Adult Colouring Craze

There is a new crazy sweeping the western world. Adults colouring in! It is creative, calming therapeutic and for some even cathartic.

Lots of people have been using the app Colofy (Apple) (Android) to get their fix, so I tried it and you know what it's pretty awesome! It is reminiscent of care free days as a kid using the fill tool on MSPaint. Is it as good as real crayon/pencil/felt-tip colouring? Well not exactly, nothing will beat tangible colouring for nostalgia or catharsis but the creativity rush is still pretty much the same Also the app has a built in share feature so I will be treating your eyes to a new creation every Monday and Wednesday for at least a month. Follow my twitter @NightsRune to critique, marvel at or discuss my creations! :)

Also stay tuned for reviews of colouring books!

Geek Beat: Internet Radio Presenter Teabot

Ok so I want to kick off my nerd people spotlight (which I have decided to creatively nickname Geek Beat) with a friend of mine who presents an internet radio show. Geek Beat will be covering a range of different hobbies and careers with people in the know so I really hope you readers like it.

Please welcome Teabot as we chat about the wonderful G3 radio and her show. Lets kick this new post series off with a bang!

So Teabot can you tell me a bit about your show and the station? 
My show is entitled “Westcountry Ramble” and tends to consist of an eclectic mix of songs and a different topic every week. G3 radio is “an internet radio station focusing on geek, gaming and alternative entertainment” The station manager is a wonderful lady who goes by the name of Dru, and the staff are all really great and welcoming, including the ever helpful Mr Potz and the very lovely NeoThermic. It's staffed entirely by volunteers, funded exclusively by donations, and has an extensive back catalog of shows, so even if nobody is live, there's bound to be an interesting podcast playing. 

How did you get into hosting internet radio? Any tips for others who want to do the same?
I was a guest presenter on the now no longer running show 'Beat n word', with Lord Eris, and was given positive feedback regarding my interactions. Having canvassed friends and family to see if they might be interested in what I would like to say, I asked Lord Eris for an introduction to Dru, and was offered an audition. Having awkwardly attempted to explain why I'd be a good presenter, and met the challenges set for me, I was offered the opportunity to host. As for others who would like to do the same, I would recommend taking a look at the breadth of your music collection, practice to see if you're comfortable talking on your own for an extended period of time, and then find a station whose interests intersect with your own to approach. 

What made you want to become a radio presenter?
It has been a dream of mine to become a voice actor, however having thoroughly researched the area of expertise, I found that my disability would hold me back and make becoming a successful voice actor difficult. The reason I'd chosen voice acting rather than radio presenting is that I genuinely didn't think I had enough to say! Having established that there was a way to get my voice to the masses from the comfort of my living room, I became interested. It was then a surprise to find that I did have things to say, and that people were interested in them! It's a great outlet for creativity and an opportunity to get to know people I wouldn't otherwise have met. 

What is your favourite song of all time and why?
I absolutely love music, and find it difficult to choose an individual favourite song. I'd say, mood dependent, my top 3 (in no particular order) are currently Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots by The Flaming Lips; Hedonism by Skunk Anansie and anything by Caravan Palace ( I think I might have cheated on this question) 

What has been your favourite show topic so far?
My favourite show topic thus far was “Friends”. I asked a collection of brave friends to volunteer, and for each of them I told a story about them as well as a song that reminds me of them in some way. Not only was it a fun challenge to think of favourite memories and choose relevant songs, but it also got a lot more interest in the show in general! 

So to close up Teabot what is your favourite nerdy/geek item that you own and why?
I'm a massive gadget fan, and also love music (shockingly!) so my favourite item is probably my Bose noise cancelling headphones. A group of friends clubbed together for my 30th birthday and gave me money to buy a present of my choice. The headphones are very comfortable, the noise cancelling is wonderful and the sound quality is without parallel. 

Her show airs most Wednesdays 4.30 - 6.30 GTM so please tune in HERE. Also you can grab the past shows as a pod cast HERE. Also her Twitter handle is CuriosiTeabot if you want to hop on over and see what she has to say, it's a great way to keep up with the show and get your Westcountry Ramble fix. G3 also an IRC room so you can get stuck in with the shows.

