I love H&M

Whoever says that shopping can’t make you happy is wrong. Just so you know.

Grand Theft Auto: London 1969

Grand Theft Auto: London, 1969 is the first expansion pack to the original Grand Theft Auto. GTA: London 1969 was released in April 1999 for the PC and PlayStation. It offered 32 new missions, as well as a total of 30 new vehicles, relative to the time period.

The game is very similar to the original Grand Theft Auto because it uses the same game engine and is presented in the same format of missions, sections and cutscenes. Another expansion pack, Grand Theft Auto: London 1961, was later released solely for the PC version and offered as free download from Rockstar. It requires GTA London 1969, which in turn requires GTA 1. Since London 1969 and London 1961 are almost the same games I'll only review London 1969.

As the name implies, the game takes place in London in the year 1969. You once again enter the role of a criminal looking to work his or her way up the career ladder of organized crime. The temporal setting has been exploited through a number of cultural and historical references, including the appearance of a James Bond-like character. In addition, the cars drive on the left side of the road, as is the case in Britain. I really had a hard time getting used to that, as you can see in the video.

In this game you can also name your character, just like in GTA 1. In GTA: London 1969 you work for a crime syndicate called 'The Crisp Twins', which is a parody to 'The Kray Twins', who were the foremost perpetrators of organized crime in London's East End during the 50's and 60's.

Just like Grand Theft Auto, this game has similar bonuses. For example, when running over a group of people with a car without braking. When successful you'll get the message: 'Keep London Tidy' and a cash bonus.

What I really liked about this game are the dialogs of the characters. When driving through London you hear things like: 'Oi, stop right there!' or 'filthy hippie!' and other hilarious lines. I even fail in my missions on purpose, just to hear the line 'Mission Failed' another time.

Speaking of the missions, some of them are hilarious too. There is one mission where you have to destroy a bus that belongs to the opposing soccer-team. Afterwards you have to pick up their best players and kill them, so that the team your mob supports can win the match.

Because the same engine was used as in GTA, the graphics look only slightly different, but still well done. When playing this game you sometimes hear the same background voices as in the original game. The cars also have the same sounds as the original game.

Still, this game is fun to play and when you liked the original you'll definitely like this expansion pack too, because of the hilarious moments and funny dialogs.

Daily Thoughts 3/27/2010

The Geographer 1668-69 oil on canvas; 53×47 cm Steadelsches Kunstinstitut Frankfurt, Germany, Jan Vandermeer. This makes me think of the atlas stand where I work. We do not have a large map collection. Many libraries do.

Daily Thoughts 3/27/2010

Today has been a relatively quiet day. They are working on shifting books in the storage area to make more room. I finished weeding the fiction in the storage area. Now, it is more of a job of moving things around. I still have weeding to do in the oversize books on the main floor.

I am also planning days to do collection development meetings. One of the days, I would like to focus on special areas like government documents, maps, the job information center, different areas of genre fiction: urban fiction, mysteries, romance, inspirational fiction, science fiction, and other categories.

I learned from one of our library patrons there is a Kids Comiccon on April 10, at Bronx Community College. Bronx Community College holds a kids comic con free for kids under 18 -- April 10 in Bronx, New York http://www.kidscomiccon.com/ It looks kind of interesting.

I finished reading Gardens of the Sun by Paul McAuley tonight. It is the sequel to The Quiet War. Like most very interesting science fiction or literature there will be very mixed reactions to the story in this book. It is very much a book about biology, ecology, and society in the terms of hard science fiction; not so much physics. This makes it a different kind of hard science fiction.

Christina's back!

The wait is almost over...

Recorded in her home studio, "Bionic" features "electronic and organic elements with subject matter ranging from playful to introspective."
The album features collaborations with Sia, Le Tigre, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Hill & Switch and Ladytron, and a ballad entitled "Lift Me Up" written by Linda Perry. "Bionic" will be released June 8th. A short clip of her first single from the album, "Not myself tonight" can be heard on her website today. Click here to listen to it. The full single will be released on March 30th.

Bob Out

Daily Thoughts 3/26/2010

Desk of german author Hermann Hesse in Hermann Hesse Höri Museum in Gaienhofen Creative Commons Attributions Share Alike Attribution 3.0, Photo taken by Dierk Andresen , 2004

Daily Thoughts 3/26/2010

Today has been a quiet day. I have a number of books waiting for me to look at, The Value of Nothing by Raj Patel, How Philosophy Can Save Your Life 10 Ideas That Matter Most by Marietta McCarthy, Gardens of the Sun by Paul McAuley, A Better Pencil Readers Writers and the Digital Revolution by Dennis Baron, The Crucible of Empire by Eric Flint and K.D. Wenthworth, and Other Lands by David Anthony Durham.

We got our first shipment from BWI. There were a few interesting titles including R. Crumb's The Book of Genesis Illustrated, and Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks edited by John Curran. On the cover it says the book contains two previously unpublished Hercule Poirot stories which is intriguing.

I went around and checked the displays, putting a few new books in a display of folklore books from storage, and making sure the new books were in order. I picked out several books for the book mobile. Mainly, they were biography titles, large print, and popular fiction which many older readers like.

I read the first chapter of How Philosophy Can Change Your Life. It is on the concept of simplicity in life. The author describes how Epictetus believed the simplest pleasures are the lasting pleasures. She draws a parallel between zen and stoicism which both focus on simplifying ones life to the point where the simple pleasures become profound. It is a philosophical counter to excessive materialism. She gives numerous examples at the end of the chapter on how to simplify ones life.

I also started reading Gardens of the Sun by Paul McAuley. It is the sequel to The Quiet War which is about war between two branches of humanity, the outers who are on the moons of Titan and the earth triumvirate led by the Alliance of Greater Brazil.

The Friday Flashback

Two GREAT voices. One GREAT song.

Barbra & Celine

"Tell Him"

Can you believe it's already been 13 years since this song was released?!?!?! Time Flies!
Have a great weekend!
Bob Out

Prefer the real Robert Pattinson

I have nothing against wax dolls; especially not the ones at Madame Tussauds where the wax celebs are scarily alike the real person. Nevertheless, I must say that they have completely managed to destroy the hottie Robert Pattinson by turning him into one! Besides the hair, he doesn’t look like our favorite vampire at all. - He’s too skinny, his neck is too long, and he looks…old! ^^

The fake one.

The real one.

You can find more pictures here.