England, Thailand and Other Things

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Free online games based on famous characters

Here is a selection of the very best character-based Flash online games from the hundreds and hundreds in my group of free online game websites (see the navbar on the right for links to the sites):

New Super Mario Flash

Ultimate Flash Sonic

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Flash

Pokemon: Breakdown Blast

Ben 10: Power Splash

Naruto: Battle for Leaf Village

Power Rangers Dino Thunder

Transformers: Roll Out

Astro Boy: Blast-A-Bot

Ice Age 3: Bubble Trouble

Monsters vs. Aliens: Panic in the Streets

Shrek Shreds Skateboarding

Disney's Run Bolt Run

UP: Kevin's Chocogobble

WALL-E Pinball

Cars: Tractor Tippin'

The Incredibles: Top Trumps

Toy Story: Buzz Lightyear's Alien Rescue

SpongeBob SquarePants: Anchovy Assault

Tom and Jerry: Refiger-Raiders

Scooby-Doo Skateboarding 2

Wacky Races: Wacky Racing

A Christmas Carol: Ghostly Adventure

Star Trek: Flash Trek V2.0

Gangster Life (GTA II)

Dan Dare Matchit

I hope you enjoy them all! :)

(See also here and here)

Saturday, June 19, 2010

The Inns family's blogs

Myself (Peter Inns), my wife Su Inns and my mother Anne Inns are all regular bloggers, writing about things relevant to our lives in Thailand and England.

My blogs are:
England, Thailand and Other Things (this blog)
MarioSonicGames.com - Mario & Sonic Games News
Peter Inns's Blog

Su's blog is:
Life in Thailand, by Sureephon Inns

My Mum's blog is:
Life, stuff and things

A new "About Me" page for this blog

Since Blogger have now so kindly provided us with the ability to create up to 10 extra pages attached to our blogs, I have just now created simple "About Me" pages for my two blogs, just in case anyone out there is interested.

You can view the new page for this blog by clicking on the link at the top of this page, and the same page for my other blog by clicking on this link:

A bit about Peter Inns, the author of this blog

Update on June 20, 2010 at 9.45 PM: I have now added two more extra pages to this blog ("Free Online Games" and "Free Wallpaper Backgrounds") which can be accessed via the links at the top of this page.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Disney/Pixar's Toy Story 3 is released in the US today!

One of the posters for the 2010 movie "Toy Story 3"

It's out at last, "Toy Story 3" goes on wide release in US and Canadian cinemas today. Hoorah! I am sooooo looking forward to seeing this film because every Pixar movie to date (such as UP, WALL-E and Ratatouille for example) has been an absolute classic, and early reviews suggest that Toy Story 3 merrily continues that trend. Oh joy!

Fans in other parts of the world will have to wait a little longer to see it though, which is always my one and only gripe about Pixar - why can't they release their films around the world on the same day like many of the other movie companies? It won't be released in England until July 23rd and Thailand until August 12th for goodness sake! Oh well, better late than never I guess.

Anyway, to celebrate the occasion of the film's release today, here are 16 different official Toy Story 3 related Flash online games for you to play for free:

Buzz Lightyear: Operation Alien Rescue

Toy Story: Bowl-o-Rama

Buzz Lightyear: Space Ranger Training

Buzz Lightyear: Space Ranger Training 2

Buzz Lightyear: Target Practice

Buzz Lightyear: Galactic Shootout

Toy Story: Woody to the Rescue

Toy Story: Woody's Big Escape

Toy Story: Catch That Moving Van

Buzz Lightyear: Flight for Distance

Toy Story: 2-in-1 Shooting

Toy Story: Jigsaw Puzzles

Toy Story: Memory Match-Up

Toy Story: Woody's Rodeo

Toy Story Lego: The Claw

Toy Story: Etch-A-Sketch

And there's more..... 16 different Toy Story 3 desktop background wallpaper pictures are also included with the games, and you can find everything, together with over 100 more awesome Disney and Pixar games, at my Free Disney and Pixar Online Games site. A special page displaying all 16 of the Toy Story 3 wallpapers can also be found here: Toy Story 3 Wallpaper Collection

Finally, you can watch my large collection of official Toy Story 3 movie trailers, film clips and featurettes in my YouTube channel here: Toy Story 3 video playlist

Enjoy! :-)

(See also here and here)

Saturday, May 29, 2010

The curfews in Thailand have been lifted

As of tonight there are no more curfews, so now we can all go out and have some night-time fun once more!

This means that officially all the trouble here in Thailand is now finally over and life can get back to normal. That's very good news indeed!

Friday, May 21, 2010

Shrek Forever After (Shrek 4) is out today

One of the posters for the 2010 movie "Shrek Forever After / Shrek 4"

The fourth and final part of the Shrek film series, "Shrek Forever After" - also known as "Shrek: The Final Chapter" and "Shrek 4" - is released in the US and Canada, and also here in Thailand, today. (It will be released in England on July 2nd.)

To celebrate this occasion, here are six different official Shrek 4 related Flash online games that you can play for free:

Shrek Shreds

Shrek 'N' Slide

Shrek: Concentration

Shrek: The Battle of the Belch

Shrek: Eyeball Dropper

Shrek: Ogre Baby Word Scramble

There are also two different Shrek Forever After desktop wallpaper backgrounds included with the games, one featuring Shrek and the other featuring Rumpelstiltskin.

You can find all these free goodies, together with lots of other brilliant related games and wallpaper, at my Free Shrek and Other CG Movie Online Games site.

Finally, you can watch my collection of official Shrek 4 movie trailers, film clips and featurettes in my YouTube channel here: Shrek 4 video playlist

Enjoy!

