BAD Habits

I started writing this paragraph the day after a heated discussing with Emeny about politics and the reasons why he used his right to vote and I'm somewhat apathetic towards using my voice. I try to explain that it's out of lack of interest and knowledge about the various parties and he rightly points out that I have only myself to blame for not getting educated about said parties' policies. Unbeknownst to him, I had planned to actually get a little more pro-active about a lot of things including taking at least a couple of hours out of my week for creative pursuits (such as writing this for example) and getting my gray matter working again. Just a little too late for politics this term. Sorry Emeny!

I have fallen into the BAD habit of letting things slide. There are a number of things I've been wanting to do but somehow I've always managed to find an excuse to not to do them. To be blunt, I've become lazy! I realize that I've stopped making an effort to further myself and seeing my closest friend growing in leaps and bounds over the years has contributed to giving me a inferiority complex.

I know I should be concentrating on the things I do but that's hard when others around me naturally are the go-getter types (or at least appear that way) and I need pushing. I'm a good dad and boyfriend. I feel like I have a good personality. I'm a simple man living in a complicated world. Scratch that. I'm a man living in a complicated world, choosing not to dwell on its complexity.

Well, I'm trying to change that. Baby steps. First this. Then the Gym. That's right, the gym. I play football, you see. I'm pushing 30 and never actively made a point of trying to get myself into shape. You could say that nature has blessed me with a body that seems to be able to absorb all the crap I put into without gaining much, if any, weight but as far as actual fitness is concerned; forget about it!
Again, reasons for not doing so: A) Feels like too much work. B) If I'm at the gym, I'm not reading/watching/playing anything and that cannot be. I'll try to make an effort and stick to this. At the very least, I should try to stay fit for my family's sake. The Zombie Apocalypse is just around the corner and cardio is a must!

Talking about my preferred pursuits to creative enlightenment. I have mentioned on the podcast that I can't say for certain that I actually like the things I'm consuming, be it films,print or games. I think I might know why. Metaphor time. Imagine a candle. The wax is pleasure. Imagine the candle lit. I'm burnt out. There is always stuff I'm interested in. Always stuff to sit down and absorb. Always stuff to have an opinion on since a simple “It was alright” won't do in the world. Again, the need to break down simple entertainment has contributed to the lack of pleasure I'm getting. Numb, I'm numb.

What it comes down to at the end of the day is that I have become lazy!

I have joined the gym. I'm about to wrap this up and post it (mind you, it did take me several weeks to write these last few words. Still LAZY!)

Changes are happening and I might even enjoy them.

Burnsy

Site updates; new iTunes feed

Hey there folks, Andrew here. Emeny and Burnsy have been a little too busy to give the blog much love lately, so I'm just popping my head in to make sure you know that the iTunes feed and forums for the Combobulater have recently changed.

The move from private podcasting to joining the OMFG radio network has been completed and so you will have to update your bookmarks to the following:

Combobulater iTunes feed
Combobulater forums

Also, you can now hook up with the guys on Facebook:

Combobulater Facebook group

The Combobulater: Going Live!!

Hey Everyone,

The Combobulater recently dragged itself out of a wintery hibernation with three podcasts in the last three weeks!!

We're still not quite in a stride of podcasting and updating the blog, but hey we're doing our best! All of this is in preperation for The Combobulater moving into a new platform, OMFG.

Original Media for Gamers will host our little cast on their live stream, every Thursday evening at 19:00 EST (will need to double check the time zone). An archive will also be available since technically we are are not recording live on a week to week basis.

This Monday though, for one hour we will be live!!

Feb. 1st is launch day for the station and we have been invited to join the 24 hour party to introduce ourselves to the community. Come enjoy the train wreck as we get to grips with real life broadcasting...no safety net!!

The Combobulater is slotted in for a 22:00 GMT session.

It ought to be interesting.

Emeny.

The Combobulater: December 5th 2009

Hey Guys,

It has been a while since I looked at this blog and since myself and Burnsy last got together to record. Things have been rather busy over the last number of weeks. Behind the scenes I am still looking to work out our move to WoW Radio.

