<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" version="2.0"><channel><atom:link rel="hub" href="http://tumblr.superfeedr.com/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"/><description>‘Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.’</description><title>Daryl Baxter.</title><generator>Tumblr (3.0; @darylbaxter)</generator><link>http://darylbaxter.com/</link><item><title>Xbox One Announced. </title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/30d226a393d6f966744b7d9ac0d5061a/tumblr_inline_mn5wdoHe0m1qz4rgp.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;After months of rumours, it&amp;#8217;s finally here.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;When the name appeared, I was expecting another console that solely focused on games, with a smaller design to match.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Alas, this was the only console that would bear the name of &amp;#8216;Xbox&amp;#8217;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The familiar announcements of specs and partners was rolled out like a conveyor belt, and games were shown, but only cut scenes, no in-game footage. Hopefully at E3 they&amp;#8217;ll be actual game play in 3 weeks.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So far, the box itself looks huge, a cross between a Sega Saturn and a Phillips CDI, I can&amp;#8217;t see that even fitting on the shelf below my Television. The vents all over the machine gives me the impression it&amp;#8217;s going to be even louder than how the first generation Xbox 360 was.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#8217;ll wait until I see it with my own eyes if it&amp;#8217;s really as big as it looks.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So far, I&amp;#8217;m not impressed with it. It just seems like a rehash of the 360, but with an emphasis of focusing on taking over the living room. Microsoft could have done an announcement with a bang, but, once again, they disappointed.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Verge has another good article on One&amp;#8217;s specs &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/21/4350918/xbox-one-microsoft-unveils-its-next-generation-console" target="_blank"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, while their hands on, with the incredible amount of ports at the back, is &lt;a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/21/4351692/xbox-one-hands-on-pictures?utm_source=buffer&amp;amp;utm_medium=twitter&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Buffer&amp;amp;utm_content=buffer01c6c" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;here&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://darylbaxter.com/post/51005349637</link><guid>http://darylbaxter.com/post/51005349637</guid><pubDate>Tue, 21 May 2013 20:04:00 +0100</pubDate><category>xbox one</category><category>xbox reveal</category><category>xbox</category><category>microsoft</category><category>gaming</category><category>video games</category><category>console</category><category>next</category><category>generation</category><category>blog</category><category>tech</category></item><item><title>Sonic 1 Remastered - Completed.  *Spoilers*</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/85bc97db0209f16a604f680283abc776/tumblr_inline_mmyseqog231qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Only took 2 days, but I did it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So how can you control Knuckles, and what happens when you collect all the Chaos Emeralds?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The post is full of spoilers that involves when you unlock the characters and the Chaos Emeralds, so if you don&amp;#8217;t want to know, then just admire the picture above.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But if you&amp;#8217;re in a dangerous mood, read on and be enlightened.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;!-- more --&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/8b5d999c8eabb792670673907ffe6f0f/tumblr_inline_mmysglP8B21qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;First of all, if you want Tails, simply complete it with Sonic.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;You&amp;#8217;ll get Tails, but also that plus icon.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So If you just select Tails, this happens:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/74d43800d121fcd9edafd40503f3d39f/tumblr_inline_mmyso1da211qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/c31d2657b9524bb7844ccd16024846af/tumblr_inline_mmyspkUsqC1qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;He can fly, he can swim, it&amp;#8217;s a first in Sonic 1, and feels surreal at first.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you press the &amp;#8216;+&amp;#8217; though, you can have him follow you, and the title screen changes again:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/92ef2b037bbec8b4b5201a6f077ca7a5/tumblr_inline_mmysrktQhq1qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/7358d7ba5c2e5e939fe36723056b8611/tumblr_inline_mmysrx7y6l1qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Trying to take a screenshot while Tails isn&amp;#8217;t standing behind you is a challenge in itself, but it works, and he&amp;#8217;s as dim as he is in Sonic 2 and 3, so expect him to fall over, get hurt, and jump into spikes when needed.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So, after many attempts..&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/61ab67a5605baa5708f9476a8930c6d8/tumblr_inline_mmyt5hwSbV1qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/54caa6b50b1ff1e4e5a12a21f5434c00/tumblr_inline_mmysu36JGk1qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I finally did it, with an achievement to boot.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/5fc5f7d8456bcacc1f9b2cb454e2f0da/tumblr_inline_mmysutfdCe1qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And what happens? Do you jump in the air after 50 rings and transform into Super Saiyan Sonic?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Well..&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/59699601b07c2fc6d8b33d0b677c0df9/tumblr_inline_mmysw8EjBN1qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;No, you get Knuckles!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Everything works a treat, and I&amp;#8217;ve discovered new routes just for him and Tails, like here in Marble Zone Act 2. Works well, and can be accessed if you get up past the second wall.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#8217;ve loved coming back to Sonic 1, remastered and with these welcome features. The only bug I&amp;#8217;ve come across is that if you restart the Special Stage, the rotating stops, unless you land on the &amp;#8216;up&amp;#8217; or &amp;#8216;down&amp;#8217; bumpers several times, which I&amp;#8217;ve only found out, slow down or speed up the rotation of the stage.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Funny how you can discover something in plain sight after 18 years.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Now I&amp;#8217;ve completed it all with them, it&amp;#8217;s onto Time Attack, and to see if anything else can be unlocked.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But if you&amp;#8217;ve looked around the ether of the internet, you know that there&amp;#8217;s definitely more to find.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Some more screens:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/dbf941c121180ec59ab5afcf421b6bb7/tumblr_inline_mmyt2aIQef1qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/e484c25e8079419f41e6b820ff361a94/tumblr_inline_mmyt3aofa21qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/5ecb4930b59b40e295854b3f7c925d9c/tumblr_inline_mmyt3jfvsR1qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/574a1f84db2a7f4fb4e86832c1910c7b/tumblr_inline_mmyt43YyZW1qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/e8edd0fd6d82edddd9f962b061b558c3/tumblr_inline_mmyt47PLUt1qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/30eb5403b2c985f18ae839f833d12341/tumblr_inline_mmyt4a7Zvk1qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/ef37c8dbd1c4f611f65c977841218b90/tumblr_inline_mmyt4iHV5y1qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/13b10d33f5effc4f54431df126e902b1/tumblr_inline_mmyt4p6sfG1qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://darylbaxter.com/post/50683445127</link><guid>http://darylbaxter.com/post/50683445127</guid><pubDate>Sat, 18 May 2013 00:01:00 +0100</pubDate><category>sonic</category><category>sega</category><category>sonic the hedgehog</category><category>remastered</category><category>ios</category><category>android</category><category>iphone</category><category>ipad</category><category>game</category><category>retro</category><category>knuckles</category><category>spoilers</category><category>tails</category><category>unlock</category><category>mega drive</category><category>genesis</category><category>hints</category><category>tips</category><category>emeralds</category><category>chaos</category><category>taxman</category><category>hedgehog</category><category>robotnik</category></item><item><title>Sonic 1 Remastered out for iOS + Android - First Impressions.