Sue Zann Toh

Ubisoft have been producing one of my favourite game series of all time. The Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (GRAW) series of games are the second generation Ghost Recon games for the second generation consoles (Xbox 360 and PS3).

GRAW is a military shooter game set in the not so distant future. It’s got great looking graphics, especially the lighting effects, and great sound and atmosphere. Everything in the game goes well together to create a seamless, realistic experience that you can almost feel the bullets flying by your ear.

GRAW and GRAW 2 became my favourite game because of the multiplayer Live games. I think it takes a special kind of person to not get bored with playing GRAW online night after night. It’s action is not as fast as other multiplayer online shooters, which is probably why I like it. You also get the feeling that good team communication leads to the the team winning.

There are some rumours going around that GRAW 3 be out in March 2009, but they’re just rumours at this point. Mind you, many GRAW players would love a GRAW 3, although we’re not sure how they’ll be improving it since it’s already so awesome. Then again, I said the same thing about GRAW 2. Ubisoft have been really quiet about all this, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

I’m having such an uninspired blog title finding moment… but regardless, here are the latest amigurumis.

I started this fellow ages ago, but didn’t have any eyes and didn’t want to stitch them on, so I ordered some eyes from craft.com.au and they arrived earlier this week so he could be finished. Only problem is that he looks a little evil. He was made using a pattern for a set of cupcake animals.

I made another frog using the frog pattern I wrote up the other day. His legs ended up longer than expected so I had to attach them higher on his body. I think it makes him look more froggy. He’s nameless at the moment, but his brother (the first frog) is called Monty.

Here’s Monty and his bro…

Lastly, I made this bear using this pattern and intended to give it away as a present. Well, turns out I got a little too attached to this fella and couldn’t part with him. His name is Scotty.

Warning, if you’re easily offended, you may not want to read these pick up lines as they’re full of sexual innuendo (duh, they’re pick up lines after all!) and some bad language.

1. I wish you were a door so I could slam you all day.
2. Nice legs… what time do they open?
3. Do you work for UPS? I thought I saw you checking out my package.
4. You’ve got 206 bones in your body, want one more?
5. Can I buy you a drink or do you just want the money?
6. I may not be the best looking guy in here, but I’m the only one talking to you.
7. I’m a bird watcher and I’m looking for a Big Breasted Bed Thrasher: have you seen one?
8. I’m fighting the urge to make you the happiest woman on earth tonight.
9. Want to play army? I’ll lay down and you can blow the hell outta me.
10. I wish you were a Pony Carousel outside Superdrug, so I could ride you all day long for a quarter.
11. Oh, I’m sorry, I thought that was a Braille name tag.
12. I’d really like to see how you look when I’m naked.
13. Is that a ladder in your stockings or the stairway to heaven?
14. You might not be the best looking girl here, but beauty is only a light switch away.
15. Are those real?
16. You must be the limp doctor because I’ve got a stiffy.
17. I’d walk a million miles for one of your smiles, and even farther for that thing you do with your tongue.
18. If it’s true that we are what we eat, then I could be you by morning.
19. (Look down at your crotch) Well It’s not just going to suck itself.
20. You know, if I were you, I’d have sex with me.
21. Any questions?
22. F@# me if I’m wrong, but is your name Sherry Titsbottom?
23. Those clothes would look great in a crumpled heap on my bedroom floor.
24. My name is (name)… remember that, you’ll be screaming it later.
25. Do you believe in love at first sight or should I walk by again?
26. Someone said you were looking for me.
27. My friend wants to know if YOU think I’M cute.
28. The voices in my head told me to come over and talk to you.
29. My name isn’t Elmo, but you can tickle me anytime you want to.
30. I know milk does a body good, but DAMN, how much have you been drinking?
31. If you were the last woman and I was the last man on earth, I bet we could do it in public.
32. Wanna come over for some pizza and sex? No? Why? Don’t you like pizza?
33. Baby, I’m an American Express lover… you shouldn’t go home without me.
34. Do you sleep on your stomach? Can I???
35. Do you wash your pants in Windex? Because I can see myself in them.
36. Can you help me find him? I think he went into this cheap motel room.
37. (Lick finger and wipe on her shirt) Let’s get you out of these wet clothes.

