THE GREEN ORCHARD website updated

A new GREEN ORCHARD

rustle



Copyright © 2007 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.
All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Dead Days

Cut mistletoe lay withered off the bough
Holly, crown-fallen, no more king now
Discarded Christmas tree thrown against the wall
Needleless, left to languish 'gainst the squall
The rain runs, off pavement, into gutter
Only seen by faint light cowering behind window shutter
These are dead days
Into which is born a new year.


rustle



Copyright © 2007 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.
All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

New Year has started well...

The soundtrack of my day?

• Black Sabbath - Paranoid. Soooo many good tracks on one album; War Pigs, Paranoid (duh), Planet Caravan, Iron man, Electric Funeral, Hand Of Doom, Rat Salad, Fairies Wear Boots. That's all of 'em!

• Caravan - For Girls Who Grow Plump In The Night. Has C'thlu Thlu as Track 4, a 1973 H.P. Lovecraft reference!

A website re-vamp underway (I'll post when it goes live)

Morello is developing 'Love Above' (working title). A Stop Motion film as part of her MA Media (Animation). It's all concept and sketches at the moment but it's shaping up!

Bargain of the century? Metroid Prime 2: Echoes for £2.99! From WH Smith! They don't even sell Gamecube games do they?!!!


rustle



Copyright © 2007 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.
All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Happy New year

Welcome to 2007

(I got this in Derbyshire in 2006)

Copyright © 2007 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.
All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

2006: The Best and the Worst

2006 has been a year of survival. Surviving a move of house, surviving the final year of my degree, surviving a year long placement and surviving and surviving on a lack of money. But it has also been a year of amazing things as well including music, books, games and writing. There are many but here is a stab at the best and the worst of 2006



THE BEST OF 2006

MUSIC
The year I saw Blind Guardian in Concert
Seeing Blind Guardian live at KoKo in London was an ambition fulfilled. It was their first tour to Britain and it was amazing. Valhala and The Bard's Song (In The Forest) stand out as memorable forever!

my Permalink


The year I bought some more Albums

• Blind Guardian's 'A Twist in the Myth' came out. Brilliant artwork, excellent songs, a nod to a more commercial offering but memorable anthems and they work well live.
• Mastodon - 'Blood Mountain', heavy, playable heavy, play it!
• Dragonforce - 'Inhuman Rampage' Not normally what I regularly listen to and not what I expected but I keep coming back to it. I love the speed and the flourishes of humour.
• My most played album this year was Blind Guardian's 'Live'. Coupled with the DVD, the hairs still stand out on the back of my neck.

The year I actually finished watching an opera on TV

• Mozart's 'Cosi Fan Tuti'. I actually watched all this and it was sooo funny!

BOOKS
The year I discovered JG Ballard
JG Ballard's 'Kingdom Come' is his latest book, the first I've read by him and the most excellent book I've read! Ever! Closely followed by 'The Drowned World', his nth book. Hauntingly good, and poignant for today's global worries. Both books work on your mind long after reading. I cannot praise Ballard enough! Check the website - The Ballardian.

The year I read Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams - 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy', 'Life, the universe and everything' and 'The Restaurant at the End of the Universe' all inspired me to get my writing off the ground earlier than I had planned.

The year I built a Rupert the Bear book collection
'You have to see Bestall's endpapers!'

• 'The life and works of Alfred Bestall illustrator of Rupert Bear' - Caroline G. Bott.
• A tatty 'A Bear's Life' - George Perry with Alfred bestall
• Rupert Annual 1961
• Rupert Annual 1969
• Rupert Facsimile Annuals 1955, 1957 & 1958
• Plus others...
  

