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Saturday, August 29, 2009
Written by: Scott
Tru dat.
Labels: Randomness, the cataclysm, World of Warcraft
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
Want to advertise with The Three Rs? E-mail SConstantine@TheThreeRs.co.uk or see this post for more info.
My Thoughts On World Of Warcraft: Cataclysm
Written by: Scott
Don't mind me - I'm just jumping on the bandwagon. 
Cataclysm is the newest expansion for World of Warcraft. Its slated for release in 2010 and featured a return to the two main continents of the world. Blizzard have announced their intentions to completely revamp the old zones, alongside including many more much-needed featured. More information is available here.
What do I think of all this? Well its certainly interesting to see the developers have gone back to Azeroth. Instead of thinking up completely new lands, the majority of the expansion is supposedly going to focus on how the cataclysm has reshaped classic areas. There's only 5 planned new zones so the issue here is whether or not its worth the money. This is an especially topical question in these difficult financial times. Blizzard have continually released less and less content with the recent free patches, so it makes sense that they've set their core design team on something big. What are they trying to achieve with such drastic changes and will it be worth buying?
No one can say for sure. Cataclysm appears to be going in all possible directions at once. On one hand there's a lot of recycled material from Wrath of the Lich King. The Dwarven fortress of Tol Barad is the new Wintergrasp, the Goblin and Worgen starting areas are phased like the Death Knight equivalent, et cetera. On the other hand there's far more adventurous things awaiting players. New dungeon content brings new monsters and gear. Long-requested changes like a better guild UI and rated battlegrounds hope to reach out to all those people who thought the 'Suggestions' forum was always ignored. I believe Blizzard are attempting to satisfy two key audiences simulateously here:
- People who quit WoW due to lack of true innovation over time.
OR!
- The so-called 'new generation' of players who have been on board since Wrath and now have grown used to a constant stream of updates. They demand more and more, lest they leave for Aion or a similiar hypefest.
As part of the first group, I feel that its my right to express what I think about Cataclysm. Its difficult not to reminisce about the good old days where a bunch of buddies and I would roam The Barrens and kill anything that looked uglier than Heidi Montag. However, we all have to accept that times change. The days of epic Alliance v. Horde battles around level 20 grinding areas are over. I don't really mind that, especially since Wintergrasp and the battlegrounds serve the same sort of purpose and satisfy my blood-lust. Therefore I'm not devastated about my old haunts being ruined, although the fact that the Alliance are losing Southshore did piss me off a little*. I do like the possibility that the developers are going to throw caution to the wind to advance the story. Its a big risk, but hopefully it'll pay off - literally.
These massive changes provide a unique problem. Its a data overload if you haven't kept up-to-date with the latest additions to WoW. I'd hate to have left shortly after hitting 80 and then have stayed completely in the dark until Cataclysm. I wouldn't have any idea about all this 'Deathwing breaking through an elemental plane' tripe and I can foresee many people stumbling through quest chains with no idea of what's going on. Furthermore, Blizzard are taking the redesign of Azeroth to make the 1-60 levelling experience better, but this could potentially alienate new players. Who wants to start up in a ruined world? Cataclysm, by definition, is supposed to shake our security in Azeroth so we arm ourselves to defend it. Newbies don't have an attachment to the world, so why should they give a crap?
In addition to all this, Blizzard are changing zones like Desolace and Darkshore to make them more colourful and populated. Wonderful news, but I have fond memories of questing through such isolated patches of the world and appreciating the peace. We can conclude that the pacing of WoW is morphing from 'chilling out in cities and getting excited in dungeons' to 'chilling out in cities and getting excited everywhere else'. Pushing players through zones they probably didn't even consider visiting previously causes bottlenecking and the potential for tensions between factions to spark once again - just like in vanilla WoW. If they can make questing as exhilarating as raids, then Cataclysm has my attention.
Blizzard seem to have finally got around to giving us what we've asked for. Yep, they're playing the populist card but its hard not to get excited. Even at this early stage Cataclysm is ticking all the right boxes
*What next? Helcular as a Lich King general? YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST!
My image rights belong to me, biatches. Oh, and Blizzard of course!
Labels: Rant, rants, the cataclysm, vox pop
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
Friday, August 28, 2009
Written by: Scott
ThreeFrames.net - Greatest .gif site evah?
...
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
EXPERT MODE:
Go through the archives while listening to this.
Labels: gif files, Randomness, website plug
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
FINAL NEW MUSIC WEDNESDAY (#9? #10?)
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Written by: Scott
Yep folks, this is it. I started New Music Wednesday to help me get over shutting down my angsty private blog and its worked quite successfully. Its also allowed me ample opportunity to plug local DJs and other acts alongside passing judgement on new Calvin Harris singles. Suffice to say, I was wrong about Ready For The Weekend and its quite a good album, bar the seperate releases - not worth waiting two years for though.
Let's crack on!