Quick explanation:

In general, the higher the number of lines per frame, the better the picture quality. The higher the frame rate, the smoother the video, that is, less flicker.

PAL is the video system where the picture shows 625 lines at with a frame rate of 50 Hz. This means you get a picture which is higher detail, but since the refresh rate of the frame is slower, there may be some frame flicker and picture noise.

NTSC broadcasts at 525 lines per frame at a frame rate of 60 Hz. You may get less picture quality and detail than the PAL system, but the video will run smoother and with less flicker and picture noise.

Typically, game consoles are been produced for three systems,

1. PAL for Europe, Australia (List of countries that use PAL)
2. NTSC-U for U.S.A (List of countries that use NTSC)
3. NTSC-J for Japan (List of countries that use NTSC)

I made this amigurumi frog based on Amigurumi girl’s Mr Frog Pattern, but I changed a few things around. The head, eyes (the green part) and body followed the pattern, but the arms, legs and black and white parts of the eyes I made myself. I’ve only been crocheting for a week and I’m already modifying and making my own patterns! Crazy stuff.

Anyway, I thought I would post my version of the pattern with Amigurumi girl’s head, body and eye bits. I hope it makes sense!

Abbreviations
sc = single crochet
2sc = 2 single crochet stiches in a single crochet (invisible increase)
sc2tog = single crochet 2 stitches together (invisible decrease)
sl st = slip stitch
st = stitch
ch = chain

Head

Row 1: 6 sc in a magic ring (6)
Row 2: 2 sc in each sc (12)
Row 3: *sc in sc, 2sc in next sc, repeat from * (18)
Row 4: *sc in 2 sc, 2sc in sc, repeat from * (24)
Row 5: *sc in 3 sc, 2sc in sc, repeat from * (30)
Row 6-10: *sc in each sc, repeat from * (30)
Row 11: *sc in 3 sc, sc2tog, repeat from * (24)
Row 12: *sc in 2 sc, sc2tog, repeat from * (18)
Row 13: *sc in sc, sc2tog, repeat from * (12)

Bind and weave in end. Stuff with polyfill. Sew on mouth with red yarn.

Eye base

Row 1: 6 sc in a magic ring (6)
Row 2: 2 sc in each sc (12)
Row 3-5: *sc in each sc, repeat from * (12)

Bind and leave a long tail. Stuff. Attach to head using embroidery needle and tail.

Body

Row 1: 6 sc in a magic ring (6)
Row 2: 2 sc in each sc (12)
Row 3: *sc in sc, 2sc in next sc, repeat from * (18)
Row 4-10: *sc in each sc, repeat from * (18)
Row 11: *sc in sc, sc2tog, repeat from * (12)
Row 12-13: *sc in each sc, repeat from * (12)

Bind and leave a long tail. Stuff. Attach to head using embroidery needle and tail.

Arms
Row 1: ch 11, turn
Row 2: sc in each ch, starting from 2nd ch from hook (10)
Row 3 (toe 1): ch 3, turn, sl in each ch, starting from 2nd ch from hook, sl st to main arm (3 sl st)
Row 4 (toe 2): ch 3, turn, sl in each ch, starting from 2nd ch from hook, sl st to main arm (3 sl st)
Row 5 (toe 3): ch 3, turn, sl in each ch, starting from 2nd ch from hook, sl st to main arm (3 sl st)
Row 6: sl st in each st back up the leg (10 sl st), ch 1, turn
Row 7: Fold arm in half, sl through the 2 outer loops to join the halves (7 to 8 sl st)

Bind and leave a long tail. Close up hole in palm using embroidery needle and tail on the palm. Weave both tails up arm, you can shape the arm as you’re weaving if you wish. Attach to body to desired position using the long tail.

Legs

Row 1: ch 19, turn
Row 2: sc in each ch, starting from 2nd ch from hook (18)
Row 3 (toe 1): ch 4, turn, sl in each ch, starting from 2nd ch from hook, sl st to main leg (4)
Row 4 (toe 2): ch 4, turn, sl in each ch, starting from 2nd ch from hook, sl st to main leg (4)
Row 5 (toe 3): ch 4, turn, sl in each ch, starting from 2nd ch from hook, sl st to main leg (4)
Row 6: sl st in each st back up the leg (18 sl st), ch 1, turn
Row 7: Fold leg in half, sl through the 2 outer loops to join the halves (15 to 16 sl st)

Bind and leave a long tail. Close up hole in foot using embroidery needle and tail on the palm. Weave both tails up arm, you can shape the leg as you’re weaving if you wish. Attach to body to desired position using the long tail.

