Things of note for the week ending Friday April 17th, 2015.
Hey everyone, slightly late this week. OH WELL.
Let’s kick things off with something easy. It’s…
1. MY NEW FAVOURITE TWITTER ACCOUNT
And it goes by the name of @Pentametron, I’m not sure it’s that new but it’s new to me and you might like it for the same reasons I do.
The bio explains the premise:
‘With algorithms subtle and discrete / I seek iambic writings to retweet.’
Perfect.
It’s little things like this that make Internet worthwhile.
Glorious.
2. BLOODBORNE
(it’s a little dark)
There’s a game out for the PS4 at the moment going by the name of Bloodborne. Apparently it’s of the same ilk of another set of games – those by the name of Dark Souls. It should be noted that when I saw the staggeringly good reviews for Bloodborne and subsequently made my decision to purchase (thanks for the £10 off, PayPal) I had never played any of the games in this series at all; I had no idea what to expect.
In short: the game is brutal.
BRUTAL.
In the first 24hrs of gameplay I think I saw the ‘YOU DIED‘ screen more times than I did throughout my entire play through of The Last of Us. And that’s saying something.
But as the great Depeche Mode once said: I just can’t get enough.
If Stockholm Syndrome was a video game, that video game would be called Bloodborne.
— James Whatley (@Whatleydude) March 31, 2015
If you’re a PS4 owner, go and get Bloodborne.
But that’s not why this section is here. The real reason we’re talking about Bloodborne is because I wanted to direct you to this fantastic write up. Not of the game. But of the experience that the game puts you through.
It’s one of the best things I’ve read all week.
—
On a related note: big shout out to those lovely folk at Sony who invited me to a special Sony Mobile / PlayStation remote play event earlier this week.
What’s remote play? That’s playing your PS4 from your actual phone.
For context on the below Tweet, I’d just finished changing the hard drive over on my PS4 (don’t ask) and had to pop out for lunch straight after. Cue: connecting to restaurant wifi, linking to my PS4 at home, re-downloading all my games while I’m out and about.
Amazing.
Now to re-download everything… Ah well.
Hurrah for amazing technology! pic.twitter.com/DuKXrgwBEw
— James Whatley (@Whatleydude) April 5, 2015
But the cool thing is, you can actually connect a PS4 controller to your phone via bluetooth and play that way. Here I am aforementioned remote play event playing Bloodborne on a phone and a PS4 controller.
Brilliant.
Anyway, lots of fun and, well, if you’re on Android and you’ve got a PS4 you should probably… know about this already.
Moving on.
3. AMERICAN PSYCHO: KNOWLEDGE
Here is a list of 19 things that you might not know from one of my all time favourite films.
Love this.
4. THIS AD IS AWFUL
You may have seen the furore over Protein World’s advertising this past week.
Missed it? Well, it’s here:
https://twitter.com/Whatleydude/status/588229451214938114/
Here are three things you should read about this:
- This excellent takedown, by the wonderful Pippa Hardingham
- This excellent Guardian Women piece, by Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett
- This excellent Buzzfeed list on objectification by Rossalyn Warren
Advertisers of the [Protein] world: DO BETTER.
Side note: if you find the above ad offensive, you can complain to the ASA right here. It’s super simple process and please feel free to use the link to the tweet above as your source.
If you’re familiar with the Advertising CAP code then you’ll know what you’re talking about but if you’re not, take a look at Pippa’s post above (which outlines the specific areas where it directly contravenes it) and then complain.
Cool.
5. YOUR CAT IS TRYING TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOU
According to Dr. Gary Weitzman, author of ‘How to speak cat‘ that is.
You could file this one under ‘n’ for ‘nutso, but stay with me.
Ahem:
“The meaning of a scratch or a hiss is pretty clear, but cats can talk in more subtle ways – with their eyes and tails. A slow blink from a feline, for example, is like a wink between friends, Weitzman said.
“Blinking is like a kitty kiss,” he said.
And extending their tails straight up equates to a human handshake, he said. A cat perks up that appendage as it approaches to show it’s happy to see you.”
The Huffington Post has more.
(yeah, I know)
_________________
Bonuses this week are pretty random:
- I hope that this (followed by this) was real; it really made me chuckle.
- Cute gif (for ex-Gameboy players).
- Like newsletters? This Here just launched a new one called ‘Click to Update‘ – issue 001 is out now and as first editions go, it’s not that bad. Go sign up and be sure to get 002 in a fortnight.
- I bought myself ‘Pencil’ by Fifty-Three the other day (I love it, natch) and in doing so unlocked this 10% off code for the Device website where I bought it. Go, use it as much as you like!
PS. Star Wars.
Whatley out.
