L.A. Noire; a first impressions review from a not very serious gamer

First off, thanks for all the positive comments regarding curry, I shall endeavour to share the final recipe and results with you next Saturday!

I spent a good portion of yesterday afternoon (when I wasn't looking for curry recipe's lol) playing L.A. Noire. I've not spent half as much time on it as Mister Ben has, and in a way it's to my detriment...many of the story lines I'm passing through I already know from overhearing it as he played it out, and as such it's felt like a bit of a slog as I scamper to catch up somewhat into the part where I decided to take a bath/do some knitting and was too engrossed to pay much attention to the tv so that there'd be new stuff.

I know it's probably not at all in best practise to review something I haven't finished yet but now I'm finally playing it off of my own steam it doesn't seem like a bad place to tell of my first impressions.

I'm not a huge gamer, and when I do play anything that doesn't involve lording it over pretendy peoples lives like a pixel overlord (or overlady?) or building businesses or cities, it's usually the kind where I can run up to dragons and promptly bop them over the head with a sword. I can't shoot for toffee, and often end up dead and twitching on the ground before I've even had the chance to level up. I don't like shooty games because I can't do them. In fact I believe my brother heard me swear for the first time in his life (at least to my knowlege!) the first and only time we played Left for Dead together. I'm just not good at such games.

So L.A. Noire appealed to me. I understood of course there would be some action...I may not like out and out shoot-em-up's but come on, a cop game without guns? That would be too much, even for me. But the overall theme was more sedate, its big selling point being that it involves questioning eyewitnesses and using your intuition to read their facial expressions to tell whether or not they are being entirely honest with you.

When I first read this, I was intrigued. What I imagined was a game with a scope similar to that of Mass Effect or Dragon Age, with a story line which, depending on your correct or incorrect interpretation of the evidence and interviews, could go various different paths. It seemed a logical conclusion, in my head. If a detective in real life fails to get all the evidence, a suspect walks free, and there are possible consequences. I imagined a great show down at the end where everyone was in on a great conspiracy in which you have to do battle against each and every one of the suspects you failed to prosecute succesfully.

Well, obviously I'm not at the end yet! However, the reality of the games storyline is far from what I imagined.

Don't get all the evidence? Misinterpret your witnesses body language? That's ok, because your boss sends you back in to interrogate them until you get a confession. At the end, the only real consequence is your score, with cases given up to five star ratings.

If you are a points and achievements collector then this is all very well, but in reality it makes the whole game very linear, when the possibilities of this new technology of which it boasts mean it could be so much more interesting.

Of course, other Rock Star games have pretty linear storylines too, so I shouldn't really have expected anything else, but the monotony is broken up somewhat in games like GTA and Red Dead Redemption by the open world. So far there isn't very much of that in L.A. Noire, though I understand that once the main storyline is complete there's more chance to drive around LA and "collect" any small side cases that you've yet to complete. But it's not quite the same as being able to pull up to town and randomly engage with a passer by who mayhap has a mission for you.

Perhaps because of this very linear game play, which I'll admit is probably a fault only because of my own personal taste in gaming (which, as explained before, isn't exactly wide in its range or sophisticated at all) what L.A. Noire provides, essentially, is a series of crime episodes, as if played out as a series on TV, in which you are basically the driver. You will not loose, however frustrating having to go back to re interview your suspects may ultimately be, but you may well not experience the entire story if you do not, for example, pick up all of the clues.

I can't deny I'm a little dissapointed. It isn't what I expected, but perhaps I should have read up on it more or read more reviews. Aside from my own niggles and annoyances, the storyline itself isn't bad at all, and I am chomping at the bit to see more of that. Perhaps by the end of it all I'll feel a little less frustrated and will have enjoyed taking part in the story.

But even if I do want to go back and pick up more achievements by the time I've finished, I can't see that I'll get any joy at all from replaying it.

Six Word Saturday - Curry

Searching for Curry recipe's is dangerous

As part of my quest to expand the recipe journal I got from my baby bro and sister for my birthday, I'm undertaking to try more new meals. To start myself off, I'm simply going to make dishes that I know I like but that I'd otherwise reach for a jar to make. As Ben is a great lover of curry, and curry is one of those things that I always imagined tasted so much better when made from scratch, mixing the spices etc myself, and having been inspired by Saturday Cooks this morning, I have decided that next Saturday we shall dine upon a feast of Curry with a side of Naan bread and Bombay Potatoes (as I cannot stomach rice.).

