Fortress of Doors Syndication Sun, 19 May 2013 08:23:45 +0000 forum@bzpower.com (BZPower Forums) IP.Blog 60 Well I probably won't start collecting playing cards again, but I had to order a few decks that looked nice. These arrived today:
 

 
The Karnival Inferno deck. The colours are a bit bright, but I do like them.]]> Thu, 16 May 2013 17:58:00 +0000 Well, after handing in 3300 words worth of law coursework on Tuesday and doing my mooting assignment earlier this morning, I now have nothing but exams to look forward to.
The moot went fairly well, although having went with a white shirt and a red tie I resembled Agent 47 from the Hitman series more than I intended (although I do have hair of course). Not necessarily a bad thing, but I was going for more of a lawyer look rather than a professional assassin look.
It has been a very busy month and will continue to be so with exams on the 23rd and the 30th, the first of which I'm not feeling too good about. I do have a week to fix that though, so hopefully my first year of university will turn out alright.]]> Thu, 16 May 2013 09:47:00 +0000 These have been released to celebrate the return of the metal band earthtone9 and their new album IV, and since I used to collect playing cards back when I still did a lot of sleight of hand, I figured I might as well pick them up.
 

 
They are very nice and a fine addition to my collection. Excuse the not-so-great picture though, I seem to have forgotten how to use my camera.
Now I'm actually considering starting to collect interesting decks of cards again.
 
And I should also probably mention that earthtone9 released a 16 track 'best of' compilation as a free download if anyone is interested in them. I can't really tag them with a genre, but I've heard them called progressive, alternative and post-metal, so there's that.]]> Wed, 08 May 2013 17:39:00 +0000 So, I went into the kitchen intending to get myself a cup of mint green tea, daydreaming as I did so, and everything seemed fine in the moment. However, it was only upon returning to my room and taking a sip of said tea when I noticed that it tasted a bit odd, at which point I came to the realisation that what I have actually made was, in fact, a cup of coffee.
I am not sure how I went through the whole process without it even occurring to me that I was making an entirely different drink, which I keep on an entirely different shelf and consume from an entirely different mug.
It seems that I either have a caffeine problem or really need to get some sleep for once. Probably both.
 
And yes, I have nothing else noteworthy to blog about, in case you're wondering.
Mostly just trying to finish off my coursework and prepare for the two exams at the end of the month, which have me a bit worried.
It's hard to believe that my first year of university is already almost over.]]> Sat, 04 May 2013 21:02:00 +0000 These bloody stickers on the top of the case.
 

 
I don't know if it's just me, but I can never take them off without them tearing and they always leave marks on the case.
It's becoming my biggest pet peeve in terms of CDs. I mean, why are they even there, other than to be annoying? The bar code is already on the back of the CD, and new CDs are wrapped anyway ]]> Fri, 19 Apr 2013 20:16:00 +0000 So, I went to see three Canadian comedians - Stewart Francis, Craig Campbell and Glenn Wool - on their The Lumberjacks tour tonight.
Stewart Francis has been one of my favourite comedians for quite some time now, so it was great to finally see him live, and the other two were brilliant as well. Haven't laughed that much in a long time.
It was just their second show of the tour, which meant that there were still some imperfections and they were still trying some new stuff out, which only made the show all the better. Also, as it was a fairly small venue, it felt more personal which is always great
 
 
On another note, I've started buying more albums than I should again. I can't help it, something about a music CD just draws me in and doesn't let go until I've bought it. Especially those fancy limited/special/deluxe/whatever editions...]]> Thu, 18 Apr 2013 21:23:00 +0000 There is now a trailer for the Thief reboot, and of course it doesn't tell us much about the game at all, but it still has me pretty excited.
Although I am a bit worried about what direction they'll be taking it in, I have high hopes for it after Eidos Montreal's masterpiece with Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Just hoping it doesn't end up like the somewhat disappointing Hitman: Absolution from last year.
 
I mean, it turns out they're not gonna call it THI4F after all, which is certainly a good sign.]]> Tue, 02 Apr 2013 22:33:00 +0000 Well, as I was looking forward to perhaps picking up some albums today, I was greeted by the rather unpleasant news that my local independent record store has closed.
It's a real shame, as it was a fantastic store and I only found it a few months ago. It always sucks to see a good record store go out of business and hopefully the staff manage to find new jobs.
 
This also means that now my only way of buying albums is online, which I've been doing a lot anyway, but I'll still miss my weekly trips to the record store.]]> Thu, 28 Feb 2013 14:33:00 +0000 So, I got myself a copy of Paradise Lost's album Believe In Nothing, which has finally completed my collection of their studio releases. Thirteen albums and one set of demos. And you know, it's worth every penny. They are a fantastic band.
This is, and will likely remain, my only complete collection of a band with a discography of this size, as I can't really think of any other band with 10+ albums, all of which I'm interested in having a copy of.
 
Also, I'm really loving Century Media's Metal for the Masses campaign. Picked up the reissue of One For Sorrow by Insomnium today for £7. It's pretty rare to find albums at a record store cheaper than online these days, so this is pretty nice.]]> Mon, 28 Jan 2013 17:43:00 +0000 One of my favourite record labels - Century Media - mark their 25th anniversary this year and have released 25 of their classic albums as limited 2CD editions, which is pretty cool.
I got  myself City by Strapping Young Lad today and will probably end up getting Paradise Lost's In Requiem despite owning the original, just for the second CD and because that album means quite a lot to me.
Might also use these reissues to get some albums by bands I've been wanting to try out, like Turisas, Iced Earth and Tiamat.
And of course I find out about these reissues just as I was thinking I should probably cut down on the money I spend on music... Ah well.]]> Wed, 16 Jan 2013 15:18:00 +0000