Have a listen to Alphabeat's cover of Sam Sparro's great hit, 'Black And Gold'. Its not half bad, although it certainly loses the charm and sophisication that Sparro brings to the lyrics. By the end they just seem tired of singing 'black and gold' over and over, so it wasn't the best thing for them to tackle.
TIME TO PLUG HOUSEXCLUSIVE, LEEDS' BEST UPCOMING NIGHTLIFE BRAND. CHECK OUT THE SITE, PEOPLE! Hell, just take a look if only for the cool embedded electro stream!
On a less serious note, here's 'Meow Mix'.
Local upcoming DJ Josh Cunningham has become increasingly active over the lifespan of NMW. Check out his mix of 'Genesis' (by Justice) and 'Fix Up Look Sharp' (by Dizzee Rascal).
Have a watch (and/or fap?) at The Guild's newest video. Its an original song called 'Wanna Date My Avatar'. Who knew Felicia Day could be so hot!?
And finally...
CollegeHumor's Web Site Story.
I'll stick a summary selection of links from the past nine weeks of NMW up over the next week. Until then, well done for following me for all this time music lovers!
Labels: college humour, new music wednesday, Randomness
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
Written by: Scott
Good concept. Bad execution.
Labels: inglorious bastards, Mario, Randomness, Video
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
A Thorough Fly-By Of WoW: Cataclysm Locations
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Written by: Scott
Some awesome (yet slightly unnerving) footage.
Labels: Randomness, the cataclysm, Video, wow
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
Girl Looks Like A Bitch And Real Bitches
Written by: Scott
Girl Looks Like A Bitch. If you haven't been on the site, you should. Its a blog where the mysterious owners look at pictures of women floating around the Internet and try to judge whether or not these people would be likeable in real life. While you may perceive such a platform to be highly ignorant and distasteful, it kinda works. Some of the entries are down-right hilarious, so take a look.
I've also been reading the forum on infamous Facebook group 'Lock these bastards up for life!!!'. While a lot of my friends have joined up to the group (probably taking it for face value), a little digging reveals that its main supporters are so right-wing that they make even the most hardcore neo-Nazis look tame. Most of the people who post there are also bloody thick. They call the 'bastards' torturers, yet call for torture themselves. They preach about having the right of 'free speech' (since Facebook is apparently owned by the government, as claimed by one muppet) yet slander anyone calling their cause idiotic, branding them as 'liberal idiots'. If you need a good laugh or feel the need to lose faith in the human race, then venture into the group.
Labels: girl looks like a bitch, Randomness, right wing
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Written by: Scott
Another one from the archives. 
Labels: Randomness, technologically impaired duck, upcoming memes
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
The Three Rs, In Three Dimensions
Written by: Thor
3D, after false-starts back in the '50s and gentle encouragement from IMAX screens showing footage of the sea and space, seems to be finally gripping audiences en masse. Virgin1 last week broadcast Chuck in 3D. (Of course, its original American network broadcast in months ago.) Say what you will about Chuck (and don't let the fact that McG is an executive producer put you off it), but it's audacious - the first full-length TV episode to be filmed and screened fully in 3D.
It's either a daring new way to present television, or it's a cheap publicity stunt which had the by-product of boosting TV & Satellite Week's circulation for a week as fans bought copies for the included 3D specs. The episode itself surprised me by working. I was expecting to not at all see any sort of 3D effect. I was wrong, and it did work. It even worked well. It didn't so much feel like a gimmick, but more of a proof-of-concept. "We can shoot an episode in 3D, you know!" Is it of any real worth? It can portray depth of field a lot better - perhaps an innovative new thing for directors (or the bane of their lives, if they prefer to used forced perspective) - and can be utilised in clever ways to add to a show without being gimmicky. Of course, Chuck couldn't realise throwing all manner of things at screen, to "prove" its 3D worth. But when things move too quickly, the effect is somewhat lost - unfortunately.
There are definitely some shows which would benefit from 3D. Science documentaries to throw you into a 3D representation of space would be very cool; but Susan Boyle and co are best left flat, I think we'd all agree. But in a time when TV is suffering financial troubles, as an entire industry, 3D might be a tricky sell. You'll get high ratings for your debut gimmick shows, but beyond that, nobody's going to be tuning in just for the 3D, are they?
3D isn't without limitations, though. For one thing, it involves glasses. Whether they're polarised ones (like most cinemas use), red-and-cyan (usually in the cardboard specs you get when magazines do a 3D issue) or amber-and-blue (the ones used for Chuck, pioneered by ColorCode3D), glasses are essential. "Will we ever get 3D sans specs?" some disgruntled folk cry. Well, probably not. Until we go Star Trek and get holograms to project 3D images in the air, the glasses are essential. Without getting too into detail, it's because 3D works by exploiting your brain's handling of visual data from two eyes. (It shows your right eye one angle, and your left eye a slightly different angle - then your brain merges them into one angle with faked depth perception.)