Rupert The Bear shop


The year I discovered Rackham
'The French roleplaying company, not Arthur'

• Cadwallon The Free City - Player's Handbook
  

Rackham website



GAMES
The year I got into games

Nintendo DS Lite - cool piece of technology with great games

• New Super Mario Bros.
• Animal Crossing: Wild World
• Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
• Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3

____________ (space where Nintendo Wii should be)

• The legend of Zelda - Twilight Princess - for Wii (no Wii yet though!)
• Metroid Prime 2 - Echoes for Gamecube (I'll play it on my Wii when I get one)

Game On exhibition. See my Permalink



COMICS
The year I got back into comics games

• Mnemovore - Vertigo [review]
• Army of Darkness - Dynamite Entertainment
• Wonderland - SLG Publishing Disney
• Fear Agent - Image
  

WRITING
The year I wrote a Short Story or three!

• The Old House
• Dead Manse
• Bedlam

And started a Novel

• Tales of Magistery and Confabulation

And wrote more Poems

• Dark Wonderland
• The Dark Tide
• Rust Hut
• The Mission

WEB
The year I developed the website and started a blog and found cool stuff

Wonderland- games related, has to be checked every day, cool, games-related stuff from around the world
Rackham- tabletop roleplaying from France, amazing graphics
Nintendo- the best
UK Gamespot, Pocket Gamer Blog, Eurogamer, British Gaming Blog, Joystiq, SPOnG - all for game news
Firefox - where would I be without it? Thanks Mozilla
THE GREEN ORCHARD, Tales of Magistery... and A Green Orchard (this blog!) ;-)



FILMS
'Cinema, DVD, TV etc.'

• Howl's Moving Castle - saw this at The Watershed in Bristol - Wow!
  
• Night Watch - Author - Book - Film - DVD: BBC review
• Doctor Who Up Close exhibition (for my birthday :-))
• Dracula & The Ruby in the Smoke - my permalink

PLACES
The year we discovered Dorset

• Lyme Regis - the best restaurants with a cool old bookshop
• Bridport - the best place with a cool old bookshop
• Dorchester - the best teashop and a cool old bookshop
• Castleton, Derbyshire - was great at Christmas and a cool old bookshop

THE WORST OF 2006

MOVING HOUSE
Had to be done but it was the most traumatic episode I ever had to go through!

DEGREE
Struggling through this final year of my BSc (Hons) Adult Nursing degree, working, being on placement, no money and having to write a dissertation made this DIFF-I-CULT beyond belief!

FINANCES
What finances?

Wii
Should have been the best thing of 2006 but didn't manage to get one! >>> best of 2007 :-)

WARS
Wars, all wars, no exceptions!


rustle



Copyright © 2006 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.
All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Herge on Tintin on TV

Tintin and Me on BBC4 tonight
Really enjoyed this. There is always political controversy when Herge is mentioned but his body of iconic work speaks for itself - just really cool drawings...


rustle



Copyright © 2006 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.
All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Christmas Hols...

An unexpected Christmas Holiday. My name, pulled rabbit-like from a hospital hat!
And I spent the time Oh, so wisely. I managed to get hold of a copy of Super Mario Advance 4 AKA Super Mario Bros. 3 for Gameboy Advance to play on my DS Lite :-)

rustle



Copyright © 2006 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.
All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Ruby and Dracula!

Ah, it's Christmas and TV has amazed me by being so good!

The Ruby in the Smoke - Philip Pullman's novel (from The Sally Lockhart quartet) adapted for TV turned out to be excellent. Billie Piper played a good part (better than in Doctor Who) in what was a Victorian drama that captured the period really well.

Dracula - Bram Stoker's novel adapted for TV was awsome! Oh, the Gothic...

Both BBC dramas showing they can still do stuff well...


rustle



Copyright © 2006 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.
All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

It's Boxing Day

rustle



Copyright © 2006 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.
All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Thanks Santa, Thanks Nintendo

DS'd up!

Unpacking (10:00)

Charging (12:00)

Opening

Nearly there...

Open!

Loading

Up and Running!

A TARDIS and a DS Lite - what more could you ask for?

rustle

Copyright © 2006 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.
All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

It's Christmas Day!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

The Tree

The Table

The Teapot


Look what landed!

