Happy New Year!

Wishing you all the very best for 2008 from here in Thailand, wherever you are! :-)

Desktop Wallpapers in my main website

In addition to all the free fun and games in my main site (Dan-Dare.org), there are also loads of free desktop wallpaper images to choose from for use as the background picture on your computer. Categories include video games, cartoons, movies and TV. Here are some of the most popular ones (almost all of which also have at least one related Flash game too):

Star Wars
Harry Potter
Sonic the Hedgehog
Super Mario Brothers
Super Smash Bros.
Donkey Kong
Futurama
Scooby-Doo
Wacky Races
Tom and Jerry
The Simpsons
The Simpsons Movie
Megaman
Thunderbirds
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
D.C. and Marvel
The Matrix
Star Trek
Shrek
Pirates of the Caribbean
Disney/Pixar
Looney Tunes
Pokemon
SpongeBob Squarepants
Avatar
Garfield
The Muppets
Transformers
Power Rangers
South Park
Astroboy
Betty Boop

Updated "Special Fun Pages" in my main website

I have made some updates to many of the "Special Fun Pages" - i.e. pages that contain images, animated GIFs / sprites, music, movie clips and more - in my main website (Dan-Dare.org), plus I've also added a new page (Wacky Races) to the list:

Star Wars Movie Series, Star Wars Animated GIF Movie Clips

Harry Potter Movie Series, Harry Potter Book Series

Sonic the Hedgehog

Super Mario Brothers, Super Mario Bros. Movie

Sonic and Mario Bonuses, More Sonic and Mario Bonuses,
Extra Sonic and Mario Bonuses, Even More Mario Bonuses

Futurama, Red Dwarf

Hanna-Barbera (The Flintstones, Scooby Doo, Wacky Races, etc.), The Banana Splits

Tom and Jerry

The Simpsons, The Simpsons Movie

Megaman

More Games-Related Images and Music, Even More Games-Related Images

Thunderbirds

I hope you enjoy them. As always, I will be adding to them as time goes by.

Back in wonderful Thailand once more

Hooray! I am back in the lovely "land of smiles" after the unplanned trip to England last month. Lucky me! :->

Two new Flash games: Sonic Rush Adventure and Super Mario World

Here are two brilliant new Flash games for you to enjoy - one Sonic the Hedgehog (based on Sonic's latest game for the Nintendo DS - "Sonic Rush Adventure") and one Super Mario Brothers (based on the classic "Super Mario World"):

  Sonic Rush Adventure Flash

  New Super Mario Flash

You can play these games plus 100's more in my fun and games website.

A Flash online game that's like Grand Theft Auto...

...well, like GTA2 anyway, with it's top-down viewpoint rather than a full 3D eye-level view. But it's still great fun and free to play...

You can find it in my fun and games website, or you can play it directly via this link: Gangster Life (GTA2)

Disney/Pixar's Ratatouille is finally released in England!

We don't half get mucked about and ripped off here in England. Not only do we have to put up with being one of the most expensive countries in the world to live in and go shopping in (whilst also being a cold and wet place for most of the year), we also have to put up with getting many top American movies much later than seems fair or reasonable - we do speak almost exactly the same language after all, so there's no dubbing or subtitle issues.

Disney/Pixar's "Ratatouille" is the latest example of this. It was officially released in cinemas here today. And yet it was released in cinemas (sorry, movie theatres) in the US on June 29th. That's almost 4 months later! Good grief.

Anyway, better late than never I suppose. Being a huge Disney/Pixar fan, I'm off to see it ASAP...

Here are three Ratatouille Flash games (which also include desktop wallpapers) from my fun and games website to celebrate:

Ratatouille: Grab the Grub

Ratatouille: Match the Batch

Ratatouille: Marionette Madness

Unplanned return to England

Had to come back to England suddenly because my dear old Nan died on the 3rd of this month. Joyce Millicent Inns (nee Tarrant) was 86. She played a large and very positive part in my upbringing, and I am forever grateful to her for that. Miss you Nan.

She was taken ill a few weeks before her passing, and the earliest I could sort out flying back from Thailand was, as it sadly turned out, 3 days too late. Sorry Nan.

