lenina at the Space Age – exhibition

Here’s a pic of me at the Space Age – exhibition in Edinburgh that’s currently on loan from the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green. I did in fact go to the Museum of Childhood with the ex this year January and even blogged about it here (Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green).

In a weird way I’ve seen the same thing with two different BFs. In my first article, I even talked about the Meteorite which of course I remembered and told B. about, and yes, it was there when we went on Saturday.

The helmet that I’m wearing is of a space costume that was provided for children to dress up and run around. I’m nearly 35 but I LOVE playing and indulging the child in me sometimes (hence I play video games and such). The good thing is that B. is like that too – probably more so.  Note that playfulness can sometimes be silly and maybe immature, but in our case at least, it’s never irresponsible – I take life in general rather seriously 😛

TV Repair Men Coming Next Tue

I found a shop in Edinburgh that repairs TVs, including rear-projection ones, and popped in last week-end. They do a free assessment (to see if it’s repairable) and will then give me a quote, so I can see if it’s worth it going along with it or not. I suppose I’d be quite happy to pay up to £200 max IF they are able to fix it relatively quickly and easily (without having to take it away). But definitely no more than that. Maybe even £200 is too much, given  how little it’s probably worth it (it’s a 42″ Toshiba rear-projection, bought around 5 years ago).

Either way it’s good to know one way or another. Naturally, if I did get it fixed, it would mean I have to get a TV license 😐  – and I’ve come to HATE TV so wouldn’t watch it anyway. Why am I thinking of getting it fixed, I hear you ask?

So that I can play LittleBigPlanet, which is meant to be amazing, and which B. I hope will buy me for Xmas 😀

lenina’s Current Cultural Intake

This week-end I started putting some culture into my head. Visually, I started playing Legend of Zelda – The Twilight Princess this afternoon, and I have to say I’m thoroughly enjoying it. I hadn’t touched my PS3 in months (Oblivion, after initially very good, turned a bit directionless which I HATE! in life as well as in videogames).

Good job I still had The Twilight Princess which I bought for the Gamecube (I don’t have a Wii) and it’s very sweet. Just what I need right now! A cute linear narrative, easy to play and a joy on the eye 🙂

I also started reading Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook. I thought I’d been running out of suitable books to read (I’ve had enough of historical romantic novels e.g. Philippa Gregory just now); however when looking through my bookshelves I found this gem! So far much better than the book I read last week (Ian McEwan’s Amsterdam. He is good at times but his use of language too flowery and heavy, bordering on pathos).

And don’t tell me that video games aren’t culture – they can be much more stimulating that films or TV (unless you watch, say, The Return).

Finally a GREAT Game for PS3: Ratchet and Clank

A glowing review the other day on the Guardian games blog, and definitely one for me to get: Ratched and Clank for the PS3. I love the series and it’s just the type of game that is easy enough for someone like myself, but also fun enough and not lame.

It’s the type of game that can turn non-gamers into gamers overnight. Just great fun and so far away from the usual crap (FPS anyone?).

Really looking forward to this, and will be getting it for Xmas (though you can already download the demo on Playstation Network).

/me must get PS3 back from neighbour chav friend J. (whose CV today I turned from a piece of toilet paper with some Times New Roman writing on it into a funky 2-page Europass professional one )

Playing LocoRoco = World Peace

I started playing LocoRoco yesterday on my PSP, and it’s the complete anti-thesis to everything convervative discourse tells us about videogames.

Video games are most often in the news when they are overtly violent, get banned (e.g. Manhunt 2, and rightly, I think, so), allegedly inspire High-school massacres such as the ones in Columbine and Virginia, or use ‘sacred locations’ without asking permission, as I recently mentioned here.

I’m a very casual gamer. I don’t play video games often; however, lately I increasingly prefer them to television (I’ve never really been a big fan of TV, though I do watch a fair bit because it’s on in the evenings). In fact I think my aversion against visual media and screens in general is growing. While I am a ‘screenhead’, I don’t do it for pleasure – I do it for a living.

Playing a gem such as LocoRoco reminded me how pleasurable video games can be, how stimulating and artistic. It’s a Japanese game for a Japanese audience (mainly), and far too few Japanese games make it to European and Western (e.g. American) shores. We Western kids, so it seems, like our big FPS, action, and racing games, and realistic graphics are our main concern 😦