Expect of course it wasn’t. Someone at The Star had clearly been on the Something Awful or B3ta forums and decided that someone’s mock up was a real game and ran with the story, without first bothering to do anything important like fact check. The story was pulled from the website within hours of publication but not quickly enough for Rockstar Games’ lawyers to ask the Star for an apology.

What’s most interesting about the apology (link here) is the bit at the very bottom.

The Daily Star. A "news"paper, clearly?

If ever there was a more appropriate use of punctuation, then I’d like to see it.

Which while on the one hand is a bad thing, it does mean that their are some fantastic “fake” vids on YouTube. A lot of these videos contain out of copyright material with Boards tracks over the top, which given that the band themselves are named after the National Film Board Of Canada, means that there is a wonderful symmetry to the whole thing.

One of the best is this wonderful video for one of their earliest released tracks, Everything You Do Is A Balloon. It also happens to be one of their most beautiful too and I played it lots when my cat passed away last year. Thought I’d share anyway.

Paris is generally considered to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world and having just had the pleasure of a few days there, I can understand why. It’s not the first time I’ve been there but it is the first time in nearly 20 years and the first time I’ve ever been there on my own and had the pleasure of using Paris’ wonderful Metro system. Which makes London’s Underground system seem like the lap of luxury.

It may well have only been for a couple of days but with 75% of Paris being within walking distance of my hotel, getting everywhere on foot seemed like the right thing to do. The metro may well take you everywhere but you don’t get the flavour or the ambiance that you would by walking around.

There are 4 Flickr sets to look through;

First is the trip to the world famous Louvre, famous of course for having the Worlds Most Boring painting, the Mona Lisa (Pictured above, as underwhelming in this photo as in the flesh);

Second is a very sunny trip to Sacre Couer and Montmartre, famous for being the location of many french films including the ending of the seminal short film C’etait un Rendez-vouz. Though it was alot busier when I went there than in the ending of the film (embedded below). Probably didn’t smell quite so much of piss either back in 1974 (homeless people are very visible in Paris, more so than in London and New York)

C’etait un Rendezvous – Watch more Funny Videos

Thirdly, The Eiffel Tower, which shouldn’t really need any explanation and offered arguably better views than those at Montmartre;

And finally, everything else which includes one of my new favourite photos, something which someone has now dubbed Picard BC. One for the geeks/trekkies out there…

All in all, a very nice few days but much like everywhere else you need a good week to really see everything. But on the basis of this trip, would happily do so.

I really am….

So, let’s see if this whole thing works shall we? Cause if it does then my productivity around here could go up quite a bit…

Before the weather became colder than a Polar Bear’s jockstrap, it was incredibly windy instead (Who says the UK lacks variety in weather?) This made for some stormy weather as the wind whipped up the sea something rotten and made conditions by the coast quite interesting. Though if you’re the young lad in the photo, all you are interested in is playing Chicken with the sea. Anyroad, it also gave me a chance to try out my new telephoto lens. Which turns out stunning pictures without ever really feels like it is putting in any effort. Still, given what it cost me, it should do.

Anyroad, here are the best 30 or so I took that day all loving preserved at Flickr forever more. I will be posting links to any new Flickr sets here, mainly cause I’ve yet to find a decent WordPress/Flickr plugin that works properly.

Force Of Nature, a 36 picture set @ Flickr.com

Yes, I’m sure someone has done the whole 2010 thing alot better than I have but it’s difficult as a Sci-Fi fan NOT to love either the book, and dare I say it, the film. Like so much great Science Fiction, and indeed Fiction generally, it fires up the imagination so well. Which kind of leads me to todays ramblings. Every New Year starts off in the same way; resolutions, promises, efforts to improve oneself that of course never actually a) last or b) improve yourself.  Even a cursory glance down below will see that the efforts to improve myself last year managed to stay in place for a whole 6 days before the whole thing fell apart, as it so usually does.

2009 wont exactly be remembered as a vintage year but it certainly wasn’t bad either; just a bit meh. Ok maybe not meh, definitely a bit bland though. Why? Do you even care? Not if the Google Analytics are anything to go by. I guess 2009 and the other 9 years that belonged to the noughties (thanks The Daily Mail!) were one where I probably manned up a bit.

Perhaps not as much as a certain Tim Maughan has proposed some people do but certainly looking back at the way I was in December 1999 and where I am now, at least as a person, is quite a shock.

I still don’t feel like I’ve found my “calling” as yet but as a person I feel far more learned than I did ten years ago. I wouldn’t claim for one second that the last ten years have been all smiles and sunshine, cause it quite clearly hasn’t but I wouldn’t change any of it for a second. And if we do manage to survive past December 2012 and live to see 2013, then I do think that the next 10 years have the potential to be very, very special. Will it? Find out in about 3644 days when I next update the site. You know, if I’m not busy.