Kapow Pickups

After watching allot of pickups videos recently I have decided to get in on the action.
The plan is to vlog some of the comics, games and blu-rays I have picked up.

First vlog is up  and features some of the comics related items I purchased from this years Kapow Comic Convention.

Some of the editing in the video is a bit choppy.  Chiefly due to the youtube 10 min upload restriction and my capacity to ramble somewhat whilst talking quickly.  Bare with me...they will get better

Retrogaming

Its been a while since I have done anything with this blog so about time for another post.

Lately I have been rekindling my interest in retro gaming. 
I went through a phase for quite a few years untill about 5 years ago when I was obcessed with
emulation.  MAME, PC Engine and Neo Geo were the main ones  I even used RAINE (RAINbow islands Emulator?) to play more of the Taito games (mainly for the later games in the Bubble Bobble franchise).

Occaisonally I dabbled with C64 emulation but, generally I was more interested in emulating the machines I never owned.

What brought this to an end was the demise of my main hard drive at the time (remember the Hitachi Deathstar any one - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitachi_Deskstar).  I still have the drive and it works
periodically but, never long enough to copy content onto another device.

Recently I have had my interest reignited and I am enjoying a bit of a retro revival courtessy of PC Engine / TG 16 emulators plus a bit of SNES emulation.

Next step to get reaquainted with MAME and find out what's been going on.

Back On Duty

For what ever reason I decided to play COD again.
I got a little bored of Call of Duty Black OPs so ditched it for MAG,  which is a truely awesome game.

I like to vary things a bit, so after whoring MAG for a while I moved onto Crysis 2 (courtessy of Love Film)  and after a brief sojourn on Resistance 3  I am back in the COD franchise and to the game I feel is the best (so far) namely Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2.

Initially I left Black Ops  because I got a bit frustrated (bad day and crap games) plus I had been wanting to try out MAG.  The rest of the LMS (Last Men Standing) had not been overly struck with MAG whilst playing the beta but, in typical style I ignored their advise and started playing it.  Historically the games I prefer are usually the ones the clan don't (Warhawk ,Resistance 2,Battlefield Bad Company 2 par example). MAG is an awesome game,  hard to get into but once you do its rewarding and the teamwork, leadership and class based approach are refreshing after playing COD for a while.

Crysis 2 single played got me hooked and the multiplayer with the suit perks were a break but, as a rental disc and impending Resistance 3 I had to send it back.

Resistance 3 whilst superb and a great end to the franchise,  I felt some of the aspects of Resistance 2 that I liked had been sacrificed in order to appease some more of the estranged Resistance Fall of Man players.  Still awesome and fun to play but something called me back to Modern Warfare 2.  The thing that struck me on my return was the speed,  its noticeably quicker than Resistance 3 and 'lo I am hooked again.

Still Battlefield 3 is coming soon not too mention a copy of Killzone 3 I have lying around unopened so I sense another sojourn approaching.

Blogger iPhone App

Wow finally an iPhone app for Blogger!
I mean seriously, how long did that take?

Crazy Bass - Bill "Buddha" Dickens

For the next part in my Crazy Bass series I'd like to introduce you to Bill "Buddha" Dickens.

Bill is well know for speed funk slapping and the use of 7, 9 and 11 string custom basses.  He is also the creator of the "Buddha band" which he puts around the fret board capo style to stop the strings from creating to much noise at the speed he plays.

For my money,  whilst he is impressive his style falls into the OTT category.  I've been watching his videos for years now and whilst I can watch other funk slap masters such as Louis Johnson for hours I find Buddha to be hard to watch after a while.  Still given the remit of this series of mine he is certainly talented, certainly a crazy bass player and the possessor of some crazy basses.

Crazy Bass - Michael Mannering

To start off my crazy bass / bass player posts I'm picking Michael Manring.
Only recently discovered this guy, enchanting and intriguing bass style, to describe it would be constantly retuning whilst playing.

Just watch and you'll see what I mean.

Michael explaining the Zon Hyper bass.  Fascinating stuff

I little bit of slapping an plucking Manring style
s

Four String Warrior

The life of a bass player is often met with resistance, surprise and lack of understanding from our six string brethren.  Bass playing is a very different beast from that of the guitar don't let the similarity of the instrument confuse you. ….oh and no the absence of those extra two strings on a standard bass does not mean it is easier to play!

As a bass enthusiast I spend a fair amount of time YouTubing (from the verb to YouTube)
I'm going to shed some light on the some of the more interesting bass players and basses in upcoming posts.