Play as a pop star, party like a Perry

January 24th, 2012 by Doogs

Katy supporting herself

The Sims. You must have heard of this video game series by now. It has been one of the most addictive games in the past decade where you spend your time making a fictitious character’s life so much better than yours.

I can’t count the amount of times I would be playing that game and say to myself “Oh, just half an hour more” when playing to suddenly see four hours had passed.

There have been three main Sims games, along with a plethora of expansion packs and side games to keep the series going. Just when I thought The Sims was starting to slow down, the creators decided to make another expansion pack.

In the game your character could get a job as one of many things, with careers choices ranging from culinary to criminal. The Sims: Ambitions expansion pack added firefighting, ghost hunting, and various other workplaces for your digital persona to work as.

Now you can add pop star to that list. And not just any pop star. Coming this march is the newest expansion, Sims: Showtime.

To get the series that lives off expansion packs, Mrs. (well I guess it’s Ms. now) Katy Perry has been thrown in the game for the special edition version, along with her hair types and other in-game additions.

It’s not the first celebrity-endorsed game. In fact, there’s a compilation video with the top 10 worst celebrity-endorsed video game.

Which person, whether it be celebrity or musician or artist that’ll never become mainstream, would you love to play a simulated version of?

Maybe you’ll want to avoid paparazzi by wagging your Nintendo Wii controller, or possibly using your XBox Kinect camera to work your magic on a photoshoot.

If the Kinect had the ability to take photos of you while looking like a fool, that would make for a great photo album. Our faces sure look strange when playing games.

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Silent, but deadly (cute)

January 18th, 2012 by Doogs

Adorable, the both of you.

The Golden Globes have handed out their trophies and created the crazy buzz that will eventually be the more glamourous Oscars. Ricky Gervais wasn’t as harsh as people were hoping to be, but at least was present.

But inside I was hoping for just one of those awards to be handed over to Michel Hazanavicius and his film The Artist. As with all golden statue-related ceremonies, most nominations are films with a particular focus that makes them stand out. No one saw Green Lantern as a nomination because it was predictable, like Thor, though I preferred Thor.

The usual picks are those with topical issues, or those that if you said you didn’t like, would label you inferior. This is common with films that ‘break barriers’ or ‘pay homage’ to a particular celebrated aspect of film.

For me it was The Artist. Filmed as a black and white movie set in the times where the ‘talkies’ were just becoming a thing in cinema, it starred a familiar face from OSS 117, the French spy film I talked about last year.

But the real star in that film was different. No, not the gorgeous co-star, nor was it the list of cameos that made you say “Ohh cool! ***** **** is in it!”. It was Uggie the dog.

Don’t know him? Watch this:

There were plenty of clips to see, but I just wanted to show you that the dog does indeed have a sponsor on his skateboard.

He already won the Palm Dog award, the animal equivalent of a Palm D’Or, but his list of films is pretty large. He was in Water for Elephants as well, and more than likely a better actor than Robert Pattison.

Any animal you’ve seen in a movie that has stolen the show?

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Bring in the new with some old

January 12th, 2012 by Doogs

Ouuuuwwaaaaahhh!

Have you ever been given or bought a toy, or something that’s made you as giddy as a kid getting a toy), only to pull out an old one and enjoy that more?

I was recommended a long time ago to sit down and watch The Wire. You all must’ve seen it by now, because I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who hasn’t.

So when I was craving a bit of television goodness, it was by chance that I stumbled upon the DVD box set I had.

By stumbled, I meant tripped over because my ‘To Watch’ list has again succumbed to gravity. *mumblemumble* Stupid Issac Newton….

This holiday season may have come and gone, but it’s still giving (even from 2010 it seems!).

Not to mention the next best reason to start contemplating a purchase without guilt – Chinese New Year (Jan 23-24).

It’s Year of the Dragon, so I suggest How To Train Your Dragon. If you have a loved one who was born on the Year of the Dragon, you may decide whether you try a double-entendre insult. For relationship stability, maybe not.

But that’s not all, because who could’ve forgotten the least cringe-worthy biopic of Bruce Lee, Dragon? You may have forgotten, but now you’ll be scrambling to think who played Bruce now (it was Liu Kang from the Mortal Kombat films).

