Getting around...
The only problem with 4-day weekends is that it’s such a downer when you have to return to the drudgery of your normal working weekday routine.
Anyway, the weekend was a very good one, and despite the overcast, chilly and frequently wet weather in Durban, where me managed to get all around Natal in that time.
On Friday we went to see 300 again (and be drowned in vodka advertising at 9:30 in the morning). Second time around, I actually found the film to be more of an emotionally moving experience. Paul, who had also read the graphic novel, loved the film overall, but hated the frequent cut-aways to political manoeuvring in Sparta, which was not included in the book. You can understand it. As a cinema audience it’s sort of like being forced to eat your carrots when you know there’s chocolate pudding waiting for you…
After movies, were surprised to find most stores in the Pavilion closed for Good Friday. So I didn’t have a chance to check out Incredible Connection’s game selection. Back home though I finished serial-killer game Condemned (available for Xbox and PC). The game is pretty short at something like 8 hours, and I was quite disappointed by an ending that left plenty of loose ends dangling when so many more interesting twists were hinted at earlier on.
Still though, the game is a fantastic survival-horror genre entry, far more gratifying than the frustrating Call of Cthulhu. And it is genuinely jump-in-your-seat freaky. The game developers Monolith have perfectly captured the grim, sordid atmosphere of films like Silence of the Lambs, Saw and Se7en. The melee combat is incredibly well realised and I thoroughly enjoyed using assorted CSI equipment when gathering crime scene evidence. Anyway, you can read my first thoughts on Condemned, from last week, here.
Our Saturday plans for a trip up to Hluhluwe Imfolozi Nature Reserve were squashed by the weather. Instead Paul and I got deliciously close to finishing Titan Quest: Immortal Throne at the normal difficulty level – Hades, here we come! For the record, my battlemage is now at Level 51.
We also did some shopping at Springfield. Paul finally got around to ordering his dream remote controlled helicopter. I discovered that Incredible Connection has no intention of stocking Jade Empire: Special Edition at any of its stores. So now I do have to find something to spend my R50 voucher on… maybe the Justice League Heroes RPG co-op game, if it wasn’t premium priced.
While I was in Incredible Connection, I got to see the oh-so-underwhelming collection of PS3 games. R6000+ for a console and all you can buy to play on it so far is Virtua Tennis, some racing crap and the apparently only awesome PS3 game so far, Resistance: Fall of Man. Then there are the R400 Blu-Ray movies, Stealth and Vertical Limit… yeah…
Across the road at Makro, I finally found a copy of Jade: Empire. At this point I was tired of the quest just to find a physical copy of the game to look at and hold. So, not willing to endure any more frustrations, I bought it. I’ve yet to install it (expect my thoughts after I’ve played for a bit) but the game comes in an awesome brushed metal box, with a poster and artwork booklet. So shiny and pretty!
Paul picked up a copy of Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, which is actually pretty awesome, and incredibly clever. Command and Conquer 3 remained unopened, while he ran around as Leiah, Luke, Obi-Wan, Chewy and Han, blasting storm troopers into pieces and assembling AT-ATs from Lego blocks. The game’s also takes great delight in spoofing the Star Wars universe. It truly is a lot of fun.
On Sunday we travelled up to Nottingham Road with Paul’s family to fish at a supposedly well-stocked dam there. I was on canoe paddling duty while Paul cast. We didn’t catch anything. I think the bass and trout were as miserable in the cold, wet and windy weather as we were.
Things improved though with a big pub dinner at the Nottingham Road Hotel by a roaring fire in the restaurant hearth. Paul and I discovered we could get huge, meaty lamb shanks there for just R50, which was a huge plus considering they’re normally R75+ in Durban restaurants if they even have them on the menu.
On Monday Paul and I were up insanely early (5:30AM) to travel 3 hours up to Hluhluwe Imfolozi for the day. We didn’t see any big cats or elephant while were in the northern part of the reserve but some viewing highlights including a lone male rhino (with a huge horn) marking his territory, a herd of buffalo with calves, a family of warthog, zebra, reedbuck, a giraffe who couldn’t get his tongue around a seed pod, and even a little terrapin/tortoise crossing the road.
That was it for the weekend’s adventures… The next long weekend will be spent in Johannesburg for the big My Coke Fest concert. At the moment we're busy sorting out our accommodation, sort of guessing what are decent, safe-ish areas to stay in that are also close to the airport.
