South Park online games and wallpaper

I really like South Park, it has consistently been one of the funniest adult TV shows since its first airing way back in 1997 in my opinion. The 14th season begins in March, and it is amazing to me that it has kept going so long considering how extremely rude, crude and often downright offensive (but always really funny) it is. I'm glad it has lasted this long.

I feel very lucky because today I bought the first 10 seasons of South Park on DVD, plus the 1999 "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut" movie, all for the bargain price of $100! Although I watched the show a lot when I lived full-time in England, since I've lived here in Thailand I have hardly ever been able to watch it (it's not very well known here), so I'm really looking forward to going through each season in full as soon as possible.

Here are some great free South Park online games for you to play (which also include some South Park wallpaper backgrounds too):

  South Park: Kill Kenny

  South Park: Cripple Fight

  South Park Soundboard

And here is a game inspired by the cartoon violence of South Park:

  Skull Kid

You can find these games, together with hundreds more, in the
Free Movie, Cartoon and TV Online Games Website. Enjoy! :-)

(See also here)

UK traffic policing is great! (NOT!!)

These two articles in Yahoo! and Sky News yesterday and last week really show how daft traffic policing in the UK has become, oh dear:

(Quote from January 28th, 2010)
'Stunned' Driver Fined For Blowing His Nose

A motorist has told Sky News of his disbelief at being fined for blowing his nose while his vehicle was at a standstill.

When he moved off, he was pulled over by police who told him he had not been in control of his vehicle.

Mr Mancini, from Ayrshire, was handed a £60 fixed penalty and given three points on his driving licence.

He told Sky News: "I thought they were joking and that it was a wind-up.

"I was stopped in traffic and had the handbrake on and thought to myself, 'Ive just got time to blow my nose.'

"Then police pulled me over and I was booked. I genuinely thought they were joking, that it was a wind-up."

The incident occurred in October, but Mr Mancini has refused to pay the penalty.

His solicitor wrote to prosecutors earlier this month explaining the offence could not have occurred because Mr Mancini's handbrake was on.

But prosecutors replied the next day warning that if the fine wasn't paid, the case would be taken to court.

Mr Mancini added: "I intend taking this all the way to court. I still don't believe it actually happened."

A Strathclyde Police spokesman said: "A 39-year-old man is the subject of a report to the procurator fiscal in connection with an alleged traffic offence on October 26."
(End quote)

and.....

(Quote from January 22nd, 2010)
Speed Camera Fines Driver Of Parked Car

A man from Nottingham has been caught "driving" at 0mph by a speed camera - not once but twice.

His parked car had been snapped by a speed camera on his street, apparently as other cars sped past.

The latest incident occured on 13 December 2009.

Nottinghamshire Police claimed he was snapped while driving his Vauxhall Zafira at 37mph in a 30mph zone.

When Mr Buck demanded to see the photographs, police dropped the case.

The problem for Mr Buck is the camera is situated outside his home where his car is parked.

When speeding drivers are caught by the camera, his car is snapped too and he gets sent the fine by mistake.

Mr Buck said: "The photographs must presumably show two vehicles, with mine parked halfway on the pavement and road.

"It's amazing that whatever system is in place cannot tell the difference between a car that is motionless and one travelling at 37mph.

"I am amused by it, but also angry that I have to go to the trouble of contacting the police.

"My only option is to park the car on the road as I don't have a garage or driveway."

Police have since apologised for the mix-up. In a statement they said: "The software used to read number plates has captured his car's number plate in the image.

"On both occasions the offending vehicle number plates were similar to those of Mr Buck's vehicle registration number.

"We will examine the processes and see if improvements can be made to minimise the chance of this happening again in the future."
(End quote)

Genius! You couldn't make it up and be believed, could you?

James Cameron's Avatar is now the number 1 movie of all time!

As of yesterday, James Cameron's science-fiction technological masterpiece "Avatar" is now the worldwide number 1 movie of all time in terms of box-office revenue having so far taken $1.897 billion, beating the previous number 1 which was James Cameron's "Titanic" from 1997 with a total of $1.843 billion. It is widely expected that Avatar will go on to break through the $2 billion mark because it is still showing in cinemas all over the world.