</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/cbee039ee39acb065071924ed99a8eb3/tumblr_inline_mmv7jcwvXl1qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Sonic 1 Remastered was &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/sonic-the-hedgehog/id316050001?mt=8" target="_blank"&gt;released&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; to the App Store an hour ago, which was a nice surprise to me as I was looking on the App Store and this update appeared.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I couldn&amp;#8217;t help playing a bit through it and showing my impressions on here.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;!-- more --&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So as soon as the App was opened, the box art for Sonic 1 appeared, and I was brought into the main menu.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/e4f87f80dbc7a10956bfc2ca427c53cb/tumblr_inline_mmv7lb2ODM1qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Straight away, these little touches are great. I can choose the box art for Japan, USA, or Europe, and choose to start the game, do a time attack mode, or view my achievements and leaderboard.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There&amp;#8217;s two options once you press &amp;#8216;Start Game&amp;#8217;, you can start a save file, or go down the original route and do it with no saves:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/2228fa81d60c24da2fe3c1969af0d35f/tumblr_inline_mmv7o2nxW51qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The whole design of this feels like an extension of the japanese box art, and the music even sounds like it would have fitted great in the original Sonic 1 if it had a menu screen like this.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But the next screen, intrigued me:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/4ac662bac832196856d969261ddec144/tumblr_inline_mmv7qmasRf1qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;You can play as Tails, or Knuckles. How though?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#8217;ve no idea, I&amp;#8217;m only through Marble Zone so far, and it was a struggle then to put it down so I could write this, but I guess one way is to complete the game much like how Sonic CD worked with Tails.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Perhaps Time Attack has to be completed to unlock Knuckles?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Give me a week and we will see.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Also to note, I&amp;#8217;m wondering if we will get Super Sonic unlocked in this remastered version. Except well made hacks, you could only control him in the subsequent sequels, so that should be a great surprise if it&amp;#8217;s been achieved here.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But anyway, on with the game!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/fac0790ec46500712ce086c365a13be5/tumblr_inline_mmv7uwoK4w1qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Straight away you can notice, Green Hill Zone, in widescreen.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;At first it looks surreal, as after a good 18 years of playing Sonic, it looks incredible in this way now. This is what the iPhone 5&amp;#8217;s screen size was made for.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Again, the virtual controls are there, but compared to the poor port of before, these work great, just as well as the Sonic CD port, which is of no surprise thanks to Christian &amp;#8216;Taxman&amp;#8217; Whitehead&amp;#8217;s Retro Engine powering this Remastered version.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Another ability I&amp;#8217;ve found, which was only available in Sonic Jam of Sonic 1, the spindash.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/8fcf852a0db6833cdfba432af9349c0d/tumblr_inline_mmv7zmWbQy1qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Works as expected, hold &amp;#8216;down&amp;#8217; and &amp;#8216;jump&amp;#8217; and away you go. Works great against the breakable walls in Green Hill, is gladly welcomed.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As I got to the boss, I could easily beat Robotnik without getting hit, but in this widescreen edition, it actually seems harder, and that surprised me.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/b120e17261e14412250fec535531c0f4/tumblr_inline_mmv824UbkT1qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;From 48 as seen above, to just 1 by the time I finally beat him.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Practice needs to be made, so I wonder how the next bosses will fare, especially Star Light Zone.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I also managed to reach the special zone. Fortunately, the mess of the special stage controls of Sonic &amp;#8216;4&amp;#8217; are not present here, so you don&amp;#8217;t have to keep turning your phone like a madman.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/3d3ff7134e23e8afd35449c64ad42dc1/tumblr_inline_mmv89ikck91qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;So far, it&amp;#8217;s a fantastic port. Everything works as it should, the widescreen gives it a fresh feel while still keeping it as Sonic 1, and the spindash and other features like save are gladly welcomed.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I might update this or do another post when Knuckles and Tails are unlocked, and to see if Super Sonic will be waiting when I&amp;#8217;ve finally got all of the Chaos Emeralds.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So far, so good.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Now if Sonic 2 Remastered was to arrive with 2 player support and Hidden Palace Zone as a hidden extra, that would be appreciated..&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/ba378ab63926843ce2713817b9e1c2b8/tumblr_inline_mmv86waVvO1qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://darylbaxter.com/post/50538716199</link><guid>http://darylbaxter.com/post/50538716199</guid><pubDate>Thu, 16 May 2013 01:38:19 +0100</pubDate><category>sonic</category><category>sonic the hedgehog</category><category>remastered</category><category>1</category><category>ios</category><category>android</category><category>iphone</category><category>ipad</category><category>game</category><category>retro</category><category>knuckles</category><category>tails</category><category>mega drive</category><category>sega</category><category>genesis</category><category>impressions</category><category>blog</category><category>app</category><category>store</category><category>touch</category><category>review</category><category>writer</category><category>gaming</category><category>link to the past</category></item><item><title>Chatwing - A Useful Tool for Blogsites?</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/5a23ff1a512f4e3366205dea1e2e7e96/tumblr_inline_mmj9ethQaB1r5d6o6.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span&gt;When you’re setting up a website, the main thing you want to do is to relate and communicate to whoever reads what you put up. One way can be e-mail, another can be&lt;span&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;asocial network.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Chatwing though, offers a new way which seems to be a faster and easier way to communicate with visitors.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;I was given the opportunity to give it a try, and this is what happened.