(See also here)

Thursday, May 20, 2010

The Thai political protests come to a violent end

Rather than repeat in detail what my wife Su has already written about this in her blog today, please read her post about what happened in Bangkok last night here:

Thailand political unrest, May 2010 - update #5

In brief, the Thai anti-government protests are now over, but at an enormous cost in terms of human casualties and property damage. Bangkok and many other parts of Thailand are now under a daily night-time curfew until further notice. What a terrible mess.

Monday, May 17, 2010

England win the World Cup!

In Cricket's Twenty20 competition, that is. Well done chaps!!

England beat Australia by 7 wickets in the final in Barbados yesterday, which is quite a thrashing in either form of traditional cricket, be it a 5 day test match or a 50 overs one-day match. But it is an absolute whipping in 20 overs cricket. Wow!

To find out what Twenty20 cricket is like compared to the more traditional forms, have a read of the Wikipedia article on it here.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Come on holiday to Thailand - it's really cheap now!

No, I'm not trying to be ironically funny or anything like that, I'm being completely serious. Now is the perfect time to come here to Thailand on holiday! With all the violence and killings going on in Bangkok at the moment, it's very cheap to stay here now.

Obviously, don't go to central Bangkok, it's far too dangerous. But everywhere else if safe enough - all the famous holiday destinations such as Pattaya, Koh Samet, Koh Chang, Koh Samui, Phuket and Chiang Mai are absolutely fine. Because of all the "scaredy cat stayaways" you can now get some absolute bargain deals on hotel accomodation, plus everywhere is much quieter than usual, so you can enjoy everything much more.

Just remember to say "it's none of my business what Thai people do in Thailand" if anyone here asks what you think about what is going on in Bangkok, or which side (red or yellow) you support, and you'll be safe as houses. Probably.

On second thoughts, perhaps it's a better idea to go to nearby Malaysia or Vietnam for that dream paradise beach holiday for the time being. Thailand has gone completely bonkers and IT'S BEST TO KEEP AWAY FOR NOW!

Saturday, May 15, 2010

More deadly violence in Bangkok last night

Unfortunately there was more serious trouble in Bangkok yesterday and last night in relation to the ongoing political protests, and reports say that there were 16 people killed and over 140 injured in fighting between civilian protestors and armed forces.

Read more about it in my wife's blog: Thailand political unrest, May 2010 - update #3.

Update on May 16, 2010 at 3.30 PM: Official reports now put the death toll from the fighting in Bangkok so far this weekend at a shocking 30, plus over 230 injured.

4 years of blogging and counting!

This coming Monday will mark the 4th anniversary of my blogging endeavours in this blog, my MarioSonicGames.com blog and my WordPress blog.

According to the stats I have so far posted a total of 320 entries in the two blogs, which is an average of 80 posts per year, or about 1.5 per week.

Here is a list of my personal favourites from all those posts (most recent first):

In this blog:

In the MarioSonicGames.com blog:

I think there is something for everyone in amongst that lot - free online games, free desktop wallpaper, free game downloads, free graphics and much more.

(See also here, here and here)

Monday, May 10, 2010

My Mum is on the web now!

My Mum, Anne Inns, now has a Blog and a Google Profile. Cool!

Saturday, May 08, 2010

An update on the political unrest in Thailand

My wife Su regularly blogs about what is happening with regards to the ongoing political trouble here in Thailand, including an update today, so if you would like to read a local person's views (and maybe ask her questions about what's going on via the blog comments feature) check out her blog here:

Life in Thailand, by Sureephon Inns

You can read her most recent posts on the situation directly by following these links:

Thailand political unrest, April 2010 - another update

Thailand political unrest, May 2010

Thailand political unrest, May 2010 - an update

Friday, May 07, 2010

New trailers for 2010 movies

I have spent most of today uploading new movie trailers into my YouTube channel for films coming out over the next few months, which you can view here:

The Pixar and Sci-Fi Channel

An open letter to Google AdSense

Dear Google AdSense,

With reference to your recent "Inside AdSense" blog post about more countries receiving the Western Union payment option dated Tuesday April 20th, I am writing to ask you to please make the Western Union payment option available here in Thailand as soon as possible.

I am originally from England but I have lived in Thailand for 7 years. I cannot get my AdSense earnings paid to me here in Thailand (the check payment option is useless, Thai banks charge 15-20% to cash the checks), and so I have to get paid in England via my father's bank account, and then have to pay for that money to be sent here. This is not fair - it is time-consuming and costly.

I cannot understand why you have not yet provided the Western Union payment option for Thailand. You have made this payment option available in neighbouring Malaysia and nearby Vietnam, but not here! Why is that?

It doesn't make sense - Thailand is the USA's oldest and closest ally in South East Asia, and indeed US armed forces were recently over here for joint military exercises. So surely you, a US corporation, should be supporting Thailand more closely. Initiating the Western Union payment option here is the very best way for you to do that. :-)

Thank you very much.

Kind regards,

Peter J. Inns,
Thailand.

