dividebyzero

Death Race 2000 – Euthanasia Day

dividebyzeroZA — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 15:22:04 +0000

I’m a huge fan of cinema, but I’m not a movie snob. My enjoyment of good movies ranges from The Shawshank Redemption to The ‘Burbs to Rear Window. If the movie has that special mixture of a great script, dynamic cast and a director who knows how to bring his vision to the screen then it’s a movie I’ll enjoy.

After watching this clip from Death Race 2000 (1975 version, sorry Jason Statham but the trailer alone put me off your 2008 version) I cannot honestly say why I haven’t watched the original Death Race 2000 yet! All I can say is that it’s on my Must Buy list as a result.

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Athlone Tower Demolition

dividebyzeroZA — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 09:39:03 +0000

The Athlone Towers in Cape Town have long been an eye-sore travelling down the N2 towards the beautiful Table Mountain. Well, eye-sore begone! The old power station towers were gloriously demolished this past weekend and I have the video in this post for your enjoyment. Why not watch it a few times on repeat?

Now all we have to do is get the Pepper Pots destroyed!

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Back to the Future meme

dividebyzeroZA — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 23:08:35 +0000

Wait a second doc…. So you’re tellin me that the future Biff.. went back in time to the old Biff… and gave him the almanac?

PRECISELY MARTY!! If that book gets into the wrong hands, the consequences would be unimaginable!!! The entire universe would be changed! And Marty…. believe me…. if anyone reads this in our voices, they absolutely must reblog at once!

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Halo Waypoint coming to Windows Phone 7

dividebyzeroZA — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 22:36:13 +0000

Halo:Waypoint is coming to Windows Phone 7 when it launches later this year. This will allow us Halo fans to check out the latest news, videos and friend’s player stats while out and about.

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Kayden Kross loves tennis balls

dividebyzeroZA — Thu, 27 May 2010 23:11:13 +0000

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Alan Wake – Twin Peaks references

dividebyzeroZA — Thu, 20 May 2010 14:03:02 +0000

It’s no coincidence that Remedy Entertainment’s latest game, Alan Wake, has more than a passing resemblance to Twin Peaks. In fact, the creators of the game have often cited that the town of Bright Falls was heavily inspired by David Lynch’s creation.

I thought I’d list the Twin Peaks references I’ve found thus far:

Bright Falls has a diner called the Triple D “Oh Deer” Diner. This is clearly a reference to the Double R Diner from Twin Peaks. In fact, it has been verified by Remedy in the video commentary found on my bonus disc of the Collector’s Edition that their intention was to create a diner that was as close to the Twin Peaks diner as possible.
Another obvious one comes in the form of the eccentric Lamp Lady. There can be no doubt that she is Bright Falls’ version of The Log Lady.
In a shed in Chapter 1 (the one with a radio inside) there is a locket hung up on a hook. I wonder if this is a reference to Laura Palmer’s locket which became a key piece of evidence in the search for her killer.
The FBI Agent in Alan Wake is Agent Nightingale. Julee Cruise’s music features heavily in the Twin Peaks series and helps create the dreamy ethereal feel of many scenes. Julee Cruise can be seen performing her song “The Nightingale” in an episode. Could the Bright Falls Agent be named after this song?
Agent Nightingale mentions in one of the manuscript pages that he doesn’t like the trees or the coffee. This is the stark contrast to Twin Peaks’ Agent Cooper who often mentioned just how much he loved the trees and the coffee.
While on the coffee love in Twin Peaks, Alan Wake has an achievement called “Damn Good Cup of Coffee” which is an unabashed tip of the hat to Agent Cooper’s love of the Double R Diner’s damn fine coffee.
In Chapter 5 Barry asks “Is this some kind of secret society or something?” which could be a reference to The Bookhouse Boys.
There are owls in various places throughout the game and even within the live action prequels. This is undoubtedly connected to “The owls are not as they seem” from Twin Peaks.

Please feel free to leave any comments with your own references.

Alan Wake – how to unlock Boob Tube achievement

dividebyzeroZA — Thu, 20 May 2010 13:31:07 +0000

If you’re wondering how to unlock the Boob Tube achievement in Alan Wake after already watching an episode of Night Springs on the television, then you’ve come to the right place.

SPOILER FREE! The Boob Tube achievement relates to a specific television found in Chapter 4 near to the start. When you’re about to leave the building in which you start Chapter 4, you will see a television mounted to a bracket on the wall. Turn this television on and the achievement will pop.

“Bacon is good for me” Kid

dividebyzeroZA — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:03:04 +0000

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Tetris – Reduces Flashbacks During PTSD

dividebyzeroZA — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:10:01 +0000

I’ve started the Honours years in my Psychology degree and this year’s Psychopathology paper allows us to choose one of four Themes – I’ve opted to write my paper on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

I’ll be doing a fair bit of serious research and readings over the next few months as I write draft after draft whilst fine-tuning the final product. That being said, it’s great to start the research off with something that ties into one of my many other hobbies – videogames.

A research paper published in 2009 sought to find out whether playing Tetris can reduce the occurrence of visual flashbacks after a traumatic experience. The main theory is that flashbacks are visuospatial mental images and any visuospatial task (such as a computer game) will compete for the limited resources within our brains thus reducing the flashbacks common to PTSD.

Read the full article at PLoS ONE: Can Playing the Computer Game “Tetris” Reduce the Build-Up of Flashbacks for Trauma? A Proposal from Cognitive Science

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Demotivation: Regret

dividebyzeroZA — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 21:31:40 +0000

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