Lots has been said about the new hunger bar in Minecraft, most of it bad. Typically going against the grain, I like it, Here’s why.

Last night we were playing on our SMP, detailed in… detail over at http://theblockblog.tumblr.com/

Three of us, myself, Steve and Emma went off to look at a stronghold, the first I have ever found in single or multiplayer without using a seed and coords, aka, cheating. We explored, we broke bricks, we collected things from chests, we got attacked by bastards (also known as blue spiders) and evil grey hedgehogs. We had a fun time.

After our roughly hour long adventure we rose to the surface, literally as we had dug back up under a sea, and made our way to shore. It was at this point that the hunger bar came into its full, exciting, self.

I got attacked by a skeleton whilst in the water. Now the best way to kill a skelly in Minecraft is to run up to it and beat the shit out of it till it offers a you a couple of bones and a few arrows as recompense. You try running in water… So there I am, getting shot whilst unable to get close to him and he being fully ranged not having to get close to me. Three arrows later and I was on one heart and not a full hunger bar, backing away as fast as I could move mumbling ‘No no no no!’ to myself, unable to eat less it made me even slower as I backed up and unable to regen my health!

Luckily for me I have Emma next to me in game and in real life who hears my girlie screams for mercy and I explain to her that it would be rather spiffing if she could come over to me in game and kill the mildly murderous bastard shooting at me, which she did! Phew!

In the old Minecraft, that would never have happened. I’d have had just enough time to stuff a pork chop down my throat and get instant health. In Minecraft now I may have had time to eat the chop but the arrow that flew to me as I was doing it would have taken away my last heart before it had time to regenerate. This is why the hunger bar rocks. This is why it should never be toggable. I nearly got killed by a single bloody skeleton! Embarrassing? Yes! Should be made easier again? NEVER!

about time we skinned this damn blog! When I say we, I mean Emma…

I like Windows. I make no secrets about it. I like a lot of Microsoft products despite there slightly ‘iffy’ history. They have had some bad moments but they have also had some great moments and over the years have helped to define the PC that we use today in many good ways.

Windows 7 is one of those moments. Its fast, its fairly elegant and it is very stable. I like Windows 7.

Recently Microsoft released a Developers Preview version of Windows 8, the latest in a long line of OS and one that is also aimed at the tablet market. As someone that has installed Windows betas since ’98, I jumped at the chance!

Forgetting the old saying ‘Don’t fuck up a good thing’ I plunged head first, shrunk my main partition by 30 Gigs and prayed it would dual boot with no issue against Windows 7. I was, thankfully, right in my trust.

(please excuse the photos, camera phones suck but it was quick)

The actual boot menu is a dream. I like the square cut,clean looks of 7 and 8 pushes that even more.

And then comes the first install license agreement that made us both chuckle.

Once past all the legal jargon (sorry MS I didn’t read it) we get to the meat of the OS, the desktop. And here is where it currently all falls down a little. Windows 8 is as I already mentioned, destined for Tablets alongside our humble PC. Right now the tablet design with touchscreen interface is obvious and If I had a screen that worked with it I think I would be loving it right now, but I don’t.

I love the Metro look, its cool, easy to use and play with because its like Phone 7 which I have played with but with a mouse, not so much. Luckily we have a ‘normal’ desktop option at the click of a button.

This is pretty much where your normal desktop experience ends though. Right now the Windows button just takes you back to the Metro, Tiled option. I am assuming, and probably correctly that this will change and we will have a proper start bar themed UI on the later and final release. If they do not do this then Windows 8 is essentially useless as a desktop OS.

After some work I finally found the ‘My Computer’ tile and I was a little disappointed. Ribbons. I don’t dislike ribbons but they seem to always be done wrongly. Ubuntu has ribbons and trust me, they work far better than Windows ribbons. Perhaps they will fix this, probably not though as Office has had them for a while now, unchanged.

A quick skip through some rather funky Apps, yes, they are Apps now not programs, and I found a cool game that I was crap at and an awesome Rhythm Box creation thing that I want in Windows 7 now!

The Task Manager is awesome.

A quick flick through the customise options proved that changing your Windows 8 will be as fun as actually installing the OS was, immensely and clean ‘n’ easy.

All in all, Windows 8 for a Tablet looks like a real winner. It installed incredibly easily on my Windows 7, found all my hardware, helped me pick options easier than a Ubuntu user would (which says a lot) and the actual OS is clean, bright and solid.

The pictures here really do not give a good impression but trust me, it is crisp and light and easy to use.

I am looking forward to more releases and hope they make is more desktop friendly ASAP. As I said above, right now for a normal PC environment, it is just not usable.

Lastly before booting back to 7 seamlessly, I went and downloaded Minecraft and JRE and had a quick run about on our SMP. Flawless

So, they stuck Charlie Gillmour in prison for being a bit of a dick.

Oh Britain, how low can you go? The Judge is obviously a senile old bastard with no idea of life beyond the 1940s and as for the ‘classy’ people deriding Charlie and demanding he be hung, drawn and quartered… well, my disgust for you is far beyond any disgust for Charlie cocking up and acting like an asshole.

16 months sentence for swinging on a flag and hurling abuse at royalty, in fact the Judge seemed to have a hard time getting past the flag part, never mind the other stuff. He should pop round any town centre in the UK on a Friday night, come to think of it, any bloody night, and experience the shit that goes down from the real drunken yobs (aged 15 – 80) whilst the police look politely on because they dare not get out of the van. If he threw all of them in prison then Charlie wouldn’t even have had a bed in his.

I particular liked the moment where he was disgusted that Charlie didn’t know where the Cenotaph was. I have to say that at 43 years of age and a fairly staunch supporter of the UK monarchy, I have no fucking clue where the Cenotaph is nor do I care what it stands for in the eyes of the hate filled war mongers who would happily send Charlie to death row for playing about on it.

Note to the world. It is not an offence to not care about this kind of stuff.

Now, I admit that Gillys lad was a prat and deserved some kind of punishment. From what I have seen even Charlie things he should have gotten some, however… What he ended up with is lazy, idiotic and dangerous for him and the UK in general.

Give the lad some community service. Make him feed poor people for a couple of years. That will give him humility and respect, giving him a prison sentence just lines him up for abuse and rage as he sees the failed and corrupt prison service for what it is, the easy option for the righteous.

I know you will never read this David (Gilly) or you Charlie. But my thoughts are with you both.

When I was a kid I used to love watching the original Japanese Godzilla movies, plastic actors in plastic suits stomping on cardboard miniature sets. Awesome! My love for the ‘B’ movie has never left me, from old Sci-Fi to current ‘C’ movies. Not all are great but most are never as bad as the kids say they are.

Today I re-started my passion with a list that would make Hollywood cry.

2012: Ice Age

Journey to the Centre of the Earth

30,000 Leagues Under the Sea

The Day the Earth Stopped

War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave

and last but not least, some classic ‘B’ movie action that really is quite good.

Trancers 1 – 5

I first saw Trancers back in the 80s in the local ABC cinema. This was in the day when you saw two movies for the price of one, the first was the cheap, odd film and the second being the main feature. Trancers was one of those movies that came before the featured film. It sat proudly alongside the likes of C.H.U.D. , Eraserhead and some wierd ass film about a guy who was on drugs and took the top of his skull off! It was bloody brilliant.

How different it is to the cash driven cinema of today that churns out one copy cat after another. Bring back the 80s!

I would never advise anyone to download the newer movies above but anyone out there with a passion for film and a slightly bent mind, check out Trancers, C.H.U.D. and Eraserhead ASAP.