(Ref: Inside AdSense: More countries go Western Union)

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Film tie-in Flash online games

With eagerly anticipated films such as Shrek 4 and Toy Story 3 coming up over the next couple of months, I thought I'd just remind anyone who's interested that you can play hundreds of fantastic free online games based on films, cartoons, TV shows and video games at these great sites:

The Cartoons, Movies and TV Online Games Site
(Flash online games based on Star Trek, Star Wars, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Tweety, Taz, Scooby-Doo, Flintstones, Tom and Jerry, Hong Kong Phooey, Wacky Races, SpongeBob SqaurePants, Avatar the Last Airbender, Naruto, Ben 10, Garfield, Power Rangers, Transformers, Ninja Turtles, Matrix, Hellboy, Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Hulk, Harry Potter, Simpsons, Futurama, South Park, Betty Boop and many more)

The Disney and Pixar Online Games Site
(Flash online games based on Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Winnie the Pooh, Pirates of the Caribbean, Chronicles of Narnia, Lion King, Lilo and Stitch, Bolt, Princess and the Frog, Disney Princess, Toy Story, Buzz Lightyear, Bug's Life, Monsters Inc, Incredibles, Cars, Lightning McQueen, Ratatouille, WALL-E, UP and many more)

The Shrek, Ice Age and Other CG Movies Online Games Site
(Flash online games based on Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, Monsters vs Aliens, Flushed Away, Shark Tale, Ice Age, Horton, Robots, Happy Feet, Astro Boy and many more)

The Mario, Sonic, Nintendo and Sega Online Games Site
(Flash online games based on Super Mario, Luigi, Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Super Smash Bros, Pokemon, Kirby, Legend of Zelda and Megaman)

They're the best online games sites on the web, promise!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Dan Dare books and magazines you should buy

Further to my earlier post about Dan Dare's 60th Anniversary today, and in response to a few subsequent reader's questions, here are links to where you can buy some truly great Dan Dare and Eagle books and magazines:

Classic 1950s and 60s Dan Dare full-colour story reprint books

Garth Ennis and Gary Erskine 2008 Dan Dare story reprint book

Spaceship Away Dan Dare magazine

Eagle Times blog and magazine

Classic 1960s Eagle full-colour Bible Stories reprint book

If you're a comics fan then I thoroughly recommend you to get hold of as many, if not all, of them as possible - you won't be sorry because they are all super-high quality publications!

Today is Dan Dare's 60th Anniversary!

Dan Dare - Pilot of the Future, 1950-2010

On April 14th, 1950 the first ever issue of the Eagle comic appeared in newsagents in Britain, and its star feature was the now classic sci-fi comic-strip series "Dan Dare - Pilot of the Future".

Dan Dare was created by the late, great Frank Hampson, recognised by his peers in his own lifetime as one of the world's greatest ever comic-strip artists. Every week he and his studio team produced fantastic space adventure stories for the Eagle comic with amazingly detailed and realistic colour illustrations. Almost one million copies of Eagle were sold every week at the height of Dan Dare's popularity in the 1950's, and the character has continued to be very popular in a variety of "rebooted" forms ever since.

Rather than fill up this blog with further illustrations and details of the history of Dan Dare, which would require many pages, please follow these links instead - I think they will prove to be very interesting to you, and will give you an idea of just how brilliant Dan Dare was, and still is:

A complete brief history of Dan Dare

Some original Dan Dare comic-strip reprints in full

A "Dan Dare through the years" picture gallery

An extended alternative Dan Dare gallery

A showcase of original Dan Dare artwork samples

To commemorate Dan Dare's 60th Birthday, I have commissioned a brand new Dan Dare Flash online game called "Dan Dare MatchIt", which is a fun picture card matching memory game. You can play it online here:

Dan Dare 60th Anniversary MatchIt Flash online game

The game is completely free to play and distribute, so if you would like to add it into your own web space or site, you can download the .swf Flash game file and an example .html page (with useful notes) to run it here:

Dan Dare 60th Anniversary MatchIt game download

Enjoy! :-)

(See also here)

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Thailand political unrest - 19 dead in Bangkok fighting

Unfortunately the continuing political unrest here took a terrible violent turn for the worst last night when 19 people were killed and more than 800 were injured during fighting in Bangkok between anti-government protestors and the Thai military.

Luckily for us we're currently "up country" and not in the capital. See Su's blog post about last night's turmoil in Bangkok for more information.

Update on April 14, 2010 at 7:45 AM: Sadly, the official death toll from Saturday night's violence has now risen to 23, because 4 people seriously injured in the clashes have since died in hospital.

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Pac-Man, plus Mario Pac-Man and Sonic Pac-Man

Pac-Man (which is much more commonly written as Pacman, despite the fact that it's technically incorrect that way) was one of the first ever colour video games - it made its debut in video arcades almost exactly 30 years ago, way back in May 1980.

It was the first ever video game to become truly popular in global mainstream culture, to the extent that the Pac-Man character became an instantly recognizable icon during the 1980s. It is a true gaming classic, and is still very popular today - indeed, its simple, fun and addictive gameplay puts many modern 3D "mega-games" to shame.

There are some brilliant Flash online versions of the Pac-Man game in the MarioSonicGames.com site for you to try if you would like to experience the legend for yourself - two versions with a Super Mario Bros. theme and one with a Sonic the Hedgehog theme. There is also a superb reproduction of the classic original, plus an awesome Disney/Pixar "UP" 3D isometric version too:

Classic Original Pacman

Super Mario Bros. Pacman

Baby Luigi Pacman

Sonic Knuckles Pacman

UP: Kevin's Chocogobble Pacman

Interesting trivia: Pac-Man was actually originally called "Puck Man", but the name was changed in North America in case any mischievous people vandalized the video game cabinets replacing the "P" with an "F". Read it here if you don't believe it: Pac-Man Wikipedia article

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Dan Dare movie: Sam Worthington confirms role

The original 1950s and 60s Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future

According to MTV.com, TotalFilm.com and others, Sam Worthington, whose recent films include "Terminator: Salvation", "Avatar" and "Clash of the Titans", today confirmed he will be appearing in a feature film based on Frank Hampson's classic sci-fi comic strip creation "Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future". The actor hasn't as yet confirmed what role he will be playing in the new film, but I think it will be very surprising if it's not the title character.

