Jonners’ Canterbury Tales

I apologise to anyone who saw a lovely hacked version of my site at some point in the last two weeks. I have now upgraded to the newest version of wordpress so we should be safe. Welcome back?

I admit it being slightly later than advertised but here is my list of the top sporting moments I witnessed in 2008.

5. Lewis Hamilton winning the 2008 F1 Drivers Championship on the last corner of the last race by overtaking Timo Glock.

4. Monaco - I could have picked Lewis’ win at Silverstone in its place where he won his home race by a minute but Monaco gets number 4 for his comeback after putting it in the wall early in the race. He kept it calm and composed and managed to get ahead of Massa and Kubica with his strategy. This was also the race where Kubica shone before his breakthrough win two weeks later in Canada.

3. rowing - Britain takes pride in its coxless four rowing team so a nation expected when it came to their final in the Olympics. With 100 metres to go they were languishing in third but their final push for the win was inspired and brilliant.

2. Olympic medal haul - First Michael Phelps got eight gold medals in one Olympic games and then the British team got their best medals haul coming in 4th with 47 medals making up for their poor showings of late.

1. Superbowl - An undeaten team vs a team whose Quarterback was still stuck in his brothers shadow. It seemed a dead cert that the New England Patriots would defeat the New York Giants to be the second team in history to have an undefeated year. It was therefore with great jubilation that I watched them fail at the last hurdle to the Giants who won the game with 14 points in the last quarter to win 17-14.

Do you agree with my list or have some problems with it? Let me know.
The films list will be up next Thursday evening (18th)

Last year I started doing charts of my favourite things each year. In 2007 I did top games and top films and I added to this with the top things that I did. This year I am going to add my top sporting memories of the year. They are going to be staggered by my trip to America with some appearing before and others after the trip. First up on the 10th December we will get my sports moments list. This will be followed on the 18th by the films of the year list. Then going into the new year we will have the memorable moments list on the 1st January and ending with the games list on the 4th January.

The rush to Christmas affects us all and the volunteers at The Café @The Centre are no exception.
The result – even fewer volunteers when we actually need more to cope with the pre-Christmas rush.
Can you please spare just a few hours to help out?
The alternative is that we will have to close at certain times.

Please call The Centre 01403 218531 during opening hours or leave a message on 01403 218821 evenings. Alternatively, e-mail info@crownbookshorsham.co.uk

Many thanks

Doug Fletcher

It is probably fair to say that most people in the western world have at one time or another played tetris. Fewer still have never heard of it. This is likely to make it one of the most popular things to ever come out of the Motherland. I certainly cannot think of another hit game to have done. Developed in 1985 by Alexey Pajitnov the game has taken the world by storm. Indeed you can get it now on pretty much any device you care to mention. For this reason it must be asked: did the wii really need a tetris game? While that answer would usually be no it is in this case a resounding yes because the team has done such a good job in turning what is usually a relatively lonely and solo experience into a party piece that everyone wants to play.
For the criminally uninformed Tetris involves slotting blocks of different shapes together to make lines which then disappear and give points. You keep playing until you reach the top of the screen at which point you lose. Therefore the aim is to get combos of multiple lines at the same time to get more points. It also gets faster as you go along.
What Tetris Party adds to this formula is a multiplayer system whereby if you remove two lines or more at a time those lines get added to the other players screen thus moving them slightly closer to the peril of the top of the screen. It also adds online battles where you frantically try and beat someone you have never met. Add into this a host of modes which include co-op play where you get a table twice the width and have to work together to clear it or stage racer where you have to race to get to the bottom of an assault course first with assorted tetris blocks.
All the modes make this the perfect game for someone who loves Tetris. Get your friends round for this game and they will enjoy it. The controls work and are functional but can get a bit of getting used to as everyone has played Tetris in different ways. For the crazy there is even the option of using a wii balance board in the game. Not having one though I couldn’t test it out.

Whether you want to play it alone or with friends Tetris party is perfect for those who enjoy the classic game. It adds a multitude of new features to the old formula some are better than others but none detract from the package. The controls take a little bit of getting used to but once you are there is no stopping you from getting as addicted as possible in another Tetris Game. Want a big sales push? You can compare your score to everyone else with the game in the world… I am 1,102 at last checking but slowly slipping down the rankings. Also the game is only 1,200 wii points which is a total of £8.50 making it amazing value for money when you consider some of the pap sold for wii at the full £39.99 price point.