Wait, why not just get Enter the Dragon? Duh, Doogs!

Just for a laugh, search ‘Rambo – Enter the Black Dragon’. I never knew that existed until now.

But for something really worth seeing, I recommend The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Sure, it’s the original, and doesn’t have James Bond- I mean Daniel Craig, but if you are too lazy to read the book (don’t worry, still haven’t gotten there yet; you should see my ‘To Read’ pile), this version is worth checking out at least.

It’s also tradition to wear something red and new for Chinese New Year. Instead, I think I’ll opt for watching Red, and just put the Blu-Ray case on my shoulder.

Remember to say “Gong Xi Fa Cai!” (also known as another reason to celebrate New Year) when your loved one sees you buying more entertainment for yourself. Culture rocks.

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Start 2012 in Skyrim, finish in 2013

January 2nd, 2012 by Doogs

Eep.

I’ve been sinking my teeth into the newest time-consumer and love, Skyrim, and it’s awesome. What was also awesome was their live-action trailer (see below).

Though I can say that it’s very similar in terms of gameplay as the previous titles Oblivion and Morrowind, that’s also why people buy Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty 3 -- they liked the previous ones.

I can safely say I spent over half an hour just deciding on what character I would create. The choices are such that you’d be tempted to play it more than once to see whether a hack-and-slash Nord would be better than a stealthy Khajiit.

The graphics are gorgeous. Using my Xbox 360 instead of my PC was actually my biggest concern before turning it on, as these kinds of expansive games tend to need a lot of horsepower to get it running. But it delivers. The lack of keyboard takes some time, but after a while becomes less of a worry.

What I’m worried about is spending just as many hours as I did with the previous game on everything but the main story, then never finishing the game.

I’ve got a lot of movies, music and shows to get through this year before the new seasons start, so I’m trying to catch up. Has there been a video game you’ve put so much time and effort into, and never finished?

Oh, Dragon Age 2…how I wish I could finish you.

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Forget Doomsday, it’s New Years Eve!

December 31st, 2011 by Doogs

Resolutions in the office, sans the snow.

THE WORLD IS GOING TO E……ahh, we’re kidding. The world isn’t going to end. If it does, from what 2012 has taught us, let’s all fly to Australia. Kangaroos can’t get hurt, right?

After much rejoicing from the new collection of entertainment I’ve accumulated over the holiday season, I’ve come back to breathe a little, and to send out thanks.

But it isn’t to those that have given me Christmas presents (they’ve already been thanked). It’s to thank you. Yeah, you. :)

Not to say my friends who have somehow bought me certain games and DVDs I’ve been wishing I’d get (quite visually on my social media), and somehow knew what I wanted aren’t to thank. But they are just a minute piece of the worldly support we have at CD WOW!.

Our gratitude for the continued support during the year can’t be expressed enough. There has been some amazing entertainment out there this year, and we’ve loved sharing moments (good and bad) with you all.

Sappy, I know. But it’s worth letting you all know that it’s your amazing support that has kept us music, video and gaming fans hard at work. I know not all our staff falls under the same categories for film genres and music choice, but that’s necessary. Who wants to only listen to what I like? I know one person, but that guy’s stubborn.

And with the kick-off of WOW’D this year, B’s been giving us another way to reach out to you to talk about the newest things coming out. She’s done an amazing job so far, as of course you’ll agree, and we’re looking forward to next year.

I do see a lot of great things ahead of us for 2012. As negative some things may come out of Doogs’ snout, it’s all from love of good entertainment. It’s our business to know what’s best to offer you. That’s why you’ll be able to order in items you’ve never seen on shelves.

No longer do we have to succumb to the woes of retail shop prices, because our store is online. If we feel like renovating, it doesn’t take a team of builders, but our IT team. If walls fall apart in our office, then I feel those builders will come in handy.

And this is where I thank you once again for supporting us through the year. We know our European and UK customers have faced a nervous financial situation, and our Australasian customers have been facing their own daily troubles, but what’s more comforting than sitting down with friends with your newly owned DVD box set, right?