Please check them out and I hope you have enjoyed this Geek Beat stay tuned for more!

Game Spotlight (Education: History) Master of Olympus Zeus + Pharaoh

Games can be great aids to education, any gamer will tell you that, there are always games that helped a gamer learn something or sparked an interest in a topic. Due to the article I wrote on education and gaming, here on this blog. a few people have asked me to recommend specific games to them that might help their kids learn about topics in interesting ways. So I had the idea to spotlight some of the games I personally think are interesting and informative!

So to kick off this brand new type of post I have chosen two games that are very dear to me personally. Master of Olympus Zeus and Pharaoh,  both were published by Sierra and developed by Impressions Games / Activision. They may be retro but the charming visual design and style still looks nice even to this date. These games are really great for learning about ancient history and will be a great conversation starter for you and your kids. 

Master of Olympus Zeus: 

This game is very obviously about ancient Greece, so how good is it for leaning about this part of history?  You play as a ruler that has to build and run cities, this involves tasks ranging from making sure your people are fed and watered, to honouring the Gods and Goddesses with massive temples and even building a mighty military. The way the game is structured teaches useful skills in and of itself, like management and tactics but it is the history that is my main focus here.  Master of Olympus is actually reasonably Historically accurate (Given our current knowledge of the time period) it also weaves in the more mythical side of ancient Greece in an interesting and engaging way.  Some of the missions are based on recorded  events and exploits of Greek heroes detailed in the Homeric Epics. Every inch of the game is steeped in the time period it is set in, from the comical names of the people running around the city, to the often funny quotes they say.   

I think this game would be a great way in for anyone wanting to learn about ancient Greece in a fun and engaging way, its accuracies will delight and its inaccuracies will be a great talking point (especially if you get your kids to research on their own and compare and contrast what they find) it is an entertaining game with some funny jokes and references dotted throughout and boasts interesting, intuitive mechanics. It also has a nice variety of difficulty settings so you can play an easy game or go for more of a challenge.  Fair warning though I have found this game to be often utterly absorbing, it is so easy to spend hours building fantastic cities, immersed in the splendour of ancient Greece. 

I think despite its age it does hold up really well and has a reasonable price tag on GoG.com. (which I tend to use for their easy and no fuss downloads as well as pretty decent pricing.) The graphics as I mentioned are dated but still very pretty due to style.  This game will teach people (especially kids) a lot about ancient Greece passively while they are having fun but its true wealth for learning is in the detail and this game is packed with little details that are ripe for further research and conversation.  This really is an old gem of a game and if you engage with your kids using it you both will end up learning a lot!

Also worth noting is this games expansion pack Poseidon, this focuses on the God of the sea and Atlantis and while it deviates from fact and history it delves into myth and rumour. It is a very fun expansion and is a great way to learn about the myths of Atlantis.  Not quite as useful for teaching History but still great fun! It also adds a level and campaign editor which itself can passively teach a whole load of useful skills like math and design.

Pharaoh: 

Although it came out a year earlier than Zeus this game is by no means dwarfed by its younger sibling. This game is all about ancient Egypt and again is surprisingly accurate in terms of its historical content.  The controls are largely the same and equally intuitive and although a little different from Zeus it proves fairly easy to switch between the two once you have learned them.      

Once again the real gems of this game are in the details, the little jokes and references, accurate names for buildings , every inch of this game even down to the music really make you feel like you are running a city in ancient Egypt just like its younger sibling makes you feel like you are running a city in ancient Greece.  Again the passive management and tactical skills alone make it a valid game to suggest your kids try, from building military, to trading, to making alliances with other cities these two games are both, in my opinion, well in the top spot for best city building games out there.

The one and only critique I have for this game is due to the slight lack of Deity coverage. The ancient Egyptians were big on their Gods and only four of the major Gods and Goddesses are covered in great detail, though the others do get nods in some of the bigger temples.  In the light of education however this can be completely used to a parent or teachers advantage by getting kids to research on their own and compare and contrast. 