Carols last night, wrapping presents until 02:30 in the morning and to top it all Santa does Nintendo!

rustle



Copyright © 2006 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.

All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

It's Christmas Eve!

It's Christmas Eve! I love Christmas Eve!

It was Robin of Sherwood day yesterday on ITV3! One of the greatest series ever created for television without a doubt and although it was all leafy green, longbows and swordplay, it made me feel really Chrismassy.

I managed to swap some DVD's for a copy of Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow from Konami for my DS Lite I'm getting for Christmas, so I'm quite chuffed!

In the end, I managed to get the food and presents sorted out so all in all, I'm quite ready for Christmas. The only thing I saw that spoiled it for me today was certain large, retail chains emptying their windows of anything to do with Christmas, leaving empty shelves and spaces in the windows! Christmas is just starting, not finishing! The corporate, materialistic drive should at least stop for one day of the year surely? It can't dampen my spirit though and speaking of spirit, where's my brandy mince pie?

Merry Christmas, happy Christmas, peaceful Christmas - all.


rustle.



Copyright © 2006 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.
All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

A nightmare just before Christmas

Talk about a nightmare just before Christmas! I went to get a Nintendo DS Lite + New Super Mario Bros. from HMV, really good deal, you get the game for £5 - bargain! Only they didn't have New Super Mario Bros.!! I got them to put the console + Yoshi's Island 2 away until I could get back in - it was the last Yoshi's Island 2 in the shop!!! They did, only they didn't!!!! They put the console away but sold the game!!!!! Notice a crescendo of explaination marks!!!!!! There is a good ending to this story, I bought the console and got the deal and just have to wait for the next delivery of New Super Mario Bros. or Yoshi's Island 2!!!!!!! Talk about a nightmare just before Christmas!!!!!!!! I'm all pling'd out now.

As a sweetener, I did manage to get Zelda II on Gameboy Advance (backwardly compatible and a historical god in gaming) for £7.99 from Virgin :-)

After a lack of Wii, I now feel a little more in the Christmas spirit - I might even start thinking about other people's presents, season of goodwill an' all that ;-)

And talking about a nightmare just before Christmas, Morello & I watched Tim Burton's A Nightmare Before Christmas - the Christmas lights in the Christmas place are just the best evocation of Christmas ever...


rustle

Soundtrack of my day: Status Quo - Piledriver



Copyright © 2006 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.
All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Wii? Non

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

|Wii Wii Wii Wii Wii Wii Wii Wii |
|Wii Wii Wii Wii Wii Wii Wii Wii |
| Wii Wii Wii Wii Wii Wii Wii Wii|
|Wii Wii Wii Wii Wii Wii Wii Wii |
|Wii Wii Wii Wii Wii Wii Wii Wii |
|Wii Wii Wii Wii Wii Wii Wii Wii |
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

What's this space above?

It's the space where my Nintendo Wii game console should have been :-(
I pre-ordered at Currys - big mistake. Although they said in the store they only got 5000 units (mmm yes...) , it turns out they got none! I am not happy. In future? Only buy/pre-order from large games-specific companies.
My pre-order for Zelda from Woolworth did get fulfilled, I got the text message. Great, I have Zelda wrapped under the Christmas tree with nothing to play it on!

I'm going to get a DS Lite with New Super Mario Bros. I tried yesterday to get a good deal but most places had sold out of that as well! I will get one today, wish me luck. Philosophically, it might not be a bad thing. The more I see of the DS, the more I like, there are some brilliant games out there whereas the really great games (Zelda notwithstanding) for the Wii are still to be developed...

In summary

Wii? Non - none left!

rustle



Copyright © 2006 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.
All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

It's Game On

Went to the Game On exhibition at the Science Museum in London the other day - brilliant!
From the posters in the windows outside to the machines set in the walls of the exhibition it was heaven.