Score: 10/10

It was with some apprehension that I go hold of De Blob. This game is third party in every way and by and large that style of game does not succeed on Wii at all. Happily De Blob exceeded any possible expectations I had about it. The evil Inkt corporation has drained the colour out of the colourful world of Chroma City. You play as Blob who is… a blob of paint. Genius. You are tasked with restoring colour to Chroma City to rescue its inhabitants. This involves bouncing around hitting the buildings while destroing the Inkt army.
The game itself plays well with the control stick being used to move the character around and a quick flick of the wrist making blob jump. It has its moments of pure frustration however, as when multiple enemies attack at once it often will not register all the wrist waggle causing blob just to land near his enemies and be contaminated. This is frustrating when you have done nothing to cause your own demise. If the developer had just moved jump onto a button instead of a motion the game would improve a lot. Other than this the game controls well and it is easy to make the camera point to where you want it to.
The game world is gorgeous in de blob, certainly it looks a bit funky when you have things painted in different colours but this is possibly the best game I have ever played for artistic style. The city is amazing and truly helps the game in every way with no faults whatsoever. Sound design is coupled to this as well with the music depending on what colour blob is and also on the musical style selected at the start of the level.
The game revolves around high scores once the game is completed you are encouraged to go back through and aim for bigger scores in each area. Points are gained from buildings painted and challenges completed. Challenges are set for you by other members of the resistance and include races, battles, converting landmarks and painting things in a theme. It is easy enough to complete a level with a bronze rating as you do not even necesarily have to take on the INKT fortress at the end of each level to complete it but that would mean missing out on some of the best parts of the game.
There are many colours you can make blob that all come from the primary colours (blue, red and yellow) with these you can make him orange, green, purple and brown some challenges require you to be a certain colour to complete them but there is always plenty of paint dotted around the levels for you to use.
The game will take about 10 hours to complete the first time around but there is definitely replay value to be found here. There is also a multiplayer mode which feels a little tacked on. It could be broader and have more modes but it is a fun game to play if you are having friends over.

In conclusion then, De Blob is definitely one of the top third party efforts on the wii console. It brings a very unique and brilliant artistic style and some very fitting music. The game falls down slightly on the control front thanks to an underactive bit of jump waggle that should have just seen the function placed on a button. This is a minor gripe, however, in a game that I generally loved. The lack of depth in the multiplayer is not a big problem either as lets be honest you wouldn’t buy it for the multiplayer but for an amazing experience with a perfect and unique artistic style

8/10

Obviously these last few months I have not been able to make a daily diary here. I will therefore in future be changing its focus. It will move from being a diary to a place for musings and announcements. Stories and interesting things that are going on. This should make me actually want to update it more often. Remember also to check http://talote.co.uk which is improving all the time.

A pioneer of ethical business who dedicated his life to environmental issues and social reporting has died.

Alistair Townley, founder of Ethical Performance magazine, died on Thursday 30 October, aged 51.

His friend and colleague, Pete Mason, co-founder and editor of Ethical Performance, said Townley was a pioneer of environmental journalism, who helped move the green movement forward.

‘Alistair got into green issues when he was a gardener and he transformed himself to become a pioneer of environmental journalism in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s,’ he said.

‘When he founded Ethical Performance, it went from strength to strength. It was spreading the word of social return on investment, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and social entrepreneurialism. CSR was always going to take off, but without Ethical Performance, there would have been no central place for people to get the information they needed. It made him a social entrepreneur in a sense.

‘I wouldn’t say he was an activist, but he definitely oiled the wheels of the movement.’

Townley set up Ethical Performance with Mason in 1999 after a career working on numerous publications, including the Green Gauge newsletter and Green Magazine, which was sold in supermarkets and gave advice about ethical shopping.

His interest in social responsibility came with his involvement with Ethical Investment Research Services (EIRIS).

This vast career made Townley a key figure in the movement and he was respected among his peers, who included high-profile names such as Anita Roddick of the Body Shop and television horticulturist David Bellamy.

Mason said: ‘He was always coming up with ideas and he was very dedicated to his work.

‘I think he would like to be remembered at his countryside home in Stodmarsh, Canterbury, surrounded by his work and his family.’

Tim West, editor of Social Enterprise, paid tribute to Townley: ‘Alistair was a true pioneer both as a publisher and in his passion for ethical business. When it launched in the UK nearly ten years ago, Ethical Performance broke new ground, recognised a new marketplace and managed to marry good journalism and commercial knowhow with a commitment to making a difference.

‘Alistair and Pete’s magazine, and the other publications and initiatives they developed around it, established their publishing company Dunstan’s as a real force for change in the way business is done on an international scale. For this and for being a talented but genuine businessman in a world over populated by sharks and cynics, Alistair deserves our huge respect and applause.’

Townley is survived by his partner Jane and their two daughters, aged 11 and 13.

Article to be found here

A few weeks ago Bernie Ecclestone got rid of the Canadian Grand Prix. I can only assume that the money has once again gone to his head. Because in doing so he got rid of my favourite grand prix and also the only grand prix in north America. I commented on this on the BBC. My view was their published user quote:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7662879.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7657014.stm
Does this make me an F1 pundit?

Now I’m no expert but I am pretty sure this is not how to get votes:

Mass Effect on XBOX360 was one of the big releases of 2007. In May 2008 the game was released on PC with better graphics and bugs from the original fixed. The game see’s you traversing the galaxy as Commander Shephard of the Alliance military. Being an RPG he/she can look how you want them to look and have a set of attibutes you can work towards. The game hinges on choices made in dialogue and in battle and can often provide quite a challenge as you seek to take out the threat to the galaxy.

