Back again...

So I've been playing quite a lot of Tomb Raider: Anniversary, which is basically a do-over of the original Tomb Raider with snazzy graphics and a bunch of new puzzles.  It's a sharp reminder of what I loved so much about the first game - and what I hated.

It's at its very best, always, when it is you vs. the environment.  As limited as the original was, the at-the-time freedom of exploration was immense and felt very liberating.  Lara could run, roll, backflip, grab and slide around a complex and solid-feeling environment without feeling hampered by invisible walls or illogical dead-ends.  Of course, they were there but very cunningly disguised.. and we were less used to looking for them.  This new iteration does a good job of giving you a similar feeling (although the more savvy gamer will now notice the strictly linear progression of the levels more acutely), and the increased flexibility of both Lara and the world she inhabits is at times an absolute joy.  The simple touch of the way her body strains to stretch far enough to grab an almost-out-of-reach ledge is a neat shorthand for "this is a real person, sort of".

So, yes, when it's running, jumping and swinging off poles it's an absolute blast.  The puzzles are often vast - though they usually boil down to Pull Lever A, Place Object B, Run Through Gate C, but who cares when it's that much fun?

The only problem, as ever, is combat.  I never liked the fighting and with the Wii version even the nifty auto-aim has been removed, making it even more of a trial to run about, avoid damage *and* aim with the remote.  Nightmare!  Still, the use of QTEs to short-circuit a lot of the boss battles has drawn the sting a little.  The fight with the Tyrannosaur was, inevitably, more fun than the fights with the raptors.

So on with it I plug.  I'm now in Egypt.  I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to the moment that the giant Sphinx is revealed.  That was my favourite bit in the original.  Don't screw it up, guys!

A Simple Plan

I've tried to simplify this, but I'm just not a very efficient cook...

Sprig of thyme
Some sage
1 red onion, cut into 1/8ths
8 or 9 cloves of garlic, fuck it, call it ten
Two glasses of white wine
200ish mls of chicken stock
Maybe, what?  2tbsp of single cream
A whole chicken
Enough pasta for as many people as you're feeding.  You know how much pasta you want, you're a grown-up
Peas
Carrot
Groundnut oil
Salt
Pepper

Place the onion, garlic (snap it a bit first so the flavour can get out) and thyme in a roasting tin and plonk the chicken sort-of over them (it doesn't matter too much, but it's quite nice to get the chicken slightly raised).  Scatter the sage around the chicken.  Be liberal with the sage, because it's nice.  Rub some oil onto the chicken, then season as you like it.

Roast the chicken as usual, ie. 20 mins per lb + 20, remembering to baste it otherwise what's the point of the herbs and stuff, eh?

About 20 mins to the end of cooking, pour one glass of the white wine into the roasting tin.  Why?  Oh, why not.  It works.  Whose recipe is this, yours or mine?  Well, quite.

While the chicken is cooking, why not prepare your vegetables?  I cut a big carrot into about 1cm cubes so it'd be sort of the same size as the peas.  But, you know, whatever vegetable works for you at this point.  On reflection, I'm not sure peas worked, taste-wise.  But what else would I use?  Maybe broccoli that was cut into little mini-florets.  Purple-sprouting broccoli would probably be good.  Try that.

Ok, chicken's done, take it out, put it on a plate and cover it in foil.  At this point I will be telling you what you should do, not what I did.  I made this a bit too complicated.

Ok, get the roasting tin and skim off some of the fat.  Not all of it, it won't kill you.  Then pick out the garlic and herbs and put the pan over a reasonably high hob.  Pour in the stock and the rest (or, indeed, all) of the wine and stir it about so it reduces down nicely.

Meanwhile, boil up the veg and the pasta, as appropriate.  Try to time it so that everything is ready at about the same time.

Tear up the chicken meat (it's better than carving it for this recipe, gives you nicer chunks), drain the veg and pasta.  Take the roasting pan off the heat and stir in the cream.

Get a big-assed serving bowl and put the pasta in it.  Then the veg.  Then sieve the reduced chicken stuff into it, and grab the onions from the sieve to put into the bowl.  Then in goes the chicken.  Toss everything together, put the tongs in the bowl and take it out to the table.  Let everyone else do the rest of the work.  You can finish the wine off.  Well done.

nb. If this is horrible, don't blame me.  You just didn't do it right.

It's not you, it's me.

I am probably setting myself up for a fall with the posting from work thing.  What can possibly be of interest while I'm sitting at my desk?  Nothing, that's what.

Well, heh, I could tell you things about people suing their doctors, but I would get myself sooo fired.  Which would not be funny, long-term.  I can't say it's not tempting, but the lack of money and whatnot would be a bit of a bummer.

Ok, so on my desk there is, from left to right - a red folder, some photocopied letters, a three-tier in-tray thing which wobbles, a croissant, a bottle of water, a calculator, a desk tidy, a rubbish calendar I can't write on, a cube calendar which rocks because it's a bit like a Rubik's Magic, unrecycled Christmas cards, a cup of water, half a mug of cold coffee, a post-it with cinema times on, my mobiel phone, a monitor stand, a monitor, a keyboard, a computer terminal, a phone, a mouse pad, a mouse, a tube of moisturiser, a barcode scanner with a really loud bleep a hole punch and someone else's work.

I think I'll go home early.  That's just depressing.  Why did I type that out?  Oh god.  I had an interesting thought part-way through that but I didn't act on it and now I just have the list.  Perhaps I can get it back.  Or perhaps I'll just eat the croissant.

Today is another day

A fine day, cold but otherwise perfectly nice.  I have to make this post, sorry.  It's a law, or something.

Marv has started his blog again, but the url I have here is wrong.  Some crazy Hong Kong-based blogger has his old Blogspot site.  Actually, I'm considering moving myself to Blogspot.  It seems a little rude of me to be sitting here on Mike's server space still.  But, well, one step at a time.

I also really need to just spruce this place up a little.  Trim the dead links at the side, put in any new ones I need to.  If you're reading this and you're someone I know with a blog TELL ME and I'll link to you and even try to read your stuff when I remember.  Just keep in mind - it's this or Facebook.  And you'll get me onto Facebook only at gunpoint.

Super Emo Mario

So I finished Super Paper Mario over the weekend (Well, I mean, I completed the story part, but I'm guessing I can still go back for the Pit of 100 Trials and Tiptron and maps and stuff).  So sad!  I mean, for a platform game it got pretty bleak and the main character was a total nihilist... or was he?  Was he not, in fact, simply Super Emo?  I mean, he's got a top hat, fer cryin' out loud.  And he covers one eye when he's thinking about how sad everything is and how he, like, just wants everything to not exist anymore.

Still, kudos for a Mario game having character ambiguity - Dimentio in particular is very difficult to work out - and, most importantly, Bowser as a playable character.  Rarr!  Fire!

Ask me about cancer survival rates!

No time to update this week.  This will have to do.  I'm busy, ok?  I'm looking up fun things like five-year survival rates for cancer.

Oh, if you get the chance, pick up Neil Gaiman's short story collection Fragile Things.