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;!-- more --&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Chatwing began back in 2011, when Aaron Kong, decided that there could be a better way of communication between writer and reader on blog sites.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Since then, it’s become an application to watch, which has users in the hundreds of thousands and rapidly growing.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span&gt;All a user has to do, is to create an account, and simply create widget, create the size and colour scheme, and once they are given the code, they can drop it into any part of their site. That’s it.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Once it’s been implemented, anyone can leave a message in the ‘Chatwing’ box, either as a guest or as a registered user, and the owner of the site can reply to these messages.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span&gt;I have my box in the about section. If anyone wants to give me feedback about an article or a way to contact me without giving their details, they can only write a message in the box, and I can reply back when I can.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/e26f7940acf6e0db5023376ada44e163/tumblr_inline_mmjfv5AZgI1qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Its message limit is unlimited, so there’s no maintenance in making sure the embedded box is running out of allocated storage.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span&gt;So far, Chatwing does what I need it to do. It gives me full control over the embedded box, and I can change the dimensions or colour of it if I wish.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Only&lt;span&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;a few days ago, Chatwing 2.0 was launched which introduced groups. This enabled admins to filter visitors in their respective countries if there was a language barrier for instance. There’s also more login options, such as from Google and Yahoo, as well as Facebook and Twitter.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span&gt;The whole UI also seems faster, which always helps.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Chatwing is a free service, so all anyone needs to do, is to simply register their name and e-mail, and they can start embedding a chatbox into their sites.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;Overall, it&amp;#8217;s a useful service. It saves the reader time in having to e-mail the writer when they can simply leave a message in the box. The main concerns is that, if this was to be implemented into a site with heavy traffic, such as &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.daringfireball.net" target="_blank"&gt;Daring Fireball&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, could John Gruber be able to sift through hundreds of messages? Would he even want to?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;Another point is that, because we&amp;#8217;re at a time in the internet when it&amp;#8217;s now a normality in many people&amp;#8217;s lives compared to a decade ago, people&amp;#8217;s standards are so high. Will they want this to be on their site? Is it enough?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;So far after I&amp;#8217;ve tried it, if it keeps going the way it is now, there&amp;#8217;s a chance.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.chatwing.com" target="_blank"&gt;Chatwing.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://darylbaxter.com/post/50334894124</link><guid>http://darylbaxter.com/post/50334894124</guid><pubDate>Mon, 13 May 2013 12:01:16 +0100</pubDate><category>chatwing</category><category>blog</category><category>tech</category><category>message</category><category>chat</category></item><item><title>Annie's Burger Shack.</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/47df903ae372fcda83c3aa6db7191cfa/tumblr_inline_mmhsrbIrUh1qz4rgp.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNoSpacing"&gt;&lt;span&gt;I’ve only been in Nottingham for nearly a year, and I was advised by the housemate to visit this hidden gem as soon as I could and taste the best burger he&amp;#8217;s ever tried. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNoSpacing"&gt;&lt;span&gt;And so it began.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNoSpacing"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;!-- more --&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNoSpacing"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNoSpacing"&gt;&lt;span&gt;‘Annie’s’ Burger Shack is found in ‘The Navigation’ pub in Nottingham, close to the city centre. You can by all means have a drink and a casual chat, but what 95% go in for, are the burgers, so there’s no surprise that you’ll have trouble getting a table.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNoSpacing"&gt;&lt;span&gt;The inside is just your usual pub, standard look, but for what you&amp;#8217;re going for, it&amp;#8217;s not a great deal, and to be honest, it never is with me. If the food is good, why should it matter?&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNoSpacing"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Once you finally do get a table, you are greeted by a menu of many burgers. Some you’re familiar with, and some that you think they’re putting it on there for a laugh.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNoSpacing"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/0b629b87ae987f5feeccc4258e4d5335/tumblr_inline_mmhsutNOh81qz4rgp.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNoSpacing"&gt;&lt;span&gt;The menu was 3 pages of surprises. You can look at the full selection to save you time when you arrive right &lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.the-navigation.com/food.asp#!prettyPhoto%5Binline%5D/0/" target="_blank"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. I saw a leaflet beside them that was offering a competition to &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;who could come up with th&lt;/span&gt;e best burger in their eyes. The winner would have their burger on the menu permanently. So the fact that the menu wasn&amp;#8217;t set in stone was great to see, you could be surprised on your next visit a few months down the line.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNoSpacing"&gt;&lt;span&gt;When we got the menus, it took us a good half hour to decide which ones to go for, the choice was massive, and all of them sounded tempting.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNoSpacing"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Three pages worth of burgers to choose from, and finally, we had all made our choices.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNoSpacing"&gt;&lt;span&gt;The food is ordered at the bar, and once you’ve paid, you’re given a ticket with a number on. The servers bring them out shouting the numbers, and if it matches with yours, you hold your ticket up, easy.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNoSpacing"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Seeing how busy it was, the wait was understandable at a half hour, listening to the numbers get ever closer to ours. But when they all arrived, it was worth the wait.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNoSpacing"&gt;&lt;span&gt;The &lt;strong&gt;Fajita Burger&lt;/strong&gt; was on a wooden plate with a bowl of curly fries. The burger was loaded with olives, chopped salsa, onions and a dressing, with the beef burger gleefully hidden in sight with the bun just reassuring me that it&amp;#8217;s definitely a burger. It was juicy, full of all the flavours, and was gone in only a couple of minutes.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNoSpacing"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/54727911d34a0d0430846896fd199ad8/tumblr_inline_mmht263ocF1qz4rgp.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/8db9d8d6deced91c1de5cd2a1d607585/tumblr_inline_mmht2zYDlc1qz4rgp.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Next up, t&lt;span&gt;he henchmen’s &lt;strong&gt;Sunday Dinner Burger&lt;/strong&gt; was a sight to behold, and if you’re imagining how it might look like, then you’re exactly right. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;There is a Yorkshire pudding in this.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/7fb07387d0d56ded861a632184f408cd/tumblr_inline_mmht6jGEGK1qz4rgp.