Although Dan Dare first appeared in the Eagle comic 60 years ago almost to the day (April 14th, 1950 in fact), amazingly this new Dan Dare movie will be the first ever appearance of the famous spaceman on the "big screen". So far he has only ever appeared in comic strip stories, computer games, TV adverts and a CGI cartoon TV series.

The 2007/2008 Virgin Comics version of Dan Dare

It seems that the film will be based on the 2007/2008 Virgin Comics reboot of the character by Garth Ennis and Gary Erskine (pictured above), rather than being based directly on the 1950s and 60s original (pictured top). Perhaps not entirely ideal for Dan Dare purists, but better than nothing I suppose. One thing is for sure, this film has an awful lot to live up to - Dan Dare is considered to be one of the world's best ever comic strips by industry professionals and genre fans alike.

To find out all about Dan Dare, visit my sites at Dan-Dare.net, Dan-Dare.org and DanDare.org.uk.

(See also here)

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

2010 Oscar Winners

Following on from my post in February about this year's Oscar nominees, the winners were announced on Sunday just gone and I'm happy to say that James Cameron's "Avatar" won three awards, Disney/Pixar's "Up" won two awards and "Star Trek" won one.

Sadly for me though, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and "The Princess and the Frog" didn't win any of the awards they were nominated for.

The biggest winner at this year's awards was the Iraq War film "The Hurt Locker" with 6 Oscars, including the first ever Best Director award for a woman, Kathryn Bigelow. Many congratulations to her! You can read full details of who won what here: Oscar.com

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Sony fix PS3 problem, 24 hours later

Sony say they have now fixed the worldwide PlayStation 3 problem. So that was a nice PS3-free 24 hours for most of the world then!

I was absolutely right - it was caused by PS3's wrongly thinking this year was a leap year, and then crashing when they discovered it wasn't February 29th after connecting to the PlayStation Network yesterday. Double Triple Doh!!!

Give me a job testing your products Sony, I'll make sure you never suffer such an incredibly embarrasing system failure again! (I've been an IT professional since 1985, which was before the world wide web and all modern digital technology, including PlayStations, were invented. And I'm only 42!)

Anyway, apparently you can all now safely switch on your PS3's and connect to the PlayStation Network, and the bug should go away automatically. If it doesn't, you will be able to reset your system clocks yourselves now, and that will fix everything.

Personally, I'd suggest selling your PS3 and getting yourslf a Nintendo Wii instead - Super Mario Galaxy 2 is due out this year, which will be the best game ever, for sure.

Monday, March 01, 2010

Sony helps Toyota to wreck confidence in Japanese reliability

For as long as I can remember, Japanese products were always amongst the highest quality and most reliable items that money could buy. Not any more though.

Following hot on the heels of the Toyota worldwide "safety" recall scandal comes today's (slightly less serious - nobody's died yet) news that fellow Japanese industrial giant Sony has also managed to unleash a major product failure catastrophe upon the world.

Every single original "fat" version of their flagship PlayStation 3 games console failed to work properly today, all over the world. Apparently the newer slim model seems to be fine, but since most of the millions of PS3's sold so far are of the larger variety, that's not a lot of help. No-one anywhere with the original model can connect to the PlayStation Network, no games any of those people have ever downloaded from the network will work, and no disc-based games with trophy functionality (i.e. most games) will work either. Oops.

It seems a calendar bug of some sort in the firmware might be the cause of this rather epic system failure, because the problem only started today, March 1st. Is it some sort of leap year screw-up I wonder? It isn't a leap year this year of course, but perhaps part of the PS3 firmware thinks it's February 29th today resulting in an unresolvable conflict elsewhere in the system. When I used to work in IT for big blue-chip corporations complex programming errors like that would slip through testing unnoticed from time to time, because not too many people would think to test for the relevant erroneous scenarios in advance of them actually happening.

Anyway, if you've got one of those original PS3's and you haven't recently switched it on and gone online, DON'T!!!

Keep checking the official US PlayStation blog (using your computer, not your PS3) and wait until Sony announce that they have fixed the bug!

Maybe now's a good time to buy one of the unaffected slim models:

Thursday, February 18, 2010

UK MoD releases UFO files

In Yahoo! today is this very intriguing story about the always interesting mystery of UFO's:

One of the UFO photos released by the MoD

(Quote)
Flying Toblerones, mysterious illnesses and "silky-white substances" are among hundreds of close encounters described in previously top-secret files released by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

More than 6,000 pages of material spanning from 1994 to 2000 holds hundreds of other-worldly experiences with unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and apparent aliens across Britain.

Aircraft of all shapes and sizes have been witnessed flying over a wide range of locations - including Chelsea Football Club and the former Home Secretary Michael Howard's home in Kent.

One man told police he was physically sick and developed a "skin condition" after an eerie "tube of light" enveloped his car in Ebbw Vale, in Wales, at 10.40pm on January 27 1997.

The file, the fifth released under a three-year project between the MoD and The National Archives, consists of 24 records of sightings, letters and Parliamentary Questions.

Highlights include a man who arrived at his Birmingham home at 4am on March 20, 1997, to discover an illuminated blue triangle hovering over his garden. The craft shot off leaving behind a "silky-white" substance on the tree-tops, which he collected in a jam-jar.

And a West Lothian electrician who spotted a "Toblerone-shaped" UFO hovering over a field. A sketch of the craft is included in the report.

Experts believe the records highlight how shapes of reported UFOs have changed over the last half-century.