The Naan bread and potatoes are not really an issue. I used to bake my own bread on a relatively frequent basis, and while Naan's have a slightly different recipe (in that it includes yoghurt and seasoning) the basic concept is the same...flour, yeast, knead it all up, leave it to rise, stick it in the oven. The potatoes, again, not so much a problem...prepare potatoes, spice and fry.

But trying to find a recipe for curry?

Curry is not one dish, it is almost a food group...it's like saying oh, I need a recipe for soup. There are hundreds of variations, some are hot, some are chilled, some are clear and some are thick and brothy. I expected no less for curry, and in my hunt for a nice recipe to try I've found some amazingly delicious sounding dishes. However, the recipe's seem to lie at either end of two extremes...either they are so simple I may as well just get my stuff from a jar, or they contain a million and one ingredients that I'd probably have to go to one of the international food stores to pick half of it up, which wouldn't be a problem except I'm looking to put these recipe's into my journal, and I want to know that wherever I go I will always be able to have access to these ingredients...so whilst Liverpool is great for its range of exotic food stores thanks to its wonderful multicultural community, if I were to want to cook this for my parents when I next visit, I would really struggle to get half of the ingredients required. Plus, you know, I'm on a tight budget and can't really afford to go running around Liverpool looking for these exotic items, and last time I looked, neither Asda nor my local green grocers weren't stocking Lemon Grass.

I've found a recipe that looks promising, however. It's called a "Lamb Curry" which in itself is a bit worrying...I mean, what kind of curry it is I couldn't tell you (it's obviously not a Korma, but that's all I know!) and the list of spices is pretty easy to come about at our local Asda. The only "exotic" thing I might struggle with is that it also contains Garam Masala, which I understand is actually a spice mix, and the exact contents of said mix apparently differs from cook to cook and dish to dish so where to start really! However, I shall endeavour to find a recipe for a good all rounder.

Either way, I expect that next Friday my spice rack is going to get much more interesting! I shall, of course, let you know how it goes!

That time of the month

So I've commited to NaBloPoMo and thus I must write. I'm not writing about swimming today though because something really funny just happened.

Ben asked if it was 'that time of the month' because, apparently, I'm being a complete and utter bitch. Of course he didn't quite use those words exactly, he said "You've been rather 'snippy' over the past few days" but as his snippy wife, I know exactly what he means by that.

Don't worry, there is no 'trouble in paradise'. I just had to laugh because it's the first time he's ever asked me that in the (almost) six years since we met. Which means that I must be on top bitchy form, and deserve a pat on my back for sharpening my cruel tongue (and also, sorry if I have actually upset anyone. Except Ben. Bitch.).

I do wonder though. I'm Amenorrheic, have been for (almost) six years would you believe it (Ben has clearly done something funky and awful to my body!) and before then, the only reason I wasn't was because of a magic little pill called Dianette. Still, having had a multitude of tests from the doctor, there's actually no reason I should be such, aside from the fact that I'm overweight...my hormones are normal. The doctor theorised that the excess fat of my body simply metabolises the hormones I produce before they complete their good and proper job.


So I wonder, if this is the case, do I still get a 'time of the month' as such? Not the physical symptoms, but the hormonal mood swings? I've had serious bouts of low mood to high mood swings quite frequently, but never mere bitchiness. Ben has also in his great wisdom wondered if I was Bi-polar thanks to those low/high mood swings, but I wonder if, in the presense of actual menstruation, it would be better explained as just PMT.


Well there's food for though. If any fellow PCOS sufferers or Amenorrheics stumble upon my blog, I put this question to you too...do you still get a monthly mood swing?

Swimming

Nothing much to report today...except that tomorrow is the first of July, and I have decided to participate in NaBloPoMo again, since my blogging juices seem to have dried up a bit. The theme this month is swimming, which isn't exactly fantastic for myself since I cannot swim and indeed fear the swimming (perhaps I drowned in a past life because by all means being fat as I am I should be able to float better than anyone!).

