Guns N' Roses - Nottingham Review

http://www.last.fm/user/samlewis45/journal/2012/05/21/5h3bta_guns_n%27_roses_-_nottingham_review

:)

Delain - Birmingham Review

http://www.last.fm/user/samlewis45/journal/2012/05/13/5gpvp7_delain_-_birmingham_review

:)

Rant: FIFA 12

Over the last few days I have decided that EA Sports' FIFA 12 is one of the most frustrating games ever made. As a disclaimer, I have never been the best at console football games nor do I dedicate hours of my life to them; but I just feel that this one has so many flaws that it is beginning to affect my enjoyment of it. While the presentation side of it is excellent: official licenses, great graphics and realistic player movement makes the game an visual feast; the gameplay this year really lets it down for me. I am aware that many people like the new features, but just google 'How to defend on FIFA 12' and you will see that plenty of people feel the same as me. Most of my game hours has been on career mode where I am playing as Plymouth Argyle. I finished my first season mid-table and though I am only in October of my second season, I cannot see anything other than mid-table happening again. I can win games, and sometimes I can even win convincingly (i.e. 3-0, 4-1 etc.) but it seems this is happening less and less now and my frustration with the game is building. Bearing in mind I am in League 2, my opposition are not world class opponents. My player average is probably about 57/58 so for the league I have a reasonably strong side.

The first thing I noticed when I had played a few exhibition matches was how hard it was to tackle anyone. In the old FIFAs it was so satifying to slide in, take a player out and come away with the ball but now slide tackling seems almost redundant. As a result, I spent a game trying to kill an opponent player with a Vinnie Jones style two footed hack but I just could not do it! Even the most cumbersome central defenders can dodge every tackle you try and throw in with Messi-esque aplom and leave your players sliding around metres from where the ball actually is. The only times I can get a slide tackle to work every time is when I am chasing a winger down the flank but tackling him will send the ball out for his throw in anyway so it seems pointless. The conservative tackle is equally annoying to excecute. While this one is easier and often I can get it to work, it just seems equally random. It is so easy to give away free kicks and penalties accidentally with the lightest of tackles because the oppostion players manage to move into a position where you commit a foul without meaning to.

This all leads into the overall defending system in FIFA 12. No matter who you are against, the opposition players can just walk through your defense unless you can somehow get a tackle in. More often than not though you are praying that your goalkeeper can save you. The artifical intelligence (AI) is such that only the defender you are controlling actually makes any effort to try and win the ball back. There is a way to get another defender to close down on the player with the ball but in the heat of the moment it is likely that you will forget you can even do this. Opposition attackers also seem to have a force field around them, which kicks in when you get within a couple of metre of them. Even the lowliest Accrington Stanley striker can pull every trick out of the bag, leaving your defenders stranded like lemons wondering what just happened to them. The only reliable defender is the keeper and rushing him out can often quell the attack but if there is a rebound off him/the post/another defender then it will always fall to another on-rushing attacking player who is then faced with an open net, and ofcourse they never miss. This is how most of the goals against me are scored because I have choice than to use the goalkeeper to come and try and claim the ball.

Going forward poses a new set of problems, mostly because the issues above do not apply to the opposition defenders. Getting into a good attacking position though is difficult because the passing is really hard to get right. It seems that as soon as you pass to one of your players, they stand stock still and this leaves the ball open to be snatched up at any time by opposition defeneders or midfielders. Your player makes no attempt to move towards the ball being played to him and so often what looks like an easy pass is intercepted by a defender coming from nowhere because your player makes no effort to collect the ball. Making a decent run is also very tricky. It seems your players only have two speeds. The first is sprinting really fast which means any slight movement of the stick will often run your player into a defender or out of play if you are trying to hug the touchline. The other is slow as hell which gives you more control but leaves you open to the tackles from opposition defenders who never make a mistake. It is vitually impossible to take the ball around an opposition player, and trying to dribble around the keeper is a total non-starter. The attacking AI is nearly as bad as the defending AI. Attacking players rarely make any runs, even when you can see a perfect place to play a perfect defence-splitting through ball. What is even more frustrating though is when you see a player starting to make a run, and play said ball, the player just decides to not finish the run so the ball is once again at the feet of a defender. Even if you do somehow manage to get in the box, the you will be gang-raped by 3 defenders and nine times out of ten you will lose the ball. The total opposite of what goes on in your box!

These are my main gripes with the game. There are plenty of others: heading the ball is next to impossible (a 6'6 defender will win one out of about fifteen headers against a 5'9 winger all game), set pieces are virtually impossible to make anything out of and the fact you rarely ever get freekicks or penalties all add up to a very frustrating game. People in reviews have said it takes patience to get it right and building up attacks is essential but considering most people play 5min halfs, there is just no time to build up, unless you change it to 45min halfs and play in real time, but who wants to do that?! :)

Paradise Lost - Nottingham Review

I have been writing gig reviews on last.fm for ages now, so despite the fact I have this blog now I shall continue to write them there to keep them all together. However, I will post links to any new ones I write here so you can read them there on last.fm. Here is my review of yesterday's gig by Paradise Lost in Nottingham:

http://www.last.fm/user/samlewis45/journal/2012/04/27/5fwjm7_paradise_lost_-_nottingham_review

I will not post links to all my old ones as there are loads, but those who are interested can read back through them if you are interested :)

Rant: Supermarkets

Now I am aware that supermarkets are often quite an indifferent, and necessary, experience; but I just cannot help but be annoyed at many things to do with them. Before moving to Leicester to go to university, I did not really go to supermarkets very often. They are now very much a part of my routine and it is very rare that the local Morrisons does not get a visit from me. While it is a perfectly good shop, with everything I want easily avaliable; I cannot help but notice plently of things that annoy me as I trundle around with my trolley on a monday morning.