Dr David Clarke, author of The UFO Files and senior lecturer in journalism from Sheffield Hallam University said: "In the 1950s the next big leap in technology was thought to be a round craft that took off vertically and it's intriguing to note that this is the same period when people began to report seeing 'flying saucers' in the sky."
(End quote)

I like the photo, released by the MoD with all the other UFO documents and photos. It's hard to argue with evidence like that. Whether it's aliens or not still remains to be seen, but UFO's in themselves are clearly very real - after all, "UFO" just means Unidentified Flying Object, not necessarily a flying saucer or other supposed alien spacecraft.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Thailand political unrest, once more

The neverending Thai political troubles have reared their ugly head once more, which is very bad news indeed. Su has posted a well written article about it in her blog, so you can get a sensible Thai perspective on what's currently going on (as opposed to some of the ridiculously sensationalist Western media stories I've recently read about it) here:

Thai Political Troubles, February 2010

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Making Thailand famous for what it's famous for

I just read this very interesting and rather amusing article in today's online edition of the Bangkok Post newspaper:

(Quote)
Even by the unpredictable standards of Amazing Thailand, this one came out of left field. Jaws are dropping all over "Brandland" following the bold assertion by the New York adman and self-styled design guru Peter Arnell that Thailand is in desperate need of rebranding and - drumroll please - he is just the man to do it.

Like many a newbie before him, Mr Arnell jetted into Thailand for the first time for a 12-day stay a couple of months back and promptly fell head over heels in love with the place. Nothing wrong with that, of course; it has happened to the best of us. But is that really a sound foundation on which to declare oneself the anointed saviour of Brand Thailand?

Never mind that most of his trip was spent in the cosseted embrace of the Mandarin Oriental hotel, as part of Martha Stewart's pampered posse. Never mind that of his last two multi-million dollar rebranding projects, one met mixed reviews at best and the other was an abject failure.

(His Pepsi rebranding, which some see as clean and contemporary, and others as minimal and boring, was supported by a pseudo-scientific rationale of phonebook proportions, dubbed "Breathless", which cited everything from Da Vinci's golden ratio to gravitational and magnetic fields to eastern philosophy to justify the design. His more recent makeover of Tropicana orange juice ended in high farce, after consumers mistook the new packaging for supermarkets' generic juice. Result? Millions of dollars wasted and the old look revived.)

Mr Arnell is undaunted, and says: "Thailand is not the place of wacky bars or crazy nightlife that most people think it is. It is a sensible, harmonious, calm, peaceful and respectful country driven by humanity and a soulfulness, unlike any other place in the world.

"I think I can make this place famous for what it's famous for, instead of what we think it's famous for," he said, adding that he wants to provide the country with a unique, easily recognisable symbol, based on the distinctive temple spires of its classic architecture.

"I felt very strongly that Thailand didn't have a symbol, like Switzerland has the cross or Canada has the maple leaf."

Does Thailand need a symbol? It's true, symbols and icons are shortcuts to the subconscious and increase a brand's stickiness. The US has its bald eagle, Australia its kangaroo, New Zealand its silver fern, Japan its rising sun. But these symbols were embraced after decades.

Can one self-appointed expert waltz in and decide what a nation's symbol should be? I'm certainly not advocating design by committee, and sometimes in branding fresh eyes are no bad thing, but surely some sort of national "buy-in" is required. On what insights does Mr Arnell lay claim to temple spires as Thailand's most appropriate symbol?

While a country is certainly a brand, it is not a commodity in the same way a bottle of soda or orange juice is. A certain level of sensitivity and respect is required, something lacking in Mr Arnell's brash publicity-seeking assertions.

Besides, Thailand already has a superb positioning. "Amazing Thailand" is awesome, and kudos to whoever dreamed it up a decade ago. It encapsulates all that is sublime, mysterious, captivating and occasionally ridiculous about the Land of Smiles. It's such a great idea, India simply stole it with its Incredible India campaign.

Perhaps Mr Arnell's comments can be a catalyst for further debate. The Tourism Authority of Thailand's current "Amazing Value" campaign is an understandable knee-jerk reaction to the economic crisis. It is tactical, but hardly inspirational. And sure, there may well be more domestic political upheavals to contend with - problems the slickest slogan can't transcend.

But Thailand is remarkably resilient, as recent months' tourism figures have shown. In the longer term, surely the way to go is a more far-reaching, exciting and visionary take on Amazing Thailand.

In a nation that is seeking to style itself as Asia's "creative economy", surely we can find the wherewithal from within to tackle the task.
(End quote)

That Mr. Arnell's got some cojones, that's for sure!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Su's got a Home Page too now

My wife is learning html and css at the moment, which isn't as easy as some people say it is - I'm still trying to get to grips with it all properly despite using html for over 10 years now (and despite - or perhaps because of - having worked in IT since 1985).

Anyway I digress. Further to my post at the end of December last year about Su creating a web presence for herself, you can view Su's rather lovely new home page here:

Sureephon Inns's Home Page

Breakthrough Gives Hope For Cure To MS

This is amazingly good news (published in Yahoo! today):

(Quote)
Multiple sclerosis researchers have made an important breakthrough sparking hope of a cure for the disease.

The University of Buffalo study in New York opens the possibility of identifying a treatment for the degenerative condition.

There is already evidence that sufferers are benefiting from surgery which unblocks veins in the neck.

Sky's health correspondent, Thomas Moore, described the breakthrough as "tantalising evidence".

"This could change the way we view multiple sclerosis," he said.

The treatment is not yet available in this country but Martin Jones travelled to Poland for surgery.

"These are only early days, but it's looking good so far," he said.

"It's made a large difference to my symptoms.

"I have warm feet. I have stopped choking on my food. My balance is better.

"I have less twitching at night, in fact that's stopped."

