2005: The year Nintendo took over my brain (Wickedkitten)

This year has been pretty good overall. I've become even more of a food whore with loads of new recipes added to my repertoire. Actually, I think we have become a right couple of food snobs to be certain.

Ross has ended up getting addicted to WoW which isn't so bad now. I, on the other hand, instead of joining in the nonsense ended up buying a trojan horse in the shape of a gamecube. It made sense really considering that I could get one secondhand for the same price as Wow, the only thing is that once we got that it was "Oh if I'm playing Harvest Moon - Another Wonderful Life, it makes sense since I have the GBA version to get a link cable, as I can also use it for Four Swords and The Wind Waker", then it was "Oh our GBA really is quite dark so it makes sense to get a SP as it has a backlight".

Worse of all was to come however on boxing day when I ended up becoming the proud owner of a Mario Kart Ds Pack complete with King Kong thrown in free which ended up being traded away for Nintendogs - Lab and Friends.

Oh well, roll on 2006 which will be the year of the PS3.

Year End Awards 2005 (k3nshi)

The Kenshi Institute's Year End Awards 2005

Celebrating the sublime and the ridiculous:

• Man of the Year: Alan Kay


• Woman of the Year: Angelina Jolie


• Film of the Year: Batman Begins


• Game of the Year: God of War


• Book of the Year: "Freakonomics" by Levitt & Dubner


• Website of the Year: flickr


• Undead Website of the Year: smilingkenshi.net


• Technology of the Year: Paper


• Promised Legal Action of the Year: MPA vs Song Lyrics sites


• Anti-Technology of the Year: CSS + Web browsers (all of them)


• Phone of the Year: imate JAM


• Blog of the Year: What would Tyler Durden Do


• Application of the Year: Preview (Mac)


• Shape of the Year: Arch


• Place of the Year: Regents Park, London, UK


• Colour of the Year: Ruby red (##990000)


• Year of the Year: 2005

2005: Got Stuff Done, Got annoyed. (k3nshi)

After an arduous 2004, 2005 started with a bang: all positive energy and the will for action. And fortunately it didn't fizzle out either. I can look back on 2005 with a certain level of satisfaction, as I finally sorted out a fair few things. Let's break it down:

Physical

I lost some weight, gained some strength. Gym going combined with a disciplined diet paid off at the start of 2005. Things stalled towards the middle of the year, and I face 2006 with the need to find that old focus.

Something new

Running. I've never liked running. Never understood people who claimed to like running. This year I ran the Nike Run London 10K. When I started training, I didn't know if I would be able to do it. By the time the official run was over, not only did I know I could run 10K in a reasonably respectable time but I even got to a point where I can enjoy a good run. Who'd 'ave thunk it?

Something long overdue

I passed my driving test. And then I did my pass plus. At last. Fully licensed to drive. Now I just need to drive more.

Mental

I didn't do as much meditation as I should have. In fact it's something I really need to bring back into my life as I can probably attribute a lot of my positive attitude in 2005 to the meditation I started at the end of 2004.

I did a lot more writing this year than in the past. More blogs, more websites, more stuff (less forum posts though). I think its true when people say "writing helps strengthen your thoughts", if only in that it provides a useful tool for reflection.

Professional

Most of 2005 I spent embroiled in yet more political battles at a former employer, desperately trying to salvage my career. By the time more positive influences came into power at that firm (late in the year), it was too late: I had decided to move onto bigger and far better things. 2005 was the year I finally decided to pursue the dream I've held for a very, very long time: to start a company. It's scary, challenging, lots of work and at the moment I have no income.

Nothing great is easy.

"Maybe their dream isn't big enough,"

2005 ends with some sourness and annoyance. This is a very, very good thing.

At the end of 2005 I have to tolerate small thoughts from the small minds of much, much smaller men who think I should simply follow the status quo and Be Like Them. "Why all the effort? Just Be Like Us. It's Easy."

Roll on 2006. I've got scores to settle.

2005: Mostly rubbish (the_debaser)

Thought I'd try and do a review of 2005 and ended up just thinking about my own personal year. Worryingly, not much of note has happened at all. This year's just passed by - I mean, what the FUCK have I been doing? Go to work Monday-Friday, knackered in the evenings. Then go out at the weekend to get wasted and get lucky with some bird every so often. There must be more to existing than this monotonous shite, surely? But then I expect that pretty much sums up everyones life when they're 25.

