Dead Men

I sat down to The Place Promised in Our Early Days yesterday, not expecting greats things after the last disappointment, but I was far more than pleasantly surprised. The artistry and direction was almost as perfect as 5 Centimetres Per Second, but where it really came out on top was the story, exactly what 5 Centimetres was lacking. It now definitively holds a position as one of my favorite anime films, it certainly wasn't as epic as anything like Akira or Ghost in the Shell, but it was so brilliantly faultless in every respect that I can't see why anyone wouldn't enjoy it. Definitely a title I'd think of showing anyone that hasn't seen any anime before, and by anime I don't mean Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z.

Today I've been playing Kane & Lynch, borrowed from my brother. It's alright, definitely a very borrowable game, not something I'd pay for but I'm enjoying it enough. The main problem -which you will see from watching any video of the game- is the desperately bland level design and very unsatisfying physics. On top of that the entire game (of which I have completed two thirds of on the hardest setting since getting home from work today) basically consists of running places and shooting people. Its saving grace is the direction, fantastically scripted and excellently acted it keeps you interested on the constantly moving story. I'll be done with it in the next couple of days though.
What I'm really interested in getting is the Orange Box for 360. Even though I do of course have it on the PC, I just want to play it again, which will be about my sixth run through for Half-Life 2. I would also quite like to have the completionist nature with which I played it on the PC recorded with achievements, and I'm sure I'd play Team Fortress 2 a lot more online on the 360. I don't regret getting it for PC at all though, not one bit, as such a glorious game as Half-Life unquestionably needs to be played with a keyboard and mouse first time through. But as I do have it already I don't particularly want to pay over £15 for it on eBay, as the cheapest I could get it new for is £32. Most of them seem to be going for £20, but if I persevere I should get lucky sooner or later.
Added bonus that I'll be able to lend it to Bertie and Andrew, finally getting those knuckle heads to see what they've been missing out on.

I found myself in a severely annoying situation last night with my mother. I told her that I was thinking about buying some wheels and she took it very badly, going off on how it was the most 'foolish' thing I could possibly do. She started going on about how I couldn't possibly pay for it, when I am working five days a week. The most ridiculous thing is how she can't even begin to understand why I would possibly want a car, all she sees cars as are an unfortunately necessary tool you use to get from A to B, she can't even begin to comprehend that I actually have an interest in cars, driving and motorsports as something that entertains me.
She also doesn't understand the freedom it would give me. All the things I want to do this year need a car to get me there, not to mention that all the little things that my friends have been doing for years and take for granted are still completely out of my reach purely because I don't have my own car. It's definitely not something that can be explained to her logically, if she doesn't even begin to understand any possible reason why I would benefit from owning car under her own steam, logical explanation certainly isn't going to do anything for her.
One of the main reasons I don't think she can understand is because she never experienced it. When she was my age she would never have even considered owning a car, and by the time she could drive and did buy a car she was already married and settled down.
But it doesn't matter in the end, as she rightly said "I can't stop you." And then she had the audacity to say "It's up to you to make your own mistakes." which actually scared me. Honest to god I am actually scared that she is quite seriously that stupid to make such an absurdly retarded comment such as that, it just highlights how she has no fucking clue what I would gain from it.
It's shit I just don't need really. Just as I was beginning to cheer up and get excited about passing my theory and going off to do the intensive course she's gotta be a massive lulz killer and bring me right back down. Fucking annoying.