Ultimate Gambit

When i was back home recently, i went to Ikea and bought a Detolf cabinet to display my recent purchases of toys and busts. Afterall, what would be the point in buying them if they werent going to be on display?!

Now, i know many of you reading this will not appreciate the beauty of these items, however its an addiction that i cannot cure (and actually quite like). A bit like cocaine… but cheaper and less harmful to my body…
Anyway, onto the photos This is not my whole collection, rather a selection of the ones that are still at home (i have some on display up here in Nottingham too). Enjoy

Today i helped out a friend by going an experiment of his in an MRI Scanner. It’s pretty wierd going in those things – the field is pretty strong, and if you forget to take your belt off (like i stupidly did) you can feel it within about 5m of the machine! That’s one hell of a strong magnet! The particular machine we used was more than double the strength of the ones that they use in hospital, but i’m told it’s still safe… (here’s to hoping!)

Anyway, the best bit about having it done was the fact that they gave me the data and told me where to get the software to have a mess around with it. So, after an hour or so playing with my brain this evening (so to speak), i’ve come up with the following two pretty cool images of my brain, as supplied by the machines at the Nottinghm Magnetic Resonance Centre! Funky ey?! So for all of you that have doubted that I had a brain in the past, here’s the proof that you’re wrong

Just remind me never to shave my head – its far to much of a strange shape!!

I’ve just got back from an awesome Snowboarding trip to Les Deux Alps in France! This was organised by BUSC as their Main Event, and apart from the 23 hour coach journey each way was an excellent trip. The weather was fantastic, and I got loads of Snowboarding done, so all in all I had a fantastic time! I’ve improved loads on my board, although on the last day I managed to break my snowboard

I would definately recommend Les Deux Alps as a worthwhile ski resort – it has great snow, great weather and a brilliant snowpark if thats the sort of thing you are into. There isnt a massive number of slopes, but there are loads of off-piste opportunities. Definately my favorite resort i’ve been to so far. There are some good apres ski venues also

Took loads of great photos – see the album on Flickr, or view the slideshow! Video compilation coming soon(ish!)

Recently, my cheap Casio watch which I have had for the last 2 years broke, and I was forced to get a new one. I decided that I wanted to get something a little more fashionable, but didnt really want to lose out on any of the features that I used on my previous watch. After scouring the internet, i came across the KDX 5404G, and after checking the returns policy on the Kahuna Website, I decided to take the gamble, in the knowledge that I could return it if I didnt like it. For a bargainous £29.95 this watch looked excellent value for money in comparison to some other similar style watches.
Since when I was looking I was unable to find any reviews, I thought I’d write a brief review so that others who may be thinking of buying one of these watches may have more of a clue and feel like they were taking less of a gamble!

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It was the first night of the Gilbert & Sullivan Society production of ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ last night. Overall, it went very well and the reviewers we had in the audience also seemed to think so! For those who don’t know, i’m playing in the part of Major General Stanley, and was very chuffed to get the following review from the Nottingham Evening Post:

“Andrew Griffiths is a delight as the Major General and his rendition of the tongue-twisting I Am The Very Model of a Modern Major General is delivered with confidence”

The whole cast performed excellently last night – i hope we can do as well and better in the rest of the performances!

For tickets, please contact the Nottingham Arts Theatre.

I had to write my own monologue for my audition at LIPA earlier today. I wrote it a while ago, but didnt want to post it until after I had done the audition. Anyway, i’ve done the audition now (and didnt get in ), but I’m pretty proud of the monologue I wrote, so I thought I’d post it here. Here it is… (more…)

I’m with Serenity… YAY!!

I scored as Serenity (Firefly). You like to live your own way and don’t enjoy when anyone but a friend tries to tell you should do different. Now if only the Reavers would quit trying to skin you.

So, Valentines day sucked – more than it should have done…

I was being a pillock around the office and managed to land really badly on my ankle, leading to me tearing a ligament (according to the paramedic in town last night!).

Now my foot really really hurts, and its a pain in the arse to walk on. There was a light at the end of the tunnel tho, as i saw Simple Plan last night – more on that later

I’ll be honest, i’m usually relatively partial to being romantic on Valentines day – especially when i’m with someone. I hate the way its so commericialised and seems to be a way for the card companies and Royal Mail to make money, so i never buy cards or presents – everything i do is always hand crafted or thought out properly in some way.

But the problem with valentines is that it really sucks when you’re not with someone, as all those couples who are being really tacky by sending flowers etc always catch your eye when you really dont want them too.

This year, i’ve ‘sent’ a total of 1 card, and recieved a total of zero (so far). That doesnt really bother me, as i’ve always prefered the giving to the recieving of things (so long as the person appreciates it).

But there’s another thing, you have know way of knowing how that person feels about it – you send valentines cards in secret, so how are you supposed to get feedback.

Stupid day…

So there is hope for all us geeks out there!

While it doesnt stop you ageing all over, it does save your brain from ageing! My first thoughts on this were that it’s a bad thing – surely if your brain isnt ageing then you arent going to be learning anything and if you start gaming at 3 you’ll keep a mental age of 3?!

However, apparently (from globeandmail.com) “playing video games provides benefits similar to bilingualism in exercising the mind. Just as people fluent in two languages learn to suppress one language while speaking the other, so too are gamers adept at shutting out distractions to swiftly switch attention between different tasks.”

This means that gamers outperform in mental tests…

But hold on a second… arent many games just mental tests in their own right? So how does this really prove anything – you play games, you can solve mental tests easier… surely thats equivalent to saying that if you solve mental tests, you can solve mental tests!?!?

I’m sure there is probably alot more to it than that, but if thats the only factor, then it seems like a bit of a waste of money to me in order to solve something that’s pretty obvious!!

Anyway, at least it gives me an excuse for all those hours i spend kicking my housemates at Mario Kart!