Midway shafts Ratbag Studios...

Midway shafts Aussie developer, Ratbag Studios

OK, here's what happened.

On Sunday, Greg Siegele got a phone call saying that Matt Booty and the HR guy were coming down. They arrived Tuesday, and we held a meeting at 2pm. We were told that we hadn't reached suitable quality levels in our deliverables, and that as a result Midway had decided to close the Adelaide Studio, and that we were all laid off. We were told that we had a day to offer suggestions to keep the studio open.

We suggested - bringing in people from OS, reducing the scope of operation, reducing the size of the team, and moving to another budget title, and a few other things.

We also had calls from the Premier and Federal Government asking if there was any assistance they could offer. With only one day notice, we had to decline.

Yesterday we had to go in, grab all our personal stuff, and delete our music, pictures, documents, emails, etc off our hard drives. We were given our redundancy notices. We went into the Ballroom next door, Greg put a tab on the bar, and we got hammered. They also ordered Pizza, which was always an in-joke around our office. When we've had bad news in the past, beer and pizza were ordered for the staff.

Some people have already found work interstate and overseas.


Now, I'm going to take off my journalist cap, and say what I really feel...

Midway are CUNTS.

We were exstatic when they brought us out - it was our chance to work on a game and not pander to different publishers and be fucked around like we had on Saturday Night Sprintcars, Dukes of Hazzard, and our Activision project.

The testers were given full time contacts, and I saw it as a chance to get into game design or more senior QA role down the track. But Midway have dashed all those dreams.

I feel sorry for those who've moved from Interstate and overseas. We had one guy move from the UK and start on Monday. He worked a total of 15 hours and then was told he was sacked. There's people who bought houses and land here, moved their families here.

And of course, it wasn't REALLY about our game. It was about the $29.1 Million loss Midway made this quarter. But instead of looking about why they're losing money (could it be because they're making generic, bland, MTV-audience friendly games, like LA Rush perhaps??? Maybe if they didn't pay Matt Booty and the other Senior execs $millions a year) they decided to close down two of their studios, thus destroying an Australian gaming insitiution in the process.

Our game was looking fantastic. They looked at a November 15 build, which admittedly wasn't great, but we had and made a Verticle Slice (which is essentially like a fully fledged demo of the game) deadline last week, with some people working from 6am to midnight every day of the week, Saturday and Sunday included.

We looked at our PS2 game on identical monitors next to the major games in the genre - True Crimes 2, GTASA, Driv3r and the original GTA, and our game looked like an Xbox game - even I was amazed at how much effort and work had gone into the game in the last 4 weeks.

The game featured stuff never attempted before in a driving / GTA style game, and it was stuff that was actually working as a mechanic and looked great too. If you've got a mechanic that's fun to do over and over, you've essentially got your game. Bungie said that about Halo.

I am of course utterly devastated and heart broken. This was my dream job. Not only that, the people I worked with were amazing. You simply don't find talent like that anywhere else in Adelaide. Those people made me realise Adelaide isn't all that bad, that people can be creative and intelligent and different here and get ahead in life whist still living in one of the nicest cities in the world.

I guess you can't get ahead here.

I'm at a total loss as to what to do. There's not many jobs for games testers in Australia or really elsewhere in the world, not permanent anyway.

There's NOTHING else for me to do in Adelaide, except call centre work, which is a soul destroying, meaningless existence according to most of my friends.

I am totally shattered.

When Robyn left me Ratbag was the only thing that kept me from losing it altogether. Now what the fuck do I do?

One Enchanted Evening

Ok, so I've been busy / lazy and not updated my webpage...

Lots going on in my life, but not much I really want to share with the world... it's kinda personal, and I don't want to jeopardise things by blogging about it yet.

BUT

I do have a new DJ mix for you to download and enjoy...

It's called "One Enchanted Evening" and I did it on the evening of a rave called "Enchanted Forest 2006"...

Tracklisting:
Spin Spin Saccharine – Sneaky Pimps
Gonna Keep On – Soul Of Man
Good Times (Atomic Hooligan remix) – J Cat
Direct Hit – Aquasky
Bump & Grind (Krafty Kuts remix) – Friendly
Tricked – Bootylicious
Once Upon a Time – Dreadzone
Put Up Your Hands – Scam
Murder in the Jamrock – Cut & Run
Boom Blast (Deekline & Wizard remix) – Freestylers
Greenlight – Breakfastaz
Both Knees (Breakfastaz remix) – Split Loop
Obssessive Nature – Kiro Vs Undecided
Kinky – Plump DJs

The difference a year makes...

Ok, I normally don't blog about feelings and shit... I generally leave that for all the whack emo kids on MySpace, but I had to post this.

This time last year I was probably at the lowest I had been since a high school kid.

I felt worthless, pathetic, unloved, and rejected.

Most of that was because of my break up with Ribbon, which hit me harder than I ever expected. She was the first real love of my life. When we broke up I was shattered. And it took me a REAL long time to get over it.

Part of the reason it took so long is that DAMN houseboat trip... STUPID STUPID STUPID!

Anyway, a year later and everything is looking up. Job opportunities are opening up new and exciting horizons, I'm making lots of friends in and out of work, and I'm just feeling overwhelmingly happy with the way things are going.

I'm disapointed Ribbon and I never became close again, and probably never will because she's in the UK, but I hope everything works out well for her.

Newsfeeds & Podcasts!

For the more observant of you out there you may notice a slight change to the website, again a shameless attempt of greater promotion of my website.