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNoSpacing"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Dripping with gravy and packed full of peas, carrots, a breast of roast chicken. The beef burger was right at the bottom with a bed of lettuce and the bun and stick to have it all hold together.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNoSpacing"&gt;&lt;span&gt;His opinion, was silence, and that was all that was needed. He couldn’t have it all in one go due to the sheer size of the thing, so it could only be taken apart, but every bite he said was a treat.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNoSpacing"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;Finally, the &lt;strong&gt;Elvis Burger&lt;/strong&gt;, based purely on the King’s love of peanut butter and jam, all in a burger. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNoSpacing"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/929388840b935e4cc942406cc69ce72f/tumblr_inline_mmht9acOMn1qz4rgp.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There wasn&amp;#8217;t a picture of the burger in its full form, due to me having the fajita burger in one go. But you can just see the peanut butter at the bottom, and the jam at the top.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The other companion&amp;#8217;s opinion of this was that the sweetness and meatiness was a combination he never tried before, but he was glad he did. He had it in a few mouthfuls with no knife and fork required, and was easily gone after a few minutes.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Just to note, the curly fries were had by all of us, and they were a great accompaniment, not burnt, not too soft, just right. They were included with the burgers, which was a nice touch.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Once we were done, we were free to get another drink or attempt to walk off the feast we just had. We chose the latter.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Overall, Annie&amp;#8217;s Burger Shack is a hidden gem. The only gripes I had was that there&amp;#8217;s simply not enough space. If it was at all possible, see if there&amp;#8217;s more room was available for people. I could see at least 5 groups waiting near the entrance, scanning everyone at a table to see if they were about to leave. When we were finishing our drinks after having the burger, we did slightly feel that we should leave right away to let the people waiting have their turn.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But apart from the space issue, the food was something else. All of it is freshly made, and after going there three times so far, the quality matches every time.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#8217;m looking forward to going back, as I&amp;#8217;m sure the menu will have more burger combinations. I&amp;#8217;ve already seen on their Facebook page that there&amp;#8217;s a &amp;#8216;Chinese Burger&amp;#8217; in the offering. Already I&amp;#8217;m curious.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Annie&amp;#8217;s Burger Shack looks to be the perfect reward for me after the exams are over.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Total Bill: £28.80&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3 x Lemonade&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fajita Burger&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Elvis Burger&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sunday Dinner Burger&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Contact Details:&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Navigation&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;6 Wilford Street&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Nottingham &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;NG2&amp;#160;1AA&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;TEL: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;07936&amp;#160;851111&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Facebook: &lt;a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Annies-Burger-Shack-at-The-Navigation-Inn/218646601514972?fref=ts" target="_blank"&gt;Annie&amp;#8217;s Burger Shack&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Twitter: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a class="account-group js-user-profile-link" href="https://twitter.com/AnmarieSpaziano" target="_blank"&gt;&lt;span class="username js-action-profile-name"&gt;@AnmarieSpaziano&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.the-navigation.com/" target="_blank"&gt;Main Site Click Here.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://darylbaxter.com/post/49948789815</link><guid>http://darylbaxter.com/post/49948789815</guid><pubDate>Wed, 08 May 2013 20:05:00 +0100</pubDate><category>food</category><category>burger</category><category>annie's</category><category>shack</category><category>review</category><category>sunday</category><category>dinner</category><category>fajita</category><category>elvis</category><category>jam</category><category>blog</category><category>pub</category><category>navigation</category></item><item><title>My Link to the Past: Metal Gear Solid</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/0c778a147ef0c1376a0943e1d26ce35a/tumblr_inline_mlrslknDT71qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;Continuing on with my &amp;#8216;Link to the Past&amp;#8217; series, the next game is another all time classic in my eyes.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;As Metal Gear Solid V was finally announced to the world a few weeks ago, I thought it was only fitting that I’d write about my favourite entry in the series. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;&lt;!-- more --&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;&lt;span&gt;A long article and minor spoilers to follow.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;Over the years since I first discovered games through my Mega Drive, I’ve a list of top 10 games that has changed time and time again over the years, and since I first played Metal Gear Solid in February 1999, it’s in no doubt at the top 3.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;I first discovered Metal Gear Solid in the demo disc of Official PlayStation Magazine.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;iframe frameborder="0" height="237" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0Ed_8UiV8uI" width="420"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;Once you’d hear the familiar techno-funk menu music and select Metal Gear Solid, you’d be taken to the beginning of the game. Once you were watching the game’s protagonist Solid Snake emerge from the water, you were suddenly evading the 4 guards in the underground floor. Then once you reached the elevator, like a true cinematic moment, you see Solid Snake appear in his sneaking suit, and the logo ‘Metal Gear Solid’ appeared.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;The series began on the MSX as ‘Metal Gear’ with the iconic box art cover, which was a copy of Michael Bein in the first ‘Terminator’ film, and involved Solid Snake infiltrating ‘Outer Haven’ and defeating the head of the organisation, Big Boss.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;So 12 years on, this is the third entry in the series. The reason this isn&amp;#8217;t called Metal Gear 3, is because the creator, Hideo Kojima, wanted the name ‘Solid’ to reference Solid Snake, and the fact that it’s the series’ first entry into fully 3D polygon graphics.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;The story goes that a group of terrorists lead by Liquid Snake have invaded a facility called Shadow Moses, taking hostages and holding a nuclear weapon that will detonate in under 12 hours unless their demands are met.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;But it’s not your standard nuclear weapon.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;As soon as you gain control of Solid Snake, you feel like you’re in the game, you’re part of the story.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;When you see a codec conversation of the bomb having a time limit of under 12 hours, I used to think that an actual timer was counting down as I was playing through, hurriedly trying to finish it before the group unleashed the weapon.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;Then once you reach a certain point, the game branches off into two ways.