This game also has an expansion 'Cleopatra' dedicated to the female pharaoh, moving the games times setting forward.  This expansion stays pretty historically accurate and adds new and interesting features like mountain based tomb complexes.  They like Zeus + Poseidon come bundled on GoG.com for a pretty reasonable price.

I chose to cover both of these games because they are made by the same developers merely a year apart and both focus on periods of history I really love.  They both use the same mechanics and play style and are two gems when it comes to city building games.  I would highly recommend buying both and have personally spent many hours playing each, immersed in ancient Greece and Egypt alike. 

Games can be really great aids to learning and if you engage with your kids on these games you will both get a lot out of them, these make learning fun and enjoyable and should spark interest in what are two amazing periods in history!  

Update: Lack of Posts + Future Planned Content!

So I haven't really updated in a while, for anyone who does read this blog I am extremely sorry for my sporadic updating, the fact you read this at all means the absolute world to me and I will endevour to post on a more regular basis. I have two posts in the works (a review and a game spotlight) but writing them well takes time and sometimes I get terrible writers block. I have loads of new content planned including a collaborative review with a friend. I have loads of new types of posts planned too, as well as the content I regularly post, so there should be plenty of interesting things for everyone in the future!

So new content planned includes:
-Nerd Spotlight (where I plan to interview people with nerdy passions, interests and expertise)
-Game Spotlight (where I spotlight games for a variety of reasons)
-Art and Craft Kit Reviews (I am extending reviews to art and craft kits too! This may be sporadic as it depends on the funds to buy the kits myself and also willing victims recipients of the creations.) 

I have also been very busy because we have a brand new puppy! So I have been helping train her and introduce her to our two cats. In light of this I am starting a new blog to share some of my funny stories about the mayhem that is our pets and give tips and tricks about what I am learning in my wacky journey of puppy training with two cats already established.

I may make a post about the pets here from time to time if it fits in with the nerdy remit of the blog but if you are interested in pet related content please visit the new blog HERE.

Please stay tuned and if you like what you see here you can support me by donating via my paypal (kara_mad@yahoo.co.uk) also feel free to email that address with any suggestions of content that you want to see! 

How to learn Japanese the nerdy way (like a boss)

Japanese... this language has fascinated me for so long, the way it sounds, the beauty of its writing, love it or hate it it's hard to deny its usefulness at the least.

So for those who are unlucky and never got the opportunity to study this in formal schooling or even for those of you who are indeed lucky enough to be doing this at school etc then lets dig in!

For all my fellow nerds out there Japanese is probably one of the most accessible and indeed useful languages out there! Want to watch your anime in subs without having to read? Better learn Japanese. Want to read imported game manuals or pre production game info? Again you are going to need to get a basic grasp. 

So what are some of the ways you can learn easily just by being your nerdy self you ask? Well believe it or not there are heaps of things you can do that will both passively and actively boost your learning of this amazing language. 

Anime: This is obvious to most people that watch anime but you really can start absorbing words without even knowing it just by watching anime. Language experts often say the best way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in it and for those of us that can't afford a trip to Japan anime is pretty much the next best thing.  With so many anime out there anyone can find something they like. So if your into anime already great! Keep watching and watch in Sub (Subtitles) and not Dub. If you haven't watched anime then give it a try, from love stories to adventure to space robots I promise there is an anime that will interest you out there. Again here watching it Japanese with subtitles is key. I myself have been watching anime in sub for years and can pick out and remember a tonne of words with no effort put in on my part! (Stuff like, always, everyone, dream, white, damn, I love you, I am, etc). Granted this is no substitute for actually studying it but boosting both your comprehension of sentence structure,  words and phrases with no actual work involved is a pretty sweet pay off for sitting down and watching some amazing stories. 

Ok you say so I can start to get a really basic grasp just by watching cartoons that's pretty neat and all but what I can do that is nerdy to actually study it? 

Well here are several nerdy things you can do with the help of word charts of Japanese Kanji for both Katakana and Hiragana. 