Anyway, the weekend was a very good one, and despite the overcast, chilly and frequently wet weather in Durban, where me managed to get all around Natal in that time.
On Friday we went to see 300 again (and be drowned in vodka advertising at 9:30 in the morning). Second time around, I actually found the film to be more of an emotionally moving experience. Paul, who had also read the graphic novel, loved the film overall, but hated the frequent cut-aways to political manoeuvring in Sparta, which was not included in the book. You can understand it. As a cinema audience it’s sort of like being forced to eat your carrots when you know there’s chocolate pudding waiting for you…
After movies, were surprised to find most stores in the Pavilion closed for Good Friday. So I didn’t have a chance to check out Incredible Connection’s game selection. Back home though I finished serial-killer game Condemned (available for Xbox and PC). The game is pretty short at something like 8 hours, and I was quite disappointed by an ending that left plenty of loose ends dangling when so many more interesting twists were hinted at earlier on.
Still though, the game is a fantastic survival-horror genre entry, far more gratifying than the frustrating Call of Cthulhu. And it is genuinely jump-in-your-seat freaky. The game developers Monolith have perfectly captured the grim, sordid atmosphere of films like Silence of the Lambs, Saw and Se7en. The melee combat is incredibly well realised and I thoroughly enjoyed using assorted CSI equipment when gathering crime scene evidence. Anyway, you can read my first thoughts on Condemned, from last week, here.
Our Saturday plans for a trip up to Hluhluwe Imfolozi Nature Reserve were squashed by the weather. Instead Paul and I got deliciously close to finishing Titan Quest: Immortal Throne at the normal difficulty level – Hades, here we come! For the record, my battlemage is now at Level 51.
We also did some shopping at Springfield. Paul finally got around to ordering his dream remote controlled helicopter. I discovered that Incredible Connection has no intention of stocking Jade Empire: Special Edition at any of its stores. So now I do have to find something to spend my R50 voucher on… maybe the Justice League Heroes RPG co-op game, if it wasn’t premium priced.
While I was in Incredible Connection, I got to see the oh-so-underwhelming collection of PS3 games. R6000+ for a console and all you can buy to play on it so far is Virtua Tennis, some racing crap and the apparently only awesome PS3 game so far, Resistance: Fall of Man. Then there are the R400 Blu-Ray movies, Stealth and Vertical Limit… yeah…
Across the road at Makro, I finally found a copy of Jade: Empire. At this point I was tired of the quest just to find a physical copy of the game to look at and hold. So, not willing to endure any more frustrations, I bought it. I’ve yet to install it (expect my thoughts after I’ve played for a bit) but the game comes in an awesome brushed metal box, with a poster and artwork booklet. So shiny and pretty!
Paul picked up a copy of Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, which is actually pretty awesome, and incredibly clever. Command and Conquer 3 remained unopened, while he ran around as Leiah, Luke, Obi-Wan, Chewy and Han, blasting storm troopers into pieces and assembling AT-ATs from Lego blocks. The game’s also takes great delight in spoofing the Star Wars universe. It truly is a lot of fun.
On Sunday we travelled up to Nottingham Road with Paul’s family to fish at a supposedly well-stocked dam there. I was on canoe paddling duty while Paul cast. We didn’t catch anything. I think the bass and trout were as miserable in the cold, wet and windy weather as we were.
Things improved though with a big pub dinner at the Nottingham Road Hotel by a roaring fire in the restaurant hearth. Paul and I discovered we could get huge, meaty lamb shanks there for just R50, which was a huge plus considering they’re normally R75+ in Durban restaurants if they even have them on the menu.
On Monday Paul and I were up insanely early (5:30AM) to travel 3 hours up to Hluhluwe Imfolozi for the day. We didn’t see any big cats or elephant while were in the northern part of the reserve but some viewing highlights including a lone male rhino (with a huge horn) marking his territory, a herd of buffalo with calves, a family of warthog, zebra, reedbuck, a giraffe who couldn’t get his tongue around a seed pod, and even a little terrapin/tortoise crossing the road.
That was it for the weekend’s adventures… The next long weekend will be spent in Johannesburg for the big My Coke Fest concert. At the moment we're busy sorting out our accommodation, sort of guessing what are decent, safe-ish areas to stay in that are also close to the airport.
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