Much as these limitations will annoy the blind-in-one-eye or otherwise visually impaired, it looks like 3D is here to stay - because everybody's saying they want it to. Later this year, Channel 4 will be broadcasting a set of shows under the banner of "3D week", using amber-and-blue specs as Chuck did. So, when the time comes, nip down to Sainsbury's to get your free specs and you can see several 3D shows. There's Derren Brown presenting a magic spectacular of sorts - 3D adding the grandiose nature of magical illusions in a good way. But also we have what the PR folks are calling "the closest thing to time travel" - 3D historical footage of the Queen's coronation. It promises to be less of an entertaining 3D thrill-ride, and more of a historical curio, but that's not a bad thing. Sky is also apparently devising plans for a special 3D channel - one wonders if the adverts will be 3D, because that's something the marketing people will love.
TV was pretty good. Then it went into colour, and that was even better. Then it got wider, and we saw even more. Then it became HD and we saw everything in more detail. Will 3D be next? With the big push it's getting from the industry, it might very well be the next home-viewing revelation.
Labels: chuck, Randomness, thor's unfinished posts
Author: Thor | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
Friday, August 21, 2009
Written by: Thor
Here, watch this advert.
You've watched it twice - if you're obedient - so by now you must have noticed something. It's awful.
Really, horribly, fire-the-ad-executive awful. Most car adverts, these days, show their product zooming by surrounded by an exciting background, with a blatantly gratuitous shot of some beautiful woman. But this is a Peugeot, so zooming by plainly isn't an option. Still, they want to point out how fabulously glamorous the new 308 Verve is. How do they do this? By sticking two stock good-looking people in an American showroom.
Problem is, America haven't sold Peugeots since 1995. Strike one for common sense.
"I'm looking for something kinda...drive sexy." says the customer. Either she's aware of Peugeot's current marketing campaign (a little bit too postmodern for a Peugeot advert) or she's so incredibly stupid that she thinks "drive sexy" describes a car. It doesn't even make grammatical sense, and isn't descriptive. Imagine going to a restaurant and telling the waiter that you want "something kinda...eat amusing". You'll just get quizzical looks.
Unless American Showroom Dude has been sacked from the showroom - wholly possible - and is serving you. Because he knows that "drive sexy" means she wants this handily-placed Peugeot. Does he say "We have this Peugeot..." like a normal person? No, because that would make sense. And the last thing this advert wants is to make any sort of sense. "We have a three-way verb in your size." Look, Dude, you're only going to confuse her. Hell, you've confused me. What does that sentence even mean? He gestures towards the car, though, just in case she hasn't realised.
Thankfully, they're both on each other's level of understanding. "Fact me." she demands. Realising that cryptic messages don't work, Dude. "We take a regular 308..." he begins. Apparently, she already knows the standard specifications of a Peugeot 308, but she's asking for the new Verve extras (or as Dude puts it, "the goodies"). He points out the tyre's alloys, the fog lights, air conditioning, Bluetooth and custom mats. These are, quite plainly, the most mundane "goodies" a car could have in 2009. Does he go on to specify anything better? No, he just says "yadda, yadda".
"You give me twelve and a half K," he says, K meaning "thousands of pounds" and not a Kellogg's cereal, "and we give you change" he finishes. (How come it's "me" that gets £12,500, but "we" give change?) She smiles at this idea. Maybe she's realised that there's no way he's actually going to count out pennies if she gets out a giant wad of cash.
"Any other colour than black?" she asks him. Well, there is, because the one she's looking at is actually metallic paint which will cost an extra £375, as the small print pointed out earlier. He didn't point it out though, because he was so infatuated with fog lights. Does he then give her a colour palette to choose from? No. He merely says: "We have noir." Not only is it pretentious, and brutally unfunny, but he can't even pronounce noir. It comes out as "no-argh", for no good reason.
To top off this cavalcade of idiocy, what should turn up now, but something that is more suited to a McG-directed music video? A massive pair of disembodied, bright red lips show up and say "Peu-geot". It's the stuff of nightmares! Meanwhile, "DRIVESEXY.COM" scrolls across the bottom of the screen in big white letters. It sounds like a very specialist fetish website, but it's all part of Peugeot's advertising. But they're ad executives, so it's probably a "multi-platform content delivery system".
The website starts playing music quicker than a loading MySpace page, and while it loads shows you a "DriveSexy Tip". I got: "Be polite and courteous, even when others are not". Well, I suppose that works for both the driving and the sexy, so I can't fault that. Then it does nothing else, and just has tiny-sized text links to Peugeot.co.uk, the Terms & Conditions, and a Dealer Locator (that's car, not drug).
The more cynical of you might assume that this post is designed to subtly advertise Peugeot. After all, I've mentioned the brand name enough. Trust me, however: I loathe this advert. Not quite as much as the Just For Men one, but it's nearly there. There is nothing commendable about it or, indeed, the Peugeot 308 Verve.
