Notice of Absense

So, I’m getting married very soon and then going on an amazing Japanese honeymoon. Therefore I will not be posting any posts on here for a month. There will be some posts about the wedding and the honeymoon (since they will inevitably cross a few things off my lists), but those won’t be going up for a few months. The benefits of getting ahead eh?

Anyway, the posts will be starting up again on November 9th with some pictures of my awesome centrepiece since I am ludicrously proud of them.

Until then!

 

Schedule Change

I don’t know why I’m using a picture I took of the class skeleton back in 2007… but I just felt like it.

Basically, this is just a small announcement on how the blog is going to change slightly. Instead of my normal scheduling (Monday: album, Wednesday and/or Thursday: other and Saturday: food) I have decided to go a bit more random and just post what I want every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

The problem I have been having is that either album or food would scream ahead leaving me to play catch-up and focus on something rather than let it happening naturally. This might mean that there is a run of movie post, album posts or food posts, but if that’s what is happening in my life then so be it.

The final straw for me is the post that is to come today for when I read King John. In real time this happened less than a week later than Julius Caesar, but due to how scheduling happened they are a month apart and that is just stupid.

Thank for for reading. As always Kirby and myself are grateful.

What Is The Best Video Game Of All Time? 289 Lists Later And There Is An Answer!

What is the best video game of all time? It’s a question that I have been looking into forming an answer for over the last six months and I finally have an answer that I am really happy with.

How? Well I spend countless hours finding ‘best of’ lists from around the internet and forming a combined list. This included lists that dealt with best of year, best of decade, best of generation, best of genre, best of console and (of course) best ever.

In total I combined the ratings of 289 lists from sources such as IGN, Gamesradar+, Kotaku, Eurogamer, Retro Sanctuary, Retrogamer, Complex, Arcade Sushi and (the now sadly defunt) Official Nintendo Magazine.  Using a half-life method to calculate points depending on position, list length and whether it was ranked or not I am happy to share the up-to-date list of:

The 100 Most Acclaimed Games Ever

Rank	Name	Year
1	The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time	1998
2	Resident Evil 4	2005
3	Super Mario 64	1996
4	The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past	1991
5	Super Mario World	1991
6	BioShock	2007
7	Chrono Trigger	1995
8	Super Metroid	1994
9	Half-Life 2	2004
10	Tetris	1985
11	Final Fantasy VII	1997
12	Super Mario Bros. 3	1990
13	Mass Effect 2	2010
14	Shadow of the Colossus	2005
15	Super Mario Bros.	1985
16	World of Warcraft	2004
17	GoldenEye 007	1997
18	Red Dead Redemption	2010
19	Minecraft	2011
20	Portal 2	2011
21	Halo: Combat Evolved	2001
22	The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker	2002
23	Portal	2007
24	Super Mario Kart	1992
25	Metroid Prime	2002
26	Metal Gear Solid	1998
27	The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim	2011
28	Castlevania: Symphony of the Night	1997
29	Fallout 3	2008
30	Resident Evil	1996
31	Grand Theft Auto V	2013
32	Deus Ex	2000
33	Doom	1993
34	The Last of Us	2013
35	Street Fighter II	1991
36	Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic	2003
37	Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare	2007
38	Okami	2006
39	The Walking Dead	2012
40	Final Fantasy VI	1994
41	Uncharted 2: Among Thieves	2009
42	Yoshi’s Island	1995
43	Pokemon Red/Blue	1998
44	Final Fantasy X	2001
45	Super Smash Bros. Melee	2001
46	Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas	2004
47	Sonic the Hedgehog	1991
48	The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask	2000
49	Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater	2004
50	Dark Souls	2011
51	Diablo II	2000
52	Super Mario Galaxy	2007
53	The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess	2006
54	Batman: Arkham City	2011
55	Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty	2001
56	Donkey Kong	1981
57	Braid	2008
58	Secret of Mana	1993
59	Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time	2003
60	Grand Theft Auto: Vice City	2002
61	The Legend of Zelda	1986
62	Ico	2001
63	Grand Theft Auto III	2001
64	Earthbound	1994
65	Pac-Man	1980
66	Tomb Raider	1996
67	Soul Calibur II	2002
68	Half-Life	1998
69	Mega Man 2	1989
70	Final Fantasy Tactics	1997
71	Silent Hill 2	2001
72	The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion	2006
73	Team Fortress 2	2007
74	Starcraft	1998
75	Beyond Good & Evil	2003
76	Super Mario Galaxy 2	2010
77	Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars	1996
78	Space Invaders	1978
79	Punch-Out!!	1987
80	Super Smash Bros. Brawl	2008
81	Perfect Dark	2000
82	Resident Evil 2	1998
83	Mario Kart 64	1996
84	Mass Effect	2007
85	Dead Space	2008
86	Rayman Legends	2013
87	Tomb Raider	2013
88	Kingdom Hearts	2002
89	Burnout 3: Takedown	2004
90	Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag	2013
91	Baldur’s Gate II	2000
92	The Secret of Monkey Island	1990
93	NBA Jam	1993
94	God of War	2005
95	Limbo	2010
96	Banjo Kazooie	1998
97	F-Zero	1990
98	SoulCalibur	1999
99	Animal Crossing	2001
100	Batman: Arkham Asylum	2009