It's my second stab at NaBlo, and the first time since the reins were given over to BlogHer (which I've no experience of but seems not to be the kind of community I'd otherwise be a part of) so we'll see how it goes...and see if the prompts are any more regular and blog inspiring that they were back in February!

Beat the Heat challenge starts on Monday and I'm looking forward to it...I've just recieved the reminder email with the first weeks questions etc, so before that gets lost somewhere in the vast crampedness that is my inbox I should probably be pre emptive and start a draft ready for Monday (just like I've been pre emptive and started on some of my goals...but only because I was bored and didn't want to wait!)

Anyway, yes, this month is all set to be a busy blogging month, and I am looking forward to it!

Reality

I love a good ominous sounding title, however todays post is not greatly ominous at all!

We had a great weekend, it was everything I wanted for Ben and more. I was worried that he might succumb to the blues, he would have been well within his rights to. However, I knew that my mission was complete, and completed very well too, when he turned to me yesterday after having gotten back from our second excursion from the cinema and told me it was the best birthday he'd had in a long time, despite the obvious reasons for it being a less than palatable occasion for him.

However, one part of his birthday celebrations has left me feeling terribly guilty.


As regular readers will know, Ben and I are fans of Formula 1 racing. Ben, unlike me, is one of those people who, when he is a fan of something, likes to know all about it; the history, the people, the politics. Many people are like this with music and their favourite bands, but Ben is like this with sport, and I am not really like that at all (Hey, I like this music, I shall listen to it. Hey, watching those people race cars is exciting, I shall watch it some more.)


So when he found out months and months ago that a documentary about Ayrton Senna was coming out on general release in the cinema, Ben jumped for joy and I died a little inside....I knew he'd want to go and see it, that he would be hard pushed to find anyone else to go with him, and he wouldn't go on his own.


He nagged and nagged me to agree to seeing it with him. And for a while I point blank refused. He pushed more, saying that with other movies he'd nagged me to see I'd ended up enjoying them. I replied "remember Transformers?" which he had nagged and nagged me to see with that same logic, only to have me fall asleep halfway through and start snorring.


Eventually, I came up with the ultimate in cunning plans. So cunning that it couldn't possibly fail. Yes, I would agree to go and see Senna at the cinema, if only he would come with me to see the next installment of Twilight.


He hates Twilight. I mean, he loathes it with a passion. It's not that it's particularly offensive to him as such. The books are bad, the movies are (somehow!) worse. It's the hype that surrounds it all which has him so put against it, and the general mutilation of Vampires and Werewolves which Meyer has managed to bring about. He hates it, and is very vocal about it. There was no way he was going to agree to seeing Twilight with me.


Oh how I underestimated how much he wanted to go and see Senna.


So we went yesterday. On Monday, his actual birthday, we went to see Xmen First Class, because we both wanted to see it and it was the only other chance we had of seeing it. This made me feel a little better towards Senna...it was like a good news sandwich...prequel it with Xmen, then watch Senna and fall asleep, but it's the cinema so ice cream and pop corn, fantastic. We ended up having the screen all to ourselves, and since this was the case I was fully intent on being rather immature and shouting "LET ME SEE YOUR BOOBS" every time a lady was on screen, cause, you know, he's already promised to be rather vocal at Twilight, when we know it won't be deserted.

Except, I made the joke once at the beginning and then shut up and watched the damn thing cause it was actually really really good. I even shed a single tear at the end when he (censored for spoilers lol). I mean, it was nothing like Harry Potter where I blubbed like a baby when Dobby (more spoilers lol) but only because of my immense self control.

So now I kind of feel really guilty about making Ben go to see Twilight when I know he's most definitely not going to like it.

However, I have the feeling that had Twilight been out before Senna and by some miracle of God, Ben had decided he was now Robert Patterson's biggest fan boy, he would still have expected me to go to see Senna, so I'm not letting him out that easily.

Perhaps I can trade it in for another favour. He'll have to make some proposals, let's see what he comes up with anyway.

By the way Ben, since I know you'll be reading this, you'll have to do this off of your own back. This is me offering it up to you, it's now up to you to come up with the goods.