Labels: Advertising, worst advertising job since halifax hired howard
Author: Thor | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Written by: Oddy
First of all sorry for the horribly un-original pun in the title. My brain is mush.
Recently, I found myself in a particularly bad place for any gamer to be in. I've run out of games to play. Yes I played through my some what extensive catalogue of games worth playing and then found myself at something of a loss of how to fill the hours between getting up on a morning and going to sleep...in the morning. And because of my inherant lack of funding new games are hard to come by. However, in a real display of good natured commeradery, a friend of mine lent me Mass Effect for the 360. Now, I know this is old news, hell, even the sequel isnt exactly new news, but there is something about it that I fear I have to vent because if I dont I may explode in a rather impressive display of bile and flesh.
The game itself is all well and good. Very enjoyable. Story telling is good, game play is solid, looks pretty nice. Littleon the wordy side, but hey I kinda like that. However, in a game that would get good marks all around who on the design team thought "I know, lets ruin the planet exploration sections, with vehicle handling that will explode veins in peoples faces with frustration!"
I mean, sure, don't spend all the design time on making the thing handle like something from a driving sim, but seriously? The system they have to control it is so ludicrus I can't imagine who would actually legitimatly see that as a good design choice. You can control the vehicle entirely with the left analogue stick, so why then have the guns cursor dictate where the vehicle goes? Things get bogged down, and by trying to make the thing move forward you can make it do a plethera of wierd and wonderful things. Its like a magical I want to die right now button.
Phew...I feel a lot better now for having gotten that off my chest. Maybe now I wont have to kill someone to assuage the anguish.
Hopefully next time I'll have more than ranting and raving. Could even be topical. Wierder things have happened.
Author: Rick Banana | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
Written by: Scott
I've been considering discussions to close The Three Rs for the past few days. It seems its only me who posts nowadays, with occasional posts by either Thor or Oddy. The blog itself seems to have served its purpose and allowed us all to improve our writing styles. That said, it still provides a platform for me to post funny stuff from around the 'net.
Such amusing distractions may take a number of forms. Today's lols come from 4chanarchive. The featured thread is entitled 'PokeBAAAAWS' and invited people to come up with cheaply-made images of Pokemon in emotional situations. Check out the full thread for them all (not safe for work!), but here's some of the funnier ones.
Labels: paint, pokebawwws, Randomness
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
Guy Asks Megan Fox If She Will Do A Sex Tape At Comic-Con
Written by: Scott
Amazing. If you haven't seen it already, you should. Apparently he was taken aside following the incident by security. He has some balls to do it though, especially in such a public setting.
Labels: megan fox, Randomness, scandal
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Written by: Scott
Let's get started straight away this week with a plug for a local Leeds MC called Majestic. He's just released his new single called 'In The VIP'. You'll find the song embedded below. Its quite a catchy song and the chorus repeats itself about a million times throughout, Calvin Harris style. Unfortunately, we all know that Harris' new work is shit.
Does this mean Majestic MC is equally bad? No. 'In The VIP' has all the staples of his great style, which is demonstrated here perfectly at a freestyling session at club Carpe Diem. I think its a tad too repetitive (although the CounterStrike/Stephen Hawking voice saying 'promo' every five seconds in the promo video doesn't help) but it definitely has chart potential.
Sticking with people-I-kinda-know-on-Facebook, have a listen to a new progressive trance act called Yenn. He was introduced to me through one of the sidebar advertisements and I found that his music is actually quite decent. While I'm a huge fan of vocal trance and Yenn fails to deliver on this aspect, he is producing some 'bigg t00nz', so check him out anyway.
Labels: electro, majestic mc, Randomness
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
New World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Information
Monday, August 17, 2009
Written by: Scott
From this post. Not sure how much of it is bullshit, but the writer claims its real and we'll certainly see for sure within a few days, since Blizzcon is almost upon us. Here are some of the 'highlights':
New race-class combinations, new races, old-world Azeroth revamp and some more extras.
Seriously, a lot of it reads like speculation, but take a look for yourselves.
Labels: blizzcon, Randomness, World of Warcraft
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Written by: Scott
People have been attempting to predict the downfall of MySpace for years. Since the social networking site was established in 2003 we've seen it responsible for everything from heavily publicised, illegal parties to teenage suicides and more. Were these controversies alone enough to take down this Internet media giant? No. So what if a girl from small-town USA got stalked by some psychopath she was foolish enough to give her personal details to? Does that mean all users of the site are at risk from similar freaks? Not really. So what if the designers decide to make drastic changes to the layout and you don't like it? If all your mates still use MySpace, then its very unlikely you will stop just because you disagree with an aesthetic change.
