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:

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