Sorry, I’ve just watched Lord of the Rings trilogy on Blu-ray with friends. I don’t personally have a working Blu-ray (my PS3 is going through it’s monthly brain freeze), but a friend does, hence my pre-Christmas order came in quite handy.

From all of us here at CD WOW!, we wish you an amazing new year, and hope that none of your 2012 resolutions start with buying less TV show box sets. I think all that gym time’s getting in the way, in my opinion.

We’ll see you next year (tomorrow).

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Testostallone: The Sequel

December 15th, 2011 by Doogs

A pyramid of pew-pew-pew!

Lads, think back to the days where explosions and fast cars were all you obessed about.

…okay, let me rephrase that. Think back to when you were a kid, and explosions and fast cars were all you obsessed about. A movie like Rambo, with an immense array of weaponry and things going ‘KABOOM’, was something of awe, mostly because you were too young to watch it and were getting a rush thinking you’d get caught.

But as you age, you tend not to obsess so much over those things that made your mind giddy with excitement. Oh the poor, innocent security guard, you say, as the T-1000 stabs his liquid sword into the mushy brain of his. What of his family? That’s horrible, you think, when the hero of the film walks away from an explosion, too cool to turn around and have a peek of what he blew up (Saturday Night Live helped explain that phenomenon).

But see when The Expendables came out…that was like travelling back in time. There were all those action heroes we grew up with, together, in the same film, all kicking ass. It didn’t need a storyline. It could’ve been that Jet Li’s character looked at Jason Statham’s girlfriend. The whole place starts being showered with bullets, and then one of the heroes explodes the building.

The trailer for the second Expendables film has come out, and they just had to one-up it. Chuck Norris, Jean Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger have climbed on board to testosterone the hell out of the sequel.

Girls, you had Sex in the City. Us boys have got this. We’re not proud of it, but damnit, you’ll see that same shimer of child-like love for simple entertainment.

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Adele tops Billboard list, Lil’ Wayne somehow in Top 10

December 12th, 2011 by Doogs

Queen of the 'board

UK magazine Billboard released their list of Top 100 tunes, and the gracious vocal goddess of the ‘Deep’ ranked #1 was Adele.

‘Rolling in the Deep’ was quite a song to hear, and the covers that came from that tune helped everyone it seemed, because that launched her up even more.

It’s nice when a musician you enjoy gets some recognition, but sometimes those lists aren’t exactly the most…well…supportive of talent (I mean Lil’ Wayne‘s number 5 and Chris Brown‘s at 10). We’ve all got different tastes, and I won’t point fingers at anyone liking #5 or #10. Some people just like hearing that “shawty wanna hump”.

It’s all about sales, we all know. Grammys are gold. I only recognised a band I liked (#44: Foster the People), but I’m sure that’s for ‘Pumped Up Kicks’.

Have you ever felt like you’re watching music take a sharp turn in a new direction? A good example can be seen with this elderly chap.

No sense in crying over spilt music—I mean milk. After all, if you try to stick to the music you loved when you were longer, you tend to have less opportunities to go to concerts.

Have you discovered a band or musician that was out of your range of tastes, and how did it evolve? I could remember hearing my first Fatboy Slim song, ‘Push the Tempo’.

It was crazy, like a mix of rock (which I mainly listened to), but with that electronic mix of a beat that got me hooked on something taboo. How could I ever like a musician that didn’t play an instrument?

While I’ll still applaud anyone passionate enough to learn classical music (Where would our music soundtracks be without those people?), I’ve since learned that you can have more than one egg in a basket.

Saying that, some ‘musicians’ are a load of rubbish.

Check out the most recent WOW’D with B. She’s talked about The Roots’ new album Undun, as well as making me feel a little less guilty for buying a whole bunch of goodies for myself (I’ve done my shopping for the family, so no staring).

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Simply the best (films of 2011)

December 8th, 2011 by Doogs

Oh yeah. He's awesome.

So here comes the end of another year. Another wave of releases, re-releases, re-makes, and reminders that there were some pretty damn good pieces of entertainment.

But it comes as a mental blank when Christmas approaches as to what to buy your friends, family, or even a self-indulgent piece for yourself.