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="Body1"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/2414ea1c9b2423b468e78a0e2edbe6f4/tumblr_inline_mlrv6kaw4V1qz4rgp.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p class="body1"&gt;Survive through a few stages of button mashing and save the girl, or submit and get the guy?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;Your choice.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;Throughout the game you need to use your head and make sure you&amp;#8217;re not spotted, otherwise the alert is shown, and you better hide, otherwise it&amp;#8217;s game over, and the familiar scream will be heard.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;iframe frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9O_kg6EqcRA" width="480"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;Soon as you meet with the DARPA Chief, everything goes up a gear, and you&amp;#8217;re thrust into a shootout with Revolver Ocelot, and if you try and go through the wires, the C4 explodes, and it&amp;#8217;s game over.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;Soon after this, another highlight was inputting the codec frequency that was on the back of the game case, so Meryl could open a door for you, and then using the cigarettes in your inventory so you could see the trip wires. One false move, and the door shuts, and deadly gas appears, ending the game.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;The surprises just kept coming and coming.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;Already at only a fifth of the way through the game, it’s a thrilling time, and the story that weaves through this is flawless. The only time the game gives you a breather is when you’re in the torture room, and between the stages, you’re thrown into a cell, where another innovation occurs.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;The boss fights throughout the game are an epic fight, from Revolver Ocelot, to a Ninja, to innovations with Psycho Mantis and finally, Metal Gear itself with Liquid Snake. In every fight, there&amp;#8217;s no one same method to defeat a boss. With Psycho Mantis, he can read your every move, and you&amp;#8217;ll run out of ammo in 5 minutes unless you simply plug your controller port into the second socket, which puts an end to his mind reading, and allowed you to defeat him in only a few minutes.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;This, was mind blowing to me. The fact that the boss could know my every move and then &amp;#8216;tricking&amp;#8217; him by switching the controller port, was innovation at its peak.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;Other bosses such as the Ninja, who is the anti-hero of the game, faces off against you, and also helps you after a while in another memorable scene involving a prison, a guard, and ketchup.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/991a306531f68bcdc2f717312cd5ec01/tumblr_inline_mm4g0ghW0v1qz4rgp.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;The final battle is essentially in 3 parts; Metal Gear, then Liquid, then the Escape Route involving guards and Liquid. By the end there’s the feeling that it’s all to play for, that it’s solely a showdown between Solid Snake and Liquid Snake.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;iframe frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/67KEBDXAwOY" width="480"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;The game introduced innovations that are still in use today.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Stealth&lt;/strong&gt;, which didn&amp;#8217;t require you to face every single character that was a threat to you. You could grab them and strangle them, you could shoot, or you could simply hide in the shadows. Giving the player choice to this was a great innovation. Granted, I first toyed with a stealth feature in Tomb Raider 3 with the Nevada Compound level, but this was only one part of the game, not the leg of an overall seat.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Story&lt;/strong&gt;, with FMV scenes that gave backstory and depth to all of the characters, and made you feel that you were in Shadow Moses as well.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;iframe frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wnMZiRdSFEM" width="480"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;(&lt;strong&gt;Jump to the 4 minute mark&lt;/strong&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;The game is spread over two disks, but if you just want to play the game and avoid the story, you can complete it in a weekend easily.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;But if this is your first time, I implore you to experience the game for what it is; an action-thriller with heart and a story with depth that will make you care of what happens to who you meet, and even who you face off against.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;By the time you complete the game, you are given an item dependant on what you did in the torture scene. Each of these items gives you an incentive to go through the game again, to see what you can do different in situations, or by simply having more fun of sticking a C4 to the back of a guard.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;The final scene gives the player a thought about the bigger picture. A picture of hope, a picture of adventure, a picture of redemption. And then once the credits roll, an extra scene is given to give the player a hint of who would be the protagonist for Metal Gear Solid 2.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;With the subsequent games in the series, they all reference this game in some way. You experience a moment of nostalgia in Metal Gear Solid 4 with a return to Shadow Moses, and it almost makes you want a remake for the Playstation 4. There was a remake on the Gamecube with the features introduced in Metal Gear Solid 2, such as the ‘Evasion’ mode and first person view, but with different voice actors and new music, it just didn’t feel the same.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="body1"&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/dfaddb39da29dc97f95ec230d54ceb57/tumblr_inline_mm4fxoEKSG1qz4rgp.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span&gt;To sum up, this is a game that I still keep coming back to after 14 years, and it was the beginning for me of how a game could tell a story so great in this medium. The subsequent games are also of a high caliber, but they don’t quite reach the same standard of what this game soared to.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Metal Gear Solid introduced innovations that are still being used today, such as Splinter Cell, Hitman, and many more third person games.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span&gt;It&amp;#8217;s a game that would be a turning point of when story and action became so interwined that you would happily sit through the many cut scenes just to see how they came to be at Shadow Moses.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span&gt;I have it on my Vita, and on my original Playstation, with a memory card save with about 12 playthroughs over 14 years, and many more to come.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;It’s available on the PSN for PS Vita and PlayStation 3, and can be bought on the PC if it can be found.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/dab68bd011747e947af700b3bd182f80/tumblr_inline_mm4g2v7rNh1qz4rgp.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://darylbaxter.com/post/49357353378</link><guid>http://darylbaxter.com/post/49357353378</guid><pubDate>Wed, 01 May 2013 14:29:00 +0100</pubDate><category>metal gear solid</category><category>link to the past</category><category>retro</category><category>video games</category><category>game</category><category>playstation</category><category>sony</category><category>mgs</category><category>solid snake</category><category>liquid snake</category><category>snake</category><category>writing</category><category>retrospective</category><category>link</category><category>past</category><category>text</category><category>otacon</category><category>ninja</category><category>metal gear</category><category>konami</category></item><item><title>New GTA V Trailer showcasing the three main characters.
