Accident Prone

Echo the love for @RedRooster's recommendation posts. I don't even own a Switch but I really appreciate the effort, and a lot of the games tend to be cross-platform. Keep it up, fella!

7 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

 

Yeah no wonder Jeff keeps spiralling into self-destruction and endangering innocent lives when THIS is the support network he has. What the actual fuck.

2 minutes ago, air_raid said:

Christ, that's up there with Meltzer deciding whether to award 6 1/2 or 6 3/4 stars out of 5.

Haha! It's a Simpsons line that appears in the episode where Marge becomes a cop, and it's also a pseudo-catchphrase used in a handful of their comics whenever Homer ends up with some slight luxury in life. It's always just stuck with me as a quotable annoying thing to say whenever the wife buys the 'Taste The Difference' brand instead of the generic 'By Sainsburys' stuff.

Yes, it's *gulps* another boring Simpsons reference on the UKFF.

I've gone through so many phases of fandom, and I think right now it's at an upper-middle-lower ebb.

I half-watch AEW Dynamite on one of my monitors during work, half watch AEW Rampage on the TV whilst playing with the scamp on a Sunday morning (the taped shows are hardly essential), and I try to watch the AEW PPVs the very next day at work and on my break via my tablet. Although it's certainly cooled off since last year and despite all it's faults, AEW is still the best American weekly pro wrestling show right now by a country mile.

As you can see though, I'm not exactly watching AEW at it's most optimal presentation but that is the life of a new dad! The free time in my evenings is spent with other hobbies, and I don't want to ruin my wife's night by sticking wrestling on the living room telly. 

I used to watch a lot of modern puro too, and no summer would go by without watching the G1 every fucking day AND LOVING EVERY SECOND. That went out the window with the introduction of COVID safety measures in Japan, meaning fans aren't allowed to be vocal or react organically, and I just can't watch pro wrestling without that live crowd setting. It's so incredibly important and a total deal breaker, and anyone who says otherwise is a fraud.

Not that I'd be able to watch any of it anyway! New dad etc etc. But I am hoping that the safety measures gradually calm down in Japan so I can justify watching DragonGate and DDT again. New Japan is a bit pish now, and even if they scrapped the clap-crowd rules tomorrow I won't be immediately jumping back in until they sort their shit out.

As for WWE and the indies? They've both seen better days and I have little-to-no interest in any of them. It's easy to accidentally keep up with them due to the energy of Twitter, and they're clearly all a shadow of their former selves. Not for me, and that's mainly because they're all shit.

Amazing that Todd Howard can still show his face during these showcases after the Fallout 76 disaster, but he's a director and executive producer with one of the biggest game studios on the planet so I doubt he really gives a fuck.

Whatever the case, I'll be keeping Starfied at a Cyberpunk-level arms length until the dust is settled and the in-pocket "reviewers" have faded into the background.

1 hour ago, Carbomb said:

Is CyanogenMod still a thing? Got some old Androids that might be worth doing that with. Or do I need to be versed in MMI or stuff like that?

See, I don't know what any of that stuff is so I think I'm clearly out of my depth on this one. All the online How To's and guides are written as if the reader already knows a chunk, like they drop you right in the middle of the process and expect you to know what's what.

16 minutes ago, RalphyV2 said:

any recommended tools/videos i can use/watch? A bro needs a hobby 

I'll be able to recommend everything and anything once I get the fucker to work, haha!

I think I'm pretty adept at "jailbreaking" electronics. Games consoles, tablets, handhelds, streaming devices, as long as there's no soldering involved then I can follow any How To...guide to the letter and get results.

However, I spent three hours last night trying to root my spare Android phone (a fucking WileyFox, of all things) and no matter how many guides I follow or forum posts that I read, I still can't get the fucker to work. I went to bed annoyed that I had wasted an evening tinkering about and got nothing to show for it. First time for everything, I guess.

Prepare for another entry in this thread tomorrow, because I'm going to post a "Please help me, I've tried everything" plea in the XDA forums tonight and I guarantee it will be met with hostility.

2 hours ago, TheBurningRed said:

This is what I do. I work as Behavioural Detection Officer at a musuem in London and at a coach station. People who are up to no good are often surprised when caught by us as we are plain clothed and they thought they’d avoided security. I was at a gig the other week and seeing all that was going in those crowds and the security not really paying attention, I did start to think that my line of security should be deployed more at gigs and festivals. Considering how much stuff we actually stop more than security do. 