The decline of such a huge brand is remarkable and quite unprecedented in the days of Web 2.0. Over the past 12 months we've seen activity hit the lowest point since 2004. Its hard to understand why this is. Certainly the popularity of Facebook has played a large part, but Coke didn't collapse the second Pepsi came out. I'm sure anyone who is even slightly Internet savy can explain why Facebook rocks, but its far more difficult to understand why members are leaving MySpace in their droves. Only mediocre independent bands remain, adding each other in an never-ending cycle of friend requests. Even the most pessimistic of market analysts would have assumed that some of the adolescent, Emo memberbase would have stuck with MySpace out of pure brand loyalty.
What spurred this mass migration to Facebook then? Was it the popularity of the newer site with older, university-going adults that simply slipped into the younger and older age groups? Yes. Was it Facebook's simplicity and accessibility to all? Yes. Was it the differing attitudes of the development teams? Definitely. When's the last time you saw an advertisement for MySpace? A month ago? Sixth months ago? Never? There's a reason for that. MySpace has gotten so complacent with its place at the top that the staff don't even try to bring in new users - even through Google's ridiculously cheap Adsense programme. This high level of arrogance from the management staff caused them to brush off those sites which were viable competition - including Facebook. Even when the developers do decide to swallow their pride and copy from more efficient sites, they take the wrong elements. As I mention in one of my many 'This Week In MySpace's Attempts To Be Trendy's, Facebook may be infamous for its extraordinary amount of applications, but the MySpace team failed to realise that applications are definitely not the reason why people have turned to Facebook. Instead, they offered members access to thousands of these annoying little extras that cluttered up profiles and bulletin boards across the world. Essentially, this did nothing but appease those easily amused individuals for a short while while annoying the Hell out of everyone else. In the meantime, Facebook was making innovations to its layout and more important features that MySpace would take months to emulate.
Facebook realises the need to keep up with its competitiors, which can be seen in its development of 'Facebook Lite' - a Twitter-like simplification of the main site. Remember this is still a time where most Facebook members are perplexed by the workings of Twitter. Does this mean they still will be in months to come? Of course not and Facebook is preparing for that eventuality, to keep up with such trends and not lag behind better sites months after. MySpace failed to accept that what people look for in a site changes over time, as if the Internet never evolves. This hubris led to its downfall.
Its not as if MySpace's developers didn't have access to the opinions of the public either. For months the site's founder, Tom, had his profile flooded with suggestions on how to improve the site's capabilities. Granted, most of these comments were utter poop, but it was pure laziness on the part of the developers to sit around and do nothing. Even when Tom did announce anticipated changes to how the system worked, they were hardly ever implemented on time. What ever happened to the promised ability to block some person on your friends list from sending bulletins - something which was a necessity if you had more than 2 scene attention-seekers on your network? Facebook gave the power to remove certain people from your own status feed mere weeks after it was requested, so why did MySpace take years to even consider it?
Basic reluctance to change explains a lot. After all, MySpace was really popular when it first started, so why fix that which ain't (but actually really, really is) broken? Furthermore, the marketing executives aren't stupid. They are very aware that they'd be an epic backlash from the attention-craving crowd when they realise the rest of us no longer have to read their dirty laundry if something like a light bulletin-blocking system was implemented. The fat cats were scared at upsetting this vital, vocal part of the audience and so steered development away from anything that would offend them. Unfortunately the bulletin-looking brigands grew up, got sick of all the drama they'd caused and moved onto pastures new, along with everyone else who had grown tired of MySpace's inaction.
The final reason for MySpace's deafness to its users' demands is an obvious one. Most suggestions made on the website itself were utter cack and far too unrealistic to actually consider. Facebook also realises the everyman is an idiot who doesn't understand the point in changing things for the better. Its obvious their new interaction with the public is purely for show, but unlike MySpace Facebook has an assortment of specialists and a panel of experts that comprise the world's biggest social media thinktank. This is how they continue to innovate the site in a sublime way. Even as MySpace faces weekly layoffs, the staff would still rather shroud themselves in ignorance and continue to copy the wrong features from other sites than investigate what they really need to do.
So if MySpace hasn't been spending money on advertising, improving the site or holding consumer panels then just where has all its income been going? The answer is simple: Its been flushed away on hiring not-so-funny sketch writers and video producers to make mediocre clips exclusively for MySpace Video. It was burned on employing regional 'wacky' teams that were supposed to boost brand awareness in specific countries - including the UK. These projects and many more failed miserably. Not only were they all poorly managed, presented and promoted, but whoever came up with these ideas completely missed the point of what MySpace is about. It was created so people could interact with each other. There are still hundreds of unfixed flaws in this side of things, so why do you believe you can create the next YouTube when its taken 6 years to nail the basics of a networking site? No one wants to watch a downright unlikeable tosser shout about how great MySpace is in a video that's five minutes long but takes an hour to load. Understand that MySpace Music took off because good bands were willing to use it. Just because you feature terrible quality comedy shorts on the main page every day doesn't mean they're any good. I admire MySpace's willingness to branch out in new directions, but trying to push something that obviously isn't going to catch on is futile and leads to the company wasting money. Money that could have been better spent elsewhere. 
