The Future Is Now?

There was a few options of what I could write about today. None of which really took my fancy that much. That was until I saw that there was the official announcement that the PlayStation Virtual Reality headset will be released in October priced at ("only" they say) £349.99.

Virtual Reality!! Come on! It's something that's "existed" for decades but not something we could ever hope to buy for ourselves for our personal entertainment. That's just another level of ridiculous! A lot of people would say something along the lines of "It's like something out of Star Trek" when clearly they've never seen Star Trek as the majority of that technology is not something any of us can hope to see in our lifetime, if ever. Well, maybe. Who knows? And that's the point...who knows what we'll have to use to our advantage some day.

I consider myself fairly lucky to not have had a load of screens for entertainment as a child. I have never said "I wish I had an iPad when I was little" because I'm really quite glad I didn't. Imagination was a big part of my childhood and therefore I've grown up with the spectacular ability of getting completely lost in a make believe world either from a book, a film, a game or of my own making. Although I had 2 brothers and a sister, they were a lot older than me so I spent most of my time just playing on my own unless Christopher (9 years older than me) decided he wanted me to stand in goal (the window) and blast one of those small sponge footballs at me - gardening gloves as my protection along with my fairly impressive reflexes. Believe me; that skill was a lifesaver.
I'm not really what society would class as a "girl" or "feminine", it'd probably label me as "tomboy". You probably saw from my previous post that I don't agree with this kind of thing - people look how they want to look, enjoy doing what they enjoy doing and be with whoever they happen to fall in love with. Nothing more to it. I had Barbies that I would play as anything from a teacher to a racing driver. I loved toys that involved construction like Lego or K'nex; I even had a robot that you had to learn how to get it to do what the remote control  You know the sort - all those boys toys I shouldn't have had! Oh and while I'm on that subject - well done to Toys R Us for getting rid of the "boys' toys" and "girls' toys" sections...top marks.

Saying that though, we are really lucky to live in an era of such huge advances in technology. Yes, we might immediately just think "ooh that looks like fun" but these things are actually coming in pretty handy for some people's wellbeing. There is a hospital that is using virtual reality for their patients to help combat some of the stress and probably even the pain that comes with being stuck in a hospital bed. It's shown signs of relieving symptoms of depression; letting people whose dream is just to escape the world do just that - even for that brief period. And again...who knows? It could go on like this. Other ways of using it can come from anyone and anywhere. It's just giving us a chance to see what more we can achieve, enriching people's lives for just a bit of fun or their health.

The fact that if you happened to have a time machine and brought someone from only 10 years ago into the present they would not know what an iPad is...let alone someone from 20, 30, 40 and further years ago - their minds would truly be blown.
Hopefully we'll continue to learn from all this and find many more ways to use it for good...

Bit of a weird post, this one but it just got me thinking about how far we've come and it's a bit scary to think how quickly too. What's next?!

Falv
-x-

International Women's Day - My favourite women

Yesterday was International Women's Day. I didn't realise this until it was already upon us, otherwise I'd have actually written this ahead of time and posted it then. Go me.

I thought I'd share with you some of the well known and not so well known women who have had some form of impact on my life in various ways. These aren't personal and they are not in any particular order of greatness - just the order of people coming to mind.

Jennifer Saunders

Ok, I'll admit that the "no particular order" thing wasn't entirely true. This lady is at the top of my list for very good reason and will undoubtedly remain there for the rest of my life. I spent most of my teenage years watching and rewatching everything she's written and/or starred in. Like most of us, I found my teenage years to be a struggle and found myself feeling incredibly lonely at times and it was then I realised how much something that makes you laugh really does matter. Jam and Jerusalem is my favourite, being one of the best casts I've ever seen on tv and the most subtle and funny-but-lovely-at-the-same-time scripts. The fact that Jennifer, herself has quite a small part is another reason she is so inspirational - she can write so beautifully for the other incredible acting talent on the series but still give herself just a few lines which incidentally turn out to be some of the best.

Dawn French
It's rather obvious that her's is the next name here. Seemingly a master of the art of what I will call "facial athletics", she has continued to make me laugh for as long as I can remember. One of my favourite childhood tv memories is the Vicar of Dibley Christmas special in which Geraldine agrees to 3 Christmas dinners. Anyone that can make just eating brussell sprouts that funny just by their face is a hero in my book.

Her autobiography is the best I've read - mainly because we seem to have a lot in common, she says things in there that I've always felt guilty for thinking but I know that it's not just me.
Her solo show had the audience in stitches one minute and quite literally in tears the next. It was so well written and performed.
Also - I'm just gonna leave this here...-->

Melanie C
My childhood hero. It probably started because she could do a backflip. I have seen her on 5 separate occasions - her solo concert (this was the first concert I'd ever been to!), Spice Girls concert (the reunion when I was 18) Blood Brothers, a studio recording of "Superstar" where she was on the judging panel (also with Dawn French!) to find the new Jesus Christ Superstar lead and then of course on to the O2 where she played Mary Magdalene in that very musical. I used to record my own radio show in my bedroom when I was younger and made my brother guest star in it - not as himself, obviously, but as Melanie C whilst I interviewed. Annoyingly, he met her a few years ago and sent me a photo saying he asked her for a photo because it would annoy his sister. I'm sure she was charmed. Other than that. She's. Just. Cool.

