You know what I'm doing that you're not?

I finally managed to pick up Brian Lara Cricket 2007 this morning and it's sweet as though there are some glitches. I'll tell more after spending tomorrow playing it with mates. Now if only you peeps would get Xbox 360's and broadband we could get a game on.

Parochial News Day

It's a while since I've blogged about the local goings on in the City of Discovery so I thought it's time to have a look especially as someone dear to us all has contributed to the vibrant debates about life in the fair city,

Don’t pick the daffs

ON MORE than one occasion recently, I have seen groups of people emerging from Baxter Park, Dundee, clutching big bunches of freshly-picked daffodils. ON MORE than one occasion recently, I have seen groups of people emerging from Baxter Park, Dundee, clutching big bunches of freshly-picked daffodils.

More often than not they have young children with them. What kind of a role model is this providing?

Are they going to “blame the kids” the next time something is stolen/vandalised from local amenities?

Also, when walking through Baxter Park, I note that many of the flower beds are trampled.

Would the people who think it’s okay to pick flowers from parks think it’s okay to pick flowers from private gardens? It’s the same thing. — Flower Girl.

[Our photographer took this picture of trampled and damaged daffs in Baxter Park.]

I can reveal that Flower Girl is none other than our own dear Rosa who after witnessing this heinous crime decided enough was enough and it was time to resort to the ultimate sanction in any true Dundonians armoury and write a stern letter to The Tele. I now rest assured that the perpetrators are black affronted at their behaviour being made public and will mend their larcenous ways. It's also nice to enter the esteemed company of people like our next contributor,

Bring back hanging

IT IS about time the Government did something about crime. Politicians are very hard on smokers and they have to toe the line.

But those who take drugs or have a drink problem are still getting off.

I am often shocked at the sentences given out for assault.

Criminals sent to jail come out and do the same things again. Jail cannot be that bad or they wouldn’t want to go back.

Bring back hanging and the birch. There would be a big drop in crime. — O.A.P.

It's good to see the older generation showing such depth of wisdom and compassion in a confusing modern world when it would be so much easier to reach for simplistic, reactionary solutions. The day we stopped beating criminal scum was just the beginning of the slippery slope that leads to us not being allowed to beat our own children dammit!

In the news section on Friday we had our obligatory story about Dundee's very own rock superstars The View,

Dundee chart-topping band The View returned to their home town to make their latest video. Double A-side The Don and Skag Trendy will feature images from Dryburgh, where band members Kieren Webster, Steve Morrison, Pete Reilly and Kyle Falconer grew up.

The View went to number one with their debut album Hats Off To The Buskers.

We are incredibly proud of the wee lads and the album is pretty sodding good though hearing songs about Dundee in the charts and seeing the city in videos is incredibly weird. Either way get hold of the album now and if you're up my way I'll take you for a pint in the Campbelltown Bar. though just mind and dinnae pick the daffies!

Scotland will stuff the Netherlands in the Cricket World Cup!

I think I've covered that pretty well.

So far I'm enjoying the cup and I'm not dissapointed in my countries showing at all, especially Smith's getting a best ever of 51 against an opponent like Australia. We know we're minnows and even Fat Boab, who appeared to have been hijacked on his way back from Majorca to fill out numbers, did okay against the Aussies.

I'm more looking forward to The Black Caps fucking England over on Friday though. Let's face it England will be lucky if the make it to the semis. Years of throwing out random ODI teams then getting awfy chuffed when you stumble across a few wee wins does not a World Cup winning team make whilst New Zealand seem to have been building themselves up in recent years and I have a lot of faith in the return of Shane Bond. He's called Bond for fucks sake folks! I'm not sure if New Zealand can win and I believe this'll be a close competition but I truly believe they'll beat England.

Although not beat as truly as the way that The Saltires will beat Netherland though!

Garry plays a bit of cricket

So in my manic anticipation of the ICC Cricket World Cup I downloaded the Brian Lara's Cricket 2007 demo tonight for a looksee before I get the game at the end of the month.

My first disappointment was that this didn't have a two player option which was a major feature of the 2005 demo and guaranteed I bought the game. A bit of a missed opportunity for new players there and I know it made it more difficult for some mates. Otherwise I do have to say the graphics are still only touching next-gen though the player animation is very very good. Weirdly most of the players featured just look wrong, Flintoff in particular is made to look like a jowly git though there is a really good animation of him fucking up a bowl, except for Shane Watson who is a spitting image of the youung Aussie himself. So it's all okay as long as the Shanester is there in all his mullet glory. I do hope that the finished code is a touch better though.

