some images id like to share.

Forgot that I used to draw a lot. remembered recently. drew the dog, twice. just gona put em up here as a place to keep them.

Sleeping pug and awake pug

Skyrim Vs Dark Souls.My opinion on these 2 big fantasy epics.

                                                                                  VS

Ok so before I begin this. id like to make it very clear that I have played both these games top to bottom, explored them profusely and yes, they are both awesome. The reviews are right, and Skyrim is a brilliant piece of next generation gaming, beautiful in its scope and epic. the reviews claim Dark souls is impenetrable, hard as nails and a triumpth in gaming. both statements are very true. However, im going to relay the reasons that I believe Dark Souls deserves more accolades,  and that it has been painfully overshadowed by Skyrim this winter, and possibly indefinately.

Skyrim is a huge open world game, the graphics are gorgeous and there is so much to explore and do you could indeed spend 100s of hours within it playing the game. I personally gave Skyrim over 80 hours, and while doing so managed to achieve the full 1000G. it wasnt exactly challenging but it was fun, time consuming, and it was worth my effort in buying the game. Its a better peice of software than Oblivion ever was, and I believe its because it takes all the best bits from the 2 Fallout games and melds it all together to make the perfect bethesda open world game.  You start as Dragonborn, end as dragonborn and you are a god amongst men. That however is my main problem with Skyrim. You are indeed without a doubt the most powerful being in the game. after levelling up enough you can destroy dragons with a few hits, shout at them to bring them down, and virtually every enemy in the game you can annihilate. There is no consequence for dying because you can save at any point, and just do it again. Sure, its fun and it means you dont have to repeat but it does kind of eliminate challenge. Glitches plague the game the same way they did New Vegas also. and this in itself can be a big issue sometimes, removing the realism and immersion. Still, the game does make up for it, by its fun quests, its NPC characters and the amount of effort and detail put into the background, such as all the books that are fully readable for example and the daedric quests which I found to be the most fun in the whole game. So to sum up Skyrim, I loved it. It had all the right elements. However, I believe it epitomises all that is currently an issue to me with all the latest games released in the last 2 years and this brings me to my next point. The differences between these 2 games.

Dark Souls. Yes. It is indeed as difficult as it says it is, and it is utterly impenetrable...but spend enough time within it and something becomes very clear. As I said with Skyrim that as dragonborn, you are the most powerful creature within the game, with Dark Souls it is literally the opposite. You begin as the lowest of worms. Everything you encounter is either hostile, or unfriendly. and even after putting the first 10 hours in, if you can last that long, you come to realise that virtually every other being within the game wants you dead. you literally live within fear of staying alive long enough to explore the next area. but you see, if this sounds unpleasant and not fun to you then your missing the point. Dying has been used in gaming for years as a submission of failure. you die, and clearly youve done something badly or wrongly. this is true for Dark souls, if you die, its your own fault. However, unlike other games, Dark souls uses Dying a core game mechanic. Without dying endlessly, and without learning...the groove of that certain area, then you simply cant progress. Why? Because when you kill something, you gain souls. Souls are used to level up, which in turn makes you more powerful. So the game essentially forces you into suffering and grinding souls. because when you die your souls are left in the exact spot where you die, so you have to kill all the bad guys again to get there, and therefore your souls duplicate. Once you recover the souls, you can return to your save point (called bonfires) and hopefully use the amount you have gained to level up, and use the next powerful weapon you have obtained to make it easier for yourself. Only through learning the layout of the level, and becoming powerful enough to remove the enemies can you hope to progress, and move forward to the next bonfire. The story of the game is very minimal, almost non existent, but it is there and its dark. its fantasy, just like skyrim, in a similar world, but its a grimy, gritty, evil world that wants you wiped from it.

Basically, Dark souls epitomises old school, hardcore gaming. The days when Megadrive games were the norm, and you regularly got all the way to that bit in level 6, then got taken out because you hadnt been there yet and fell down a hole or got killed by a bad guy you didnt know existed. Later in the game you come across bosses 10 times your size, that without learning the patterns of their attacks, you have no hope of succeeding,just like the old games. The word is Challenge. It poses a challenge within a game that I personally haven't come across since yes, the early days of gaming. It harkens back to those days where you had to learn the layout of the level in order to beat it on repeat visits. where there no saving at any point, Dark souls uses a save system where you have to get yourself to the next bonfire in order to progress, until later on when you can warp to previous ones. So you cant just save when you want, you cant even pause. the developers have crafted a game of pure warped genius.