Victoria Wood

The lady responsible for my other favourite series of all time. From her sketch shows such as As Seen on TV to Dinnerladies to the absolute masterpiece and a complete change in direction that is Housewife 49. I always say that the best comedians make the best actors and she just went and proved my point in this one. I mean, I don't always say it...that would make for some very repetitive conversations. Probably playing quite a big part in my next entry's rise to fame, although I have no doubt she'd have got there anyway, Victoria's sketches were a showcase of ridiculous and beautifully crafted characters. The best comedy shows are the ones you can watch years later and still find it as fantastically funny as you did the first time and will again years after that. It is in a way, timeless.

Julie Walters
Hands down, my favourite actor*. There's a lot of actors I love but she just outdoes everyone, really. The fact she doesn't have an Oscar is ridiculous. When you're all making a fuss about the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio "finally" getting one; go and compare his performances (where, in my opinion, he pretty much just plays the same person in different situations in each of his films) to hers - look at how incredibly she plays so many very different characters, from Mrs Overall - bent over and shuffling; to encompassing the hatred and anger Mary Whitehouse showed towards the BBC; to Molly Weasley, who I probably don't need to describe to you. Everything changes, her look, her accent, her attitude and demeanour - I think Leo needs a real acting masterclass from this lady.

Sarah Millican
Very funny and stands up for her right to do what she is happy doing. I'm talking about that dress. The one she wore to the BAFTAs and the media hated it. Well, not only hated it; we all have things we don't like - if it's not affecting anyone else, the thought should stay in our heads... but they wrote articles and spoke on national television about how much they hated it. She wrote this article http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2014-05-15/sarah-millican-twitter-was-a-pin-to-my-excitable-bafta-balloon which I encourage you to read but if not this is the gist - "I'm sorry. I thought I had been invited to such an illustrious event because I am good at my job. Putting clothes on is such a small part of my day. They may as well have been criticising me for brushing my teeth differently to them".

Ruby Wax

As well as an incredibly funny lady, writing some of the funniest lines tv history - she's darn clever too. She's an advocate for mental health, with her shows and books revealing so much to us that no one else going through it could ever feel alone. Mental health is something that even though it seems to be "talked about" everywhere now, it's always spoken about as a subject in itself. It should be part of everyday conversation - not treated like it's something so different. According to mind.org.uk as many as 1 in 4 people experience some form of mental health problem each year. So why the stigma when a quarter of us deal with it on a daily basis? But this is what Ruby is helping to achieve; I can't imagine coming out of one of her shows or reading one of her books and not talking about it.

Caroline Lucas

Yes, I know...I didn't think I'd ever have a politician in this list either. As the first Green Party MP, her work just shows that things can change, as long as we, the public make them change. We don't just have to put up with what we're given. I think the main difference for me about her is that she actually cares. She's human. I don't know what has happened to most of the MPs we have that seems to have turned them in to a crowd of football hooligans jeering at someone trying to speak, rather than listen and respond like normal people but luckily she's not one of them. Our environment is something that I really care about, as should we all and it is inspiring to see her passion about the matter - to the extent that she gets arrested for it, which is terrible when people are peacefully protesting about something so important. If we don't fight for our planet's future as priority - there won't be anything left worth fighting for.

Lilly Singh aka Superwoman
As someone that probably watches as much Youtube content as television, there's a few names I could put here and I wanted to make sure I included the platform that could possibly have more influence than traditional media. Thinking there's too many names, I can't choose, so I won't mention any - I then remembered this video.
https://youtu.be/ZQu3E0gU0ww
I love it when people use their platform for good. Lilly recognised that she had a huge audience to speak to, so spoke about something important. She is very funny too, she films sketches and rants quite regularly so check out her other videos while you're there.

Let's not forget the huge numbers of women that have fought for us in the past and the present; those who aren't named in headlines, for gender equality which, ridiculously, is still a huge issue from the poverty of the third world right up to the glitz and glam of Hollywood. In 2016, nothing should matter anymore, whoever you are, whatever you do, however you choose to live  - we are all one and the same.

Thanks again for reading, be sure to let me know what you think and comment below on who has influenced or inspired you!

Catch ya later.
Falv
-x-

*I do mean "actor". I don't understand the segregation between male and female and why we need separate "best actress" and "best actor"categories at the awards shows. I was recently corrected when for whatever reason I said something along the lines of "that's because I'm such a good actor" and the response was "Actress." Pathetic, huh?