Gameplaywise I feel little has radically changed but everything has been refined. At bat I felt more in control whilst at bowl I was tantalised by the feeling I had more options at my fingerprints than came up in the 5 second flash of buttons. Both are clearly designed for pick up and play with extra options dependent on both your knowledge of cricket and skill at gaming. It's a balance that Codemasters were clearly striving for in the last game and are clearly moving even further in to. My only possible problem is with fielding which, in the demo at least, has become a little too twitch orientated for my liking.

In short I wish the demo had included a versus mode to let us see how the game really works but what's there shows a highly playable and very accessible sports game that many will miss out on because it's cricket. I'll buy the game and believe that's it's worth a rental by anybody.

This actually came from a forum where I just meant to ask if anybody had checked out the demo, I'm a bit black affronted at how long it goes on for.

Keeping it random

I'm not incredibly motivated for the old blogging at the moment but you've got tae give it a go eh?

I posted this elsewhere after taking my nephew to an ice cream van but best make the most of it. Sometimes I'm quite impressed by how weird organised crime can actually be especially when you find out about stuff like the Mafia Pizza Connection but nothing has ever struck me as quite as weird as the Glasgow Ice Cream Wars which was a very violent turf war between none other than ice-cream van owners that ended with attempted shootings, murder by arson and a twenty year legal battle through the Scottish courts. Of course these guys were selling 'sweeties' as well as ice cream but it's still fascinating in a fucked up way.

Check out The Scotsman for some more detail.

In more recent and parochial news the Tele reports a Dundee fan has been banned from Dens after shouting racial abuse at Jason Scotland during a home game against St Johnstone last month. This is only too right racism should be seen as completely unacceptable in sport and players like Scotland have brought a lot to Sottish football.

In less parochial and more Dundee is the Rock'n'Roll Capital of the World the lead singer of the new Greatest Rock Band in the World as first mentioned by me months ago The View's Kyle Falconer had travel up from their triumphant night at the NME Awards for a special appearance at Dundee Sheriff Court for a bag of charlie found in his pocket after a gig. Now I know Sheriff Arthurson commented on his role model status and many of you will agree that he's being a terrible influence on the youngsters of today, I can hear the cries of 'think of the children' as I type but sod that this young man is just doing his job. It is the right and expected place of young rock stars to take as much drugs, have sex with as many young girls and make complete prats of themselves at as many parties as possible. One of my favourite stories from the last ten years was the bassist of those other great Scottish rockers Primal Scream getting knifed whilst out partying in New York but not noticing because he was so off his head on everything he could get his hands on now that's a man showing commitment to his chosen profession.

In more personal news the council has finally got it's collective finger out of it's arse and confirmed our wedding venue so we'll be sending out the invites real soon now. It's a bit of a weight off the auld shoulders really. Which reminds me of a letter in last weeks Tele,

No regard for park users

I HAVE had several frustrating discussions with Dundee City Council officials over the past week or so regarding the works being carried out to the main terrace through Baxter Park.

I am disgusted at the total disregard being shown to public.

The closure of the terrace without any prior warning means the park has been divided in two.

I urge anyone with similar concerns, or anyone being inconvenienced going to or from Albert Street, to contact his or her local councillor.

If anyone would like to discuss this with me first, please phone 07838230646. — Parklife.

Now Mr Parklife, if that is your real name and if not why try to be anonymous whilst handing out your phone no, I understand your frustrations but some of us are trying to plan for once in a lifetime events and to be totally frank don't give a flying fuck about a sodding minor inconvenience to you. Don't you have something better to do than hassle the council about something that's going to disappear in a few weeks? Wanker. If anybody would like to forward my feelings or even add your own the number is included. Remember texting is cheap wherever you are and can be incredibly satisfying.

Slightly more humiliating is that my XBox 360 has started blogging and not only is the wee man funnier than me he manages to do it every day the git! Apart from that I've mostly been using my state of the art console to play Doom. Yup I have a £300 console and I use it to play a 15yr old game, Rosa is not impressed.

I'm also still playing Oblivion but I'll talk about that and Patrick Fucking Stewart next time.