I think this would work wonders, and that's without the plain clothes bit because just the slightly increased security presence would be enough. All it'll take is one of the fuckers to get caught and shaken down with five phones on their person, and it'll spread.

But then again...

43 minutes ago, Ironic Indie Lad said:

One way to cut down on this sort of behaviour is by getting a better clientele through the gates. Could do this by booking less pop punk bands.

WAHEY!!!!!

This really is the best idea!

I'd say;

1) Have security staff who's job is watching for unusual activity in and around the mosh pits and similar areas where the crowd is all bouncing into each other and mixing together. Both times I had my phone nicked it was when I was up close with the audience. The pit near the front of the audience is where you'll find most of that activity, as it's crammed enough to do the deed and get out before the victims realise.

Watch for people making quick exits from those areas too, especially after people are shouting "WHO TOOK MY FUCKING PHONE?!" and trying to get the attention of security. You can't accost everyone who leaves the crowd and heads away from the area hastily, but someone with a trained eye for those matters could spot them a mile away.

2) Have the security teams keeping an ear on what bands are saying in-between songs, as no doubt from their position the band members will notice anything amiss. I don't mean having them stop songs to flag up something dodgy, but all through the fest I saw most bands say something like "Ah, I see you guys aren't up for a circle pit today!", and looking back that's because people were getting their shit stolen during those pits so they were anxious to get involved.

3) Either hire a security team who are good enough to provide quick, efficient searches on entry or plan the fest out better so you're not overloading the team when the gates are opened. I was one of the first few hundred people to arrive, and everyone was getting the full pat down, "put your shit on the table" check, and then a full bag check on top of that. I was only a few people away from being searched when I heard the security staff get an instruction to sop the body searches and just do bag checks. So most of the festival attendees had no pat down and no vetting, just bag checks, so fucking anyone could've got in and out with anything. You read that, and then you read about the people  getting drugged and injected against their will, and you come to the conclusion that the security is shockingly bad.

And all of that might be laughed at or mocked, or might be considered illogical or a waste of resources, but it shouldn't have to be up to punters to give advice about this. If you run a festival, and at the end of the day the floor is covered with empty phone cases and you've got tons of reports of theft coming in, that's a bad ending and you need to improve. If you run the same fest seven years later and the results are still the exact same, that's because you're shit at creating a safer, more secure environment. That or you don't care or haven't put the effort in.

I'm taking a break from the Batman: Arkham City rerelease/remake/remaster (and it's just as good as the first time that I played it) so I can finally get stuck into Hades whilst the £1 Xbox Game Pass offer is live.

I knew it would be up my street from all the reviews and praise, and I'm pleased to say that it's living up to every expectation. I doubt I'll put many hours into it due to fatherhood duties, but I'll definitely buy it outright as soon as it goes on sale. Excellent stuff.

On 6/2/2022 at 12:42 PM, Egg Shen said:

let us know how it goes @Accident Prone I was gonna goto Leeds but sacked it off with the cost of hotels and that.

Fest was great until some fucking scumbag shithead nicked my phone during Dropkick Murphys. Took it right from my front jeans pockets in the middle of their set, and they got several others too as the floor was littered with empty phone cases (including mine). Same thing happened to me at Slam Dunk Leeds in 2015, so the organisers clearly do not give a fuck about attacking this issue.

It put me in a right bad mood and I headed back to the hotel without seeing Sum 41 because I didn't want to bring my mates down to my level. Ruined what was, up until that point, a great day; beer was flowing, sun was shining, the bands sounded good. That's it for me and Slam Dunk now though. They could announce a line-up on par with Riot Fest and I still wouldn't give them the money.

Fuck Leeds, too. Thieving bastards.

12 minutes ago, Egg Shen said:

let us know how it goes @Accident Prone I was gonna goto Leeds but sacked it off with the cost of hotels and that.

Will do! I'm sure it'll be grand once the beer soaks in. I've re-read my post in the forty minutes since and it sounds incredibly shit and like a 'kfogg and Hitman' redux in hindsight. I don't want to come off sounding like a grumpy prick, because that's not how I'll feel when I'm on the train tomorrow morning, but it has been genuinely disappointing form from the fest organisers the past two weeks.

Off to Slam Dunk tomorrow, and I'm royally fucked off that the two bands I had the most interest in (Spanish Love Songs and The Used) both pulled out this week. I could handle one or the other, but both?! Too late to get my hotel and train fare refunded, and the fest has made no attempt at smoothing it over.

So the line-up is still fine (The Bronx, Hot Mulligan, Amity Affliction, Alexisonfire or Dropkicks, Sum 41 will be my main route) but I would not have splashed out all that cash if those two bands weren't on the bill.