I now have Feedburner links to this Blog and my two podcasts - FunkyJ's Interview Podcast and the City Zen Radio Archive.

Feel free to subscribe to the feeds and download my podcasts!

Doom the Movie

Saw it last night (for free... thanks Dan!)

quick review:

Good:
The music score is by Clint Mansel of Pop Will Eat Itself (he also did music for Requiem For a Dream and Sahara)
The Rock's face does indeed look like the hapless marine in the original Doom game, especially when he gets the BFG.
Good lighting that matches Doom III's feel (although this is probably more a reflection on the goodness of the game than the goodness of the movie)
The first person scene is pretty good.
Samantha Grimm (Rosamund Pike)

Bad:
Doom I (the game) had a better storyline. The film was predictable and lame.
The acting is pretty dull. The Rock is the Rock, Keith Urban is under utilised, Rosamund Pike doesn't get her tits out, and the dialogue is pretty damn awful most of the time.
NO HELL! Doom is all about demons from hell. Anything else is NOT Doom.
Moreover they kept refering to Mars being "Hell" and the monsters as "Those Demons", but the creatures were genetically engineered... make up your friggin mind.
Not enough gun play - Doom is all about killing demons.
The end credits are whack... what were they thinking!?!

oh god, I've turned into an old man who writes letters to the editor!

But I couldn't help myself!

RAP & RnB IS NOT HIPHOP!!!

read my letter in the latest Escapist Magazine...

iTunes Australia Finally opens!

yeah, it was yesterday, but I didn't get a chance to blog about it... although I did make a forum post on XBWAustralia.

Here's part of the Press Release I got about it:

Apple today launched the revolutionary iTunes Music Store in Australia, giving Australian music fans the same innovative features, breakthrough pricing and seamless integration with iPod that have made iTunes the world's most popular music jukebox and online music store. The iTunes Music Store is now available in 21 countries and features the most music of any digital music store in Australia with over one million songs from major and independent record labels and over 1,000 music videos. Priced at just $1.69 per song, $3.39 per video and with most albums at $16.99 including GST, the iTunes Music Store in Australia is the best way for Mac and PC users to legally discover, purchase and download music online.

"We're thrilled to bring the revolutionary iTunes Music Store to Australia," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes. "iTunes features the largest catalogue of local and international music in Australia with over one million songs, enabling music fans to purchase their favourites with one click and have them automatically sync to their iPod."

Exclusive music featured today includes tracks from Australian artists Missy Higgins, Bernard Fanning, Paul Mac, Evermore, Gyroscope and The Dissociatives. Extensive catalogues are available from Australian greats INXS, Hunters & Collectors, Paul Kelly and Slim Dusty. In addition, there are iTunes Originals from local heroes Spiderbait, and international stars R.E.M., Alanis Morissette, LL Cool J, PJ Harvey and Sting. International exclusives include Madonna's entire catalogue, digital box sets from U2 and Stevie Wonder, albums with digital booklets from Jack Johnson and Elvis Costello and more exclusives from Black Eyed Peas, Tiesto, Bloc Party, Elbow, Hayley Westenra and Jamie Cullum. Exclusive videos include U2, an online Beastie Boys exclusive and an extensive Madonna catalogue. The iTunes Podcast Directory features over 25,000 Podcasts, including featured Australian Podcasts from ABC, Triple J, Triple M and SBS Radio.

Interestingly enough, today the iTunes store from within iTunes keeps timing out... must be getting hammered pretty hard I suspect.

I'm going to spend the weekend editing my interviews, and converting my CityZen Radio shows into MP3 format, and add them to the podcasting section.

Considering my Grand Master Flash interview has had over 200 hits, I'm hoping my podcast will bring more people to my website...

Maybe I'll even put some adverts on it to get a bit of cash from all this work I've done... ;)

Lego!

Jengo Fett

There was a mini lego showcase on in Adelaide at the Myer Centre over the school holidays.

This is one of my photos.

More Here

More Apple Hate!

Why do people think Apple is the bizniz when it comes to "user friendly"?

For example, I listen to LOTS of mix CDs, and when I import them to iTunes it does it by Artist / CD Title, so now I've got about 14 million 'artist' folders with one 'album' folder with one song in them. That's NOT very well organised, and I can't see a way to change that.

The ONLY way I can see around this every single time I put a mix CD, is to make sure I press "ctrl + I" and mark as "record is a compilation", which of course isn't user friendly at all, BUT A FUCKING PAIN IN THE ARSE!

Oh, and god forbid if you ever let iTunes organise your music folder... I did that at home and it RUINED MY MP3 COLLECTION.

I have lots of mashup and legitimate user created MP3s that have a name like "artist_TrackTitle.mp3" and nothing inside the file - I know what it is by it's MP3 name. But iTunes doesn't like that.

It took me 6 hours to correct the "organising" iTunes decided to do, which was more like coming into a library, grabbing anything that doesn't have the title and author written on the inside cover, and throwing it into the air.

And yet Apple / Mac users claim Apple is better than PC / Microsoft... pfft!!!

Parklife Review

I walked to the venue as I was in a walking mood, and whilst it was a fair away from the city centre, it was a lovely spring day and I enjoyed looking at Sydney on the way there.

The area of Parklife was massive, probably the equivalent of Adelaide’s Rymill Park. There were 3 main stage areas, plus lots of space in between. The line up to get in wasn’t too bad, taking about 10 minutes to get in once the gates actually opened.

After grabbing a drink, the first set I listened to was James Taylor and Price Cuts, who were spinning on the main outdoor stage. Nice funky breaks and a little bit of hiphop.

