Teo and Tea

(pronounced Te-Oh and Te-Ah), just in case :p

Teo and Tea is the unusually stupid name from Jean-Michel Jarre's new studio album, due to be released in March (France). According to the man himself, the album is totally new (ie no more oxygenes, rendez-vous, or equinoxes!). A promo single is due out next month.

But, thanks to the wonders of the interweb, I've managed to download a CD rip of the radio promo of the single (also called Teo and Tea), also including two teaser videos!
I've been listening to the song on repeat for the last 15 minutes or so, and I can tell you it sure is different! Very techno-y, reminds me of early 90's euro dance/trash. Nothing really Jarre-y in it, if you listen to it without knowing who did it you'd never guess it was the Big JMJ.

Anyhow, for all you G-D readers/Jarre lovers, I've uploaded both promo videos on youtube but I've embeded the "Tea" video here. If you wanna see "Teo" just search youtube.

Enjoy. PS: The single sounds just like the video music.

Let's see what the full album is like come the 26th of March.

Please STOP visiting

First of all, apologies to any regular visitors to Good Delicious. This post does not concern you. Please don't bother reading it, and if you do, please don't be offended by it's content as it's directed towards certain individuals that I don't really know or care who they are.

I came to know recently that some people visiting this blog have been complaining about me being a show-off. And certain friends of mine have had to "defend" me when these people have complained to them about it all.

I'd like to clarify a few things:

1\ I haven't heard from anyone directly that this blog is bothering them. If you are one of the people that find something here annoying/offensive etc, please tell me directly. Hell, just post a reply to the post that's bothering you.

2\ This blog was started as a replacement to emailing people things that they might not want to read. Before good delicious, I used to email loads of people periodically about things I mention here, movies, games, jobs, exams, life in general etc etc. When I created this, I stopped emailing and just once emailed everyone the address of the blog.
It is up to people to visit here if they want to. I'm not forcing anyone. So, if you think that I'm showing off on the blog

PLEASE STOP VISITING

3\ I won't be stopping good delicious, nor will I be changing my posts. After all, it is my blog.

I would like to extend a thank you to the regular readers of it all, and to those true friends that can talk to my face, not my arse.

Pan's Labyrinth

I watched Pan's Labyrinth with Kelly yesterday, the low-key movie from Guillermo del Toro.

Telling the story of Ofelia, a young girl in 1940's Spain, just after the civil war, a period where the government was ruthlessly finding and killing any remaining pockets of resistance. Ofelia goes with her heavily-pregnant mother to visit her step-dad, a strict, violent, and sadistic army officer at his base in the forest. While there, Ofelia discovers Pan's Labyrinth, a magical, mystical place where things like fauns and fairies and giant frogs exist.

The film (which is in Spanish) then does an excellent job at telling 3 stories all at once: the violence of man towards man, the dynamics of a family, and the fantasy of a young girl in the middle of all this. Excellently contrasting between a war (with LOTS of bloody, graphic violence, which makes the film rated 15 or R), and between Pan's fantasy world, you'll follow the story of Ofelia as she struggles to understand about family, war, life, and the Labyrinth and it's wonderful inhabitants.

What's great about the film is that it lacks in a lot of today's En Vogue cinema tricks, namely the funny, nearly amateur camera-work, and the obligatory plot-twist that most films these days rely on cos you just gotta have a twist. Nope, Pan's Labyrinth is straight forward, easy to follow, and has a very predictable ending (hell, you're told the ending when it first starts!). But it's a story that's beautiful, fascinating, magical, violent, and very moving. A fairy tale for adults if you wish. I challenge any adult watching it not to relate Pan or Ofelia to their childhood fantasies.

So, got my message yet? WATCH PAN'S LABYRINTH.

I leave you with a snap from one of the coolest Labyrinth creatures: The Pale Man, who has eyes in his palms..... now tell me you don't want to watch the movie.

SoB out

On Why Gears Of War Sucks.....

cos it's just a way too good damn fine game!

Yesterday I loaded Lost Planet, the new Capcom IP that I had played the demo for ages ago on Xbox Live!, heck I'd even played the online multiplayer demo which I thought was good fun.
Problem is, as I was playing the first level I couldn't help trying to HOLD "A" to run to cover, or trying to time my reloads so that I get an "active reload" that makes me temporarily stronger. Of course, all these things are Gears of Wars...