I no longer have any surviving grandparents. It feels very weird. All my life I have had grandparents, including great-grandparents when I was very young, and they imparted much valuable wisdom to me with their knowledge of so many "old ways" (and usually totally correct ways) of doing things.

Priceless treasured memories.

Dan Dare returns!

It appears to be true then, going by all the news appearing on the web (e.g. The Times Online, August 29, 2007) - Dan Dare is finally set to return in new comic-strip adventures for the first time in a great many years! Hoorah!! Dan Dare is my favourite of favourites.

Apparently, Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Comics company is to publish a new Dan Dare comic-book starting this November. I hope it sticks as closely as possible to the spirit of Frank Hampson's original 1950 creation rather than re-invents the character as other newer versions have done. It seems very likely it will be of a high standard anyway, what with Sir Richard having been a boyhood fan of the original Dan Dare, and with renowned comic-book author Garth Ennis writing the new series. Happy days indeed for this Dan Dare fan, that's for sure!

See my Dan Dare websites for more information about the original version of the character: Dan-Dare.org, Dan-Dare.net and DanDare.org.uk.

Back in Thailand again...

...staying in Bangkok, where it is raining every day, just as it was in England for the whole 2 months I was there. It is of course a lot warmer here than it was in the UK.

I am lucky enough to have had a few days free of my ongoing website work recently, and I did the "tourist" thing, exlporing Bangkok properly for the first time despite having been coming here for over 4 years now - I never had enough spare time before. I have to say that I think it is one of the loveliest cities in the whole world - the royal palaces, the Buddhist monasteries and the floating markets are wonderful to see, cruising around the river and the canals is really relaxing and fun, and there are so many excellent shopping areas that even I (pretty much a confirmed "non-shopper") enjoyed browsing around.

Here is a really informative website to visit if you want to know more: www.bangkok.com

Movies to watch and games to play

In addition to the Ratatouille and other Disney/Pixar games I mentioned in my blog last month (see "Ratatouille, and other Disney/Pixar movies"), here are some more of my favourite games related to 4 other recent, current and upcoming movies:

  Shrek: Concentration

  Harry Potter: Staircase Game

  The Simpsons Home Interactive

  Transformers: The Energon Within

As always, you can play these games and 100's more in my fun and games website.

Thierry Henry is leaving Arsenal Football Club!

Having been a fan of Arsenal for over 30 years, it came as a great surprise to me to learn yesterday of the sudden decision to allow the club's captain and greatest ever goal-scorer, Thierry Henry, to leave so that he can join arch-European rivals Barcelona. The main reason this news surprised me was that only last year Thierry pledged the rest of his career to Arsenal. An interesting new definition of the word "pledge", that's for sure.

It's particularly sad news for me (and all other Arsenal fans I'm sure), because Thierry has truly graced the sport here in England with his amazing footballing skills and gentlemanly conduct for eight seasons now. He has been a joy to watch, and is one of the greatest players ever, of that there can be no doubt. I am so sorry to see him go. I would just like to say a huge thank you to Thierry for all the wonderful memories he has left me with. I wish him and his family all the very best with the new venture.

I hope the Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, knows what he is doing. It seems to me to be a very risky decision to let Thierry leave. But I'll keep faith with the boss, for now anyway...

Ratatouille, and other Disney/Pixar movies

The pending release of Disney/Pixar's newest movie, "Ratatouille (rat-a-too-ee)" is something I am really looking forward to. Like a great many people all over the world, I love all the Pixar movies to date - "Toy Story" (1995), "A Bug's Life" (1998), "Toy Story 2" (1999), "Monsters Inc." (2001), "Finding Nemo" (2003), "The Incredibles" (2004) and "Cars" (2006) - but from what I have seen of the official trailers, this latest offering looks to be their best one yet.

I have included some Flash games in my fun and games website based on Ratatouille and all the other Pixar movies:

Ratatouille: Grab the Grub

Ratatouille: Match the Batch

Cars: Lightning McQueen's Desert Dash

Cars: Luigi's Casa Della Tires

The Incredibles: Thin Ice

Finding Nemo: Cruisin' with Crush

Monsters, Inc.: Mike's Memory Game

A Bug's Life: A Bug's Land

Toy Story: Catch That Moving Van

Buzz Lightyear: Operation Alien Rescue

A great little Scooby-Doo web-browser game...