On the smaller Dedouin stage, Uncle Ho was doing a live thing, and that was really cool. Nice sax playing under trippy beats. I stayed in that area for FunkTrust, who rocked the gathering crowd playing funky hiphop. I love hiphop DJs who scratch and cut, and was very impressed with these dudes.

Kid Kenobi was on the Outdoor stage with MC Sureshock, and basically from this moment on I stayed listening to the music at this stage. It was mostly breaks and hiphop – my two favourite styles. Kid Kenobi and Sureshock tore it up – I was glad because Kid Kenobi can rather cheesy at times, but this was a rather good set. It’s funny how the Sydneysiders pay out the MC, whereas in Adelaide it’s Sureshocks’ skills as an MC that give’s Kid Kenobi a little more respect amongst Adelaide’s dnb loving heads.

Ugly Duckling was up next. I love UD, they remind me of the early Beastie Boys. They did mostly older, well-known tunes such as eye on the gold chain and just a little samba, but also did a new tune that takes the same riff as a Solesides tune, which was pretty good.

Rennie Pilgrem jumped up onto stage next, with MC Chick-aboo busting out rhymes for him. I was very impressed with what he played, lots of new TCR stuff, as well as a few Pilgrem favs such as Emit/Collect and Cous Cous. He played some pretty rocking tunes – filled with guitar samples and a fairly rock and roll vibe, much like Evil Nine’s stuff.

During his set I had to take a breather, and headed to see A Skillz at the Bedouin stage. There were a lot more people now, and unlike earlier, there was little noise bleed from the main stage. From where I was sitting I couldn’t see A Skillz, but I could hear him cutting it up wildly.

Roots Manuva and his band begun on the main stage, and I sauntered over to check him out. Man, he is GOOD! It’s bloody criminal he’s not played in Adelaide. He’d go off here big time. I wasn’t able to stand for much of his set, but sat down near the lake, facing the stage grooving away.

I wanted to see some of Numark, as he’s one of my favourite DJs, but the Drumattic Twins came on the main stage and got my booty off the ground and shaking again! These guys are fast becoming my favourite breaks act - they were ‘best of show’ for Winter Breaks last year, and were easily the best set of the night. Playing lots of Finger Lickin’ stuff, including Plump DJs, Soul Of Man, and their own stuff, and lots of acapellas and making on the spot naughty bootlegs by looping hiphop and RnB vocals over the top… fantastic!

One word springs to mind with the Freestylers – inconsistent. They started off really strong with fasten your seatbelts and Cut & Run’s Starwars sample laden Dark Side but then they went into hiphop, and then cheesy breaks like push up, then drum’n’bass and then back to heavy breaks. I expected a much more flowing set, and better mixing. They seemed to be cutting in with other tracks too soon, or too late. I’ve heard countless Freestylers live sets and they were much, much better than this. MC Sirreal was calling for more foldback, so maybe the sound was fucked. I was just disappointed that they weren’t mind blowing I guess, but it was still good to hear some of that nasty breaks being played and seeing the crowd go off.

The crowd was awesome, filled with some right trippers and some absolutely fantastic looking women... although the Sydney peeps I was hanging out with said that was a little unusual to see so many fine bods... they must have heard I was going and made an effort =)

I took some pictures and you can find them >HERE<

All in all well worth the trip over and getting Bronchitis ;(

I enjoyed it so much I got a ticket to Field Day

Parklife Photos!

Crowd shot,
originally uploaded by Funky J.

I'm still a little trashed so will write my impressions of ParkLife in Sydney a little later, but this was the first time I got to really give my camera phone a good workout.

The pictures didn't come out too badly, but the phone says 4x digital zoom and I couldn't figure out how to zoom - it only wanted to zoom in video mode - so I took the pictures just with the wide angle.

Anyway, pictures have been uploaded to my Flickr site...

Camera Phone and iPod

Yes, thanks to Strathfield, I've got a new Sony Ericsson K700i and iPod!!!

Sure the phone model is a year old, but it takes decent photos, some of which are already up on my Flickr site, and it sure beats my VERY old nokia 3310!

Plus my iPod is already full of ninjatune goodness with the latest Solid Steel and Pest albums, plus my own podcasts

Oh, and this weekend I'm off to wonderful Sydney for ParkLife 7, which has so many breakbeat acts I think my head may explode trying to see them all!!!

Best of all, it looks like it's going to be PERFECT weather for the entire weekend... YES!

Albums that Made Me Who I Am

I saw this on another blog whist searching for lyrics, and thought it was a pretty neat idea.

So, here's my list of albums that Made Me Who I Am today... in no particular order...

1. Cure For Sanity - Pop Will Eat Itself.
   The incredible PWEI burst into my life in 1990 with their 3rd album Cure For Sanity. At this time I was a miserable little twat, but these guys exposed me to a music that was high energy, full of wicked samples, and full of life. This album actually led me to seek more "dance" style music which has led to me DJing breaks today
   
2. Stone Roses - Stone Roses
   Are the Stone Roses the greatest ever alternative band? Their dreamy lyrics and layered guitars still do my head in. We used to joke that the songs on this album went for so long because they got too stoned and forgot to stop playing, and that was something we could relate to.
3. Beat Street - VA
   I loved Beat Street as a kid. I used to try to breakdance and scratch on my mum's record player, and get in a heap of shit for wrecking the needle. I still can't scratch, and I definately can't break, but this was the formative piece of music that led to me liking hiphop today.
4. Power - Ice T
   This album along with Public Enemy's Yo! Bum Rush the Show introduced me to the political side of hiphop & rap and the fight against opression through music.
5. Joshua Tree - U2
   Although I don't like to admit it now days, U2 used to be one of my favourite bands. Again, this album raised my political awareness, and I really like Bono's voice on these early recordings.
   