Let's summarise! MySpace has not become unpopular due to the outrageous, unstoppable success of its competitors. No, its own failure to act and improve an ageing interface destroyed the site in the end. Whenever action was taken, it was often too little too late. MySpace offers us a startling example of how brands can be lured into a false sense of security when they become popular. Even the biggest of businesses will falter if they stop delivering a good service to customers. It was foolish of MySpace to think themselves immune to the most basic of business rules, but now they are truly paying the price.
I do not own any of the above images. All rights reserved to the respective copyright owners.
Labels: Facebook, fucking hell i didnt know i could write that much, MySpace, the decline of myspace, this week in myspace
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
Written by: Scott
Hey guys.
So many of you will know that I've kinda held my tongue when it comes to pointing out bad attempts at promotion on the Leeds nightlife circuit. My connections with the scene (alongside the fact that New Music Wednesday is rather popular) has meant I can't really pass a negative comment on how clubs and companies opt to promote their events. Sometimes though, people just get it a bit... well, wrong.
See below for a great example. The 20th of August signals results day for A-level students across the UK. With university just on the horizon, its a great opportunity for people to go out with their friends on the razzle for possibly the last time. This means that if you own a club then there's potential to earn big on that night.
Enter the infamous 'A-Level Results Party' at Leeds' Victoria Works. It actually looks really good, but does this give them a mandate to flood our events page with invites to several separate events pages for the same night?
Labels: leeds music scene, nu rave, Randomness, victoria works
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Written by: Scott
Labels: college humour, Facebook, Randomness
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
This Week In MySpace: The Collection
Written by: Scott
Hey guys. This is basically a list of old posts I did a while back, highlighting many of the contemporary issues with MySpace in preparation for a forthcoming essay. Take a deek if you haven't seen them before.
Patrick Wolf.
Make sure you can be found!
Comedy video.
Rainforest Trust.
MySpace IM.
Featured videos.
Applications.
Enjoy!
Labels: Lists, Randomness, this week in myspace
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Written by: Scott
Bloody Hell. Its been seven weeks since I packed in my God awful personal blog and started doing something slightly more productive. Welcome to this week's New Music Wednesday!
I was going to make this a special 'trance' edition, but I realised I need to plug more songs than those with slowly-burning, soft electro beats. All the same, I'd just like to say that trance music is life's sound and should be appreciated by everyone ever, no matter what their usual forte. It is so unbelievably flexible that every song is a different journey into the depths of the human soul. Alright, now I'm starting to sound like an NME reviewer*. Don't just take my word for it, listen to these awesome tunes and make your own mind up!
Above: A three-part collection of John O'Callaghan's greatest hits. Its an awesome 11-minutes of fun. Just ignore the girl's eyebrows.
A more powerful, upbeat tune by Vast Vision (I'd never heard of them either). Once again demonstrates the power of female vocals when backed by some great percussion.
Its at this point I realise that NMW is a day late, so here's some more quick tunes for you to indulge in!
ROCK!
Midnight Juggernauts - Into the Galaxy
WESTERN!
Little Big Town - Boondocks
FOLK!
Recess - My Green Tambourine
THE END!
*Although I'm not as unintelligable as this shit.
Labels: new music wednesday, Randomness, trance
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
Sunday, August 09, 2009
Written by: Scott
What are you!?
Labels: adjectives, im so adjective i verb nouns, nouns, Randomness, verbs, what are you
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
Friday, August 07, 2009
Written by: Thor
What specialist interest isn't catered for on the Internet? Fantastic blogs. Too-detailed essays on the biology of fictional creatures. How the current world compares with 1984. People naked in their showers with guitars (one of the few fetishes created by the web). And now, finally, the website for those with an insatiable desire to know what sandwiches people around the world are eating - sandvich.org.
It's a pretty niche market, granted. Nobody in their right mind has such a compulsion. It's not even exactly comforting to know that such a website exists. But it definitely does, and it's fairly simple. Sandwiched (groan) between two big pictures of big sandwiches is a column of text. You may have guessed it's about sandwiches. Indeed, it's a live text feed of all Twitter tweets containing the word "sandwich".
A ruddy great sandwich. That is all.
Variety is the spice of the life - so they say - and Sandvich's limited resource is slightly opened up to include bagels and other various baked savoury goods. Truly, we are living in the future. There is nothing much more to say about the ins and outs of Sandvich. They have their own Twitter account, but Twitter have suspended it.
To my great dismay and shame, I find Sandvich oddly hypnotising. No, I don't need to know what everybody's eating. Nor do I really care. This brief, inane glimpse into somebody else's life is rather strange, and mildly voyeuristic, but there's also something strangely fascinating about it all. John Montagu, Fourth Earl of Sandwich, who invented the snack is probably rolling in his grave right now. But that's only because he's hungry.
