An Alien, A Dragon and a Wasted Light

Well I thought I would do something I haven't done for a while and write an update on things I have seen lately that deserve some extra attention.

Paul, the latest movie from Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost has finally reached Australian cinemas. The wait was worth it. The pair have hit another home run with this charming road trip comedy. The story for those that don't know is about two british lads who, while on a tour of the USA's most famous UFO hotspots, run into an actual Alien (Paul) who is running from captivity. Paul is voiced by Seth Rogan and it seems alot of his personality has seeped through into the CG creation. As you can imagine comedy hijinks ensue but they never get predictable. The supporting cast is all top notch (Jason Bateman and Sigourney Weaver both turn in stellar performances) and the SCI-FI references all come thick and fast (including the film's climax at one of the most famous locations in SCI-FI film history) leaving you laughing out loud. The film is more accessable than the duo's previous efforts so if you are put off by the excessive "britishness" in Shaun and Fuzz you should be fine here. All in all a great movie with plenty of laughs to be had.

Dragon Age 2 is the newest epic roleplaying game from RPG masters Bioware. Once again the player is thrust into the world of Dragon Age however things have changed this time around. The original game was a return to the old-school sensabilities of classic RPG's like Baulders Gate and Icewind Dale. It was lauded by many for this return to crushing difficulty, pause and order combat and massive game length. However many were put off by the game for these very reasons. DA:2 is a much more modern style of RPG and it seems to have more in common with Biowares other key series, Mass Effect, than it does with the original.

DA 2's main character is voiced this time around, creating a sense of involvement that the original lacked. The combat can now be played in real time (the option of pause and order is still there however) and the dialog system has been lifted directly from Mass Effect. In all the game experence has been streamlined nicely and for those that were daunted by the original, this is going to be a much more inviting game. The game has it's problems however. The whole game (all 25-30 hours) are set in one town. This of course becomes more than a little repetative. The other major issue I have with the game is the story. Story is usually one of Bioware's strong points but here it seems little more than a reason to connect quests together. The ending is also increadibly unsatisfying leaving the game open for what is obviously going to be the final part of the triology. Don't let these things deter you too much though as there is a lot of fun still to be had with DA2 and unless you are a die hard DA:O fan you should find something to love.


Wasting Light, the newest effort from alternate rock gods The Foo Fighters has hit the shelves. Labeled as a return to the bands earlier style the album contains 11 short but rocking anthems that should keep any fan more than happy. "Bridges Burning" and "White Limo" are some of the heaviest tracks that the band has released in years and something that fans have been clamouring for. Their pop sensibilites haven't left them though with radio friendly tracks such as "Rope" still getting love from Dave and the band. All in all a very solid effort with the only downside a very short running time. A couple of extra songs would have been nice but what is here is about as good as the Foo's have ever been.

Well thats it for me. Just a reminder I am also writing game reviews for www.blackpanel.com.au. My latest is on Need for Speed Shift 2 - Unleashed. Please head over (http://blackpanel.com.au/2011/04/21/shift-2-unleashed-review/) and check it out. While you are there support the site by subscribing to the podcast and the facebook group. I will love you for it.

A Quick Favor.

Hey Folks just a quick message to ask a favor of you.

My Wife and Mother In-Law's business has entered a competition and they need your help. If you could all head to http://www.milliondollarmemo.com/en/entries/mitchell-personnel-solutions-australia-218?cmpid=36#. Watch the video and vote if you like it, it would be great. It is a great promo for their company and give them a chance to win a great holiday for the staff.

In case you are wondering the Mango is my Wife and Mini-Mango is my youngest.

Oh and if you feel like you want a chance to win some cool techie stuff and you live in Australia, you should click on this link.  http://c.kogan.com.au/c/mega5/4POlngKE/ and you could pick up $5k worth of goodies.

Thanks for the help.

Hewso

Hewso's Blog - Post EA Sports Active

This is just a quick entry to once again say thanks to everyone who supported me over the 9 Week EA sports active program and barring any mishaps (my Asthma is playing silly buggers at the moment) I will be starting the 9 week challenge again on Monday at the high intensity.

I just thought I would let you all know that I will continue to write here about things that catch my eye. There is no set topic just something that catches my fancy. If you have any ideas or suggestions please feel free to leave me a comment and I will do my best. Now I probably wont be writing weekly anymore as I will be writing games reviews for another site and my time is starting to get restricted.

Yup thats right I got a pretty cool gig writing video games reviews for a great little video game site called The Black Panel. You can check them out at http://blackpanel.com.au/ or at http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=113907277625 on facebook. My first review should be up tonight or on Monday and it is of a little downloadable title called Swarm. Please support the site that supports me by hitting "like" on Facebook or by visiting their site. The more visitors they get the more chance I will get to write for them.

Check them out. I will love ya for it!

So thank you again and please keep reading and adding suggestions. I loved everyone's comments and they got me through some tough times during the program.