I don't buy The Used's excuse of "mental health" either considering they cancelled their Slam Dunk appearance last time because they were offered more money elsewhere. They're still pegged on to do their US tour next month though, weirdly enough. Makes me think there's some anti-vax knobbery going on.

I could have the time of my fucking life at the fest tomorrow but I'm done with Slam Dunk after this. Throw in them leaping into bed with the NFT crypto nonces and they've pretty much phased out a pretty loyal customer in myself.

I rode into work this morning high as a fucking kite after that show. Fuck me, that is the good shit right there. The MJF promo was incredible. Mox vs Garcia was incredible. The Assboys/Acclaimed combo is incredible. Ruby/Toni vs Jamie/Britt was the best women's tag match in AEW history. A helluva show, and AEW usually fails at these post-PPV Dynamites so I'm even more delighted. 

Three months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for a quid is an absolute steal.

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/xbox-game-pass-ultimate-3-months-for-ps1-new-or-relapsed-subscriptions-at-microsoft-store-3942729

39 minutes ago, FelatioLips said:

I'm willing to forgive Ross on this one because "the other guy" was fucking dog shit. He blew nearly every spot he was involved in and looked like trash.

He saved a little girl from being abducted earlier this year, so I think we can forgive his one botch last night (I'm not counting the sloppy claw slam as that was all on Trent for jumping too early). I'm not the biggest O-Khan fan either, but it's difficult for me to critique him so soon after that. Give it another few months when I'm back to watching New Japan again and I'll be in the relevant threads slagging him off for being a bore, but right now he's a hero to many.

Also (NSFW-ish):
 

Dynamite was decent but I am less than hyped going into this PPV. The company have really cooled off over the past six weeks, and I'm beginning to slide into the "TK might need a little help" camp but I'll give him the rest of the year first.

I don't think he's an out-and-out bellend, but does feel like he's come out of his shell more and more and so there's little tidbits that make you go "Hang on a sec...". It definitely feels like he's let slip some of that blokey-bloke charm (not charming in a WelshGreg way, that's for sure!).

I had my kitchen floor done earlier this year and I swear he was the guy in charge of the flooring squad. Turns out it wasn't, but the bloke acted and spoke and looked like him so I was actually convinced for a couple of days. The accent, language and topics were identical, could've fooled anyone in this thread.

Anyway, point is that he started off friendly enough and was bantering around and being chatty, but then as he got more and more comfortable throughout the week he started to drop his guard. Turns out he didn't believe covid-19 was THAT serious, he was unjabbed and he had "sympathy" for the current government. Got to say I wasn't too thrilled.

No idea what that adds to the conversation, I just found the similarities odd. I don't think he'll go full-on JonTron but I wouldn't be surprised if he voted for the Tories once or twice.

I'll definitely catch his travelling and straight line vids, but I'm not going to throw cash at his Patreon like I planned to!

Love how this all started with Bacon, myself and a couple of others in the YouTube thread going "Ah this is a bit of a laugh! How novel!" and now it's gone full-blown milkshake duck and we're questioning GW's personality traits, beliefs and (lack of) planning. That's the whole scope and journey of being a modern-day celebrity, right there.

Ricky Gervais proclaiming himself to be an atheist like it's some massively rebellious thing in 2022 reminds of Donny Tourette smoking a cigarette on Never Mind The Buzzcocks.

What's that? Ricky Gervais is an atheist now?! An Atheist! A belief that you can legally hold in England!!

I'm blocked by Edge and CM Punk despite never interacting with them. I assume it's because I wrote silly-but-true things about them in my old WrestleWipe articles (such as Edge and Orton's WrestleMania 2020 borefest and Punk's awkward "return" to wrestling on a WWE talk show), and they got screenshott'ed and DM'ed.

I'm definitely on a few wrestling blocklists, hence why I'm also blocked by X-Pac and Frankie Kazarian (and countless WWE/AEW/BritWres stan accounts), probably because I don't tweet "EVERYTHING IS AWESOME, ISN'T WRESTLING GREAT, ALL WRESTLING IS AMAZING" constantly like a robotic shit-eating shill. I'm actually curious as to where to find and export these block lists, as I'd love to know who else is deemed too negative for Kaz!

16 hours ago, WeeAl said:

Parking at the first fuel pump in a line if the one in front is also available.

Actually flabbergasted that people do this. The fuel pump at the front is the most desirable spot , so why not park there if it's available? Weird cunts.