GoW is so stupidly easy to control and great to play that I couldn't help but compare poor old Lost Planet to it. Now don't get me wrong, LP is a great game... proper Capcom action (in the vein of a cold and icy Resident Evil 4, which anyone will tell you is one of the greatest games and surely GameCube's finest moment) with lots of nice graphics, good gameplay and, if we're honest, it controls rather well. Just GoW does it all better :)

Oh and don't start me on GoW multiplayer, which has finally taken over Halo 2 as the most played game on live. The matches are not your typical FPS deathmatches (thank God for that, they would've sucked as the game isn't really built like that), what you get is 2 teams of 4 trying to outwit each other in cleverly designed maps with lots of cover and things to hide behind... once you're dead you have to wait for the round to finish... thing is though, the living can't speak to the dead and vice versa, so if you do get popped early you'll be sat there watching a hopeless team member about to be sawn in half (ah!! the chainsaw attached to the machine gun is another GoW innovation, totally awesome!) and you'll be shouting unheard warnings down the mic, until the poor sod joins you in the "dead lobby"...

Pair that with the awesome graphics and sound, and it's a killer solo and online app.... I'm currently in the middle of a disabling GoW online addiction, I played it till 4am on Sunday morning, and each day I play 1-2 hours after Kelly goes to sleep (she likes to watch but together we're playing Wii Zelda and Wario Ware, which are both worth a post later!)...

So, Get an Xbox 360 and GoW if you can..... if not you'll be missing out on one of the best games of the last 20 years. Seriously.

And Lost Planet is a great game too, but being Capcom you can trust them to make it rock hard, the first boss took me a good 15 minutes to beat, and I was in a BIG ASS mech at the time... I just hope they don't pull a cheap "repeat of all the bosses you just beat" level like the one I'm still stuck in in Viewtiful Joe..

SoB - off to work

Apple iPhone

I am WAY TOO EXCITED about this...

Apple have finally put together 3 things that have been rumoured for years: A touch screen iPod, a PDA of sorts, and a Phone. ALL IN ONE DEVICE.
Introducing the iPhone. Now it's not just any old phone with iTunes in it (*cough* motorola rokr) , nope this baby has only got one button and is totally wide-screen-touch-screen driven...

I can't remember being so excited about something since Nintendo revealed the Wii :)
Now, I've always thought I'd never get a PDA till Apple make 'em, and this baby will be hitting the streets in June (states) and end Q4 (europe). As I'm due a phone upgrade soon am gonna wait till I find out which network has this baby, and for how much. Am definitely gonna be an early adopter.

Enough excitement, head over to the Apple homepage for the specs, pics, and the video of the MacWorld keynote by Steve Jobs where he demos and introduces the beast.

Engadget have a nice semi-live blog of it also, here. SoB - TOO EXCITED.

Games Clocked 2006

I know I know, don't moan at me but here is another famous SoB list of Games Clocked :p

Lot's of gaming last year, which might explain why I never pass exams :) Seriously though, the release of the 360 and some great DS and PSP games have kept me busy. Gamecube is dying though....

On that note, I've added 2 new things to the sidebar (on your right), first is a continously updated list of games finished throught 2007, and the 2nd is the same for movies watched. I realised that I've seen some great movies in 2005/2006 and I should keep a list. The Prestige was one of the best movies of last year imho.

Anyhow, enough chat, here's the list:

Nintendo DS

Mario and Luigi - Partners in Time
Feel The Magic XX XY
Sonic Rush (with kelly)
New Super Mario Bros
Yoshi's Island 2 (with kelly)

PSP

Exit (all damn 100 puzzles!)
Me And My Katamari
LocoRoco (one of the best games of all time)
Every Extend Extra

GameCube

Chibi Robo

XBOX

Kong
Psychonauts (great, funny, unmissable game)
Prince Of Persia The Two Thrones (with kelly)

X360

Kameo - Elements Of Power
Mutant Storm Reloaded
Ghost Recon Advance Warfighter
Tomb Raider Legend
Condemned - Criminal Origins
Splinter Cell - Double Agent
Call of Duty 3
Gears of War (OMG!!!!!!!!)

Wii

Rayman Raving Rabids (with kelly)

PC

Titan Quest
Prey
Lego Star Wars 2 (with kelly)
Half Life 2 Episode One

Deal Or No Deal

Happy new year is what I mean to say here.

Deal Or No Deal is what's on TV as I type.

So what's gonna happen in 2007? God knows. Now that Saddam is dead, I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing. More violence in Iraq or a bit of calm. I'm not asking for a lot, just a little bit of calmness. For the sake of everyone there.

Me? I'm gonna be in Ipswich till August, might go visit NY in March/April, and will still be playing games. Perhaps 2007 will be the year that all my "gamer" friends will actually PLAY games, instead of claim to do that. YES - that's you Nile, Hani, Wolf and everyone else :p So get your fingers out of your arses and find out the wonders of the internet, it lets people play together believe it or not.

2007 is also the Year of The Vista. It's out the end of this month so let's hope the Hype surrounding VISTA and DX10 cards is more than just money in William Gates' pocket. I tried the leaked AIO a while ago and I quite liked it.

Finally, anyone saw the fireworks this year in London? They were designed by some French dude and they were absolutely amazing. I wonder if he works for Jarre.......