Looks to...</title><description>&lt;iframe width="400" height="225" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Bf38HiYPMiI?wmode=transparent&amp;autohide=1&amp;egm=0&amp;hd=1&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;showsearch=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;p&gt;New GTA V Trailer showcasing the three main characters.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Looks to be the game of the year.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Set in Los Santos, previously seen in San Andreas, this is set in the present day, with inter-winding storylines throughout the game that looks to be a huge single player campaign.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Releases September 17th for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. No word for a release on next-gen consoles yet.&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://darylbaxter.com/post/49261123953</link><guid>http://darylbaxter.com/post/49261123953</guid><pubDate>Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:11:00 +0100</pubDate><category>GTA V</category><category>trailer</category><category>michael</category><category>franklin</category><category>trevor</category><category>video games</category><category>games</category><category>rockstar</category><category>xbox 360</category><category>playstation</category><category>sony</category><category>microsoft</category><category>grand theft auto</category><category>GTAV</category></item><item><title>A Guide to Web Design &amp; Development</title><description>&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;What this post isn’t. It’s not going to contain much &lt;em&gt;“how to”&lt;/em&gt; material but moreso my recommendations on helping you getting started and to learn more efficiently. You will hopefully be able to go on from reading this and start making a website, this post will hopefully help you with some of the stuff that is usually overlooked.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;So lets start!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.kieranmcclung.co.uk/my-tips-for-starting-web-designdevelopment/" title="http://www.kieranmcclung.co.uk" target="_blank"&gt;Source.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A friend of mine giving a great guide to making your own website. Looking at his designs only gives you confidence that you&amp;#8217;ll be in safe hands.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A great read, highly recommended.&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://darylbaxter.com/post/49005227344</link><guid>http://darylbaxter.com/post/49005227344</guid><pubDate>Sat, 27 Apr 2013 14:48:30 +0100</pubDate><category>web</category><category>design</category><category>development</category><category>website</category><category>freelancer</category><category>business</category></item><item><title>New Xbox to be announced on May 21st.</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/7ef4073d339fd3877d60f98be7ead649/tumblr_inline_mlrs2dV1fs1qz4rgp.png"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;With under a month to go, I can see the new iteration focusing more on TV than just social features that the PS4 was shown to have.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Should be an eventful time.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Hopefully there will be actual demos to play this time, unlike another event from Microsoft last year.&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://darylbaxter.com/post/48783647875</link><guid>http://darylbaxter.com/post/48783647875</guid><pubDate>Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:23:00 +0100</pubDate><category>xbox</category><category>microsoft</category><category>event</category><category>next generation</category><category>next gen</category><category>console</category><category>games</category><category>tech</category><category>blog</category><category>xbox 720</category><category>xboxreveal</category></item><item><title>WWDC 13 Announced.</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img alt="image" src="http://media.tumblr.com/e22138a6e41558be8ea050a879eebf77/tumblr_inline_mlrrvaBco11qz4rgp.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;After last night&amp;#8217;s conference call saying there would pretty much be no new products until fall (although I&amp;#8217;m hoping for the new refresh of the Macbooks in June) iOS 7 and 10.9 are certainly to be shown.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A UI refresh of iOS is surely to come, along with Siri and Maps coming to OS X.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And in the same week as E3 as well, a good week to come, roll on June 10th.&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://darylbaxter.com/post/48783277203</link><guid>http://darylbaxter.com/post/48783277203</guid><pubDate>Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:17:00 +0100</pubDate><category>wwdc</category><category>apple</category><category>13</category><category>tech</category><category>blog</category><category>ios7</category><category>ios</category><category>mac</category><category>os x</category><category>10.9</category><category>june</category></item><item><title>Ribs n' Bibs.</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/a2d2ad0169f61a22304b0d382df20692/tumblr_inline_mku593YCW31qz4rgp.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#8217;d heard of it coming.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#8217;d been following it on Facebook and Twitter, and finally It had opened.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;With me coming back to Lincoln for a few days, a booking was made, and what happened next, was incredible.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;!-- more --&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Me and a friend who both love food, were lead to the upper floor and sat down next to a window overlooking the bottom of steep hill.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The music playing was American soul music, usually heard in Frankie and Benny&amp;#8217;s, or if you&amp;#8217;re from Lincoln, Damons.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;What I didn&amp;#8217;t expect was the decor of Michael Jackson canvases and Marvel Frames scattered around the place, which was a great touch.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/46ce5c43392a0429a636203fe1709a9c/tumblr_inline_mku5g3BDhy1qz4rgp.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We were sat next to a frame of &amp;#8216;The Thing&amp;#8217; from the Fantastic Four, and to the left were three frames of Spiderman, Superman, and Judge Dredd. Obviously not of Marvel but Comic Book Heroes in general.