTInwI-6LGbZSKSCAEhrElGQnAHu5fdt5/s1600/interviews-suck.jpg" height="200" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">“I understand from the manager who interviewed you on the day
that although you possessed a number of the essential requirements for the
post, you did not satisfy all the criteria.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">That is the entirety of my feedback right there, my
application, the studying before and attending the interview. I’m a little
bitter I know not particularly at the institution involved but the whole
process and the way candidates are treated.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">So new fun fact that happened last night my phone stopped
working. To supply detail there is a little internal switch thing that works
behind the outside power button that fell off and now I can’t find which means
it is impossible to turn the phone on. For techies sometimes you can turn a
phone on by hooking it up to your computer via USB, not in my case though.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I went into town and half of it was cordoned off apparently
last night someone was killed during a fight or something and I think they are
looking for a murder weapon or something. Honestly my town isn’t as crazy as it
sounds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Enough about me what are you the nameless viewers out there
up to at this moment?</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
DVLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02347520545095018932noreply@blogger.com0