Anyway, yes, Senna was very good, Xmen was also rather good (and I especially liked when Wolverine -spoilers-)

I'm just going to stop you right there and say that this leek and potato soup I'm eating right now tastes suspiciously of a cheese and onion pasty.

Anways, all good things must come to an end and now we're back to reality. Still, life is pretty good. Still no good news on the job front but I'm keeping on top of my search so that's something at least. I've a coffee afternoon coming up on Friday which I'm very much looking forward to, I have two tickets to the opening night of Harry Potter in a couple of weeks (yaaay!) and then over the first week of August the family will be paying a visit. So yes, still lots to look forward to over the next month and a bit ^_^

Till later folks!

Gotta get down on Friday

So yeah, please don't hurt me for that! But, it's Friday and I'm in a darn good mood so I thought I'd come and share the happy with you all.

So what's been going on in the land of Bex this week? Well it's the end of the month and so there's not much to say about what I've done this week, but looking ahead there are some super duper things to look forward to.

The Spring Fever seasonal challenge over at Life's journey with a smile has just finished. I found out about it too late to partake, however the Beat The Heat challenge for summer is about to start at Weight Wars (to give the lovely hostess of Life's Journey the summer off!). I'm really looking forward to this, and I've used the time I've had on my hands to set the goals I'm looking to achieve over this summer. I'm not sure if they're a little conservative for ten weeks, but since I've never partaken in a challenge like this I didn't want to set myself up to fail! I'll publish them towards the starting date anyhow, expect to see, of course, more weight loss goals, day zero list shrinkage and more knitting!

Speaking of goals, and weightloss I set myself some mini goals a while back on My Fitness Pal. When I say a while back I mean it was pretty much my new years resolution. I ended up scrapping the whole lot of them because I was failing so miserably at the beginning of this year at keeping any handle on the weight loss. Anyhow, as you know I recently kicked myself up the arse, stopped going to see that damned dietician and started tracking my long term eating habits myself, under my own system based on the basic scientific principle of fewer calories in over the long term = greater weight loss, as opposed to the principle of "just eat baked beans on toast".

And no, I'm still not over that.

Anyway, after kicking myself up the bum I decided to reinstate my goals but based on the time available to me now that we're halfway through the year (well, almost halfway, at the time) and I've just, as of this very day, hit my first goal! Three whole weeks ahead of schedule!

Indeed.

Ahem.

Monday is my lovely one's Birthday so this weekend we're going to have a happy fun filled time. Ben isn't a sociable bunny, so we've basically scheduled in a couple of rounds of drinks with some friends on Monday, and the rest of the weekend is dedicated to shopping (for him! Ok and a little bit for me too...but mostly him!) Formula 1 (European GP coming from Valencia) and the cinema to see X-men Origins AND Senna, because we just couldn't choose between the two. But the Senna trip puts me firmly in line to have him accompany me to see Twilight in November, so I suppose he's signed his own death by Sparklepire warrant.

Speaking of the cinema, the second installment of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is released in July. The 15th, to be precise. And I fully intend to be there on opening night! Still, I have to wait until tomorrow before I can book the tickets and I'm just looking at the serious lack of seats already...I hope there are some seats left at a reasonable time!

Not that the time got in the way for part one, if needs must needs must, and I will go to a midnight showing if I have to! But I'd rather not...

Anyhow. Yes, the more distant future still brings more things to look forward to, but right now I'm buzzing about this exciting, relaxing and happy birthday weekend Ben and I are about to share together, and so because I'm bouncing off the walls with glee I'm linking up with Joelle for happy hour this week.



Hope wherever you are, you've got a fabulous fun filled weekend ahead too, and lots of amazing plans for the summer!

Royal Fail

Tonight I am going to delight and entertain you with an angry rant about the national postal service that we are subjected to in this country; Royal Mail

There's a big debate going on in government at the minute over plans to reform the NHS. One of the things that the big wig tory toffs keep regurgitating is "competition will be good for the NHS!". Now, what they need to do is stop sniffing their own farts and apply this logic to the Royal Mail. Royal Mail is in fact one of the national establishments that actually could heavily benefit from having to fend off some competition.