...that you can play right here (in a 0.56MB Flash file):

(Or you can play it by clicking on the following link if the Flash file above doesn't load for some reason: Scooby-Doo web-browser game)

Fun and games related to cartoons, movies and TV

My new mini-site of games related to cartoons, movies and TV is now live. You can find it at the Dan-Dare.org and .net FreeFun website.

Some of the highlights include: Star Wars, Star Trek, Harry Potter, Shrek, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Simpsons, D.C. and Marvel Superheroes, Disney/Pixar, Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, SpongeBob Squarepants and Garfield. There are many more games in addition to all those - check out the site index page to see them all.

Free online comic books - a recommendation

There are so many free online comics, many of which are true modern classics, that it's often difficult to know where to start when you're a fan of the genre like I am. Searching the Open Directory Project (see dmoz.org) is often a good start-point. Helpfully, I was sent the following link yesterday by the author of a new sci-fi/horror one, and I have to say it is now one of my favourites. It's well worth a visit at DatWilliams.com

Back in England now...

...for a few months at least, and it's really cold and miserable weather, even for England. It's the middle of May, late spring. It's supposed to be nice weather! I thought the Earth was warming up? :-)

Anyway, here's some more Super Mario Bros. fun I recently added to my Dan-Dare.org website - perfect for a cold and rainy afternoon's entertainment:

Even More Mario Bonuses

I will be adding a whole new mini-website soon concentrating on Flash and Java games related to all manner of cartoons, movies and TV - such as Shrek, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, The Simpsons, Futurama, Star Wars, Star Trek, The Matrix, Disney/Pixar, Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones, Thunderbirds, Garfield, SpongeBob Squarepants, Casper, The Muppets, Power Rangers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Hulk, etc., etc. Check back soon for the new link!

Online fun based on things I like

In addition to all the free online games that I have added into my two main websites (Dan-Dare.org and Dan-Dare.info) over the past four years, I have also created the following "Special Fun Pages" - containing images, animated GIFs / sprites, music, movie clips and much more - related to many of those games:

Star Wars Movie Series, Star Wars Animated GIF Movie Clips

Harry Potter Movie Series, Harry Potter Book Series

Sonic the Hedgehog

Super Mario Brothers, Super Mario Bros. Movie

Sonic and Mario Bonuses, More Sonic and Mario Bonuses, Extra Sonic and Mario Bonuses

Futurama, Red Dwarf

Hanna-Barbera (The Flintstones, Scooby Doo, etc.), The Banana Splits

Tom and Jerry

The Simpsons, The Simpsons Movie

Megaman

More Games-Related Images and Music, Even More Games-Related Images

Thunderbirds

I hope you like them. I will be improving them, and adding brand new pages about other things I like, as time goes by.

Pattaya, Thailand

In one of my previous posts I included a link to what at the time was a useful website all about Pattaya in Thailand, which is where I am currently staying. That website no longer works, so here is a link to another useful site that does work: www.pattaya.com. If you are ever in South-East Asia, it is worth coming here for a few days at least, if you like life a bit on the crazy side... :-)

Further Sonic and Mario Java-based fun

Check out these two links for some more Sonic the Hedgehog and Super Mario Bros. Java-based fun I created using ready-made templates:

  Sonic and Mario Interactive Cube

  Sonic and Mario Interactive Cube 2

Valentine's Day in Thailand

Very many people here in Thailand celebrate St. Valentine's Day in the same way as we do in England, even though the majority of Thai people are Buddhist and therefore don't really celebrate other Christian festivals such as Easter and Christmas. Shops all over the place have Valentine's cards and red roses for sale. Nice. Who says that romance is dead?

Play Super Smash Bros. Melee with Sonic!

Yes, it's true - you can now play a version of the Super Smash Bros. Melee game with Sonic the Hedgehog as your character. You can also play as Knuckles and Tails, plus you can unlock Shadow! And of course, Mario, Luigi, Link, Pikachu, Kirby and the rest of the Nintendo cast of characters are in there too... Play it online by clicking on the link below:

  Super Smash Flash