33 - Bit of work.

Put the kids to bed. Did some work, like an hour and a half work then looked at a tiny bit of X Factor. Then did counter strike maps. Ah the glory of map making!

32 - Steam Box specs revealed.

If you have read my blog alot or popped in and out over the last while you will know that I am looking forward to the new Steam Box that Valve, the computer games manufacturer, is about to release. Well specs have been released for the model of the Steam Box that is going to be released in 2014. Here the specs are:

Here is a quote from a website describing the specs better than I will "First and foremost, there isn’t a single static spec — even for the Valve-made beta units. The prototype units will ship with an Intel Core i7-4770, an Intel Core i5-4570, or an unidentified Core i3 CPU. As far as GPUs go, there will be a mix of Nvidia Titan, Nvidia GTX780, Nvidia GTX760, and Nvidia GTX660 models — all with 3GB of GDDR5. All units will ship with 16GB of DDR3-1600 RAM, hybrid 1TB/8GB SSHDs, and a 450w power supply. Impressively, all of this equipment is designed to fit inside a 12-inch x 12.4-inch x 2.9-inch case."

Yes the Steam Box might look like this... or nothing like this?

What sticks out to me is the 1 Terrabyte solid state hard drive! I have a new computer and I have to say the difference between a solid state drive and a regular disc drive is amazing in terms of speed. I am seriously looking forward to it. Valve are making up a machine that runs a hackable scaleable machine that seems to kick the ass of Xbox One and Playstation 4 in terms of specs.

The only thing that we do not know about yet is the price. If you valued these parts today for a machine it could come to €1500+, not the €400 - €500ish that we would like!?!

31 - Film Review - How I Live Now

Saw a cool film in the cinema this evening.. How I Live Now. I saw it, with my wife, it in the Castlebar Cinema so when there was a quiet moment in the film we were able to hear sounds from the paper thin walls of the screen beside us. All of this did not in any way detract from the tension filled any sometimes scary atmosphere of the setting. Not scary in a "he's behind you!" kinda way - think more like Children Of Men. The kind of scary that makes you go "holy God I hope this never happens in real life" and you find yourself saying it because you know in the back of your mind that this

really

could

happen.

How I Live Now

What the "this" is that I am talking about you will have to watch the film to find out. The picture itself it nicely shot. Kinda has a nice indie feeling to it, you know, there is no sun flare happening all the time around fully glassed interior buildings a la Jerry Brucheimer. No, this was one of the times that a film could have done with a bit of optimistic sun flare but the films grim setting would not allow for it.


Saoirse Ronan is fantastic in it as the initially flippant Daisy who personally morphs to adapt to the changing surrounding about her. The male lead is played by George MacKay who has an equally turbulent time as Edmond.

I cannot ever give away story lines as I totally believe in not spoiling a film. But I can say when a film appelled to me. Well shot but obviously on a non-Hollywood budget. The music was great, acting for the most part was good. The idea is the film is very good, I'd say it is a cracking book but I do not know.

Is How I Live Now worth seeing in the cinema or is it one of those films that would do equally well on a smaller screen? There are no David Lean style sweaping vistas in it or massive special effect moments that have to be seen on a 40 foot screen so yeah I guess that it would do to see it at home if you have a good screen with good sound and some peace and quiet for a few hours. These are things that you should get in big screen however (ahem Movie World in Castlebar) so that you could immerse yourself in the story driven chilling bleak vision of the world that is How I Live Now.

Acting 7
Picture 6.5
Story 8.5
Sound 7

Carraroe And The City Rating :- 7.25/10

30 - Opps, missed a day!

I was meant to do this on the day of Friday the 4th of October 2013, but I did not, instead I am doing this on Sunday the 6th of October 2013 at nearly 3am. Now I could simply pretend that I wrote this on Friday and write Friday like comments like "thank goodness that work is over TODAY, I might have a CRUNCHIE, after all, it is FRIDAY" or I could just say I was pretty busy living it up, which I was.

By living it up I do not mean that I went out partying all night. No, I went down to my parent and spent some time with them. And you what that is going to be the theme of this blog entry. I is about missing something so you could go to something else or missing something the opportunity to do something that you wish you had done.

The God knows that I have missed chances to make right what I have done wrong, and I have done alot of wrong over the years so I am speaking from experience here. The thing that sucks about doing something wrong often is that while you are going through the process of the wrong doing often you will not know it, or at least how serious the consequences of that wrong doing it. There are a few people that I do not speak to at all really for exactly this reason. I guess I was a jackass. They did not behave the way I wanted them to and then I drew a line in the sand and said "that's it - they are no more!"

Lines in the sand only result in one thing, empty seats at the table where only ghosts of your friends long gone now reside. It is so easy to miss the opportunity, to miss the day, because in so many cases opportunity never happens. You make your own opportunity. Create the situation for yourself. Banks, bills, work. Screw all that. Family is friends is where it should be at.

Oh yeah, for those that do not know the reference, a reference image is below.

Thank Crunchie it's Friday!

29 - Some phone pics over the last while

We had some good days in September this year... they made some nice photos. I wish that I had my Canon with me, but I was happy to have my Samsung Galaxy SIII.

Sunset going home from work towards Carraroe. I loved the blue of the sky and the yellow of the sun.

Sunset on that lake in Tismean. The dead calm made the lake into a mirror reflecting the gorgeous evening and the setting sun. 

Mushroom growing on a tree in Westport house woods.. they were interesting shapes.

In Westport we saw this lonely  Volkswagen Camper, obviously misses the 70's

So they are a few photos. Nice and colorful overall, but I think when I see them all together that I have alot of yellow in the set. Maybe I like yellow more than I think.

28 - Dead tired...

Man I am so tired I had loads to talk about, but I am so tired now... so tired...

27 - The Woman In The Red Dress and 3kliksphilip again!

There has been a wrong I am about to right and a right that I am about to write about...

Ahem...

Remember in The Matrix... there was a "woman in the red dress". Well a great wrong has happened in that no one knows who she is! Her name is Fiona Johnson. But guess what, that is pretty much all we know about her. Click on here name there and it will take you to her IMDB page! What ever happened to her? Fiona Johnson - Carraroe we salutes you!

You were looking at the woman in the red dress weren't you... ah The Matrix

And now for the good news....

I wrote about a rant that 3kliksphilip made in blog number 25 a few days ago. Well guess what, he replied to my blog yesterday. Much respect to Philip... Carraroe salutes you too my good man.