Cheers

Hewso

These are Swarmites. Read about them in my review on the Blackpanel.com.au

Nine Weeks Down, Many Many more to come.

Well it’s over. The Nine week EA sports challenge is done and my results are in. My original goal, to see if video games could help you lose weight, has been completed and I feel I have proven without a doubt that if you can improve your health and lose weight by sticking to a workout regime set by a Video game. After completing the challenge I feel I need to clarify something. This is not actually a game. My initial impressions were correct; this is a serious fitness product that you just happen to use on a video game system. It would be a disservice to call this product a game as the reality is that this is one of the best home fitness products I have seen and while it will never be the equal to a personal trainer or a commitment to an expensive gym membership it is a great substitute for those who wish to simply get fit at home.

Worth the $$$ and the time I put into it.

When I last wrote I was on my way to Fiji and was worried about what it would do to my workout schedule. Well my worries were realised when, after I went to the trouble of packing my playstation and securing it for transport, the TV in my hotel room was broken. This fact was compounded by the reality of what locals call “Fiji time” or in other words “why do something today when it could be reasonably put off till tomorrow”.  This is a condition that pervades throughout the Fijian Islands (and the whole pacific island region from what I have heard) and it led to a 6 day wait for the TV to get fixed, putting my plans of working out in Fiji to a permanent rest.

Not one to let something like this get me down I continued to think of my health, even if it was just a little bit. Eating healthy was difficult due to the rich nature of the resort food; however I lived this week by the “lesser of two evils” philosophy and went for the foods I felt were better for me. I also walked when I could and did plenty of swimming. This attitude led to me only gaining 1.2kg over my trip and after the large serve of Lobster Mornay and significant amount of cocktails I consumed over the 8 night period I am pretty happy with that result. I have since lost 1kg of that weight on my return just by going back to a healthy diet so things are still looking good.

Yup, this is me busting my diet wide open. Enjoying it too!

Now that my 9 weeks are over I would just like to point out a few things that have happened to me in this time.

-          My fitness has noticeably improved

-          I have lost 2 shirt sizes

-          My jeans are noticeably too big

-          I have dropped three belt notches

These are just some of the additional benefits I have gained through the use of EA sports active 2. Along with my significant amount of weight loss all of the above results make me very glad that I took the step (and the $120) and participated in the challenge. In fact I am so happy I am planning on starting the 9 week program once again after another week off (the diet is not off, nor is the walking. Just the program.) This time I plan to do it on the high intensity and make it through without missing a workout. With this plan I hope to get to 120kgs in time for my 30^th birthday in August.

Well that’s it for this part of my blog. I just want to say a quick thank you to all of you out there that have read, offered support, given advice and basically just helped me on my way. It made the hard weeks easier knowing that I had many readers out there keen to see me finish this challenge and improve my health. Special thanks have to go to my Wife and kids, who supported me throughout the whole challenge. Without their help it simply wouldn’t have been possible to complete.  Finally I would like to say that I will be going back to my old style of blog and basically writing about what I feel like. If you like what I have written so far please feel free to hang around and read my future entries. I will also provide the occasional update on the weight loss if you are all interested.

So once again thanks for the support and here is what you have all been waiting for. The final ever “Hewso’s Stat Tracker”.

Workouts completed                      - 33

Hours of Exercise                             - 18 hours 33 minutes

Calories Burned                                - 11 078

Distance Ran                                     - 40.76km

Average Heart Rate                        -126bpm

Max Heart Rate                                -195bpm

Total Weight Loss                             - 12.6 kg

Total Measurement loss                   - 17cm

Training while drinking is bad for your health.

 Well now that 7 weeks are down I can see the finish line. The 9 week challenge is no longer a marathon but a sprint to the finish. Unlike the last we spoke I am not going to bore you with a poor attempt at humour, so you won’t have to wade through a couple of pages of bad cop jokes to get to the weekly losses.

Waist measurement:     122cm (-2cm)

Resting Heart Rate:         69bpm (-1 bpm)

Weight:                              135.6 (the same)

Now why did I not lose any weight? I could say that I have no idea. I could also say that it was just an off week, an aberration. Or I could also tell you that I had a really good week eating right and working out and then ruined it all by having a big night out of drinking and eating bad things. Now if I did say those things which one would you believe?

Yup that’s right I had a big weekend. I won’t give too many details but let’s just say it involved golf, the pub, rugby league, a casino and Weird Al Yankovic. While I had a great time it was hardly a set of activities conducive to weight loss and fitness. Anyway I have enough guilt coming from within so I won’t dwell on it any longer here.

I Blame Weird Al.



Last week I mentioned I will be facing a big challenge in the final two weeks of the program. That challenge is a small pacific nation, about 4 hour’s flight time from Sydney. That nation is Fiji and the challenge to my workouts is I am going there. Now having been to Fiji twice previously so I have a certain expectation of what my eating habits will be. Breakfast cocktails and rich seafood are the order of the day so I will have quite an issue when it comes to continuing my fitness journey.