The first thing that annoys me is old people who seem to see it as some great social outing, rather than a necessary part of one's day. Despite the fact most of them have come together on the free bus anyway, they still insist on blocking up the aisles to have a chat with "Doris who I haven't seen since last thursday". This makes it totally impossible to get down the asiles often, especially if their conference call takes place right by one of the big support pillars (which is usually does). This coupled with minimum-wage John stacking the shelves with his enormous cage on wheels make the supermarkets a treacherous place to navigate.

In a similar vein, the second thing that annoys me is people who abandon their trolleys at the end of the asile, across the Butcher's counter or infront of the toilet door. Granted, this is usually so they can get past Doris and Marjory's weekly meeting about Eastenders and the Daily Mail to get to a pint of milk; but leaving the trolley totally in the way of everyone else is just a pain. If I see a trolley left unattended I put the most expensive thing I can see in it; so if you have ever found some fancy olive oil that you never wanted in your shopping when you get home you now know why!

Thirdly, what annoys me also about supermarkets are robotic checkout staff with no common sense. Yes I am aware that many people I know have or still work in Waitrose in Saltash and this does not apply to any of you, as it is usually the 50-something year old woman who sees the Leicester Morrisons as a career option or the 16 year old from Scumbag college. I am aware that checkout staff are indoctrinated to say certain lines to me such as: 'Do you want any bags?' or else face the wrath or supervisor Adolf with absolutely no sense of humour; but if I have two huge bags for life already opened ready do I really need more? The other thing that gets me is 'Do you want some help packing?' Do you think I really need someone to move my shopping from the end of the till less than a metre to my bag in the trolley? I do not think so.. I seem to get more sensible conversations from the self-checkout machines, and if they were designed for weekly shops I would gladly use them more often. 

I am sure that other people will have different things that annoy them about supermarkets so intelligent discussion is always welcome. :)
 

Who is Sam Lewis?

I guess, in truth, I'm actually way behind the blogging curve. With the rise of the social networks, blogging seems to have been pushed to one side because greater connectivity can be found on Facebook and Twitter; with Myspace and Bebo before them. However, I have come to think that blogs represent a much more 'personal' form of internet interaction. Facebook has become very cliquey and is not always the best place to air opinions, especially if they can be seen as 'controversial':

*posts an opinion which is slightly outside the norm* - *gets abusive status comments and sees friend count go down* - *deletes status to preserve one's sanity*

This seems to be the same for everyone and I have deduced that Facebook really is not the place for most of my musings. This is why I have decided to create this blog, as Facebook trolls are unlikely to be bothered with it and only people who actually have some interest in what I have to say will read it (or possibly no-one but we'll see..). I'm sorry that this has been a rather long introduction but I felt the need to explain the purpose for this blog. I chose the name 'Who is Sam Lewis?' in direct reference to the famous line 'Who is John Galt?' from Ayn Rand's 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged which has had a profound difference on my world outlook. Despite the overt literary reference, it is not supposed to be witty, pithy or 'creative' in any shape or form. It seems that these days everyone is trying to create an image for themselves; but I try to remain as indifferent as ever, above all trends - which although is probably a trend in itself (thank you marketing people..) I really do not feel the need to qualify reasons for anything and use the Atlas Shrugged reference purely to amuse myself.

Ok, so what will be covered here? The answer is as of yet unclear to me. I expect this will be where I air my opinions on whatever my mind will ponder over in the future. General rants are the going to be the most likely blogging 'subjects' because I enjoy pontificating about various things. As a general rule, I am very one-sided and will not sit and objectively weigh up the pros and cons of each little subject. This isn't an academic piece of writing so I do not feel the need to please everyone here. Politics will also be covered at times, as this is what I am studying plus I have an interest in it. I shall most likely argue from a neo-liberal point of view, which I make no apologies for. I know this is seen as 'radical' by many young people who seem to be embroiled in the virtues of the left, but I sit firmly on centre-right ground and I do not pretend otherwise. Music will probably also be covered here, as I will link to my concert reviews on last.fm and may just post other musical musings here too (for example: I am listening to Aqualung by Jethro Tull as I write this is anyone is interested..).

I am not going to claim that this is going to a coherant blog, particularly intelligent, or even frequent. I shall write what I want, when I want. It will be a very indifferent blog. I think indifference is an underrated quality these days, as everyone decides that they need an opinion on everything! Linking Facebook to The Guardian newspaper hasn't helped this.. But anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you pop back when I get round to writing some more stuff :)