What I've been playing - Assassin's Creed: Black Flag (PS4)

I'd decided this was my favourite of the Assassin's Creed games after only a couple of hours playing it. Mainly because it's about pirates and you can sail a big pirate ship. I judged too quickly, I feel. Expectation was too high and caused unnecessary disappointment. That's probably way too harsh; I did really enjoy this game but when you come in to it with all the excitement of pirates sailing the Caribbean sea, it's hard to handle it when, like all AC games I've played, it gets boring and repetitive.

You see, I'm now someone that likes to complete everything to do with the games I play. I'd never gotten too involved in "achievements" on the Xbox, I didn't understand, nor did I care what they were. The problem now is the promise of a "trophy" on the PS4 when I do something it wants me to do - sometimes it's part of the game anyway when you play through the story, but usually there's a load of other stuff you have to do that the game itself does not require of you to get through it, such as travelling a certain amount of miles or assassinating your target via a swinging rope.

(Just a quick interruption to let you know that my cat, Patsy, stood on my keyboard whilst trying to sit on my lap and has managed to play a song that I can't find where it's coming from. I don't know what song it is. It's not on my iTunes or Spotify...I've had to close every page and application to get it to stop playing and then open this all up again to continue writing. So there you go, a small glimpse into my "crazy cat lady" life. I mean, I live on my own with two cats and write blogs... My other cat, Saffy, is curled up amongst her cuddly toys she's gathered around her on the floor)

Anyway; there's a lot of "side activities" in this game but there's too many of each sort and it's just dull. I didn't complete them because I found myself dragging around all the spots I'd already been to so many times throughout the game, trying to collect all the treasure chests and maps and capture other ships so I could upgrade my own and it was time consuming. Playing video games is important to me by means of escapism. When things in life haven't been so great, I've used gaming to get me out of my own life for a while and adventure in someone else's, be it saving the world, beating up a few baddies or simply making a soup factory (Nom Nom Galaxy - I will get to this in another post!). So when it gets to a point where I'm checking the time every half hour and seeing how much time I've spent doing these tasks, or chores as they end up feeling like, and see how slowly that time has passed I know it's probably time I stopped. And so I did, I traded it in and immediately went on the Playstation when I got home and checked the trophies I now wouldn't get and do you know what? I was quite pleased with myself. Because I'd got rid of the game itself, I couldn't now go back on it and continue trawling around, wasting time for a trophy that doesn't really get me anywhere anyway. When I was well on my way to becoming an obsessive trophy hunter, I had to remind myself to just play games that I'm having fun playing; not ruin the ones you like because you have to spend hours longer playing than you want to just to collect bits that aren't even part of the story.

However, after all this, the storyline is my favourite so far. It felt like I was watching a film at times, as the dramatic sequences unfolded. One part in particular towards the end was really quite powerful; where Edward Kenway (our main man) is carrying a dying woman from the prison she has been held in and clearly more awful things have happened to her - they don't tell us, but we get the hint. The player is given the control back after we've found her and even though it's the easiest thing to do - just walking, with her in his arms, pushing the stick forward on the controller and nothing else - you find yourself in this world, willing her to survive while she tells Edward to leave her. I realised I was pressing my controller way too hard and leaning towards the television as if it was going to change what I knew was going to happen.
The very end, the last sequence to watch when the story was finished was a nice little throwback to a previous game, which I didn't quite get at first until I gave it a bit of thought and was more open minded about the games having some sort of link. This is quite a nice thing to do to reward loyalty to the games, I'd love them and other franchises to do this on a bigger scale (maybe some sort of secrets to unlock if you know what happened previously etc).

What I'd like to see in the future is more of the fantastic storylines and voice acting talent that I've been so impressed with during this game. More beautiful locations on this sort of scale, because seriously, I found myself whispering the word "woah" several times as the camera panned around each new Caribbean island.
Something new does need to happen in these Assassin's Creed games though, to make this open world collecting thing a bit more enjoyable, especially after you've finished the main quest storyline. Maybe some sort of business running where you have your own guild of assassins and can hire others to be a part of your team to eventually run your location from the underground, overruling the government so no one ever really knows who's in charge. Sounds like something I could get obsessed with, anyway!

I think that's probably way more than enough from me. As I said before, I won't do reviews...I'll tell you a bit about my experience playing it and it probably won't be that in-depth about one certain game as I find some things relate to gaming in general.
I could do with a better title but "What I've been playing" is what I mean because it's very unlikely I'll talk about very new games. I don't tend to buy games when they first come out as they're just too darn expensive. There's also no way I could talk about them with any real thoughts for quite a while after I buy them too - I need to have gotten at least half way through the storyline to have had enough time playing.

Again, if you've got suggestions and thoughts - lemme know. I know you do, so please share them!
Like my Facebook page at Facebook.com/falvslittleworld , if you haven't already.

Cheers!
Falv