David Gest
New work for ITV and the David Gest Show that airs in a week or so. This was a really fun project as I got to engage Mr Gest in the process - which was quite an experience. He is, as you can imagine, totally mad. The top-draw illustration is once again by Cookie. Go have a looky.
Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror - PSP
The first portable Syphon Filter is one of a rare breed for the PlayStation Portable - a shooter that offers not only intense stealth and action sequences, but also a control scheme that works.
The story isn’t all that great (when are they?), but the way in which the game presents it is simply amazing for the PSP. The production values in Dark Mirror seem greater than that of most PS2 or Xbox action games I’ve played – really impressive.
There’s a huge variety of moves, weapons, and brilliant gadgets at your disposal as you make your way through the game’s (slightly too short) campaign. Combining stealth and action with loads of style, the sneaking and shooting is on a par with GRAW.
The action is both dense and intense, and the game is paced extremely well with the help of a lot of checkpoints, quick loading times after deaths, and a friendly amount of health packs and body armour pickups. There’s also some 12 player online action to be had if you need more.
Overall Dark Mirror is not only one of the best games I’ve played on the PSP but one of the best games I have played this year.
My Friend Leonard - James Fray
The sequel to A Million Little Pieces, this book pretty much starts where it’s predecessor left off. Seemingly written and certainly read with the energy and charge of a speedball.
Leonard is the high-living, recovering coke addict “West Coast Director of a large Italian-American finance firm” who helped to keep James Frey clean in A Million Little Pieces. Frey, of course, is himself, damaged perhaps beyond repair by years of crack and alcohol addiction – and the rest.
As James embarks on his post-rehab existence in Chicago emotionally devastated, broke, things start to go very bad. Leonard shows up, and everything changes. Leonard offers his “son” lucrative employment. He teaches him to enjoy life, sober, for the first time. And pushes him to pursue his passion for writing, both men flourish…but then Leonard vanishes. When the reasons behind his mysterious absence are revealed, the book opens up in very unexpected ways.
My Friend Leonard showcases an incredibily energetic writer rising displaying good skills, warmth and humor - without losing any of his trademark intensity.
Turtle Conservation
For a week of our honeymoon Emma and I worked on a ANAI Turtle conservation programme in Cahuita on the Caribbean coast. The work mostly involved walking some 14km a night to stop poachers stealing the eggs from the newly laid nests. We encoutered 1 Leatherback in 7 nights. It was incredible to see but was also a sad reality of what damage the continued looting of nests has done to the Turtle population.
Costa Rica
FREAKONOMICS Steven D. Levitt / Stephen J. Dubner
Written by an economics professor and a journalist, Freakonomics aims to give a fresh view on modern happenings. The authors use economic models and statistics to determine the facts on subjects ranging from how abortion reduces crime to how to bring down the KKK.This is a obviously a very seductive concept for a book. And, for the first few chapters it’s good, but then it starts to repeat. Once I got it - the theory - they seemed to be constantly spelling out the obvious, giving details just to fill pages and repeatedly stressing how much research they did. Points and facts, over and over again, without getting any fatter or giving any more real evidence, numbers or methods.
Which all adds up to a book that would be brilliant at 150 pages instead of 250.
Just read the first half. Or their blog, which is probably more relevant.
Carry Me Down M.J.Hyland
M.J. Hyland’s ‘Carry Me Down’ is the story of John Egan who lives with his parents and grandmother on the outskirts of a small Irish village. Told from his point of view the book is an exploration of the psychological repercussions of John’s increasingly unhappy situation (John is not well). The author successfully lays bare the complex network of emotions and some of the darker reaches of the human psyche. The device is familiar; having a precocious child for a narrator is a convenient way to gently fold an otherwise obvious centrepiece into the narrative. I found this book very similar to ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time‘ by Mark Haddon, which I enjoyed more, due to it’s contemporary feel and the fact it’s set in Swindon…
Don’t get me wrong, this is a brilliant book, just not really my cup of tea.
Castlevania:Dawn of Sorrow DS
This is my favourite Castlevania game to date. Incredible attention to detail, presentation and some top game play additions really make Dawn of Sorrow a great addition to the series. It’s not perfect (a bit repetitive), and the touch screen element is clearly a bit of a novelty, but it’s still a fantastic game.
If you’re in the market for some action and adventure on your DS , this game is top draw.
Mariott San Jose CR
Burger 9.9/10.
Sides N/A
Notes: One of the finest Burgers I have ever eaten.