Expect a new intro to the show this week and a music bed in the background. In the meantime I have also been trying to keep on top of my studying. Hence the serious neglect of the blog, forums here and my duties elsewhere!! Hopefully things will settle down in the New Year but for now I am still running round like a headless chicken.

Plenty to talk about on this week's show. Despite all the chaos there has been some room for gaming. Both me and Burnsy have thrown ourselves into Dragon Age recently, join us as we share our thoughts on Bioware's epic fantasy adventure.

Our main talking point this episode is 'Games we think will fall under the radar'. Quarter four is always a busy time of the year for publishers as they all look to cash in on Christmas, but is it always wise to throw your game in amongst the heavyweights?

We give you a rundown of the five games we think have or will perform under the expectations of the publisher. Including titles such as Bayonetta, Dead Space Extraction and more.

Email in your thoughts on games you think will be overlooked in the rush this Christmas, and do the big hitters (MW 2, AC 2) deserve their place at the top of the chart this year?

Thanks for joining us,

Emeny.

Music this week was produced by 'Dr. Manhatten' and can be found at OCRemix.org

The Combobulater 14th November

Hey Everyone,

This week sees us change the format of the show ever so slightly as we look to fit in with our potential new hosts, The WoW Radio network!!

There are still some details to be worked out so I can't say exactly when (or if just yet) we'll be presented by the station but in the meantime this show was knocked up as our pilot episode. Join us as we kick off the show with a brief discussion on kids and gaming. It's amazing to see how quickly kids pick up our gaming habit, and at such a young age!!

We then move into what we've been playing including a look at Fallout 3, S.T.A.L.K.E.R and Burnsy's latest attempt to replay games including Assassins Creed.

To conclude the show we examine Left 4 Dead which is due to be wheeled into the morgue on November 18th as Left 4 Dead 2 goes live. We look back at the games strong points and its let downs, reminisce on those intense movie climaxes and lament the fact we can't afford L4D2!

Music on this week's show is provided by:

Koch - a work friend of ours that knocked up an awesome Mario theme remix.

Big Giant Circles - Check out this Sonic 3, Ice Zone remix at OCremix.org

Cheers for tuning in,

Emeny.

The Combobulater: October 31st 2009

Hey Everyone,

This weekend saw myself and Burnsy catch up on what we've been playing including some talk on Fallout 3, recent 'Ultimate game of the Year' winner and Burnsy's third playthrough of Mass Effect. Yes, I did say third!!

We cover a variety of other things including a quick run through the Golden Joystick awards which saw a record breaking 1.2 million votes cast.



To wrap the show up we discuss our visit to the Eurogamer Expo in Leeds, 2009. We share our opinions on what we got to gawp at, including God of War 3 (and Emeny gets his hands bloody with the exclusive demo mailed out by Sony this weekend!), Dante's Inferno, Sabateur, Split Second and a few other bits and pieces.
Enjoy the podcast and thanks for tuning in!


Emeny.

The Combobulater & the Eurogamer Expo

Hey Everyone,

This week Burnsy and myself took a trip to Leeds to swim in the tide of over 2000 gamers that took part in the Eurogamer Expo 2009.

Armed with a camcorder we took a look at a host of games set for release in the near future, including Dante's Inferno, Left 4 Dead 2, Split Second, God of War 3 and more.

Check out part one of the video here.

*edit* Part two and part 3 are now live!! There is some slight audio issue where it is out of synch but nothing so harsh you'll be upset!! I hope :-D

In short the show didn't quite live up to our expectations, perhaps we were expecting too much from the event but the venue wasn't all that big so it didn't take long to absorb all that was there. Crowds populated certain areas more than others, it was hard work getting a look at Assassin's Creed 2 for instance and Dante's Inferno had steady interest. Surprisingly God of War 3 wasn't all that busy and nor was the Star Trek online area, though these were both housed in a seperate building so I do wonder how many people realised there was somewhere else to go!

Join us on the podcast this weekend where Burnsy and I will share our thoughts on the games we got to gaze at and those we had some hands on time with. If you're a gamer that likes to pick up as many of the top titles as you can then you're going to be very busy in the coming months!!

Emeny.