My husband and I live many hundreds of miles away from our families and so when it comes to birthdays and mothers and (in the imminent future) fathers day etc that we can't make in person we have to fall back on using the post to send our lovely greetings cards and gifts. But it's hit and miss as to whether or not what we put in the post will get there. I mean, you could quote statistics for lost post if you wanted and I would snort at you. We use the mail so infrequently that the ammount of times cards and gifts haven't shown up at the other end means that if you used me as the sole example, the Royal Mail would probably have a 20% failure to deliver rate. That might look small, but I can bet that if this was a national statistic there would be hell to pay. This is also not taking into account the things that haven't reached us from other senders, even when special or recorded delivery is used.

Above: the jolly British postman. Perhaps if he stopped meddling with the concerns of the local townsfolk and actually did his job then Royal Mail wouldn't be the national disgrace that it is.

There are other couriers available. Businesses will use TNT for example, who will come and collect their mail and send it off on its way....but who delivers it at the end? Royal Mail. This means that we've recieved bills too late and had to pay charges for late payment, even though Royal Mail didn't even have to bother collecting and sorting it. They just had to deliver it.


Some of the frustrations we've suffered from this horrendously managed company:

1. We're still waiting for a parcel that my mum sent me 2 and a half years ago
2. My mum, brother and sister are still waiting for their birthday cards from 2 years ago
3. My in laws are waiting for various cards to arrive. I believe my mother in law is still awaiting a birthday card my mum sent her for her birthday this year in fact
4. When we were up to our eyeballs in student debt, we recieved final demands sometimes months after they expected a response
5. Job application forms have failed to show up
6. A letter from British Gas threatening to break into our property to switch our electricity meter to a pre paid meter arrived the day before they said they would be breaking in - the date on the letter was two weeks previously and we were going away to visit family the next day (in this instance British Gas weren't even supplying our electricity so we called up and gave them what for, but had the letter arrived a day later? We'd have been, frankly, fucked.)
7. A sympathy card from my husbands work colleagues which was posted three days after his father died didn't show up until 3 months later. They posted it from a mile away from our home.
8. Train Tickets sent to us via special delivery arrived but the post man decided he couldn't be bothered to ring the door bell and get me to sign for them. What followed was a game of cat and mouse in which we never actually got our hands on the tickets until the day before we were supposed to travel. In fact, for rcorded or special deliveries, or parcels that are sent via Royal Mail, this has become the norm for us, something which hasn't been helped by the fact that the sorting office from which we have to collect it now has been moved from somewhere quite central to an out of the way backwater which we can only get to by bussing into town then getting a train out to it.

And now yes my fathers day card has apparently failed to turn up. This has pissed me off to no end because it was posted with an application to ChildLine who emailed me to acknowlege reciept of my application. I know ChildLine are in the same city, but then again that doesn't necissarily mean jack shit going by number seven above. In the great scheme of things a fathers day card is absoloutely nothing, it's a mere trinket really, but I paid for a service and that service was not provided. And it is getting to the point where it is all too frequently not provided, I must have chucked so much money down the black hole which is Royal Mail over the years. It's not like we have a choice...I mean, we could in theory use a courrier for big parcels but that's expensive, and what other choice have we for things like cards or application forms? There is no other way of doing it.

What makes me laugh is that post men like a good strike but every time they do I kind of get a bit bitter and even more cynical. If the post is delayed for a few days then so what, boo hoo. But the fact that their service for the rest of the year is so abysmaly poor, I just can't get behind them when they do. You know, perhaps it's true, perhaps the conditions in which they work is what shits them up and fucks the service up. So why can't the higher ups just sort it out? I for one would gladly pay up to a pound, if I can be honest with you, if I knew it would definitely arrive. You could say well that's special delivery for you but you shouldn't have to buy special delivery every frigging time. That should be saved for special occasions. And you shouldn't have to buy special so that your cards get there in a timely fashion. Royal Mail, seriously, I implore you, hire some more staff, modernize, do whatever the hell you have to do to get your service up to scratch. I'm sure paying a few pennies more isn't going to piss us off.

What pisses me off more is, like I said earlier, whatever I pay I have to because I haven't a choice, there's no other option.

I don't know how the system could be shaken up to promote competition or anything like that, but someone needs to look into it, someone trained up in logistics or some such thing. Because at the minute it's disgraceful, and I'm sick of buying cards and stamps only to, essentially, throw them into a giant red trash can.