While seemingly very, very limited in scope, Sandvich has a lot of potential. Most reproduced tweets sing the sandwich's praises:
Shadowhand Just had a tasty (and rare) tuna steak sandwich for lunch... omnomnom!
But some concern more than just the foodstuff:
guthe Thankful for mediocre coffee. above-par chicken sandwiches, good conversations, and great friends
Others are anti-sandwich blashphemy:
AdrienField I'm in the library trying to finish my manuscript and there's a nasty bitch eating a subway sandwich at my table. I want to slap her.
There are philosophical, scientific questions to be answered:
eurieka is there a scientific reason why a diagonal cut so vastly improves the quality of a sandwich?
Some are unknowingly ironic:
joseaqui Having lunch at Subway. Love eating in the front window and show pedestrains how good this sandwich is. Food voyerism at it's best! ;-)
And some aren't even about sandwiches:
Ur_AddictionXx This panini is on point!!!Damn i done didi it again!!WOOT!
And if you're unlucky, you might come across The Three Rs' Dee4leeds twittering on:
Dee4leeds Salad Cream and Quaver sandwich time.
David Cameron may think it's all a load of twat, but then again so is he.
Labels: sandvich, sandwich, sandwiches, Twitter, website review
Author: Thor | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
The Joys Of Having Chinese Goldfarmers On MSN
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Written by: Scott
Labels: goldfarmers, Randomness, sweet wang
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
Written by: Scott
Welcome to this week's New Music Wednesday - a feature where I shove my thoughts on both mainstream and independent songs down your throats.
Let's kick things off with Little Boots doing a Kate Bush cover.
I'd run up her hill.
I could have sworn we've mentioned Little Boots before, months ago after she'd just been featured on the 'Tube. Our site search says otherwise, so just assume good faith with me here. Little Boots' novelty is her Tenori-on, a Japanese electronic musical instrument that she often plays whilst singing. Notably, she chooses not to use it in the above cover video and instead sticks to more traditional methods, like the keyboards and taking sampling via a mini-microphone. Its a good cover, but I still don't really like any of her own stuff - including new single, Remedy. I think I'm just sick of electronica songs saying how good dancing is. You can thank Lady Gaga for that.
I'll show you something I do like, though. Any of you watch Gossip Girl? Oh, I forgot; our audience is comprised of 39 year-old WoW players and people still looking at the Thought Bubble coverage from last year. Being either of those types of people ain't a bad thing though, but it probably means you haven't heard about the attractive Leighton Meester, who plays 'Blair' in the hit show. Not only is she rather attractive, but she's been doing some musical collaborations with a few popular bands. This has resulted in some bloody epic songs.
The first is one she did with Cobra Starship, although she only sings like, half a verse. Its a bloody hot video, and the tune is equally sweat-inducing.
The second decent song Meester has worked on is 'Birthday', with Awesome New Republic (I hadn't heard of them to begin with either). The lyrics aren't really about a birthday, but its still a damn good record. Catchy as Hell.
Sticking with catchy, if not slightly cheesy, future sleeper hits, check out the next song. Its by two kids called Mitchel Musso and Emily Osment (who?). Its a cover of a classic and I can tell you its been done better.
Now, for some fairly heavy rock by Nordic band Rallypack. The song is 'Luke Skywalker', from their 2006 album. Its a nice mix of heavy stuff and vibes that remind me of Eagles of Death Metal.
Now to plug an old band which will get big with this (or a similar song) within the next six months a la Metro Station or 3OH!3. They're called Cash Cash (shit was so Cash Cash?) and here's their song, Party In Your Bedroom.
Right original topic there.
Until next week, brothers!
Labels: little boots, new music wednesday, Randomness
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
Felix Da Housecat's 'We All Wanna Be Prince'
Written by: Scott
Video lies! Perez Hilton probably doesn't want to be Prince!
He wants to be Nik Ritchie?
Labels: music, Prince, Randomness, wanna be prince
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
Written by: Scott
Behold, fans of this blog! This is my first real experiment in YouTube poop. Well, not 'poop' - just tapping into the main audiences on the 'Tube. Its designed for both Pokemon fans and Fallout Boy lovers, so I've basically covered everyone who goes on the site. The remix is by a guy over at Unforgettable Sound so massive props go to him. I know the entire thing is a thinly-veiled plug for The Three Rs, but don't complain!
Now to spam up video responses to anything related to Pokemon or Fallout Boy.
Labels: fallout boy, music, Pokemone, Randomness, Video, YouTube, youtube poop
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
Now For Something Completely Different
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Written by: Scott
Remember to breathe.
Labels: farmer doing yoga, funny video, Randomness, yoga farmer
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
World of Warcraft: The Cataclysm
Written by: Scott
Mind. Blown.