From the PDP-11 through to the Wii & Playstation 3 all are represented. I got to play Space Invaders, Xevious, Star Wars in a cabinet, TLOZ-Ocarina of Time, Rez, Guitar Hero. Rez on the PS2 was absolutely amazing!

There was a really cool design board for Grand Theft Auto & others and artwork for things like Tombraider (I would have loved the Dungeon Master original poster artwork). Loads of Pokemon stuff as well. Something for everyone! I didn't hang around to play on the Wii as mine hopefully arrives Friday (can't have it until Christmas though!)

Just loved it. Only wished there had been a booklet to take away - I just love all that history detail...

Got to run... rustle

Copyright © 2006 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.
All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Wii Wii Wii all the way home...

I pre-ordered my Nintendo Wii console the other day from Curry's in the town where I live.
I'm number 10 in the list so I should get one! :-)

Zelda!

Just got to pre-order Zelda now!


rustle

It's degenerating into roleplaying

Soundtrack of my day: Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow - Rainbow Rising

The four little words I didn't want to have to say!

Don't get me wrong, I love roleplaying - developing a character: Half Elf, Goblin, Paladin, Thief, +16 Strength, Special Abilities. Setting out into a world, developing experience, honing skills...

What I hate is when I have to go on a course, doesn't matter which one; large American Corporate Management or large British Public Sector Institution, either will do. You turn up after battling the traffic at some impossible hour, say 9:30 am, you know, just when the traffic has built to its optimum overload and you can't get anywhere! The building is claustophobically hot which leads to an explosion of perspiration after you have just speed marched from the car park that is conveniently miles away from any venue! And you very nearly don't have time (nearly don't) to get a coffee which makes the next 3.5 hours almost bearable. You are then lulled into a false security. There are foils, there are hand-outs, there are question sessions. If you are really lucky there may even be a coffee break (I love tea but I have to make it myself, alas the one thing technology will never be able to replicate). There are even break out sessions and all before lunch. It's almost enjoyable. Almost. You break for lunch (there are two types; type 1 - the too short to do anything with you get annoyed or type 2 - the not too short but not long enough and you end up going out and having to run back and perspire like mad again). You return from lunch (type 1 or type 2) ready for more of the same but oh no! Were it that simple! "okay everybody, we've planned a roleplaying session..." Aaaarrrgghhhh!!!! It's not roleplaying, it's not! It doesn't contain any character development, there aren't any special abilities, there is no sword-wielding, there are no goblins - IT'S NOT ROLEPLAYING!

This happened recently, so recently that I still haven't recovered from having to make that emergency phonecall and utter those four little words - It's degenerating into roleplaying.


rustle



Copyright © 2006 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.
All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

At last, a sensible job with a bit of vision

person wanted to paint asteriod. Uniform provided, inclusive of meals & travel allowance

See Guardian Science section!



rustle



Copyright © 2006 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.
All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Autumn has come...

Soundtrack of my day: Status Quo - Quo

Autumn has come
And turned the trees
Their raiment from green to brown
And crimson and old gold and ochre,
Transmuted my understanding
Turned my thoughts from then to now
A vivid phoenix
From the ashes of old thought



Copyright © 2006 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.
All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Soundtrack of my day: Yes - Close To The Edge, Blind Guardian - Live

My daily scan of 'interesting' websites to keep up with the news and views of gaming took me to Wizard's Dungeons & Dragons website and the Cityscape excerpt and the city of Blackwall. It would have been really cool (for English players anyway) if they had introduced a tunnel and it had been a really busy place. Why? Well, this would have lead to scenarios with "and there is a holdup in the Blackwall Tunnel causing serious delays". I checked, there was no tunnel... [Well, it amused me!]

Wonderland blog is back after a week off - scary site relating to Where's Waldo/Wally?
I'd never even heard of - is this legal? (funny though - my kids used to collect the magazine...)


rustle



Copyright © 2006 THE GREEN ORCHARD Ltd. All rights reserved.
All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.