List Item: Play 100 of the greatest computer games
Progress: 43/100

Of course when it comes to these lists it is all based on opinion, but in the end there was no question, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time just ran away with it completely.

Do you disagree with this list? Is your favourite game not on here? Do you have random ‘best of’ lists that I might have missed and should include when I update this list next year?

Would you like to see the extended list (I have a pretty stable list of between 400 and 500 games) on its own website with more details?

Please feel free to sound off in the comments!

Goal Change – Film List

Since the first edition of this book came out (if I recall correctly it has Kill Bill Volume 1 as one of the final entries) I had a little bit of an obsession to see as many films on this list as I could. Thanks to my mum’s love of classic films and her subscription to Sky+ I was able to devour a lot of these films in quick succession. It even lead me to Sunset Boulevard and My Neighbour Totoro which stand as my top two favourite films of all time.

And then, Roger Ebert died. I changed my priorities temporarily, but I have decided to switch back to my original goal of the 1001 list.

Why? Firstly, it’s a longer list which means that I think it is more worth a bucket list place. The main reason is that it regularly updates with new films being added to the mix. Yes, it means it is more volatile, but it also has a lot more variety due to the purpose being a guide to see all different angles of cinema.

Also, since I am now fast approaching a year since this blog started I am also looking to add/extend some longer running lists, with this being the first to more than double in size.

If you have any suggestions of other things please comment below!

 

15 in 15: Albums

At the beginning of the year my mum had the idea for us to come up with Top 15 lists of songs, albums and movies over the last 15 years (aka since the beginning of the millennium). As a change of pace to this blog I thought I would share these three lists seeing how we are at the in-between stage of the years. Today: Albums.

#15 – Treats by Sleigh Bells (2010)

#14 – Body Talk by  Robyn (2010)

#13 – We Are The Pipettes by The Pipettes (2006)

#12 – Silent Shout by The Knife (2006)

#11 – St. Vincent by St. Vincent (2014)

#10 – July Flame by Laura Veirs (2010)

#9 – Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea by PJ Harvey (2000)

#8 – Funeral by Arcade Fire (2004)

#7 – The ArchAndroid by Janelle Monáe (2010)

#6 – EPs by Florrie (2010-2014)

(I know this is a bit of a cheat, but she has never released a full length album… and these four EPs are some of the best pop music out there so I consider them as a combined double album)

#5 – Ys by Joanna Newsom (2006)

#4 – Visions by Grimes (2012)

#3 – Strange Mercy by St. Vincent (2011)

#2 – Illinois by Sufjan Stevens (2005)

#1 – Vespertine by Bjork (2001)

This post has had the extra benefit that allows me to cross off two albums from the Top 250 list.  Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea by PJ Harvey and Ys by Joanna Newsom are now considered crossed off.

List item: Listen to the 250 greatest albums
Progress: 40/250

15 in 15: Movies

At the beginning of the year my mum had the idea for us to come up with Top 15 lists of songs, albums and movies over the last 15 years (aka since the beginning of the millennium). As a change of pace to this blog I thought I would share these three lists seeing how we are at the in-between stage of the years. Today: Movies.