1. Pokémon Names: Have you ever wonder traded your Pokémon? Got some Japanese ones? Cool use the sheets to figure out the names of the Pokémon and the original Trainer! (write it down and keep a book) See if every now and then you can read them without using the sheet from memory!

2. Imported Games: If you have any Japanese imports use the sheets to try and figure out bits of the manual or game. (again writing it in a book can be helpful)

3. Pre-release game info:  If you love games  and the studio is releasing info before the release you can again use the charts to look up what the characters used actually spell so you can figure out what that boss is going to be and what the moves could be ahead of release!  A YouTuber Gaijin Goombah actually has a mini-series of videos on doing exactly this!

4. Last but not least you can use your internet skills! This may sound like a bit of a no-brainer but the internet is actually pretty jam packed with sites that will help you learn Japanese from Kanji sheets like the ones linked above to actual courses and lessons .

So there you have it folks! Ways to start or boost your leaning of a language just by being your fantastic nerdy self! 

Hope you enjoyed this article and as always if you want to fling me some pocket change so I can keep blogging you can donate via paypal to kara_mad@yahoo.co.uk all donations are loved and greatly appreciated. That is also the email you can get me on if you want to suggest content for me to blog about!

Minecraft Adventures: Pixelmon Mod ( Poke Frontier Sever) + Mini Reveiw

So I haven't been posting much on the blog lately (don't worry content is coming) ... the reason is I was gifted a copy of Minecraft. 

This game is unreal. Most people who don't live in a cave will get what I am talking about here its like Lego, you can build anything and the only limit is you. (Also a lot less pricey and cant be used as a booby-trap, Lego + feet = pain am I right?)

So I decided to instal a mod called Pixelmon that I heard a lot about. For anyone that likes Pokemon and owns mine craft I would check it out.

Brief mini review of Pixelmon: As I tend to do reviews here I thought it apt to do a mini review of the mod itself. Anyone who likes Pokemon will most likely get a kick out of this mod. The craftables the mod adds have really sensible recipes and look very nice, the models are nice looking and still blend well into the original game. The Pokemon models are on the whole very nice and there are some really nice nodds to fan cannon in the mod (cloning Mew gets Mewtwo but fail and get a Ditto) which long time Pokemon fans will really appreciate. The mod also has a dedicated wiki which is super helpful and the mod itself is fairly easy to instal. It can be a little buggy at times but it is being constantly updated, worked on and fixed. On the whole its a very well put together mod. If you wanna play a pokemon game but always longed for an MMO experience and love mine craft then this is your dream mod. Get it and find a server.

This brings me onto the more shameless plug bit of this post. So in the time I haven't been posting its because I followed my own advice.

I found a server and became a helper. I play on a pretty good Pixelmon sever called Poke Frontier (pokefrontier.nn.pe:25565) It's a community server with people on the whole being really friendly and helpful and also coming from all over the world! We have both Kanto and Johto maps that are pretty accurate and well built and also the gym challenge for both regions. The Gyms and the Elite four are all real people which makes it a tough but enjoyable challenge, also its totally optional. There are also drop parties and quizzes and Pokemon races held from time to time too which keeps things fun and interesting. Also a big draw for the server is that you have plenty of space to build either a faction base with all your friends or just carve out a little spot all to yourself. 

So come and join it if you think its your kind of thing! 

Now I'm going to show off my base and hopefully get you fired up to join in! 

Have a look at the awesome stuff I have made and the Pokemon I have caught, come and join in. The server even has a Youtube Channel so check it out!

Logo

I am working on some free logo design for a friends pet project.
So far I have made the first demo logo and we will go from there with her feedback. :)

Her basic brief was that she wanted a logo that was 'a bit retro a bit chic and a bit geeky' for 'ChiQ GeeQ PhyiQ' which is a pet project of hers (custom geeky clothing and accessories) she also wanted something mainly typography (font) based.

This was the first sample so I decided to empathize the Q as the tying factor with a diamond for its references to quality and geeky connections (such as Minecraft) I then decided to have each of the words reflect their themes and emphasize that the brand is a little bit different.