6. Back in Black - AC/DC
   Ok, I'm showing my bogan roots here, but AC/DC simply rock.
7. Ill Communication - Beastie Boys
   Although ALL the Beastie Boys albums have helped form my musical tastes, it was this one that cemented them in my heart. Sabotage is still one of the greatest filmclips ever, and SureShot will always get me in a good mood!
8. Experience - Prodigy
   What kind of raver would I be if I didn't have this album listed? Although the Prodigy have declined in worth over the years, their tunes such as Out of Space and Everybody's in the Place are true classics that DJs still crank today, either in original form or through remixes.
9. AWOL - VA
   A Way Of Life, the drum and bass album based on the legendary club / rave blew me away when I first heard it, and led to a love of dnb that lasted from 1994 to about 1997, when dnb went dark and boring. This 'oldschool' sound I love today, and would much rather hear this than say, Pendulum's take on dnb.
10. Freestylers - We Rock Hard
    Even moreso that Fat Boy Slim's Better Living Through Chemistry, it's this album which influenced my move into nuskool breaks. The funky beats, the wicked samples, the dnb / ragga style MCs, and just the sense of fun these guys dish up on this album made me move away from dnb and into the arms of breaks.
11. Refried Food - DJ Food
    The first NinjaTune album I remember hearing, and I loved it instantly. The funky ass beats, scratched up samples over fucked up noises grabbed my attention fully and led me into a love affair with "trip hop", which then led to nuskool breaks.
12. Sgt Peppers - Beatles
    They were on drugs, and so were we. Also, as I studied music and art, it impressed me that they were taking concepts such as cutting and looping tape into pop music when it was essentially experimental, artistic wank.
13. Exit Planet Dust - Chemical Brothers
    Another album which impressed me with the mash of samples and funk beats, and led me into playing the stuff I play now.
    
14. Judgement Night Soundtrack - VA
    Although the movie wasn't very memorable, the soundtack was awesome - hiphop and heavy metal including Cyprus Hill with PearlJam! I guess this was my first introduction to the concept of "mash up" or "booty", and I still enjoy it.
15. Thriller - Michael Jackson
    Although I was shit scared of the video clip, Thriller was a great album. As it turns out, it's actually Quincy Jones' production I like more, as I'm not a big fan of Jackson's latest works, although this and BAD still rock

There's tonnes more, but that will do for a brief look at the music which has led me to be the person I am today =)

Guess what?

I'm a socialist!

You are a Social Liberal (71% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (10% permissive) You are best described as a: Socialist Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid

No surprises there...

Interview with a Naked Woman Wrestler

I can't believe I haven't posted this on my blog yet...


I interviewed "Ninja Chops" from the Naked Women's Wrestling League (NWWL) for dB magazine the other week.


It was an interesting experience to say the least, and possibly my best article to date. I may put the audio online soon, but then again I sound like a moron on it as she totally threw me by being in character (she appears as 'herself' on bonus section of the DVD)

A positive article on games

From a Jewish paper no less!

This researcher has been looking into games over a fairly long time, within a multi-disciplinarian field, and has discovered games aren't all that bad...

What a surprise!

Haaretz - Israel News - Games of life

long time no post

Been busy at work, the project I'm working on is rolling out, and had no time to really blog. Haven't even been really posting on the usual forums either.

Been made full time, which is good news. Means this Xmas I won't be stressing about money for once.

Have been playing a lot of games though. Got Pirates & Outlaw Tennis for Xbox, and Resident Evil 4 for Game Cube. RE4 is fucking cool.

The Truth About Violent Youth and Video Games

This has been blogged a few times around the web, and I thought seeing as how I talk about games amongst other things I'd blog about it too.

Games Revolution have gone through some surprising stats and discovered the Truth About Violent Youth and Video Games.

It plots the growth of violent crimes along a graph taken directly from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Statistics and adds a timelime which shows when Playstation was introduced.














As can clearly be seen, since the introduction of the Playstation, violent crime has steadily dropped.

Now, I'm not going to go as far as to say that Playstation is responisble, but it is fair to say that the claims that violent games make people more violent are in fact a load of bullshit.

If the alarmists claim that violent video games cause violence, wouldn't these statistics, provided by the DOJ, show something different?

If even 10% of the total of 'gamers' out there were prone to violent actions as a direct result of gaming, this chart would show a lesser drop in the curve since the introduction of Playstation. As it becomes more popular, you should expect a rise in the curve, but that does not occur.

So, what can we do about these media and alarmists who keep throwing the violence begets violence arguments in our collective faces? We can arm ourselves with knowledge, we can point them to these statistics, we can point them to our own experiences, and hopefully they'll find some other poor whipping boy... hopefully they'll actually find a more relevent one and actually get things done!

Los Angeles Times: Hillary vs. the Xbox: Game over

The controversy over San Andreas (here and here are my opinions on the matter) has led to Congress of the USA, viaHillary Clinton, to probe Rockstar.

This comes shortly after her wish for a $90 Million Study into the effects of Vidoe games on Children. Whilst it's commendable, it's not going to be fair - who pays $90 Million to be told "your theory is wrong"?

That's the whole worry about any report paid by for someone with an agenda.

But, Steve Johnson, author of "Everything Bad Is Good For You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter" has written an awesome open letter to Clinton in the LA Times.