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We ordered drinks of a lemonade and a keraffe of water, and looked at the menu, even if I&amp;#8217;d been looking at it with obsession two days before.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/12b71578f7ff7a4b6424586755b69f2c/tumblr_inline_mku5l0GbWS1qz4rgp.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;What I also liked was the android tablets that were being used to take orders. As I&amp;#8217;d worked as a waiter before, scribbling down notes in a hurry, this must be a godsend to the waitresses/waiters, especially when the place would obviously be rammed.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We decided on starters and main, mine would be the buffalo wings to start, while the partner in crime chose the crabshell and popcorn shrimp.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The manager came over and said of small changes to the menu, such as the crabshell for the starter was changed to catfish, and the ribs were changed to babyback as the feedback given was that they were too huge for the common diner! Was great to hear this and why, and that they listen to the customers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;After about 5 minutes of waiting, drinking and talking, the starters arrived.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/48958e3e85284ae752b8df30f5b397cf/tumblr_inline_mku5slPvfC1qz4rgp.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I thought the buffalo sauce would be spicy as it had been many times before in other establishments, but here it was a soft kick, but really sweet and covered the wings. The blue cheese dip gave it the extra flavour (not that it was lacking) and was a great accompaniment.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The starter that the partner in crime had was also really good. the batter was soft and fell apart, and the flavour from the catfish and prawns was plentiful.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;After demolishing them, our two plates of &amp;#8216;Vitamin P&amp;#8217; arrived, and it was a sight to see.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/6f82c228e484575a8dcc2753f2401288/tumblr_inline_mku5xtED8j1qz4rgp.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A rack of barbeque ribs, barbeque pulled pork, a sausage hidden in view that covered the top half of the plate, streaky crispy bacon, homemade coleslaw, then fries.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Basically, it was incredible.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The rib meat fell off the bone, the partner in crime only had to hold up a bone and the meat fell off with ease. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Every bite had the barbeque flavour, then right after the smokey aftertaste kicked right in and it was a pleasure.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I was gutted when i finished the ribs and pulled pork, as i wanted more!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="http://media.tumblr.com/c9383d314eae32fe2a05f219a4e68d8f/tumblr_inline_mku66ix5Or1qz4rgp.jpg"/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately I was defeated with half a sausage and half the fries left, but a good effort for the first attempt.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We thought we&amp;#8217;d look at the dessert menu, and straight away, a brownie was there, tempting me.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But I was so full, I decided it&amp;#8217;d be the next time I&amp;#8217;d have to try the brownie.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Soon we were given the bill and left to talk and leave in our own time, and after an hour and a half we departed.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Overall, it was flawless. Everyone was helpful and not intrusive, the food was so tasty and plentiful that I would have ordered a takeaway if there was one, and for the price we paid, it was well worth it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Definitely going back, definitely getting the brownie.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Total Bill: £52.80&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Lemonade&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Buffalo Wings&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Catfish and Prawns&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2 x Vitamin P&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;8-9 THE STRAIT,&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;STEEP HILL,&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt; LINCOLN,&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt; LN2&amp;#160;1JD&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt; TEL: 01522&amp;#160;775577&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt; EMAIL:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;a href="mailto:INFO@RIBSNBIBS.CO.UK" target="_blank"&gt;INFO@RIBSNBIBS.CO.UK&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.ribsnbibs.co.uk/index.html" target="_blank"&gt;Main Site Click Here.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://darylbaxter.com/post/47274208449</link><guid>http://darylbaxter.com/post/47274208449</guid><pubDate>Sat, 06 Apr 2013 14:50:43 +0100</pubDate><category>food</category><category>foodie</category><category>ribs</category><category>bibs</category><category>good</category><category>wings</category><category>buffallo</category><category>vitamin</category><category>p</category><category>protein</category><category>bbq</category><category>barbeque</category><category>Food</category><category>review</category><category>customer</category><category>incredible</category></item><item><title>This sketch can be applied to anything. Macs, Cameras, Cars, and...</title><description>&lt;iframe width="400" height="300" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OXDK3x5lAYI?wmode=transparent&amp;autohide=1&amp;egm=0&amp;hd=1&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;showsearch=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;This sketch can be applied to anything. Macs, Cameras, Cars, and it’ll still work today.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://darylbaxter.com/post/46860103760</link><guid>http://darylbaxter.com/post/46860103760</guid><pubDate>Mon, 01 Apr 2013 18:25:37 +0100</pubDate><category>not the nine o clock news</category><category>comedy</category><category>rowan atkinson</category><category>mel brooks</category><category>gramophone</category><category>sketch</category><category>bbc</category><category>television</category><category>tv</category><category>news</category><category>1981</category></item><item><title>Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Trailer.