Over the months I’ve talked about what has been good, but mostly trying to point out the flaws as well. In fact, most of these flaws were more or less my cries of blasphemy when an old favourite was being redone.

But we’ve had some great moments too, and this is where the video below comes in. Watch this, and pick out a few films that were memorable to you this year.

This wonderful mashup of clips from 2011 releases is a great way to look through the big titles, but it also has some less known ones too. What is important is remembering those films you went to see, were amazed by, but then eventually forgot about.

TODAY, my Wowees, we remember the best. I’ve already been making my list, in fact I’ve checked it twice, and here I’ve collected some films and comedy shows I know someone is bound to receive in a couple of weeks time (PSST! It’s all for me!).

Doogs’ Nine New Purchases (and yours too, I hope!)

Bridesmaids

The Hangover 2

Kung Fu Panda 2

An Idiot Abroad: The Complete Series

Tim Minchin and the Heritage Orchestra

Harry Potter: The Complete 8-Film Collection

Jimmy Carr: Being Funny

Come Fly With Me

Beginners

They’re all heading my way. They are all worth it.

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Ride the Prime

December 1st, 2011 by Doogs

Giddy up!

Amusement parks around the world base most of their rides around films.

Back from the days where the best place in the world to be was Disneyland, the park was filled with characters recognisable from almost every Disney cartoon and film you could remember.

There was Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Splash Mountain, the Indiana Jones Adventure, Star Tours, Pirates of the Caribbean (which funnily enough was a ride-to-movie reversal) and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.

As time went on, Universal Studios popped up with rides like Jurassic Park, Jaws, King Kong, and Terminator 2.

So what’s next on this list? This weekend at Universal Studios Singapore, known for having the Battlestar Galactica ride (Which is awesome), will now be home to Transformers: The Ride.

It seems a perfect fit, considering amusement park rides are supposed to be loud, energetic, and throw your senses around like jellybeans in a jar.

What movie should be next in line for a ride? I have a few:

Pride and Prejudice -- Intense tea-drinking while shouting things at total strangers.
Forrest Gump -- Sit on a bench and hear 2 1/2 hours of stories.
The Hangover -- You’ll wish it was over before it even began.
Total Recall -- You won’t be the same once you walk out.
The Fly -- You DEFINITELY won’t be the same once you walk out.

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You gotta have faith, faith, faith (and plenty of rest)

November 29th, 2011 by Doogs

On the right angle, he looks like Sly Stallone.

Last week George Michael was been taken to a hospital in Vienna for a case of severe pneumonia, and while it’s been a week since his admission, he’s reportedly recovering well. There are reports he could have something more serious such as Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome or possibly lose his voice, but with gossip, it’s best kept at a safe distance away until it’s certain.

With the rest of his tour cancelled to let him rest, including his return to the UK, it’s brought up the idea of having your favourite band or musician get sick. For those who may have tickets to George’s show, I’m thinking about you guys.

What goes on in your mind when hearing of news can be mixed possibly could resemble the Kübler-Ross model, also known as the Five Stages of Grief:

Denial – “No, that couldn’t be right. Typical internet troll. Suuuure, Justin Bieber and Jeff Goldbloom are ‘dead’. Pfft.”
Anger – “WHAT? It’s serious? That’s bullsh**! I bet he’s just wimping out and taking the money. How could he?”
Bargaining – “Maybe he’ll get better quicker than normal, and my ticket will still be valid. Heck, maybe he’ll be fine, and it’s just a test to see how good a fan I am!”
Depression – “I bought VIP tickets. I booked time off work. Everything’s over. I’m never going outside again.”
Acceptance – “Well, if he carks it, at least my ticket will be worth something on eBay.”

Sure, it really sucks to find out you won’t have that amazing concert you were looking forward to all this time. But reports are the concerts will be rescheduled.

U2‘s cancelled on people, and they’re still going. They’ve even got their own musical!….oh wait, maybe I shouldn’t bring that up.

Have you ever been cancelled on, and how’d you react? Don’t be shy, I’m still angry at U2 for cancelling, personally. But I’m a stubborn chump.

Get well soon, Georgios. Patience.

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