White of the eye

Row 1: ch 2
Row 2: 6 sc in the 2nd ch from hook (6)
Row 3: *sc in sc, 2sc in sc, repeat from * (9)
Row 4: sl next st

Bind and leave a long tail. Attach to front of eye base using the long tail.

Black pupils

Row 1: ch 4
Row 2: sl st to first ch to form a circle

Bind and leave a long tail. Thread both tails through the middle of the ring. Attach to front of white of eye on the eye base.

Amigurumi is a form of crocheting toys in a continuous spiral using mostly single crochets. It comes from Japan and it’s quite easy to pick up.

I’ve never crochet before and managed to make a few amigurumi toys, so it really isn’t very hard. I learnt from an online tutorial provided by Hook and Needles. There are a series of videos that teaches you everything you need to know, starting with the basics. I’ve had a look at a few tutorials online and found this to be the best one.

The first thing I made was an Octopus. I didn’t have any eyes so I stitched on Japanese style sleepy eyes. I liked this pattern because it was all in one pieces, so no joining needed.

Next I made a heart (the larger one in the photo below). I then realised I was crocheting incorrectly by only using the back loops! So I made a second heart, where I was doing single crochets properly and was really trying to keep the stitches tight. I think I went a little overboard with the “keeping stitches tight” because the second heart looks more like a bum than a heart!

Next I tried out the corpse bride. I didn’t make her a bride I just made her a corpse girl. I added the flower choker and changed the hair from the original pattern. I don’t think I’m done with her hair yet, I may add to it in the near future.

My latest completed amigurumi is my favourite so far. It’s an adorable frog. I used the pattern for the head, eyes and body, but modified the arms, feet and the black and white bits of the eyes. I’ll post the pattern I used for the arms and eyes later on.

Ingredients

• 360 g (1 cup) honey
• 250 mL (1 cup) pouring cream
• 250 g (2½ cup) walnuts, roasted
• Finely grated rind of 1 orange

Instructions

1. Combine walnuts and orange rind in a bowl.
2. Heat honey and cream over medium heat. Bring to boil, reduce heat and cook for 20 minutes or until it reaches 121 degrees celsius on a sugar thermometer.
3. Pour over walnuts and stir to combine.
4. Place tablespoons of mixture on a lightly oiled oven tray.
5. Fridge until set.
6. Store in the fridge in air tight containers between layers of baking paper.

I finally found a recipe for classic spaghetti bolognese that’s produces consistently great tasting spag bol. It’s so easy and tasty it’s unbelievable. I have to give a big thanks to C from university to introducing me to this recipe.

Serves 4.

Ingredients

• 1 onions, diced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 500g minced beef (I use low fat minced beef)
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 8-10 mushrooms, quartered (I use portabello or swiss brown - they have more flavour than button mushrooms)
• 1 tsp dried oregano leaves
• 1 can Campbell’s condensed tomato soup (has to be Campbells)
• 140g tomato paste
• salt, pepper and sugar to taste
• 500g spaghetti

Instructions

1. Cook spaghetti according to the packet. Usually boil for 10 minutes in water with 1 tsp salt.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a deep frypan.
3. Saute mushrooms until cooked through, about 5 minutes.
4. Remove mushrooms from frypan.
5. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in the same frypan.
6. Add onions and garlic and cook until onions are translucent, about 2-3 minutes.
7. Add minced beef in batches and cook until brown.
8. Add tomatoes, cooked mushrooms, tomato soup, tomato paste and dried oregano leaves and heat through.
9. Add salt, pepper and sugar to taste.

Tips

The minimum ingredients for this recipe is the Campbell’s condensed tomato soup, tomato paste and spaghetti. Pretty much all other ingredients are optional and amounts can be varied to your liking.

It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed any video games. That would be because I haven’t had time (or the will) to spend time on the consoles.

