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!

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!

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)

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.

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

Dan Dare movie: Sam Worthington confirms role

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.

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)

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

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.

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:

UK MoD releases UFO files

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



(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.

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

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!

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?!

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.

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

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)

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.

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)

The Matrix online games and wallpaper

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.

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.

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)

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

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)

Happy New Year!

It's just after midnight here in Thailand, so all the very best for 2010 (or 2553 as it is in the Thai Buddhist calendar)!

My other personal blog

I have another blog over on WordPress that I use occasionally, and I have now decided that in the New Year I am going to start using it to write about things that I dare not write about in this here nice "family friendly" and "child safe" blog, if you know what I mean! ;-)

So perhaps you might want to check it out during the course of 2010. But please be warned in advance that it might not be suitable for persons under 18 years of age!

Top 10 Online Games of 2009 - Movie Games

Continuing the Top 10's of 2009 theme from my previous post, here is my own personal list of the Top 10 Flash online games that tie-in with movies released during 2009:

1.     UP: Kevin's Chocogobble

2.     Monsters vs. Aliens: Panic in the Streets

3.     A Christmas Carol: Ghostly Adventure

4.     Transformers: Roll Out

5.     Ice Age 3: Bubble Trouble

6.     Astro Boy: Blast-A-Bot

7.     Star Trek: Flash Trek V2.0

8.     UP: Merit Badge Mayhem

9.     Transformers 2: Starscream Showdown

10.    Monsters vs. Aliens: Video Game Demo

The Top 10 Celebrity Searches of 2009

Following on from my recent post about Top 10's of 2009, for all you celebrity followers out there Yahoo UK have very thoughtfully provided a list of the Top 10 celebrity searches for this year, which is as follows:

1. Michael Jackson

2. Jade Goody

3. Katie Price

4. Cheryl Cole

5. Patrick Swayze

6. Lady Gaga

7. Susan Boyle

8. Lily Allen

9. Oasis

10. Megan Fox

My wife has a proper web presence now

Further to my post earlier this year listing all my different places on the web, I am pleased to say that my wife Su is now on Facebook, plus she has a Blog and a YouTube channel of her own too. Top girl!

Really useful Pattaya, Thailand tourist information.....

.....can be found here: PattayaSecrets.com

Primarily it's a free-to-join discussion forum site with more information about Pattaya than you can shake a stick at. Everything you will ever want, or need, to know about Thailand's most famous tourist city will be in there. And of course, once you join you can post your own questions to the more than 16,000 other members.

Larry Niven's Known Space book series

Way, way back in 2006 I wrote in this blog about some sci-fi books I had just read, one of which was "Ringworld's Children" by Larry Niven. Well, since it's Christmas today I'm taking a break from my website work and am reading Larry Niven's latest book, "Destroyer of Worlds". It's a great read.

Both of these books are part of Larry Niven's famous "Known Space" future history series, which is my all-time favourite book series - I like it more than the Star Wars Expanded Universe series, more than the Star Trek Expanded Universe series, and even (shock, horror!) more than the Harry Potter series!

If, like me, you're a sci-fi/fantasy book lover, I highly recommend you to get hold of as many books in the series as you can - I'm sure you'll enjoy each and every one of them!

Here is a list of all current books in the series in recommended reading order, including links to Amazon.com pages for those that are still in print in case you wish to order them. There is also a free online short story which is highlighted in italicised text:

Three Books of Known Space (3 books in 1 volume: 2 novels - World of Ptaavs and A Gift From Earth, plus 1 short story collection - Tales of Known Space)

Flatlander (Short story collection)

Protector (Novel)

The Man-Kzin Wars (Shared Universe short story collection series, various authors, currently 11 books including Man-Kzin Wars IX, Man-Kzin Wars X: The Wunder War and Man-Kzin Wars XI)

Neutron Star (Short story collection, currently out-of-print)

Crashlander (Short story collection, includes 4 stories duplicated from the out-of-print Neutron Star)

Fleet of Worlds (Novel)

Juggler of Worlds (Novel)

Destroyer of Worlds (Novel)

The Color of Sunfire (Online short story)

Ringworld (Novel)

The Ringworld Engineers (Novel)

The Ringworld Throne (Novel)

Ringworld's Children (Novel)

Merry Christmas!

It's one minute past midnight here in Thailand, so it's officially Christmas Day here now! On that basis, even though it's probably not quite actually Christmas Day yet wherever you are reading this, MERRY CHRISTMAS to you!!

I hope you've enjoyed my blogging this year - check out the rest of this blog here and my other blog here to make sure you haven't missed anything, because there are loads and loads of lovely free online games and wallpaper backgrounds listed throughout both blogs.

Christmas Online Games

I love Christmas, and even though over here in Thailand where I currently live it isn't celebrated very much, I am trying to get into the festive spirit by playing lots of Christmas music on my hi-fi, and by enjoying these great Flash online Christmas games that you can find in my www.Dan-Dare.org site:

  Jingle Ballistics

  Snow Throw

  Snowball


  The Nightmare Before Christmas

(This game also includes a Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas" wallpaper background picture)


  Casper's Haunted Christmas

(This game also includes a "Casper the Friendly Ghost" wallpaper background picture)


  A Christmas Carol: Scrooge's Star Ride

  A Christmas Carol: Ghostly Adventure

  A Christmas Carol: Rooftop Surfer

  A Christmas Carol: Penny Pincher

(These games also include a Disney's "A Christmas Carol" wallpaper background picture)


  The Polar Express Ticket Chase

(This game also includes a "Polar Express" wallpaper background picture)

I hope you enjoy playing them! :-)