It begins:

I'm writing to commend you for calling for a $90-million study on the effects of video games on children, and in particular the courageous stand you have taken in recent weeks against the notorious "Grand Theft Auto" series.

I'd like to draw your attention to another game whose nonstop violence and hostility has captured the attention of millions of kids — a game that instills aggressive thoughts in the minds of its players, some of whom have gone on to commit real-world acts of violence and sexual assault after playing.

I'm talking, of course, about high school football.

Los Angeles Times: Hillary vs. the Xbox: Game over

This is precisely the people who like and play video games are trying to make.

What will this study compare games to - reading a book and if so what book: Harry Potter or Henry VIII? Television - if so watching what: Seasame Street or the Real World or Fox News or the BBC? And, will there be test cases with decent parents who teach their kids how to behave well, and cases where kids have access to real firearms and are allowed to run amuck?

I'm writing to Ms Clinton myself, asking these exact questions. Hopefully her agenda doesn't get in the way of her intelligence.

But of course people like Jack Thompson are never going to be pursuaded, but that's why the words 'luddite' and 'moron' were invented.

Can anyone say "er der!"???

From the magnificent Guardian Newspaper, a survey today has 'discovered' online file sharers 'buy more music'.

Sure, it's only an incredibly small sample of 600 people, but every single person I know who downloads also buys records or CDs.

The problem ISN'T downloading. It's the music.

When Record Labels pay for air time and the Australian Recording Industry Australia chart features that fucking frog RING TONE at number 1 and that ever annoying chimpmunk Lonely tune at number 2, record execs can no longer point their fingers at downloading for the pathetic state of music sales.

IT'S THE RECORD COMPANIES MISMANAGEMENT that has caused the decline in spending on music, and nothing else. It's their refusal to support anything even remotely new or interesting for the last two decades that has caused people to look elsewhere for entertainment.

Furthermore Video Games and DVD/Video sales have increased tremendously, and as people have only so much money of course music will decline - something has to.

Every decade people bemoan the death of music, and I've gotta say this is the worst decade so far for popular music. I can't even stand Triple J anymore, prefering independent community stations like Radio Adelaide and 3D Radio, or internet radio like Breaks.fm, and Last.fm.

Maddox on GTA:SA

Maddox is one of the few funny people on the web.

I have my own opinions of the whole stupid debate on Red Assed Baboon but Maddox does a much better job at pointing out the idiocity surrounding this 'controversy'.

Adelaide Festival Theatre in The Sims2!

Now this is Freaking COOL!

Chcknmn297 has created a version of the Adelaide Festival Theatre complex for the Sims 2.



Click Here!



(yes, I do play the Sims 2. I'm not ashamed of it)

living alone

So, essentaially for the last two weeks I've been living alone.

My old flatmate moved out with her girlfriend, and my new flatmate isn't set to move in until this weekend.

And it's been rather fun.

I thought I might dislike it, being alone, but although I did miss the company of another person, it was actually quite good.

I liked the fact:

- I could walk around nude (not that I did - too cold!)

- I had no real responsibility to another (not that I don't want it - but I didn't have to go home and feed a cat for example)

- I could leave the dishes for a week (not that I did - I needed to wash so I could use the wok)

- I could be as loud as I wanted (not that I'm too loud anyway - except when DJing)

It was quite a lot of fun too... I stayed up to all hours of the morning on a 'school night' playing games and watching TV without worrying about waking anybody.

BUT having said all of that, I'm really looking forward to my new flatmate moving in. We lived together about 7 years ago, but that was bad - she and my other flatmate were seeing the same guy, she was crazy and it was just all a big headfuck.

But now she's grown up (as have I) and become a very mature and lovely girl who I'm happy to share my cute little house with (photos soon - I promise).

In Case Of Emergency

My good friend Trudi, who is currently in London, emailed me this great idea...

East Anglian Ambulance Service have launched a national "In case of Emergency ( ICE ) " campaign with the support of Falklands war hero Simon Weston.

The idea is that you store the word " I C E " in your mobile phone address book, and against it enter the number of the person you would want to be contacted "In Case of Emergency".

In an emergency situation ambulance and hospital staff will then be able to quickly find out who your next of kin are and be able to contact them.

It's so simple that everyone can do it. Please do.

Fantastic and simple idea that will hopefully catch on.

buffy

buffy,
originally uploaded by Funky J.

how cute is this photo??!

This is buffy, the gender confused cat (we thought it was a girl that was pregnant until we took it to get desexed!).

I've got more photos up on my Flickr site.

I dunno how many I'll post all up... Most of the one's I have taken are quite old or really crap...

Whoops!

Whoops! This, I can't blame on Apple or iTunes, but only myself...

I thought I'd be smart and let iTunes organise my files for me, forgetting that quite a few of the tunes on my harddrive are either incorrectly tagged or not tagged at all.

So now I have files all over the place!

My perfectly ordered system (perfectly ordered for me at any rate) is now totally buggered.

It's not all cherry apples for Aussie podcasters!

Screw Apple and it's treatment of Australians!

What am I going on about this time??? iTune's well lauded podcasting 'feature'.

Sure, you can subscribe to any podcast you want, but guess what?

You can only add a podcast to the iTunes database if you have a valid Apple Store account.

Because you can't put an Australian address down for your credit card, that means no Australian can get a valid account, so WE ARE unable to add OUR podcast to the iTunes database!

I've been sitting here for the last hour just trying to find a way around this stupid limitation, but to no avail!