The American study backs initial study findings in Italy.

More than 55% of MS patients participating in the Buffalo research were found to have the neck abnormality, a condition called chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency, or CCSVI.

Robert Zivadinov, associate professor of neurology and principal investigator on the study, said he was "cautiously optimistic and excited" about the results.

MS is the most common disabling neurological condition affecting young adults, with 100,000 sufferers in the UK.

Researchers believe it is the result of damage to myelin - a protective sheath surrounding nerve fibres of the central nervous system.

When myelin is damaged, this interferes with messages between the brain and other parts of the body.
(End quote)

My only question is this: Why is this fantastic life-changing, and potentially life-saving, new treatment available in Poland but not in the UK? Did I miss some major news where Poland suddenly became one of the world's top 10 economic powers and the UK stopped being one? No, of course not. Here's the real reason why the UK is no longer as advanced as Poland in medicine:

Bankers take far too much money out of the economy and put very little back ("offshore banking and tax havens", anyone?!), and they more than anyone are responsible for the continuing global economic problems caused by "their" credit crunch in 2007. And those continuing economic problems are one of the chief causes of the NHS constantly being underfunded and being unable to provide all the medical care it could otherwise provide - there simply isn't enough money in the general economy. We can all see other very visible effects of that every day in the UK's high streets, for example.

It is time to make the bankers pay back a fair proportion of what they take out of the economy, for the good of everyone, including themselves in the long run - see my previous post about taxing bankers for the way to make that happen - and then important medical breakthroughs like this radical new MS treatment can be made available to everyone in the UK who needs them, for free, as per the primary mandate of the NHS! I mean really people, when have you ever seen a poor banker? We've all seen plenty of poor working-class people in the past year though, haven't we?!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

UK MPs urged to back "Robin Hood tax" on banks

I really like this story published in Yahoo! yesterday, I think it's a campaign that we should all support:

(Quote)
Charities, campaign groups and unions have called on politicians to back a "Robin Hood tax" on banks' financial transactions to raise billions of pounds to fight poverty, climate change and protect public services.

The groups claim the global tax would help tackle the "human damage" caused by the global recession.

To mark the campaign a message was projected onto the Bank of England building which said:

"Be Part Of The World's Greatest Bank Job".

The campaigners say money raised from the tax would help avoid cuts in public services, meet the Government's target to end child poverty, protect schools and hospitals and encourage more people to find work.

In a letter to the major political parties the groups said: "You could ignore the big problems facing the world, and accept that climate change will stay unchecked, and that the poorest people at home and abroad will have a very hard time of it over the next decade. Or you can find all the money needed by directly taxing the British public themselves.

"Or you can work to find an innovative, modern, regular way of accumulating a fund of money to deal with big issues boldly. We would ask you seriously to consider the Robin Hood Tax as that radical new option - a small tax on bankers that would make a huge difference to the UK, to the poorest countries and to our planet. Let's turn the crisis for the banks into an opportunity for Britain and the world."
(End quote)

I couldn't agree more - what a brilliant idea! Show your support for this excellent campaign by linking to this blog post (URL = http://innsp.blogspot.com/2010/02/uk-mps-urged-to-back-robin-hood-tax-on.html ), and by blogging and tweeting this story yourselves.

Monday, February 08, 2010

Disney's The Princess and the Frog online games and wallpaper

One of the posters for the 2009 movie "The Princess and the Frog"

Disney's latest cartoon feature film, the traditionally animated "The Princess and the Frog", was released in the US in November last year, but it was only released in the UK last Friday. I have no idea why Disney delay UK releases like that, they do it with a lot of their films - see my post about them doing it to Pixar's "UP" last year for example. Ho hum.

Anyway, the new film is the classic "princess kisses a frog" fairy tale retold with a modern twist, and it heralds a somewhat brave return by Disney to hand-drawn animation for the first time in over 5 years after a number of successful computer-generated 3D films such as 2007's "Meet the Robinsons" and 2008's "Bolt".

The gamble seems to have paid off nicely, with the film performing very well at the box-office and being nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Animated Feature Film plus two separate nominations for Best Original Song (see my previous post about that here).

To tie in with the film, here are four free "Disney's The Princess and the Frog" online games plus two free "Disney Princess" online games for you to enjoy (which include some Princess and the Frog wallpaper and Disney Princess wallpaper in multiple sizes too):

Princess and the Frog: Bayou Adventure

Princess and the Frog: Tiana and the Tiara

Princess and the Frog: Magic Gumbo Mix

Princess and the Frog: Magic Match

Disney Princess: Hidden Treasures

Disney Princess: Magic Garden Mayhem

Bonus free download: "Disney's The Princess and the Frog" colouring pages

All the above fun and games, together with hundreds more Disney and Pixar games and wallpapers, can be found in the Disney and Pixar Free Online Games site.

(See also here)

Saturday, February 06, 2010

Liam Gallagher renames Oasis

When Oasis, one of my favourite rock bands ever, split up last year I was quite sad about it. But it was obvious that brothers and former Oasis bandmates Liam and Noel Gallagher were not going to quit the music industry, despite the split.

Now Liam has said he is assembling his remaining bandmates to begin work on a new album, and he's promising us a new name for the new band too:

Liam told radio station XFM, "No, it's not Oasis. That was a sh*t name anyway. I'm glad to see the back of it. There's a name that we're digging at the moment, but we're going to get on with the music and see how it goes."

He's refusing to reveal the new name for the time being, but he promises we won't have to wait long to see the 'new Oasis' in action:

"We'll be on stage this year - without a doubt. We're halfway through the record - the demos, that is. We're in the studio this April to see if this producer works out. If he does, we'll crack on with the album through June and July."