Thanks Blizzard!
And now for the edit! Kudos go to Examiner.com.
Currently, emails are going out to random World of Warcraft players, stating they have been selected to participate in the Alpha test for the WoW expansion: Cataclysm. If you are one of the recipients of this, you are not a lucky winner. You are a target of a scam.
The email is convincing, and appears to be from a genuine Blizzard address. It appears to be related to WoW, even using artwork from it, to make a convincing Cataclysm logo. The language used is the same wording Blizzard has used in the past. Links even go to past Blizzard beta tests, so they will seem to be legitimate at first.
However, the link that is used to download the fake expansion alpha test is not a Blizzard site. Instead, it will download a .rar file that will be used to keep track of what keys are pressed when entering a password, and will send this information to the scammers. They will then use this information to log into the player's account, change the password, sell the gear, and transfer the gold to another account.
Do not be fooled by this email. Blizzard never sends random people emails to participate in game testing. Further, Cataclysm has not been announced as an expansion for WoW. The expansion will be announced officially (probably at Blizzcon next month) before any testing begins.
For added security, the Blizzard Authenticator is the best tool. Even if someone did get the player's password, unless they had the code from the authenticator, which changes every minute or so, they could not log in. It is a highly recommended tool to keep out those pesky gold farmers.
Labels: alpha test, Blizzard, gogo press, Randomness, the cataclysm, World of Warcraft
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
Written by: Scott
Sex: My Big (hurhur) Decision is an hour-long documentary by the BBC. Its part of the '[Naughty Verb]: My Big Decision' series and past instalments have been about breast implants and getting pregnant. Every episode follows two teenage girls as they attempt to pursue their dream, while their mothers and another family member try to dissuade them from their superficial dreams. Its a decent concept, as it tackles the issues of teenagers directly - a damn sight better than the bloke from The Death of Respect claiming that kids are the root of all evil and cannot be fixed. My Big Decision's sixty-minute escapades are full of rows, people crying, driving around in a hippy van (as seen in Inkheart) and music sampling from The Ting Tings. Thus, before I get into the meat of this review, I admit that this series has a good purpose and should not be criticised for that.
The thing that strikes me about recent documentaries is the strangeness of the people. I honestly do wonder where they get them from. In Young, Dumb and Living Off Mum the participants are perfect and really made for the show. In Britain's Most Embarrassing Parents, the mums and dads aren't really too embarrassing and their kids being just as bad, if not worse. Sex: My Big Decision takes the title of total irrelevance when it comes to picking subjects. Introducing two fifteen year olds who are considering intercourse, despite only one of them having a boyfriend and they're both bloody ugly.
After a brief introduction from both of the horny teens, we're treated to several vague statistics about the nature of sexual relations. Did you know that the number of underage girls having sex has gone from 1 in 20 to 1 in 3 within the past 10 years? Yeah, sorry about that. Its not my fault my ideal date is a sodding nursery. Anyway, the road trip begins and the girls visit a sexual education advisor. They go through a series of ridiculous challenges to demonstrate how hard it is to have sex when drunk. We all know how important it is to practice safe sex when drunk, but its bloody hard to keep it up when intoxicated - never mind actually having to put my junk somewhere.
The show ploughs on and eventually the girls attend a panel group with boys of similar age. The blokes talk sense, stating that sex is something that both parties should be equally committed to. That isn't to say the whole group doesn't reek of demand characteristics that would make even Hawthorne cringe, though. Then its revealed that actually, 90% of the males there hadn't even had sex, but claim 'that it doesn't make you a better person' to do it. That's virgin talk!*
The girls then bugger off to Amsterdam and cry over prostitutes humiliating themselves. Adele's 'Chasing Pavements' plays in the background. Does this part have anything to do with the subject matter? Yes, some women are willing to sell their bodies. Yes, some men are perverted enough to fork out money for sex. What has that got to do with two fifteen year olds hoping to have consensual sex with their partners? Not a lot, and My Big Decision is just using shock tactics to convince the teens to take the morally acceptable path. Forget that there's an interview with a Dutch mum who has a daughter who lost her virginity at 15 and there was no public uproar. Forget that one of the two girls claims to be 'in love' and 'ready'. The message presented by the programme is so mixed and there's so many differing viewpoints, its impossible to see if its good or bad to wait.
*Wait. I better be careful what I say, lest I'm called egoistical. ;)
Labels: BBC, documentary, my big decision, Review
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Written by: Scott
Click the image to enlarge. By This Is Game, found by Charge Shot!!!. 
Labels: animal crossing, Comics, Randomness, webcomic
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
Written by: Scott
Site here. Its the ulimate parody of the pick-up industry, complete with outrageously corny intro. As mentioned on the Sinns of Attraction podcast. 
Labels: dimitri the lover, pick up artists, PUA, PUA community, Randomness
Author: Melaisis | Comments: | Leave Your Response?