Even if you put your AOL screen name in, but have Australia listed as your country in your profile, then you get a "your country doesn't have enough people in it to matter to us!" error...

I would ask someone who does have an Apple account to enter it for me, but I want control over the information supplied to Apple.

If I'm missing something, if I'm wrong about this, I'm more than willing to be educated on the task of getting my podcast on the Apple list... just leave a comment!

*oh yeah, wondering why you got a 404 error when you clicked the iTunes link? Because iTunes doesn't operate in Australia yet either...

I think

someone should remix "The Forrest" by the Cure in dnb / nu skool breaks style...

Podcast added to website!

Yes, in a vein attempt to jump on the bandwagon of iPods and Podcasting, I've started my own podcast!



I'll update it every week or so until all the interviews I've still got on disc are available, then update it as I do various interviews throughout the year.

OK, I did it...

No, not the camera... yet.

Gees, it's only been an hour and a half! I'm only that impulsive when it comes to records!

I think I'll get a camera phone, or a Gizmondo, so I have it with me always. Anyway, I digress.

No, I've created a Flickr website!

The address for all my photos, and perhaps some of my artwork, can now be found at :

www.flickr.com/photos/funky_j/

I've gotta look for the photo's I've actually taken, they're still packed most likely, but will scan and post them soon enough.
In the meantime I'll post some of myself and my friends, most likely taken by my ex housemate or ex girlfriend.

That's it! I'm getting a camera!

Although I'm crap at taking pictures, there's just too much I see which needs photos taken of.

Like the time I saw the woman who looked like Popeye.

Or the suited people all gathered in a semi circle around a jumping man (REALLY had to be there... or see a photo)

but I've been inspired by Pipstar's flickr website as well as the other's there.

I've got some old photos about the place which I might scan and put up... not entirely sure WHO took them, but they're on my harddrive so they must be mine ;)

OK, yes, I'm procrastinating, but I work best under pressure...
(just keep telling yourself that J...)

The great(?) Boycott Xbox360 debate(?)

Gamepolitics.com have called for a boycott of the Xbox360 given light of Microsoft's banning of words like democracy in their Chinese MSN Spaces.

Of course, stupid americans everywhere are on their high horses calling for boycotts and whatnot in typical uneducated fashion.

They're wearing their Nikes and Carthart jumpers, drinking Coke and typing away on their Dell computers whilst watching their Walmart purchased TVs.

By supporting ANY company that does business in China, they are supporting the Chinese Government and it's repression of it's people. Yet so many of them simply fail to realise this.

So I say fuck the boycott. If you're going to argue that MS should be boycotted, then ALL companies that deal with China should be boycotted, which of course is simply untenable.

I say boycott MSN Spaces - it's shit anyway.

But the most reasoned and intelligent response (apart form my own of course ;) is from Reason.

They quite rightly point out that in China:
- political dissent isn't going to fall because MSN Spaces blocks words like democracy
- it's really easy to punch a hole through the great 'firewall' of China
- and no one there really gives a fuck

Like most people, the average Chinese citizen will not even bother caring until it impacts directly on them.

In Australia, we have no right to free speech and free press, but most of us don't care, because we say what the fuck we like, and it's only when it become legal and will impact on our hip pockets that we do care.

If this wasn't the case, how come we sit back and let so much bullshit hit us in the face? A few of us try to take a stand, but in general the average citizen just doesn't care.

Breakfastaz review online

I'll eventually get around to posting this on my own site proper, but my review of the breakfastaz is now available at inthemix.com.au

iTunes is more popular than P2P filesharing.

According to this report on Tom's Hardware Guide iTunes is more popular than P2P filesharing.

It's not really that surprising, considering the amount of iPods sold, and the "coolness" attached to Apple's service.

It's also not surprising because people in general don't want to do illegal things.

People never thought "lets share music and rip off record companies"

I STILL reject the notion that filesharing rips off artists... Record Companies rip off artists... they did long before file sharing became a problem, and you don't hear of too many big bands or big lables dying because of loss of profit directly related to filesharing do you... Small companies maybe... But I digress...

People thought "let's share music like we always have"... and because there was no ligitimate way to do that, they did it illegally.

But it also begs the question - WHERE THE FUCK IS iTUNES AUSTRALIA???

It's shocking that we do not have a local iTunes store up and running yet. Australia is always quick to pick up new technology, and Apple is doing themselves a massive disservice by being late on this.

If I was a direct competitor of Apple / iPod / iTunes, I'd have a working store that integrated smoothly with my device, and beat Apple to its customers.

But alas, we have to suffer the whim of the big A, and continue to use our iPods illegally...

Breakfastaz interview online

I've become obsessed with the Breakfastaz.

They're completely on top of their game, their production is awesome and their mixing sublime.

I simply cannot wait to see them this weekend.

I managed to score an interview with them for City Zen Radio on Radio Adelaide 101.5 FM, and you can find a low quality version here. It goes for about 10 minutes or so...

Lost

Have you seen that episode of Lost, where the brother of the really hot blond chick gets whacked in the head by the old guy, and gets salve put on his head? But the salve is hallucinogenic, and he trips out and you find out he screwed his (half) sister? and when his sister dies in his trippy hallucination, he feels 'relieved'?

That's how I feel. Relieved.

I just found out my ex girlfriend is moving to the UK. She's finally exiting my life.

But I'm actually jealous.

Not because she's with another guy or whatever, I couldn't care less, but I would LOVE to live in the UK.

I could go out for the music I like every single fucking night. Ninja Tunes. NuSkool breaks. DnB. Northern Soul. Dub and Reggae.