Meanwhile, Noel Gallagher is set to play his first post-Oasis gigs in March for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Friday, February 05, 2010

And the 2010 Oscar Nominees are.....

Further to my post two days ago about Pixar's "Up" being favourite for this year's best animated film Oscar, the current full list of 2010 Oscar nominations for the ceremony due to be held on Sunday March 7th is as follows (from Oscar.com - see also here):

Best motion picture of the year
"Avatar" (20th Century Fox)
"The Blind Side" (Warner Bros.)
"District 9" (Sony Pictures Releasing)
"An Education" (Sony Pictures Classics)
"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment)
"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company)
"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate)
"A Serious Man" (Focus Features)
"Up" (Walt Disney)
"Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)

Best animated feature film of the year
"Coraline" (Focus Features) Henry Selick
"Fantastic Mr. Fox" (20th Century Fox) Wes Anderson
"The Princess and the Frog" (Walt Disney) John Musker and Ron Clements
"The Secret of Kells" (GKIDS) Tomm Moore
"Up" (Walt Disney) Pete Docter

Best animated short film
"French Roast"
"Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty" (Brown Bag Films)
"The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)"
"Logorama" (Autour de Minuit)
"A Matter of Loaf and Death" (Aardman Animations)

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Jeff Bridges in "Crazy Heart" (Fox Searchlight)
George Clooney in "Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
Colin Firth in "A Single Man" (The Weinstein Company)
Morgan Freeman in "Invictus" (Warner Bros.)
Jeremy Renner in "The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Matt Damon in "Invictus" (Warner Bros.)
Woody Harrelson in "The Messenger" (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Christopher Plummer in "The Last Station" (Sony Pictures Classics)
Stanley Tucci in "The Lovely Bones" (DreamWorks in association with Film4, Distributed by Paramount)
Christoph Waltz in "Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Sandra Bullock in "The Blind Side" (Warner Bros.)
Helen Mirren in "The Last Station" (Sony Pictures Classics)
Carey Mulligan in "An Education" (Sony Pictures Classics)
Gabourey Sidibe in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate)
Meryl Streep in "Julie & Julia" (Sony Pictures Releasing)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Penélope Cruz in "Nine" (The Weinstein Company)
Vera Farmiga in "Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
Maggie Gyllenhaal in "Crazy Heart" (Fox Searchlight)
Anna Kendrick in "Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
Mo'Nique in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate)

Achievement in directing
"Avatar" (20th Century Fox) James Cameron
"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment) Kathryn Bigelow
"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company) Quentin Tarantino
"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate) Lee Daniels
"Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios) Jason Reitman

Achievement in art direction
"Avatar" (20th Century Fox) Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg
"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" (Sony Pictures Classics) Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro
"Nine" (The Weinstein Company) Art Direction: John Myhre
"Sherlock Holmes" (Warner Bros.) Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood
"The Young Victoria" (Apparition) Art Direction: Patrice Vermette

Achievement in cinematography
"Avatar" (20th Century Fox) Mauro Fiore
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (Warner Bros.) Bruno Delbonnel
"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment) Barry Ackroyd
"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company) Robert Richardson
"The White Ribbon" (Sony Pictures Classics) Christian Berger

Achievement in costume design
"Bright Star" (Apparition) Janet Patterson
"Coco before Chanel" (Sony Pictures Classics) Catherine Leterrier
"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" (Sony Pictures Classics) Monique Prudhomme
"Nine" (The Weinstein Company) Colleen Atwood
"The Young Victoria" (Apparition) Sandy Powell

Achievement in film editing
"Avatar" (20th Century Fox) Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
"District 9" (Sony Pictures Releasing) Julian Clarke
"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment) Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company) Sally Menke
"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate) Joe Klotz

Achievement in makeup
"Il Divo" (MPI Media Group through Music Box) Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
"Star Trek" (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment) Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
"The Young Victoria" (Apparition) Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
"Avatar" (20th Century Fox) James Horner
"Fantastic Mr. Fox" (20th Century Fox) Alexandre Desplat
"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment) Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
"Sherlock Holmes" (Warner Bros.) Hans Zimmer
"Up" (Walt Disney) Michael Giacchino

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
"Almost There" from "The Princess and the Frog" (Walt Disney) Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
"Down in New Orleans" from "The Princess and the Frog" (Walt Disney) Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
"Loin de Paname" from "Paris 36" (Sony Pictures Classics) Music by Reinhardt Wagner
"Take It All" from "Nine" (The Weinstein Company) Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
"The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)" from "Crazy Heart" (Fox Searchlight) Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Achievement in sound editing
"Avatar" (20th Century Fox) Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment) Paul N.J. Ottosson
"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company) Wylie Stateman
"Star Trek" (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment) Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
"Up" (Walt Disney) Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Achievement in sound mixing
"Avatar" (20th Century Fox) Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment) Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company) Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
"Star Trek" (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment) Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro, Distributed by Paramount) Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

Achievement in visual effects
"Avatar" (20th Century Fox) Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
"District 9" (Sony Pictures Releasing) Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
"Star Trek" (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment) Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Adapted screenplay
"District 9" (Sony Pictures Releasing) Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
"An Education" (Sony Pictures Classics) Screenplay by Nick Hornby
"In the Loop" (IFC Films) Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate) Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
"Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios) Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Original screenplay
"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment) Written by Mark Boal
"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company) Written by Quentin Tarantino
"The Messenger" (Oscilloscope Laboratories) Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
"A Serious Man" (Focus Features) Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
"Up" (Walt Disney) Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter

Best live action short film
"The Door" (Network Ireland Television)
"Instead of Abracadabra" (The Swedish Film Institute)
"Kavi"
"Miracle Fish" (Premium Films)
"The New Tenants"

Best documentary feature
"Burma VJ" (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
"The Cove" (Roadside Attractions)
"Food, Inc." (Magnolia Pictures)
"The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers"
"Which Way Home"

Best documentary short subject
"China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province"
"The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner"
"The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant"
"Music by Prudence"
"Rabbit à la Berlin" (Deckert Distribution)

Best foreign language film of the year
"Ajami"(Kino International)
"El Secreto de Sus Ojos" (Sony Pictures Classics)
"The Milk of Sorrow"
"Un Prophète" (Sony Pictures Classics)
"The White Ribbon" (Sony Pictures Classics)

Thursday, February 04, 2010

The Matrix online games and wallpaper

One of the posters for the 1999 movie "The Matrix"

The other day when I bought the first 10 seasons of South Park plus the South Park movie on DVD (see my post about that here), I also bought The Matrix trilogy of movies on DVD because I didn't previously have them.

I really like the first Matrix movie from 1999, and the second one, "The Matrix Reloaded" from 2003, is absolutely brilliant. The final part of the trilogy, "The Matrix Revolutions" also from 2003, is not so good in my opinion, but it does provide an interesting end to the story arc.

One of the posters for the 2003 movie "The Matrix Reloaded"

For some reason I had never watched all three of the films "back-to-back" before, and it was much more fun doing that than watching them separately, highly recommended in fact. I'm going to try and get hold of the DVD of "The Animatrix" cartoon mini-series next, as that's also supposed to be quite good.

One of the posters for the 2003 movie "The Matrix Revolutions"

Here are three great free Matrix online games for you to play (which also include Matrix wallpaper backgrounds too):

The Matrix: Rampage

The Matrix: Dock Defense

The Matrix: BulletTime Fighting

You can find these Matrix games, plus hundreds more great games, in the Free Movie, Cartoon and TV Online Games Website. Enjoy!

(See also here)

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Pixar's Up is favourite for animation Oscar

My favourite animated film from last year, Disney/Pixar's wonderful "Up" (see my previous posts about it here: Up Flash online games and here: Up is released in the UK), is seen as the clear favourite to win this year's Oscar for best animated film, according to an article in Yahoo! today:

(Quote)
The animation category at this year's Oscars ceremony presents a crowded field of singing frogs, sly foxes and spunky kids, but despite some tough competition, the high-flying adventure movie "Up" is expected to float away with the Oscar.

Disney/Pixar's "Up" this week became the only animated film apart from 1991's "Beauty and the Beast" to land a best picture nod, and the movie about a boy and an old man who fly off in a house tied to balloons is also nominated in the animated category.

There, it's up against Twentieth Century Fox's "Fantastic Mr. Fox", the Walt Disney Co's "The Princess and the Frog", Focus Features' "Coraline" and European production "The Secret of Kells", which critics say was a surprise choice, because it played in only a handful of U.S. cinemas.

Filmmakers and critics say the nominated movies are all very different, all very good, and rival the dramas in the coveted best picture category.

"Animation actually outdid the live-action movies this year, it's an extraordinarily competitive field in terms of quality," said Peter Hammond, a critic with Los Angeles Times awards tracker TheEnvelope.com.

But Hammond said "Up" is the "overwhelming favourite" in the animated category.

The five animated movies include two that came out in 3-D ("Up" and "Coraline"), two made with tiny figurines manipulated through a painstaking process called stop-motion ("Fantastic Mr. Fox" and "Coraline") and two hand-drawn films ("The Princess and the Frog" and "The Secret of Kells").

"It's really cool, because I feel like a number of years ago all the films were in the same zone, all trying to do the same type of thing," said Pete Docter, co-director of "Up," which was made with computer-generated imagery.

"And now it's so many different approaches to it, that it shows that animation is in a healthy place," Docter said.

The Oscar field for animation was widened to five films this year, from its usual three, because of the amount of eligible films.

Even so, Tom O'Neil of TheEnvelope.com said some high-quality films failed to make the list, most notably Oscar winning Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki's "Ponyo."

Henry Selick, the director of "Coraline," agrees.

"'Up' is a masterpiece and most likely will win, but there's a lot of great animated films, many of which did not get in the list of five nominees," he said.

For his part, Selick said that to compete with the likes of Disney/Pixar, he had to "take a chance on a different sort of story, a different sort of look."

"Coraline" is about a young girl who escapes mom and dad through a magical passageway in her home, but finds things were better with her real parents.

For the film, Selick hired one crew member whose only job was to knit miniature sweaters for the characters.

"The Princess and the Frog," a musical about a New Orleans waitress who falls in love with a foreign prince-turned-frog, is Disney's first hand-drawn animated film in six years.

The film has made more than $100 million (62.9 million pounds) in the U.S. and Canada since its November release, and the Oscar nomination could help as it expands its overseas roll-out, which Disney said has already brought in more than $100 million.

It looks like a success now, but in making "The Princess and the Frog" Disney was taking a chance that audiences would again go for a hand-drawn film, after years in which Pixar-style computer animation set the standard.
(End quote)

I am surprised that the highest grossing animated film of last year, Blue Sky's excellent "Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" didn't get nominated for an Oscar, or even mentioned in the above article.

You can play hundreds of quality online games, and choose from hundreds of desktop wallpaper backgrounds, related to movies, cartoons, TV shows, video games and so on by following these links:

Top 10 Movie-related Online Games of 2009

Movie, Cartoon and TV Online Games Collection

Mario, Sonic, Nintendo and Sega Online Games Collection

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