This is where I will be spending my time.



To combat this I am taking my PS3 with me and hoping I can connect it to the TV in our hotel room. This will at least give me the ability to continue doing my workouts, I will also try as best as possible to choose a healthy option for dinner (except for my anniversary night, that dinner is Lobster all the way), keep active (plenty of swimming and walks up to the nearby marina) and drink my rum with Diet coke. Hopefully if I can do these things I can prevent any major weight gain.  If not it could be a very bad week. Willpower don’t let me down.

Of course this also means that there will not be a blog entry next week. Internet access is sketchy at best so I will be unable to give you an update on how things are going. Fear not as I will be returning on the 25^th of March, just in time for the final weekly update and shortly after that a summary entry on my whole experience during the 9 week challenge. So stay tuned loyal readers for the impending ending of this hi-tech fitness journey.

Another pic of where I am staying. Are you jealous yet?

Hewso’s Stats Tracker

Workouts completed                                     - 32

Hours of Exercise                                            - 17hours 48 minutes

Calories burned                                               - 11290

Distance Ran                                                     - 38.03km

Average Heart Rate                                        - 126 bpm

Max Heart Rate                                                - 195 bpm

Total Weight loss                                             - 12.8kg

Measurement loss                                          - 16cm

The Interview.

The time is 2138hrs on Monday the 7^th of March. The interviewee is a Mrs A Hewson, aka Ms Mitchell, aka Ook the Chook. Detective Hugh Gass conducting the interview.

Please note this is not actually my wife, just a random pic from google.

Mrs Hewson, I would like to remind you that anything you say can and will be used in a court of law. I would also like to remind you of your right to legal counsel and that you have indicated you are willing to wave that right.

Detective H Gass: Mrs Hewson, if that is your real name. What were your first thoughts when your “so called” husband came to you with the idea of this experiment?

Mrs Hewson: I was initially excited; I thought it was a great excuse for my husband to actually do something about his weight. Later on I had some fleeting worries that he had wasted our money on a system that is unlikely to work.

Detective H Gass: How has this experiment affected your life? As a wife and a mother surely this has had some effect on your family’s daily routine.

Mrs Hewson:  Having to cook my own dinner is something I had to adjust too. My husband was the primary cook in our house until he began the EA Sports Active program. Now he is too busy eating veggies and healthy cuts of meat to cook me my favourite meals of Spaghetti Bolognaise or Beef Stroganoff.  His working out has also played havoc with our going out plans. Now we have to wait until he has done his workout until we can go to a friend’s place or head to the movies.

Detective H Gass: Mrs Hewson, after all of the “working out” surely there has to have been some discernable results. Please describe what you have seen and remember you are legally required to tell the truth.

Mrs Hewson:  My Husbands recent clothing purchases have fit much better. His body seems to fit into standard sizes without looking like a watermelon in a condom. Another thing I have noticed is my arms now fit around him much easier so if I want to cuddle him, or smack him in the back head I can. Despite all of this he still seems like the same cranky bastard I married a few years ago.

Detective H Gass: So Mrs Hewson I have one final question for you. Do you think EA Sports Active 2 has worked over all, or do you think it is a bunch of crap?

Mrs Hewson: Honestly I think it works; it is a great motivator for my lazy husband. It sets him a goal and his video game obsessed mind has to complete it. I think it is some form of OCD or something. But I must say overall I am proud of his achievements so far. He has impressed me with his commitment to something he could have easily shoved on the “impulse buy” shelf never to be heard from again. But he hasn’t and he has improved his health because of it.

Detective H Gass: Thank you for your time Mrs Hewson you a free to go, but If I was you I wouldn’t leave the region anytime soon, we may have more questions for you.

Ahh, a witty police pun. Don't worry I didn't come up with it.

Anyway, I have really made you all wait to get my results for this week. And considering you read my whole bad cop drama shtick I suppose I shouldn’t let you wait any longer. The results are:

Waist Measurement                       124 (- 3cms)

Resting Heart Rate                           70bpm (the same)

Weight                                                 135.6 (-1.2 kg)

So another weight loss, smaller than last week but a loss is always a positive. That’s pretty much it for this week. A little bit unusual but I hope you enjoyed it all the same. Next week I will be letting you know about an upcoming challenge in my attempt to do the EA sports active 2 9 week challenge.

Hewso’s Stat Tracker. Week 6

Workouts completed                                      - 29

Hours of Exercise                                             - 15hours 42minutes

Calories burned                                                - 9907

Distance Ran                                                     - 32.92kms

Average Heart Rate                                         - 127 bpm

Max Heart Rate                                                 - 195 bpm

Total Weight loss                                             - 12.8 kg

Measurement loss                                          - 14cm

Another delay, this is becoming a habit.

Sorry folks, due to unforseen circumstances I have been unable to write a blog entry tonight. I promise that tomorrow will be the day you see my wife call me a fat bastard.