It looks...</title><description>&lt;iframe width="400" height="225" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lChwilg40rw?wmode=transparent&amp;autohide=1&amp;egm=0&amp;hd=1&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;showsearch=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;p&gt;Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain Trailer.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;br/&gt;It looks incredible. Psycho Mantis as a child perhaps?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Maybe set in the 70’s.&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://darylbaxter.com/post/46435997355</link><guid>http://darylbaxter.com/post/46435997355</guid><pubDate>Wed, 27 Mar 2013 18:42:00 +0000</pubDate><category>metal</category><category>gear</category><category>solid</category><category>v</category><category>5</category><category>five</category><category>phantom</category><category>pain</category><category>snake</category><category>game</category><category>series</category><category>hideo</category><category>kojima</category><category>engine</category><category>trailer</category><category>official</category><category>gdc</category><category>hd</category><category>big</category><category>boss</category><category>next gen</category><category>playstation</category><category>xbox</category><category>sony</category><category>microsoft</category><category>nextgen</category><category>pc</category><category>steam</category><category>games</category><category>kiefer</category></item><item><title>12 Tomb Raider skills everyone wished they had</title><description>&lt;p&gt;I was just playing Tomb Raider (1996) on Steam and in the space of 5 minutes, half this list happened.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/tombraider/12-tomb-raider-skills-we-wish-we-had-in-real-life" target="_blank"&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://darylbaxter.com/post/45359326963</link><guid>http://darylbaxter.com/post/45359326963</guid><pubDate>Thu, 14 Mar 2013 19:26:17 +0000</pubDate><category>tomb raider</category><category>lara croft</category><category>tomb</category><category>raider</category><category>classic</category><category>retro</category><category>skills</category><category>1996</category><category>blog</category></item><item><title>My Grandfather Groucho</title><description>&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“Is Mr. Marx in?”, the voice at the other end said.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“Who’s calling?” I asked.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“I work at the NBC storage warehouse in Englewood Cliifs, New Jersey,” the man said. “We’ve got several boxes of 16mm reels of film from ‘You Bet Your Life’ and we were wondering if Mr. Marx wants any of it. If not, we’re going to destroy all of it tomorrow.”&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“Destroy it?” I asked increduously. “Why would you do that?”&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“We’re trying to clear space for the newer shows. There’s a lot of stuff from the ‘50s and ‘60s that we’re getting rid of. If Mr. Marx would like it, we’ll be happy to send all of the reels to him.”&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I told the man to hang on and ran back into the dining room.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Brilliant Story by the grandson of Groucho Marx.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://boingboing.net/2013/03/12/the-day-my-grandfather-groucho.html" target="_blank"&gt;Source&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://darylbaxter.com/post/45288459408</link><guid>http://darylbaxter.com/post/45288459408</guid><pubDate>Wed, 13 Mar 2013 20:42:17 +0000</pubDate><category>groucho</category><category>marx</category><category>comedy</category><category>blog</category><category>you bet your life</category><category>brothers</category></item><item><title>2005 5 Inch iPhone/iPad Prototype with Ethernet, Serial...</title><description>&lt;img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/0fc22cd3e76ad514b979a8779a8e2ddb/tumblr_mjijwh9aek1rtlplvo1_500.png"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2005 5 Inch iPhone/iPad Prototype with Ethernet, Serial &amp; USB Ports&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So while the iPod with video was being unveiled for the first time, the very early prototypes were coming out, with serial ports!&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://darylbaxter.com/post/45130773748</link><guid>http://darylbaxter.com/post/45130773748</guid><pubDate>Mon, 11 Mar 2013 20:36:17 +0000</pubDate><category>iphone</category><category>ipad</category><category>prototype</category><category>ios</category><category>apple</category><category>tech</category><category>blog</category><category>tablet</category></item><item><title>Jony Ive on Blue Peter
Worth 7 minutes of your time...</title><description>&lt;iframe width="400" height="225" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6SD70jM1uwo?wmode=transparent&amp;autohide=1&amp;egm=0&amp;hd=1&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;showsearch=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Jony Ive on Blue Peter&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Worth 7 minutes of your time tonight.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Brilliant watch.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://darylbaxter.com/post/43750641130</link><guid>http://darylbaxter.com/post/43750641130</guid><pubDate>Fri, 22 Feb 2013 22:17:00 +0000</pubDate><category>jony ive</category><category>ive</category><category>apple</category><category>blue peter</category><category>bbc</category><category>tv</category><category>television</category><category>design</category><category>iphone</category><category>ipad</category><category>ipad mini</category><category>mac</category><category>jony</category><category>blue</category><category>peter</category><category>gold</category><category>Design</category><category>badge</category></item><item><title>Tomb Raider Retrospective Part 1, a brilliant watch.</title><description>&lt;iframe src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/embed/mgid:arc:episode:gametrailers.com:cfc7e48c-bcac-4307-beac-a76943bf0400" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Tomb Raider Retrospective Part 1, a brilliant watch.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://darylbaxter.com/post/43312725688</link><guid>http://darylbaxter.com/post/43312725688</guid><pubDate>Sun, 17 Feb 2013 15:08:36 +0000</pubDate><category>lara croft</category><category>tomb raider</category><category>lara</category><category>croft</category><category>retro</category><category>psx</category><category>playstation</category><category>game</category></item><item><title>"Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally..."</title><description>“Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood language.”&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt; - &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Walt Disney.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;</description><link>http://darylbaxter.com/post/43307620068</link><guid>http://darylbaxter.com/post/43307620068</guid><pubDate>Sun, 17 Feb 2013 13:20:24 +0000</pubDate><category>walt</category><category>disney</category><category>walt disney</category></item><item><title>parislemon:

stevekovach:

Nokia reviewed its own Lumia phone. I...</title><description>&lt;img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/636263c3435a965760a52a81815bb3fb/tumblr_mhpiwvTUIy1qzfwv7o1_500.png"/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://parislemon.com/post/42284648599/stevekovach-nokia-reviewed-its-own-lumia-phone" class="tumblr_blog" target="_blank"&gt;parislemon&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://stevekovach.tumblr.com/post/42284185250" class="tumblr_blog" target="_blank"&gt;stevekovach&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;Nokia &lt;a href="http://conversations.nokia.com/2013/02/04/compact-vibrant-and-lots-of-fun-our-nokia-lumia-620-review/" target="_blank"&gt;reviewed its own Lumia phone&lt;/a&gt;. I don’t  think people are impressed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;

&lt;p&gt;My favorite part was: “Like a kid on Christmas morning…”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;

&lt;p&gt;This is incredible.&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://darylbaxter.com/post/42311959432</link><guid>http://darylbaxter.com/post/42311959432</guid><pubDate>Tue, 05 Feb 2013 00:16:27 +0000</pubDate></item></channel></rss>
