Author: Carrie

  • I wish my grass was emo. Then it’d cut itself

    If your dog’s dug holes in the lawn, don’t do what I did and buy super magic grass-o-lawn seeds, or whatever they’re called – the ones that promise fast results. Because once the new grass has grown, it keeps on growing. And growing. And growing. Normal grass needs a lawnmower; I think this stuff needs…

  • The great pineapple dessert conspiracy: good news at last

    Last year, I wrote about a threat to the very fabric of civilisation: the disappearance of pineapple yoghurts and pineapple jelly cubes from supermarket shelves. I haven’t been back to the subject for a while because – hurrah! – I discovered a nearby ASDA that wasn’t part of the conspiracy, and I’ve been able to…

  • More on Manhunt 2

    There’s a nice, balanced Manhunt 2 piece on Eurogamer by someone who’s actually played it. If there’s a conclusion to be gained from my brief time with Manhunt 2, it’s that Rockstar appears to have been naïve and reckless when, considering the microscope its predecessor fell under, it should have been cautious, clever and alert.

  • Bring the noise

    There are endless “best song” polls and discussions online, but I haven’t seen any that focus on noises – the little bursts of sound that elevate a song from “all right” to “blimey”. A few examples: The blast of feedback in London Calling by the Clash The beep in Beep by Pussycat Dolls Pretty much…

  • Video nasties: when publicity stunts go wrong

    I’m sure you all know this already, but I’m indebted to Total Film’s Jamie Graham for adding to the sum of useless but mildly interesting stuff that floats around my head. I always thought that the 1980s video-nasty panic originated in the tabloids, but Graham’s piece in the current TF points out that it was…

  • Keep taking the stone tablets

    I think the writer of this piece is getting a bit carried away: THE British Museum yesterday hailed a discovery within a clay tablet in its collection as a breakthrough for biblical archeology – proof of the accuracy of the Old Testament. A tablet that verifies the entire Old Testament? Blimey. So it’s a giant…

  • Apple drops the ludicrous QuickTime tax

    According to Digg and various tech blogs (I haven’t downloaded it yet to check), the latest update for Apple’s QuickTime software (7.2) has an amazing new feature: you can watch things in full screen mode without having to pay for the QuickTime Pro upgrade or arse about with AppleScripts. Ding dong, the QuickTime Tax is…

  • Panic on the runways of Glasgow

    Squander Two notes a cruel irony of the Glasgow airport attacks: the terrorists may have been ineffective, but the airport and authorities’ response – keeping all inbound passengers shut in their planes for several hours – led to six hospitalisations and 14 people needing medical treatment. Anyone stuck for five hours out the front of…

  • Online shops “crap at customer service” shocker

    From the “confirming what we already know” department comes a press release from Fasthosts: A staggering 78 per cent of British consumers have been disappointed by a slow response to a customer service email enquiry, with the average consumer sending three emails before receiving a satisfactory response, according to research released today by Fasthosts Internet…

  • Quick review: The Darkness (Xbox 360)

    When Deus Ex: Invisible War came out, I was pretty excited. I loved the original Deus Ex – it’s still one of my favourite games – and the prospect of a new game with better technology had my credit card twitching long before it came out. And my god, did that game suck. The game…