I am so happy to see it do so well because it is my favourite movie of all time (I saw it twice in IMAX 3D in Bangkok earlier this month, my best cinema-going experience ever - see my post about that here), and as a lifelong science-fiction fan I love it that a sci-fi movie has become the most popular movie in the world ever.

I have added some lovely Avatar background wallpapers to my main website for you to use if you wish because I am an avid collector of such things myself, and one of them is a beautiful giant size one which you can see here.

And just in case you missed them before, or want to watch them again, here are the two main Avatar movie trailers plus the video game trailer, viewable in my main YouTube channel:

Avatar Teaser Trailer

Avatar Full Movie Trailer

Avatar Video Game Trailer

(See also here)

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

We just got back from an interesting trip to Cambodia where we went as part of a passport "visa run" for me. We stayed for 4 days in Siem Reap which is near Angkor Wat, the world famous 850 year-old Khmer Empire temple complex.

Siem Reap is quite a nice town with lots of quality accommodation to choose from, and it is quickly modernising. There are two great night markets to go looking around in the evenings if you want to find some bargains. And there are lots of lovely bars and restaurants in a street aptly named Pub Street that are open all day until quite late at night. There are also a few night club bars that are open until much later.

Angkor Wat is simply stunning. It is positively huge, much much bigger than I imagined, and very beautiful. There are amazingly detailed carvings in the stone all over the temple, including enormous bas-relief friezes in the large outer galleries around all four sides.

There are many other ancient Khmer Empire temples in the area around Angkor Wat dating from between about 700 to 1100 years ago, some in fairly good states of repair, others less so. There are also massive and extensive ancient city walls nearby. A number of restoration projects are currently ongoing in some of the ruined sites, which is very interesting to see.

We took a two day guided tour around the whole area, and then spent a day exploring without a guide. The area is beautiful woodland, parkland and farmland, and it makes for a spectacular trip - I personally highly recommend the journey if you're ever in this part of the world!

Update 30/01/10: Take a look at my wife's blog to see some photos from the trip, or see the photo album here: Cambodia, Jan 2010 Photos

James Cameron's Avatar film

I saw James Cameron's "Avatar" in 3D in Bangkok's Siam Paragon IMAX cinema last week. Wow! Awesome! It was by far the best movie-going experience of my adult life, the first time I have been "totally knocked out" by a cinema trip since I saw the first Star Wars film at the age of 9 in 1977! And for Avatar to have that kind of impact on me at the age of 42 shows just how very, very, very, very, very good it is..... in 3D. I guess it would still be a truly great film in normal 2D, but in IMAX 3D it is just utterly amazing.

I went to see it a second time because I enjoyed it so much. I see there are some internet rumours that there might be two more Avatar movies in the future. I hope so - an Avatar trilogy would be brilliant. And I also see from the Box Office Mojo website that Avatar is now the number 2 movie of all-time worldwide having so far earned over $1.4 billion, second only to James Cameron's "Titanic" which earned $1.8 billion in 1997/98. So James Cameron knows a thing or two about making popular movies then!

Click here for some great free Avatar movie wallpaper backgrounds.

Time for a short break

I'm going to Bangkok tomorrow for a few days. I'll update this blog with highlights of the trip upon my return.

Counting the animals at London Zoo

I really like this story, which appears in Yahoo!/Sky News today:

(Quote)
From the tallest giraffes to the tiniest spiders, London Zoo is carrying out its annual animal stock take.

Which is easy if you're in charge of the slow-moving sloths, but slightly trickier if you're Rachel Jones, the aquarium manager.

With 5,500 fish to count, it can get confusing.

"There are some that spend their lives living in the rock and occasionally you'll see a little face poking out, and you have to be quick to count it," she said.

"Others bomb all over the place and are really hard to catch up with."

It's not just the fish which are counted. Every coral, snail and starfish is also added up.

London Zoo is home to 752 species and, with several new exhibits, this year's stock take will be the zoo's biggest ever.