I could take a pilgrimage to Manchester and Factory... home of Happy Mondays, Stone Roses and the Orb.

I could spend the weekend at a "all-nighter", listening to Northern Soul.

I could go to Sheffield and visit the studios of the designers republic.

I mean, PWEI reformed and I missed it coz I'm in the ass end of the world with people who don't even know what "pop will eat itself" could possibly mean sociologically/historically, let alone know that they're one of the best indie bands in the history of indie bands.

And the plays that happen in the East end... and the art shows... and it's proximity to Europe... and the pirate radio... And the culture - A thousand year old castles, 3,000 year old pagan temples! OH YOUR GOD how cool is that?!?

Hell, even the fact it costs 300 pounds to fly to the US! I could visit my Abducted friends every year! How cool would that be!!! Me and Nathan at Burning Man. Me and Jen at Mardi Gras. Me and Alloni at, errr... well somewhere cool!

and the computer game trade shows... E3 every year. Leipzig every year, Tokyo game show... all the greatest game shows.

Fuck. Grrr.

Well, at least I'm working here in a job I thoroughly enjoy with nice people, and I do what I've always wanted to do - DJ in clubs and on radio, write for Adelaide's coolest street mag, and review computer games for Australia's best Xbox website.

*sigh*

In times like this I only have a prayer, and I don't particularily belive in God...

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change
The courage to change what I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.

Vote for Funky J in the ITM top 50

Yes, you can vote for me in the inthemix Top 50 DJ Poll.

Last year I ranked about 4,369 and this year I want to get even higher! =)

Take a listen to one of my mixes or come along to Mojo West on Hindley Street on the 2nd and 4th Friday of the month, or even listen to my radio show on Radio Adelaide 101.5 fm
(although I don't mix on the radio - no decks...)

W00T!

the Breakfastaz are playing in Adelaide on the June Long Weekend!

I am more excited about this than anything that has happened in AGES!

Along with Krafty Kuts and the Freestylers, the Breakfastaz make up 90% of my DJ sets. I am so very keen to hear and see them perform live... it's going to be massive!

Also, Krafty Kuts is playing in July at the same venue, and I am so keen for that too!

I don't care if it is like when Deekline played and it was essentially me and 5 mates on the floor, this is going to rock!!!

argh! Dial up!!!

Argh! I've returned to dial up from home!

This is a terrible, terrible situation! Everything is so incredibly slow, I'm just not used to it. It's been about 5 years since I first got high speed internet, and I have become so accustomed to it.

I think this is part of the reason I've never got my license - I know once I start driving, I'll NEVER want to go back to walking / public transport...

It's only until Friday, but that's still a long, desperate wait. At least I have Foxtel to keep me occupied.

But this week just gone I saw Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith at the midnight screening, and thought fairly highly of it. It's easily the best in the new triology, and possibly better than Jedi. I need to see it again to give a more thorough review, but my intial impression is 8/10

I also was taken to see Henry Rollins stand up routine, and that was hilarious. Rollins is a master ranter, and funny as hell. Big shout outs to Maz and Nige for the ticket.

Moved!

At the moment I'm internet-less from home because I've just moved house, so I'm posting from work.

Work's also moved offices, and is still being finished, so there's lots of paint fumes... expect ratbag to come up with some awesomely freaky games because of this :D

I've got no desk for my PC at home either, coz it won't fit up the stairs... but I'm in the process of rectifying that with an axe and some glue.

I should have a 12MBS ADSL connection from home in a week or so, so I endevour to finish off posting all my articles to the website, and fixing it up a little more.

The Bali 9

This report on mediawatch about the Bali 9 and the arrangements made by Channel 9 for "exclusives" makes me sick.

http://abc.net.au/mediawatch/

[DIRECT LINK]

How DARE anyone at channel 9 call themselves "journalists".

These people who work for Channel 9 would have done a similar course to what I studied, and yet they have no ethics, no morals, are just filthy, disgusting leeches.

We all know Ray Martin is a bastard from his attack on John Safran [video1] [video2], but you've got to wonder if it isn't a corporate policy to stomp all over common decency and respect for journalism...

Yet another report about games & kids...

But this one actually states games are good for kids!

Guardian Unlimited - A good sport

I particularily like this quote: "It's like broccoli is good for you, but 15 kilos a day probably isn't" on playing too much games...

Great to see some positive news about gaming for once, and hopefully the $90 Million that Hillary Clinton is going to pay some lucky schmucks echoes these findings - although I seriously doubt it because you don't pay someone $90 million dollars to have them turn around and tell you that your beliefs are wrong.

Sciolism Update

You'll notice a bit of an update to the page...

This is to make fit in the theme of the whole FunkyJ.com website.

I've also rearranged a few bits and pieces, and added a "Now Cranking" box that displays what I'm listening to on my computer when I'm online... pretty cool hey?

AWESOME NEWS!!!

I have awesome news...

But I'm not allowed to tell anyone... THIS SUCKS BALLS!

But it's damn exciting, and hopefully I'll be able to position myself into an opportunity of a lifetime!

Trust me, I'll let you know as soon as I'm able too!

I haven't been this happy in ages!!!

iTunes Australia opening tomorrow?

There's this from Russel Crowe

and then there's this

One thing though... In the SMH article it says "iTunes is the only site where iPod users can legally download songs"

I'm not sure that this is entirely true... What about Bigpond music, NineMSN's music service, and free artist driven sites like MP3.com.au and the like?

Guess-the-google!

