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.