Skyrim is a next generation console game that despite its many many good points, poses no challenge or threat, because you are the most powerful being in the game. Dark souls is a next generation game where you are the downtrodden piece of turd on the shoe on every single enemy or indeed everything you encounter. But heres the big difference, when you endure, suffer, grind and finally become powerful within Dark Souls, you can literally own every one of those bad guys that once proved a challenge, yet...if your not careful enough, you can still be killed by a rat if its faster than you.

To sum up. If Skyrim is this:

Dark souls is this:

Grim.

Ok...Video games of 2011.

Now, this is the first post here since the original one that I havnt copied and pasted. This year for me has been a lot about video games. ive played way too fucking many of them, and wasted a lot of hours playing them. there are not many of my friends that I can talk to about games, because none of them waste quite as much time playing them. a new years resolution for me will be to cut down, in all honesty. for my sanity, let alone the fact that ive spent more time playing xbox than I have looking for a decent job. I cant think of any big games to look forward to next year either, they all came out this year! Im going to try and put together a top 10, but a lot of the time its lost in the midst of time. I believe these are the ones that enveloped my life the most.


Dark Souls
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Batman: Arkham City
Dead Space 2
Alice: Madness Returns
Crysis 2
Portal 2
Ms Splosion Man


I am planning to put together a blog gushing about Dark souls VS Skyrim. The two games just need to be compared. haha

2011..Music, or how I learned to love being poor. haha!

Quiet year for music. very quiet. been more interested in other things I think. Anyway, despite that, I do have a top 10 albums of the year. and they are....

Rival Sons - Pressure & Time
The Answer - Revival
Altar of Plagues - Mammal
40 Watt Sun - the inside room
The Wounded Kings - In The Chapel of the Black hand
Florence & the Machine - ceremonials
Edguy - Age of the Joker
Pentagram - Last Rites
Solstafir - Svartir Sandar
Communic - The Bottom Deep

Worthy mentions -

Explosions in the Sky - take care take care take care
Primordial - Redemption at the puritans hand
Hour of 13 - The Ritualist

As for concerts, ive been to very few. The best however were:

Godlfesh in london
high voltage - Neurosis
Kyuss Lives in wolverhampton
Saxon at leamington
Rush at the NEC
Church of Misery and witchsorrow at London underworld
Anathema at Leamington
Melvins in Birmingham
Primordial, Kreator, Forbidden at Bloodstock
Deep Purple at the NEC

I say the best, they were it. hahah!

My Albums of the year from 1969 to 2011

1969 - The Rolling Stones - Let it Bleed
1970 - Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
1971 - Alice Cooper - Killer
1972 - Black Sabbath - Vol 4
1973 - Free - Heartbreaker
1974 - Nazareth - Loud N Proud
1975 - Pink Floyd - Wish you were Here
1976 - Rush - 2112
1977 - AC/DC - Let There Be Rock
1978 - Bruce Springsteen - darkness on the edge of town
1979 - Motorhead - Overkill
1980 - Black Sabbath - Heaven And Hell
1981 - Iron Maiden - Killers
1982 - Witchfinder General - Death Penalty
1983 - Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind
1984 - Saint Vitus - S/T
1985 - Celtic Frost - To Mega Therion
1986 - Saint Vitus - Born too late
1987 - Pentagram - Day of Reckoning
1988 - Napalm Death - From Enslavement To Obliteration
1989 - The Cult - Sonic Temple
1990 - Winter - Into Darkness
1991 - Cathedral - Forest of Equillibrium
1992 - Solitude Aeturnus - beyond the crimson horizon
1993 - Sleep - Holy Mountain
1994 - The Obsessed - The Church Within
1995 - Saint Vitus - Die Healing
1996 - Neurosis - Through Silver in Blood
1997 - Electric Wizard - Come My Fanatics
1998 - Burning Witch - Crippled Lucifer
1999 - Anathema - Judgement
2000 - Electric Wizard - Dopethrone
2001 - Neurosis - A Sun That Never Sets
2002 - Isis - Oceanic
2003 - Killing Joke - Killing Joke
2004 - Witchcraft - Witchcraft
2005 - Primordial - The Gathering Wilderness
2006 -  Celtic Frost - Monotheist
2007 - Wolves In The Throne Room - Two Hunters
2008 -  Esoteric - The Maniacal Vale
2009 - Altar Of Plagues - White Tomb
2010 - Anathema - Were here because were here
2011 - Rival Sons - Pressure & Time

First task, Live bands! the whole list.