#15 The Secrets in their Eyes (2009)

#14 The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

#13 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

#12 Finding Nemo (2003)

#11 The Dark Knight (2008)

#10 Kill Bill: Volume One (2003)

#9 Volver (2006)

#8 Juno (2007)

#7 A Serious Man (2009)

#6 Black Swan (2010)

#5 Planet Terror (2007)

#4 Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

#3 Moulin Rouge (2001)

#2 Amélie (2001)

#1 Spirited Away (2001)

 

One Day Until NaNoWriMo

List item: Complete a work of fiction (novel, novella, play etc.)
Status: In Progress

List item: Complete NaNoWriMo
Status: 0/50,000

Today may be Halloween but tomorrow comes the start of something even more scary; NaNoWriMo. Whilst I have completed scripts in the past, which were all deleted due to them being bloody awful, I don’t count them towards this list item.

I have been wanting to write my current idea for a book over the last year and, since this is a place of honesty, I only got around to writing ~1000 words of the thing. Considering how NaNoWriMo (aka the insane challenge to write 50,000 words of a novel within the month of November) imposes certain time and word restrictions I figured that this would be the best way to actually get me to write the damned thing.

I know that this means that any attempt at a social life in November will be in the toilet since you need to complete ~1667 words a day to stay on track! This also means that during this month I will not be posting much on this blog minus some updates on how this book is going.

Any support would be greatly appreciated throughout this insane month of writing, especially since I am going to save any editing until after the month so I might end up with 50,000 words of absolute tripe. Wish me luck!!!

Notice of Less Posts + A New List Item

Right, this post today is not me ticking off another item on my bucket list nor is it an update about me getting closer to accomplishing one of the longer list items.

Since I started this blog about a month ago there have been posts every day since there are a number of things that I have already done and I wanted to get myself a bit up to date. However, I am beginning to run low on things that I have already done so instead of leaving this blog a ghost town with a post every fortnight I will start to ration out the updates which allow me to be more timely when I actually accomplish something.

In other news, I would like to thank one of my readers TeeJay for sending in a suggestion for something to be added to the list:

 You’ve never smoked your own Meat/Fish/Cheese and that is definitely something that needs to be added to your bucket list 🙂

So, as of posting this the bucket list now has a new item on it and I will be looking at how much a smoker is.

Any suggestions?

Since I love cinema and have a critic that I admire above others (Roger Ebert, you are still greatly missed to this very day) I have a very certain idea about which films I will be hitting up when completing those items on this list.

However, alongside the realms of cinema I also have the target of 100 great works of fiction, 250 of the best albums and the 100 greatest computer games. I have done some research and found a good site for albums with Acclaimed Music (which is great because it updates every year or so) but can not easily find equivalent sites for books or games.

Please comment (or Facebook me if you have me) if you have any leads or suggestions of what I would need to cover to get a good spread for both games and books.

A Piece of Disclosure

I want to open this up with the following piece of disclosure: I did not make this bucket list because I am dying or because there is some genetic time bomb waiting to go off. If I am being honest I made this list in response to someone commenting that I had never really lived; something odd to say to a 22-year-old.

This comment rattled in my head until I realised that I did not use my time before 22 to do the things that many others did. I never went on a gap year, never backpacked, never got drunk, never done anything bad really. Everything from entering primary school until I left university was all about doing what needed to be done to make sure I could get a good job and not die penniless, due to exposure or from dog attack.

Pretty much anyone who is currently in their twenties will know that this link between getting top grades and getting a super amazing dream job is a convenient lie. Or at least it was to our generation. So whilst the comment did make me feel inadequate it also made me rather angry since I figured I had done what I had needed to do.

So after a mixture of seething with anger and listening to Jeff Buckley’s version of ‘Hallelujah’ I decided that I would do something that I first saw in a rather awful movie a few years previously; create a bucket list. I don’t want to live to a ripe old age and for people to think that I had never done anything. Therefore I decided to both create a list and find a way to cross it off so that I make sure to keep going.

In making this list I tried to make a general list of things that maybe everyone needs to do or see at one point for the sake of growth, greater understanding and some weird-arse stories. A list like this is organic and will grow as I go along but as of starting this blog I have around 320 items (comments for other list ideas and how I could do them will be seriously considered).

I will update this blog with how I achieved them, when I achieved them (if in the past/before writing this blog) and try to demonstrate some proof (scans, videos, I haven’t really thought how for each one). Feel free to play along since we never know when we will run out of time before we kick the bucket.
In the words of one of my all time heroes, “Take chances, make mistakes”.