For our honeymoon we stayed at The Golden Star hotel in Protaras, which was the location of our first holiday together some years ago. Situated just a few steps from the beach, this hotel is part of the Yianna Marie chain and boasts two pools (one with a jacuzzi) and what is probably the best restaurant in the area. All the rooms have recently been refurbished – should any reader have stayed there prior to 2010 – but the nearby pub’ is arguably in need of updating.
It is a beautiful resort and very tranquil although if you take a left and walk up the hill then you enter tourist hell – karaoke bars and the usual British pub’s and food for goodness sake.
Finally returned from the extremely hot and gorgeous Cyprus to find an update to WordPress, a newer version of the Xbox 360 on the horizon – plus Natal renamed to Kinect - and a couple of Tutor Marked Assignments to complete!
There will be posts including those topics mentioned above and the obligatory wedding and holiday images once I have got back into the swing of things.
The bells are gonna chime! Hail and salute me then haul off and boot me
and get me to the church, get me to the church
For Gawd’s sake, get me to the church on time!
Yes…I’m getting married tomorrow (Sat 29th) and then off to Cyprus.
Spotted in the news was an item that made me laugh out loud. A huge 18′ advert in Palemo, Sicily has angered the locals and all because it features Hitler with the slogan “”Change Style – Don’t Follow Your Leader.” The advertising agency behind the poster – for a clothing retailer – believe that there has been a gross over-reaction…judge for yourself!
More like Mein Camp than Mein Kampf.
A far larger image to view (well worth a look) is available from here
The Modern Warfare 2 Resurgence Pack contains three fresh locations, plus two legendary landscapes from the original Modern Warfare.
In Carnival you enter a large disused theme park, offering lots of unique vantage points that work well in all game modes. The abandoned rides provide perfect cover points in one of the most original multiplayer locations for Modern Warfare 2.
Fuel is a massive oil refinery with extremely long sightlines great for medium- to long-range firefights. Spacious surroundings give snipers an advantage within the offices, and warehouses. These buildings also opportunity for close-range firefights.
The Trailer Park is a maze-like mobile estate with tight flank routes and lots of cover. Junk covered yards, deserted trailers, and debris-riddled surroundings offer intense firefights with a wide variety of vantage points and available routes.
And as for the classics:
Modern Warfare favourite Strike is a large desert town, excellent for medium-to-large team games. Its monument, connecting streets, and surrounding buildings are ideal for Team Deathmatch, with great vantage points for objective team games.
Another classic is Vacant, a Russian office complex offering a balance of interior and exterior combat. Long hallways with minimal cover points offer fast escape routes. Fast and accurate aiming is required to advance through this large complex.
Download the Modern Warfare 2 Resurgence Pack first on Xbox LIVE from 3rd June.
Tucked away in The Guardian was an article regarding a £19,000 fine that was issued for breaching food hygiene regulations. Apart from a complete lack of soap in the the dispensers – near to the food preparation area – there was also a cloud of fruit flies (how could they tell) in the kitchen and a cockroach on a serving counter. You can imagine the plaintive cries from the mice “They’re taking all our jobs!”
This was not your average fast food joint but KFC’s flagship outlet in Leicester Square in the West End…I think I’ll give the Aberdare branch a miss then.
As an aside, Alexandra Topping was the reporter and I thought it would’ve been funnier if it involved a pizza parlour with a name like that.
There have been some shenanigans involving Infinity Ward (IW) and Activision Blizzard. Serious gamers should need no introduction to either but Infinity Ward are a games developer whilst Activision Blizzard are the publishers. It should come as no surprise that it all involves the multi-million and award winning series Call of Duty (CoD). Infinity Ward were responsible for the development of CoD 2, 4 and 6 – the latter two perhaps better known as the behemoth that is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare – and arguably the best instalments of the entire franchise. Another developer -Treyarch -were involved with the other CoD instalments (the odd numbers) although these did not quite have the same impact as the IW developed games.
IW’s lead designers Jason West and Vince Zampella were dismissed by Activision for allegations surrounding “breaches of contract and insubordination”. In turn, West and Zampella issued a lawsuit against Activision. Since then 30 employees have left Infinity Ward including all the lead designers of Modern Warfare 2. Further reports have stated that altogether a total of 38 current or previous IW staff have filed lawsuits against Activision.
So what’s the big deal anyway? As Jason Avent – game director of Black Rock Studio – has stated over at GamesIndustry.biz “[...]Modern Warfare isn’t about innovation. It’s all about execution[...]The games run at 60 fps, have good, exciting action stories, good controls, good pacing and lots of other great polish but they’re just first person shooter games based in the real world. They’re best of breed in a fairly crowded marketplace[...]These other games don’t achieve the success of Modern Warfare because they aren’t as slick or as well judged. The Infinity Ward team had a certain magic formula that comes across in the quality of their games[...]”
I doubt very much that I will spend £40 on a future MW release as it probably will not be as good as its predecessors…unless those former IW folks are involved.
I do find items that are a little bizarre or any similar aberration highly amusing. Two such stories over at the BBC were a welcome break from both the election and studying.
In the first instance – after being informed by the vet’ that his cat did not have long to live – Uwe Mitzscherlich ‘married’ his dying cat! It wasn’t an official ceremony as marrying an animal is illegal in Germany…no doubt there will be those that are wed that are thinking otherwise.
Nearer home, a sign that bore a resemblance to the tourist signs visible on the highways has sparked outrage in Gloucestershire. It was put up on the Cirencester bypass at Birdlip and points towards the Barrow Wake viewpoint – a notorious site for public sexual activity (made even more so now we know exactly where it is). Absolutely priceless.
Today was a particularly sad one in that I finally succumbed to an urge which classifies me as officially old. I have ridiculed people who buy these items (No…not TENA pads) as being boring and of a certain age.
I actually bought a cardigan on the grounds of its versatility and as shameful as it is, I have to admit that it has pockets too! I will probably have to buy the entire back catalogue of Val Doonican hits to complete my metamorphosis.
On a brighter note, my stag night is tomorrow which may help me to forget!
Are the main cause for earthquakes, according to the Iranian cleric Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi. He is quoted as saying that “Many women who do not dress modestly lead young men astray and spread adultery in society which increases earthquakes.” You an read the full scientific story here.
I look forward to his soon to be published paper “The Moon – A study of cheese and related dairy products”
The Modern Warfare 2 Resurgence Pack contains three fresh locations, plus two legendary landscapes from the original Modern Warfare.
first on 
I do find items that are a little bizarre or any similar aberration highly amusing. Two such stories over at the BBC were a welcome break from both the election and studying.