This fun and surprisingly addictive little web game by Grant Robinson presents a bunch of photos and asks you to guess what google keyword was used to generate the file... Enjoy!

Guess-the-google

The Zen Garden

Ease your mind in the Zen Garden without hurting your back!

The Zen Garden

Hacker attacks music file sharers

According to this report - Hacker attacks music file sharers - a worm disguised as a DVD ripping program is making it's rounds on P2P networks.

Apparently it looks through your harddrives and removes any and all MP3 files.

Am I being majorly cynical, or could this be the work of the RIAA and MPIA in order to punish file sharers?

For why would a hacker, who generally in principle, is for music and DVD copying, write this? Why would a hacker, who hacks and uses tools to get around copyright and reverse engineer do something like this?

I know there are people who are simply writing virus for the fun of it, but this one seems far more nefarious in nature...

Moving time!

Yup!

This blog has moved again!

This time it's moved for good! It will now be a part of FunkyJ.com

There will be less reviews - they'll go into the main section of my site - and more of me crapping on!

Oh, and I should add that I'm going to be moving house again soon.

Unlike last time I moved, I'm looking forward to it!
I love my current housemate to bits, and she's been very good to live with since breaking up with my ex, but she wants to move to the 'burbs so her cats can have a nice grassy lawn to play in.
I, on the otherhand, prefer city life. It's great for me - nearly everything I do is in the city, and seeing as how I have no car and license it's central to buses etc.
The house I'm moving out to is SOOOOO cute! I don't normally think architecture in terms of "cute" or whatever, but this house is so cool!
I cant' wait to move, but I will miss my current flatmate heaps...


as we say... FOC!

NEW WEBSITE!

funkyj.com is now back up and running a full CMS featuring all my articles and reviews.

I haven't uploaded everything just yet, but should hopefully have it all there by the end of April.
I've still got about 100 articles to copy and paste and format...

Not sure if I'll keep this blogger site or merge it in with the other... I'll let you know ;)

Another year older...

Yup, another year older.

This year I just had a party with Grif at Mojo, and it was a lot of fun! I ended up getting quite drunk, and left a trail of destruction through the house though...
Good thing my flatmate is cool and just laughed at me.

Something that I didn't expect was my ex turning up and staying for the whole night.
I really appreciated that. Shows that despite the break up she still cares. Possibly.

Similarily, something I didn't expect was to go to her birthday and have an awesome time.
I ended up staying the whole night (not like that) and really enjoying just simply being friends. There was none of the usual paranoid regret I have had in the past at all night parties like that, and even the following days I had no come down from it, which was very good for my heart and mind.

I'm happy to say that I think the worst of the break up and feelings is over. I can now move on, and I'm glad to say I've still got a friend out of it.

The Jam goes fortnighly!

Adelaide's only place to hear hiphop, breaks, dub, dubstep, two step, garage and dancehall, The Jam, is now on the SECOND and LAST Fridays of the month!

I am so excited to have a fortnightly gig, but that means I have to buy more records :D

Big Day Out 2005

WHOA! What an awesome day.

I've been going to the Big Day out since it first hit Adelaide in 1993, have only missed two (the so called 'final' one in 1997, and then again in 2003) and this was one of the better ones I've been to.

It was the first time in the history of the BDO in Adelaide that it has sold out, and there were 30,000 people going off bigtime!

The highlights for me were Wolfmother, Zero Kelvins, Concord Dawn, Freestylers, Beastie Boys, Hilltop Hoods and Chemical Brothers

For a full, comprehensive review of the day, with a contribution by yours truely, visit dB Magazine

Mature Video Games in the Minority

Mature Video Games in the Minority

Great article about "Mature" video games

Crazy weekend

Well, what a crazy, alcohol fueled weekend!

Friday night was a going away party for one of the guys leaving work.

He's going to China to work on games over there. Hopefully in a few years time I'll feel confident enough to take on a role like that. I've only been working at Ratbag for just over a year, and although I can do testing fine, there aren't many testing jobs about the place. Once I get into level design things might be different.

Anyway, it was at the Grace Emily, a cosy little pub in the city, and I got very pissed and unlike last time I was there, throughly enjoyed myself.

On Saturday, I was invited to an old school friend's birthday. I was only invited on the Friday, and their house is ages out of the city, and as I still rely on public transport I thought it just wasn't worth it... If I had a little more time, I woud have saved money for a cab!

Anyway, I stayed home, had a drink or two, watched foxtel, and my flatmate went out to a dinner, bringing peeps back with her, and then inviting more along the way.

It was a pretty damn crazy night, between about 8 of us we polished off 12 bottles of wine!

I passed out at around 4 or 5 am, and apparently some guy got a wicked blood nose (thru natural cause - we aren't violent people ;) and my wonderful flatmate cleaned it all up, and then continued to do the whole house before I got up! It helped that she was geared up to do it...

Needless to say I'm feeling pretty seedy right now :-S

Next week is the Schutzenfest (aka the Shit Faced Festival) and I might head along, although it tends to be a VERY expensive day, and I have little money...

However, if a certain someone goes, I'll probably go too...

Happy New Year!

I'm happy to say that 2005 looks indeed to be my year.

It's amazing what the space of 5 days can do for you... My post on the 29th was an indication of how bad I was feeling, but now none of that matters.

I had two awesome nights on the 30th and 31st Dec with some new, interesting people, and the symbolic new year has lifted my mood considerably.

Nothing too exciting happened, but something happened to get me excited about this year, something to get me excited about life in general once more!

It's a new dawn, a new day, a new life for me, and I'm feeling GOOD!