However, nothing really bad has happened to me this year so I should be thankful for that. I just want to make sure I get back on track in 2006. Try and sort a flat, maybe a new job, and plan a few holidays because holidays are the best thing ever.

Anyway, highlights of the year:

No-one close to me has died this year. That's good.
Going on holiday to America. Wicked country, wicked people. Thought I'd hate the place but I fell in love with it.
Finally finishing all my exams - such a relief.
Er... thats about it.

Roll on 2006! \o/

I am One! (k3nshi)

One year of the hash edge blog. Today.

Some people said it wouldn't last a week, never mind a full year (In YOUR FACE corps).

So today is a CAKE day. You should eat a CAKE to celebrate. I was going to get one and post a picture of it and then eat it, but really I've been eating way too much junk food over the last week or so.

Viewtiful Hope (k3nshi)

[13:07]  corpsicle  =(
[13:08]  corpsicle  anyway, i think im getting the same first impression 
                             about VJ DS that everyone else got
[13:08]  corpsicle  its just _not quite_ the console version
[13:08]  corpsicle  but from what ive read theres a lot more puzzles and 
                              stuff making it a bit different but just as good
[13:08]  corpsicle  lets hope i'll think so too
[13:14]  FunkyDad   we can always hope :p
[13:14] *Kenshi crosses his fingers

Development Thoughts (k3nshi)

So the current gaming scene hold very, very little interest for me at the moment. The only thing of real interest is Geometry Wars 2. A lot of the appeal is that it looks kind of like a game concept I have had kicking around in my head for a couple of years (in fact I was meant to write it after BlastMonkeys). But looking at the videos for it, make me realise that I'd much rather play the game concept than Geometry Wars 2.

So these thoughts have got me thinking on how cool it would be to write another game. Obviously writing a little game would mean having a target platform, and 3 spring to mind: OSX (cos my main machine is a Mac these days), Xbox 360 Live Arcade or the Nintendo DS. The latter two just seem begging for a small dev team to make some amazing games for them. None of the DS stuff that is out really appeals to me, but I'm pretty sure I could have some fun coming up with something quite cool for it (I almost got round to writing some games for my imate JAM smartphone - it has a touchscreen - at one point).

Of course seeing as I have no time at the moment to do any of these things, its all idle speculation and rambling.

Food Porn Interlude (k3nshi)

[21:48]  Van123 "deep filled mince pies"
[21:48]  Van123 "deep filled"
[21:48]  Kenshi stop with the food porn
[21:48]  Kenshi STOP
[21:48]  Van123 they're SO GOOD

A Very Happy Gaming Christmas (Anonymous)

The final two of my holy trinity of DS gaming goodness have finally turned up (Phoenix Wright and Animal Crossing). Which to play first?

Mini Voglie (k3nshi)

Italian Biscuit Closeup
Originally uploaded by Kenshi.

Oh and these are the mini Italian biscuit things that are destroying my weight loss agenda at the moment.

They rock.

Food Terrorism (k3nshi)

Food Terrorism
Originally uploaded by Kenshi.

Just to give you an idea of what I am facing. I innocently opened the cupboard to see the two bars of Toblerone and the strategically positioned Green & Black's chocolate bisuits.

Nice. Real Nice.

...

360 blog (k3nshi)

360 blog
Originally uploaded by Kenshi.

Not So Stealth Gaming (k3nshi)

Image008
Originally uploaded by Kenshi.

The SP is way too big for a truly lightweight "gaming situation".

Shame the GB Micro is such a rip off though, eh?

(Also note the Nintendo games: who knew eh?)

Stealth Gaming Hardware (k3nshi)

So yesterday I went out for drinks with some ex-work colleagues. And unusually for me, I decided not to take a bag (usually full of a mix of gym stuff, notebooks, books, gaming hardware) with me. Hell, I would travel light for a change. So naturally I picked up my iPod Shuffle for audio stimulation, and then I figured I'd take the GBA SPastic as well. And The Spastic is all nice and everything but its still a bit too big and bulky. A GBA Micro on the other hand would have easily slipped into my coat pocket and not added any real bulk. Perfect to sneak some gaming action into situations where it would previously not be possible. So, I can see the point of a GBA Micro over a SPastic box. Doesnt mean I am going to pay the extortionate price for one though.

Oh Mobile phone games probably suck before anyone suggests I just play them.