My first task will be to place everything important that I have on Lastfm, on here too. it just makes things easier in the longrun. Below is a list of every live band I have ever seen. Im pretty sure theres a whole lot more lost in the mists of time, but this will do for now. its mainly for me to document it for the future. Ok, its a long list. Here we go!

hedpe x 2 
papa roach x 2
staind 
fear factory 
queens of the stone age
boy hits car 
system of a down x 3 
marilyn manson 
the cult 
Eminem 
Ill nino 
machine head 
american head charge x 2 
in flames 
one minute silence 
slipknot 
Autonomy 
dillinger escape plan 
pulse ultra 
Black label society
Skindred 
mad capsule markets 
danko jones 
cradle of filth 
lost prophets 
Slayer 
kittie
Tool
Ozzy osbourne 
Opeth 
Arch enemy X 2
Withering surface 
The Darkness 
The Wildhearts
Alec empire 
Eighties matchbox b-line disaster 
Lightyear
36 crazyfists 
Five pointe O 
Killswitch Engage 
Millionaire 
Queens of the stone age 
Dogs D'amour
Quireboys 
Thunder 
Alice Cooper 
Tangaroa 
Mistress x 3 
JOR 
The Great Deciever 
Napalm Death 
Little Hell 
Amen X 2 
The Haunted 
Stampin ground X 2
December 
Satyricon 
Khold 
Johnny Truant 
27 
ISIS 
Madder mortem 
Opeth 
Zimmers hole 
Devin Townsend band 
Strapping young Lad 
Dragon Force 
3 Stages of Pain
Palehorse X 2
Chimaira 
Reef 
Sepultura 
Funeral For A Friend 
Ministry 
Deftones X 2 
Iron Maiden 
Revolution smile 
Insane Clown Posse 
Beecher 
Cult Of Luna 
Dillinger Escape plan
Desecration
Abgott
Amputated
Funeral for a friend 
Iron Maiden 
Capricorns 
DJ speedranch 
Aeroegramme 
ISIS 
Mistress
Defiled 
Cadaver 
Mayhem
Opeth 
Viking Skull 
Akercocke 
Burst 
Ikara Colt 
The International Noise Conspiracy 
Cradle of Filth 
Sum41 
Powder 
Breed 77 
Turbonegro 
Soulfly 
The Black Dahila Murder 
Machine Head 
Slipknot 
Slayer
Metallica 
Cathedral
Broadzilla
Orange Goblin 
Tokyo Dragons 
Winnebago Deal 
Textures x 2
Alchemist X 2
Cult of Luna x 2
Watain
Dissection
Arcturus
Enslaved
Grimfist
Red Harvest
Neurosis


Wow, now this list is old. this list ENDED in begining of 2004 by the looks of things, and it seems to have started in 2001 when i went to reading.so ive got a full list there up to download 2004 and just after starting in 2001. i can base this on tickets ive found. ill start the next bit from 2005 onwards


2005
This is Download 05:
Queen Adreena
Fozzy 
Lordi
Megadeth
Paradise lost
Napalm death
Mad capsule markets 
Open hand
Anthrax
Lamb of God
Chimaira
In Flames
Black Sabbath
3 Inches of Blood 
As I Lay dying
Killswitch Engage
Nightwish
Slayer
80s matchbox bline disaster
Funeral for a Friend
MC5
Therapy?
Motorhead 
System Of a Down


After and before download in 2005 i saw:


Edguy
Paradise Lost
Children Of Bodom
Black Sabbath (At Aylsbury with 1000 others)
Danzig
Megadeth
Mindless Self indulgence
Static-x (in florida)
Diamond Head X 2
Witchfynde
Bronz
Jaguar
Preying Mantis
Mastodon
Nine Inch Nails X 2
Opeth (again)
Akercocke
The Haunted
Electric Eel shock
The Answer
Tokyo Dragons
The Sound Explosion
Dragonforce
High on Fire
Winnebago Deal
Paradise Lost
Octavia Seperarti
Leaves eyes
Vader
Lost Soul
The Prodigy
Enslaved
Dio
Isis 
Iron Maiden (at hammersmith)






2006
At download 06 (according to a timetable i had created) memory serves this is who i saw that year:


Amplifier
Gojira
Strapping Young Lad
Clutch
Cathedral
Tool
Down
Satyricon
Arch Enemy
Opeth
Killing Joke
Metallica (think i watched killing joke instead but caught the end)
Zico Chain
In Flames
Lacuna Coil
Lordi
Sick of It all
Guns and Roses


Ok, so 2006 also had seperate gigs:


Paradise Lost
Anathema X 2
HIM
Cave In
Pelican
Zico chain
Whitesnake
Isis X 2
High On fire
Broadcast
Final
Una Corda
Thrones
Circulus
Cathedral
Electric Wizard X 2
Nebula
The Sword
Helloween
Stratovarius
Down
Church of Misery
Moho
Unearthly Trance
Ramesees 
Soilwork
Keep of Kalessin
Insomnium
Satryicon
Mogwai
Abominable Iron Sloth
Gentlemans Pistols
Jecano
Cryptopsy
Aborted
Grave
Enslaved
Zyklon
Dismember
Entombed
Grave
Unleashed
Orange Goblin
Anathema 
Wolverine
Motorhead
Clutch



2006 also included Wacken and Bloodstock:


Wacken:
Arch Enemy
Atheist
Celtic Frost
Children of bodom
Danko Jones
Emperor
Fear Factory
Gamma ray
Korpiklaani
legion of the damned
Ministry
Morbid Angel
Mortal Sin
Motörhead
Primal Fear
Rose Tattoo
Soilwork
Whitesnake
Wintersun


bloodstock 06:


Atheist
Metal Church
Edguy
Ensiferum
Bal Sagoth
Turisas
Callenish circle
Stratovarius
Gorilla Monsoon.


2007


wow, 2006 was a big year. i was at university though so i saw a lot of bands. theres probably more, theres gigs i went to and didnt get tickets for. 2007 was a big one too, but i skipped download and went to sweden rock. ill list the festivals first, then the seperate gigs.


Sweden Rock 2007:


Amon Amarth
Axel Rudi Pell
Black Oak Arkansas
Blind Guardian
Dark Tranquillity
Dimmu Borgir
Focus
Heaven & Hell
Iced Earth
Kreator
Krux
Meat Loaf
Motörhead
Pretty Maids
Quiet Riot
Quireboys
Scorpions med Uli Jon Roth
The Answer
The Australian Pink Floyd Show
Trouble
Tyr
U.D.O


Wacken 2007:


Benedictum, 
Blind Guardian,
Destruction, 
Dimension Zero, 
Dimmu Borgir,
Enslaved, 
Gutbucket,
Grave Digger, 
In Flames,
Iced Earth, 
J.B.O.,
Moonsorrow,
Municipal Waste,
Overkill, 
Possessed, 
Rose Tattoo, 
Sabbat, 
Sacred Reich,
Secrets of the Moon, 
Sodom, 
The Answer
Stratovarius, 
Subway to Sally, 
Suidakra, 
Swallow the Sun, 
Therion
Type O Negative


Bloodstock 2007:


Firewind
Testament
Korpiklaani
Nevermore
Dark Tranquillity
Lacuna coil
Benediction
finntroll
Dream Evil
Sabbat
Arch Enemy
In Flames


Hard rock Hell 2007:
Finntroll, My Dying Bride, Turisas, Tesla, Diamond Head, Girlschool, ChthoniC, Sabbat, Grand Magus.


Seperate gigs:


To-mera
Celtic Frost
Kreator
Watain
Isis
Oxbow
Napalm Death
Trouble
Unsane
Fu Manchu
Truckfighters
Divine Heresy
Hacride
Lucero
Taint
Desecration
Warning
Imindain
The River
Jesu 
Mono


2008


so now we hit this year. Festival season hasnt begun, so this is easy to compile.


