I previously posted about several useful tips and tricks for Pidgin, the multi-protocol IM client. One tip that I recently learnt afterwards that might be worth mentioning is how to change the default auto away status message to a custom away message.
Usually when your computer goes idle after a set period of time Pidgin will set you to Away status and display the message “I’m not here right now”. While that may be good enough for most people if you want to change it to something different you’re going to have to follow the following steps:
Open your Buddy List window
Click on the status at the bottom of the window and select New Status
Create a new Away status with your custom idle message e.g. “I’m currently away from my PC”
Save the status
Open the Preferences window and go to the Status / Idle tab
Under “Change to this status when idle”, click the Away message to use when idle and select your custom status message you just saved.
Hey presto its all done! Now when your PC goes idle your status message will change to your custom message rather than Pidgin’s default one.
I’m a Tool fan as many of you know and I’ve yet to find another band that can move me in the way that they can. So when I stumbled on The String Quartet tribute albums to Tool a week ago I was as happy as a kid in a candy store. Using only string instruments they perform variations of popular songs by mainstream bands and the results can be interesting to hear.
“The Vitamin String Quartet (VSQ) is a rotating collective of Los Angeles[citation needed] musicians widely known for its series of tribute albums to rock and pop acts. Their albums are released through Vitamin Records and primarily performed by a string quartet; however, a wide array of instruments have appeared throughout the series.”
They manage to replicate the rhythm and tone of most of the songs with surprisingly good results and many of their performances are right on par with the original compositions. It gives you a new found appreciation of the original songs by highlighting their sometimes intricate compositions. So far my personal favourite is their version of Tool’s Schism from the Lateralus album which I’ve linked to at the bottom of this post as a sample of their work.
They’ve also done the entire Ænima album with a great version of Stinkfist, H. and Forty Six & 2. The rest of Tool’s albums receive the String Quartet treatment on Anotomica: A String Quartet Tribute to Tool.
I’ve also had a listen to their versions of Nine Inch Nails and A Perfect Circle and it’s just as great and after hearing good things about their Radiohead albums I’d definitely like to try to get hold of them as well. If you’re looking to hear a band you like in a whole different way then I can heartily recommend the String Quartet’s albums and it’s also the perfect music to put on in the background when you need to get some work done. It might even be a good way to get friends interested in bands such as Tool, Radiohead and A Perfect Circle who would normally not give them a second listen. For more info and a list of all their albums head on over to Vitamin Records.
The opening standoff in Once Upon A Time in the West
After writing my earlier post about the most memorable scenes in films I decided to watch Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time in the West and nearly punched myself afterwards for not including the above scene. At the start of the film you’re not greeted with grandiose credits or title cards but rather 3 seedy looking cowboys that proceed to stake out a railway station. There’s no dialogue, only the sound of a fly, a rusty windmill and the odd gust of wind. After 8 minutes of this (its seen as the longest opening sequence in film) a train approaches and the 3 cowboys jump into action and start watching the train intently. As the train starts to pull away without anybody disembarking from it they begin to turn around and leave only to stop in their tracks as they hear the sounds of a harmonica. As they turn around they find themselves facing Charles Bronson’s character who then asks if any of them are a character named Frank he is after. They shake their heads and smile ruefully at him while preparing to gun him down. After an opening with hardly any sounds or dialogue there are a several loud shots as they all draw their guns with Bronson gunning them all down but not before one gunmen manages to wound him with a sawn off shotgun, causing him to fall to the ground as well. This juxta positioning of silence and violence is beautifully constructed by Leone and manages to set the tone of what is the greatest Western film ever made.
As a fan of Fallout 3 and its unique post apocalyptic 1950s setting I’m overjoyed to see that Bethesda has released the first trailer for their new game, Fallout New Vegas. not much is known about it but for fans of the Fallout world, we can look forward to joining up with Pipboy and co in later this year. If you haven’t had a chance to play Fallout 3 yet then now’s the perfect opportunity to grab a cheap copy of the GOTY edition that contains the game and all its released DLC.
Its time for another reviews update. The end of 2009 was quiet in terms of game releases but I did manage to get two reviews out during December and January:
Left 4 Dead 2 – If you have a fondness for zombie films and you love playing co-op then Valve’s zombie shooter will be as close to heaven as you can get without growing wings and playing a harp.
Army of Two: The 40th Day – It’s loud, brash and oozes pure machismo but its a fun shooter that doesn’t try to be anything else.
Give the reviews a read if you’re interested and as always comments on the site are more than welcome!
Rockstar has just released the second in its series of gameplay videos for the upcoming Western game Red Dead Redemption. I’m getting all the more excited for this game after watching Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time In The West. April can’t come soon enough!
Being a Western fan is tough if you’re a gamer, while there have been more WW2 FPS games than you can count there have been so few Western games that only two spring to mind, Call of Juarez and Red Dead Revolver. It’s been an especially lean time as both games came out several years back, but Ubisoft and Techland are looking to keep the passion burning by releasing a prequel to their first Call of Juarez game with Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood. Continue reading ‘Call of Juarez: Bound In Blood review’
Being a film fan I’ve come to realise that there are certain scene in movies that stand out in one’s mind as being representative of what the film stands for. Many times that picture is imprinted in your mind long after you’ve forgotten the film’s name. With this in mind I though I’d list a few of the scenes that stand out in my mind with a short description of each.
Blade Runner LA cityscape
When you first enter the world of Blade Runner you’re greeted with a site that looks anything but futuristic. The Los Angeles cityscape is polluted and drenched in rain and manages to convey the idea that Earth is a desolate place with blimps floating overhead proclaiming that a better life awaits people off world. It’s no wonder that Rick Deckard is determined to quit the police force.
Blade Runner city scape
Up close the city in Blade Runner looks even worse and seems to look strikingly like modern-day Tokyo with gigantic neon advertising boards and crowded sidewalks all winding their way through the film’s future version of Los Angeles. It’s unlike any other film noir setting out there but it manages to fit the characters and plot as perfect as a glove.Futurist Syd Mead’s vision of a futuristic LA has to be applauded and many modern-day director’s have paid homage to it from music videos through to animé.
The Battle of the Pelennor Fields
Most of the scenes and settings from the Lord of the Rings movies are superlative to say the least but it was really the Battle of Pelennor Fields that stands out in my mind as the defining scene from the film. Bringing to a head all the film’s separate plots and characters to battle it out in one huge battle between the forces of good and evil is always enough to get the adrenaline flowing but it is especially great when the special effects and computer generated wizardry all combine to create one of the most memorable big screen battles in recent memory.
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Mexican standoff
At the end of The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Sergio Leone makes use of a widescreen shot to capture all three the film’s protagonists as the face off in a duel to see who walks away with the treasure they have hunted for the whole film. Where this scene excels is that it lingers over the fighters and carries on for several minutes intercut with extreme close-ups of the characters’ eyes as they look at each other to see who will draw firs, all the time upping the anxiety levels of both viewer and character. Add in a track from Ennio Morricone that perfectly matches the tempo and feel of the scene and this is one of the best 5 minutes in cinema.
I previously posted about several useful tips and tricks for Pidgin, the multi-protocol IM client. One tip that I recently learnt afterwards that might be worth mentioning is how to change the default auto away status message to a custom away message.
Its time for another reviews update. The end of 2009 was quiet in terms of game releases but I did manage to get two reviews out during December and January:
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