Last year, they counted 15,107 animals. This time around, there are giant Galapagos tortoises, aardvarks, a new Komodo dragon and newborn lion cubs to include.

And with births, deaths and even disappearances each year, the annual roll call is vital for keeping tabs on the zoo's inhabitants.

"On the whole we've got a good idea of how many animals there are, especially if they change tanks or we move them, but the count does give us a clear picture of exactly who's where," added Rachel.
(End quote)

Disappearances? That's a bit of an odd thing to slip into the article. What? Do some animals just wander off out into Greater London each year, bored of the lazy life in the zoo, setting out to see the bright lights and big city, perhaps winding up earning an honest living performing in a circus somewhere? Lol! :-)

New Mario and Sonic games for 2010

Following on from my post in this blog yesterday about new movies coming out this year, I just posted a related article about new Mario and Sonic games that are scheduled for release this year over in my MarioSonicGames.com blog.....

The films of 2010 that I am most looking forward to seeing

Here is a list of this year's movies that I will be going to see in the cinema:

March:
Alice in Wonderland - A new live action version of the classic tale, directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp. Click here to watch a trailer for it via my main YouTube channel.

How to Train Your Dragon - A 3D CG cartoon movie from DreamWorks Animation based on the popular children's book of the same name. Click here to watch a trailer for it.

April:
A Nightmare On Elm Street - A remake of Wes Craven's classic 1984 horror movie, intended as a reboot of the series. Click here to watch a trailer.

May:
Iron Man 2 - Sequel to the excellent first movie from 2008, to be followed by Iron Man 3 in 2012. Click here to watch a trailer.

Robin Hood - A new live action version of the Olde English legend, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe.

Shrek Forever After (a.k.a. Shrek 4, Shrek: The Final Chapter) - The last episode of the now classic Shrek series. Click here to watch a trailer for it.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time - A live action movie from Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer based on the popular video game series. Click here to watch a trailer.

June:
The A-Team - The first ever movie version of the brilliant 1980's action/adventure TV show, starring Liam Neeson as Col. John "Hannibal" Smith, Bradley Cooper as Lt. Templeton "Faceman" Peck, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson as Sgt. B. A. Baracus and Sharlto Copley as Capt. H. M. "Howling Mad" Murdock. Click here to watch a trailer.

Toy Story 3 - The long-awaited next installment of Pixar's flagship series with all the original main stars returning to reprise their roles. Click here to watch a trailer for it via my wife Su's YouTube channel.

July:
The Last Airbender - A live action version of Nickelodeon's "Avatar: The Last Airbender" cartoon series, directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Click here to watch a trailer for it.

November:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I - To be followed by Part 2, the last Potter movie, in July 2011.

December:
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - Part 3 of Disney's Narnia series based on the C. S. Lewis novels.

Tron: Legacy - At long long last, the sequel to the 1982 Disney cult classic. Click here to watch a trailer for it.

Now, all these movies are sure to be massive hits, and I really am looking forward to seeing them. But there is a bit of a worrying Hollywood trend here: with the exception of "How to Train Your Dragon", all the movies are either sequels or remakes.

Other likely big hit movies this year also follow that trend: February's The Crazies (a remake of George Romero's 1973 original film), April's Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps (sequel to the 1987 first film), June's The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (part 3 of the ongoing series - click here to watch a trailer for it), July's Cats & Dogs 2: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (sequel to the 2001 first film) and November's Red Dawn (remake of the 1984 original). Looks like there might be some opportunities for original screenplays in the future!

Anyway, keep an eye on my Movies and Games website for future freebies related to these movies! You can already enjoy some fantastic free Shrek, Prince of Persia, Toy Story, The Last Airbender, Harry Potter and Narnia online games here:

  Shrek 4: Shrek Shreds

  Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

  Toy Story 3: Buzz Lightyear's Alien Rescue

  The Last Airbender: Bending Battle

  Harry Potter 7: Fight the Death Eaters

  The Chronicles of Narnia 3: Gryphon Attack

(See also here)