My Ruin
Dark Tranquillity
Municipal Waste
Primordial
Grand Magus
Mael mordha
Orange Goblin
Dillinger Escape plan
Between the buried and me
Boris
The Sword
Saviours
Down
Sahg
Trouble
Today is the Day
Jucifer
Impaled
Origin
Alanis Morissette
Morbid Angel
Black Sun
Guapo
Thrones
Justice Yeldham
Oxbow
The Heads
Orthodox
Asva
Earth
Red sparowes
Arnocorps
Gravetemple
Trigger The Bloodshed
Meshuggah
Stone Gods
Airbourne
Anathema
Haxan
Esoteric




And thats it. up to date, probably missing a few...but as comprehenisve as i can get it.




Wacken 2008:


Mustache
Nashville Pussy
Primordial
The Rotted
Children Of Bodom
Avantasia
Massacre
Van Canto
Corvus Corax
Cynic
Obituary
Exodus
Kreator
At The Gates
Lordi


Bloodstock 08:


Helloween 
Akercocke 
Praying Mantis 
Communic 
Swallow The Sun 
Eluveitie 
Nightwish 
At the Gates 
Overkill 
Grand Magus 
Alestorm 
Crowning Glory 
Heaven's Basement 
Witchsorrow
Ted Maul
Serotonal
Adam Bomb


2009


Wolves In the Throne Room
Taint
Napalm Death
Judas Priest
Testament
Megadeth
Dornenreich
Agalloch
Church Of Misery
Firebird
Unearthly Trance
Witchcraft 
Graveyard
Faith No More
The Subways
The Answer
AC/DC


Hellfest
Watertank
Squealer
Melechesh
Kylesa
Entombed
Wasp
Anthrax
Heaven & Hell
Saint Vitus
Motley Crue
Vader
Clutch
Amebix
Gojira
Enslaved
Killing Joke
Adagio
Volbeat
Wolves in the throne room
Destruction
Ufomammut
Orange Goblin
Queensryche
Mastodon
Electric Wizard
Manowar


BOA 09


ARCH ENEMY
CARCASS
MILLION DOLLAR RELOAD
SAXON
KATATONIA
MUNICIPAL WASTE
ENTOMBED
CANDLEMASS
KREATOR
EUROPE
SATYRICON
ANATHEMA
TURISAS


2010


Nazareth
Oliver Dawson Saxon
Tygers of Pan Tang
Mick Taylor Band
Praying Mantis
Saint Vitus
Orange Goblin
Imogen Heap
Obituary 
Persphone
Cathedral
Church of Misery 
Gates of Slumber
Lord Vicar
Mono
Rose Kemp
Eyehategod
Anathema
The Eighties Matchbox Bline Disaster x 2
Converge
Gaza
Kylesa
A Storm of Light
Winterfylleth
Wodensthrone
Sigh
Crippled Black Phoenix
UFO
Helloween
Jaguar
Stratovarius
Marseille
Airbourne
Saxon
Neurosis
Saint Vitus




]Roadburn


Altar Of Plagues
Comus
Church of Misery
Eyehategod
Death Row
Darkspace
Enslaved
Goatsnake
Garcia Plays Kyuss
Jarboe
Jex Thoth
Witchcraft
Trypticon
Moss
Nachmystium
Pagan Altar
Sarke
Sons of Otis
The Machine
Samsara Blues Experiment
The Wounded Kings
YOB


Download Sunday


3 Inches of Blood
FM
Switchfoot
Saxon
Cinderella
Napalm Death
The Damned Things
Dillinger Escape Plan
Porcupine Tree
Airbourne
Aerosmith


High Voltage


Cathedral
Saxon
Heaven & Hell ‘A Tribute To Ronnie James Dio'
ZZ Top


2011:


Uriah Heep
Girlschool
Larry Miller
Fu manchu
Kyuss lives
Anathema X 2
Saxon
Rush


Bloodstock:
Wasp
Kreator
Forbidden
Therion
Immortal
Hell
Primordial
Motorhead


DRI
Goatsnake
Godflesh
Witchsorrow
Church Of Misery
Pentagram