The games does very well with the depth given to most characters and the sheer number of people you can talk to who give you things to do. You lead a team of three on missions around different planets in what is a large galaxy of around 50 planets. The problem with this is that the main quest only uses about six of these planets and some of the others you are unable to land on. If the number of missions was larger then you can be sure that the game would take longer than 13 hours to complete. 13 hours is not a bad length for a game but in Mass Effect this basically is just 5 missions. You start off with 3 missions which then funnel into the other two which makes it feel like the game is far too short. While I understand the need to stick to a plot it would be nice if there were other leads to follow up instead of it being a relatively straight forward romp.

The game also features a good and evil section to it although for the life of me I cannot work out the point of this, possibly this is done my usual do gooder self not wanting to cap someone I have gotten to know in the face.

The seemingly shortness of the main story and the slightly pointless feature are about the only bad points I can give for Mass effect, the squad controls are the best I have played. The combat is 95% of the time spot on. The worlds you visit (although there are not many) are different and varied like its characters. Another thing I would have liked is the ability to travel the galaxy after the main quest is complete, just so you can go and explore the areas you didn’t see. Basically they have completed a brilliant and immersive world which you just don’t want to leave so it is a shame when the credits role and you are chucked out to the loading screen.

In conclusion then Mass Effect presents a deep and involving world which just doesn’t prove long enough to satisfy, when you realise you are nearing the end it hurts because you feel like you are just getting into it. The graphics and characters are brilliant. The controls work with all the bugs fixed from the 360 game and really I don’t have a single complaint outside of the games short running time. The difficulty is good, often very challenging and Bioware can be pleased with this game. I just can’t wait now for the sequel which is hopefully coming.

9/10

Went to work today and had a nice day of it. When I got home I played F1 and then in the evening drove to Kent Uni to pick up my wife. This is where things go annoying, my phone hasn’t been working perfectly. Well tonight it decided it couldn’t access the phone or any of my contact information… which is fun. So therefore with Kent being a big campus I did not really know where Beth was. I found the college she said she was in relatively quickly and then wandered around the whole building trying to find an entrance to the bar. Failing that I went in the main entrance and wandered about looking for the bar. Eventually I found Beth and we headed to the bar in another college which serves Mexican food. We got an enchilada, nachos and potato wedges. Beth’s meal was the potato wedges, she wanted something small but instead we got a huge plate of nachos to share and a huge bowl of potato wedges. The food tasted very good and was student price. We will have to go back as it was very nice.

I got up early this morning and started talking to my father on MSN as is often the case on Saturday morningsas he gets up as early as I do. The rest of the morning was spent waiting for Beth to wake up. In the afternoon we went out for lunch with Ben and Tash, we were meant to also be meeting other couples from the Canterbury pentecostal church but I guess they don’t have any young couples as no-one showed up. Oh well it was a nice meal for the four of us anyway.
At 2pm I watched qualifying which originally happened at 6 am but I was not going to be getting up that early considering I am getting up early tomorrow for the race itself. The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around town spending as little money as possible and then heading home to watch England beat Kazakhstan 5-1 in a not so convincing way considering the scoreline. In the evening we watched My Name is Early and finished the James May show on robots.

I am obviously weird for liking Formula One so much but the news today that the Canadian Grand Prix has been dropped from the 2009 calendar should annoy even those with a passing interest. The Canadian Grand Prix has always been perfect, it is a track that has everything you need, it challenges the drivers and the tracks and it can always throw up an interesting and entertaining race. Lewis Hamilton got his first win there and this year he made himself look like a prat having dominated the weekend to that point.

Put simply the Canadian grand prix is my second favourite track in the world behind only Brands Hatch. So therefore for it to be removed from the calendar is horrid for me as Brands doesn’t have a race. This decision brings into question the choosing of Grand Prix and where they are held. Certainly expand into new markets but don’t flood them, why do we need a race in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. Why do we need races in China, Japan and Singapore. Why do we need two races in Spain especially when the newest, Valencia is piss poor. The Canadian Grand Prix is probably the only track in the calendar where overtaking is guarenteed. To see it gone really is a sad day for F1. Sod off Bernie.

So, for the last couple of weeks I have been thinking about how much I like each of the teams in the Premier League. So here is the initial list, I may update it in future as teams move around.

1. Fulham FC
2. Arsenal
3. Liverpool
4. Portsmouth
5. Hull City
6. Aston Villa
7. Tottenham Hotspur
8. West Ham United
9. Stoke City
10. Blackburn
11. Wigan Athletic
12. West Bromwich Albion
13. Manchester United
14. Chelsea
15. Sunderland
16. Middlesborough
17. Bolton Wanderers
18. Everton
19. Manchester City
20. Newcastle United

I must admit it was difficult to decide the middle teams as I am quite indifferent about some of them. Anyway… discuss.