I got curious with a game that’s been all hyped up by the gaming community. It’s been getting high review scores such as 9.0 from Gamespot (9.7 from Gamespot critics) and has been labeled the most anticipated game release rah-rah-rah. I’ve become a skeptic with these types of fan-boy hype ever since Gears of War went through the same thing. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good game, but I wouldn’t rate it higher than GRAW (it’s pretty hard for a game to beat GRAW in my books).

So anyway, the point is, we downloaded the Bioshock demo last night after some initial hesitation. Hesitation because of the hype and the fact the download was over 1 gig. It’s not a bandwidth issue, it’s a I-can’t-be-arsed-waiting-for-stuff-to-download thing. Anyway, at 11:30pm, the download finished and I decided to take it for a spin before I curled up in bed.

It was quick to impress. Set back in the 1960’s, you start of (smoking!) on a plane over the Atlantic when suddenly the plane crashes and you’re in the water. It took me a good… oh… 20 seconds to realise that the game gave you control when you’re in the water (I can be daft and slow sometimes… I blame it on age). So you swim to the only place you can, this takes you to the underwater city called, Rapture.

I’d like to point out here that I’m a wuss when it comes to survival horror type games like Resident Evil. As much as I love the games, they creep me out and Bioshock certainly comes into this category.

Once you arrive in Rapture, the first thing you see is some weird monstrous creature killing another human being in some gruesome way. I’m already icked out here. Next, the same monstrous creature then jumps onto your bubble vehicle thing that was used to bring you to Rapture and makes some noise and attempts to get to you. Again I’m icked out some more, so when Atlas, the guy on the radio, tells you to exit the bubble vehicle thing, you can imagine me… “Nooo… I don’t want to… I’m scared”. Completely and illogically scared. I haven’t even gotten into the game and I want to give up. Gah!

But I push on and it’s good that I did because the very first thing one notices with Bioshock is the sheer beauty of the graphics. The style of the graphics may not be everyone’s cup of tea, it’s a weird mix of components from the old 1960’s and somewhat futuristic underwater city. But nevertheless, it’s still a great looking game.

The weaponry I encountered so far is old 1960’s style pistols and machine guns. But then you have the plasmids… which obviously aren’t old 1960’s at all but falls into the futuristic side of the graphical stylings of Bioshock.

I haven’t seen much of the enemy AI. I fought a few Splicers and saw a Big Daddy at work protecting the creepy Little Sister. There’s something about “innocent” little girls doing creepy things that seriously gives me the ickies and there seems to be a trend going on using little girls to scare the wits out of people.

I didn’t get as far as to engage a Big Daddy, although I don’t think I want to judging my what I saw it do to a Splicer that scared a Little Sister. The Splicers are really quite aggressive, they’ll come after you once they see you. I liked using the combination of Plasmid and traditional weapon (like the wrench) to beat up the Splicers, there’s something strangely satisfying about walking up to a stunned Splicer and beating the cr*p out of them.

In the end, the demo hung on me so I never got to finish it, but so far, it’s looking good. An interesting FPS set in an interesting environment.

• Bioshock information on Wikipedia
• Official Bioshock Website
• Buy Bioshock from Play Asia
• Buy Bioshock at ebay.com.au

A wonderful winter warmer, this beef goulash recipe is amazingly simple to cook and incredibly tasty. I got this recipe from Australian Better Homes and Garden, watch the segment here.

Serves 4.

Ingredients

• 3 onions, diced
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 800g osso bucco beef, diced and keep the bones
• 1 Tbs flour
• 5 cloves, chopped
• 1 tsp caraway seeds, ground
• 3 tsp Hungarian paprika
• 3 tomatoes, diced
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 potatoes

Instructions

1. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large casserole pot over high heat.
2. Brown onions then set aside.
3. Add another tablespoon olive oil to the casserole pot and add diced beef.
4. When beef is browned on all sides, add cloves, caraway seeds and Hungarian paprika and stir through for a minute.
5. Add diced tomatoes and stir through.
6. Return onion to pot, add salt, potatoes, osso bucco bones and enough water to cover the meat.
7. Simmer for 2 hours, then serve with rice, bread and/or sour cream.

Tips

The first time I made this recipe, I actually didn’t have any flour or caraway seeds in the house. I simply left out the flour and substituted the caraway seeds with ½ teaspoon of ground fennel seeds and ½ teaspoon of cumin. I’m happy to say that it still turned out mighty tasty.